Chapter 187: 172

I watched over her as she fought.

A cacophony of metal on metal filled the room as the oversized sword and the mace clashed, sending deadly blasts of wind that would tear flesh away at the slightest touch. It was a contest between superhuman and superhuman that no human could possibly take part in.

Like art.

Like predators hunting.

Like creatures slaughtering each other in the purest form.

Warped lives clashing together, their fight evoked a sense of beauty.

After a time that felt both long and short,

The deadlock between the two was broken.

Evetta-san started to get overwhelmed. It was the difference in condition and stamina. If she hadn't been wounded protecting me……….

No, there's no need for petty suppositions like that. It would be an insult to those who have resolved themselves to fight.

Evetta-san was unable to do anything but defend.

As she used her mace as a shield, she was slowly being cornered. Seizing the opportunity, the two-horned Horns intensified her attacks.

Roaring like a beast, she tried to crush Evetta-san along with the mace she used as a shield. The mace, a massive block of steel, cracked.

Bam, bam, bam, each time it was struck, the crack grew larger and parts of the mace head started to chip and fall off.

Evetta-san dropped to one knee.

It looked like it was already taking all she had just to hold the mace up.

Stop, I heard someone say.

The two-horned Horns swung her oversized sword down at her. It was a quick but heavy slash that seemed like it could take the head off a dragon.

The mace shattered on impact.

「What?!」

I couldn't help but exclaim.

From the shattered mace head, a brand new mace head emerged.

That mace had likely been created by reinforcing what was originally a huge mace with metal plating to make it even more massive.

That outer shell was now destroyed.

Along with the two-horned Horns' oversized sword.

「They're ultimately just imitations, Souya. Never forget that」

The lightened mace closed in on the two-horned Horns.

The first blow crushed her left shoulder and the second broke both her legs. The third blow landed squarely on her head.

A spray of blood bloomed and broken horns flew through the air.

She had won.

It was a brilliant victory.

「This is the difference between a fake and the real thing」

「As expected of you」

I gave her a thumbs up. Evetta-san looked at it quizzically before sticking her thumb up in the same way.

「After that, I just need to take those horns and………urgh」

「Evetta-san?」

Clasping her hand over her mouth, she sank to the ground. She was coughing up blood.

I rushed to her side, got down on one knee, and steadied her in my arms.

「Evetta-san, let's go back immediately」

「No. Just a bit more and you'll become an advanced――――」

「I don't care about that at all! Not right now!」

She lost consciousness. Her face was pale and her breathing was ragged. When I pulled up her cloak to check the wounds on her back, I saw that they had opened up and blood was pouring from them.

It's not that I hadn't noticed. During the course of the fight, I had desperately tried to ignore the blood I had seen flowing down her back.

I had endured and endured, and didn't stop her.

But she isn't going to last much longer.

「Hey! Garving! Come help!」

「Very well. You've retrieved my magic warhorn after all」

There was a burst of light and I heard Garving's voice in the flesh.

This guy, he has the same ability as Maria.

「I'm only able to teleport on this floor. That Maria that you're thinking of………Hmm, you're keeping me from reading anything about her, huh? Well, that can wait」

The white-bearded magician waved his staff and the broken horns flew towards him.

「This is the magic warhorn. It’s the whispering voice that has power over everlasting darkness」

The two horns floated in midair as the magician worked on them using some invisible power.

They overlapped, merged, and twisted into a single horn. It then turned into a warhorn.

「Hey, Garving. That means………」

「Good job getting it back. She wouldn't obey me when I asked her to return it, you see?」

「This Horns. Are you the one who made her?」

「If I could perform such a miracle, I would be………no, I guess it's of no importance」

「Of course, it's important. Wait, on second thought, it's not! Hurry up and heal Evetta-san!」

His secrets can wait. There's something much more pressing right now.

「You're really quite the practical person, huh?」

「Humans are nothing but practical, are they not?」

「Once, we were………ah, no matter. Aple, lend me your strength. Grant the living the strength to bear unbearable pain and live. For the sake of a small resurrection, mock even time」

Garving thrust the tip of his staff at Evetta-san.

The blood that had spilled out of her rose into the air like it was alive and then flowed back into her wounds. Her cold body grew warm again, and a healthy color returned to her skin. Her labored breaths were replaced by the calm breathing of sleep.

「Garving, while you're at it, extend her lifespan as well」

「That cannot be done easily. If it's absolutely necessary, then you must offer up your wife's life. Changing the natural order of life always requires sacrifice」

「Hey」

Is that an implicit way of saying it's impossible?

「Well, I suppose it is」

「You bastard. So, what do you plan to do with that magic warhorn?」

I don't really give a damn, but I have the sense that a really bad feeling is about to hit me.

It's my adventurer's intuition, or rather, a rule of thumb I've learned since I came to the alternate world. Fools who hoard more power than is necessary are difficult to deal with. They can drag other people into their messes without a second thought.

「I'll have you become a new Horns. And if you like, I can do the same to your wife so that you can have a “mate”」

「Haha」

I wasn't expecting that. But my body moved.

The thumb of my left hand pushed up on the tsuba(sword guard). Then, there was a flash of silver.

At this distance, this technique is faster than any miracle.

Even if I have a woman in my arms, no, it's precisely because I have her in my arms that I'm able to unleash my best iai-draw ever.

The head of the magician who had entered my blade's range……

「Tch」

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……was not separated from his shoulders.

A clear note rang out as my swing was parried by an identical flash of sliver.

「Nothing says that a magician can't be good with a sword」

The magician's staff contained a hidden blade. It was what one might call a cane-sword.

By some quirk of fate, the great magician was also proficient in iai-do.

「This is a sword technique that I learned from a blind foreigner when I was young」

「The heck?」

He must have been transported to the alternate world.

However, my first move missing is something I'm used to. I've already planned my next move. I had used Otou-san's katana for the earlier iai-draw. Next, with my beloved katana, I'll deliver the true――――――

「That's no good, Great Magician-sama. Cheating is bad」

There was a crunch.

A broken blade erupted from Garving's chest.

「Gah」

His heart pierced through and gouged out, the great magician died.

The woman flung the body away emphatically. The old man's corpse tumbled like a piece of trash into the corner of the room.

The woman's broken horns had been replaced by pointed animal ears and a fluffy and voluminous tail.

「Boy, can I ask you something?」

「Eh, me?」

I'm way too old to be called a boy.

「That cool looking gentleman with an eye-patch lying on the ground there. Could it be that he's Medimu Johann Weimaffee Kurtorch Roomen?」

「Eh? Well, his name is indeed Medimu, but………」

The long name that followed it………I've heard it before somewhere, but where was it?

「………That feminine-looking brat turned into such a suave and handsome fellow? Would it have been better if I had chosen him instead? I think I might have made a mistake………」

「You, by any chance………」

The woman flipped her long silver hair back.

She's a fox beastkin with silver hair. Her beautiful features bear a resemblance to Lanseal. However, she's more voluptuous and sexy. I wonder if this is how Lanseal will look like when she’s older.

「Oh, you know who I am? Well, I'm technically your senior after all, boy. My nickname is pretty embarrassing, so don't use it, okay? I'm just Verxina, a simple beastkin」

「You've got to be kidding me」

Otou-san's intuition had been spot on.

「How did you end up as a Horns?」

「Well, that's because I can't help it. I'm an adventurer before I'm a woman or a wife」

Verxina picked up the magic warhorn that had fallen to the ground. At the same time, she also picked up Evetta-san's mace. She then walked a short distance to smash a hole in the wall.

I could see the city.

It was a cityscape with a somewhat tense air.

「Boy, take a good look. This is the end of the line for adventurers. Created by a foolish king who feared the heroes and sealed away by a wise king. Well, it's something that could bring about the end of the world」

She blew the magic warhorn.

Buuooooooooo, it went.

It sounded like a ship's horn.

As if in response, a familiar-sounding toll of a bell sounded from somewhere in the city. It was the sound of the bell that told the time, the one I had gotten so used to hearing.

Then, the cityscape changed drastically.

The city became tinged with sunset.

Twilight fell, as if to herald the end of something.

「Goodbye, boy. Take care of Medimu and my daughter. Should you ever want to see me again, I’ll be right here fighting for all eternity, so don't hesitate to come by and kill me again」

The silver-haired beastkin disappeared into the red-hued city.

Holding Evetta-san in my arms, I looked out over the city, following Verxina with my eyes.

I witnessed a terrifying sight.

Horns emerged from all over the city. However, they no longer retained their human form. Some looked like zombies, some had horns all over their bodies, some appeared to have partially merged with monsters, and some looked like gigantic beasts with horns.

Behind Verxina, humanoid Horns emerged one after the other and followed after her.

They looked familiar.

They were all Horns that I had supposedly killed earlier.

A battle between the Horns that looked human and the Horns that did not ensued. The monsters with horns also joined in, and the battle turned chaotic and bloody.

It felt like I was at the bottom of hell.

「Same old thing again, huh?」

Garving stood next to me and gazed upon hell with a weary look on his face.

「Ea, it's alright. You don't have to shoot him」

「Eh, no way. Onii-chan, when did you realize I was here?」

Six meters behind me, my sister appeared with her bow at the ready.

Actually, when I was fighting Otou-san, I had felt two presences that were in close proximity nearby. I didn't feel any hostility from them, so I guessed that they were Ea and Yukikaze and left them be.

「That elf there, how in the world did you just appear out of nowhere?」

「Secret」

I signaled her, and my sister turned invisible using Lola's cloak. She then went over to the entrance and stayed on guard in front of the door. This is good. Rather than risk having her presence detected by him without her knowing, this will keep everyone on their toes.

「For you to have the means to deceive me………it’s as I thought, I see」

It seems like Garving really can't detect her.

What's going on? I'm able to sense her though.

Without my noticing, a spare pair of glasses had been left at my feet. When I put them on, a message from Yukikaze was displayed on its screen.

（We've signaled everyone. The others are infiltrating the castle as we speak. Yukikaze expects them to meet up with us soon）

Knowing that they hadn't been embroiled in the hell out there put my mind at ease for the moment.

「Garving, answer my questions. Depending on your answers, my sister will shoot you. After that, I'll cut you up. I can see that you're very tough, but will you be alright after being hacked to pieces?」

「I’ll be alright」

………………Seriously?

Taking a closer look, I noticed that there was not even a scratch on his clothes at the spot where he should have been impaled. One thing came to mind. An unpleasant memory.

The snowbound Neomia. The beast-headed man. The obsessed beast of delusion that had crawled out of a nightmare.

「I had wondered to myself when I saw your adventuring outfit, but to think that you have a connection to Neomia as well……More and more, my interest is piqued」

「So, what do you mean by “it’s as I thought”?」

If there's no way for me to kill him, then I'll just have to draw as much information out of him as I can.

If he's willing to lay out the truth, then there's no problem, but if he's not………

「I'll tell you everything. That's what I'm here for to begin with」

As Souya said, Otou-san’s super long last name has already appeared somewhere. Hint: V3. Isn’t it interesting that he’s also a descendant of a god? I find it hard to imagine him as someone who looks like a girl when he’s young, like Shuna, though given that he’s supposed to look like Toshiro Mifune... But it does seems like Verxina prefers older men, doesn’t she? Also, remember that Verxina can’t read minds, so she doesn’t know Souya knows Lanseal, so who do you think she’s talking about when she says “my daughter”? And even though she’s an A.I., Yukikaze has a presence that Souya can sense, huh? Many interesting revelations indeed.

By the way, aren’t there too many potentially world ending stuff around? There’s Elysium’s beasts, the dragon’s dream that could engulf the entire world, and now this Horns thing. Well, obvious lore dump incoming, so stay tuned!

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