After a moment’s hesitation, Vandre asked, “You’re not planning on dying, are you?”
“Absolutely not. A precious subordinate of mine wished me luck, so I can’t afford to fail now.”
“Got it. Batlam, take care of him for me, all right?”
A slime oozed out of one of Vandre’s scales and wrapped itself around Rasul’s neck like a muffler.
“Van. I asked for a split of Batlam, not the main core...”
“I know you’re strong, brother, but even you can’t save the entirety of the demon empire on your own. Don’t forget that.”
Vandre was lending Rasul the real Batlam so that he’d turn back when things started to look too grim and live to return Batlam to him.
Rasul saw right through Vandre’s scheme and chuckled a little as he nodded. He then threw the muffler into the air, and after a second, it transformed into a wyvern.
Rasul and his men jumped onto the wyvern, and for a while, the two of them flew side by side.
“Don’t mess this up, brother.”
“I could say the same to you, Van. I’ll see you soon.”
The two brothers exchanged glances, vowing to meet again, then split up and went their separate ways.
A line of people headed south through the Obsidian Tundra. They were just a few dozen kilometers from the edge of the Pale Forest, and for once, a blizzard wasn’t blowing through the area. They were all residents of Sainttown. A pack of ice wolves was dragging sleds large enough to carry ten people apiece.
Margaretta and the other members of the Schnee clan were flying over the group, riding Vandre’s wyverns.
“Do you feel cold, Corrin?”
“Don’t worry, Ruth-onii-chan, I’m fine.”
The two of them were riding atop one of the sleds, both of them decked out in winter gear.
Corrin smiled at Ruth, but Ruth could easily tell it was forced, so his expression darkened. He was pale, and not because of the cold.
Not everyone had made it out of Sainttown. About half of the non-combatants belonging to the former Reisen village were still there, along with the test subjects Miledi had rescued from the demon empire. Of course, the Odion Federation’s mass invasion of the Pale Forest was still ongoing, so the people who’d stayed behind had done so to serve as bait.
Even with the defenses set around the village, it was only a matter of time before it was found. Furthermore, yesterday, they’d lost contact with the republic, as well as the other Liberator branches.
After some debate, they’d decided the safest place to retreat to was probably the Obsidian Tundra. The original plan, if anything happened to Sainttown, had been to run south, and Oscar had even left behind cold-weather gear and clothing for the residents. It was a long trek, but the Schnee clan’s village was in the tundra.
It had made sense as an evacuation location, but two unforeseen problems had arisen when the residents of Sainttown had started making preparations to leave. First of all, they realized a group three hundred large couldn’t travel stealthily enough to hide all their tracks. Secondly, they’d be quite slow, which was why the former test subjects had volunteered to stay behind as bait. Some of the hardier regular citizens had offered to remain behind as well, claiming that the soldiers would get suspicious if they found a village of only warriors. Right now, the group that had stayed behind was running around the forest, trying to trick the federation soldiers into thinking they were the sole residents of Sainttown.
“Everyone’s still alive, right? We’ll get to see them again, won’t we?” Corrin asked, unable to help herself.
Yunfa, who was riding on the sled in front of them, turned back and replied in a loud voice, “Of course we will! They’re all perverts who’re obsessed with you. They won’t die even if you kill them!”
“Yunfa! That’s rude!” Susha said, scolding her sister.
The adults riding on the other sleds, including Moorin, all laughed. Seeing everyone else acting normal, Corrin felt a little relieved.
“Sheesh, you really... Hm? What’s that?” Ruth mumbled as he looked up at the sky, seemingly spotting something. Margaretta and the others, who’d been keeping watch over the skies, also seemed to have noticed it. They were pointing at a cliff on one of the mountains in the distance. That mountain was along their route, and originally, the plan had been to detour around it and then travel along the valleys to avoid detection.
A second later, a breath attack shot out from that cliff toward the sky. Panicking, Margaretta quickly descended to where the sleds were.
“Everyone, head southwest! Hide in the forest there! We’ve been ambushed!”
That’s impossible! everyone thought at once, but then the scout Margaretta had sent out ahead came flying back from the cliff.
A fleet of the Grandort Empire’s airships was hot on his heels, but that wasn’t even the most surprising thing.
“That’s the demon army! Grandort and the demon empire have joined forces! Run! We’ll buy you guys time!” Margaretta shouted, then ordered her unit to attack.
Before anyone could get another word in, the ice wolves changed direction and began running as fast as they could. Margaretta couldn’t protect everyone in an open plain like this one, so it made sense for her to act as a decoy while Ruth and the others ran, but even so, she was up against an entire fleet of airships.
“Dammit, why are they here?! This is the Obsidian Tundra! Who would wait here in the freezing cold just to ambush insignificant nobodies like us?! They couldn’t even have been sure we’d come here!” Ruth shouted.
In truth, the empire hadn’t been waiting here to ambush them specifically. They’d just figured that once the invasion of the Haltina Republic began, people might try to flee north or south, so they had left forces to deal with anyone who did.
The Grandort Empire had its hands full hunting the mavericks within the forest, so they’d joined forces with the demon army to blockade the Obsidian Tundra, so it was demons who were riding those Grandort airships.
Ruth looked back and saw that the battle had already begun. Margaretta and her unit had managed to beat even the Paragons of Light, so he believed they would win, even if they had to stick to non-lethal methods of attack.
Soon enough, the wolves reached the entrance to the icy forest.
“Ah... Ruuuuuuuuuuuun!”
By the time Ruth and the others looked up, it was already too late. Blazing fireballs were raining down straight toward them.
While the airships had been waiting on the other side of the mountains, not all the demons had been on them. There had been another unit waiting in the forest, as that was the most likely place anyone would run if they were caught out on the plains.
The wolves did their best to avoid getting hit, and also used their special magic to deploy ice barriers. However, a second later, a series of shock waves assailed Ruth and the others. Everyone was thrown off their sleds and they rolled across the snow, though some slammed directly into nearby trees.
Rising steam obscured visibility, and Ruth heard an ominous series of noises. It sounded like something was crumbling, after which a huge shock wave rippled across the ground.
“Corrin, are you okay?! Corrin!”
Ruth had instinctively hugged Corrin at the moment of impact, so the two hadn’t been separated. Fortunately, it looked like she hadn’t been injured in the fall either.
“Ngh, I-I’m all right,” Corrin replied, raising herself into a sitting position.
Ruth breathed a sigh of relief, then the two of them quickly scanned their surroundings. Luckily, the sled Dylan and Katy had been on was unharmed. It seemed the adults had protected it. Susha and Yunfa were a short distance away as well. They’d been knocked off their sled, but both of them seemed conscious.
Unfortunately, when he turned to see what had become of the people behind him, Ruth fell into the depths of despair. The earth had been split. There was a ten-meter fissure between him and the other side. This giant fissure had completely split the party. The concentrated barrage had destroyed the layer of snow covering this ancient valley, so now there was nothing to bridge the gap. The few sleds that’d been directly above the fissure were, of course, tumbling to the ground below.
“M-Mom...”