Chapter 2 — 흉의 일족
Part 2, Episode 17
The Fiend Clan
“…Mephi.”
『…What.』
Elric and Mephisto stared at the three dragons for a long time before slowly opening their mouths.
“…Are dragons normally like that?”
『…Dragons are a race that live drunk on their own brilliance, sure. But.』
Mephisto let out a dry laugh.
『I can say for certain I’ve never seen ones like those. Must be from gorging on artifacts for so long—ack! I said stop clinging to me, you brats!』
Krii-ii!
Pleased with their first real showing, the dragons plastered themselves back onto Mephisto like cicadas on an old tree, wings fluttering.
As if begging to be praised.
“Well, the fact they’re fawning over a Demon King is strange enough.”
Elric chuckled, but he didn’t take it lightly.
‘If they really keep growing like this, who knows what they’ll turn into.’
They weren’t even a year out of the egg and already boasted that level of skill.
What if they passed their growth phase and entered maturity?
Elric thought back on the dragons he’d faced.
After a gem dragon, even a guardian dragon.
‘…Just imagining it is nice.’
Gulp.
He swallowed without meaning to.
Of course, it wasn’t all upside.
‘The problem is, a dragon’s growth period is absurdly long—beyond any comparison to humans….’
They were an ancient lineage whose lifespans alone were said to stretch past millennia. It took at least centuries just to escape the hatchling tier. He couldn’t help but wonder how to bridge such a gulf of time.
If there was a way, it would be just one.
‘Shin-Ah’s Sigil.’
Perhaps growing the world tree within and accelerating the dragons’ growth were linked somehow.
But the speculation didn’t last.
‘No rest, huh.’
He sensed the Jasaja Corps moving again.
Waaaaa!
“Sweep the enemy aside!”
“Make them pay dearly for daring to block the Jasaja Corps’ path!”
The vanguard of the Jasaja Corps charged down the slope at speed. Behind them, volleys of fire arrows flew, clearly meant to cover the advance.
The subjugation of Huilran had begun in earnest.
“【Manifest】.”
Fwoooosh—
A shadow expanded wide around Elric.
Thoom! Thoom! Thoom!
And atop it, one by one, Dragonfang Guards appeared.
Authority of Winter.
North Wind.
Clatter, clatter!
With the rattle of jawbones, icy blue light flared in their eyes.
“What the hell is that?”
The soldiers in the vanguard were visibly shaken by the sudden summons.
No matter how many battlefields the Jasaja Corps had crossed, it was only natural this was their first time seeing the Dragonfang Guards who guarded dragons, alive and in person.
But they were all seasoned veterans.
Their panic lasted only a moment.
They gathered themselves, eyes bright with battle lust, and adjusted their grips.
“Wherever you crawled out from, you won’t stop us with just that!”
At someone’s shout—
Dudududud—
The Jasaja Corps crashed into the Dragonfang Guards.
Enemies or not, their momentum drew a grudging awe.
However—
“Gah!”
“What is this—!”
The Dragonfang Guards were no pushovers.
Each time a guard swung a weapon, several soldiers were hurled into the air.
For the first time, the advance that had seemed poised to sweep Huilran aside hit real resistance.
And that wasn’t all.
Tsk. Nothing that looks promising this time either.
Hyul’s thought-form tried to enter the fray as well.
Ssssss—
The shadow on the ground swelled, slowly taking the shape of a massive beast.
Grah-ha-ha!
“A m-monster!”
“Demons! The Fiend Clan really joined hands with actual demons…!”
A few soldiers blanched and tried to form a defensive line somehow, but—
How tiresome.
Slaaash—
The moment Hyul lunged forward, every soldier in his path was trampled or torn apart—pure massacre.
As Elric grew at a breakneck pace, so had Hyul.
Now he could stand shoulder to shoulder with most Demon Kings.
Which only made it worse.
“Huilran has been tainted by the demonic. We must inform headquarters!”
The Jasaja Corps decided they finally had the proof to match their long-held suspicions about Huilran.
But—
Elric didn’t seem to care about that in the least.
‘All I need here is to bog the Jasaja down and buy time.’
He smiled in satisfaction.
The Jasaja Corps were elite, a force to be reckoned with on their own. To hold them off with retainers alone was satisfying enough.
‘Then it’s my turn to put on a show.’
Frost surged from Elric’s body as the corners of his mouth curled.
“【Rage】, 【Come Down】.”
Rumble—!
The winter storm that blanketed the sky shifted, plunging toward the ground.
A savage gale blinded sight, and a blizzard froze bodies stiff.
“Aaargh!”
“What now—!”
“A mage! There’s a mage over there!”
A few pointed him out, but far too late.
Crackle, crack-crack!
In a blink, the blizzard swept between ranks and shackled ankles.
Authority: Cold Snow.
Ice glazed the ground, rime thickened across armor and skin.
Armor?
What good is that in killing cold?
The heavy steel only weighed them down and made them easier to die.
Authority: Absolute Zero.
The soldiers struggled to break free, but once frozen, their bodies hardly moved.
And that wasn’t the end.
Sha-sha-sha-sha!
Portions of the blizzard clumped, shaping into a countless number of icicles.
“How about you try some arrows for a change?”
Ice instead of fire, this time.
Elric grinned wickedly and sliced his hand down.
Icicles hanging in the air speared toward the soldiers.
Sh-sh-sh-shk—
Thud-thud-thud-thuck!
“Gyaaaah!”
The icicles punched clean through flesh. Blood sprayed as countless soldiers crumpled. The stains left behind bloomed like flowers.
Authority: Plum Blossoms in Snow.
Sigil of Winter. Techniques that once symbolized the “Winter Sage,” Otto Hahn, unfolded in succession… and the Jasaja Corps fell like autumn leaves in a gale.
『…The more I watch, the more you resemble that bastard.』
Mephisto could only grimace, old memories he’d rather never recall rising unbidden.
Boom-boom-boom—
And then—
As he kept raining down attacks, Elric suddenly remembered something and let out a laugh.
“Oh, right. Should cover my face.”
Someone among them could recognize him.
Even across a fair distance, blond hair and green eyes—the mark of the Merbinger—stood out.
If his identity got out, everything would get annoyingly complicated.
Elric shaped a mask of ice and set it over his face.
『You little…!』
[How is it? Cool, right?]
『Cease that this instant!』
[Why? Anyone would think it was your face or something.]
Mephisto’s face twisted at the mask.
No wonder.
『Wolf’s face with goat’s horns—of course that’s this king! Who else would it be!』
Elric had modeled the mask on Mephisto’s true form.
* * *
“…Who is that mage?”
A mage in a wolf mask with horns.
Bel Bahamut’s expression hardened as he asked his adjutant.
“Did Huilran have someone like that?”
He hadn’t seen this coming.
A mage that strong in Huilran?
And the force he was holding off was the Blood Wolf Knights—the elite of the elite within the Jasaja Corps.
But—
‘They can’t advance because of one man?’
There’s a phrase for such monsters.
A one-man legion.
Beings whose power eclipsed an entire legion alone.
Usually, the Six Stars of the Mage Tower or the Eight Lions of the House of the Lion fit that bill… and that mage seemed at least comparable to them.
If he was that high a caliber, he’d be on the wanted rolls.
That’s why Bel asked his adjutant.
“Adjutant, didn’t I ask? Who is he?”
Yet no answer came, no matter how long he waited.
Bel narrowed his eyes and turned.
“Ah—ah! My apologies. No matter how I search, I can’t find any record of a mage like that!”
“What?”
One of Bel’s brows twitched.
Sensing doom if he let his superior stew, the adjutant rushed on.
“Huilran’s a cesspit that draws all kinds of criminal scum, so it’s not strange someone like that turned up. If not, he might be a demon—or a hidden master dispatched by the Free Revolutionary Army.”
“…Hmm.”
Bel finally turned back to the mage.
Whew. The adjutant exhaled in secret relief, thinking he’d dodged the worst.
But—
‘No. That doesn’t wash.’
Bel’s thoughts were nowhere near his adjutant’s.
Huilran might be called the Empire’s trash heap, but it wasn’t a place a power like that would just lurk.
And someone who could stall the Blood Wolf Knights alone?
All the less likely he wouldn’t know.
He would have flagged anyone of that caliber well in advance.
‘No matter how I think about it, I don’t know him.’
No matter how he scoured his memory, he’d never heard of anyone wearing a wolf’s face with goat horns.
Which meant the man was hiding his identity on purpose.
A mage who commanded blizzards and the dead at will?
‘It tickles the back of my mind, but….’
His thoughts didn’t get far.
The situation was souring fast.
Their numbers were dropping too quickly. Worse, with their feet pinned, a push into Huilran was impossible.
‘I’ll have to step in before the losses mount.’
Bel moved.
“Who are you—! Do you understand that the legion you’re blocking moves by the Emperor’s will, and that you stand in rebellion against him—?”
A lion’s roar boomed across the field.
Bel invoked the Emperor on purpose.
If the mage was truly Huilran scum, loyalty wouldn’t enter the equation.
Which meant it was a weakness to press.
Brandish the Imperial Household up front, and most would balk or back down.
‘No one wants their bounty to go up for nothing.’
If the mage bolted, all the better for Bel.
Not that he expected to lose.
But against someone of that caliber, the risks outweighed the gains.
Why get hurt taking out the trash?
Sure enough—
As Bel predicted, the mage halted his attack and turned.
“…”
No emotion could be read in the eyes beyond the mask.
‘He’s spooked.’
Bel was sure it was the man’s nerve faltering.
So he pressed harder.
“I’ll ask one more time—! We are the legion on the Emperor’s command—! If you surrender now, I am willing to show len—!”
“To hell with your Imperial Household.”
“…?!”
Bel barely steadied himself as his roar was cut clean in half.
‘He deliberately scattered my mana lattice?’
A chill traced his spine.
The man’s control of mana was obscene.
‘A master at least on par with the Six Stars!’
Bel opened his mouth to retort—
“Lapdogs wagging their tails to please their master, that’s all you are.”
The moment he saw the way the mage’s eyes curved when he said it—
Tuk!
Something snapped in Bel’s head. His face flushed crimson with rage.
The Mage Who Devoured Talent