They went through the forest, climbed some mountains, crossed rivers, and walked on the gra.s.slands. There were some ups and downs, but it didn"t seem as though anything would go especially wrong. So far, they hadn"t been attacked by any monster, and everything proceeded smoothly.
And finally, after climbing a small hill they saw it.
There was a wall.
A wall went as high as their eyes could see. It was curved and seemed to be built in a way that it wrapped itself around the center of h.e.l.l.
The only visible entrance was a large castle-like gate on the wall.
"What should we do?"
"Can"t we just take a detour?"
"It"s just too suspicious for us to be forced to enter this way…"
They stopped to take a break and discuss their following actions with the rest of the sage candidates. However, while they were doing so a loud, high-pitched sound resonated throughout the place.
As though signaled by that noise, many monsters started coming out from the castle gate. Their numbers kept increasing until there were so many they couldn"t count them all.
"Let"s see, there are around 5097 of them…"
"That many!?"
Tomochika was taken aback by Jogasaki Romiko"s words.
She was a counter cla.s.s and had the skill to calculate the total of any amount of figures.
The girl was able to instantly a.s.sess any number, even those that no one else could figure out at a glance, however there weren"t many occasions in which such a power could prove itself useful. This time had been quite a rare opportunity.
"It looks like we"ve been found."
Said the guy who wore an armor, Yazaki, their general.
The appearance of the monsters seemed to be an obvious response to the sage candidate"s intrusion. There was a wide array of creatures, and they were trying to make a formation. If the candidate"s troop just kept advancing, they would be crushed by the sheer number of enemies.
"However, there"s also many of us. Let"s try and scatter the enemy."
Yazaki called-up the rest of the troop.
The ones who would fight ended up being 6 of them; the general Yazaki Suguru, the shinigami f.u.kai Seiichi, the samurai Ninomiya Ryoko, the ninja Carol S. Lain, the saint Hanamiya Mei, and the gunslinger Takekura Kyoko.
He seemed to have gathered the fighting cla.s.ses.
"Will six people be okay against such a number of enemies?"
Asked a worried Tomochika.
It was such a ridiculous difference in numbers, and no matter how strong each of theirs could be there was just no way to think of it as a fair challenge for them.
"It"s okay. As long as we have my skill on our side."
Said Yazaki before jumping out full of confidence and running down the hill. The other five followed behind him.
"Gaahhh!! Envelopment and extermination formation!"
"You should say that once you have them surrounded!"
Yazaki raised his sword and rushed into a group of monsters. From then on, the battle was pretty much one sided. Each time the general swung his sword, dozens of bodies would go flying away from the blow.
The kunai that the ninja threw towards the monsters pierced their formation in a straight line and the samurai"s katana cut many of the creatures in half.
Those who looked at the Shinigami went down one by one, while the gunslinger"s two-handed pistols turned one after another monster into part of a beehive. The saint fought as well and as soon as her fist touched a monster they turned into light and disappeared.
In just a few moments all of the over five thousand enemies had been quickly exterminated.
"Weren"t you going to surround them?"
That skill would"ve had the power to overwhelm the entire horde all at once, but they ended just attacking them from the front. It was certainly a victory to be celebrated, however Tomochika still wasn"t convinced.
Lute and Hanakawa stood in front of the strongest seal that held back the demon called Mana. Inside of it, Mana laid in a luxurious bed patiently waiting for them to break the seal.
Hanagawa had a seal key in his hand, and in front of him there was a pedestal which had a keyhole on it. This meant that their next move depended entirely on what Hanagawa would do.
"This might be nothing more than my humble opinion, but it definitely seems as though freeing this person wouldn"t be a good idea!"
Even though he tried to make a light jest out of it, Lute still looked quite nervous and kept himself silent.
"Hey, if you keep such a serious demeanor it"s tough on me as well, you know…"
"Lord Mana. There"s something you must know."
Lute readied himself and opened his mouth to talk.
"Oh my, what would that be?"
"…It"s about our lord, Albagarma the demon… he…he has pa.s.sed away…"
At that moment, Hanakawa felt as if the temperature had dropped in the room.
It wasn"t as though it had actually changed, however there was definitely something different in the air.
"I see. Care to tell what on earth happened to him?"
Mana was calm.
Even smiling as to try to persuade him to talk.
"It"s something very, very hard to believe but…"
Lute proceeded to tell him everything he knew.
About the plans to resurrect demons through the G.o.ddess Vahanato. And also, that everything seemed to work at first but for some reason Albagarma ended up dead. And that the person who did it was apparently called Takato Yogiri.
"I see…it was that woman…"
He seemed to put emphasis on his thoughts about that woman, and even seemed a bit enthusiastic about it. However, Mana kept calm for the time being and Hanakawa was slightly let down.
"Lute-dono… I feel you weren"t too shaken by what you just said? I can"t believe you weren"t either upset, distraught or that you didn"t even refused to believe that our lord had died, I hoped for a colder, more yandere-ish reaction from you."