Part 5
Vanir effortlessly dodged Darkness' continuous attack as he laughed happily"
"Fuhahaha! Why are the attack of this fierce girl not landing at all!?… Hmmm? Where's the other one? That man who is good at talking but mediocre in performance, where did he go?"
Vanir looked around the area, searching for me who suddenly disappeared.
… Sorry for being mediocre, my skills just happened to be plain alright!?
"Stop looking around! Your opponent is me!"
As he listened to Darkness talk…
"Where did the man who looked like a schemer went off to? How should I put this, such unscrupulous jerks are more dangerous than a muscle headed crusader. I can feel his presence, but where did he…?"
The moment Darkness slashed at Vanir, I put down the oil lamp and stuck close to the wall in the darkness. Using 'hide', I sneaked to Vanir's back.
So what if I was a schemer, no one was stupid enough to fight the boss of the demon king army head on.
"Don't look down on me, face me—!"
Darkness swung her sword sideways.
Vanir leapt backwards.
— His back was right before me as I stood ready.
I stopped using 'hide' and used all my weight to give Vanir a flying kick!
"Ughh! Unscrupulous jerk, when art thou sneaked here… Oh, oh no…!"
Vanir who dodged Darkness' earlier attacks took a few unsteady steps forward, right into Darkness' attack range. Darkness' attack which was powerful but lacked accuracy cleaved across Vanir's body.
Vanir's left hand flew into the air, his torso suffered critical damage and he kneeled onto the ground—!
"To think that… Curses, moi is too careless…! To think a talent like you was hiding in a beginner town…! Ugh… Is this how it will… end for moi…"
After his speech, Vanir's body crumpled into dust along with his tuxedo, only the mask was left behind.
The lantern lit our surroundings dimly, and only Darkness' heavy breathing could be heard in the dark dungeon.
"No way… Did I… Just defeat a boss… of the demon king army…?"
Darkness had a face of disbelief, gripping the long sword in her hand hard. Her adrenaline from the battle was still running and she kept on trembling.
"… If you say something like 'did I just defeat?'', it most probably means you didn't. But that guy seemed surprised when he was slashed, so it should be for real I guess?"
"As thou art hoping it to be true…"
A voice came from behind in response to my words.
The sound originated from the mask that had fallen onto the ground.
The mask absorbed the earth from the dungeon, forming slowly into a body.
In the end, the body was wearing a suit, and were identical to that man just now.
"Did thou really think you had defeated moi? Sorry, not at all! Fuhahaha! Fuhahahaha! Ara, the negative emotion coming from thou are really delicious!"
I want to kill this guy!
"What kind of absurd body is that, you think you can do such cheat like things because you are a boss of the demon king army?!"
"Boohoo… I thought I really got him… I thought the me that couldn't hit the enemy normally had taken out a boss of the demon king army… I didn't do much during the fight against destroyer and I thought I finally had the chance to perform…"
As Darkness was saying that depressedly with the tip of her sword shaking, Vanir smiled happily:
"Fuhahaha! This body is just a fake body created by moi magic, the mask is my real body. No matter how much thou slash at me, this body will at most return to dust! In the end, the place where moi body dissipates will be fertile as the earth from my body is full of mana. The flowers will bloom and the butterfly…"
"I don't know what the hell you are talking about! My headache worsens whenever you speak! Damn it, what now, Darkness? Should we withdraw for now?"
"I don't wanna! Being made a fool is a shame of the knights! I must make this fellow pay…!"
Darkness made a strong declaration against Vanir.
"Yes, I understand. But I have no desire to play with thou like this. It is time for moi to use my skill for this type of situation! I have a hidden skill that won't harm anyone and will only absorb negative emotions, observe!"
After saying that, Vanir used his right hand to lift his mask…!
"Hey Darkness! This looks bad! Let's get out of here first!"
"Too late! Crusader with a tenacious body, lend thou body to moi!"
Vanir shouted as he threw his mask at Darkness—!
Part 6
"… Darkness? Hey… Darkness! Say something!"
After getting hit, Darkness' face was covered by that mask. Her hand holding her sword lowers naturally, and she remained still with her head down.
This development was not good.
According to what Vanir said and the current situation, Vanir probably took over Darkness' body.
And in actual fact, the body of Vanir started crumbling into dust after the mask had been thrown out.
Darkness who had put on her mask raised her head slowly…!
"Fuhahaha! Fuahahaha! Listen up kid! this special power of moi, (what should I do Kazuma, my body has been taken over!) How about it kid, if thou dare attack this girl, (I don't mind! Don't hold back, attack as you wish! Quickly come! This is the most wonderful situation!)"
Words that didn't make sense came out from Darkness' mouth.
"… What are you trying to say?"
"How could this be, what is with this (beautiful) woman?!… Damn, damn it, don't sneak in words and play around! But seriously, this girl's mental tenacity is too strong… (an excellent role model of a crusader!)… Shut up!"
By right, this should be a crisis, but Darkness was handling this calmly.
Or rather, she seemed to be having fun.
"To resist moi control, thou art a formidable opponent! (Not, not really…) But if you keep on resisting my control, thou shall suffer horrible pains! (What, what did you say?!) Fuhahaha! Let's see how long you can resist!… Huh? There are no negative emotions, what is welling out from her is… pleasure…?"
Seeing Darkness standing there motionless, I decided to leave her there and finish my original objective.
I entered the room that belonged to that Lich to dispel all traces of the magic circle with the magic item I was given.
As I was doing that…
"(I…! I won't give in to this pain…!) Thou has respectable courage! But enduring it any longer will cause thou to break down mentally…! … Could it be, thou is enjoying this?"
I heard Vanir said this in confusion.
Finally, I finished clearing the traces of the magic circle and returned to the two that was struggling internally.
"Alright Darkness, mission accomplished! We just need to return to the surface and that's it! Let's link up with Aqua and run away!"
I walked towards Darkness while I said that, but she pointed her long sword at me.
"Don't come any closer, brat (Kazuma, don't worry about me! Just leave me here and go!) Don't think things will proceed as you wished (…Ahhh! I always wanted to say that line…!) Thou has feeling for this girl and don't want to see her get hurt, right? (!) If this girl continues to resist moi power (Ka, Kazuma, this devil who claims to have foresight just said something intriguing.) If you don't want that to happen, thou should stop this girl. (I am happy that you feel this way about me. I really am, but the difference in our status is too vast, and we are in the same party…) Annoying ahhhh!"
"You two are the annoying ones! Please, one at a time alright, I don't get what you are trying to say!"
Seeing Vanir losing it and yelling, I yelled back defiantly.
"Ughhh…! Choosing this body was a big failure (Hey, don't say my body is a failure, how rude!) Silence! Moi will be leaving, thou shut your mouth!"
Seemed like Vanir couldn't take over Darkness' iron-like will completely and was about to give up.
Even a boss of the demon king army couldn't handle that pervert.
Vanir slumped his shoulder tiredly and lifted his arm to take off the mask.
— I remembered something suddenly.
It would be more troublesome if Vanir recovered his original strength.
After all, as long as his main body— the mask was fine, he could change to a new body if he gets into danger.
And those beams and laser he mentioned sound dangerous.
Could he use those skills if he was inside Darkness' body?
If he became serious, Darkness and I wouldn't be able to stop him from going to the surface.
— What if we trapped him inside Darkness' body?
Not only was this the body of a human he was not familiar with, there was also Darkness who would get in his way too.
… How about sealing him inside Darkness' body, bring him to the surface and ask Aqua and the others to think of a way to resolve this.
That's right, since this guy wanted to find Aqua, I would bring him there.
I walked to Vanir who wanted to take off the mask.
— I then pasted the sealing talisman Sena gave me onto the mask.
"What are you doing, brat…? What is happening? I can't touch… Hey… What is this talisman, brat? My fingers get deflected even if I want to touch it (Yeah, something is fluttering before my eyes, how irritating… Wait. Hey Kazuma, Isn't that…!)"
The two of them tried their best to remove the talisman, but it seemed that the one being sealed couldn't touch that talisman.
"It's the talisman Sena gave me. Darkness, maintain this and return to the surface with me. Keep Vanir within your body and bring him to Aqua and the others. We will then ask Aqua to cleanse the thing within you!"
"(Hyaa!?)"
That scream sounded so uniform as though only one of them did so.