A monster shaped like a dark shadow.
The Spirit of Darkness rises and moves.
"Now that thing has stepped in..."
"Yeah. The immediate crisis will be solved."
But.
Wonjun and the officers could not relax.
‘Because that thing... isn’t a being we called.’
The being they contracted.
[Demon]
When their Master made the contract with Wonjun,
it deigned to speak with them exactly once.
Thanks to that, it was true they had gained a lot of knowledge and information.
After that,
except when they called for the sake of a contract, it said nothing at all.
At that first contract,
according to what their Master told them...
‘The Master... never grants anything without a price.’
Even the minions that were protecting them
were beings granted on the condition that Wonjun, as the Guide, would arrange contracts for others.
Especially—
‘...Any being above a certain level of power was never granted at all unless we offered up our lives.’
For the sake of their goal,
the several times they proceeded with a [Contract],
the monsters that appeared were very powerful.
Among those minions, there wouldn’t be even ten that strong.
And then—
the Spirit of Darkness was among the strongest of the monsters he had ever seen.
Even if they offered the lives of twenty contractors—
no, even thirty—
it was doubtful they could receive something on that level.
‘A being that suddenly appeared even though we didn’t summon it.’
Whether some other human besides them had contracted something, who knew.
Wonjun’s head throbbed, but
one fact was certain.
Their Master
would never use a being like that without taking any price.
‘It can’t be helped.’
If they could not kill the soldiers bearing down on them right now,
everyone would die.
They did not know what price they would have to pay,
but even if they paid it, the fact that there was a choice that let them survive here—what else mattered.
If the Spirit of Darkness stepped in and cleared the strong ones,
then after that the other minions could slowly clear out those mobile strongpoints of theirs like the tanks.
Even now they were not being overwhelmingly pushed back by the soldiers’ side.
If it just went that way,
the remaining minions would be able to seize those soldiers just fine...
—or so
he thought.
"Huh?"
A man approaching from the front.
A man gripping two daggers, one in each hand,
walked straight toward the ominous-looking monster.
‘Is he insane?’
Whatever confidence he had,
Wonjun thought that man would become the spirit’s first prey.
But then—
[[email protected]?#!]
The spirit’s shadow trembled.
As if—
‘As if it were feeling fear...’
What happened after that
was a sight hard to believe even as they watched it.
****
‘So that’s where you ran.’
Here you were.
Come to think of it, the High Shaman and these guys are the same Demon Contractors.
I can understand running from there and coming here.
I drew my knives
and thought as I approached it.
‘I did manage to win last time, but it’s stronger than I thought.’
No—
honestly, even then it was ambiguous to say I won.
An enemy who blatantly let its guard down and toyed with me.
I used that carelessness, pushed through the middle of its attack,
and nothing more than stuck it once with a knife.
Even if we had kept fighting,
it would have been hard to be sure I actually would have won.
—A Spirit of Darkness, huh...
And
it seemed that wasn’t only my opinion.
According to Borjin:
—Frankly, it’s a question how you survived that being at all.
‘...Huh? It’s that bad?’
—Even if I do not know the details, had you kept fighting you would not have survived. The Spirit of Darkness, when it comes to the erasure of a single target, was an absolute-class minion.
Because it has no substance, unless you have a special means of attack you cannot even harm it.
The bombardment through that shadow was very powerful as well.
The combat uniform the Legion’s production workers made with their full effort was torn to shreds in an instant,
and my body, with the [Steel Lizard] cooking effect applied, was turned to rags in a heartbeat.
And not only that.
—Once it erases a target, it carves up the erased one’s body and turns it into its own weapon. The Spirit of Darkness continues battle that way.
I just didn’t see it.
If I had died there, it could have used my corpse to unleash even stronger attacks.
Back then I trusted my regeneration and somehow rushed in to land a hit,
but if we had fought properly and it had grasped even my regeneration,
next time there would have been no expecting that kind of fluke.
‘Then what the hell. Why did it run?’
—...Grk. There is a part I can guess.
Borjin’s gaze went to my pocket.
The very hardtack pouch with the [Combat Rations (Lunchbox Set)] inside.
—The one weakness the Spirit of Darkness does have is holy power. But you do not seem to have holy power.
"Mm? Well, yeah."
—You are neither a paladin nor a priest. That is only natural. Yet such a one manifested holy power by himself and cut the enemy. The Spirit of Darkness is a high being... it would have been able to feel it.
The reason I’d been able to cut it then
was thanks to the [Anti-Demon] dish loaded with holy water and garlic.
—Where you... obtained that holy power.
And
that Anti-Demon dish...
—How much of the medium that provided that holy power is piled up right near it.
Every squad member’s hardtack pouch
was stocked with a generous two or three.
"Youngjun."
"Sergeant Shin!"
A monster specialized in the erasure of a single target, was it?
But—
‘My class is Chef.’
From the name itself,
it’s an outright support class.
"Can we take that thing?"
"Yeah."
"Everyone, this way!"
The reason it ran in the first place
wasn’t particularly because of me.
By eating my cooking,
all the soldiers overflowing around it...
would grasp its weakness.
"Encircle as tight as you can! Don’t let it slip away like last time!"
"Don’t even give it a moment to run!"
Soldiers in gray combat uniforms.
Between their bodies, a faint light was leaking out.
As they gathered in one place, that light seemed to swell, and then...
[Anti-Demon Light]
[Skill — By the effect of ‘War Song,’ the effect of [Anti-Demon Light] becomes stronger.]
[Trait — By the effect of ‘Legion’s Energy,’ the effect of [Anti-Demon Light] becomes stronger.]
Light settled onto the battlefield.
It lightly swept away the darkness the spirit had wrapped around its body,
and left it not even a way to flee...
a bright, resplendent light.
****
"Th-that light. What on earth..."
"Are all those guys priest-class...? No. That makes no sense."
A minion that had been so powerful—
the Spirit of Darkness—was hunted down in vain.
"G-Guide."
The contractors who had been under the minions’ protection inside.
Knowing the spirit’s power,
for them... it was a scene nothing short of bewildering.
"W-what should we do?"
"Say something, anything...!"
Their gazes
turned to the contractors’ leader,
Wonjun.
The man who had contracted with the demon first here,
and who had explained why people needed to make contracts with the demon and increased the number of contractors.
"Strength to the point of being unreasonable..."
Guide Wonjun
seemed to have no leisure to answer the looks the other contractors sent him.
At some point, all the monsters around the building they were in had been exterminated,
and he could see the Legion’s soldiers approaching the building.
"So it’s soldiers, is it."
"Sir?"
Grinding his teeth as he watched, Wonjun muttered.
The Legion’s power was far too great.
So great he could not believe it had been built up by ordinary means.
Therefore—
there must be a reason for that power.
"Just because they happened to be at a military base on Doomsday..."
"...Guide?"
"They got to take that power easily, is that it!"
An enormous number of tanks.
Vehicles reinforced with all sorts of materials.
Even a considerable number of soldiers with taut discipline.
When he’d first heard a military unit had survived,
he’d thought a small unit had gotten lucky and lived.
Looking now, it wasn’t that.
‘At minimum, a military unit on the order of several thousand survived intact.’
Those soldiers
and they—the contractors—were different.
On Doomsday the monsters had suddenly appeared.
And they had been given no power at all to face those monsters.
To survive,
you either
killed a zombie and, if lucky, awakened—
or else...
‘Borrowed the hand of another great being.’
It was one of those two.
That was why
Wonjun could only grow more enraged.
"Those bastards took their strength easily, so they don’t know...!"
"Don’t know what, sir?"
"That the very power they are drunk on will drive humanity to extinction!"
The contractors here knew it.
The only way
for humanity to survive.
"...Damn it. He’s right."
"They’re that strong, so they’re under the illusion they’ll keep surviving easily from here on."
When Wonjun shouted,
resolve flickered in the eyes of the contractors who had been scanning the area with anxious looks.
"Let’s resist!"
Some of them
even shouted with such courage.
"Shit, they’re filthy strong bastards, but...!"
"If you stab them, they’ll still bleed a drop!"
Perhaps swayed by the Guide’s words,
the contractors shouted with valor.
"Everyone... thank you."
Looking at them,
the Guide, Wonjun, stood there for a moment as if moved, then
opened his mouth.
"Let’s make a contract."
"...!"
A contract—
that was the only skill they had.
Offer body and soul to a great being
to achieve what you wish.
In other words,
he was saying they should all offer up ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) their lives.
"Their strength is abnormal. They used the military’s weapons to grow strong quickly. With our combat power we won’t win. But!"
Looking at the gathered people,
Wonjun shouted in a grand voice.
"The more of those ‘strong humans’ there are, the more our Master’s great work will be delayed!"
"..."
"Everyone knows. That the only way to save humanity is to follow the Master’s will!"
"That... we know well."
"Though we will not be included among the humanity that is saved that way, we must eliminate them even at the cost of our lives."
The minions their Master had sent down to protect them were certainly strong.
But
in the end, they were not enough to beat those soldiers.
However—
‘The minions we summon by offering our souls are stronger than that.’
The Demon Contractors here—
if they all made their contracts and summoned minions,
beings strong enough to exterminate those soldiers would appear.
"...Well. It is more efficient than us grabbing knives and fighting, that’s for sure."
"Damn. I figured we’d do it someday, but to have the moment come out of nowhere like this."
Starting from Wonjun’s words,
people braced themselves, ready to sacrifice.
"H-hic... this won’t be a pointless death, right?"
"Of course not. It’s all for humanity."
"Ah, my sons... I don’t know where you are, but Mom’s going first..."
Those who had steeled themselves for sacrifice
gathered in one place with tears in their eyes.
In that sublime mood where all became one,
as their representative,
the Guide cried out.
"Owner of our souls!"
At that moment—
Kuuuuum...
and
the air around them turned over.
"W-we... seek a contract."
The Guide realized
that their Master had appeared here and was looking down on them.
With a trembling voice, he continued.
[[Contract]. What do you desire?]
"...Grant us the power to eliminate that army of evil which obstructs your great work."
[Extermination of an army... confirmed. The price?]
The contract began to proceed,
and there was one step left.
If he only put the price into words,
the contract would be executed.
"As the price...!"
The Guide,
Wonjun, thinking this would be the last words he ever spoke,
shouted in a grave voice.
"Our...!"
The mood in the hall rose to its peak,
and everyone squeezed their eyes shut and awaited the final moment.
...However.
"Ou-ours."
"Our... thro—..."
"I... I..."
The Guide who had been shouting so solemnly—
his words
started to blur strangely.
"...?"
The final moment they had awaited in tension—
when it did not arrive,
the people seated there cracked their eyes open and lifted their heads.
"A-as the price. Our, that is. Our..."
"G-Guide?"
"O-our throoouu..."
"Suddenly what are you—"
The gathered contractors.
Their flustered gazes turned to the Guide,
and as everyone’s eyes fixed on him—
"...Th-this... isn’t right."
Wonjun’s pupils
only trembled in bewilderment.
