“…Yeah, when you use this to break down a building, it takes a lot of mana… And it didn’t even reach over there… I guess I just have to accept that the lesser can’t take the place of the greater.” Grumbling to himself, the King of Darkness climbed over the little mountain of grate fragments and stepped through the gate with no one to stop him.
Neia was so frazzled by the rapidly changing situation she couldn’t move. Once she regained her composure, she found herself smiling.
The paladins had worked so hard to dent that grate, and the King of Darkness took mere seconds to demolish it.
Being strong is like cheating.
She jogged after the king. When he reached the frozen bufolk, he turned to look at her.
“Okay, these guys”—he indicted the stiff subhumans and imprisoned children—“are only frozen temporarily. Do me a favor and tie them all up.”
“Why don’t I call the paladins, then?”
“That would be a great help, but I’m currently giving off an aura of fear. Anyone who comes within range will fall victim to its control, so they’ll need some sort of resistance. Priests should be able to use Lion’s Heart, but I think paladins have…Banner of the Divine?”
“Wow, your depth of knowledge is…”
The King of Darkness chuckled and wove his way between the bufolk. Just then—
“Rrrrrrooooaargh!”
With a roar, that strong bufolk with the spear landed in front of them. He must have jumped off the wall.
His eyes had gone red, and he was foaming at the mouth. He wasn’t in his right mind. It was almost as if he had gone insane.
“Aha. So he’s gone berserk…? Or mad? That could be a side effect of fear— Oops.”
The King of Darkness dodged a spear thrust with a superb motion. It had that lack of excess movement only those with training were capable of. And as a result of him dodging, a frozen bufolk was impaled on the friendly spear. He dropped to the floor as his red blood sprayed.
It seemed the mad bufolk had lost even a sense of who was on his side.
“Sheesh…”
The bufolk raised his spear. Was he going to sweep? In that case, the children the King of Darkness had saved could be caught up in the attack.
Neia hurried to ready her bow. But she couldn’t shoot.
The King of Darkness had advanced toward the bufolk right in her line of fire.
Certainly considering the length of the spear, the King of Darkness’s decision to close the distance was correct. But the next thing he did made no sense.
He quickly sandwiched the bufolk’s head between his hands.
The King of Darkness must have been awfully strong, because no matter how the bufolk struggled, he couldn’t escape. Giving up on that, he gripped his spear farther up the shaft to stab the king. Well, it looked to Neia like it pierced him.
But the King of Darkness didn’t so much as flinch. Had he blocked the attack with defensive magic?
“You’re different from that troll.”
With a nasty spurting noise, the bufolk’s eyes popped out.
One look was enough to tell it was a lethal wound. No, it would be worse if that hadn’t killed him.
When the king let go, the bufolk fell to the ground. His arms and legs were flailing, but Neia had trouble sensing any will behind the movements.
“Wh-what did you do to him?” she asked timidly from behind, and he answered nonchalantly as he shook his hands out.
“Crushed his skull. When someone’s in a frenzy like that, you could deal a lethal blow and they still might not go down. But if you completely destroy their brain, it appears to be a different story… But wow, he was so fragile. Only a little thicker than an eggshell—I’m joking, you know!”
Neia face twitched as she laughed.
Yeah, he really has no sense for humor…
“Now then, Miss Baraja. Call the paladins. We’ll have them secure this area, and then I—we can go on ahead.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
Neia raced back to where the paladins were to find several bufolk collapsed at their feet. They couldn’t have come through the gate, so they must have been trying to escape the source of their fear—the King of Darkness—and jumped.
When she reached the knights, she quickly relayed the king’s instructions. Then she raced back to him.
And when she arrived, he said, “Okay, let’s go, then,” and set off down the street.
Neia’s question of why no more bufolk had rushed over after they broke down the gate was immediately resolved.
She could hear multiple screams. It was almost as if the city itself, inorganic though it was, was shrieking.
“Wh-what’s…?”
“The result of having the undead I sent in spreading fear. It’s possible that hostages will get trampled in the panic, but…we’ll just have to let that go as a tragic accident.”
She saw several frantic—probably, judging by the expression—bufolk running toward them. They looked like a collection of little animals being chased, and she almost felt sorry for them.
They must have been awfully frightened to come running toward a being even more powerful than those undead without realizing it.
“Hmm… No humans around? In that case, Max Widen Magic: Fireball.”
The shot of fire that flew from the king’s hand landed right in the middle of all the bufolk, creating a huge, fiery explosion for just an instant. When it disappeared, bufolk corpses littered the ground.
“It might be best to wait here, but…it seems the enemy ringleader is nearby. Apparently, he’s holed up in the central square of this city resisting the high wraiths’ fear, so I’d like to go on ahead… What do you think?”
“I think it’s best to do whatever you think, Your Majesty.”
“You do, huh? Then let’s go.”
As they walked, she could hear screams coming from all around as if people were being tortured. And it seemed like the subhumans weren’t concerned with sanitation—there was rotting garbage and excrement everywhere. Neia frowned instinctively.
“…By the way, Miss Baraja. What do you want to do about that?”
When she looked in the direction he
