CH 165

Chapter 165

When Peaceful Times Cease To Exist : To The Swamp, Part 3 — Atrocity

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

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「Haah, haah…」

「Lisa, are we there!?」

「Just a little bit… Kyaaahh!?」

Just as Lisa was about to reply, a tremendous shock wave interrupted her voice. Miranda managed to hold on, but Kikyō, who was behind her, supported her as quickly as she could, as the lightweight Lisa was about to be blown away.

「This is!?」

「Magic Technique. It’s also a very high-level」

「Was this the Curse Mark?」

Miranda pales at Azusa’s reply. She don’t know what would happen to Alfiris’ body if she were to perform a series of Curse Mark release in such a short period of time. The last time Alfiris activated the Curse Mark, she was in severe pain for three days and couldn’t wield a sword properly. The amount of magic used this time was nothing compared to the last time. Worried, Miranda forgot to be vigilant and rushed to Alfiris, who was rolling about, but what she saw was a surprising sight.

「Oh, if isn’t Miranda. You’re late.」

「Eh…」

Miranda saw a scene, magical beasts lying on the ground in a pitiful state. It was a scene of a human, Alfiris, unilaterally slaughtering a herd of magical beasts, which are supposed to be the top predators in the ecosystem.

Some were beheaded, had their wings plucked off, and were burned alive. The sight of several magical beasts impaled on the ends of tree roots that had been transformed into spears pointing heavenward, as in the『hayanie』that certain birds are said to perform, was simply brutal. Alfiris, stained with the blood of the beasts that must have been on her head, is in a good mood as she talks to Miranda.

「Hang on, I’ll clean up these filth in a minute.」

The remaining monsters and beasts were frightened and panicked, in a complete panic. However, a wall made of earth was rising up around them, preventing the beasts from escaping. Still, the beasts try to climb over the wall, using their friends as springboards, but each time they do so, the wall rises higher and higher, as if to mock them, blocking their way.

Alfiris laughed happily at this scene.

「Look, look, Miranda! Their panic is masterful, isn’t it? A moment ago they were trying to stand up to me, but the moment they realized they couldn’t win, this is what they did! It’s so disgusting. If you’re a magical beast, don’t you think you should fight and die?」

「Alfie…」

「Ah, I don’t know why I put up with it so long. It’s ridiculous. I have so much power that everything is at my disposal, but…oh well. What would you like me to do about it, you scums? Burn you all? Freeze to death? Or suffocate? Ahh, and I like the idea of killing them in agony with poison. What do you two think, Miranda, Lisa?」

Alfiris spins around and looks back at them. Her face, stained with blood, was the best Alfiris’ smile the two had ever seen, but at the same time the most horrifying face on the planet. The sinister sight made Lisa involuntarily take a step back.

「What in the world are you talking about, Alfiris?」

「Eh, I told you I’m here to talk about how to kill these guys. You’re a sensor, but your ears are fine, Lisa?」

「No, that’s not what I meant.」

Just as Lisa was about to argue something, one of the large magical beasts suddenly turned and attacked Alfiris from behind. It must’ve been a suicide attack, knowing that there was no way to escape.

「Watch out!!」

Lisa screams, but Alfiris doesn’t move an inch. Just before the beast’s big fangs were about to sink into Alfiris’ flesh,

《Iron Scales.》

With a single cry from Alfiris, the fangs of the magical beast that were supposed to bite into the flesh were chipped off in the opposite direction. Degenerative magic of the body’s composition by the magic of the『gold』attribute. This is a magic that’s at the highest level of difficulty in terms of metallicity, although no one but Alfiris knows about it. It was invoked by Alfiris without chanting.

The beast flinches back, but Alfiris quickly tightens her neck and forcibly pulls the beast to her face. She handles the beast, which is probably twice her size, as lightly as if it were a small animal. She then looked into the eyes of the beast from a close distance and said,

「I admire your courage in coming at me, but you, you’re cocky!」

As if to say, Alfiris put her hands on the upper and lower jaws of the magical beast, respectively, and tore it apart with brute force. Alfiris’ head was further stained vermilion from the fountain-like return blood. Miranda, who was watching the scene, involuntarily covered her mouth with her hand, but instead of moving, Alfiris licked her tongue.

What was more, Alfiris bit into the blood-drenched flesh of the beast and began to chew noisily. After a few bites, she spat the meat out.

「This, it’s no good. I can’t even eat it. If you can’t eat it boiled or baked, you have to kill it.」

Alfiris speaks cruel words. Her red lips, stained with blood, are strangely glamorous.

And then Alfiris starts to walk toward the magical beasts. Then, Alfiris gives a little jiggle of her shoulders and laughs, looking very happy indeed.

「Now, how do I kill them? There are still 30 of them, and I wonder what I’ll do with them that will be the most fun.」

While Alfiris folded her arms and worried, the magical beasts, perhaps noticing her strange presence, tried to escape on their own. But each time Alfiris stepped on the ground, the ground rose up and blocked the escape routes of the magical beasts one after another.

Having lost their escape route, the magical beasts fell further into a state of panic, with the smaller ones being trampled down by their comrades. Alfiris gazed at the scene with an ecstatic expression on her face, but by the time the raised wall had surrounded the magical beasts, she seemed to have grown tired of it. There are no walls on the Alfiris’ side, but there are no longer any magical beasts charging toward the Alfiris either.

「Ahhh, this is boring. I still prefer to hunt fiends down. Magical beasts panic quickly and that’s the end of it. The closer they are to people, the more expressive they are, and the more fun it is to chase them around.」

「Alfie, what are you talking about? What’s this about chasing them around?」

「I’m talking about over here. It’s because of Miranda, you’re so detail-oriented.」

Alfiris flutters her hands in a troublesome manner and moves even closer to the magical beasts.

「Well. Now that I’ve surrounded it with a wall of dirt, I’ll make the most of it and clean it up. Skewer them!」

《Earth Maiden.》

When Alfiris made a sign with her hand, countless thorns extended from the earthen wall at a tremendous speed, skewering every single one of the magical beasts. The beasts didn’t realize what had suddenly happened and were trying to run away, still skewered. Some of them were running with their heads torn off and others with their necks fallen off. The event was so sudden that the beasts didn’t even have time to let out a desperate scream.

The flowing blood forms a small fountain, which again becomes a river and flows toward Miranda and the others. The blood is also flowing down to the feet of Alfiris, but she doesn’t seem to mind. This time Alfiris wasn’t elated and looked at the scene in a bored manner, but just as she was about to turn on her heel, she suddenly heard a cry.

「Pii–pii!」

A small juvenile magical beast came running from outside the wall. Apparently, perhaps because she hadn’t been born very long, she had stayed away until the hunt was over. When she ran up to the individual that seemed to be the mother, she was chirping and scratching her mother. It seems that she doesn’t understand that her mother is dead. Not only Miranda and Lisa, but even Kunoichi couldn’t help but feel sympathy for the pitiful scene, but Alfiris was different.

「That’s enough, Alfie.」

「…What do you mean by that?」

Alfiris asked back with a wistful look on her face. Miranda glanced sideways at the magical beast child still haunting her dead mother.

「That’s a child. You don’t have to kill it, right?」

「But they’re magical beasts that attack people. When they grow up, they will attack people just like these guys. So, it’s better to kill them now, right?」

「If you keep talking like that, the last thing I want to do is annihilate all non-human life forms.」

「I would if I had to, though, right?」

Alfiris said with a ruthless look in her eyes. The starchless reply took Miranda’s breath away.

「What, did you say?」

「Don’t look so scared. I’m joking, just joking.」

Alfiris shakes off Miranda’s hand as if to say, “I can’t do this.”

「Geez, as one would expect from such a merciful Sister. I think it would have been a more merciful choice to kill them here, though, wouldn’t it? A magical beast like that, who doesn’t know how to defend itself, will be food for other magical beasts in no time. Don’t you think it would be more merciful to let her die here with her mother?」

「…Whatever you think is right, it’s not coming from you, the woman who killed its mother.」

「Hmph. Then, Miranda, would you have preferred that I had been eaten alive?」

「I didn’t say that!」

「Yes, yes, I’m the bad guy. It’s always been that way. Everything bad is my fault. The rivers flood, the crops don’t come in, the insect infestation, it’s all my fault. I didn’t get this power because I wanted to. Nothing has changed, then or now. I thought Miranda was the only one on my side, but I guess not.」

Miranda’s heart ached at Alfilis’s last line. It was as if she was watching her old self sulking. Miranda’s expression clouded, but Alfiris didn’t even let that bother her.

「Well, we’d better get a move on and catch up with Nia and the others. Lisa, go get the horses.」

「O–Okay…」

「So, are you taking all the Kunoichi with you?」

「No, just one. Azusa, have you decided who you want?」

「Y–Yes. I have a brief overlap to go to, so if you’d like, Miranda-sama, please prepare to leave.」

With that said, Azusa, Kikyō, and Kaede take a step away from Miranda and the others. When they move to where they are completely out of earshot, Azusa opens her mouth.