chapter 57 : The assassin devises a magic way to kill

 The mission of killing demons and the bestowal of the status that came with it.

This was what my father relayed to me.

Indeed, I was incapable of predicting all this.

…I had to get ready ASAP.

If I didn’t leave Tuatha Dé the day after tomorrow, I would never make it in time for the ceremony.

Today and tomorrow were the only days where I could settle down and do my research.

I waited for visitors in my room while drinking tea.

Then I heard a knock.

[Lugh-sama, we have arrived.] (Tarte)

[You called us here so suddenly, what’s up?] (Dia)

[I was expecting you two.] (Lugh)

Tarta and Dia entered my room.

I called them here so we could discuss that matter.

Both of them were my assistants.

Which means that if I were going to fight demons, they would fight them together with me.

So I had to share with them every detail about my mission to kill demons.

[I have something important to tell you. This country assigned me on a mission. I have to…] (Lugh)

When I explained the situation to them, they were both in a state of surprise.

[How impressive, Lugh-sama! This is a great promotion for you. You will hold a special position, won’t you?] (Tarte)

[There must be something wrong with the mentality of this country. I can’t believe there’re dumping the matter of the demons on a single noble.] (Dia)

Except that each of them was surprised in a completely different way.

Tarte was happy that I received recognition for my strength, and Dia was feeling outraged.

If anything, Dia’s indignation was the more legitimate reaction.

[Lugh, back to the actual problem. Can you kill demons? Every document says that only the hero is capable of that.] (Dia)

[I can’t. I fought against a demon during the school raid from last time. I could kill him, but I couldn’t finish him. In terms of raw strength, he was one or two levels above me. I could kill him when I caught him off-guard. But as soon as I did, he regenerated himself. In fact, in that place alone, I must’ve killed him dozens of times or so, and I kept changing methods every time, but he always came back to life afterwards. Only the hero can kill the demons.] (Lugh)

At that time, I was struck with terror.

After all, no matter how many times I killed him, he always ended up coming back to life as if nothing happened.

I did gain something from that fight by keeping an eye out for any changes in my opponent as I switched from one killing method to another, but I didn’t get to put it into practice.

[Then you must not accept it if you are saying that you cannot win against demons…! It’s the same as walking to your demise…!] (Tarte)

[Yeah, for now, that is.] (Lugh)

[‘For now’ you say, this means that there IS a way to win against demons, right?] (Dia)

[Yeah. I used Tuatha Dé’s eyes and continually analyzed every moment between the demon’s death and revival as I killed him. And also the moment when Epona eliminated him. Which is how I managed to formulate a hypothesis about the reason why only the hero is able to kill demons.] (Lugh)

[What you’re saying is downright incredible! Until now, all the nations in the world have been researching how to kill demons, yet they always ended up relying on the hero.] (Dia)

Anti-demon countermeasures had always been a brain-racking problem for all nations.

Demons only appeared once every 200 years or so, but whenever they did, they always ravaged everything.

The country where the hero was born was still safe, but any other area, to sum it up in one word, was doomed. They were incapable of killing demons, and even if they implored the country that owned the hero, who had the power to slay them, to send him over, the said country wouldn’t be inclined to accept their request, and supposing that they did accept to lend him to them, they would expect massive compensation in return.

…Thanks to that, several countries reached an agreement according to which in case the hero was born in one of their lands, they would immediately approve of lending him to one another free of charge.

[I didn’t do anything outstanding to establish my hypothesis on demon-slaying, I simply used my ability to see mana with my eyes to observe the demon’s regular mana pattern when he dies and compared it with the pattern it followed when the hero killed him. It’s because no researcher in the world has ever seen such a thing that they couldn’t figure this one out.] (Lugh)

Even if they studied demons, they couldn’t capture such a moment. It was impossible for human scholars to join and observe the hero on a battlefield.

Even those who had been researching demons until now could’ve probably reached the answer if like me, they possessed the visual ability to perceive mana and saw a demon die.

[Even so, it’s fantastic! If you perfect that method and present it to the world, this will revolutionize the way we’ve been fighting demons entirely!] (Dia)

Monopolizing methods to kill demons didn’t present many benefits.

This country, where the hero resided, seemingly wanted to profit from trading the hero card with others, but as someone who was coerced into killing demons, I wanted the number of people qualified for the job to increase.

[And that’s why for starters, I’ll perfect my method. Then once I’m done, Dia, Tarte, I want you two to master it.] (Lugh)

[Yes! If it’s under your supervision, Lugh-sama, I will definitely assimilate it!] (Tarte)

[I will help you with the development. That method of yours relies on magic, right?] (Dia)

[That’s right. I’ll be counting on you both.] (Lugh)

This responsibility was a bit too heavy for me alone to bear.

But I had a feeling that I could manage somehow with Tarte and Dia by my side.

[Next, I have presents for you two. Tarte, here’s an improved version of the gun you’ve been using. The cylinder is interchangeable, so the bullets can be replaced faster. Dia, here’s a custom-made gun adapted to your physique.] (Dia)

[That gun still had room for improvement!? Even though it was already amazing enough as it was…!] (Tarte)

[Mine looks so small and cute. Now this is something I can carry with me at any time.] (Dia)

I gave Dia and Tarte their respective revolvers.

The former’s was one size smaller than the latter’s.

In Dia’s case, if I had adjusted her gun like I did for Tarte’s, even if she strengthened herself with mana, she wouldn’t be able to handle the recoil. So instead, I reduced both its firepower and size accordingly.

[Since they’re hand-sized guns, I named them handguns. Since their barrels are short, they’re easy to hide and handle, but their accuracy is low. Tarte, you can attach an optional long barrel to it depending on the situation, and Dia, if you have enough time to aim from afar, use【Gun Strike】with it.] (Lugh)

[I shall practice as much as possible.] (Tarte)

[The rapid-fire mechanism here is fairly intricate. This sure isn’t something that can be recreated in one shot with magic. Yup, I’ll keep it.] (Dia)

…There was no guarantee that the two of them wouldn’t be targeted in the future.

I preferred to have them carry self-defense equipment for good measure.

[That’s all I had to say. Tarte, resume your training, Dia, you and I will work on our demon-slaying technique.] (Lugh)

[Certainly.] (Tarte)

[First, I’ll need to hear about your hypothesis and theory on that matter.] (Dia)

We were now on the move.

And off to devise a way to kill demons before they appear.

Once we were in my room, I explained how to kill demons.

[First of all, the reason why demons are impossible to kill is that in the first place, they merely mimic the bodies of living creatures, but in reality, they’re NOT living creatures. They have something like a core inside their body, and when their flesh is damaged and destroyed to the point of disintegrating, what we call the power of existence overflows from their core, making up for the power that was lost, and reconstructing their body.] (Lugh)

[This would effectively make them resilient, but then, couldn’t we kill them by smashing their cores in one shot?] (Dia)

[We could if they had a tangible form. But their cores are something like spiritual bodies or masses of raw energy, so they have no material form and are intangible.] (Lugh)

[Uwaah… Sounds like a real pain.] (Dia)

Everything I had relayed so far was what I ascertained as I kept killing the demon.

Using Tuatha Dé’s eyes, I discovered the existence of the core from which their energy gushed forth, and I got a good grasp of their body reconstruction process.

[SO the reason why the hero is capable of killing demons is that she’s clad in her special power, and when she fought that demon back then, that power spread all around her and created a field. Inside that field, the demon’s core materialized itself, and it was no longer capable of regenerating his disintegrated flesh.] (Lugh)

[In other words, he could no longer heal his injuries, and it was now possible to destroy his core, is that right?] (Dia)

[Yeah, so we know what to do next. We just have to recreate the field deployed by the hero. The true nature of that field was a combination of chi, the mana of the world, and magical power adjusted at a special wavelength. The mana that filled the world gathered around the hero on its own and flowed in a miraculous balance, but in our case, we’ll have to recreate that phenomenon with magic.] (Lugh)

There were two types of mana.

The first one was the mana that flowed inside our body, called Odic force.

The second one was the mana that filled the world.

That one was split in five colors, four of them were dyed in the color of either of the four basic attributes, and the last one was achromatic.

[That distribution is important. The field is established only when the wavelength-adjusted mana is mixed with the specific proportions of the five colors of world mana, and chi is used to blend them thouroughly. In the hero’s case, she could do it all unconsciously, but for us, it’s going to be quite a pain.] (Lugh)

[Yes, I can tell just from your explanation that it’s going to be tough. But I think we can pull it off. There are a few magic spells that draw on world mana, so if we can find what they have in common, we’ll manage to identify the formula for gathering that mana. Do you know what proportions we’ll need?] (Dia)

[Yeah, I used my eyes to see and memorize them. As long as we know a spell to collect all five colors of world mana, it’s possible to use the wavelength-adjusted mana and chi to blend mana and world mana together.] (Lugh)

[Um, that’s easy to say, but with stuff like wavelength-adjusted mana and chi control, even if we complete the spell, if it can’t be executed automatically, then aside from you, no one will be able to use it. Normally, it would be an impossible stunt.] (Dia)

[But chi and mana control require chanting, and that process can’t be automated. That’s the one thing that requires sheer training. I think you and Tarte will be capable of it… And anyone else would feel too suspicious.] (Lugh)

[That’s a pretty high hurdle. But I’ll do it. This will allow us to create to spread a demon-slaying field, right?] (Dia)

[Exactly. It’s a hypothesis, but I’m confident in it. The only problem is the possibility that even after completion, it would be a defective spell.] (Lugh)

Once it was completed, it should allow us to kill demons, but in truth, there were various problems with it.

[Defective?] (Dia)

[Producing a demon-slaying field requires a crazy amount of mana, and I barely make the cut by unleashing my mana to the limit. So while I’m using this field, I would hardly be able to strengthen my body with mana.] (Lugh)

I could fight by doping myself and removing my brain limiters, but even if I did that, I would still be inevitably and significantly weakened.

[Then I’ll say it again… But only you can use that spell, Lugh! What do you mean you’d barely make the cut with your ridiculously large mana reserve!?] (Dia)

My entire mana reserve was approximately over 1000 times larger than average, and it was still growing even now.

That was the only thing I surpassed even the hero in.

Although the amount I could release at a time was a little over ten times that of any human, I exceeded human standards. Yet I affirmed that even I would barely make the cut.

So this wasn’t something regular mages could use.

[Let’s complete it first. Then I’ll think of a way to reduce its mana consumption. Even if I’m the only one who can use it and I can’t use my mana too well in the meantime, there’s still hope.] (Lugh)

I could create the right conditions to kill demons while also building the field.

I could secure my killing power with mana-saving guns and explosives.

Alternatively, I could also launch the Divine Spear【Gungnir】in advance and expand the field right as it lands.

Or I could just set up the field and leave the fighting to Tarte and Dia. There were many ways to go about it.

I could hardly suppress a grin.

Dia was just so adorable.

[I promise. Once we’ve completed this spell, let’s both go on a date.] (Lugh)

[Yes! Absolutely!] (Dia)

[Of course. I also look forward to it.] (Lugh)

A date with Dia.

A most attractive proposition.

To that end, we had to perfect the demon-slaying spell first.

I suddenly felt my motivation increase by a lot.

Better finish it as quickly as possible.