Chapter 142

Chapter 142

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Cadel hid behind a tree away from the gate, waiting for his subordinates to cross. If they did, it would mean the guards were under the illusion. He hurried to follow.

Cadel watched the two men’s backs, tense for a moment, until his nervous gaze shifted when he caught a glimpse of strange energy on the wide dirt path between him and the gateway, a path that had been worn down by countless visitors.

“......What is that?”

Like an unseen scribbler, a random pattern began to appear on the dirt floor. It started with a giant circle and filled the interior with geometric patterns, the speed of which he could barely keep up with with his eyes.

The bizarre scene, bordering on a psychic phenomenon, made Cadel reflexively pull away. As he approached, forgetting the fact that he was hiding, the pattern was mostly complete. And when he got close enough, he realized it was a ‘magic circle’.

“Ugh, what......!”

A blindingly bright pillar of light rose up. It was a dark purple light with a sinister aura.

Cadel reflexively stumbled backward at the beam of light, his barely-opened vision revealing the many silhouettes that filled the magic circle.

And from the fading light came a husky female voice.

“Oh oh, it’s a success, success! I was really summoned. It’s amazing! Right? You’re a genius, Emilia!”

She had her back to Cadel, so he couldn’t make out her exact features, but he could make out a pair of wings, neatly sprouting from where her shoulder blades should have been. They were nothing like the wings of Lydon. They were short, tattered, opaque dark red with ragged tips. They were definitely closer to the wings of a bat.

‘High Demon......?’

It was a kind of token proving that they were the core power of the Demon Realm and of a special lineage.

Cadel knew them intimately, down to their features, their fighting styles, and their skills.

That was because the High Demons were the first enemies Cadel faced in the Osma Empire, and they signaled the beginning of his quest for knight order promotion.

But why did this sign.

「Main quest ‘The Beginning of the Invasion’ accepted」

「Progress through the story by completing the quest. You will be rewarded.」

「In case of failure, the story cannot proceed.」

Why did this sign appear now and here?

“Ahhh! This is the first human smell I’ve had in a while! I’m free. I’m free!”

The High Demon let out a roar. An army of monsters crushed beneath her feet as she rose into the air. Faced with both types of enemies, Cadel’s face contorted in despair.

‘You should give me some time to get ready......!’

Even after the sudden appearance of the demons, they were busy chattering in the afterglow for a long time.

“The summoning was successful, so kill all the humans here, return to the Demon Realm, inform Emilia of her success, and.......”

She curled her fingers into a fist, carefully planning her movements, and then her head snapped up. Without a moment’s hesitation, she brought her hand up to strike out at the searing fireball. Her right hand, which had touched the flames, was stained with a deep purple demonic energy.

“You tell a good joke, human.”

As if she really thought it was a joke, the sly-eyed Sellev gave a light blow and withdrew her fist. Cadel hastily reinforced the shattered barrier, then grinned back at her, pretending to be unaffected.

“Whatever, it doesn’t matter. My job today is to run amok.”

Slowly flying backward, Sellev kept her gaze on Cadel.

“Leave it to my scum to run the Empire into the ground. This body is a warm-up, and I’m going to tear a magician I haven’t seen in a long time apart.”

With a crunching sound, ferocious demonic energy like embers sprang up on top of Sellev’s broken hands.

“After slaying the magician who turned me on just by looking at him, with this giant of a body that was widely known to humans―”

But before she could finish her sentence.

Creak creak!

An ice awl rose from the entire magic circle. With a swift move, sword energy sliced through the dense column of ice that emerged and sprinted forward, aiming for Sellev’s back.

A lesser foe would have been immobilized and mortally wounded, but Sellev quickly spun around and slammed her fist into the flying sword energy. It was a swift enough move that Cadel could see the afterimage of the demonic energy’s fluttering.

Sellev’s brow crumpled. More than half the Red Men army she’d kept on standby had been killed by random magic and sword energy. Her sullen gaze flicked over the half-cut ice pillar.

“Commander! Are you hurt?”

“Cadel, I don’t want to run. Release the transformation.”

What she saw was a human with an uncommon aura and.......

“......Fairy?”

A familiar scent wafted from the boy as he ran unmotivated. The human raced to the magician’s side, and the boyish fairy followed closely behind.

Sellev’s eyes glowed. After a brief pause, she flew at the fairy and raised a fist in the air.

Just before her fist touched, a shield of cold ice formed between them. But the flimsy shield shattered as soon as it touched the fist with demonic energy. Just as Sellev’s brutal strike caught the boy’s cheek on the other side of the shield.

“What is this stupid demon?”

Five ice spears were aimed at her back. Reflexively, Sellev spun around, destroying them with her bare hands, but the one she didn’t break grazed her waist.

“......Ah ah, the first person to touch this body is a fairy, tsk tsk.”

As she frowned at the dull ache, a voice called out from the direction the ice spears had come from.

“Ahaha! Did you just break my magic with your bare hands? How stupid and ignorant”

Sellev’s eyes narrowed. The boy, who should have been beyond the shattered shield, stood proudly on the other side. Her attack had clearly been aimed at the boy’s cheek, so he couldn’t have traveled to the other side in that brief moment. If so.

‘A trade of place using illusion at some point.’

Was it from the time when he was running unmotivated? I didn’t even realize I was under a spell. It’s been a while since I’ve dealt with a fairy, so maybe my senses are dull.

Sellev, noticing the traces of a magic circle in the fairy’s eyes, bit her lip in disappointment. Lydon, waving gently at her, turned away and went to Cadel’s side.