Book 11 Chapter 26

Chapter 6: Side Story.

The Forgotten War, Extermination of the Spider Monarch (6)

‘She’s gone…?’

Mirngardia felt an ominous premonition and opened her eyes during meditation.

There was a draconic amulet, made so that she could feel Rain’s presence anytime, anywhere.

Rain always kept that amulet close to him, thanks to which she could sense his whereabouts no matter where he was in the world.

‘No matter where he was in the world.’

Those words caught in some part of Mirngardia’s intellect.

Perhaps it was to deny the information that he might have died. To deny that possibility, there was only one answer.

‘The World Tree.’

Mirngardia immediately entered the pure white dream through the World Tree.

With a snap of her fingers, countless letters shimmered on the surface of the water.

Mirngardia did not yet possess Yeriserica’s ability to foresee the future, but she could encompass all the knowledge she had accumulated here.

‘Dimensions, multiverses, outer universes.’

Soon, core pieces of knowledge were condensed.

Mirngardia instantly summarized and organized that knowledge in her mind, and developed a new theory.

Time in the pure white dream flowed twelve times slower than in real time. Nevertheless, she had to hurry.

‘Outer universe dimensional transfer.’

With the dimensional transfer spell she soon created, she was able to form a rift leading to the outer universe.

Suddenly, Mir’s eyes widened.

‘Found him.’

I need to pinpoint the location.

My energy has weakened a lot. How much longer can I hold out?

As the spatial identification was nearing completion, an absolute thought pushed into the dream space and began to erode the lake.

There was no time to feel bewildered.

She had to close the rift immediately and spend a considerable amount of time purifying those things.

‘There are two practical problems.’

One.

Mirngardia’s abilities could only open a very small rift.

If measured by human standards, it was a size that a teenager could barely pass through.

Two.

She couldn’t go through directly.

She had to maintain the rift and prevent the thoughts from encroaching on the real world, as they were doing now.

‘I need to find someone among the fairies.’

Emerging from the pure white dream, she stopped her hurried movements.

‘But is there truly anyone among the fairies who have only grown to the size of a teenager who can withstand the power of the outer universe?’

If such a person existed, they would have already received private education and would be in Mirngardia’s information network.

And too many fairies had gone north with the White Dragon Legion.

Those who remained now were…

“Frowning is evil! Sighing is evil! When you feel alone, looking around you is justice!”

Just then, a voice, like a ray of sunlight at dawn, stirred her heart.

Under a worn-out bamboo hat, golden hair glowed resplendently, imbued with the light of the sun.

But perhaps even more brilliant than that sacred golden hair was that welcome face.

She had grown to the point where she was showing signs of young womanhood, and perhaps it was the time when a wyvern’s single horn sprouted, for her brow was puffed up like a cluster of warts.

Soon, eyes with a cross pattern smiled in a beautiful arc, and she patted Mir’s head.

“How have you been, Mir Mir!”

“Nen sister. I demand an explanation of how you came.”

“I escaped with the power of justice to see Mir! While Elder Yoshuhar and Elder Hagon were going north!”

The Yellow Dragon Legion also going north…?

The Five Sovereigns wouldn’t even have the luxury of leaving their positions while assisting the Mad Dragon…

Her father’s attitude was exceptionally strange then. Something must have happened in the north.

Without time to share the joy of their reunion, Mirngardia explained the current situation in a way that even Setsunen’s brain could easily understand (?).

Only after pondering the story in her mind for a long time did Setsunen nod.

“What a clever Mir Mir! You need my help to save Daddy!”

“Regrettably, that is indeed the case.”

“The scriptures say that one who does not help their sibling cannot help others, and that one should honor their parents, so Nen will help in the name of justice!”

“It is indeed a dangerous endeavor. Nothing about the power of the outer universe has been elucidated. Even opening a rift connecting to it is a gamble.”

Setsunen, of course, was perfect to the point of having no alternative; she could pass through the rift Mirngardia could open.

But.

Could she throw her sister into this uncertainty? What if she lost not only Rain but also Setsunen?

“It could cause a global crisis. Above all, there is a very high possibility that Nen sister could be isolated in the outer universe or die.”

Then, Setsunen, usually full of mischievousness, gave a genuinely serious smile.

“If Father were in this situation, he wouldn’t hesitate for a moment, Mir Mir.”

When she received that smile.

Mirngardia, who rarely showed emotion on her face, couldn’t help but smile too.

“I admit it. The probability is 100%.”

Nen gently patted Mir’s cheek and nodded.

“So Nen will go without hesitation! For justice! Come on, send me to Daddy quickly!”

* * *

The place Rem and Bart arrived after crossing dimensions was <Snow-Veiled Great Wall>.

This location was in the Central Protection Bureau, with a naval base stationed at the front, so the war situation was not as urgent as elsewhere.

At the center of the mages defending this place were the Ludwig father and son.

They asked about the whereabouts of Rain and Milia. Didn’t they come together?

“It seems there was a rift in the dimensional gate, so they went to another place…”

They could only vaguely equivocate like that.

How could they inform his biological father of his death in such a situation? It would only add to the confusion. And it wasn’t confirmed that he was dead yet. They didn’t want to believe that either.

Hadn’t he returned alive countless times in such situations?

“Bart, what do we do now?”

It was then that an anomaly occurred.

The starlight trembled, then began to shimmer so enchantingly that it eclipsed the moonlight.

And a powerful blizzard raged so fiercely that it obscured their vision.

They saw it there…

The horrifying laughter of joy at beholding the true king. The sounds of people going mad or exploding to death from that happiness.

And they saw again.

The sacred wave that cleanly washed away the absolute madness gnawing at their minds, the transcendental darkness.

And they heard.

The voice of pure azure, which had protected this land for immeasurable ages.

「The barrier has fallen. You are to head south and block the rear communication lines. The Yellow Dragons will assist you.」

* * *

Eyes sprouted in the sky.

At first, they thought it was a rift where the effect of Time-Space Annihilation had occurred belatedly, but…

The rift gradually grew, forming corneas, then retinas, then irises. They resembled wolf eyes more than human.

I saw.

Those ineffably grotesque eyeballs, one by one, then tens and hundreds of them, sprouting and soon covering the ceiling of the Thousand-Year Snow Palace.

Beyond the pressure that felt like being crushed all over.

From a realm beyond time where light did not exist, the drumming of madness could be heard…

Crushing, shattering, and pulverizing the human mind…

“W-what is that…?”

Milia, whose swordplay inherited ancient memories but whose body was not imbued with a dragon’s soul, gasped for breath.

And then I saw again.

The liquid that flowed like tears from those eyeballs transforming into horrifying tentacles.

Those tentacles, in the next moment, all aimed at them and flew towards them.

* * *

Fear imprinted in genes, no, learned in the past…

Steam incessantly billowed from Kasena’s mouth. Cold sweat streamed down Frisvia’s forehead inside her optical helmet.

The Ein Chariot Corps, in agony that felt like their minds were being twisted, began to mutter unprecedented words in disarray, one by one.

“There’s nothing to fear!”

Frisvia’s closest aide, Eldvich, shouted that, trying to rally the morale of the corps.

“He has just awakened from his seal! Look, his body isn’t even perfectly regenerated yet! Traces of being burned and scattered are still visible everywhere!”

Shar’kas leisurely looked down at his arm.

The arm, burned and scattered below his shoulder, was newly growing within disgusting mucous bubbles.

In the meantime, the main cannons of the naval base and over thirty chariots were all aimed at Shar’kas… and at that moment, with a ground-shaking roar of cannons, a volley of fire was unleashed.

「Heavenly Spider Web.」

Spider webs that were not spider webs covered the heavens and earth in countless diagonal lines… and on those webs, shells and arrows entangled and stuck.

Not only that.

The shells and arrows, their trajectories altered by a strange power, flew back in reverse, and the night of slaughter began.

“Ugh, ugh, aaah!”

“Th-the chariots!”

“Run!”

Amidst the sticky smell of blood and the echoing cries of horror, laughter erupted.

「Hee, hee, heehee, hahahahahahahahaha!」

Even that sound carried a nauseating divinity; the eardrums of mortals burst, and blood flowed from their ears.

「The true king has awakened. An incomparably sweet scent is covering the world.」

Valencidis recognized an unbridgeable difference in class from that series of actions.

The ancient noble, Shar’kas.

Unlike Nariaduke, who had taken the body of the Great Mage Lynn, he had resurrected in his true form… the third in rank of the Five Evils.

Dealing with Nariaduke was a continuous despair, but an ancient noble even more powerful than him.

“We can’t win…”

Gods are distinguished from humans because they cannot be touched or defied.

“We must get out of here, Kasena Page! Staying here is a senseless death! He is not an adversary we can contend with by our own strength!”

Even without being told, Kasena also keenly felt that despair with her body and soul.

She had certainly become incomparably stronger than in her childhood. She had even become a platinum-grade adventurer. She should have become stronger.

But what on earth was this?

It’s the same as back then.

Nothing seems to have changed.

This burning throat, this heart pounding madly with terror…

I don’t even think I can win.

However, she could not retreat.

Frisvia had stepped forward towards Shar’kas, as if determined to defend the naval base.

In the naval base slept their treasure, Isla.

「You all…」

Shar’kas, who was rapidly restoring his body, only looked their way after the argument.

Like a human paying attention only after an annoying fly buzzes nearby.

Then his eyes narrowed, as if very intrigued.

「Woman, I was planning to hunt you down and taxidermy you, but we meet like this right now. What else could this be but the king’s grace?」

“…!”

「Where is Kalenden’s clone? It doesn’t matter what happens to trivial humans now, but I will personally put an end to those of you who dared to bring me shame.」

In response, the three took action with movements closer to resignation than fighting spirit.

“Go ahead and try!”

The moment Kasena drew four runes in the air, countless psychokinetic soap bubbles of various sizes flew towards him.

“If you can, that is! You disgusting spider bastard!”

This 4th-tier magic, combining bloodline limits and psychokinesis to the extreme, completely distorts the principles of gravity and inertia applied to the target.

“Ha…”

Valencidis reluctantly swung Kashasur, the abyssal holy relic.

A 5th-tier wind spell of the dimensional magic series, exquisitely mimicking the ideas inspired by Time-Space Annihilation with 4th-tier sorcery, 4th-tier magic, and 4th-tier black magic.

The crescent-shaped wind blade that slashed through tore dimensions.

「Interesting, a human using Nariaduke’s toy.」

Shar’kas flicked the index finger of his newly regenerated left hand, and spider webs flew in all directions, repelling all attacks.

No, when he tried to repel them, Kasena’s distortion of principles altered the gravity of the spider webs.

Through the opening thus created, a dimensional blade rushed in, cleanly slicing Shar’kas’s upper body, dimension and all.

「…?!」

And Pipi darted in, raking her claws across the retina of his eye.

A momentary gap just before ultra-fast regeneration occurred.

To seize this gap, the artifacts attached to Frisvia’s knees emitted a mysterious light.

These ancient greaves, which amplified leg strength nearly 48 times, were one of the recently discovered Ascensiwear artifacts.

An Ein’s body would have shattered its knee joints, but as these were newly transplanted beast-kin legs, they withstood the recoil.

She fixed her body by digging her left heel into the ground.

Then, adding even the centrifugal force of rotating her body, the moment she swept out her leg to kick.

「It was effective, that one… at the same time, you just missed it. Your one and only chance.」

She was caught in mid-air with Shar’kas’s smile, who had regenerated his body with incredible speed.

「Doesn’t this situation remind you of something? I remember it very well.」

*Crunch*.

The greaves painfully creaked and then shattered, and the muscles and bones inside began to twist like a dry rag.

「Back then, you cut off your own legs and escaped like a rat.」

“Ugh, ugh, ugh!”

「I won’t miss this time.」

“M-master!”

「Let me tell you one important thing.」

“It’s a spider web. He’s got her limbs with spider webs! We have to cut them!”

「When taxidermying a human, the heart and intestines are not needed.」

“Princess!”

Kasena, Valencidis, and the adventure party’s close associates all rushed to save Frisvia, but there was no way they could make it in time.

They had no technique to transcend time…

Amidst their hurried, shouted screams, as Shar’kas’s thrusting hand was about to pierce Frisvia’s chest.

───Rumble-rumble-rumble!

A torrent of crimson flames.

To describe it as a simple flame would be inaccurate; it was enchantingly elegant.

That wondrous flame instantly incinerated the spiders slaughtering the chariot corps, and even the multiple layers of spider webs Shar’kas had spun to perform his taxidermy ritual, reducing them to ashes.

This flame.

This heat.

This warmth.

No way.

It couldn’t be.

Kasena felt a painful yet intense surge of familiarity in her heart.

‘Alakis?’

No way.

Alakis was dead, and even the body that had sealed Shar’kas through her death was shattered.

However, as if denying such a realistic observation, a strikingly familiar beauty emerged from the fiery vortex, shaking her long red hair.

“Ah…”

At that moment, it was the magnificent figure she had seen in her childhood, which now felt so distant.

No, she was similar, but.

She was incredibly similar, but upon closer inspection, something was different.

Firstly, her hair was slightly shorter than Alakis’s.

Her two horns were still simply formed, almost to the point of being cute, and her tail, with sharp dragon scales, had only just begun to sprout from her sacrum, making it utterly charming.

Crucially, unlike Alakis, who possessed a dignified pale beauty, her face had an undeniable youthful air.

At that moment, Milia’s voice flashed through her mind.

- What are you talking about? Aki has grown so beautiful now. She’s already as tall as me. Her days as a baby dragon are over.

Could it be.

The one who was so cute…

Then the red dragon, so much like Alakis, suddenly looked at Kasena.

“…?”

She frowned for a moment, as if sifting through memories in her mind, then blinked her eyes wide and cutely.

“Kasena!”

“Huh?”

“Aki, sit! Aki, lie down!”

What…

Kasena was momentarily speechless. Her heart even ached as if something had pierced its center.

「What happened?」

Shar’kas’s confusion, upon confirming Akirea’s appearance, was immeasurably greater than Kasena’s.

「Where did you get that new body? No, it can’t be. How can you be alive?」