City of Ruins Menou’s group had reached the end of the underground hub, which was unfortunately where the adventurers had formed their last line of defense. The sounds of battle echoed off the walls. “Dammit. How’d we let them get this far…?!” “There’s only four of them!” Men traded dismayed frustrations. They were just outside the City of Ruins. For the adventurers who made their living in the underground hub, this was a line they had to defend at all costs. The person beyond this point needed to be protected, no matter what. “Keep fighting! If we let these brats through, there’s no telling what that man will do to us!” Half a year ago, the adventurers learned that the door to the City of Ruins, the very one they presently defended, had opened. It was three months since the Faust had sealed the entrance to the underground hub, perhaps knowing the way to the city had unlocked. Just before the settlement was blockaded, Genom Cthulha had led a group to infiltrate the place. Cold, unfeeling, and unbelievably powerful, discerning his thoughts was an exercise in futility. Making an enemy of these girls was nothing compared to having to face him. Still, the adventurers’ hope that their numbers would be enough had been misplaced. They weren’t even fighting the four girls anymore, just an endless swarm of conjured soldiers. “This thing can’t beat me…!” One of the adventurers managed to destroy the core of a conjured soldier. The constructs were each powered by a Primary Color crystal. Destroy the crystal, and the conjured soldier would become inert. However, the man’s celebration for a hard-fought victory was short-lived. “Ooh, nicely done. What a good kid.” The woman who praised his efforts was beautiful enough to remain captivating even in the middle of a battle. Her outfit showed off a generous amount of her tan skin and glamorous curves. As she beamed at the adventurer in a way that suggested his fierce struggle was adorable, the gear-shaped mark on her stomach glowed with Guiding Light. “Here’s some more for you.” Her tone was bright, even as a giant conjured soldier emerged from her skin, then another. They were a pair of the same type the man had defeated moments earlier. The ground shook as they stepped forward. He’d barely managed to best one, and now there were two more. In the face of this seemingly limitless, unending onslaught, not to mention the reminder of how poorly matched they were, the adventurers’ fighting spirit dropped like a stone. The woman’s tan skin, her jet-black sclera, and her beautiful pure-blue irises were all telltale signs that she was a Primary Triad conjured soldier. Such creatures could produce and command conjured soldiers. They were the only intelligent life-forms besides humans. These special conjured soldiers were normally only seen in the Mechanical Society to the east. However, their superhuman intelligence and abilities were known all over the continent. And of course, she wasn’t the only powerful enemy the adventurers faced. “Dammit…!” Another man tried to slip past while his comrade dealt with the conjured soldier, only to be blocked by Guiding Force Branches that formed in the blink of an eye. A gun waited, ready to shoot him as soon as he dared to stand still. The offender in this case was especially pretty, even among the four girls. She was Menou, the one known as Flarette. She employed quick crest conjurings to slow her opponents, then knocked them out cold with a single blast from her gun. It was painfully obvious from the fact that she used attacks even the adventurers understood, and not any unusual conjurings, that she was trained and skilled far beyond their wildest imagination. “Ahhh, this is nice and easy.” Then there was Governor Sahara, the silver-haired girl in the nun’s habit. She stood in the back yawning, showing a clear lack of concern. Supposedly, she’d conquered battles in the eastern Wild Frontier. From her lofty attitude, it was easy to imagine that Flarette, who’d brought the holy land to destruction, and the Primary Triad conjured soldier might be her subordinates. Her disinterest, a demonstration that she was clearly on another level, only plunged the men further into despair. Pure, simple fear kept them fighting, though. Namely, that of Genom Cthulha. Although born into the Commons like many of the adventurers fighting, he was in a league all his own. None of the men dared defy him, even though it meant fighting these powerful young women. The fear of Genom had rooted itself in the very marrow of their bones. For all the apparent hopelessness of their fight, the men did see an obvious weakness. “Forget the other three—the little one’s just some kid! Go after her. If we can take her as a hostage—” “Oh, really?” As the shouts of panic and desperation bounced across the battlefield, a little girl spoke from behind the adventurers. “Don’t you know that little kids pull the biggest pranks?” The men froze in horror. They’d been so focused on dealing with the conjured soldiers, they hadn’t watched their rear. They whirled to face her, but it was too late. A black-haired girl peered out from within their shadows. Her eyes glittered with red Guiding Light. Guiding Force: Sacrifice—Chaos Collusion, Pure Concept [Evil]—Summon [Little pitfall prank] “Wh-wha?!” A hole formed in the shadows at the men’s feet. They sank into the dark pit up to their ankles, losing their balance. The little girl stuck out her tongue at her trapped victims. Their faces contorted with rage at the mischievous conjuring, but they never had a chance to retaliate. Guiding Force: Connect—Dagger Gun Crest—Invoke [Thunderclap] Menou’s crest conjuring brought lightning down on the adventurers. They fainted without so much as screaming. With that, all obstructions to the City of Ruins had been dealt with, although in a louder and more conspicuous way than Menou would’ve liked. She stepped between the heaps of unconscious men and patted Maya on the head. “Thanks.” Abbie had done most of the heavy lifting, of course, but Maya’s interference provided the opening for the final blow. The little girl scrunched up her face but didn’t push Menou’s hand away. “Are you sure it’s safe to use your Pure Concept like that?” Menou asked. “You used yours, too, didn’t you? There’s no harm in just a tiny bit.” “Really? I use mine with reduced potency. You aren’t, though, are you?” Menou couldn’t help but caution Maya over the danger of Pure Concept conjurings. Their immense power came at the cost of the user’s memories. If a Pure Concept holder used up enough memories and lost their sense of self, they’d become a walking disaster, acting on the impulses of the Pure Concept fused to their soul—a Human Error. But Maya knew the terror of becoming a Human Error more than anyone else, which is why she could answer with confidence. “Since the Pure Concept of Evil also sacrifices the flesh, it consumes fewer memories in exchange. In fact, I think I might get the best bang for my buck of any Pure Concept user out there.” This was a unique feature of the Pure Concept of Evil, which adhered not just to the soul and spirit but to the physical body. By offering up parts of her form as a sacrifice to invoke a conjuring, she could significantly reduce the amount of memories consumed. “I’ve been saving up stuff like hair and fingernails to use as sacrifices little by little, so a tiny conjuring like that is no big deal. You don’t need to worry about me so much, ’kay?” Maya’s traumatic past had kept her from telling Menou and the others about this strength of hers until now. Because of this feature of her Pure Concept, she’d yet to forget her body slowly being carved away in the name of research, even after a thousand years. She was afraid that if anyone knew that she could use her Pure Concept a fair amount without becoming a Human Error, they would force her to do more conjurings. But now, Maya was willing to share the secrets of her Pure Concept freely with her companions. Over the course of their journey, she’d come to trust that Menou and Sahara would never do something so cruel to her. Sensing the girl’s faith from her tone, Menou smiled at Maya. “You’re such a good kid.” “What makes you say that all of a sudden? Of course I am.” When they first arrived in the north, Maya wouldn’t have agreed so readily without a show of stubbornness. The group pressed forward, stopping before the door that clearly marked the end of the road. It was huge and metallic, looking like little more than a featureless wall. Menou knocked on it experimentally, producing only a dull noise that gave no indication of how thick it might be. “I take it the City of Ruins is beyond this,” she remarked. “Yup, that’s right.” This casual confirmation came from Abbie, who was busily stripping the men’s equipment away. Her insect-type conjured soldiers, each no larger than the size of a pinky finger, were dismantling and neutralizing the adventurers’ weapons. Once they woke up, they probably wouldn’t chase after Menou and company when they realized they were unarmed. Based on the results of Abbie’s survey and of how the adventurers had defended this door so desperately, it was safe to assume that the City of Ruins lay just on the other side. Maya approached the giant door. “Ooh, this door’s been here for ages! It’s supposed to be an emergency escape route, so it’s normally kept closed, but important people like yours truly are registered to it, so…” “Oh. It’s open,” Sahara said. “…So it is. I wonder why,” Menou replied. This door had been sealed to everyone for a thousand years, forever keeping the existence of the City of Ruins a mystery. Menou had come this far relying on Maya’s information of the place. So why was the way open now? Confused, Menou nonetheless stepped through the passageway. The bulkhead was so thick that she and the others had to pass through a small tunnel before reaching the edge of a giant city. “Whoa!” The exclamation that sounded equal parts alarmed and impressed came from Sahara. A true city had waited just beyond the metallic door. At first, it seemed the passage had led the group to an overlook of the entire City of Ruins, but it was actually impossible to see the entire thing from where they stood. It was simply too enormous. “Are we really still underground…?” The City of Ruins was so spacious that Menou couldn’t help but look back in disbelief at the narrow passage they had just come through. From her point of view, even a five-story building was considered very tall. The orderly lines of these structures dwarfed that easily. Uniformly paved rows of high-rise buildings made of materials Menou had never seen before climbed high into the air. At the heart of the city loomed a tower so enormous that it was hard to believe at first glance that it could possibly be man-made. Given its size, it was undoubtedly visible from just about anywhere in the city. In fact, there were actually two separate towers of equal enormity: one that rose from the ground, and one that stretched downward from the ceiling. Each was probably thousands of meters long, and in the space between them, a swirl of Guiding Light formed a shining sphere. The phosphorescent radiance spilling from this mass was enough to illuminate the entire underground city evenly. Although these were the ruins of an ancient civilization, it was obvious at a glance they were far more advanced than any modern city. Most stunning of all was the cavern ceiling. Menou and company were currently underground. Naturally, they couldn’t see the sky. Yet the ceiling wasn’t dug out from the exposed earth, nor had it been smoothed over with inorganic materials. Instead, a cityscape just as impressive as the one below covered the ceiling. “Wow, whoever made this place had great taste.” Menou and Sahara were too shocked to voice anything like the casual compliment Abbie made. Structures spread out before them, both above and below. Buildings of all shapes and sizes extended downward from the ceiling like icicles. Such construction was only possible belowground. Standing at the edge, Menou still couldn’t see the whole picture, but assuming that the massive tower was at the center of the city, there was easily enough space to fit the entire capital of Grisarika within this cavern, with room to spare. “Heh-heh! What do you think? Pretty amazing, right? I kept the view a secret to surprise you!” “I mean, it’s amazing and all, but…” Sahara, overwhelmed by what was possibly the most stunning spectacle of its kind in all the world, pointed cautiously at the ceiling. “What’s with the upside-down buildings? Do they have a purpose…?” “You mean the ceiling district? People lived there, of course.” “Whaaat? It’s not just some stupidly large art project?” “Ha-ha. You have the funniest ideas, li’l sis. I think it’s an excellent use of the space, don’t you?” said Abbie.
Chapter 122
12 min read