Chapter 136 - Grimoire Harem (7)

Both Yo-han and Pierre had been ambushed, but neither panicked.

After all, each had expected the other to launch a surprise attack, so both had prepared for it.

Just before Mage Slayer's short Japanese sword, a Wakizashi, could reach Yo-han.

Someone who had hidden his presence just like Mage Slayer came rushing out in a mad dash.

The spear Lee Mun-ryong thrust forward cut in and knocked the attack aside.

Clang!

Spearhead and blade, steel against steel, rang out.

A fleeting instant to an ordinary person, but more than enough for Martial Artists.

"—."

"......."

Lee Mun-ryong and Mage Slayer's gazes met.

Lee Mun-ryong kept a grave expression while breaking into a cold sweat inwardly.

'This bastard's fast. Sorry, Yo-han, but I almost didn't make it in time.'

Mage Slayer recognized Lee Mun-ryong's face, blue eyes flashing.

'...The former Greatest Under Heaven, the reckless Lee Mun-ryong.'

A man famous throughout the Chinese Murim in more ways than one.

Mage Slayer initially considered breaking through Lee Mun-ryong as planned and going after Yo-han, but....

Swoosh-.

Mage Slayer's eyes quickly flicked toward Yo-han.

Yo-han met Mage Slayer's gaze as well.

Calm black eyes, utterly unruffled.

Just as the intel said, perhaps because he had learned a Breathing Technique, his reactions were quick for a Wizard.

Lee Mun-ryong's spear stabbed forward, and Mage Slayer kicked off the ground without hesitation, leaping far backward.

Then Mage Slayer raised one hand upright like a blade and offered Yo-han an introduction.

"Domo- I'm Mage Slayer."

I narrowed one eye in disbelief at the ninja assassin who had suddenly appeared.

'What is this, some "a ninja showed up and killed everyone" shit....'

That aside, I returned the greeting.

"Domo- Mage Slayer-san."

I pulled the Desert Eagle from the leather gun case inside my coat, aimed it at Mage Slayer, and pulled the trigger.

"I'm Kim Yo-han."

Bang! Baaang!

Mage Slayer's eyes curved with delight as the blade deflected the bullets.

Clang! Claang!

My face twisted at the sight of .50-caliber rounds being casually blocked like it was the most natural thing in the world.

'No, fuck. Yoannis was bad enough, and now this bastard too. Why the hell are these guys turning a modern Occult story into a wuxia novel?'

It would have been reassuring if he were my bodyguard like Lee Mun-ryong, but since he was the enemy, it just pissed me off.

Then I caught sight of Pierre, who had blocked Grizzly's attack.

It looked like things hadn't ended easily over there either.

Thoom-!

".........."

The headless knight in black armor was protecting Pierre, blocking Grizzly's fist with his shield.

Then, with Grizzly's position exposed by his attack, all kinds of yokai from different myths and legends burst out of Pierre's shadow and charged him.

"Gyaah!?"

Grizzly swung both arms in rapid succession.

Boom! Crunch! KABOOM!

He smashed apart the first yokai that rushed him, but there were too many of them, so I called Grizzly back.

Thoom-.

Grizzly retreated and stood beside me as though guarding me, growling at the yokai.

"Grrraaaa...!"

That ended the brief opening skirmish, with neither side dead.

With Lee Mun-ryong and Grizzly on either side of me.

I faced Pierre, who stood with Mage Slayer and a horde of monsters.

Lee Mun-ryong adjusted his grip on his spear and grumbled.

"...Can't even get a proper rest."

I glared at Pierre.

"If you're going to complain, complain to that guy."

Then I fired at Pierre without hesitation.

Baaang-!

Of course, I hadn't expected it to hit.

Either that Mage Slayer bastard in the ninja cosplay would block it, or one of the monsters around Pierre would protect him.

I had only fired to create an opening.

But the bullet missed Pierre in a way completely different from what I had imagined.

Thoom- crash!

By sheer coincidence, a sign from a building near Pierre came loose, struck the sign below it, and bounced.

It dropped directly into the bullet's path, and after the round punched through the sign, its trajectory shifted and sent it past Pierre.

My eyes widened in stunned disbelief.

"—!?"

Pierre smiled leisurely, as though he had known all along that it would never hit him.

"As you know, today is Thursday."

Thursday. Jupiter symbolized wealth, honor, abundance, health, mercy....

My eyes narrowed at his words.

'...Luck.'

Mana rippled around the grimoire <Heptameron> in Pierre's hand.

Meron-!

<Heptameron> meant "seven days" in Greek.

It was a grimoire that possessed not only magic for controlling Ghosts, but seven forms of magic tied to the planet governing each day of the week, from Monday through Sunday.

Planetary mana did not care which Wizard invoked it.

...Pierre was a Ritual Wizard, just like me.

"The location of the <Shanhaijing> I've been looking for surfaced today, and it turned up in the hands of Namgung Soo-ah, someone close to you who can be used as a hostage. That's quite literally luck."

Pierre stepped confidently forward, crushing a piece of the broken sign beneath his foot.

Crunch-.

"The Thursday magic of <Heptameron> is luck. Overwhelming good fortune itself is moving in my favor."

The problem was that, unlike me, Pierre had prepared his Ritual Magic in advance.

Pierre pulled a handgun from his coat and fired at the windows of the buildings above him.

He did not take so much as a single step, arrogantly putting his luck on display.

Shraaaaaash-!

The showering shards of glass all fell around Pierre without touching his body.

Luck protected Pierre.

A glass shower-!!

My eyes widened at the sight!

'Fuck! I've seen that in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 4, in the rock-paper-scissors episode!'

Lee Mun-ryong was startled too.

"Shit! Yo-han! I've seen that in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure! That bastard's seriously protected by luck!"

Pierre tilted his head, then replied in a pleasantly languid voice.

"I only watch cute-girl anime, so I don't know JoJo... but I'm glad you're quick on the uptake."

But then something pierced through Pierre's luck that no one had expected.

To be precise, I hadn't expected it either.

Long black hair, blue eyes, and a gentle, pretty face. A nun.

"Yo-han-ssi?"

Ellie stood there with a shopping basket in hand, staring at the situation with startled eyes.

The hotel where Lee Mun-ryong was staying was near Ellie's Cathedral.

She had been shopping ahead of time to prepare for the zoo field trip and had happened to pass through here.

Pierre's eyes widened.

'I cast magic to keep ordinary people away... How?'

Since she had called Yo-han by name, Pierre realized she knew him and sent the yokai after her to take her hostage.

"Subdue her."

"Grrrr~ Kaaaah!"

Ellie grasped the situation and immediately set down her shopping basket.

"Stay away from...."

She lifted one side of the long skirt of her nun's habit.

Her smooth, shapely right leg was revealed, along with the Warhammer attached to a leather strap around her thigh.

It did not have the ridiculously oversized hammerhead one would see in a comic or video game.

But it was a superb, well-balanced Warhammer.

"...Yo-han-ssi!"

Ellie gripped the Warhammer with both hands and swung it at the head of the wolf-shaped yokai charging at her first.

KABOOM! CRUNCH-!

The consecrated Warhammer, forged with a saint's finger bone melted into it, smashed the yokai's head apart.

Ellie did not stop. She stepped forward and swung the Warhammer sideways, crushing the second yokai's head.

"Shaaaa-!"

A snake yokai went for Ellie's leg, but-.

".........."

CRASH-!

-Ellie stomped on the snake yokai's head and burst it apart.

Ellie exhaled.

"Fwoo...."

Beneath the moonlight.

Blood dripped from the Warhammer in her hand, and Ellie's blue eyes gleamed coldly beneath the blood spattered across her cheek.

The cross necklace resting over her chest glinted.

Pierre and I both stared at her in stunned shock.

"—!?"

Right. She was always smiling brightly and going, 'Hehe~ Yo-han-ssi! Come eat!' while making me meals, so I'd forgotten.

Ellie was a Catholic Chosen who could slaughter hordes of Zombies with her bare hands.

A Crusader Warrior!

When it came to individual combat ability, she was far stronger than I was.

Pierre belatedly recognized Ellie.

She wasn't officially a nun yet, but....

'Sister Sophia's adopted daughter, Elizabeth!?'

This was bad.

If he openly laid a hand on a nun affiliated with the Vatican, the Vatican's Mage Hunter would get involved.

The Sword of God, Gideon. That fucking lunatic would make a move.

Wizards had nothing to gain from getting involved with the Vatican in the first place.

The truly strange one was Yo-han, who somehow ate and slept at a Cathedral under Vatican authority. It was hard to tell whether he was an idiot or just that bold.

While Pierre hesitated for a moment, Ellie's cold gaze softened, and she hurried over to my side with a worried look.

"Yo-han-ssi! Are you okay!? You're not hurt anywhere, are you?"

"Uh... I'm fine. But what's with that?"

When I gestured toward the Warhammer with my eyes, Ellie answered with a slightly embarrassed look.

"Ah, well, I've been getting caught up in so many dangerous situations lately... so I took it from my mother's storage room for self-defense."

I'd taught Ellie a Breathing Technique, so of course I knew she wasn't an ordinary person, but just what kind of person was Ellie's adoptive mother?

Ellie's appearance made Pierre frown.

".........."

If she were weak, he could simply capture her without hurting her and leave her at the Cathedral, but she did not look easy to take.

And then something else barged in to make Pierre's headache even worse.

VROOOOM-!

An engine roared as a red convertible sports car drifted to a stop.

Screeeech-.

And in the passenger seat sat a blond Vampire.

Yoannis grinned and repeatedly pulled the triggers of the long-barreled S&W M500 revolvers in both hands.

Mage Slayer quickly grabbed Pierre and forced him down.

"—!"

The sports car rocked from the recoil as the barrage of rounds blew the yokai apart.

KABABABABABOOM-!!

Amid the utter chaos, Pierre remained crouched and let out an exhausted sigh.

"...Haaaa."

Right. In the end, whoever got their hands on the <Shanhaijing> first would win this contest anyway.

And with Ellie here, continuing the fight was already out of the question.

Pierre opened <Heptameron> and summoned Ghosts to buy himself time.

"SKRIEEEEEEE-!"

Then he ran toward the Jeep he had kept waiting and gave an order to the Dullahan.

"Go after Namgung Soo-ah, the one carrying the <Shanhaijing>. Subdue her if you can. If not, kill her."

".........."

The Dullahan's shadow rippled, rose, and became a headless black horse.

Clop- clop-!

The Dullahan mounted the headless horse and raced away, while the Jeep roared after it.

The whirlwind of Ghosts dispersed.

Yoannis and I locked eyes.

Neither of us had expected to run into the other here.

At Yoannis's appearance, the Gnomes were summoned.

"Master! Leave this place to us, gnome!"

"Gnome?"

A whole crowd of Gnomes carrying fire extinguishers swarmed in and began heckling Yoannis.

"We top-class firefighter Gnomes will put out every last fire, gnome!"

"Kikik~ Poop Vampire! You brought poop Greek Fire again, gnome!"

Yoannis's expression stiffened at the sight of the Gnomes with fire extinguishers.

"Ghk-!"

...And the black-haired, feminine-looking pretty boy sitting in the driver's seat.

A vein bulged on Mia's forehead.

"Don't... insult Master!"

He raised an assault rifle and opened fire on the Gnomes.

Pip- pip- pip-!

The Gnomes scattered and fled from the stinging bullets.

"Waaaaaaah~!"

A smile spread across Yoannis's lips.

"I was already in love with you, but now I'm falling even harder."

"Then fall for me lots and lots!"

Yoannis and Mia were after the grimoire <Shanhaijing> that Pierre wanted, as well as the Dullahan's head.

There was no reason to risk fighting Yo-han here, so Mia shifted gears and gripped the steering wheel.

VROOOOM-!

Then they took off after Pierre again.

I narrowed my eyes as I watched the red sports car disappear into the distance.

I wanted to kill the bastard, but....

With Pierre currently targeting Soo-ah, who had the <Shanhaijing>.

There was no point wasting time trading blows with Yoannis.

Ellie looked at me and asked.

"Y-Yo-han-ssi, what's going on right now? Is this happening again because I asked you to go to the zoo...?"

"This has nothing to do with that."

Honestly, I didn't really know what the hell was going on either, but I summarized it for her as best I could.

"That Wizard I was fighting earlier is after Soo-ah."

"What? Th-then what do we do?"

I switched the grimoire in my hand from <De Vermis Mysteriis> to <The Lesser Key of Solomon>.

"We'll have to do something."

Obviously, I had absolutely no intention of taking a beating lying down.

Shrrrk-.

A chain of light shot out of the grimoire and snagged one of the translucent blue Ghosts Pierre had summoned.

"Neiiigh...!"

A Phantom Steed, a Ghost Horse.