[V11C19] His Obsession
Translated by Jodas 11: Envoy of the AbyssEveryone there had their attention fully focused on the sphere of water containing the Primordial Beast and Sophie using the Ancient Magical Artifact.
Out of all of them, the first to realize what was going on was Julius, who arrived at the scene shortly after Sophie.
Julius chose to carry ‘Ignatius, the Severer’ to lighten the load on Sophie, but with all that weight he couldn’t run nearly as fast as Sophie could.
…And that is why he was able to notice the crystals growing across the ground beneath Sophie’s feet.
“Sophie! Get out of there!”
Julius shouted, but Sophie didn’t move. She was probably too focused on activating the Artifact.
Julius didn’t know what to do. If he started chanting now he wouldn’t make it in time. Even if he ran, he might not make it. But as long as there was even the slightest chance… Forced to choose between Sophie’s life and the Ancient Magical Artifact, he dropped the heavy Ignatius and ran.
Agniol noticed what was happening shortly afterwards and bounded towards Sophie as well. Julius got there first and body-slammed Sophie out of the way.
Sophie let out a “Kyun!” noise and tumbled to the ground.
…Suddenly, where Sophie had just been standing, a crystal lance taller than she was poked up from the ground. The crystal grazed Julius’ arm as he shoved Sophie aside, tearing through his clothes and skin such that blood trickled from his right arm.
Were he even a little slower, it may have skewered straight through Sophie’s body. Just like what happened to Headmaster Möbius.
He heard the soldiers shouting “Guard the children!” but Julius had a sudden thought.
(The mana density is low over where those soldiers are. Maybe the crystals won’t be able to attack that far…!)
Meanwhile, where Julius and the others were standing still had reasonably high mana density. It would be poisonous to humans and advantageous to Monsters. And now there was the threat of crystals too.
Julius grabbed Sophie’s hand and pulled her off the ground.
“Come on, let’s run over to the army! The crystals won’t attack us there!”
“O– Okay…”
When Sophie nodded shakily, the ground shook, and all of a sudden a crystal wall emerged from the ground, separating them from the soldiers.
On this side was the Primordial Beast trapped in water alongside Ella and Roswitha. All of the soldiers were left on the other side of the wall.
“Young Maaasteeer!”
When Agniol shouted, the crystals beneath Julius and Sophie began to move again. Once more, crystal spikes were about to come flying out from the ground.
Before they could get out of the way, another crystal wall appeared to block their path. One after another, crystal walls popped up, preventing Julius and Sophie from going anywhere.
Then, crystal spikes grew out of the walls themselves — there would be no dodging these.
Just before the tips of those spikes reached them, a hard clanging noise rang out.
“Run, you two!”
Smashing through the crystal wall, spikes included, was Gerald. It seemed that he’d finally caught up with them.
Still uneasy, Sophie’s eyes spun.
“Run!? W– Where to…!? Everywhere I go, it’s all crystals…!”
To answer her cries, Ella’s voice called out from a distance.
“Try to get indoors, Sophie! I think the enemy can’t attack you if they can’t see you!”
As expected of Ella, she always had a cool head.
The reason they hadn’t been attacked by crystals until now had to have been because their enemy couldn’t see them to activate the crystals. So they should be able to weather the storm by hiding somewhere.
“B– But I can’t seal the Primordial Beast if I run away!”
“They’re after you, Sophie! If you live, you can always try again!”
Right. Their enemy wasn’t targeting Ella and Roswitha who were keeping the Primordial Beast trapped; they were clearly targeting Sophie. It had to have been because Sophie was the only one here who could make use of ‘Despina, the Chain of Fools.’
Ella and Roswitha’s magic had to have been nearing its limit. Despite that, they wanted to prioritize Sophie’s survival.
The three of them tried to dash in to the nearby dorm… But before they realized it, a huge shadow loomed over them.
Julius looked up and realized what it was. Like an icicle, gigantic crystal spears dangled from the edge of the dorm’s roof. Dozens of them. And now they came crashing down above Julius, Sophie, and Gerald’s heads.
Gerald braced his sword, but there were too many of them. It wouldn’t be enough.
— Splat. With the distinctive sound of flesh rending, something warm trickled on to Julius’ cheek. The smell of blood filled the air.
Above the heads of Julius, Sophie, and Gerald, a large wolf with black fur shielded the three of them from harm.
Julius’s trembling voice called his name.
“……Finn?”
A half-assed fence sitter unable to live in the pack of Werewolves, yet also unable to betray the Monsters and side with humans. That was the Werewolf known as Finn.
By teaching him the locations of the Ancient Magical Artifacts ‘Ignatius, the Severer’ and ‘Despina, the Chain of Fools,’ the Hundred-Eyes Witch Anneliese Röhm gave Finn one last opportunity to join the human side.
Yet, neither able to make use of her good will nor to angrily spurn her gift, he passed on the information to Julius and waited in silence for it all to end.
Once he came to terms with the fact that Monsters were a dying breed, he came to think that this was the best place from him to meet his ruin as well.
Because, in his last moments, he could be useful to the friends he treasured.
“This is… my pride. My obsession.”
The crystal spears tore through his flesh and ripped apart his intestines.
Amidst a sea of blood, Finn nevertheless felt satisfied.
After all, he had been able to satisfy his obsession as a Monster all the way to the end.
Observing the battle from atop the First Spire: White Smoke, a black-haired girl — Fiene — witnessed a Werewolf’s last moments.
“So that was your obsession, Mr. Wolf.”
“That wolf is going to die.”
The King of Monsters standing beside Fiene spoke softly.
Despite the distance, its silver eyes accurately assessed the situation.
“I hope the Daughter of God may be willing to spare some mercy for that Monster.”
“Of course.”
The target, the Abyss user, was completely frozen stiff. It would be no trouble to let off another crystal spear and finish her off.
But Fiene held off on that attack for a moment. She could kill that Abyss user after this Werewolf breathed his last.
As the Werewolf met his end, she would grant him the sweet mercy of the Daughter of God.
— That mercy would end up turning the tables.
Had she elected not to spare that mercy and instead kill the Abyss user, Sophie, in this moment, perhaps things might have ended differently.
But, in that brief time granted through her mercy, a certain pretty boy riding piggyback on a princess’ shoulders managed to retrieve the crystal rivet in the Cradle.
The crystals coating the Wedge Tower cracked into pieces and fell to the earth. Just like a thin sheet of ice when exposed to the sunlight. The crystal contamination had come to a stop.
“It looks like someone found the crystal rivet in the Cradle.”
Fiene tossed her black hair aside and turned to look towards the cradle.
With a thin smile still gracing her face.
Henrik Blanke, commander of the reinforcements, was confused.
He considered himself reasonably experienced when it came to difficult battles. He’d snuck up on an enemy’s rear with a forced march through beating storms; he’d taken a fight against an army of thousands with mere hundreds of men; he’d descended sheer cliff faces on horseback to launch an ambush.
And yet fighting against Monsters was an unending string of illogical and incomprehensible surprises.
Monsters were unreasonably strong in one-on-one fights, yet they had no discipline whatsoever and moved around like a bunch of amateurs.
Due to the high mana density in the Wedge Tower that served as their battlefield, he could not force a breakthrough. What’s more, the crystals now burst out of the ground to form new walls. The ability to change the terrain like that to divide one’s enemies was a clear boon on the battlefield. If he had an ability like that he could think of all kinds of better ways to put it to use. Just dividing them almost seemed childish.
(And now it looks like we’ve got some children left inside. How are they even able to wander around like that with all the mana density around here? Well, either way, I’ve got to make sure they’re safe…)
First, he needed to do some reconnaissance while staying cautious of the crystals. If this stalemate continued for much longer, Henrik considered just scaling the wall in front of him, but while he was thinking that, the crystal wall started to fall apart before his eyes.
He wasn’t sure if this was something the enemy had done, one of his allies coming to help him, or simply a coincidence.
Either way, Henrik could now see through to the other side of the wall.
There, both the sphere of water containing the Primordial Beast and the two girls maintaining it were unharmed. However, there were three more children further back. Beside the children laid a Werewolf with black fur collapsed on the ground.
‘First I need to finish off that Monster next to those kids as quickly as possible!’ — Henrik ran off with sword in hand, but one of the kids stepped out to stop him with both arms held out.
“Wait, Brother!”
“That voice…”
It was hard to read his expressions with his eyes hidden behind all that unruly black hair, but the sword hanging at his waist was familiar.
He may have grown taller and his voice grown deeper since Henrik had last seen him, but there was no mistaking it.
“Gerhard!? Why are you here!?”
Gerhard Blanke.
The prodigal little brother who ran away from his duties now stood before him.