Chapter 203

01 “This weapon isn’t in my area of expertise, but I think it’s usable enough.” Using the Necklace’s lumber, Donnino had made a ballista, a large-scale bow that was supposed to be useful in castle sieges. He’d spent all night making it, but because Sieg, Edgan, Franz, and Grandel had been fighting in the courtyard with many fire bottles in hand, dawn had arrived earlier than usual. If they continued to battle here like this, they might be able to eventually purify all the corruption, but keeping this up seemed unreasonable. “Still, I think this is the best way,” Mariela said. Her strategy lacked a clincher, but everyone else had accepted it readily enough. Although none of the others had an alternate plan, the fact that Mariela seemed to have discovered something before proposing her tactic was probably a significant factor in why they went along with it. They mounted the ballista Donnino made at the top of the southeast tower, where Mariela had first awoken, to obtain the materials they needed when they used it. When Mariela peeked out through the large windows, she saw a massive fish leisurely swimming through the clear water, shimmering in the sunshine. The creature seemed to be enjoying itself. “What a strange sight. This looks like fresh water, but isn’t that a saltwater fish?” Sieg’s comment was sensible, but not very imaginative. Next to them, Grandel and Donnino commented on passing sea creatures as though they were already ingredients, saying this one was delicious when roasted or that one was exquisite in a sauce of melted innards. They had no sentimentality, either. “Siiieg, you gotta think fuzzier. This is an awesome world where a tiny snake can become a lamia with big hooters. The salty taste is probably unavoidable, but overlooking that is easy, since it’s a fish and a monster. Better yet, I wonder if there are any cute mermaids?” Apparently, Edgan thought this world was “awesome.” The only half-human creature he’d seen so far was the one lamia, and as for mermaids, it was questionable whether they were monsters or demi-humans. “People don’t say ‘hooters’ anymore, you know?” “Edgan’s an old man. Gross.” The two girls, both possessed of flat-chested beauty, gave sly remarks. “Well, this is a world where a human can revert to a monkey…” Sieg, who somewhat agreed with fuzzy Edgan’s fuzzy opinion, said something uncalled-for as he set an arrow, or rather, a harpoon, into the ballista and began to make adjustments. “Isn’t that fish a little close?” Mariela wondered aloud. “I’m lurin’ it this way, so it’s fine. Oh! Edgan, there’s a mermaid over there!” Had Yuric planned her answer, or had it been spontaneous? “Seriously?! Where, wheeere—? Gah! Isn’t that a bit too clichéd? Glug, glug.” “Rar!” Whether Edgan understood it was a gag and merely humored it, or he couldn’t resist looking for a mermaid at the mention of one even if it was a lie, he rushed over to the window and peeked out in the direction Yuric had indicated. In that instant, Koo shoved him into the water with a splash. Perhaps it seemed fun to the raptor, as Koo even stuck his tail out the window and began provoking monster fish by fluttering the appendage and splashing around as he trilled. Edgan struggled to escape as he spun around and around in the churning water. He certainly made for lively bait. The struggling Edgan must have looked tasty, because several monster fish made a big splash as they charged at him with incredible momentum. “All right, Sieg. It’s your turn.” “Got it.” Sieg faced the charging creatures and took aim with the ballista. Donnino was responsible for maintaining the armored carriages in the Black Iron Freight Corps. Since the wagons were equipped with bow guns, he had a rough understanding of a ballista’s structure, as well. The ballista, which had been made from whittled wood from the Necklace for its body and vines for its bowstring, seemed complete at a glance. The ballista, a stationary, large-scale weapon, typically made use of minute mechanisms that enabled adjustments to the height and angle of the fixed pedestal and allowed one to pull the bowstring. Donnino, not being a weapon craftsman, couldn’t make something so complex in only a day, so he’d planned for Sieg’s physical strength as an A-Ranker and his Spirit Eye to make up for the lack of that kind of fine control. “It’s quite a strange thing. But with this kind of power…,” Sieg muttered. The harpoon he fired passed within inches of Edgan, who had finally been released from the water currents and had his hands on the window frame in an attempt to get back into the tower. Far from simply piercing the approaching fish from mouth to tail, the harpoon speared them through and kept on going. “That Spirit Eye thing really is slapdash,” uttered Donnino, shocked at seeing the aquatic monsters turn into minced meat with a single shot. Even the slipshod ballista would always hit the bull’s-eye with the Spirit Eye’s divine protection behind it—even underwater. It was as though the ocean changed its current so as not to dampen the harpoon’s momentum and even corrected the projectile’s course. “Now, now. We’ll still be able to claim our catch, so it all turned out well enough.” Grandel soothed poor Donnino, who was thinking he’d made that ballista in vain. “Pant, pant, I thought I was gonna drown… Sieg, do you usually shoot so close to your friends?!” “You’re quite the handsome fellow now that you’re dripping wet, Edgan!” As expected, Edgan was huffy, and Sieg praised him and flashed a thumbs-up with a smile on his face. “Hooters” was stale, but so was this. Their matching old-fashionedness was one more reason they got along. “…That’s enough, you two. It’s coming. Hide your magical power.” Edgan and Sieg had been about to start goofing around as they often did, but at a word from Franz, who was looking up through the window, they snapped to attention. Many of the giant fish were gathering, lured by the others that had been torn to shreds by the test fire a moment ago and now resembled ground meat. Bait-gan had just been the opening performance. These newly attracted fish were the real lures. They were quite a distance from the tower, but the sight of countless carnivorous creatures, far larger than normal ones at several yards each, swarming around the chum and keeping each other in check as they devoured it, was quite an impressive spectacle. However, a shadow that eclipsed them all was swiftly approaching from somewhere deep in the distance of the endless ocean. “It’s huuuge. Can we seriously bring it down?” Edgan’s remark wasn’t without merit. A whale the size of a sailing vessel was drawing near. Upon close inspection, one realized that it was very different from whales detailed in reference books. What made it stand out was undoubtedly its giant mouth. It resembled a deep-sea fish’s maw that was a third the size of its entire body. Compared to normal whales, which filtered seawater and ingested tiny creatures, this monster, a Gladere, survived by absorbing magical power in the sea. The amount required to maintain its large build was tremendous, so it could only inhabit areas of the ocean with dense magical power, and it didn’t attack ordinary fish that had no magic. If it weren’t for that, the whale monster would have hunted every fish in the world to extinction. No sooner did the Gladere indent its stomach and contract its entire body than it suddenly dived down all at once at a bizarre speed. It was surprisingly nimble for a creature so large. And its enormous mouth swallowed all the fish monsters feeding on the bait faster than they could scatter and escape. The Gladere’s biggest boons were its mouth, which could eat and tear up anything, and its mobility. A special subcutaneous layer of fat and the Gladere’s magical power enabled radical density changes that allowed the creature to swim swiftly. When it rose toward the surface, the whale monster expanded to attain buoyancy, and when it dived down, it became as dense and heavy as lead, moving at formidable speed. By the time you noticed its rapid approach from overhead or the ocean floor, it was already too late. No sea life existed that could escape a Gladere. Moreover, although a Gladere was a monster that subsisted solely on magical power, it could swallow plants, and even wood. A significant number of large, goggly fish shifted around. The Gladere had found its next prey. It opened its big mouth wide and charged toward the tower. Sieg and the others may have been the first ones to see its massive snapping maw, which could shred anything. “Gaaah, gross!” Edgan screamed reflexively. Within that deep-sea-fishlike mouth were several more mouths. More precisely, the Gladere had multiple sets of teeth. If you compared it to a human’s, what the Gladere had parted were its lips. And there were many more sets along the throat, as well. Moreover, the rough rows seemed to have multiple joints, and each tooth was clenched separately. The Gladere charged forward to crunch up both the tower and the group alike, and a single arrow shining in rainbow colors grazed its mouth. It was a spirit arrow charged with plenty of magical power via the Spirit Eye. Sieg had preserved his magical power during the fight with the Necklace for this express purpose. The power of spirits was a little different from average magical power, but that evidently made it irresistible food to the Gladere. The moment when the creature shifted its mouth in the direction of the arrow to catch it… With a fsh, the ballista’s giant harpoon pierced the titanic whale’s largest jaw joint. Roooooar. The Gladere’s scream traveled through the water and shook the tower. “Eek!” “Mariela! Are you all right?!” “She’s fine. Let’s get outta here. Sieg, keep your eyes on the monster and take it down, would ya?” Despite the fact that they were in combat, Sieg had spun around in response to Mariela’s unusually adorable shriek. It was shameful how transparent he was in wanting to show her his good side and score points with her. Yuric, who had grown close to Mariela while Sieg took his sweet time getting here, put Mariela on Koo and began evacuating to a safe lower floor. Yuric, noticing Sieg’s gaze, gave a broad, meaningful grin. “Hey, Mariela, hold on tight.” “Okay!” Mariela remained unaware of both Sieg’s gaze and Yuric’s ulterior motive. She wrapped her arms around the waist of the girl she’d become great friends with and hugged her close so she wouldn’t be thrown off. “Grr…” Yuric laughed at Sieg’s grumble. Sieg only barely managed to keep himself from uttering something like “You little brat…,” but his expression was that of a villain no matter how you looked at it. He had reverted entirely to the scumbag he’d been before he became a slave. A Siegbag. Two girls clinging to each other on a raptor was a charming sight, but Sieg hadn’t realized Yuric was female. From his point of view, it looked like Mariela had been stolen after he’d dared to take his eyes off of her for a moment. Yuric’s less curvy body played a huge part in fooling Sieg. Incidentally, there was no way Edgan would ignore the fact that jealousy was showing on Sieg’s face, and he sauntered around the other man with an extremely happy expression—retribution for earlier. “Hey, hey, Sieg, buddy. Attractive men are the ones who work hard behind the scenes, you know.” “Shut up, Edgan. You’re one to talk.” “Stop messing around, both of you. Here it comes!” The instant Franz reined in the pair, a loud boom that shook the tower pierced the air. The Gladere, which had been hit by the harpoon, hurled itself into the tower. Surprisingly, all that came of it was that thundering sound. Even with the whale ramming the structure, it remained firm. “Hoh-hoh, leave it to my Shield.” From armored carriages to umbrellas, earth walls to tower edifices, if it was a solid body he could touch, Grandel could make it into a shield. He chuckled with a placid expression. “Donnino, pull the rope now!” “Right!” Donnino and Franz showed off their strong arms by pulling the tether attached to the harpoon and dragging the Gladere toward them so it couldn’t escape. “Welp, guess that’s our cue, Sieg.” “…I’ll end this right now!!!” Edgan reluctantly grabbed a harpoon, and Sieg, who glared with eyes full of murderous intent, loaded the ballista. The Gladere was called a “demon of the sea,” a title that evoked a tough fight. However, Sieg shot the thing through, nailing joints and weak points. In the blink of an eye, the whale monster was a lifeless pincushion. “Sieg’s merciless…” “Mariela! It’s overrrrrrr!” As soon as he defeated the monster, Sieg disregarded both Edgan and his prey and ran down to the lower floor, where Mariela and Yuric were waiting. Whenever Sieg finally learned that Yuric was a girl, he would undoubtedly have a comical expression. 02 “Let’s go.” Everyone gathered at the entrance hall nodded at Mariela’s declaration. It wouldn’t be long until the sun set, and the water that obstructed the group’s path would disappear. Was the water that imprisoned them in this world hindering them, or was it protecting them from the black monsters? That, too, would become clear after they crossed the courtyard beyond this point and finally reached the temple in the center. To do this, the group needed to defeat the creatures that had taken the form of the ravages of war—the ones the petrified lamia was keeping in check. When they opened this door, it would begin. The final battle… When the Labyrinth Suppression Forces’ elite soldiers had captured the Labyrinth’s lowest strata, they had come prepared with enough equipment to challenge a stratum boss several times over. In contrast, the party here sported only a few people who could fight. Admittedly, perhaps it was a bit too early to judge on numbers alone. Leonhardt’s troops may have been many, but potions had greatly bolstered their strength. Siegmund, wielder of the Spirit Eye and critical figure in the Labyrinth subjugation, was here. So was Edgan, who, despite being unable to join the Labyrinth Suppression Forces because of personal reasons, had grown as an A-Ranker and was a User of All who could utilize two elements simultaneously. What’s more, not only did this little band have Franz, who had transformed into a demi-dragon and was now more powerful as a result, but Yuric, Donnino, and Grandel. If the group assessed their opponents and exhaustively prepared, the likes of the black monsters were nothing for them to fear. Mariela looked around at her reassuring allies, all of whom wore determined expressions: Sieg, Edgan, Franz, Donnino, Grandel, Yuric—and a barrel. A barrel, another barrel, and another, bottles, a barrel, another barrel, bottles, more bottles, and more bottles. “…We gathered a lot more than I thought.” “The more we have, the better.” That’s right. This was the beginning of the end, and preparation was essential. Nonetheless, the quantities of casks and alcohol bottles were so massive they couldn’t all fit on the raptor, and everyone had been made to carry one or two. It gave the whole thing the air of a large delivery more than a climactic engagement. Donnino had used the remaining wood from the Necklace to make a narrow, two-wheeled carrier akin to a wagon, which Koo now pulled, and a large number of barrels had been loaded on it. The sides had walls to keep the cargo from falling, and it could defend against attacks with Grandel on board, making it an exceptional product. However, Yuric, who operated the cart piled with cargo, was the spitting image of a delivery boy no matter how you looked at it. “It’s got better maneuverability than I thought. If we just gave it the imperial capital’s latest wheel bearings and plate springs and processed the tires, it seems like it could be quite fast.” Although they were on the brink of a fierce battle, Donnino seemed extremely pleased with his craft. He talked at length about the friction and speed of wooden slide bearings. After they returned home safely, maybe he’d start a “Black Iron Express Delivery” service. In any case, Mariela and the others had a large number of barrels and an equally sizable amount of bottles. The liquid filling them had been collected from the Gladere. The processing hadn’t required much time because Mariela had made full use of her excess magical power to mince, boil, and separate the thick hide and skull interior all in one go in a Transmutation Vessel. Sieg and Edgan had exerted considerable effort keeping the fish monsters away from the Gladere’s corpse while Franz had butchered it, however. Moving the many casks of the refined product had been hard work, too. With the Necklace’s defeat, it had become possible to travel through the buildings from the west tower to the east one. Still, Mariela couldn’t help but gape at how many barrels and bottles had been strewn about, mostly in the southeast tower. Had her master really drunk all of their contents? Or could it be that Freyja had planned this…? No, I gotta focus. Mariela lightly shook her head to drive away her idle thoughts as she walked toward the door that led to the courtyard. There was a dampness that seemed to fill even their lungs with water, and then there came a darkness that covered the world. The dreams felt like an abstract of this world to Mariela. “Let’s get started.” “Ya should be careful, too, Mariela. Let’s go, Koo!” “Rar!” The raptor began to run, towing the wagon holding Franz and Yuric. The rest of the group took that as the signal to charge through the entrance. “Right, take these, Sieg!” “Okay, Donnino, bring them! Now, Edgan, get these to the other end!” “Right! Leave it to me.” Donnino picked up the barrels and bottles that had been placed in the entrance hall and handed them off to Sieg. After accepting them, Sieg took in the situation, indicated to Edgan where to carry them, and handed them to him. After that, Edgan shouldered the containers with a “Hup, ho!” and took them where they needed to go. Grandel, who couldn’t carry anything heavier than an umbrella, was in charge of holding the door, and Mariela, possessed of even less fighting power, was responsible for cheering on Sieg at his side, one of the safest places to be. Sieg used his bow to repel the inky memory stealers that seemed to ooze in from time to time. The haphazard way he pierced multiple monsters with single shots to look cool to Mariela, who was next to him, may have been overdoing it just a little. “Phew, pant. Heeey, Sieg, wanna switch for a bit?” The difference in the amount of exercise the two were getting—Sieg shooting a bow and Edgan running around the vast courtyard carrying barrels while avoiding black monsters—was excessive. “You don’t have any ranged attacks, right? Here, take this to the other side.” “You can do it, Edgan!” “Leave it to me, Mariela!” “I’d expect no less from you!” Sieg praised as he handed a barrel to his friend. Just what aspect of Edgan did he expect no less of? Was Sieg merely praising Edgan because he was useful in this moment? Edgan only realized as much after Yuric and the others had finished loading casks on the north side and returned after emptying the remaining contents to connect the spots where the barrels had been placed. “Mr. Grandel, here, this is a cure potion that removes petrification. One for curse removal, too, just in case. After that, please use a high-grade cure potion on her.” “You have my gratitude. Saving the serpent who did as much for us seems only fair.” Mariela gave Grandel a potion to remove the lamia’s petrification. The snake monster had grown next to Grandel in this courtyard and had even fought alongside him. Her reason for coiling around and holding back the ebon raiders may have only been destiny or some manner of instinct, but Mariela and Grandel believed the lamia had also sought to help Grandel. She’d spent several days with him, after all. The shadowy warriors had begun to struggle after noticing the presence of Mariela and the other humans. Many cracks were appearing in the petrified lamia’s body, and they occasionally spread with creaking sounds and minute vibrations. “You did very well.” As everyone stood ready to battle the ebon raiders after completing their preparations, Grandel expressed his gratitude to the lamia while sprinkling the high-grade cure potion over her. Immediately, blood began to circulate through the lamia’s skin and change its color from cold stone to that of living flesh. The chips and fissures that had developed during the creature’s time as a statue changed to lacerations, which then started bleeding as the petrification dissolved. When Grandel applied a high-grade cure potion to heal those wounds, her skin became smooth on the spot, and the lamia took a breath—“Shaa…”—as light returned to her eyes and she gazed at Grandel. So we didn’t need a curse-removal potion after all… The lamia’s petrification was gone. The bound ebon raiders were probably rushing out even now. Amid such a tense situation, Mariela realized that a curse-removal potion hadn’t been necessary. There were two types of petrification: one where someone’s condition was merely altered, and another where a curse turned them to stone. In the case of the former, it only took a high-grade cure potion to heal. However, lifting petrification inflicted by a curse required either a curse-removal potion or a similar ceremony. Back when a basilisk had cursed Leonhardt, he’d nearly died because neither was available to him. Fortunately, Mariela’s potion had saved him. In the Labyrinth City, which was the monsters’ territory at the time, performing a ritual to excise the affliction wasn’t possible, because such ceremonies required the spirits’ power. Except for one instance where Freyja burned and purified Robert’s curse, rendering him unable to move, in a back alley of the Labyrinth City. Mariela already had the answer as to why her master had been able to do that. I feel like the spirit of this place wouldn’t just leave someone petrified. That lake spirit didn’t seem like they would ignore the maladies of others. Above all, it felt very unlikely that the monsters here would use curses at all. When Mariela and the others had found their way to the marshland in the Fell Forest that connected to this world, the powerful-looking monster on the opposite shore had disappeared into the forest without attacking Mariela or the others. The creatures here would probably never contaminate that marsh, this world of water, or the lake spirit. You could say the proof of such was the lamia silencing herself as soon as she noticed the spirit power dwelling within Sieg’s nocked arrow. She uncoiled herself from around the ebon raiders and glided as she retreated to a spot somewhat close to Grandel but more than far enough away from the shadowy warriors. In a flash, Sieg fired a spirit arrow, and roars echoed throughout the courtyard. Were the ebon raiders pleased with having found an enemy to fight, or were they screaming in pain and anger from the spirit arrow boring large holes into their torsos? Either way, the shadowy things spread out like they were crumbling, and then they sprouted thornlike legs and spears and changed into the shapes of infantry or cavalry as they swayed and shook. It’s just like that nightmare… The animals and spirits who’d witnessed that war may have considered that ancient conflict no different than this. There was no doubt the people who survived that battle had nightmares like this for the rest of their lives. Perhaps the ebon raiders had been storing power while the lamia had held them, because they somehow swelled to the size of an army corps in an instant as they absorbed the inky memory stealers that cropped up here and there. Even the spirit arrow Sieg fired hardly did any damage to them, perhaps because they were water entities, the predominant element in this place. All the wounds the projectile inflicted were engulfed, and no trace of them remained. The human shapes that arose from the shadowy things were like a stampede overrunning a city, the speed of their proliferation was like some unknown monster, and the way they spread so much they couldn’t be escaped from was like a surging curse. To make matters worse, viscous memory thieves closed in on Mariela and the others from the collapsed north side of the ramparts like an avalanche. How could they stop something like this? Was there any way to turn such an overwhelming tide and purify the raiders? “Now! Launch the fire!” “Yup!” At Sieg’s signal, Edgan charged his dual swords with flame, and Sieg nocked a burning arrow. Yuric, Franz, Donnino, Grandel, and even Mariela hurled fire magic of various sizes at the trails of liquid they had drawn to connect the barrels and bottles they’d placed. Mariela was the only one to use lifestyle magic to make a flame. Even throwing a lit stick would have been more efficient, but let’s not dwell on that. She was giving it her best effort and didn’t notice her own uselessness, and the other members weren’t depending on the likes of Mariela’s fire magic in the first place. Her participation mattered more than her tangible contribution. The scattered paths of liquid ignited at the touch of flame, and the blaze spread toward the barrels. Whale oil. It had been extracted from the Gladere. Oil collected from whales was the most suitable kind for lamps. Before magical tool technology, lanterns lit without a supply of magical power were the norm, and whale oil, which could be acquired in large quantities compared with other fuel, was distributed far and wide in urban areas with large populations. The ebon raiders flinched for an instant at the bright light that flared up like a torch, but they wavered in a crooked way, as though they were grinning, and immediately trampled the blaze as they began advancing on Mariela’s group. It was as if they were saying torches and lights that illuminated cities were nothing compared to the fierceness of the conflagration that would reduce such structures to nothing. The shadowy warriors stepped into the fire that dyed the surroundings red with no hesitation. And despite changing their course to get around the flames, the inky monsters didn’t stop, either. If it were mere whale oil, the blaze undoubtedly would have been snuffed. However, this wasn’t mere whale oil. Mariela and the others didn’t spend the whole night whaling and refining for such a humdrum substance. The Gladere’s oil was a special, rare type that burned for a long time at smaller quantities than the oil of normal whales. What’s more, it stayed ignited for an even longer time at a low temperature if lit with a small amount of magical power, and for a short time at an extremely high temperature if set aflame with a large amount. And when it came to fire… Mariela forcefully seized the salamander, who had been, up until that moment, wrapped around her shoulders just like a scarf, and threw it at the barrels that had burst into flames. “Raaawr?!” The spirit must not have expected this turn of events, as both its eyes and its mouth opened wide as if to say, “Huh? Wait, here?!” Facing the now airborne lizard, Mariela shouted with all her might, imbuing the cry with all her magical power. Any less wouldn’t have reached Mariela’s master, who was up ahead, through the Nexus that connected Mariela to the ley line. “Come forth! Spirit of flames, Freyja!!!” In that instant, a flame pillar enormous enough to blow away both the ebon raiders and the inky memory stealers erupted from the courtyard. Addled from the loss of all her magical power, Mariela, who had escaped the flames as though a barrier protected her, saw the figure of her master, Freyja, standing within the blaze and heard her voice. 03 “Fire!” “Master, stop saying that as your first line.” In an instant, Freyja had burned both the shadowy soldiers and the viscous monsters to nothing with incredible firepower. Unfortunately, her entry line was so stupid that it could have reduced the minds of Mariela and the others to cinders. “Maaan, that was amaaazing! I should have known the firepower from that Gladere’s high-class oil would be something else! And your reserves of magical power, Mariela. Aw man, suuuch strength! I never would’ve thought of that.” “Aah geez, Master. Morning’ll be here soon, and the water, too, so we’re going to the temple right now!” Freyja’s barrier protected Mariela and the others, so they didn’t feel the heat, but everything beyond was like a scene from hell.