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Act 3-16.2: The Velos Ball 1
Shirone and Kaya finally realized the identity of the person who released the killing intent. There was no doubt about it, they were convinced that the one who spoke to them was a comrade of the ogre they had killed.
「I see, revenge huh. That makes you an ogre, right? And yet, you’re too short for an ogre.」
Kaya was right, the person who stood before them was shorter than an ogre.
Is this one altering their appearance with magic?
An Ogre’s physique was far bigger than a human’s. Yet, the physique of the one before them seemed to be no different from that of a normal human.
「Indeed! I’m Kujig the Ogre! Zengu was such a good son of mine! And now you’re going to be punished for murdering my adorable Zengu!」
The self-proclaimed Kujig spoke with anger.
Shirone was pissed off upon hearing that.
「How can you say that an Ogre who ate humans is a good child!」
「You’re right, Shirone-sama! Punishment for what?! You guys ate humans, why are you now throwing a tantrum when humans killed your son?!」
Kaya sprung toward Kujig as she spoke.
「HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!」
And then, just before she unleashed her attack, Kujig’s voice suddenly changed into someone else’s, and that person fell on his rear.
It was a male voice, completely different from the old woman’s voice they heard just a while ago.
Kaya stopped her punch as soon as she heard that voice. Then, she felt the strong killing intent vanishing into thin air. It was as if the person before them had become a completely different person altogether.
「You are
?」
「It’s me, Kaya-sama! Echigos!!」
Though they couldn’t recognize him at first since his entire body was covered with a black robe, they did feel familiar with that voice.
It turned out to be the Ogre’s subordinate, Echigos.
「What are you doing here?」
Kaya drew closer as she asked Echigos.
「M-My body got hijacked
 by Kujig the Ogre
」
Echigos replied with a flustered voice.
「Could it be possession magic?」
Shirone recalled the magic Chiyuki had spoken of before. It was a spell used to hijack another living being’s body. Rino could do the same with her mind magic. During this kind of take over, the mind of the body’s owner was put to sleep, it was deemed as ill-suited for combat since the user could only exert half of their original strength.
In short, it wasn’t a user-friendly spell.
「Most probably. I can’t feel the strength we felt in his current condition after all.」
Kaya answering Shirone’s question.
「But still, why
」
Using possession magic to fight against Shirone and her companions was a bad idea since Kujig could only use half of her power in that state.
「It seems she wanted to lure us out of the Royal Palace. Let’s go back. Milady must be worrying about us by now.」
Kaya, who rarely showed her expression in normal situations, spoke with a rather flustered voice right now.
「The ogre already knows about us. So Kujig’s aim might be Kyouka-san.」
Kaya nodded, she agreed in no time with Shirone.
Shirone knew about Kujig from the information that was provided by Koki’s citizens.
""
Kujig was an ogre witch with nine sons. If Kujig came, it was only natural to assume that her sons also came with her.
Kyouka, who couldn’t control her magic properly, might not be able to deal with them.
「Uhm, I
 I can’t see anything since it’s too dark. Are you going to leave me in this place—」
Echigos suddenly spoke to Shirone and Kaya as they were about to go back.
Echigos who was released from Kujig’s possession was just a weak human. But, Shirone and Kaya didn’t have any time to worry about hime.
「I’ll go first, Kaya-san.」
Shirone flapped her wings and flew to the sky.
And then, Kaya started to run after Shirone.
「WAIIII~~~~~~~T!」
Echigos was chasing after them while screaming at the top of his lungs. But, he couldn’t see very well since it was dark and ended up tripping on a tree’s roots. Naturally, Shirone and Kaya ignored him since they were in a hurry.
「Eh?」
It happened a few seconds after Shirone took a flight. She landed on the ground since she felt something was amiss.
""
「Shirone-sama!!」
Kaya rushed towards her from below.
「There’s a invisible wall
 we’ve been trapped in this place
」
Shirone pushed her hand forward, and felt something like an invisible wall blocking her way. It was a magic barrier that seemed to be made to trap them in this place.
「Tch! She got us!!」
Kaya let out an impatient voice again. Her impatience was only natural since Kyouka, her master, might be in danger right now. Shirone also agreed with her. It was just ogres, so Kyouka had no problem beating them when she went all out. However, the main issue was that Kyouka couldn’t control her magic properly—Velos Kingdom might get destroyed by her uncontrollable magic tonight. Even worse, she might turn Velos Kingdom into a sea of fire.
Shirone wished that Chiyuki or Nao were with them. In Chiyuki’s case, this kind of barrier was no big deal, while Nao could detect this kind of trap beforehand. Until now, Shirone had felt it would be alright as long as she swung her sword with all her might. Thus, she was completely unprepared when they faced such an unexpected trap like this.
The same could be said about Kaya, they were now in the palm of their enemy’s hands.
「Can you destroy this, Shirone-sama?」
Shirone showed a troubled look on her face upon hearing Kaya’s question. Though it was possible to destroy the barrier with brute force, it was actually much faster to do that with magic. Shirone’s magical power was much higher than Kaya, thus she was much more suited to destroy this barrier, but it would still take time.
「If Chiyuki-san was here, she would’ve easily destroyed this barrier, but it’ll take a bit longer for me.」
Shirone touched the barrier again as she said so. The barrier wasn’t that powerful. But, it would take a while for Shirone to destroy it since dispelling magic wasn’t her forte. Nevertheless, they were running out of time.
Shirone injected her mana into the sword, and swung it towards the barrier.