plumnovel Chapter 145 : Village Raid (2)
Chapter 145 : Village Raid (2)
Village Raid (2)
The special task force was the unit with the smallest number of personnel in the Imperial Court.
Even including officers, there were only five members and two officers—just seven in total.
While the general characteristic of a unit is that combat power is largely dependent on numbers, the special task force had never been considered weak at any time.
That was because, with only those few, their power rivaled hundreds or even thousands of ordinary troops.
In other words, each individual was a monster who rendered numbers meaningless.
However, similar units had existed in the past.
There was Saber, the Crown Prince's direct unit, disguised as the "shield of the Imperial Court".
And now, the special task force and Saber—two units whose members were each called monsters—stood face to face.
"All the villagers have been evacuated. It's safe now."
With a single sweep of his arm, Victor dispersed the fog.
At the same time, even the villagers who had been held hostage disappeared without a trace.
"No matter how many times I see it, I just can't figure out the principle of that fog."
Simon commented, recalling the vanishing mist.
They had undergone all kinds of training together as members of the special task force in the demon realm.
Although, of course, they had taken the time to understand each other's abilities, no one could explain Victor's particular power.
Victor himself was no different.
"I'm just as clueless. The one thing I do know is that it was originally the ability of a higher-rank monster—the Gigant Vulture."
Back when they were still soldiers at Paruzan Fortress, before becoming the special task force, their first encounter with terror was with the higher-rank monster—the Gigant Vulture.
After Victor ate that monster's meat, he acquired similar abilities to the beast.
The young master called this power "monster taker," but no one else knew more about it.
'It's generally said that eating monster meat is fatal.'
Even ingesting a little monster blood was rumored to kill a person swiftly.
Naturally, Victor was vehemently opposed the first time he ate monster meat.
But after surviving an encounter with the Gigant Vulture, drastic changes occurred in his body.
'Strangely, monster meat started to give off a savory aroma.'
It was an even more delicious smell than anything he'd eaten in the domain as a child, wafting from the monster's corpse.
He didn't know why, but that fragrance made it impossible to heed the danger of eating monsters.
Eventually, he ended up eating the meat, and four years passed since. Victor was perfectly fine.
'Moreover, I gained the ability to use the power of whatever monster I ate.'
Victor once again exhaled mist from his body. He did so, because as he was lost in thought, a slash was flying right at him.
"Whoever you are, just die!!"
Clive's sword, imbued with aura, launched a sword aura at Victor.
By turning his body into mist, Victor was able to evade the surging wave of sword aura.
"What?"
Clive was perplexed that his attack had missed.
It was an unusually wide-ranging slash that was nearly impossible to dodge by moving left or right, yet Victor had slipped by in a strange way.
"A most unpleasant slash."
It was the same sword aura that had, moments ago, destroyed the lords' burial ground.
Remembering this, Victor's expression darkened.
"They were good people."
Victor was consumed with rage at Clive's rampage that had obliterated the cemetery completely.
Transforming into mist and soaring into the sky, Victor deployed his wings.
Reproducing the form of the beast-bird monster he had previously consumed, he scattered feathers from his wings.
"What the hell is that now? Kgh!"
Clive gritted his teeth, deflecting the feathers shot at him like arrows.
Each one was so fast and penetrative it could be compared to a cannon shot.
It felt as if someone was machine-gunning high-tech magic bullets at him.
"Draco! Neimy!"
"Understood!"
"Leave it to me!"
The other two members of Saber attempted to cover Clive. Neimy began to chant a spell, targeting Victor as he attacked Clive from the sky.
"......!!"
At that moment, an arrow shot from afar caused her casting posture to falter.
She managed to barely block the arrow by instantly unfolding a defensive spell.
"That guy!"
With detection magic, Neimy sensed Rozen rapidly firing arrows from afar.
"Found you!"
As soon as she located her target, Neimy began to cast a new spell. At that moment, the sky darkened and crackled with electricity.
Sensing a powerful blow was imminent, Rozen resumed his rapid-fire.
Despite already chanting another spell, Neimy's defensive magic held strong.
"Idiots! I'm the only mage in existence who can overlap and stack magic chants!"
"But your back is exposed!"
The defensive magic only covered the front, leaving other directions undefended.
Thanks to that, Simon, an assassin-type, closed in from behind.
But Neimy didn't seem worried.
"Not so fast."
Just then, Draco caught Simon's dagger with his bare hand.
While the mage prepared large-scale firepower, the other close-combat expert guarded her.
That was their strategy.
"You'll have to get through me!"
"Tch!"
When Draco unleashed a punch with his fists, Simon's arms trembled.
He managed to block with both arms, but bruises formed.
"What are you, a gorilla?"
When Simon muttered, Draco launched another fierce barrage.
Each punch created a whirlwind, smashing the village buildings.
"Pesky little bug!"
Throwing his full force behind his punch, Draco blasted out the fires clinging to the village with the wind pressure.
Simon was dumbfounded by Draco's monstrous strength, which alone could alter the flow of nature.
"If I get hit even once, there'll be nothing left of my bones. But...."
Suddenly, Draco's arm bled.
"That's only if you can land a hit."
Strength aside, Simon clearly had the advantage in speed. As Draco punched, Simon's slash was quicker.
"I've fought plenty of brutes like you who rely solely on strength! Morons who swing only their fists or swords, and end up getting their arms hacked or heads chopped off by my dagger, countless times!"
Simon shouted bravely to intimidate his opponent. But Draco only snorted.
"You're fast, I'll give you that. But you can't finish me, either."
"What are you talking about?"
"Take a look."
Draco showed the cut on his arm. Simon was shocked as the wound began to heal by itself.
"Huh?"
"I'm an aura user with a special constitution. Unless it's instantly fatal, I never go down."
"Then how am I supposed to beat you!?"
Draco's onslaught resumed. Simon dodged while slashing Draco's body in different parts.
Simon, too, used aura, making his movements superhuman, rending skin as he went.
But no matter how many times he did this, Draco kept regenerating, counterattacking Simon.
"Let's see who wears out first, huh?"
Simon was taken aback. The only person his assassination didn't work on was Young Master Louis.
Young Master Louis was similar to this gorilla—no matter how much you cut him, it felt like nothing worked.
Simon had sparred with the young master numerous times. He'd also fought plenty of monsters immune to his attacks.
"Fine! That's what I wanted anyway! You damn gorilla!"
So he was happy to accept the showdown. But by then, Neimy was about done chanting her magic.
"Kyahahaha! It's over now!"
The dark sky suddenly turned crimson.
"This is the power granted to us by His Highness the Crown Prince!"
Bursting through the black clouds was 'Meteor,' the upper-level magic that created flame projectiles—much stronger than Fireball.
Even seeing that sky-borne mass of fire, Rozen kept up his rapid-fire.
"Pointless!"
No matter how many times he shot, he still couldn't break her defensive spell.
But Rozen knew a little about magic.
'If a mage's chant is interrupted, the spell fizzles or weakens.'
Rozen thought as he glanced at the magic array floating above Neimy's staff.
Judging by the vivid glow, she was still chanting.
'Looks like she doesn't have the skill to deploy a spell of that size instantly. Good.'
If she had, that would mean she was stronger than Officer Klein.
Rozen was relieved it wasn't the case and imbued an arrow with aura.
'Arrow of Destruction.'
The aura-infused arrow transformed, resembling a monster's fang.
He nocked, fired—it cut across the air at supersonic speed.
"I told you, it's pointless—kgh!"
In the very moment Neimy boasted, her barrier spell shattered!
"Damn...!"
The unexpected power of the arrow caused her chanting to falter, resulting in a smaller 'Meteor.'
"But that's fine."
Even so, that would likely be enough to obliterate her enemies.
Just as she thought this, Rozen fired another 'Arrow of Destruction' at the Meteor.
KWAOOOOOM!!――
When the Meteor and arrow collided, a huge explosion erupted in midair.
The Meteor burst like a balloon, breaking into fragments that rained down in every direction.
"Good thing there are no people around."
"Good thing? I almost got caught in that!"
Victor, who had been soaring through the sky, was hit by several Meteor fragments.
Even if the chant had been disrupted and the magic weakened, if it had hit the ground, the village itself would have been devastated.
"But as you said, it's lucky there's no one else here. Thanks to that, we could make our preparations unhindered."
"Looks like it's time. Simon, fall back!"
Rozen abruptly called Simon, who was in the middle of a fight.
Simon leapt away from Draco's punch, returning to Rozen's side.
"Ha... ha... I thought I was going to die! That damn gorilla!"
"They're definitely all strong. There's no way to win in a head-to-head fight."
Even they, the special task force, couldn't guarantee victory.
Saber was that formidable.
Frankly, four years ago, even Squad Leader Silia had a tough time against one of the Saber.
The special task force had witnessed it firsthand and knew their strength.
"But did we come here for a contest of strength?"
"Of course not."
But they were veterans of the demon realm—an organization that specialized not in 'competition,' but in 'slaughter.'
"Is everything ready, Victor?"
"Already done. You guys took your medicine in advance, right?"
"Of course."
"It's almost time."
As the shockwave from Meteor faded, the Saber members reappeared in front of them.
"Is it over already?"
Clive, the leader, asked confidently. Victor answered with a smile.
"How about I pose a question?"
"What is it?"
"Do you know what's coated on the wings of the beast-bird-type monster 'Mega Crow'?"
"Mega Crow?"
He'd studied monsters a bit. If he remembered right, the Mega Crow's wings contained venom.
"You remember those feathers I scattered around you? Know what monster's wings they're from?"
"Monster wing feathers?"
Clive suddenly got chills.
"The venom should have spread by now."
"No way... ugh!!"
Clive suddenly coughed up blood. Neimy and Draco exhibited the same symptoms.
"This is...!"
"You'd better run and take some antidote."
"Antidote...!"
Unfortunately, Saber had no such supplies left.
Having lost all their privileges, they now only had brute strength.
No support resources remained to make up for their weaknesses.
"Damn it...!"
"We came here just planning to take hostages in a simple village, and now...!"
"Just wait! I'll cast a detoxification spell—kyah!!"
Just as Neimy tried to chant a spell in the nick of time, Rozen shot her hand with an arrow.
The arrow pierced through, and her staff dropped to the floor.
"Grab on to my back! I'll jump with all my strength!"
As Draco tried to escape with the others on his back—
KRUMBLEEEE!―
Suddenly a giant boulder erupted from the ground. The massive hill-like rock blocked Draco's path.
"It's a power I gained by eating the mid-rank monster 'Land Golem'. Chewing through stone almost broke my teeth."
"Damn it...! Just who are you people?!"
If they could push Saber this far, they were no ordinary group.
'Could it be...?'
As Clive's mind raced with a hypothesis—
"See that over there?"
Victor pointed to the lords' cemetery—the one Clive had destroyed.
"If the young master sees that, none of you will die a merciful death."
"The young master...? No way!"
Upon hearing 'young master,' Clive's suspicion was confirmed.
"You... You're the special task force!"
Victor nodded to the question.
"I'm a bit more merciful than the young master, you know. So..."
Victor's hand transformed into a monstrous claw.
"Die cleanly here."
He aimed those sharp talons at them.
"Unless you want to regret later that you didn't die quickly."