Abyss Lord Arc Chapter 2: Epilogue (1)
"SHAORAAAAAAAAAH, DESUU!!"
An unnatural "DESUU!!" resounded. Rabbit ears were flapping in the wind. The swung
war hammer grandly whipped the "Wind of Lamentation", and then,
――BUMOOOOOOOOH!?
The giant that looked like a minotaur raised a scream that even sounded like a tearful
cry. It danced in the sky while drawing a beautiful parabola arc.
By the way, a part of minotaur-san's head was caving in.
Even though they had resolved to fight to the death, even though they had affirmed
their bond with each other in a great mood, the serious atmosphere was suddenly
blown away along with the ground. Even the low class demons were looking up to the
sky open mouthed.
"Aa~, what? The air has changed here…"
A male voice suddenly resounded. It wasn't the voice of Kousuke or even Wynn and
others. The voice came from the large hole in the ground that most likely was
physically connecting to the lower stratum.
Kousuke was turning his gaze toward that hole with creaking movement like a
machine that hadn't been oiled. There, a face of a familiar man suddenly popped out.
It was the demon king-sama.
"NAGUMOOO!? WHY!? WHY NAGUMO!?"
Even now it felt like Kousuke was going to yell 'AIEEEEEEE-'. Hajime who agilely
jumped out from the hole landed on the edge. Then he tilted his head while going 'Eh?'
and said.
"What a coincidence to meet you in this kind of hellish place, Endou. Did you get a new
haircut?"
"I didn't! What's that, is that getting popular between you spouses!? Wait, that ain't it!"
Kousuke-san stamped his feet in frustration. He was in great panic toward the
development that was just too unexpected and abrupt.
Though, even while he was saying that,
"Fly away until the other side of the mountain! Desuu!!"
――BUMOOOOOOOOH~~~~
The five meter mino-san got hit by Shia's full swing and pierced through dozens of
buildings of the ruined city while flying toward the mountain beyond.
Shia was emitting faint bluish white ripples in the air while descending with light step
from the sky. *Step* She landed beside Hajime then with an expression that said "Oh?",
"Kousuke-san, it has been two days hasn't it? Did you get a new haircut?"
"Okay. That gag is popular in Nagumo family huh? I get it. That's why, enough with that
and explain the situation pleaseee! Why are you two in this kind of place!? Why did
you make your entrance by smashing through the ground!? Explain clearly and
concisely please!"
'Oh geez, getting max tensioned like that so suddenly, that's a bit hard to keep up with
you know?'
With a face that seemed to say that, Hajime-san and Shia-san talked in whisper to each
other. Pulsing vein emerged on Kousuke's forehead. Claudia and others were still
dumbfounded. Also, the low class demons too were looking at each other's face.
Hajime who was showing a nonchalant attitude answered.
"When I went to a forest date with Shia~, we encountered a witch~.
She attacked so burned her along with the forest, but then we got sent into a strange
place.
Seeing that we had gotten there anyway we went into an adventure date, but then
Endou was there somehow.
That's all.]
"That's all my ass!"
'I don't get it at all! It feels like my head will go crazy!' Kousuke-kun grabbed his head.
But, at that time, the thousands and tens of thousands of low class demons
surrounding the area started moving. Kousuke gasped and opened his eyes wide while
taking battle stance. Claudia and others also prepared to fight despite their confusion.
But, before the hostilities began again,
"Oo, first people of another world, discovered. Somehow there are a lot of them but,
well, no matter. ――Cough-. Hello, I'm, called Nagumo Hajime. We are, in the middle of
a trip but, oh maaan, this is really troubling you know? We got attacked by monsters
at underground you see, before we finally managed to climb up to the surface. Is it
okay to talk for a bit?"
Hajime-san who talked politely with the best bright smile he got.
From the appearance of the low class demons, no matter how anyone looked at them
they weren't proper living being, and their great number was nothing but menacing.
And then, the talking partner was low class demons who weren't hiding their malice
and killing intent at all but…
Hajime-san seemed to not know that the other party was demons. It seemed he was
doing his best to first try talking peacefully, as befitting of a model self-proclaimed
virtuous Japanese person which he regularly claimed to be.
'Endou and others too, seem like they are getting into quarrel with the local people for
some reason, can't be helped, now that it's like this I gotta mediate between them
using my amazing communication skill', such thinking also crossed his mind for a bit.
Shia was making tsukkomi "Noo, no matter how you look at it, they are the same like
the monster at lower level you know, Hajime-san", but it seemed Hajime who had
mellowed (?) wouldn't just give up that easily.
No matter what kind of opponent it was, no matter what the situation was, he wouldn't
throw away the possibility of dialogue! As a Japanese person!
"Wai-, idiot! Those guys are――"
Kousuke tried to call out to stop him but, before he could, Hajime's left hand that was
held forward asking for a handshake was eaten.
Claudia and others voiced "Ah", Shia was staring with exasperated eyes that said "I told
you", while Kousuke's expression was cramped.
On the other hand, the low class demon that was biting too had "?" mark floating on
its head when the sound of *clang-creak creak* and hard texture was impossibly
coming from the left hand of the human prey it was chewing.
And then it slo~wly raised its head and tilted its neck as though to say "This arm, isn't
it strange?".
Hajime-san who was making a bright and wide smile saw the artificial skin for coating
use got atrociously torn apart. His eye twitched. However he did his best to deepen his
smile.
"The, the greeting in this place, is a bit extreme isn't it? Normally the arm will get bitten
off like this but, it's that perhaps? Is it a play-biting that everyone here do? If that's the
case――"
――GIIIIIIIIIH!! KILL! KILL! HUMAN! I'LL DEVOUR YOU!
Hajime-san's compromise was trampled.
The low class demon yelled while biting once again, but the next moment, its head was
gripped and it was lifted until it was dangling down from a hand.
And then, when it was lifted until it was eye-level with Hajime, Hajime who was
smiling brightly from very close distance was,
"This is, what you call a legitimate self-defense."
*Pachun!* The head was crushed in the hand's grip. It seemed Hajime realized their
special nature, he used the artificial hand that was thoroughly enveloped by magic
power and closed his fist as though crushing an apple. Normally, that would be a case
of excessive self-defense.
In any case, it seemed that became the signal for the resume of hostility. The low class
demons who were fanning out outside the ruined city and the low class demons
infesting the sky too were tightening the encirclement.
And so.
At the right hand was the electromagnetic acceleration gatling cannon――Metzelei
Disaster, equipped.
At the left hand was the missile & rocket launcher――Agni Orkan, equipped.
Let's, Curbstomp♪
Kousuke yelled "GET DOOOOOWWWNNN-" while pushing down Claudia. Wynn and
others also felt an extreme chill and got down. Shia too flattened her rabbit ears and
crouched down.
Right after that, there were the surging peculiar sound of *DURURURURURURU-* and
countless anticlimax sounds of *hyuu~*.
Crimson flash that was mowing down horizontally. The low class demons that were
sent flying until the far beyond simultaneously.
Several hundred missiles rushing through the sky. They were homing to the target and
crimson fireworks bloomed profusely in the sky.
Even the low class demons lurking behind buildings were blasted, pulverized, and
exterminated together with the buildings!
The time was around thirty seconds.
The extensive street behind became a mountain of rubbles, the area at the front
became an empty lot with nothing existing there.
Seeing that, Claudia and others were,
"Kousuke-sama. Please, punch me! This isn't the time to lose sanity!"
"Eh, no, wai-, Claire?"
"Kuh, TJ! Melody of curse removal please! The enemy might be attacking us with
hallucination!"
"Rogeeer~"
TJ-san responded right away with big sis voice toward Wynn's grim voice. The song of
purification was flowing in the battlefield.
"Eh, what, orchestra band? Endou, you have unusual friend huh."
"But Hajime-san, everyone look tattered somehow you know? Is it that kind of
fashion? Special makeup? Are they the type of people living in the future?"
Hajime and Shia were looking at Claudia's group with wondering gaze.
"No, that ain't it! This people are exorcists! She is a saint! We were in a deathly battle
just now where things like the fate of the world or Claudia being turned into mother
body were at stake! Sorry for having so much difficulty against small fry! Or rather,
you requested me to investigate Vatican right!? Look, that boy there! Aziz-kun! He is
Vatican's exorcist you were telling me to chase!"
"Exor, cist… you say? They existed!?"
Hajime-san stared intently at young man Aziz. Aziz-kun, screamed "hiih" knowing that
he caught the eye of demon king-sama, what's more he was being stared at even now.
"I didn't dare, to believe but… oi, Endou. Could it be, this place is hell, and just now
those things were demons!?"
"That's right! This place is hell, and what you blew up just now were demons! They
were low class though!"
"They are the real deal!?"
"They are the real deal!"
Haijme covered his eyes with one hand and looked up as though to say 'oh damn'.
Demon, what a word that tickled the chuuni heart. If only he knew, he would ask
various question, and forcefully made them hand over souvenirs, and yet the two of
them had blew away a great number of demons at the lower stratums, even the
demons who spoke with human speech!
'They are somehow strong huh. Eh, isn't this look like age of god magic? Woah, we are
gonna die if we let our guard down! The air is also harmful, this is like hell ain't it!
Interesting! Shia, it's adventure date!' He thought, but…
To think , that his thought was completely correct!
Hajime was plainly shocked. He was muttering "I thought that several of their name
seemed familiar… notice that, me" while also murmuring "It must be that right, they
are demon, they must be indestructible existence right? They will revive properly
right?".
He sent a pleading gaze toward Claudia and others.
Claudia and others quietly averted their gaze.
But, right after that, Hajime's screwing around air vanished and his eyes narrowed.
Shia too narrowed her eyes and looked at the hole in the ground. Some kind of
powerful presence was approaching. From the lower stratum.
"As expected they don't feel like letting us get away."
"It was a lovely adventure date that made the blood seethe and the flesh dance but,
those guys――eerr, the demons… because of them, we couldn't even sightsee
satisfactorily~"
It seemed they had an idea about the presence.
Looking closer, both Shia and Hajime didn't seem to have serious injury, but their
appearance was quite ragged. It could be imagined that they had been through a very
fierce battle. At the same time, Kousuke couldn't help but shuddering at the so called
"those guys" who were making these two to look tattered like this.
"Those guys" went without saying, they must be the greater demons of the lower
stratums.
The speech and gesture of Hajime and Shia looked composed, but the two obviously
had sharp gaze without the slightest carelessness.
"Nagumo, what do you mean? Why are they chasing――"
"Wait for a bit."
Hajime lifted his hand and stopped Kousuke's words. Even though his expression was
serious, was it just Kousuke's feeling that it also looked slightly like messing around?
Hajime walked toward the big hole with a steady pace. And then, his treasure
warehouse shined and his took out some kind of big sphere while going "Heave-ho". It
was a metallic ball that was around the same size like a large ball used in school sports
day.
Hajime carelessly tossed it into the big hole.
Hajime-san walked back with a steady pace.
Right after that, terrific shockwave and tremor occurred. And then, a pillar of light that
burned the eye was piercing up to the sky.
"Nagumo-kun, Nagumo-kun. Just now, what did you do?"
"I only dropped a solar bomb. The pursuing bunches, it seems that other than magic
power they are also weak against sunlight."
"Solar bomb you say, you-"
It was the evolved version of solar bomb "Roze Helios" which used treasure
warehouse in them that once blew away even apostles of god.
Seeing the shaken Kousuke, Hajime seemed to misunderstand something and
snapped up a thumb up while puffing up his chest and spoke reassuringly.
"No worries. Everything within sight underground there was all blown away yeah♪"
"I'm not worrying about the power of the bomb! No, in a sense I'm also worried about
the power though!"
It seemed they wouldn't be able to see that underground city that was filled with
history anymore.
It seemed that most of the vanguard of the pursuer was blown away, so the
approaching presence was slightly receding. Hajime who was convinced of that
continued their talk as though nothing happened. Kousuke already stopped making
anymore tsukkomi.
"So, regarding the question just now… there were monsters――well, demons at the
place we were sent to. Then, I explained to them cordially and thoroughly that we only
wanted to sightsee but, we were attacked with no question asked."
Hajime and Shia went into a mystique searching date in the forest of Britain. There
they encountered a genuine witch of the forest like it was a matter of course. Then, the
witch of the forest-san was relatively evil. And so, Hajime-san burned her along with
the forest.
But, it seemed there was a spot where it was easy to connect to hell inside the forest,
so at the very end they were dropped by the very last strength of the witch. That place
they were dropped at was the lower strata of hell. Both of them were thinking of it as
"It's a thrilling and lovely brutal other woorrlld!" all that time but…
Anyway, they were attacked by the lower strata demons there.
The first thing the self-proclaimed model Japanese Hajime did was to avoid battle with
the local people
greater demons
. It seemed there was a stair nearby them that connected to the
stratum below so they escaped into it. Then, even stronger demon appeared and as
expected it attacked with no question asked.
There were various reasons it attacked like it was his turf, or questioning why humans
were there, or because they were intruder, but when it targeted Shia, well, it devolved
into trouble.
With Shia's magic power that was in a different league, added with her gender as
female with a body that was not just healthy but also extremely strong, it could be
easily guessed how such female would look like from the view point of demon.
Like that, Hajime and Shia thought that perhaps this place was like Orcus Great
Dungeon of another world. They went looking for cultured and peaceful local people.
There were getting into relatively serious deathly battle against the attacking demons
while climbing up until here by busting through the bedrock.
"When we came out at the surface, it became an unexpected reunion but… although it
was only around nine floors, it was really troublesome to climb up until here, and yet
in the end our harvest in this trip is zero. In addition the local people were all demon.
And Hajime-san blew all of them away."
The words "nine floors" that Shia said made Claudia and others spout out "Bufuoh!?".
That was the lowest stratum of hell. It was the authentic hell where named greater
demons who came out in books were running rampant. These two were traveling from
there by bursting through the bedrock.
As exorcist, they couldn't help but opening their eyes wide until the white of their eyes
showed.
Furthermore,
"The first contact was a failure. If only I knew they were demon, perhaps there would
be another way before it turned into battle, and yet…"
"I wonder about that. Seeing that they are demon, furthermore by the time they are
standing in front of Hajime-san, I think the result is already obvious."
"No, what are you saying Shia? It was your fault. It was because you smashed that
building that looked like castle with 100 ton hammer. They absurdly snapped because
of that. What was that guy's name again? If I heard right, it was a name that I had heard
before. I was dodging desperately so I didn't listen properly though."
"Wait a second, Hajime-san. That was a sad accident that happened in the middle of
legitimate self-defense. Or rather, don't make it like other person's fault. Even Hajimesan, the instant you understood that I was targeted, you snapped and fired Hyperion
horizontally. That shot made a place that was like a shrine along with the area around
it into an empty lot right? The cause all the demon-san were unable to back away was
absolutely that. Some guys that looked self-important and dangerous snapped into
incoherent mess after that."
Named demons who owned castle or shrine… Destruction of place that was most
likely their turf's stronghold…
Group of grater demons pursuing the two from the lowest level in a state of complete
rage…
"Ahaha… fuu~~~~"
"Aa!? Claudia-sama! Hang in there!"
Claudia suddenly let go of her consciousness. Anna hurriedly supported her, but her
eyes were also dead.
"Aah geez. Nagumo, the Crystal Key! Let's return quickly to our world!"
"Hm? Isn't it better to do something about the group of greater demons?"
Kousuke explained the gist of the situation a bit impatiently.
That was, how the residents of hell fundamentally couldn't materialize in their world
by their own strength.
Then the extermination of the greater demon called Unknown whose strength
increased by the his worshipper's faith and possessed the authority to achieve such
thing.
At present, a technique was executed to focus all the paths from hell to earth into
Vatican. Yue was also at the other side, if they used Crystal Key, the connection to hell
could be completely severed just by completely closing that place.
"I see. Looks like various things happened while we were at adventure date in hell
huh… well, that's fine. Tell me the detail later. The teleport location is St. Peter's plaza,
that's fine right?"
"Ou. Please."
Hajime took out the compass and confirmed the destination. During that time
Kousuke turned his gaze toward the open mouthed Claudia and co.
"Haha-, I was worried for a moment what would happen to us but, it's alright already
now."
"Err, Kousuke-sama… that person, as I thought…"
The gazes of Claudia and others were focused at Hajime who seemed to be fixing the
coordination even while being hugged by Shia.
Kousuke rubbed his nose while answering with a bit embarrassment and also pride.
"Yeah, that guy is Nagumo Hajime. My, us returnee's――demon king-sama."
At the same time, a gigantic and solemn door suddenly appeared in empty air. It went
without saying, that was the excessively decorated "Gate" that was opened by Crystal
Key.
"――"Unlock" "
*GOGOGO-* The door was pointlessly emitting impressiveness while opening with
light overflowing out from the gap. It was just an image projection, but it was like an
act of god from the view point of Claudia and others.
"Fre, freely connecting the interval of worlds, with individual power…"
"Ahaha… no wonder, even something like world wide information control was
possible."
"What power…"
The eyes of the exorcists were dead in this situation where they could only let out a
dry laugh.
"Now then, guessing from the situation, it seems you all had looked after our vanguard.
This isn't anything big that can be called as thanks but, I'll send you all to one-way path
into earth now."
Saying that, Hajime turned around with the meaningless light overflowing from the
gate illuminating him from behind. The sight of the light that was like a halo made the
deeply religious Claudia and others couldn't help but gulped.
It was just image projection though.
Kousuke stood in front of Claudia and others who couldn't move right away. And then,
he offered his hand with a boyish grin.
"We finished our mission. What left is only the finishing touch. Lift your face and throw
out your chest――we're going home yeah?"
Hearing those words and looking at that figure, Claudia felt like her view was blurred.
Even though it was a completely dry world, she felt warm tears that almost overflowed
from her eyes.
She slowly took the offered hand. The hand strongly grasped back. The best smile
naturally formed in her lips.
Claudia only said a word.
"Yes-"
She energetically replied so.
Wynn and others also made a natural smile with a feeling as though the burden had
been taken off from their shoulders. The followed behind Claudia.
"Uwaa, that girl has fallen completely. I wonder if Emily-chan is alright~"
"Rana will surely manage somehow. She is the first wife after all."
Whispering voices could be heard, but Kousuke's ears couldn't hear anything.
That was what he decided.