The most effective way to stop Abyss Monsters is to stand guard before the collapsing Gate.
A Gate that collapses the moment a raid fails.
Abyss Monsters burst forth from it like a flood, so if one establishes a complete encirclement at the point where the Gate stands and kills them one after another the moment they emerge, one can block not only the Abyss Monsters but also keep the Abyss energy from spreading too far.
Of course, to perfectly block even a single Gate required massive military forces, and before that, there was a desperate need for powerful individuals capable of slaying Abyss Monsters.
This was the reason the other kingdoms, excluding the Empire, were being driven to ruin.
Even if one formed multiple layers of encirclement, for numbers to mean anything, one first needed beings who could wield Aura and use mana, and the other kingdoms utterly lacked such powerful individuals.
Hiberunia was barely holding out thanks to the existence of divine power, but the Empire had judged that it had now reached its limit.
The monsters of the 70th Floor were on a completely different level than those before.
The density of the Abyss energy was the same.
Thus, it had to be abandoned.
As it was impossible to abandon the Empire to support Hiberunia, they had to at least save Hiberunia’s high priests and its Saintess to bring them to the Empire.
— According to the information, the density of energy and the strength of the monsters have increased severalfold compared even to the previous floor. The Empire is also considering abandoning several outer cities.
Even the Empire was giving up a fairly wide stretch of territory.
Not only was it because they could not stop them with uncertain strength, but also to combine that strength to firmly defend other places.
Where would the monsters of those abandoned outer regions go?
They would head for Hiberunia even before the Empire.
Therefore, it was all the more hopeless.
— They aren’t like the monsters until now. It is similar to the time on the 58th Floor. The eerie ones that appeared then and the overwhelming Abyss energy. They say the 70th Floor is a layer astonishingly similar to that environment.
An expedition where every member could wield Aura.
Yet even so, save for a few, there were eerie beings they dared not confront in an environment that was the Abyss itself.
Of course, the monsters and environment of the 70th Floor were not on the same level as those of the 58th, but they were enough to recall that time.
That was why the withdrawal from Hiberunia had been ordered.
— Do not even think of facing them. Hiberunia absolutely lacks the numbers of powerful individuals...
There was no reply.
* * *
The Gates of the Abyss’s 70th Floor that appeared in Hiberunia numbered two in total.
Considering that an average of three to four had appeared until now, it was relatively few, but the problem was their location.
They had appeared not far from the capital, and the two Gates had formed side by side, practically touching.
This meant they could concentrate their forces in one place rather than splitting them to form a sturdier encirclement, but—
in other words, it meant the moment the encirclement was breached, the destruction would be all the more catastrophic.
If they could not stop them even with all of Hiberunia’s forces gathered in one place, it meant immediate doom for Hiberunia.
Kugugung—
The two black Gates standing side by side as if overlapping began to vibrate simultaneously.
They were about to collapse.
It was the signal that the allotted raid time had ended, and the Abyss that had been waiting within would come pouring out.
“Deploy the holy domain!”
The waiting priests gathered their power as one and deployed the Divine Domain.
A power that bestowed blessings upon the children of Ripyue, and became a fatal weakness to those who opposed it.
“Ripyue is with us!”
The knights’ faces, which had been stiff with tension, relaxed somewhat, and their momentum grew even sharper.
They aimed their swords and spears at the vibrating Gates, while outside, Skill users moved to cast their prepared Skills.
Kugugugung—
The Gates’ trembling reached its peak, and they cracked and split until they began to collapse.
Soon after.
Puhwaaak—
A massive amount of Abyss energy burst forth like an explosion.
An abyss of darkness blacker than pitch, its density visibly far thicker.
Along with it, dozens of bizarre monsters leaped out.
They overall had the appearance of pigs, but when they opened their mouths, sharp and pointed fangs were visible. They walked upright on two legs and appeared easily over two meters tall.
— Kweeeek!
As the Empire had warned, they were clearly different from the Abyss Monsters before.
Unlike the previous monsters, which had been covered entirely in black and twisted beyond recognition, though they were the same black color, they possessed clear forms.
Not twisted ones, but beings that poured out as if they had been made this way from the very beginning.
— Kweek! Kweeeek!
But the countermeasures against them were sufficient.
Ten High Priests had been mobilized to envelop the area in divinity, and of course, the moment the monsters appeared, dozens of prepared Skills turned the inside of the encirclement into a wasteland.
Kwaaang—!
Each individual strike might have been weak, but gathered together, even the 70th Floor monsters couldn’t endure for long and burst apart.
Had it been inside the Abyss, it might have been different, but this place was inside the Holy Barrier, where divine power flowed like air.
The monsters were weakened, and the Abyss energy they had worried about vanished instantly.
“...We can do this!”
A sight sufficient to fill everyone’s hearts with the thought that they could endure.
The Skill users’ casting speed gradually decreased, and the time the monsters lasted without dying increased, but it was fine.
They used Skills in proper rotation, and because of that, the power and number of Skills did not decrease below a certain threshold.
Many knights were waiting nearby, so even if one broke through the Skills and leaped out, it was soon cut apart by the waiting knights’ Aura and died.
The situation reversed not long after.
— Kweek!
Amid the flood of pig-like monsters, a monster of a different form, far smaller than them, appeared.
Not the continuously flowing monsters over two meters large, but one that wasn’t even half that—merely about the size of a human upper body, looking like a kind of rodent.
“It’s a new type! Increase the Skill intensity!”
Nevertheless, the Hiberunian army did not let its guard down.
They maintained their divine power and poured out Skills even faster, and the knights also kept a close eye on the new monster.
But no matter how thoroughly they had prepared, they hadn’t thought about the ground they were standing on.
Who would have thought that single, tiny monster—
just one dainty little stomp would shake the ground as if an earthquake had struck.
Because of it, not only the priests but even some Skill users had their Skills completely canceled.
“B-block them! Knights, hurry and stop them!”
During that brief time, the Abyss Monsters had swelled rapidly in number.
Before they knew it, another one of the new-type monsters had appeared.
Kuuuung—
The ground shook once more.
The Holy Barrier, which had quickly returned, flickered precariously once again, and the pouring Skills visibly decreased.
“Protect the priests!”
The earth shook.
“Don’t panic! Hold the ranks!”
The monsters rapidly multiplied.
The knights tried to block them with all their might, but as the monsters multiplied, the number of tremors also increased, and they began to make the ground ring without rest.
Even in a situation where the knights could barely keep their balance, the monsters charged at them nonchalantly.
Eventually, one knight who had lost his balance was seized by a pig monster by both arms and soon cruelly torn away.
“K-kuaaaack!”
The abyss spread rapidly.
The battlefield began to darken.
In the end, a decision that could not be avoided.
“Retreat! Everyone, fall back to the second defensive line!”
They had to break the first encirclement far sooner than expected, but there was still hope.
From the start, they hadn’t thought they could stop them all at the first defensive line.
The second line was the real one.
“Fall back inside the fortress walls!”
The moment the decision was made.
Paaaak—
A bright light instantly stretched out from inside the fortress.
Massive divine power enveloping the entire wide area.
A miracle only possible because the Saintess was there.
The Divine Blessing was etched clearly into the eyes of all those retreating.
“The Saintess is with us! Ripyue protects us!”
No matter how strong the monsters were, the Saintess was here.
The Royal Knights, who could face dozens single-handedly, were here.
Their savior was with them.
Therefore, the boundary of the capital, which was the second defensive line and effectively the final one, would not fall.
Even as they retreated, the Hiberunian army had thought so.
Kuuuuuung—
If only the fortress walls hadn’t collapsed.
If only the walls hadn’t crumbled from the tremors caused by hundreds of them at once, and the troops atop them hadn’t fallen like leaves, dying in vain.
They might still have fought bravely with hope in their hearts, but—
walls, houses, every structure built by humans—all of it collapsed and was destroyed by the continuous tremors.
“Aah... Lady Ripyue!”
The only thing intact was the Divine Blessing encircling the ruined walls.
But with the defensive line destroyed, even that could not last forever.
Outside the Blessing, there was darkness so thick one couldn’t see an inch ahead.
They were surrounded by a dense abyss that could rush in at any moment.
* * *
“U-uaaaack!”
One soldier struggled desperately, twisting his entire body, but the body firmly held in place didn’t budge.
— Kweek!
A shadow draped over his face.
Sticky drool falling drop by drop.
Sharp teeth packed tightly.
“S-save me...”
The soldier’s final words became his last testament, and his frail body was chewed by sharp teeth and torn by great strength, reduced to mere prey.
Kwang!
Claire’s flames burst the monster’s body a moment too late; literally, it was already too late.
“...”
Such sights were not uncommon; one had only to turn their eyes.
Thanks to the Blessing, the abyss did not rush in, but precisely because it was bright inside, the despair was revealed all the more starkly.
It happened in an instant.
The first defensive line being breached.
The second defensive line collapsing.
They were truly breached and collapsed in an instant.
There was no time to do anything about anything.
Who would have known that a small thing not even a meter tall, not some giant several meters in size, would cause earthquakes?
Not only did such beings keep popping out, but they shook the ground in overlapping waves, without rest, even at this very moment—how could anyone endure?
Before such tremors, structures helplessly collapsed, and the defensive lines built around them crumbled in an instant as well.
Meanwhile, the monsters still kept leaping through the gaps of the broken Gates.
Even inside the Divine Blessing where other Abyss Monsters would have been annihilated soul and all, these things moved about perfectly fine.
The Divine Blessing that had protected humans had now become a cramped cage.
Humans who had surrounded and hunted them were now surrounded and hunted in turn.
“S-stay away...!”
They died miserable deaths.
“Lady Ripyue!”
“Please save us!”
Calling out to their vanished god, they died like that.
With grotesque bodies impervious to anything but Aura.
With sharp fangs and massive bulk. Pushing forward with strength befitting their size, they surged over the walls and kept pressing in.
What could Claire, a mere human, do in such a situation?
Kwaaang!
Even if she lit fires and caused explosions, desperately trying to block them, how could she stop all the ones charging from every direction?
“F-fire!”
“It’s Lady Claire! Gather over there!”
“Everyone, this way!”
Nevertheless, the surviving knights and soldiers recognized Claire’s flames and gathered around her.
They approached, chasing a sliver of hope in the midst of overwhelming despair.
But.
“They’re coming!”
“Uaaaack!”
“Stop them! Stop them!”
“You cursed things!”
Being near Claire was no different.
On the contrary, drawn by Claire’s great mana, even more monsters came, and they died even more horribly.
Claire hurled spears of non-exploding fire to save them, piercing the monsters’ bodies, but the monsters ignored it and kept devouring the humans in their grasp until the end.
“K-kuaaaack!”
“Goddess Ripyue...”
She bit her lips and gave it her all, but the limit was clear.
The number of humans only decreased, while the monsters flooding inside the Divine Blessing only increased.
Kuuung—
Ruin had come right up to their noses.
* * *
How many hours had passed?
Kwaaaang—!
The rampart collapsed, and monsters surged even into the city within.
Kwaaaang—!
Flames shot up everywhere, and screams never ceased.
If there was one fortunate thing, it was that the divine protection still remained.
If even the Abyss filling the outside seeped in, they would not be able to hold out any longer in their current state.
‘……No, does it even matter?’
In truth, perhaps it was all meaningless.
In the end, it was only a difference between dying sooner or dying later.
Everyone here would die anyway, and Hibernia’s destruction was already a foregone conclusion.
—Kueeeeeek!
At the ear-splitting shriek, Claire’s hollow eyes turned forward.
It had the appearance of a pig, and a form similar to other monsters that walked on two legs.
However, its height and bulk looked to be more than twice that of the others.
A type of monster the expedition often called a mid-boss.
And Claire was facing off against one such creature.
—Kueeeeng!
It leapt with a nimble movement utterly unsuited to its massive bulk.
A barrier of fire about four meters wide spread around Claire, but the creature’s fist pierced even through that and smashed the ground where Claire had been standing.
Kwaaaaang—!
As Claire retreated, she wreathed the creature’s fist in flames and transformed the fire barrier to send it flying, but she too lost her balance from the impact that shook the earth.
A blazing fist came down again on that very spot.
Kwaaaang—!
She barely evaded it by wrapping her body in flames and rolling across the ground.
Yet she could not completely disperse the shock.
Claire’s body, sent flying far away, bounced helplessly along the ground and tumbled.
“Keheuk…….”
Blood surged from her weakened body.
—Kueeeeeek!
Of course, the monster that had reduced Claire to such a state was not unscathed either.
Because Claire, prepared for things to turn out like this, had driven a spear of fire into its temple.
A spear of fire shot from an unseen angle in that brief instant when it swung its fist.
So long as her mana was not cut off, it would remain embedded in the creature’s skull and burn its insides completely.
—Kueeeeeeeek!
The pig monster charged in with a scream filled with agony.
Its massive body, over four meters tall, came thundering forward, and it poured all manner of attacks down on Claire.
Kwaang!
Kwaaaaang—!
She barely blocked its attacks, and at times, when she failed to dodge properly, she was sent flying far away along with the impact, yet she maintained the skill.
—Kuek…… Kueeeee…….
And in the end, the monster collapsed, clutching its melted head.
“Haa, haa…….”
Claire, lying sprawled on the ground, did not even have the presence of mind to confirm it.
Her head was dizzy, and her vision spun.
She merely stared straight up at the sky, from which rain had begun to pour at some point, and gasped for breath.
She had fought for hours, and her mana had long since run dry; there was no need to even mention her stamina.
Swaaaa—the pouring rain crashed to the ground and shattered into countless fragments.
The droplets that splashed up clung to Claire’s face as she lay on the ground.
“Haa…….”
When she turned only her head slightly to look to the side, she saw collapsed houses—no, a collapsed city—and beyond it, the royal castle and the Order that were still holding out came into view.
The sanctuary was there, and as such, Hibernia’s finest elites must be guarding it.
Since Claire had personally stepped forward and focused on eliminating only those ground-shaking monsters, at the very least, it would not collapse right this instant.
But.
Flicker—
A blinking light.
For several seconds, the world sank into darkness, then was brightly illuminated by light once more.
“…….”
Claire knew what that meant.
Something must have happened to the saintess’s body, the one maintaining the protection.
Whether by an external factor or an internal one.
As if Claire’s thoughts were correct, the divine protection flickered, vanishing and reappearing again and again.
The saintess must have been holding on with all her might as well.
But in the end, she would collapse.
The moment that disappeared, the vast Abyss that surged in would devour the minds of humans and destroy their bodies.
It meant that they would no longer be able to endure.
“Haha…….”
In the end, it had come to this.
She had known it would.
She had known that alone, she could do nothing.
She knew that she was not a hero, and that she did not possess such ability.
And yet, how had she remained here, lying on the ground, being drenched by the pouring rain, waiting alone for death?
“Master……!”
Amid all of that, how was Hamelot running toward her?
“Master! Master!”
Even if he had seen her flames from far away, there was no way he could have come all the way here.
The fact that Hamelot, who should have been protected in the safest place, the royal castle, had come here meant two things of despair.
First, the royal castle had been breached.
And the monsters were preoccupied with prey more appetizing than Hamelot.
If those two circumstances had not overlapped, Hamelot could never have made it this far.
Sure enough.
“Master! The, the royal castle…… You have to run, quickly!”
Shouting that, Hamelot arrived beside Claire.
Claire lay on the ground, with countless monster corpses piled around her.
The embers flickered faintly, as if about to go out.
“M-Master…….”
Seeing the blood flowing from the corner of her mouth and her state, which looked bad at a glance, Hamelot quickly knelt down beside her.
“I’ll support you, so please get up. We have to run while they’re distracted by the Order.”
Even at Hamelot’s words, Claire simply lay there without moving an inch.
Where would they run, and how would they run?
The interval of the flickering divine protection was growing shorter and shorter.
Like a snake waiting for its chance, the Abyss was creeping in.
And so, as she blankly let the pouring rain fall upon her, she spoke to Hamelot.
“Hamelot.”
Without blinking even once, she merely muttered to herself as she looked up at the sky being dyed in darkness.
“Why did it turn out like this?”
How had things ended up this way?
What had gone wrong, and from where?
If she traced it back, there was only one thing after all.
“I should have died.”
She should have saved Hio, no matter what it took.
Even if it meant her own death, if only he had been here, the situation would have been far better.
“What are you……! Master, you’re a hero! Everyone in the castle said so! So don’t say such weak things and hurry, let’s go! The monsters will be here soon!”
Even at Hamelot’s urging, she did not move an inch.
No, “could not move an inch” would be the correct expression.
Her body, drained of mana and stamina, no longer moved.
Her mind, bereft of will, did not grant her strength beyond her limits.
What a laughable sight this was.
A hero who despaired and collapsed from merely this much.
Where in the world was there such a hero?
And so, she shook her head.
“You’re wrong, Hamelot.”
There were so many things wrong that it was hard to even say them all.
“You don’t know what a true hero is.”
The state of her body was wrong, and Hamelot’s words were wrong.
Vitalianus’s words, that she was Hio’s final arrangement, were also wrong.
Her own choice to remain in the end, even while knowing things would turn out like this, was wrong as well.
At that point, Hamelot too shouted desperately.
From the ends of his drenched hair and the tip of his chin, water dripped as he shouted, and all manner of emotions were tangled in his voice.
“To me, you are the true hero, Master. Not some fake hero whose face I’ve never even seen! The true hero who saved me and planted hope in the city and its people!”
The sky, which had been flickering noisily, was suddenly wrapped in stillness.
The divine protection that had been spread with all their might had finally disappeared.
The dense Abyss surrounding them was surging in as if to choke off their breath.
“Then what is it, exactly! What is that true hero supposed to be, for you to be this sad all by yourself! To blame yourself! To suffer like this!”
The sky began to sink into darkness.
The pouring downpour.
Screams that gradually faded, perhaps swallowed by it.
Kwaaaang—!
Suddenly, lightning began to strike.
“What on earth is that damned true hero, for you to be like this…….”
Hamelot’s eyes were deeply stained with grief and sorrow.
But Claire could not see them.
Her hollow eyes were turned toward the sky, and her mind was turned toward memories of the past.
“What is it, you ask…….”
What was it?
How could she explain?
It was light and hope.
It was the blue flame that always appeared whenever the world was swallowed in darkness.
It was the bright lightning that stood against evil.
Kwaaaang—!
Just like the lightning now striking down through the Abyss.
“Someone who willingly takes the path no one else will.”
A person who deliberately headed toward the path everyone avoided.
A person who never feared standing against what had to be faced.
A person who lived for others more than for himself.
“And yet, someone who never lost his smile.”
Not her flame, seen only by Hamelot alone.
But a person so dazzling that thousands, tens of thousands—no, everyone on the continent—had seen him and held him in their hearts.
A person who had given everyone hope that bright.
At the most dangerous moment.
At the moment he was needed most.
A person who appeared.
That was what it was.
“A hero.”
Kwaaaaang—!
Even as the world brightened for an instant in the flash of lightning, Hamelot did not understand Claire’s words.
Because he had never seen it.
And so he tried to open his mouth again and argue something, but.
“What do you mean……”
He could not continue with a single word.
Though he did not fully understand Claire’s words.
Though he did not know that lightning could not possibly shine in a sky already covered by the Abyss.
It was because he could tell, simply from Claire’s expression.
Because from that dazzling smile and those sparkling tears he had seen for the first time in his life, he could guess.
“……The true hero.”
That he had come.