CH 63

[Abominable Skeleton]

Asanaga Ayako slowly regained her consciousness.

When she looked around, she found herself in a room in a vacant mansion that had been prepared as a safe house.

“…………”

Asanaga tried to move her body and found that her own limbs, no, the parts below her hands and pit of her stomach were missing.

Then, she saw the ‘skeleton’ that grew from her nape immersing itself in the work of regenerating her body while stroking her injuries dearly.

The pain that eroded her body was less than she had expected.

That was probably because she had lost the nerves and parts of her brain that perceived it.

It might be thanks to the ‘skeleton’, and also the fault of the ‘skeleton’.

Asanaga could do nothing but to entrust herself to the ‘skeleton’ while glaring at it hatefully.

“Nn~slurp! You’re finally awake, Ayako-sa~n. Iyaa, even though I knew you’d resurrect, that was bad for my heart, really!”

The one who appeared in the lying down Asanaga’s view was Pygmalion, who excreted greasy sweat from his whole body.

His left arm was missing from below the elbow, and the bandages sloppily wrapped around it were lightly dyed red at the tip.

“If it was just a cut, it’d heal right away~. But it turned out my arm was cut off, and the opening of the wound had to be burned. It got me thinking that this condition would be a new normal one for me, I don’t have a power to regenerate after all. So I think I can now be counted as a one-armed man~! Nn~slurp! Good grief!” (Pygmalion)

Pygmalion, noticing Asanaga’s gaze, said with a smile on his face.

However, a frown was visible between his eyebrows, he was clearly enduring pain.

Shortly before Asanaga self-destructed, the positions of Pygmalion, who was escaping, and the ‘Sword Saint’ were connected in a straight line.

Sanuki, who found the opening at that moment which could be called an instant, cut off one arm of the escaping Pygmalion with a slash of his ōdachi as he inserted it between himself and the self-destructing Asanaga.

The distance was a little over 15m.

It was the normal attack range of the ‘Sword Saint’ Sanuki Shoichiro when he used his favorite ōdachi, the original weapon he wielded in battles against monsters living outside the wall.

“Nn~slurp, I thought, what the heck!?, when I got slashed. Then, I desperately ran for my life. There was also Asanaga-san’s self-destruction anyways, so I could do nothing but to throw all my pride and whatnot and just escape~. Iyaa, I’ve heard people said that he’s strong plenty of times, however, so that’s the ‘Sword Saint’, huh. Rather than strong, abnormal is more apt to describe him! I can’t stop having cold sweat, you know!” (Pygmalion)

Was he talking a lot to distract himself from the pain of his wound?

The bandages was visibly becoming redder than before, a part of the wound that had been cauterized by Nanashino might be opened again.

Asanaga felt a slight sympathy for Pygmalion, who had to put up with pain during recovery unlike herself.

When the regeneration of her upper body was over, Asanaga filled strength into her arms and raised her upper body..

She walked to the window using her arms in place of her feet and reached out to the curtain covering it to check the state of affairs outside.

“Please don’t show your face too much, okay? Someone out there might notice you, after all~.” (Pygmalion)

Asanagi nodded a bit, ducked her head so that her eyes could barely look out the window, and scanned the surroundings.

It seemed that a considerable amount of time had passed since the battle underground, as she could spot the sun was starting to rise from the eastern sky.

And from a place far away from the vacant mansion, from the direction where ‘Obsius Co.’ should be, a large amount of black smoke that looked as though covering the morning sun was spreading into the sky.

“…………” (Asanaga)

“Nn~. Judging from the scale of the black smoke, the underground and the company above it should have been destroyed. Though I don’t think that the ‘Sword Saint’ was killed by that, at least, most of the evidence should have gone, so it could be counted as you have succeeded~.” (Pygmalion)

“…………” (Asanaga)

“Well, that, too, doesn’t guarantee that we’re off the hook. Yes, we’ve succeeded in erasing our tracks but~, I believe we’re better not thinking that it would last for long. After all, it seems there was a fellow in the enemy camp who saw through Luisina-san’s performance last night, and caught on to that braindead’s (Yang Lan) movement, exposing our base~.” (Pygmalion)

Braindead probably referred to ‘Yang Lan’ who led the ‘Sword Saint’ to their base.

Perhaps because the accomplishments that he had built up so far was ruined, Pygmalion’s speech was uncharacteristically rough.

Asanaga also got why he couldn’t suppress his anger when he spat out the word ‘fellow’, the completely unknown enemy.

“…………” (Asanaga)

Asanaga looked out the window again.

Her self-destruction must have caused an impact and made a thunderous sound on a considerable scale.

The people that came into her sight would point at the black smoke and exchange some words from time to time.

The skill she acquired at the strong recommendation of Nanashino Katsumi, ‘Self-Destruct’, a skill which would convert one’s own body, from hair to toe, into magic power and explode that energy.

It was a ‘last resort’ that came into existence only because Asanaga Ayako could revive after the explosion scattered.

The skeleton that grew from her nape could be moved to another person or goods, as long as it was safe, it could recreate and revive the blown up body of Asanaga.

However, as a matter of course, ‘Self-Destruct’ was not a technique that could be used casually, even though she could revive, she would be completely defenseless until her whole body was regenerated. That was precisely why, she wouldn’t use it unless there was no other choice. It was a ‘last resort’ that Asanaga hated much.

However, the enemy this time being as he was.

Asanaga, who was keenly aware of the difference in fighting power in the battle against the ‘Sword Saint’, decided to use her last resort without hesitation in response to Nanami’s instruction.

She lost her body, their existence was exposed, and their biggest base was destroyed.

However, Asanaga and co managed to balance the destruction of evidence and the securing of a retreat, and escaped from the ‘Sword Saint’.

It was as though they survived only with single piece of skin connecting their heads.

“…?” (Asanaga)

“Nn~slurp? Katsumi-kun is resting in a separate room, y’know~. It seems that the damage he received from the strike of the ‘Sword Saint’ was considerably larger than the ones inflicted on him by his sword, even his magic power was completely exhausted. Though he could move, it seems he wouldn’t be able to fight at full strength for a while~.” (Pygmalion)

“……N.”

“Nn~slurp, you’re right. Well anyway, let’s first take a rest until we all could move, then go to the academy, borrow a corner of it and spit out the guys ‘inside’ all at once. After that, we’re gonna review our plan and…that’s about it for now, I think.” (Pygmalion)

Pygmalion tapped his belly.

‘Inside’ contained the few equipment and researchers he managed to recover during the battle.

The flow of time in the ‘inside’ of his belly was slower than the outside, which made him feel cramped, but they would not be ‘digested’ even if left unattended for a while.

“Nn~slurp. It was so disastrous to the point it makes me want to sigh, but we can’t change what has happened, so let’s just move on. I’m gonna sleep for a while, so please be on the lookout for the surroundings, okay~?” (Pygmalion)

“N.” (Asanaga)

Asanaga agreed to Pygmalion’s request.

Asanaga felt touched at Pygmalion, who had been enduring the pain of losing one if his arms but remained awake until she had regained her consciousness.

If only he weren’t so ugly… she went into alert mode with a moderate amount of tension while thinking something reasonably rude.

“——Tsk.” (Asanaga)

Asanaga clicked her tongue.

It was also a signal that her body had completely regenerated.

With the complete regeneration of her body, the ‘skeleton’ got back to its original place on her head.

It wrapped its arms around Asanaga’s head and rubbed its eerie face on hers as though asking for compensation.

It was actually incorporeal, so she couldn’t feel its touch, but its appearance that came in her view was simply unpleasant.

Asanaga Ayako.

She was one of the ‘demon-kin’ who had a cursed body that was liked and possessed by a demon.

She hatefully glared at the crazy ‘skeleton’ that was obsessed with her today as well.