Volume 4, Chapter 31 – The Seal

“Gugaaaaaa! Curse you, curse you, curse you!”

Yoshiteru, having taken a direct hit to the torso, let out a roar as he glared at Chris-san.

It looked like a clean strike, but it didn’t seem to have done much damage.

Besides, something about him felt off.

However, Chris-san remained unfazed, provoking him with a cool expression.

“Hmph. If you rely on borrowed power, you’ll never defeat me.”

“You… you… YOUUUUU!”

Yoshiteru lunged again, driving his sword toward Chris-san, but she parried the blow effortlessly.

“Fiene-sama, hurry with the Kirinagi! I will not be defeated by a lowlife like this.”

Chris-san shouted toward me.

“I understand. Please make sure you return to me safely!”

“I shall!”

Having heard her words, I hurried toward the back of the dojo.

Since this place also served as a guard station, it shouldn’t be a problem to leave Kan’ei as he was for now.

It would be a pain if I tried to treat him and got interrupted again.

As I ran, I used Mana Control to send out pulses of Holy Attribute Mana, searching for any strange mana within the dojo. Whether it was sealed or a Cursed Blade, I should be able to find some kind of presence.

“Ah! I found it. This way!”

Having detected a suspicious mana reaction, I took Lu-chan and Souji-san with me and headed toward the spot.

◇ ◇ ◇

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“I think it’s behind this door.”

We arrived before a heavy iron door.

On our way here, we had cut down dozens of guards.

I felt sorry for cutting them down because of our circumstances, but this was a choice I made myself in order to get Shizuku-san back.

I have no regrets.

No, I must not regret it.

Incidentally, anticipating this kind of bloodshed, I had received blood from Chris-san last night.

Therefore, I wouldn’t be overcome by a blood-drinking urge right now.

Yes, my preparations were perfect.

I pointed to the heavy iron door and asked Souji-san.

“Souji-san, can you open this door?”

The door was locked with a sturdy-looking padlock; it seemed difficult to open without a key.

“I shall try.”

Souji-san tried to pull the lock by force, but as expected, he couldn’t break it.

“I don’t know any lock-picking magic, so… hmm, what should we do…?”

I thought. I didn’t have lock-picking skills, and forcibly tearing the metal apart seemed difficult.

I felt like Chris-san or Shizuku-san would have just sliced through the lock and everything, but it seemed to be too much for Souji-san.

…

…

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…

“Ah, that’s right. If it’s just me, I can get in. I’ll be right back. When Chris-san catches up, please have her break the door so you can enter.”

“”Eh?””

I used Shadow Dive and slipped through the gap in the door into the room.

Inside, there was something like a small altar, and upon it rested a familiar sword. A black Barrier was cast around the sword, as if enveloping it.

I walked through the lightless room toward the altar.

Between being able to Shadow Dive with Shadow Manipulation and being able to see perfectly in the dark, Vampire abilities really are convenient.

The blood-drinking urge is a nuisance, but thanks to Chris-san—and occasionally Lu-chan—I’m managing. I truly feel blessed with my companions.

With those thoughts in mind, I stepped up to the altar.

I reached out to touch the barrier, but the moment I did, my hand was repelled as if by an electric shock.

Then, an eerie voice echoed from nowhere.

“Bbbbegooooone…”

“Who’s there?”

“…”

What now? We can’t communicate. I mean, no matter how you look at it, this is the pattern where it attacks, right?

“Sssss…”

The moment I thought I heard that eerie voice again, a black mist erupted from the other side of the altar.

The mist gradually gathered, taking the shape of a monster.

It had a giant mouth full of fangs split horizontally, the top of the mouth was flat, and about eight bulging eyeballs were arranged haphazardly across it.

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From that head, a body like a centipede slid outward.

“Ugh, gross.”

The words slipped out unconsciously, but the creature didn’t care about my reaction and lunged to bite me.

“Defense Wall.”

I blocked the attack with this convenient magic that can stop anything, whether physical or magical.

“Oooooooooh!”

The Yokai Centipede (tentative), whose name I had no idea of, let out a roar that seemed to echo from the depths of the earth.

In that instant, a shockwave surged outward from the center of the Yokai Centipede (tentative).

I deployed a Barrier around myself to block the shockwave that tried to bypass the Defense Wall.

“Now, I wonder if Purification works? Yah!”

I slammed Purification Magic into the Yokai Centipede (tentative).

As the light of purification rose from beneath its feet, the Yokai Centipede (tentative), taking the hit full-on, let out a pained groan: “Sssss.”

And when the light of purification faded, the Yokai Centipede (tentative) was gone.

Yep, it was a pretty weak enemy. That was a relief.

Since I didn’t want any more gross things lurking around, I purified the entire room.

Once the light subsided and everything felt clean, I reached for the altar’s barrier again.

Zap

My hand was repelled by the barrier, but I didn’t take any particular damage.

Observing it closely, it seemed to be sealed with dark-attribute mana.

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I see; that’s why it had absolutely no effect on me, since my Dark-Attribute Resistance is MAX.

As I poked at the barrier, wondering what to do, black Mana wrapped itself around my fingertips.

It writhed like a tentacle, attempting to crawl up my arm.

It seemed to be trying to cast some kind of curse on me, but the robe I received from the King blocked it before my Curse Resistance even needed to kick in.

Yeah, this robe really is surprisingly excellent. It blocked the curses back at Otae Fuchi, too.

Still, doesn’t this country have way too many curses?

While pondering such trivialities, I thought about how to break the barrier.

Hmm, it’s Dark Attribute Mana, so maybe I should hit it with Holy Attribute Mana?

Ah, wait. I think I was taught about barriers back at the Silver Village?

Let’s see, what was it?

…

…

…

That’s right. There were all sorts of complicated explanations, but in the end, it meant that if you focused on “Seal Restoration” and activated Holy Attribute Magic, you could repair it.

Yeah. That’s useless!

Giving up on thinking, I focused on “Seal Release” in my mind and activated Holy Attribute Magic.

The dazzling white light emitted from my hand clashed with the black barrier, and gradually, my mana began to erode the black barrier.

After I continued this for a short while, the black barrier could no longer maintain its form and shattered into pieces with a loud crash.