Vol 5 Chapter 2.5 (2/2)

In an instant, a wall of monsters was demolished. It was Reds attack.

Though they should have been moving farther away, the pressure from the attack felt closer.

The explosions didnt stop and the area where the monsters remains and blood flew to the sky kept getting bigger.

Red, who was barely visible, hadnt moved at all from the place where he parted from the young man. The armors radiance which was bathed in monsters blood hadnt lost its s.h.i.+ne. In fact, it seemed to get more fired up in order to flaunt its existence.

Just how many monsters were facing against Red, who was only one person? The young man didnt know. Numbers were power. No matter how strong one was, they would get crushed sooner or later by the enemy which approaching endlessly.

That didnt change with the Chosen Ones. However, as if the young mans thoughts were nonsense, Red demonstrated a fierce attack.

Each time the scythe was wielded, it generated a red blade. When the blade pa.s.sed through the monsters, the monster corpses were torn asunder and blown into pieces. Before the power of that single blow, the monsters level, race and physique were insignificant.

The mountain of corpses that should have piled up and become a hindrance were instead blown away by the storm that blew in addition to the generated red blades.

To the young mans eyes there was little doubt that Red was a calamity.

He didnt seem to care about the approaching monsters, everything was swallowed by a raging tempest.

Number and such, were not a problem.

That

The young man noticed that inside the tempest that pummeled the battlefield, there was an especially crooked shadow.

His eyes were barely able to distinguish the shape of the scythe that Red had.

The first time the young man saw it, he was certain there was only one blade. But now, the number of that blade has increased to two.

No, it was always two blades. The young man remembered the mouth, a line that ran through the blade. It seemed that the blade had split in two along the line, from top to bottom, and had taken on the appearance of a huge mandible.

Did it, eat them?

The spread blades ate the monsters flesh and blood. The mysterious way it appeared to seek blood added to the strangeness and haunted the young mans mind.

Earlier the young man had observed the eye like drawing at the base of the blade. Now, the eye was s.h.i.+ning brilliantly while emitting a dark purple color. It seemed to give the impression of something alive with a will of its own. He was certain that there was nothing holy or pure about that will.

A person observing that s.h.i.+ne which seemed to occasionally blink, would feel that the scythe was rejoicing in the slaughter.

It was immediately obvious that this was a cursed weapon.

However, though normally bizarre equipment tended to attract the most attention, the most abnormal thing wasnt the equipment but the one who used it.

The fact that Red himself could continue fighting calmly while utilizing that equipment was the most abnormal part.

While the destruction spread in what could only be described as a ma.s.sacre, no aspect of the attacks were wasteful or inefficient.

He wasnt just using the power of the weapon. His swings perfectly matched its performance. His technique allowed a single powerful blow to fall on the monsters and then without delay, lead into the next blow. The recoil from the first blow wasnt wasted but was instead used to connect with and initiate the next blow.

Though great martial arts sometimes felt like a dance, Reds movement have something close to that. As for the monster hordes, they looked like prearranged harmony as they were seen being knocked down.

It was a performance by the blazing red armor and the distorted scythe.

It was like Red was in the eye of the storm and outside of the storm area, a fixed s.p.a.ce extended around him.

A distance from the monster hordes, the knights who had watched from the beginning were dumbstruck and simply stared in amazement as they forgot to guard. Unlike the young man who saw it up close, they simply didnt know how to react to the absurd and unbelievable display.

The change that happened as Red swung the scythe was dramatic.

Some of the monsters who should have been heading for Balmel suddenly turned around and began to return. In addition, the monsters in the surrounding areas also turned around one after another.

It was the captain of the third war group, who noticed the way the monsters changed direction and were heading toward the red dyed storm which was blowing violently in the same direction.

The range of effect had surpa.s.sed 100 mels and gradually continued to expand.

Wont we also get swallowed by that at this rate? He was anxious as it was a vast range.

The number of monsters were decreasing at a frightening rate. The storm of destruction kept widening.

It was as if the monsters were voluntarily jumping into the burning flame.

Consuming the life of the monsters, the ferocity of that power keep increasing.

Standing at the top of the rampart, Tiera and Kaede realized that almost all of the monsters in the battlefield were gathering around s.h.i.+n.

Was it the effect of the armor, or the scythe? When seen from above, the monsters facing s.h.i.+n seemed to be following something that was lit dimly red. It seemed to draw the monsters.

The effective range of the effect was wide. There was no way to say it other than that.

The number of monsters could still be called a black wave. The range of the effect was so large that even monsters far enough away that mel units would be too small to measure the distance, were all affected by it.

What is that?

Its not the enemy, so its all right. Well, even if I say that I feel relieved to see that, though it may not sound convincing.

Well, um, is that an ally?

Yes, thats correct. Its no surprise that hes coming here.

Having Tiera rea.s.sure her, Kaede too relaxed her hands which were tightly clenched to her staff.

Though Tiera knew its true ident.i.ty, judging from Kaedes reaction to that mystery person, she would probably be frightened of it. Though that person still fought against the monsters, there was no guarantee that that blade wouldnt be pointed at them.

The power that was displayed before Kaedes eyes far surpa.s.sed the limits of the upper cla.s.s Chosen Ones in this world.

It was certain that it fell within the domain of the Special Beings like Schnee and Girard.

Not half of the monsters remain.

Though Kaede didnt notice because she was only focus on s.h.i.+ns existence, the number of the monsters remained were already about one-third from the original. It was visible from the top of the rampart, the view that was only covered by monsters was no longer there.

Ah!

In the Kaedes field of vision, as she able to see the whole view, something strange was displayed.

In a few words, it was a floating sphere.

By comparing it to the surrounding monsters, the size could be calculated to be two mels in diameter.

Brown and purple were mixed on its surface, and various eyes were attached.

There were eyes just like a humans eye, pupils like a cats eye with vertical slits, compound eyes like an insect and full black eyeb.a.l.l.s under an eyelid.

Those various eye sizes ranged from one cemel to dozens of cemels, and it observed the surroundings.

And then, suddenly some of that eyes directed their gaze towards Kaede.

Uhh!

Surprised, Kaede tried to look away. A sharp and throbbing pain struck her head. It was a pain like she had never experienced before. She couldnt endure it and was forced to her knees.

Her view turned dark in an instant, nevertheless, her consciousness didnt fade away.

Despite having almost no feeling in her body, she had a horrify sense that something was trying to enter inside her. Only pain could be felt clearly though.

aUg.

Eh! whats wrong!?

Tiera was surprised by the change. It was looking like it was only a matter of time before the monsters were defeated but, Kaede had suddenly began to groan in pain.

Kaede-chan! Kaede-chan!

Kaede looked like she was about to collapse at any moment, Tiera immediately hugged her closely and supported her

Thereupon, the groaning Kaede entrusted her body to Tiera as she lost her strength. Visibly large drops of sweats appeared on her forehead.

Eh?

Kaede-chan? Can you hear me?

She was likely to have lost consciousness momentarily. Tiera muttered while wondering what happened and looking after Kaede. Without knowing why, Tiera felt weak as if her strength slipped out from her body.

(This feeling, what it is I wonder)

Kaedes mind was free in the midst of the present war. There was a big fight until here. While her physical condition may be unusual, she regained consciousness.

After Kaede wiped her sweat, she thanked Tiera and stood up.

Are you okay?

Yes, Im already fine. There is a strange monster in the battlefield, come to think of it, it had some eyes and I suddenly got headache.

I wonder if its an attack using the mind system? Anyway, Im glad you didnt acquire an abnormal state.

Though Tiera couldnt read most of the information on Kaedes stats due to the differences in their levels, she could see any indications of a bad status.

After confirming that there were no such indications, Tiera let Kaede rest and directed her eyes toward the battlefield.

What Tieras saw was a scene where the monster which exactly imitated a sphere, was cut in two by the red scythe.

During that time, Tiera was being observed by Yuzuha.

Yuzuha witnessed Tieras body radiate a faint light while holding Kaede which completely dispelled the black haze that had coiled around her.

Kuu

Yuzuha barked in a volume where no one heard except itself.

Afterward, Yuzuha stared at Tiera until the war ended, trying to see through the existence named Tiera.

While attracting many people, s.h.i.+n, also known as Red, swung the scythe he held in his hand.

After his speech, he waited for the knights to withdraw. Afterwards, he simply ran wild.

Once he beat Berserks, the strongest monster so far, to death the job became a simple routine as he expected.

But

A small complaint leaked out.

Because things that he didnt expect were taking place.

Good grief, a real cursed weapon cant help but to be noisy can it?

It wasnt that noisy when he started to fight, but as he utilized the ability of the scythe and killed monsters, voices began to echoing in s.h.i.+ns head.

The explanation note for the scythe hinted that it affected the mind. This was likely because it kept repeating the word KILL, KILL.

The scythe that s.h.i.+n was using was called Scythe of Soul Eating.

One of its abilities was to concentrate the hatred of the monsters solely towards the user. The more monsters it killed, the more damage it caused and the larger the effective range became. Furthermore, a portion of the damage generated was returned to the user. However, while cursed equipment did enhance ability, this was always in exchange for more risk.

And as cursed weapons go, the Scythe of Soul Eating surpa.s.sed the risk of other cursed equipment

The area within the range to collect the hate, the attack range rose together with the high increased rate of damage. A reason a portion of the damage was converted into HP was that it made it possible for a solo player to battle against groups. In city defense events against monsters, nearly half of the monsters would be attracted to and attacked by the player who was equipped with this weapon.

The downside was that the users stats were constantly decreasing by 65%, magic couldnt be used, and it was impossible to recover HP excluding the scythes ability. In addition, it seemed to attract magical attacks by allies. It had more disadvantages than advantages. Furthermore, cursed equipment always include bad status effects for the mind system.

Needless to say within range of the weapon, there was no distinction between friend or foe. It was the kind of equipment that would consume 100% of any allies who fought near it.

Because the rate of decline was only reduced to 50% even if the equipment was strengthened, death was still inevitable. All the players using it died in the event.

Since coming to this world, s.h.i.+n had strengthened it using his technique and made it usable by reducing the stat reduction rate to 30%.

Moreover, since s.h.i.+ns entire body was covered in an armor called the Holy Flame Series, this weakened the effect of the cursed equipment. He could even use magic and recover HP to some extent.

When it comes down to it, he didnt have to worry about the disadvantages. He should be able to fight without a problem.

However, when the number of monsters killed reached around 500, the aforementioned voice began to affect s.h.i.+ns mind.

Even an upper cla.s.s Chosen One hearing that voice, would have had to battle to maintain sanity. The voice that a.s.saulted the mind was making progress on s.h.i.+n.

Ahh, this is bothersome

Though he said that, s.h.i.+n was far from falling insane. The effect was only enough to hinder his mood.

I didnt notice when I tried it out, but there is endless flowing voice in this subtly audible volume. Its ANNOYING!!

Was it because he raised his voice? The monsters were blown away by an extra 20 percent.

At this point the cursed equipment could do no more than annoy s.h.i.+n.

The people observing, could never have dreamed that s.h.i.+n would be saying things like that from within the center of the storm.

Its time for you to come out

After deciding to ignore the cursed voice, s.h.i.+n directed his gaze to the surroundings again.

Because he was now encountering strengthened monsters, he determined that a commander type monster like the Raid Vice was nearby. Knowing that, soon it would be caught in his net.

Using the Scythe of Soul Eating was an efficient way to reduce the number of enemies, other than the inherent problems with using cursed weapons.

Unlike with normal attacks, because the enemy hatred was focused on the user, it was literally impossible to miss the enemy.

It was even possible to make the monsters that had already headed toward Balmel return.

As the range of the scythe expanded, it was even possible to draw the monster commander towards him.

The commander was lurking in the shadows of another monster. Because it took awhile to see the opponent clearly, s.h.i.+n didnt know where it was. Therefore, he used a strategy that would draw it out forcibly.

Found you!

In an area where monsters were crowded together and the individuals couldnt be distinguished, there was a reaction that was different from the others in s.h.i.+ns perception range. Due to the monsters being pulled toward s.h.i.+n, that area seemed to be less crowded.

Before the eyes of the murmuring s.h.i.+n, there appeared a monster with globe-like appearance which had a large number of eyes.

It was a monster which s.h.i.+n was familiar with. A Viscount cla.s.s demon which were often seen at events where monsters attacked cities. Apparently, demons had resumed full-scale activities.

However, they were unlucky this time. It was cla.s.sified as low-cla.s.s demon, so it couldnt stand a single blow from s.h.i.+n.

Was there a last-ditch effort? Its eyes, which faced towards s.h.i.+n, flashed all at once. This was normally used to induce an abnormal mental state, but had no effect on s.h.i.+n.

That will never work on me!!

With a single blow that contained all the piled up stress, s.h.i.+n cut the demon in two. The demon disappeared leaving something like a gem and jewel.

Was it because the demon had been the leader? Though the monsters came at s.h.i.+n until their last, when they were finally exterminated not a single additional blow had landed on s.h.i.+n.

When he contacted Schnee, she said there were a few more on the other side.

While disappearing with Hiding, s.h.i.+n returned to his original position to be with Hibineko and the rest.

Without any incidents from there on, the Large Flood came to the end.

Severely wounded people appeared among the knights who fought against the monsters. It was a bit far in the future, but the residents were excited over the fact that it was the first time in Balmel history of the Flood that no one had died.