Act 1: Chapter 53: Pomera's Agony~Beginning of Hell~
Note : R.I.P Pomera…
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After returning to my room at the inn, I took out the 《Distorted World of Cursed Mirror》 from my 《Dimension Pocket》. I removed the cloth with the painted magic circle that covered the mirror’s surface.
「W-What is… that? Somehow… it feels like something really sinister is hidden within.」
Pomera’s body was trembling non-stop from being overwhelmed with fear.
There was a saying that the Elven race was really sensitive towards the flow of the atmosphere and the moods of the spirits. Though she’s a Half-Elf, Pomera might also be born with such a talent.
「It’s okay. The 《Ouroboros Ring》 which I lent to Pomera-san before has the power that will force you to survive in that place. You might be beaten until you’re on the verge of death but, you definitely won’t die for real.」
「B-Beaten until the verge of death!?」
Pomera let out a tragic wail.
I think almost dying was still okay though.
Sure, it’ll consume a lot of mana to activate and it won’t recover stamina either. There’s also the fact that you’ll be full of openings right after the revival, but I’ll provide cover during that time. Of course, I can’t guarantee a hundred percent safety with this training method, but I definitely won’t let Pomera die on my watch.
「Pomera-san… I want to help you to achieve your goal. Because you’re the second person after my master who help me with such pure goodwill.」
「K-Kanata-san…」
Pomera had a delighted look on her face that was about to break into cries but… BUUUUUUT, she snapped back as if noticing something.
「B-But! is it really okay at Pomera’s level!?」
She might have some hesitation.
Though she’d become more resolute during this one week of training sessions, Pomera still had low self-esteem. But, I’m running out of training materials for Pomera aside from 《Distorted World of Cursed Mirror》.
I caught Pomera’s hand.
「Pomera-san, I think your dream of becoming the bridge between the Humans and the Elves, making many friends, and becoming a great adventurer is… a wonderful dream. That’s why I’ll help you to achieve that goal!」
Pomera’s face turned red. She then looked up at me with an entranced look on her face.
「T-Thank you… Kanata-san. No one’s said that to me before except for my father and mother.」
I smiled at Pomera and turned around to the 《Distorted World of Cursed Mirror》.
「Then, let’s go. As soon as we enter the mirror’s surface, we’re going to arrive in the distorted version of this world where the devils run rampant.」
「E-Eh!? Ah, no… the flow is rather disturbing indeed but, uhm… I noticed since a while ago that there’s something really wrong with this mirror!」
Though Pomera still had some hesitations regarding entering the mirror, she still followed after me upon seeing me enter the mirror’s surface.
I was transported inside the 《Distorted World of Cursed Mirror》. Here, I was greeted with the usual rainbow colored walls and ground with a distorted black wall standing tall behind. Pomera, who was following behind, soon came out from the distorted wall.
「K-Kanata-san, w-what kind of eerie place is this?」
I unsheathed the 《Hero Sword; Gilgamesh》.
My other hand already held the 《Mana Argon》 shield which I’d created through Alchemy.
「Y-You’re going to use that super powerful sword that you never used before? This place is that dangerous…」
「Because I won’t survive unless I use this sword, and I lent my 《Ouroboros Ring》 to you.」
Color drained from Pomera’s face as soon as I told her that with a wry smile on my face.
At that moment, ten human candle-like devils descended from the ceiling. They had pure white bodies, black hair, red eyes and mouth. Their skin that looked as though it was dissolving hung down to the ground. Their bright eyes were locked onto Pomera and I.
「TROUBLESOME ENEMIES RIGHT OF THE BAT!」
I held onto Pomera, tossed my 《Mana Argon》 shield, and kicked off the floor.
「K-KYAAAA! KANATA-SAN?」
「BOOOOOOOOOOOOO!」
The ten devils were quickly dropping down to the floor. The 《Mana Argon》 shield, which was receiving the attacks from the devils, had caved in so easily.
I set my stance and slashed at the two closest devils. Both were bissected cleanly right through the middle.
「K-KANA-KANATA-SAN, W-WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE THOSE MONSTERS!」
Pomera was trembling non-strop.
「They’re the devils that are born inside this distorted world, definitely not something that will appear on the outside. That’s all I know about them.」
「S-Such irresponsible remark… B-But, you killed two of them, right?」
The upper-halves of the two that I’d cut before were melting before they combined together to become a large white head.
「KANATA-SAN, EH! EEEH!?」
「You’ll get used to such sight.」
Arms raised from the puddle of white candle wax on the floor. Its fingers stretched forward, aiming for us. Carrying Pomera with me, I dodged the rain of fingers that shot at us like bullets while striking down the unavoidable ones with my sword.
「Pomera-san, attack those fellas with your magic! By the way, since you can’t use spirit magic in this place, please do your best with fire magic!」
「Impossible… Impossible.」
Pomera was clinging on to me for dear life with large amounts of tears shedding from her eyes.
「It’s okay, just shoot your magic! Some of your magic will eventually hit them since their numbers are increasing bit by bit.」
「That’s also impossible! I’m really sorry, Kanata-san! This, this is too much for Pomera! Pomera is bad girl, Pomera can’t answer Kanata-san’s expectations!」
I couldn’t stop these guys with a barrier like Lunaire had done. That must be the reason why Pomera’s fear towards these devils far surpasses my own when I’d seen them for the first time.
The main problem with this cursed mirror was the fact that a variety of devils would gush forth endlessly. You could say that any one of these devils that could tear through Lunaire’s barrier was quite special.
Moreover, all of them had grotesque appearances. Pomera wouldn’t have been this scared if they at least looked cute in her eyes. But, it was only a matter of time before Pomera can build some resistance against the appearance of these devils.
「Time-Space Magic, 17th Rank;《Fracture》」
Black roots unleashed from the center of the deployed magic circle.
It was a magic that tore through the space itself. Even the tough floor of this place was cracked as the black roots trampled through it without mercy.
The candle devils who’d jumped in the air while extending their fingers were turned into black dust after getting hit by 《Fracture》.
「Calm down! 《Ouroboros’ Ring》 will keep you safe in the worst situation. If push comes to shove, I’ll also make sure to keep you safe.」
「K-Kanata-san…!」
At that moment, countless scattered pieces of debris caused by the destruction from 《Fracture》 were gathering together to form dozens of hands. It shot towards us from four different directions.
「No way…these fellas can do that! That attack should damage them but, 《Fracture》 had better chance to stop them.」
I fought back against those countless arms with the 《Hero Sword; Gilgamesh》.
「… Whoopsie!」
I pulled my sword back immediately when I almost accidentally landed an elbow strike on Pomera.
That was close. I almost smashed her head in by accident.
「Ah…」
I saw a long white hand pierce into Pomera’s chest from the side. It seems that a hand had slipped in while I was distracted by Pomera before.
「Kana-ta-sa-…」
Pomera vomited a lot of blood and soon life dimmed and vanished from her eyes.
「POMERA-SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!」
I decided to escape from this place for the time being.
Though she’d been brought back from the dead by the 《Ouroboros Ring》, she had yet to recover from the shock of dying.
I laid her down on the bed and poured the miracle drug in her mouth.
「GOHO, GOHO…! P-Pomera is still… alive?」
Pomera raised her upper body to sit up.
「K-Kanata-san, Kanata-san, Pomera feels like she saw a dream of meeting a terrifying devil just now… but somehow, Pomera is so overwhelmed by fear, sorry, Kanata-san, please grab my hand…」
Pomera’s expression stiffened when her wandering gaze stopped at the Distorted World Of Cursed Mirror》 which I’d placed at the center of the room. When she flipped her blanket and saw a large hole in her clothes over her abdomen, Pomera’s eyes looked like that of a dead fish’s again.
「D-Don’t worry about it! You’ll get used to it! I mean, I also got used to it! Next time, let’s aim to break our previous record of staying inside! Now let’s enter the mirror again!」
Pomera’s face turned to face the windows, her eyes looking out at the blue sky.
「Dad, Mom, sorry… Pomera might come to be by your side before long…」