SSMDTSKKYIKSSKS – Chapter 1. [Ep. 35]

Chapter 1. [Episode 35]
“Activating the Summoning Technique”

 

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I saw a hooded thing in a long underground corridor.

Her whole body, covered with a robe, is slender, and her appearance and gender are ambiguous. But that’s only if you look at it in a normal way, and from my point of view, as someone with the power of a demon god, I could tell at a glance that it was a woman.

And it’s not human. This feeling is elvish.

[That hood is a distraction.]

I applied a light wind-quickening technique to the hood she was wearing and forced it up.

Inside the hood was the face of a beautiful female elf with long ears.

She was staring at me with a somewhat blank expression, rather than a blank face. It was as if she was out of her mind.

[……, Ensign Miriam?]

It was Liz who muttered that.

Miriam. I believe it was the female elf who attacked Ensign Lattice and disappeared.

[Ugh, no kidding. Why are you ……?]

[Liz. She’s Miriam, but she’s not Miriam.]

[Huh? What? What do you mean ……?]

[It’s not so much the ‘content’ that’s different–it’s more like something else is possessing Miriam.]

Then the elf called Miriam opened her mouth for the first time.

[I am …… Ensign Miriam Stasis. Of the Imperial Southern Territories.]

The voice, which sounds like a mixture of male and female, is grating.

[I know that. It’s not about Miriam that I want to know. I want to know about you, Ghislain.]

[…… You. You. What are you? Who are you? How far? What do you know? How do you know? How do you know me?]

[I think you are mentally deranged. No wonder. Because you are also the culprit in Mira’s bloodbath that is said to have occurred 500 years ago.]

At that moment, the bespectacled elf lying beside Liz woke up.

She looked around in a daze and looked perturbed to see a robed elf.

[Miriam! Are you okay?]

But Ensign Miriam did not answer. She stared at me, not even looking at her best friend.

[Ghislain. You are just a human being. You are probably from the Kingdom of Chiaro De Luna, which is famous for its magic. You must have been a very famous magician in that kingdom. The formula you use is a forbidden art that goes beyond the realm of magic. There are very few people who can use it easily.]

[……]

[Ghislain? Huh? She’s Miriam, at ……]

[Ensign Lattice. Listen to Theo-kun.]

I don’t want the rest of the world to hear what I have to say from here, but oh well.

[And you, for some reason or other, have abandoned your own body and have succeeded in the technique of possessing another body. I don’t know how long you have been living in someone else’s body, but someone else’s body is still someone else’s body. You couldn’t bear the load, and you gradually lost your mind.]

I continue.

[Then someone ‘discovered’ you, a man of exceptional talent. Someone noticed your talent. I’m not sure if that’s the ‘goddess’ you’re referring to.]

Ghislain is still not moving slightly.

She’s not completely unselfconscious. Perhaps she’s just cautiously watching us.

[I suppose he said to you to use the elves to build up the last drops.]

[The Goddess is my everything.]

That’s all she says in an eerie voice.

[Yes, that’s why you came to the Empire. Probably because you heard about Mira Balzac, who owned several elven slaves in search of beauty. That’s how Mira’s bloodbath started.]

[The Goddess is my everything.]

[Yes, all for the sake of the goddess. If an elf is fed to a magical creature that can amplify magic power, which was studied in the kingdom of Chiaro De Luna, a single red tear will flow down from its eye. That is called a last drop.]

[The Goddess is my everything.]

[And with the last drops, a massive forbidden technique …… no, we’re beyond that realm already. This magic. The magic amplifying effect of the last drops can probably be applied to a variety of situations. Using it in a summoning formula, you forcefully summoned an angel from the sky cover. That is the true identity of the heavenly demon that is said to have attacked humans and elves.]

I look at the techniques that are spread out in the underground corridor.

The Dark Underworld Technique. It is an extremely powerful technique that probably only works on elves.

With just one will of Ghislain, the elves in this place, no matter how much power they have, would be neutralized in an instant. At the level of President Ludio, though, it might be a different story.

This is probably what caused 3,000 elves to be turned into last drops 500 years ago with nothing to do.

However, a few questions remain.

[The Goddess is All I Have ……]

The power of “this” is strong. I can see that the technique is activated and wields tremendous power.

But that’s it.

There is no doubt that she had tremendous talent as a human being, but she was nowhere near as talented as a demon tribe like us.

Compared to the elf queen in her daughter’s arms, I don’t see much difference.

The “existence of this level” cannot normally break through the elves’ resistance to magic and forcefully twist them around.

And even more so if it is a technique that can forcibly summon the angels that are said to dwell in the sky cover. There is no way to have devised such an advanced technique.

Angels have extremely strong magic resistance. It is an overwhelming resistance that is superior to that of elves and dragons. I don’t know of any technique that summons them all together and then makes them attack only humans and elves.

Some in Tenebrae are as good as me at full strength in terms of magical power alone.

Even they would not know about such a technique to manipulate angels at will.

If this is the case, I would very much like to find out the true meaning of the technique.

[What is the source of your power to control the elves?]

[…..The goddess is my everything.]

[I can’t talk about it. Let’s get back to ‘sanity’ for a minute, shall we?]

I ran from the spot and approached Ghislain without giving her a single blink of an eye.

If her mind is on the verge of collapse, her reactions are sluggish. I guess she is still just a human being inside.

With that in mind, I grabbed her head in an eagle grip.

[Wait ……, wait ……, don’t kill Miriam, don’t ……]

Lattice, on the ground, comes to me pleading.

I didn’t care about that, and I activated the technique.

Dark-colored magic overflows from the arm that grips her head and flows into Ghislain’s soul as it enters Miriam’s body.

This is a technique to forcefully restore a clouded mind or memory to its original state. This technique can also be used to brainwash or undo an opponent.

Ghislain grunted as tremendous magical power flowed from the technique, which is on par with the forbidden techniques.

At the moment, a small part of the memory that was in Ghislain flows into me.

-an old noblewoman who smiles fearlessly.

–A one-eyed creepy monster with a green body surface.

–A man stares at her with hostile eyes. His body is pierced by the blade in his hand.

–A crimson glow. An unbelievable amount of magical power overflows from the body pierced by the blade, and an ominous magic circle appears in the sky, and from within it, those with white wings–.

I see. So this is a fragmented memory of Mira’s bloodbath incident.

The first old woman is probably Mira Balzac. And the next monster that appeared was a magical creature concerning the last drops.

The next memory is of when Ghislain possessed Mira.

And when her body died, the technique was activated. This is probably what is involved in the conditions for activating the summoning technique.

When I was convinced of this, one more strange sight was etched in my mind.

–there was a young woman. Her face is in the backlight and I can’t see her face clearly, but she says in a soft voice.

“Let’s do a purification. Let us purify everything in this world. The world full of light is ours alone.”

Her voice sounded very calm and saintly. Ghislain hung his head on the spot. Once again, a gentle voice came from above his head.

[Don’t worry, everything will be fine if you do exactly what I tell you to do.]

[Oh, oh …… goddess, yo …… goddess. Everything belongs to you. This body is for you.]

[Let’s do a cleanse. Hey, Ghislain?]

As soon as I heard the last words, my hand was swept away.

The one with the body of an elven woman in front of me said in a much clearer voice than before.

[What did you …… do to me?]

[I restored your spirit when you were going crazy. That’s when the memories from 500 years ago started pouring in. I knew the truth about Mira’s bloodbath incident, how to create the terminal drops, and how to summon the heavenly demons. But there was something I just couldn’t understand.]

I continued, staring at Ghislain, who is becoming hostile.

[At the end I saw a woman with a very strange atmosphere. Who was that?]

[You ……, you, you, you, how dare you …… that man!]

[She was mysterious. He had the air of a saint from the Holy Kingdom.]

[Shut up, shut up, shut up! Don’t you talk about her!]

[I wonder if she’s the goddess you’re referring to. Interesting, can you elaborate?]

Magic erupted from Ghislain’s body. It was immediately released toward me.

Fire, lightning, and darkness. The magic power, which looked like a complex combination of these things, was about to pierce me but disappeared on the spot.

[Hey, why, why doesn’t it work ……!]

[If you want to kill me, you’ll have to use a more complex technique than the forbidden one. Well, I don’t think you can. Your body can’t take any more of the other techniques, can it?]

[Kuh……!!!!]

The technique of twisting the elves that Ghislain is invoking must be putting a strong strain on Miriam’s body.

It must have been painful enough, but there was no way I could handle a technique that could kill me.

Ghislain looked at Her Majesty Queen Eynlana. She probably intends to possess her body, but I won’t let that happen either.

I threw the knife I had woven with my magic in a split second at Ghislain’s chest. It plunged deep into her body and disappeared the moment it made a wound. A large amount of blood overflowed.

[Miriam ……!]

[Now, I don’t want you guys to see what’s about to happen, so why don’t you get some sleep?]

I snapped my fingers on the spot.

A tremendous wave of magical power overflows from behind me, instantly enveloping Liz, Her Majesty the Queen, and Lattice.

Weakened even just by Ghislain’s technique, the girls instantly fainted and stopped moving.

[Thank you, Rena.]

[Small thing. What a waste of words.]

[Will you watch over them and make sure they are not harmed?]

[As you wish.]

When she appeared, Rena, dressed in a maid’s uniform, bowed gracefully.

It was a good thing I had accompanied her, who had disappeared beforehand.

Aside from Lattice and Liz, I can’t put Her Majesty Queen Eynlana to sleep with my current magical power.

[You, you …… who are you ……!]

[Well, okay. I’ll tell you.]

I laughed, knowing that someone was not spying on the place from far away through magic.

[I–no, my name is Lucifer. I am one of the seven demon gods that support the Tenebrae Demon King. Would it be easier to say, Demon King?]

[Tenebrae……, you say, Demons……!]

[I am now this way for a reason. It’s quite fun to keep pretending to be human, Ghislain, isn’t it? You, who have moved from one human and elf body to the next, understand this feeling, don’t you?]

[Fu…… screw you!]

Once again, several offensive techniques are unleashed.

All of them were played before my eyes.

[I told you, Ghislain, don’t push yourself too hard. I told you my body can’t take it as it is.]

[How can a demon god peek into the sight of my supreme goddess ……!!!]

[What you see is what you get. I don’t care about such trivial matters now. Let me ask you a question.]

[…… Ugh! Ugh!!!!]

Ghislain gnashed her teeth and looked up to the heavens. But nothing happens.

[No substance. That’s you now, isn’t it? I’ve set up a simple formula to prevent you from escaping to another body. You can no longer escape from here.]

The body of the elf glares at me with a resentful look.

She is still young. She is slightly older than Liz, and although she is a soldier, her body is so slender that she could be described as a child for an elf.

But if my guess is correct, that body is already–.

[For several years you have been kidnapping elves in the empire, gradually expanding the scale of your operations. Then three years ago you came to this land of Mildiana. Using the body of that Miriam Stasis.]

[……]

[And little by little you gathered the elves and turned them into last drops. Show me the magical creature that was the source of it all. It’s in the back, isn’t it?]

I went behind Ghislain, who was wary… An opponent, who had only the reflexes of an ordinary human being, would have had no idea what was going on.

I whispered in her ear.

[Come on, show me around.]

Ghislain gritted her teeth, but with my back to her, she headed for the back hall.

There it was, an ugly, gigantic monster.

It looked like a bloated green caterpillar, with a single large eye at the apex and a huge mouth on its lower abdomen that could easily swallow a human or two.

Such a creature, which does not seem to have occurred in nature, is sitting on top of the magic circle.

It just grunts eerily and doesn’t move from its spot. Or, to be more precise, it is not moving.

Unable to move from the top of the magic circle, it only seeks the flesh and blood of the elves. Is this the true identity of the monster in Roca’s fairy tale?

This is an artificially created magical creature.

Its main use is to circulate the magic of prey at high speed within its body and explosively amplify the stored magic. Eventually, the mass of condensed magical power becomes a single drop of red tears. That is the true nature of the last drop.

If several last drops are created from the body of an elf, which originally has high purity magic power, it will be possible to obtain enormous magic power.

Just two bodies in the hall.

There were several prisons from the basement corridor until we came to this hall, but all the contents were empty.

Perhaps there are no more surviving elves.

[…… kukku. Kukk.]

[What’s funny?]

Ghislain, who suddenly began to laugh, said in an eerie voice.

[No matter who you are, you can no longer stop the summoning of the White Wings. This is fate.]

[I see. The conditions for activating the technique to invoke the celestial demons have already been predicted.]

I removed my arm from Ghislain and faced her head-on.

[That Miriam and her elf body …… not going to live longer, does it?]

[Why do you know it?]

[Mira, an old woman lord, was rejuvenated by a last drop. But it was because she was a human being. But it is different when used by an elf. The body that has swallowed the blood of hundreds of its brethren has been corrupted by powerful magic, and it is no longer able to see tomorrow, is it not?]

A last drop that is said to have rejuvenated a human being.

But while elves are similar to humans, their bodies are completely different. Even if it works well for humans, it does not necessarily mean that it will work for elves as well.

And a last drop is like a deleterious drug that must eventually kill a human being as a baby if he or she continues to ingest it.

[The abduction of the elves began when Miriam was not even in military school. In other words, you had already possessed her body since she was a child and had taken several last drops into her body. The reason Miriam was sickly and weak was probably that her body was rejecting the repeated ingestion of the mass of magical power.]

I could only speculate on the side effects of the elf’s drinking, but it makes sense given the behavior of this Ghislain person.

Ghislain is clearly on top of things.

[The condition for activating the Heavenly Demon Summoning Technique is the death of the person who drank the last drop. That is why you have been so daring. Miriam to Lattice. From Lattice to Lizemelia. From Lizemelia to Eynlana. If you cause such a succession of possessions, there is always someone who will come to your presence. By having that person kill his or her own body, which has drunk the last drops, you will summon the heavenly demons. That is the path you have drawn.]

I was aware of that around the time Liz was possessed.

Involving her, and her mother as well, as material for the last drops. And Ludio Lambert, who saw the gravity of the situation, arranged for her to come on board.

She thought she might be able to use the man as material, or perhaps she tried to kill him using the heavenly demon.

No matter how that half-elf moves, Miriam’s body has already reached its limits.

If she is killed on the spot, so be it. Even if that man realizes the truth and tries to pierce Miriam’s body, Miriam’s body will quickly run out of steam and the technique will be activated.

[…… Yes. The white wings’ purification is unstoppable, even more so when it comes to demonic gods. The white wings that will soon come flying in, their blows will easily penetrate the bodies of the demon tribe. You too will die, you pathetic demigod.]

[That’s fine.]

[What?]

[I came to this country to kill time. The disappearance of the elves 500 years ago and the attack of the heavenly demons. All of them are nothing more than a way to keep me entertained. Let them amuse me at best.]

I pierced Miriam – Ghislain’s chest with my right arm and gouged out her heart.

The moment Ghislain, stunned by the momentary event, frowned, I clutched her heart in my hand.

[……!]

[You can no longer transfer your spirit to another body. You are a foolish magician.]

I crushed the heart in my hand.

At that moment, a sort of pale haze escaped her body.

I twirl it in my hand.

[This haze is your true identity, and your 500-year journey will end here and now. Disperse gracefully.]

Ghislain’s soul spirit screamed a desperate scream as the haze was seared by the flame technique. The being that was close to the astral body dissolved and vanished like a bubble on the spot. And Miriam also extinguishes her life.

As if on cue, an enormous amount of magical power filled the place, penetrated the ceiling, and soared far into the sky.

It is explosive magic. This is now beyond even the forbidden arts.

The tremendous impact started the collapse of the High School of Magic. It seems to have reached the entire building.

This would have shattered the crystal that sealed the man’s power. No matter how robust the sealing technique was, it would not be able to withstand the overwhelming force of this magic. It can’t stand this.

Immediately, I put up a simple barrier to repel the crumbling stones.

I would be fine even if I didn’t do this, but these monsters in front of me must be kept alive. I have to let them live so that we can solve everything so that others can know the truth about what really happened 500 years ago and what is happening now.

[Rena. Keep all the elves out.]

[Ha!]

[Let the other elves go as they see fit, but never leave Liz and Eynlana’s side. Eliminate anyone who would harm them.]

[I’ll take care of it.]

After confirming that Rena had used the forced transfer technique on the elves, I too wrapped my own body in the wind swift technique and jumped up out of the building at once.

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