Book 4: Chapter 28

Right after Nefas lost consciousness.

「……I see. So that’s how it is.」

Having seen Nefas’s fight, Nino’s curved blade repelled the Clay Golem’s curved blade.

The balance suddenly crumbled.

The reason for that was extremely simple.

Nino surpassed her limits──that was simply all there was to it.

「To surpass limits, it’s really simple.」

Nino’s speed was raised.

The Clay Golem was no longer allowed to attack.

「Once I can see what I want, things other than that……it’s easy to throw them all away.」

Nino’s speed increased even further, and through those attacks, the Clay Golem’s movements were completely shut out.

Nino, thought about Vermudol.

The Demon King she loved and respected.

The Demon King she swore allegiance to.

Nino’s Demon King.

Nino’s Vermudol.

As long as Vermudol was there, she needed nothing else.

Everything that stood in the way of Vermudol’s path, Nino would chop them to pieces.

That is why, it was simple.

Something like limits, she would surpass them any number of times.

She repelled one of the Clay Golem’s curved blades, and chopped up the other curved blade.

And then……the Clay Golem was turned into very small pieces.

The gale known as Nino had turned the Clay Golem into something even less than grains of sand.

Immediately after that, Nino jumped forward and evaded a cluster of fireballs that came flying in from behind.

What Nino found high in the sky when she turned around was the female type Alva……and one spear Alva.

「How surprising……You aren’t a Human, are you?」

「Same to you, are you really an Alva?」

Since Nino was a Mazoku and a Majin, of course she wasn’t a Human.

More importantly, Nino held an interest in the female type Alva.

The spear Alva fell in the category of being a Special Type that was mentioned in the reports up until now.

However, the female type Alva wasn’t.

She was clearly something else going by her appearance, and furthermore, she could use the common language.

If Nino were to put it into words, she was an existence that overturned the general knowledge of all of the things known as Alva including the Special Types.

In response to Nino’s question, the female type Alva distorted her face into the shape of a smile.

「Now that you mention it, I have yet to introduce myself. I am Larugiaasa. The Alva Warrior that serves the Alva Queen, Larugiaasa.」

「Alva Queen……?」

Hearing that word she hadn’t heard of before, Nino knitted her brows.

She was surprised by the facts that the Alva had introduced herself and that they had formed an organization, but she didn’t think that the name of something that seemed like the leader of the Alva would come up.

「That’s right. Our grand leader……Well, there’s no need for you to know any more than this. Since you’ll be dying after all.」

「That’s right, you will be dying. It’s important to know one’s place.」

In response to the sneering Larugiaasa, Nino replied with similar ridicule.

Although she had readied her curved blades to that she could swing them at any time, Larugiaasa’s group showed no signs of being cautious of her.

And that was only natural.

The place that Larugiaasa’s group was at was far above Nino, and there should be no way for her curved blades to reach.

「You can’t use your Magic Eyes in this space filled with strange power, right? Fufufu, even that boy who was your last ray of hope has ended up like that. I suppose this means you have no means of attacking.」

Boy who was her last ray of hope.

Once again hearing words she had never heard before, Nino tilted her head.

After thinking for a bit, she noticed Nefas who had collapsed.

「You’re wrong. This is a stalker. Since Nino is a beautiful girl, unlike you, Nino has all kinds of them cling on without having to do anything.」

While saying that, Nino kicked Nefas and had him roll into a corner of the room.

Although he was a stalker that hindered her, she would get a bad aftertaste if he got dragged into the battle and was killed.

Seeing that simple action, maybe because she found something funny, Larugiaasa made a loud laugh.

「I see. Well that’s fine, even like that. Either way, I have no intention of letting the two of you escape after all.」

Nino organized the situation in her head.

This Alva’s objective was killing both Nino and Nefas.

The reason was unknown.

……No, there were several reasons that she could think of.

For example, one of them was the possibility that the Alva had the nature of killing all life that they laid their eyes on.

Looking at the behavioral patterns of all of the Alva up until now, it was plenty possible to make this conjecture.

And then, another one was the possibility of killing anyone that approached a specific location being their objective.

The first time the female type Alva had appeared was before they were transferred to this tree labyrinth, that place in the Great Jiol Forest.

If this labyrinth was a place related to a God as she expected, then it was possible to think that someone who disliked the idea of anyone getting close to the labyrinth as well as the idea of them obtaining some sort of information concerning the Gods had deployed the Alva.

And then, Nino felt that this explanation was the one that was most refreshing.

That being said, she had no conclusive evidence.

That is why Nino decided to try verifying it with the simplest method.

「……I see. So that Alva Queen or whatever, she’s a subordinate of the God here, isn’t she.」

Hearing those words that Nino threw out thinking that it would get her to show some sort of reaction whether or not it was the truth, Larugiaasa replied with an attitude of if she were making fun of her.

「God……? What nonsense are you spouting? Moreover, for a Mazoku to be a subordinate of a God, what a terrible joke.」

「Well, that’s true.」

Nino thought “I see”.

With that remark just now, and having seen the fight between the earlier Alva and the Clay Golem, she came to see things to a certain extent.

This Alva called Larugiaasa, she most likely didn’t know anything.

She was merely guarding that area under the orders of that fellow called the Alva Queen, and probably didn’t know what was actually there.

And then, most important of all……despite calling herself a Mazoku, her general knowledge of Mazoku was lacking.

It was clear that the one who was at the top of the Mazoku was the Demon King, so it was impossible look up to the one who was called the Alva Queen as their leader.

As she thought, they were not proper Mazoku.

「Thank you for various things. As thanks, Nino will teach you one thing.」

「Oya, and what might that be?」

In response to Larugiaasa who was full of complacency, Nino sneered and kicked the ground.

What Nino headed towards, was the trees that became the walls of this labyrinth.

Nino jumped onto a tree branch of that wall, and using that branch as a foothold, she moved jumping onto another branch.

The tree branches that were durable enough to not be injured by Nefas’s magic didn’t break even under the impact of Nino’s jumps.

Jumping from branch to the next to move, after she reached a certain height, Nino jumped to the sky from there.

「If you get complacent just because you’re flying in the sky……you’ll get torn to shreds, you know?」

「GIIH!?」

The spear Alva that was next to Larugiaasa had its head lopped of by Nino’s single attack.

Using that Alva as a foothold, Nino jumped even further and approached Larugiaasa.

「Kuh……Ahh!」

Making a narrow escape, Larugiaasa flew backwards, and then summoned several fireballs in front of her.

「Tsk.」

Nino landed on the ground to evade those, then looked up at Larugiaasa.

「……Even though you could have been at peace if you died from that attack just now.」

「Don’t screw with me……There is no way this Larugiaasa would be defeated by that sort of surprise technique.」

「Saying that even though you were defeated once before.」

Larugiaasa’s face warped in humiliation from Nino’s easy to understand provocation.

Nino was unable to fly through the sky, but doing air battles through jumping was her specialty.

It seemed that Larugiaasa thought that she had the advantage being in midair, but in this place where the trees covered the sky and branches were extending out all over the place, even if she was in midair, it did not mean that she could escape from Nino’s attacks.

Nino is strong.

Going by how the spear Alva, who were her subordinates that should have been strong even amongst the Alva, were defeated, and by how she had fought against the earlier Clay Golem, Larugiaasa was able to understand Nino’s overwhelming strength.

Having this young girl approach her, would mean her own death.

However, it wasn’t like Larugiaasa didn’t have any hands to play at all.

But, having to acknowledge that she had no other methods other than this, it hurt Larugiaasa’s pride as a Warrior.

「I, have yet to ask your name, haven’t I.」

「It’s Nino. To introduce myself in your style, Nino is the greatest, strongest Maid Knight who serves Demon King Vermudol the Absolute and who is the type to be in good spirits just by being beside him.」

「……In what way is that my style.」

「Nino also specializes in doing adaptations.」

Seeing Nino who didn’t break her own pace to the bitter end, Larugiaasa breathed a sigh.

That attitude was the embodiment of self-confidence, and knew that she would definitely win.

And then Larugiaasa also knew that she would lose at this rate.

That is why she was forced to use it.

The technique allowed only to female type Alva.

「Fine, Nino. I shall acknowledge your strength. I am no match for you. But……even so, I cannot let you……I cannot let you all to escape alive.」

「How will you do that?」

「By doing this……Legion.」

At the same time as that word, Larugiaasa’s body slowly crumbled, and turned into a darkness colored fog.

「Goodbye, Nino. If not for my mission, I would have liked to fight against you and die as a Warrior.」

Larugiaasa’s body vanished, and the darkness colored fog spread out to the sky.

Seeing that, Nino’s intuition started ringing warnings of the highest level.

「……Wake up, idiot.」

「Guuh!?」

After rushing over to Nefas who she left on the floor, Nino mercilessly kicked his side.

「Guu, geh, gahoh……Wh, what’s going on!?」

Having regained consciousness, Nefas was surprised by the black fog that was spreading out in midair and shouted.

However, Nino was unable to explain what was happening, nor did she have the time to explain it.

「We’re escaping from here.」

「G, got it.」

He didn’t understand the situation at all, but Nefas obediently nodded at what Nino said.

「However, which way should we escape to!?」

「……That way.」

After a bit of silence, Nino pointed in one direction.

「Got it. Let’s go!」

Nefas ran, and as if chasing after him, Nino also ran.

Running through the room, Nefas barged into the passage that was beyond it.

Following after him, Nino also tried to enter that passageway but──

「Gigigagigegah!」

「Gogigegugegeh!」

So as to evade the claw that suddenly swooped down from midair, Nino moved back.

「Nino!?」

「It’s fine so just keep running!」

Shouting in reply to Nefas’s voice like that, Nino evaded the numerous claws that came attacking from even more different directions.

「Gigegogaga.」

「Gegugigigo.」

「Gagegigage.」

Alva were appearing from within the black fog.

They weren’t Special Types, but normal Alva.

However, a number that was to the point of being countless……had appeared here.