Chapter 127
The cold wind sweeping across the snowfield washed away the screams of the battlefield and the stench of blood.
I advanced while swinging my frozen sword. The demons tried to surround , but I did not stop for even a single mont. Wherever my footsteps passed through the snow, corpses piled up.
Bang!
A blade of ice that burst from the tip of my sword pierced through a demon’s body. The demon was flung into the air and shattered into pieces. The surrounding demons scread in terror.
“Th-this bastard……!”
One demon lunged at . But I did not even turn my sword to counterattack. I simply extended my hand.
Winterbell Style Phantom Sword, Fourth Form – Frost Spikes.
The cold energy spreading from my fingertips wrapped around the demon’s body. In an instant, his limbs froze solid, and he looked down at himself with a horrified expression.
“W-what… is this…?”
I calmly raised my sword. Then I lightly slashed.
Slice.
A single strike. The demon’s body split cleanly into two.
I looked at the demons trying to retreat. Fear filled their eyes. The demons who once treated humans as prey had now realized that they were the ones being hunted.
“Do you think there’s anywhere to run?”
As I muttered quietly, one of the demons ran into the snow without even looking back. But I rely gave a light swing of my sword.
Swoosh!
A streak of ice blade shot out from my sword, cutting through the air. The fleeing demon’s feet froze instantly, and in that mont, bang! the ice exploded. The demon’s body shattered into fragnts.
The remaining demons were frozen in fear, unable to move.
I swung my sword in a circle.
“It’s over.”
A massive ice storm erupted from the tip of my sword.
Winterbell Style Phantom Sword, Eleventh Form – Snow Explosion (雪爆).
The blizzard raged as if exploding.
Giant spears of ice burst up from the ground, and the demons there froze in an instant.
It was as if a massive grave had been created.
I calmly sheathed my sword and looked around. Nothing was moving. Fortunately, it seed there were no casualties among the White Wolf Knights either.
Greed arose within .
‘My knights.’
It was true that they had grown much stronger, but they were still far from sufficient when it ca to dealing with demons.
At best, perhaps their captain, Camille, was sowhat usable.
The rest still needed more training.
Seeing the Black Sword Unit made that fact even more apparent.
Now that demons had appeared in the North, it was certain that we would encounter them far more often in the future.
‘When I return to the family, I’ll have to pay closer attention to the knights’ growth.’
Even though I had suppressed my strength quite a bit while fighting, it still felt like I had plenty left. At this level, wouldn’t I no longer fall far behind compared to my previous life?
In fact, just considering my physical body, I was already beyond that.
‘Let’s go see Aunt.’
---
Izumi Winterbell delivered the final blow, piercing through Karbos’s body.
She turned and spoke to the Black Sword Unit.
“It’s ti to clean up.”
However, at that mont.
A strange energy spread from Karbos’s body.
Boom.
Cracks ford across his corpse, and a dark crimson demonic aura began to seep out from within.
Izumi frowned.
“This is……?”
The Black Sword Unit tensed and raised their swords again. But she raised her hand to stop them.
Karbos’s corpse slowly split apart as if crumbling. And from within, an ominous wave of demonic energy spread outward.
I saw that scene and quickly ran over.
“Aunt, what’s happening?”
Izumi raised her sword again and said,
“It doesn’t seem like sothing that ends with a simple death.”
At that mont, an imnse energy burst out from Karbos’s corpse.
Boom—!
The crack tearing through the snowfield widened further and further.
From the massive rift, a dark crimson mist surged upward, staining the air in darkness.
For a mont, it felt as if the sky itself had turned black.
This was not rely a crack. A gate.
A nightmare rift through which demons crossed into this world.
Bang!
From sowhere, the sound of heavy tal colliding rang out. And from within that rift, sothing with form began to walk out.
At first, only red eyes were visible.
One, two— no, dozens, hundreds.
Glowing red eyes appeared one after another from within the darkness.
And then,
A demonic legion revealed itself.
“……This makes no sense.”
One of the Black Sword Unit knights muttered in shock. Even they were seeing such a sight for the first ti.
This was on a completely different level from the demons we had faced before.
Each of those demons was not a re monster.
They controlled their magic and were fully ard.
Even ordinary demons belonging to standard divisions would be nothing more than inferior entities in front of them.
“This is…… a legion.”
“A legion of demons?”
Soone muttered.
A demonic legion.
It was not simply a swarm of demons.
A formally organized force, a weapon of war moving under the na of the Demon King. And such beings had now descended upon this snowfield.
And there was one who led that legion.
A legion commander-class demon.
It was not just one.
Beyond high-ranking demons—supre demons.
Twin legion commanders.
When such ominous beings set foot into this world, it felt as if everything had co to a halt.
They stepped forward at the sa ti. With calm strides, they crossed the rift and entered the world of humans.
In that instant, the wind stopped.
The blizzard hung motionless in the air.
The overwhelming flow of demonic power made even space itself feel frozen.
Thud…! Thud…!
Their footsteps shook the ground.
The one who stepped out first was Vaaz.
He revealed himself within the rising black mist, moving with heavy steps.
The massive armor covering his entire body was twisted as if fused with his flesh, and the skin visible between the armor was engraved with grotesque patterns.
They were not re decorations.
The black patterns writhed. Like living things, they continuously shifted and flickered.
“……Khh.”
He let out a low laugh.
With his voice, the demonic energy within the rift grew even denser.
Vaaz’s eyes were hollow black, yet within them, red flashes flickered ominously.
His gaze swept across the knights.
At that mont, so of the knights collapsed to the ground.
“……Ugh.”
With each step he took, the snowfield beneath him turned black.
Even the enormous demons were dwarfed by his size.
The dark crimson armor surrounding his body rippled as if defying gravity, and the horns extending from his shoulders curved like a crown.
And his two eyes.
Those red eyes were the eyes of one who gazed upon endless destruction and despair.
It was suffocating.
Just looking at those black patterns made the heart feel heavily crushed.
Vaaz slowly raised his hand.
The dark crimson energy spreading from his fingertips wrapped around the knights’ bodies.
It was a curse.
Not re magic.
It did not simply suppress the enemy—
It denied their very existence and slowly destroyed it.
“Your bodies will grow heavy.”
Vaaz’s voice was low and deeply resonant.
That alone was enough to send chills crawling over the skin of those who heard it.
At that mont, another being stepped out beyond the rift.
Appearing a step later than Vaaz, he was Kaaz.
His form was indistinct.
At tis he flickered like a shadow, and at others he scattered like dark crimson smoke.
However, one thing was certain—the massive red horn blazing above his head.
From that horn, an endless demonic aura flowed, pressing heavily upon the air in this place.
Shuuuuuk.
As he took a single step forward, the smoke surrounding his body spread outward.
The knights who inhaled it had their bodies stiffen in an instant.
“……Sothing feels wrong……!”
“Guaaah!!!”
Soone scread.
But even that person was already losing their senses.
Unlike his brother, Kaaz had a different way of breaking his opponents. While Vaaz crushed the body, Kaaz paralyzed the senses.
“I shall gift you a fear that will not disappear even if you close your eyes.”
His voice was quiet, yet the mont it was heard, it felt as though the mind itself was being twisted.
His presence was not rely oppressive.
It was fear that dominated the senses.
Those who t his eyes fell to their knees without even realizing it.
The mont the twin legion commanders revealed themselves, not a single mber of the Black Sword Unit or the White Wolf Knights retained their will to fight. That was the scene of the battlefield upon which Vaaz and Kaaz had descended.
Vaaz muttered in a low voice,
“Humans of Winterbell……”
With just those words, the air sank heavily.
The knights of the Black Sword Unit nearly scread as they swallowed their breath. All of them felt the hands gripping their swords tremble uncontrollably.
Overwhelming killing intent.
“Th-this is……”
Soone unconsciously took a step back.
It was not rely because of fear.
It was instinctive terror.
This opponent… was not a being that could be defeated in battle.
“……Hoo.”
Yet even within that fear, only two humans stood calmly.
Izumi Winterbell.
And , Ran Winterbell.
I narrowed my eyes and lightly turned my sword.
“……So you were the demon who planted the rift.”
Izumi let out a small laugh.
“Oh, my nephew even knows about rifts? That’s unexpected.”
The legion commanders’ red eyes slowly turned toward the two of us. Vaaz extended his hand, releasing demonic energy.
Space collapsed.
Bang!!
In an instant, the Black Sword Unit and the White Wolf Knights dropped to their knees.
“Ghk… ugh…!”
“Huff!”
They couldn’t even breathe properly.
This wasn’t re pressure. Absolute fear.
Their bodies trembled. Their muscles refused to obey.
This was the oppressive force of legion commander-class demons.
Even the Black Sword Unit couldn’t move a single step.
The White Wolf Knights couldn’t so much as twitch a finger.
Their minds began to grow hazy.
At that mont, soone scread.
“We have to run…! We can’t face them…!”
Chaos amplified the fear.
Panic spread like a disease.
However.
At that mont—
A fierce roar tore through the battlefield.
“——Kuaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”
The battlefield shook. The air trembled.
The Black Sword Unit and the White Wolf Knights all stopped screaming at once.
They looked at the one person standing before them.
Izumi Winterbell.
She was slashing her sword downward.
The blue aura erupting from her body tore through space. Her furious shout spread as if ripping apart the oppressive force of the twin legion commanders.
“Raise your swords instead of wasting ti being afraid.”
Her voice was calm, yet the power within it shook the battlefield.
The knights of the Black Sword Unit instinctively drew in a breath.
The fear before their eyes was gradually fading.
I let out a faint smile.
“As expected of you, Aunt.”
“Enemies have shown up that are on a completely different level from that one earlier, haven’t they?”
“…….”
“Ran. You’d better be tense this ti.”
“When you say that with such a relaxed expression, it’s not very convincing, Aunt.”
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