#138 The Immortal King’s Stirring (2)
Whether they had attended as representatives or come along as escorts, not every powerhouse in the conference hall took part in the battle.
For instance, the empire’s Master had no choice but to step forward for the sake of his nation’s prestige, but the Archmage who had accompanied him had fallen back under the pretext of protecting the crown prince.
And among those who stayed out of the fight and merely watched was…
“Ugh—
Shouldn’t I join in too? If those people go down, this place is finished anyway. Ah, but Lord Rapori asked me to look after this place…”
The Elven Kingdom’s newly risen High Elf, Cecily Granwood.
After becoming a High Elf, she had been growing stronger at a rapid pace, recently evolving her water spirit to the highest grade, but with so little time, she still could not handle it with much skill.
Rapori knew that as well, which was why he had asked her to look after the other elves, sent her to the barrier, and stepped forward alone.
Ruuumble!
Whoooosh—
The highest-grade spirits Rapori had summoned numbered three.
A fierce golden lightning strike battered the pitch-black evil spirit’s body, while a raging storm kept the liches trying to join the battle in check.
[Khhh… How dare mere spirits—! I will steep you in terror—!]
Dread Phantom Phagos unleashed dense waves of fear from its entire body, now shrouded in the Immortal King’s abyss, but they failed to pierce the earth spirit’s defense and scattered in vain.
‘As expected, Lord Rapori is incredible.’
Spirits, being pure beings, were vulnerable to corruption, so particular caution was required when facing such top-tier undead.
Merely coming into contact with them could have a negative effect; their compatibility was the worst possible.
And on this battlefield, wasn’t the Immortal King himself present, the very pinnacle of the undead?
For Rapori, a veteran spirit master, it was no great problem, but for her, who possessed only high-grade spirits while still lacking experience, it was a different story.
‘If I join in for no reason, I’ll probably just get in Lord Rapori’s way instead. …That must be why he sent me back.’
And she was not the only one looking at him with worry.
His daughter, Shapiron, was the same.
‘Father…’
Naturally, since she could only handle intermediate-grade spirits, this was not even something she had the right to agonize over, but what child could feel at ease when her father stood on such a dangerous battlefield?
She could only hope that he would return safely.
But while they could do nothing but stamp their feet in frustration—
There was someone among them calmly preparing something.
“Hm? Harris? What are you doing? Don’t tell me you’re thinking of joining in over there?”
“What? What is Mr. Harris going to do?”
Harris had taken a silver thread from his pocket and was fastening it firmly to his bow, Themis, examining it from various angles.
Even as the gazes around him turned to him in shock, his expression did not change in the slightest, and he answered in his usual gentle voice.
“Ah, it’s nothing much. I was just…”
Twang—
A heavy vibration rang out from the bowstring he lightly plucked.
Perhaps because it was a masterpiece, even the sound was different.
“Thinking I might casually shoot an arrow.”
“…Pardon?”
Harris smiled once at the bewildered stares, then slowly stepped out of the barrier.
With a peaceful air, as though he were simply going for a stroll.
***
Kaaang—!
A sword thrust forward while wrapped in blue aura was knocked away by a two-handed sword imbued with pitch-black energy.
The knight who had swung the sword hurriedly tried to recover his stance, but—
The massive blade moved with an agility that did not match its size, slipping through the opening in his guard.
Slaaash!
The two-handed sword cut straight through the knight’s upper body.
Those fighting alongside him frantically tried to block the follow-up strike, but it was already far too late.
“Keugh!”
The sword filled with dark mana mercilessly swept through his neck, and in the end, the knight died on the spot before help could arrive.
“Sir Turkan!”
“Fuck! You monster bastard!”
Facing the humans charging at him in rage, Karam slowly swept his gaze around once more and confirmed the identities of those nearby.
‘The imperial crown prince’s escort knight, Kayen Turkan, has been dealt with. Then the next prey is…’
Following the information transmitted to him in real time by the Immortal King, he immediately headed for the next “target permitted to be killed.”
He did not know by what criteria that death list had been drawn up, but the finer details were of little importance to him.
‘I am the king’s sword. I need only obey what he commands. His Majesty must have some grand design.’
Crunch—!
Once again, his two-handed sword cut through the thick armor of a paladin blocking his way.
But this one was not an approved target.
As Karam crossed weapons with the one rushing in to save that paladin, he allowed the wounded man to be evacuated to the rear and surveyed his surroundings.
‘Still, he’s sturdier than I expected. Just how many layers of holy barriers have been stacked on him? Under ordinary circumstances, I should have been able to cut him down easily.’
In truth, he had merely refrained from finishing them off; he had by no means gone easy on the nonlethal targets or swung lightly.
The barrier was preventing him from fully displaying his power, but more than that, the defensive effects applied to his opponents were beyond imagination.
‘It’s a little troublesome because of the barrier, but I can still hold out for now. …There he is. Payton, the current Mercenary King’s right hand.’
His eyes flashed as he roughly deflected the attacks of those rushing at him, then charged toward the man in the rear who had only been half-heartedly buying time against a single death knight.
“Uwah! Why me all of a sudden?!”
As the Immortal King commanded.
To engrave the greatest possible fear into those present here.
And of course, Karam was not the only one who had received such a strange order.
***
As the battle intensified, undead were destroyed all over the place, and the wounded and dead began to appear in droves.
Despite the holy barrier still being openly active, the immortal army was reaping lives one by one with terrifying momentum.
Naturally, those who died were people Heinrich had already finished investigating through a list he had obtained in advance.
Even in a world where a rigid class system was widespread, they were scum whose wickedness was excessive.
‘The current Mercenary King, Kanble. The ringleader who colluded with the upper echelons of various nations to sell commoners into slavery. There was no evidence, so the Church of the Chief God could not act directly, but…’
At that moment, with the help of several powerhouses, Heinrich charged at Hans once more.
Hans scattered black flashes in every direction as if to keep his surroundings in check.
Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwang!
The powerhouses hurriedly blocked the attack.
However, “by sheer coincidence,” one beam among them, carrying an especially fierce force, ignored the Mercenary King Kanble’s defense and pierced straight through his body.
“Keheugh!”
Mortally wounded, he collapsed while coughing up black blood, but thanks to the holy barrier, it was not enough to kill him instantly.
At that, the Saintess and the other priests hurriedly tried to heal him, but…
Thud—
“Ugh!”
Heinrich was suddenly sent flying far away, and the Immortal King, temporarily freed because of it, began to rampage, leaving them no room whatsoever to pay attention to that side.
And by the time Heinrich rejoined the battlefield and barely managed to bring the situation under control, Kanble had already been impaled by a shadow rising from the floor and died.
‘There are actually more bastards who need to be executed inside that barrier.’
Watching the scene from afar, Harris slightly turned his head and looked at those hiding within the barrier.
He stared quietly at Crown Prince Simon, who had been flying into a rage ever since the knight who had accompanied him as an escort died, then clicked his tongue and shook his head.
That barrier had been made with considerable care, so breaking it would require a great deal of effort, and even if they did so, the damage to the others afterward would inevitably spiral out of control.
‘It can’t be helped. For now, I’ll have to be satisfied with the ones on the battlefield.’
The main targets at present were those who, like the Mercenary King who had just died, had been unable to withdraw because of face and had half-heartedly joined the battle.
Of course, even after going this far, it would be impossible to avoid some people feeling a sense of incongruity and thinking something was strange, but…
‘What does it matter? So what are they going to do about it?’
Who would dare imagine that the Immortal King and the Hero were on the same side, drawing up a death list and selecting who to kill?
‘No, to begin with, since everything that has happened until now is known as the Immortal King’s doing, there’s no way they would.’
The number of victims across the continent could not even be estimated at this point, so what selection could they possibly speak of?
Naturally, they would assume there was some hidden scheme and agonize over it until their hair fell out, but in the end, all they would arrive at was the conclusion that it had been coincidence.
‘Still, it wouldn’t be good for it to seem too unnatural, so I should bring this to an end around here.’
He had thought of a fairly decent finale too, so now he only had to perform it according to the stage.
“…Harris! I’m telling you, let’s go back even now! This isn’t a place for people like us…”
“That’s right, Mr. Harris! I know you’re outstanding, but this is no place for a mere intermediate spirit master to step forward…”
Voices fussed at both sides of Harris.
They were the ones who had followed him out of concern when he left the barrier.
It was a little bothersome, but he was grateful for their concern, so he smiled faintly and answered calmly.
“I have everything thought out. As long as Lady Cecily blocks only the shockwaves as she is doing now, I’ll take care of the rest myself.”
“…No, how can you be so relaxed when we don’t know when they might attack this way! What exactly are you planning to do?!”
Of course, even if he stood out here defenselessly, they would not attack this side.
Because he had told them not to.
“Phew—”
Harris slowly exhaled and raised his bow, aiming forward.
Then, recalling the last shot he had fired before leaving the Enamel Continent, he slowly began to form a single arrow.
Dark mana and divine power were tangled together, causing the energy in every direction to fluctuate unstably, but—
The World Tree was an existence that served as this world’s filter, and its power, however faint, also dwelled within 「Child of the World Tree」.
Woooong—
The surrounding energy was sucked toward him and compressed into the arrow.
At the same time, the spirits contracted to him appeared around him.
Crackle! Fwoosh—!
Whooosh! Woooong—
His lovely spirits began to pour power into the arrow.
Since spirits could be corrupted, he could not have them dwell directly inside the arrow, but that could not be helped; he had no choice but to settle for this.
‘Honestly, the fact that they’re only intermediate spirits makes the plausibility a little lacking. I can somehow handle that with the scenario—’
But then.
Harris, who had been grumbling inwardly, suddenly froze for an instant.
An alien, yet somehow warm energy—
In an instant, it began at the tips of his toes and rushed all the way to the crown of his head.
‘Ah?’
It was a sensation like something blocked at the top of his head had burst open.
And soon, he realized.
《The individual has fulfilled the conditions and is growing. The special skill 「Child of the World Tree」 evolves into 「Scion of the World Tree」.》
‘…So this is what it feels like.’
Harris had—
Achieved the “condition” to become a High Elf.
‘No, what did I even do? …Though I was planning to do something soon. Don’t tell me you gave me an advance payment?’
He closed his eyes, reflecting on the subtly changed state of his senses.
He had not formally awakened as a High Elf, so there was no dramatic transformation, but the limits of what he could do had clearly expanded compared to before.
In any case, with this, the plausibility that had been slightly lacking was now fulfilled.
“Ah? Mr. Harris…? Don’t tell me, you!”
Cecily, who had been right beside him, turned to him with widened eyes as if she had realized something.
Since she was a High Elf, she seemed to have felt the moment he obtained the qualification, but Shapiron, who could not have known that, was just as surprised.
Naturally so, because a clearly visible change was occurring right before her eyes.
“Harris! The spirit suddenly…?”
Crackle—!
The moment he obtained the qualification of a High Elf and gained 「Scion of the World Tree」, the explosive increase in natural energy and affinity affected his 「Spirit Arts」 all at once.
And the first to be affected by that was none other than…
“Watt.”
Crackle!
Watt, the lightning spirit.
His first partner had finally surpassed the intermediate grade and reached the high grade.
The other spirits had not evolved as well, but they had undoubtedly grown stronger than before.
“…This must mean the World Tree supports you too, Mr. Harris. Do as you wish. Until then, I’ll protect you with all my strength.”
Cecily nodded with a solemn expression and fixed her eyes on the front.
Swept up by the atmosphere, Shapiron also stiffened her expression and began to keep watch over the surroundings.
‘Mm… Well, it doesn’t matter.’
Harris shrugged lightly, then concentrated once more and continued the process he had been preparing.
From Themis, made from a branch of the World Tree, and from his bracelet, an even denser natural energy—one he should not have been able to handle—surged in.
The arrow grew more and more compressed, along with the power of the spirits contained within it.
He slowly lifted the nearly completed arrowhead and calmly aimed at his target.
Rumble—!
The Immortal King and the Hero clashed violently once more, and a shockwave spread in every direction.
The impact swept through the surroundings and surged all the way to where Harris stood, but—
Ripple—
The highest-grade water spirit Cecily had summoned easily offset it, and they suffered not the slightest harm.
‘Just a little more…’
Aura surged from the body of the Hero, Heinrich, and in that instant, the sword of light in his hand grew several times larger.
“Haaap—!”
A moment later, from the holy sword swung through the air, an enormous crescent-shaped sword energy shot out.
That sacred blade of light cut through the ominous shadows blocking his path and opened a road toward the Immortal King.
“Saint!”
At just the right moment, the support of the Saintess and the cardinal followed, and Heinrich raced down that path like a gale.
Kwaang!
The Immortal King’s dark mana and the Hero’s divine power collided.
Another shockwave burst out.
Sword and mana crossed, holy arts and black magic clashed.
Amid all of that, thought gradually accelerated, and the world slowed.
A time shared only by Hans, Heinrich, and Harris began to flow.
There was no need to exchange glances or gestures.
They simply moved naturally, as one body.
Hans subtly twisted his body in the middle of the fierce battle.
In response, Heinrich’s sword adjusted its trajectory in real time as it swung, and Hans countered again with black magic.
As though carrying out delicate collaborative work, the two entities traded attacks with each other and pieced together a single result.
And finally—
When the Hero’s all-out strike was blocked by the Immortal King’s mana barrier, yet still managed to leave a large crack—
When, despite that, overflowing dark mana began to repair it in the blink of an eye—
A single arrow, which had been quietly waiting for its moment, was loosed.
That silent ray of light, fired without a sound, shot forward in a straight line.
It grazed the fragments of mana scattered everywhere by the aftermath of the collision.
It burrowed into a crack that had not yet been repaired, a gap barely large enough for a single finger to enter—
Crack—
Kwaaaang—!
And drove itself into an “impossible” opening, one that under ordinary circumstances should never have existed.