Nigoru Hitomi de Nani wo Negau

88. Chapter 88 – Invitation to the Netherworld

Walm’s eyes gazed at the nasty person from inside the burning flames. It was a red-haired woman. She must have cast magic at the same time that all of the soldiers got defeated. And she must have choose fire magic as a result of prioritizing the range and killing power, but Walm was accustomed to being clad in flame.

“Why’re you not dying?!!”

A voice complaining of unreasonableness reached Walm’s ears.

There was no doubt that the woman was one of the culprits who crushed the corner tower on the right, while blowing away all people on the way regardless of allies or enemies, and had been dormant since.

“Well, did you get scolded?”

Walm got an answer to the discomfort he felt.

A very colorful and well-decorated man was sitting at the bellow of the corner tower. And there were the mercenaries, also a man who seemed to be the leader, in the vicinity.

Walm had come to know some humans dressed in flashy costumes on the battlefield several times. It was either a commanding general, those who had a strong influence on the battlefield, or aristocrats.

Noble Blood sometimes could turn into a curse. The pride and dignity of the family made them stand out, they couldn’t hide, and they must stand at the forefront at times. Considering the risk of losing the chain of command, they needed it, it could be said that it was intentional conceitedness, but as aristocrats, they might have a hard time to be able to rule people without it, and made everyone follow them.

“Playing a hero huh? Is sending this many, by your Lord’s order?”

“No way, does he look like such an excellent person?”

The mercenary nearby threw such a word to Walm. It was unclear if there was any other factor, such as resentment for killing his companion, but the words were somehow mixed with ridicule and irritation.

Walm was trying to be alone with the enemies. After all, there were still ally soldiers around. They had been left behind. There were a few soldiers who were closed to the retreat, and even though they had countless wounds, they hadn’t stopped their resistance.

They clearly didn’t believe in survival. So, they became stubborn.

Some might have flipped their lid. In order to make their death meaningful, they had turned into a suicide squad that was ready to bring as many as possible to death.

Some were purely late in retreating, and some were following their sense of responsibility and remained to assist friendly soldiers to retreat. They too had not that long left.

Walm could escape from the siege if he devoted himself to escape. He could make a breakthrough with fire magic, or shake them off with a speed difference due to the acceleration of wind magic.

Even if Viscount Edgar were to be defeated, Walm could escape to the city. After all, the army was only aiming to occupy the area of the magical silver vein. If the story of the Dalimarx soldier was true, there would be no invasion of urban areas that would involve central government intervention.

“I wonder if I should run away”

The mercenary responded sensitively to Walm’s sentiment.

“Are you thinking of escaping? You can’t, you’re gonna die here. Rest assured, I’ll dismantle your corpse carefully and sell each part separately. The eyes and liver of a magic user like you can sell well.”

What a ferocious and radical confession. The high market value was conveyed with high murderous intent. There was no bad feeling at all, and if those parts of the body were to be gouged out, Walm would definitely die.

“Even if my body is popular now, it’s on the battlefield.”

Walm didn’t expect that the day would come when many men and women would die for getting his body.

While the hot gaze was sent, the soldiers who had been struggling around were starting to lose their resistance and lying down on the ground one after another. A kind of limit point was about to be reached.

“What a stupid personality.”

The word “responsibility” had always been chasing Walm. Even in his previous world. Since he was also a workaholic person there.

Even if he complained that he was already at the limit, that it was impossible. It always only ended in his mouth. Since he would drag his body and keep working on the task in front of him.

Walm always jealous of egoists and individualists. He didn’t dislike them. He was just jealous of how could they have a strong will and a wise brain for their own interests.

When Walm’s interests were put on a scale with the interests of his group, or his community, as long as there wouldn’t be significant damage, the half-totalitarian Walm would prioritize his own interests. But, when he knew that there would be a significant and fatal impact on his group or community, he would ignore himself or a few people if any, to get the most beneficial outcome.

Would the two boys be able to escape successfully if he escaped?

Would the volunteers of the Highserk remnants be able to escape the damage?

Would the compatriots of his dying country be able to fully achieve reconstruction without the magic silver mine?

All of it could be called the curses that were binding Walm right now.

Based on observation, the road to rout had been closed.

“Really, I really hate myself.”

The pain in the eyes was starting to get intolerable and the fear of losing light starting to be felt. Still, they weren’t all the reasons to hesitate about the thing that would be out soon.

Walm understood well what would happen if he used 《Demon Fire》 without telling others first. Many people would be killed and burned. Old and young, men and women, all equally. Even so, he never burned enemy soldiers in a situation like this, where he and his allies became isolated among the enemies.

What did those who have no idea about what would happen in the future think at this time?

Whether the stranger who was waving the last word before exposing his viscera, or a strange young soldier who was reaching for salvation, Walm didn’t know.

Whether he kept trying to tell his muddy conscience that it was all for the groups, that it was all a necessary sacrifice, it was nothing more than the usual hypocrisy.

It had been a while since he wanted to puke and spit on himself.

In order to help the boys he knew, who were seeking salvation, he must kill allies who he didn’t know. Really, it was extremely unfair.

“Fuh, haha, really, there is no salvation.”

A question arose there. If the boys must be killed in order to help the Highserk remnants, which were in the main force, what would be the options?

When the possible options came to mind, a voice naturally leaked, and a dark smile overflowed nonstop.

In the midst of such useless thoughts, the flames were fading, and the figure of the silhouette would be fully shown.

Grabbed the once “comrade-in-arms” from a bag hanging on the waist and attached it to the face.

The demon mask trembled with joy and anger in the air of the world for the first time in a long time. The mask stuck to the face so much that it started to feel hurt.

Walm liked the mask. It felt the same as a robber’s balaclava. If the face couldn’t be seen clearly, humans could take a brutal act in a straightforward manner. And Walm was one of those cowards.

“My bad. But, you like it, right?”

Walm fawned on the mask. The mask that sensed the change in mana vibrated in joy. The demon mask loved burning this world with blue flames, especially where it could watch the scene from the special seat, what a pleasure. Really, it was a mask with a bad personality.

Walm burned into his eyes the sight of allies he could catch, and muttered with a low voice.

“…I’m sorry, you can resent me.”

“What are you doing? At once, kill――”

The words of the noble were stooped.

Covered the burning eye pain with a survival instinct and rational murderous impulse. To send those in the surroundings to the Netherworld, the hellish fire was evoked from a year’s sleep.

Blood oozed from the eyes, and the pain affected the brain.

Walm kept laughing, while clenching his teeth to endure the pain. Otherwise, the pain would be too much.

“Ah, Aha, Hahaha, HaaaaaAAAAAAA!!!!”

Hot air blew up and swirled into the sky, as the blue flame overflowed into the surroundings. The explosive roar soon turned into agonizing screams. A pandemonium. Some came from allies, those who still slightly breathing injured soldiers.

“It’s been a long time”

Such unsuitable words and emotions came from a human who brought “hell”.

At this moment, in Walm’s mind, a muddy stream of memories of the dark and muddy days with the former squad and those in Dandurg, was flowing nonstop.

“Ah, ahhhh! Fire, the fire is…!!”

“Stop it, put it out noooowwww!!”

The screams disappeared one by one. Humans who had been swallowed by fire and whose esophagus and lungs had been burned, were equally deprived of oxygen and drowned on the ground.

However, there were exceptions. In addition to the elite retainers, the mercenaries were also exceptional.

And even after being drunk by the blue flame, there were countless soldiers who still were trying to bury Walm.

“Don’t be scared, drop his neck!!”

Walm gladly welcomed them.

As the 《Demon Fire》 consumed mana, it caused intermittent eye pain, but perhaps, it was still better than the enemy suffering from waves of fire.

Soldiers who could put up a magical barrier left the formation and took a distance from those with poor mana. It didn’t take long for the burnt odor to change to the odor that would remain in the nasal passages as it mixed with the disgusting smell of burned meat and hair.

The regular soldier who endured the blue flame and pierced the spear into Walm was breathless. Really, what a weakling. The tip of the spear was entwined with the halberd, and when the halberd was pulled out, the spear was easily taken from the enemy soldiers. The heat caused the skin and nerves to swell, it just wasn’t possible to hold anything properly.

Their fighting spirit hadn’t been broken completely, and the soldier tried to pull out the short sword, but it was faster for the halberd to scrape his throat from the side.

The number of soldiers trying to approach Walm was decreasing as he killed one or two more. It was unclear whether they were drunk on blue flame or tried to escape the enemy in front of them after calmly discussing with the remaining mana within their body.

One thing for certain was that everyone on the battlefield, their eyes, thoughts, lives, in any case, something of them was robbed by the flames.

As the 《Demon Fire》 created the sea of blue flames, a harmonic sound of the mask which vibrating as if it felt the climax and Walm continuous laugh could be heard.