SING CRIER CH.4 - Shadow of the Demon King

『 Mak Euvier Ji-! 』

He covers my mouth and slams me into the grass.

I take damage from the collision and cough blood.

I can't see anything in the pitch-black forest's depths, but I can hear the clinking of glass vials.

...He's getting another health potion for me.

『 ...! 』

Crier -- shivering and floating -- pulls herself closer along her leash,

slowly and considerately, so as to not incur more of his wrath.

He seems to ignore her, opting to gesture a potion towards me.

Just like before, he then says in his foreign language:

「 Irei. 」 "Drink." I spit at him. He doesn't like that.

The potion is opened and forcefully poured into my mouth.

I cough and spit out as much as I can, managing not to heal to full health.

He really doesn't like that.

I kick, scream, scratch, and flail, doing my best to resist drinking more potions.

I bite my tongue and scratch my limbs against his open blades whenever he heals me.

When he realizes what I'm doing he stuffs his glove into my mouth and pins me.

「 ▯▯▯▯ ▯▯▯ ▯▯▯▯ ▯▯ ▯▯▯▯▯ ▯▯▯▯ ▯▯▯! 」

I growl at him.

Jing'ra sighs.

The glove is armoured; I can't spit it out.

He ties my hands using my own leash,

while pinning my legs with the weight of his own.

I can feel the flat side of his leg-holstered blades pressing against my skin.

『 ...Mmmph! 』 『 ... 』

I... follow the sound of Sing's voice in the darkness, and swipe from Jing'ra's legs: two blades that Sing had cut herself on.

The blades are too heavy for «Fey Breath», I'm grounded almost instantly. In one motion, I cut my leash and fall away.

Just afterwards, I hear a slash of wind where I was just standing.

I can't tell whether he swung his arm or a blade at me,

but he doesn't immediately pursue; I can still feel his weight on Sing's legs.

Instead, he does nothing... and remains silent to Crier's escape. 『 Haha... ahaha... 』 Crier rubs her neck gently. The collar is fit perfectly. 『 ...I screamed, just now, you know? 』 My legs feel weak. 『 I screamed in pain. 『 It was... an indescribable chill... a phantom's grip. 『 A mere... tick of spinal wringing... and I felt, again... 『 the lightest smidgen of the death's limitless pain. 』 My hands freeze and my breath shivers. 『 Well... I meant to scream in pain... 『 Sing tried to, but your name just... came out instead. 『 Why is that -- Mak Euvier Jing'ra? 』 〖 You may now attack your owner. 〗 「 ... 」 『 You know, I thought... this Eldritch Fear... this horrible chill... 『 I thought it was warning me about the forest -- the dark...! 『 Monsters and abominations lurking in the pitch black... 『 But here... standing in that dark now... 』 I swallow my breath, and point my blades forward. 『 ...I can tell. 『 It's not screaming bloody murder about the dark around me. 『 It's screaming... "Death" ...right in front of me. 』 I feel Jing'ra shifting over Sing's legs... and the ghastly sensation of an amorphous hand grazes my spine in tune. It forces an agonizing shiver out of me. 『 I had to make it stop... y...you know? 『 This Eldritch Fear... is making me lose my mind... 『 I... I can't die again... I can't stand this agonizing hungering feeling... 』 My grip tightens. I shake my head. 『 Or maybe... I've already lost my mind? 『 You can't even understand me... 『 I'm just... talking to myself... 』 I squeeze my eyes shut and try to catch my breath... I bang my head against a blade handle. That simple gesture is enough to make me bleed. 『 ... 』 I feel a bit more focused. 『 I'm Crier. I'm going to save my sister Sing. 『 We're the Devil Twins. Streya is dead. 『 We have to do all it takes to survive. 『 If our Eldritch Fear says you have to die, then... so be it. 』 Those are the only things that matter right now. Focus. I have to focus on stopping the pain. 「 ... 」 Jing'ra begins tying up Sing's legs.

『 «Identify» 』 ...On myself.

...I still only have one P.ATK.

These blades really don't give me any more.

Everything else... zeros... zeroes... it's all zeroes... Bakana... ※¹ ...

Eldritch Fear [LV.50]

What is this? 50% chance of death? I'm certainly feeling it... One... freaking P.ATK...

『 Ha... 』

I feel like the blades are becoming heavier... To feel this much fear even still...

He must be... quite dangerous...

A-Ah...

...my spines...

...so cold...

...so twisted...

This is... a pain beyond physical pain...

It's the second greatest pain I've ever felt...

...I mean second worst! Worst pain!

I must be insane already. Yes, that must be it.

It can only be because of that. There's no other meaning.

I'll kill you if you read further into it...

Ha...

Of course... It's only second to death itself... Jing'ra finishes tying up Sing's legs, then stands up and backs away from her...

I hear the grinding of two blades being pulled, but I can't see so I don't know which ones.

He has at least 24 blades on his body that I've seen, more could be hidden.

And I can't use identify on him because you need to maintain a line of sight.

A battle with a phantom...

Ah... no wonder I'm so scared...

Fighting with a murderer in the dark...

in Sudden Death where it only takes one accident to kill me...

I'm a caster too...

Ah... but...

If it's fighting against a melee target...

The Demon King is the strongest.

Please hang in there Sing... this imouto will rescue you. 『 ...?! 』 I feel it suddenly, the pain of Eldritch Fear rising. It's level as well... is rising... Death is coming... H...He's attacking... I can't see him...

Fifty-two. Fifty-three. Fifty-eight.

I blindly extend my blades in the direction of my fear, and a split second later, I hear the screech of steel being pierced. The moment I hear this, I flee perpendicular to the direction of Sing using all ten of my SP, and discard the one blade I felt resistance on. 『 Haa...! 』 I'm already... out of breath... but my Eldritch Fear... returned to level 50...

That tells me... he's not going to follow up...? Right? That's what that means... right...?

...Huh?

He's really... not moving? Ah -- he's... he must be wondering how he took damage... I'm not exactly sure what I hit... but it was steel. So he was probably... expecting it to bounce off. But...

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LV.100 ▬ Pink Devil's Blossom

Mythical Demonic Headpiece

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Effects▐ ◈ Forbidden Pact

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Forbidden Pact - All of the holder's outgoing and incoming damage becomes true damage, bypassing all defensive stats. ...that line of reasoning is pointless against us. Armour is butter, whether metal, or magic. It's why... I cast barriers which are mostly HP.

Its effect is ideal for a caster commander because you enjoy the macro offence without the risk.

For the me who has one P.ATK it's a gross waste of potential...

Then again... with it... we also have a chance of winning... 『 Haha... 』 How am I going to win while dealing only one damage?

That's a stupid question if you ask it...

He has 227/228 HP... and no health potions left.

I just have to outsmart him and hit him 227 more times.

I'll... beat him to death... isn't that obvious?

Haha...

Well then...

A war where I have to win 227 battles in a row?

Aha...hahaha... how hopeless...!

Let's work together Sing...

In the Demon King's name...

as the Devil Twins...

...we'll kill you. ...I flaunt my flexibility and dodge in a direction away from Sing... I land a hit and break another one of his blades for it.

I duck low to the ground, grazing the grass, narrowly escaping his grasp... I pluck another knife off of him.

I pretend to trip on a small hole I'd dug with my heel...

I land another hit.

I use the grass I've been loosening and kick it into the air...

Another hit.

I let him take away one of my blades, and use the chance to counter-attack...

I land two hits and break the blade he took back. I move to hit him with the handle of the knife while his attention is transfixed on the blade...

True damage allows even the handle to deal one damage.

Hit Break Hit Break Hit Hit Steal Break Lose One Hit Hit... Forty hits in... It starts getting really hard to manoeuvre with just one blade...

...Shall I use a trump card?

I take off the demonic miasma suppression ring and go all-out while my spreading miasma dazes him. I also take the chance to steal two more of his blades but... Ah... my SP is way too low...

I'm already exhausted...

...Huh? He's suddenly faster?!

Ah! The weight of the blades...! He trips me. I try to sneak in another hit,

but I mainly focus on influencing the direction I fall in.

He catches me while I'm on the ground, and I drop the two blades...

Ah... that's...

『 Ah... Ahn~』

He flinches.

Wow, that worked? That's gross.

I throw my last blade with all my strength.

It doesn't travel very far, but it doesn't matter,

because he forgot our relative positions.

『 Mak Euvier Jing'ra! 』

〖 You may now attack your owner. 〗 Sing frees her hands on the tossed blade, then scrambles up onto her feet. 『 Gosh you're dumb. 』 『 Go go go! 』

Ambush! Rush! Sing blitzes him whilst Crier turns to bite his wrist. Whilst he moves to both dodge and counter, Crier instead steals a blade.

He quickly reconsiders and jumps away thinking his position is bad.

Mistake; he should have just tanked our attacks and counter-attacked, because now we have four blades, included are the two blades Crier dropped.

His behaviour isn't unexpected though.

Jing'ra is someone who has super high P.ATK, and low P.DEF for his level.

Which means he's something of an assassin who is used to dodging at all times.

He's fast, definitely fast compared to someone in the same weight class, but compared to us, who are practically weightless... it's like trying to fight a falling leaf, you know? Plus, with our persistent miasma effect... of course he's going to be in a tough spot.

The biggest hurdle for us will appear once he realizes he needs to ditch his weight, even if it exposes his blades for theft.

His speed isn't far from ours to begin with, so he may become even faster than us if he loses his blades. Losing weight also means less exertion so that means he'll have more SP too. So, from here on out, we need to protect each other equally. A one on one is disadvantageous...

We've counted only 14 broken blades as well... There's still quite a bit left for him to lose... We can't let our guards down...

Not to mention... he hasn't been using «Fey Breath» on Sing,

so it's possible he has even more valuable spells...

...Eldritch Fear. If things are about to get dire though, we'll know through this, won't we? We thought it was a curse, but it's actually kind of a cheat effect... right?

Ah... haha...

This isn't a cheap effect though...

Even if we can endure the fear and pain, these bodies are fragile, you know?

We can't control our breathing, and we've broken out into cold sweats...

It would be so relieving to just scream... to keel over and writhe...

but... remembering what it feels like to die...

Of course we're still standing...

Anything... just to live a few more seconds...

「 ... 」

Huh? Are you still thinking of something?

You think we can't tell just because it's dark?

Stop staring at us!

Sing reaches down and plucks a bioluminescent flower.

Their lights aren't weak, but the forest seems to have an unnatural darkness,

like a black fog that cripples the distance light can travel.

She points it forwards...

...H-Huh...?

...When did he... close the gap?

His mask is within arm's reach, and we didn't notice him approach at all...! The chill, and twisting in our spines...

It's... fading away...?

...Re...lief?

We gasp without thinking...

The relief from Eldritch Fear dropping is...

It feels so nice... we almost cry...

Why...? Why is it at level forty-four, forty-one, thirty-eight?

Is he... giving up...?

No way... that's...

That can't be! Why?

There's no reason right?

Does he honestly think he can't win?

We're not even at the halfway point yet!

He's reaching slowly toward's Sing's neck, but Eldritch Fear doesn't rise...

This isn't right... something is wrong...

Click.

The tightness around Sing's neck is gone.

Something isn't wrong...? No no no... that's...

Click.

The tightness around Crier's neck is gone.

The collars drop...

Did...

Did we lose...?

Ah... that must be it, right?

No... not right...

Did we... misunderstand...?

Was this all a huge misunderstanding?

『『 «Identify» 』』 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

LV.21 ▬ Mak 'Euvier' Jing'ra

Scarecrow Demon

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HP ▐ 4/228

MP ▐ 22/141

SP ▐ 249/394

P.ATK ▐ 481

P.DEF ▐ 160

M.ATK ▐ 4

M.DEF ▐ 180

Effects ▐ ◈ Goddess's Blessing

▐ ◈ Heroic Bravery

▐ ◈ Suppressed Demonic Miasma[LV.21]

▐ Wind Walking[LV.8]

▐ Night-Vision[LV.15]

▐ Fear[LV.100]

▐ Infatuation[LV.139]

Titles ▐ 「 The Hero 」「 Demon Slayer 」「 Human Slayer 」

▐ 「 Criminal 」「 Ally of Elves 」

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Four HP...?

Why...?

Where did... all that damage come from...?

Sing uses the flower's light to get a closer look.

There are blade handles sticking out from all over his body.

Did he... stab himself?

Is he an idiot?

We're not going to assume you're a noble demon you know.

We're going to assume you're an idiot that stabbed himself.

We won't forgive you just for this, you know?

We want to see you die, so we're going to kill you okay?

We'll really do it.

We're actually going to kill you, you know?

As if he understands our intentions, he puts his arms in the air in surrender.

Eh? Were we that easy to read? Did we make an expression like that...?

What the heck is...

We don't understand what he's thinking after all...?

Infatuation... [LV.139]...

Is that it? Is it because of that?

That's... not funny...

We try to kill you, and you fall in love with us for that?

Is this a joke? Are we being pranked? Are you really an idiot?

Ah... we don't understand at all...

...Aaaaaah! We don't understand!

Whatever! Just die already!

We don't care! Do whatever you want!

You want to die? Then die!

Get impaled by four blades and die!

Die! Die Die Die!!

Crack.

〖 Location Discovered: Sal'venakai 〗

〖 Location Discovered: Sal'venakai 〗

[END]