Chapter 51

Chapter 51: Rift Opening (2)

The incident in which Corrupted Bodies emerged in the central plaza was smoothly brought under control under the leadership of Levia, the Headmaster.

The clergy who had been in the plaza all gathered around the injured people with corrupted wounds and began treating them.

“Ugh......”

“Please stay still.”

Viole tightened her grip on her mace and unfolded Holy Magic toward the injured people around her.

Mid-Rank Holy Magic, Healing Wave.

SHAAAA......

Holy Power surged out from her mace like a wave, spreading outward and enveloping the bodies of more than twenty people.

“Ooh......”

“Ah......”

The blood stopped flowing from bandages that had been dripping red.

The Demonic Aura gradually faded from skin where black haze had been rising.

Viole wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead.

“Whew....... I can only provide temporary treatment. You should receive proper treatment later.”

“Th-Thank you.”

“It is nothing....... I am only doing what I should.”

Viole looked around with a gentle smile, then soon frowned.

“Where did those two go?”

Yulia and Damon.

The two of them were nowhere to be seen.

***

The swamp field inside the Artificial Rift.

After casting ‘Grace of Agility’ through ‘Auto-Casting,’ I raced through the Rift while retracing my memories.

I am sure... I turned left here.

From this point on, it was straight ahead.

SPLASH! SQUELCH!

The standing puddles and mud dirtied my shoes, but I paid no attention and pressed forward.

And before long, I found it.

SHAAAA......

A chilling energy swept over my entire body.

It was a strange sensation that only those who served the same demon could detect.

A pale reddish mist spread out in various places around me and revealed itself.

I lifted my head and looked up at the barrier, then twisted my face.

“Tsk, I had a feeling, but......”

Ordinarily, a normal barrier was shaped like a hemisphere. 

The barrier activated by the Defectors should have formed a reddish dome under normal circumstances.

However.

GLOOP... RUMBLE......

The barrier unfolding before my eyes was trembling unstably, like an untamed colt that had slipped its reins.

Every time it shook, a very small amount of the Demonic Aura inside the barrier leaked out.

“So that is why Corrupted Bodies came out near the entrance.”

Because of the unstable barrier, the nearby monsters must have been affected by the scattered Demonic Aura.

That was probably why Corrupted Bodies had appeared all the way at the Artificial Rift entrance, was it not?

A barrier itself performed the function of cutting off the inside from the outside. 

Naturally, something that could shake it was not common.

Corrupted Bodies and a shaking barrier....... In that case.

“It is a ritual.”

The Defectors were performing a ritual in there.

A ritual powerful enough to make Demonic Aura leak out from the barrier.

The instant I reached that conclusion, I placed one hand on my head and raised my mana.

‘Authority Activation.’

CRACKLE! BZZZT......

A prickling sensation ran through my frontal lobe, and noise filled my ears.

Common Authority of Demon Contractors, Mental Resonance.

It was Mid-Rank Black Magic that belonged to the ‘Descent Type,’ allowing contractors who served the same demon to exchange voice transmissions with one another.

Since we were far apart, the price consumption would be considerable, but... now was not the time to worry about such trivial things.

-Senior Lucia, can you hear me?

SWAY.

“Tsk.”

No sooner had I sent the voice transmission to Lucia than my vision shook.

I leaned against the tree beside me and steadied my breathing.

Damn....... My head is spinning. 

The price consumption really is severe.

Based on the price I had offered Valak, I would probably be limited to about ten sentences at most, no matter how many voice transmissions I tried to send.

Still, there was a harvest.

-Should I say... this is absurd......?

Okay, good.

Lucia’s voice transmission sounded inside my head.

-You had even learned... Black Magic... that sends thoughts...?

It seemed the distance really was damnably far. 

Her voice kept cutting off piece by piece.

Still, at least I could hear her.

-Listen carefully. I cannot talk for long.

-What are......

-Check whether your parents are inside the barrier. Right now.

-......?

Noise filled my head severely. 

It meant she was extremely shocked.

-If they are there, good. If they are not, send me a voice transmission again.

-Explain... properly......!

-Send me a voice transmission once you check. The price consumption for this is no joke.

CLICK!

I shook my head, which had quieted down, and let out a heavy breath.

I had already used up half of my price just from sending a few voice transmissions.

“Whew, then......”

Just as I reached a hand toward the surface to enter inside.

SPLASH......

I sensed a presence behind me and hurriedly withdrew my hand.

“As expected, Brother, you really do have talent.”

At the soft voice, I reflexively turned around and saw Yulia standing there.

“I never thought you would arrive here before me.”

“...How did you get here?”

I had not sensed anyone following me.

“Ah, I did not follow you....... The Holy Power refined in my body kept trembling. I thought something might be there, so I tracked the direction and came here. I just did not expect to see you here exactly......”

Yulia looked around and narrowed her eyes.

“This place really is different. My Holy Power is reacting more strongly.”

She was not even a demon contractor, and she would not have known the location like I did, yet she found this place only through the reaction of her Holy Power?

Truly, she was Sword Radiance through and through.

“Is that why you came here as well, Brother Damon?”

“Well... something like that?”

Fortunately, the Demonic Aura in the surroundings seemed to have scattered her senses, and she had not noticed that I had used Black Magic.

Yulia continued scanning the area, then tilted her head to one side.

“But this is strange. My Holy Power keeps trembling, but there is nothing here?”

Yulia’s eyes would not be able to see the barrier unfolding right in front of us.

Even if Demonic Aura could be detected indirectly through Holy Power, this barrier could only be perceived and seen by demon contractors who had contracted with Valak.

“Hmm... I think there is probably a barrier made of Demonic Aura spread out in front of us.”

...Damn it, is that judgment ability for real?

If her thoughts had reached that far, it would not be strange for her to leave this place immediately and report it to Headmaster Levia.

And that was not the situation I wanted. 

At the very least, I needed to confirm with my own eyes what had happened inside.

...What should I do?

I seriously considered ambushing her here and knocking her unconscious. 

Though I was not certain it would go well.

Just as I was inwardly struggling over what to do.

“Hmm......”

Yulia’s expression turned somewhat subtle.

“Brother Damon, that barrier... What do you think about the two of us entering it first?”

“Huh?”

This was a little unexpected. 

I had not thought she would be the first to say something like that.

Yulia hesitated with her lips, then continued with a resigned expression, as though she had no choice.

“To tell the truth... I met ‘Aron Bayonel’ during yesterday’s Joint Class.”

“...What?”

Sigh... I am really getting tired of pretending to be surprised every single time.

Yulia soon gave me a brief explanation of how she had met Aron during the Joint Class.

I could guess why she had suddenly decided to tell me this, but... for now, I should play along appropriately.

“...You are saying Aron appeared during the Joint Class, but even the professors did not notice? Not even the Headmaster?”

“Yes. Just like that barrier spread out before our eyes right now.”

A strange light settled in her eyes.

“Since it is a barrier of such a broad scale, Aron may be inside it. Even if he is not, this must certainly be an incident connected to the Demon Worshippers led by Aron.”

So her thoughts had gone that far after all.

“If Aron really is in there, he may run away the moment he senses something strange.”

Oh... She is quite sharp, is she not? 

Her instincts really are keen.

Of course, considering that I am Aron, she was extremely far off the mark.

“You two were the only ones who knew about something like that?”

“Ugh....... I am sorry I did not tell you. Even after I warned you to be careful of Aron before......”

This was actually better.

I did not know what had happened inside either. 

If she went in with me, it would be reassuring.

“No. If it was something on that level, it would have been hard to talk about recklessly.”

Perhaps she thought I was generously understanding her, because her complexion brightened.

“Then let us go in together and check. I am also curious about what happened.”

“Thank you for understanding. Hmm... The problem is how we are supposed to get in there......”

“Could we not enter with Holy Power?”

This barrier was Black Magic. 

If Holy Magic, which was the polar opposite of Black Magic, was forced into it, entering would probably not be that difficult.

“That is true, but if we use Holy Power to forcibly twist it open, we may be discovered......”

“What? Was that what you were worried about?”

Before she even finished speaking, I gathered Holy Power in my right hand.

Elementary Holy Magic, Divine Blessing.

Then, I punched straight toward the place where the barrier was spread out with my Holy Power-filled fist.

THUD!

Ripples spread across the surface of the barrier as it collided with Holy Power, and then it split to both sides as though a door were opening.

At the same time that a hole large enough for one person to pass through appeared, the space beyond the barrier came into view.

Bingo.

“No, Brother......! They will notice us if you do this!”

Yulia turned deathly pale, but I merely shrugged.

She also stared beyond the barrier for a few seconds, but as she soon felt a strange sense of déjà vu, she frowned.

“Uh....... Why is it so quiet inside?”

“If it had been a normal barrier, we would have been noticed immediately. But this is not a normal barrier.”

I looked around.

“The barrier is so unstable that the Demonic Aura inside it is leaking out. Do you think it can detect intruders properly? They must be struggling just to maintain the barrier.”

“Ah.......”

Yulia let out a low exclamation.

“You are right, Brother. I had not thought that far....... Did you learn this separately?”

“I did study some theory related to Black Magic. I was personally a little interested in it.”

Yulia’s expression twisted slightly at my remark, but so what? 

This knowledge had helped us just now, so it would be hard for her to say anything more.

“Let us make some preparations before going in.”

I put a hand into my bag and took out two black robes.

“It is late at night and dark right now, so if we wear these, we should stand out less to the people inside.”

Then I shoved a hand into the swampy ground, scooped up a handful of wet mud, and carefully smeared it over my face, neck, and hair.

Whew, this really reeks of rot.

“Wh-Why are you putting that on your face?”

“Why? What? Have you never seen camouflage before?”

Whether Yulia was flustered by my actions or not, I held the mud out in front of her as well.

“What are you standing around for? You put it on too.”

Look at that. 

Her face stiffened immediately.

“Do you think the Demon Worshippers in there will be standing around clean like us? We will stand out less this way.”

“Even so, mud is a little....... I-I will just wear the robe.”

“No. You absolutely have to put it on.”

I frowned and pointed at her face.

“You are too pretty, so you will stand out.”

“...Pardon?”

Her expression froze as if time itself had stopped, then rapidly turned flushed.

“Your skin is fair, your jawline is slender, and what about that glossy brown hair?”

“Even so, I am not that......”

“No, you are that pretty. Even my eyes sometimes go to you on their own.”

“...P-Pardon?”

Yulia began to fluster, but I was making a judgment from an extremely objective perspective.

“If they ranked beauty in the Holy Magic Department, you would easily be near the top. And yet you are saying you will not camouflage yourself? Do you have no conscience?”

“Ugh....... A-All right! I will put it on. I will, so......”

“Hmph, you should have done that from the start.”

I curled up the corners of my mouth as I watched Yulia obediently begin smearing mud on her face.

As expected, when it came to quick persuasion, nothing worked quite like an assault of facts.

Like that, Yulia and I finished all our preparations.

SLIP.

We lowered our bodies so we would not be discovered and cautiously entered the barrier.

“By the way, did you do the same thing to Senior Lucia too?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Never mind......”