Early TWEM Vol. 5 Chapter 8 Part 2

Note: This part has not been TLCed yet, and might slightly differ from the public version.  If you found any typos/mistakes, pls write them in the comment. Thanks.

Translator: Jay_Forestier

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At the same time, five figures were sitting around a round table in one of the rooms in the building.

A subordinate, who had come to report on the explosion outside, reported that the surrounding guards had been annihilated and that the Holy Knights were beginning to gather.

At that moment, one of them raised his voice.

“What are you going to do about this? We couldn't have been found out so quickly! The fact that they did so perfectly is your damn fault!”

The others also raised their voices in support, but Alben ravened back.

“I merely acted according to the plan goddamn it! And I don’t recall y’all opposing it either! Besides, it’s not like the plan has failed or anything!”

The plan was still ongoing, and he’d be damned if it were to fail just like that.

Alben said, but the others wouldn’t listen to him.

“The rest of us will be hightailing it outta here first. You said you would take responsibility for this. You haven't forgotten, have you?”

“...Of course.”

Alben nodded bitterly.

“So long then——”

The other four stood up, and one of them was about to say, “let me get outta here”, when Alben interrupted.

“What is it? Anything else?”

“The plan has failed, hasn't it?”

“Moreover, the strongest holy knight is right on our doorstep.”

“Exactly.  We can't confront them.”

The four men were talking about the impossibility and failure of the plan.

Alben shook his head.

“From what I saw earlier, there’s no doubt the summoning is at hand. Judging by the intensity of the light, I'm pretty sure it's the highest-rank devil.”

Alben's comment brought those who were leaving to a halt.

“No fuckin way!”

While the four men's faces were beaming with joy, Alben, unbeknownst to them, was smiling.

“Yeah, but we don't have enough sacrifice.”

“Sacrifice? Isn’t that what the saint is for?”

Alben replied to the question.

Not quite. A little blood of the saint is more than enough. Besides, without more sacrifices, the devil will not manifest for long.”

“Then, do we use the Holy Knights who are gathering?”

“No, that’s too risky. I thought something like this might happen, so I already got it covered.”

“What?”

“You’ve got it covered?”

Alben nodded.

“There is a cage above the room where the saint is, and that’s where those we kidnapped are gathered, right? Besides them, I’ve also gathered those who volunteer to be sacrificed.”

This was true.

In addition to those they had kidnapped, there were some members of the Satanic Cult who had volunteered to give themselves to the devil, and if they were included, the number adds up to about twenty.

Hearing this, the four smiled maliciously, and Alben continued speaking.

“We don’t have much time, and judging by the way the magic circle is shining, we just need to drop the sacrifices in that room, recite the chant, and the devil should appear. Since we can always use the saint again, we’ll have to evacuate her first. You lot will have to participate in the summoning too.”

When he told them of the plan, they all nodded with smiles on their faces and said, “Sure”.

When Alben and the other four and a few of their subordinates headed for the basement, Ilmina glared at them when she saw them.

“Whoa~, how scary. A saint shouldn’t make such a scary face.”

As Alben said in a playful manner, Ilmina’s expression became even more grim.

“And who's to blame for that!”

“Hearing you say that really hurts my feelings.”

Ilmina was annoyed, but there was nothing she could do about it.

Then Alben opened his mouth.

“We’ve collected enough of your blood. So, all that remains is to bring the sacrifices here.”

As Alben gave the order, the ceiling opened and a cage descended from above.

Ilmina’s eyes widened at the sudden turn of events.

“Wha-! What's this?!”

“You understand, don't you? These are the sacrifices...they’re the victims of the recent disappearances.”

“You think it’s okay to do something like this?!”

“You bet I do.  For our long-cherished wish.”

The other four laughed in agreement with Alben's words.

“Release them right now!”

Ilmina shouted, but Alben ignored her and instead gave order to his subordinates.

“Get her out of this room.”

At Alben's command, the members of the cult took her in their arms.

“Hey, let go of me! Release those people immediately!”

With a wound in the abdomen, and her strength sucked by the magic circle, she could not even resist.

The only thing she could do was scream.

Even when they heard her plaintive cry, the sacrifices in the cage did not react, but simply stood there. Their eyes stared into the void.

“What have you done to them?”

Alben answered, just for the heck of it, when Ilmina noticed this and shouted.

“We simply used magic on them to make them more submissive is all.”

“——What?!”

Stunned into silence, Ilmina was taken straight out of the room.

She was then locked in another prison-like room.

All she could do now was pray and trust that someone would do something about this terrible situation.

～

In the room where Ilmina was taken out of, Alben was giving orders to his subordinates.

“Get them out of the cage and gather them to the center of the magic circle.”

The members of the cult opened the cage, and the sacrifices came out in droves with deadpan eyes.

“At last.”

“Our long-cherished wish will finally...”

“Now we can summon the devil.”

“Finally...”

The four twisted their mouths as they said this.

“Well, let's get started. The stage has been set. Position yourselves at the top of the formation.”

Alben's words were the signal.

Those who had emerged from the cage gathered in the center of the magic circle, and Alben and the other members of the cult surrounded them.

Then Alben and the others raised both palms in front of them and began chanting a spell.

After several minutes of long chanting, Alben raised his voice.

“——Summon Devil's Gate!”

At the same time as these words were spoken, the glow of the magic circle became even brighter.

And those in the center of the magic circle collapsed to the floor. Their souls had been drained from them.

The light of the magic circle converged to the center, from which a black mist rose.

The mist became a pillar about one meter in diameter, reaching the ceiling, and soon a figure emerged from it.

Alben and his fellow cultists shouted with joy when they saw it.

“At last, finally, we have succeeded!”

“At last! At long last we have succeeded!”

Then, as if in response to their shouts, a shadowy figure in the mist spoke out.

“Fufuu, mere humans dare to summon me...”

The next moment, the mist cleared away and the devil was revealed.

Dressed in elegant black aristocratic clothes, with medium gray hair and jet-black eyes. The most distinctive features were the bat-like wings that sprouted from his back, the black horns that sprouted from his head, and his slightly pointed ears.

As the devil looked around, Alben opened his mouth.

“Hear our wishes, O devil!”

“Fufuu, sure, go ahead.”

Alben broke out in smiles upon hearing those words and then announced the cult's wishes.

“Lay waste to this holy city!”

“——Sure. But still, it’s my first time in the mundane world in a very long time. With this many sacrifices, I would say I have about two days at most. If I use my abilities, maybe a day...well, I guess I'll just have to use you lot to make up for any lack that may arise.”

As soon as they heard this, Alben and the others turned pale and immediately tried to flee.

But in an instant, they were bound by black chains conjured up from magic.

“What’s the meaning of this?! L-Let go of me! ”

“Take this thing off me!”

“We are not a part of this!?”

“That’s right, we’re not supposed to take part in this!”

“We are the summoners!”

Alben and the others were screaming their heads off.

But the devil distorted its mouth in amusement.

“Fufuu, then you’ll be wrong. Because you are. Since you dared to give orders to me.  The sacrifice is merely the price for the summoning. But to get me to do your bidding that’s another story. You don’t honestly think that you get to order me around without paying a price? You’re not going to say that it didn’t occur to you, right?”

A black, ominous aura overflowed from the devil’s entire body.

“Hie, hieeek!”

Alben and the others, their faces contorted with fear, and could not even move their bodies.

“So, I’ll be taking them now.”

“W-Wait——”

After those words from Alben, no one else in the room was capable of moving except for the devil.

“Fufufuu, it’s still not enough.  But I will grant your wishes. My word is my bond after all.”

Saying this, the devil then tried detecting those in the vicinity.

There were several reactions, but then the devil shouted in delight.

“Look at that, there are still quite a few around. One weakened woman and——?! Oh my, what do we have here?  To think that I’d find a decent human in this place, should be fun. But first, let me fulfill my promise.”

With those words, the devil disappeared from the room.

◇ ◇ ◇

I, Haruto was heading to the basement where I’m picking up Ilmina’s reaction.

While using my stealth and conceal presence skills, I proceeded to take out any cult members I saw along the way.

As I proceeded to the basement, I stopped when I saw two guards standing in front of the room where Ilmina’s reaction had been detected.

It seemed that several people were gathered in another room, which was probably the room where they were preparing to summon the devil.

However, since the mana coming from that room didn’t seem to be particularly alarming, and Ilmina’s reaction was weakening, I decided to head toward Ilmina first.

I rapidly approached the two guards and electrocuted them with lightning magic, knocking them out.

Perhaps noticing the sound of the two men falling, I heard Ilmina’s voice coming from behind the iron door.

“Is someone, is someone there?”

“It's me. Haruto.”

When I answered, Ilmina shouted in disbelief.

“Haru, to...uh?”

“Hang on, I'll get you out of here.”

"No! We, We have to stop the summoning, quickly!”

“What do you mean...?”

I froze the moment I put my hand on the door. I thought that the group of people I saw earlier were probably preparing to summon the devil, but to think that they were already done with the preparation!?

“The devil summoning...we have to stop them immediately!”

Ilmina said in a desperate voice, but having come this far, I can't just leave her alone.

“Ugh, hold on, let me get you outta here first!”

I tried opening the door, but it’s probably locked or something and wouldn’t budge.

Tsk, what a waste of time, dammit!

I immediately activated my molding skill to unlock the door.

Behind the opened door, there she was, tied to a chain extending from the wall in a weak state.

Moreover, blood was seeping from her abdomen.

I immediately rushed over to her and unleashed a wind spell to break the chains on her limbs, but it was easily repelled.

“What the hell?”

I was puzzled seeing my magic repelled, and Ilmina explained to me.

“It’s an anti-magic chain. Magic attacks won’t work on it.”

“How bothersome.”

If magic doesn't work, how about skills, I invoked molding and was able to unlink the chains.

Indeed, these chains dissipate any mana channeled to it.

I put it away in my dimensional storage for the time being, so I could check it out later. Looks like a good research material.

I immediately supported Ilmina, who was looking all weak, with both hands.

“Thank you, very much...but, why are you here...?”

“We can talk later.”

There’s no time to explain, so I cast a recovery spell on Ilmina.

A pale light enveloped Ilmina and healed the wound in her abdomen.

“R-Recovery magic...?”

She was very surprised, probably wasn’t expecting that I could use recovery magic, but I had something to ask her anyway.

“Just explain the situation to me.”

“O-Okay!”

Ilmina, who is able to speak properly now that she has recovered, describes the current situation.

“——And that’s about it.  So, So hurry up and stop the summoning! Don't worry about me!”

“I understand.”

I didn't realize they were done preparing to summon the devil...dammit, what a blunder.

Just as I was about to rush to the room from earlier, a powerful and disastrous mana reaction suddenly appeared.

...I guess, we’re one step too late.

Ilmina must have sensed it. Her face turned pale.

“Oh no, no...my god...”

“I’m afraid it’s as you feared. Looks like we didn't make it in time.”

I was inwardly angry and cursing at the fact that I couldn't make it in time.

But it was no use since it already turned out this way. At any rate, I need to get Ilmina to a safe location——to the cathedral.

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