[V11C3] Bomb?
Translated by Jodas 11: Envoy of the AbyssIt wasn’t like Tia and the others hadn’t anticipated encountering the Primordial Beast. In fact, Roswitha had come here prepared for a fight, fully intending to defeat him.
But where they were now put them at a severe disadvantage.
This closed-off underground passage, with no cover or concealment, was no different from being locked in a cage with a ravenous wild animal.
Sevil lowered her voice and whispered to Tia.
“Tia, which way to get outside?”
“Pevuvu… This way.”
Tia pointed in the direction where she could best sense the movement of air. Of course, she made sure to point subtly, with her finger hidden behind her body so the Primordial Beast couldn’t see.
Roswitha reached for the sticks in her cloak, but Ella stopped her.
“Not yet, Roswi.”
“…”
Roswitha gritted her teeth. Sophie hid behind her with tears in her eyes.
Amidst all the tension, it was Julius who broke the silence.
“Agniol!”
“Roger that, Young Master!”
Agniol leapt forward and summoned a wall of flame between the Primordial Beast and the Apprentices. With that opening, Tia and the gang sprinted for the surface.
The Primordial Beast clicked his tongue in dissapointment.
“You think I’m soft, do ya? Did you really think a little flame like this would be enough to stop me?”
The Primordial Beast hunched over, then rocketed forward, straight through the wall of flames. His silver fur was unnaturally resistant to mana, so even Agniol’s flames weren’t enough to do any serious damage to him.
—But they had already factored that in to their calculations.
The wall of flame was mostly just there to act as a smokescreen. By paying close attention to the curving of the flames, Gerald worked out where the Primordial Beast would land, and met him there with a swing of his sword.
“Hah!”
Even the strongest beasts would be defenseless when landing after a great leap.
Gerald’s sword swung right for the Beast’s neck… but the blade didn’t break his skin. Gerald gasped.
“The boy from earlier, hm? …Too bad.”
The silver wolf’s mutterings almost sounded a little regretful.
That terrifying Monster understood very well just how vast the gulf was between humans and himself.
“No ordinary attacks will make a scratch on my body the way I am now. This body is far beyond any human capabilities.”
This was a Greater Monster. Now that his powers were freed from the restrictions of the crystal rivets, this beast was completely untouchable as far as humans were concerned.
Tia’s thoughts warred in her mind as she ran. Should she return to Harpy form, knowing full well that it would expose her identity? Even if she did, she had a feeling that a Harpy’s strength was far from enough to hold back the Primordial Beast.
(But at this rate, everyone will…)
Suddenly, she heard the sound of something rolling on the ground. A metal tube. Thick white smoke emerged from that tube with vigor. Inside, there was a sheet of paper tightly rolled up — Wren’s inscription magic.
Wren shouted.
“How do you like this! It’s a deadly poison that only works on Monsters!”
“I sense some uncertainty in your voice, boy. I see… so it’s a bluff.”
The wolf’s voice sounded like a grandfather teasing his grandkids.
Wren grimaced. Of course he was lying. Even if he did have such a poison that could kill Monsters, Wren would never use it here while Tia was around.
“I find that human craftiness of yours admirable. Strategy is a very human talent, after all.”
The Primordial Beast hunched over again. With this Monster’s overwhelming physical capabilities, he should have had no problem lunching at them even without the need to brace himself first.
The Beast had to have been testing them. He wanted to see the limits of human strength. To test their vaunted talents.
That was the obsession the Primordial Beast had for humanity.
“Come, show me your strategies, humans. I will tear each and every one apart with my teeth and claws.”
The group desperately scurried up a slippery slope. Halfway through, the slope became a staircase. This had to lead outside. She could feel the wind.
Running ahead of the group, Tia pushed open the crystal-encrusted hatch and leapt outside.
“…Huh?”
Tia’s eyes shot wide open. Shortly afterwards, Sevil and the others emerged behind her, and they too gasped in shock.
This was nowhere near the Third Spire. It didn’t look like they were in the gardens either.
With the trees and buildings coated in crystals, it was hard to work out their position, but Tia figured it out instantly. They were near the dorms and the southern gate.
(Why would we come out here, of all places…!?)
The group had been aiming for a spot directly beneath the Third Spire: Water Bubble. Even if their math was a little off, they figured they would emerge in the gardens, but somehow they’d ended up somewhere entirely different.
Suddenly it occurred to her. The hole in the ground they had emerged from and the hatch over it — There shouldn’t have been anything like it near the dorms. Besides, it looked to her like the hole had been freshly dug.
(Who has magic that can control dirt… Kai, with the Witch’s power, could do that no problem.)
Of course the tunnels underground had been completely unfamiliar to her. They hadn’t been anywhere near the Cradle where Fiene was kept.
It seemed likely that Kai had taken a passageway that was already there and dug from there to create a new path.
All of this was a trap meant to lure in those who knew about that underground passage.
A rustling sound emerged from a nearby thicket, and soon after a bug Monster appeared before them. To make things worse, Eyeball Birds were screeching cacophonously as the circled overhead.
And, among those birds, she caught sight of a color like a raging inferno; a beautiful set of wings…
(—Sis!!)
Her sister’s amber eyes shifted to gaze directly at Tia.
Her sister’s mouth opened. Tia screamed at once.
“Everyone! Cover your ears!!”
Once she gave the warning, she shouted once more. She did not sing; her shout was nothing more that a loud, meaningless “AAAHHHH!” Nevertheless, it was enough to cancel out some of the effects of her sister’s singing.
(Sis’s song is the song of demoralization. Just by singing, she steals away a human’s will to fight…)
Sevil covered her ears and fell to her knees. Charonlala’s song was already taking effect.
Tia’s screaming alone wouldn’t be enough to fully cancel it out. This was a Harpy’s song, after all. One laden with ample mana, now that the restriction of the crystal rivets was removed.
Was it time for her to return to Harpy form herself? Tia’s heart wavered.
Then, behind her, Gerald shouted.
“Look back there! The Primordial Beast is on his way!”
Surrounded by bug Monsters, with Charonlala and the Eyeball Birds overhead, and the Primordial Beast behind them.
In the midst of this hopeless situation, Tia noticed a man staring down at them from a window on the second floor of the dorm.
It was a blond man, with bandages wrapped all over his face. He wore a hat decorated with a rose-shaped ornament.
(KAI!!)
Kai smiled. His lips moved, forming words.
Even with her sister’s singing, her own shouting, and the cries of the Monsters… her superior Harpy hearing had no issue picking up what Kai had to say.
“Come on, why don’t you eat the candy?”
The moment she did eat that candy, Tia’s identity would be exposed. That was precisely what Kai wanted.
That palpable feeling of hostility was suddenly interrupted when Wren shouted.
“Everyone get back! Julius, recall Agniol! Anyone with high mana stay as far away as you can get!”
Wren ran towards the entrance of the dorm. That place was crawling with bug Monsters. She had to go stop him — But Wren barked back “Stay back, I said!”
“Wren—!”
Tia screamed, but Wren reassured her with a wink. “Don’t worry about me!” That was the wink of a pretty boy acting tough.
“I know it’s a bit soon to be using my trump card… But we can’t help it now!”
Wren shoved his hand in his pocket and pulled out the small bottle he’d been given by Rose. Inside, a viscous liquid sloshed around. With abandon, Wren popped the bottle open and splashed its contents over the planters that lined the outside of the dorm building.
At about the same time, two large mantis-type Monsters lunged at Wren. Wren ducked to dodge their attack, but he would only get so lucky once.
A third mantis moved to swing its scythe-like blade down at Wren’s neck… but that blade got caught in something.
It was the vine of a great pea plant that sprouted from the planters.
The pea plant grew with abnormal ferocity, and its vines quickly escaped the planter and its supporting plinth to stretch out across the surroundings. Then, one after another, it began to ensnare any Monsters in its vicinity.
The ensnared Monsters tried to resist at first, but quickly found their strength sapped away. The peas were seemingly absorbing the mana from anything they caught hold of.
Tia suppressed her urge to help Wren and distanced herself from this scene. While she may have been in human form, Tia’s true mana reserves far exceeded anything a human could ever reach. Those peas would absolutely go for her if she was within their reach. Likewise, Julius retracted Agniol back in to his ring.
The pea plant grew even faster, lashing out at the Monsters. Odds were that it was attacking anything in its vicinity indiscriminately, so long as it had strong enough mana.
(That was why Rose gave it to Wren, who has the lowest mana reserves…)
While it looked like a plant Monster at first glance, it wasn’t. Her Harpy instincts were telling her that this was no Monster.
That thing had no obsession for humans. It was simply a mutated plant that wanted nothing but to consume mana. That made it the perfect trump card for the current situation.
Wren dodged the bugs and made his way back to the group. Thrilled to see Wren safe and sound, Tia took a glance at the bottle in his hand. Written on it were words in a foreign language.
“Wow, Rose’s medicine is amazing! You said it was some kind of magical medicine, right? What does that say on it?”
“Umm, it says it’s a liquid fertilizer for specific species of plants imbued with rapid growth and mana absorption effects… Looks like it’s called ‘Giant Pea Bomb Essence’”
“Piyo? ……… Bomb?”
Just as Tia muttered that, a giant pea pod burst open, and peas the size of a human head spewed out, sending nearby Monsters flying.
“Report: The Monsters have begun behaving erratically. The birds in particular seem to be gathering round the dormitories and raising quite the ruckus. Plus…”
Otto paused in the middle of his report, then continued in a grave tone.
“A new form of Monster has appeared inside the campus. It appears to be a giant pea-plant-type Monster. It grows with ferocious speed, and we believe it is only a matter of time before it towers above the outer walls.”
Following Otto’s report, the three Spiremasters, who were standing outside of the southern gate waiting for the attack to commence, exchanged concerned looks.
While there was a faint light creeping into the edges of the sky, it was not quite yet dawn, when the operation would begin in earnest.
As soon as Spiremaster Lowein ordered Otto to “Stand back and keep an eye on it for the time being,” Rose inserted himself into the conversation.
“Oh, that one’s not a Monster. That’s my trump card.”
The Spiremasters were now only more confused.
Sensing that they were about to complain why the hadn’t been informed of such a thing, Rose decided to act before they could say anything.
It sounded like Wren and the others must have been spotted by the Monsters. In that case, it would be best for them to jump into action as soon as possible.
“Spiremaster Alto, get ready to start your choral magic. I know it’s a little earlier than planned, but let’s get started.”
Rose stepped towards the gate and chanted. This was not one of the Modern Magecraft incantations he’d learned during his time at the Wedge Tower. Instead, the song-like cadence of this incantation was the distinctive hallmark of Classical Magecraft.
As he chanted in this rhythm beneath his fuzzy beard, Rose dropped a handful of seeds onto the ground. Those seeds soon blossomed, and fresh vines sprouted from the dirt.
The Wedge Tower’s mages all watched his movements with abated breath.
It was known that there existed magecraft and magical serums to hasten the speed of a plant’s growth. Yet what they were seeing here was simply unnatural. That was not the whole story, however, as the Thorn Witch’s plants could do much more than just grow quickly.
“All things shall be nutrients to my flowers, so eat your fill of mana. Consume with abandon, until thou be satisfied.”
The lyrics of the songs and poems that comprised Classical Magecraft at times revealed the nature of that magic.
Vines crawled up the southern gate, and quickly enveloped the Wedge Tower’s walls. Before long, tiny flower buds popped up here and there along those vines.
His voice, weaving together the mysteries of Classical Magecraft in real time, calmly and proudly delivered the last line in the incantation:
“Now, Bloom with pride, Rose Fortress!”
The buds bloomed, and a field of white roses blossomed.