This week will be the last for the double updates . So, another chapter will be released tomorrow, then we’ll be back to one chapter per week . Enjoy!
TL: clover
ED: eristol (will be edited by xtostos)
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There are seventy-two wands .
Less than twenty scrolls .
A hundred bottle of potions .
Various magic tools .
Various alchemy materials .
Food, blankets and other household goods .
When I turned over my leather bag, a lot of items came out like an avalanche .
From those things, I packed the wands of Crystal Cl.u.s.ter into my glove of storing, wand-holder, my robe pockets, etc .
I made preparations and checked the battle situation once again .
Chloe is having a fierce battle against Lièvre’s tentacles .
Chloe excels in terms of instantaneous speed, but Lièvre is compensating it with the sheer amount of tentacles .
Although the paper-thin balance is still being maintained, I don’t know what will happen if the battle is prolonged .
Tirnanog is overthrowing the Hounds one after another .
But, while protecting me from the pouncing Hounds, he seems to be having difficulty giving support to Chloe .
“Wait a minute! Listen to me! Let’s settle this peacefully, alright?”
『Alright? Please wait and listen to me . 』
『Let’s settle this peacefully? Alright?』
『Please?』
Some of the maws that grew on the tentacles spoke in a voice similar to Lièvre’s .
They used a tone of voice that felt similar to the usual Lièvre .
“Please, how about you calm yourselves down? I’m sure we can reach an understanding!”
『We just want to secure the sacrifice in a peaceful way . 』
『Surely, surely, surely, you must understand . 』
『Please, calm down? Please, calm down? Please, calm down?』
The voice of the usual Lièvre, who was gentle and br.i.m.m.i.n.g with curiosity .
The woman who said she wanted to hear the song of the spiders once again .
Although it is too late, I have come to a realization .
Lièvre’s human nature was turned into a plaything by this vampire .
I don’t think I can reach a mutual understanding with this predator, and I don’t want to reach an understanding .
I gauged the right timing to kill the vampire .
I cannot afford to fail .
While I was observing the two people closely and looking for an opportunity, Lièvre’s scream resounded .
“……Hiie!!”
Chloe pierced Lièvre’s chest .
Is this it?
However, with a squelching noise, Lièvre’s chest swallowed up the long snowsilver sword .
When Chloe pulled it out forcefully, the sword was chomped in the middle of the blade .
The other half of the blade was expelled as if shot from the maw which opened on Lièvre’s chest, and Chloe jumped back to avoid it .
“This is vexing . So vexing! Even though I have gathered all 12 people—somehow I’m so hungry right now that I can’t stand it!! This is truly vexing!”
While shouting such things, black meat overflowed from underneath Lièvre’s skirt like a torrent .
Her lower body turned into innumerable tentacles of about three or four meters in length .
It seems that the vampire, who was getting worked up about the battle and whose reason has collapsed, is giving priority to appet.i.te over rationality .
Even though her long sword was destroyed, Chloe pulled out a new dagger without delay .
She cut away Lièvre’s tentacles with both the dagger and the broken snowsilver sword .
Chloe continues to avoid at the last moment, but it is clear that she is getting pushed back unlike earlier .
The fact that the number of tentacles on Lièvre has increased several times after the distance was reduced is fatal for Chloe .
If her opponent were a young vampire about a couple hundred years old .
If the number of souls captured were small, Chloe would probably have won .
However, if the previous anecdotes are true, this vampire that has turned into Lièvre is old .
All human souls captured over the span of five hundred years must be killed, or else I won’t be able to kill that thing .
If Chloe’s strength is exhausted by then, no one can protect her .
That’s why—
“Chloe-san, please! Move back as far as you can!”
The moment Chloe immediately jumped back, I rapidly fired at Lièvre .
A total of two-thousand crystal spears were released simultaneously .
However, the spears that were supposed to pulverize the enemy were all crushed at once .
The maws that are growing without a break on the tentacles and the lumps of meat that compose those Hounds chomped the crystal spears and swallowed them .
Up to this point, it is still within my prediction .
I knew I couldn’t beat that monstro with an attack only of this level .
But that was not my aim anyway .
“This is……”
Lièvre, who noticed the crystal stake stabbed on the altar, glared at me reproachfully .
Her tentacle pulled out the stake and bit on it .
“So this attack on the altar was your true aim, and the rest of the attack was just a distraction? That was extremely underhanded—”
Before Lièvre could finish her sentence, I fired larger crystal cl.u.s.ters towards both Lièvre and the altar .
This time she also reacted immediately; she did not only stop the ones that were aimed at herself, but also stopped the crystal cl.u.s.ters that were aimed at the altar .
“You understand well what’s important to me, huh . Hey, please, stop this?”
Instead of replying, I shot a log-sized crystal spear towards the defenseless altar .
Then, the area from Lièvre’s chest to the part of her foot turned into a huge maw, opening like a red flower .
The huge maw easily swallowed the log-sized crystal spear, which enabled me to take a good look at the chewing process .
In the back of the red mouth bordered by white teeth, there was a dark, bottomless s.p.a.ce .
I confirmed it using Glam Sight .
As I thought, there is a s.p.a.ce-expansion magic within that darkness .
“You should have included that attack in your first surprise attack . It’s regretful, but that kind of attack won’t work on me anymore . I, I don’t want to get angry . So let’s end this fruitless effort, okay?”
“Oh my, are you scared?”
I built up the final blow .
Even if its speed and penetration ability is low, it’s already sufficient and the aiming ability is unnecessary .
As long as it’s big and heavy, it’s fine .
Destroy the floor and the ceiling, mix in those rubble into the crystal, and create a crystal pile as huge as possible .
Two meters in diameter, fifteen meters in length .
While crystallizing the huge crystal pile, I kicked my empty leather bag into the crystal while mixing it with the rubble .
In exchange for its inefficiency, this is the most likely winner .
“Although the altar is important, it can’t be more important than your life . I think if you’re truly the monstro in the legend, this kind of attack should be no big deal for you, but—”
I cut off my words and laughed .
“If you’re not, then how about you roll up those ugly tentacles and run away?”
“……!!”
The face of the vampire, who was in the form of Lièvre, stiffened .
Good, she seems to be frustrated .
I think that was a cheap provocation even if I say so myself, but it’s a point for me if it affected her emotion even a little .
“I will give you two choices: to receive or to avoid . Choose the one you like, vampire!”
The huge crystal pile with my leather bag inside was shot towards the vampire .
The vampire who chose to swallow it without avoiding it turned her whole body into a huge mouth .
The dark oral cavity swallowed the huge crystal very easily, despite the swirling air caused by the huge ma.s.s .
She was the anomalous monstro in accordance with the legend .
Even with the blow I prepared with all my might, it seems that this ancient vampire did not get a single wound .
The vampire who returned to her original form laughed with a calm expression .
“See, do you understand now? You should give up obediently……guh!?”
Her composed expression was distorted suddenly and the vampire began to tremble .
It seems that the large trap was effective .
“You, what did you do……?”
“It was said that those who covet death hold an infinite s.p.a.ce inside their body, so I tried to seal my s.p.a.ce-expanded leather bag inside the crystal and threw it in . ”
The vampire widened her eyes .
“What…are you stupid……do you understand, what kind of thing will happ—”
When another expanded s.p.a.ce is put into an infinitely-expanded s.p.a.ce, a collapse of s.p.a.ce occurs centered around the latter .
Klaus said that .
If so, even a monstro with an infinite s.p.a.ce inside their body will collapse .
All maws screamed in agony .
『Ah! Ah! AaAAHH!』
『Aah, aaah, aaaaAAAAAHHH!!!!』
『Ah! Aaah, aaAAAA!』
『NooOOOOOoooo!!!!』
Immediately after that, the maws were drawn inward all at once, as if their screams were being inhaled .
A big crack appeared on the s.p.a.ce around the abdomen of the vampire’s body .
The vampire dragged out lumps of meat resembling the Hounds that were bulging out unnaturally from her abdomen .
As the lumps of meat became separated from the vampire’s body, they collapsed and disappeared as if they were inhaled into the center of the body .
“No, no!”
『No, no, no, no, no, no!!!』
“Impossible, I can’t make it in time!!!
『No, no! AAAAaaaaaahhhh!!!』
The vampire seemed to be trying to separate her interior s.p.a.ce to avoid her own collapse .
However, her efforts were in vain, and finally the arm of the vampire which was thrust into her own abdomen got swallowed into the crack in s.p.a.ce .
The vampire’s face froze in fear .
At the same time, the s.p.a.ce where she was present broke like shattered gla.s.s .
Soon the landscape was restored, but the vampire’s figure was gone; neither her shape nor her shadow was anywhere to be found .
When I looked closely, the walls and floors were distorted and disconnected, as if the very s.p.a.ce where she was had been hollowed out .
The remaining Hounds and black tentacles gradually lost their power and returned to mere ma.s.ses of meat .
“That was pretty abrupt……”
Tirnanog turned around, shaking off things that were once Hounds which had bitten his arms and neck .
『It seems that was the end . 』
“Yes, it seems that way . Say, Tir, will you return to your smaller size again?”
『Is that okay?』
“If we show that we have no hostility towards her, she should understand . ”
『I have a lot of doubts about that conclusion, but……that’s just the kind of girl you are . 』
When I made a request to him, Tirnanog glanced at Chloe and then returned to his smaller form .
Then, I took Tirnanog and approached Chloe .
Chloe was putting away her sword which was broken from the middle into its sheath carefully .
When our eyes met, she quietly hung her head down .
“I’m sorry, for the thing just now . ”
“It’s okay, it couldn’t be helped . I admit I was very suspicious . ”
Or rather, I feel like I have become even more suspicious now .
There’s no way I can explain why I have such a golem or a large number of offensive wands .
But I hope she won’t press me about it .
“Well, what should we do now? First thing first, how about we return and report to the academy?”
“Yeah, you’re right . And this place should be purified properly . ”
Hearing Chloe’s answer, I nodded .
Explaining the course of tonight’s events to others would be hard, but it has to be done .
At that time, I heard the sound of the door opening .
It was Auguste and Klaus who appeared from the other side of the door .
“Erica! Are you safe?”
“What the h.e.l.l happened here . Erica!”
“It’s amazing that both of you managed to get here in such a short time! As expected!”
When I saw them using the Eyes of Overworld, they should have been on the uppermost layer, their moving speed is amazing .
As expected those two are cheat characters .
“I was surprised when we found out that you were in such a deep place without us . ”
“More importantly, what did you do . The room and s.p.a.ce here are messed up . ”
“Oh, that’s……um……”
When I glanced at Chloe, she nodded with a troubled expression as if saying it couldn’t be helped .
While concealing the delicate matter—the matter about Chloe’s older brother, should I explain what the vampire did?
“Were you fighting? We also encountered some monstro before we reached this place . ”
“It should be a phantom beast that manipulates spatial magic . Why the heck did you fight such a dangerous phantom beast?”
“It was an emergency, so it couldn’t be helped . The altar was at risk of being corrupted by a vampire . ”
“……a vampire, you say?”
Blue sparks came out from Klaus’ body .
When he heard the word ‘vampire’, Klaus became quiet, but the agitation of magical power that couldn’t be repressed expressed his fury .
Speaking of which, ‘vampire’ is the number one keyword that cannot be said in front of Hafan people!
Ah, this is bad .
With things being how they are, am I going to be scolded after this—?
(The collapse of s.p.a.ce? Yeah, it’s still happening in the background)
I have to admit that translating screams feels very weird . Like: “How should I write the screams in a way that shows the speaker is in agony?”