P/N let me know if there's any mistakes and I will try to fix them
CHAPTER 5
ULTRA SOUL!
"…"
Tiona discovered the body of an adventurer hidden among the ruins.
The adventurer was not dead—only unconscious.
As she looked at the human with blood running from both ears, she
groped around her waist.
"Damn, I don't have any potions with me," she said, realizing she'd
forgotten to bring her items.
"Tiona, hurry up!" her sister called. Reluctantly, she left the adventurer
behind.
Without using her hands, she scaled the structure that surrounded the
tunnel-like passage where she'd been. At the top, she found her sister, Tione,
who like Tiona had been ordered to serve as both scout and guerrilla fighter.
The Amazon was stamping her bare feet and looking irritated.
"Ugh, this is so frustrating! We're doing what the captain said, but we're
not finding any monsters. Daedalus Street is so annoying. It's nothing but
twists and turns and dead ends."
Not to mention ups and downs.
The western section of the Labyrinth District, where the two sisters were,
was so complex they felt like they were walking through a trompe l'oeil
painting. It was no wonder Tione was irritated.
"Our opponent may be moving faster than Finn's commands," Tiona said.
"Are you suggesting the captain is falling behind? I'll kick your ass for
saying that!" her sister growled in defense of her beloved leader.
"You're pretty annoying yourself!" Tiona snapped back with a fed-up
look on her face, before mumbling that Tione was right. "But yeah, I think
Finn's instructions are spot-on. I bet the monsters passed near here."
"…Did you find something?"
Tiona remained silent for a moment, gazing into the distance before
answering.
"I've been thinking, Tione. Those monsters that we're after—"
She did not complete the thought. The clanging of a bell broke the silence.
"The signal for a monster sighting…! Let's go, Tiona!"
"…Yeah!"
Watching her sister race off, Tiona seemed to change her attitude of a
moment before. She shouldered her double-edged sword and followed Tione.
Like a ferocious wave, the Xenos were barreling straight down the road in a
single line.
They were in the western section of the Labyrinth District, near the center.
After emerging from the shortcut immediately in front of Loki Familia's
formation, the monsters were now running as fast as they could toward the
underground passage to Knossos.
"Thanks to Lillicchi, there aren't any adventurers around!" said Lido at
the head of the group.
"Don't let down your guard! They're coming!" Fels yelled up from the
center of the line. The mage was right: Loki Familia members were at that
very moment rushing from the center, northwest, and southwest to fill the gap
in the formation.
"Archers, take your positions!" Loki Familia platoon leaders shouted.
The archers drew back their bows and aimed at the advancing group of
monsters. Positioned on buildings in front and to the left and right, they were
about to unleash a tri-directional rain of arrows on the Xenos.
But.
"?!"
"It's cooooold?!"
The elves and animal people who had been fitting their arrows to their
bows were suddenly half-frozen. A blizzard that materialized from thin air
had blindsided the girls. The bow, arm, shoulder, and half the face of each
demi-human were covered in an armor of ice. They cried out at the bitter
cold.
"Sorry…!"
"Apologies for the surprise attack!"
Under their veils, Welf and Mikoto whispered their regrets. Their
invisible hands gripped the aqua-colored magic daggers they had drawn from
their sheaths.
By running alongside the Xenos at a set distance and letting the noisy
band of advancing monsters draw the attention of their opponents, Welf and
Mikoto had managed to pull off the perfect sneak attack. Even the upper-
class Loki Familia adventurers were helpless against this bombardment from
their blind side by an invisible enemy. There was no escaping the blizzard
from such close range as it swept over a wide area the instant it was released;
even those who attempted to defend themselves from the aqua-blue wave of
cold were imprisoned in ice.
The magic ice daggers were called Hiens.
Welf had worked without sleep or rest to forge the two blades for this day.
Their beauty, which recalled crystals carved from ice, belied their cruel icy
waves that froze anything in their way. Welf and Mikoto each carried one.
Flames or lightning would wound an adventurer, but ice—while painful—
could be reversed without seriously harming the enemy.
"With these, we can get by without damaging the city!"
Welf smiled half-heartedly, unable to fully give himself over to pride in
his creation.
The Crozzo magic daggers and the original Sage's magic items made for a
wicked combination. Without revealing that Hestia Familia had sided with
the monsters, they were able to completely immobilize the targets of their
surprise attacks.
Not only were the adventurers on the rooftops unable to pull back their
bows, they were also unable to move, because their feet and even the ground
was frozen. As the adventurers below looked up, dumbfounded at the frozen
blocks of ice that their companions had become, Welf and Mikoto leaped to
the ground and unleashed another attack.
"Aaaaaaahhh!"
The adventurers on the ground screamed as they were enveloped in the
blizzard, and the Xenos charged forward.
"Yaaaaaaaarrrr!"
Led by the lizardman and unicorn, the parade of monsters hurled
themselves against the frozen adventurers. Animal people flew through the
air. Humans were thrown against walls. Weapons and fragments of armor
scattered. As they broke through the enemy line, the Xenos let loose a chorus
of monster bellows.
"Lady Haruhime! Tell me the way forward!" Mikoto screamed into her
oculus.
"There's a road off to the right a little farther ahead!" Haruhime
responded.
Leaving Welf to watch for enemy pursuers, Mikoto went to intercept
adventurers approaching from other streets. With the help of Hestia and
Haruhime, she was able to forestall them without getting lost herself, sending
waves of cold over them as they rushed toward the Xenos. The adventurers
became her magic dagger's quarry as she plastered herself to a wall above
their heads and waited to ambush them. They cried out as the ice forced them
to halt.
The invisible Welf and Mikoto were able to hold the sporadic groups of
Loki Familia fighters entirely in check.
"Go, Welf and Mikoto! You get 'em…!"
Hestia pumped her fist into the air as she looked down at the magic map.
She could see the symbols for Welf and Mikoto moving frenetically around
the Xenos, who were advancing east straight through the central zone of the
Labyrinth District. She cheered on her familia members as they did their
utmost to hold back the enemy's approach.
"Found ya!"
Unfortunately, the goddess's prayers were dashed.
"—!! Shit?!!"
"Gros!"
The gargoyle rearguard spun around as he sensed a flash of light flying
toward him. A knife had been hurled toward the group at high speed. It
crashed into his stone right wing—which he had spread to protect his
brethren in the rear—and shattered it like a hammer.
Rei, who had been singing as she flew along, looked back—and saw two
Amazonian women, their black hair flying behind them.
"I knew they were around here!" one shouted.
"We've caught up with them!" the other responded.
Rei and Gros widened their eyes simultaneously.
There was no way they could have forgotten those two Amazons.
They were the same extremely strong first-tier adventurers who had
trampled the Xenos in this very city several days before.
"OHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"
Gros let out a tremendous yell. His warning alerted Lido at the front and
Fels in the center to the threat, and Welf and Mikoto, too, instantly turned
around.
"The Hyrute sisters!"
"So they're here…! Let's give 'em hell!"
"Yeah!"
Welf and Mikoto immediately dropped what they were doing and ran to
intercept Tiona and Tione, who were approaching with incredible speed.
Dropping from the front of the formation to the back, they lifted the Hiens.
Welf was on one side of the Xenos and Mikoto on the other, running on top
of the buildings lining the street. They aimed their daggers at their opponents
and, at nearly the same moment, swung them forward.
They were sure they had targeted the sisters' blind spots, as they had
managed to do with the other adventurers up till now—but the sisters dodged.
"?!"
Welf and Mikoto were too surprised to utter a word. The sisters had
reacted with incredible speed to the blizzard that materialized from thin air,
evading it quite easily.
"What was that? Is there an ice bird around here or something?" Tione
called out, brushing a strand of long black hair from her face.
"Seems a little too powerful for that!" Tiona replied, glancing backward at
the enormous icy form that had risen up in the street. Returning her gaze to
the front, the Amazonian girl called out to her sister again as she ran.
"Hey, Tione. Someone's here, aren't they?"
"Yeah. I don't know if they're shape-shifting or they've made themselves
invisible…but there are two of them for sure."
The sisters looked up and directed their piercing gazes at two points ahead
and above them.
Welf and Mikoto shuddered. The sisters had accurately pinpointed their
locations. For all their invisibility and freezing blizzards, they both realized
that one blow from the sisters would crush them.
The twin warriors were she-devils incarnate.
The sight of the Level 6 first-tier adventurers bearing down on them was
truly petrifying. Yet even though the glint in the sisters' eyes filled them with
a horror unlike any they'd experienced before, they summoned their courage.
"Lady Hestia, is there any terrain coming up that we can use?!"
"Uh, um…Sorry, Welf, there's nothing! No turnoffs and no obstacles!
The road just gets wider and wider. Looks like the only thing is a downward
slope…"
The wind was so strong that it nearly blew Welf's veil off and drowned
out his questions as he spoke into the oculus. The answer sounded like a
screech. He could sense that the invisible Mikoto was growing anxious as
well. He looked up, startled.
"A slope…!"
Far in the distance down the arrow-straight road, he could see a hill that
appeared to lead into a basin.
The young smith spoke once more into the blue crystal in his hand.
"Lady Hestia, please connect me with those two."
Hestia understood immediately who he meant by "those two." Working
with the flustered Haruhime, she pushed Mikoto's and Fels's crystals
together with Welf's so they could hear him.
Mikoto and Fels paused for a moment after hearing the gamble Welf
proposed, then agreed. Fels spoke first.
"We have no other choice. We're betting on your magic daggers, Welf
Crozzo. Lido, run as fast as you can!"
"I'll try, too, Sir Welf!" Mikoto said.
"I'm counting on you!"
The Xenos mustered their strength and ran even faster.
Having given up on aiming directly at the approaching sisters, Welf and
Mikoto now attempted to stop them by freezing the road, throwing up dozens
of ice walls and knife-sharp ice mountains to block their progress. But Tiona
and Tione crushed each one in the space of a single breath, slashing them
down with the double-edged sword, kukri knives, and even their bare feet.
Mikoto grimaced at the sight of the extraordinary woman warriors in savage
pursuit of the Xenos amid a blizzard of shattered ice chunks.
"Run! Run!" the lizardman shouted to his brethren again and again in the
howling language only the other monsters could understand. They had to take
full advantage of every second Welf and Mikoto gained for them.
Wiene gasped for breath as she ran, and the flat-footed troll flapped its
arms even more clumsily than usual as they tried to keep up. Lido and Fels
took on the other Loki Familia members who Welf and Mikoto—now fully
focused on the Amazons—were no longer able to hold back. Lido's
longsword and scimitar mowed down all who tried to block their progress
forward, while Fels's jet-black gloves sent out invisible shock waves that
kept others from approaching.
Rei, who was flying above the party, dropped back to Gros's position to
protect Wiene and the other Xenos at the rear, as well as Welf and Mikoto.
With feather projectiles from her wings, she somehow managed to intercept
the knives that Tione threw and send them to the ground before they reached
their intended targets. But again and again, the white blades made their way
through her defense and ripped into the siren's body.
As the parade of monsters grew increasingly ferocious and the fighting
verged on spinning out of control, the narrow road began to widen as Hestia
had said it would. Soon they were running down an avenue more than eight
meders wide.
"This is annoying! Tiona, you throw something, too!" Tione shouted,
clicking her tongue in irritation at her inability to draw closer to the Xenos.
"Okay, but Urga is all I've got!" Tiona called back before hurling the
double-edged sword.
The massive hunk of metal was impossible to fend off. Welf, Mikoto, and
Gros gaped at it, and Rei shrieked shrilly for her kin to get out of the way.
With no time even to glance backward, Wiene and the others in the rear
rushed away. In the next instant, the huge double-edged sword hit the ground.
"?!"
The stone pavement buckled at the tremendous impact, sending the Xenos
flying. Avoiding a direct hit by a mere hairbreadth, they tumbled down a
slope paved in black bricks.
It was the hill Hestia had told them about.
"Tiona, let's kill them he—"
Tione stopped mid-sentence. She had just begun to descend the slope with
her sister, who had retrieved her sword from the ground before running on.
She sensed that the invisible sources of the bombardment had stopped in the
middle of the road at the bottom of the hill.
"They've stopped!"
"So they think they can cut us off?!"
Tiona and Tione knew their opponents were facing them, poised for
battle.
Instantly, they realized they were facing the fiercest attack yet. In the
distance, they could see the monsters falling back into formation as they
escaped, but they nevertheless made their decision without an instant's
hesitation.
"I'll shield you. Kill them, Tiona!"
"Okay!"
Rather than retreat from the wide avenue, the sisters had chosen to charge
the enemy.
Tiona stood directly behind Tione, hiding in her shadow; her older sister
would take the fire while she brought down the enemy. Their target was
clear.
As Mikoto braced herself for a direct attack from the warrior sisters who
were ready to risk their lives in the fight, sweat trickled beneath her veil.
But her heart was as clear and quiet as a perfectly still pool of water.
If they lost the upper hand here, everything was over.
If the enemy caught up with the Xenos, they would be destroyed—and she
could not let that happen.
The girl from the Far East met the gazes of the approaching first-class
adventurers with her invisible eyes and brought her hand to the hilt of her
magic dagger.
"!"
Welf swung his dagger from his position diagonally below them in a final
attempt to stop the advance. Unfazed, Tiona and Tione positioned themselves
firmly in the middle of the slope. Whether their opponents tried to freeze
them or burn them, the sisters were confident they could withstand the
attacks. No matter how terribly they were wounded, they would not back
down from their enemy. They flew through the air toward the invisible
presences.
The instant before they made contact, the sisters heard a metallic shing.
"—"
The sound was neither ice crystals forming nor raging flames.
It was the sound of a glittering metal blade sliding along its sheath—and a
sword being loosened from its scabbard.
Mikoto, crouched low to the ground, had two weapons at her hip. One
was her third-tier adventurer's weapon, Kotetsu. The other was a sword with
a magic blade.
As the first-class adventurers gaped, Mikoto's eyes flashed with
determination. She waited for just the right moment, then drew the weapon.
Welf smiled as he watched.
"Go get 'em, Fubu."
"—!!"
The jade-colored blade sparkled as it was freed from its confines with a
single swift, silent movement.
As it flashed before the eyes of Tione and Tiona, the blade released a
hurricane-force gale.
"Wha—?"
"You're kidding me!"
The sisters literally flew backward in the gust.
There was no fighting against the bombardment. The twins were blown
high into the air and far away into the distance, completely unable to
"withstand" anything.
Their hair whipping around them, Tiona and Tione disappeared from the
battlefield.
"We did it…Oops!" Mikoto said, struggling to hold down her Reverse
Veil as the powerful back draft pushed it up.
The Xenos cheered.
"Hurry up, they're not knocked out of the fight! They'll be back before
you know it!" Welf shouted to them.
Like the Hien, the Fubu could not kill or wound. It simply created a strong
wind. It lacked even the power to lacerate its victims, and so long as it was
used correctly, it would inflict no wounds. The instant Tione and Tiona hit
the ground, they would most likely rush back toward their opponents in a fit
of fury.
But Fels couldn't help letting out a shout, even as Welf urged the Xenos
along.
"Down with the first-class adventurers!"
Mikoto may have made ample use of the magic blade and veil, but she
had nevertheless driven off the sisters, and Fels was praising her for it.
And now…!
As the Xenos continued moving forward, the mage felt confident of their
position.
The fact that Amazon the Slasher and Jormungand had intercepted them
was likely the result of a miscalculation on Loki Familia's part. With guards
posted throughout the Labyrinth District as well as at the doors to Knossos,
few troops were free to move unhindered—let alone the Sword Princess, who
was glued to Bell, and Finn, who was tied up commanding the operation.
The underground path to Knossos was close now. If things continued like
this, Fels believed they would be victorious. But just at that moment—
"—"
The black-clad mage saw a lone shadow cross the sky.
"I am sorry, Captain!"
It was earlier in the night, and at Loki Familia headquarters, Raul Nord
was bowing obsequiously. Finn kept his back to Raul as he gazed out at the
western section of Daedalus Street, which was now a battlefield.
"B-because of me, th' battle formation was destroyed…! But th' phony
captain looked just like you! I mean he coulda been your twin. Two peas in a
pod! That's why I didn't see through him…! Oh geez, I am so, so sorry!"
"There's nothing to be done about it now, and I don't have the time to
hold you to account. Just answer my questions, Raul."
With that, Finn began to calmly question his pale, quivering underling.
"Did my imposter ask you anything?"
"Huh?"
The question confused Raul. He searched his memory.
"Uh…he said monsters had been sighted in th' south and told me to move
the unit…and then, I'm fairly sure that after that he asked me where th'
guards were positioned in Knossos."
"I see…Good work, Raul. You've confirmed my suspicions."
Ignoring the bewildered Raul, Finn continued as if reciting a monologue.
"Our opponents went so far as to impersonate me in order to find out
where the guards were positioned in Knossos…I don't want to believe it, but
there's no other explanation. They must have Daedalus's Notebook."
If that was the case, then all they had to do once they knew the locations
guarded by Loki Familia was follow the plan of Knossos to one of the
unguarded entrances, avoiding all contact with Loki Familia.
"It's meaningless for us to guard the underground doors. Raul, I've
already called back half the guard units and told them to wait aboveground.
Take this message to them."
"Yes, sir!"
Finn stared straight down onto the battlefield as he spoke.
"Send Gareth on a sortie."
Back in the present, the shadow that Fels had seen approaching lifted the
weapon in its hand skyward.
"—"
It was a huge battle-ax.
The figure holding it was a mighty dwarf warrior, his mantle flapping in
the chill night air that had descended after the rain.
As Fels watched the aged warrior plunge downward, eyes bulging
ferociously, the mage tossed appearances to the wind and let out a piercing
scream.
"Run!!"
An instant later, the warrior landed.
"Yaaaah!"
He swung his battle-ax downward, shattering the black brick pavement.
"Gaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrhhhhh!"
Gareth's blow bounced high and fell like a meteorite, exploding in the
center of the line of Xenos.
Immediately Fels released a shock wave. The Xenos were not injured, but
the combined force of the blow and the shock wave was strong enough to
crumble the earth and throw them back. Not one was left standing—not Welf,
not Mikoto, not Wiene. The sound of the rumbling earth mixed with the cries
of the monsters, most of whom had been hurled against the walls.
Cracks split the stone pavement and fissures ran up the sides of the
buildings, sending walls thundering down.
"Guess I got carried away. I'll have to pay for those," Gareth said,
readjusting his helmet. Swinging his battle-ax up onto his shoulder, he broke
into a run.
He was closing in on Fels, who was plastered to a wall.
"?!"
Gareth had guessed that the figure in black was a commander of sorts for
the monsters and prudently set his sights on the head of the group. The
dwarf's merciless ax cut through the air toward Fels. The instant before it
struck, a longsword and scimitar knocked it away.
"Yaarrhh!"
"Huh?"
The side of the sword slashed into the ax, driving it off course and sending
it crashing into the wall directly next to Fels.
Even as he pressed his own wounds, Lido had swooped down on Gareth,
and now he immediately raised his weapon to mow him down with a second
blow. But Gareth pulled his ax back first and, eyes narrowed, drove the
pommel into the lizardman's breastplate.
"Ooof!"
The monster's massive body flew back as easily as if it were a feather,
rolling onto the cracked stone pavement. Fels thrust out both hands and
released a shock wave from point-blank range, but the dwarf warrior swiftly
leaped to the side, successfully avoiding it.
"OHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"
The gargoyle's command echoed through the air, and the next instant the
Xenos were flying at Gareth in unison. They had realized they had to deal
with this demi-human if they were going to escape. Coughing violently from
all the dust, Welf and Mikoto checked that they were still invisible and
watched the battle in terror.
More than ten Xenos surrounded the dwarf, but still he managed to keep
them at bay, overwhelming his opponents with his sheer strength. Using his
ax, he sliced off the jabbing horn of the unicorn and the flailing tail of the
lamia, before sending the troll flying with a fierce punch from his gauntlet-
clad fist. Even the lizardman and the gargoyle, who were the strongest of the
bunch, were dispensed within a matter of seconds.
The scene was an exact replay of the one that had unfolded five days
earlier in the Labyrinth District. The overwhelmingly powerful Level 6
adventurer was trouncing the monsters. The most terrifying thing of all was
the intense presence of the dwarf who stood in front of them, more
frightening even than that of the Amazonian sisters or the werewolf.
"—Aaah!"
With all her might, Rei released a wave of sound.
The strange shriek caught Gareth off guard. For the first time, his notably
un-dwarflike mental agility dulled for an instant. Welf and Mikoto, who had
been standing stock-still until that moment, realized this could be their only
chance to act.
"!"
Gareth sidestepped the blizzard that Welf's Hien drew from thin air, but
the wave of frigid air that Mikoto released a moment later froze one of his
legs. Standing their ground, Welf and Mikoto unleashed a second attack on
the trapped dwarf.
The first-class adventurer was imprisoned in a world of freezing winds,
ice, and frost. But in the next moment, he rendered Mikoto speechless.
What?!
Welf couldn't believe his eyes.
Is this some kind of joke?!
"Uwaaaaaaaaaa—!!"
The mighty dwarf warrior was determined to fight, whatever the
consequences.
His body still frozen, he burst through the armor of ice with sheer will,
raised his ax in his fist, and swung it wildly around him. The Xenos flew at
him, mouths agape, but were hurled back.
Welf and Mikoto edged around to his blind side and released wave after
wave of cold. He did not stop. No matter that half his body was frozen solid
and covered with frostbite. He was one lone adventurer, but they could not
stop him.
A moment later, a cracking sound split the air.
"…?!"
As if defeated in their battle of wills with the dwarf, the magic blades
crumbled to pieces. Overuse had destroyed them. Welf and Mikoto were
speechless as they watched the shards of the aquamarine blades crumble
through their fingers.
"Mr. Gareth!"
"Get 'em! Bring 'em down!"
As if to drive home their misfortune, Loki Familia's reinforcements had
arrived. Upper-class male and female adventurers flooded in from the
alleyways feeding into the main street, from the rooftops of the buildings, and
from all four directions.
"Time to use these!"
From the sleeve of Fels's black cloak appeared a number of black spheres,
which the mage scattered across the road.
As the spheres cracked, black smoke billowed into the broad avenue. It
was the same smoky veil Fels had used five days ago to help the Xenos
escape: the black mist, a magic item. It was a last-ditch strategy to prevent the
adventurers from communicating with one another. The black mist instantly
turned the street into a tangle of adventurers and monsters blindly fighting
any moving body, the air filled with their confused screams.
Shit, this is bad. What do I do?!
Spears and claws materialized from the depths of the mist and besieged
Welf, his invisibility no protection from the chaos. He was at the mercy of his
own wildly pounding heart.
The word annihilation swam through his mind, stirring his thoughts into
chaos. It would be nearly impossible for the Xenos to pull themselves
together and escape from this insane melee. At the very least, he had to do
something about Gareth.
Welf had lost the Hien. Mikoto still had the Fubu, but if she were to use it
to blow away this black mist, both enemies and allies alike would be blown
away with it, and when the air cleared, Gareth would be waiting once again to
trample them. If the other Loki Familia members were to join in, the fate of
the Xenos would be to end then and there. And Lilly probably couldn't come
to their rescue, either.
What if I use this…?! But if I use it now…!
Welf looked at his waist.
In place of his usual longsword, his belt held a magic one. As he gazed at
the naked blade, which was a deeper aquamarine than the Hien, a ferocious
inner struggle tormented him.
He had already wasted a few precious seconds on this mental conflict
when he heard a familiar voice.
"Ha-ha! This is a real party!"
Chunks of ice rained down from the sky onto the street.
"Huh?!"
Welf could hear the crackle of the street freezing and the screams of the
dwarf and the other adventurers, and through the mist, he was sure he could
see a powerful gust of snow.
As he stood there bewildered, a figure landed with a thud directly in front
of him.
"Uh…Tsubaki?"
"Huh? Is that Welfy I hear?"
The girl had brown skin, black hair knotted behind her head, and a patch
over her left eye like the one her patron deity wore. Dressed in a bright-red
hakama and combat clothing, she brought to mind a fencer from the Far East.
Her attractive but somehow peculiar features indicated a mix of dwarf and
human blood.
Tsubaki Collbrande, captain of Hephaistos Familia. At the sight of this
unexpected intruder, Welf pulled off his veil and revealed himself.
"What are you doing here?!"
"My patron deity begged me to help you guys out. I heard about the
Zenoes or whatever you call them, too. Looks like you've got yourself
wrapped up in something pretty interesting, Welf!" the half-dwarf explained
simply with a smug smile. Like Nahza of the Miach familia, she had come to
help Welf and his familia members in their attempt to save the Xenos.
Welf wasn't entirely thrilled that Hephaistos had told Tsubaki about the
Xenos, even though he could imagine why. From the perspective of
Hephaistos, whom Tsubaki venerated, telling the girl must have seemed
unproblematic. But Welf hated the idea that this pleasure-seeking adventurer
knew about their situation.
Totally unaware of Welf's thoughts, Tsubaki held up her magic blade.
"Looks like we both had the same idea, eh, Welf? Anyway, leave it to me.
I'll stay out of view and let them have it with this magic blade. Ha-ha, I've
got weapons coming out of my ears!"
Welf found the sight of Tsubaki with her bundle of weapons slung
carelessly over her shoulder revolting.
"You just want to try out your magic blades!" he shouted, forgetting
where he was in his anger at the master smith's ulterior motives.
Tsubaki was such a pure and eccentric craftswoman that she sometimes
descended to the Deep Zone of the Dungeon just to see how well her
creations worked. This insane passion also explained her skill as a smith and
her genuine battle prowess, which had earned her the nickname "Cyclops."
"Don't be stupid. Didn't I rush to your aid knowing full well Loki Familia
would hate me for it? Ha-ha! I'm off! Here I go!"
"Just like I thought; you're enjoying this! By the way, if you go crazy
with your attacks, Loki Familia's gonna—"
"Ha-ha-ha!! You think that dwarf is gonna roll over because of this? Loki
Familia leaders are all monsters!"
Accurately speaking, she seemed to be after Gareth alone. Taking
advantage of the veil of smoke, Tsubaki slashed her magic blade randomly
through the air. The chaotic battlefield made Welf uneasy, and he had an
excruciating headache. After a few minutes, Tsubaki came across his
crumbled magic blade.
"Eh, looks like this one reached its limit. Still room for improvement, I'd
say," she said, tossing away the empty hilt.
The next moment, her mood shifted, and she glanced sidelong at Welf
through her narrowed right eye.
"And? What are you standing there dreaming about? Is that longsword at
your waist a decoration?"
"…!"
"Why did you even bring it, silly boy? Put that thing to use!"
The senior smith seemed to be ridiculing Welf, or perhaps scolding him.
"Didn't you come here to save those Zenoes guys? While you stand there
dithering, the monsters are gonna turn into a pile of smoking ash!"
"…If I use this, even a first-tier adventurer would—"
"Idiot!"
Tsubaki brushed away Welf's needless worries with a smile.
"I told you before, those guys are monsters. A little baby magic blade like
that isn't gonna knock them down so easily."
Tsubaki directed her single eye at Welf as if to say he didn't have time to
waste worrying about his opponents' well-being. He couldn't find anything to
say in response.
Instead, he frowned and gripped the hilt of his longsword, bracing himself
for the fight.
"…It's hard to find the enemy in all this mist."
"I'll be your eyes. Get ready."
Tsubaki was not only a master smith but also a Level 5 adventurer. She
could hold her own against any first-tier. Welf frowned at this superwoman
who could sense her opponent's presence especially well in the current chaos,
drew his sword, and took a fighting stance.
"Two o'clock. Yeah, right there. They're on guard, but nothing to worry
about—not with your silly old magic blade."
"Any Xenos in the line of fire?"
"Nope, nothing to worry about. Now is the time—do it," Tsubaki said,
sidling behind him and pushing her finger into his spine.
"Asshole," Welf mumbled.
Then he swung the deep-aqua blade down from above his head.
"Hiyo!"
With a high-pitched, birdlike screech, a wave of ice and wind
materialized.
The aqua-blue ice floe swept through the black mist like the outstretched
wings of some giant bird of prey. Instantaneously freezing the pavement
below, its sharp beak searched for victims. The raging blizzard unleashed by
the Hiyo far surpassed anything the Hien had produced. Even Gareth stared
wide-eyed at the blizzard and pulled his shield from beneath his mantle,
forced for the first time to take a defensive stance.
Standing protectively in front of the adventurers near him, the dwarf bore
the full brunt of the raging snow and crackling ice.
"M-Mr. Gareth?!"
"…Feels about the same strength as Riveria's magic. That did a bit of
damage."
Gareth's entire left side, including the shield he thrust before him, was
frozen solid. His beard was encrusted in ice and his face was frostbitten, but
still the mighty dwarf warrior laughed fearlessly.
"You guys step back!" he told the other adventurers, hiding them behind
his back as he made his body into a wall against the second bombardment of
ice and snow.
"Hey, look, he's alive!" Tsubaki laughed.
"Shut up. Lady Hestia, can you hear me?" Welf retorted, taking out his
oculus.
"Yes, I'm here. What is it, Welf?"
"We'll hold them here somehow! Tell the Xenos to move forward!"
The black mist lingered stubbornly despite the repeated blizzards. Welf
had decided that he could turn it to his advantage by using it to hide his
presence as he fought, and that was why he asked Hestia to send his message
to Fels. Mikoto must have heard him, because her voice came back through
the oculus.
"Got it!"
Presently, he heard the lizardman's roar. Welf could sense the monsters
scattered around him responding to the command to move forward. And then,
the adventurers pursuing them. Cursing his inability to hold them back, Welf
continued to swing his magic blade in the direction Tsubaki told him to.
We've just gotta keep that dwarf pinned here!
The road where Gareth stood had turned into a river of ice. They had
stopped the first-tier adventurer.
On the outskirts of southwestern Daedalus Street, Hestia dripped with
nervous sweat. Next to her, Haruhime had turned white.
"Oh, this is bad. This is really bad…!"
"Yes! It's awful!"
In the aftermath of the fierce attack from Loki Familia, the names of the
Xenos were scattered across the magic map. The enemy had ruined their
prospects of reaching the central zone of the Labyrinth District.
As if to drive home the dismal message, Hestia saw a lone symbol moving
away from the group.
"No, Wiene! You can't go that way!"
The dragon girl was striking out on her own.
Wiene was running.
Some of her scales had been torn off, and crimson blood was seeping
from the gaps.
She gripped her wounded left arm and plunged into the black mist.
Fels's smoke had overflowed the main avenue and filled the alleys that
surrounded it like a spiderweb. The thick fog that blotted out the stars was
probably visible from anywhere in Daedalus Street.
If Wiene stopped in the mist, the adventurers would surround her. She
knew that. And she knew that even now she was running farther and farther
from the other Xenos. But she could not stop her feet.
They're…coming…!
Arrows flew at her ceaselessly, grazing the hood of her robe and her
pointy ears. Loki Familia archers. Terrified of the bolts flying to kill her, she
turned a corner. The dragon girl's diabolical pursuers were drawing closer.
"Huff, puff…"
Wiene struggled to find her way through the Labyrinth District. She didn't
have an oculus with her, so she could not turn to the goddess for help. The
black brick buildings stretched up as far as she could see, turning the streets
into canyons. Countless side alleys branched off like fissures, beckoning the
girl into the abyss of mist.
At last, Wiene broke out of the dense, still fog that blocked her vision.
"!"
She emerged into a scene of ruin. The black bricks had given way to
ancient cobblestones surrounded by clusters of the strangely shaped,
crumbling buildings Daedalus had designed ages ago. Every few minutes, the
tremors and rumbling from the battlefield shook loose a rain of sand and
stone fragments.
The scene suggested that in her confusion, Wiene had crossed the border
of the Labyrinth District's western region and entered the northwestern
section. She paused for a moment and looked around at the wider and slightly
less complicated roads.
"There it is! I found it!"
"!"
At the sound of the adventurers' shouts, Wiene took off running again.
Evading the rain of arrows, she turned a corner. Her bluish-white skin and
scales covered in sweat and her silver-blue hair tangled beneath her robe,
Wiene plunged desperately forward, clinging to an invisible hope.
But.
"—"
As if to crush the monster's wish, the starlight illuminated a figure far in
the distance.
Wiene stopped breathing.
I've made it this far somehow, but…
The brown-skinned woman's bare feet were planted firmly on the roof of
a building, and she had an unbelievably huge double-edged sword over her
shoulder—an Amazon.
It was Tiona Hyrute.
Why—?
Wiene recognized her as a threat. She could not understand how one of
the pair Mikoto had blown away earlier could be standing before her now.
"Well, I guess since I've happened across one, I better do something
about it," the Amazon muttered to herself.
Tiona didn't really know why she'd ended up in this place. If she had to
say, it was probably because she'd seen the black mist creeping to the
northwest.
Once she had finally landed on the ground after Mikoto's tornado, she'd
headed back toward the battlefield with Tione, who was insane with rage. But
when she saw the jet-black mist spreading northwest, Tiona had changed
directions.
The south side was still okay. The only ones down there were adventurers.
But she'd heard that there were still some townsfolk on the northern side of
the Labyrinth District who hadn't managed to evacuate. Her instincts told her
that things could get nasty if they tried to head to the outskirts through the
mist, and that had led her to follow the cloud to the northwest.
"I'll take this one down," she said to herself.
When Wiene saw Tiona toss her double-edged sword to one hand, she
sped off in the opposite direction.
For all her youth and inexperience, the dragon girl could sense that she
was in a desperate situation. As she collided with Loki Familia pursuers, all
hope drained from her face. She leaped into an intersection as the adventurers
and Tiona closed in on her from both sides.
Huh?
A little boy was standing near her.
A human…child…?
It was a pale, young half-elf, hugging a kitten to his chest.
Wiene saw her own reflection in the child's pupils. Her two amber eyes
peering out from the dark hood and, above them, like a drop of blood on her
forehead, her sparkling third eye. The sight of her monster's face wreathed in
darkness would surely be enough to petrify any small child.
Wiene hesitated for a moment as she faced the terrified boy. Just then, she
heard a loud explosion from the direction of the battlefield that shook the
ground.
An instant later, it gave way to a powerful roar.
Suddenly, one of the buildings looming above the child's head pitched
forward and began to crumble.
"Ruu?!"
Screams exploded from the mouths of Lai, Fina, and Maria as if their
chests were bursting open.
"Ouka?!"
"It's coming—!"
As they saw the building tipping forward on the west side of the
intersection, Chigusa and Ouka dashed into the street, their weapons in hand.
They had arrived at the corner just a minute earlier, still searching for the
little boy who had run back to the orphanage all alone. They had felt a flood
of relief when they caught sight of the half-elf on the east side of the
intersection. That was immediately before the explosion.
"Miss Tiona?!"
"Oh no!"
Ouka saw the monster in the torn robe racing with frightening speed into
the intersection, the little boy frozen in place, and the astounded Loki Familia
members. Then he noticed the dilapidated building falling toward the
intersection.
I won't make it!!
Within his heart, Ouka screamed silently at the horrifying disaster about
to occur.
Ah…
It was a familiar scene for Wiene.
The mountain of bricks falling above the boy's head. Back then, it had
been packages falling from a horse-drawn cart.
You should just leave him there, Wiene's fearful heart whispered to her.
The people will scream and throw rocks at you. They will all hate you,
and sadness will overwhelm you, and your heart will wear thin, and your
days will pass in miserable tears.
But—
Wiene asked her heart a question.
But even so, Bell saved me, didn't he?
She had heard from her brethren about the boy's plight. It was her fault
that even now he faced hostility and malice on all sides. When Wiene learned
that, she had burst into tears and felt a tightness in her heart.
Bell had saved Wiene even though he knew people would throw rocks at
him.
Wiene's fearful heart had nothing to say in response. Instead, it gently
urged her onward.
The next moment, the heat in the finger pushing her forward burst through
her skin and her robe and grew into a new wing.
"—!!"
The potential of a dragon turned Wiene's body into a bluish-silver arrow
speeding toward the child.
She spread her wing out to block the mountain of falling brick, using her
body to press the half-elf boy to the ground.
"Ruu!!"
The collapsing rubble drowned out the screams of the other children.
The sound of avalanching debris enveloped the intersection as a waterfall
of stone descended.
By the time the rush had subsided, an enormous cloud of dust had
ballooned from the wreckage, and the entire area was littered with jagged
hunks of stone.
"…Ah."
Wiene and the boy were in the center of this collapsed building.
The boy was lying faceup on the ground, and the vouivre was pressing her
hands against his face as she peered down into his eyes.
Her outstretched wing had not been able to block all the rubble. Blood
dripped from her head onto the boy's cheek.
"—Shoot it!"
"?!"
An arrow bounced off Wiene's wing.
How had this scene appeared to those who watched it unfold? At least to
Maria, the children, and Loki Familia's members, it looked as if the monster
had attacked the child with its dreadful wing, and by chance the rubble had
fallen onto its head.
Wiene looked down as a band of angry adventurers approached from
beyond the settling dust. She rose from the boy's side and began running. A
moment later, Maria and the children and other Loki Familia members rushed
to take her place next to the boy.
"I'll go after her! You guys protect the children!" Tiona shouted to the
adventurers, raising her sword as she ran after the monster.
"Got it!"
Maria, Lai, and Fina hugged the dazed Ruu, who was gripping the kitten
tightly.
"Oh, Ruu! Ruu!"
"You dummy! What were you doing?!"
"Ruu, are you okay?"
Maria, Lai, and Fina were all crying.
"No, you're all wrong…Mother, Lai, Fina," he whispered faintly as they
held him close. A drop of the monster's blood trickled down his cheek like a
tear.
"Big brother…was right all along."
The half-elf child stared up at the deep-blue night sky as his foster mother
held him. His lips trembled as he made out the faintly shining moon beyond
the settling dust. The child's sobs echoed through the ruins.
A few steps away, Ouka and Chigusa were standing stock-still.
"Ouka…what just happened?"
"The monster protected him? Protected a child…?"
The two had been standing immediately beside Wiene as the scene
unfolded, and they had seen all the details that Maria, the children, and Loki
Familia members had missed from their position behind the vouivre. Now
they exchanged puzzled whispers about what they had witnessed.
Their words trailed off, and they gazed toward the street where Wiene had
disappeared.
A short distance from the intersection, two pairs of footsteps echoed down
a narrow alleyway illuminated by timeworn magic-stone lanterns.
It had taken only a few moments for Tiona to catch up with the fleeing
Wiene.
"Here we go!"
"?!"
The Amazon handily swung her double-edged sword down, blocking
Wiene's path of retreat.
Although the sword did not hit the dragon girl, her thin legs collapsed
from the force of the impact and the gust of wind from the rapidly swing of
her weapon. Tiona did not waste this chance to lift her sword in preparation
for another thrust.
Ah…
Wiene didn't even have time to shield her body with her single wing.
Even if she had, the sword would have skewered her, wing and all. In the last
instant, as the Amazon closed in on her, she squeezed her eyes shut.
"…?"
She waited and waited, but the piercing thrust of the sword did not come.
Very timidly, she opened her eyes. The huge double-edged sword was
suspended in front of her chest. When she looked up, Tiona was standing
there silently with a deeply conflicted expression on her face.
"Uhhh, errrrr, mmmm…yeah!"
After groaning and grumbling for a minute, Tiona nodded and pulled back
her weapon.
"I just couldn't do it after all!!"
She tossed the sword over her shoulder. The massive weapon rolled
across the ground with a grating crash.
"Huh…?" the vouivre whispered hoarsely from her bluish-white lips.
The best word to describe her expression would be "stunned."
"You…you saved him, didn't you? That little boy."
Wiene reacted with surprise.
"I don't know if you can understand what I'm saying…but you'd better
get out of here fast."
"Ah…"
"Not everyone is a softhearted idiot like me, you know."
Tiona stared down at the monster. Wiene didn't know what to do, but very
timidly, she stood up. She opened her mouth slightly as if to speak, but at that
moment the booms of the battle echoed down the alleyway, and she hurried
away.
Just once, she turned to look back at Tiona, then disappeared.
The magic-stone lamps flickered in the alleyway. Left alone, Tiona picked
up the sword she'd tossed away and slowly raised her eyes to the heavens.
"…This is how the Argonaut must have felt…"
Her words faded into the cloudy night sky.
"Tiona!"
"Oh, hey, Tione."
When she left the alleyway, Tiona bumped into her twin. Tione frowned
angrily and pressed in close to Tiona.
"Why'd you run off without telling me? I was looking for you!"
"You came after me? I figured you'd be busy fighting over on the main
street."
"The captain told us to stick together! I'm not going to disobey him, am I?
And…what about the monster? I heard you chased one over here."
Tiona considered lying to her sister but decided against it.
"Yeah, I let it go."
"What?! It didn't escape; you purposely let it go?! Are you crazy?"
"But—!"
"'But' my ass! These are unique circumstances. Didn't you hear what the
captain said?"
"But, Tione, even you know those monsters are more than just smart…"
"Hmph."
"I think they're different from regular monsters. I don't get a negative
feeling from them," she told her sister frankly, thinking back to the
adventurer she'd found who was unconscious but not dead.
For a moment, Tione was silent, as if she knew Tiona had hit on the truth.
But her anger quickly resurfaced.
"Shut up! I'm going to get that black minotaur no matter what! I'm out of
here!"
"You just want revenge!"
The sisters ran off side by side, bickering as they went.
"Goddess Hestia, where is Wiene?!"
Fels's voice was coming through the oculus.
"She's in the northwest, heading farther and farther away!" Hestia
screamed back.
She was at her post in the southwestern outskirts of Daedalus Street. As
she looked down at the dragon girl's name moving steadily northward across
the magic map, Hestia could feel her heart thumping faster and faster.
"Can't anyone go rescue her?" she asked.
"It's impossible. The adventurers are fighting hard…! If Lido or anyone
else left, we'd be done for!"
Through the blue crystal, Hestia could hear the monsters howling in a
furious battle. Frowning, she frantically thought about what else they could
do.
If Fels can't help, then the closest ones to Wiene are Welf and Mikoto…
No, that's impossible, too; they're holding off the adventurers! And Lilly and
Bell are too far!
Fels and the Xenos were fighting in the western sector, just on the edge of
the central zone, and Mikoto and Welf were very close by. Lilly was due east,
and Bell was heading southeast, stirring up trouble with adventurers. It would
be hard for them to reach Wiene as she fled to the northwest.
It was clear the adventurers were pursuing Wiene as she headed north
through the Labyrinth District. Hestia felt like every tick of the hands on her
broken watch shaved off more minutes of the girl's life. She was at a loss for
what to do, when—
"Aaah!"
"Haruhime?!"
The girl, who had been on the tower rooftop with Hestia, had leaped off
the edge.
Just as her golden hair and crimson kimono disappeared into the darkness
of the Labyrinth District, the loud crack of something breaking rang through
the air. Panicked, Hestia peered over the edge of the roof. Far below, she
could make out a hole in the roof of a barrack and, below it, the renart's form
stumbling forward as if she had rolled onto the ground.
"—!!"
Haruhime had abandoned all trace of logic or reason at the thought of
Wiene in peril, and she literally jumped into the night to find her. Hestia, too,
threw aside her indecision, grabbed one of the oculi, and shouted into it at the
top of her lungs.
"Bell! Help!"
"Wiene has run off from the Xenos! And now Haruhime has gone after her!"
Hidden under my veil, I panic at first when the goddess's voice
unexpectedly comes through the oculus. But as I listen to her desperate plea,
the blood drains from my face.
"Wiene's by herself?!"
Burning with anxiety, I slip into a back alley to get away from the shouts
of the adventurers.
Wiene is all alone? And no one can get there to rescue her? The vision of
the girl crying by herself is deeply upsetting. As I pull up a map of Orario in
my mind's eye, I know that we are in an awful situation.
I am in the southeast. Wiene is in the northwest. We're as far as we can be
from each other. If I take the most direct route to her, I'll run straight into
Loki Familia's encampment in the center of the Labyrinth District. It's
impossible for me to get through without a hitch, invisible or not. But a
detour around their encampment would take forever. No matter how I think
about it, I know I can't make it in time on my own two feet!
Well, maybe not with the feet I have right now…
The second that thought crosses my mind, I yell into the oculus.
"To Haruhime!"
"Huh?"
"Please tell me where Haruhime is!!"
I start running even before the goddess has answered me.
Realizing what I plan to do, she gasps, and then—as if she's made a
decision—relays the information on the magic map.
I forget all about clandestine actions and rush headlong down the street.
My body heat is building up inside my veil, but I don't even have time to
wipe away the sweat. Forsaking my role as a decoy, I leap and run across the
uneven rooftops.
Faster, faster! Hurry!!
The goddess's voice guides me as I cross the southern section of the
Labyrinth District from east to west.
"Haruhime!"
"Eeek!! Oh—Master Bell?!"
Haruhime has been running as fast as she can through the back alleys as
the goddess guides her. I catch up with her and grab her hand, forgetting to
take off my veil. As I pull her into an abandoned old house, she guesses my
identity, and her surprise gives way to tears.
"Master Bell! Lady Wiene, Lady Wiene has…!"
Her trembling hand grips my clothes. I try to support her as she collapses,
and we both sink to our knees. As the tears spill from her green eyes onto her
kimono, I take her hand again and squeeze it.
"Haruhime—"
She looks up at me, and I ask her to do what would be impossible on my
own.
"—please help me."
We will save Wiene together.
Surprised by the urgency in my eyes, Haruhime dries her tears and nods.
My right hand grasps her left, and her right hand takes my left.
The beautiful renart begins to chant a song of illusion.
—Grow.
Her voice is clear and pure as crystal.
She closes her eyes and continues to sing in her sonorous voice.
That power and that vessel. Breadth of wealth and breadth of wishes.
Until the bell tolls, bring forth glory and illusion.
As the spell builds, a golden light begins to glow in the dim room,
illuminating my tense face.
"—Grow."
From this point on, I—no, we—will be in great danger.
Perhaps because Haruhime, too, realizes this, her hands shake despite her
smooth, flowing singing voice.
"Confine divine offerings within this body. This golden light bestowed
from above. Into the hammer and into the ground, may it bestow good fortune
upon you."
Her hands cling to mine as they rest on my knees, revealing her fear for
Wiene.
I answer with a squeeze. Trembling under her kimono, she forcefully
utters the final line.
"—Grow."
Haruhime opens her eyes and looks into mine. She says the name of the
spell.
"Uchide no Kozuchi."
The room is filled with a brilliant light. At the same time, a swirl of
sparkles surrounds my body.
She has given me a level boost, raising me one level with the strongest of
sorcery. The thrill of reaching Level 4 buzzes through my whole body, and I
let out a cry of joy.
I pull the veil around me again, stand up—and lift Haruhime off her feet.
"Huh?!"
There's no way one level boost will be enough. I still need Haruhime's
help, and I have no intention of leaving her behind. I'm sure she knew that,
but her cheeks flush pink all the same—maybe because she wasn't expecting
me to sling her under my arm like this.
I feel bad, but there's no other choice. She'll just have to endure it. I
check to make sure both Haruhime and my sparkling body are completely
covered by the veil, then bring my mouth to the fox ears at my chest.
"Please hold the veil down."
She nods. Since both my hands are holding on to her, she reaches her
arms around my neck and grabs on to the Reverse Veil for me. Through the
fabric, the objects of the outside world appear transparent. I peer around and
steel myself for what is to come.
"—We're off."
A single bead of sweat trickles down my cheek, and I take off running.
"Ack?!"
Haruhime gulps back a shocked yelp at my extreme Level 4 speed.
I fly through the wide-open door of the old house, leap down the street
with stone-crushing strides, and soar into the night sky.
Below me sprawls the Labyrinth District. There are the blinking magic-
stone lamps of Loki Familia's encampment. There's the western sector
cloaked in black mist. And there's the northwestern part, where Wiene has
been left all alone.
I take one last glance, then let gravity pull me down to the rooftop of a
building—and start running again at full speed.
"?!"
"What's that?!"
Despite our invisibility, people are bound to notice us passing by. We're
unbelievably fast, and we're stirring up a wind that makes a ferocious roar,
and my feet are pounding across rooftops and walls. The adventurers in the
area look up as they sense me speeding past above their heads.
But it doesn't matter. All I can do is ignore it. I don't have time for
anything else.
I have to get to Wiene as fast as I possibly can!
"—!!"
Haruhime grips my neck tight as I run even faster, desperately trying to
hold down the veil as the wind pulls it up.
Leaping like an actual rabbit across the uneven roofs, I rush through the
streets, sometimes even scaling lofty towers in a single breath.
"Yes, keep going straight ahead just like that!"
The sound of the wind rushing past me almost drowns out the goddess's
voice, but I manage to follow her instructions and blast through town via the
shortest route.
The risk of Loki Familia detecting us is extremely high. First-tier
members of their familia will definitely be able to sense my movements.
But my only option is to continue.
As I run with a speed unthinkable without Haruhime's level boost, I feel
like an all-powerful god. But there's no time to get drunk on the glorious
sensation of her beautiful sparks of light. I just run as fast as I can.
"—Pardon me, Master Bell! Despite my current strange position, I am
deeply happy!!" the shivering renart says, as if she can't help herself.
"I feel like I've heard those words before!" I shout in response, without
thinking.
"What? Those are my lines, Haruhime! I'm going to come take your
place!!" the goddess says for some reason, and things get a bit chaotic for a
moment.
Even as the three of us shout at one another, I continue to tear through the
night air.
With all my energy focused on becoming the wind itself, I blow across the
Labyrinth District from southwest to northwest.
Wiene was advancing through the alleyways.
"Huff, puff…"
Her ragged breath was a sign of just how worn out she had become. She
had no sense of where she was. She walked forlornly through the backstreets,
her new wing hidden and her hand against the walls, confused by the
darkness.
Her pursuers seemed to have disappeared, but she could not calm her
terror of the phantom adventurers who her fear drew from thin air. More than
anything, an overwhelming loneliness tormented her.
"..."
She desperately tried to keep her lips from uttering that one name.
She didn't want to worry him. If she cried, he would start worrying about
her again. She wanted to reassure him. That was why she was trying so hard
to control her feelings.
But the dim Labyrinth District eroded her determination. At last, the
pitiful fear that shook her reedy body got the better of her, and she sought the
shadow of the past, that irreplaceable warmth.
"Bell…"
She whispered his name so faintly it seemed to melt into the darkness.
And something happened.
"—Wiene!!"
He answered her prayer.
"!"
"Lady Wiene!!"
As the vouivre looked up in shock, Bell and Haruhime threw off their veil
and materialized from nowhere, floating down from the dark-blue sky.
Tears overflowed from Wiene's amber eyes, and in the next instant she
was running toward them. She flew into the arms of the boy and girl who had
landed in front of her.
"Bell! Haruhime!"
Their outstretched arms encircled her.
"Oh, Lady Wiene, Lady Wiene!"
"Wiene, it's so good to see you…!"
"I'm sorry, so sorry, Bell and Haruhime…! Thank you, I love you…!"
All three could hardly form a sentence for all their tears. They simply held
one another in a warm embrace. Wiene buried her face in Haruhime's chest,
and Bell wrapped himself around both of them—Wiene's new wing and all.
"You came looking for me…?"
"The goddess told us where you were!"
"So you're okay, Wiene? I'm so glad you haven't been hurt!"
Bell smiled at Wiene's upturned, tear-covered face.
"…Thank you, Goddess!" she said.
They heard sniffling from the sparkling blue oculus on Bell's gauntlet,
and Wiene's expression blossomed into a smile.
After they had hugged for a few minutes, Bell stepped back from Wiene
and Haruhime.
"Come on, there's no time to waste. We have to meet up with Lido and
the others somehow."
"Right!"
Wiene and Haruhime nodded, and they set out.
By now, more than five minutes had passed since Bell met up with
Haruhime. He wanted to find a place to renew the level boost. They were
currently in the north-northwest of the Labyrinth District. He knew full well
that heading south to meet up with the Xenos while dodging Loki Familia
along the way would be next to impossible. In the worst-case scenario, he
would have to serve as a decoy. Still, he brought the oculus to his lips.
"Goddess, please tell us the w—"
Bell's sixth sense suddenly set internal alarm bells clanging.
"Uh-oh!!"
"Huh?"
It was practically a miracle that he was able to pull Wiene and Haruhime
close and throw the Reverse Veil over all three of them. The instant he had
retreated into the darkness of an alleyway—thwack! A pair of silver metal
boots crashed onto the ground.
The figure wearing them had a coat of wind-ruffled gray fur and an
intimidating blue tattoo on one side of his face.
Bell, Haruhime, and Wiene all gasped at the young werewolf who had
descended from the sky.
It's Bete…!
As Bell had feared, they'd been detected.
Bete Loga had sensed Bell and Haruhime's reckless trip through town.
Defying Finn's orders, the first-tier adventurer had left Loki Familia's
encampment to pursue them. Bell was horrified by the werewolf's incredible
speed, which nullified all chance of his getting another level boost from
Haruhime.
"…"
Bete stood in the open area at the end of the alleyway where Bell,
Haruhime, and Wiene were hiding. As he slowly scanned his surroundings,
all three held their breath and followed his eyes. The thunderous pounding of
their hearts blended together so loudly that they feared he might hear them.
On the other side of the oculus, Hestia blanched and tried to keep completely
silent.
A drop of Bell's sweat dripped onto Wiene's hair.
"—Come out!"
Accurately and mercilessly, Bete had scanned the many alleys branching
off the plaza and determined the one where Bell and the others were hiding.
They froze beneath his gaze, which pierced them despite their invisibility.
The minute it had taken him to find them had felt like an eternity, and now
their hopes crumbled like sand.
Wiene's shoulders shook as Bete pointed his feet in their direction. Bell
squeezed them and prepared to do the only thing he could: walk out to Bete.
He would act as a decoy while Haruhime and Wiene escaped.
But Haruhime's next move prevented him from doing that.
Haruhime…?
Wiene looked up when she felt someone stroking a lock of her hair, and
she saw the renart smiling down at her. Haruhime gently extracted herself
from the dragon girl's embrace and sent a fleeting smile at the dumbfounded
Bell.
His outstretched arm met air as Haruhime pushed aside the veil and
stepped into the darkness.
"Huh?"
"…"
As the astonished Bell and Wiene watched, she stood facing Bete directly,
illuminated by the starry sky.
Her fox's tail quivered as the werewolf eyed her dubiously. But she hid it
behind her back and returned his stare resolutely.
"You can't be here alone. Come out, all of you!"
"I am alone."
"Let's stop the jo—"
"—I am alone!!" she shouted.
Wiene jumped—she'd never heard Haruhime speak so loudly.
Her gracefully arched eyebrows and determined green eyes showed no
sign of yielding to the boy's dangerous glare. She pressed her hands to her
voluptuous chest and shouted at the young werewolf again.
"Please move!"
Bell understood that she was speaking not to Bete but to him. The weak
young girl he had rescued from such depraved surroundings was nowhere to
be seen. Standing guard with her back to them, she was like a Shinto maiden
bravely confronting calamity, a sister protecting her dragon-girl sibling, a
mother.
She howled. The girl who had always needed rescuing cried out now to
save the ones she loved. Bell was amazed.
"Now!!"
Haruhime's yell, along with the sight of her resolute back, urged Bell
forward.
He couldn't let her determination go to waste.
He shook off his distress and pulled his hand back from Wiene's shoulder.
Gritting his teeth with determination, Bell tugged the dragon girl along as she
glanced tearfully back, then took off running in the opposite direction from
Bete and Haruhime.
"…You won't even fight, so stop lording it over me!" the werewolf
growled.
Bete could sense the two invisible forms beyond Haruhime disappearing
into the distance. He pawed the ground, his foot scraping over the
cobblestones. As he did, fragments of broken stone shot like bullets toward
Haruhime, tearing into her cheeks and kimono. She threw her arm in front of
her face and stumbled but caught herself before she fell. Still, she did not
move aside.
"Tch. Get out of my way," Bete said.
"I will not."
"I'll crush you."
"I will not move!"
As Bete strode toward her, she threw both arms out. He narrowed his eyes
at the renart, who still refused to budge, and kicked the ground. He moved
with such incredible speed that she could not even track him with her eyes. In
an instant, the werewolf's shadow was at her feet. As she stood frozen, Bete
raised his left hand as if to brush away a trivial speck of dust. He was about
to bring it down on her when—
"—!!"
His hand stopped in midair. He was looking at Haruhime's steadfast green
eyes below her golden bangs.
"…"
His gaze was fixed on Haruhime, silently taking in this girl who refused to
look away even on the verge of a direct blow.
Quiet fell over the pair. In the distance, the two animal people could hear
the faint sound of battle cries. The odd scene continued until Bete broke the
silence.
"—You small-fry!"
A brutal smile played over the werewolf's lips.
"You're totally helpless—but you've still made up your mind, eh?"
"?!"
The werewolf's thirst for blood was out of control. Haruhime's animal-
person instincts trembled before the overwhelming presence of this starving
wolf. He was about to devour her on the principal that the strong must
consume the weak.
Still, she did not retreat.
She looked back at him as a humiliating trembling finally overtook her,
her arms still thrown out.
"Got a little carried away, didn't you?"
Instead of his lowered fist, his left metal boot came crashing down on the
ground.
His foot struck the stone with a splintering sound and a shockwave that
launched Haruhime backward. She doubled over in pain and groaned as her
back was slammed against the wall at the entrance to the alley.
Bete's smile contrasted with his harsh words. It was half mocking
condescension toward the "small-fry" and half enjoyment.
He had accepted Haruhime as an enemy. He recognized that she was not
just another nonentity hardly worth sneering at but an opponent he was
meeting on the battlefield.
He smiled because he recognized the renart's determination.
"Don't stand there all pleased with yourself like a little minx! You're all
show!"
"!!"
Haruhime, who had been suffering under Bete's stream of abuse, raised
her face. She glared as hard as she could at the werewolf smiling wickedly
down at her and thrust both hands out in front of her chest as if she was
presenting an offering.
"—Grow."
She began to chant.
"That power and that vessel. Breadth of wealth and breadth of wishes.
Until the bell tolls, bring forth glory and illusion."
It was the only magic Haruhime knew, and it had no use as a weapon. She
was well aware that it could not harm the mighty adventurer standing before
her, but still, she chanted.
"—Grow."
She needed an interval of around ten minutes between level boosts. By the
time her strange exchange with Bete was over, almost ten minutes had
elapsed, and as she began to chant, the magic drew forth her powers even
more.
"Confine divine offerings within this body. This golden light bestowed
from above. Into the hammer and into the ground, may it bestow good fortune
upon you."
Bete remained facing her at a slight distance, waiting silently until she
finished chanting. Did he wait out of pride? No. He waited because he
respected the girl's determination—this weak girl's roar toward the strong.
The instant she finished, the werewolf would set upon her without
hesitation or mercy. Just before he did so, he clapped his hands.
"—Grow."
Uchide no Kozuchi. Even though Haruhime hadn't formed a magic circle,
golden light beamed out before the spell took effect, signaling its peculiar
nature. As the chanting continued, the faint mist of magical power gathered
into a cloud of light, announcing the presence of a magic so potent even the
goddess Ishtar had groaned under its force.
A cloud of light and a swirl of golden sparkles rose up above the heads of
Haruhime and Bete. Like the black mist spreading through the Labyrinth
District's western region, a faint glittering enveloped the north-northwest area
where they were. Anyone who saw it likely recognized it as a sign that the
hammerhead made of light was being summoned.
Just as Haruhime finished chanting and Bete leaned toward her, the one
who had heard the girl's prayers rushed toward them.
"!!"
Bete turned to look behind him and saw a beautiful woman with coal-
black hair land firmly on the ground.
It was an Amazon armed with a huge broadsword: Aisha Belka had
arrived as backup.
"Uchide no Kozuchi," Haruhime pronounced.
Instantly, the sparks of light flowed over Bete and gathered around Aisha,
and the shaftless hammer of light fell onto her.
"You…"
Before Bete's narrowed gaze, the level boost was completed.
Wrapped in a torrent of light, the Amazon brandished her sword and
pointed it at Bete, sparks of light rising from its tip.
"Hey, asshole. You were about to lay your dirty paws on my little sister,
weren't you? I think you were. In fact, in my eyes, you already did."
"Hey now."
"—I don't let anyone mess with my sweet little sister. I just won't feel
right unless I kick your ass right here and now."
Aisha was picking a fight with a smile on her face.
This had nothing to do with the Xenos. Aisha had turned it into a personal
grudge. As Haruhime watched her confront Bete and his glare, she shivered
with emotion.
"Lady Aisha…!"
"Useless little fox, don't be so reckless. I told you not to use your magic
so freely…but I like the look in your eyes today, so I'll forgive you," Aisha
replied with a shrug. She seemed secretly pleased that Haruhime had called
on her for help.
Bete snorted at the two women.
"Worthless girl, leaving all your hard work to someone else," he said,
despite smiling in recognition of Haruhime's tactics.
He was raring for a fight.
"Get over here and take me on, crazy woman. I'll stomp you into the
ground, idiotic head and all."
"I'm ready for you!!"
As Haruhime looked on, the two began their battle.
"Bell, Haruhime will be…!"
"…!"
Bell was pulling Wiene through the alleyways, a deeply troubled look on
his face.
Would Bete hurt Haruhime? He didn't know. But he was willing to bet he
wouldn't kill her. For now, he had to focus on getting as far away as he could
before Bete came after them.
Bell's mind was a tangle of worries and doubts and things he had to do.
Even as he silently apologized to Haruhime for his incompetence, he kept
moving forward so her determination wouldn't go to waste—and for Wiene's
sake.
"Bell, you don't have much time…! If you don't hurry, you won't be able
to meet up with Fels!"
Spurred on by Hestia's anxious voice, Bell and Wiene hurried ahead even
faster.
The sparks of light from the level boost were already gone. Bell was
wearing the veil and taking care not to draw the attention of adventurers or
Loki Familia members, but the streets were so empty there was hardly need
for those precautions. Instead of seeing this as good fortune, however, Bell
sensed a threat in the air. Glancing from side to side, he headed south toward
their destination.
South, south, ever farther south…eventually, Bell's feet could move no
more.
"…Bell?" Wiene asked, confused that their progress had stopped.
"…"
Gripping her thin hand, Bell was drenched in what seemed like every last
drop of sweat in his body. His breath came in ragged gasps, and the
deafening sound of his own heartbeat thundered in his ears. He stood in the
middle of a backstreet, surrounded by narrow side streets and steps leading
up and down. His red eyes stared into the blackness ahead.
Southeast Orario.
In a corner of an alleyway where the ongoing chaos and shouts of the
adventurers did not reach, a form lay twitching.
An arm moved slightly in the dim light as the figure peeled its back from
the cracked brick wall and coughed weakly.
"Five years, is it? She's left me in the dust…"
Three minutes.
That's how long the fight had lasted.
As consciousness returned, the figure sluggishly lifted its head and looked
up at the sky.
Forgetting to wipe the blood from her lip, she pressed her hands against
her stomach, where she'd been hit with the back of her opponent's sword.
"I'm sorry, Bell Cranell…" Lyu Leon whispered.
"—"
The ruffled clouds covering the sky had dissipated, and the moonlight
chased away the darkness below.
Its beams illuminated long hair that shone like gold dust, glinting faintly
off silver-and-blue clothing and the hilt of a sheathed sword. Bell and Wiene
blinked at the brilliance.
To Wiene, time seemed to stand still as the girl stared down on them.
"Miss…Aiz…"
Golden hair and golden eyes.
At the sight of the swordswoman standing in the middle of the backstreet,
Bell gasped out a single cough.
"…So the vouivre is alive."
The word vouivre—there was no doubt Aiz had said that word—shot
through Bell like a shock wave. In the same moment, he realized belatedly
that Aiz had probably gotten past Lyu with ease and started following him
again quite a while ago.
He hadn't noticed her because she hadn't actually been looking at him.
She knew he was unusually sensitive to gazes directed his way, so she had
avoided looking straight at him; instead, she had followed not so much his
physical form as his presence, so skillfully he hadn't detected her.
After losing track of him once because of Lyu's interference, she had
picked up the trail again when he crossed from the southeast to the southwest.
She'd watched as he met up with Haruhime and again when he was reunited
with Wiene. She'd been watching the whole time.
In other words, Bell hadn't succeeded in shaking off Aiz. Bete had shown
up first only because she'd been unable to make up her mind.
"Come out…"
With a trace of sadness, Aiz ordered Bell to take off the Reverse Veil.
Silently, he pushed aside the veil.
"…"
"…"
Aiz lowered her eyes as Bell and Wiene, with her single new wing,
appeared.
"I've been thinking about…why you asked me that," Aiz said.
Five days earlier, immediately before the mission had been issued to the
entire city, Bell had asked Aiz a question.
If the monsters had a reason for living…had feelings just like you or me,
what would you do? If you met monsters who could smile just like people,
worry about things, shed tears just like people—could you still draw your
sword against them?
"So this is what you meant…" she said, slowly raising her gaze from the
ground to look at Wiene.
Bell saw something dangerous in that gaze.
Her expression was as emotionless as always, yet something in her eyes
was distinctly different from the Aiz he knew. His heart trembled at those
eyes.
Why here? How could she? Stop looking at us like that!
Desperately pushing down the grief that was rising up from his chest, Bell
shielded Wiene from that gaze and pleaded with Aiz.
"Miss Aiz!! This girl—"
"My answer," Aiz said, interrupting him emphatically, "has not changed."
With that, she brought her hand to the hilt of her sword.
"If anyone is crying because of a monster—then I will kill that monster."
Bell froze at the words of the Sword Princess—and the sight of her silver
blade.
Aiz's boot came down with a resounding thud as she took one step
forward.
"Wait…please wait, Miss Aiz! This girl hasn't done any harm! She would
never hurt anyone!! This girl—Wiene—is different!!" Bell shouted.
His voice was ragged and tinged with tears as he hid the terrified Wiene
behind his back.
"Will you be able to say the same thing if she goes on another rampage?"
Aiz asked.
"—"
The ruby embedded in Wiene's forehead glittered as if it were shaking.
"I would not be able to, myself," Aiz said.
She was fundamentally different from the naive Amazonian girl who
poked fun at herself and others in equal measure. Her expression was cold,
her daggerlike words final. Bell did not know what made her so cold-
blooded. He did not want to know.
All he knew was that negotiations had broken down.
He understood at that moment that the girl he admired and yearned for
was now his opponent.
"Uh, ah…"
Finally, the despair and resignation raging within him led his hand to the
hilt of his knife.
Like the swordswoman he faced, Bell had already arrived at an answer he
could never reverse.
He'd do it for the monster girl he'd promised to protect.
As Aiz narrowed her eyes at him sadly, he pulled two knives—one black
and one crimson—from their hilts.
"Bell…" Wiene whispered, sounding like she was about to cry.
"…"
Hestia, on her side of the crystal, was at a loss for words.
"…Why?" Bell whispered, his lips trembling uncontrollably. "Why…?"
Aiz leaned forward and lunged toward him.
"—Crap!!"
Bell, too, lunged forward, swinging his black knife at the silver sword that
bore down on him.
The first clash of blades threw off a shower of countless sparks.
Aiz was of course overwhelmingly stronger than Bell. But he knew that
from the start and compensated by turning the brunt of her blow into
centrifugal force that sent him spinning.
"Wiene, run!!" he screamed as he slashed the Hestia Knife in a reverse
grip in his right hand toward Aiz once again.
The dragon girl hugged the veil to her chest and swayed before Bell's
ghastly expression and voice. Then, still on the verge of tears, she obeyed his
order.
Bell had no time to look back as Wiene ran down the road they'd come
by. Since Aiz had blocked the Divine Knife, he thrust the crimson knife in his
left hand toward her.
But the golden-haired, golden-eyed swordswoman unceremoniously
flicked it away with a single blow of her sword.
"Oof!!"
Bell gritted his teeth as Aiz facilely parried his blow. Somehow, he had to
keep her pinned here. He raised both blades in preparation for a twin strike,
but—
"—"
The instant after he felt something deflect his black knife, a golden curtain
descended in front of his eyes.
His mind went blank. It was only a moment later that he understood what
had happened.
After her defensive move, Aiz had leaped into the air and flown like a
butterfly over his head. Bell's red blade found only air as she landed behind
his back, their positions reversed.
"Huh?!"
Every nerve strung taut, Bell spun around. Aiz was already racing after
Wiene. He followed the direction of her gaze.
She's not looking at me!
The sorrow that had filled his chest transformed into something else—
something that set the pit of his stomach on fire.
Was it anger? No, not that. It was frustration that the adventurer he
admired so much would not even deign to fight him.
His whole body radiating heat, Bell ran after Wiene and Aiz.
"B-Bell?"
Hestia's sob crackled through the oculus. She must have figured out what
had happened by watching their movements on the magic map. As she
feared, Bell was not drawing closer to Aiz. It seemed that Aiz's sword would
reach Wiene's back before he caught up with them.
It's hopeless! I'll never make it in time. Wiene will—!
As Aiz's gaze pierced the dragon girl's back, Bell squeezed his hands into
tight fists, as if he were wringing out his anguish.
Wiene glanced backward as Aiz closed in on her. But the instant before
the Sword Princess made contact with her quarry, Bell let out a heartrending
roar.
"Firebolt!!"
A scarlet streak of fire plunged through the air.
The Swift-Strike Magic shot like a flash of lightning toward Aiz, crossing
the hopeless distance between her and Bell in an instant and blocking her
progress. As it collided with a wall and sent stone fragments in every
direction, the surprised Wiene disappeared behind a cloud of dust.
He'd taken a shot. Once again, he'd gone and taken a shot.
Last time it was at an adventurer.
This time it was at his idol.
What was he doing? He had no idea, and that confusion practically drove
him to tears. All he knew was that he could no longer reverse course.
Bell kept running, his face twisted into a frown. As the stunned Aiz
jumped back to avoid the bolt, he flew at her with knife raised.
"Miss Aiz, please listen to me!" he shouted across his knife, which she
had blocked with her sword.
An absurd emptiness filled him as he recognized the contrast between his
words and the urgent need to swing his knife at her. Their blades clanged
together as they parried each other's blows.
"…I don't have anything to talk about with you," Aiz said, refusing to
meet his eyes. Her cheeks flamed red.
"Well, I do!!" Bell retorted, like a petulant little boy spurned by his
playmate.
He stepped toward her and jabbed his knife forward, but the scowling Aiz
repelled his blow. After she easily sent Bell tottering back, she once again
took off after Wiene.
"…Goddess!"
"Yes!"
The oculus on his gauntlet sparkled as Hestia guided him through the
streets.
He'd never be able to catch up simply by following Aiz, so she searched
for a shortcut to reach Wiene's location on the magic map.
The vouivre had turned down a backstreet into a network of alleyways as
tangled as a spider's web. Bell climbed above the cloud of dust from the
Firebolt and sped across the rooftops, hoping to reach the dragon girl—and
Aiz—by the shortest route possible. From high above, the buildings of
Daedalus Street looked like rafts floating in a calm ocean. His footsteps firm
amid the waves of this imaginary ocean, Bell sped through the
neighborhoods. After a few moments, he caught sight of Aiz's long golden
hair flying down a narrow street.
Leaping down from the rooftops, he landed directly in front of her.
"!"
"Miss Aiz!"
Aiz stood frozen, staring at him in astonishment.
They were in a cramped alley with no side streets nearby. Her golden eyes
swiftly scanned their surroundings. As she tilted her slender neck back to
look upward, Bell closed in.
Oh no you don't!
He was one step ahead of Aiz, who was searching for an escape route via
the rooftops. He lunged toward her.
"…!"
Left with no other choice, she returned his attack.
For the second time, his two knives clashed against her single sword.
"I don't want to fight you…" Aiz whispered, as if she were struggling to
get the words out.
"Neither do I!" Bell shouted back.
Just a few months earlier, they'd trained together on the city walls until
the sun rose, but this fight bore little resemblance to those. This was no drill.
Pushing down the pain and burning with anguish over his horrible
situation, Bell pleaded with Aiz for a third time.
"Miss Aiz, I'm begging you, please listen to me! That girl and the other
Xenos are—!"
"My answer…is the same."
"Ergh!"
Why?!
Bell glared at Aiz, silently screaming at her refusal to even listen.
He gripped his knives.
Channeling all the thoughts and feelings he couldn't communicate
through words into the blades, he slashed at her with all his might.
"Yahh!"
"?!"
The black and crimson blades flashed in front of her eyes.
It was the Rabbit Rush, a series of extremely quick attacks. The fight was
on again.
The black and red knives cut tracks through the air, and Aiz's sword
flashed in all directions to defend. As if to mirror her astonishment, an
extraordinary fountain of sparks danced to the tune of clashing metal. Bell's
physical instincts kicked into high gear, leaving conscious thought behind.
He was moving faster than he ever had before.
Bell threw everything he had at his idol, moving even faster than he had in
his past fights against first-tier adventurers like Phryne and Dix.
"…!"
The shape of the alleyway put the silver sword at a further disadvantage.
It was difficult to move the long blade in the narrow street, and Aiz was
unable to take advantage of its full reach. Bell's knife, on the other hand, was
especially effective.
Pressed hard from start to end, Aiz gulped and looked into Bell's face.
She blocked his final slash and jumped back.
"Huff, puff…!"
The sound of Bell's breath echoed through the dim alley.
"…"
Aiz looked down at her tingling hand.
"…You've improved, I see," she said.
"!"
Bell looked back at her, surprised that she had acknowledged his skill. But
the praise had a downside.
"I can no longer make any allowances for you."
She was giving him notice of the fierce onslaught that was about to begin.
"—"
Aiz's figure became a blur. All Bell could make out was the trace of her
long golden hair.
He was able to respond to her attack only through pure intuition and
instinct; during the course of training, his entire body had learned the path of
her sword through the air better than he would have liked.
The instant the Hestia Knife made contact with her blade, an absurdly
powerful impact overwhelmed him.
"?!"
His right arm was knocked upward with enough force to tear it off, or so it
felt. It was a miracle he didn't lose his grip on the knife.
The blur of gold and silver did not slow. Aiz spun like a whirlwind, her
blade flashing as if it were possessed by a supernatural force as it sliced
through the walls of the narrow street like butter.
Her next inhumanly fast spinning strike left Bell time neither to respond
nor to defend himself.
It's over. Two blows. That's all it took.
Bell's instinct as an adventurer told him that death was near.
"…"
His body did not split in two.
The instant before her blade made contact, Aiz drew her eyebrows
together and flicked her wrist aside.
"Oof!!"
The side of Aiz's sword struck Bell's ribs and hurled him against the wall
directly next to him. As his shoulder crashed into stone, the world swam
before his eyes. He felt dizzy and nauseous.
He sunk helplessly to his knees, watching as Aiz's boots passed calmly
before him.
"No…!"
Determined to stop her, he commanded his trembling knees to rise.
He summoned energy to every crevice of his body and stood.
Aiz stopped and looked back at him. Hiding her emotion at the sight of
the undefeated will to fight in the boy's red eyes, she flourished her sword
with a cold expression.
"Here I go," she said.
In the next instant, a whirling sword attack materialized before Bell's
eyes.
"—Huh?!"
The Sword Princess had unleashed a true continuous slashing attack.
As if to return Bell's similar attack of a few moments earlier, Aiz began to
perform her sword dance. He reflexively raised his knife, but he did not have
time to intercept her blade. If he managed to block one blow, five more
rained down on him. The dual adamantite armor that Welf had forged for him
rang out again and again with earsplitting clangs. If she had been hitting him
with the edge of her sword rather than the flat, he would have been long dead
from the overwhelming onslaught. His field of vision was entirely filled with
the silver slant of her sword. As Bell teetered on the edge of consciousness
from the pain and force of her blows, something dawned on him.
She was stronger than Phryne and faster than Dix. She was beyond
comparison. Those first-tier adventurers who had caused him so much
suffering paled in his memory.
I knew it.
I knew it, but—
This girl is stronger than anyone!!
The flashing sword cut under his breastplate with a swoosh of wind,
lifting Bell into the air.
A moment later he crashed onto the cobblestones and lay there faceup.
"Ah…oh…"
As the world grew dim around him, Bell saw Aiz lower her eyes and turn
her back. The burning pain that gripped his entire body prevented him from
even stretching out his hand as it seemed to spin away from him. Again and
again he tried to rise, but his body only trembled.