Master and Slaves

"There is no trap. You may enter."

A clear voice, not particularly loud but sounding as if the speaker were right beside us, addressed our group.

I opened the door and walked slowly toward the throne, staying alert to my surroundings.

Tiria followed so closely that I could feel her almost brushing against my back.

We had reached about the middle of the room when the voice spoke again from the throne.

"So you are the one who would face me this time?"

I looked at the owner of the voice seated on the throne.

It was a man with gray skin wearing sinister black armor. Two horns like those of a buffalo protruded from his head.

"You’re the Demon King Geizer?"

"Ku ku ku... Indeed, I am Geizer."

I pointed the tip of the sword gripped in my right hand toward him and continued advancing slowly toward the throne.

"I see. Then I’ll be your opponent."

"In that case, I shall send you back to your original world once more—as a silent corpse."

The Demon King grabbed the small black sword leaning against the throne, stood up, and descended the stairs.

He was huge.

His body looked to be at least three meters tall.

The Demon King looked down at us as he came down the stairs and then walked straight toward us.

"Tiria!"

"Yes!"

I gave Tiria the signal.

She stepped back slightly, raised her staff, and chanted a spell in a clear, ringing voice.

"That which envelops me—an invisible wall! Reject the intent of those hostile to me! Appear! And protect me!"

Tiria’s resolute voice came from behind me.

I could tell the words were not Japanese.

At the same time, I understood their meaning perfectly.

Without needing to translate them into Japanese in my head, the meaning simply appeared in my mind as if it were already in Japanese.

It felt like I had suddenly become bilingual.

However, I didn’t have the luxury of pondering this strange phenomenon right now.

"Exclusion of Hostility."

The moment she finished chanting, a glowing magic circle-like pattern about one meter in radius appeared on the floor centered on Tiria.

A faint light rose from it and enveloped her.

"Master! It’s done!"

"Good. Let’s go, Demon King!"

I dashed forward at Tiria’s signal.

The Demon King remained in place, standing naturally as he faced us.

"Uwooooooh!"

I let out a battle cry, gripped the sword with both hands, and brought it down from above with the full momentum of my charge.

Clang!

The Demon King raised his right hand and blocked it with his small sword.

He then threw a left fist straight at my flank.

"Hmph!"

I leaped backward to dodge, then stepped forward again and swung the sword horizontally from the right.

The Demon King ignored it and thrust his sword forward.

I tried to deflect it by twisting my right hand and turning the blade sideways.

But instead, I twisted my body and instinctively dodged to the left.

I had realized earlier that the sword the Demon King held was actually quite large—large enough to be called a two-handed greatsword. It only looked like a small sword because of his massive frame.

If I tried to block such a huge sword with my own, it might snap.

After dodging to the left, I immediately tried to deliver an upward reverse-diagonal slash from under his right armpit.

The Demon King twisted his torso to evade the attack, then tried to punch my flank again with his left fist.

I dodged backward just like before.

Immediately afterward, flames as large as my body flew from the thrust sword.

I retreated even further.

I couldn’t dodge them completely.

Tiria was right behind me.

Even though she had a barrier, I didn’t know how strong it was, so I didn’t want to let any attacks hit it.

Damn it, no choice!

I raised my sword overhead and, just like I had done against the first gargoyle, timed my downward strike perfectly.

The flames were sliced cleanly in two and vanished.

"Ha ha ha ha! Not bad at all. It wouldn’t be fun otherwise. Then I shall get serious as well."

The Demon King ran toward us and swung his sword horizontally even though he was still out of range.

I instinctively swung my sword downward.

A tremendous gust of wind rushed past me.

I immediately sensed killing intent and raised my sword sideways to block.

Right after, the Demon King brought his sword down from above.

This is bad. It’ll break!

I angled the tip of my sideways blade downward, twisted my body, and let the sword slide off.

The Demon King’s sword, still carrying its momentum, stabbed into the floor.

Now’s my chance!

I slid my sword along his blade, raising it, and tried to cut off his right arm.

But the Demon King released his sword, twisted his body to dodge, then immediately grabbed the sword with his left hand, pulled it from the floor, and retreated.

He’s strong.

I thought I had him that time.

At the very least, I thought I could take his arm.

But I couldn’t even wound him.

This is dangerous.

Cold sweat ran down my cheek.

I stood frozen, facing the Demon King.

How could I defeat him?

Even if I tried to simulate it in my head, my limited experience of only a few sword fights since coming here was completely useless.

I had no choice but to move...!

"Uwooooooh!"

I charged at the Demon King again.

I stopped right in front of him and swept my sword from left to right.

The Demon King switched his sword to his right hand and tried to block.

At the last moment, I pulled my sword back and thrust it toward his right flank.

I felt the blade connect.

But it was shallow.

I had aimed for the gap in his armor, prioritizing control over power.

It wasn’t a fatal wound.

Still, the fact that I had wounded the Demon King gave me hope.

I can do this. I can win.

At that instant, the Demon King’s killing intent swelled dramatically.

Sensing danger, I pulled out my sword and jumped back.

A fist the size of my face came flying at me.

I jumped back another step while raising my sword to defend.

Gong!

I was hit by a heavy impact and sent flying backward.

I landed on my hands and knees, then slid across the floor until I stopped right in front of Tiria’s barrier.

"Master!"

Tiria’s cry came from behind me.

"I’m fine."

I raised my hand toward Tiria, who looked ready to rush out, to show her I was okay, then immediately charged toward the Demon King again.

I jumped with all my momentum and brought the sword down from above.

The Demon King swept his sword sideways and knocked me away.

After landing, I immediately swung my sword horizontally from the left.

The Demon King, unable to bring his sword around in time, jumped backward to dodge.

Just as I was about to press the attack, I sensed movement from Tiria behind me.

Bad timing!

"Tiria!"

I shouted while making a feint toward the Demon King’s face.

"Purgatorial Flame Bullet!"

The moment Tiria finished her chant, a flame roughly the same size as the ones the Demon King had used flew past my right side and struck him.

"I did it!"

Black smoke rose from around the Demon King’s left shoulder, but when he brushed it away with his left arm, there wasn’t even a burn mark.

"Th-that’s impossible..."

Tiria stood frozen in shock.

"Tiria! Run!"

I shouted and ran toward her.

The Demon King had pointed his sword at Tiria and released another flame.

I turned and sliced horizontally through the flames that had nearly reached right in front of her.

But another wave of flames was already closing in right behind it.

There was no time to bring my sword back around.

I turned with the momentum and embraced Tiria, shielding her from the flames.

"Guh!"

The flames seemed to have hit my back.

First came the impact, then sharp pain, and finally a dull throbbing that assaulted my back.

Ignoring it, I carried Tiria and leaped into the barrier.

"Tiria, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"

I checked her condition by running my hands over her body from her feet upward.

Since she was naked, any injury would be immediately visible.

She seemed to be fine.

Tiria nodded repeatedly.

Her face was pale and her eyes were filled with tears.

"Good. Don’t ever leave the barrier again, okay?"

I held her cheeks with both hands and wiped away her tears with my thumbs.

Tiria nodded again.

"Alright. Then I’ll go finish him off."

I patted her head, then left the barrier and charged for the third time.

...

The Demon King seemed furious.

Perhaps he didn’t like being wounded.

Or maybe Tiria’s flame had actually affected him.

Either way, he had lost his composure, and I took advantage of that opening to land blows on him.

The feints I started using from the second charge were also effective, and I had the Demon King on the ropes.

The Demon King thrust his sword.

I twisted my body to the right and slashed his right arm with the sword in my right hand.

"Guaah!"

Black blood sprayed everywhere.

Without caring about the blood splatter, I closed in and slashed his right leg with a returning stroke.

The Demon King planted the tip of his sword in the floor and dropped to one knee.

"Damn... a mere human...!"

While bleeding, he extended his right arm toward me and pointed the tip at me.

I immediately jumped backward.

Flames came flying right after.

I swept my sword and knocked them away.

Then I charged again.

But I felt overwhelming pressure from the right and stopped.

In that direction, near the wall, a hole large enough for the Demon King to pass through had opened.

On the other side, I could see a barren wasteland with exposed earth.

And in front of the hole stood two figures.

"ЦДЗБИΨ!"

"ИБКΨШ!"

The two figures spoke in different voices. One ran toward the Demon King, the other toward me.

The one coming at me was a man who looked like a smaller version of the Demon King—though he was still easily over two meters tall.

He charged with two swords held overhead in both hands.

"Tch!"

I stepped forward, blocked the right sword with my blade, and grabbed his hand with my left.

I immediately kicked him in the stomach.

"Guhah!"

He dropped to one knee.

I moved closer and stabbed my sword into his back.

"Guaaaaaah!"

His death cry shook the air.

Then the figure that had gone to the Demon King turned to face me.

"ЛДΔЗБωКΨΔ! ИГЛω, ИГКЖИΨΔΣЛГω!"

The figure, completely covered in a black robe, shouted something in an androgynous voice and thrust both hands toward me, firing glowing orbs of light.

Crackling orbs wrapped in electricity flew straight at me.

I dodged them.

Since I had moved when I finished off the previous one, I had already confirmed that the line of fire didn’t pass through Tiria’s barrier.

I ran straight at the black-robed figure and slashed horizontally.

"Gyaaaaaaaah!"

Another death cry echoed.

The robe was easily cut in two.

There was nothing inside.

Immediately after, the Demon King thrust his sword down toward the top of my head with both hands.

I jumped into his chest to dodge, then slashed at his neck.

"...Guh...!"

The Demon King let out a muffled groan as his head fell to the floor with a thud.

"Haa... haa... haa... I did it. Haa... haa... I did it."

I turned around, intending to give Tiria a victory pose, but the greatsword stuck in the floor blocked my view.

"But... how do we get out of here...? Haa... haa..."

I flicked the blood off my sword, sheathed it, then gripped the greatsword that had fallen from the Demon King’s hand with both hands and pulled it from the floor.

It was light. It was the heaviest thing I had held in this world, but I could probably swing it with one hand.

I rested the sword on my shoulder and looked ahead.

Tiria had collapsed.

The barrier was gone.

"Tiria!"

I rushed over to her.

She was breathing softly and steadily—suu, suu.

She must have been exhausted.

I didn’t know if she was completely unharmed, but I breathed a sigh of relief knowing she was alive.

When I crouched down to carry her on my back, a dull pain shot through me.

I hadn’t felt it during the fight.

"Oh right... I was injured on my back."

I muttered to myself, then picked up the bag near Tiria and slung it over my shoulder so it wouldn’t touch my wound.

I picked up Tiria’s staff and the Demon King’s greatsword, then carried Tiria in a princess carry.

That was when I realized it.

Where was the exit?

Tiria, who should know, was asleep.

I couldn’t just wander around searching—if I ran into more enemies now, I wouldn’t be able to fight.

As I was wondering what to do and considering laying Tiria back down, an earthquake struck.

The surroundings shook, and pillars and walls began to collapse.

This is bad. We have to escape.

But the door behind us was too far.

We wouldn’t make it in time.

I looked around for somewhere to hide or an escape route and spotted the hole the Demon King had opened.

It had become smaller than before.

Perhaps its power was fading now that the Demon King was dead.

It would probably close completely soon.

But it was the only way out.

I hunched forward to protect Tiria in my arms and hurriedly jumped through the exit.

On the other side was a vast wasteland.