Chapter 76 "Catalyst"

　I guess it's about time.

　The destination of the stairs was a large space.

　There are... signs of people. There were about six of them.

　Without entering the space, I quietly peeked out from behind the stairs.

　There were five black robes, which I have become familiar with recently... and what was that?

　He is around 5 meters tall, I guess. His skin is pitch black and he has wings on his back.

Unlike the last time I saw it, its head is shaped more like a human's...and its chest is covered with human hair.

　The head is almost human-like...and the upper body of a human grows out of the chest.

　The rest of them are in ordinary black robes. One of them was carrying a strange, large iron cage-like object, but other than that, there was nothing of interest.

　I wonder what's going on.

The demon seems to be well-controlled, so it seems to be tougher than the one I saw last time.

　...I remember that demons can be killed by pulling out a magic stone from somewhere in their body, right?

　I knew about that from the information I pulled out of Fatima.

　What is needed to summon a demon....

　A human being to serve as a catalyst.

　A magic circle to summon the demon.

A magical stone as the core.

　The quality of the catalyst depends on what Fatima calls "karma."

　I looked into my memory and couldn't understand it at all, but it seems that sinners and people who have done many evil deeds have a lot of karma. It is literally karma.

Liard had also studied the subject, but her understanding of the subject was limited.

I found something similar in the knowledge of the Temple Knights.

　It's part of the basic Gnostic philosophy.

　Gnosis.

　The basis of its teaching is "spirit" and "body."

　The spirit is the pure essence of a person, and the body is the cradle in which the spirit is nurtured.

Now, how to nurture the spirit is "knowledge"...in short, it seems to be nurtured by learning.

　It is not enough to know everything, but by accumulating "correct knowledge," according to them, "knowledge" is sublimated into "spiritual knowledge" and becomes nourishment to nurture the spirit.

　On the other hand, if you accumulate "incorrect knowledge," your spirit will be defiled and corrupted.

　In other words, "If you do good things, you will go to heaven, and if you do bad things, you will go to hell."

　To be honest, if it were in Japan, I would just dismiss it with a "hmmm," but this is a world where unscientific occultism such as magic is very prevalent. It would be better to take it seriously to some extent.

　...I've been saying "it seems" a lot since then, but even if I look into my memory, I can't come up with any proof.

　I wonder why Gnostic people believe in it without any doubts, but I guess it's just the way it is, considering it's been imprinted on their minds since long ago. I was satisfied with that.

　From here on, in my opinion, the "spirit" is the same as the "soul" that I am aware of.

　However, I don't understand how the soul is affected by "spiritual knowledge" and "corruption".

　I'm sure there will be opportunities to touch the soul in the future, so this is something that needs to be examined.

　I digress a little, but I would say that a person suitable for a catalyst is a person with karma...a "corrupted" soul in the Gnostic sense of the word.

　I have a feeling there's more to it than that, but I can't say at this point.

If I could take away the memories of those black robes, I might be able to find out something, but it will be difficult.

　Next, the magic circle.

　This one is easy to understand. All you have to do is write a combination of specific shapes and letters in a circle.

　The size of the circle is proportional to the number of catalysts, and if multiple people are to be sacrificed, the size must be commensurate with the number of catalysts.

Finally, the magic stone, which is the core.

　It is necessary to fix the invoked demon, and without it, the demon cannot maintain its form even if it is invoked.

　It seems that the quality of this stone also makes a difference in the demon invoked.

　Well, I don't want to summon the demon myself at the moment, so that's not important.

　Well, hiding won't help, so let's do it.

　If there's nothing here, I'll check every suspicious well in town.　

　Start the magic at full power.

＜Explosion II＞ deployed six at the same time.

　Damage to the surroundings? Using a fire system in an enclosed space?

　That's none of my business. The walls can't be broken by magic anyway, so just go all out.

　I jump out of the shadows and fire at the same time.

　Six directed blasts of fire and impact hit the black robes and the demon.

　It's a good thing they noticed me as soon as I jumped out but it was too late.

　A roar.

　Flames and shock fill the space.

　I stay alert, deploying defensive magic and preparing to counterattack.　

　...The mooks are dead, or at the very least out of combat, but the demon...

　Just as I predicted, the demon breaks the blast flame and rushes in.

　A fist roared out and swung down at my face.

　I sidestepped and ducked, pulling out the sword from my waist and slashing at the swinging arm.

The sword bit into the flesh...and stopped.

　I pushed, but it didn't move, so I gave up and let go of the sword.

Entering the space through the side of the demon.

　A wind was created and flames and smoke were scattered. Was it the demon's work?

　I looked at the space again when I could see better.

　It is circular and the top is terribly high. From a bird's eye view, the structure seems to be similar to a cylinder.

　Incidentally, the other black robes were literally obliterated, and there were some black ink barely in the shape of a human being lying around.

　"You... you... are... the... apostolos... of... the... me... no... no... no... no... no... no..."

　Me? Apo? You talking about me?

　"What are you talking about?"

　The upper body buried in the demon's torso stares at me.

　"Sorehodo no soyou wo sazukatte okinaga nazewarerano shukufuku wo kobamu!"

　I have no idea what he's talking about, so I decide to take it as some kind of delusion.

I ignored him and flash my arm. I strike the demon with a whip of thorns that grows from the palm of my hand.

　I've learned to manipulate plants to some extent, and I can't use it openly, so this is a good opportunity.

　I want to try it out, so be my sandbag.

　The whip is woven with a considerable amount of ivy, and its surface is covered with thorns.

　It is not aimed at the human, but at the demon's head.

 is a nuisance when it is used.

　It seems that the thing can be carried in the line of sight, and I continued to attack while moving so that the line of sight would not be directed toward me as much as possible.

　I always tried to stay out of their line of sight. I was no match for the sand.

"Kisamaa!"

　The face of the one buried in the demon howls after being hurt so much.

　Shut up. Speak clearly.

My free arm is transformed into a flycatcher, and I stretch it out at once.

　Before it bites, it fills its mouth with digestive juices.

　It bites the whole head off.

　"Agaaaaaaaah!"

　The digestive juices dissolve even the Death Worm's outer shell.

If it were to be consumed alive, it would be beyond saving.

I feel the demon's head dissolve in the mouth.

　The upper body growing out of the torso is in pain.　

　Now, let's gouge out the magic stone of the main body before it regenerates.

　It's rather weaker than the one I had an encounter with before because it's pain-sensitive, and it's not moving well, and it's operating by itself, after all.

The outstretched arm of the flycatcher shrinks and moves by itself.

Before entering into a short distance, I grow a new arm from my side.

When the flycatcher is within arm's reach, it grabs the head growing out of the body and spins it 180°.

　"Kahah!"

　The scream is cut off.

Releasing my hand, I use it to pierce the middle of his chest with my bare hand.

I activate the magic inside his body. It is the now familiar  used.

　Activation. The demon's upper body expands greatly.

　Oh? It doesn't pop. I hit it with three more shots.

　This time, the upper half of the demon's body bursts open, and pieces of reddish-black flesh and a strange black liquid fly out.

　"........."

It was at close range, and I was caught with everything it had.　

　My whole body was in a mess, but... well, I won.

　I let out a sigh, and while using magic to purify my entire body with water, I check my surroundings.

　It doesn't regenerate. It seems I did a good job of blowing out the magic stone. The number of other bodies... it fits.

Okay, I've wiped them all out. Most of their possessions... are gone.

Fortunately or not, the self-destruct mechanism didn't seem to work, thanks to the fact that I made them all into charcoal.

　Thanks to that, only the iron basket they were holding so carefully managed to survive the fire.

　I picked it up and looked at the whole thing.

　It was a basket, no matter how I looked at it. It looked like it was made of woven thin iron.

　I tried to open it, but it was deformed by the heat, or perhaps it wouldn't open.

　It was troublesome, so I put it on the ground and cast a magic spell on it.

　The basket, hit by the wind, opened its mouth and revealed its contents.

　When I saw what was inside...

　"What is this?"　　

　I let out such a dumb voice.

　"I see... okay. You can step back."

　"I understand. I'll leave you now."

I saw Iqbal leave the office, and I - Sherifa - let out a sigh.

I had ordered him to watch over the adventurer named Ro, whom I had just talked to, along with another subordinate, Mixon.

I had just received a report that there was nothing suspicious so far.

Rick had been suspicious of him, so he followed him, but so far nothing suspicious had turned up.

　Maybe Rick was overreacting.

　It was certainly suspicious, but the time of arrival was after the incident.

There is not enough evidence to conclude that he was one of the group.

　It was certainly suspicious, and although it is not a compliment, if he was one of them, the investigation would have progressed quickly, so it is not that I did not have high hopes, but it seems my fears were unfounded.

Nevertheless....

　It's been a long time since I've moved in earnest.

　Why can't I find them?

　Such thoughts swirl in my mind and my frustration grows.

　The search for unused buildings in the city is almost over.

...And yet, Darzain's base has not been found.

　Something is wrong. I think so, but I don't know what exactly is wrong.

　--Can you think of any reason why the investigation is not progressing?

　Suddenly, the adventurer's words pass through my mind.

　The reason for the lack of progress? Could it simply be that they are cleverly hiding?

　Why? Why are those words bothering me so much?

　I feel something tugging at my throat.

　I don't feel good. What is it? Something is wrong.

　I sink deeper into my chair and concentrate on my thoughts.

　Is there a reason... a reason I can't find... is something blocking me?

　...If so, what....

I recall what we have done so far.

　I recall the investigation policy, what we actually did, what happened, one by one....

　"...... it's strange."

　It is indeed strange.

　The investigation is unnaturally concentrated on the outskirts of the city, even though the incident is taking place in the middle of the city.

　As a result, nothing is being done and the number of victims is increasing.

　And then, by coincidence, Rick and his friends, who are students, come across a kidnapping scene.

...This can only mean that we are being led to a place where there is nothing to be found...

　Then who?

　The first thing that came to mind was the person in command....

　"That's ridiculous..."

　I raise my voice involuntarily. It's impossible.

A Temple Knight...we who weave spiritual knowledge....

　What are we going to do...? Confirmation...no, that's....

　I can't think straight.

　I scratched my head roughly and left the room.

　...Let's take a little rest.

Let's take a nap and empty my head once and think about it.

I knew it was just putting it aside, but I had to do it.