Manowa

◎ Dolmu City, In Front of Main Gate, Early Morning

The day after Kazane"s party proposed their mountain hunting plan to the Adventurers Guild. With the intermediation of the Adventurers Guild, Kazane"s party and the mountain hunting adventurers would meet at the entrance of the city.

「What is that carriage... isn"t that something a Devil King would ride?」

「Ah, I"ve seen it before.」

「It charged at that devil, but it"s even more extreme than before.」

「What"s with the size of that huge Elder Cat... it"s impossible.」

While such voices were heard, a carriage discharging black and purple lightning drawn by a huge jet black armored horse came from inside the city. A huge monster that appeared to be a subspecies of Elder Cat was sitting on top of the carriage. It looked like it was two sizes larger than the average Elder Cat.

When the carriage stopped in front of the adventurers, the Purple Lightning Barrier surrounding it was cancelled, and that purple lightning scattered around the surrounding area. When the adventurers who saw that situation took a step back out of vigilance, the door slowly opened as if to match.

And a man wearing jet black colored armor appeared from inside.

「Wha!?」

It likely wasn"t just one or two people who raised their voices. There were surprisingly many people who knew that carriage. It showed up at the Grand Tournament finals in Resurrect City, the battle at Blue Rifon Fort, and the Dragon Bear subjugation battle, and some among the 90 adventurers had seen it in those respective places.

So they had a prediction about who would appear from inside. But what came out was not the very young girl they knew, but a sinister being. It was like a man who transformed the chaos born from darkness into human form.

The armor covering his body had devil faces attached that gave off strange signs, as if they could bite at any moment. The armor on his arms and legs were covered in sharp spikes, and he was wearing a black cloak that could cover his entire body. His helmet completely hid his face, and the shape resembled a fusion of an Oni and dragon, with two huge twisted horns jutting to the left and right. Furthermore, there was a huge jet black sword on his back. Everything was inlaid with red lines like blood vessels that seemed like they were pulsing.

Moreover, the red eyes that were barely visible from the slit in the helmet displayed a mysterious glow like crimson fire, and the huge air of intimidation that was being emitted from his entire body overwhelmed the adventurers. Everyone in that place who looked at the man felt fear. They were swallowed up by that bizarre atmosphere.

What is that... isn"t that an actual Devil King...?

Although they were trembling with fear, the adventurers glared at the man. But the jet black man laughed at that situation.

『I see, you are warriors with dauntless courage. Even after witnessing my figure, your will to fight doesn"t break.』

Then the man spread his jet black cloak and raised both hands.

『However, the compensation for awakening me from my long centuries of slumber will be costly, human beings.』

Then he loudly declared while raising two fists overhead.

『I am the Devil King! I will climb over millions upon millions of corpses and cross the sea of ​​stars; the world surpa.s.sing one who reigns!!』

「What!?」

Somebody"s voice rose. However, most of the people couldn"t keep up with the situation. What in the world was going on? Why did a Devil King revive and make that declaration in this place? n.o.body understood. After all, the person herself probably didn"t even understand what she had proclaimed just now. There was no way it could be understood.

『Now, the false time is over. By my hand, the world will』

「Yes yes, I"m coming out, so step aside.」

As soon as that was said, a girl kicked the jet black man and came out of the carriage

「Gyaha!?」

And the voice that resounded wasn"t the harsh voice from some time ago, but the voice of a young girl. Furthermore, the moment the man was kicked and fell, that male appearance abruptly disappeared. And the only thing remaining in its place was a teary eyed little girl with her nose colliding with the ground.

Breaking it down, the male appearance was from using the『Shapeshifting』from her『Dragon Eating Ogre King"s Greaves』Item effect, the black armor was from her『Arms Creation: Black Flame』, and the powerful intimidating air was from her『Fabricated Coercion』Skill.

Since the transformation was ad hoc from the start, it was manifested at low cost. Thus, it was fragile to impacts, and the transformation was immediately canceled by Yumika"s attack from behind. It was a terrible farce.

「It hurts, Yumika?」

「Shut up. You get too carried away.」

「Even though I was simply responding to their request after we were called completely Devil King or Dark General-ish.」

「Whose request.」

「No, that"s enough about that, let"s promptly start the discussion.」

Naoki riding Hippo-kun High behind interrupted Kazane and Yumika"s quarrel with his retort. Lyle, who was riding Clear, start apologizing to the surrounding people.

Yuuko-nee watching that situation while sitting atop the carriage yawned「Nyaa」before changing position to sprawling belly up, and everyone"s tension was released.

As might be expected from a gathering of adventurers that were all rank A and B, they understood the height of the magic Kazane used for her prank.

There were some adventurers who got angry, but there were some members who had actually fought together with Kazane in Resurrect City, Blue Rifon Fort, or Deidona City, and they persuaded them by saying「She"s simply that sort of disappointing girl.」After that, Kazane was forced to dogeza. It seemed she simply got into the mood and did it. It seemed she thought (isn"t this too attractive?) and couldn"t stop herself. She was reaping what she sowed. The adventurer named Boran had a pale face as he watched, but no one understood his feelings.

「As ever, isn"t it. Or rather, isn"t it even harsher than last time?」

「Ah, Sersan. It"s been a while.」

And among the adventurers was Sera, the leader of the『Black Duck Company』who dove into the dungeon at Blue Rifon Fort with them. The dogeza time had come to an end, and Kazane returned Sera"s greeting with teary eyes.

「Yeah, it"s been a long time. But I was surprised. Both the carriage and the horse had a subtly different shape.... rather, it was even more imposing, so when something strange came out I wondered if I had misunderstood.」

「That was the result of my effort to keep from being looked down up for being inexperienced.」

「Ah, is that so.」

The prank obviously surpa.s.sed Sera"s ability to understand, so she didn"t have the willpower to retort and let it pa.s.s.

「Huh? Is Sersan alone?」

「Well, that"s right. The other members are still mopping up the dungeon at Blue Rifon Fort due to rank problems.」

Sera also had party members, but while she was rank B, the others were C. It seemed the members other than Sera had insufficient power to take this quest.

「So then, we heard some time ago that the White Party was going to manage things this time. What exactly does that mean? Can you tell us soon?」

The surrounding adventurers had gathered, and Sera said that.

They had already heard from the Guild staff that today"s mountain hunt would be under the command of the White Party. And the party leader of『Kairos』Boran, who had been managing the mountain hunting up until now, also proactively approved of handing the leadership to the White Party for some reason. The adventurers who had actually fought together with Kazane before also approved, so the ground was fertile for the others to accept for the time being. From Kazane"s performance just now, they saw her as an oddball, but it seemed there wasn"t anything about it that made them doubt her strength.

Though that armored horse, carriage, and Elder Cat alone were sufficient evidence of their strength. Also, there were many veteran soldiers of Hyvern who knew Jinrai, who had descended from the coachman"s seat. Those who didn"t knew from the strange black gauntlet on his right arm and the signs emitted from his entire body that he couldn"t be looked down on.

There were also people who knew Naoki"s group from their activities in Hyvern. Some people there thought they were headhunted by the White Party as a party of young people with bright futures.

In any case, they would hear the White Party"s plan first before they decided if they could approve of their leadership. They had only heard from the Adventurers Guild staff that command was changing to the White Party and that the method of mountain hunting would be directly explained by them, so that method wasn"t yet clear.

Kazane was pestered by Yumika to「Promptly explain,」so she immediately acted without being able to put on airs.

As might be expected, she couldn"t gouge out the ground immediately in front of the city, so she made 30 horse-shaped Golem Hippo-kuns a little distance away.

The adventurers were surprised by their appearance, but they were even more surprised that they could run freely even in the woods. Kazane"s proposed idea was a high mobility search using the Hippo-kuns. And for the members,

Kazane, Mefirus, and Tatsuyoshi-kun Dragoon would ride Hippo-kun High.

Jinrai and Naoki would ride Yuuko-nee.

Yumika and Emily would ride Hippo-kun Clear.

And the standby group members Lyle, Tatsuyoshi-kun Normal, Tiara, Louise, and Tatsuo would use the carriage.

The adventurers were divided between each respective team, and the search would be coordinated by using the Window"s chat function. Through Mefirus, Kazane could also connect with Tiara in the carriage group, so coordination between the four groups was possible.

And the Hippo-kuns she created had higher defense, mobility, and durability than the ones she had created during the Berserk Ogre subjugation. There were no objections to the ride comfort or their mobility in the forest, and naturally, there were also no dissatisfied voices from the adventurers about the astonishing real time coordination.

After that, Kazane transferred operating permissions and had the other adventurers get used to operating the Hippo-kuns, and when their preparations were in order, they headed for the Tsaito forest, where the Demon Wolf and its followers were hiding. It seemed Hyvern"s knights would be searching in the eastern part today, so Kazane and the adventurers would search the west.

Then the mountain hunt began.

Name: Yuihama Kazane

Occupation: Magic Swordswoman

t.i.tle: Ogre Killer, Dragon Slayer, High Beast Summoner, Rea King

Equipment: Staff 『White Blaze』, Two Handed Sword『Black Fang』, Draghorn Tonfa (Incomplete) x2, Dragonscale Breastplate, Drake Gauntlets, Silver Sheep Clothes, Sylphyn Skirt, Plasma Pants, Dragon Eating Ogre King"s Greaves, Indestructible Cloak, Mysterious Pouch, Crimson Saint Coffin, Heroic Spirit Summoning Ring, Circlet of Wisdom, Aim Bracelet, Magic Acc.u.mulator, White Magic Acc.u.mulator, Rainbow Necklace, Rainbow Dragon Ring

Level : 33

Health: 135

Magic Power: 260+420

Strength: 57+20

Agility: 52+14

Endurance: 33

Wisdom : 65

Dexterity : 41

Spell : 『Fly』『Torch』『Fire』『Heal』『Firestorm』『Healer Ray』『High Heal』『Golden Dusk「Dragon Exclusive」』『Mirror Shield』

Skill : 『Kick Devil』『Warrior"s Memory』『Night Vision』『Crushing Blow』『Dog"s Sense of Smell: Lv2』『Golem Maker: Lv3』『Rush』『Fire Principle: Third Chapter』『Healing Principle: Fourth Chapter』『Air Jump: Lv2』『Killing Leg: Lv3』『Fear Voice』『Invisible』『Tiger Eye』『Wall Walking』『Intuition』『Cheat Death』『Nimble』『Charge』『Material Shield: Lv2』『Information Link: Lv2』『Optical Camouflage』『Dash』『Bloodsucking Blade』『Dragonization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Regenerate』『Soul Breaking Blade』『Stealthy Hand Placement』『Thunder Chariot: Lv2』『St.u.r.dier Teeth: Lv2「Dragon」』『Crystallization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Fabricated Coercion』『Stone Minotaur』『Mega Beam: Lv2』『s.p.a.ce Expansion』『Pseudo-silver Creation』『Poison Claw』『Fireball「Dragon」』『Cuticle「Dragon」』『Arms Creation: Black Flame』『Ingredient Connoisseur』『Dragon Pheromone「Dragon」』

Kazane:「Even though there were a lot of people who seemed strong, they were affected by Fabricated Coercion.」

Yumika:「It"s easy to be affected by that type of Skill if you get swallowed up in the atmosphere. But that was an awful farce. If it went poorly, you could have been attacked.」

Kazane:「Err, I overdid it a little, but... I also want to make proper use of that Devil King figure from now on, you know?」

Yumika:「What are planning to use it for? Rather, properly reflect.」