Volume 1 – Following the Maze Drawn With Lines of Blood
Calaria had her gatling guns, but they were just ranged weapons.
A weapon that could shoot from a distance combining power and speed was a miracle.
That’s why Mary chose ‘close range.’
She didn’t mind some injuries, as her own flesh would heal anyhow.
She laughed while the flesh on her cheeks, shoulders, stomach and leg were scraped off and assaulted Calaria from the front.
“Damn monster.”
Calaria quietly said so, and attacked with her gatling guns again.
She stopped Mary’s scythe with the gatling gun on her right hand, and aimed at Mary with the one on her left hand.
“Did you think you’d win if you got close!?”
Then, she fired from up close.
“Yes, I think I can win!”
The arms growing from Mary’s back grabbed a pillar nearby and pulled her body to it.
The bullets scattered around and destroyed the corridor on the second floor.
Calaria, without stopping firing, aimed at Mary again to mow her down.
Mary jumped up and evaded.
With her improved physical strength, she grew bones from her heels, launched herself from the ground and then the ceiling to close in on Calaria.
Calaria continued shooting both gatling guns but could not catch up to Mary’s speed.
Mary got right in front of her eyes again, and she clicked her tongue.
“Tsch, you don’t give up!”
“Looks like you can’t move quickly while firing your guns.”
The scythe approached Calaria.
This time, she dodged with a backstep.
Rather, she tried to, but the arms growing from Mary’s back grabbed Calaria.
Calaria guarded herself with her gatling guns immediately, but it wasn’t so much a ‘guard’ as much as a ‘sacrifice.’
Calaria glanced at the gatling gun that dropped as the ground broke apart, but she quickly and calmly aimed at Mary with the other one.
“One more left!”
“You have a bad habit of destroying things.”
Once again, Mary took some distance from Calaria for a moment.
She checked if Calaria would try to get back the weapon she lost, but she did not try to make any such moves.
Calaria accurately aimed at Mary with the one weapon she had left.
The barrel glowed red as it started revolving to shoot a mass of mana.
Mary continued evading, buying herself some time, as she wanted to wait for the timing when Calaria would run out of mana, but she quickly figured out that this would be a mistake.
(Just how much mana is she hiding? She may not be an arcana user, but I feel a power higher than that of the Hermit.)
The Hermit was always a power meant for assassinaton.
It was a bad match against a power like the Death God, but still.
“You can’t just keep running around like that forever!”
Calaria could aim more accurately now that she was using one gatling gun with both hands, and could make small adjustments in her aim.
Mary tried to get close to her while evading like she did previously, but it was almost impossible this time.
Calaria continued damaging the estate’s pillars while aiming for Mary, and……
“That’s a great position, Mary.”
“Is it the pillars!?”
The moment she jumped up, the section under the pillar was completely destroyed.
The pillar was falling down directly on Mary.
She quickly extended the bones from her back to dodge it and clung onto a wall with her sharp nails.
“Just as I expected.”
Calaria had foreseen this, and the rain of bullets assaulted Mary right as she clung onto the wall.
It was easy to predict what she would do when she did not have many options.
Calaria had a lot more experience in battles, which was why Mary fell into this trap.
“I can’t get away – uuuuugh!”
Mary protected herself with bones for a second time.
But this time, she received a high-powered attack face on, which mercilessly shattered her bones.
Then, countless bullets pierced her exposed dress and body.
“Ugh, guuugh, aaaarrrrggh!”
Muzzle flashes filled the entrance as meat and bone flew around while the princess’s voice of agony echoed.
Mary was gradually surrounded in the rising smoke until she was completely covered in it.
Then, Calaria stopped her attack.
“Did that do it…..? There’s no way she could have survived so many bullets, right?”
Still, Calaria had to be on guard.
First, she picked up the gatling gun that Mary had threw away, and aimed both her guns towards the back of the rubble where Mary should have been laying.
After that, Calaria started slowly approaching to check if she was still alive.
And when she approached around half-way there, she saw a figure crawling up from under all the rubble.
It was like a zombie rising from the grave.
“……This is why I hate arcana users.”
Calaria muttered to herself after sighing.
In fact, Mary looked so hurt that no human should have been able to survive like that; covered in blood, her flesh exposed. But when Calaria watched all her injuries slowly healing, she felt that she was fighting against a monster.
“Hey Fidelis, since when am I supposed to be an exorcist?”
Calaria couldn’t help but grumble.
Then, Mary answered:
“That’s mean, I’m not an evil spirit. Aren’t humans a lot more monster-like when it comes to viciousness, anyhow?”
“You should say that after you have a look in the mirror.”
“I’m talking about the gentleness of one’s heart – that’s not something you can see on the outside.”
Her arms twitched after those words and transformed.
She created a revolving machine gun on her right arm while staining her dress and the rubble with blood.
“You can’t see feelings of love either!”
In the same way, her left arm also transformed into a powerful and grotesque looking gatling gun.
Then, the corners of her mouth warped like a demon’s, and she aimed both muzzles at Calaria while smiling.
“Ugh…… Nice party trick!”
“I had a good example! Hundred Corpse Burial Gatling!”
Mary’s guns fired bone fragments, and-
“I’ll face it with great firepower as well!”
Calaria’s guns also lit up at the same time.
The gun barrels revolved fast as they shot bullets in rapid fashion.
They were both firing lumps of mana.
Countless pieces of mana clashed in the air, making violent sounds and emitting light.
Meanwhile, Mary was slowly approaching Calaria while extending her arms that she had transformed into gatling guns in front of herself.
“Ugh…… I’m using all my power, but…..!”
“If you can’t win with complicated strategies, then the answer is simple. Use the same tactics, but increase the firepower!”
“What a stupid theory!”
“Ahahaha, but it looks like I was right, Miss. Calaria!”
“Don’t say my name so lightly!”
No matter how much Calaria shouted, her gatling guns were, in the end, man-made.
Their power did not increase depending on the user’s demands.
However, gatling guns sacrificed accuracy for firing speed.
In other words, there was no way that all the bullets would be on target.
As countless bullets clashed in the air, countless stray bullets grazed the skins of Mary and Calaria.
But Mary could easily heal any grazing wounds, and while Calaria’s maid outfit was damaged, there were no injuries on her skin.
The bullets of bone Mary was shooting had enough power to blow off any piece of flesh they touched.
Despite that, let alone getting wounded, Calaria had not received any damage at all.
This did not look like a human versus human battle, but the end was drawing near as Mary approached closer.
Even Calaria could not survive being shot full of bullets from up close.
“Miss. Calaria, will it end if I get close to you like this?”
“Ugh…..!”
“Miss. Calaria. You look sad and sound bitter, you must be running out of options.”
“Shut up, I’m…… I’ll…..!”
“But from where I’m standing, that looks like nothing but an act.”
The moment Mary pointed this out, something fell out from under Calaria’s skirt.
She threw the rod-shaped object towards Mary.
“See, I knew it.”
Mary leaped and tried to dodge.
But Calaria dropped her gatling guns before opening her mouth half-way, squinting her eyes and blocking her ears.
(What’s this?)
Mary did not know that this was a stun grenade, which emitted an explosive sound and a flashing light when it exploded.
“Uggh!?”
Of course, she did not know how to defend herself against sound and light.
Her injuries due to the heat quickly regenerated, but her sight and hearing were completely useless.
On the other hand, Calaria, who knew the countermeasure against this, made her move.
She equipped her gatling guns again and aimed at Mary, who was in pain while holding her face.
“That’s a relief. Looks like you’re just a novice under all that.”
Then, just as she was about to fill Mary with bullets from up close to finish her off…
“Ugh…… Uuuh…… Uagh, uaaaaaaagh!”
Bones suddenly grew out from under Calaria’s feet, almost like roots, and broke through the floor.
They were like whips in the shape of snakes, combining countless joints together.
She could see at least a hundred of these bone whips.
Calaria could not stay on that spot.
“Going frenzy? No, you just don’t care what you destroy, how vulgar!”
Then, as Mary possessed an extraordinary amount of mana, this strategy worked.
“But I can’t handle this with what I have now. I have to pull back for the moment.”
Calaria judged that it would be dangerous to stay in the entrance any longer, and left her gatling guns on the spot before disappearing into the depths of the estate.