#080
Irene is a fusion of human and monster.
A monster’s mana core sitting near her heart where a magic circuit should be.
The monster tissue implanted where inscriptions should be has completely rged with her body through continuous growth.
An interdiary with a human interior and a monster’s flesh.
A seed of catastrophe that would open the Great Rupture by sacrificing hundreds of thousands of people.
If I had wanted to avoid that catastrophe, I should have killed her when I escaped from Elcidore.
I should have eliminated the possibility of a Black Witch before the terrible seed of catastrophe could grow further.
‘However, I didn’t do that.’
Count Elcidore.
Imperial Youth Military Academy.
The eastern front full of monsters, and the western front full of Republican forces.
Even while rushing around the vast empire from north to south and east to west, I always kept Irene by my side.
And while keeping her close, I accelerated Irene’s growth.
‘Eugene…? Why…?’
‘How could you… do this to us…!’
I fed her all the talented Knifehead mbers.
‘Well done, Eugene.’
I fed her Ben, the five-stroke mage who was my supervisor.
The Republican magicians who attacked Mari.
The monsters encountered on both eastern and western fronts.
Even the Revolutionary Army magicians killed after interrogation.
I diligently fed them all to her.
So that her power could grow even stronger.
So that she could perfectly control and utilize the Black Witch’s power I had seen in the ga.
And finally, after all this ti spent carefully nurturing her, it has borne fruit.
“Hoo…”
Feeling overwheld with emotion, I lifted my head to look at the scene before .
Irene’s shadow covering the sky.
The countless eyes and teeth erging through that shadow.
The source of all that dark and murky energy was looking back at
with a smile.
“Eugene!”
The girl calling my na with an innocent smile, Irene.
She who was the worst boss in the ga has now beco my weapon.
***
“What the hell?!”
“Deploy barriers! Deploy barriers!”
“Form tight formations! Link the spell formations! Quickly! If not, we’ll be eaten first!”
The first to shout at the shadow covering the sky were the knights of House Gloucester.
The Special Magic Unit mbers who had been carrying out missions together followed their instructions to activate barriers, while the Count’s knights imdiately activated their magic imprints.
Fwaaash–!
The Gloucester magic imprint learned from the Count, [Guardian of the Thorn Garden]
When the inscription specialized in purifying contamination glowed green, wooden walls ford around the gathered troops.
“They’re coming!”
“All units aim!”
“Those at the front, focus on the barriers! Do as we trained!”
Through gaps in the makeshift fortification of bushes created by Gloucester knights and Special Magic Unit mbers, the Special Magic Unit mbers aid their guns, and Guille and Leopold imdiately raised their hands.
“Fire-!”
Kwakakakaang—!
With their shouts, dozens of magic bullets exploded, incinerating the disciples positioned at the front.
The Gloucester knights’ purification spells and barriers.
The Special Magic Unit mbers’ magical power maintaining those barriers, and the firepower from their magic bullets.
When their formation that complented each other was completed, uncertainty spread among the disciples who had been firing magic randomly.
“Enemy firepower exceeds ours.”
“Enemy forces are more threatening than anticipated.”
“Change of strategy. Retreat into the fortress…!”
Crunch-!
So disciples tried to turn back, but it was already too late.
A bizarre sound from beneath their feet.
Only after hearing that sound did they realize their legs were no longer moving.
Creak, creak.
The black shadow crawling up their feet.
Seeing the teeth and eyes sprouting all over the shadow, the disciples froze in place as if petrified.
Puppets who only knew how to follow orders, their thinking capacity surgically reduced.
No wonder their brains overloaded when faced with such an unexpected situation.
“N-no…!”
Before the screams from so disciples could even finish.
Crunch-!
Irene’s shadow devoured all the disciples who had entered its domain without exception.
The disciples struggled like they were sinking in a swamp as they fell into the shadow.
The nurous mouths and eyes that sprouted from the shadow were satisfying their hunger by voraciously devouring them.
“Eugene. You, what is this…”
“Lady Irene? The young lady who always accompanied the Commander? Did she do this…?”
The Special Magic Unit mbers were equally shocked at the scene unfolding before them.
Irene’s presence that appeared without warning.
Walking through an area full of monster contamination without protective gear.
And the bizarre black shadow that moved according to her gestures, devouring enemies.
If even senior officers like Guille and Leopold were like this, the soldiers’ unease was obvious.
How should I handle keeping these guys quiet?
While I was thinking about this, an explosion rang out from one side of the fortress.
Kwaaaang–!
As one wall section burst open, it revealed Elcryer Count and Margrave Gloucester locked in combat.
Without hesitation, I loaded a magic bullet into Heresy and aid at Count Elcryer who stood at the front.
“Hmm?!”
The Count, engaged in close combat with Margrave Gloucester.
As if noticing my presence, the Margrave dodged the sword striking at him and kicked up at Count Elcryer’s chest.
“Now!”
As expected of an old man who’s been through it all, his situation awareness is remarkable.
I imdiately activated [Eye of Horus] and pulled the trigger while aiming at the Count’s heart.
Kiiiiing–!
Penetration spell, [Spear of Mithra]
Though the Count belatedly deployed a barrier after noticing , my magic enhanced by the magic bullet tore through his barrier like paper.
Splat-!
The Count’s left arm fell to the ground in tatters.
Seeing this, I clicked my tongue quietly.
Even for a non-combat magician, he was still the head of a magic noble house.
I had aid for his right arm with the magic imprint, but he had twisted his body to dodge in that instant.
“…”
The Count stared at his fallen left arm for a long while.
His expression showing no sign of pain gave both
and Margrave Gloucester an odd sense of déjà vu.
But that was only montary.
Confirming the battlefield had been cleared, Count Gloucester imdiately signaled to his knights.
Shing-!
The Gloucester knights surrounded the Count, pointing swords drawn from their chests.
Seeing this, Count Gloucester looked towards
and slowly opened his mouth.
“Thanks to you, I saved my life. So in return, I won’t ask about what that child is.”
He ans he’ll keep quiet about Irene’s existence.
However, his eyes looking at Irene were no longer warm and friendly like before.
“But that’s all. Once everything is over…”
“Irene will never enter Gloucester territory again.”
Hearing my words, the Margrave nodded with a heavy expression.
It’s natural he would react like this, finding out that soone he had been laughing and talking with until yesterday was actually a monster.
“Count Martin Elcryer.”
With the brief exchange over, it was ti to do what needed to be done.
The Margrave, his expression hardened, approached Count Elcryer who was surrounded by knights.
“Surrender quietly. If you move even a single step…”
“How strange.”
“…What?”
The Count’s sudden voice.
Count Elcryer raised his head and was staring at
with widely opened eyes.
“I thought everything was going according to plan.”
“Plan?”
“The knights used as bait. The fortress waiting with perception interference magic active. The thousands of disciples prepared for this day.”
“…”
“Every elent was moving under my control, and you all fell precisely into that trap.”
He was right.
The Special Magic Unit was already exhausted from one battle, and there was a limit to the firepower they could produce with magic bullets.
If he sent out disciples to deplete the Special Magic Unit’s magical power and then held out in the fortress, we would have had no choice but to retreat.
Moreover, Elcryer was one of the 12 Great Magic Houses.
Though both were magic noble houses, he had more allies than Margrave Gloucester who was tied to the frontier, and more influence in the central governnt.
If we let him escape now, it would take years to prove the charges, and then several more years to apply imperial law to those charges.
That would be more than enough ti to build a new fortress and continue his research.
“However…”
Speaking thus, Count Elcryer slowly raised his hand.
“You have been acting as if you knew all about this plan.”
“What?”
The Count’s finger was pointing at .
Around when the Margrave’s face contorted, Count Elcryer began spewing words endlessly as if in a trance.
“You mobilized all mbers for an exploration mission where only three knights went missing, imdiately deduced my connection to Elcidore, and effortlessly countered my hidden card.”
Saying this, the Count looked at Irene standing beside .
“Irene. Using the ‘Queen’s Factor’ that was taken by Elcidore long ago and thought to be irretrievable.”
This bastard’s spouting settings that only he knows again.
Queen’s Factor?
What’s that supposed to an?
“How were you able to arrange all of this? How could you, who had no connection to Gloucester territory, deduce and respond to all of this? Just how?”
“…”
The reason was simple.
From the mont I first ca to Gloucester territory, my target was Count Elcryer.
To prevent the ‘Black Sun Incident’ he would cause and catch the magic noble red-handed.
Even revealing Irene, who I had kept hidden all this ti, was for that purpose.
From the mont Irene and I arrived here, it ant the Count’s plan had failed.
“That’s not what’s important right now.”
Instead of answering the Count’s question, I raised my gun and aid it at his face.
“What’s important is that you conducted research related to monsters, and Margrave Gloucester and I witnessed this fact.”
Now, from here I must pass sentence not as a re enemy, but as a soldier of the Empire.
After clearing my throat, I changed my tone and spoke to the Count.
“Count Elcryer. Your illegal activities will be reported to the imperial capital, and the imperial family will not overlook this. In the worst case…”
After a brief pause, I spoke in a cold voice like passing judgnt.
“By His Majesty the Emperor’s command, you may be designated as an imperial target.”
“…!”
It was Margrave Gloucester who bulged his eyes at those words.
Target designation.
A legal asure that was applied to Irene in the original work, it was a state-level elimination order.
“Family, relatives, collaborators, friends, associates and so on. His Majesty’s decree to erase all connections of the designated target. If this is issued, House Elcryer…”
“Will literally cease to exist.”
An emotionless voice addressed .
No reaction when his left arm was shattered, no sign of being shaken even when threatened with his house’s destruction.
The Count was only staring at my face with eyes full of an inexplicable yearning.
Creepy bastard.
Just as I thought that, the Count’s face twisted into a grotesque smile.
“But none of that matters anymore.”
“…What?”
At that unexpected response, just as my face and the Margrave’s contorted.
Poof-!
Count Elcryer’s body, surrounded by knights, exploded into pieces right there.
“W-what?!”
“What’s this suddenly…!”
The Count’s body vanishing without any warning.
While Gloucester’s knights were thrown into confusion, I alternated between recalling the original work’s content and this situation.
“…Fuck.”
Feeling a throbbing in my head, I spat out a curse.
The suddenly exploding main body.
And with it, the start of phase 2.
It was the sa setup as the ‘Black Witch’ boss battle.
‘Thinking that Opel was the experintal subject who replaced Irene. That itself was the mistake.’
Rumble-!
As soon as that thought finished, the ground shook and sothing began rising from the center of the fortress.
A black sphere that endlessly absorbed light.
The Count’s new body beginning to form in its center.
Seeing that, I finally realized.
That the experintal subject chosen to replace Irene was Count Elcryer himself.
“Commander Eugene. Just what is…”
“Prepare yourself, Your Lordship.”
Kuooo—!
Black toxic energy was seeping out from small cracks appearing in the black sphere.
Mixed with that bizarre sound were cries that blended beast and human screams.
I activated my magic circuit at maximum output and replenished magical power by firing the magic bullet loaded in Heresy.
“If we can’t stop it, the territory of Gloucester will be destroyed.”
The magic imprint glowed red from the magic bullet’s overload, and magical power at its critical point surged up my arm.
The sixth stroke of [Wings of Crimson] was glowing red, filled with my magical power.
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