“Should I call this a success?”
Inspired by watching Ataolf make use of his skills, this was a joint work by Blue Flame and the Thunder Emperor.
Though it was not true skill synthesis, it was an enormous power forcibly stitched together from the strength of two top-tier skills.
The result could, in its own way, be called a success.
After all, it was a technique they had devised in hopes of resisting Intent, even if only a little.
Just as they had intended at the outset, it had succeeded in blocking Regarda’s spear, which had been filled to the brim with Intent.
The balance of power had been taut as well.
That was why such a tremendous explosion had occurred, and why he had needed to layer 2nd Circle Shield magic dozens of times just to withstand it.
However.
“…I can’t use this. Not really.”
It was a technique that could not be used except under special circumstances.
No, it would be better simply not to use it at all.
First was the time required to prepare it.
It might not seem very long to others, but to a powerhouse capable of handling Intent, it was an eternity.
It was only because Regarda, intrigued, had waited for him. Under ordinary circumstances, it would have been normal for him not to have the slightest opening to use it.
And what of the amount of mana it consumed?
Two top-tier skills, not synthesized, but literally forced together through sheer stubbornness.
Naturally, the amount of mana, mental strength, and time required were immense.
Yet compared to all the effort poured into it, the effect achieved was nothing more than blocking a single attack imbued with Intent.
If he could dodge instead, dodging would be far better.
Intent was just that unreasonable a power.
- I acknowledge it.
Regarda shifted his spear into one hand and looked around.
At that, the sea, which had been rising into violent tidal waves in the aftermath of the explosion, settled down. With a single glance from him, the ocean grew calm.
He was truly a man for whom the title ruler of the sea suited best.
Even though he had directly faced that tremendous collision right before him, there was not even the smallest scratch on his body.
- That was quite amusing.
Even so, it had been rather interesting.
Had he not blocked, without Intent, a blow into which Regarda had put Intent and, in his own way, genuine force?
Intent was a power beyond common sense, one that those who had not realized it could neither understand nor wield.
Yet that man had stupidly scraped together power within the realm of common sense and used it to oppose a power beyond common sense.
It was a sight even Regarda had never seen before.
- But that is as far as it goes.
However, that was the end of it.
It was true that he was astonishingly strong, but in the end, he had not crossed the wall.
- Still, I ought to repay you.
How long had it been since he had felt such interest?
Though it was only a small emotion, it was one he had not felt for long ages.
But that was that, and now it was time to continue his mission.
Eyes resembling a dragon’s turned toward Hio.
- This is the only repayment I can offer. I ask for your understanding.
His gaze passed beyond Hio and went farther up.
Toward the high sky.
He pointed there and raised his spear high.
A will was conveyed.
At that, Hio’s gaze also turned above his own head, toward the sky covered in dark clouds.
And the sight that soon revealed itself was enough to make one doubt one’s own eyes.
“…Hah.”
A massive form appeared, lightly piercing through the thick, dark clouds.
Something that should originally have been floating upon the sea was slowly revealing itself in the sky.
Even with only a tiny portion of it exposed, it was large enough to cover the sky with ease.
Dozens of cannons lined its side.
“This… I truly didn’t know.”
It was a ship.
A warship that sailed not the sea, but the sky.
Regarda Obier.
A knight who wielded a spear, whose own martial might alone was estimated to be above the seventh tier, and a summoning skill user who used the top-tier skill, “Summon Sea Dragon.”
One new piece of information was now added to that.
That what he could summon was not limited to sea dragons alone.
- It is a ship called the “Dutchman.”
The moment he said that, dozens of enormous gun barrels moved in unison.
Rumble— Though it was a simple movement, the sound that rang out was like thunder.
It was the dreadful sound of something that might annihilate everything on the earth all at once taking aim at Hio.
A tightening pressure bore down.
- Return now.
Regarda intended to show him.
- No matter how strong you may be, you cannot go any farther than this.
That the path to Arileiya would never be opened.
But even at Regarda’s words, Hio did not lower his raised head.
He simply stood in the pouring rain, quietly looking up at the enormous warship in the sky.
“Regarda.”
The ship that sailed the sky and looked down upon the earth, the Dutchman.
What he sensed from it was an unbearably dense aura of death.
Swaaah— Standing beneath the torrential rain, he spoke with a conviction swelling inside him.
“I have to go to Arileiya.”
Even so, Regarda did not stir in the slightest.
The years he had lived and the mission he had guarded were far too heavy for a few mere words to shake the ruler of this sea.
- I paid respect to your martial might and your efforts, yet do you not understand my words?
The words he spoke were always the same.
- Return.
But Hio, still keeping his gaze fixed on the sky above, faced his words head-on.
“I have to enter.”
- …You are more foolish than you appear.
Regarda let out a small sigh and gathered his power.
He had given an unusual number of warnings, and in recognition of his opponent’s martial might, had even revealed the Dutchman, yet Hio still had no intention of stepping back.
It was rather regrettable, but what could he do?
What he had to do had always been one thing, both in the past and now.
- You will not be able to avoid it.
A tremendous power began to concentrate in the enormous gun barrels that covered the sky.
The air trembled, and the sea shook. This was an overwhelming power that could not be blocked by lightning, nor by blue flame.
As a final courtesy, he had given a warning, but unless Hio had some hidden card, he would be unable to dodge or block this strike.
Even so, Hio did not budge.
Though tremendous light was gathering in dozens of cannons.
Though space itself was shaking violently beneath that immense energy.
Slowly, he lowered his head and turned his gaze toward Regarda.
“Regarda Obier.”
The pouring rain.
The tremendous power gathering in the ship’s cannons.
The atmosphere vibrating in response.
The surging sea.
“You pitiful child who has protected Arileiya for a thousand years.”
The movement of all those things stopped dead.
The falling raindrops froze in midair.
The power that had been gathering as if it would explode at any moment vanished without a trace in an instant.
With it, the rumbling of the atmosphere and the trembling of the sea also froze still.
As if they had been greatly startled.
Within that stillness, the only thing moving was the eyes of a single man, trembling uncontrollably.
“That is what Kreutzwald told me.”
Eyes resembling a dragon’s, the eyes of one who had admired such a being.
Only those eyes, which had endured a thousand years for his conviction and his mission, shook endlessly.
“He told me to release you now.”
He stood there like that for a long time.
* * *
The center of Arileiya Island.
The inside of the enormous tree that towered like a mountain was like a city in itself.
To a first-time visitor, it would be impossibly complex, but outsiders never came here, so no one paid any mind to such things.
In the upper levels of that place, an urgent meeting was taking place.
In nearly a thousand years, meetings had been convened this hurriedly only a handful of times.
And two of those had occurred within the span of just a few days.
Once when the Abyss Gate appeared.
And now.
“Has Lord Regarda ever summoned even the Dutchman before?”
“This is the first time.”
The shockwave that had shaken the island, felt first, and the flashes of light that had streaked past.
Those alone were already unprecedented abnormalities.
Every resident of Arileiya had felt them and was anxious.
As if that were not enough, a ship had covered the sky and revealed its majesty.
It was a sight even the noblest elf alive had never seen before.
Regarda’s secret weapon, the Dutchman, of which even her ancestors had only heard in stories.
Now that it had appeared, there was no doubt this was an emergency.
Something was coming.
Something that even Regarda, guardian of Arileiya, was struggling against was trying to set foot on this island.
“For now, we have dispatched troops to the coast in the direction where the Dutchman appeared.”
“Should we not send support to Lord Regarda instead?”
“It is on the sea. We would only get in the way.”
Because it was the first time such a thing had happened, everyone was confused, and the meeting grew disorderly.
It was only to this extent because most of them were elves, whose emotions were comparatively less prone to disturbance.
This was a major incident for which precedent was hard to find.
“Lady Jenebi is right. Going to the sea would only hinder him instead.”
“It cannot be, but… if Lord Regarda were to be defeated…”
“There can be no such existence.”
“This is Lord Regarda, not anyone else. How can you say such a thing…”
“Of course I, too, know Lord Regarda’s greatness, but we must prepare.”
“I never thought I would see the Dutchman in my lifetime… In any case, it is true that we must prepare for the worst.”
The conclusion came quickly.
“We will gather all of Arileiya’s strength.”
They decided to prepare for the worst.
To unite as one and brace themselves for Regarda’s defeat.
At the same time that decision was made, everyone present turned their gaze toward one person.
“Lady Freyja.”
In such an emergency, the one everyone had to protect with their lives was neither the noblest elf nor the head of the human race.
It was Freyja.
And as if she had expected their gazes to gather on her, Freyja held up a message she had written in advance with a firm expression.
『I’m going too.』
Mutins and several others stepped forward and tried to dissuade her, but.
『I can’t do anything alone anyway.』
Freyja was resolute.
Though still young, the intelligent Freyja had already realized it.
That even if she survived alone, there would be nothing she could do.
Because she was still young, and there was much she did not know.
“Then… understood.”
There was not much time.
The Dutchman, the ship that had dominated more than half the sky above Arileiya and flaunted its majesty, had vanished, so one way or another, a conclusion must have been reached.
“Let us move.”
With stiff expressions, they gathered in the center.
Before them, a cube-shaped portal was slowly rotating as it operated.
* * *
Hio raced through the sky astride a Phantom Steed.
And right beside him, Regarda crossed the sea astride a sea dragon.
“Regarda.”
Hio called him.
“Will you tell me Arileiya’s secret?”
There was no response.
He only continued forward in silence toward Arileiya.
Even now, when they had nearly reached the island, Regarda had maintained his silence.
Ever since the moment Hio had spoken Kreutzwald’s name.
After that, Regarda had stood still for a long while, then spoken only one sentence—that he would guide him—and they had set off toward the island.
There had been no need to present Regarda with any other proof.
The very fact that Kreutzwald’s name had been mentioned was impossible.
A figure from far more than a thousand years ago.
A forgotten one who did not even appear in history.
Mentioning him alone was already qualification enough.
“Kreutzwald told me to awaken the dragon.”
At those words, Regarda seemed to flinch for a moment, but he still said nothing else.
As if to say that was not his mission. As if to say Hio should find out and resolve it himself. He simply continued onward toward the island.
And before long, the island’s outline began to come clearly into view.
Both the Phantom Steed and the sea dragon were exceptionally fast.
When a little more time passed, the interior of the island became clearly visible.
A single enormous tree, so massive it seemed to reach the sky.
Beneath that giant tree, which defied any sense of perspective, a vast and beautiful island spread out.
They had arrived at Arileiya, where all manner of secrets and mysteries were hidden.
“This is…”
His impression of this moving first moment could be called rather awkward.
“Quite an intense welcome.”
The coast was packed with countless people.
He could feel innumerable gazes, too many to count, fixed upon them.