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」

s.h.i.+rone 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 s.h.i.+rone .

s.h.i.+rone 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 flas.h.i.+ng with a red light .

「GUWAAA!」

「GEH!」

「GUWAAA!」

Everyone exposed to that light, save for me and s.h.i.+rone, fall down while screaming .

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

「I s.n.a.t.c.hed 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 s.h.i.+rone 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 st… . 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, c.r.a.p”, 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」

s.h.i.+rone’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 s.h.i.+rone doesn’t need my a.s.sistance 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 c.o.c.kroach .

◆Sword Maiden, s.h.i.+rone

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 acc.u.mulated 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 suns.h.i.+ne .

「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 s.h.i.+nes 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!!!」

「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 h.e.l.l … 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… . 」

「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」

「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 .

「s.h.i.+rone-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 .

「s.h.i.+rone-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 brus.h.i.+ng 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 .