Your Majesty, Dinner Is Ready. – Chapter 113 – Guild War – Glory (2)

Author: Cireng

Chapter 113 — Guild War – Glory (2)

“…Hah.”

Now, a one-armed ninja in an instant, Kyras turned his head toward me.

His complicated gaze swept over the splendid uniform I was wearing.

“So that’s what it was.”

[Masterpiece – Ash Wolf Guild Uniform]

[Made from sturdier material than ordinary clothing. Once and only once, it can summon the guild master to your location, no matter where you are.]

A garment imbued with a one-time effect that summoned the guild master by opening a temporary dimensional gate.

I had waited until the Conspirator used a large, flashy Mystery like [Ninjutsu: Living Great Tree Roots], then hurriedly summoned Targon here.

Because Targon had consumed [Lumerlan’s Sigh], which completely erased one’s presence, the ninja Kyras had been utterly unable to detect him.

“Spy. From now on, your opponent is me.”

Targon lightly stamped his foot.

Boom!

The stone floor crumbled as though it were dirt, and the massive orc closed the distance to the Conspirator in a single bound.

“…Go!”

The gigantic roots that had been pressuring me rushed toward Targon.

Our guild master didn’t dodge. He simply threw a heavy punch.

CRACK!

The roots shattered the moment they met his enormous fist.

Not only did the point of impact break apart… the shock spread through the entire root system, destroying everything at once.

“…Damn it!”

Eyes widening briefly, Kyras sent the shuriken that had been circling the cavern flying toward Targon.

It was a breathtaking sight, like a rain of countless hidden weapons.

“Quite fierce.”

Grinning, Targon gave his simple evaluation.

He spread his shoulders wide… then clapped his hands together.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

He had merely clapped, yet thunderous explosions echoed through the cavern as violent shockwaves erupted.

Every incoming shuriken instantly lost momentum and rained harmlessly to the ground.

It was nothing less than a “healthy clap” created by combining four Mysteries.

“Is this your limit?”

“……”

Silently surveying the fallen shuriken, Kyras suddenly moved with a speed nearly impossible to follow.

“Come!”

The towering gray orc welcomed him, slamming both hands into the ground.

The earth trembled, forcing the agile Kyras to roll across the floor.

“You’re certainly incredibly fast.”

“…You’re truly an impossible monster.”

Grinding his teeth, Kyras sprang back to his feet.

Woof!

Just then, the giant ninja hound golem he had summoned earlier charged at Targon.

Its charging period had ended, and it had finally joined the battle.

“Interesting movements.”

Even in the middle of battle, Targon was still calmly evaluating his opponent.

Indeed, its movements possessed both tremendous speed and overwhelming force.

It was only possible because it had remained still all this time, storing up power.

Crunch!

It bit down hard on Targon’s wrist.

“The attack power is far too lacking.”

No. If it had bitten me, my arm would already have entered an endless cycle of regeneration, becoming a chew toy forever.

“Off with you.”

Targon flicked the ninja hound golem on the forehead.

Its body, made from a material harder than steel, crumbled apart completely.

At that very instant…

Kyras had already closed in beside Targon, slashing at the thick neck with his dagger.

A desperate strike empowered by [Ninjutsu: Azure Flame Blade].

Stab!

The dagger pierced Targon’s neck, and blue flames erupted.

CRACK!

At the exact same moment, the Conspirator was smashed away by a heavy backhand, flying backward before crashing into the wall.

The ninja slid down to the floor, staggering before barely managing to stand again.

“…Quite impressive.”

Targon casually brushed the flames burning on his neck away with his hand.

It was a stunt that would have burned off the hand of any ordinary explorer.

“So outside this labyrinth… You were roughly Level 8. At that level, you might truly have been capable of defeating me. Come again!”

“……”

Glaring at the absurdly durable orc, Kyras pulled out healing supplies, stanching the bleeding from his severed shoulder.

He looked utterly frustrated.

“That arrogance… taking your time before your enemy. I’ll make you regret it.”

The moment he finished speaking, Kyras suddenly split into three people.

[Ninjutsu: Soul Clone].

Each clone possessed roughly thirty percent of the original’s physical abilities, and even copied the performance of the equipment worn on his body… including Lord’s Companion.

As expected, ninjutsu was the most broken thing after magic.

Originally, this technique created five clones.

But because he only had one arm left and couldn’t properly form hand seals, its effectiveness had been cut in half.

“Oh. An interesting Mystery.”

“…You won’t find this one interesting!”

All three Kyrases ignited dragon-shaped azure flames around themselves.

[Ninjutsu: Azure Flame Dragon].

FWOOOSH!

The flame dragons surged forward violently, wrapping themselves around the gray orc and roasting him alive.

Heat on a completely different level from [Death · Flame · Transformation] .

Flames capable of turning human beings into mere firewood.

“…Now this is truly hot!”

Even as Targon exclaimed in admiration, the three Kyrases dispersed in perfect coordination, then charged simultaneously from different directions.

Blue flames gathered over their entire bodies.

[Ninjutsu: Azure Flame Slash].

The strongest ninjutsu available to the Conspirator.

Slash!

The instant the three azure slashes reached Targon simultaneously…

SPLASH!

An enormous halberd sliced across all three Kyrases at once, cutting through their waists.

The two clones, their upper and lower halves separated, vanished immediately.

“…Urgh.”

The real Kyras had somehow twisted his body just enough to avoid being cut completely in half.

However, his right leg had still been severed, sending him rolling across the ground.

“A magnificent attack.”

Carrying a halberd larger than his own body across one shoulder, Targon nodded approvingly.

Despite its tremendous size, I had barely seen him swing it.

Remembering that, outside the labyrinth, he was incomparably stronger than even now… my head and chest burned with excitement all over again.

“Spy. You’re an impressive opponent. But beginning the fight after losing one arm hurt you greatly. Had that not happened… I might have struggled far more.”

That was exactly why I had desperately summoned Targon in secret.

If luck turned against us, there were occasional cases where the Conspirator actually managed to defeat him.

“But in the end… I won.”

Targon slowly walked toward the Conspirator.

“……”

Kyras glanced at me.

There was a faint trace of desperation in his eyes.

It seemed he hoped I would help him, driven by solidarity between fellow half-elves.

“Golden Crow! Shouldn’t fellow half-elves help each other survive?”

Had he served a different evil god, I probably would have tried recruiting him instead.

After all, if I could bring him over, he would undoubtedly become an extremely capable expedition member.

But… I shook my head.

“If you obtain administrative authority over District Three… countless people will suffer. Especially the Harmony believers who stand in your way. Most of them will die… A future where everyone becomes happy is nothing more than an illusion.”

“For any ideal… someone must inevitably be sacrificed. That is simply how the world works! A world where the majority finds happiness through the sacrifice of a tiny minority. I don’t think that’s such a bad thing.”

“But Sir Kyras… the faith you embrace can only lead to everyone becoming miserable.”

Followers of Onishiv could never be persuaded.

The Church of Equal Balance only approached those who had completely despaired of the world’s injustice… people who could never again return to peaceful lives.

We had never been capable of cooperating.

Not unless one of us completely abandoned our convictions.

“Do your best.”

“How heartless…”

Kyras muttered something under his breath… before suddenly being yanked backward.

A thick rope had somehow wrapped itself around his ankle.

“I told you. Your opponent is me.”

Holding the rope with both hands, Targon grinned chillingly.

Drag… drag…

Kyras was slowly reeled toward the gray orc.

He desperately tried cutting the rope with his dagger, but it was useless.

Like Targon’s halberd, the rope had been created using the Berserker-class Mystery [Spirit Armament].

Ordinary impacts couldn’t sever it.

“Please… Struggle as desperately as you can.”

Targon flexed his arm.

The bound Conspirator flew through the air, slamming into a wall.

He crashed to the floor… only to be hurled into another wall once more.

Fwoosh!

Even while flying through the air, he still managed to form hand seals, firing [Ninjutsu: Azure Flame].

It accomplished very little.

“Hmm.”

Touched by the blue flames, Targon casually brushed himself off.

The fire… one of a vampire’s greatest weaknesses… scattered uselessly.

“It will need to burn much hotter.”

“…Monster.”

Once again, Kyras was sent flying.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

After smashing repeatedly into walls and the ground, the Conspirator’s body flew back toward Targon… whose heavy fist struck him squarely.

“Urgh…”

The slender half-elf was reduced to a complete wreck almost instantly.

His face was covered in blood and bruises.

His limbs twisted into all sorts of unnatural directions.

His waist had bent in a direction never meant for upright intelligent beings.

But Targon’s retaliation had only just begun.

“We’re nowhere near finished.”

Targon pulled out a healing potion and poured it straight into the mouth of the groaning Kyras.

Thanks to a vampire’s exceptional Vitality, even a tiny amount of potion restored his body almost immediately.

CRACK!

The arm that had just finished healing was bent backward… four separate times.

So a human body really could crumple like paper.

“……!”

Though trained as a ninja to endure pain without screaming, foam began spilling from the Conspirator’s mouth.

“…Heh.”

Targon’s shoulders shook. He looked extremely pleased.

Still laughing to himself, he healed Kyras once again with another potion… then began bending his fingers back, two at a time.

“…Ugh.”

This time, it seemed even the ninja couldn’t bear it.

A groan finally escaped his lips.

Caw…?

The Blind Crow, who had been sitting on my shoulder watching the battle, returned to my eye socket, displaying a message.

[I thought he was the quiet and serious type… but he’s unbelievably cruel!]

“Heh… hehehe…”

The dignified guild master of the Ash Wolf Guild… the ruler of District Three… laughed sadistically while inflicting pain upon the ninja.

“Yeah. He’s cruel.”

I casually brushed my hair back.

“That’s our guild master’s true personality.”

Someone who delighted in both physical and psychological abuse.

More precisely, someone who had long since stopped finding ordinary methods stimulating, and had inevitably developed a warped craving for increasingly extreme excitement.

Simply put… he was a terrifying psychopath.

Even so, High Warrior Targon only revealed that sadistic side when he possessed legitimate or lawful justification.

He was, in his own way, an upstanding orc.

“Oof…”

For a weak-hearted cultist like me, it was becoming difficult to keep watching.

Cough!

Already completely subdued, the Conspirator… now only twitching occasionally… coughed up a mouthful of blood.

“Hmm. It broke.”

“……”

Kyras looked toward me once again.

His eyes made my resolve waver ever so slightly.

But at this point, even I could no longer interfere.

“Khh… hehe… khhehe…”

The broad smile covering Targon’s face.

The trembling of his arms. I knew that state well.

No matter what anyone said, he was no longer capable of stopping.

“…Not yet.”

Kyras slowly pulled a small object from his clothes.

A long flask. Inside, a violet liquid writhed as though alive.

[???]

[It’s too complicated. Even I can’t tell exactly what it is!]

Same here. I was someone who could recite every single item used by the Six Apostles from memory… yet I had absolutely no idea what that thing was.

‘Again.’

New content. A situation different from the game.

“Guild Master.”

“What is it?”

“…Never mind.”

I had almost warned Targon… but stopped myself.

Who was I to warn someone like him?

A moment later, the Conspirator hurled the flask, shattering it.

Purple gas slowly spread through the air, wrapping itself around Targon’s body.

“I assumed it was merely a physical weakening potion. Apparently not.”

Despite the suspicious gas being absorbed into his body, Targon only smacked his lips in disappointment, then grabbed Kyras by the neck and lifted him into the air.

“What exactly did you do?”

“…Who knows?”

The half-elf ninja smiled miserably.

At that exact moment…

RUMBLE—!!

With a deafening roar, the ground shook violently, as though an earthquake had struck.

The epicenter lay at the eastern wall of the cavern.

Cracks spread outward from its very center.

“…This is?”

As Targon narrowed his eyes, another enormous crash erupted.

CRAAACK!

The cavern collapsed completely.