Chapter 18

Chapter 18 Purification start

“That’s the Rufhana village, eh?”

It had been 9 days since the bandits had left their base .

Rufhana village was in a small, low-lying land, surrounded by a forest .

“Ohh, the air is so stagnant that we can see it from here . ”

“Looks like impurities are also progressing bit by bit, with the village in the center . It won’t be of any use if we purify the land without clearing all the demons in the area . ”

“Even if you say that… are we going to kill them one by one when we don’t even know how many of them there are? Sounds like a pain . ”

“That would take too long so Creu and I will be taking care of most of them . Al, you just need to take care of the ones who get past us . ”

“Ahh, you’re going to do ‘that’? Then I guess I will be on the lookout tonight . ”

“It’s a compound magic so it sure takes time to invoke . Sorry but I will be counting on you . ”

“U-umm . ”

A fragile voice called out to Syltina and Arhalt, who were having a conversation while observing the Rufhana village from a distance .

“… . Miriane-sama, I have been thinking this for a while now but… on the contrary, that just stands out a lot . ”

Syltina said to Miriane after turning back to face her .

“Eh?!”

It seems she became quite flustered on hearing that, as her body, along with the shield, started shaking .

“Do-does this really, stand out?”

“Yes, it sure does . ”

Why wouldn’t a person stand out when they are always hiding behind a huge shield stolen from the bandits (who knew where they got it from) at every opportunity?

“It doesn’t stand out when you hide your face with a hood like you did before but when you use a shield like that, well, of course it would stand out…”

‘Clunk’–a loud sound resounded and interrupted Shiltina .

“And I thought it was such a nice item to cover myself properly… If this also stands out… I-I… what should I…”

She said with a puzzled voice, pulling the hoodie she was wearing low over her eyes .

“No, most people won’t really notice if you just cast a presence-erasing magic . ”

“Presence-erasing magic… w-will just that be good enough? Will that make people not force sell a jar to me or make people not start talking to me all of a sudden or stop them from asking me to attach a tail or cat ears on them?!”

“… . . ”

She said with a very, very serious expression .

“You… are linked by fate with weirdos and perverts, aren’t you…?”

“…Either way, if you don’t like standing out, you will be fine if you just stay behind and use the presence-erasing magic with your hoodie on . You will be safe if you do that . You understand?”

“Y-yes . ”

“By the way, didn’t you have something to say to us?”

Hearing Arhalt, Miriane remembered what she was about to say .

“U-um, what is that ‘compound magic’ you were talking about before?”

Her golden eyes underneath the hood were shining like never before .

As expected of a species which excels in magic . They come biting in enthusiastically whenever something is related to magic .

“‘Compound magic’ is a new magic made from combining both a master and their familiar’s magic into one . You make a new magic by adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing your familiar’s and your magic’s attributes . That’s what us, the people who have familiars, call ‘compound magic’ . ”

“Most of the compound magic are area magic and possess a ton of power . Although, there are no two same compound magics as the familiar and masters are different . ”

“Possesses a ton of power and is an area magic on top of that… amazing . ”

“However, I don’t really prefer using it as it requires a lot of mana and concentration . Moreover, it is also unfit for battles where friend and foe are jumbled together . ”

“Well, the amount of mana needed is also affected by the user’s strength . If it needs a huge amount of mana and concentration, that means that the familiar and the master’s strength are quite high, as well . ”

“Creu and my compound magic can’t be activated without increasing mana for about half a day . There’s also a chance of turning this whole area into scorched land if I mess up, so a huge amount of control in magic and mana is required . ”

“And because of that, they are drained of mana afterwards and can’t fight properly . And so I have to take care of the ones who manage to flee . ”

“Do you understand?”

After nodding once, Miriane turned back and glanced at Creutz, who was in charge of the night watch .

Realizing the meaning behind that glance, Syltina smiled .

“Fufu . We will be invoking the magic tomorrow . You can see Kuro’s real form then . You can look forward to it . ”

“Yes . ”

Seeing Miriane nod full of enthusiasm, Syltina and Arhalt looked at each other and gave a bitter smile .

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The next day . At dawn, when the morning fog still hadn’t cleared .

The group was looking at Rufhana village from a closer distance .

“This is the corrupted land…”

“That’s a demon…”

A mist covering the whole village was coming out of the land and spreading into the surroundings as well, killing all the plants nearby .

And the grotesque creatures walking there .

Covered in darkness, those beings pollute the land with each step .

It isn’t a beast . It isn’t a human . Having a form not from this world, it also cried with an otherworldly voice .

It was truly grotesque . Truly abnormal . Truly different .

Those were the beings called ‘demons’ .

“You’re going to… fight with that…?”

“Against something like that…”

“Now then, let’s start . ”

Syltina said with her usual voice, at a different place than Akari and the others .

“Ohh . Tyl, I will be counting on you . ”

“Leave it to me . ”

Hearing Syltina, Arhalt cast his glance towards Tyltinkul . She nodded in acknowledgement and jumped into the sky .

After reaching just directly above the village, Tyltinkul clapped two times .

The sounds produced from her small hands were also quiet but could still be mysteriously heard by Syltina and the others on the ground .

The moment the sound had stopped, the surrounding air started to blow with Tyltinkul in the center and swallowed up Syltina and the others who were in the ground .

-Clap!- and as the sound vibrated once again, the wind had stopped getting bigger and was suspended right in its spot .

“This is…”

Syltina and the others were now completely surrounded by wind in the shape of a dome .

“It’s a wind magic, ‘Prison of wind blades’ . ”

Syltina explained to Miriane, as she was looking at the wind wall curiously .

“Wind blade…”

“It’d be best not to touch . ”

Miriane’s stretched hand came back to herself after she heard Arhalt’s warning .

“Just as the name suggests, it is made up of wind blades . It shreds everything which touches it to smithereens . ”

“Until the extermination of the demons is over, neither the demons nor can we get out of here . We can’t have the demons running far away now, can we?”

“I see…”

Miriane nodded in admiration and again looked at the wind wall with great interest .

Giving a smile at her, Syltina then turned to face Creutz .

“Well then, let’s start . ”

“Yeah . ”

After nodding to Syltina, Creutz changed form into ‘darkness’ in a moment .

“Eh?”

“Wh-eh? What…”

That darkness just kept spreading, covering up everything inside the wind wall .

That darkness was deep, deep black .

It was the ‘real’ darkness, not like the ones spreading from the demons .

Before, everything was slightly visible even through there was the darkness spread by the demons but now–everything was pitch black, as if one had their eyes closed .

“In front of many bright, shining lives,”

Amidst that darkness, a cold, dignified voice resounded .