Chapter 54: Where There’s One, Assume There Are Thirty
The meeting began, and Kazuma listened quietly.
He didn’t understand most of the content, but for now, it was about putting the Ivera Church on an international wanted list and completely crushing them.
Just when Kazuma thought that as long as he understood that much, it would be fine, a major development was confirmed within the Ivera Church.
Runazeru and Azrael, whom Kazuma had placed a Marking on, instantly moved to different locations.
Just like last time, it was to the major cities of various countries.
It seemed they were planning to cause chaos, just like last time.
Kazuma wondered if he should tell everyone.
If he told them, it would likely cause confusion, but they could take swift countermeasures.
However, at the same time, he would be suspected and incur unnecessary anger.
Why hadn’t he told them sooner?
How did he know such a thing?
(“…Oh well. Even if things happen, it’ll probably be fine if I use Teleportation Magic to send everyone to defend.”)
Kazuma was thinking such things inwardly.
Momoko, who was waiting behind him, overheard Kazuma’s inner thoughts and tapped his shoulder.
(“Hm?”)
(“What’s about to happen?”)
(“The Ivera Church has made a move. It’s probably a large-scale terrorist attack like last time, I’d guess.”)
(“Wha-!? You should tell them quickly!”)
(“It’s too late.”)
(“Eh…?”)
Immediately after those words, the ground began to tremble.
Those in the conference hall grew agitated, wondering what was happening.
The shaking continued for a while, but when it eventually subsided, the ceiling of the conference hall collapsed, and a person appeared from there.
“Hey there.”
King, the Overlord, the Sun King, and King Arthur moved in an instant.
They attacked the intruder without any mercy but were blocked by an invisible Barrier.
“Now, now, calm down. I just came to talk.”
“Cut the crap, you utter fool.”
“Wha…!”
Naturally, Kazuma had also moved.
He had gotten behind the intruder and slammed his tightly clenched fist into him.
A one-hit kill fist from the Crimson Knight.
The intruder, having taken the blow directly, would undoubtedly have died.
Just when everyone thought so, the intruder, who had fallen to the ground, unsteadily rose.
“To think you could get behind me even though I had a Protective Barrier up. Impressive~”
“…Are you Shindo Makoto?”
“Correct. I am the founder of the Ivera Church, Shindo Makoto. Nice to meet you~”
“Coming alone into the heart of enemy territory, is that the confidence of the strong?”
“Not really. I just came to declare war.”
“So you’re saying you’re going to war with the entire world?”
“That’s right. If you check the TV, you’ll see the war has already begun.”
At Makoto’s words, the leaders of various countries checked the internet on their tablets and mobile devices.
There, they found escaped criminals and Ibinom running rampant in the major cities of various countries.
The leaders were enraged by the pandemonium and shouted angrily at Makoto.
“What in the world are you people trying to do!”
“Me? Nothing in particular. Besides, I didn’t create the Ivera Church. It’s an organization that believers built up, worshipping me on their own.”
“W-What did you say!? Then, you have no objective?”
“Nope. I’m just living as I please. Nothing else matters.”
The leaders were speechless at words unbecoming of the Ivera Church’s founder.
They had thought he would have some objective, more or less, but he didn’t even have that; he was just living as he pleased.
How utterly unreasonable, how incredibly troublesome that was.
How many victims had been created because of the man before them.
The leaders, their guts churning with rage, unleashed all their pent-up feelings.
“You’re so noisy~. It’s fine to yell at me, but you should hurry back to your countries, okay? If this keeps up, your nations will be destroyed, you know?”
Makoto’s words were correct.
Currently, in the major cities of various countries, there was an extraordinary number of Ibinom, in addition to criminals.
The deployed military forces couldn’t handle it.
Indeed, if they didn’t send in the powerful Gifted individuals guarding the leaders, defeat was inevitable.
This was no time to be arguing here.
“King, Sun King, King Arthur! Come to me! I’ll send you back with Teleportation! Momoko-chan, Sakura Hakanai, sorry, but can the two of you hold him down!”
“Th-That’s such an unreasonable demand!”
“I wonder if this is what the Powered Suits were for~”
While the leaders were gritting their teeth in frustration, the three who responded to Kazuma’s voice gathered.
Only the Overlord wasn’t called because he was close to the scene, but understanding the intent, the Overlord immediately rushed out of the venue.
Kazuma touched the three who had gathered around him, activated his Teleportation Magic, and moved to America.
“Ooh! So this is the Crimson Knight’s power!”
“You don’t need backup, right?”
“Who do you think I am? I’m King!”
King, upon arriving in America, immediately took off and began to annihilate the Ibinom and criminals.
Kazuma and the others who remained tried to move using Teleportation Magic, but Kazuma’s Teleportation Magic could only go to places he had been to once before.
Therefore, Kazuma tucked the Sun King and King Arthur under each arm, put up a wind Barrier, and flew at speeds exceeding the sound barrier.
“Th-This is the Crimson Knight’s true power!?”
“I’m truly glad you’re on our side!”
“Which way is Britain! Point and give me directions!”
“Understood!”
At an extraordinary speed, Kazuma reached Britain.
Kazuma and the others, having landed on Tower Bridge, wiped out the Ibinom.
“From here on, you’ll be fine on your own, right?”
“No problem. The other Knights of the Round Table are fighting. I’ll get serious too.”
A shining golden sword appeared from beneath King Arthur’s feet.
It was his Gift, Holy Sword Summoning.
It was an ability that could summon legendary holy swords existing in fairy tales.
And the holy swords summoned by Holy Sword Summoning displayed power comparable to the originals.
In other words, the Excalibur of the man whose epithet was King Arthur was truly the world’s greatest Holy Sword.
“Cleave through evil, Excalibuuuur!!!”
A golden slash flew from Excalibur’s blade, cutting down the nearby Ibinom.
“Ooh… So this is Excalibur.”
“Mmm, incredible…”
“This isn’t the time to be impressed. You two, hurry to your own countries.”
“Right. Well then, can you guide us to Egypt?”
“Leave it to me.”
Kazuma took the last remaining one, the Sun King, and headed for Egypt.
Egypt was also under attack, but the Sun Temple, with the Volkenis Mashra created by the Sun King, was incinerating the enemy.
However, the enemy numbers were still large, and they were gradually being pushed back.
At this rate, it was only a matter of time before the city fell.
“Did we make it in time?”
“Amazing. As expected of someone praised as the ‘Ultimate One’.”
“You exaggerate. It’s nothing more than a fool’s single-mindedness.”
“No, that’s not true. Someone who can handle flames to this extent can’t possibly be dismissed with words like ‘a fool’s single-mindedness’.”
“It’s embarrassing, but if you say that much, I suppose I should be a little proud. It’s fine here now. You should go back and take care of the founder.”
“Understood.”
The Sun King summoned a firebird and departed from Kazuma.
The Sun King, who had trained a single Gift to its utmost limit, was truly an object of people’s admiration.
Because he showed that anyone had that potential.
Watching the Sun King fly towards the city on the firebird, Kazuma returned to the conference hall using Teleportation Magic.
There was the conference hall, now a pile of rubble, and the figures of Momoko, Sakura Hakanai, and Makoto engaged in a fierce battle.
Momoko and Sakura Hakanai were clad in new model Powered Suits, fighting with all their armaments to eliminate the enemy with all their might, but Makoto was a being beyond that.
He was overwhelming the two of them using the numerous Gifts he had taken with his Snatch Gift.
In terms of combat skill alone, the two were superior, but the opponent had the upper hand in terms of the sheer number of abilities at his disposal.
“Sorry to keep you waiting!”
Kazuma jumped in between them and turned to the two who had been holding Makoto down until now.
“You’re late! What were you doing!”
“Well~, I’d never been to Britain or Egypt before, so it took some time.”
“I’m glad you came~. Honestly, I thought it was impossible.”
“I want to say you did well, but you two go deal with the other enemies. I’ll take this guy down.”
Unfortunately, defeating Makoto wouldn’t be the end of it.
Here in China, where the international conference was being held, and in various other countries, Ibinom and criminals were rampaging.
Kazuma sent the two skilled individuals back to Japan using Teleportation Magic.
There were likely many Gifted in Japan, but with Momoko and Sakura Hakanai joining them, there would be no need to worry.
“Well now, I’ve kept you waiting. I’ll be your opponent.”
“Ahahaha. Finally~. I was interested in you too. I wondered what kind of Gift you had.”
“I’ve heard. Your Gift is Snatch, right? Are you planning to steal my Gift?”
“That’s right. Since you possess such a powerful Gift, it makes one want to take it.”
“I see. Well, it won’t be that easy to take it, though.”
“We won’t know until we try~”
Masato lunged, intending to steal Kazuma’s Gift.
Kazuma pulverized Masato, who was reaching out and trying to grab him like a monkey, with a single blow.
Masato, his head blown off, died instantly, but Kazuma couldn’t shake off a sense of unease.
“(What is this? I’m sure I killed him, so what’s this disgusting feeling?)”
Without letting his guard down, as he remained vigilant of his surroundings, Masato appeared.
And what’s more, he wasn’t alone.
One after another, people with the exact same face appeared, and even Kazuma, for all his composure, felt his cheek twitch.
“How about it? Amazing, isn’t it~?”
“Think you can handle this many of us~?”
“Let me tell you, all of us possess the same Gift.”
“Meaning, there’s no point in killing just one of us.”
“Well then, shall we begin?”
What attacked him was a great horde of Masatos, possibly numbering in the hundreds or even thousands.
Enveloped in a revulsion even greater than that for cockroaches, Kazuma prepared to intercept the horde of Masatos.