Ch 27

I smirked at Hestia noona. "Of course, it’s you. Don't you think it's a bit harsh to thwart me right as I’m about to turn things around?"

‘You want me to subdue fifteen fresh elders and then deal with more Republican soldiers?’

It would have been possible if I was prepared to cause hundreds of casualties, and to abandon my family and my village. The Republic was also an important ally for the Crow tribe.

‘Anyways, at this rate, I won’t even have enough mana left to fly. Isn’t this too much?’

My sister smiled playfully at my complaints. "Don't you think it's too much to turn the port into ruins without considering the Crow tribe’s alliance with the Republic?"

"Did I create this mess by myself? Besides, I'm sure you've already finished discussing with the Republican consul on how to catch me."

Considering that it had been three days since the first signature of the sea blockade document, which Uncle Hermes had injected mana into, it was clear that they had already discussed the partial destruction of the port. Otherwise, Hestia would not have brought this many elders, who could have destroyed the port in one breath. I wondered what she had given to the Republic to get this kind of extensive cooperation. I thought perhaps she had seduced the Republic with the free military force it desperately wanted. Now that the Demon’s Territory was unsettled, what the Republic desperately wanted most was the power to protect its border until the Demon’s Territory stabilized. My guess was that Hestia noona agreed.

"That's right. As you said, I discussed with the consul to overlook the destruction of the facility to some extent, as long as there were no casualties. In return, I decided to provide one year of free support, with fifty warriors from our village." Hestia noona explained.

On top of that, I knew she would have promised to pay for the rare demon by-products, as well as restoration. To be honest, we could have paid for that without difficulty just by removing the scales of our father's pet dragon.

"You know it's a pretty big cost for the village, right?" asked Hestia noona.

Our village used hunting as its main source of income. Considering the annual income brought in by fifty skilled hunters, who were now to serve the Republic, it was definitely not a small cost. Of course, it was not so large compared to the total income of the village. It was called a village, but it was the same as a city in terms of size and population, so fifty warriors was not too much.

"Do you really have to go that far just to catch me?"

Hestia noona answered my question playfully. "We have to do this because it’s you. It's special treatment."

I didn't want such special treatment.

"Now, let's talk later and get started."

As Achilles ahjussi stepped forward, other elders also released martial aura. With a sigh, I took out a mana stone from my pocket space and bit into it. It was the mana stone of a great and terrifying demon, compressed down to the size of a candy. There was only about three percent of the mana remaining inside it after I had used it to deal with my father, but this was still a considerable amount. I didn't want to use it again because I had already used it while fighting against my father, but I had no choice.

"Fusion Enlightenment, Mad Banquet."

My mana circuit heated up as intense mana transferred from the stone to my whole body. I thought about using the Demon King’s horn, but I decided not to. If I had used it with my real body, I might have had to lie still for a year. For this kind of mana enhancement, I wanted to take a break for about half a year, on behalf of my own condition, and for the mana stone's mana to charge up before I used it again, but I couldn't do anything about it because the current situation was not ideal. When I unleashed a great deal of mana, the elders went crazy with excitement.

‘You want me to be the head of these crazy people? The answer is obviously no.’

"Good! Let's have a good fight!" shouted one of them.

"I Declare the Halloween Festival again!" I shouted.

Materialized phantoms roaming the city gathered above us and began to attack the elders.

‘Come to think of it, Arwen, I sent you a signal, how much longer is it going to take?’

* * *

The fierce battle between Arietta and the two elders caused the ship that Arwen and Hillis were on to shake mercilessly. Arwen tied herself to the ship with magic, infused mana into her magic wand, and chanted a spell.

"Great, mighty spirits! Ugh!"

As she stayed tethered to the deck of the fluctuating ship, Arwen's complexion deteriorated as the cochlea shook sharply. She wanted to fly up to avoid the shaking, but Arietta and the two elders’ sword auras were splitting through the air like crazy, so she didn't dare. Perhaps because the ship was anchored, it seemed that they were consciously avoiding hitting the boat, so it was still safe.

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"Mother in heaven! Bless your young!"

Hillis cured Arwen's motion sickness, and cast various support blessings on Arietta. Arwen chanted an additional spell, temporarily freed from dizziness by Hillis.

"Once again in this world…! Ah, what the heck! Why is it so long!? Incantation omission! Descend!"

Arwen immediately modified her teacher's spell and cast the magic with urgency, as the pain from the motion sickness quickly returned.

* * *

As the battle resumed, Hestia noona left her position as if she had nothing more to do. Fifteen elders engaged me, taking turns. The three elders, including Elder Hera, who had just been fighting with me, retreated behind the others to take a breather and deal with the phantoms. It would have been different if the three elders had been completely depleted of mana, but since they were just lacking stamina, there was no telling when they might join the battle again. So, I attacked the three elders first.

"Where do you think you’re going?!" I shouted at Achilles ahjussi as I shot out The Thunder That Races Across the Sky towards him. He deflected it and flew up into the sky.

"Tch! Do you want to see your nephew suffer so much?" I said jokingly.

"Ha! You bet I do!" Achilles ahjussi said as he rushed towards me with a pleasant smile. "Hahahaha! Enlightenment! Killing a Wild Boar!"

I flew high to avoid it, but Achilles ahjussi kicked in the air to correct its trajectory.

"Ugh!"

I spread the mana field to block it, but Achilles ahjussi’s brute strength penetrated the mana field and sent a shock through my whole body. I wiped the blood flowing around my mouth with my sleeve and returned the shock with my full strength.

Boom-!

Achilles ahjussi was blown out of the sky by the repulsion of the mana field. He landed deeply into the ground, where he vomited blood.

"Ack! Hahaha! What a great way to counter! Uwack! Is this a mix of magic and martial arts? It stung a little."

I thought that blow would have taken care of him, but Achilles ahjussi's tenacious body rose up casually. As expected of someone who had grown up fighting with my father since he was young. The rumor that his body was as good as my father’s might have been true. To make things harder for me, unlike the other elders, he had maintained his body from his prime. It had obviously been Hestia noona's idea to utilize Achilles ahjussi now. She knew how to bully people better than anyone else.

"This is the worst."

Suddenly, a huge magic circle rose up in the sky. The chirps I had placed in the sky had responded to Arwen's magic and were activating my insurance.

‘Disciple, you’re quite a bit late.’

"Oho! What are you up to now, Small Chief!?"

"What is that? It looks fun!"

The elders seemed to enjoy the sight of the magic circle, like children seeing a new toy.

‘This magic is here to attack you.’ I responded to them in my mind.

A hazy spirit descended from the sky and entered the materialized phantom I manipulated. A phantom that appeared like it was shrouded in cloth punched Elder Hera's spear.

"What?!" exclaimed Elder Hera in surprise. The simple moving phantom had suddenly performed a skillful technique.

"Huh?" I said, also surprised.

This phantom wasn’t the one I had prepared. According to the magic I had prepared, the three souls were supposed to enter three specially prepared phantoms. For a moment, I thought the magic had gone wrong, but when I looked closely, there were actually seven souls. As expected of Arwen. She had a different level of talent. The seven souls turned the phantoms they embodied into their own form. The elders burst into laughter at the sight of the being that Arwen and I had called down.

"Hahahaha! Father! Long time no see!"

"Wow~! I didn't expect to see my teacher again until I died!"

On the theme of Halloween, I had invited the elders of the previous two generations to fight on my side. I needed this much to deal with the elders.

- Hahahaha! Long time no see, son! You've aged a lot.

- Hey! Switch with me! What am I supposed to do with this weak body?!

- Hahaha! I don't want to! This body is weaker than when I was alive, but with that body, I won’t be able to enjoy it for a while!

- Man, what a funny situation.

The seven elders of the previous generation quarreled and exchanged greetings with each other. I had planned to dictate the start of the battle, but when I took a good look around, I freaked out.

"W-why are so many people here?"

Seven people had entered the materialized phantoms, but the souls that hadn’t entered due to my lack of mana were over a hundred in number. Those spirits had now appeared, devouring the mana of the magic circle. Thanks to this, an abnormality occurred in the magic circles and it began to malfunction.

"Shoot!"

Half of the materialized phantoms disappeared. The recovery of mana completely stopped, and the mana field that interfered with magic power collapsed. My seniors, who hadn’t been able to exert even half their power, felt the mana field collapse and utilized their mana with all their might. If there were good things, bad things always followed. Fortunately, the near hundred souls that were out of my control could not influence the living world, and just became onlookers. If something had gone wrong there, it would have really become a nightmare of my own creation.

- Now~! When did we ever talk? We talk with our fists! With our swords! With our own weapons! Let's go back to old times!

Everyone laughed and nodded at the words of their former great elder, Prometheus, one of the souls that had materialized.

- Us seniors are watching! So you should do your best not to embarrass yourselves, right juniors?

The pleasant atmosphere was reversed at once by his additional words, replaced by killing intent. Then immediately, the bloody battle began. The souls shouted and cheered as if it was a gladiator fight.

‘This wasn't what I had envisioned, but hey, who cares? As long as it’s fun.’

I joined the fight, among the past elders. I always valued reason, but now it felt like my instinct, which was latent in my blood, was boiling.

* * *

Hestia was in awe at the fierce mana wave and battle that echoed in the distance. Even though she had retreated quite far, she could feel it throughout her whole body. Those who had missed this sight, which was hard to see even from the village, would surely regret not being able to join in today's event. She sighed quietly as she thought this to herself.

"This is close."

Hestia and the elders’ purpose was to return to the village with Denburg Blade, the small chief. However, she now realized that the current path was towards her defeat, by a narrow margin. There had been two developments that she had not expected. One was that her youngest brother would fight by turning the souls of their ancestors into his allies, and the other was the fierce battle between the elders and Denburg’s friends at sea. There was nothing she could do as the second and fourth parts of her plan crumbled before her.

- Are you giving up already?

Hestia turned her head at the sudden familiar voice. Behind her was a sky-blue-haired woman who looked just like her, sitting with her legs crossed in the air.