Noah bit her lips bitterly. She never realized how important those beside her really were until it was too late, after she’d lost them. The tears ran again with nothing to hold them back anymore.
—I lost someone so important.
“It’s too soon to let down your guard though,” Gewalt commented, his lips curling up into a smirk. As soon as he said that, Noah’s field of vision turned over again. Something had struck them, and hard. The summon beast was torn apart behind them.
“Whoa?!”
It was slimy and sticky and not at all a pleasant ride, but the beast still carried them away from danger...and now it had been split in two, crumbling in a puff of light. The summon crystal popped back into Gewalt’s hand.
“Tch! That old man won’t let us go, will he? What’s killing an ugly girl like you compared to governing all of existence?! Or is my beauty drawing him to me?!”
“I’ll knock your teeth out, you dick!”
Noah was thrown out into the open air. But even as she shouted at Gewalt, she looked around cautiously. She was probably at a lower level than the room where she fought Cross Reverie, since the summon beast was destroyed while still within the castle.
Held in Gewalt’s arms, Noah continued plummeting down. A fall from this height would kill a normal person, but her level 300 body was more durable. This wouldn’t cause her that much fall damage.
But the ground they were falling toward was black.
—What?!
She only realized it just before impact. They hit the black surface with a large, loud splash.
“Bwfah?!”
It was water. Indeed, it was a gigantic castle capable of moving, but despite that, there was no water storage facility on Viovix’s surface. Even if the castle was mostly populated by machines and tentacle monsters, it still needed a reliable source of water. The pool was relatively shallow, so that their legs reached the bottom.
“Let go of me,” Noah said, shaking off Gewalt’s arms and pulling away from him.
“Believe me, I don’t want to lay hands on a woman either! I don’t want your smell on me!”
“Kuh... Is this the castle’s water tank?”
“If it is, I guess it’s their drinking water.”
“Based on what Aira told me... Most of the defense here is handled by the Magi Guards, but there are also engineers and laborers here.”
—But if that was true, why haven’t we seen anyone since we got here?
“Ugh... The thought of drinking this makes me sick!” Gewalt said, grimacing.
“Really?” Noah asked. The water didn’t seem any different from well water, hygienically speaking...
“Look at this tree!” he said.
“Tree?”
“Isn’t the bark familiar? Its color is a little different though.”
Noah finally noticed that there was a massive tree growing in the water. And indeed, its size and rugged bark did remind her of something else.
“No... This is Emperor Gelmed’s tree?!”
“I don’t want to think there might be more than one of that monster. It must be the tree’s roots!”
This tree was Emperor Gelmed himself, and the source of those tentacles. Seeing its roots were submerged in the water, Noah suddenly didn’t want to have to drink this water either.
†
The water’s surface was undulating. The walls creaked as the roots began vibrating.
“The cooldowns on my summon beasts aren’t over yet...” Gewalt clicked his tongue in frustration.
“It’s coming after us!” Noah called out.
Countless tentacles splashed down into the water, approaching them rapidly. This time, there were no allies left to cut them off before they could reach her.
“Grr...” Gewalt gritted his teeth. “You were throwing spells left and right earlier, weren’t you?! What gives?!”
“I hardly have any MP left... I can’t cast any spells capable of sweeping them away...” Noah muttered helplessly.
“Don’t you have any magical tools?!”
“Yes, but only for producing clothes and food.”
“We’re not here for a picnic, are we, you idiot?!”
Noah did elaborately prepare for this attack with a number of contingency plans. She had tools that acted as lanterns, sound bombs, tools to repair broken weapons and armor, and so on...but none of them were useful here. Everything that happened was simply too unexpected.
And then it appeared, accompanied by the tentacles.
The Magimatic Garment Cross Reverie. Emperor Gelmed.
“I shall praise you...” his hoarse voice boomed around them. “You’ve managed to escape my watchful gaze a single time. Impressive...”
Gewalt drew the sword sheathed at his waist.
“Tch... I doubt 《Ifrit》 would even buy us time...” he muttered bitterly.
Cross Reverie’s chestpiece swung open. It was packed with tentacles inside which parted and revealed the wrinkled head of an old man.
“Are you the master of that summon beast from earlier?” the old man asked.
“And what if I am?” Gewalt replied suspiciously.
“Then I would like to try it on you, in place of my missing subordinates.”
“Try what?”
A few slender tendrils slithered under the water, grabbing Gewalt by the ankles. Before he could even react, they coiled around his limbs, and sooner than he could scream, a tentacle plunged into his mouth.
“Nnnngah?!”
Emperor Gelmed’s expression contorted into an eerie smile. His eyes narrowed so much they were indistinguishable from the wrinkles on his face.
“Should you survive, it will give you power. And should you not be suitable...it shall feast upon your organs. Serve me well.”
“Nnnngaah?! Ugh?! Bwaaah?!” Gewalt croaked and thrashed.
Noah was frozen on the spot. She felt that she ought to save him...but one wrong move would get her killed. No magic worked on the Magimatic Garment, and it attacked faster than the mightiest of warriors. The sheer terror she felt in that moment made it difficult to breathe.
Her past life, a time when nothing went the way she wanted it, flashed in her mind. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead and rolled down her cheeks.
“Ugh...”
She couldn’t even resist. There would be no running away or fighting back. Emperor Gelmed glared at her.
“Let us try it on you next,” he said.
If there was any way of surviving this situation, it was being compatible with a Magimatic Sol and serving as the Emperor’s disposable pawn. Noah’s field of vision contorted.
“Heh... Heheh...” she chuckled, extending her hand forward. “I have to spend my second life...bowing down to shitty old men like you all over again?! Never!”
She would never again live her life licking the boots of a superior she hated. And with this, she triggered a spell, omitting the incantation.
—《Shining Lance》!
The Magimatic Garment’s chestpiece was still open, so she aimed her light spear at the wrinkled face inside it. It went flying, streaking through the air in a straight line.
“Get him!”
“You fool...”
But once again, an invisible barrier blocked Noah’s spell.
“Divine retribution shall befall whomever tries to harm me... And you’ve acted foolishly enough to earn such a fate. Let judgment be passed!”
A massive amount of mana gathered and launched a type of attack that was unlike anything Noah had ever seen. Freezing air was now washing over her. Noah screamed, her field of vision blurry with tears. But just as her tears froze to her face...
A hand was thrust forward from behind Noah, and it wasn’t a hand that belonged to any of the races. Covered in armor, it was oddly similar to Cross Reverie in that there were no seams in the metal. The cold air suddenly dispersed.
—Did Emperor Gelmed stop...?
No, that wasn’t it. Noah realized the owner of this armored hand stopped the attack and reasoned that it must have been a sorcerer who far exceeded her.
—Who is this?!
She turned around and screeched in fear again.
Before her was a monster.
Its body was clad in purple armor, and five crimson eyes gleamed on its angular head. Horns extended from its head and shoulders, and in place of its mouth was a long crease that extended all the way to its ears.
“Is that the Emperor?” the monster asked, speaking with Diablo’s voice.