Chapter 20 | The Assassin Takes Aim
I started my incantation as soon as I was sure Tarte would be able to hit the demon with her lightning attack, and I was now nearing completion.
Dia, Tarte, you two did great.
That beetle demon was unbelievably strong. If Dia and Tarte had still only been as powerful as the vice-commander of the Royal Order I’d fought at the academy, they would’ve been ground to dust in less than a minute. But thankfully, they’d grown beyond that level and had successfully rendered the demon immobile. I doubted anyone else could have managed it.
Dia and Tarte had played their parts expertly, and that was precisely why I needed to do the same.
I poured mana into my Tuatha Dé eyes and looked at the beetle demon. I could see a great stream of mana flowing within him. There was also an energy separate from his mana—the force that made demons immortal. It was stored within a red jewel—the demon’s core—that resided in the creature’s heart.
Usually, the red jewel was immaterial. However, Demonkiller forced it to become solid matter.
I’d stationed myself about two hundred meters away. The farther away you were from your target, the less precise the attack would be, the longer it took to connect, and the less force it had.
All of that was irrelevant, though. The distance was no problem for the new spell I’d created. This situation called for a ranged attack from far enough away that I wouldn’t be noticed.
My new magic was the natural evolution of Gun Strike. I’d wanted a spell that would achieve extreme accuracy and force. Until now, I’d counted on Gungnir as my ace in the hole, but it was too unreliable. Not only did it take a while to land, but its vast area of effect limited the situations it could be used in, and aiming it wasn’t easy. This new attack overcame all of those hindrances.
Initially, I’d tried creating something superior to Cannon Strike. Unfortunately, even when I’d used the sturdiest alloy I could produce and strengthened the coating with mana, there was a limit on how strong of an explosion the barrel could withstand. It wasn’t enough to be the decisive weapon I needed.
I eventually found the answer after electing to use a method other than combustion to accelerate and fire a projectile.
The name of this new spell was…
“Railgun.”
I’d fixed a long gun as tall as I was to the ground. I lay down and gently slid my hands over it, loading a bullet. These rounds were made out of an alloy designed explicitly for Railgun. They were the size of rifle ammunition, but each was close to one kilogram in weight.
The lengthy barrel was fixed to a stand long enough to be deserving of the moniker Railgun. The name also reflected how the weapon worked.
There were two bars made out of a special material within the armament, and an electric current began to flow once a bullet was placed between them. This created a magnetic field that was the propulsive force.
The principle behind it wasn’t all that difficult, but it was a very sophisticated mechanism. I couldn’t magically produce the pieces needed on the fly, so I had to keep them in my Leather Crane Bag. That was one crutch of this attack.
I inserted Fahr Stones into the long gun and finally finished the incantation. Railgun was composite magic that combined three different spells using Multi-Chant. The Fahr Stones were filled with colorless mana.
They then erupted, and the first spell converted the colorless mana that flowed out of them into electricity. Tarte’s lightning spell had come about as an offshoot of my design on this. A strong current pulsed through the weapon.
I activated the second spell at nearly the same time. This one quickly cooled the temperature of the barrel, lowering it to almost absolute zero. I did this to reduce the gun’s electrical resistance. Strong currents created heat, which distorted the mechanism and could lead to damage.
With the temperature near absolute zero, that wasn’t an issue, though. In other words, the cooling magic raised force, increased precision, and removed the problems of resistance.
Finally, I set off the last spell. Railgun loosed projectiles at such speed that they’d burn up instantly if nothing protected them. Windbreak was the answer to that issue, ensuring my shots would reach their target.
I fired the bullet.
Not even my Tuatha Dé eyes could follow it. A hole was instantly torn in the beetle demon’s chest.
A split second later, the aftershock tore the creature’s entire body to shreds. The shot landed far in the distance and formed a giant crater in the ground.
“Exact and powerful, just as I intended. This will be very useful,” I said with a satisfied nod. There was no magic better suited to sniping than this.
When I’d tested Railgun on the deserted island, its initial velocity when fired at full strength had been 5.9 kilometers per second, or seventeen times the speed of sound. The force was 17.4 megajoules.
This superweapon with rifle-sized rounds packed twice as much strength as a tank cannon. Concentrating all of that power into one point boosted the piercing power significantly. With so much kinetic energy contained in an object the size of a bullet, all external elements could be ignored. All you had to account for was calculation error.
The projectile also made impact astonishingly swiftly. It covered two hundred meters in 0.03 seconds, which was fantastic for accuracy. If a shot moved quickly, there was less time for gravity and other outside factors to interfere.
Undoubtedly, Railgun’s greatest strength was its precision. It was a dream weapon that would reliably strike where you aimed. I couldn’t think of any magic more suited to assassination than this. Although inferior to Gungnir in terms of raw strength, it had many uses.
If I had to think of a drawback, converting the mana from the Fahr Stones into electricity and casting the other two spells demanded all the magical power I could release, and because the magic was difficult to control, I had to devote my full attention to it, leaving me defenseless.
Another weakness was that it couldn’t be used without Multi-Chant. Depending on a skill I’d received from My Loyal Knights wasn’t ideal.
Even then, being able to shoot with massive force from hundreds of kilometers away was appealing.
I loaded another bullet. There was no way I’d failed to pierce the demon’s core. However, if Demonkiller turned out to be flawed, or if my theory about the jewel being the demon’s true essence was wrong, then he would recover. So, to play it safe, I wanted to hit him one more time to give Dia and Tarte a chance to escape.
I watched for any signs that the beetle demon was reforming. I held that position for five minutes.
“Guess he’s really dead.”
A sigh of relief slipped from between my lips. The Demonkiller spell Dia and I had created worked perfectly, and my theory was now proven fact.
Someone besides the hero could kill a demon. It was an inspiring revelation and would play a part in alleviating Epona’s burden. This lowered the chances of her turning against humanity.
I got up and started to pack the components of Railgun into my Leather Crane Bag when I quickly stopped, jumped back, and drew a knife.
“Oh my, you noticed me?”
A single woman with snakelike eyes emerged from the woods behind me. She had dark indigo skin and black hair. Her outfit revealed much of her voluptuous body.
From the moment I saw her, I was confident she wasn’t human. No person could have so much mana. She had to be a demon.
This was bad. I was alone, and I couldn’t use Demonkiller and fight at the same time. Engaging here wasn’t an option. I planned to immobilize the woman and then join up with Dia and Tarte. Once we were together, we’d figure out a way to kill her.
“Please be at ease. I don’t feel like fighting. I only wish to thank you for slaying that nuisance, Gurt,” she stated with a gentle smile.
Despite her expression, it was clear she wasn’t going to give me a chance to flee.
“Is Gurt the name of that beetle?”
In most cases, talking with your enemy is a foolish thing to do, but I saw no opportunities to attack. Plus, if your opponent happened to be immortal, chatting was an effective way to buy some extra time.
I could even glean some information from her with a bit of luck. We’d only exchanged a few words, but I was positive this demon knew things I didn’t.
“Sure is. By the way, I’m… No, I’ll give you my name after we build a deeper relationship. Until then, you can call me Snake. I came here to observe the enemy. I never thought I’d see the day Gurt died. You’ve done us quite the favor, killing him before he got what he wanted.”
“You called him your enemy. Are demons warring with each other?” I questioned.
“It’s less a battle and more of a competition.”
Now I had even more of a reason to kill Snake. A contest between demons meant they had the ability to communicate with each other and form social groups. There was a risk she could tell others of her kind about Railgun and my other techniques.
I also couldn’t ignore the fact that she had some connection to snakes, and I’d recently been attacked by a large serpent monster.
“A competition? For what purpose?”
“That’s a secret. Oh dear, I thought you were the hero, but you’re just a human, aren’t you? Wow, your ilk can kill us now? Have the rules changed? Or are you an exception?”
“Who can say?”
Yet again, she mentioned something that troubled me. What were these rules she referred to?
If humans not being able to kill demons was a tenet of some sort, then I had to assume someone set that in place. Perhaps that was how demons had become immortal, too.
“Well, it doesn’t really matter. How about we make a deal? I won’t tell the others how Gurt perished, and I’ll keep quiet about there being a human who can kill demons. In return, can you overlook my presence here?”
She immediately understood not only that I felt I needed to take her out, but also the reason why. I didn’t have much of a chance of beating Snake in battle right now, and the terms she offered weren’t disagreeable. Yet I had no proof I could trust her.
“Aren’t those terms a little convenient for you? You don’t want to kill me because I’ll dispose of your rivals in this competition. Of course you’ll keep me a secret. I want more out of this. Specifically, information. Tell me what other kinds of demons there are—names, forms, weaknesses, and the locations of their bases.”
The purpose of my line of questioning was twofold. It served to trick her into revealing things while also probing for what I could. If I was right about her motivation, then this demon was trustworthy.
“You’re cleverer than I gave you credit for. Heroes are always such mindless brutes, so I thought humans would be the same.”
“You’re talking about heroes as if they’re not human.”
“What are you saying? There’s no way the hero could be human,” Snake replied with a snicker.
What drove her to say such a thing? It didn’t seem like she was talking metaphorically about Epona’s overwhelming strength. There was something more.
“So, your answer?” I pressed.
“Allow me to ask one more thing first. Answer, and I’ll tell you what you wish to know. Was Gurt the first demon you’ve killed? Before the beetle, did you slay a pig?”
A pig? That sounds like General Orc, the demon that attacked the academy.
“I tried to kill him, but couldn’t. I did contribute to his demise, though.”
Revealing that was a necessary investment. Snake’s mouth curled into a cruel smile.
“Oh, really? I knew it. Well then, we have ourselves a bargain. I promise I’ll give you the appropriate information at the right time… I’m turning around, so if you want to attack me, go ahead. But you’d better steel yourself if you do so. I’ll have a delightful time with both you and those adorable girls you’re so worried about.”
“I wasn’t planning anything like that.”
I was concerned for Dia and Tarte, but I wasn’t foolish enough to show weakness.
“So you say, but I can tell otherwise. You three clearly love one another. You’re so cute that I just want to eat you up.”
I watched Snake walk off. There was a lot she offered, and not all of it was related to demons. She clearly understood many things I didn’t.
Once Snake was out of sight, I used a probing spell to check if there were any enemies nearby, then relaxed.
“I don’t appreciate being made to participate in a game where I don’t even understand the rules.”
For a while now, I’d been pondering the idea that I knew too little about this world. I didn’t even have a clear understanding of what demons and heroes truly were.
I needed a plan, which in turn demanded a better grasp of the situation. My hope was that Snake could provide me with the same perspective as those who fancied themselves players in this game.
Unfortunately, it was evident that she concealed a lot from me. I had to be cautious around her. Although she acted like she had no idea of my identity, I was sure she’d looked into me.
One thing I was confident of was that the serpent that had attacked on the way back from Milteu was her spawn. Snake’s mana resembled that monster’s own.
Snake was manipulating nobles into attacking me; she had to know who I was. I’d chosen to keep that quiet, however, as it would’ve only interfered in our negotiations.
“I wonder how this will all play out.”
Regardless, I needed to meet up with Dia and Tarte. They’d both worked very hard, and I had to compliment them on a job well done.
Above all, I wanted to hug them.
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