Chapter 428
Chapter 428. The Century’s Discovery
“【Flame Beam!】”
“【Fireball!】”
The intense jet of flames and the blazing sphere of fire.
These were the fire magic spells unleashed by the enraged Old Man and his companion Hans.
“Gwaaaahhh—!!”
The bandit Sword Saint, hit directly, exploded without a chance to respond!
Shattering into pieces with a smell of burning flesh…!!
Bits of what was once the bandit Sword Saint are scattered throughout the ruins—
Well, I suppose it ended rather abruptly.
The aforementioned bandit Sword Saint must have been eating or sleeping, because he casually appeared a while after our ambush.
I was suspicious of his relaxed demeanor, especially with someone like Arthur, an obvious magic warrior, around—turns out he had some kind of magical protective charm.
“You claim to be a Sword Saint. Why resort to being a bandit and engaging in lawlessness? Wouldn’t it be better to use your sword skills for a more righteous path?”
“Ha! To hell with righteousness! Why the hell should I break a sweat for those weaklings?”
The bandit Sword Saint arrogantly responded while tapping his sword against his shoulder.
“I live how I want, old man! It’s survival of the fittest; even nature acknowledges this!”
“Survival of the fittest is the law of beasts! Such a thing cannot sustain human society!”
“I don’t need society! The law of beasts is just fine!”
“…You speak nonsense.”
This bandit Sword Saint’s words sent the Old Man into a rage.
“If you were genuinely living as a hermit in the mountains, there might have been some truth to your words! Yet, in truth, you engage in lawlessness, killing innocent people and stealing their goods, merely extending your life by taking what society has created! The law of beasts? Those words are wasted on you; you’re not a beast, but a parasite…!”
Flames of magic surged from the Old Man’s body—
“A parasite, claiming that its host is unnecessary, is beyond foolish! You’ll be burnt to a crisp by my grand flames—【Flame Beam!】”
With that, he unleashed a heat beam from his hand.
However, the bandit Sword Saint showed no signs of panic, and in fact, didn’t even try to dodge, taking it head-on. What’s more, the heat beam fired by the Old Man seemed to bend in front of the bandit and veered off in another direction!
“What…!?”
“Hah! Magic doesn’t work on me!”
The bandit Sword Saint grinned smugly, the flickering barrier of magic before him. At that moment, both Arthur and I, not to mention the Old Man, surely realized it.
This bandit Sword Saint apparently possessed a rather inappropriate magical charm. Was it something he stole from a merchant, or a family heirloom he’d had all along…?
“A Sword Saint who is immune to magic… which means I’m invincible!”
He laughed heartily, but—
He must not have understood due to his lack of magical talent or knowledge.
Because there are indeed tiers for magical protective charms.
And because he revealed the effectiveness of his charm—
It meant that magical users like us would have gauged his true depth.
Regardless of the bandit Sword Saint’s triumphant laughter, the Old Man began to gather even more magic energy.
“【Flame Beam!】”
A fiercer and hotter column of flames was unleashed, which, even though it had been bent, began to melt through the Sword Saint’s magical defense.
“【Fireball!】”
Hans’s searing sphere followed almost simultaneously, shattering the barrier and hitting directly.
“Gwaaaahhh—!!”
—And thus we return to the beginning.
“Wahhh! The boss!”
“Eeeh! A great magician!”
“Help us!!”
The boss was instantaneously turned into hamburger meat (minced & cooked), and the already timid bandit lackeys instantly lost all morale.
They began dropping their swords and surrendering.
If they were lake pirates, they’d be hanged without question, but it seems bandits are treated as regular robbers—though still a serious crime—they won’t face execution without a trial.
“Well, depending on future interrogations, if they cooperate with forced labor in the mines, they might be out in about 20 to 30 years… Good luck with that!”
Arthur encouraged them with a smile, but the bandits looked sullen. I can’t say I blame them; it’s their own fault.
—By the way, the members of the bandit extermination squad are me, Arthur, the Old Man, as well as Shuken and Kirk, with Hans and the beastman Hien as our companions.
While Arthur and I kept a stern watch, Shuken and Kirk skillfully bound the bandits with rope.
Wow, I was surprised that the elderly Old Man came here personally…but he’d be considered a high-class magician among humans. He has some serious firepower and is also an incredible martial artist, meaning this guy is probably one of the top-class warriors of humanity!
And I was shocked to find Hans was also a magician. He shares the same fire attribute. I was honestly wondering what good a scrawny guy like him—whose martial skills didn’t seem that impressive—would be, with a backdrop of Hien being not much better, but now it makes perfect sense since he could use that much magic!
As expected of someone who’s joined our group, he’s no ordinary person…!
“Fufufufu… indeed.”
…What’s with you, Ant? You look awfully pleased.
“Muhehe. No, nothing. I was just laughing at the abrupt end of the bandit.”
Ah, I see.
Was that guy genuinely a Sword Saint? I can’t know for sure since he burst apart before he even had a chance to swing his sword.
Maybe I could figure it out if I called him later, but using necromancy just for that seems a bit excessive, plus he’s already dead and it doesn’t seem like he’d turn into a spirit anyway…
Yeah, at this point, I don’t really care.
He was a bandit before being a Sword Saint!
Since he was the chief and likely had no hope for reform, it’s extermination!
The end!! Dismissed!!!
“Ugh—!!”
On a side note, Hien, the beastman, was on all fours, pressing his triangular ears down and throwing up dramatically.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Ugh! W-wep, huh…?”
He seemed to be making some pitiful noises. It looked like he was at his limit with nausea and had no spare capacity to respond to me.
He apparently got sick from the scattered pieces of the Sword Saint (?), and the corpses of those I and Arthur had chopped down.
Huh? Why? No way, right? It’s definitely a bit gruesome, but compared to the torture marks from the night elves, it’s just a dead body…
“No, seriously, those night elf things can’t even compare.”
The benchmark might be way too harsh. However, it’s unexpected that while even Hans maintained a stern face and stood firm, Hien was completely out of commission here…
“Ugh, ugh… damn it, damn it…”
It seems Hien’s nausea was calming down a bit, and he glared at his own vomit with a pathetic expression while hitting the ground in frustration.
Is there… perhaps some kind of trauma or something…?
“…Have you settled down?”
“Master… I’m sorry. I… again…”
“It can’t be helped.”
The Old Man lightly patted Hien on the back to encourage him.
It seems there really is something going on—a backstory, or something like that…
The Old Man and Shuken, Kirk, and Hans are all looking at Hien with sympathy, and Hien himself seems to feel embarrassed in front of Arthur and me.
“We’re done with the bindings.”
“Alright. Then, do you have any remaining companions?”
With that, Shuken and the others had finished tying up the surviving bandits. The bandits, now bound behind their backs, sat in a line, and the Old Man began the questioning. Arthur had also released the “Absolute Defensive Zone” and sheathed his sword.
With that, one incident was resolved, isn’t it? We still have things to confirm, like checking for any other lurking companions and returning any stolen goods…
“However, this setting…”
I sheathed Adamas as I took a moment to survey the bandits’ hideout.
It was like a shrine inside a large cave, which gaped open on the mountainside.
In a horizontal area spacious enough for even a dragon to lounge comfortably, there was a stone shrine and rows of weathered gravestones, resembling something out of an ancient past. I couldn’t even guess its age based on my knowledge.
If I were to put it simply, the design of the shrine, assembled out of simple rectangles, suggests it’s from an era far before the Iron Age—probably something from the Bronze Age. It doesn’t seem like it’s from a mythological era, as ruins from before the divine influence faded away were likely more elaborate, or even still active towns rather than just ruins.
“Hmm. It seems there’s a hot spring here too.”
Indeed. Vapors of hot water were rising from everywhere. The fact that these bandits seemed surprisingly clean for a group of ruffians might be because they bathed daily.
Not just hot springs, it feels like the very earth’s magic power is also bubbling up—maybe veins of energy.
“Yeah, it’s filled with potent magic… it feels somewhat like the Demon Lord’s castle or a dragon’s cave.”
A power spot. Not an uncomfortable place at all…
Next, while using my night vision magic, I walked around, focusing on the ground.
Left behind were the scraps of food, trash, and dirty clothes all over the place, which seemed to amount to nothing good…
“…Oh?”
In the center of the ruins, inside the shrine.
It looked like it had served as a kitchen, as there was a pot placed over a campfire, bubbling some kind of soup.
No, however, what was truly important wasn’t that.
Around the campfire, on the stone floor—circled was some kind of pattern etched into the ground, which I noticed.
A pattern… well, to call it that, there seems to be no regularity. What is this? It somewhat resembles the magic circle used to cast barriers, but these patterns… are they letters?
“It’s our writing. Demonic script.”
Ant said.
Demonic script? Do you guys have a unique writing system?
“Of course we do. Did you think we would use human magic script?”
Now that you mention it, that makes sense.
So, what’s written here?
“I can’t read it well. Clear away some of that rubbish around.”
Okay, okay.
As I cleared the floor according to Ant’s instructions—
I suddenly felt a chill in my chest.
No, to be accurate—Ant within me was sensing something astonishing.
“What…? No way. It’s actually still existing…!”
Ant was trembling, suddenly losing that casual demeanor.
What’s wrong? Is this something that’s that frightening?!
“…Yes. There’s a spell inscribed that connects our demon world with the living realm.”
For a moment, I didn’t comprehend its meaning.
…Huh? Wait, that’s…
That’s…!
“That’s what the Holy Church refers to as ancient malicious magic…”
Ant declared.
“The Gate to the Demon World. In other words, a simple Dark Portal.”
