Chapter 5

Squirrel (1)

    The darkness swept across the area, reducing the visibility for an ordinary human to a certain extent. This could easily alter the pressure and emotions of those not accustomed to such conditions, especially when surrounded by enemies and walking on grass rather than concrete. This prompted most people within the area, covered by natural green walls, to flee as soon as they had a chance.

    Of course, as some people leave, others enter. Many, especially newcomers, thought staying in the forest was not as safe as being in a well-lit zone where one could see others. However, the sophomores and the high-ups knew how effective the hunting squads were in urban settings.

    Esther's wristwatch showed 09:53 pm.

    He glanced at it calmly, even though the external situation was pressing enough to make sweat drench his body. He still had to step into the heart of the forest as he had intended. The screaming that swept past was too significant for the young man to ignore.

    "Um, so we're heading into the heart of the forest now," Grace stated plainly.

    The darker it got, the clearer she could see. Her golden hair reflected the moonlight in the dark, silently showing off the woman's power. At such times, a vampire like her felt most comfortable and could engage in conversation without awkwardness.

    "Why aren't there any creatures around?"

    "The path we're using should be relatively safe because the paths of humans and animals differ slightly. Those with keen olfaction probably instinctively know that they shouldn't mess with this area. But, if we were to cross their regular paths, that would be another story."

    While he explained the forest to his counterpart, Esther's mind was thinking of a completely different thing.

    'Demon chains, condescending vampires, malice voice, spirit who follows never miss.'

    'I should have become a necromancer from the beginning.'

    "What's with that look?" The human-shaped weapon beside him adjusted her glasses. Her tone sounded colder than usual, making the young man guess she was sulking without knowing why. Her cold look and the chill in her voice made him realize she was not in a good mood. "You look like you're carrying two worlds on your shoulders."

    'Three, actually,' Esther thought.

    Whoosh.

    A noise in the bush under a nearby tree made the group turn. As it was already quite late, Esther couldn't see well, unlike the three women who were more accustomed to the dark.

    The atmosphere around this prisoner of the cursed building suddenly felt warmer. Even ordinary noises made him more suspicious than ever, especially with the oppressive atmosphere he felt he was the only one sensing, leading him to associate it with many possible causes.

    "Monster?" Esther asked.

    He stared into the darkness ahead with curiosity, hands clenched, ready to summon his weapon to attack at any moment. Although he was confident that he and the women beside him could handle more than one enemy, if the enemy wasn’t too strong or outnumbered.

    "It doesn't seem like it. I don't smell any monster," the vampire woman replied coolly.

    Yet, Grace's hand had already touched her gun.

    Rustle, rustle, rustle.

    The sound of bushes shaking intensely became frightening. The three and one spirit looked at each other with peculiar looks, facing the sudden occurrence, ready to fight. They certainly wouldn't take a risk checking it out directly.

    Bright red eyes gleamed from the bushes, shining like fiercely burning flames. Esther almost froze seeing it target him first. He cautiously approached, fearing an abrupt attack. The distance between him and it gradually closed. Esther halted abruptly when he saw the creature's eyes move swiftly.

    Then, in a fraction of a second, the creature emerged.

    The appearance of a flame-red squirrel leaping out of the bushes and blinking rapidly at them.

    This made the vampire woman sigh in relief before lowering her gun. She smiled upon seeing the little squirrel wagging its tail back and forth in front of the bushes. At the same time, the room's spirit immediately flew towards it, emitting a cute squeal.

    "Oh, come on, it was just a squirrel," Grace spun her gun playfully. "Thought we were about to encounter something big."

    "Come play with big sister," Victoria floated to a stop in front of that red mammal.

    Under the relaxed atmosphere, there stood a young man and his chain, who were frozen as if they had encountered an evil demon. Sweat, previously dried, now streamed down their hands and faces as if they were standing beside a fire. Both slowly stepped away from the target, trying to call out to the unaware Grace and the spirit.

    "Grace... spirit girl, come back here," he whispered thoughtfully, 'My left hand still hurts. If we encounter this creature, we're dead for sure.'

    The desperate cries for help continued to echo, but that no longer concerned Esther. He knew the dangers lurking in the forest but hadn't anticipated this particular menace.

    "Tartarus,"

    "Yeah?"

    "They usually move in pack, right?" Esther turned to ask the mythic chain in her human form. As both were avid readers, she immediately understood what he was implying.

    "Uh-huh, about two or three hundred usually. And if they can mask their aura like this, there must be a very powerful leader. It's unlikely for just one to show up alone—"

    Bing...

    Before she could finish her sentence, a ring of light suddenly appeared on the ground beneath the cute red squirrel, catching everyone off guard. Victoria and Grace, who were closest to it, were stunned and quickly retreated without waiting for a warning.

    A surge of intense heat followed the bright red light, turning the surrounding grass and trees dry as if the mere presence of the squirrel was enough to cause them to wither. The young man opposite nearly ran away.

    "Okay, Tartarus, this time, please, quickly take care of this psychotic squirrel. Getting hit by its magic won't do much, but eighty percent of the deaths here are from being bitten to death by a group of squirrels. Better to be killed by the upperclassmen in the city."

    Boom!!

    At that moment, the intense heat wave erupted with the squirrel at its center, lighting up the dark like daytime for a moment, seemingly signaling the start of the enemy's attack. Suddenly, hundreds of eyes gleamed in the darkness around them, surrounding the four.

    The magic of the flame-red squirrel standing before them was quite straightforward. It was like inflating a balloon with fire around its body, which would eventually burst outwards, incinerating everything nearby.

    If this kind of magic explosion occurred hundreds of points at the same time, he would not think of himself in one piece.

    "If it was the first level in the book, it should have been something simple like slimes or horned rabbits, why this?! I changed my mind, let’s run!!!”

    Esther shouted, calling Grace and Victoria, who barely escaped the blast radius. Victoria was already safe as she was just a spirit, but Grace, although a vampire, was not equipped to withstand such a blast. Esther had to carry Grace, whose arm was scorched by the explosion.

    "Don't die on me now."

    As everyone ran without looking back, rings of magic array continued to appear, chasing after them. Esther glanced at Grace's wounds healing gradually and wondered if he could afford to lose more blood for her again.

    The sounds of explosions continued relentlessly, with flames and shockwaves flattening trees in size of a two person to ash and turning the grass to red embers and smoke. Despite their fast pace, the heat wave caught up, scorching their feet.

    "They're following us," the spirit girl shouted while flying backward.

    Victoria was in the most comfortable position since she could fly through objects without fear of collision. Indeed, there was no reason for her to dodge the flames.

    'And why should you be afraid of this?' Esther thought, slightly annoyed.

    After a while, they all started to tire, especially the young man who had lost a significant amount of blood and was also carrying a woman who was healing her injuries. Although Grace insisted her wound on the arm was unrelated to her hand, healing still required energy, and if he hadn't held onto her, she might have collapsed unknowingly.

    However, what surprised Esther the most was Tartarus, who, although not seeming out of breath, had a tense expression that clearly showed she was running out of patience with the situation around them. This made her owner curious because it didn't directly indicate tiredness... but annoyance.

    "Have you never exercised or what?" he asked Tartarus while running, and she immediately shook her head.

    'A hikikomori.'

    As they continued to run, the accumulated exhaustion started to take its toll. The pace of everyone, except for the young man's personal weapon, gradually slowed down. Eventually, the woman's attempt to flee came to an abrupt halt, even though they were near escaping the dangerous area.

    "Enough," Grace said, stopping so abruptly that the person carrying her almost stumbled.

    Esther's face paled. "Do you want to get blown up dead?"

    "I'm tired," the leader of the halt declared, her blood-red eyes increasingly showing signs of anger. If Esther wasn't mistaken, he saw them shining in the dark.

    "It's just a squirrel, and it dares to trouble a vampire?" Grace said as she drew her gun from its holster. "This is going too far."

    As the heir of a famous mafia family spoke, black bat wings sprouted from the woman's back instantly. Her slightly longer fangs than usual became sharply visible, sending shivers down the spine. The completely torn black dress began to revert to its original condition.

    The gun in her hand glowed and transformed from its usual black to a pale blueish white, with a wolf's head emblem on the barrel emitting smoke-like cold vapor. The magical power emanating from Grace was like a flood, flooding and silencing the squirrels. They abruptly froze in fear.

    The first bullet was fired.

    Bang, bang, bang!!

    "Die, die, die, all of you die," the gunwoman's voice changed, now seemingly crazed and unstoppable. Grace's fingers continuously pulled the trigger without needing to reload, as some energy substituted the bullets, allowing her to keep firing. However, this made her look nothing like the refined lady in Esther's eyes anymore.

    'I might say she truly is the daughter of a mafia boss.'

    One person, one weapon, and one spirit watched quietly as the golden-haired woman frenziedly shot at the squirrels, their cries filling the forest pitifully. But the young man felt more relieved than anything else; otherwise, he might have been blown up. The one carrying her was puzzled, thinking about the vampire's condition while she was hunting squirrels at that moment.

    No matter how much she shot, the hairy creatures seemed endless.

    "Uh, they don't seem to run out." Esther watched the ongoing battle anxiously as the one with the gun started to lose her advantage clearly. The creatures meant to be the bullet targets were now appearing too fast for the gunwoman to handle.

    "Tartarus," the Prisoner of the Cursed Building turned to the chain in human form, deciding to use her as he watched Grace struggling. He was curious to see his secretive weapon in action as well. The gunshots currently booming were enough to ignite his fighting spirit, albeit slightly.

    The woman smiled briefly before reverting to her chain form at his leg. The coolness clinging to his skin along with the weapon's considerable weight made Esther purse his lips before sighing deeply for what he was about to do.

    "This counts as one, okay?" Tartarus teased him in a high pitch. "Are you sure?"

    "Yeah... if it's come to this, just flatten the entire forest ... you can do that, right?" he asked.

    "The easier with that girl buying me time," the mythic chain rattled as if she had been holding back for a long time. "What about the people in the forest?"

    "How about this? Take down every single person in the forest, as well as anything that might attack us," Esther issued a sweeping command to test her capabilities. He wasn't sure what Tartarus would do next to achieve their goal, but by the look on her face, he knew she wouldn't disappoint him.

    "Go for it, don't let me down," his personal weapon murmured.

    In the blink of an eye, as she finished speaking, the chains wrapped around Esther's leg extended unusually, branching out like roots being accelerated in growth. The cross parts of the chains slowly expanded to the size of an arm before slightly tweaking their mechanism, revealing an inner gap.

    As Esther watched intently, something shot out from within the cross.

    'Books.. seriously?' Esther observed with interest.

    Thousands of pages, thousands of books... They soared into the ether like birds fighting for their hunt. The sheer volume erupting in such a startling manner seemed endless, turning a night of dim light into a new moon one instantly. Now, those either in the forest or the university itself began to take notice of the unfolding event.

    Dozens of chains suddenly burst into hundreds. In an instant, they ensnared humans and demonic beasts in the forest alike, gripping them tightly. The doomed had no clue that in the next few moments, their lives would be extinguished, causing those fighting or hiding outside the forest to stop and focus on the spectacle instead.

    The enchanting voice of Tartarus echoed throughout the vast wilderness, calm as if an unruffled lake. Some heard it as a chant, others as a song, but whether they heard it or not, soon everything within the territory became aware of something creeping in—a breath of death over their shoulder.

    The door of life of everyone had been closed.

    "O the binded,

     Condemn your fate for encountering me,

     Hate your destiny for meeting me,

     Drown in utter darkness for daring to go against the bearer of me,

    Eternally bear in mind, you wither in hands of me,”

    Everything seemed to pause for a moment at the end of her incantation, even the breeze that had just made Esther shiver stopped. What happened made the young man think that even this world feared this weapon girl who was now casting a grand magic at that moment.

    “CRYING DESTINY.”

    Lights began to dot the dark sky like the start of a festival, overshadowing the moon that was glowing with brilliance from above. He turned to look at the chains binding his leg with a heart pounding in fear, yet his fear was overridden by fascination.

    The books in the sky revealed magical rings; some opened to reveal hidden weapons. The forest, the wind, all trembled with screams though it was previously silent ... as if just realizing their fate.

    “Wither away.”

    Boom!!!

    With the chains’ command, the ground around Esther began to tremble. The already burning forest flared up fiercely, accompanied by the wails of the doomed. Some chains in the forest began to rip and tear targets into pieces, some ignited, engulfing the restrained in flames, and many more simply held their targets in place without further action.

    Afterwards, the books in the sky began their work. Hundreds and thousands of them showcased their power; some spat fireballs, some concealed guns, some cast their own spells. Everything turned the once-beautiful wilderness into a desolate ruin instantly. The objects floating in the sky were like death warrants issued before the execution.

    The squirrels ensnared by the chains instantly turned into well-roasted, fragrant meals.

    The unfortunate students cursed the heavens and vowed revenge on the cause of their demise. Several white lights flew back to the castle in unison, some still confused about what had happened before becoming corpses.

    “Heh, CRYING DESTINY, a real forest-destruction grand magic,” Esther felt slightly glad to have Tartarus by his side, thinking... she truly was a sadist.

    Grace, flying towards him, hurriedly said, “What was that? The remaining squirrels got caught in the chains, and suddenly fireballs came shooting at them...”

    Her expression changed upon seeing the dense chains wrapped around his leg. Her question was answered by the scene before her without needing further inquiry. Even Esther could only offer a wry smile in response.

    “Tartarus’s doing, wasn’t it?” the gun-toting vampire nodded, as if she had guessed from the beginning.

    “Yes,” Victoria softly confirmed for him.

    Gunshots and explosions sounded like a symphony orchestra for a while before quieting down, leaving no evidence behind. No one would ever know that the one who issued the order simply wanted to test his weapon.

    Now, as the chain girl had completed the thorough cleansing of the forest, the numerous chains and nearly all the books disappeared into the air immediately, with only a few returning to the guillotine attached to the chains.

    “The forest is clear now. You can walk freely,” Tartarus stated plainly.

    Esther looked at the now mostly flattened forest area. Though some smoke still lingered, the surroundings had become cratered as if meteors had struck, leaving no trace of the diverse fauna that had been there, except for the harmless creatures trembling in their burrows.

    The towering buildings stood solemnly under the dark night sky, with the flames of war still consuming oxygen and lives. Lights and grey smoke wafted above the innumerable buildings of the university.

    “What do you think, Ms. Sazaki, about this year’s freshmen?”

    The elderly man in white, standing on the battlefield which was now somewhat calmer, stroked his chin gently.

    Beside him, a woman in a Miko outfit stood silently. She responded with an indifferent expression, “Ordi. Some groups are strong, but they can’t work well together... some even split up immediately. The second and third years are just barely making it, fighting among themselves and setting a bad example for the juniors. In summary, they’re not up to the mark... much more training is needed.”

    “Heh, truly ruthless,” Loren Aegis remarked without hiding his feelings.

    Based on his predictions and the situation’s analysis, everything had unfolded as expected. Even with training, the madness of battle overwhelmed many. If not checked now, it would be difficult for them to face the real battlefield in their fourth year.