CH 50

Going to War

Immediately after teleporting to Sutherland, I took the avoided back roads and changed into a specially made suit and donned a mask.

I could have just used any old cloth to cover my face, but Satella had been adamant about this design.

“Still, this is a bit……” I thought.

At best I’d call it creative, but it was more of a delusional design a child succumbing to chuunibyou would enjoy.

Well there was probably some sense to it—the suit strangely matched it. But as I was a middle-aged man inside, this design really made me itch all over.

“Well, whatever.”

I strongly believed that someone’s outer appearance was just one type of code your brain produced. I honestly couldn’t care about my appearance.

Now, what should I do next……Well, the jarring noises past the castle walls and the purple aurora drifting above made it pretty clear.

I visualized as much magic as I could. I don’t know why, but Fate seems to be on my side.

In any case, Judo and Carla couldn’t fight against that. I’d need to come out myself. And so, I manipulated the wind to bring myself atop of Sutherland’s northern walls.

There, I saw a landscape of absolute chaos. Truly, that was the only word I could use.

Carla and Judo stood in the center, repelling the blue dragon’s fierce attacks. Well, the only reason they could still resist was because the man in the purple suit had no intention of instantly killing them. He seems like quite the messed-up guy.

Meanwhile, the large, two-headed serpent and the mysterious crested bird continued to rampage atop the castle walls that were the escape routes of the empire’s army. Actually, that giant bird looked more like a chicken. The only real difference was that this one had the ability to fly.

Hmm, the two-headed serpent was one thing, but I was quite curious about giant chicken grew so large.

“That was close.”

The large, two-headed serpent and the giant chicken mercilessly turned the soldiers into corpses while they beelined towards a single mercenary.

I slipped into a cloud of dust and teleported behind Aquido, where the large serpent and the mysterious bird’s noses could almost graze me.

Aquido stopped to turn around before lowering his center of gravity.

“Come, I’ll slice you in three and have you for dinner!!”

Eating the undead? I didn’t think of that. It’s certainly an interesting idea, but can you really turn that rotten meat edible just by cooking it? I’m really interested in that, but I should give him some appropriate advice.

“Hm, I’m all for trial and error, but if you eat these rotten monsters you’ll hurt your stomach.”

I grabbed his coat and threw him behind him. At the same time, I created a wall of air using the high rank wind spell, 《Wind Manipulation》.

They crashed into the wind wall and spun in the air before collapsing onto the ground.

There were some inexplicable phenomena at play here, just like with Lamperts. Maybe the undead had some type of consciousness inside. I had some interest in testing out the human undead, but they were animals no matter how you looked at it. Three was definitely too many for an experiment, and it seemed too difficult to preserve their bodies in the first place. It felt a tad wasteful, but I’d dispose of these two rotten animals.

I used 《Wind Manipulation》to imprison the two in a ball of air and slowly made it rise. Then, I shrunk the ball until it was only half the radius of before.

The undead animals struggled in a craze to escape.

It’s no use. 《Wind Manipulation》was like 《Cetus》in that it was one of three high rank spells where its power was in proportion to the casters Magic. They, who had merely C+ Magical Endurance, couldn’t even hope to survive.

Aquido glanced at the two undead, now a clump of meat in their death throes. Maybe it was relief, but he quickly lost consciousness after exchanging a couple of words.

Now, I couldn’t just leave him here. I had to protect Judo and Carla too. There was the extremely burdensome imperial army, too.

That toy (the blue dragon) was one thing, but the man in the purple suit with a hat was clearly on a different level. Even I’d probably need to go all out. Which meant I’d need to get him to leave as quickly as possible.

“All battalions, retreat!!”

The battlefield returned to a strange lull as Emperor Georg’s command flew out.

The soldiers, whose thinking had stalled as a result of those giant animals suddenly disappearing, came back to their senses after the emperor’s command, and began scrambling to retreat.

What a remarkable man that emperor is, to instantly gauge the situation. Next was just to buy time.

I teleported him to the first floor of Sagami Co.’s office in Straheim. Then, I casted the thunder magic, 《Flash》, and flew into the sky where Carla and Judo were repelling the dragon’s fierce attacks. Then, I turned towards the blue dragon and the man in the purple suit and casted 《Cetus》.

Dozens of 10-meter-long ice dragons rushed towards over the purple-suited man’s head and thrusted their fangs into the blue undead dragon’s windpipe and stomach.

The ice dragons were a piece of art, but the only thing that froze over were the blue dragon’s scales. The purple-suited man casted a black membrane over his surroundings and easily protected against the cold. That said, I had succeeded in freezing the area around his surroundings. That should buy a lot of time.

“Boss!”

“Grey-sama!”

The two of them cried out in joy and rushed over, completely out of breath.

“You’re the imperial army’s babysitter. Show them you’ll fight to the end,” I said.

“Um……what about you, Grey-sama?” she asked, fidgeting her hands.

“I have business with that guy.”

“Are you fighting by yourself?”

“Yeah.”

Her gleeful countenance morphed into a grim one, and she nodded towards Judo with bitter smile.

“Good luck.”

“I’ll leave it to you,” Judo added. “C’mon, Carla. We’re holding the rear. Let’s go!”

Carla looked back in reluctance.

She was the youngest among us mentally and was very shy. You could say that she holed herself up with only those close to her. So I was quite surprised that she had included Aquido, Zem, and the rest of the Scarlet Phoenix in that in-group in just a couple of week. I could already tell just how anxious she was towards Zem’s death.

“Don’t worry. I’ll come back. Don’t you know? I have teleportation.”

In reality, I needed some time to cast teleportation, so I didn’t think I would actually be able to use it against this enemy.

“……”

She turned her back towards me and then ran to catch up with the retreating soldiers. She hadn’t been convinced, but didn’t try to do anything unreasonable, proof that she was slowly growing.

Judo shrugged as well and said, “Be careful.”

He bowed once before following after Carla.

If all the divisions could temporarily take refuge near the castle walls, Judo and the others could probably take care of the rest.

It’s about time for them to revive.

—CRACK

A fissure appeared in the ice that encased the blue undead dragon and the man in the purple suit.

—CRACK

I heard a whistle. Then, a purple flame burst out of their bodies, melting and then dissolving the ice in an instant.

“Are you the rumored singularity?”

The voice echoed in my head. How many rules of physics do they plan to break? Well, I had plenty of my own secrets, but it still irritated me.

“I’m not sure what you mean by singularity, but I’ll definitely play with you,” I said.

There was quite a lot of distance between the purple-suited man and me, but I spoke in a normal voice. Honestly, there was no merit in talking with this guy. I couldn’t care less if he had heard me or not.

“Play. That’s quite pertinent. ♪” he elatedly monologued in a strange manner.

Well, it made sense. Even if their intention were to destroy the empire, they had no need to take such a roundabout path. He could have just attacked the capital with the blue dragon and the other creatures. There wasn’t any reason to go out of his way and have the undead march down from the north.

No, even that assumption was wrong.

“You may be right.”

I couldn’t analyze him for some reason, but he radiated an intense pressure that burned my skin. He had enough power to fell the entire empire on his own. There wasn’t much meaning to bring out the undead in the first place.

“Hmmm. Just like my reports said, you’re a creepy brat♫”

“Yeah, I’ve been hearing that a lot lately.”

Well now, I’m a busy man. Let’s start already.

I layered dozens of the spell,【Aegis】, on top of each other.

“You certainly possess an unbelievable amount of power for this inferior world……It’s kinda a waste ♩”

The purple-suited man whistled as if he were impressed.

He called it an inferior world, and he wore a suit, something not in this world. He might have come from the same place as had the Hero, who was still guarding the rear of the retreating soldiers.

“Is that so.”

Low rank spells would have little to no effect, and trying to cast 【Crimson Meteors】, the legend class spell with a long chant that I hadn’t even mastered, was out of the question.

I was probably limited to magic where I knew its effectiveness. At best I could use the three high rank spells that grew more powerful in proportion to my magic,《Cetus》,【Wind Manipulation】, and【Explosive Thread】, the lightning spell –【Flash】and other supporting spells, and the only legend class spell whose chant I had revoked, 【Skaði Palm】, the strongest spell I wielded.

“Entertain me.”

He whistled, and purple spheres began to float up into my surroundings. Goosebumps appeared all over at just a glance. Those spheres were seriously dangerous—they sent an intense chill down my spine that made me want to vomit for the first time since reincarnating in this world.

And the fact that he understood the strength of 【Aegis】and yet hadn’t wavered in the slightest meant thbat he was on a higher level in terms of strength.

However—.

“How auspicious,” I muttered while trying to suppress a laugh that swelled from deep within.

“Ha? What’s so funny?”

His voice was tinted in anger, as if he had inferred what I meant.

No good. It’s no good. Certainly, you’ve attained that much power at that age, and you’ve an innate talent that far surpasses mine. But still, I don’t like that, so—.

“You’re deeply amusing. I mean, there’s something you’re desperately lacking.”

“Lacking!?”

His speech had already turned boorish. The only thing left was drilling into this inexperienced, ridiculous kid.

“Kid, I’ll teach you true conflict, unlike the house you had been playing.”

I lowered myself and strained my abs.

“You—”

The moment he opened his mouth, I casted 【Flash】and dashed towards him.

And so, I began my one-sided game.