That tree was a couple hundred meters away from us, but because Dale wanted to steal… No, because of Dale’s undying passion for research, we didn’t take long before we arrived at the place where I shot down Yoei’s doll.
When I looked upwards, the peak of tree seemed like it was blasted away, and nothing was left. A couple of the tree branches were still emitting smoke, and even more of the branches looked as if they were broken off. Looks like the skill ‘Punishment – Tearing Cross’ is true to its name, with its ability to tear the target into pieces.
“Although his doll is made of different materials, your attack was still really effective against him.”
Dale picked up an unknown metal part from the ground, and said. “Are you able to identify it?”
“As if that’s possible…”
“Well, this is the doll’s thigh joint. Take a look here, it looks as if it’s been hacked by an axe. I believe the rest of the parts should be in the same situation.”
“Is that so? But our opponents probably should have obtained quite a lot of information, right? Don’t they have something that could transmit messages, like a black box?”
“Are you referring to the magic ball that records information of battles? Don’t worry, there isn’t one on this guy, because all the information would be imprinted directly on the soul, and the soul will directly transmit the messages back to their side.”
“In any case, our battle techniques should have been recorded. Hopefully, he won’t be able to identify us… But your identity will definitely be exposed, after all, you used the railguns in that battle.”
“It’s fine.”
Dale curled his lips.
“I don’t have anything to fear of, do I? But, if it’s you, it’s a different story altogether. You have left too many shackles that would bind you to this world, haven’t you? The inhabitants of this world aren’t able to kill us off completely, but it’s possible for them to easily kill your friends, you know.”
“You bastard… when did your personality become so dark?” “It always has been. And aren’t you the same?”
“No, no. I worship peace. I believe in the kindness of people, and am the advocate of peace.”
“Really? Why haven’t I realized that?”
“It means you don’t have a good discerning eye, I guess~”
“Alright, alright. Let’s stop talking about this. Look, other than scrap metals, there aren’t anything else here. How the hell did he bring so many dolls over?”
Dale was right. We have already circled around the place, and other than Yoei’s black cloak and a floor full of scraps, there basically wasn’t anything else that could be found nearby.
Although we’re currently standing on a field of grass, the grass wasn’t that tall that it could cover any traces.
“How is this possible? Unless they’re able to directly summon these dolls out of thin air? … Was it Spatial Magic?”
“Spatial Magic? Impossible. Unless they have a Spatial Magician working with them, how would that be possible? And in this continent, the Spatial Magicians are all training in very dangerous places. After all, they are people who have approached the realm of gods.”
“Hey hey, they are able to reach the realm of gods just like that? Is there really no problem with that?”
“Where’s the problem in that? Don’t you know that in this world, the person closest to the realm of gods is the Pope of the Light Church? According to rumors, with a certain price, the Pope is able to completely revive a person. I wonder if it’s true, though.”
The person in front of you is able to completely revive a person, you know? Though there’s a need to sacrifice my life to do so.
And whenever I imagine that my heart would be gouged out for that purpose, I would feel extremely uneasy. I won’t ever do it, alright!
“Alright, let’s put the things about gods aside, and first figure out how this guy was able to bring out so many dolls. Other than Spatial Magic, there’s only one other way left. He was holding onto something like a dimensional ring that could store a lot of dolls…”
“Have you really not considered other options?” “What?”
I really feel irritated looking at Dale pretending to be all mysterious and stuff. I
didn’t think that he was this bad to the bone.
“For example, he has a base nearby, or a transportable base.”
“Hey hey, you can’t be joking, right? A transportable base… No, he might have simply used something like a cargo container to bring those dolls over.”
“A cargo container?”
Dale looked at me as if I was an idiot. “How is that possible?”
“Why wouldn’t it be possible? Have you forgotten? Didn’t we just have a large
battle with something that could transport a cargo container?”
That’s right, I’m referring to the gryphon we met at the start, which was also the reason why we suffered a great loss of manpower. The gryphon, a super-class magic beast, was about 10 meters long. If the dolls were folded and compressed in a container, it could probably bring about a hundred of them. And as for the number of dolls we fought, even though it looked as if there were endless numbers of them, in actual fact, there were only about a hundred of them.
“……”
After thinking for a moment, Dale started running again.
“Hey hey, what are you doing… Are you thinking of keeping the entire gryphon’s corpse to yourself?! Hold it right there!!”
In an instant, I figured out his objective, and started accelerating towards him. However, a purple light flashed at the bottom of his feet, and something like a flying device appeared under his legs. Then, he turned into a blur of purple as he disappeared in front of me.
What the hell!? He actually have such a powerful equipment on hand, and he did not use it earlier!? This bastard…
“Accelerate! Extreme Shadow! Elf of the Wind!”
The surrounding wind particles gathered crazily on my body, and in an instant, I turned into a blur of green, as I chased after him.
——————————LOADING——————-
Although I was very confident in my own speed, but…
The moment I reached the site, that bastard had already kept the entire gryphon’s corpse into his ring!
“Hey hey! That doesn’t make sense at all!? That thing is huge, hey!?”
I couldn’t help but drop a tsukkomi, though I, myself, was unsure whether it was directed towards Dale or the World. But, no matter how I see it, this should be the World’s fault!
“Because the target is an item called ‘Gryphon’s Corpse’, so it only used up a slot of my inventory.”
Dale said calmly.
“Hand it over! No matter how I see it, that thing is made up of good materials for crafting equipment!”
“Hey hey, you have already taken a couple of good items for yourself, at least, leave this for me. Look, I’m not even the slightest interested in those scrolls, and I already have the blueprints for those dolls, if you want me to make an actual copy, I can even do so. So only this gryphon seems to be of use to me. Once I head back and create a mechanical gryphon, it will definitely be able to dominate the skies!”
“When we get back, leave the gryphon’s head for me.” “… Alright, alright.”
Dale helplessly shrugged, and nodded to my compromise. “……”
But when I look at the corpses lying on the ground, I suddenly felt a certain weird
restlessness in my heart. “What’s wrong?”
“Ah… nothing…”
What is this? What is this feeling? Sadness? It’s definitely not that kind of feeling though. Just what is this…
“In any case, these people once battled alongside us, we should make a proper burial for them.”
After saying that, I took note of the positions of the surrounding corpses, and took out my staff.
“Devouring Earth!”
The ground under the corpses flipped, covering all of the corpses under the earth. “Hopefully, they are able to rest in peace…”
“Amen!”
Suddenly, a voice came from behind. I turned to look, and without us noticing, Gabriel actually appeared by our side.
So frightening… This bastard, at least make some noise when you’re walking!
But he immediately walked over to the side of the large grave I made, and stabbed a cross into the ground.
When did this guy make something like that?
“Let’s go. We should complete this mission as soon as possible, otherwise, the number of sacrifices will increase.”
“Aren’t you a murderer yourself?”
“I only kill bad people, because… they do not have the right to rest in peace.” Seeing Gabriel’s murderous expression, I knew… this guy meant what he said. As I thought, this guy is really frightening…
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