Manowa - Chapter 403

「Gu, gigigi…」

Then, while Jinrai was wondering what he should do, a person started moving before his eyes. It was the assassin Mobaro who had sunk in a pool of ​​blood just a moment ago. He started moving while making strange moans.

As expected, the enemy had a decent level of strength. There was no way even Jinrai could defeat them in one blow… or not. Jinrai perceived that there was apparently an ill-mannered manipulator of corpses present.

「Hmm. Should I have promptly incinerated him?」

Mobaro reacted to Jinrai’s mutter.

『Hahahaha, a man more merciless than us.』

A laughing voice that didn’t seem particularly amused was made by that being.

『Your skill is superb. I didn’t think he would be able to win, but I never expected he would be killed before it became a match… it seems I misjudged your ability.』

Mobaro stood and said that. Jinrai felt that unlike Mobaro some time ago, that was the voice of someone who had many years of experience.

「Hmph. Are you our enemy?」

This time, Jinrai opened his mouth and conversed without making a surprise attack. In the end, the corpse in front of him was a puppet. Jinrai thought disposing of it had little meaning. However, he thought it was probably important that unlike some time ago, they had suddenly stopped ignoring him.

『That’s right. Our target is Princess Tiara, but we’re also contracted to deal with her escorts.』

Jinrai squinted at those words.

「You already knew that I’m strong. In that case, shouldn’t you have left me alone and aimed at Tiara-sama’s group first?」

After Jinrai’s words, the atmosphere given off by Mobaro changed. Tactically speaking, aiming for the most important and weakest targets first was a natural decision. But the man before his eyes didn’t do that.

『We……』

「Hmm… stalling for time?」

Jinrai muttered. He sensed some frustration from the voice.

「It looks like you really don’t want to let me shoot the Thunder God Cannon.」

Jinrai asserted. Mobaro’s expression became grim.

『You’re unexpectedly clever, Jinrai.』

「Thinking about what your opponent dislikes is the very meaning of tactics, don’t you think, hit man?」

Jinrai replied to the person controlling Maboro. It was confirmed. The impetus was probably Maboro’s statement『Because you were rampaging inside the barrier, the repairs took longer?』a short while ago. It was strange that the small man appeared in front of Jinrai in the first place, but it was even stranger for them to continue aiming at Jinrai. Since they expressly separated the prodigies Yumika and Jinrai from their foremost target, they could have aimed at Tiara’s group. Despite that, they were concerned about Jinrai.

In that case, there must have been some circumstance that made ignoring Jinrai impossible.

『Good grief, a foolish companion is more troublesome than a formidable enemy.』

A bitter complaint leaked from Mobaro’s mouth. He knew there was no point trying to hide it. After those words, Jinrai was reminded of Kazane and Naoki.

Kazane’s ridiculous behavior was a good kind of foolish, while Naoki’s sister idiocy was a bad kind of foolish… Jinrai nodded to himself and replied「Well, there are different kinds of fools.」

And the man named Mobaro was a bad kind of fool.

Jinrai naturally had no way of knowing, but the man named Mobaro that Jinrai killed was an unsolicited addition sent by the leader of the Assassination Guild with the intention of monitoring the Borgiana Clowns. Beyond the irritation from being monitored, Madoru had thought that he would someday expose something he shouldn’t during a job, so he had planned to incidentally use Jinrai to deal with Mobaro here, but his worry had become reality in the worst way.

Mobaro made Jinrai aware that the Thunder God Cannon was useful.

Therefore, Madoru had no choice but to come before Jinrai. They had planned to ignore Jinrai for the time being, but since Madoru was the one with the greatest fighting power, he was the one who had to go.

Yumika’s spear wasn’t the only reason Madoru and the others had taken this long to act. Jinrai had fired the Thunder God Cannon on the way, so Madoru had to spend more time repairing the barrier.

『I’ll make one correction. I’m not here to stall for time. I’m here because I judged that I would be able to kill you. Let’s send you to your companions’ side, rank S.』

「That’s incorrect.『Nobody』has died yet.」

『You can think that if you wish.』

After Jinrai replied to the provocation with his own provocation, Mobaro’s corpse pulled the spear out of his chest and held it at the ready with one hand. In his other hand, he was holding a weapon called Yorumun’s Stinger.

(Hmph. Shippuu is with Louise Nee-san and the others. It’s obvious that nothing has happened.)

When Jinrai was dropped here, he sent Shippuu to Louise and the others. And although he couldn’t communicate with him, Jinrai was linked to Shippuu in the same way as Yuuko-nee, so if Shippuu died, he would immediately sense it.

As for Yumika, who was separated from the party earlier, Jinrai wasn’t worried at all.

(I’m not saying there’s no chance she’ll lose, but she won’t die)

Jinrai so judged his disciple. During the time up until now, Jinrai had grasped Yumika’s nature. It was astonishing that despite her low rate of injury, Yumika constantly defeated the most enemies unless Kazane used a mass destruction technique.

For some reason, before he noticed, she was often achieving results beyond Jinrai; he couldn’t be negligent when it came to his disciple.

Jinrai held the spear to fight, while Yumika held the spear to live. Jinrai evaluated his disciple as a natural killer who specialized in fighting efficiently. That’s why Jinrai didn’t think there was any chance that Yumika would be killed. He had that much trust.

In any case, he currently had his own opponent.

Then Jinrai immediately repelled the needle that had suddenly appeared in the air behind him and tried to approach his back.

『Tch!?』

Mobaro was surprised by the speed of his reaction, but that wasn’t a strange thing for Jinrai.

The current needle attack from midair was due to a Transfer spell. When a Transfer spell caused something to appear, there would be a slight reaction of magical power in that space. And Jinrai understood that Transfer appearance due to special training with Naoki, so he could easily detect it.

(Since there’s no guarantee a devil won’t do the same thing)

Jinrai muttered in his mind. The Transfer spell was the specialty of devils, and they often used it as their means of transportation. But just like Naoki, it wouldn’t be strange for there to be a devil who used it for attacking. While he had only been doing so for a short time, Jinrai had been doing special training to counter it.

And it seemed the needle he had just repelled was an item possessed by the corpse of Marboro in front of him. In that case, defending against the next move was simple.

「Jin, it’s about time to come out.」

『Understood.』

Mobaro’s eyes opened wide at that conversation. Immediately afterward, Mobaro was pierced.

That was done by the skeleton Dragon Knight Jin Bahar. In his right hand was the black dragon fang spear『Evil Eater』that was once again piercing Mobaro, and in his left hand was the weapon called Yorumun’s Stinger, which he had just stolen from Mobaro.

The mediator for summoning Jin Bahar was the black dragon fang spear『Evil Eater』that Mobaro had been holding. In other words, since Maboro had been holding『Evil Eater』, Jinrai had been able to defeat him once again whenever he pleased. That was why he’d had the leeway to converse.

Immediately after, Jin Bahar returned to Jinrai’s side and handed him Yorumun’s Stinger.

『It seems to be a reasonably powerful item.』

「Suitable for assassins? Since it’s a rare item, Kazane might be happy to receive it?」

With a feeling like he was getting a souvenir for a grandchild, Jinrai put it in his Mysterious Bag.

Then Jin Bahar handed the black dragon fang spear to Jinrai, and Jinrai also summoned Gungnir with the white dragon fang spear『God Eater』in his left hand and handed it to Jin Bahar.

『So then, what are you going to do next, Master?』

After Jin Bahar spoke, Jinrai laughed.

「Well, I’d like to quickly break the barrier with the Thunder God Cannon, but」

While saying that, he took a stance with the spears in both of his hands, then knocked down something that suddenly leapt towards him.

『Gyan!』

That something he knocked down shouted and jumped away to escape.

「It’s hard?」

While saying that, Jinrai looked at the thing that had jumped away. Jinrai had certainly aimed to stab the thing that had attacked. However, the opponent was full of life.

『Hey, Onii-chan was smashedー』

『Shut up. I’ll properly slit his throat next time.』

And in that place were children. No, it seemed they were puppets made in the shape of children.

The girl puppet had a huge nata, and the boy puppet was holding huge scissors. Their ball joints grating with every movement, the puppet children looked at Jinrai and Jin Bahar.

『Puppets?』

「Kazane would be delighted to see this.」

Jinrai and Jin Bahar prepared their spears. Unlike Mobaro just now, they had fearsome speed and defensive power. Jinrai understood that he mustn’t be negligent. They were things Kazane had been intensely desiring. Which meant that these articles possessed that much power.

Then, they started to move. Puppets operated by a Puppeteer. Ancient murder machines boasting of monkey-like mobility jumped towards Jinrai.

Name: Yuihama Kazane

Occupation: Summoning Fighter

Title: Ogre Killer, Dragon Slayer, High Beast Summoner, Rea King, Liberator, Guardian

Equipment: Staff 『White Blaze』, Draghorn Tonfa x2, Dragon Eating Ogre Army Armor (True), Indestructible Cloak, Mysterious Pouch, Crimson Saint Coffin, Heroic Spirit Summoning Ring, Circlet of Wisdom, Aim Bracelet, White Magic Accumulator (Revised) ×2, Rainbow Necklace, Rainbow Dragon Ring, Angel Bracelet

Level : 40

Health: 156+20

Magic Power: 378+520

Strength: 81+45

Agility: 83+39

Endurance: 45+20

Wisdom : 75

Dexterity : 53

Spell : 『Fly』『Torch』『Fire』『Heal』『Firestorm』『Healer Ray』『High Heal』『Golden Dusk「Dragon Exclusive」』『Mirror Shield』『Rabbit Speed』『Flare Mirage』

Skill : 『Kick Devil』『Kick Decapitation Wave』『Warrior’s Memory: Lv2』『Night Vision』『Crushing Blow』『Dog’s Sense of Smell: Lv2』『Golem Maker: Lv4』『Aegis Shield』『Fire Principle: Third Chapter』『Healing Principle: Fourth Chapter』『Air Jump: Lv2』『Killing Leg: Lv3』『Fear Voice』『Invisible』『Tiger Eye』『Wall Walking』『Intuition: Lv2』『Cheat Death』『Nimble』『Charge』『Material Shield: Lv2』『Information Link: Lv2』『Optical Camouflage』『High Dash』『Bloodsucking Blade』『Dragonization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Regenerate』『Soul Breaking Blade』『Stealthy Hand Placement』『Thunder Chariot: Lv2』『Sturdier Teeth: Lv2「Dragon」』『Crystallization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Devil King’s Intimidation』『Stone Minotaur: Lv2』『Mega Beam: Lv2』『Space Expansion』『Pseudo-Silver Creation』『Poison Claw』『Fireball「Dragon」』『Cuticle「Dragon」』『Arms Creation: Black Flame』『Ingredient Connoisseur: Lv3』『Dragon Pheromone「Dragon」』『Boost』『Monkey’s Strong Arm』『Two-sword Style』『Boobies Plus』『Living Armor』『Alarm』『Six-sword Style』『Mental Attack Complete Protection』『Spider Web』『Wire Cutter』『Flexible』『Magic Power Absorption』『Red Body Transformation』『Friendship Tag-team』

Naoki: 「Is Thousand Skill Devil King Skill-based?」

Kazane: 「Seems that way. Archangel is easy to understand. It’s mainly Light attribute.」

Naoki: 「And then Magical Beast King?」

Kazane: 「I think it’s partially because I have Yuuko-nee as a follower, but I also have quite a lot of monster Skills. However, it says it’s a Chimera species…」