Chapter 20. Hagenti (5)
“Valletta?”
“Y-Yeah. My name is Valletta. Squeak!”
Even Valefor himself thought the way he said it sounded awkward, but Sia’s reaction was surprisingly positive.
“Hmm, I see. Nice to meet you, Valletta!”
He had simply blurted out the first name that came to mind, only to realize he had named himself after Valletta, the capital of Malta and a former stronghold of the Knights Hospitaller.
For a Great Demon feared and revered by other demons to impersonate something associated with a Catholic knightly order...
Haa... How did I end up lying while worrying about what this human thinks of me? Squeak.
He felt pathetic.
Still, he didn’t regret it.
At that moment, a streak of white light shot out from the ruins and spread across the monastery.
Sia and Valefor were momentarily blinded.
Then—
KWA-AAANG! WHOOOOOSH!
A massive explosion erupted, followed by a violent storm.
Sia dropped to the floor under the fierce wind, while Valefor was blown straight past her.
His body was so light that he bounced around helplessly before barely managing to grab onto the edge of a window frame.
“Kyaaaah!”
Mikael! You insane bastard! Squeak!
Just before the explosion, Valefor had seen it.
The concentrated white flames in Mikael’s hand.
Harmonia.
“Valletta! What the hell is happening?!”
Once the wind died down, Sia got back up and called for Valefor while trying to assess the situation.
Valefor didn’t have the time to answer.
He was too busy staring outside.
He blocked that like it was nothing... Squeak.
The technique Mikael had just fired carried enough power to vaporize most high-ranking demons.
And yet Hagenti stood exactly where he had been without a single wound.
Valefor could clearly feel the overwhelming gap between himself and a true Great Demon.
BANG!
Sia came over to Valefor and looked outside.
Mikael, wrapped in aura, had already clashed with Hagenti, whose claws were bearing down on him.
“So this... is a Great Demon.”
Sia’s expression darkened just as much as Valefor’s.
She had already known Mikael was strong ever since she saw him use those white flames against the demons at the cathedral.
But Hagenti was dealing with someone like Mikael so easily.
Just how powerful was he?
If something like that were allowed to roam freely through the world...
He couldn’t even be compared to the demons she had encountered before.
Hagenti’s body swelled as he transformed into something resembling a demonic beast that belonged in Hell itself.
Sia watched him before letting out a deep sigh.
“Haa... I guess if nothing else works, we’ll just have to blast him with a bomb or something.”
Worrying wouldn’t solve anything.
Neither would simply suffering over it.
You tried first.
If it failed, then you figured out the next step afterward.
It was something Jungon had told Sia ever since she was little.
Clap!
“That’s it. Squeak!”
Valefor suddenly clapped his paws after getting an idea from Sia’s muttering.
“An explosion! We cause an explosion and draw Hagenti’s attention over here. Squeak!”
“Huh...? Does it really work like that? More importantly, how are we supposed to cause one?”
Sia looked worried because the plan seemed to have a goal but no actual method.
Valefor immediately gave her the answer.
“The refining room. Squeak!”
“The refining room? Don’t tell me...”
Sia remembered how she had wanted to smash the refining machine earlier, only for Valefor to stop her.
A high-level barrier like this couldn’t possibly operate without consuming enormous resources.
And if it was designed to function steadily over a long period of time, then there had to be a huge amount of stored energy inside it.
“Let’s go right now. Squeak.”
Outside, Hagenti’s claws were digging into Mikael’s aura.
Feeling pressed for time, Valefor jumped down from the window frame.
“I understand what you’re thinking, but... if it explodes, what happens to the people inside?”
They were already dead, but Sia still didn’t want to damage their bodies.
“I’ve thought of something. So don’t worry. Squeak.”
Unlike Sia, Valefor didn’t have the luxury to worry about every little thing.
“Enough talking. Let’s move! We don’t have time. Squeak.”
Even if he had to lie because every second mattered, he had to prioritize what needed to be done.
Mikael might possess absurd regenerative abilities, but even the aura needed to fuel that recovery couldn’t be infinite.
“Ugh, disgusting bastards. Squeak.”
On their way back to the refining room, they once again passed by the believers.
Yet not a single one of them even flinched.
Their blind devotion felt strangely different from what Valefor expected of demons.
Once he entered the refining room, Valefor shuddered as he looked at them.
“But how are you going to blow that thing up? Do you actually have a way?”
Sia pointed at the refining machine that was no longer operating.
“Give me a second. Squeak.”
Valefor postponed answering and began rummaging through a pouch on his stomach.
“You have a pouch?”
“Ah, it’s because this form is mixed with an opossum. Squeak.”
“What do you mean... mixed?”
The mention of species being mixed together made goosebumps rise across Sia’s arms.
Wasn’t he supposed to be a rat transformed by a holy relic?
There were plenty of strange holy relics in the world, so she had accepted the explanation without thinking too deeply about it.
But now that she suspected he might actually be a real rodent, she felt faint.
“Found it. Squeak.”
Valefor pulled a demonic artifact out of his pouch and raised it above his head.
It was a cube slightly smaller than Valefor’s already tiny body, about the size of a palm.
Greedy Firecracker.
Aside from the fact that it existed purely to cause explosions, it was very different from an actual firecracker.
Still, the name wasn’t completely undeserved.
“A cube?”
“Hmm... Think of it as something similar to a holy relic. Squeak!”
Valefor couldn’t exactly tell her it was a demonic artifact, so he gave a vague excuse before removing the Ring of Concealment, which had shrunk to match the size of his body.
Pop!
The Greedy Firecracker was hollow inside, much like an empty firework shell.
Its destructive power changed depending on what kind of offering was placed inside.
To create an explosion powerful enough to destroy the refining machine, he needed an offering of this level.
I was saving this so I could screw Mikael over someday. Squeak.
It was a shame.
But there was no turning back now.
Once the Ring of Concealment disappeared, Hagenti would probably notice Valefor’s true identity.
But at the same time, it would also create an opportunity for Mikael.
As Valefor brought the ring near the cube, a large opening suddenly appeared in its center.
Whoosh!
The ring was sucked inside.
Crunch. Crunch.
The sound of molars chewing something hard echoed from within.
