'It's no fun when no one is fighting back.'
Michael stared at the corpses strewn about the field while smoking a rolled tobacco. Ash-grey smoke mushroomed up in the air. This cigarette was manufactured by the second generation of craftsmen. The reason why Michael enjoyed hunting demons or going on a 'business' trip was because he got to smoke the cigarettes he liked so much, to his heart's content.
In
Michael smoked through several cigarettes in a row and as he fell into a chain of thought, stubbed it out by rubbing it against the exposed flesh of a dead corpse.
'Have I taken too long?'
「What do you mean, too long? It's only just begun.」
Michael heard the voice reverberating within his head and frowned deeply.
'Shut up.'
「Hurry, wake me up. Unshackle me already.」
Michael pulled out a new cigarette.
He had been hearing this particular Fable's voice for a long time. And whenever he did, Michael simply had to burn through more cigarettes, one after the other.
'Now isn't the time.'
Michael took another long drag of the rising smoke.
[Nebula
[Archangel hunting, is it? It does sound rather interesting.]
Asmodeus grinned brightly to reveal two rows of pearly-white teeth after hearing my offer.
[It's not just any other Archangel, but the 'Saviour of the Corrupted', too…. Are you being serious about this?]
“Of course.”
[However, aren't you in a friendly relationship with
“Doesn't matter. I'm a Demon King, after all.”
Even if I didn't mean it, I still had to say it out loud. Because… I'm trying to convince none other than Asmodeus here. And the Demon King itself seemed to be seriously agonising over my suggestion at the moment.
“Do give it careful consideration. You need the syllable [Gru], right? On top of that, you'll be able to earn a Fable concerning an Archangel, too. 「The One who Hunted Down a Great Archangel」…. Doesn't the thought alone excite you?”
Unfortunately, Asmodeus wasn't to be swayed that easily. No, rather than that, it was shooting me a proving gaze as if to ascertain what my true intentions were.
I decided to throw an even bigger bait at this juncture. “Well, that's disappointing. As a member of the 'Gourmet Association', I figured that you'd be different from other Constellations.”
Asmodeus's long, slender brows quivered noticeably after hearing my words.
[Your understanding of the Demon King, 'Asmodeus', has increased by a great deal.]
[Your understanding of the applicable individual is quite high.]
[2nd Stage of 'Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint' has activated!]
Now that's the first time I heard such a message.
Finally, the skill level of the [Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint] had risen up high enough to let me take a peek at the inside of selected Constellations. And right afterwards, I could hear Asmodeus's inner thoughts.
「He's utterly, hatefully arrogant, this 'Demon King of Salvation'.」
Its inside was like a thick, sticky swamp. Listening to the private thoughts of a being looking back at me with a pair of quietly withdrawn eyes was making me feel rather uncomfortable.
Its thoughts continued on.
「A trap that I want to fall into this badly, is it….」
As expected, it wasn't for nothing that Asmodeus had climbed up to the position of the 'Candidate for the future Great Demon King'. It had already figured out that my offer was a trap.
「It's likely that the target of the 'Demon King of Salvation' is the 'Saviour of the Corrupted'.」
「And he wants to use me and other Constellations to hunt down Michael and steal the 'Modifier Necklace' afterwards.」
「It's commendable that he's using his brain so much, but well, it's a bit irritating to pretend that I fell for his schemes, isn't it.」
Asmodeus's expression gradually changed into an icy one. Unsurprisingly, it seemed that this much convincing wasn't going to be enough.
「Michael is a difficult angel to fight against, even when he's being restrained by the Probability of the 2nd generation….」
Asmodeus's conflicting thoughts were gradually finding their heading now. A faint killing intent seemed to ooze out from its long nails.
I could sense Anna Croft next to me tense up and get into her battle mode. Maybe, she used the [Precognition] and saw something that was about to happen.
However, I wasn't worried in the slightest. Because, it was about time that a situation even her [Precognition] couldn't have predicted began, that was why.
I unsheathed my sword as the message popped up in the air and spoke to her.
“Well, let's go and get ourselves a Myth-grade Fable, shall we?”
< Episode 69: Archangel Hunting (1) > Fin.
Chapter end
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