Gluttony Demon King with the Swampman ~A Man with No Magic Power Who Dreamed of Magic, Wielding Knowledge from His Past Life Through Steady Research and Hard Work to Become the Most Vicious Final Boss~ - Chapter 5: Wolf Hunt

Chapter 5: Wolf Hunt

The carriage fled toward us.

And the pack of wolves chased it.

I did not know the formal name, but in the local area, they called it the mumble wolf, a monster.

Compared to normal wolves, it was one size larger, and perhaps because the jaw part developed long like a beak, it made a creepy, rumbling cry. It was a carnivorous and ferocious monster.

The Levi sisters stiffened with a jolt, and I was the first to move. I cracked my five fingers, stiff from the long trip, and loosened the ink bottle.

Well, in this case, the first priority was—

“We have to protect the horse.”

I leaped out in front of the wolves running as if to target the horse on the side of the carriage.

At the same time, the ink in my palm swirled. It drew a black magic circle in the air, and then changed shape.

“Calling water call.”

The ink floating above my palm formed a disk shape, and then it began to rotate at high speed.

Now, let me explain here.

The ink transformation process mainly had three stages.

First, the formation of the magic circle. By giving a set signal, the ink itself drew the memorized magic circle.

This signal was something that could naturally blend into daily actions, and in this case, cracking the bone of my left middle finger twice served as the trigger.

Next, the ink used the magic “calling water call.”

To establish magic in the first place, three things were necessary: “thinking,” “ritual,” and “generation of magical power.”

In this case, the thinking was quoted from my brain, and for the ritual, which would normally be done with chanting, the slime substituted with a magic circle because it could not speak. The magical power was paid by the ink, the user of the magic.

Finally, the transformation.

The ink, whose rank as a magical creature was boosted by calling water call, took the shape of a weapon. The shape and algorithm were specified in the first magic circle. Now, the shape this time was—

“Crown of chains chainsaw.”

—It made a high-pitched whirring sound, a blade that rotated at high speed.

The blade was jammed into the mouth of a wolf that had opened its large jaw wide. The roar that echoed around was hardly what one would expect from a “blade.”

It was noise just like at a construction site—though probably only I would understand that—and anyway, the disk blade advanced as if to grind down the joint of the wolf’s jaw. It sliced through even the skull as if stroking it, went halfway into the brain, and then I pulled it out with momentum.

The wolf collapsed, spraying blood, and the coachman screamed. The horse, startled by the chainsaw sound, suddenly increased its speed.

“Hii, hiiiii!?”

“Ah, sorry. Somehow calm the horse down, please.”

I felt bad for the horse, but the distance from the wolves was a good thing.

“Haro!? Wh-what is that thing—!?”

“I’ll explain the principle later.”

Well, to put it simply, it was a water jet cutter itself… but it was a thing where the water pressure on the outer circumference of the disk and the rotation speed were raised to the limit, and furthermore, an abrasive made by crushing gems into sand form was added.

By riding sharp crystal fragments of particle size on the water flow, the quality of the cut improved dramatically. The abrasive was connected in chains, concentrated on the outer circumference of the disk and cycled, which saved on gem consumption.

Now, next one after another.

I tore apart the wolves that recognized me as an enemy and came charging one after another.

The crown of chains chainsaw kept rotating at the tip of my left fingers.

If I swung my left hand as if to mow, the crown of chains chainsaw rampaged following it, destroying the wolves’ faces along with deafening ultra-vibrations.

“Brorororo!”

“Oh, an individual that can use magic.”

A large individual that formed a large ball of magical power in its mouth along with a growl and launched it at me.

There were smart individuals like this among them. Not as intelligent as humans, but opponents that materialized magical power to make weapons—that is, exercised magic.

No problem.

The crown of chains chainsaw had an interception technique embedded for projectiles.

“Reverse whirl.”

At once, the ink condensed on the disk spread out with a whoosh in a spider web shape.

The crown of chains chainsaw, keeping its rotational force, swirled largely and entangled the launched magical power ball.

The ink contracted back into a disk shape.

The magical power ball caught in the whirl was sealed inside the ink and, in the process of recontraction, crushed as if pressed and vanished.

And right after launching the magic, I slammed the counter crown of chains chainsaw into the wolf that gaped its mouth, and destroyed its face into a mess.

Well done. I did not have much experience with group battles on this scale, but I could move quite well.

And besides, I was not the only one fighting.

“Float.”

When Noiche chanted that, what floated in the air was countless magical power blades. Those deep dark-colored ones pointed their tips at the wolves, and then were launched.

They curved in arcs like bullets, but in the end converged on the targets—the blades easily pierced through thick fur and inflicted fatal wounds on vital spots like throats or eyeballs.

“That is also a simple materialization of magical power… but the precision is on another level.”

What was called the basic magic of “magic bullets.”

However, there were not many users who could aim and shoot with such precision. And furthermore—

“Noiche, switch!”

“Yeah. Zaria, please.”

—The two switched positions as if to cover the instant the barrage cut off.

“Rising fire whale, dawn, tear the starry sky.”

Along with Zaria’s chant, a magical power sword generated in her hand. It was a rose-colored blade mixed with purple, like the one that suddenly pierced the night sky at dawn.

Contrary to her usual lively temperament, Zaria’s steps were calm. She carefully measured the interval of one step, and the sword she swung quickly stroked and cut the wolf’s neck.

The magic from Zaria and Noiche, released alternately, cut down the monsters coming at them from the front one after another.

As for me, while culling the wolves that tried to ignore the two and chase the carriage, I watched their fighting style.

“Ah, beautiful.”

Beautiful.

Nice, I’m jealous.

And then the front line was suppressed in no time.

The wolves, reduced by more than half in number, fled in panic, and we did not chase them.

“Haa, that was close—… Seriously, it was so sudden I thought my heart would stop…”

“I was more surprised by Haro’s magic.”

“Really! My inner ears are still ringing!”

Sorry about that.

The crown of chains chainsaw was a form that was quite easy to handle in terms of power and maneuverability, but the noise was the biggest issue. This had not been solved for nearly a few years.

“But it was amazing! Cutting with rotational force… no, grinding? It’s too new!”

“Yeah. Even with wind magic, I have not seen such application with water attribute.”

…As expected, they have good observation skills, I thought admiringly. To spot at a glance that it was “grinding and cutting with rotational friction” required really good eyes, and above all, calmness.

Glancing at Zaria and the others like that, I observed the wolves’ corpses.

“Haro, what are you looking at?”

“I thought they look emaciated.”

“Hmm?”

The wolves were thin.

The fact that they, who were nocturnal to begin with, were active from evening when there was still daylight, and that they had come down to such flatlands, included many unnatural points. After all, their original habitat was—

“The mountains, right.”

—The small green mountain a little ahead of the open flatland, near my hometown.

Those guys had come down from there. The cause was hunger, or perhaps they had been driven out of their home by a more direct threat.

Suddenly, that troll flashed through my mind.

Indeed, lately, monsters that were rarely seen had been coming down frequently. They ignored even the monster-repelling barrier set up in the town and came down from the mountains.

“…Something unusual is happening?”

“Yeah, I feel like it.”

While nodding to Noiche’s words, we stared at the mountain for just a little while.

Zaria and Noiche both seemed to be pondering something about the discomfort they had witnessed firsthand.