Chapter of the week: 1/2
Translator: Reizenchuu
Editor: Kenny Stryker

Rouga appeared as if she chose the perfect timing. She acted like some story protagonist. I wonder whom she resembles in this regard. After she annihilated the entire army of ogres, she rushed towards me with her mouth dripping with blood.

"Well done, Rouga."
"They don't taste good."

spitting blood from her mouth, she complained. If only she didn't say that with her current blood-stained appearance. A bitter smile reached my face as I watched her was.h.i.+ng off the stains of blood from her fur. I wonder why she started looking like a brave hero for me in this battle.

"Are you done with the ogres?"
"Yes! They were so weak!"

She answered with a child voice br.i.m.m.i.n.g with confidence. Souki was bewildered by Rouga sudden entrance, causing the formation of the ogres to lose its order. This is a good time to attack.

"I will leave the small fries to you."
"Okay!"

She replied to my request with an energetic voice and went back to strike the ogres army again.

"… UnForGiVABle."

Out of nowhere, Souki grabbed an ogre near him by its head.

"Give…"
"Gi… Gi…!"

The small ogres let out a shriek of anguish and gradually faded away. It was like it was getting absorbed by Souki.

"What was that?"
"It vanished~"

Rouga and I watched Souki with confused expressions. It looked like he betrayed his subordinate. The ogre he was absorbing was the abnormally fast type. Its robust legs were its trait. We kept watching over the small ogre fading away until it completely disappeared. What is he doing? As far as I can see, Souki didn't change after absorbing the ogre. Before I was able to reach an answer, Souki turned to me.

"… DiE."

Again, he charged forward in my direction. I took my defensive stance thinking that it would be the same attack, but a few moments later, I widened my eyes from an unpleasant surprise. His speed was in an entirely different level from earlier.

I got taken aback by his unexpected speed and ended up receiving his punch and drawing back. My legs got half buried underground and a ma.s.sive shock ran down my arms. Luckily, I guarded with both of my arms to reduce the shock. When I lifted my sight back to him, he was no longer in his place.

"Chief! Right!"

Following Rouga's remark, I promptly jumped back and immediately saw a black fist coming from the right, missing its aim. I wanted to take a distance from him to take back my initial stance, but Souki wasn't intending to miss his chance and followed me.

I was taken by surprise earlier, but once I get the grasp of his location I should manage to deal with him. I kept dodging his closing fists and chose the right time to kick him away. Seriously, what just happened? I can't seem to get a grasp of the situation. Why did he become this fast all of a sudden? Is it really because he absorbed that fast-legged ogre? I see. Finally, I linked all the puzzle pieces and guessed what he did. So Souki's true ability is to absorb the abilities of his surroundings.

"Rouga, hurry up and defeat those ogres!"
"Okay!"

I ordered Rouga to eliminate the ogres in the area, but at that time, Souki had already grabbed another one. It was the type that can use magic. The ogre that got grabbed by its head was wearing a weird black headgear and a kimono. It gradually faded away until it got completely absorbed and disappeared. This guy; just when I looked away he already went to absorb another of his subordinates.

"… DiE huMaN."

After finis.h.i.+ng absorbing the second ogre, he turned towards me again. I took a step back to take some distance from him, but I abruptly b.u.mped against something hard. Turning around, I saw a wall made of ground that wasn't there until now.

"This is bad!"

He already started using his magic and because of that, he made me lose my concentration for an instant. When I turned back, the first thing I saw was his fist drawing near my face. I reflexively crouched down and dodged it. I heard the loud sound of the ground wall crumbling and instantly teleported to Souki's side and tried to land a hit on him.

It should reach. I instinctively judged that my punch would land a direct strike on his ribs, but I immediately realized that I was wrong as my fist got blocked by his second hand. He read my move before I even teleported. The moment he caught my hand, I saw a faint light arising out of it.

A sinister dark light appeared out of blue. My mind instinctively sensed the direness of the situation and I teleported away from that place. Unfortunately, it was already too late. Something like a carved seal was already stamped on my hand.

"What is this?"

It looked like a Chinese character, except it was moving. I had no clue of what it was, but surely it wasn't something of pleasant. Confirming that the moving seal was carved in my hand, Souki raised his arm horizontally.

"cRaSH."

Just by moving down his index finger, the seal started s.h.i.+ning with a sinister light and I got violently crushed down in the ground.

"Uooo!?"

My hand suddenly started feeling heavy and I almost lost my balance. What is this? My arm is feeling so heavy. It felt like I was made to lift several hundreds of kilograms of lead with a single hand.

"What is this! Too heavy!!"

So it was a spell to restrict my field of motion. I composed myself and used【Erasure Magic】to erase the spell.

"Go away."

I chanted a short spell while bearing with the ma.s.sive pressure on my hand. However, nothing happened

You're kidding, right? Don't tell me…

I rechanted the spell a few times persistently, but the seal didn't show a sign of disappearing. Does this seal have resistance against magic? I kept complaining because my【Erasure Magic】didn't work on the seal, though, I had a bigger problem to deal with at that time. Souki who achieved his plan of restraining me used his abnormal speed to draw near me in the blink of an eye then struck my abdomen with his st.u.r.dy fist.

"Die…"

His fist of malice landed a direct hit on my abdomen, blowing me away without being able to defend myself. Even the power of his punches is stronger than earlier because he absorbed the ability of that small ogre. Ah! He was able to make me fly away despite the heavy weight casted on my arm. I distorted my expression from the immense pain of his strong punch and Souki followed me to make his next hit. I teleported to the sky before he drew close enough to me, but…

"!? No way!? I'm falling!?"

My hand was too heavy that I couldn't float. My wind magic wasn't enough to lift the weight casted on my arm and I slowly fell down. Ah, this is no good. When I was about to give up on floating and land down, I sensed something warm supporting me from behind.

"Are you safe, Yato-sama?"

Ouka, in her original form of a fox, carried me on her back. The warmth and fluffiness of her fur almost made fall into a comfortable slumber, forgetting everything else.

"Chief! Are you alright!?"

As I kept relis.h.i.+ng the comfortable sensation of Ouka's fur, Rouga appeared out of somewhere to ensure my safety. This means that she already defeated the ogres in this area. I ambiguously replied to the both of them telling them that I was somehow, still alright.

"Rather, Ouka, am I not too heavy for you?"
"Not at all."
"Even though my hand is this heavy?"

Swinging my heavy arm, I asked her.

"A curse mark is effective only on the targeted person."
"A curse mark?"
"A curse mark is often used for torturing and arresting individuals. The target under the curse feels exactly how the user wants them to feel. Moreover, it could only be undone by the one who cast it. The only way to get rid of that curse mark is by defeating Souki, the one who is behind it."

So, what Ouka is saying is that there isn't really any physical effect for a curse mark. It just makes me feel the way Souki wants. And the only way to reverse it is through defeating him. This is getting more troublesome than what I thought. I couldn't help but frown while looking at my heavy arm. So, what should I do now? Luckily, I can still use magic although I can't move freely. But using it while moving is nearly impossible. Then there's one left choice.

"Ouka, Rouga. Sorry, but I'm going to ask for your help. It's about time for that lump of hatred to rest in peace."
"Yes."
"Okay~"

Ouka and Rouga replied to me with an eager voice. If one human isn't enough to defeat him, then surely one human and two monsters would be. While enjoying the fluffy sensation of Ouka's fur, we started preparing for our last attack.

——————————————————————-
Bonus

Fur.

"Ouka, your fur is so comfy."
"Is that so?"
"It's so fluffy."
"Thank you."
"… I want it."
"Eh?"
"I want, your fur."
"Are you intending to tear it off…"
"I didn't say that you know."

Next Update: Thursday, June 14, 2018