CHAPTER 26: I CAN PASS THIS OFF AS SELF-DEFENSE, RIGHT?

Seraphina is ancient. She’s probably seen millions die at once.

Which brings me to the real question:

Why is she even bothering with me?

{Isn’t it obvious? I’m bored. And you’re the perfect entertainment.}

(...First—ouch. Second—you’re awful for reducing me to a clown. Third—stop reading my mind like that!!)

We went back and forth a little, but eventually, Sera agreed—

To help me escape... without killing anyone.

She told me that Jericho is heavily influenced by my mental state.

The curse made me fearless—but malicious—towards demons, and so, Jericho became a true Absolute Defense.

But now, with the curse gone and me genuinely terrified of these humans, Jericho is mirroring that fear... and becoming weak.

Understanding this, I realized something more.

I think... it’s more like I’m underestimating the humans, actually.

I kinda believe they can’t even touch a hair on my head, and that’s making Jericho "think" the same.

So it’s not really trying that hard to defend—because, hey, probably nothing’s gonna happen to the OP baby inside, right?

Terrible idea!

The lady in a tight bodysuit, her mouth covered by a mask, appeared in a tree and began prepping her crossbow.

The lightning guy stood near the base, chanting something spell-like.

And the delinquent with the spiked club had arrived to restrain me.

Ah.

I see.

They wanted to finish me off with a combo.

Too bad for them—because now, I’m fully aware of the danger.

And I’m no longer underestimating them.

The arrow fired—golden lightning crackling with it.

The club guy pinned me down against a rock, his strength genuinely surprising.

Wait... was he planning to get fried with me?

Before the arrow could hit, I lashed Jericho like a reptile’s tail and smacked Club Guy away.

CRACK!

Yeah, that sound was more disturbing than comforting.

But he flew off cleanly.

He’ll be fine.

He was strong enough to restrain me, after all.

Then—impact.

The arrow struck Jericho... and bounced.

Like a pebble hitting a thick elastic bubble, both arrow and lightning rebounded straight back.

Lightning Boy jumped clear, but Mrs. Quinn caught her own attack in full, cried out (her voice was actually kinda lovely, I’d like to get her email address) and was sent flying.

"You monster!!" Lightning Boy screamed, genuinely distraught.

Back at you.

These humans were the real monsters here.

Fighting Jericho this hard?

Even literal demons couldn’t manage this much damage.

The lady and the club guy were both knocked out.

Only Lightning Boy was left.

I call him "boy", but really, he looked kind of middle-aged. Also, kinda Asian, facially.

And he was way more refined than the delinquent napping in the dirt.

He began chanting again.

(Ugh, does he have to chant the whole thing? He could be dead before he even finish—I mean, I could kill him.)

{Doing so will make the spell "complete."}

(But I used flight magic even after abbreviating it so much.)

{That’s because Master is a true beast who can shorten high-level spells.

And with your mana reserve, you can use almost any Open Magic effectively—even if incomplete—like it’s fully charged.}

(Scary. Am I a war machine now?

And wait—what even is Open Magic?)

"Get ready to die, Blue Beast!"

How cliché.

And he’s calling me that too?!

I mean... fair enough.

This weird blue humanoid blob I’m in does kinda look like a zombie King Kong.

Funny though—Lilith also called me that.

Blue Beast is nice and all, but I’d rather they called me:

"Aggressive Predator..." my deep voice resonated through the area.

The lightning guy flinched.

"You may refer to me as Aggressive Predator. Now, stand down, or I WILL crush you into nonexistence."

Ah... I thought I sounded haughty because of the curse,

but it seems I just enjoy being arrogant when I start using this Mufasa voice.

Like I get into character or something.

"I will not," he said, his aura flaring as the spell reached completion.

Oh god... I’m confused; when he says "I will not," does he mean he will not stand down, or he will not call me Aggressive Predator?

The lightning surrounded him all over—like he ate Mjölnir!

Would I be okay if I just tanked it?

"Every ally of evil will be subjugated! You will be defeated in due time!"

And the lightning surged forth, expanding into a massive radius.

I was about 26 meters away from him,

so when the dome of lightning approached, I panicked.

Then I copied him.

I turned Jericho into a blue dome, expanding it like a semicircle until it slammed into Lightning Boy, pressing in and dragging him away, crushing boulders and jagged rocks along the way.

I immediately stopped the expansion of Jericho once the man had been slammed into a dead-end part of the mountain—about 60 meters away.

The small trees, rocks, basically everything within that radius had been cleared out and leveled.

(Oh no, I-I never knew Jericho was this dangerous! Is he dead? I hope he’s not dead!)

{Calm yourself, Master. Something of that caliber won’t kill a magic warrior.}

(Magic warrior?)

{Any mortal with considerable knowledge of magic, and who can utilize it in combat, is referred to as a magic warrior. The specific class is called "mage."}

(Oh? So I’m a magic warrior too?)

{...Yes. You’re an aberration. Or mutant. Or—}

(You can stop cursing me now.)

I slithered over with Jericho toward Lightning Boy...

Ah—he was dead.

He was so fried and blackened I wouldn’t have known it was him if I hadn’t seen the whole thing unfold.

Since Jericho is highly resistant to lightning (whether magical or not), while I expanded it, it collided with his spell—and both Jericho and the dangerous lightning spell hit him at once, crushing and electrocuting the hell out of him.

So he’s dead now.

I can’t hear his breathing or heartbeat.

I can hear wolves mating at a far distance right now, so I’m certain my hearing is exceptional.

(...uhm... I can pass this off as self-defense, right?)

{No need, Master. The strong prevail, the weak die.}

(Doesn’t change the fact that I just killed a man!!)

{It was self-defense.}

(Ah, so now it’s self-defense?! Is it possible to heal him?)

{It is. Deaths occur in three stages: vessel death, spirit death, and complete death. He hasn’t even finished the vessel death yet, so he can be healed.}

(Great. Whatever all that meant, he’s still within salvation. So let’s run away now! Reinforcements are on their way!!)

With that, I said "flight" in my mind and boosted away from the area—like a blue laser.

I looked down and saw how the reinforcements had shocked expressions on their faces,

trying to unbury Club Guy and heal Lightning Boy.

Well... all’s well that ends wel—

SLASSHHHHH!!

As I just turned my face forward, I saw a flash of green light—and in the next second, a blade had cut so deep into Jericho’s torso, it came within inches of slicing into my baby tummy.

But it still wasn’t enough.

Though I was sent flying, smashing hard into the ground, I was alive.

The humans who had been throwing a festival here had all run away.

They could’ve at least dropped a "thank you"!

I had Sera neutralize that flood of flames Lilith sent their way earlier.

Now, only weird, black-suited and glassed guys remained.

And a very astonishingly beautiful woman...

No. Those ears... an elf?!

An elf with silver hair, dressed like some European queen, was not far from me, her presence calm but completely intimidating.

I immediately fixed Jericho’s tear.

"So..." she started, smiling at me with a glint in her unusual eyes, eyes full of curiosity, "It doesn’t appear to be the Conqueror... but can you kill it for me?"

Ehhh?!

Kill?!

"Don’t order me around," the guy who slammed me down said, his husky and croaky voice completely clashing with his handsome face, as he levitated a few feet off the ground.

"I shall purge the monster because I want to."

Uhm...

Should I start begging now?!

Also, why the hell is my attacker dressed like some wealthy noble from the Middle Ages?

Ah! I just got an idea:

If I tell them I once helped an old woman cross the street, would they think I’m nice and let me go?

It’s worth a shot!

"I..." The deep tone vibrated the area, as I immediately got everyone’s attention. "I helped an old woman... cross the street..."

"..."

This was everyone’s reaction.

Shit... I want to die.

I want to jump into a black hole and die! The embarrassment is so bitter!

"Explain the meaning of that parable, now." The grey-haired hunk—my attacker—commanded me, while a green substance, greatly resembling Jericho, formed a jade sword in his hand.

Ah, I smell another misunderstanding... and probably, another reincarnation.