Labyrinth of the Blue Witch by Gakuto Mikumo Read Free Book Online Page B

warning. If you do not comply, we will detain you by force.”
    The guardsmen took the safeties off their weapons.
    They were equipped with large-caliber ritual energy rounds and electrum chip rounds capable of neutralizing even beast men. One solid hit and the witch’s physical bodies would be blown to bits.
    Regardless, the witches’ cold, mocking smiles did not falter.
    “The peasants are in an uproar.”
    “Let us indulge in some amusement, shall we?”
    The squad leader continued his countdown. The two witches continued walking, even past the allotted ten seconds. After a bitter expression came over the squad leader momentarily, he shouted in an unmoved tone of voice.
    “Fire!”
    Blue sparks scattered into the darkness. The sound of countless gunshots blended into a single, thunderous sound that shook the earth. However, the hail of bullets they rained down did not touch the witches whatsoever.
    A giant tentacle split the sea and leaped forth, serving as their shield, blocking all of the bullets flying at them. The guardsmen were in shock at the bizarre sight.
    The tentacle had a diameter of some hundred and fifty centimeters at its thickest point; they couldn’t even get a good look at how long it was. It was a translucent appendage suggestive of a cephalopod; a squid, perhaps. Moving like snakes, more tentacles entered the fray, completely concealing the witches behind them.
    “You live in a Demon Sanctuary. Are you really surprised by a familiar of this level?” The scarlet witch made a haughty laugh as if to mock the troops that seemed ready to flee.
    The black witch cruelly twisted her lips and shook her head.
    “That is an unreasonable request, Octavia. It is a city in which that uncouth little girl dwells, after all.”
    “True, my sister.”
    The scarlet witch spread out the book she had been carrying under one arm. She pressed her palm onto the book. The symbols drawn upon it glowed, releasing an immense amount of magical energy.
    “Then let them at least beautify this filthy city with their own blood.”
    The tentacles moved with even greater force.
    The guardsmen continued to fire, but naturally, even large-caliber rounds could not penetrate translucent tentacles over a full meter thick. The barrage ended when they ran out of ammunition.
    That instant, the tentacles switched to the offensive.
    The tentacles, extending like giant leathery whips, mowed the guardsmen down one after another.
    Shields were meaningless against such an overwhelming difference in mass. The stout troops were tossed aside like bowling pins; the formation enveloping the witches completely fell apart.
    “What the hell are they—?!” the squad leader angrily shouted.
    They were Demon Sanctuary guardsmen with heavy combat experience. No familiar controlled by a magic user had ever chewed them up and spat them out like this.
    However, these tentacles were on a different level. Such a mighty familiar was well beyond the summoning capacity of an ordinary human being. This was a monster that rivaled even vampiric Beast Vassals. Surely the life force consumption required to summon a monster on this scale would instantly burn out anything
but
an immortal vampire.
    In the recent past, there had apparently been experiments to graft a Beast Vassal to a homunculus, but even their bodies, with natural life spans far in excess of a human’s, were exhausted in but a short time.
    No—there was one way and only one. A shortcut that one could call an exception.
    It was a way for someone to gain enormous demonic power rivaling that of a vampire, even while remaining in human form.
    A devil could grant such a person power in exchange for her very soul. In other words, a witch—
    An operator from Island Guard HQ sent an emergency message straight to the squad leader’s earphone.
    “Spell rune has been cross-referenced using the Gigafloat Management Corporation’s criminal data bank. High probability these are the top-rank criminal