By the time Olba reached the front lines, the entire area was already thoroughly dyed with blood. The soldiers protecting this high value facility were by no means weak. Among them were even those with enough strength to join the Imperial Guards.
But this……
"How did this happen?!"
In the hall of this underground facility, at the only point where light could s.h.i.+ne in from the outside, there is an entire mountain of corpses.
All of them bore only a single sword wound.
Completely dominated by an overwhelming difference in strength.
"It was you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds……!"
The target of Olba's glare is a group of individuals wearing black bodysuits. Judging from the bulges on their bodies, all of them are young girls of small stature.
They number 7 in total. But in this location currently illuminated only by moonlight, their presence is so thin that Olba would lose sight of them if he let his attention wander for even a moment. The girls, through their uncommonly high proficiency with magic, are controlling their own presence.
They possess power enough to match that of his own. Olba has no choice but to acknowledge this fact.
Among them, a young girl drenched head to toe with blood looks...o...b.. up and down under the light of the moon.
"……!"
That moment, alarm bells go off inside Olba's head. There is no particular reason, it is all instinct. Every fiber of his being is screaming at him that she is dangerous.
While the blood of her bodysuit drips onto the ground, drip drop, drip drop, she also begins to slowly approach him.
All while slovenly dragging her blood-soaked sword over the ground, leaving a trail of blood behind.
"Who are you people? What is your aim?!"
So asks...o...b.. while suppressing his fear.
Every single one of them has enough strength to rival his own, but there are seven of them. How out of luck is he?
To do battle would be sheer folly.
Even while lamenting his own unluckiness, Olba continues to search for a way out of this situation.
But the blood-stained girl does not seem to have heard Olba's question.
She only laughs.
Underneath her blood-stained mask, the blood-stained girl only laughs.
I'm going to be killed!
Or so thought Olba, when……
"Fall back, Delta."
The blood-stained girl stops moving.
Then she turns back as if nothing had happened. Olba watches her go with a sigh of relief.
In exchange, a different girl steps forward.
"We are Shadow Garden."
It is a voice so beautiful that if the situation wasn't was it is, he might have fallen in love with it.
"And I am Alpha."
And suddenly, he realizes that she had taken off her mask.
Under the moonlight, her skin s.h.i.+nes a dazzling white.
The girl takes one step forward.
"……!"
A blond elf.
Beauty enough to steal his breath away.
Then she takes another step forward.
"Our aim…… is the destruction of the Order of Diabolos."
She swings the black blade that had appeared in her hand out of nowhere through the air.
The night was sliced through.
Or so the black blade caused Olba to hallucinate.
The air pressure, the sword pressure, every single part of it intimidated and terrorized Olba.
How on earth did she manage to gain such strength at such a young age?! Olba finds himself shuddering with both jealousy and fear.
But what he finds more shocking than her strength are the words that had come out of her mouth.
"You b.a.s.t.a.r.ds…… where did you hear that name from?!"
The Order of Diabolos. In this facility, there is only a small handful of people who know of this name.
"We know about it all. The demon Diabolos, the Curse of Diabolos, the Descendants of the Heroes, as well as…… the truth of demon possession."
"How, what, that……"
Among what Alpha just said were things that even Olba learned of only recently. Those secrets are protected so carefully that there is no way they had leaked outside.
"Did you think that you people were the only ones chasing the Cursed of Diabolos?"
"Kuh……!"
This information leak can never be forgiven.
But to kill these girls to plug the leak?
He does not possess the strength to do so.
In that case, what Olba must do is…… to survive. He must survive and warn Headquarters of these girls' existence.
Therefore, Olba charges forward.
"AAAHHHHHHH!!!!!"
Olba draws his sword with vigor, and slashes at Alpha.
"Ara, how reckless."
Alpha easily parries his sword.
Her counter slashes...o...b..'s cheek, causing blood to fly through the air.
But Olba does not stop.
Again and again, without regard for how many times his swings miss, Olba continues brandis.h.i.+ng his sword, searching for an opportunity to escape.
But she dodges every stroke by a paper's length. Exerting only the minimum amount of movement, she has already fully seen through his swordsmans.h.i.+p and dodges everything perfectly.
In converse, it is...o...b.. who is getting cut. Cuts on his arms. Cuts on his legs. Cuts on his shoulders.
But none of the cuts are fatal.
Determining that her intention is to subdue himself for interrogation's sake instead of to kill, Olba laughs.
He has finally found the path to victory.
After the nth time that his sword slices through empty air, Olba suffers a cut to his chest, and totters back in retreat.
"Seems that continuing this any longer would be a mere waste of time."
Olba does not answer.
Kneeling down while pressing down on his chest wound, Olba smiles…… then drinks something.
"What are you d-…… what?!"
Abruptly, Olba's body doubles in size. His skin turns jet black, his muscles expand, and his eyes turn red.
And above all else, the amount of magic in his body increases explosively.
"……!"
Without any notice, Olba's blade flashes in a mowing attack. Alpha manages to block in time, but the shock causes her to grimace.
As a snap judgement, she decides to take some distance by riding the shock and jumping backwards.
"What an interesting trick."
Flapping her slightly numbed hands, Alpha tilts her head.
"That wavelength is magic deviation, is it not? Hmm, and you are trying to suppress it with brute strength?"
"Alpha-sama, will you be alright?"
So asks another girl at the back, seeing Alpha retreat for the first time in this fight.
"Not a problem, Beta. It's merely gotten a bit annoying…… hmm?"
When Alpha returns her attention towards...o...b.., he is no longer there.
Instead, there is now a square hole in the spot that he had been standing, with a staircase extending downwards. Hidden door.
"…… He ran away."
"He got away…… shall we give chase?"
But Alpha stops the girl who was preparing to jump into the hole.
"No need. At the other end…… 'he' is there."
"'He'…… Speaking of which, earlier Shadow-sama did say that he'd go ahead and split up from us. Could it be……?"
"Indeed. He went off towards an undetermined direction, so I'd originally thought that he had gotten lost, but……"
Alpha laughs gently.
"To think that he had predicted even this outcome…… he never ceases to amaze."
The eyes of the girls peering into the hole are all glittering with respect.
