Book 5: Chapter 18

「Why did you wait? It was on purpose, wasn’t it?」

Lumon threw that reasonable question at the black knight.

It was clear that he waited for Hooly’s group to Transfer, and then ascended the stairway.

However, Lumon didn’t know the reason for him doing that.

For the thing known as an assault, speed could be said to be its life. Do not allow any witnesses to escape, finish things before reinforcements come, do not give them the chance to report anything. These were inviolable rules of an assault, and the conditions to annihilate the location being raided.

However, while he was slaughtering the soldiers on the lower floors, the black knight probably let Hooly’s group escape on purpose. Like that, there was no meaning to the assault.

「……I don’t feel the necessity to answer you.」

The black knight said only that towards Lumon.

「You merely, need to die……Just like, the rest of them.」

Lumon immediately realized that it was impossible to pull out any information.

The black knight in front of him, if he wasn’t someone pushing his luck, then he wouldn’t be the type to show off his strength either. He was probably a man who would simply accomplish his objective like an assassin.

And then, at the same time, Lumon arrived at a single conclusion.

This, wasn’t the Hero. He was clearly different from the image of the Hero that he had heard about.

And then, he also wasn’t a mere Human.

He was most likely a Mazoku, but then the story would become complicated if that were the case. He was a Mazoku that opposed Demon King Vermudol……Moreover, if he was related to the castle from earlier, it would mean that there were several of them.

「Good grief……It looks like things have become more troublesome than I imagined.」

After Lumon turned towards the black knight and readied his sword, his opponent also readied his own sword.

While they were maintaining a distance where they could jump at each other at any moment, Lumon calmly spoke.

「I am Lumon, part of the Eastern Army, Vice-Commanding Officer of the unit in charge of the Lulugal Forest.」

Hearing that self-introduction, the black knight, after a bit of silence, calmly announced it.

「……Part of the Demon King Army, the Black Knight Claude.」

Hearing the words 「Demon King Army」, Lumon’s brow moved with a twitch.

There was only a single Demon King in this world, only Vermudol. In that case, this Mazoku who introduced himself as Claude was part of a group that assumed the title of Demon King Army.

「I see. In that case, in the name of Demon King Vermudol-sama, I shall disavow you and your master.」

「That is impossible. The deceased are unable to do anything.」

With the distance being filled in an instant, Lumon’s sword repelled Claude’s sword that was raised overhead.

While jumping away towards the back just like that, Lumon shuddered at the weight of that one attack.

While repressing the pain of the tingling vibrations that were transmitted through his hand, Lumon stuck out his other hand.

「Attack Light!」

As he fired that bullet of light, Lumon jumped forward at the same time.

No matter how strong Claude was, the only thing that could oppose magic was magic. Whether it be an opposing magic or a barrier, as long as it was invoked, an opening would definitely appear.

「O Light……!」

And then, Light magical power dwelled within Lumon’s sword. What he aimed at, was the head that wasn’t protected by armor.

「U, OOOOO!」

Shouting, Lumon approached Claude.

Claude saw that while looking bored……He first crushed the bullet of light with his hand.

But, even so, Lumon didn’t stop. To begin with, his opponent was someone who wore armor that he didn’t know the origin of. The decoy magic being crushed fell within range of his expectations. And then, as long as he could fill the gap until he was at point-blank range……there would be no escaping him.

Together with a loud scream, he swung his sword down on Claude’s head.

The shining sword made a violent explosion on Claude’s head……And then broke into pieces.

「……Eh」

As Lumon was making a befuddled face out of shock, Claude’s sword cut into him going through his armor.

But, even so, Lumon immediately collected himself and jumped away from it, however, the pain hindered him, causing him to go down to his knees.

「It’s futile. With just a mere sword, you are unable to injure me.」

Hearing Claude say that without a care, Lumon was shocked.

That wasn’t a mere sword. It form certainly was that of the official style sword of the Eastern Army, but it was a sword meant for Magic Sword use that was made with fine quality Holy Silver.

With Light magical power going through it, the power of Lumon’s sword, even if it were going up against the hard scales of a Dragon, it should be able to cut through it.

To cause something like that to be smashed up, he had never heard of such a story.

But, not yet──even if his sword was broken and his legs couldn’t move, his mouth and his hands could still move.

Lumon composed a single magic with all of his strength. That was a magic with particularly strong power among the spells where it was possible to do the chant in a short amount of time.

「O Light, gather and penetrate my enemy……Guillo Light!」

Pointed at Claude, who was looking down at him in front of him, a dazzling beam of light was fired from Lumon’s palm.

However, that was repelled by Claude’s armor and was dispersed.

During that time, Claude didn’t even try to move.

Was he saying that he knew that it would turn out like this from the beginning?

Claude looked down at Lumon with melancholic eyes……and quietly raised the sword he held in his hand overhead.

「……This is unbelievable. Just what in the world are you?」

「I already gave you my name.」

Claude’s sword was swung down……and fresh blood was spread on the rooftop.

After looking down on Lumon who had become unable to move, Claude descended the stairway.

What was spread out down there, was a disastrous scene.

The corpses of soldiers, and bloodstains.

Those that tried to fight, those that tried to run away, the scene of after all of them had been killed, was found here.

The commanding officer of this place……what was their name again? If he remembered correctly, they were concerned about someone called Lumon while in a pool of blood and muttered that name several times.

「……Ahh, I see.」

Claude stopped in the middle of the stairway, and looked up at the rooftop.

「So that, was that Lumon.」

Those words did not hold any sort of emotion within them. He had merely solved a question.

Claude turned his gaze back to the front, and started walking once again.

And then, descending to the first floor, he advanced down the corridor where there was no one that could move. Going through the entrance hall that had bloodstains and burn marks remaining, he left from the broken front entrance.

Inhaling the air that had the smell of blood, Claude nodded with a *fumu*.

「I had thought that they would come right away though. Or could it be that they went overboard in the other places, and I don’t stand out enough?」

While muttering that, Claude turned around towards the occupied fort that he had just come out of.

「……Come to think of it, I guess nothing would come of just crushing a single small fort like this one. I will try aiming for a place that is a bit bigger.」

「Before that, why don’t you try dying? I’ll help you out with that.」

A fist then ran into Claude’s face as he tried to turn his gaze towards where those words had come from.

After then chasing after Claude and sinking him into the ground with an elbow strike, a voice filled with anger was thrown at him.

「You’ve done quite a bit as you pleased, haven’t you. In the report, they said that there was the possibility of you being the Hero but……that was wrong, you’re clearly a Mazoku.」

「Hou, and how can you tell?」

Slowly raising his body, Claude looked at the other party that punched him and made him fall.

Golden long hair and slit, blue eyes. A woman who wore a pendant with a yellow magic gem fitted into it on top of clothes that had white as the basic theme. She did not hold anything that looked like a weapon.

「What, do you plan on calling yourself the Hero?」

「No, I would not do something like that. More importantly……」

Claude fixed his stance with the sword that he was still clutching, and gazed at the woman before him.

「Are you, Vermudol?」

「Hou?」

Hearing that question, the woman raised one eyebrow. Nodding and going “I see”, her voice was filled with anger.

「So your aim is Demon King-sama. Certainly, although it was a single unit, against an opponent that could annihilate an army, it would be necessary for a suitably strong person to come out.」

「That is what I was trying to say though?」

Claude expressed a smile as if to look down on her.

However, the woman had vanished from his sight all of a sudden.

「Goh……!?」

The time he realized that that was “wrong”, it was the same time he felt pain in his chin.

The woman didn’t vanish from Claude’s sight.

Claude was sent into the air by the woman’s uppercut.

Unbelievable──within his distorted view, Claude was astonished.

For himself to be sent flying high into the sky and be given damage from someone unarmed, there is no way someone like that should exist.

「Don’t get carried away. A time where someone like you could point your sword towards Demon King-sama, that will never come for all eternity.」

The woman indifferently answered Claude’s earlier question.

「Also, I’m not a suitably strong person. I’m a considerably strong person.」

What dwelling in the woman’s hands was dazzling lightning.

That magic that was completed through Chantless was pointed at Claude who was only now falling down from the air.

「Voltenix!」

The intense lightning attack that was fired assailed Claude. And then, together with the impact on Claude’s body, it enveloped his whole body and sparked.

Finally falling to the ground at the same time as the explosion, Claude stood up while breathing roughly.

「……Hmph, you seem to be wearing some pretty good armor. But, that doesn’t seem to be all, right?」

Without answering those words, Claude glared at the woman.

「You……Who are you.」

「Fainell. Demon King Vermudol-sama’s loyal subordinate, and one of the Four Cardinal Generals……The Eastern General Fainell.」

After Fainell announced that, she quietly clenched both of her fists.