[V11C27] A Flying Wild Beast
Translated by Jodas 11: Envoy of the AbyssFrederik, having struck down the Winter Monster, gracefully floated to the ground.
His tall, lanky body was covered in bandages from head to toe. His face was pale, with bags under his eyes, and he reeked of medicine and blood. His wounds hadn’t yet healed to anywhere near a state where he should be moving around like this.
Nonetheless, Rikard did not question his fitness. Even if he wasn’t in any shape to fight, he knew that Frederik would never turn back.
So instead, Rikard asked the first question that came to mind.
“You’re just in time, Frederik. Did you fly here straight from the Lange Hamlet?”
“I asked Barrett, from the Management Office, to carry me to the village you were based in. He’s got the record for long-distance flight, you know.”
As he spoke, Frederik used his wind-wreathed spear to break away the ice from Rikard and Helena’s feet.
Helena restrained herself from using her normal catchphrase and asked Frederik directly:
“…How much do you know about what’s going on in this battle?”
“Nothing at all.”
“Huh?” Both Rikard and Helena reacted in sync, staring agape at Frederik.
Frederik continued to break apart the ice while speaking like it was no big deal.
“I just made it to the village a few minutes ago. When I got there I heard that the battle had already started, so I flew right here.”
Helena held a hand against her forehead and stared into space. Her gorgeous silver hair gracefully framed her exasperated countenance.
“Ahh… This man just goes wherever he feels like… Like a wild boar that flies… If only he could try evolving into a human for once…”
“You’re saying that after I just saved you?”
Frederik looked a little miffed, but Rikard totally agreed with Helena here.
“No, honestly that was reckless of you. If you showed up a minute earlier you would have gone headfirst into some crazy crystal contamination.”
“…The hell is that?”
“You got all the way here without even knowing what crystal contamination is!?”
Frederik probably didn’t know anything aside from that Monsters had taken over the Wedge Tower. He could not have been less prepared.
Rikard was flabbergasted, and Frederik spoke uneasily.
“I have heard a little bit. I heard about how Headmaster Möbius was wounded, that Director Linke and Assistant Headmaster Miriam have passed away, and… I heard that Röhm betrayed us.”
His heart ached a little at the sound of Röhm’s name. The Hundred-Eyes Witch Anneliese Röhm was an important mentor to him, just as she was to Rikard and Helena as well.
Frederik mumbled excuses as he sheared off shards of ice.
“I really came as fast as I could. I shook off Oliver along the way after all.”
“Say that again?”
“He tried to fly after me, so I kicked him out of the sky. If we don’t wrap things up real quick here, Oliver might just catch up. So, where’s the King of Monsters hiding?”
Frederik Lange might look gentle on first glance, but when it came to Monsters he was more short-tempered and aggressive than anyone else. As if the desire to kill Monsters whatever the cost had taken human form, his whole body dripped with a murderous aura.
And to that Frederik, Helena said:
“Before that, we need you to deliver a message… There is an anomaly at the Third Spire. We need a way to deal with the mana density again. If we don’t figure something out, all of our allies that charged in are going to get wiped out.”
With Hütter dangling from one arm, the Vampire Jill gently strolled through the skies as if taking a casual Sunday walk before coming to a halt on the West side of campus, above the dormitories.
“Oh, looks like our King has shown its face. I suggest you avoid looking at it directly, servant. Anyone who looks at the King of Monsters has their heart so consumed by fear they would rather end themselves than bear it any longer.”
‘What the hell? That’s terrifying!’ Thoroughly shaken, Hütter thought about it.
(Is that what killed the King of Darwock and the rest of them? …I feel like I remember someone saying they all jumped out of the window by themselves, right? Could it be some kind of mental interference-related power…?)
‘Hold on, what’s even going on right now?’ Hütter left the battlefield just as the fight started, so he missed a lot of the developments in the past few hours.
Fortunately, where he was up in the sky offered him an excellent vantage point. Trying his best to avoid looking at the King of Monsters, Hütter took in as much of the scene as he could.
(So Rose is handling the mana with the power of his vines while the rest surrounded and attacked the enemy… They’ve all done quite a lot. The wall is broken here and there, and since I can see the crystals coming off someone must have taken out the crystal rivet in the Cradle. That means the mana density on campus is safe now… right?)
No, something was definitely off. The mages around the Third Spire especially were on their knees, clearly suffering from something.
Since he had no clue what to make of what he was looking at, Hütter decided to just ask honestly.
“Um, Lord Jill. What happened to the crystal contamination? Don’t things look a little odd around that Spire to the north?”
If the crystal contamination was over and Rose’s vines were still absorbing the mana, the mana around the Wedge Tower should have dropped low enough by now. Despite that, Jill had a cold look on his face.
Honestly, he couldn’t tell at all if the mana density had gone up or down since this morning.
(Actually, didn’t this guy just take out his crystal rivet? Even though it looks like the crystal contamination is already over and all…)
While Hütter swayed in the wind, he could hear a hearty laughter from above.
“The crystal contamination is done for, and the vines sucked up a great deal of mana, so the mana density is much lower… for now, you see. That’s why all those cute little humans are wandering straight into the campus… But you know that thing you folks call a ‘Mana Forge’? A new Font of the Abyss is soon to be born there.”
“Wha… A Font of the Abyss? Would that mean the mana density is gonna go up again?”
“That is why I had you drink my blood, of course.”
‘Shit, this is bad!’ Hütter despaired internally.
At first, they had known that the crystal contamination of the Wedge Tower made the mana density too high for them to get inside. That was why the human side planned to bring that density down first before assaulting the Tower.
And from what he could see from above, the outer walls had crumbled and vines slowly crept deeper into the campus. At first glance, it might look like the humans had the upper hand.
(…But what if the plan was to draw them in?)
Monsters generally didn’t use buildings to their advantage in fights. Nonetheless, it was a fact that some on the Monsters’ side clearly knew what they were doing.
What if the mana density suddenly shot up when the humans were all deep in the center of campus? What if there was a way to make that happen?
All those humans who confidently marched in would get wiped out at once.
“Come, it’s time for the festival to begin. How about we go celebrate the birth of a new life?”
Jill started to sing with an unusually tranquil expression.
“—We are the children of the abyss. That which was born from the works of humanity. Thus, we cannot help but desire them. Our wish will rot us, our wish will end us. Even if we are the last one remaining. Even if we are the last one remaining…”
All the while, Hütter couldn’t help but think… ‘Wow, talk about tone-deaf.’
Tia had a lot that she needed to do. A lot, a whole lot.
Convince her sister, capture Fiene, deal with the Monsters, especially the King of Monsters, save Hütter… Tia thought really hard, trying to keep it all straight. She really, really, thought hard.
Convincing her sister — She could do that one a little bit later if she had to.
Capturing Fiene and dealing with the Monsters — The humans could do that too. In any case, it wasn’t something that Tia would ever be able to do all by herself.
Saving Hütter — He was clearly planning something involving his chantless illusion magic. There had to be some reason he let himself get caught by that Vampire too. It would probably be best for her not to interfere with whatever he was trying to do.
(…Priority number one: Saving the others!)
Julius and co. were right by the King of Monsters. Tia flew as fast as she could towards the western dorms. She was afraid to get too close. Every hair on her body tingled. The King of Monsters was there, after all.
In the name of saving her companions, Tia dove towards the ground, but then unconsciously climbed back up again. Her terrified body willed itself to flee against her commands.
(Scary, scary, scary!!)
Regardless, she desperately regained her composure in midair and assessed the situation on the ground.
Sophie, Julius, Ella, and Roswitha were all collapsed on the ground, convulsing. The other humans were all in more or less the same condition.
The only ones who could move, albeit with great difficulty, were the army’s commander Henrik, Gerhard, and the Primordial Beast, as well as Agniol who was trying to nudge Julius up with her front paw.
(They’re not just unable to move… They’re so scared their body wants to choose death instead…!)
What would be the best way to escape this fear? The answer was death. Death was the most surefire way to release oneself from such terror. The body, so convinced, would seek death of its own accord. That was why the King of Darwock and his aides leapt from the window.
That fear intensified as one grew nearer to the King of Monsters. Tia kept herself as close as she could get before the fear she felt escalated to that point. Tia floated about thirty paces away, at a height of about two stories. This was as close as she could get.
Then, a voice reached Tia’s ears that was as familiar as it was detestable.
“I missed you, Tia.”
Standing at the King of Monsters’ side, Fiene looked up, straight at her.