Chapter 51 - Secured
January 27th. The promised day.
I was lying on the summit of Mount Sagara, staring vacantly at the mountain path.
I couldn't see any other hikers besides myself.
It was no surprise.
It was a shabby winter mountain with an elevation of only a few dozen meters.
It wasn't a tourist attraction or anything; it was a place like a wart on the ground.
Even local residents hardly set foot here; I had the impression it was only used by contractors for illegal dumping.
Unless there were extraordinary circumstances, no one would come to a place like this.
On top of that, it was currently nine in the morning on a weekday.
Neither students nor working adults have the leisure to go mountain climbing.
Even so, there was the possibility of elderly retirees or curious campers.
In those cases, I had intended to sneak up from behind and put them to sleep with Sleep magic.
But fortunately, there were no human figures.
Perhaps the record-breaking cold wave had worked to discourage people from going out.
That's right.
The only people who would go out of their way to visit here on a day like this are those with reasons.
Like me, or Yuta Saeki.
Crunching through the gravel, a slender boy comes running.
Out of breath, he advances with a desperate expression.
I am currently applying Concealment to myself.
Nothing should be visible to Yuta's eyes.
"...Otsuki-san... Otsuki-san..."
Yuta is shouting, searching for me, who should be right beside him. As in, Where are you! Give Otsuki-san back!
He probably isn't a bad person.
Since I felt it would be unseemly to cause him harm, I decided to quickly cast Sleep magic.
I stood up and hurled the incantation at Yuta's back.
"I heard you were weak and spineless, but you did well."
I catch Yuta as he falls, having succumbed to sleep.
It's unnervingly anticlimactic.
It definitely shouldn't end like this. One must not let one's guard down.
Because Kana had been tailing Yuta.
She had applied Concealment to herself and followed him without permission.
Keisuke C has been monitoring the Saeki household through a telescope since early this morning.
It is surveillance from an ultra-long distance that won't be caught by Kana's Life Perception.
If one peers through the lens, one can see the target even if they have applied Concealment.
Every person entering or leaving the Saeki house is reported to me via smartphone, one by one.
'Three Kanas also dashed out.'
That was the message sent from Keisuke C a few minutes ago.
Without a doubt, Kana is also here.
Where is she?
I take a combat stance and scan the surroundings.
My entire body conveys that a surprise attack is impossible.
Before long, three Light Swords manifested from the empty space.
It's Kana.
It seems her Concealment isn't of a very high level.
She can't seem to hide the blades generated by her skill.
The blades of light, vibrating with a vroom sound, show hesitant movements. Swaying to the right, then swaying to the left.
I don't know why a surprise attack was predicted. I don't know what to do. Is that roughly Kana's current state of mind?
"Dispel."
I chanted purification magic toward the Light Swords.
Just as a dazzling light seemed to envelop the area, the veil of Concealment covering Kana was stripped away.
As their forms became manifest, all three of the Kanas had expressions of fury.
"Aaaaaaaah!!"
One of them unleashed a wide, sweeping slash.
I lightly jumped backward to evade it.
Having her attack seen through, Kana's posture collapsed significantly.
An opening. I cannot let it go to waste.
I release the [Skill: Light Ball] magic, evaporating the stumbling Kana.
First, one person.
I pounce on the second one, delivering a straight punch to her face.
"Gih!"
With a paan sound like splashing water, everything from Kana's neck up vanished. The sensation was like popping a water balloon.
The headless body collapsed, twitching and convulsing.
Since it would be troublesome if she regenerated, I used high-output magic to annihilate her entire body as well.
"What will you do? There is only one left."
The last remaining Kana holds her sword in a mid-level guard.
Her gaze repeatedly shuttled between me and Yuta. She is likely hesitating between whether she should flee or focus on rescue.
"You understand the difference in power well now. Surrender quietly."
She is not an opponent I can win against by clashing head-on. That should have been clearly communicated, though.
"...I understand."
Kana sheathed her sword and raised both hands. A surrender pose.
She is far too obedient. Considering Kana's personality, it was even unnatural.
In the first place, fighting spirit still dwells in her eyes.
It seems she isn't the type who is very good at lying.
It would work better if I deliberately played along and then finished her off.
"You should have just been obedient from the start," I said, approaching Kana nonchalantly.
I placed a hand on her shoulder, putting on an act as if I were about to enter into a discussion.
"You were six people, weren't you? Did you leave the other three at home?"
"<...I guess."
"Don't be so wary. It's best if we can settle this peacefully. So that both you and Yuta can return home alive..."
It was then.
Unbelievably, Kana attempted to thrust her Light Sword straight into my crotch.
It was the worst kind of ambush.
"It's useless."
Since my defense surpassed thirty thousand, I haven't felt pain in combat.
Even my eyeballs cannot be pierced by a blade.
It's the same, even for my private parts.
"...Unbelievable. Does anyone normally train to this extent?"
"It's not like I became like this by choice. But it does hurt mentally, you know."
I had no choice but to cut off both of Kana's arms.
With this, using the [Skill: Divine Sword] is impossible.
She might have applied automatic Recovery Magic before coming here, but it should have been blown away along with the Concealment by the Dispel.
There is no fear of new arms growing back.
"Regene—"
Of course, magic can be re-chanted. Just like the current Kana.
But I am not so foolish as to allow that so easily.
I shoved my finger into Kana's mouth to prevent her from chanting Recovery Magic.
"—! —gh!"
"
"It's impossible. You can't bite through my finger with that jaw. You're biting for real, but it feels like being caught between sponges."
"
"—! —gh—!"
"
"The difference in base stats between you and me is too great. Give up. There are no more moves left for you."
With the legs that still remained free, Kana desperately stepped on my toes.
It was a futile resistance.
"Let's talk. I don't like bullying girls."
While drooling, Kana struggled to sink her teeth into my finger.
"You could use Life Perception, right? I want you to act as a radar to find the remaining Kanas. If you do that, I might let you stay here alive. I'll dispose of the other Kanas."
"<...gh...! Gu...!"
"
"Once everything is finished, you can live as a normal human. How about it? Throw away that strange elitism. Let's stop killing everyone except the people we like."
I spoke to her as if to admonish her, saying it was out of our shared bond as Summoned Heroes.
I wonder if it reached her?
"—!"
Kana's response was to "kick me in the crotch."
"I told you it won't work."
I had no choice but to apply a Panic debuff to Kana.
A vicious status ailment that multiplies fear and pain perception several times over.
I just hope Kana's mind doesn't break.
"Shall we talk about the old days?"
I told tales of my adventures from the other world into Kana's ear.
"You see, in that world, I exterminated the Goblins. How do you think I did it?"
I told her how I captured Goblin children alive and impaled them in front of their dens.
How I subjugated the enraged parent Goblins one after another as they rushed out.
How I tortured them in ways so hideous they were revolting to even mention.
I let Kana listen to it as if it were just some casual reminiscence.
With full immersion, even including detailed descriptions that would make one want to cover their ears.
My Goblin extermination was filled with episodes so intense one could no longer tell which side was the monster.
Thinking of the Race that stole Elsa's life, I simply couldn't hold back at all.
"If you're too stubborn, I'll have to treat you just like the Goblins. You wouldn't want to undergo the torments I just described endlessly, would you? ...Ah, jeez, don't wet yourself."
Kana had urinated herself and was trailing tears and snot.
I gently patted the head of the girl who had completely transformed.
"Rest assured. I won't do such terrible things to a human. Kana, you are a human, right? The ideology of killing everyone except those you've selected isn't that of a human. If you were an evil demon thinking such things, I wouldn't choose my methods. But you're different, aren't you?"
As Kana nodded her head, I told her that I don't dislike well-behaved children.
The fighting spirit that had dwelt in her eyes until a moment ago had completely dissipated.
Her eyes were filled with pure terror and emptiness.
"Three more, then."
The moment I muttered that, the smartphone in my pocket chimed with a notification.
I hurriedly took it out and peered at the screen.
'Reporters are also starting to climb the mountain, chasing after the Kanas. Descend via a different route than when you came. Right now.'
I replied "Understood" to Keisuke C.
While experiencing both the convenience and inconvenience of an information society, I descended the mountain carrying the Saeki siblings.