Ankoku Kishi Monogatari - Chapter 75.3

Chapter 75.3: High-Rank Ghoul

Even though we already searched the entire mansion, we couldn’t find the woman we were looking for. Di*ckhead seems to be disappointed by it.

「How unfortunate, Reiji-kun. The one you’re looking for might have been a Ghoula in disguise, you know. We might’ve accidentally beat her when we exterminated the ghouls in this mansion.」

Ghoulas mimicked the form of beauties. The Moonlight Goddess who Decius saw before was most likely a Ghoula in disguise. The Ghoul who mimicked Cornes might be looking for their own comrades.

I couldn’t help but smile triumphantly upon seeing Di*ckhead’s depressed face.

「Chiyuki-dono might be right. But then, my little sister Sienna is…」

Decius spoke with a gloomy face.

His expression told everything he wanted to say.

If Sienna-san was really caught by the Ghouls, she might’ve already been eaten by them by now.

I absolutely couldn’t bring myself to tell him that.

「A-ANYWAY!! LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT THE BASEMENT!! WE MIGHT FIND SOMETHING IN THERE!」

Nao spoke with a cheerful voice, trying to change the topic of conversation.

「Yeah. Let’s go to the basement first.」

We then headed toward the said basement.

The entrance to the basement was hidden behind certain bookshelves in the library. It seems to be the cliche same no matter where you go.

A stairway appeared after we slid the bookshelves to the side.

There were lighting sources placed at fixed distances in the tunnel leading towards the basement, saving us the trouble from using lighting magic.

We descended the stairways with Reiji and Nao in the lead while the rest of us followed from the back.

「Eh? Butterflies?」

Rino suddenly spoke with a surprised voice.

As we arrived in the basement, what welcomed us was a swarm of butterflies.

「What is this? They’re so beautiful!!」

I couldn’t help but mutter since this was the first time I’d seen such beautiful butterflies.

It was as if the basement that was filled with shining butterflies had turned into a dream world.

”
”
「WATCH OUT, REIJI-SENPAI!!」

Nao suddenly turned around and shouted at Reiji.

The next moment, the sound of metal clashing against metal resounded in the room.

The moment I turned toward the direction of that sound, my eyes opened so wide, unable to believe what I saw.

Over there, I saw a girl with a scythe in her hand.

The shining butterflies were fluttering around her as if to celebrate her coming.

The girl’s extremely beautiful appearance surrounded by the shining butterflies was truly a fantastical sight.

The girl wore a set of clothes with a combination of blue and black color, and the color of her hair was silver.

Decius, who stood by my side, muttered “Moonlight Goddess” as soon as he saw the girl.

No doubt about it, that girl was the Moonlight Goddess herself.

And that Moonlight Goddess was looking at us with a glare that sent a chill running down my spine.

「Even though it was a surprise attack, it still failed in the end, huh. As expected, it seems you’re a little bit stronger than some maggots.」

Even though she spoke with a bell-like voice, her tone was packed with extreme hostility towards us.

「What a violent welcome. I would appreciate it if you used a more gentle welcome. Otherwise, I might end up killing you by mistake.」

Di*ckhead readied his sword as he spoke with his usual frivolous tone. Despite the surprise attack from before, he could still show such a calm smile.

「Who’d want to welcome you, di*ckhead. Rather, die in the gutter.」

Wow, that was plain old glaring hostility. Thanks for not hiding it.

And then, the Moonlight Goddess stepped back, readying the scythe in her hand.

「Unfortunately, I won’t let you to do that.」

And yet, the di*ckhead spoke with the same smile as before, even though the other party was telling him to DIE, wake up already DI*CKHEAD.

「It’s nice to meet you again, Moonlight Goddess.」

During such a conversation, Decius suddenly decided to greet the Moonlight Goddess.

「Hah, who are you?」

Decius seems to be quite shocked at the Moonlight Goddess’ response.

Reiji was laughing upon seeing that scene.

Though the Moonlight Goddess knew about Reiji, she seems to have forgotten about Decius.

Poor Decius, let me play the world’s smallest violin for you.

「I’ve some questions for you. Are you the mastermind behind Karkinos attack at the banquet?」

But, contrary to my expectations, Decius still asked without looking dejected.

Atta boy, Decius.

「I’m not.」

The Moonlight Goddess denied her involvement.

「It seems she’s telling the truth. Then, do you know about this flute which my little sister, Sienna had entrusted to me?」

Decius took out the said flute as he asked so. GOGOGO Decius.

「Flute? And Sienna? Aah, I see now, you’re that Deci-something- big brother that Sienna talking about huh?」

We couldn’t hide our shock upon hearing the Moonlight Goddess’ remark just now. She seems to know the whereabouts of Sienna.

「Is Sienna okay? And,my name is Decius.」

As expected of Decius. He still tried to correct the Moonlight Goddess’ misspelling of his name.

「At least I won’t behead her since she taught me how to dance, Deci-something.」

Moonlight Goddess seems to have zero interest in remembering Decius’ name.

That aside, knowing about Sienna was already more than enough for us.

「Thanks goodness, lord Decius.」

「Thanks goodness, Decius-san.」

「Thank goodne~ss.」

Decius agreed with us.

「Then, will you return Sienna to us right now?」

「It’s not like I restrained her or something. Or rather, I want her to leave as soon as possible.」

I tilted in puzzlement upon hearing such contradicting remarks.

Sienna seems to be living under the same roof with Moonlight Goddess and yet, the former doesn’t seem to be restricted by the latter either.

「But, you better not let your guard down. Something big has been crawling right under your feet.」

The Moonlight Goddess spoke while pointing her scythe toward Decius.

「What do you mean?」

The Moonlight Goddess stepped back with disgusted look on her face upon seeing Di*ckhead stepping forward.

「Hero, I’m not stupid enough to fight a losing battle with you. But, if you wish for a fight, then come to Badon’s altar.」

The Moonlight Goddess spoke with a light smile on her face.

That smile seems to be able to mesmerise that f*cking d*ckhead of a hero.

「Badon’s altar? What the heck is that?」

Moonlight Goddess shifted her attention a bit to me when I asked that question.

「You can ask for the details from Ainoe. Or ask those filthy ghouls, if any of them survived, that is. Well, it’s time for me to leave since someone might be worrying to no end if I don’t go back soon.」

The Moonlight Goddess stepped back as she spoke.

「Whoops, not so fast. I want to know more about you, you know?」

Reiji closed in toward the Moonlight Goddess.

But, a barrier of light suddenly appeared in front of Reiji.

「LAYERED MAGIC SHIELD?!!」

The layered magic shield that appeared in front of Reiji was keeping him from approaching the Moonlight Goddess.

「Farewell, hero.」

Moonlight Goddess’ body was enveloped by numerous shining butterflies as she spoke. And in the next moment, her figure had already vanished.

It was as if the one who appeared before us was a mere phantom.

「Her presence has vanished too. Is she somehow moving away from this place?」

Nao asked with a puzzled look on her face after seeing the Moonlight Goddess vanish before us.

「It seems she’s no longer in this room since I can’t feel her magical power either. Did she just used some sort of teleportation?」

I am also puzzled by the mysteries behind her sudden disappearance.

That moment, the basement room suddenly shook.

When I looked around, I realized that the room’s size was smaller than before. And, it felt oppressive.

Yeah, no doubt about it, the room has shrunk.

「OH NO! EVERYONE GATHER AROUND ME!!」

I screamed at everyone.

She locked up everyone inside a small, enclosed barrier, and then crushed everyone inside the barrier by shrinking its size. All of us are gonna be crushed to death unless I do something about this situation.

After confirming that everyone had already gathered around me, I unleashed another barrier around us to push back the barrier that was about to crush us.

The pressure on my barrier was really powerful. It seems the Moonlight Goddess’s magical power was as strong as mine.

I focused on my magical power.

I knew that Cornes’ mansion was crumbling apart outside of my barrier. Maybe, the building on top of this basement was designed to crumble once the basement got destroyed.

Few minutes later, the collapse had finally stopped. It seems the space has stopped shrinking too.

I expanded my barrier to above for the sake of pushing out the rubble above the basement.

”
”
When we returned above ground, Cornes’ mansion had already crumbled down to the ground.

「Merciless.」

The one who compressed the space was definitely that Moonlight Goddess. It seems she prepared that gimmick as a parting gift before she left.

Though she failed to crush us to death, now we have no idea what actually happened.

「But, she was such a babe. Now that I’ve met her in person, I have to agree that she’s befitting to be called as Moonlight Goddess.」

And yet, a certain di*ckhead praised the very same girl who was about to kill us a few minutes ago.

「She’s as short as Rino and yet, her bre*sts are HUGE!」

Rino orzed as soon as we came out from the basement.

Yup, her jugs were HUGE.

In addition, she also has a slender waist and perky butt on top of those HUGE jugs. I’M SO JEALOUS!!

「But then, we’re still in the dark about her. Who is she? She doesn’t seems to be a ghoul.」

Though she wasn’t a ghoul, she doesn’t seem to be a human either.

「Maybe, she’s not a human, Rino-san. Did you see through the real appearance of that girl?」

I asked the still dejected Rino.

「Uhm. I did my best to see through her disguise, but that was her real appearance…」

Rino shook her head while replying to my question.

If her appearance remained the same even after Rino looked at her with her anti-illusion’s eyes, that beautiful appearance is undoubtedly her real appearance.

That might be another reason why Rino seems so dejected.

「Uhm, Chiyuki-dono. Something about her remark keeps bothering me. The part where she said that something big has been crawling right beneath our feet. And then, the part about the other ghoul.」

Decius spoke with a grim look on his face.

He’s right. What did that mean?

「Moreover, come to Badon’s altar.」

Reiji muttered.

Speaking about Badon, it must be the monster depicted on the relief. It seems we still have a lot of things left to investigate.

「Reiji-kun. Let’s go back for now since we still have a lot of things to investigate. In addition, we have to locate the altar too.」

「Yeah. It’s rude to not come to a beauty’s invitation after all.」

Everyone nodded together, it seems we’re of the same opinion.

Moonlight Goddess. Just what kind of scheme did she prepare for us?

===

Dictionary : Di*ckhead=Reiji. Sorry, I got too emotional when tling this chapter(Which happened at the same time as tling AKM:Re Act 2, now you can imagine how it dealt double damage on my brain).