◈ Episode 305. Even If the World Has Abandoned Them (1)
The ill omen moves.
Without sound, without rumor.
Not even a message is displayed.
The role of the ill omen is to secretly devour targets for deletion from the Arcana Continent. Unless one was watching the ill omen, like the Witch of the Southern Sea, it was only natural that it could not be noticed.
“Huh?”
But things were different from the past.
There were watchers in the skies above Arcana.
Humans, you ask?
No. With human technology, even taking to the sky in the first place was impossible, so there was no need to speak of that possibility. The same went for mages who used magic power.
What mage in the world had so much free time
that they would use an enormous amount of magic power merely to monitor the Arcana Continent?
That’s right.
“What is that?”
Dudududu—the ones who could witness the ill omen’s appearance
were the dwarves with their technology.
It was thanks to the fact that they were carefully observing the Arcana Continent from the sky.
A young dwarf shouted urgently into the communicator.
“M-Mr. Gunner! Are you seeing this?”
“Yes, I’m seeing it.”
“The, the Demon King’s Castle is……!!”
The Holy War.
To win, one had to gain the upper hand in information.
That was why keeping watch on the enemy’s movements was part of the dwarves’ daily routine. However, Gunner and the other dwarf pilots had no choice but to doubt their own eyes.
“It, it vanished in an instant!!”
As if it had been carved out.
The Demon King’s Castle was being swallowed by some enormous “thing.” There was no other way to describe it except as something. That grotesque form truly could not be explained in any other way.
Questions poured toward Gunner.
“Could that be a demon too?”
“Gunner, what should we do about this situation?”
“If it swallowed the Demon King’s Castle, couldn’t it be on our side?”
For now, he shook his head.
“Everyone, quiet. We’re not the ones who make that judgment.”
He answered sternly, but. ‘Damn it. What the hell is going on?!’ No matter how much he wracked his brain.
No matter how calmly he looked down upon the continent.
He could not understand the situation unfolding before him.
If only one Demon King’s Castle had disappeared, perhaps that would be one thing……
But wasn’t it obvious from the number of dwarves who were reporting in at the same time?
It was not that a Demon King’s Castle had disappeared.
It was that Demon King’s Castles had disappeared.
Gunner continued.
“Remember this. Our role is information gathering.”
“……!!!”
“We must report exactly what we have witnessed. Understood? Good. As of this moment, how many Demon King’s Castles remain? The Demon King’s Castles we were monitoring numbered thirty in total.”
Soon, reports from the pilots arrived.
“The two Demon King’s Castles located southwest of Antonium can no longer be identified……!”
“The same goes for the north. They’re not visible.”
“It’s the same here too, Gunner.”
One by one……. ‘Twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two……?’ Gunner’s face went pale as he tried to count the numbers in his head.
It had truly happened in an instant, in the blink of an eye.
“……
The Demon King’s Castles have been annihilated?”
The thirty Demon King’s Castles they had discovered.
All of them had vanished from the Arcana Continent.
This was not the time to indulge in useless pride.
Realizing the gravity of the situation, Gunner grabbed the control stick.
“Everyone, return to the Iron Castle at once! We have to deliver this news to Chainwalker, and to Sir Hoyeol!”*
Chainwalker’s expression sank gravely.
“A crisis in a different sense, then.”
What was a dwarf’s temperament like?
Like molten iron, once fire caught within them, they were a race that boiled fiercely from the inside. Because of that, no matter what enemy they faced in the Holy War, they had been confident they would not retreat.
But this……
“Now it is an unknown enemy?”
There was a saying that the enemy of one’s enemy was an ally.
However, it was difficult to regard something that had devoured the Demon King’s Castles in an instant as an ally.
After all, no one could guarantee it, could they?
Their gazes turned toward where the Demon King’s Castles had been.
Right beside those places, there had been humans fighting desperately against the demons.
Before Chainwalker realized it, a chilling thought had taken root in his mind. ‘……
What if there had been humans in the Demon King’s Castles?’
That would mean they, too, had been swallowed by that something.
The one who roused Chainwalker from his deep thought
was the greatest blacksmith among the dwarves, Wallsweil.
“What are you worrying about so much? It’s not as if our worrying will improve anything. When useless thoughts creep in, try picking up a hammer. You’ve become too refined, Chainwalker.”
“I don’t have the mind to talk back, Wallsweil.”
“I mean it.”
Something.
It could not even be called an enemy.
It was closer to a disaster no one could avoid.
Of course, that did not mean they had already let go and given up.
The dwarves had already made the best judgment they could.
Tap, tap—Wallsweil patted Chainwalker’s drooping shoulders.
“We wait until Sir Hoyeol replies.”
Through Diend, they had conveyed the news to Hoyeol.
Of course, even Hoyeol would not be able to predict this situation and present the correct answer.
Even so, Chainwalker was able to feel a little more at ease. ‘At the very least, he will make a better judgment than we can.’ Slither—how much time had passed?
Diend returned to the Iron Castle.
“Hm?”
In truth, it was such a quick return that one wondered whether the message had been properly delivered.
Chainwalker asked Diend.
“What did Sir Hoyeol say, Diend?”
If he said more information was needed, the dwarves were ready to sortie at once. If firepower was needed, they were ready to fire the Iron Castle’s magic cannons.
In other words, they were prepared to do anything.
However, what came back
was an answer they had never expected.
Diend’s low voice settled over them.
“Little comrades-in-arms, there is no need for concern.”
“……?”
“My lord had this situation in his arrangements as well.”
“?!!”
It was, quite literally, something that had happened in an instant.
As they knew from looking down, the something that had swallowed the Demon King’s Castles had now disappeared without leaving a trace. Gunner, who had been listening closely beside them, cut in as if frustrated.
“Diend! Did you properly convey the locations of the Demon King’s Castles? We are not talking about one or two Demon King’s Castles. Demon King’s Castles across the entire continent disappeared all at once, at the same time. To that something! And that bizarre thing has even vanished completely…….”
No matter that it was Hoyeol, by what means
could he possibly track that something?
Unable to accept it by common sense, Gunner had no choice but to raise his voice.
“…….”
If it had been any other time.
Even Chainwalker, who would have stopped the hot-blooded Gunner, could not stop him.
Because Gunner’s doubts matched his own.
But had even this been anticipated?
Diend immediately continued speaking.
“My lord also added this.”
Slither.
Diend headed toward the window of the Iron Castle.
Looking down upon the Arcana Continent, he finished speaking.
“The hunt will begin from within.”……
A hunt?
Within?
Did that mean there was an enemy among their allies?
The dwarves’ faces filled with tension.
But fortunately,
the dwarves’ misunderstanding did not last long.
At that moment.
Ruuuuumble!!
Something.
Inside the belly of the ill omen.
The hunters had encountered their prey.*
The Empire.
Antonium’s elite soldiers.
“Ugh……”
They woke with groans.
What in the world happened……?
They had definitely succeeded in approaching the Demon King’s Castle.
In front of the castle wall, they had dug into the ground and buried the magic tools they had prepared.
Those detestable creatures, demons.
At present, they were holed up inside the Demon King’s Castle and did not even show a shadow. But the soldiers of Antonium had not forgotten their true nature. The moment they let their guard down, those things would reveal their true colors and trample the Empire.
Clutching his throbbing head, one asked.
“……
The trap, the magic tools?”
Traps.
They were magic tools meant to bind the demons’ ankles.
If they could inconvenience them even a little,
they would be able to buy time for the Quirnberg Machine Tower to operate.
But.
“The magic tools aren’t what matters right now……. Wh-what is this vibration?”
“Hey, what do you mean they don’t matter? What do you think our mission is……?!”
“W-watch your feet!!”
Ruuuumble……!
The ground heaved.
Had the magic tools they buried malfunctioned?
No, that could not be.
This was far too powerful to be mistaken for the force of a magic tool.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-bang!
The ground, the earth itself began to shake.
The soldiers hurriedly raised themselves.
Forgetting that they were in front of the Demon King’s Castle, they shouted.
“Retreat for now!”
They urged their staggering bodies onward.
In the midst of that,
a question suddenly came to mind.……
Wait, why did we lose consciousness?
They had been careful upon careful.
He was confident they had not been struck by a demon’s abnormal status. In the first place, it was too late for them to be paralyzed by fear now. They were elite soldiers who had survived all manner of hardships and battles. ‘Then…….’ Could it perhaps be related to the tremendous vibration they were feeling beneath their feet right now? If so, were they, who had to protect the Empire, truly allowed to simply run away like this?
He made his decision in an instant.
“……
Damn it!”
His body was rejecting it.
With a hazy mind,
it screamed at him to turn away from this place and flee.
But the man gritted his teeth.
“Halt!”
What if this did not end at the Demon King’s Castle and headed toward the Empire?
The Empire would be exposed to a threat without even knowing why.
But if they witnessed the true identity of that something, the story would change. ‘This is not the back of a man with pride.’ Besides, had they not resolved to turn away no longer?
A single ray of light in an endlessly deep darkness, the dawn, the Dark Dragon.
Had they not made that vow after seeing him?
“The Empire has already raised the curtain on its counterattack, men!”
Yes, for the Empire, which had only to advance, there was no more retreat.
Even if they fell here,
the Empire had to use them as a foothold
and move forward.
“Everyone, observe!”
“……!!!”
“Watch with your own two eyes what is moving beneath your feet. Witness what is happening here. And it does not matter who. Inform His Majesty of what you have seen and heard!”
Because that was the role they bore.
Grind—an instinct that could not be resisted.
What suppressed it was experience.
No, to be precise, it was pride.
Thanks to that, they were able to witness it.
Kwadudududuk—!
“!!!”
They saw the “something” that surged up from the ground swallow whole the Demon King’s Castle where they had been only moments ago. They could not even cry out in shock. Because it did not feel real.
“Uh, uh……?”
The site of the Demon King’s Castle.
Not even wreckage.
Not even the bloodstains of the devoured demons could be seen.
“Im-impossible……”
As if it had never existed in the first place.
The Demon King’s Castle had vanished.
The Demon King’s Castle had been deleted.
Though the Demon King’s Castle that had been such a thorn in their side was gone,
they could not rejoice.
Because it was a situation they could not possibly understand.
Swoosh—that “something” looked at them.
In that instant, they were certain.
They knew the cause of the splitting headache.
“U-ugh?!”
A pain so strong it seemed to make them forget everything in white blankness.
It was as if it were shouting at them
to forget everything they had just witnessed.
But they gritted their teeth.
“Uggggh……!!”
Grit, griiiind!
The sound of teeth grinding struck their eardrums. Even so, they did not submit. Had they not resolved? They had to convey this inexplicable phenomenon to His Majesty.
“Damn iiiit!!”
How in the world were they supposed to explain it?
The words burst out at once, but it did not matter.
Because the soldiers had conviction.
Even if His Majesty could not find a way,
was there not the Dark Dragon, that man, in Antonium?
Therefore.
“Run, soldiers of the Empire! Toward Antonium!”
Dadadada!
The soldiers scattered in all directions and ran.
Even one person would be enough.
If they could overcome this extreme pressure and deliver the news to Antonium, they would have fulfilled their mission. It was the moment the soldiers overcame their instincts and moved.
Swoosh—something.
The ill omen moved as well. Witnesses unnecessary to the [Delete] operation were not needed.
Why the existence known as the ill omen had not become known on the Arcana Continent.
It began to show that reason with its own body.
However.
Gurgle?
The ill omen, too, had overlooked something.
Guuurgle……!!
What it had just swallowed.
“!”
As if to make their solemn resolve seem meaningless,
that something fell still.
The soldiers caught their rough breaths and slowly turned their heads.
Then they flinched.
“What’s wrong with that thing?”
Gurgle-gurgle-gurgle—a gigantic something twisted its body as if it had gotten sick. But their question did not last long. That was right, because there were those who showed through action rather than words.
Those who had encountered their prey.
Puk!!!!
A shape tore through the ill omen’s body and burst out.
The soldiers narrowed their eyes and looked.
That was……
“An arm……?”
To be precise, a human arm.
To describe it in greater detail, it was the arm of a man holding a silver sword (銀劍) that was neither ornate, nor sharp, nor durable, nor suitable for combat.
“The black part looks like clothes, but why is it dangling so much……?”
In the Holy War, including the Empire.
The Arcana Continent.
They had been abandoned by everyone, but they had not lost [Tenacity].
“W-wait!!”
Even
if they were soldiers of the Empire that had abandoned them, they would not turn away.
Such madmen were unique even across the vast continent.
“Th-that outfit belongs to a demon hunter……? N-no way……!!”
Akshan.