Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 66. Public Subjugation ③
Elliot and the other upper-ranked knights were in utter confusion, unable to understand the thing that suddenly appeared before them.
Still, thanks to the training they had accumulated and the instincts they’ve honed from experience surviving battles with magical beasts, they were able to immediately retreat and assume a defensive posture.
“What in the world…!”
“Be careful! It seems this is also an undead magical beast…!”
A cleric who was standing nearby warned, while deploying a barrier.
Hearing this, the senior knights hurriedly purified their swords with spare holy water.
Elliot stood there, wide-eyed.
–Undead, a magical beast? This…? It wasn’t over with that last one?
The information he had received in advance from the head of the order, Count Dylan Agreas, didn’t mention anything like this.
–How am I supposed to fight this without the Holy Sword…
His heart was making a sickening sound, and his spine was turning cold.
“…Elliot, you should purify your sword with holy water too.”
Lloyd’s voice came from beside him, hushed as he was concerned about those around them. The tap on the shoulder snapped him back to his senses, immediately cleansing his replica of the Holy Sword with holy water.
It was somewhat fortunate for him that with the sudden turn of events, everyone was so distracted by the monster that they didn’t even seem to notice his trivial actions. His fingertips were trembling terribly.
The replica of the Holy Sword was just a sword that only looked similar, made to shine dimly with a magician’s magic.
Suddenly, there was a loud sound like a rock wall collapsing. Looking in that direction, something resembling a giant, reddish-black tentacle was smashing and destroying a section of the VIP seats.
“This is bad, His Majesty is there. Take up a defensive position!”
Someone among the upper-ranked knights shouted, and they began to move. However, everyone was confused and hesitant in their actions.
“Defensive position, how? Where is the head of this thing?”
“Is this a large dragon-type undead magical beast…? I can’t see its head very well from here…”
He overhears the confused voices of his companions.
If the main body of the tentacle-like thing were the large undead magical beast protruding in front of them, they could defeat it by severing its head. However, this being had a form they had never seen before, which only bred anxiety.
“For now, let’s draw it away from the VIP seats!”
Senior Knight Marcus shouted as he and several other knights circled around and attempted a threatening attack.
However, as Marcus slashed with great force, the tip of his sword suddenly emitted a puff of white smoke and crumbled into pieces.
“Eh…?!”
“What!? What happened!?”
“T-this, it’s not a dragon-type undead magical beast! This is… a viscous, magical slime…?”
The knights became even more agitated at the sight of the cut part melting into a gooey mess and the state of Marcus’s sword.
“Marcus, your sword… Is that… an iron-eater?”
Marcus’ sword had a crumbling reddish-brown blade and was half broken. Iron-eating slime is a viscous magical fungus that literally corrodes iron and feeds on it. The slime itself does not cause much harm to humans, but due to its nature, it is not something that a knight can do anything about.
“So this is a mass of iron-eating slime that has become an undead…!? H-how on earth are we supposed to defeat something like this…”
Marcus and the others looked up at the giant creature with pale faces.
As if rippling over the surface, the iron-eating undead slime shifted, and the giant pillar it formed tilted towards them.
“…Here it comes!”
Not knowing how to respond, the knights readied their swords.
The ground shook again, and a smaller mass emerged from under the floor. At this point, rather than fighting back, everyone in the room was readying their swords to defend themselves.
The giant mass, shaped like an earthworm, began to twist and distort, approaching where Elliot and the high-ranking knights were.
Above, in the VIP seats, Elliot could see Emily peering out from the elevated seating of VIPs, a worried expression on her face. Behind her were the King, the prime minister, high-ranking nobles, and the wealthy spectators, all watching with bated breath. The common folk outside his field of vision were surely watching as well.
It wasn’t even a creature that a knight could possibly handle. He should have retreated, put some distance between them without drawing his sword, perhaps it was a habit ingrained in his body after holding a sword for so long, he took a stance to hold his ground to protect himself.
“Elliot…!!”
A voice called his name. It contained concern, but also a hint of expectation.
The reddish-black mass of iron-eating undead slime split and branched out, lowering one end towards Elliot. Unconsciously, his body moved, and he tried to deflect it with his sword.
He knew What would happen as a result.
Ad
With a sizzling sound, like water being poured onto l hot iron, the replica of the Holy Sword, which shone dimly with magic, emitted white smoke.
The sword, which had been swung, turned red-brown as it was corroded, and its blade crumbled and broke apart.
–Ah, now… everything is over.
A cry of despair seemed to echo. It felt as if it was his own.
The loss was exposed in the worst way, right in front of some many people’s eyes.
The mass of undead slime did not destroy anything, but suddenly dissolved, and it swallowed up everything around it like water. He was trapped in the viscous liquid, unable to move as he wished.
He couldn’t move his face, but he was just barely able to breathe. He could see the VIP seats ahead, and Emily, screaming something, her face distorted in fear and despair. Next to her was Count Agreas, laughing happily.
Even though there should have been a distwher, far enough that he couldn’t hear, he understood that the Count was laughing with a voice that was as irritating as it was loud.
–In the end, I guess I was, wrong all the way through
Unable to move, he was falling into a dark pit of despair. No, perhaps he had been at the bottom of a deep hole for a long time, unable to climb out. He was only foolishly covering it up with lies and pretending not to notice.
※Iron-eating slime is modeled after the MIz03 strain, discovered by RIKEN (The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research) in 2021, which is a form of iron-eating bacteria.