The Melancholy of the Demon Army Officer
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Shizukuku
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 100 – Rematch after centuries
Majin Galtia, who was having his lunch at the dining hall, absentmindedly heard the tremor on the upper floor.
He knew the identity of that sound. The occasional phenomenon that occurred recently was,
…Leonhart, huh.
A majin that could be said to be Galtia’s friend.
Leonhart collapsed the day all majins gained their Invincibility Field, and ever since then, he was devoting himself to collecting golden statues he had no idea about.
Leonhart’s desperation was abnormal, and due to the irritation piling up from his failure, he often challenged other majins to fights.
Although that wasn’t uncommon in itself, it was true that Galtia thought something was off with Leonhart.
If it was his normal self–well, something that made Leonhart lose his cool certainly took place. Galtia had no idea what it was, but he could somehow guess,
…Something happened to someone close to him… I guess that someone is Ssulal.
Galtia had no proof, but he thought that was the case.
Something happened to Ssulal. That or something was going to happen. If that was really the case, Galtia could understand Leonhart’s panic. Leonhart treasured Ssulal that much after all.
Therefore, Galtia also helped to search for that so-called golden statue sometimes. He didn’t find anything, though.
…I hope it’s not a big deal.
Perhaps Leonhart just went out of control and it actually wasn’t that big of a deal, but that was the best case scenario. Things could be settled as a funny story.
But if that wasn’t the case—
“…U—hhhhn. What should I do about this…?”
Galtia thought as he twisted his head but couldn’t come up with a good idea. In the first place, Galtia had no idea about what actually happened, or what Leonhart and Ssulal’s thoughts were.
What he could do at the moment was to do what he was told. Also making sure he was always ready to take action when his help was requested.
“…Well, I could only see how it was going. —Oops.”
Galtia brought his food to his mouth, but once again, a tremor occurred on the upper floor. The vibration was transmitted and shook the table. As the soup dishes were about to spill, Galtia somehow managed to balance the table. Then he looked above,
“That Leonhart, he sure is being fierce this time. I guess he really feels like fighting this time.”
I guess I should go stop him before the damage begins to spread, thought Galtia casually as he resumed his meal.
There was a sound in the corridor of Maou Castle.
As two things collided, a metallic sound echoed, a wind conjured, and they reverberated through the surroundings, damaging them.
An ordinary person wouldn’t even be able to see the battle properly. It was two majins who did this.
As a loud metallic sound was heard, Majin Leonhart appeared almost at the same time.
However, the wind didn’t stop. There was still a majin who moved at high speed mid-air.
“—”
When Leonhart suddenly swung his demonic sword sideways, the wind blew again while making a sound of hitting something. Feeling the feedback, Leonhart said with a smile.
“—As expected of you. My eyes can’t keep up with your movements…!”
“—”
The response took the form of an attack.
It was an attack that was too fast to see aimed at Leonhart’s back. The one who attacked was Meglass, who was known as the fastest majin.
His speed was so fast that not even Leonhart, who was now a majin, could follow him with his eyes. However, unlike their last battle,
“That said, didn’t I do much better compared to the past when I was helpless against it? I guess I’ve grown that much.”
Leonhart said that with a laughing voice. Leonhart read Meglass’ presence and his movement, squinted his eyes and relied on his intuition,
“Well then, let me defeat you for the first time in a few centuries. I’ll have you accompany me, oh fastest majin!!”
Majin Meglass heard Leonhart’s raised voice in the air.
Few moments later, slashes were sent toward his direction, so Meglass avoided it. Then as he rushed to attack Leonhart,
“—Over there!”
“—!”
However, the high-speed attack aimed diagonally behind Leonhart was blocked and he countered it at the same time.
As Meglass avoid it,
…As expected, he’s fast.
Meglass referred to Leonhart’s speed. In particular, the speed of Leonhart’s sword was about as fast or faster than Meglass’ movement.
Because of that, even as Meglass launched a high-speed attack, the moment he was detected, Leonhart would make it in time to block and counter attack at the same time.
Meglass thought of his speed and was proud of that fact.
He was the fastest majin that was acknowledged by others and himself, and he held dignity about that.
Compared to his days as a normal horus, he who longed for speed and emphasized on it, became even faster the moment he became a majin.
His maximum speed was about three times the speed of sound. There was only one being who managed to exceed that speed. 1
It was extremely difficult to perceive Meglass during his high-speed movement, even if the other party was a majin, and it was practically impossible for humans and other creatures, leaving them helpless against it.
None of the enemy’s attacks could reach him and Meglass would always keep an advantageous position. Just from passing by his opponent, the resulting shockwave and speed of sound wind would produce pressure that hit his opponent. The force produced was enormous. Meglass’ strength wasn’t considered the strongest among majins, but he made up for it using his speed.
The burden of moving at supersonic speed wasn’t that big of a deal for him.
The moment Meglass turned into a majin, his body transformed into one that could produce such speeds, along with the fortitude to endure such movements.
His white exoskeleton served for that very purpose. He was confident in its hardness, second only to his confidence in his speed.
But despite his overwhelming speed, his opponent managed to react to it.
Majin Leonhart. He was the human majin who served as the supreme majin and the demon army officer.
Their first meeting was due to the order of Maou Ssulal. Upon receiving the order, Meglass tested Leonhart’s power.
The battle ended with Meglass’ victory, but even if Meglass was holding back, the human managed to react a bit to his speed, so he reported to Maou Ssulal that the human had no problem in his power aspect. As a result, Leonhart was turned into a majin.
Meglass avoided getting involved with Leonhart, but Meglass saw him as a calm and excellent warrior that valued his comrades. Meglass judged this as so due to Leonhart’s attempts to connect with him after becoming a majin and due to how Leonhart normally acted.
Compared to other majins, Leonhart and his majin comrades were those that Meglass viewed in a favorable light. He didn’t hate them.
However,
…Why are you this frustrated?
Meglass had no idea why.
Ever since the majins gained the Invincibility Field, Leonhart had become strange.
If it was the same Leonhart from before, he would have acted like a warrior and wouldn’t have hunted down those who were clearly inferior to him until they were a few steps away from death.
And that was done for no apparent reason. Such an act wasn’t something tolerable for Meglass as a fellow warrior.
Also, pretending to not see Leonhart driving his fellow majins to near death was against Meglass’ dignity as a warrior.
Therefore, Meglass acted. To stop him.
Meglass accelerated further. The booster on his waist made a sound.
He aimed in front of Leonhart. Just as Meglass about to rush in for an attack,
“—?!”
Meglass immediately decided to make an evasive maneuver.
He was accelerating backward to escape. He had no choice but to do so.
Meglass soon realized that his decision to do so was a correct one. One of three slashes occurred right in front of him. As for the other two, they were on the right and left of the first slash as if to pincer Meglass. Therefore, the only path to retreat was backward.
Leonhart’s mouth formed an arc as he saw Meglass evade successfully. As Leonhart impressed and breathe lightly,
“Heh, as expected of you. To think you managed to avoid this. — In that case, how about this?”
With that said, Leonhart put his left hand that held no sword forward.
Then light was generated from there. It was the light of magic.
Therefore, what appeared along with his voice was,
“—Flame arrow!”
“…!”
It was an unavoidable arrow of magic.
…I see.
Meglass understood the intent of his opponent.
Certainly, magic would definitely hit its target by nature. As long as it wasn’t area magic or straight line magic, magic would chase after its target.
Flame arrow’s power wasn’t that big of a deal. However, Meglass would flinch for a moment when the magic hit. That would become the opening that allowed his opponent to land a hit.
However,
…There’s no way such a method would work against me…!
Meglass made his move.
He accelerated and moved toward the wall.
Naturally, the magic followed him, but then Meglass chose to slow down, and just before the magic hit him,
“—!”
Meglass accelerated again and moved away from the wall at once.
At that moment, the flame arrow crashed into the wall behind him. 2
“Heh…?!”
Leonhart witnessed the action that Meglass took
Meglass escaped toward the wall, chased by Leonhart’s flame arrow, but then,
…He accelerated and forcibly shook it off…!
Certainly, magic would definitely hit its target by nature.
However, area effect magic like fire blast weren’t hard to avoid. Same could be said for laser magic that went in a straight line.
Magic other than those types would chase after their targets by nature. However, Meglass managed to surpass the speed of magic.
If one thought about it, it was an obvious thing. Even if the magic chased Meglass to no end, as long as Meglass never stopped moving, it would never hit him since he was faster than the magic and could lead it around to hit its caster instead.
After all, Meglass could appear behind his opponent while said opponent was moving forward. Magic couldn’t make such sharp turns.
There were some loopholes one could use to avoid magic. The same could be said about the sword. One needed to predict how an opponent moved by using feints, and keep that opponent in check before launching an attack, otherwise the magic wouldn’t bring much effect no matter how powerful it was.
Leonhart reaffirmed that fact and chose to wield his sword again.
He casually shot magic but it wasn’t very effective. Even if he tried using other magic, he doubted it would have much meaning.
Besides, Leonhart wanted to win using a sword after all. He was a swordsman, a person who wielded swords. He preferred fighting with a sword. Thinking that,
…Aah… as expected, fighting is a good thing.
Before he knew it, his headache eased. His irritation didn’t affect him much for the moment.
Certainly, Leonhart used to do something like this for a breather.
He had a grudge against the world, his surrounding environment, his circumstances, and his individuality.
The indignation he felt about those matters dissipated while he was fighting.
He admitted that he was one of the individuals that was born in this world.
However, he hated this world. His heart wanted to deny it.
That wish was overwhelmingly inconsistent.
He had no need for this world that lacked salvation. This was the world he lived in.
—What must I do to resolve this contradiction?
Was it to recognize the world? Was it to deny his individuality?
—Nay.
—It was to,
“………Aah.”
—I see. So that’s how it is.
“It’s just a simple thing…”
Leonhart exerted his strength with his demonic sword Orpheil.
The words he said were agreement.
“So you also wanted to destroy the world, huh…?”
Indeed. That was the consistent solution. Basically,
—To not deny my individuality, but to destroy the current world.
“Hahah… hey, I should have just done that from the beginning…”
Could he do it or not? Leonhart didn’t care about that.
He just wanted to unleash his anger on the world. He could worry about what happened afterward when it happened.
That was why,
“—”
As for now, he could go wild as he liked.
“…?!”
Meglass was astonished at the phenomenon that happened in front of him.
The demonic sword in Leonhart’s right hand was emitting light from its blade.
However, that light was both brilliant and terrifying.
The sword aura overflowed and shook the atmosphere.
The sound of something converging echoed, and the light on the blade grew brighter over time.
…This is dangerous!
Meglass’ intuition as a warrior told him so.
If he left it alone, he would lose. No, it was unknown if things would end with just his defeat.
It wouldn’t be weird if he got erased by that. He might be able to avoid it, but there was no guarantee and his instinct kept warning him.
“—!”
Therefore, Meglass rushed forward.
The only thing he could do was incapacitate Leonhart before that light could be unleashed against its foe. Even knocking the sword away would do.
There was no problem with time. Considering Meglass’ speed, it wouldn’t even take him a second to reach Leonhart.
However, Meglass had no idea if he could really do it. Before Meglass could decide, he was already rushing.
At the same time, Leonhart raised his voice.
His voice sounded strangely slow,
“OR—”
“…!”
Could he make it? Nay, he had to make it.
Meglass accelerated further.
High-Speed.
It was the fastest attack Majin Meglass could do.
Before the result could be seen,
“—Leonhart!!”
“—!”
“…!”
A voice not belonging to the two was heard. Meglass immediately realized who it was.
…Maou Ssulal.
The maou that appeared to be a human girl with white hair and red eyes stood at the end of the corridor with contorted expression.
Seeing that figure, Leonhart, the very person that was called for, stopped his sword mid-swing,
“S-Ssulal…”
And called her name with a quivering voice.
Ssulal, on the other hand, walked straight across the floor that looked rugged from the aftermath of their battle toward Leonhart.
Seeing that, Leonhart looked down with a sad expression. It was like the expression of a frightened child who was being scolded by his parents.
“…Leonhart.”
Eventually, Ssulal arrived in front of Leonhart. Upon reaching a distance where they could touch each other, Ssulal looked up,
“…”
She took Leonhart’s hand that twitched upon her touch,
“You seemed to have done a lot of things… but for the time being, come with me.”
“What are you…?”
At Leonhart’s question, Ssulal didn’t show an angry expression, but with bitter smile instead,
“—We have to talk. There are things I want to tell you.”
“That’s why,” she continued.
“Let’s go to my room, just like usual.”
“………A-aah…”
Leonhart could only nod at that. After confirming the demonic sword was put back in the space, Ssulal turned her gaze to Meglass,
“…I’m sorry to trouble you with this. You can rest for a while, so can you at least tell a random demon general to do something about the situation here?”
“…”
“Hm, thank you. Well then, we’re going now.”
Ssulal thanked Meglass who nodded in response then pulled Leonhart’s hand and disappeared into the back of the corridor.
Author Note:
It’s short, but it’s the 100th chapter. So we have already reached 100… I am deeply moved.
I guess it would be 3 or 4 chapters left.
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