novelraw Chapter 101 : Chapter 101
Chapter 101 : Chapter 101
101
Ulf was holding a long pipe in her hand.
It was an object called a ‘gombangdae’, made from a bamboo stem.
Faint white smoke, as if the pipe had just been lit, drifted from its bowl.
“Hah. You finished it off that quickly?”
“Was it alright?”
“Alright? Of course it was. I told you I give my forest warriors similar training. Even the druid warriors known as Great Warriors can't dispatch a King Gorilla that quickly.”
“Since its form was humanoid, it was an easy opponent.”
“Tsk, tsk. Such modesty. You're a curious one.”
Ulf waved her hand, and the mana that had enveloped the area dissipated.
The training ground, now empty of the monster, looked exactly as it had before she cast the spell.
The stone curb that it had smashed, the bloodstains splattered everywhere—not a trace remained.
I recalled the sensation of cutting the King Gorilla's arm.
It was as hard as rock, yet the feeling of cutting through the unique, elastic texture of its hide was still vivid.
Illusion magic was truly terrifying.
“Should I just continue training like this?”
“Training? With your skills, I'd say you could go on slaying demons for a year or two.”
Ulf said as she tapped the ash from her pipe.
Was I really at that level?
“Are demons weaker than I thought?”
“Weak? Hah, I suppose you could say that if you don't know about them. Has no one told you about demons?”
“I've only heard the basics.”
“Then you know nothing. It won't do to be ignorant of the enemy that will soon appear. Sit.”
I sat as she suggested, and Ulf began her story.
“Demons appear to destroy what humanity possesses. Have you heard that?”
“Yes.”
“For instance, let’s consider the first demon to appear. The Giant-Block. Ranged attacks don't work on it, do they? Heh heh. Since you studied at the Imperial Royal Academy, this should be an interesting story for you.”
Ulf's staff tapped the ground.
A clear thump echoed, and the atmosphere suddenly changed.
It felt as if I were camping in an open meadow.
The stars in the sky moved to find their constellations, and as the heavens shifted, the air around us grew still and silent.
Within that stillness, Ulf's voice flowed calmly.
“Why did it block ranged attacks? It is related to the development of humanity. Long ago, the form of humans was not so different from the King Gorilla you just saw.”
“You're talking about the theory of evolution. I thought that was a minor field of study only discussed by a few mad scholars.”
“In the realm of academia, perhaps. But we shamans constantly hear stories from the Great Spirits. Do you know what changes when a beast that walked on four legs starts walking on two?”
“The front legs, or hands, become free.”
And so, humans came to use tools, while animals that could not use their hands properly fell behind.
Humans became the lords of all creation, and animals that jealously tried to force the use of their hands became monsters—.
That was the gist of the theory of evolution.
Ulf let out a hollow laugh, as if my story was amusing.
“They begin to see farther.”
With another thump, a bonfire flared up from the ground.
Within it stood a being that could be called the first human.
With a piece of leather wrapped around his waist to cover his lower body, the awkwardly standing person held a wooden stick and looked up at the sky.
“A being that walks hunched over can only see below and in front. But the moment we stand up straight, we can see farther, and higher. And when both hands become free, we become able to dream.”
“Dream…”
“As we see farther, we want to go farther. The wheel is invented, and we learn to throw weapons at distant beings while hiding ourselves. From throwing stones to inventing spears and arrows.”
And in that moment, with a thud, the fire was extinguished in an instant.
The stars in the sky, the quietly flowing air—it all vanished.
All that remained in my vision was Ulf, puffing on her pipe.
“The Giant-Block is what erases all of that.”
“It erases the beginning of humanity.”
So demons appear in conjunction with the history of human civilization, or the development of its culture.
“Therefore, demons are neither strong nor weak. Some demons can be crushed with a single finger, while others cannot be killed no matter what you do.”
I could understand why Ulf had found it difficult to explain about demons.
Since we were on the topic of demons, I decided to ask the things I had been wanting to ask.
“You said that you only know that the second demon has appeared, but you don't know what kind of demon it is.”
“Almost nothing is known.”
“When the third demon appeared, I died…”
“So that was the third one.”
“How do you know such information? That a demon has appeared, even though you haven't seen or met it.”
“A good question. The moment a demon appears, it sounds an alarm for all of humanity.”
“An alarm?”
“A demon is a being that appears literally to antagonize humanity. Therefore, the moment a demon appears, humanity feels a warning that our adversary has appeared in this world.”
A warning, just from the explanation, I couldn't quite grasp what kind of feeling that would be.
It was at that moment.
◎
A strange sensation spread out from my heart in concentric circles, rippling through my body.
It was like a stone thrown into the center of a calm water surface.
My hands and feet trembled with an unknown emotion.
My hair stood on end, and I felt a sensation as if someone were grabbing the back of my neck and lifting me up.
My hand instinctively went to the hilt of my sword.
Could it be.
“……Is this it?”
Ulf, too, had already risen from her seat, her teeth clenched.
“Yes. That's it. This is it.”
And not long after, numerous people began to flock to this dormitory.
“Teacher!”
Rozalin and Hati, Sordian and Pan, Bridget, and Eleveth, along with many other students.
“It appeared!”
“Yes. I felt it.”
The entity known as the Giant-Block.
It had appeared in this world three months earlier than in the regressors' world.
It was the beginning of the demon invasion.
* * *
The regressors, key students, and all of the academy's instructors were summoned to the new building's conference room.
It was late, but due to the unsettling feeling that had swept through their bodies just after the demon's appearance, everyone was awake.
“So that was the being you, the security chief and the priestess, were talking about, the demon.”
“That is correct.”
Yuria answered Gwen's question.
It seemed that a mythological story from Yuria, who was from the Holy Kingdom, would be more effective than the regressors talking about what they had seen in the future.
“Demons are adversaries meant to annihilate humanity biologically and culturally. When a demon appears, the world warns all of humanity that our enemy has appeared.”
Indeed, the instructors believed Yuria's words without much doubt.
Even if they didn't want to believe it, the terrible experience they had all felt together forced them to believe.
As I listened to Yuria explain to the others, I glanced to the side.
Pan, Bridget, and Sordian, who had heard about the demons from Rozalin beforehand, had expressions that said, ‘what was bound to happen has happened.’
It was the regressors whose expressions were not good.
Hati's face was pale and hardened, and he was clenching and unclenching his fists, his teeth clenched.
A fighting spirit was constantly flowing from his body, and just being near him was suffocating.
Rozalin was constantly biting her thumbnail.
“Why? Why three months early? For what reason? Why the demon?”
“Rozalin.”
“Teacher, this, uh, it wasn't like this last time, but. It's strange, why? Huh.”
“Calm down.”
I took Rozalin's hand from her mouth and patted her on the shoulder.
Her trembling pupils looked at me.
“It can happen.”
“If this happens, everything will get tangled up. The demons' weaknesses, their fighting methods, even where they appear might change. If the order and the beings themselves change, then later, the one who killed you, teacher, might…”
“It’s alright.”
I held her hand and looked into her eyes.
Fear was residing in her eyes.
It wasn't a fear of demons.
The regressed Rozalin had never once shown any sign of fearing demons when she talked about them.
It wasn't like she would suddenly become scared of demons now.
Rather… it was a fear of not knowing the future.
“The future is originally something you can't know.”
“Teacher.”
“I've always told you. No matter how much you've returned from the future, what you know is a world where I didn't exist. The world where I exist, and the world you've returned to, it's right that neither I nor you know the future.”
“Teacher…”
“There's no need to fear what you don't know. No one fears the inevitable.”
While I was reassuring Rozalin, the surroundings had become quiet.
It seemed that Yuria had finished her explanation about the demons.
“According to the explanation, it doesn't seem difficult to deal with the demon itself. There are many students who have awakened their Aura, and it seems the first demon is not that strong.”
“However, the problem is not the demon, but the surrounding countries.”
“That’s right. Originally, we were planning to lure the ranged units of the surrounding countries, that is, the archer units, engineering units, and mage units, and have them encounter that demon.”
But since the demon had arrived early, the plan had to be changed.
I spoke of the strategy I had organized in my head on the way here.
“Since it has come to this, we will have a proper show of force.”
Instead of casting actors from the outside, we would handle both the ranged and melee attacks ourselves.
“I will lead the students and go to strike the demon. The students who have learned Aura will be the vanguard. And the regular students who have not learned Aura will be the rear guard.”
While the vanguard blocked the Giant-Block's attacks with Aura, the rear guard would launch a fierce attack from a distance.
“Ulf, I'll need your help.”
“You want me to put on a show, right? Huhu.”
If the Giant-Block was immune to ranged attacks, then the magic of a 6th-circle mage would also be of little use.
“Good. I was curious for years whether the Giant-Block could even block my magic.”
“For the student formation, we will take all the auditing students who have infiltrated as spies from each country. Place the Firestorm mercenaries around the auditing students to monitor them so they don't do anything foolish.”
“Got it.”
“After the ranged attack is over, we will immediately strike the demon. Since we are taking the students, I have no intention of leaving a dangerous element for long.”
And one more thing.
If my memory was correct, Rozalin had once said something like this.
That you get a reward for dealing with a demon.
“Not just us, but all of humanity in the world must have felt the same energy. Before the Holy Kingdom, the Empire, or any other country comes, let's get rid of it first.”
If we're going to have a show of force, we'll get everything we can.
“The operation will commence right after dawn. All classes will be replaced with field training. All teachers, please prepare.”
As soon as I finished speaking, everyone, from the teachers to the students, and Hati and the mercenaries, left the room.
“That’s strange. I’m the chairman, but…?”
Only Gwen remained, blinking her eyes as if she couldn't understand, sitting in the chairman's chair.