Rioshuko (4)
Chapter 184
Ray stared at the dark curtain enveloping the area.
The Aptel embedded in his bracelet advised Ray.
[It’s a barrier that blocks interference from the outside. Some of my abilities will be restricted as well.]
“Is that so?”
Ray forcibly swallowed his mockery.
The mercenary who called himself Rifol seemed to be trying to block the wandering mercenaries’ view and cleanly finish his business, but from Ray’s perspective, it wasn’t funny at all.
The isolation from the outside was also something Ray desired.
As soon as the curtain fully unfolded, severely deformed demons poured in.
While observing the indescribable appearances of these demons, Ray muttered under his breath.
“So, this place is ultimately part of the Demonic Realm too…”
On normal ground, such extreme forms of mutation couldn’t persist without collapsing.
The Blessing of the Dark God flowing through the Forbidden Forest permitted the existence of these mutated demons.
“Ron.”
At Luna’s call, Ray turned his head.
Her calm silver eyes were fixed on him.
Ray shrugged lightly and shook his head.
Even if Jetteu wasn’t here, there was no need for Luna to reveal her full power.
For Luna to demonstrate her strength, the opponents were far too insignificant.
There might be others lurking behind this one, so there was no need to leave unnecessary traces.
“Keeheeeeek!!!”
The intestines protruding from the demon’s skin flailed about wildly like a whip.
Jetteu involuntarily muttered a curse.
In full consciousness, it was indeed a grotesque scene.
Kwa-ga-ga-gak!!!
“!!”
The intestine that burrowed into the ground surged up beneath Jetteu’s feet in an ambush.
As Jetteu stepped back and slashed the intestine, the severed pieces wriggled before exploding with a loud bang.
Kwaang!!
“Krrk…!”
Jetteu endured the explosion thanks to the protective power of the special armor given by Ernst but had to retreat several steps.
With demon bodies exploding in all directions, it was hard to maintain composure.
Rifol stood a step away from the battlefield, manipulating the demons with his dry palms.
Demons enhanced and modified through dark magic didn’t die easily in the Demonic Realm where the Blessing of the Dark God flowed.
Even when fatally wounded, they would explode a piece of their innards to threaten their opponent.
To definitively kill the demons, firepower akin to what incinerated the ‘Rock Crocodile’ earlier was necessary.
However, two mediocre mages could never continuously wield such high-powered magic.
Rifol smirked, twisting his lips as he pointed at Ray.
“I won’t let you die easily after troubling me. Let me use you as an experiment subject and mix you with the demons.”
“…”
Ray momentarily turned his gaze away from the battlefield.
A pile of human flesh fragments lay right behind him.
Taking a deep breath to steady his mind, Ray called out to Luna.
“Luna, we’ll need to summon some spirits.”
Luna immediately materialized all the spirits she had contracted, except for the high-tier spirit Karga.
A strong wind arose as one mid-tier spirit, two mid-to-high-tier spirits, and one high-tier spirit materialized.
Unaffected by physical damage due to their otherworldly nature, the spirits boldly advanced, tearing apart the demons.
Explosions occurred here and there, but the typhoon-like airflow reduced their impact.
Seeing this spectacle, Rifol laughed with a cracked voice.
“So your last card was spirits?”
It wasn’t just Luna who had contracted spirits.
Rifol also materialized spirits.
Two high-tier dark spirits appeared.
One resembling a wyvern and the other a lizard spewed blackened fire and ice as they leapt into the battlefield.
“Despair and surrender.”
This land is blessed.
All things tainted with darkness hold an absolute advantage here.
You will futilely vanish, Rifol mocked, at which moment Ray twisted his staff to draw out a blade.
“Jetteu, lend me a sword.”
Jetteu threw Ray a spare sword he had. It wasn’t a valuable artefact but a finely crafted iron sword. Pulling it out, Ray coldly eyed the dark spirits.
“You, the wyvern-like one, hold it for a moment.”
[Krukk!]
Luna’s spirits surrounded the dark spirit spewing black flames, holding it tightly.
Approaching alone, Ray faced the wyvern-shaped dark spirit.
Thinking Ray was attempting to escape and break formation, Rifol tried to send demons towards him.
“Futile resistance.”
For an average mage to inflict fatal damage on a high-tier dark spirit, rendering its materialization null, would take considerable time.
During that period, the demons would devour Ray.
Just as Rifol thought this, Ray emotionlessly plunged his sword into the neck of the dark spirit.
Puuk!!
“?!”
A sudden shock made his heart race.
Through the contract with the dark spirit, Rifol felt overwhelming fear and pain coursing through his mind.
Struggling to maintain his sanity, Rifol knelt, clutching his throat.
Despite Rifol’s efforts, Ray twisted and pulled the two swords he had embedded below the dark spirit’s neck.
Pood-dur-dur-dur-dur-k!
The neck of the wyvern-shaped dark spirit began to tear roughly.
The spirit writhed in agony, trying to scream but unable to produce any sound as its neck was nearly severed.
Eventually, drenched in black ichor, Ray completely decapitated the spirit.
Seeing this, the lizard-shaped dark spirit hastily retreated and turned around.
Terrified, the dark spirit attempted to cancel the contract and dematerialize but found the space in front of it torn open faster than expected.
Pa-ga-gak!!!
Leaping Sword Energy descended, slashing a long gash across the spirit’s cheek.
Reversing horizontally, Ray plunged his energy-infused sword into the spirit’s neck.
[Keeeeeek!!!!!]
The chilling scream of the spirit did not last long.
Once again drenched in black ichor, Ray had swiftly decapitated both high-tier dark spirits.
As Rifol clawed at his own head, the uncontrolled demons rampaged aimlessly.
Luna commanded her spirits.
“Gather them in one place.”
The spirits stirred up a powerful wind, herding the demons together.
As the demons, crowded in a narrow space, charged at the spirits with renewed ferocity, Luna’s fist-sized fireballs fell faster.
Kwaaaaaaang!!!!!!!!!
The flames erupted in a fan shape, melting the demons whole.
Trapped in the heat, the demons melted and clung to each other, screaming until they finally fell silent.
As Luna caught her breath,
Ray plunged his energy-infused sword next to Rifol’s heart.
Puuk!!
“Kraaaaack!!!”
Rifol screamed and thrashed about.
Pulling out the blade that emerged from the staff, Ray severed Rifol’s wrist and bent down to press against Rifol’s neck.
Watching Rifol gasp and gag, unable to breathe properly, Ray asked calmly.
“Did you feel like a king, dealing with mercenaries hiding in the forest?”
“Kruup…!! Kraakk…!!”
“You’ve gone mad with the devil worshippers’ power.”
Rifol wasn’t weak enough to be belittled this much.
But neither was he in a position to speak freely to Ray. Rifol didn’t realize this.
Gripping Rifol’s jaw and crushing it, Ray spat.
“How many worms like you are swarming around here…”
Ray stopped speaking mid-sentence and narrowed his eyes.
Blood started streaming from Rifol’s eye sockets.
Ray cursed under his breath.
“This damn bastard really…”
Kwaang!!!
Rifol’s body exploded.
The barriers Luna erected deflected the meat chunks aimed at Ray.
Swallowing the harsh curses lingering in his mouth, Ray stood up.
He had originally intended to interrogate Rifol for information, but now there was nothing more to gain.
As Jetteu watched the murky curtain covering the area dissipate, he approached Ray and asked.
“What do you plan to do?”
“What else? We need to quickly capture that Guild Master guy and beat him up before the bastards regroup.”
The only lead in this incident was ‘Rasker,’ the mercenary, and the Guild Master of the Mercenary Guild.
Jetteu advised.
“Kidnapping or harming someone of the Guild Master level will make cleaning up difficult. We might have to risk violent conflict with the upper echelons of the kingdom.”
“…”
After a brief silence, Ray searched his pocket.
Ray didn’t enjoy killing people.
However…
Ting!
The silver coin Ray flicked with his finger flew through the air.
The spinning silver coin landed with a plop on the pile of flesh created by Olda’s six limbs.
Staring at the slowly sinking silver coin amidst the sticky blood, Ray asked.
“Do we need mercy for those who collude with devil worshippers?”
“Follow your command as you wish.”
Jetteu deeply bowed his head.
*
When people hear “Guild Master of the Mercenaries,” some might imagine rough, crude, and ignorant individuals.
While there are cases like that, the Guild Master of Rioshuko was different.
The Forbidden Forest is an important location even for the Alimo Kingdom.
The upper echelons of the kingdom did not want mercenaries to recklessly cause problems there, and conversely, the mercenaries disliked being controlled.
Thus, someone who understood both sides’ perspectives to some extent was needed to mediate between them.
Baret somewhat fit this requirement.
It was an open secret that Baret, the illegitimate child of a powerful noble family in the Alimo Kingdom, had been expelled before reaching adulthood.
Nonetheless, Baret established a solid foothold while serving as the Guild Master of the Mercenary Guild.
Until about an hour ago, Baret could confidently walk anywhere.
Not anymore.
Currently, he was hanging upside down, gagged with ropes.
“Uueep…! Uep…!!”
Baret couldn’t comprehend the current situation.
When he felt someone approaching while processing overdue work late into the night and swung his sword, despite his considerable skill gained from the martial arts and swordsmanship taught during his time in the family, he was quickly subdued and dragged here.
He had no way of knowing whether the guards at the door were alive or dead.
Feeling the cool night air, Ray closed the window and said.
“Let him speak a bit.”
Jetteu removed the rope stuffed into Baret’s mouth.
As soon as his mouth opened, Baret shouted.
“Me, do you know who I am…!! Uuep!!”
Jetteu immediately gagged Baret again and lifted a steel rod.
It was a personally enchanted steel rod by Ray, glowing red-hot at the tip.
Pressing the wide end of the heated steel rod firmly against Baret’s chest, Jetteu alternated between removing and pressing it.
Chiiiiik!
“Kruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuep!!!!!!!!!”
As Jetteu continued pressing and lifting the steel rod,
Ray glanced at Luna and said.
“You can step outside if you want.”
“…”
Luna didn’t move.
Frankly, showing such a scene openly wasn’t particularly pleasant for Ray either. But it was a necessary process.
He hadn’t gathered orphaned children to raise them as naive angels unaware of worldly matters.
Given Luna’s future importance, she needed to face the darker aspects of the world.
“Kruuep!!!”
Despite watching Baret repeatedly scream in agony, Luna remained composed.
Earlier, she didn’t flinch even when confronted with creatures that would have caused ordinary people to faint.
Ray trusted Luna, who always maintained her calmness.
‘They say one legendary is worth ten unique ones.’
While Ray was still lost in such thoughts,
Jetteu, having sufficiently tortured Baret, allowed him to speak again.
As Baret groaned,
Ray questioned,
“What’s your relationship with the dark wizard in the Forbidden Forest?”
“Wh… What are you talking about…!”
Jetteu immediately gagged Baret again.
Looking at the cooling steel rod, Ray picked up a large steel nail beside it and hammered it into Baret’s right knee.
Baret let out a muffled scream, but Ray wasn’t done yet.
“Magic is good, isn’t it?”
Ray raised his staff.
A bluish electricity spread from the tip of the staff.
Signaling Jetteu to step back, Ray placed the staff against the steel nail driven into Baret’s knee.
Baret began convulsing.
Around ten seconds later, Ray pulled away the staff and looked into Baret’s bloodshot eyes.
“Shall we continue playing around?”
