Sorry for the delayed release. I was a bit busy with some things. Anyway, here is the next chapter. It’s a Bernadette chapter.
Moonlit Night, Parade of Corpses【3】
「Those are……Wyverns!?」
The male teacher that looked up at the sky shouted with a voice that had a hint of a scream in it.
「Did you say a Wyvern!? At a time like this!」
The ones that looked up from being lured in by that call saw them. Shrouding the sky, a flock of dragons that were coming in flying with great speed.
「What an amazing number……っ, this is, no longer just a flock of them!!」[1]
「Shoot them down!! Bring the ordinary citizens into the academy interior as well!!」
The magicians all raised their staves simultaneously, and fired off their released magic at the skies!
Fire, ice, wind, lightning, water, rock. Sh.e.l.ls of various attributes struck the Wyverns, and, in defiance of that, the Wyverns headed towards them.
「Th, these guys……are Zombies, they"re Dragon Zombies!!」
In the middle of the darkness, those figures that were finally able to be perceived accurately by a person’s eye, were in the form of pterosaurs whose bodies were decaying in various places.
「Don"t come here! Don"t come hereeee!!」
「You dumba.s.s, behind you!!」
「Eh? Gi, gah…Agih, gyaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!」
One of the teaching staff that had gone half-crazed, had his body greedily devoured by a decaying dragon that had swooped down from above him and gotten down behind him and he was given the agony of death.
However, that agony of death did not resound as an angry roar had interrupted it.
「d.a.m.n it all, they just keep on coming!」
「What happened to the holy magicians! Are there any holy magicians around!?」
「They"re at the back healing the injured……っ!」
「You dumba.s.s! If you don"t want to get annihilated, bring them over here right now!」
While firing off magic, the magician, who was running out of patience and retreating, shouted.
But, with half-hearted magic, it wouldn"t even be able to break through the dragon"s scales that protected the tainted meat the dragon was made of.
Dragons are just as the fairytales say, where they possess overwhelming strength and trample down humans.
With their bodies decaying, and them being manipulated in addition to that, their existence has become a huge wall that ordinary people could never overcome.
「『Licht Gefängnis』!」[2]
Suddenly, the decaying dragons that were descending down to try and eat up people were engulfed in light, and had their movements stopped by the light that had turned into a powerful cage of Maryoku.
「This is……A holy art!」
「So they"ve come!?」
Possessing an overwhelmingly effective power against the Undead and the kin of darkness, it’s a system of magic that is different from the norm.
Magic that utilizes sacred power, holy arts.
『Light Gefängnis』 is, even among the holy arts, considered as superior and is a quasi-sealing magic.
Cheers of excitement were made from the appearance of the holy magician that used the holy art that was effective against the Dragon Zombies.
「Sorry to have kept you all waiting! The Holy Ulquiorra Religious Organization"s 『Agent』 Bernadette, arrives on the scene!」
Coming down from the sky as if she were responding to those cheers, Bernadette magnificently announced her name, and readied her twin guns.
*Gaun, gaun!*
The magic bullets that were fired off together with the thunderous roar blew away the several decaying dragons that were captured the in jails of light, and in an instant, the dragons were driven to being unable to take action.
「Agent-style Strengthening Spell, 『Ernst』!」[3]
Pulling the percussion hammer of the Magic Gun 『Misteltein』 that was held in her right hand, Bernadette pulled the trigger of the gun whose muzzle was thrust at her own temple.
*Gachi* (Click)
The swung down percussion hammer and the magic that was invoked from receiving the percussion hammer.
Bernadette"s body shined for an instant, and in the next second, Bernadette was in the sky, and, in addition to that, right in front of a decaying dragon.
「Hold on for a seーーっ!」
Together with a yell that at some point lost its energy, one leg that was raised over her head, smashed the decaying dragon"s jaw, and, with one attack, the decaying dragon was brought down.
「There"s still more to come!」
Changing the decaying dragon that was starting to fall into a lump of meat, and using it as a foothold, Bernadette jumped up even higher, and sprung out to in front of the several hundred decaying dragons that were circling around in the distant skies.
The decaying dragons, in order to bite at the prey (Bernadette) that had appeared on her own, flapped their wings and swarmed at Bernadette.
In the middle of swarming decaying dragons that came from all directions, Bernadette continuously pulled the triggers of the two Magic Guns she held in both of her hands with a dreadful speed while her body was spinning.
「Toyaaaaaahhh~!!」
Firing the Maryoku bullets, which slaughtered a decaying dragon in one hit, like a barrage, the decaying dragons that had swarmed at her had their heads smashed, their scales pierced, their wings shot through, and just like that, ten-odd bodies of the decaying dragons were changed into who knows how many hundreds of pieces of meat.
「―――Hmph!」
Surpa.s.sing the flight time, Bernadette, who had noticed that she was starting to fall, faced the spot that she was probably going to fall to, pointed 『Failnaught』"s muzzle at it, and pulled the percussion hammer.
*Gachi* (Click)
The percussion hammer swinging down, when the magic was invoked, the light that was fired from the muzzle struck the ground.
「Though they have died, because of that, they feel no fear, that is another one of their weak points, you know?」
Falling from being pulled by gravity, Bernadette thought of the criminal that was probably gazing at this event from somewhere close by, and giggled.
Just as Bernadette said, even though ten-odd dragons had been instantly killed right in front of them, the decaying dragons once again swarmed at the falling prey (Bernadette).
Even though that prey was an existence that was able to turn them into lumps of meat.
*Gachi, gachi, gachi, gachi*
*Gachi, gachi, gachi, gachi*
Lowering the percussion hammers of the twin guns and pulling the trigger and repeatedly doing that four times, while the light was shot at various directions and spots, Bernadette was falling.
A decaying dragon"s jaw had tried to seize Bernadette but, a Maryoku bullet was directly driven into the inside of the mouth, and the head was blown off.
But, there were too many of them. A number of decaying dragons that easily surpa.s.sed the number that were instantly killed just a moment ago chased after the falling Bernadette.
「……I am G.o.d"s disciple, the 『Agent』 of divine punishment. Understand, the meaning of that!」
The moment that Bernadette had finished speaking, from Bernadette"s back, a number of lines of light that would be too bothersome to count extended out and went through the decaying dragons.
They weren"t strong enough as a single hit. Although it went through the dragon"s head, it didn"t smash it. However, as if they were pressured by countless spears, the movements of the decaying dragons that the lines of light had gone through were sewn to a stop.
*Suta* (step)
The falling Bernadette did a half turn in the air, and landed on the ground.
Brushing her disheveled hair, while expelling the cartridges that performed their duty in the Magic Guns" cylinder magazines from the cylinder, Bernadette looked up at the decaying dragons that the lines of light had gone through.
「『Innocence Lance』」
Going through the limbs, the brain, the wings, everything entirely, the decayed dragons died out "without leaving" a single piece of meat.
Innocence Lance. It"s the highest grade wide area purification magic among the holy arts.
It is a great magic that originally had no less than three magicians saying the aria for several minutes in order to invoke it.
Doing that all by herself, Bernadette invoked it using the Magic Guns.
If the mechanism were to be revealed, a total of the nine lights were fired, and the first light that made an impact was the center. And then, the rest shot into the ground as if making an octagon with that place as the axis.
If it were to be seen from the sky, it would be as if it were an enormous magic formation, and, in actuality, it was a magic formation.
Utilizing the Magic Guns that don"t need an aria, the great magic that can be invoked if there"s large quant.i.ty of Maryoku and a certain amount of s.p.a.ce, although it was originally supposed to come pouring down, stretched to the skies from the ground like a growing flower, went through the ghosts, submerged their souls, and turned their rotten bodies into ash.
「……No way. I can"t believe that even after having done all that, I haven"t gone through half of them.」
While charging the cartridges one by one, Bernadette breathed a huge sigh.
Bernadette was lightly surprised by the state of affairs that didn"t change for the better even after she had used a single attack that possessed an absolute exterminating strength against the Undead and the kin of darkness.
「What"s left are some magic of various attributes, an 『Ernst』, and two 『Paladin』. ……Thank goodness I wasn"t stingy and replenished the 『Innocence Lance』. ……Wait, ahh!? While I was saying all of that, 『Ernst』 went and wore off! Au~, my expensive bullets are steadily being consumed…….!?」
I"ll need to cut down on my food expenses……Bernadette, who was crying from that decision, saw something.
A far-off something that was flying in the air in the place that she was just at a while ago.
「That is……People?」
A row of three women straddling a long and narrow something. Because they were wearing robes, she understood that they were people related to this Lizwadia.
And then, Bernadette once again saw something. Sitting in between the other two women, in the middle, that girl"s, boasting a size that was to the point of being overwhelming in regards to the size of her body, that girl"s chest!
「……No mistaking it. That girl is the one that Yashiro-san mentioned, 『the Chosen Maiden』! Not good, at this rate, I "won"t be able to make it"」
Strengthening her eyes with Maryoku and attaining eyesight that reached the level of a telescope, Bernadette"s eyes caught sight of a bespectacled young girl, and the moment she caught sight of her, Bernadette ran off.
Translator’s Notes:
[1] Not sure what a group of Wyverns is called. A flock? A herd? A school? A swarm?
[2] German for light and then prison or cage. Original: 光の牢獄 (リヒト・ゲフェングニス)
[3] Not exactly sure how to translate this. I decided to go with “ernst”, the German word for “bold, vigorous, resolute”. Might also be translated to the name Ernest. Went with “ernst” because the word sounds like it would work better since it is the name of a strengthening spell, and the original had it written as “holy princess” or something similar and Ernest is a male name. Original: 聖王女 (アーネスト)