Mayoi Black Summoner: Volume 5

1. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7183-7556-7
Verlag: J-Novel Club
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 1 Seiten

Reihe: Black Summoner

Shortly after Kelvin's promotion to the coveted position of Rank S adventurer, the militaristic country of Trycen declared war on the entire Eastern Continent. In addition to launching an invasion of its neighboring countries, their infamous Dragon Knight Order is now closing in on Parth, led by Crown Prince Azgrad himself.

The only thing standing between this dreadful host of warriors and ancient dragons - exceptionally powerful members of their mighty race - and the City of Peace is the Summoner's determined companions and allies, who have been given the task of buying time until reinforcements arrive.

At the same time, Tristan Faaze, the general of the Magic Knight Order, is hatching a terrible plot within Trycen itself, targeting Shutola, the princess and general of the Black Ops, who weeps for her country's fate. Come along for the ride as this black-clad Grim Reaper and his battle junkie friends clash with the Demon Lord in the fifth volume of this epic journey!

Autoren/Hrsg.

Mayoi, Doufu

Weitere Mitwirkende

Taishi,

Leseproben

Chapter 1: The Dragon Knight Order

The Grand Scarlet Canyon was located to the east of Parth, its length serving as part of the border between the city-state and Trycen. Trycen had owned the area long ago but had ceded it to contribute to the territory of the City of Peace upon its founding.

The ravine that wound through the canyon, roughly fifty meters wide and flanked on both sides by precarious scarlet cliffs that soared high into the sky, was the shortest and most direct route connecting Trycen and Parth. Technically, the cliffs weren’t entirely impassable, but the incline was so steep that they were almost perpendicular to the ground, and their highest points reached up into the clouds. Even if one had the power of flight, making it over such summits would be a feat in and of itself.

Furthermore, the summits were dotted by nests of Rank C bird-like monsters who were sensitive to other life forms. As such, it was far safer for large groups—armies, for example—to use the ravine instead.

“And...we’ve arrived. What time is it now, Efil?”

We had forged our way through violently blowing clouds of sand to reach the Trycenian end of the canyon. We had thought the bone-dry path at the bottom of the ravine bad enough until we saw that it opened into a wide, expansive desert.

Efil drew a pocket watch from Clotho’s Storage. “It’s just after eleven o’clock in the morning, Master. Our travel time was as we predicted.”

::I’m sorry for the trouble, my king, but could you Summon me now, please?:: Gerard prompted me from within my magic pool.

The knight wasn’t slow by any measure of the word, but as his Agility stat was significantly lower than the rest of ours, I had been keeping him Unsummoned until we reached our destination.

“Right. I’ll do it now,” I replied, obliging straight away.

His familiar armored form soon emerged from the magical circle.

“It seems to be taking all I’ve got just to keep up with the rest of you these days. Is it because of my age? Maybe I should acquire the Riding skill and ask Alex to let me sit on his back.”

“”

“You hate the idea much?! Even I would sulk, you know!”

“Alex dives into the shadows quite a bit anyway,” Rion commented. “Do you know how to ride a horse? Is that part of being a knight?”

“I may not have the Riding skill, but I can still ride better than most! Want me to teach you someday?”

“Really?! It’s a promise! Pinky swear!”

“Mm, pinky swear.”

“All right, I’m going to assign everybody their roles now. Efil, you get started on lunch. Do you have all the tools you need?”

“Yes, Master. In fact, I have the entire set of tools you made for me stashed in Clo-chan’s Storage. Does anyone have any requests?”

“Mm! Pork cutlet bowl for me!”

“That’s so heavy, Gramps. Omelets for me please, Efil-nee!”

“I don’t mind what it is as long as it’s light.”

“I’m also fine with anything, as long as there’s a lot of it.”

“” (Meat!)

“Guess I’ll have a pork cutlet bowl like Gerard.”

“All noted. Clo-chan, you’re fine with anything, right?”

Normally, being on the road would require all party members to agree on a single dish. Clearly, we had been spoiled by how readily Efil always cooked whatever we asked for.

“Sera, Rion, Gerard, Clotho, and Alex, please spread out and exterminate all the monsters in the vicinity. Oh, but leave the ones near the summit alone.”

“Why?” Sera asked, looking puzzled.

“On the off chance that Trycen actually tries to cross that way, the monsters up there will serve to slow them down and warn us of their presence. Your detection skills will be able to pick up any commotion that breaks out nearby, right?”

“Considering the level of the monsters in this area, it’d be a cinch.”

“And those monsters rarely leave their territories, which means as long as we don’t go up to bother them, they won’t come down to harass us. So we can just ignore them; it’s fine. Let’s all meet back here in an hour, all right?”

“What should I do, honey?” Melfina asked, raising her hand slightly. She was the only person to whom I had not assigned a task.

“You’ll be with me.”

“Oh, my! I’ll be ‘with’ you? Here?!”

Seeing how red Melfina’s face had turned, I dropped a hand chop onto her head before her thoughts ran away even more.

“We’ll be making a wall.”

? ? ?

An hour later, Rion and the rest returned, having completed their respective tasks. Mel and I had also reached a good stopping point.

“Welcome back, everyone. Looks like Efil’s just about done. Let’s head over.”

The first thing that each of my friends did was stare at my masterpiece.

“Um, Kel-nii, I remember you saying ‘wall,’ but...”

“Well, I, uh, did my best, and this is just how it turned out.”

A massive black fortress—composed of a keep and walls—now sealed off the entrance to the Grand Scarlet Canyon. I had made everything using a new Rank S Green Magic spell that I’d recently developed under Melfina’s instruction: Adamantine Fortress. It gave all the structures I built a pure black exterior and the durability of my Obsidian Edge swords.

My aim had originally been only to make stronger walls, but my control over magic had increased significantly thanks to all the special training I had done while mastering Death Scythe Boreas. This was just a happy, if unexpected, side effect.

“This is practically a castle. What’s more, it’s...” “...stronger than the wall you erected at the Village of Elves.”

“Can you not immediately try to destroy it, Sera? Please?”

My heart had skipped a beat when I saw Sera clenching her fist, but the wall appeared undamaged.

“A spell that focuses strictly on, say, defense, is much easier to control, honey. You mastered that scythe move of yours—which is a bucking horse compared to this—so it makes sense for the end result to be so impressive.”

“Is that how it works? Hm, never mind a One Night Castle, this is practically a One Hour Castle. Also, I can freely adjust the interior to customize things and—”

We agreed to continue talking over lunch and headed for the table where Efil had set everything up. I’d already divided up the interior of the castle to create separate rooms for everyone, so we would be eating indoors next time. I was currently controlling the wind so that it wouldn’t bother us, but the sandstorm was still blowing quite violently around us.

“After we eat, I’ll start working on the golems.”

“The golems again, Master?”

“Mh-hm, to bolster our forces when we clash with Trycen. At the moment, my stock of golems is only at fifty-three. Aside from the ones on guard at home, the rest are sleeping in Storage. The problem is, less than half of them are outfitted with Gatling guns. I could create entirely new ones that are already kitted out, but that would be a waste of mana.”

The stronger the golem, the more MP it cost to create. It was far more economical to create them with a base design and then arm them with mass-produced equipment. As we were currently facing a time crunch, it seemed wise to go with the option that allowed me to save MP. I, for one, did not want to over-rely on downing recovery potions and end up vomiting in front of my companions. From my understanding of the required spell, I could create plenty of additional copies of this type of golem before hitting the limit. Numbers were a form of strength, and I wanted as much backup as I could get.

“I’ll help you like I always do,” Sera declared. “I raised my Black Magic to Rank S the other day, so I can channel more spirits to possess the golems now!”

“Uh...where will the spirits be coming from? The battle ghosts who’re possessing One, Two, Three, and Four were native to that dungeon in Toraj, right?”

“Yep! I’ll run to Toraj and come right...