First Outer World Story Series: The Black Mist that Devours - Chapter 23
Translator: MadHatter Editor: MadHatter
The time of the cool Kurokiri making his appearance.
————–
(Ichiko POV)
No matter how long I waited, the impact I was expecting never struck, but still, my whole body has been in a constant state of searing anguish. However, little by little, the pain in my body began to subside. Therefore, I slowly opened my eyes to ascertain the current state of affairs. As I lifted my eyelids, what I encountered was the sight of Lady Ryo frantically healing me and a guy dyed black from head to toe blocking the Ogre King’s fist one-handedly, leaving the Ogre King bewildered at the scene.
“What?”
“You’re awake, Ichiko.”
“Eh? Lady Ryo? And also, why is Kurokiri here?”
I inadvertently raised my voice. But it was inevitable for me to react in this manner. After all, that man in all black was the one who transformed Lady Ryo and me into demons called Kirijin, the same entity who dispatched me to this “Ogre’s Fortress”.
The dungeon he created, “White Mist and Black Swamp Forest,” was a demonic property that ought to prohibit him from leaving his own dungeon.
For he was the Demon King, the “King of the Devouring Black Mist”.
“Who the hell are you…?”
The Ogre King, who had regained his senses, questioned him as he moved away.
“Oh, your fist does hurt. Even if it’s for the sake of my kin, it’s still not something I, as a magical-type entity, should overexert myself in. Well, to answer your question briefly, I am a fellow Demon King.”
“That’s absurd! How the hell did you leave the labyrinth! No, before all these things, why would a fellow Demon King be in my labyrinth…”
At the time the Ogre King uttered that statement, Kurokiri was already in front of the Ogre King’s eyes, his arm outstretched and in the midst of activating his skill.
————–
(Ryo POV)
“We have arrived at the labyrinth!”
Once I had reached “Ogre’s Fortress,” I let the car fly at maximum speed. Needless to say, I concealed my face and car so that my true identity would not be exposed.
“Miss… This is labyrinth X-J1… What are we doing in a place like this…?”
My housekeeper still didn’t appear to have a clear grasp of the circumstances.
Well, I can only give you a more in-depth explanation at a later date.
[You have arrived. Alright, now use your maid’s ability to track her down! As long as they are humans or goblins here, we’ll never find her even if you deploy the ?Mist Cloak? at full force!]
Kurokiri’s voice reverberated in my head. Although he was an abominable guy, he was a resourceful figure in these challenging circumstances after all.
“I understand!” “W-What?!? Wait??!”
Stepping into the “Ogre’s Fortress,” we pursued Ichiko at all costs.
————–
By adopting a combination of the housekeeper’s skill and ?Mist Cloak?, we were able to reach Ichiko by the swiftest route available.
The scene that spread out there was the sight of a vast number of goblins lining up over the corpses of their own kind, and the Demon King of this dungeon, who must be about four meters tall with a muscular body overlaid with crimson skin and two horns, brandishing his fist against Ichiko.
“! We’re just in time!”
I then invoked the pendant “The King Acts for the Sake of His People,” which Kurokiri had entrusted to me with impatience yet without hesitation.
————–
(Kurokiri POV)
“My bad, but I don’t have time, nor am I obligated or compassionate to answer your questions. Scatter away ?Mist Plosion?!”
“Gah!”
Accompanied by my declaration of skill was an ice explosion in front of the Ogre King’s eyes, sending his massive bulk hurtling away, and freezing and shattering several demonic creatures in the vicinity.
“Youuuuuuu!”
The Ogre King’s muscles swelled up dramatically in response to my strike, and as a counterattack, an enormous fist was launched directly in front of my eyes. Then, without endeavoring to avoid the punch, I took it head-on, causing my upper torso to appear to be “obliterated.”
“Hah! Given that we’re both Demon Kings, you’re no big deal! All it took was a single blow to deal with you! Now, are you guys next…?”
As my remaining lower body gradually disappeared while falling, the black mist around the Ogre King densified as if in inverse proportion to this. The goblins’ moans then began to leak out.
“W-What the hell is this!?”
“Don’t make me repeat it. I have neither the obligation nor the compassion to answer you.”
“What!?”
The Ogre King was taken aback by the sound of my voice, believing that he had annihilated me.
“First, let me eliminate those who stand in my way. ?Mist Plosion? x32.”
Following my declaration, explosions erupted in 32 sites around the periphery, obliterating numerous demons before they could even utter a death cry. The only thing that remained was a brilliant scarlet floor and a pristine white mist.
“Goddamn youuuuuu!”
The Ogre King swung his signature stout arm around to administer the blow, assuming I was obscured somewhere in the mist. With such momentum, his fist alone could shatter a wall, and if he swung his arm, a storm would rage. But it failed to strike me. There was no hope of landing that blow on me. After all, I was the mist itself now.
And while the Ogre King acted in vain, the devouring black mist advanced and one by one, the demons who had been crowding around him were being sacrificed, their lives consumed by the black mist.
“Get the hell out! You coward!”
The Ogre King was raving, oblivious to the fact that his demons were perishing one after the other around him.
There was no time to waste for me as the pendant’s effect will soon expire.
Maybe it’s time for me to go out and do something memorable.
“If you don’t come out…”
“Hey, here I am.”
I settled into a posture to draw my sword to an upper stance above the Ogre King’s head.
“You! When did you!”
To his astonishment, the Ogre King rushed to knock me out, only to realize that it was far too late.
“Goodbye. ‘I am the King of the Mist that devours everything’. O Great Sword of the Frozen Black Mist, tear off his life until his death…!!”
“Hieee!”
That was simply a mixture of the existing skills I was currently capable of employing.
It will never be listed in the skills section of my status.
It was a sword made by assembling ?Devouring Black Mist? into the form of a large sword, solidifying it with ?Mist Plosion?, and vibrating it at high speed with ?Circulation?.
If I had to classify it, it would be called more akin to a chainsaw than a sword.
“Outer Skill? Kurokirinoko!”
And it was potent enough to reap the life of the “Ogre King of Dominating Herculean Strength,” whose face was contorted by terror, and had forgotten to brace himself. With a single hit from the great sword of black mist that I swung down, the labyrinth, “Ogre’s Fortress” had lost its master, the Demon King.
————–
A/N:
Outer skills: To put it simply, this category incorporates all non-skill-related skills, such as ??-style swordsmanship, four-wheel drifting, and so on.
What Kurokiri did was to combine and fuse skills to implement skills outside of the system.
Incidentally, the power is tremendous, but the fuel consumption is at a level that is beyond the worst, so if a human were to utilize it, he or she would at best be comatose. At worst, the user will die. So, remember not to imitate me, good children!
?
Check out other Outer World Story series in order: Outer World Story: The Black Mist that Devours (First series), Outer World Story: Pumpkin Sorcerer (Third series), Outer World Story: Basilisk of Ice Sculpture (Fourth series)