Chapter 258 : The Third Face

The magical beasts were crossing the white land.

A wave of magical beasts that filled the pure white snowy plains with black.

...Gulp.

The soldiers on the wall swallowed dryly and looked at the overwhelming sight.

A nightmare was approaching.

No matter how brave the men of the north were, they could not remain composed in the face of the wave of magical beasts that dyed the horizon black.

Just then, there were those who ran toward that wave of magical beasts.

The soldiers looked down and took in the sight of them crossing the white land.

"It's Sherwood!"

At someone's shout, a thunderous cheer erupted.

"Waaaaaah!!"

In an instant, the atmosphere changed.

The somewhat gloomy and tense wall was now seething with morale, thanks to the heroes who were bravely confronting the wave of magical beasts.

The soldiers thrust their spears into the sky and shouted.

The duke, who had looked around the wall once, muttered.

"There's no need for a separate speech."

The adjutant agreed.

"Yes, sir."

The duke took in the man at the head of the group.

A man with eyes as red as blood.

The new captain of Sherwood.

Ashuban Sherwood.

"..."

A strange light appeared in the duke's eyes as he looked at him.

The duke watched the special forces running across the snowy plains in a triangular formation...

"Hmm?"

He raised his eyebrows.

Because even though they had closed the distance to some extent, they showed no signs of slowing down.

They were shouldering the heavy mission of having to defeat two S-rank magical beasts.

For that, it would be the normal response to conserve as much strength as possible.

Realistically, they couldn't avoid that blackly rushing wave.

Since it was enough to fill the horizon.

But still, he had thought they would attack the flank and bypass it as much as possible...

"N-no way?"

Those madmen were charging straight at the wave of magical beasts.

The adjutant, also flustered, muttered to himself in a very bewildered tone.

"W-what? Just like that?"

And.

KWAGWANG!!

A collision occurred.

"Waaaaaah!!!"

The shouts of the soldiers covered the top of the wall.

They waved their spears and cheered.

Men were simple.

Strategy or whatever, an unknown thrill ran through them at that head-on charge.

Their blood boiled.

They were so overwhelmed by the momentum just by watching from this far away that their hands were trembling, and yet they were facing it head-on?

'Is that the strongest mercenary corps, Sherwood?'

The rough men expressed their sincere respect to the straightforward heroes with their shouts.

It was the greatest praise they could offer.

The heroes' head-on advance reached their idols.

"What in the world..."

The speechless adjutant's mouth fell half-open.

No matter what.

To just break through that volume head-on.

Was Sherwood full of only madmen?

"Hmm."

Even the duke let out a low hum.

'Madmen.'

Regardless.

The soldiers, whose blood had boiled at Sherwood's unhindered advance, shouted and burned with fighting spirit.

"Waaaaaah!!"

"Sherwood!!!"

* * *

Damn it. I shouldn't have done it.

I had tried to imitate a reef that splits the waves, and I was almost split myself.

It was cool when we clashed, but after that, the endless volume that rushed in made my head spin.

Only the captain could have broken through.

The Heavenly Demon clicked his tongue.

[You pathetic fool.]

"No, Master. You should have stopped me."

[Would you have listened if I had?]

"..."

I kept my mouth shut and pushed through the wave of magical beasts.

After the initial collision, I was as careful as possible.

I had no choice.

Because if I tried to cut down all the enemies blocking my way, it was obvious that I would be knocked out before I could even fight their king.

I somehow avoided the pouring magical beasts and ran between them, or ran on top of their heads with the Black Immortal Steps, going against the wave.

But if there was any good news, it was that the front line had become chaotic because we had stirred it up.

The guys who were just looking ahead and advancing toward the wall as per their initial goal, and the guys who were distracted by us, turned, and then bumped into each other, fell, and were trampled, unintentionally committing fratricide.

It wasn't just one or two, but hundreds, thousands of magical beasts doing that, so a crucible of chaos unfolded.

'It's chaotic, chaotic.'

Leaving the unexpected achievement behind, I quickly pushed through them and advanced.

But it was a relief that the density of the wave thinned out as I went further back.

I barely made it to where the wave had thinned out, then looked around and looked for the proposer of the idea.

"Which bastard said we should do this!"

Hartz, who had also broken through the wave, ran next to me and answered.

"It was you, you crazy bastard."

"Ah."

Come to think of it, that's right.

It was my impulsive opinion.

But if a man draws his sword, he should at least cut a radish.

I scolded the guy who had agreed with my opinion.

"Hartz, you idiot! You should have said no!"

"He's the one who said we should do it, and now he's making a fuss."

"What? A fuss?"

Dofang, who had leisurely come out of the wave, chimed in.

"Now, now, little brothers. Don't fight."

The arrow of blame turned to Dofang.

"Come to think of it, that Dofang bastard was the first to say it was a good idea."

"That's right! He said it would be a good warm-up."

"Warm-up, my ass. Do you want your head to be warmed up too?"

"No..."

I looked at the members who had crossed the wave, bickering.

Fortunately, everyone was safe. It seemed they had crossed the wave in their own ways.

Well, if they struggled with just this, they wouldn't be Sherwood.

"That Dofang bastard. I knew it from the time he secretly stole and ate the Zilentyn."

"Thief."

"Bum."

"Talkative has-been."

"Half-wit."

"..."

For some reason, I felt energized when I criticized others.

Was this the power of criticism?

We criticized Dofang, who had suddenly become quiet, and ran behind the rather sparse wave.

"Those guys were definitely not there, right?"

"They weren't. For sure."

I had wondered, but the king and queen of the magical beasts were not at the head of the group.

If they had been leading the people from the front, it would have been troublesome in many ways, but fortunately, they were not seen.

Were they waiting for us?

Since S-rank individuals were quite intelligent, I thought that might be the case.

They might really be waiting behind to have a proper fight with us.

Or they might have prepared a battlefield that was advantageous to them and were waiting.

Whatever it was, I just had to go and check, and then smash it.

Just then, a white beast cut through the blizzard and came forward, and the woman on it spoke to me.

Her fiery red hair fluttered in the wind.

"Ashuban."

A calm tone, as if she were out for a walk.

The Red Witch was riding on the back of a white fox that had transformed into a large wolf.

"Big Sister."

The Red Witch, Scarlet Bellucci, smiled brightly and waved her hand.

"See you later. Don't get hurt."

"You too, Big Sister."

The huge white fox with red fur around its eyes glanced at me.

Its tails had increased to three.

"It won't take long."

I nagged at the bluffing, enlarged Miho.

"You magical beast. Don't let your guard down. It's been a long time since you returned to your true form."

She snorted.

"You're the one who should be careful."

"Did you bring the sword?"

Scarlet answered.

"I brought it."

I nodded.

"Then I'll see you later."

"Yes. Be careful. I'll come and help you when I'm done."

At those words, Miho and the Red Witch on her back created a gust of wind and ran off to the right.

"Big Sister! Be careful!"

Hartz's voice, a step too late, trailed on.

No, was it Sorrow? I don't know.

The personnel to deal with the king and queen of the magical beasts had been divided in advance.

Miho and Scarlet would take care of the queen of the magical beasts, the 'Half-Dragon'.

And the rest of the personnel would take care of the king of the magical beasts, the 'Snowman'.

There were only two of them, but I wasn't worried about that side at all.

The worst magical beast and the Red Witch.

Who was worried about whom?

Although this was their home ground, and the place was endlessly advantageous to them.

Since those two had been dispatched, they would be able to subjugate it without any particular variables.

According to Big Sister's explanation...

She couldn't use her full power here.

Because she was the Red Witch, a fire mage.

She had explained that in this place where snow and ice, which were the opposite of fire, were constantly raging, the power of her magic was greatly weakened.

Therefore, she would only be assisting.

Miho would fight from the front, and she would assist from behind, but if I were the opponent, I would have run away immediately.

In any case, I decided to leave the queen's side to those two and worry about myself.

It might be this side that was more dangerous.

Because although there were many of us, there was a feeling that our power was lacking compared to those two.

Since two of Sherwood's strongest had gone to that side.

The Heavenly Demon expressed his doubt.

[Are those two the strongest? Didn't you say the one with the greatsword was the strongest?]

"Well, it's a little different depending on the situation."

If you asked who was the strongest in Sherwood, I had my own answer.

In a normal situation, I would unhesitatingly pick Guston of the Greatsword as the first.

But in a special situation, it could be a little different.

The strongest in Sherwood...

Guston of the Greatsword, the angry Red Witch, Miho who had returned to her true form, and... the demonic swordsman with the third face.

As if my answer was unexpected, the Heavenly Demon was interested.

[A third face?]

It wasn't for nothing that I had called that demonic swordsman a multiple-personality, not a dual-personality.

The two-faced demonic swordsman had a hidden third face.

It was only natural that no one knew.

Because except for Sherwood, all those who had seen his third face had been banished from this world by him. Without a single one left.

He was an incredibly dangerous guy.

When the third personality, which had been deeply asleep, woke up... then the magical beasts would not be the problem.

[Hoh...]

Since we were on the topic, I warned Hartz, who was running next to me.

"Hey, psychopath!"

"What!"

"Be careful not to let that one out."

"...You just take care of yourself, you idiot."

After exchanging a word of blessing.

We broke through the relatively sparse magical beasts and ran toward the white mountain range that was faintly revealing itself in the distance.

The snowy mountain looked down on us silently with its lofty figure.

* * *

We broke through the raging blizzard and climbed the snowy mountain.

The snowy mountain, which I had climbed after a long time, was very quiet.

Except for the sound of the wind, which was getting stronger and stronger.

Whoooosh!

The mountain range, which had been full of magical beasts, was now only filled with the loud sound of the wind.

Their numbers had gradually decreased, and by the time we crossed the third ridge, there was not a single one to be found.

We had the blizzard-raging snowy mountain all to ourselves.

They say it's quietest before the storm.

It was the calm before the storm.

I took the lead.

Because I had already roughly grasped the terrain while reconnaissance several times.

The further we went, the stronger the blizzard became.

I don't think it was this strong before.

It was a strange thing.

By the time we crossed the sixth ridge.

Hud, who was riding on the back of the dark blue tiger spirit, asked.

"How far are we going?"

"He was on the eighth mountain range at that time."

"We're going that far?"

"Probably."

Even though I had spread my senses wide and passed by quickly, I couldn't catch his presence.

Was he deliberately trying to lure us far away?

Why?

To isolate us? To exhaust our stamina? Because that was a terrain that was advantageous to him?

Many thoughts came and went.

There was nothing I could know.

The only way was to get there as quickly as possible and beat him up.

Even at this moment, a war was going on at the barrier.

There wasn't much time.

"Is everyone's stamina okay?"

Perhaps because we had hurried a bit.

When I looked back, the others were catching their rough breaths and pretending to be fine.

But the situation was not good.

The relentlessly blowing blizzard was gradually eating away at their stamina.

And this was with me in the lead, scattering it somewhat with the wind of the Fleeting Shadow Steps.

...Why did I feel like we were already being drawn in?

I tried my best to shake off my anxiety and moved forward.

And so, we arrived at the valley of the eighth mountain range.

The place where I had encountered him last time.

【Come... on...】

In that place where not a single breeze blew, the king of the magical beasts was waiting for us.

【You strangers... who have come from the land of hardship...】

Hud muttered, as if in disbelief.

"...It's really a snowman?"

"I told you. It's a snowman."

"I thought you just meant it looked like one."

Dofang stroked his chin with interest.

"A talking snowman? What a rare sight."

Hartz frowned.

"That thing looks creepy."

Schmidt's eyes widened, and Linda looked back and forth between the vial in her hand and the Snowman.

She seemed to be wondering if her poison would work on the snowman.

"Is there such a magical beast?"

Shushuruta was also bewildered.

"Rather than a magical beast... it looks like a grotesque evil spirit that has possessed an ordinary snowman."

I shrugged.

"A magical beast's transformation is not a crime."

"Mmm."

【The flower...】

Just as the Snowman was about to say something.

A purple whip flew in an instant and separated its head from its body.

Thwack!

The head, which was about to say more, rolled futilely on the snowy ground.

"..."

Everyone's gaze turned to the owner of the whip.

Hudmilla shrugged.

"What. You said we didn't have time, right?"

(End of Chapter)