Kuro no Maou

“All right! I’ll go take care of that giant thing now . No half-hearted attacks, I’ll go full power! Formation: ’Dragon Killer’!”

Nero draws his sword at the same time Kai readies his ‘Buster Sword’ .

Then, Safi is the one to make the first move .

“Our target is... Let’s see... I suppose the closest one of them . ”

Her muttered words aren’t directed at the other team members . Instead, they are orders for her servants .

With a wave of her Crystal Skull Staff, Safi creates two purple magic circles in mid-air . One of them is about one meter wide, while the other is about half its size .

Before long, something comes flying out from the smaller magic circle, leaving behind a trail of purple toxic fumes . That’s not a dark-attribute magic attack, but one of her servants, a dark-colored bird that lets out an ear-shattering cry as it emerges .

The bird looks very similar to a crow, but its body is as large as a falcon’s, and its beak and claws look exceptionally sharp, making it look more like some sort of Blackbird monster variant . Those monsters, much like crows, seem to be found almost everywhere, but they’re still regarded as a rare kind of large bird monsters . They are particularly famous for their feathers, which are a high-grade material for making magical robes .

That Blackbird soars through the sky over Galahad, serving under Safi’s command .

“Caw-Caw is already here, come out now, Paw-Paw!”

She issues her commands using those ridiculous nicknames, but Safi’s face is as calm and beautiful as ever, even under that ominous Skull Mask . She’s doing nothing more than diligently using her servant .

As commanded by her Mistress, the skeleton warrior Paw-Paw emerges from the larger magic circle . His role is that of a pawn, hence the name “Paw-Paw” .

The infantry skeleton, whose eyes shine with a bewitching light that hints a false life force granted by dark magical powers, silently jumps off the castle walls . Consistent with its bony appearance, it doesn’t have the ability to fly .

However, the infantry skeleton does fly through the air, its body clad in purple light . That’s because it had used its bony hand to grab one of the Blackbird’s –Caw-Caw’s– legs . Though it has been named “Caw-Caw” simply because it looks like a crow, this Blackbird’s wings are too strong to be compared with those of other average-sized birds, allowing it to carry the skeleton soldier with ease .

Thankfully, there were no Crusader spellcasters or archers on the field, so Caw-Caw and Paw-Paw reached their destination –the golem– without fear of getting shot down .

Caw-Caw returned to Safi right after dropping Paw-Paw on the ancient golem’s shoulder . The skeleton soldier stands up, opens its bony jaw –which is full of eyes–, and fluently speaks up .

「ستة عشر شخصا الذين يشار إليها باسم مشاة العظام」

No, that’s not the skeleton’s own voice, but Safi’s natural voice .

There is always some sort of relationship between servants used by summoners and necromancers and the masters who use them, such as providing magical power and shared perception . Depending on the servant’s role and the master’s own ability, the kind of relationship they have may greatly vary .

Having a monster servant listen to commands regardless of distance is an ability generally known by most veterans, but the ability to speak through a servant is something much more difficult to master .

What’s more, Safi is not just trying to make its servant speak . She’s trying to cast a spell through it .

If you’re not the same class as Safi, you probably wouldn’t understand just how skilled she is . Among her teammates, the only one who could probably understand her greatness is Nell, who has diligently studied magic that does not belong to her class .

“‘Pawn Platoon’!”

To no one’s surprise, Safi’s spell activates through the skeleton soldier .

Just as Paw-Paw unsheathes its sword, a magic circle similar to the one used to summon it spreads out under its feet . The next moment, several spear-wielding skeleton soldiers come forth, as if emerging from the depths of a swamp .

It’s a unit of sixteen skeleton soldiers . The role assigned to them by Safi is ‘Harbinger’ .

They are faced by chimera-like soldiers with many arms, many heads, and possibly even wings . Several of these grotesque soldiers climb up the ancient golem as if it were a cliff in order to repel the intruders .

“I knew there were going to be guards . ”

Defending a siege weapon until it reaches its destination is a natural course of action . No matter how powerful an ancient golem can be, you can bet that there will be guards ready to defend it in the event of it being attacked .

“There’s still quite a few of them . ”

Just by looking roughly at their numbers, they probably match the skeletons’ sixteen, or maybe even outnumber them by a small margin .

“Thirty more seconds should be enough . ”

Safi speaks with her usual composed tone of voice while watching the skeleton soldiers silently intercepting the oncoming swarm of roaring chimeras .

Is that because she has absolute confidence in her ability to conjure good servants?

“Nah, at this range, ten seconds will do . ”

No, it is because she trusts her companions .

This is particularly true just by looking at Nero, who’s getting all worked up . His eyes are covered by a mask, but even it cannot hide the glint on those red pupils of his .

“Let’s go, Kai . ”

“All right! You’re going down!”

Nero, cold and sharp like an icy sword, and Kai, heated up as if burst into flames, both jump off the castle walls .

Kai is one step ahead, but not because he’s being hot-headed . This is the right formation .

Using the passive skill ‘Air Walker’, both of them are able to demonstrate jumping abilities far exceeding human limits .

However, their jumping distance is approximately twenty meters . The golems are still advancing, and are about a hundred meters away from the castle walls, so they won’t make it in a single leap .

That’s right, they’re not jumping only once .

Just after they begin being pulled down by gravity’s yoke, a black shadow appears under their feet . Commanded by Safi, the Blackbird serves as a scaffolding which the two can use to bounce into their next leap .

Nero and Kai land on the Blackbird’s back and, like a stone skipping over a lake’s surface, leap back into the sky .

Charged with the power of martial arts, the stepping on its back would suppose a great shock to the Blackbird, but the servant conjured by the genius necromancer does not even flinch . In fact, it even seems as if the two were able to jump even higher than before .

The distance of their second jump is about thirty meters . Fifty more to reach the golem... no, since it has still been marching forward, it should be forty more meters to go .

But there will be no Blackbird scaffoldings for the next jump .

But having gotten that far is more than enough for them . Even if there’s nothing to use as a scaffolding, they’ll be okay . This is the last step .

“‘Sonic Walker’!”

The two of them use a master-level mobility martial art . To say that they are running through the air is not a figure of speech, they are really doing it .

Nero and Kai step on the nothingness of the sky and make their third leap .

With the boost to their jumping ability granted by ‘Air Walker’ combined with ‘Sonic Walker’, they are able to jump twice as farther than their first jump . That is just the forty meters that they need .

The two of them finally reach the ancient golem .

“...Whoa! We barely made it!”

“Let’s think about that later . ”

It looked as if they had gracefully landed on the golem’s shoulder, but Kai’s confession goes to show that wasn’t the case . Still, that’s just how ‘Wing Road’ is, always reaching its target at the last second .