A shitshow.
Was there any word that fit better than that?
The last place Hio had been was right before the sleeping dragon.
Beneath the enormous divine tree, the dragon slept, and Regarda had stood there silently gazing at it—a place where such stillness suited it quite well.
And yet the place where he opened his eyes again was—
Kwaaaang—!
The middle of a battlefield.
Kwaang—!
Arrows imbued with mana flew through the air, and explosions erupted everywhere.
What he felt was a cloying aura of death.
「Trait - ‘Ghost Eyes’ activates.」
What he saw were souls departing their flesh.
Overhead, the branches of a massive tree swung with a whoom, stirring up a vicious wind.
And the pitch-black lumps caught in them burst apart as if exploding.
He could also see flames rising here and there between the city’s buildings and trees, uniquely blended in Arilleia’s style.
「Trait - ‘Spirit Body’ activates.」
「Skill - ‘Summon Phantom Steed’ activates.」
He immediately mounted the Phantom Steed and soared high into the sky.
He could clearly sense all manner of energies tangling together across the entire island.
Various mana reactions. Surging aura.
The aura of death, and even the ominous energy of the Abyss.
The question of how the damage could have grown this severe when Regarda was here… he set aside for the moment. For now, he had to resolve this situation first.
“This really is a shitshow.”
Once he rose higher, the scenery of the island came into even starker view.
Elves leaping between the trees as they drew their bowstrings.
What they were fighting were monsters with pitch-black bodies, flying rapidly through the air.
They were a type of monster Hio had never seen before.
At a glance, they looked like ghosts whose bodies had been stained black, but they spewed out bizarre energy, and just before death, their bodies exploded. They did not look easy to deal with.
- Hm… something about them…
“What?”
- No… let us observe a little longer for now.
Purnel spoke in an unusually cautious voice, and though Hio found it strange, he began preparing magic.
It would have been nice if he could use “Celestial,” but hadn’t he just poured out all his divine power a moment ago?
So he would have to deal with them directly using other skills.
Abyss monsters.
He had confirmed that there was no problem killing them.
Had he not sunk an entire island out in the outside world?
Even so, the penalty from his hidden trait had not applied.
- Perhaps it was because you extracted only the Abyssal energy with Celestial and inflicted no damage upon their bodies, so you received no penalty?
“That’s a sharp point, but…”
In other words, since he had not inflicted physical damage but merely extinguished the Abyssal energy with “Celestial,” perhaps it had been fine.
“This trait isn’t considerate enough to take circumstances that far into account.”
After obtaining the hidden trait and experimenting with it in many ways, Hio had learned that there was such a thing as causality.
He had not directly dealt physical damage to the monsters, but in any case, because of Hio, they had fallen from the island and their bodies must have been damaged. In that sense, he should have received the penalty.
But in the end, there had been no penalty.
What did that mean?
“They’re either not living beings, or they have no intelligence.”
Judging by the situation, it seemed to be the latter.
They appeared to possess only instinct, with no sign of intellectual thought.
“At any rate, the important thing is that I can fight them without a penalty.”
His endurance had not accumulated all that much, but it was difficult to raise, after all.
Having risen high enough to see all of Arilleia, Hio extended his staff forward.
“Azure Flame.”
「Skill - ‘Azure Flame (靑炎)’ activates.」
Blue fire burst outward around him.
He transmitted his will to the Azure Flame as it spread to cover the sky.
“Burn them all.”
At the same time, the blue spectacle began to descend.
To those on the ground, it must have felt as though the sky itself were crashing down upon them.
Of course, the Abyss monsters had no intelligence, and the elves on the ground had spotted Hio floating behind the Azure Flame.
“The mage has come!”
The blue flames surged in like a tidal wave, beginning to burn the monsters away without leaving even ash behind.
Before they could even detonate their own bodies as before, the moment they touched the flames, their black forms crumbled.
Without so much as a common howl like other monsters, they simply vanished like that.
“My remaining mana… this is going to be close.”
His mana stat was nearly at the threshold of the 5th Circle, but Arilleia Island was vast.
On top of that, these were not enemies that would die just because he spread Azure Flame around haphazardly.
They were mid-stage monsters, after all.
This was a battle where he had to pour a fair amount of mana and concentration into handling them one by one.
“Push forward!”
“The mage is with us!”
Still, he did not have to catch them all alone, so the burden was lighter.
The most reliable thing was, as expected, the tree located at the center of the island.
The thing called the Divine Tree was using its enormous branches to sweep away the monsters.
“I thought it might be something when I felt that much mana from it…”
From the moment he sensed an amount of mana from a single tree comparable to Tetradia, he had known it was no ordinary thing… but to think it could move.
“With that much mana, I suppose being able to move is only natural.”
Would moving really be all it could do?
He had a feeling there was probably more.
“But why are you so quiet?”
If Hio had muttered this much to himself, Purnel should have made a show of sounding important and answered as if he knew everything, but he was far too silent.
The reason Hio’s habit of talking to himself had been growing was because of this talkative ghost… so with no response at all, it felt oddly empty.
And to that, Purnel said—
- Ah… I see now.
He spoke with a deep sigh.
- I mean, what those things truly are.
“Those things?”
When Hio turned his gaze, what he saw were black forms bursting apart one after another.
Black lumps flying about, similar to ghosts.
If there was something whose identity he meant, what else could he be referring to?
“You mean the Abyss monsters?”
- Indeed… Yes, so that is what it was.
Purnel’s voice as he continued was filled with sorrow.
- Those are spirits.
“…Spirits?”
When he looked below, the Azure Flame was still going strong.
And he could also see the black lumps resisting it with all their might before disappearing without a trace.
“Those are spirits?”
Lumps that did nothing but destroy, without even a single scream, without making any sound at all.
- Most of it is concealed by the energy of the abyss, but a very faint trace of spirits remains. Their form is also similar to that of spirits. I do not know the species… but they seem to be around mid-grade spirits.
“Spirits… tainted by the Abyss.”
Purnel was saying that those Abyss monsters had originally been spirits.
Those monsters that had clearly come through the gate after a failed clear had originally been spirits.
“This gives more weight to the hypothesis I thought of briefly before.”
That Abyss monsters were beings that had once been normal.
The hypothesis that even their souls had been tainted by the abyss, turning them into that.
If so, then all the Abyss monsters he had killed until now had, in truth, been beings whose souls had fallen and lost their intelligence.
Perhaps in the past, they might even have been ordinary humans… Was that what they were?
“They can’t be… turned back, can they?”
- You know full well that it is impossible. They have already become one with that cursed energy. Their case is different from the dragon’s. That was possible only because its energy had been weakened in advance by magic, because it sealed itself, and because the rank of its soul was immeasurably high. Those… Think of them simply as monsters. That will be easier on your mind.
When he looked beneath his feet, he still saw black lumps locked in fierce battle with the elves.
He saw them vanishing one by one in the Azure Flame.
Those things were spirits…
No, wait. Before that.
“Come to think of it, the dragon isn’t here?”
- Hm? You are right.
The moment he arrived, the island had been such a mess that he had only thought he needed to deal with this first, but the dragon had disappeared, hadn’t it?
Regarda, who should have been with the dragon, was also absent. Which meant—
“…We’re screwed.”
The dragon tainted by the Abyss had awakened.
A dragon that had fallen, like those pitch-black spirits below.
* * *
The Abyss monsters, the fallen spirits, were eventually annihilated from Arilleia completely.
Though various parts of the city had been destroyed, Arilleia was not so fragile as to collapse from this much.
To begin with, the problem had been that their formation collapsed for another reason; they had not been heavily pushed back.
Even so, it was true that Hio’s joining the battle had greatly reduced the damage.
“Thank you for saving Arilleia, Mage.”
Isidore offered her thanks with a face that looked far more exhausted than when he had last seen her.
Even so, her unique nobility had not disappeared, though she looked quite gaunt, as if she had pushed herself too hard.
And for good reason: it was none other than Isidore’s ability that had moved the Divine Tree.
At a time when even Regarda had left, she had pushed herself to the limit and used her power.
“You would have stopped them well enough even without me.”
“You kept blood from being shed that did not need to be shed. Thank you once again.”
A nobility that shone all the brighter because she knew how to lower her head.
That was why she was the noblest elf.
“…Yes.”
Isidore did not ask why Hio had suddenly disappeared.
Nor did she ask where he had gone.
Because doing so could easily come across as interrogation.
When Hio had no obligation whatsoever to protect Arilleia, would it not be terribly rude to ask why he had suddenly vanished?
Of course, from Hio’s perspective, he would rather she asked.
If things simply passed like this, wouldn’t he look like the sort of person who ran away when danger came, then slunk back in when the battle was almost over?
If he stayed silent, Isidore seemed likely to never ask for the rest of her life, so Hio simply spoke first.
“The truth is, I have an illness.”
“…Pardon?”
“It’s an illness where, when that Abyss Gate bursts open, I’m suddenly transported to another world… No, a curse? Magic? Something like that. Anyway, that’s why I left. It wasn’t because I got scared and ran away or anything.”
“Ah… yes. I never thought that.”
“Ah-ha.”
He felt like he had made a mistake.
Hadn’t he just made the atmosphere even more awkward for no reason?
“Leaving that aside, could you tell me in detail what happened?”
To break that atmosphere, Hio asked Isidore, and she hardened her expression as she answered.
“Monsters began to emerge from that ominous gate…”
At first, there had been no problem.
Thanks to their swift response, the encirclement had been properly set up, and they also had Regarda and Isidore’s abilities.
“But then the dragon suddenly opened its eyes…”
The dragon that had not been purified opened its eyes, and the formation collapsed in an instant.
Dragons were powerful.
Even though it had nearly lost its intelligence and could not use magic, it was still the strongest life-form in this world.
“The dragon went on a rampage, and Lord Regarda leapt in to stop it.”
That was the reason the Divine Tree and the city had been damaged, and in the meantime, monsters had poured in from the gate as well.
“…It must have been a shitshow. So where did the dragon go?”
Isidore shook her head.
“I don’t know that much either. It suddenly flew beyond the island, and Lord Regarda chased after it. We remained behind to stop the monsters flooding in…”
“This has become troublesome.”
A walking… no, flying nuclear bomb had headed for the continent.
Because he did not know for what purpose or toward what goal it had suddenly gone to the continent, it was all the more dangerous.
Regarda had chased after it, yes… but could he truly kill a dragon by himself?
Hio knew full well how strong Regarda was, but if his opponent was a dragon, there was no guarantee.
“We need to find out where it’s headed first…”
Hio muttered that with an exhausted face.
And at that moment—
『I know! ( `-´ )』
A flashy message shot up before his eyes, glittering brightly.
『I can feel it! I can tell which direction the clean soul that still remains faintly has gone!!』
It was Freyja.
“You can… tell that?”
『Yep! (๑'ᵕ'๑)⸝*』
Freyja nodded vigorously.
Come to think of it, wasn’t Freyja a fragment of the dragon?
She could certainly estimate the dragon’s location.
“Good. Then right now…”
He tried to move, but his legs stopped short.
To move immediately, he had used top-tier skills for far too long and far too much.
With “Celestial,” which he had used just before crossing into this world, he had exhausted all his divine power, and here he had consumed more than half his mana.
He might have to fight a major battle again, and in this state, he felt extremely uneasy.
“…Shall we take a break?”
The rate at which his magic power and divine power recovered was painfully slow.
He said they would rest for a bit, but to recover completely, he would likely need to rest for several days, and in that much time, whatever was going to happen would happen.
So there was no helping it.
A full recovery was impossible. The moment even a little divine power and magic power returned, they would have no choice but to move.
Had she read the slightly troubled expression on Hio’s face?
『Yes! Let’s take it slow! Uncle Legarda went after them right away, so it’ll be okay!』
Even in a situation like this, Freyja smiled brightly and displayed a spirited message.
『Uncle Legarda cares about dragons more than anyone else in the world! It’ll be okay!』
“…Yeah.”
Hio smiled bitterly and stroked Freyja’s head.
In truth, that was the problem.
That was why he was even more anxious, but there was no need to go out of his way to tell Freyja that.
In order to recover even a little faster, Hio plopped down where he stood.
If he practiced the mana breathing technique, then even if it did nothing for his divine power, his magic power would recover faster than usual.
“It’ll take a few hours. Once I’ve recovered to some extent, I’ll come find you, so you all get some rest too.”
After saying that to Freyja, Hio sat on the ground and closed his eyes.
And at that moment.
Ding—
「The tale of ‘the person who destroyed the Sky Island’ is spreading.」
「The tale of ‘the person who destroyed the Sky Island’ is spreading.」
……
「The tale of ‘the Messenger of God’ is spreading.」
「The tale of ‘the Messenger of God’ is spreading.」
……
「The tale of ‘the True Awakened One’ is spreading.」
「The tale of ‘the True Awakened One’ is spreading.」
……
「The tale of ‘the Archmage’ is spreading.」
「The tale of ‘the Archmage’ is spreading.」
……
「The tale of ‘the Great Korean’ is spreading.」
「The tale of ‘the Great Korean’ is spreading.」
……
「You have acquired 0.5 points due to increased fame.」
「You have acquired 0.5 points due to increased fame.」
「You have acquired 0.5 points due to increased fame.」
……
「You have acquired 0.75 points due to increased fame.」
「You have acquired 0.75 points due to increased fame.」
「You have acquired 0.75 points due to increased fame.」
……
「You have acquired 0.4 points due to increased fame.」
「You have acquired 0.4 points due to increased fame.」
「You have acquired 0.4 points due to increased fame.」
……
The instant he closed his eyes, a procession of messages streamed up before him.
The number of points was soaring to an unmanageable degree.
At the overwhelming, seemingly endless flood of messages, Hio’s eyes snapped open.
“Recovery complete!”
What was recovery, anyway?
If he just raised his stats with points, that was recovery.
“Let’s hurry up and go! What are you doing?”
With that, he sprang back to his feet and spoke to Freyja.
『……?』
For the first time in her life, the word lunatic appeared in Freyja’s mind.