Side: Ayukawa Mayu
We’re in the mountains, in the clearing outside the bandits’ cave.
And what’s happening can only be described as a rout.
“GYAAAH!”
“M-m-m-MERCY!”
The palm-top rabbits pounced on bandit after bandit, administering thorough, methodical jab-jab-jab-jabs with those needle-like weapons.
Meanwhile, Ms. Ouroboros seized one of the bandits and hoisted him one-handed by the collar.
“Produce it.”
“Produce…? Eh? Produce WHAT, ma’am?”
CRACK — Ms. Ouroboros’s open palm detonated across the bandit’s face.
“Agih?!”
“Produce it.”
“Produce WHAT?!”
And the metronome began — CRACK, CRACK — full-swing alternating slaps, on and on.
“The money!”
—CRACK
“The gold coins!”
—CRACK
“The orichalcum currency!”
—CRACK
“The treasure!”
—CRACK
“PRODUCE IT!”
The bandit’s cheeks inflated in real time, blowing far past mumps into uncharted territory.
“Fo… fogive… blease fogive be… gyah!”
—CRACK
“The pleading of worm-grade filth does not register.”
And the alternating slaps resumed.
—CRACK
“Abibah!”
—CRACK
“Pugih!”
“Now then — has that mouth of yours become a little more honest?”
Just as Ms. Ouroboros beamed her bottomless smile, Demon Lord Cornelia’s high laughter rang out.
“FUHAHA! Bandits! I shall show thee a sight granted to few mortals!”
Demon Lord Cornelia raised her right hand overhead—
“BLACK DRAG-GENOCIDE — Dark Roar!”
Magical power on an idiotic scale converged into the Demon Lord’s palm, and at that point my legs simply gave out and I collapsed where I stood.
Then a third eye — a reptilian one — opened in the Demon Lord’s forehead.
“Kuhaha! The secret art of the ancient earth-dragon tribe — the Gold Roar of the Land Dragon, IMPROVED by mine own hand! Now — BE ERASED!”
And the Demon Lord aimed her right hand in some completely arbitrary direction and fired an energy-particle cannon at a distant mountain.
—KA-BOOM.
Ah. A mountain just ceased to exist.
Correction — the mountain’s entire SURFACE ceased to exist, leaving a bald dome of red earth and bare rock.
“FUHAHA, bandits! Now be MORE terrified than strictly necessary!”
Wait… she did all that PURELY to terrify them more than strictly necessary?
She summoned a hundred dragon zombies and hasn’t used a single one, either… ah. I see. The dragon zombies were ALSO summoned purely to terrify them more than strictly necessary.
“This is… completely insane. What ARE these people…”
I glanced toward the mister.
Just in time to see a bandit creeping up behind him—
“Mister, look out! ELDER FIRE — High Flame Sphere!”
“GUGYAH!”
Watching the bandit turn into a human torch, I nodded. Good.
My body’s fully recovered — the edge on my magic is exactly what it was before.
And since, for some reason, nobody here seems remotely interested in protecting the mister… I’ll just have to guard him myself.
And then — the bandit chief, an A-rank bounty head… the former Sword Saint who defeated me days ago, emerged from the cave.
“Oi oi… what in the hells is this…”
One look at a hundred dragon zombies and his will to fight visibly died on the spot.
Honestly — I sympathize.
It looks like hell itself overflowed into the daylight world. In his position, I’d make peace with death in about one second.
“Well — as you can see, you’re checkmated. We’re handing you to the Adventurers’ Guild, so… come along quietly.”
At the mister’s words, the bandit chief shook his head.
“Capture means the noose. If I die either way — let me at least die as a warrior. WHO among you is strongest in close combat?”
I’ve heard about this man — before the incidents in the capital put a bounty on him, he was a warrior who lived single-mindedly by the sword.
I can… understand him wanting to end it against Demon Lord Cornelia, I suppose.
He’s a villain now — but there was a time he devoted himself honestly, doggedly, to the blade.
He had a legitimate youth once. Same as anyone.
So at the very end of his life… he wants to test the one thing he can still be proud of, against the strongest being present.
That, I can… almost respect.
Then again — the simpler solution was to not become a monster in the first place.
Demon Lord Cornelia deliberated a moment, then tossed her words at the mister.
“Thou. Ready thy hoe for him.”
“Eh? I’M doing this?”
“‘Strongest in close combat’… was the order, was it not?”
“Oi oi, seriously…? What a pain.”
And I froze — comprehending neither what Demon Lord Cornelia had just said… nor what was apparently about to happen.