[V11C15] Piggyback Glory
Translated by Jodas 11: Envoy of the AbyssThe Witch’s house that Wren visited before was an old-fashioned home with a strange garden that seemed as if all four seasons had gathered together in one place. This room was almost as different from that as it could possibly be.
And yet, Wren still felt something about it was similar.
(Right, wasn’t the Witch’s house made with the power of the Ancient Magical Artifact ‘Chromatic Garden’…? But this room is…)
Even the vibes of the Witch’s house and the Cradle were nothing alike. That said, both had a distinct artificiality to them.
“I think this room was made with the power of ‘Chariclea, the Wedge Tower.’ Obviously there’s some stuff in here’s that’s been brought in since, but what’s keeping it all so clean has to be the Ancient Magical Artifact’s power. It’s controlling the airflow, the light, the temperature… and maybe there’s some illusions in there as well? I think it’s some kind of combined magecraft with all kinds of things mixed in.”
“Hm. As I thought, this room is special. There is no doubt that this is the Cradle of ‘Chariclea, the Wedge Tower.’ However…”
Sevil looked about the room and frowned.
“I don’t see any crystal rivets.”
It was thought that Fiene, the Daughter of God, induced the crystal contamination by embedding crystal rivets into ‘Chariclea, the Wedge Tower.’
If they could remove these rivets, the crystal contamination would cease and the mana density would drop. That meant the Monsters would be weakened and it would become safe for humans to go where they pleased… Thus, removing the rivets was Wren’s top priority.
But now the problem was finding where exactly in ‘Chariclea’ Fiene placed those rivets.
‘Chariclea, the Wedge Tower’ was a supermassive Ancient Magical Artifact in the form of an entire tower. The Apprentices’ working theory was that the Third Spire: Water Bubble was the true form of ‘Chariclea, the Wedge Tower.’
With that in mind, Wren and the others concluded that the most suspicious place had to be the Cradle underground. There was no doubt that this place was a crucial part of ‘Chariclea, the Wedge Tower’
—And yet, there was no sign of a crystal rivet anywhere within sight.
Sevil looked up to the ceiling and whispered.
“If it’s not in this room, then it would have to be in the Third Spire above us, no? I’d say the Library Office with all its seals is quite suspect.”
“No, if it’s anywhere, it has to be in this room.”
Wren was sure of it.
Wren wasn’t there for the attack on the Wedge Tower, but he’d heard all about it from Julius and Gerald.
“When the Monsters attacked, they made contact with this Fiene girl and someone implanted the crystal rivets… But while all that was going on, I heard the other Spires were each going through their own battles. Apparently Spiremasters Alto and Lowein were holding down the fort in the Third Spire along with those guys from the Investigation Office. There’s no way Fiene could have got inside.”
“You’re implying that the only part of ‘Chariclea, the Wedge Tower’ Fiene could have accessed is the Cradle underground, then?”
“Yeah, but I can’t say there’s no chance it could be in one of those underground passages…”
While Wren digressed, Sevil held her hand out to a nearby lamp.
At first she kept a safe distance, but slowly she drew closer until her fingers finally touched the fire directly.
“This fire isn’t real; it must be an illusion. No wonder there’s no soot anywhere. I’m impressed, Wren.”
“How could you be impressed when I haven’t even found anything yet…”
“No, you mentioned the possibility there might be illusions at play, did you not? That means what we see is not all there is.”
Illusions — the first thing to come to mind was their assigned Instructor, the Dream Mage Caspar Hütter.
They were an Illusionist’s students. It was embarrassing to think they hadn’t considered this possibility right off the bat.
“So that means it’s still implanted somewhere in this room, we just can’t see it!”
Wren started patting down the walls, but he didn’t feel anything that struck him as a crystal rivet.
‘To make this work, Sevil and I are gonna have to divide the work and search this wall from end to end, huh…’ Wren thought, but Sevil looked at him with a sly smirk.
“Now, now, don’t be so hasty. I already have an idea, you see. Just as the name implies, ‘Chariclea, the Wedge Tower’ is a wedge that keeps the Monsters sealed away. What kind of place do you suppose one would drive a wedge in to?”
“Hm… Well, I guess you have a point there. It is a wedge.”
“The Wedge Tower was driven into the ground itself. So, there has to be a critical point on the boundary between the surface and the underground.”
What was most important was the line between the surface, where the wedge was driven in, and the underground. Then, it had to have something to do with this underground room.
If all that was correct, it was clear which spot Sevil’s words referred to.
Wren looked up at the ceiling.
“The basement ceiling!”
“That’s it. Now come, I’ll let you ride on my shoulders so you can reach.”
Certainly, riding on her shoulders would make it easier and faster to inspect the ceiling than pushing around furniture to stand on.
Sevil hunched over, allowing Wren to climb on to her back. Then, Wren smiled bitterly.
“I would love to talk to myself from a year ago and see the look on his face if I told him I got a piggyback ride from a real princess.”
“When we get out of here, I want you to take pride in yourself. Know that you are the pretty boy who earned the glorious honor of a piggyback ride from yours truly!”
On the west side of campus, the fierce battle between the strongest fighters on both sides only intensified.
Bearing a sword stood the Margrave of Warmberg, Henrik Blanke. Opposing him was the strongest Lesser Monster, whose powers exceeded even that of Greater Monsters, the Primordial Beast.
The battle between the two was evenly matched. In this crystal fortress, the Primordial Beast was an overwhelmingly powerful presence. A single swipe of his claws could cut a human clean in half, while neither sword nor spell could penetrate his hide. His fearsome body never tired, regardless of how much he ran, and he pounced at his prey with legs far more powerful than any human’s.
In any other circumstance, this power would be more than enough to strike despair into the hearts of any human.
Henrik, however, methodically swatted away each one of the Primordial Beast’s attacks, and in those minute openings, continued to aim for the silver wolf’s eyes and mouth.
His simplicity filled the Primordial Beast with pity and rage.
(This fool. I know exactly where he’s aiming so it’s no trouble dodging. Does he not have any more tricks?)
Henrik tried to deflect the Primordial Beast’s claws. Immediately, the Beast shifted his body weight. This was a crude move that only worked because he knew no mere human sword could harm him outside of his weak spots. The massive wolf that he was, the Primordial Beast’s full body weight was enough to easily crush a human’s bones.
In an instant, the world spun.
Henrik relinquished his sword, grabbed one of the Beast’s legs, and toppled him over. With all of his body weight in that instant on one leg, such a move would cause even the Primordial Beast to lose his balance.
Yet how many people out there would willingly drop their weapon in the face of such an immense wolf and chose a wrestling move instead?
Henrik quickly got back to his feet and climbed atop the Primordial Beast. Yet as he did, the sword he had dropped found itself just out of his reach.
So instead, he…
“Hah!”
Henrik grabbed a shovel that someone had left laying nearby, then swung it down on the Primordial Beast’s eye.
Pain. ‘Ah, a feeling I haven’t felt in a long time!’
As his eye was getting gouged out, the Primordial Beast threw his head to the side, knocking Henrik off balance.
With that opportunity, he opened the distance and cackled uproariously.
‘Ah, what a delight! To think a man could gouge out the eye of the great Primordial Beast with a simple shovel!’
“A skilled warrior is not particular with his weapons, I see.”
“Well, you know, I like to use everything I can get my hands on, so…”
Even as he displayed such valor in battle, every time he opened his mouth he spoke so spinelessly. What a strange human indeed.
Henrik tried to pick his sword back up. However, he stumbled as he leaned over. He wasn’t exhausted, but his breaths were labored nonetheless.
Only now did the Beast realize that, over the course of their battle, they had wandered much deeper into the Wedge Tower’s campus. They were now in a place where the mana density was still quite high.
No wonder he had felt so good, in spite of the rose vines absorbing all the mana. He was still somewhere where the mana was dense and Monsters enjoyed a significant advantage.
The most ideal ground to a human was painful to Monsters, while the most ideal ground to a Monster was painful to humans. There was no way for them to have a fight on equal footing.
The Primordial Beast growled in frustration.
“Human, why have you pushed in so far?”
He would have been fine had he just stayed in the areas with light mana density.
Yet regardless, Henrik responded with a nonplussed expression.
“…? If I don’t keep pressing, how else am I going to kill you?”
It would be a shame to kill him here. It would be even more of a shame to watch him die of mana poisoning. This here was one of the most talented fighters he’d encountered in his long life. On par with a Greater Monster.
He would have to knock him out so he could leave a mark on his face. The Primordial Beast summoned all his strength and pounced at Henrik.