Ezekiel was slowly covering his eyelids when suddenly brrrmmm—! The entire Thicket of Thorns began to tremble. A few black trees swayed and transformed into the form of Fiends, with Mana ominously billowing up. The expressions of Ezekiel and his party turned frantic in an instant.
“F-F-Friend!”
“There are way too many!”
Since they weren’t total newbies, they hurriedly readied their formation while hurriedly speaking.
Black Tower Master Greta also quietly prepared for battle when Agnes questioned her.
“…You’re not panicking, so I guess this is common here. Is the Thicket of Thorns always like this?”
“It’s not unusual for Fiends to appear, but this number is bizarrely high. I’ve never seen the forest react so violently before.”
Her tone was serious enough that it didn’t sound like a lie. Everyone could feel the fierce reaction of the Thicket of Thorns in their bodies.
And one more thing, there were far too many Fiends.
Tether shivered her shoulders.
“D-Did the Inspector freeze the forest earlier? Is the Thicket angry because of that?”
“No.”
Greta shook her head firmly.
“If you listen closely, you can hear the whispers of the forest. This is far from anger. Or rather….”
Greta tilted her head in disbelief.
“…It’s welcoming. It’s reacting as if it finally found something it’s been searching for. At least that’s what I feel.”
Ezekiel clicked his tongue.
“I wanted to take it easy, but it looks like it’s going to be like this again.”
“…Inspector, what do we do?”
“What else? We fight.”
BAM—! BOOM—!
The battle went on for quite some time. Whoosh! Bang! The Thicket of Thorns became a battlefield where magic was exploding from all sides, and intense combat continued. Though Ezekiel’s party had superior strength, the issue was the sheer number of foes.
Ezekiel pointed.
“I’ll take care of this. Support the Black Tower Master.”
“Sounds like a plan. I heard she’s incredibly strong, but she looks dangerously weakened from how much life force she’s spent. I need to go check on her.”
Just as Agnes nodded calmly, a strange voice interrupted.
“…Who do you think you are to speak of the Great Witch?”
Somehow appearing out of nowhere, green-haired girls glared at them.
It was easy to understand. They were transformed forms of frogs that had been near Greta.
‘I knew there was something off about those frogs.’
The astonishing part was that each one of them exuded immense Mana. They felt like they had long surpassed the level of an ordinary Mage.
Ezekiel responded casually.
“No need to take it so personally. We just wanted to help.”
“The Golden Tower is a group obsessed with suppressing the Black Tower. Do you think we’d believe that? You must be trying to take advantage of Greta’s weaknesses.”
BANG—! BOOM—!
The battle continued on. Despite being pushed back by the Fiends, the frogs stubbornly refused to accept help from Ezekiel’s party.
‘Yeah, this is how the Golden Tower is treated publicly.’
Ezekiel thought quietly.
The involvement of the Golden Tower implied that there were indeed issues that could be pointed out and corrected, as well as matters that could be punished.
Naturally, most people would show discomfort at the very fact that the Golden Tower was interested.
The frogs continued to grumble.
“They’re after Greta’s vision technique too.”
“They’ll take various things while saying they’re just checking it out, and then find some absurd weakness to pressure Greta later. They have no conscience.”
During the battle, Seina narrowed her eyes.
“…Those things are more annoying than the Fiends. Master, should I go give them a lesson? Maybe hit them a bit.”
“Hold yourself.”
“Agnes, are you really going to say that while pushing me?”
The already bad situation got tangled further with their subtle feud. Just when the unpleasant atmosphere continued, a tall figure approached. There were three of them.
Fiends carefully crafted from blackened Mana were wrapped up all over their bodies, decorated with various forms of insignia that resembled elite assassins.
The one in the middle spoke.
“Leave only the target and wipe out the rest.”
Simultaneously, the two on the sides stomped the ground.
Whoosh—!
Their movements could barely be seen.
“D-They’re strong…!”
“Be careful!”
Just two new arrivals were enough to drastically change the situation. The frogs were at a loss for words.
Then the central elite Fiend drew its Mana twin swords and began to walk forward. Though it had no eyes, it was clearly approaching Ezekiel.
“I found you. Finally found you. Hehehe….”
Ezekiel quietly asked Greta.
“Have you seen that one before?”
“Yeah, it seems to surpass even high-ranking Fiends. What on earth could have led it to the Thicket?”
“Led?”
Ezekiel chuckled.
“I’ll find out from now on.”
Thud—!
At the same time, Ezekiel stomped the ground.
His leg, charged with Mana, shot up like a Light Arrow. The distance between him and the elite Fiend closing in an instant.
“…!”
The Fiend turned its head abruptly.
But its body hadn’t yet turned.
“What are you looking at?”
Swish—!
Ezekiel’s ice-coated hand slashed straight through its neck. One down already.
The remaining two elite Fiends flew towards him without hesitation while relentlessly firing various forms of Mana projectiles.
Ezekiel chose not to counterattack.
Instead, he created a massive Cube of ice and punched it with all his strength.
CRASH—!
The shattered pieces of the Cube scattered like buckshot, turning one Fiend into a pin-cushion and putting a massive hole in the upper body of the other.
The Fiend with a hole in its chest slowly looked down at its own chest before it gradually knelt and collapsed.
“Th-The… Ice Ghost….”
That’s when Ezekiel’s head reacted.
This one definitely mentioned the term Ice Ghost.
The surrounding area was now cleared. The Mana had thinned, and aside from a few frogs, there were no injuries.
The frogs cautiously approached.
“…We were rude.”
“We failed to recognize the honored one.”
“Thank you for saving us.”
While the frogs adjusted their attitudes, Ezekiel had little interest in them.
The problem lay in the words of this elite Fiend.
Ezekiel grasped the Fiend’s neck and infused Mana into his legs once more, stomping the ground.
Swish—!
He quickly distanced himself from his companions, intending to extract some information from the elite Fiend alone.
Lying it down on the ground, he asked it.
“Reveal your identity.”
“Ehehe….”
The Fiend only grinned.
“Ehehe…. Hehehe…. Hahaha!”
Just as Ezekiel was about to crush it, the elite Fiend unexpectedly spoke.
“Ice Ghost…. We found the Ice Ghost…. How pleased the Goddess will be! Ah, my Goddess….”
It grinned, showing its teeth.
“You! You haven’t written a letter to the Goddess! How can you commit such a blasphemous act? You, who should love the Goddess most, have utterly cast her aside! How dare you!”
“…What are you talking about?”
The stark white teeth over the pitch-black face were quite an eerie sight, but Ezekiel simply watched without a hint of concern.
“The Goddess has been searching for you all along. She wishes to ask why you haven’t written. Just by finding you, our mission is complete. The Goddess will come for you directly…”
“The Goddess?”
“Yeah, the Goddess’s wish is Ice Ghost. She will embrace the child of the Ice Ghost. So accept it. Accept it. You must accept it!”
Suddenly, the Fiend sprang up and cheered.
“The Goddess will descend! Ahh! Goddess─!”
Whack—!
Ezekiel smashed its head in.
Now, the creature became a corpse in a standing position, and Ezekiel pondered what just happened.
“…The Goddess?”
Nothing clicked.
Certainly, there could be Demons from the Demon Realm holding grudges against Ezekiel, but there were many peculiar aspects to the things the elite Fiend said.
Why hadn’t it written a letter, about the Goddess directly descending to collect, mentioning having the child of Ezekiel…?
What on earth did all this mean?
Just then, the rest of the party arrived in a rush.
“Master! What happened?”
“Inspector, what’s going on?”
“….”
Ezekiel fell silent for a moment.
He shook his head.
“I wanted to hear something, but I didn’t.”
He buried the story about the Goddess deep in his heart.
Goddess, Goddess, Goddess…. Who on earth could that be?
‘Could it be…?’
An image that suddenly came to mind.
The 0th Princess, who was taken to the Demon Realm, flashed through his mind, but he quickly shook his head.
‘No way.’
That couldn’t be it.
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