The Akzar scouts I had fought several times before.
Those monsters, the moment they saw a person, had charged straight in.
Grrrrr.
But the monster before my eyes did not attack. It merely thrashed its tentacles in place.
As I stared at it in surprise, the old man’s voice rang out again.
“Isn’t it truly remarkable? We managed to train that monster. This is a victory for science and magical research.”
Old Man Stone spoke proudly as he pointed at the monster.
He seemed utterly elated.
“That specimen is the culmination of every achievement we have made on this planet. Waking a sleeping monster, connecting black stones to inject energy into it, even training it to obey commands... Do you know how much research all of that required?”
The old man’s explanation was not directed at me.
As if he could not even see me, he spoke while looking only at Magreta and Catherine.
“And that is not all. Beneath these ruins, more specimens like that one are prepared. We no longer need to worry about being unable to bring modern weapons from Earth. In addition, we will be able to deal with subversive elements that try to bring down the system we have worked so hard to build, just like now.”
Only then did the old man look at me.
There was no need to ask whom he meant by “subversive elements.”
“First, Catherine, you have done well. I will open the wall, so come this way with Frank.”
At the old man’s words, I looked around.
Frank and the energy users who had guided us were standing at a distance, watching us.
The others had drawn their weapons and were aiming them, while Frank stood with his arms crossed, sneering at me.
“How foolish. To come trotting along just because someone told you to. Well, I suppose if someone you trusted deceived you, there was nothing you could do... Ah, my mistake. I wasn’t trying to belittle you, Catherine.”
When I looked at Catherine, she was watching him with the same expressionless face as always.
Contrary to the old man’s words, Catherine did not move.
Seeing Catherine standing still, Frank tilted his head.
At that moment, the old man spoke again.
“What do you intend to do, Magreta? Out of consideration for your family, I am willing to overlook this once.”
The reason the old man had been talking so eagerly until now was because of Magreta.
He had been showing off in order to change Magreta’s mind.
Magreta opened her mouth.
“Why did you not report these ruins or that monster to Earth? It seems neither the government nor the other factions know anything about them. And it seems there are even people within your own faction who don’t know.”
Magreta glanced at Catherine.
Catherine nodded.
The old man clicked his tongue softly.
“...I did not expect you to say something like that here. I heard you were rebellious, but it seems you are even worse than I thought.”
Looking at Magreta, the old man continued.
“This planet is my land, developed by my own hand. I am the person responsible for this planet, its commander-in-chief. Furthermore, I am a representative of the new generation that has gained power. The other families are the same. No matter what position they hold on Earth, once they come to my planet, they are all nothing more than refugees.”
Perhaps he had grown excited while speaking, for veins stood out on the old man’s face as he delivered his impassioned speech.
After pouring all that out, he looked at Magreta with a displeased expression.
“Well, judging by the way you speak, even saying this much is meaningless. I took the trouble to worry because it would be annoying to explain away your death, but it seems there was no need.”
The old man, shaking his head, turned to look at Catherine.
His expression grew even worse.
“Catherine, why are you standing there?”
“Because I have no intention of moving.”
At her calm words, the old man looked dumbfounded.
“What did you say?”
“This is where I belong.”
“Ha... Are you saying you want to die?”
Catherine shook her head.
“No. In order to live, I decided to go under someone new.”
At her words, I quietly added,
“I scouted her.”
One had to state things properly.
She had not simply switched sides. I had won her over.
“You would die following an Asian like that?”
Only now did the old man look at me. The others seemed just as dumbfounded.
But I was just as dumbfounded myself.
[What on earth gives them such confidence?]
As Sof said, I could not understand why they were so sure of themselves.
I asked the old man,
“Let me ask you one thing. You should know that I killed a monster like that and brought back its black stone, correct? And yet you put that monster in front of me?”
At my words, the old man burst into loud laughter.
“Puhaha! Is that what you believed in when the two of you sided with him?”
The old man sneered at me and continued.
“Of course, I know very well. I know that you can use rather impressive magic. You must have obtained some extraordinary relic on that planet.”
[Since you found me, that is not exactly wrong.]
Even I found that difficult to refute.
After all, I had obtained a relic far greater than the old man imagined.
“However, you know nothing about this planet either. How little dark energy there is on this planet, how difficult it is to gather energy, how much effort I put in to grant power to energy users!”
Perhaps remembering the past, the old man’s clenched fist trembled.
Magreta and Catherine also agreed with the old man’s words.
“It is certainly difficult. The dark energy one can sense is about a third, but actual combat strength drops to less than a quarter.”
“Magic is the same. I have collapsed from energy depletion while casting spells.”
It seemed using abilities on this planet was more difficult than I had thought.
“Even relics and specimens like this can use black stones, yet humans cannot! Now you, too, will feel that despair.”
The old man gestured to the people who had followed him.
At the old man’s gesture, the people manipulated the relics in their hands.
Crackle!
Sparks flew from the machine fitted over the monster’s upper body.
Shudder.
The monster shuddered its tentacles, then began to move again.
As he watched the monster begin walking on its tentacles, the old man spoke once more.
“You were lucky enough to survive on Earth, but such luck will be impossible here. I could easily finish you with guns, but being killed by the specimen you helped complete would make for a far finer conclusion. Frank, come up here. Let us watch the match together.”
He was an old man who talked more than I had expected.
I asked Magreta and Catherine,
“It seems he thinks we survived on Earth by luck.”
Magreta nodded.
“Of course he would. It is common knowledge that abilities cannot be used in a place without dark energy.”
Catherine was the same.
“I would not have believed it either if I had not seen it myself.”
Sof added a word as well.
[People with strong pride tend to believe that if they cannot do something, then it is impossible. That old man must be the same.]
[Are you like that too, Sof?]
[A magician bound by common sense cannot progress.]
Sof had seemed surprised every time I used magic, but I did not say that.
Instead, I asked Sof something else.
[They said they trained that Akzar monster. Was that possible?]
If that had been possible, there was no way the Magic Kingdom of Trappist would have been destroyed.
[Of course not.]
Sof’s thoughts were the same as mine.
[It likely means the Akzar monster is that intelligent.]
The scout monster appeared to be slowly approaching this way according to the old man’s will.
But having fought scout monsters many times, I could tell.
Unlike its other drooping tentacles, the two tentacles raised in front were moving busily.
It was the typical appearance of a monster gathering information from its surroundings and assessing the situation.
That thing had absolutely not been trained.
Stone’s ability users passed beside the monster as it approached.
They paid no attention to the monster passing by.
[The monster must have been pretending to obey all this time while waiting for an opportunity. With the black stones they had attached before, it would not have been able to rampage.]
Right now, the machine attached to the monster’s back had the Akzar black stone I had obtained.
It was the one I had handed over to Maxwell the last time I came to Earth.
When they said I had helped train that monster, they meant because of that black stone.
Before they had that black stone, they must have attached the black stones of native monsters.
Back then, the scout would have found it difficult to move properly.
But now was different.
Energy was flowing abundantly through the monster’s body.
The monster approaching now was similar to the ones I had faced on Trappist.
In strength, speed, and brutality.
It would not distinguish between opponents.
I did not tell that fact to the people passing beside the monster.
They would not have listened even if I had, but I had no intention of telling them anyway.
The result could be seen immediately.
Splurt!
Blood gushed from Frank’s abdomen.
“Huh?”
Even we, who were behind him, could see the surprised look on his face as he looked down.
Because he was flying through the air with only his upper body flipped over.
Slaaaash!
The same happened to the others.
There was no time to use guns or other weapons.
Where the tentacles swept through, all that could be seen were sprays of blood and fragments of corpses bursting in every direction.
Amid the blood mist, the scout monster raised its tentacles high.
Kraaaaaaaaah!
The monster’s roar filled the colosseum ruins.
Through that roar, I could hear the old man’s shouting and the voices of people falling into panic.
“What is going on?! Stop it, quickly!”
“It’s no use! The specimen isn’t obeying!”
“Damn it, then just shut down the device!”
“Yes. Shutting it down right—my God. This isn’t working either.”
After letting out its roar, the monster turned its body.
There were still me and my companions inside the colosseum, but I was not the monster’s target.
The monster hurled itself toward the viewing stands where the old man was.
The monster’s body slammed into the stands.
Kwaaaang!
With an explosive boom, the monster was flung backward.
A magical defensive barrier had blocked the monster.
“We’re alive...”
“That scared me.”
Seeing the monster thrown back, the people let out sighs of relief.
But the old man grew angry.
“Save your admiration for later and find a way to stop that thing!”
At his words, the people began manipulating the machines and relics again, but before they could, the monster moved once more.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
This time, it was the tentacles.
The black tentacles hammered wildly against the magical defensive barrier.
Watching the tentacles strike the barrier, the old man sneered.
“It is a barrier made with the same black stones as you. Do you think this will be breached so easily? Just wait. We will capture you again soon, and until then...”
But his sneer did not last long.
Crack!
Cracks began to spread across the barrier.
[If shields could have held them back, the cities would never have fallen.]
Watching the sight, Sof clicked his tongue.
“What is this...?”
The old man turned deathly pale and stepped backward.
His subordinates grabbed him by the arms.
“You must evacuate at once!”
Hearing his subordinate’s words, the old man nodded.
“Y-yes. I have to check the other specimens too. L-let’s go.”
Together with his subordinates, the old man ran toward the passage leading outside.
He gave an excuse, but in the end, he fled disgracefully.
Boom! Boom!
Until the old man disappeared, the barrier held.
It was cracked and weakened, but the barrier still remained.
Kraaaaaaaaah!
When the old man was no longer in sight, the monster roared again.
The monster turned its body. It was looking at us.
“Don’t tell me it’s a chicken instead of a pheasant?”
“Are we the chickens? That’s an interesting expression.”
At my words, Magreta laughed.
It seemed there was no such proverb in English.
Unlike the relaxed Magreta, Catherine seemed a little tense.
“It will be all right, won’t it?”
At her words, Magreta asked in return,
“Do you still not trust Hyeon?”
Catherine shook her head with a firm expression.
“No. I trust him. I was only confirming.”
It was an ordinary conversation, but it was difficult to cut in.
Instead of joining the conversation, I lifted my spear.
Then I asked Sof,
“Sof, if you would.”
At my words, Sof answered.
—I suppose this means I am allowed to speak?
It was not a voice in my mind, but a sound that vibrated through the air.
It was the first time Sof had spoken in front of others.
Magreta and Catherine’s eyes widened.
—Since this is my first demonstration, I should show you a magnificent spell.
With those words, energy flowed from the black stone into the spear.
Black clouds formed in the sky.
The charging monster stopped in its tracks. It looked up at the sky.
Sof chanted.
—Strike down! Lightning of destruction.
Flash.
A bolt of lightning fell from the sky.
Crack!
Kwaaaaaaang!
The weakened barrier was blown away in an instant, and the monster burst apart.
When the lightning passed, all that remained where the monster had been was a huge pit.
—It is an early version of the Light of Judgment. It is not as powerful as the Light of Judgment, but it is enough to take down a scout.
Contrary to Sof’s words, it was an excessively powerful spell.
I could guarantee that, covered in dirt as I was.
Specimen