[V11C4] It’s Okay if I Miss a Few
Translated by Jodas 11: Envoy of the AbyssLeaning out of a window on the second floor of the dormitory, Kai smirked, confident in his victory.
Tia — the Harpy in human form — was in despair.
Despised by her sister, there was no longer any place for Tia among the Monsters.
And now, by exposing her true form, she would lose her place among the humans as well.
(Despair, for neither the humans nor the Monsters will accept you! Then die! Die as pitifully and painfully as you can!)
Tia’s death would surely come as quite the shock to Charonlala.
While Charonlala insisted that she had parted ways with her sister, it was obvious that deep down she wished for nothing more than that sister to escape to safety.
Then, heartbroken, Charonlala would go to seek comfort in the arms of that pianist. When she did, he would tell the pianist all about who Charonlala really was.
(Despair, for you will be rejected by both your Monster sister and your human lover! Die in the depths of loneliness! There is no longer a place in this world for you Harpies!)
Then, once he had seen through the eradication of the last Harpies, he would go on a trip with the Witch.
The Western Wall would disappear soon. He would at last be free.
(It won’t be long now, O Great Witch)
In the brief moment where he closed his eyes and caressed the rose ornament on his hat, the world outside of the window was overcome by a mysterious and massive plant.
‘What the hell is this? I don’t remember there being a Monster like this!’ He fretted as that plant, a gargantuan pea plant, reached out its vines to ensnare one Monster after another. Then, he realized that this was no Monster at all. This was human magecraft.
Something moved at the edge of his vision. He turned his attention to where something was snaking up the outer walls — vines with white roses.
“Is… that…”
The Eyeball Birds that had been perched on the top of the wall sensed the danger and took flight… but before they could escape to the skies, white rose vines emerged to ensnare the Eyeball Birds.
The rose vines squeezed tightly around the Eyeball Birds, drawing blood.
Long ago, the First Thorn Witch, Rebecca Roseberg, built a reputation for herself through the use of two distinct magics.
First was the Black Flames, a form of magecraft that controlled a black flame that could burn anything and everything to the ground.
And the other one was a form of magecraft that controlled roses that could suck away human blood and mana. It was known as the Man-Eating Rose Fortress.
(Is that the Rose Fortress? … There’s a Roseberg here!?)
Upon absorbing the Eyeball Birds’ blood, the white roses were stained in a purplish-black color. For whatever reason, it looked like it could feed on Monster blood just as it did human blood.
What was most concerning was the other aspect of that Rose Fortress. Those roses drew out mana as well — the mana that encompassed the Wedge Tower due to the crystal contamination would feed the growth of that Rose Fortress as well.
Kai threw the window open and shouted.
“Your priority is cutting apart those roses! Those roses absorb mana! It’s going to consume the mana from the crystal contamination!”
Some of the Monsters who heard Kai’s — the Chancellor’s — shouting turned to deal with the rose vines. But any Monsters who approached too carelessly would be quickly done in by those rose vines.
Flailing like whips and thrusting like spears, the rose vines turned the Monsters into a bloodbath. And those who sought shelter deeper inside the Wedge Tower now exposed themselves to attacks from the pea plant. In the blink of an eye, the Monsters in the campus were thrown into disarray.
At the same time, the assault on the Wedge Tower began from all sides. The assault from the human mages, that was.
(Dammit! Dammitdammitdammit! Shit!!)
With his face filled with hatred, Kai glared at the rose vines crawling over the walls.
(So you’ve come to steal the Great Witch from me, have you? … You bastard…)
While he hadn’t expected the acting ‘Thorn Witch’ to make an appearance, he did have a means prepared to deal with such a person.
Smiling darkly, Kai turned on his heels. Now he headed to where he’d hidden the Ancient Magical Artifacts ‘Ignatius, the Severer’ and ‘Despina, the Chain of Fools.’
While the Monsters had no need for such things, Kai decided to keep them squirreled away to prepare for any unforeseen circumstances.
‘Ignatius, the Severer’ was meaningless in a battle against humans. However, when it came to ‘Despina, the Chain of Fools’… Even if he was unable to use it properly, he could at least make it go haywire. If that allowed him to seal the ‘Thorn Witch’s powers for even a moment, that was enough opportunity to have the Monsters tear them apart.
(I won’t let you have her… I won’t… I’ll never let you have the Great Witch…!)
Charonlala’s song faded out of earshot a while ago. To avoid the pea plant’s attacks, she had no choice but to open up the distance. The other Monsters likewise had picked up on the fact that the pea plant was a human attack, and wisely stayed clear of it.
Tia and the others made sure to stay away from the peas as they watched the roses crawl over the walls. A stunned “Pyoehhh…” escaped Tia’s throat.
One after another, the white roses ensnared a Monster, then pierced it. However, for some reason, they did not threaten the wolf monsters at all.
At first she wondered if they were somehow weak to wolf-monsters, but that probably wasn’t it. Sevil muttered something, realization evident on her face.
“Those roses attack everything except the wolf Monsters… I see, so that’s how it is.”
The other Apprentices instantly understood the meaning behind Sevil’s words.
The rose vines were avoiding wolf Monsters so that they didn’t get Finn wrapped up in this by accident.
By now, the Werewolves must have realized that they alone were not being targeted. They soon launched an all-out assault on the rose vines.
The rose vines viciously attacked birds, boars, and anything else that wasn’t a wolf, while the Werewolves tore at them. It was a nightmarish scene of carnage and chaos.
With a mix of shock and exasperation, Wren mumbled under his breath.
“Rose, you dumbass… This isn’t ‘a little amazing’ at all! It’s completely out of this world!”
Indeed, for Rose, the Fifth Thorn Witch and one of the Seven Sages, this may very well have been merely ‘a little amazing.’ But no matter how you looked at it, there was nothing ‘little’ about this at all. If he lived in the Crystal Territory, he may very well have been able to declare himself King.
Roswitha whispered bitterly.
“I’ve heard the rumors about it. The Thorn Witch’s Rose Fortress… Apparently those roses can’t just attack, they can also absorb mana from the surrounding area.”
By absorbing mana, it sounded like the roses could mitigate the heightened mana levels from the crystal contamination. That would be a big help.
However, it wasn’t like the mana density went right back to normal in the blink of an eye. From what Tia’s senses could detect, the mana inside the Wedge Tower was still far higher than was safe for humans. Without the candies to alleviate the effects, it would still be hard for them to accomplish anything.
(I guess it is getting a little lighter in the area around the walls… kinda?)
The armies surrounding the Wedge Tower must have picked up on that, as they began their attack on the Monsters around the walls. From here on out, it was going to be a messy battle.
The Primordial Beast leapt out from underground and hummed in excitement.
“Oh? The mages have come, have they? … Let me see about that.”
Saying that, the Primordial Beast lunged at the pea plant. Its thick vines should have taken quite a long time to cut through, and yet the Primordial Beast’s claws slashed through them like a hot knife through butter, tearing the vines to shreds.
Before long, many of its roots were severed and the massive mutant pea plant started to lean to one side. When it fell, several Monsters were caught in the carnage as it crashed to the ground.
Feeling the earth tremble as the pea plant hit the ground, the Primordial Beast spoke with glee.
“Now, how about I go find myself some strong ones.”
From the very beginning, the Primordial Beast had no intentions of going all-out against the Apprentices.
Roswitha found that frustrating, but she swallowed her pride. She already understood that there simply was no winning against the Primordial Beast in a fair fight.
(Sis is… by the south gate.)
She could hear the sound of an instrument from over in that direction. Spiremaster Alto must be there, using her choral magic.
Then, Sevil spoke to the other Apprentices.
“Here’s our chance. Execute plan B, variation seven.”
On their way here, they had settled on a number of action plans and variations.
And while Tia could not remember all of them, she did remember that all the ones that started with B involved her acting alongside Wren.
“Wren! What’s B-seven again?”
“It’s the one where we split up and look for clues! One group goes to talk to Finn, one to find the Ancient Magical Artifacts, one to find the crystal rivets in the Cradle… After that, we do support as needed!”
“Sup-port as nee-ded!”
The Apprentices divided themselves into three groups. Plan B-seven involved three teams:
Ella and Roswitha had their magecraft.
Gerald would protect Julius and Sophie.
Sevil would protect Tia and Wren.
Then, they would act as needed depending on the situation.
“Everyone, ensure you make it back alive!”
Every one of them shouted in agreement to Sevil’s command.
Internally aghast at the terrifying magic that buried the walls under a mess of white roses, Otto swung his magic sword.
The white roses were an unbelievably fierce weapon. Monsters’ teeth and claws failed to leave a scratch on them, while they regenerated with terrifying speed. Then, the vines would bind and strangle the closest Monster, sucking it dry of mana.
Such a thing was no less incomprehensible to him than a Greater Monster.
(And yet…)
After Otto weaved through the thorns to strike down a Werewolf, he glanced back at the man who had created these rose vines.
That large red-haired fuzzy-bearded man, the Apprentice Mage John Rose — Or, more accurately, the man known as the Fifth Thorn Witch, one of his country’s Seven Sages.
Regardless of that fact, he’d never seen the man wear a robe, nor raise a staff. It was hard to see him as anything but an ordinary, albeit fuzzy, farmer.
Unsure exactly how deferential he should be when approaching him, Otto spoke to the Thorn Witch.
“Um… Mr. Thorn Witch, I’m deeply grateful for your support. That said…”
“Hm? What’s up?”
When responding to Otto, he acted just like any young man you could find out in the country. It made him feel even harder to talk to.
“I might just be imagining it, but it looks to me like those rose vines are selectively avoiding attacking the Werewolves in particular.”
Otto’s theory made Rose go silent for a second.
His green eyes evaluated Otto. Looking at him from up close like this, it was clear that he was much younger than Otto was. However, there was this uncanny air about him that seemed quite unbefitting of a youngster like him.
Beneath that beard of his, Rose’s lips opened once more.
“…To be honest, if I let these roses run wild, they would go and attack whatever they saw, entirely without my knowledge. When they did, they would just kill everything in sight, starting from the ones with high mana and working their way on down.”
Otto’s eyes widened a bit.
These plants would attack anyone with high mana and suck out all of their mana — In essence, wasn’t this just a weapon designed for mass murder?
“And when it did, I know it will end up doing something that can’t be undone somewhere I can’t even see. I just can’t allow that to happen.”
“……”
“It takes a whole lot of focus to keep the Rose Fortress under control. So…”
He could feel his muscles trembling.
Rose had a friendly and casual tone to his voice, and yet he felt the same paralyzing fear as if he was standing in the face of a tremendously powerful creature.
“Would you forgive me if I happen to miss a few?”
“…Understood.”
How could he possibly say anything else in reply? When he stood in the face of a creature more terrifying and powerful than any Monster?
He could understand where Rose was coming from, though.
Just a moment ago, there was a ruckus somewhere inside the Wedge Tower’s campus. Rose jumped to action immediately afterwards.
That ruckus was caused by the Apprentice Mages, wasn’t it? Rose was avoiding attacking wolves because he wanted to protect Finn Nohl, wasn’t he?
(You know, I feel the same way.)
Some of the Wedge Tower’s members — Spiremaster Abel and her supporters, to be specific — wanted to kill Fiene, Otto’s daughter.
If they didn’t, they would be unable to name a new contractor to the Ancient Magical Artifact ‘Chariclea.’ And Otto was here because he would not allow such a thing to happen.
Otto lifted his sword back to ready position, and tried to avoid making eye contact with Rose as he spoke.
“If I see a little wolf out there, I’ll let you deal with it, then.”
“Thanks a ton, Mr. Otto!”
He was awfully cheerful as he voiced his appreciation, and when compared with the grotesque roses around him, gave the strangest sensation of tonal whiplash.