Ankoku Kishi Monogatari ~Yuusha wo Taosu Tameni Maou ni Shoukansaremashita~-Chapter 25.4: Tower of Striges

… … ….

But, Elkitos shakes his head in denial.

「No, that personage left for somewhere else while leaving his familiar」

「Uhm, I see~. That’s unfortunate. Then that familiar is in this tower. What familiar is it?」

「A dragon. I don’t know where it came from, though」

「「「WHA!!! 」」」

Everyone’s voices overlap in shock.

「A… dragon. No way….」

「Moreover, as a familiar」

「There’s no way we can win against a dragon…. Right? 」

It seems everyone is shocked by the fact that there’s a dragon in this tower.

But, I’m surprised for a different reason.

Could it be that I’m the one who awakened this vampire?

「Dragon huh…. What about it, there are many kinds of dragon after all. However, this will be fun for sure」

Shirone responds as such with a happy face.

「My apologies then, you have to beat me if you’re going to point your blade toward that esteemed individual’s familiar」

Elkitos takes his stance, ready to battle with Shirone.

Shirone also draws her sword followed by Gallios.

「The guys behind, you are a hindrance. Let’s take this outside. Illusion Demon Eye!!」

Elkitos eyes are flashing with a red light.

「GUWAAA!」

「GEH!」

「GUWAAA!」

Everyone exposed to that light, save for me and Shirone, fall down while screaming.

It seems it was a mistake on my part for resisting the magic.

「I snatched the freedom of your body. Fufufu, I’ve no intention to kill you. You’re delicious only when you’re still alive. Now, please become the witnesses for our marriage from that place」

Elkitos laughs disgustingly.

Gallios and the rest are still groaning on the floor.

I can’t do anything and don’t know what to do further since I don’t know recovery magic.

Though Shirone seems to be able to use recovery magic to some extent, it seems she has no intention to cure Gallios.

「Fufufu, with this, you and me are the only ones who remain sta-…. Eh, there’s still another one left?」

Elkitos stares at me. It seems he noticed that I’m still standing.

「GUWAA~A!」[Monotone]

While thinking “Oh, crap”, I quickly pretend to fall on the ground.

「It seems it was just my imagination. Well then, let’s enjoy our date」

It seems he was deceived despite my obviously unnatural and bad acting.

Or it might be the case that he simply has no interest in me.

「That’s right, I’ve been tired of waiting」

Shirone’s also completely oblivious of my poor acting.

Please pay more attention to the people behind you.

The two face against each other.

It seems we’re no longer in their line of sight.

It was my chance. I’ll use this chance to go to the place where Glorious is present.

Thanks to my last position on the line, Gallios won’t be able to see me.

Moreover, it seems Shirone doesn’t need my assistance if her opponent is only at this level.

I slowly crawl along the floor to leave this place so that no one will notice my disappearance.

I think that my current movements resemble a cockroach.

=== === ===

◆ Sword Maiden, Shirone

I stare at the vampire before my eyes.

He might be stronger than the Striges who used to rule this place.

But, I won’t be defeated.

I won’t underestimate my opponent, either.

In fact, it might be better to call Reiji-kun. This vampire seems really strong after all.

But I won’t call him. Chiyuki-san might get angry later.

Moreover, I want to get rid of my frustration accumulated due to my defeat in the hands of Diehart in this place.

I point my sword.

My sword blade is emanating a faint azure-colored light.

Souten Tsubasa Tsurugi [Azure Sky Winged Sword]. [TL: The name is so la~me and hard to translate]

It’s my beloved sword with ornamental wings on its hilt.

「Well then, here I go. ULTRASONIC WAVE!」

Elkitos yells out the name of his magic.

「WIND WALL!」

I quickly chant defensive magic.

Despite shaving the floor, my defensive magic blocks the shockwave from Elkitos’s spell.

「Hou. Not bad」

Elkitos displays a carefree smile.

But, that will be on his face only for now, though.

「FLAME BLADE!」

I slash toward Elkitos with the flame residing in my sword.

「WING BLADE!」

Elkitos receives my slash with those huge wings that sprouted from his back, along with his scream.

「Quite fast, aren’t you? But I’m stil-…. WHAT THE!!」

Elkitos lost his composure.

Because the slash imbued with my power has severed his wings.

Do you think that will be enough to stop my sword?

「WHAAAAAT!」

I sever the body of Elkitos along with his wings.

「GUUUH!!」

Elkitos retreats while wailing severely.

He’s healing the severed place in his body. His body and wings restore as if nothing happened.

If it were a normal human, they won’t be able to kill a vampire even if they cause a fatal wound.

Though it seems like that there’s some damage inflicted on him, it’s hard to beat him without sunshine.

「You basta――――AAAARD!! HOW DARE YOU, A LOWLY HUMA~N!」

Elkitos’s face portrays an enraged expression.

「Huh, it seems I’ve wounded your pride」

His gentlemanly behavior from before has completely vanished.

「I WON’T PLAY AROUND WITH YOU ANYMORE, I WILL KILL YOU!!」

Elkitos draws his rapier-like sword from the scabbard hanging on his waist.

The rapier blade shines in a sinister, red-colored light.

「NOW, PREPARE YOURSELF FOR MY TRUE POWER, YOU FILTHY HUMA~N!」

Elkitos enters into his attack stance with his sword.

「SONIC MOVE!」

Elkitos approaches me at a rapid pace.

「Huhm!」

Elkitos, who approached me at high speed, thrusts his rapier an innumerable number of times.

「EI!」

Along with that shout, I maneuver my sword and successfully repel every single one of his thrust.

「DAAAMN IIIT!」

Elkitos bends his body forward, aiming for my legs.

I jump in the air to avoid his attack and then land behind his back.

「WHAT!!!」

Elkitos turns around immediately.

He tries to turn around in a hurry, but it’s too late.

「STRIKE!」

I swing my sword toward Elkitos who had not yet turned around successfully. I managed to sever his sword-wielding arm, the right arm.

「NO WAY! A HUMAN IS MOVING FASTER THAN ME!!!」

Elkitos screams while holding onto his severed arm.

It seems he’s angry, but I don’t care about that.

「Pick your sword. Let’s continue our fight」

I urge him to pick his sword that has fallen down a little farther from him.

Elkitos slowly approaches his sword and picks it up.

「It seems that you … are not a normal human, am I right?」

Elkitos stares at Rember from the corner of his eyes while saying so.

「EXPLOSION!」

Elkitos suddenly casts his magic toward Rember.

「TSUKUCHI!」[TL : Ground Shrink]

I immediately activate my movement magic as soon as I realized his intentions.

「WATER WALL!」

The explosion happens after I cover Rember with a wall of water.

The water wall completely evaporates due to the might of the explosion, filling our surroundings with vapor.

「HEY! Didn’t you say that you’re not going to kill them!!」

I protest against Elkitos’s action.

But, I don’t hear any response from him.

When the vapor vanishes, I can’t find the figure of Elkitos.

And then, there’s a huge hole on the ceiling.

The hole keeps going upward till I can see the cloudy sky outside the tower.

「ARRRGH! HE ESCAPE~D!!!」

I scream exasperatedly.

「He’s running away!」

I focus my attention on my back.

「Oh My Seraph Wings!!!」

A pair of wings grows from my back upon hollering those words.

Though I can’t use flight magic like Chiyuki-san and Reiji-kun, I can fly by using these Seraph Wings on my back.

In fact, I have no armor on my back – only naked skin, so I have no choice but to hide it with a short mantle. I don’t wear armor so that can I release my wings immediately.

This pair of wings is my pride; it’s growing only on me. I could see those envious gazes from Rino-chan and Chiyuki-san when I show my wings to them.

I flap my wings hard and leave the tower through that hole.

I can fly even faster that Nao-chan in a straight line, thanks to this pair of wings.

「Do you really think that I’ll let you escape!」

I fly at my full speed and instantly overtake Elkitos who’s flying with his bat wings.

His face shows a surprised expression after seeing me standing on his way.

「THOSE WINGS!? I see, so you are a member of the angel race! No wonder you’re so powerful!」

「Well, I’m not an angel, but still….」

Denying that remark is also troublesome.

What am I? Owning angel wings despite not being from the angel race. I asked Nier-san about this matter in the past.

But well, that kind of thing is immaterial now.

「Prepare yourself, Elkitos! SUNLIGHT BLADE!」

My sword blade glimmers brilliantly upon imbuing it with sunlight magic.

In fact, I could have taken him down easily if I had used this technique right at the start of our fight.

「If the sunlight can’t pierce through your night robe, I just need to make it pierce your body!」

I raise my sword overhead.

「W-WAAAIIIIIT! ! 」

Elkitos is panic-stricken.

Naturally, I don’t care for his plea.

「ITTOURYOUDAN! [TL : basically “sever”]」

「GYAAA!!!」

When I swing my sword against Elkitos’s body, black smoke starts rising from the slashed parts and eventually gets extinguished.

「What the hell … is that….」

I couldn’t grasp the last words said by that El-something.

「He’s not that powerful huh…. Is that familiar stronger than him?」

To be honest, I was deceived by his appearance. He couldn’t even be compared with Reiji-kun.

I flap my wings and return to the tower.

When I returned to the tower, maybe because I defeated Elkitos, everyone had already recovered.

「Wings….」

「A-Angel」

「How beautiful!」

The freedom fighters behind Rember are surprised due to my wings.

It seems that humans are also charmed by my wings. Well, it doesn’t feel bad when they’re praising my wings.

Though I want to showcase my wings even longer, I still retract it in the end.

The Seraph Wings will become quite an annoying hindrance in a closed room like this. That’s why I didn’t use these wings in my fight against Diehart.

「It seems everyone is safe and sound. Well, let’s get going」

We go up for another few floors until we arrive at the room that used to be the nest of the Striges.

When I look up, I can see the sky due to the huge circular hole at the roof of this room.

「It seems there’s nothing in here….」

Stor the ranger is reporting the results of his investigation.

I was also unable to feel anything when I scoured the room.

「Shirone-sama. That vampire shouldn’t have lied to us, right?」

Rember questions the vampire’s claims.

「Uhm, I couldn’t feel that he is lying to us but still….」

I don’t think that El-something lied to us.

But, there’s nothing above this residential area. No need to investigate further, then.

「Though there are traces of something having been present at this place previously, it is no longer in this place now」

Few people nod upon hearing Stor words.

Could it be that it is in hiding?

「We will be able to get more information if Nao-chan was with us right now, but….」

Searching any further is futile.

「Shirone-sama, it seems we have no way to investigate further. Let’s go back to Rox」

It’s as Rember says, we have no reason to stay in this place anymore.

「It can’t be helped then….」

I muttered so in a low voice. We decided to head back.

=== === ===

◆ Dark Knight Kuroki

「Sorry, Glorious」

Glorious was hiding inside the forest near the tower.

When I approach Glorious, he brings his nose closer to me.

「I’m sorry for robbing your freedom….」

Glorious purrs happily when upon brushing his nose.

「But, it’s amazing, right?」

I glance at the necklace attached to Glorious’s right horn.

The fat and huge trees inside the forest aren’t enough to hide Glorious.

Nevertheless, no one will be able to notice Glorious thanks to the necklace on his right horn.

When I examined the necklace left behind by Rena, I found out that it has the power to inhibit detection magic.

Glorious is so powerful that it’s easy to notice him in a normal situation, but he couldn’t be detected thanks to the power of the necklace.

「It’ll become a deadly weapon in skilled hands」

The fault of this necklace lies in the fact that it inhibits the detection skills of the user too.

There’s a possibility that I could end up causing a deadly blunder if I make a mistake while using it.

For what reason Rena did leave behind this kind of necklace?

Maybe I ought to investigate that.