Tenshi Translations

Volume 2 Chapter 2 Part 3

 

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You can grab the PDF here.

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The blue marker that represented Schnee approached the green markers. She had most likely told them to leave the Plains, as after a short while, all of them started doing exactly that. Then the blue marker set a course straight towards Shin, heading directly for him.
She was also cutting down the surrounding Skull Faces with ease, though not not quite at Shin’s pace.
Without saying a word, Shin also hacked down the Skull Faces in his way, heading towards Schnee. However, his steps were by no means light. Based on the reaction to his letter that Tiera had told him about, Schnee most likely did remember him still. But now, at the cusp of their reunion, Shin realized that he didn’t know what to say.
Back during the game, all the conversations that he’d had with Schnee were programmed lines. He had set her relationship level with himself at the maximum, as she was his support character, but he didn’t know how much that might have been affected by Schnee gaining her own free will.
To put things in perspective, he had abandoned the shop and disappeared for more than 500 years without any news nor communication. He had absolutely no idea what she thought of him by now. He would not be able to blame her if she was angry with him or had come to hate him.
As these worries whirled through Shin’s mind, Schnee steadily made her way towards Shin.

————The two reunited amidst the squirming sea of darkness and skeletons.

In fear of the combined strength of the two of them, the Skull Faces hesitated a moment.
When they made to move against the pair, they found an invisible wall in their way. Slightly confused at what was happening, Shin glanced around warily. Before he could do anything about it, a paw lightly slapped his forehead with a ‘pon.’ He understood from the incoming telepathic messages that it was Yuzuha who had erected this barrier. It wouldn’t be able to maintain it for very long, but this was not an appropriate place for a prolonged reunion scene anyways.
In response to his “Thanks” came “Don’t worry about it.” This fox was proving to be really good at reading the atmosphere.
Finishing up the exchange in an instant, Shin then turned his full attention back to Schnee.
With her silver hair flowing in the breeze, she was looking straight at Shin.
Seeing this, the first thought that popped into Shin’s head was “Oh wow, she really hasn’t changed a bit.” Not the dazzling silver hair, nor the almost transparent blue eyes that were looking at himself, not even the clothes. Every single thing about her was exactly the same as when he had parted with her last.

“...... Have you ...... been well?”

He didn’t know what to say. He had wracked his brain so hard while swinging around the oodachi, but this was all that came out of his mouth in the end.
He knew how irresponsible his words sounded. As she was an NPC, he had not expected to ever see her against after the game ended. Such had been his thinking.
In a way, she was the one who had been with him the longest, the one to whom he had the greatest attachment to. Back in the VR, she had not looked any different from normal players. He had found himself wishing numerous times that she had the AI to participate in a proper conversation.

“............”

There was no reply from Schnee. Or rather, it was more accurate to say that she could not reply.
Her eyes were turning moist, and her lips were pressed together firmly in a quivering straight line, indicating that she was holding something back. Seeing how she was trying so hard not to cry, Shin could not find the right words to say.

“Schneeeh?!”

As soon as he called her name, he saw the flicker of a silver light.
The rise in intonation at the end was due to Schnee grabbing Shin in an unexpectedly powerful embrace. Her place as his highest-specced support character was not merely for show. The conventional “Gofu!!” nearly escaped from Shin’s mouth, but he somehow managed to hold it in.

“Sch-Schnee?”
“Don’t you have something to say to me?”

Shin called out to her while his spine creaked in protest. Though she said that there was something that he was supposed to say, in the current situation of being completely surrounded by enemies, Shin’s mind was not working properly, and nothing that seemed appropriate came to mind.

“Um, I’m sorry for leaving you alone this whole timeahhhh?!”
“That’s not it.”

The arms around him pressed even harder.

“Th-Thank you for taking care of the shop?!”
“That’s not it.”

His breath was almost being crushed out of him. So, what she wanted was neither an apology nor thanks.
What was left? What was he to say?
The gears in Shin’s head turned furiously.

As he mentally went over everything that had happened since coming to this world, the images that floated to the top of his mind were that of Schnee’s crying face and Tsuki no Hokora, the place where all of them had spent so much time together that she had protected this entire time.

(Aah ...... I get it now.)

Having come so far, the rest was simple.
He almost wanted to laugh at himself for all the unnecessary things that he was thinking before.
Saying things that he didn’t need to say, and not saying things that he needed to say.
Having stepped out from the store, having been away for a while, and now he was back.
Thus, the first thing that he should say is————

“...... I’m back home.”
“Welcome back.”

Nothing else needed to be said.

 

 

 

♦♦♦♦

 

 

 

Hearing the “I’m back,” Schnee pulled back from Shin.
There were no more tears in her eyes. The calm and gentle expression that Shin was so familiar with was back.

“Mou, I thought you’d never be back.”
“...... Indeed. To be honest, I also didn’t think that I’d get to see you again.”

It was something that he had known when leaving the store. After the death game was cleared, the data that made up Tsuki no Hokora and his support characters would all be deleted together with the rest of the game’s data. When he returned to the real world, he would never see Schnee and the other characters again.
Even though they were NPCs and could not do anything beyond their programming, the parting had hurt more than he had expected.
It wasn’t something that could be easily given voice, though.
It wasn’t just affection or love. Neither was it simple friendship. There were those who were proud of the support characters that they had created, but that didn’t quite describe what Shin felt either.
Perhaps the best way to put it was “more than the data, but not fully human.” It was all so complicated that Shin himself was not clear.

“Kyuu~”

The solemn and heartfelt atmosphere was interrupted by the sound of an exhausted sigh. Shin’s vision drew upwards to behold Yuzuha laying limply on top of his head.
Apparently, Yuzuha had reached its limit after maintaining the barrier for so long. The Skull Faces that had stayed a certain distance away began to rush towards Shin and Schnee.

“There is so much left to talk about, but how about let’s resolve this situation first.”
“Good suggestion. I had been looking forward to the reunion so much that I’d almost forgotten about them.”
“Kuu~”

Wryly smiling at the cry from Yuzuha that seemed to say “I’m leaving the rest to you guys~”, the two of them turned their attention towards the Skull Faces.

“For the first blow, I’m thinking about giving them a really big one.”
“Let’s do it. We have the perfect thing for that, after all.”

They both smiled, Shin with a broad grin and Schnee with a sweet tilt of her head. Then they raised their hands skyward.

“Manifest thyself, O Pure One!”
“Manifest thyself, O Eternal One!”

What they were activating was a special God-Type Skill that could only be used by two or more players or support characters working together.
The name of that skill was————

“【Sanctuary】!!”

Their chant faded off into the darkness.
Then immediately, the effects materialized above the heads of everybody and everything present on the Plains.
A gigantic magic circle had appeared in the sky.
Shin and Schnee. It was a collaborative skill cast by the two strongest people in this world. The effect was dimensions above what a common magician could achieve.
Before the Skull Faces could reach Shin and Schnee, the light poured down from the sky in a massive torrent.
Tearing apart the darkness and illuminating the entire earth, the cleansing light mercilessly purified every bit of filth and impurity crawling upon the ground. The light temporarily threw back the veil of the night, illuminating the Plains so brightly that it was as if the sun itself was in the sky.

“AAaaaa——————------------”

As the light continued pounding down, the Skull Faces were one by one reduced to magical traces that dissolved into the air. Of course, this was not enough to finish off the Skull Face Lord, but the Skull Faces that were rising up from the ground due to its sustained roaring were purified as soon as they came up.
Though the magic circle was supposed to last only a few seconds, the two of them had poured a lot magical power into it, so the strong yet gentle light continued to shine brightly. In that state, the Skull Faces were no longer able to do anything. The map at the edge of Shin’s vision was now cleared of all red markers, allowing him to see a clean and unoccupied field.

“Well then, all the annoying obstacles are taken care of, so let’s go take down the ringleader, shall we?”
“Does Master know who is causing this phenomenon?”
“Yea, it’s a monster called Skull Face Lord. It’s my first time seeing it, do you happen to know anything about it?”
“...... No, it’s also my first time hearing of it.”

Shin had hoped that Schnee might know more, as she had been living in this world much longer, but apparently that was not the case here.
Now that all the Skull Faces were gone, they had a clear path to the Lord.
After quickly checking their equipment, they headed towards their target. Due to the healing effects from【Sanctuary】, Yuzuha had made a full recovery, and was now using its heightened senses to keep a sharp eye on their surroundings.
Shin really wanted to hand『Aotsuki』over to Schnee, but it was still back at Tsuki no Hokora. So instead, he handed her a ninjatou (T/N: shorter sword that ninjas used) and wakizashi (T/N: short Japanese sword), both of which were stronger than what she was currently using and were specced to be anti-undead. Schnee’s main profession was Kunoichi, the female version of Ninja. It had been quite a popular job back during the game, as all weapon job restrictions were removed for characters in this profession, so they were not limited to ninjatou and short swords. Support characters of an average player could properly wield maybe two or three different kinds of weapons. However, unfortunately for Schnee, she was Shin’s support character. Two to three was nowhere near enough.
With Shin at her side, she started running towards the Skull Face Lord, wielding a ninjatou in her right hand and a wakizashi in her left.

“I see it.”

Traversing the Plains at a speed that would overwhelm anyone else, the two of the quickly reached the place where the Lord was. Due to the light still shining down, the Lord was on its knees, with magical energy evaporating from every crevice seen though the many prominent cracks on its armor. Its HP bar was roughly halved. Part of it due to the strength of Shin and Schnee’s collaborative skill, and part of it was due to the skill’s element being one that the Lord was weak to.,The Skull Face Lord had already taken an enormous amount of damage even before they had engaged it in direct combat.

“GGUUUuuuuuu............”

It looked down on Shin and Schnee while still roaring. The ghostly fire burning within the skeleton was giving off a very ominous light. As expected of a monster with a level over 800; Shin and Schnee did not have the leisure of letting down their guard for even a second in the face of such pressure.

“There’s so much I want to ask you, but it doesn’t seem like you’re in any condition to talk.”

So Shin muttered while standing in front of the monster. He didn’t have any actual expectations for a proper conversation in the first place, but since it was a monster that had never appeared before, he did hold out hopes of gaining information of some sort. To that end, he now closely examined the Lord’s body.
Though its armor was crumbling in several places, the impression that Shin got was that this Skull Face’s appearance was even more polished and refined than a King class. Even including the information that he was getting from【Analyze】, all he knew was that this was an upper tier Skull Face. It still bothered him how the Lord had sucked up an entire Pecker Hollow, but there was no way to learn anything other than to tear apart the armor in the way and directly examine the core.

“From the start, it has been an opponent that we must defeat.”
“Yea, I guess ...... Alright, let’s do it!”
“Roger!”

After replying to Schnee’s words, they launched their assault on the Lord, which was standing in a defensive stance.
In the Lord’s hands were dark, night-colored greatswords that it had pulled out from somewhere. As Shin and Schnee charged in from the front, it released a fierce horizontal mowing attack. In response to the incoming attack that was accompanied by the scream of the air splitting apart, Shin decided to receive it with his oodachi.
Adding together the oodachi’s own weight, the momentum of the sudden acceleration, and Shin’s superhuman muscle strength, the single attack from Shin caught the Skull Face Lord’s sword on the flat side in the middle of the blade, sending it flying backwards with the thunderous roaring sound of steel smashing against steel.
The Lord kept its hold on the greatsword, barely avoiding losing its weapon. However, the cost of such a choice was that it was unable to redirect the trajectory of the sword, which caused its upper torso to rotate all the way to the back. Schnee took advantage of the opening and rushed in with her two swords.
In mid-flight, she activated the Sword-Type Martial Skill【Seijin (Blade Crusher)】.
On top of that skill being highly effective against enemies with resistance to slicing attacks, what Shin had handed over to Schnee were the Mythology grade ninjatou【Rurien (Azul Flame)】and wakizashi【Hien (Scarlet Flame)】. Twin trails of red and blue fire drew arcs in the air, breaking the Skull Face Lord’s armor wherever they touched and revealing what was underneath.
The inside turned out to be packed with a tar-like substance that was pulsing as if it had a mind of its own. And where the armor was cracked or shattered, the substance reached out immediately as if to grab Schnee.

“!”

Wary of the black tentacles, Schnee decided to not continue pressing her attack and withdrew a bit. She repelled the few tentacles that did reach her with her two swords, and quickly removed herself from their range.

“That attack is really similar to what Gel Bisons use.”

Upon seeing the black tentacles, Shin thought back to Gel Bisons, a type of monster that he had seen on the Plains. Due to having directly witnessed a Gel Bison being turned into magical energy and sucked up, their image quickly came to Shin’s mind.

(Could it be that this monster can use the abilities of all the monsters that it had absorbed?)

Shin earnestly hoped that his guess was wrong. Undead monsters in general drew from a limited pool of special abilities, and the fighting style of most of them hinges instead on their extremely high stamina. There weren’t a lot of kinds of monsters that could use tentacles.. Therefore, the Skull Face Lord displaying this ability gave credibility to Shin’s conjecture. Which was a problem, for mainly one reason: one of the monsters that had been absorbed was a Pecker Hollow.

“No grudges either way, alright?”

After confirming that Schnee had retreated safely, Shin began gathering magical power in his left hand.
The cast time was instant. Within a few moments, crimson flames were shooting from his hand towards the Lord.
What he had used without even needing an incantation was the Fire-Type Magical Skill【Flare Volcano】.
The roaring flames that towered several tens of mels over the Skull Face Lord slammed into its target in a direct hit.
The purifying light and crimson flames. Burned by the two different kinds of magic, the Skull Face Lord perished so quickly that it didn’t even have time to let out a death roar. The flames were so fierce that they left a line of melted earth on the ground.

“Did we finish it off?”

He had used the skill with the intention to kill. However, Shin was feeling very apprehensive at how easy the fight had been.
Of the same mind, Schnee continued glancing warily around, still crouched in a defensive stance.
Shin rested『Hamon Hirumaki』on his shoulder and deployed his detection skills to their maximum range. Due to the battle, the atmosphere was thick with magical power, allowing him to feel it flow in currents that he wouldn’t have noticed if it wasn’t so concentrated. The currents weren’t on the scale of one or two monsters. It felt like all of the magical energy was flowing towards a specific location.

“...... Underground!”

The exact moment when Shin’s attention was drawn towards the ground, the two of them were struck by a huge tremor.
At the same time, a small red marker popped into existence on Shin’s map. The size of the marker grew together with the strength of the tremors, until it finally became bigger than the marker that had previously represented the Skull Face Lord.

“Master.”
“Yea, this is the real boss.”

At Shin’s words, the black sphere floated up from the ground. Unlike the first time they had seen it, red lines that looked eerily like blood vessels now ran all over the surface of the sphere, seemingly pulsing in time to a heartbeat.

“The thing just now was just the shell, I think.”

No wonder it had been so weak. Apparently, the main purpose of the shell had been to act as a decoy to buy time for gathering up all the magical energy floating about on the Plains.
Another great tremor accompanied the appearance of the sphere. What first emerged from the sphere were gigantic arms large enough to pick up a King class. A total of six arms, divided into three pairs, clawed at the ground and pulled out the rest of the body.
A head with two twisted horns attached was followed by a torso much thicker than before, all of which was supported by four legs positioned in a way that gave the lower half of the body a crustacean appearance. Five scorpion-like tails waved from behind the monster.
Turns out that it had indeed gained the ability of the Pecker Hollow. Its height was greater than 20 mels, placing it far beyond the height range for normal Skull Faces..
The sphere was seemingly dissolved and absorbed into the huge body. Right afterwards, an eerie flame was lit inside the eye sockets.

“GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA————————————!!!!!!”

The howl was so powerful that it could almost be felt as a physical attack. For Shin and Schnee, though, it was just a vibration in the air, but any normal adventurer would easily have been literally blown away by the wind pressure.

“It’s serious.”
“So it seems.”
“In that case, then we should get serious too.”

In response to the Skull Face Lord’s howl, Shin changed his loadout. Having already registered the loadout as a set, with the help of shortcut keys the change took only a moment. He was now wearing the exact same outfit that he had been wearing when he took on Origin.
Crimson handguards and greaves protected his hands and feet, a black longcoat fluttered on his back and red lines ran like lightning across his black scarf.
Shin released the clasps that held the Ancient grade sword【Shingetsu (True Moon)】inside its sheath, and propped up the blade a little with his left thumb to make it easier to draw.
Along with the change of his equipment, the color of the vibe that surrounded Shin also changed.
For some reason, be it the effects of the changing, the conscious decision to change, or the aura of the image of a figure cloaked in black and red, Shin now radiated an even greater amount of pressure than before.
Seeing what Shin had done, the fire that served as the Lord’s eyes, which had been glaring at Shin and Schnee the whole time, seemed to swell slightly in size. With the pressure emanating from the unique equips added to Shin’s own pressure, the Skull Face’s bones creaked as if it was flinching at the change.

“...... Let’s go.”

Shin grasped the handle of his katana with his right hand, ready to draw it at any time.
Wordlessly, he activated【Shukuchi】and crossed the distance between the two of them.
Four arms swung to intercept Shin. Inside those hands were swords so black that they seemed made out of darkness itself. The great wind speeds caused by the swords were clearly not just a bluff, but spoke volumes about the weight of the swords.
Before Shin managed to reach the Lord with his katana, the numerous greatswords reached Shin first. As the greatswords entered the katana’s range, the katana handle separated from the scabbard in a red flash.
Though he had successfully deflected all four greatswords, there was only one sound. A single swing from his sword had been enough to repel them all. Undeterred, Shin continued flying into the bosom of the Lord.
The Skull Face was about to use its remaining two hands to deal with Shin, but a slight chill caused it to instinctively bring up one hand over its head. Almost immediately, the sound of metal clashing against metal rang out, and sparks scattered all over.
That had been Schnee, trying to score an attack with Rurien in the Lord’s blind spot. It was no simple feat to detect an attack from a Shinobi, the highest tier of Assassins, that had been aimed at a blind spot. However, it was true that this strategy was not very effective against undead, which do not rely on their five senses to fight. This Skull Face’s responses were made possible by perception abilities far beyond what other Skull Faces normally possessed. As someone able to objectively grasp her own strengths and weaknesses, Schnee was now learning exactly how far beyond the norm this Skull Face was.

“As thought, it really is different from the existent monsters, huh.”

Utilizing the recoil from the exchange, she landed at a different spot than she would have normally. Evading the attack from a tail released in revenge for just now, she continued analyzing her opponent.
The reason why the counterattack against Schnee seemed so light was because of Shin. The Skull Face Lord had brought its final arm to bear, but there was no way that a single arm could achieve what four arms couldn’t. A single attack wrapped in【Seijin】shattered the single greatsword, creating a shockwave that the Lord took advantage of to retreat several tens of mels. Having decided to not hold back any longer, every attack from Shin now benefited fully from his boosted stats, dealing damage far beyond his former limits. The display of power illustrated just how enormous the difference in fighting power between Shin and the Lord was.
Schnee, who had been very familiar with Shin’s strength, stared in shock.

“Shi!!”

Shin pressed into the retreating Lord before it could regain its balance. Having lost its weapons, the Lord crossed its arms in a defensive stance. Shin’s katana fell onto the handguards protecting the arms, then sliced through all of the limbs in a shower of sparks.

“GURUAAAAAAAA!!!!”

Together with the roar, the Skull Face Lord lashed out in counterattack with its tails. The four tails that shot toward Shin had saw-like teeth, and tried to corner him by coming from four different directions. Before they reached him, though, Shin leaped towards the Lord.
Evading the arm swiping at him in a desperate attack with a double jump enabled by the Movement-Type Martial Skill【Hiei (Flying Shadow)】, Shin closed in. After dodging, Shin found himself right in front of the Lord’s torso, where the solar plexus would have been for a human.
It was the perfect position for an attack at point-blank range, given the height different between the two of them. It was also the place where the core of the Skull Face lie. Feeling the imminent danger, the Lord desperately tried to regain some distance, but Shin was already in an attack stance and it was too late to do anything about it.

“————!!”

The katana swung down as he exhaled sharply.
What he had used was the Sword-Type Martial Skill【Hazan (Mountain Crusher)】.
Even though he was in midair and had no solid ground to kick off of, Shin’s single attack packed more than enough power.
The flash that was a mix of red and black dove straight into the Lord’s left shoulder, emerged from its torso on the other side, sliced off one of its right legs, and finally left a shockwave that cleft a deep trench in the ground.

“GIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!”

The Lord roared from the damage. Diagonal lines could be seen all over its body where the armor was sliced through and black liquid was oozing out. Shin’s eyes saw that the black sphere that was acting as the core had only about a fifth shaved off.

“Oh, I missed.”

The core that had been visible for a moment quickly disappeared from view. It seems that to some degree, the Lord was able to freely move the core within its body. While thinking furiously of a countermeasure, Shin landed and continued attacking without letting up.
He directed most of his efforts at the remaining right leg, aiming to bring the Lord down.
The flurry of slices were delivered at such high speeds that they left afterimages in the air. On top of that, for every slice that Shin landed on the Lord’s body, additional ones appeared spontaneously on random places.
This was because of the Sword-Type Martial Skill【Kasanedachi (Repeated Cut)】.
Each additional cut dealt as much damage as Shin’s original attack. With the armor already cracked and crumbling in places, these extra attacks tore into all the exposed areas without mercy.
【Kasanedachi】was a skill that enabled sword wielders to assail several enemies at the same time. The stronger the user, the more destructive it was. When Shin used it, as someone from whom even a normal attack was already so deadly, the skill became something beyond a mere series of attacks, as the heavy barrage also managed to completely stun lock the Skull Face Lord.

“GI ............ A ...... aa ............”

The effects of each and every slash raged inside the Lord’s body. It had already been hanging on only by the skin of its teeth after being hit with【Hazan】, and no longer had the strength to withstand this new onslaught.
Shin’s strength was greatly amplified by wielding an Ancient grade weapon. Their combined might was so great that even if Sanctuary was no longer active and the Lord was at full strength, it would still have been thus one-sidedly overpowered.
Even the last means of counterattack left to the Lord, its tails, had already been all cut off by Schnee.
The invisible follow-up attacks from【Kasanedachi】were directly leaving their marks on the inside, leaving behind energy that was causing the Skull Face Lord’s body to expand from the building pressure. Trapped inside the body by the unbroken parts of armor, the energy that kept on accumulating sought an exit.
The core was nowhere to be seen. It wasn’t that they had overlooked it. It was just that the torso was no longer a safe place to store the core, what with the continuing barrage of attacks. In that case, there was only one place for it to be.

“This is the end!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shin leaped into the air with such force that the ground cracked under his feet as he was kicking off.
At a position above the Lord’s head, he adopted an overhead stance, with red lightning wrapped around【Shingetsu】.
He then activated the Sword-Type Lightning-Type Combined Skill【Kogetsu・Raimeisen (Arc Moon・Thunder Flash)】.
The red blade made of lightning struck the Skull Face’s unprotected head. Immediately after, when the sword blade sliced into the Lord’s head, the red lightning rushed to invade the inside. Red forks shot out from the eye sockets, shredding the fire that had been burning there previously. As if the head wasn’t enough, the lightning flowed through the neck to the rest of the Lord’s body, effectively roasting it from the inside out.

“......! ............ ! ........................”

Despite being burned alive, there was no howling.
Shin’s attack itself had already sliced the core in half, as it had been hiding in the head. The additional lightning had incinerated whatever was left of it. Normal Skull Faces disappeared quite quickly after having their core destroyed, but the Skull Face Lord’s body was gigantic, so it was taking some time to fade away. However, it was already empty. It was just a husk.

“! ...... ! ............ !”

Or so it was supposed to be. In reality, almost as if in defiance of its crumbling body, the Skull Face reached towards Shin with its last remaining hand.

“Master!!”
“Wait.”

Seeing Shin freeze up at the sight of the Lord, Schnee called out to him. Holding her back with one hand, Shin continued staring intently at the Lord.
The hostility and bloodthirst and pressure from before were all gone. The hand that was stretching out towards Shin seemed to be reaching out to something beyond its grasp.

“(So ...... Wo ............ Ni ......)”
“?!”

Shin’s ears picked up on a voice. Though it was distorted and marred by a lot of noise, it was undoubtedly speaking the language of man.
However, immediately after that, the Lord went the way of all other Skull Faces and turned into magical energy that dissolved into the wind. Where the Lord previously had been, a gigantic jewel more than 50 cemels large was rolling to a rest.

“Master! Are you alright?!”
“Yea, I’m fine. No problems.”

Shin pacified Schnee, who had rushed over in a fluster. Inside his head, he continued ruminating over the words that been imparted to him just now.

(After all this, I still haven’t learned anything useful. It had been quite the opponent, though.)

While trying hard to not let his disappointment show on his face, he turned his eyes toward the jewel that had been left behind. It was unmistakably an exceptional jewel of the highest grade. In case it would turn out to be a clue or key of some sort, he decided to put it into his inventory for the time being.
When he looked at his map, he noticed the markers indicating the Skull Faces that had managed to escape the fighting disappearing by themselves. There had been a few that had happened to be beyond the area of effect of【Sanctuary】, but they had apparently spontaneously died when the Skull Face Lord did. This was undeniable proof that the Lord had indeed been the one behind this entire incident.
As Shin was checking his map, the light shining around them was gradually weakening. It was about time for the effects of【Sanctuary】to run out. When the spell completely faded away, the Plains returned to being illuminated solely by moonlight.
The return of the moonlight revealed an enormous change to the Plains. It had not been visible in the dazzling light of purification, but sparkling traces of magical energy were now steadily rising up from the entirety of the Plains. The scene all around them was that of magical energy rising high and dissolving into the atmosphere.
Even the knights and adventurers, who were still very wary, stopped to stare.
The rising magical energy had become visible with the fading of the holy light that had dispelled the night.
This sight that had never been seen before instilled awe and wonder in the hearts of many who beheld it.

“Looks like it’s all over.”
“So it seems. After some time, these Plains should most likely return to normal too.”
“...... Time to go home.”
“Yes, Master.”

There was no need to ask “where is home.” The magical light shone on the two figures walking away.
They had both been under stress during the battle, so they had automatically fallen into how they had used to talk before. Now that the danger was over, however, a strange air hung between the two of them.
The time that they had been apart for had been short for Shin, long for Schnee.
It wasn’t awkward like they had to probe each other, it was just that some time was needed for the words to gradually start flowing. The two of them slowly found the words that could begin to fill up the time that they had lost.

Before the arrival of the knights and adventurers who were rushing over to investigate, the two silhouettes had already disappeared towards the direction of the Kingdom.

 

 

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