CHAPTER 4 - PART 1 & 2

Ending this poor excuse of a battle!

Part 1

I rushed to the main gate.

The lightly armored me led the way, Aqua and Megumin reached shortly after. Only the heavily armored Darkness was still on the way.

"Oh, just as I suspected. This guy is here again."

When we reached the main gate, there were many adventurers gathered there already.

And that guy was at the main gate which all the novice adventurers kept a distance away from.

That's right, it was that demon army boss, Dullahan.

I was a bit curious when I saw the troubled faces of the adventurers preceding me. But I understood why when I looked at what was behind the Dullahan.

Unlike the last time, he brought a whole gang of monsters with it.

It was a group of knight wearing tattered armor.

The cracks in their armors and helmets were semi-visible. If you looked closely, they probably didn't have a proper meal for quite a while. You might even catch a glimpse of their rotten body which would leave psychological trauma.

With just a glance, it was clear the armored knights were undead.

After it saw Megumin and me, it roared.

"Why didn't you come to the castle, you are inhuman–!"

I walked in front of Megumin to protect her and asked the Dullahan.

"Well… You asked why we didn't go to the castle, but why must we go? And what do you mean by 'inhuman'? We had stopped casting explosion magic, so why are you mad?"

The Dullahan was furious when he heard me and was on the verge of throwing the thing in its left hand onto the ground… But it remembered that was its head and moved it to its abdomen:

""Stopped casting explosion? You say it stopped? Stop lying to me! That crimson magic clan girl with a screw loose had never stopped coming!"

"Huh?"

After hearing him, I looked at Megumin besides me.

Megumin averted her eyes immediately.

"… You did go right. I told you not to, but you still went all this while."

"Hurts hurts hurts, it's painful alright! No, listen to me Kazuma! I was satisfied with casting explosion on an empty plain not so long ago… But after I knew the charm of attacking a castle with magic, my body changed and I could only accept big and hard things…!"

"Don't fidget around and say those kinds of things! And you couldn't move after casting your spell! That means you have an accomplice! Who in the world…"

I pinched Megumin cheeks and said, and it was Aqua's turn to avert her gaze this time.

…

"It's you right—!"

"Wahahah–! Because because, that Dullahan caused me to be unable to work normally, I want to vent my frustration! I was lectured by the store owner every day because of him!"

You were lectured because you didn't take your work seriously.

As I grabbed the collar of Aqua who attempted to escape, the Dullahan continued:

"I am not so furious because of the explosion magic! Don't you all have the will to save your comrade? I might be this way now, but before I was executed because of unjust reasons and morphed into a monster, I was a honourable knight. In my eyes, that crusader who was cursed while protecting her companions was the classic model of a knight, but you abandoned her…!"

When the Dullahan reached this part.

Darkness who arrived in her clanking armor late quietly made her way to my side.

The Dullahan locked eyes with Darkness who was blushing because of the compliments.

"… He, hello…"

Darkness looked a bit guilty, timidly lifting a hand to the Dullahan in greeting…

"... What, what is up with this—-?"

Seeing her action, the Dullahan yelled in surprise.

Its expression was blocked by its helmet, but he probably had a 'WTF?' face.

"Why? It had been a week since Darkness was cursed but she is still alive, that shocked it right? That Dullahan definitely thought we would head to the castle to break the curse and was waiting for us in vain huh? It didn't even know I broke the curse in no time after it left right? Pu he he! This is too funny! Super~ funny!"

Aqua pointed her finger at the Dullahan and laughed nonstop.

The Dullahan's expression still can't be seen, but from the way its shoulder was trembling, it was definitely very furious.

But since Aqua broke the curse and we knew it was definitely a trap, we had no reason to visit the dangerous castle.

"… Hey, you there. If I get serious, I could kill all the adventurers in town and massacre the townsfolk. Don't think I will keep letting you off! I am of the undead and will never know fatigue. You bunch of rookies won't be able to hurt me!"

Aqua's taunt pushed the Dullahan's patience to its limit and it had a dangerous air about it.

But before the Dullahan could do anything else, Aqua extended her right hand and shout:

"I am the one who has no reason to let you off! I won't let you escape this time. To act so flashy for a mere undead, how arrogant! Disappear, 'Turn Undead'!"

A bright white light illuminated from Aqua's outstretched hand.

Even though it saw Aqua casting a spell, the Dullahan wasn't scared and didn't plan to dodge.

As expected of a boss of the demon army, seemed like he was really confident.

The gentle light which came out of Aqua closed in on the Dullahan…!

"You think the boss of the demon king army wouldn't be prepared to fight priests? Too bad. Including me, all the undead knights in this band had received the protection of the demon king. We have very high resistance against holy spell ahhhhhhhh–!"

After getting blasted by the magic, the parts that was hit emitted black smoke.

The Dullahan that was so confident was smoking all over. He was shaking all over and couldn't even stand properly, but he still put on a strong facade.

Aqua shouted when she saw this:

"Nah, nah, Kazuma! This is strange, it's not working on him!"

No, it looked plenty useful to me, he was screaming 'ahh–' so loudly…

The Dullahan took unsteady steps and said:

"Hmmp, hmmhmm… Wait for me to finish. I am Beldia, one of the boss of the demon king army, Dullahan Beldia! With this armor that was enchanted by the demon king and my own powers, 'Turn Undead' from a normal priest won't work on me!… It shouldn't work at all…

As it spoke, the Dullahan shifted the head in its hand so it was slanting to one side.

It was probably trying to tilt its head.

"… Never mind. Because our diviner was raging on about a strong light descending near this town, so I came here to investigate… In the beginning, I thought it was too much of a hassle and considered destroying the entire town…"

Beldia who was starting to get as unreasonable as Go*a held its head with its left hand and lifted his empty right hand up here.

"Hmmp, you are not worthy enough for me to do it personally… Go, my brothers! Let them know what hell taste like!"

"Ah! That guy was definitely scared because Aqua's spell was unexpectedly effective! He is planning to use his minions to attack us while he escapes by himself to somewhere safe!"

"That that that's not it! This was my plan from the very beginning! The boss of the demon king army are not weaklings who escape on their own! You wouldn't fight the boss at the very start, of course you would need to defeat the underlings first, that's the tradition since ancient time…"

"Sacred turn undead–!"

"Yaaahhhh–!"

Beldia only spoke halfway when it screamed due to Aqua's spell.

A white magic circle appeared at Beldia's feet and a light that led straight into the sky was there.

Beldia's armor was fuming black smog, and it rolled on the ground as if it was attempting to put out the fire on it.

Aqua said in a panic:

"What, what should we do Kazuma! This is strange! My spell is not effective on it!"

Looking at the way it was screaming its head off, I thought it was pretty effective.

No, 'Turn Undead' should be able to destroy the undead in one shot.

But…

"Damn, damn you…! Let someone who is talking finish! Enough! Hey, my brethren…!"

Even though smog was coming from all over its body, Beldia stood up slowly and lift its right hand…

"All the people in this town… Kill them all!"

He cut his right hand down as the cue!

Part 2

Undead knights.

A monster one tier higher than zombies.

Although their armor were tattered, but with their defensive gear, it was a threat to novice adventurers.

"Wahhh–! Priests! Get the priests here–!"

"Someone go to Eris church for holy water, get all that you can–!"

As the adventurers shouted tensely, the undead knight invaded the town.

The adventurers tried to intercept them.

But as if to mock their effort, Beldia laughed loudly…!

"Hmmp hahaha, come, let me hear your screams… of… despair…?"

… As it was laughing,

"Wah, wahhh–! Why just me? I, I am a goddess! A goddess so I always do good deeds!"

"Ahh! How, how scheming! I am the one who always does good deeds, why are all the undead knights running over to Aqua…!"

Aqua said something ungoddess-like, while Darkness said something that was hard to comment on with an envious face.

For some reason, the undead knights didn't lay their hands on the townsfolk and were chasing after Aqua enthusiastically.

"You, what are you all doing! Don't just chase that priest, cover this town with the blood the residents and adventurers…!"

Beldia shouted in panic when it saw the situation.

I wondered if these mindless low tier undead were seeking salvation, and gathered at the side of the Aqua goddess because of their instincts.

Although I didn't know why the undead were chasing after Aqua, but this is a great chance!

"Hey Megumin, could you cast an explosion spell on that bunch of undead knights?"

"Eh! This is inside the town and they are too dispersed, I might miss some of them…!"

At this moment,

"Wahhh, Kazuma-san–! Kazuma-san–!"

Aqua brought a large crowd of undead knights with her and came in my direction.

Hey…!

"You fool! Hey, don't come this way! Lure them somewhere else and I will treat you to dinner tonight!"

"I will pay for dinner, just help me get rid of these undead! They are weird! I couldn't purify them with 'Turn Undead'!"

Damn it, is this the protection of the demon king Beldia mentioned…!

No, wait, wait a minute…?

"Megumin, wait outside the town and standby your spell–!"

"Huh? Got… Got it!"

After shouting to Megumin, I brought Aqua who rushed to me and charged out of town.

I intentionally pass by the adventurers that were battling the undead knights, getting as many undead knights to follow Aqua as possible…

After that…!

"Kazuma-san! How does it look behind me! I think we got all the undead knight in town to follow us–!"

I turned back and the undead knight chasing Aqua had turned into a large crowd.

Aqua and I left the town and the undead knights followed. At this moment,

"Megumin, do it now–!"

Under my command, Megumin took off her eye patch, raised her staff and her eyes were shining.

"What a wonderful situation! I am grateful, thank you Kazuma!… I am Megumin! The elite wizard of the Crimson Magic clan, user of explosion magic! Demon king boss Beldia! Watch my power closely! 'Explosion'–!"

Megumin cast the explosion spell she was great in and ignited it in the center of the undead army!