Kenja no Mago
Volume 9 - The Astounding Invasion of the Devils
104 – Counteroffensive
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Sicily's older sister, Miss Cecilia, was hurt.
On top of that, they even targeted Sicily.
At that… I couldn't contain my anger.
"You guys …. Resolved yourselves, right?"
For me to say such thing in a low voice.
Perhaps it was because I said it while cloaked in a large amount of magical power, but the devils were momentarily startled.
I prodded forward taking advantage of that momentary stiffness.
I took out my vibrating sword from my interdimensional storage, and with my body-enhancing magic and the acceleration from my jet boots, I was able to get closer to one of the devils.
"H-Huah…!"
The devil was about to say something, but before he could finish his sentence, I sliced him in half with my vibrating sword with a diagonally down slash.
"For starters, that's one…"
"Guh! Attack!"
The devils who saw this shot magic at me, and it struck.
"Shin!"
Aug called out my name.
"Did you get him?"
One of the devils raised a flag that he shouldn't have.
I listened to them through the smoke screen caused by the magic's impact.
As soon as the devil unleashed his magic, I activated my ring which was magic tool that had defensive magic on it.
I didn't have a single scratch on me.
I jumped out from the smoke screen towards the next devil.
"Tsk! I knew it would be troublesome!"
The devil hurriedly deployed a magical barrier against me as I was charging towards him.
However, even the magical barrier deployed by the devil became a source of annoyance for me, so I deliberately switched to a magical attack.
I casted dozens of "white" flame spears, with their temperature raised to the limit, surrounding me as I headed towards the devil.
Then, I launched one of the casted spears at the devil.
"Guh! Gah! Wha-What!? What's all this power and heat!?"
Although it was blocked by the devil's magical barrier, it seems that he was able to prevent it at the very last minute. His magical barrier had become quite thin.
That's one spear.
And there were still dozens of spears with the same flame over here.
"Wa-Wait a min…"
"I'm not waiting"
At the sight of dozens of flaming spears casted, only one of which he had just barely blocked, the devil looked at me in despair and pleaded for me to stop, but there was no way I was going to listen to him.
I knew that it would obviously be an overkill, but I fired all of those dozens of spears at one of the devils.
"Wo-Woaaaaaaah"
He seemed to somehow manage to block the first few flaming spears, but he wasn't able to stop the successive spears from striking him afterward, and when his magical barrier was breached, the devil was hit by all the remaining spears and literally disappeared.
As I was watching the scene, another devil unleashed a spell on me.
"You monster!"
How outrageous.
"The monsters are… you guys!"
I didn't think the devils who slaughtered all the empire's people were former humans.
They were either fiends or monsters.
I dodged the incoming magic spell instead of blocking it, and headed towards the devil who had casted it.
Then, from the side, another devil's magic came flying towards me.
This is…
"That's ridiculous!? Parallel activation, huh?"
I deployed my defensive magic tool ring and blocked the incoming magic from my flank.
In the meantime, my assault with the combination of body enhancement and jet boots had not stopped.
The devils were surprised that I had deployed attack magic at the same time.
For me, it was not so difficult to deploy multiple magical spells at the same time.
It was easy to imagine multiple programs running in parallel on the computer.
However, according to Aug, parallel activation of magic is something quite insane.
That common sense seemed to apply to devils as well, and they were surprised that I was deploying multiple magical spells simultaneously.
And I guess they thought that if I focused on defense, the assault would stop.
The devil that I was heading to was not defending himself with a magical barrier, but instead was casting offensive magic.
"Wha!?"
"That's too bad."
"Da-Damn!"
The devil, unable to switch to defense at this point, shot the attack magic spell that he had already casted at me.
I, too, had already prepared my attack magic spell, so I fired it straight at the devil.
The magic spell that the devil unleashed was a fire magic spell.
In contrast, I unleashed a spear of ice, the exact opposite of what I had just previously casted.
If it's fire against ice, fire has the edge.
For a moment, a look of joy appeared on the devil's face.
Certainty, the devil's magic was more advantageous, but then it was just a matter of doing something like this.
"Wha-What..? That quantity…"
As before, I casted dozens of ice spears and hurled after another at the oncoming ball of flame.
At first, the ice spears were disintegrated by the flames, but as I continued to spam one after another, the flaming ball of fire quickly diminished in power and finally disappeared before it could reach me.
And although the ball of flame was gone, my ice spears were still soaring at full force.
The devil who had released the ball of flame was stunned at the sight.
I shot all the remaining ice spears at the stunned devil, just like I had done earlier with the flame spears.
The dumbfounded devil had no time to deploy his magic barrier and was pierced by the ice spears as he was, and then froze by the ice spears that struck him one after another.
Now, for the rest of them…
"That's two…"
When I looked at the devil who was looking at me from afar, he looked visibly frightened.
He seemed to be glancing behind him, looking for an opportunity to escape somehow.
This made me even more irritated.
"What are you doing trying to escape? You're the one who attacked us…"
They attacked us on their own, and when they were overpowered, they tried to escape.
I was deeply angry by their behavior.
"With that kind of determination! Don't fight against humankind!"
I shouted, and started running towards one of the two remaining devils.
Then, a magic spell coming from a completely unexpected direction struck the ground between me and the devil, and the ground exploded.
"Guh! Tsk!"
If the ground exploded, it meant that debris would come flying at me.
The physical barrier blocked the debris, but it also halted my lunge.
"Damn it! Where did that come from?"
I guess I had lost my composure because of my anger.
I was completely oblivious to the existence of any other devil other than the remaining two.
I casted my enemy detection spell and scanned around for a new devil that might have arrived as reinforcement because of the disadvantageous situation.
And then.
"I think that's quite enough. Mr. Shin Wolford."
A devil that seemed different from the previous encountered ones appeared.
""Commander Zest!!""
The two remaining devils, who shouted this, hid behind the newly appeared devil.
Commander?
"What is it? Are you going to be the one to deal with me next?"
Because I was quite upset, I blurted out lines that made me sound like a battle maniac.
Anyway, I couldn't help but wanted to take this anger out on someone.
"Don't get so worked up, Mr. Shin Walford. I'm not the most suitable person for such a job, am I?"
"Oh? Then why did you attacked me like that?"
If you didn't intend to deal with me, why did you attack me?
What the hell was he saying?
"I wasn't expecting you to join this war. It threw a wrench in my plans a little."
"Stop bullshitting me! What plans!?"
My participation in this war was unexpected? What was he talking about…?
"…Hey. It couldn't be, you guys…"
"Hmm. You're making a lot of speculations, is that okay?"
"Huh? What?"
"I used to be a soldier of the Empire."
"A soldier…"
So he was an officer in some kind of unit?
But what? Why did he suddenly say something like that?
When I was puzzled because I didn’t understand the intentions of the new devil called Zest, the answer came from a completely different place.
"Your Highness! Your Highness August!"
A soldier came running towards August from the rear where the Earlshide's troops were retreating.
"What is it at a time like this?"
"Please excuse me! However! We have an urgent communication from all the allied nations!"
"Emergency communication?"
"Yes! For Earlshide and all the neighboring countries as well…"
What? It couldn't be!?
"They say devils have appeared."
"Wh-What did you say!?"
Aug made a flustered sound and looked at me.
"In the military, multiple contingency actions are taken in case of unforeseen circumstances"
Zest said with an impish smile.
"B-Bastard!"
"See. Are you sure you want to leave it alone? It is easy to bring down any country that doesn't have you."
I was really annoyed at Zest for saying such a thing with a smirk on his face.
"Damn! Th-This motherfucker!"
"Shin! We can deal with him later! The highest priority now is the devils that have appeared in each country!"
As soon as I turned to look at Aug, the newly appeared devil and the other two remaining devils left the scene.
"Well, we'll leave you to it, then."
I could only watch while biting my fingers in my mouth as they left after saying that.
We could chase after them and defeat them.
However, we also couldn’t just leave each country alone that was being attacked by the devils at this very moment.
"Damn it! Aug! Let's hurry and defend each country!"
"I understand! Hey! The devils only appeared in the countries surrounding the old empire?"
"Ye-Yes! We've received no similar reports from Els and Ys!"
"If that's the case…"
On the spot, Aug decides to send two people to each country and distributes them.
Then, the ones who were assigned to each country were immediately sent there using gates.
The total of five countries bordering the old empire were Earlshide, Swedes, Dahm, Canaan, and Kurt.
TwoWe needed more two people for this location as well and since we had 2 extra, Mark and Olivia stayed behind as liaisons
While waiting for contact from everyone, Mark was going to retrieve the horses that had been released.
My partner is…
"Miss Cecilia!"
"Huh? Oh-Oh that was amazing Shin… More importantly, what's going on?"
"Devils have appeared in the surrounding countries, including Earlshide! The situation is time sensitive! Is it okay to bring Sicily with me?"
My words made Sicily panic.
"De-Devils! We-We have to go right away! Oh, but there are other people who need to be healed…"
"Sicily!"
Miss Cecilia rebuked Sicily who was conflicted about wanting to go and confront the devils, but also wanted to stay here and treat the injured soldiers.
"I'll be fine here, so go with Shin. I'm ashamed that I was the one who was most seriously injured. After all, there's nothing here that’s life threatening to me, so we'll be fine on our own."
"Bu-But…"
"Your desire to heal all people is admirable. But you have other things to do, don't you?"
"……"
"You should have more faith in us. That's my encouragement as an older sister who sends my younger sister to confront a devil."
"Tha-That's not true!"
"Shin! For that reason, please take care of Sicily!"
"I understand! Sicily, let's go!"
"…Yes! I understand! Elder Sister, take care of the rest!"
"Leave it to me. Please be careful."
"Yes!"
At Miss Cecilia's persuasion, I took Sicily with me to subdue the devils.
We were assigned to Canaan.
With this, we were sent off by Miss Cecilia and headed to Canaan by using gate.
After Shin and Sicily left for Canaan, Sicily's sister Cecilia, who was left behind, addressed everyone
"Now that I've said that to her. Don't let anyone die, okay?"
""""OOHH!!""""
The healer magicians responded to Cecilia's words by shouting.
In fact, Cecilia was undoubtedly the most severely injured, but that did not mean that the others were not seriously injured or unharmed.
Even if the injuries were not life-threatening, there were still people with broken bones, lacerations, and other serious injuries.
Cecilia was determined to help every single one of those patients because she'd said something that sounded like a bad omen such as: "Leave this to me and go ahead"
But…
"I'm not the one who's going to treat them, though…"
Even so, the healers responded to Cecilia's words only because Cecilia was Sicily's sister, who was praised as a saint.
She had left the task of defeating the devils to her sister and her companions, as she was unable to properly heal them.
Cecilia bit her lip at such unworthiness.
"I want to be stronger…"
Cecilia said something that would make Royce, the eldest brother of Sicily and her, shiver if he heard it.
"Please be safe…"
Looking up at the now silent sky of the battlefield, littered with the corpses of disaster-level demons, Cecilia could only pray for the safety of her sister and brother-in-law who were on their way to defeat the devils.
What awaited us through the gate was a mixed force of both the shepherds and Canaan's army.
As per usual, the shepherds' presence was unmatched.
"Hmm? Oh! Isn't it Shin!"
"Long time no see, Mr. Garan! Where's the devil?"
The first person to call out to me was Mr. Garan, one of the country's sheep farmer, and I asked him about the current situation.
"That's… "
Looking a little confused, Mr. Garan turned his gaze to…
There it is! It's a devil!
However, the appearance of the devil is strange.
"… Yah, what's he doing?"
The devil was one, and it just stood there without doing anything.
"That's the thing, I thought a devil had appeared, but, he just sat there and did nothing."
"Doing nothing?"
"Yeah. But he's a devil. It's not something we can handle. We can't even touch them, so I'm not sure what to do…ah!"
"Eh?"
In the middle of our conversation, Mr. Garan raised his voice while looking at the devil.
When I looked in that direction too, I saw the devil running away from this place at a tremendous speed.
"Ah!"
The devil had run off to a distance where he could no longer be seen.
"What the hell…Wha-What?"
It was so unexpected that my earlier anger was blown away and I just stared at him dumbfounded.
"Anyway, Shin, we have to report to Mr. Mark and the others."
"Oh, that's right."
I took out my wireless communication device and contacted Mark.
"Oh, Shin!"
Sicily rushed to stop me, but Mark had answered.
I apologized to Sicily with my hand and began communicating with Mark.
And then, for some reason, Sicily put a cloak on me.
It's not really cold, is it?
I think so, but I can't keep Mark waiting, so I start talking.
"Hello, Mark?"
"Oh, is it Mr. Wolford? Have you already defeated the devil?"
"No, he ran away without doing anything."
"He ran away?"
"Yeah, has there been any reports from the others yet?"
"Wolford was the first to report for me… Oh, I think Olivia has been contacted."
Mark was busy with me, so they probably contacted Olivia.
After waiting for a while for the report, Mark informed me of the situation.
"It looks like the same thing happened to the others. After all it seems that he ran away without doing anything."
"I see…"
What did they intend to do in the end?
"For the time being, I'll cut this short because I've got reports from other people."
"Oh, I understand."
I cut the communication with Mark and looked at Sicily.
"What are they trying to do?"
"Geez! Shin…"
As she said that, Sicily retrieved her cloak and put it on herself again.
"What? What is it with the cloak?"
"Geez, it is fine. The devil's intention… Sorry, I don't know."
"No, I don't know either, so don't apologize."
I think a single devil could cause a lot of damage…
More importantly, I'm also worried about Sicily's behavior.
Wha-What was that?
As I was thinking this, Mr. Garan called out to me.
"Hey, Shin. That thing of yours is…"
"Huh? Oh, this is…"
Oh no, I used the wireless communication device even though Mr. Garan was here.
Oh, that's what Sicily was trying to tell me earlier!
"Um, excuse me, but it is confidential…"
"Hmm… you know, is that the wireless version of the communication device that's being talked about in each country right now? Don't use such a state secrets so easily…"
"Ah, haha. I'm sorry."
"Well, it looks like I'm the only one who saw it up close, so I'll keep my mouth shut. Be careful next time, okay?"
"I'm sorry. Thank you very much."
I'm glad Mr. Garan was a good person.
"Geez. What would you do if somebody with an evil intention saw you?"
"So-Sorry. I was careless just now…"
Sicily seemed to have noticed, and everyone else must be doing it just fine.
I can't help but have an image of a cell phone I used in a previous life, so I might be quick to use it.
"Please be careful. Your actions are now being watched by every country in the world, right?"
"All the countries is an exaggeration…"
"It's not an exaggeration! You can see the proof at…"
Sicily turned her attention to the mixed troops of the Shepherds and Canaan's army forces.
Most of them were looking at us.
"…How did you manage to prevent them from seeing the communication earlier…"
"I put a cloak on Shin and activated the optical camouflage. Mr. Garan saw it from the front, so…"
Oh, by the way, I'm not wearing the combat uniform right now.
That was why Sicily put the cloak on me!
"Sorry. Thank you, Sicily."
"Please be careful, okay? If something happens to Shin, I'll…"
Sicily said so, but this time, the opposite almost happened.
I nearly lost Sicily from the devil’s magical attack earlier.
When I thought about it, I suddenly felt scared and unconsciously embraced her.
"Eh? Ah, Shin…"
"I was scared… I thought I might have lost Sicily…"
"Shin…"
What would happen to me if I lost Sicily to something like that?
When I thought about it, I couldn't help but love the warmth that was in my arms right now.
I vowed that I would definitely protect this warmth.
While I was vowing so inwardly, Sicily was fidgeting in my arms.
"What's wrong? Sicily."
"Oh, um… behind…"
"Behind?"
At Sicily's words, I turned around and saw…
"In front of so many people watching…so awesome, you…"
There was a dumbfounded Mr. Garan, and the members of the mixed force of shepherds and Canaan's army, who were gawking at us with grins.
"Ah…"
"Ahh… geez…"
Sicily had turned bright red and couldn't even look up.
I also had a flushed face. I'm sure it was quite red…
"Good grief, leave those tenderlythings for when you return home…"
It was when Mr. Garan had said too much.
"Hmm? What's that noise?"
"Ex-Excuse me, Mr. Garan! Would you mind shielding me for a moment?"
"Oh, Ohh"
The bell on the wireless communication device rang out in the area.
It was both mine and Sicily's.
That meant it was an open channel.
Could it be a report from someone?
Sicily and I once again activated the optical camouflage attached to her cloak and answered the incoming call.
"Hello? Who is this?"
"Everyone! It is Mark! Hurry… Hurry up and get back here!"
"Hey, what's the matter Bean? There is no other damage coming from the devils, is there?"
Because it was an open channel, I could hear the Aug's voice
"I heard that there was no damage to any of the countries, but it’s not about that!"
Not that.
That means…
"From the old imperial capital! A ridiculous number of disaster-level demons have appeared!!"