Shadow Farms

” ‘Strength Behind Screen’ "

The aura around Olba changed.

His great magic that I felt from him began to shrink, compress, and accumulate within his body.

His blood vessels exploded, his muscles were torn apart, and his bones were broken, but all of them recovered instantly.

Exceeding the limits of humans, a large amount of his magic was now residing within his body.

‘The Order’ calls it ‘Awakening’.

Now that he had become like this, there was no turning back.

But ... Instead, he gained tremendous power.

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!”

Together with a beast-like roar, Olba's figure disappeared.

Together with a clashing sound, the black-clothed boy was thrown.

Just before he hit the wall, the boy kicked him, then fixed his position and landed.

However, Olba's sword continued to make the boy fly like a doll out of cloth.

“Very slow! Very light! Very fragile! This is reality, you boy!”

Olba continued to attack.

Every time there was a sound, the boy was thrown.

Olba's slash was really fast, extremely heavy, and completely merciless.

What an incredible violence.

When a tiger kills a rabbit, it does not need to use any tricks. Just swinging his strength, and that was enough.

There's no way to fight.

The black boy was unilaterally crushed.

Or so Olba expected.

“!?”

Suddenly blood spurted from Olba's chest. When was this not shallow incision made?

Olba stopped moving for a moment, but then sent the youngster flying again at the next moment.

“JUST FREE! COMPLETELY USELESS, YOU BRAT !!!”

Olba's wound should be deep enough to reach the bone. However, the wound bubbles, then regenerate in seconds.

“INI IS POWER !! THIS IS POWER !! ”

Olba quickened himself again.

The scene when he vomited blood while in the air was almost like a flash of red.

Black versus red.

Both clashes – black bounced, while red spewed blood.

The battle of blows cannot be followed by the naked eye.

Just the red shadows and the sight of the black creature being sent flying indicated that something was happening.

But this didn't last long.

The gap between the two was very clear, and it did not require any imagination to predict the eventual black destruction.

It was supposed to be a fight where there was no way for him to lose.

Over and over again he swung his sword, and repeatedly he demonstrated his dominance over black.

Butwhy.

Why....how did the black boy continue to stand up again and again, Like nothing happened?

“Why ... why can't I reach you ..?”

No changes were seen in the black. After barely using magic, barely making any movement, just letting his body follow the flow of Olba's attacks. Just like a leaf trapped in a fast current.

But he not only flowed, but also used Olba's momentum to deliver an accurate and precise attack.

There is nothing unnecessary, nothing foreign. Be natural, let things go as they are.

“Very bad.”

That's what black says. Eyes that look like they can tell everything are focused on Olba.

“What do you know ... WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!?!?!”

Olba Shouts.

With that, his sword, his body, all his possessions poured into his attack accompanied by howls.

Even if it cost him his life, he would obliterate black.

This attack was both and absolutely the best Olba had ever made in his entire life.

“Gaming time is over.”

His attack was easily broken.

As if swinging through the air, the black sword completed its trajectory without any resistance.

Olba's sword, his incredible magic, his well-trained body, were all cut in half with a single swing.

A jet-black sword that had no magic, no power, and no speed. It was refined with only pure skill. Or so Olba thought at first.

But it's not that.

“What... it was..”.

It was an attack that could cut anything and everything.

While cutting his sword, his magic, his flesh, and his bones, Olba noticed.

The attack contained extremely dense magic, incredible power, and incredible speed. And to top it all off .. there are skills.

Here, this is absolutely perfect.

Black has had everything from the beginning.

It's just that he didn't use it.

There was nothing that could not be cut off by the attack.

“To think it is... to level ... this ...”

Blood gushed into the air.

The upper half of his body fell, while the lower half was crushed.

Even after being split in two, Olba's body kept trying to regenerate, but it had already crossed its limit. It starts to rot, making the soil black.

Olba looked as his opponent looked down.

After clashing the sword, Olba now understood it would be black.

The black sword was an honest sword, a commoner's sword, a sword obtained from efforts filled with blood and sweat.

He thought he was a mere brat who knew nothing. But it's wrong. He already knew everything, but after all had made the choice to fight, and knew very well the possibility.

And helpless.

Olba's life was helpless from beginning to end.

What he is trying to achieve, what he cannot achieve.

“Emi .. li ... a ..”

Olba grabbed the jewel-encrusted short sword, then closed his eyes.

The last thing that appeared in his fading consciousness was the smile of his beloved daughter that had disappeared.

 

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So basically that's how we eliminated that bandit group and saved Nee-san. When we found Nee-san, she was unconscious, so we freed her restraint and then left her there. The next day, he reappears at home, in high spirits. That person was extremely tenacious, so his hand injury had already healed in just one night. After that was a full week of recovery or investigation or the other before he finally went to the royal capital. And for some reason, during that one week she kept bothering me, it was pretty annoying.

Alpha and the others seem to be busy with investigating gangs of bandits and cleaning up the remains. Ah right, sorry, they're not bandits, but Order. Well, bandits by other names are still bandits in the end.

But damn, that red-eyed guy must have talent. That's because of him I can use cool sentences like “Then I'll dive. No matter how deep it was” it was a pity that he died, otherwise I would have hired him as a supporting actor.

And my strength in the game ‘strength behind the scenes’ and ad libbing must be seen! It is unfortunate that there are no spectators, but I just have to endure it for another 2 years. Two years later, I will also go to the royal capital. The capital of the kingdom, the capital ! It is one of the few major metropolises in the world, the only city in the country with a population of over one million. I can bet that there will be a protagonist-like character and a boss-like character there. There will be many incidents, conspiracies, and intricacies that could never happen in a remote place like here… and thus an opportunity for me to make an appearance as ‘strength behind the scenes’. Aahh, in that light, then the current me who is satisfied with just defeating the bandits is just a frog in the well. My story so far is just a prologue.

As I thought about having to keep building up my strength in preparation for the next 2 years, Alpha and the other 6 asked to meet with me. Apparently they want ‘report’ ‘their investigation into Order’ and the results of ‘their research into the Curse.’ Lately they were all quite busy, so it was rare to see the seven of them gathering together at the same time. There is no actual point for ‘investigate’ and ‘research’, so you guys should stick to moderate level, okay? is what I think when I listen to their ‘report’.

To summarize everything.

All the heroes who fought Diabolos were women.

That's why Diabolos' curse only appears on women.

What a brilliant new idea! But unfortunately, the general consensus is that they are all male. Ohhh, since Shadow Garden only has girls (except me), so they make their excuses like this?

Furthermore, the largest percentage of those who manifested the Curse were elves, then ‘beastman’, and finally humans. It is related to the life span of the race. For example, humans have the shortest life span, so the blood of the heroes flows the thinnest within it, which makes it difficult for the Curse to materialize. Elves, by contrast, had the longest lifespans, so it was the opposite for them. Then ‘Beastman’ it is in the middle of the spectrum. By the way, I'm the only human in ‘Shadow Garden’, and I didn't even get hit by ‘demon possession’. As for 7 of them, 2 are ‘beastman’, and the other 5 are elves. All of them were previously exposed to ‘demon possession’. Wow you guys, good job thinking about explanations even for details like this.

Alpha and the girls are also ‘report’ some other things to me, but basically just go in one ear and out to the other.

And with that, they moved to ‘report’ about Order. The Order should be a large organization that is growing all over the world. Good, I love that you guys think on a grand scale.

The Order refers to those who suffer from ‘demon possession’ (or Curse, you can call it what you want) as ‘Cuit,’ and prioritizes the arrest and execution of those people. They said that in order to put up a fight against the Order, the members of ‘Shadow Garden’ should also be spread all over the world, and leave only 1 person to stay with me which is done alternately. The rest will focus on reaching out and protecting those who suffer from ‘demon possession’ and also continue to dig into Orders or obstructing oreder plans where opportunities arise.

Hearing that, I understand. They have realized that ‘Order of Diabolos’ does not actually exist. That's why they try to say that they can't play with this joke any longer, that they want to be released. That's the meaning of ‘spread around the world’, isn't it? But since I completely cured them of ‘demon possession’, then to repay that debt they would take turns accompanying me, and I was quite satisfied with that. It was a message between the lines they expected me to read.

I feel quite sad. Even in my previous life, everyone admired heroes when they were children. And I admire ‘strength behind the scenes’ in the same way. But in the end, everyone grew up, and before I knew it, they all forgot their heroes and left me alone. These girls are all grown up, that's all.

Despite feeling a little sentimental about it, I quickly agreed to let them go. Actually, I don't even plan to collect so many of them. Enough with just me and one assistant. I saw the girls who were all crying during the breakup, then swore to myself that I would definitely be the ‘power behind the scenes’, even if I become the only person left in the whole world.

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