SH Chapter 81: Hostage (Part 1)

 

Translated by satellite of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

The faerie untied the bag he was carrying on his back and carefully spread out the contents, revealing a silver bow and three golden arrows. The bag was made from rather plain material, so when the bow and arrows were taken out, everyone’s gaze suddenly lit up in surprise.

Feisha solemnly told Isefel. “If those three arrows are shot our way, you have to catch them.”

Isefel glanced over and said. “They’re gold plated.”

Feisha coughed once and said. “What I mean is, catch them, then throw them back.”

Just as they were talking about it, the faerie was pulling back the bow. The three arrows were perfectly aligned with Feisha’s mouth, chest, and navel.

Feisha sucked a breath. “I think he’s ogling me.”

The light in Isefel’s eyes vanished.

The faerie’s eyes suddenly turned into two bright sparks of fury as his grip on his bowstring tightened. The two titans glanced at each other, and then charged together towards Isefel and Feisha.

They were extremely tall, and Feisha estimated that they were a head taller than even Asa. At their height, they wouldn’t need to leap or fly– they could reach the midair Feisha by simply reaching out.

Feisha felt his heart tighten.

What he was nervous about was neither the titans charging towards them, nor the faeries aiming their arrows straight at them. Instead, it was Houllier, who had remained completely motionless after his declaration. From Feisha’s expert opinion after watching many a TV drama, the silent dog is usually the most dangerous one.

Isefel made two gestures with his right hand.

Without warning, a black flame sprung from the polished marble floor, forming a threatening wall before the Titans.

The short-haired titan pulled a massive hammer from the crotch of his pants and slammed it into the flames in fury. The flames were knocked back for a moment, then leapt up again like a serpent and sprang straight towards his face.

The titan, shocked, stepped back slowly, dragging his massive hammer with him.

Behind him, Houllier leisurely reminded them, “This is the Black Flame Serpent, a monster. Heh, I never thought that you’d master these dark summoning techniques without ever stepping foot in Hell.” (3)

Isefel replied indifferently. “I just didn’t waste my time writing love letters.”

Houllier’s eyes narrowed just a bit. “Hmph. I just wanted to express my adoration for Michael, what’s wrong with that?”

Feisha said, “There’s nothing wrong with writing love letters, but you really shouldn’t have played a prank like that along with it.”

Houllier’s expression blanked. “When did I play a prank?”

“Scarring the eyes of the one reading the love letter isn’t considered a prank?” Feisha made a careful show of looking him up and down. “Honestly speaking, you should at least meet basic requirements before trying to take nudes!”

Houllier smirked. “So you think I’m lacking in some…necessities?” (1)

“It’s not that I think you’re lacking.” Feisha immediately clarified his innocence. “But the entirely of Hell thinks you’re lacking. Honestly, the reason you were punished by Hell for ‘going into a rut everywhere’ wasn’t because of the ‘rut’ part, but the ‘everywhere’ part. Even those from Hell need to save some face and maintain their image. Otherwise as soon as they step out, everyone will point at them and say: Oh, look, these guys are from Hell. Those are the fallen angels whose bodies are very XXX, very XXX down there, and even their butts are so XXX.” (2)

Houllier couldn’t help but touch his butt a bit self consciously.

“I don’t know if there are any opthamologists up in heaven.” Feisha sympathized deeply with Michael. In this day an age, being a famous figure wasn’t easy, and being a famous angel must have been even harder.

Houllier suddenly took the ring off his finger and threw it to the ground.

A fiery red dragon about the same size as the titans appeared with a roar. Bright red fleshy wings opened like two massive palm fans.

The titans separated on two sides, leaving a clear path between them.

As if it sensed the oncoming threat, the Black Flame Serpent drew its two sides up, rose towards the center, and in no time, the two were matched in height.

The dragon opened its mouth and let out a red fireball, then charged towards the Black Flame Serpent! The Black Flame Serpent refused to be outdone, and let out a thin stream of black fireworks, passing right through the red flames and into the dragon’s mouth…

Right at that moment, a titan passed by the Black Flame Serpent from the side, and with his massive hammer, immediately swung towards Feisha.

From the other side, three golden arrows were finally released from the bowstring, shooting like lightning towards Feisha. For the first time in his life, Feisha felt his heart stop in his fear, and he realized that when his heart stopped, his brain waves suddenly began travelling even faster.

Isefel’s hand had already raised a barrier of light.

But faster than the arrows was a sweeping fire and the flash of a shadow-like figure.

Golden arrows pierced through the flame and landed on the barrier of light.

The barrier’s light wavered for a moment.

Behind the barrier, Feisha could just barely detect with his naked eye that the golden arrows were very slowly but surely pressing their way through.

The barrier was constantly being reinforced.

Like a game of tug-of-war, the arrows and barrier faced each other.

Feisha unconsciously raised his hand and reached around the barrier. Before Isefel could stop him, he reached for one of the arrows––

The arrow fell straight down.

Feisha turned to Isefel, suddenly at a loss.

Completely expressionless, Isefel said. “There are still two more.”

Feisha tried repeating the same motion, grabbing for the other two arrows, but they also dropped effortlessly as soon as he touched them.

“……” He stared blankly for quite a while before sighing with regret. “And that’s why I said that using a bow-and-arrow was way too old-fashioned. If it were the bullets of an AK47, even if I said them I’d never dare reach for them.” Because bullets are extremely hot.

The sweeping flames intensified. They were like countless meteors raining down from the skies! The guests had long fled to the four corners of the ballroom.

The only ones remaining the in the center of the room, other than the Black Flame Serpent and the dragon, were the titans…and Antonio!

Feisha’s eyes widened as he exclaimed, “Ah, the missing people have been found!”

While Locktini carefully controlled the sweeping flames to attack the titans and the dragon without harming Antonio, he quickly glanced over at Feisha.

Feisha, seeing that he was having such an easy time, reminded him sweetly. “There’s another faerie over there.”

The faerie in question went pale in an instant.

Locktini had actually been aware of him since the beginning. Since faeries have always been extremely proud and loyal, he had never heard of a faerie joining the Liberation Resistance, not even the dark faeries. So he never thought he’d meet a light faerie that joined the Liberation.

The dragon let out a sharp screech before wrapping its entire body in a raging fire, and like a comet, shot straight towards the Black Flame Serpent.

The Black Flame Serpent shrank back just a bit before fearlessly facing it head-on. The red and black flames collided in a flash! Both were extinguished at the same moment.

Feisha sighed. “That’s a pity.”

Isefel replied. “It’s just a monster. If you like it, I can summon it again next time.”

“No, the one I liked was actually the fire dragon. It was so beautiful.” In comparison, the Black Flame Serpent was a little colder and less pleasing to the eye.

“……”

Just as the Black Flame Serpent and the dragon were having their final standoff, Antonio and the titans had also more or less determined the victor of their battle.

There wasn’t a single inch of unmarred skin left on either titan. Blood from their foreheads trickled past the wounds on their cheeks and kept dripping down. There must have been hundreds of cuts and burns, both large and small, covering their bodies. They were dizzy and loose-limbed just from all the pain and blood loss.

Antonio stopped his attacks rather apathetically, for to him, those in front of him no longer qualified to be his opponents. Using the tips of his nails, he carefully lifted a handkerchief from his pocket and began slowly wiping the blood from his fingers and nail beds.

Locktini withdrew his spell and turned to look towards the faeries.

The entire room went still.

Mani, however, wasn’t nervous. He lightly called out, “Master Houllier.”

Houllier gently stroked the muscles on his own chest and commented absent-mindedly. “Doesn’t the mighty Lord of Genesis still hold two trump cards in hand?”

In his mind, Mani quietly cursed him for his craftiness. In order to ask him for his assistance, not only did Mani have to spend a huge sum of money to pay off some residents of hell to sneak him out, but after he arrived, Mani was forced to wait on him and serve him food and drink. And at the critical moment, he wasn’t even of any use!

But he definitely wouldn’t allow his feelings to surface on his face at a time like this. Thus he smiled and nodded. “Since that’s the case, then let us invite these two friends up.”

Feisha’s spirits suddenly lifted.

Could it be that the two friends he was talking about were Gin and Hughes?

Even though they’d be considered hostages in the situation right now, seeing them with his own eyes would be better than hanging in suspense as to whether they still lived.

He was filled with hopeful anticipation, so when the guards marched through the wall behind the chair, escorting a very tall and very short figure, he was completely let down.

“Asa? Layton?” If he were standing on the ground right now, he definitely would have left to take a long walk. “How did you guys end up landing in their clutches?”

Layton felt very wronged. “We were caught right after you guys left. At the time, I was hoping that one of you guys might have left your wallet behind and come back to check.”

Feisha mumbled to himself. “So that says that from the very beginning, we were already caught in their web.” He stared at Mani and asked. “You and Jesse were working together? He’s also part of the Liberation Resistance?” Although he was angry that Shamal was kidnapped, but he was still subconsciously hoping that this arrogant, white-haired clan leader would not become a member of the Liberation and stand against them, against Shamal, and against all the other members of the Novem Union.

Mani declined to comment and asked instead, “Why should I tell you?”

Feisha sighed in relief. “That means no then.”

Mani was rather puzzled. “I didn’t say anything, so how did you know?”

“Because with your personality, if it were true, you’d be eager to tell the whole world, boasting of how powerful and influential your Liberation Resistance is and how many talented people you’ve gathered.”

“Well, you certainly understand me.” Mani’s smile was rather empty. “Even though he’s not a member of the Liberation Resistance, he’s been involved in this plan from beginning to end.”

“Then where is he?” Feisha found the loophole and said, “Since he’s been so involved from beginning to end, then where is he now when it’s time to reap the rewards of a plan carried out?”

Mani’s smile seemed to be hiding something. “Perhaps he is currently enjoying…another type of reward?”

Feisha and Locktini’s expressions changed at the same moment.

Layton couldn’t help but remind them. “You guys should care about the people in front of you.”

Feisha said, “Since they’re using you guys as hostages, it means they’re not planning to do anything to you for a while yet so don’t worry.”

Mani shook his head and said, “Well that’s not certain. Perhaps I just want to see what kind of wonderful expression you’ll make when your friends die horribly in front of you.”

Isefel suddenly spoke. “Since that’s the case, then start with Asa.”

Feisha’s mouth suddenly opened to form a perfect O. Wasn’t this a little too much?

Mani’s eyes suddenly flashed. “Oh, and why is that?”

Isefel said. “He’s bigger, he’ll hold out a bit longer.”

Feisha looked down at his stomach, playing three words over and over in his head: gotta lose weight, gotta lose weight…

—

Translator’s Notes

1. In the actual text, Feisha says that to take nudes, one needs to have enough 资本, literally capital (literally economic capital/money needed to start up a business). Houllier’s response is asking Feisha if he thinks he’s lacking that capital/not wealthy enough.

It’s not really a common enough saying/metaphor in English so I changed it a bit.

2. So Feisha actually says “叉叉叉” in his little speech. The character, pronounced cha, can be used to refer literally to the “X” character, and it’s used to basically censor things out (ie someone’s phone number might be xxx-xxx-xxxx).

Another slang expression it’s used in is “ooxx”, or “叉叉你的圈圈” (XX your OO), which is lovely and refers to a guy sticking his XX into a girl’s OO. Soooo…yeah, it’s actually a pretty good equivalent to our English XXX.

3. I’ve translated “魔物”, literally “demonic/magical tool/thing/item/artifact/creature/etc” to “monster” here because it’s referring to a summoned creature, but earlier the same word was translated as “magical artifact” when referencing the dwarves’ possessions back in chapter 56.

As you can tell from that long list of possible literal translations, “物” can basically imply any type of “thing” and here the only real implication is that it’s a tool of the summoner rather than an independent being really. But I couldn’t find a particularly neat English term for it.

Other Interesting Things: In the original text of this chapter, Layton’s named is consistently mistyped as “霍顿” or “Horton.” I am assuming this is a typo since the same typo appeared earlier in the novel too, but…well in case I’m terribly mistaken, I thought I’d note that.