-They finally reach the empire's capital and they're met by Harrison the Templar commander and High Priest Gelt.
-The church is a very impressive building consisting of 6 40-story tall towers surrounding a dome.
-Takahiro asks Harrison for his opinion on himself, which he replies that he has no issues with Takahiro.
-They get guided to their rooms, talk about their plans to see the Expedition Force the next day, how Yuuna is going to pretty much be with them the entire time as a guard aside from staying in a neighboring room at night, and how Yuuna gets to hear a little bit about how Takahiro pretty much nearly died during the events that led him to meet most of his monsters.
-After a bit Takahiro's old friend, Mikihiko, makes a surprise visit.
-Mikihiko shows up with a few templars, with a templar from the first division introducing herself as Erina, one of Harrison's subordinates. Yuuna's also met her before.
-They talk for a bit and it turns out the fort commander-and-Akel's princess's investigation still hasn't ended, which is why they're at the capital. They also both note that each other have gotten more burly since they last met.
-Mikihiko also goes on to mention he's become able to fight a monster one-on-one with his Aerial Knight ability (I don't recall it getting named before, but his ability was to control two weapons with psychokinesis basically) since he's been trying to do what he can while his love interest is under house arrest.
-Takahiro learns that, like himself, Mikihiko doesn't get on Yuuna's good side either. His impression is that friends tend to share impressions like that. This is due to Mikihiko not particularly having much respect for the Expedition Force or its former members.
-Takahiro's tells him his plans are to see the force the next day's afternoon, and the peace conference is in three days. They make a promise to hang out tomorrow before he goes to see the Exp Force.
As usual Mikihiko's ability seems super weak for being a battle-based one.
Like there seems to be no merit to his ability to make up for it being so weak.
Plus if I recall, his ability is very reliant on his own sword skills.
It does mention that people who can fight monsters one-on-one are treasured though, since it's common sense to fight even one monster as a group.
Which is why he doesn't get along with Yuuna, since while he understands why heroes and templars fight together, the 'fake' heroes didn't and ended up causing issues all over the place, whom he called idiots.
Not much to really talk about with these chapters.
The next ones should be more interesting since he gets to meet the expedition force.
Spider was reluctant about going to see them based on how many gazes she on en route to the empire, but Yuuna said she would cover for her since that's no way to treat a girl (so Yuuna is definitely more starting to see the monsters as people, and not monsters).
To which Spider was going on about how Yuuna isn't as scary as she thought due to her chopping off half her legs on their first meeting, going into how Takahiro nearly died meeting all his minions save for Saliva.
Mikihiko also teased Takahiro about getting along with Yuuna, since he seemed to think that Yuuna was staying in his room a bit late for even a guard. Plus when they were talking she followed along despite only Shiran and Lily joining from his side when they went to a separate room for the talk (And then Shiran never talked anyway).
Author said Yuuna's not going to make any progress this volume anyway, so it doesn't matter though.
-The first two are about Takahiro having the dream of his inner world again, the one replicating his home town.
-He makes good of his promise and decides to show Asarina and Salvia to his high school.
-Along the way they come across a vast blackness in the path to his school representing his loss in memories, which Salvia covers in fog, eventually fixing it to its original state.
-Upon asking her about it Saliva has been doing these patch jobs in his memory with the mana he thought she was saving up to use her fog inn ability in the first place.
-A boy he doesn't recognize suddenly shows up in his inner world and says some cryptic crap about how Takahiro is the second person to make it this far with no help and in such a short time, ultimately saying nothing helpful and leaves.
-Takahiro thinks that he might be the Voice from Heaven guy.
-They inform Gordon about it and he says he'll arrange some mind-defense items.
-Yuuna informs him that according to Omni-vessel Okazaki (or whatever it is) that the Voice from Heaven should require touching the target in order to mess with them, with Okazaki's ability being the ability to use other people's abilities.
-Eventually Mikihiko comes along and offers a sparring match.
Mikihiko came as promised and he spars with Takahiro for a bit. He previously used two daggers but now uses two swords since he has the arm strength to do so.
-Mikihiko apparently has some talent with swords, surpassing Takahiro in sword skill, but his mana strengthening is worse.
-Takahiro also has exceptional defensive skills he waits for an opening and wins the match.
-They spar a few more times after that and part.
-Lobivia remarks on why Takahiro is so happy when they were discussing his friend's improvement in skill and he let's her know he's pretty much just happy for his friend.
-Takahiro's group go to see the Expedition Force, leading behind the people from Akell but taking along the dragons.
-Takahiro has a monologue to himself on why he has mixed feelings about the Expedition Force. Their departure was no doubt the trigger to the Colony's demise but he's aware that as a group their actions are generally purely of good intentions and full of optimism, and even now that mostly hasn't changed with most of them having gone through no hardships. At the rate it was going the Colony had no future even if they stayed making contact with locals a promising idea, but taking along 700 people who can't even defend themselves was unrealistic. However, the Colony's destruction goes to show that their plans were naive, but not having a better solution it isn't fair to rationally blame them.
-However, from an emotional standpoint as someone who lived through the hellish demise he can't help but keep it at the forefront of his mind and be wary of them.
-He finally meets Kojiro, the leader of the expedition force, and just as he heard from Yuuna he has a pretty open and friendly demeanor all around (Takahiro also noted that he's a tall, handsome guy who you'd normally only ever see on TV). But despite this he seems to ooze and aura that won't let someone treat him lightly, which Takahiro thinks is probably an original trait of his and not something gained after coming to the new world. He also seems strangely happy to be meeting them to which Takahiro equates to meeting a favorite musician or something.
-Kuriyama Moeko also greets them (and keeps Kojiro in check), her being the assistant leader to the force and while not being a nickname like the seven others in the force, her apparently being a type "close to Takahiro" in that she can create weapons with shadow magic, but her fighting abilities aren't so great.
-The others in the room greet him without any ill reserves, the only people of the seven nicknamed ones not in the room being Okazaki and Aoi.
-The topic of if he's joining the EF comes up and before he can answer, Aoi pops in and puts a halt on everything.
-Aoi says she's against Takahiro joining them.
-The reason being, as she tells everyone in the room the part they were trying to hide to not make a worse impression, that he's currently going out with 4 people...monsters.
-She also went around asking the people who were on the "60%" approval list for Takahiro joining them and apparently one girl did because she thought Lily could revive the dead, furthering with that Lily's eventual kids might be used for dead revival considering they become one being, not making Takahiro or Lily very happy. Apparently the originator of this idea being Okazaki.
-Shimazu gets flustered, having no idea about these reasons.
-As a result, Kubota and Ishida seem to switch to the opposition side. It doesn't mention what Shimazu thinks, but she also seems to have figured it out beforehand anyway and probably didn't care. Everyone else doesn't seem to mind the whole harem thing.
-Mana, unusually acting on emotion instead of her usual rationality, protests to Aoi.
-They have an unproductive back and forth that reveals the reason Aoi cares so much is because she doesn't think that Mana should be liking or be with someone as unfaithful as Takahiro.
-This causes Mana to pull herself together, returning to the cold and rational Mana that Takahiro has become familiar with. She tells her friend that having her benefactor badmouthed is extremely unpleasant, and she's simply mistaken because she isn't in love with Takahiro. Takahiro thinks he imagined her mouth contort for a second before saying that, though. Takahiro remarks that he was hoping Aoi was going to be someone to Mana like Mikihiko is to him.
-The air in the room because awkward with Mana's redirection of the topic and the door once again opens.
-Okazaki is the one who entered the room, feeling somewhat awkward at the obvious awkward entrance to the awkward atmosphere.
-However, the dragon guards recognize him and become very angry.
-This is put to an end by Kojiro using his ability to create a sword being Okazaki and the dragons, to which Takahiro can tell that the sword contains incredible power, so much that if an ordinary person were to touch it with their finger they might lose all the way up to their shoulder.
-Takahiro asks them what the matter is and they inform Takahiro that Okazaki was one of the village attackers and killed their family, surprising everyone in the room.
-Okazaki is a bit confused at the situation but explained that he was asked by Satoshi to help out in some dragon slaying, which the EF also seemed unfamiliar with.
-Takahiro and the dragons kindly inform Okazaki of the situation and he defends himself saying he had no way of knowing and they should've said something, to which they respond they did but they didn't understand the words, on top of killing one dragon who turned human in order to attempt to talk to them.
-Takahiro also figures out that the way they got through the fog barrier was by the dragon hero's ability.
-Okazaki is fairly flustered the whole time saying he had no idea about that stuff, and Lobivia unusually takes the side of calming her kin down.
-The mood becomes even more awkward and Takahiro informs Kojiro they're going to excuse themselves for the day, and that they decline joining the expedition force, which Kojiro, while dejected, understands.
-Kojiro informs him as he leaves that he's still on Takahiro's side and to let him know if he needs anything.
-They return to their residence? Rooms? and Lobivia is sleeping on Takahiro lap.
-Rose enters the room and tells him that Mana is pretty depressed, to which he remarks about the Aoi thing, to which Rose says while that is part of it, it's not just that. Which Takahiro doesn't understand and Rose doesn't elaborate (referring to the rejecting Takahiro thing).
-She says it's hard to see Mana like that and asks Takahiro to go see her.
-Rose ditches him alone in her and Mana's room, but Mana is found sleeping at a desk.
-He puts tea that he got from Rose on the desk, and Mana wakes up.
-Mana tells him she was hoping her relationship with Aoi would end up helping Takahiro out with the Expedition Force, when it actually only did the opposite.
-He goes on to tell her he had a feeling they wouldn't have joined up with them from the start and the meeting was pretty much just to confirm that or not, remarking that Aoi's statement about some of the students thinking of using Lily as a revival tool was something he was glad to know about.
-Mana also apologizes about saying that she doesn't like Takahiro to Aoi, saying that it's not like she hates him, in fact she respects him and other junk.
-However, Takahiro isn't content with that. He was tired of keeping a distinct line drawn between them and as he was about to tell her something, they hear the sound of breaking and destruction out of nowhere. He can tell it came from a nearby room, and wasn't the level of a cup dropping or other mundane noises.
-Without any delay he senses a dense amount of magical energy, and feels a sense of suspension and distortion, recognizing it as the Fairy Ring ability.
-Without anyone or anything being able to do anything, he simply hugs Mana closely.
The chapter also reviewed who all the 'nickname' people were among the students. To which if you recall were students with high physical abilities on top of having exceptional special abilities. Or as in this chapter, "someone with exceptionally high battle ability who can influence the world's future." Incidentally Kojiro was the one who named them.
Those being "Sword of Light" Nakajima Kojiro, "Multi-being" Kubota Yousuke, "Fairy Ring" Shimazu Yui (The girl who teleports by dancing), "Omni-vessel" Okazaki Takuma (ability copy, guy who attacked dragon village), "Skanda" Iino Yuuna (Speedy justice Amazon), "Iron-arm Snow White" Mitarashi Aoi (Mana's friend), "Indomitable" Ishida Tetsuo (Aoi's childhood friend).
On top of those seven, there's also four missing. "Dark Beast" Todoroki Miyo (Yuna's friend, who Berta's human form resembles), "Ultimate Slash" Hibitani Kouji, "Sturm und Drang" Yukizono Rui, "Dragonman" Shinguuji Satoshi (the guy who led students through the fog to attack the dragon village) (note that names may differ because of bad memory and the author not providing spellings for them).
Yuuna was present the whole time but the only time she was mentioned was briefly trying to retort to Aoi about her opposition, which was quickly cut short and never restarted after.
The attack was likely from Okazaki. Shimazu never came off as being anything but sincere, let alone not having much confidence in her battle abilities despite the whole being considered one of the top 7 fighters in the Force.
The teleport also activated strangely fast compared to Shimazu, but that could just be a difference in numbers that they're transporting.
Figuring out Okazaki did it shouldn't be hard at all. His minions can tell how far away Takahiro is and once they realize he's suddenly far away, they should be able to figure it out.
If I recall Okazaki has to teleport WITH them, so that should be a fun next chapter (watch it not be Takahiro's point of view now).
If he doesn't go with them then it shouldn't be too hard of a stroll back since the empire vicinity should be relatively safe.
Regardless, since this is Mana's volume, this should be the part where she becomes a heroine and they stop this dancing around shit. Hell, Takahiro was actually coming onto someone for once instead of the other way around. Well, I guess he sort of came onto Shiran too.
Author also remarked that Mana would be waking up to an ability this volume so no better time than this, really.
After Mana becomes a heroine the only one apparently left is Yuna, since Saliva doesn't seem to be one and Lobivida has been coming off more as a little sister or daughter to them.
Ayame and Asarina are pets, and Berta seems like a decent candidate (since she has a human-ish form) but hasn't even hit the starting line for starting a romantic relationship yet.
Only issue behind the teleport would be motives. Like hopefully Okazaki doesn't think he can copy Takahiro's ability to control his minions (namely Lily), since that isn't how Takahiro's ability works anyway.
You know, since he wanted that free revive card and all. The chapter also casually foreshadowed that Lily and Takahiro can indeed have children.
Spoiler for Images:
Dora.
Kudou's fourth named minion, a doppelganger subspecies that can actually fight.
Satoshi, the dragon hero who wanted to destroy the dragon village for some reason. Probably because of Voice from Heaven if anything.
Volume 11 cover.
It may look like Kudo the "Demon Lord" is controlling Yuna like a puppet but that's not really what's going on. He got her to do a little of what he wanted in volume 11, but it mostly aligned with her interests from the start.
Also thighs.
-Time goes back a little bit to Berta's POV, who's sharing a room with Ayame and for some reason Yuna directly after the conference.
-Yuna and Berta chat a bit with Berta trying to console her over the conference to thank her about the last time they met during the Takaya stuff.
-Leads into them discussing Dark Beast girl's dogs (Yuna is also a dog person), who were also named about the German Phonetic Alphabet like what Kudo has been naming his minions after. Although her dogs were named Ludwig, Martha, Nordpol, and Otto.
-Yuna tells Berta that her leaving Kudo is a good thing, because (even though she doesn't like him) Takahiro will be a much better master for her and that Kudo isn't a master worthy of her. She then leaves due to some prior arrangement with Yui.
-Soon after Berta senses a source of mana and the world begins to warp when an extremely pale Fairy Ring (Yui) girl shows up.
-Yuna POV
-She remarks to herself how she couldn't think of a thing to do when everything was going south during the conference, especially how Yui quickly shuffled off to her own room.
-She runs into a cloaked man on her way out, the same one that told her about Takahiro's issue with the Margrave. He just wants to know Takahiro's current situation.
-After a some questions she hears a shrill sound (the attack on the room) and the man remarks he has no need to stall for time, showing he was aware it was going to happen, and that he's pretty much working for someone else who has interest in Takahiro since he himself does not.
-She rushes back (apparently a 200 meter distance takes 5 seconds to her) and makes it just in time to get teleported to a dimly sparkling stone corridor, all alone.
-Lily POV
-Like Yuna, she appears to be in the same glowing corridor place. Although unlike Yuna, she's with Spider.
-Spider mentions it felt like Yui's mana at work and that she tried to resist it, but didn't manage to do so. Lily also remarks that through their telepathy it seems everyone else got taken as well. It seems they're far enough away from each other that an immediate rendezvous seems unlikely, but not far enough away for the telepathy to be out of range.
-They ponder a bit why someone with obviously no good intentions isn't immediately attacking them, but Lily speculates it might be exactly because they tried to resist the magic pull, with some success apparently.
-To quote the chapter: "It was an all-too fast and powerful interference, but not so much to quell resistance. She was certain she had felt the response of damage being given to the fingers trying to rudely grab her body and throw her from the here of the world to the there. At the point of the teleport half of the fingers had been broken, and midway torn-off."
-Apparently the amount of information the minions gain from the telepathy actually varies from person to person, with Spider not actually being all that good at reading info from it.
-Lily is able to tell that no one is currently in pain, and goes on to find out that Rose and Lobivia are a pair, Shiran is alone, Ayame is "alone" but probably with Berta, the problem being Takahiro only being with Mana. Spider considers Shiran to to better at her in a fight over a shorter time period, so not as concerned about her.
-They proceed to try to make their way to Takahiro (like all the minions are likely doing) and run into a giant slime about to attack them.
First chapter seemed to be about Yuna encouraging Berta to join Takahiro, giving Berta some food for thought about the problem not being with her, but with Kudo.
And then showing that Okazaki wasn't actually the culprit but Yui was, apparently a reluctant Yui going by how Berta described her looking as if on the gallows.
Second chapter had Yuna mentioning having a feeling of powerlessness taking over her recently, which makes her think she won't be able to move another step if it consumes her.
Might be a hint to their powers, or specifically what needs to happen to lose them. Like if she no longer feels like a hero, or thinks she's a hero, she may no longer be one. That kind of thing.
I wonder if the 'damage' Lily and Spider gave to Yui is something permanent or temporary.
The author noted in the comments that the activation for her Fairy Ring was abnormally fast this time as well.
Well everyone has been teleported to a dungeon. Lily even remarked that it seemed like one, but this is the first time dungeons have been mentioned in this story.
Seems like there's going to be some compulsory bonding time between some of the minions. My bet is Yuna (who none are aware is there too) will eventually meet up with Berta and Ayame, considering that's pretty much the only person she has any flags with aside from Takahiro.
Berta will likely go Scylla form (which she's been hiding because Kudo told her to) and run into Yuna looking like that, would be my guess. And if you remember Berta actually looks like Yuna's missing best friend. So that'll be fun.
No idea what Yui is up to. Plus she seemed allied with that cloak man, who I at first thought was Anton since he's pretty much the only person who would care enough to help Takahiro.
But thinking about it Kudo arrived too late to help despite wanting to, so I guess they aren't involved? Or maybe it is Anton and Kudo is trying to show him something by blackmailing/threatening Yui or whatever.
There might also finally be a new monster minion again. His ability really doesn't activate very often at all. Rare monsters really put the rare into it, damn.
Manga is also going at a decent pace. Spider's shown up in the most recent raw chapter.
Has some pretty funky expressions at time, too.
There's only been one chapter since my last post and it was a shorty, so I was just gonna lump it with the next batch, which has yet to happen.
He actually uploaded three chapters a week back but removed them since they were obviously uploaded by error (missing titles).
Didn't read them and all so no, nothing from those.
I imagine he'd like to update this weekend. Typically prefers weekends and he's well over his usual 3 week upload pace.
-Mana and Takahiro run into three puppet monsters and Mana tries to be a distraction so Takahiro can run away.
-Takahiro stops her and instead picks her up Big Daddy style so it's easier to protect her, and uses a combination of wind magic (from Rose's gauntlet) and Asarina to knock down two of them, and then uses his left arm to pulverize the last one.
-It's noted that Asarina's growth in his left hand has dulled it and isn't as dexterous anymore and recently grabbing objects with it has become iffy, but instead is far more sturdy for greater power output.
-He beats them all one by one and Mana is surprised Takahiro has gotten so strong at fighting monsters, since she usually doesn't join him when he goes out to fight monsters, and the monster girls generally took care of all that during their travels.
-Takahiro writes it off as it might've been more difficult if they were monsters from depths of the forest expanse (where the story starts).
-His fog magic area grasp magic has trouble working at long distances here so they decide to use his telepathy to head toward Lobivia and Roze who are comparatively closer than the others. Of course he decides to carry Mana all the way.
-Rose POV
-Rose and Lobivia of course plan to head toward Takahiro like all the others, but unlike them, they manage to avoid fighting. Because they found Yuna who instead does all the fighting.
-Lobivia became very quiet after meeting up with Yuna and generally sticks by Rose, but that's about all the issue is. Rose's role is to pretty much point Yuna in the right direction with their telepathy.
-Rose notes that Lobivia was somewhat hysterical, trying to figure out where Takahiro went and wondering if he was going to die and whatnot.
-Yuna at first interprets Lobivia's behavior as anxiety, but it turns out to be Lobivia has trust issues toward her due to the whole ordeal.
-Rose thinks it's due to having the dragon village destroyed by heroes for 'justice' and Lobivia's first meeting with Yuna being after losing her village likely isn't helping. So Lobivia is standing by Rose to protect her if something happens, and is reluctant to take a potential threat (Yuna) to Takahiro.
-Puppet girl manages to deflate the situation by telling Lobivia that Takahiro trusts her, which has a quick effect.
-Rose remarks that she isn't so sure about the teleport girl betraying them, suggesting Rose has some thoughts behind it all, but some monsters butt-in and the chapter ends.
-Berta POV
-They're trying to catch up with Takahiro using Ayame's telpathy, but unfortunately, he's heading toward Rose who's in the exact opposite direction of them, meaning they're both going the same direction.
-Yui (teleport girl), who had been passed out on Berta's back, wakes up and seems somewhat depressed.
-Berta recollects that after Yui teleported right in front of her in the room, Yui tried to say something but got interrupted by a crashing noise from a nearby room. But Berta was aware the mana used to teleport them wasn't Yui's, who had instead also resisted the teleport.
-Yui's "Fairy Ring" apparently has margin to resist it as, according to Yui, it was a power from the wish to run away as far as possible and not a battle ability at all. She claims that if she tries to use it for something dangerous, not only will it fail but she'll take heavy damage on top of it.
-Due to the ability holders being innately aware of their own abilities, and the fact that it would have been better for Yui to do so earlier if she was going to set a trap for them (when they weren't resisting en route), Okazaki (copy cheat) seems the likely culprit.
-Yui says she got called to come to Takahiro's room, which Berta denies and tells her how Yui supposedly summoned Yuna as well.
-Berta thinks Okazaki might just flee upon this unforeseen failure but Yui says he won't be able to. Her ability can only go to places she's been before, and since they have no idea where they are now, his only option is to save up mana and teleport back to his previous location.
-Okazaki's ability generally has less output compared to the original, and some abilities can't be copied, like the Expedition Force leader's Light Sword ability. Yui also theorizes that he probably can't copy Takahiro's either, since the attention-seeker that he is probably would've made it known by now.
-However, Okazaki activated Fairy Ring far too quickly for what the ability's specs are, so they start to think he may have used some hero relic left from the past for assistance, but then that raises the question of how he would have gotten it since the church needs Takahiro to settle the political situation.
-Yui thinks that due to everyone's resistance including her own when she has the same ability (affinity bonus?) that he's probably taken a considerable amount of damage, especially when all she did was resist and she's completely out of mana on top of her having 'the sensation of a more fundamental place becoming burnt out.' To teleport everyone out she claims she would need to recover for a whole day.
-Berta notes that with things going are they are, Shiran will be the last one to reunite with anyone and gets a little worried, where she remembers Yuna telling her that she fits in with Takahiro's group a lot more.
-Shiran managed to meet up with Gordon and his knights that were assigned as guards. The 8 knights noticed the abnormal situation and rushed to deal with it when they all got teleported together. Into a giant Arachne nest, that is.
-Gordon won't let Shiran join them in fighting because he's aware she has bad gas mileage.
-Gordon also seems to have figured out the same stuff Yui and Berta did about the situation.
-They run into a particular large group of Arache which forces Gordon to use his inherited Glittering Wings ability, which, as it used to belong to a little girl, is noted to really, really not match Gordon's large frame in appearance.
-Not all heroes in history were people who fought at the front with a sword, as is noted with Gordon's wings, which is a support ability that gives others increased strength, increases endurance, increases magic power, heals injuries, and increases morale.
-Gordon is remarked by his lackeys to be a "Perfect Match" with his abilities, meaning rigorous training and a mindset and soul that approaches the original user's, resulting in the ability being replicated very closely and powerfully. Although Gordon claims he's nothing special compared to Harrison, the Templar Commander.
-The chapter ends with them encountering another large group of Arache, Gordon using his Glittering Wings again, and Shiran being worried about Takahiro.
So Okazaki sent Yui to them to use her as a scapegoat for his crimes, but screwed up the execution due to not being aware of the copied ability risks.
He was also theorized to likely have some non-Templar/church related backing, like with that Angel Puppet guy.
It's possible Yui's ability got permanently damaged somehow? I don't think it's like Takahiro's growth but at a cost thing.
Which means Okazaki might be completely crippled in some form or another. Luckily, in stories like these, we generally get to see the villain's demise. Although I'd settle for seeing a random mangled corpse, since even Berta noted that Yui being passed out of the floor from her resistance could mean she was likely just going to get killed by monsters.
Yui may also not have much in the way of fighting abilities (like super strength or whatnot like others have) as she seems to lack a lot of confidence and compares herself to a deliveryman.
So Takahiro is easily the worst off. Not only does he have to fight for himself, he has to defend a non-combatant.
Not to mention there's so far been puppet monsters, giant slimes, and even arachne nests. Probably other things too. Puppets seem like the easiest foe among them.
Well at least Mana's going to awaken to her ability...or something? Can't imagine it being a fighting ability regardless.
Apparently the manga is selling well. That's good.
Location: Beyond the stars turning left and after passing by a Super Nova enter the Black Hole. House N°∞
Thanks, Sasuke, you're a life-saver.
__________________
"Now, let’s open the curtains on our play.
A hell fire banquet of fear and madness, where even the ashes will be burnt to nothing!" - One of 72 Demon Gods of Solomon, The Demon God Belial
-Takahiro runs into a group of fox monsters and has trouble dispatching them since his sword arm is being used to carry Mana. Luckily, while the foxes are sturdy, they aren't so heavy on the firepower department.
-Maou (Kudo) comes out of nowhere with Dora (his monster) and helps clear them away, with Kudo himself using magic through Friedrich, a dragonfly like monster that latches onto his back.
-They decide to work together. Due to have a rear guard now (Kudo), Takahiro sets Mana down and starts using his sword.
-They finish the fight fairly safely and Mana does a very heroine-like rush-over-into-hug combo.
-Takahiro proceeds to ask Kudo how the hell he ended up here too and where his monsters are at, why he didn't just tame the random monsters they were fighting, but Mana interrupts Takahiro telling him treating his shoulder wound comes first. The heroine points!
-They stop for recuperation and Kudo starts off by claiming this time he's a complete victim, which Takahiro questions the 'this time' part.
-He claims that he got wrapped up in the warp when he simply went to go meet Takahiro, which his presence is further explains that he left soon after meeting Takahiro in Akel to cover the distance in the time span he had. He claims he didn't leave his minions behind either, hinting toward having a secret transportation method.
-Dora tells them that the initial attack on the room (the shattering noise) was an axe with a satchel tied to it, which they hypothesize was a magic item for Okazaki to teleport in with his own teleport already prepared.
-Takahiro shares what he knows (nothing, basically) and they speak a little of how weird the place is. Takahiro's fog magic not working well, Kudo's taming ability not working on the monsters.
-They decide to stay together for the ordeal.
-Mana is a bit depressed over not being useful.
-Takahiro, due to Kudo being in a good mood the whole time, asks him about what his intentions are in general and Kudo gives a metaphorical question of, 'if you could go back in time and kill a future tyrant with them as a baby, would you do it?' with Kudo's answer being that 'evil shouldn't be overlooked,' with him considering the act of killing the 'future tyrant' to be evil regardless of reasons.
-Kudo sums himself up as the demon lord who resents the world, which Takahiro remarks is a little bit different, with Berta wanting Kudo to be saved. Kudo shows, as Takahiro remarks, a rare defenseless, troubled expression to it.
-Chapter ends with them finding someone collapsed.
Okay so, logically the collapsed person would be Okazaki.
Or a random housekeeper but let's pretend those don't exist.
The author notes at the end that Kudo and Mana never talk to each other and come close to not even acknowledging each others existences (they do a little).
He notes this is due to their affinity being very bad and both are trying to not be a nuisance to Takahiro.
Mana, being a human that the demon lord should hate, doesn't particularly seem to bother him, with the author implies this being part of Kudo's way of life.
Of course this can mean a few things.
Kudo goes around calling himself the demon lord because he believes himself evil, going through extra lengths to be that evil that shouldn't be allowed to exist. But in that case he doesn't seem to target powerless people, actively mostly just going for heroes.
Could mean his actions are actually against someone he considers evil, as in the Voice from Heaven.
To take his analogy literally, he's siding with a future evil that has yet to become evil. Seems unlikely, though.
Takahiro doesn't seem to know that Yuna is with Rose and Lobivia, and they seem to be close to meeting with them.
Meaning it's going to be another Yuna vs Kudo situation, with Kudo being at the massive disadvantage due to no minions. I imagine something will happen where they just won't meet, though.
Just foreshadowing and prep chapters. No real developments.
-Lily re-verifies everyone's locations with her telepathy (can't always do it since it requires high focus) and learns Takahiro will be meeting up with Rose soon.
-However, Lily and Spider have run into their "true enemy," a group of templar knights with them recognizing Ottomer, the angel doll knight Rose fought a ways back.
-This time, the 30 or so knights have brought a guest to fight instead, the person being adorned in a feathered mask, making their identity unrecognizable.
-Lily decides to play it safe and focus on defense, turning her right arm into a metallic shell and covering her left arm in hard scales that she claims even a Warrior (cheat student but mob version) would have trouble getting through.
-But the enemy's weird magical greatsword slices through these defenses and slices Lily's upper half in two.
-Lily bounds back, quickly reattaches what she can (with a few arm bits getting left behind), and they decide to flee.
-Lily remarks as they run that the sword likely ignores all resistance, since there wasn't an object colliding with another, but just the blade simply passing through.
-She goes on to note that the Colony actually had a cheat student called Absolute Slice that had a similar ability, but his worked with any edged tool, so mask guy's weird sword is like a downgrade to it.
-They're a little vexed over not being able to meet up with Takahiro at this rate, but mark the masked man not running into Takahiro as a plus.
-Rose's side is also having complications. They also encountered a masked person, and while they're on the defensive, they're able to defend against Yuna's insane speed and cheat strength. On top it, there's five of these masked guys in total. And unlike normal, mentally weak and egotistical warriors, these five are capable of good coordination.
-Of course they also use openings to attack Rose and Lobivia, with Rose guarding with her axe and replacing damaged parts with Matryoshka ability, and Lobivia providing fire breath support.
-They're basically in a deadlock waiting for luck to help them out, I.E. Takahiro showing up.
-Takahiro's side finds a collapsed person and he has Asarina check it out from a distance, who confirms they're dead.
-Upon checking it out, the corpse is surrounded by a large quantity of blood and entrails scattered about, with its face being that of Okazaki (skill copy guy) distorted in fear and anger.
-They theorize a bit about his death, ranging from discord between his collaborators to him simply being too weak from the feedback from using the Fairy Ring ability. Before they can investigate the actual cause of death further, they get interrupted.
-An enormous bloated thing approached, its girth reaching up to the ceiling of the corridor, and its massive body supported by numerous wire-like legs.
-Dora charges at it and gets swatted away by one of its long arms which reacted with no preparatory movement beforehand, like a machine.
-It seems to barely manage to squeeze out the syllables that form Majima's name from its comically tiny head compared to its large frame, with that head being that of Travis's (Templar knight captain from the elf slaughter) but with his gouged out and face twisted in hatred.
Apparently this is horror now.
So Travis has become a Lovecraftian-eqsue thing, and they have several masked men that are noted to be on par physically with cheat "Warriors" but have the combat skill to surpass them.
These masked guys can talk going by the sword guy (who said one whole line and it was just an affirmative), meaning each one is generally stronger than a High Monster like Spider since she lost pretty badly even against a warrior in a one-on-one.
Travis also isn't supposed to have a soul anymore, having been used to poison/curse Takahiro, who then also crushed said soul. So that's interesting.
The masked guys might also be in the same vein and are former corpses of cheat students, or modified living ones. The first guy was specifically noted to resemble a character that's been mentioned a lot and was able to do a similar feat as him, although Lily things it's completely the sword.
The sword itself was written off as a past hero's relic, but it could be more a more modern creation since they have some method of playing with corpses and souls.
Like the sword could actually just contain that Absolute Slice guy's powers/soul, the masked man is him but warped in some way, etc.
Yuna's strength also gets noted to be 'not much inferior to the average Warrior's.
Cheat students really are unfair. It also notes that the only reason she handles it so well is due to the experience she's gained so far.
Which I found a little odd since most of her experience is just killing monsters will little resistance, but she has had a few tough spots here and there.
Plus there's no real way she can practice swordsmanship with no one as fast as her to practice with.
But hey, heroine power.
-Takahiro grabs Mana and makes some distance from the thing that was Travis, while Kudo uses his dragonfly backpack monster to cast level 3 wind magic at him, which he ignores and sends Kudo flying despite his own wounds from the magic.
-Dora rebounds and confronts Travis again while Takahiro checks on Kudo, who is fine due to his slime defense.
-Dora can only hold him off for a little bit before they decide to run, with both Dora and Travis being injured a bit from their exchange. Incidentally, Kudo uses his dragonfly backpack to fly away, but it seems this also uses his limited mana.
-Kudo proposes using Dora as a stall while they run, but Takahiro doesn't like the idea and proposes to create an opening so that Dora can cut off Travis's head.
-Mana laments once again over having no ability to help, which Takahiro associates with her feeling guilty about something.
-However, while Kudo has been putting on a brave front, he actually took more damage that was to be appeared from the earlier whack from Travis, with his left arm being "smashed."
-Kudo remarks that having a smashed arm wouldn't matter much regardless since he isn't the swordsman type anyway, and that he was 'half dead' to begin with.
-Takahiro realizes that the cost—or simply another reflection of his wish—for Kudo's abilities has taken a toll on him, as he seems to be unable to feel pain and has noticeably lost weight since they first met.
-He goes on to declare to Mana that since she resembles him in many ways, that once she manifests her own ability, that it will 'become awful.' He also suggests that Mana is aware of this, and the reason her ability hasn't manifested is fearing that.
-Takahiro tells him he'll be the decoy for Travis and tells them that he's been having Salvia find a coping method for why her fog magic won't work. Still seems she's limited to small scale stuff, but has something to tell him later.
-Kudo offers to use one of his ace in the holes and Takahiro says they need to talk later, and get ready to fight Travis.
-Mana POV
-Kudo's ace was using Friedrich to do a level 3 dual cast of fire and wind for synergy. Mana notes that it's similar to Sturm und Drang's ability, although that particular boy could apparently do a triple cast of level 5 spells even, so a little lackluster in comparison.
-Mana is surprised numerous times watching Takahiro fight, and begins to break out of the pessimistic thoughts that she had about him doing it.
-Mana asks Kudo, who is kinda gloating about Takahiro being strong, if what he said before was really just a warning, which causes him to put on a sour expression and states it was for Takahiro.
-Takahiro nearly cuts off Travis's head two times and uses his Asarina demon arm to counter Travis's counters (Disgaea) where eventually Dora spots and opportunity and cuts off Travis's head.
-Mana tries to rush over to Takahiro upon victory but the flooring is a mess from the battle, so she has to wait for Takahiro to come to her.
-While he never got directly hit, he seems to have suffered lacerations and bruises from debris, which she goes on to heal, Dora also tries to bandage Kudo's arm, with Mana not thinking it'll have much effect.
-Mana takes a guess that what Saliva wanted to talk about had to do with this dungeon being 'too clean,' with no corpses being seen aside from Okazaki for monsters even.
-But before they can expand on that, Takahiro pushes Mana out of the way because Travis's severed head is lunging at him.
-No one able to react to the head in time, but a spear comes flying out of nowhere, piercing the head and sending it to the ground, this time finally staying silent.
-Then Mikihiko AKA Takahiro's otaku friend comes out.
-Yuna notes that the masked men's cooperation wasn't the level of the Templars, but was more on the level of simply not getting in each other's ways.
-At some point during their stalemate, or rather not progressing battle, Rose throws some explosive knives that creates an opening for Yuna to attack the one that they were all coordinating around.
-It switches to Shiran's POV for a moment, with her asking why Gordon, the embodiment of diligence and mental fortitude, is looking so gloomy and a little afraid. But it cuts away before he can answer, with Shiran having a bad feeling about it.
-The masked man talks for the first time, causing Yuna to stiffen, where he stabs an uncanny knife into her right thigh. There's a black liquid among the red blood that comes out of her leg, presumably from the knife.
-However, Yuna swings her sword at him and manages to retreat to Rose on one leg.
-The masked man takes off his mask and it turns out to be Jinguuji, AKA the Dragon Man hero.
-Yuuna asks why he's trying to kill Takahiro with Ottomer and
he responds that it's to return to their world with everyone.
-Apparently he's cooperating with someone to achieve that, with his side of the deal being to 'Kill all of Takahiro's minions,' and to 'remove Takahiro from the surface world,' apparently not referring to killing him.
-Yuna starts crying, trying to figure out how their ideals of protecting everyone became so twisted, when dragonboy tells her that he had a girlfriend among the stay behind group at the colony.
-Yuna couldn't find anything to say about that, with the only thing she being certain of is that dragonboy has become an enemy.
-The narrator notes that there's one thing Yuna hasn't realized, which is their enemy has the potential, through whatever means, to get people like Jiguuji to side with them. Meaning that it's fully possible for other people to turn as well.
-It cuts back to Takahiro being surprised, with Mikihiko holding a bloody knife in his hand.
So everything's becoming fuck.
Guess the masked guys weren't actually zombies, though. Kind of a pity.
Although this is definitely good too.
Everything's kinda leading to them siding with Kudo too.
And whoever promised dragonboy was obviously bullshitting him, since Travis, who presumably has ties with the same guy, was trying to kill Takahiro.
Plus the whole sticking the Travis monster on him too.
Not to mention killing all of Takahiro's minions without killing Takahiro is impossible.
Gordon seems to have an idea what's going on, and Salvia's probably figured it out too.
The whole 'surface world' bit is probably a hint to that, but not enough info as usual.
Mikihiko's betrayal seems out of place, considering Mikihiko doesn't like the hero students in general, never really showed any interest in returning to Earth, and was going after his tomboy princess waifu.
So they have some sort of mind control as well, or are doing hostage shit to boot.
Plus if he was gonna stab Takahiro (it never actually said Takahiro was stabbed), there was no reason to kill Travis first.
Could just simply be not actually Mikihiko.
Wonder if Gordon's gonna betray Shiran next time too.
Kudo also seems to be trying to prevent Mana from manifesting a power that'll cripple her in other ways as well.
Again, Mana is supposed to be getting a power this volume and there probably isn't THAT much left in the volume. Volumes are normally 35-40 chapters and here we are at 37 and all.
So this time there is a new enemy lurking in shadow and maybe manipulated them. Thought didnt expect there are some betrayal from the student.
As expected of you Sasuke, still can remembered the story up until now which different from me which read from this thread as source.
And i hope after the next chapter Mana can awakened her power after that Takahiro and Mana can have their alone time. yeah because previously they are interrupted.
Somehow Mana become my favorite character, thats why i hope her power will be awakened next chapter
I read volume 2 wayback 2015, and honestly I cant remember any information about this at all. So for a starter, how many volumes does this currently have? I want to reread this in the beginning. Btw I read the Web Novel till Chapter 5 about the knight and the brave. And I didnt expect that it's still updating. Wow
2018-04-06, 18:59
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