Chapter 22
Chapter 22
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Harvest Festival (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Luca, the border patrol guard, was in a thoroughly foul mood.
No, anyone stuck pulling night watch duty during the once-a-year harvest festival would feel the same.
Who in the world could enjoy patrolling the cold, pitch-black borderlands while everyone else danced, feasted, and made merry?
Truth be told, the only threats they had to worry about at night were bandits at worst.
Magic beasts didn’t appear after dark as a rule, and Belluan territory wasn’t on hostile terms with any neighboring lands.
The biggest concern was thieves sneaking in under cover of darkness to steal crops.
They couldn’t ride lizards at night, so they had to patrol on foot, which only added to their exhaustion.
Night patrols—trudging through the dark borderlands by the light of green moonlight and torches on nothing but their own two feet—were far less popular than day shifts, and for good reason.
“Luca, what’s that?”
“Huh?”
Before his comrade could finish, Luca’s head was already tilted skyward.
A shooting star, blazing.
It streaked across the ground, so white and blinding it leeched all color from everything below.
In his thirty years of life, Luca had never witnessed anything like it.
Even after it passed, the light lingered, illuminating the sky for a long while before fading.
“Amazing.”
“You know, my grandma used to tell stories about something like this...”
But as his comrade spoke, a strange noise reached Luca’s ears.
Growls like a beast’s, hisses like air leaking out, gurgles like something boiling.
Luca glanced toward the sound and nearly dropped his torch.
Countless blue eyes glared back at them.
“Ma—ma...”
He heard his comrade stammer beside him.
Gritting his teeth, Luca spun on his heel and yanked the horn whistle from his tunic as he ran.
Bwooooo—!
The resounding blast echoed across the post-harvest plains.
Once more, he blew with all his might. His lungs burned like fire, breath ragged.
The moment he finally pulled the whistle from his lips, unable to endure any longer—that was Luca’s last.
A blade flashed from the darkness, slicing Luca’s body clean in two.
The Blade Leopard dispatched the nuisance with a single swipe of its forepaw and charged toward the village barricade.
Behind it followed an uncountable horde of magic beasts.
* * *
“A massive magic beast swarm is invading! All unarmed combatants, head to the manor house and gear up immediately! Guards! Man the barricades!”
Knight Namere’s shout—having raced back astride his Jin upon sensing the beasts—plunged the festival into chaos.
Some villagers bolted for their homes in panic, while others searched frantically for family scattered amid the festivities.
Tales of magic beasts attacking at midnight were the stuff of children’s fairy tales, dismissed as jokes. But the cacophony of beastly roars drifting from afar lent grim credence.
The panic that began at the village outskirts spread in every direction.
“Mooooommm!”
“Riche! Riche! Where are you? Riche! Answer me!”
“Guard Squad Four! Where are you? Assemble!”
The chaos reached even Arsen and Eloise, on their way back to the manor.
Arsen narrowed his eyes at the sight of people racing up the road from the village.
Squires and soldiers, still reveling at the festival, hurried toward the manor with torches in hand.
One squire spotted Arsen standing in the road and cried out.
“Sir Arsen! Magic beasts! A swarm’s coming!”
Arsen shot back at the absurd claim.
“It’s the middle of the night, isn’t it?”
“I don’t know either! But we heard it clear as day! Hurry and arm up—get to the barricade!”
Arsen eyed the half-dazed squire skeptically—perhaps drunk—but the steady stream of people ascending convinced him it was no lie.
The fervor was enough to make one think a full rebellion had erupted.
“Ellie, let’s hurry up.”
“Huh? Eek!”
Without waiting for a reply, Arsen hoisted Eloise onto his shoulder.
He sprinted at top speed, overtaking the knights and squires ahead, and burst into the manor.
The tower was safer than the manor itself, so he headed straight for the mage tower and pounded on the door.
Luckily, something had Luden on the first floor; he flung it open at once.
Arsen set Eloise down and shoved her inside.
“Stay put, Ellie.”
“What? Festival’s already...”
“Magic beasts are attacking. Watch her for me—I’ve gotta gear up and head down.”
“What? Magic beasts at this hour? That doesn’t make sense.”
Even the erudite mage Luden seemed clueless about the crisis.
“I’m off!”
“Go on ahead! I’ll follow shortly!”
Arsen slammed the door shut and bolted for the manor.
The front was ablaze with light as squires and soldiers crowded in to claim their gear.
Arsen’s equipment was in his room, so he grabbed his sword and armor from there.
The knights’ Jins, normally stored in the armory, stood ready outside for mounting.
A squire spotted him and shouted.
“Sir Arsen! This one’s yours!”
Arsen climbed aboard the Jin once owned by Entir—now assigned to him—and channeled mana into its core at the back.
The familiar sensation of merging washed over him, and he felt the sturdy four legs planted firmly on the ground.
* * *
“Gaaah!”
A soldier screamed and collapsed, only for three Sheep Horn Wolves to pile on, tearing into his arms and legs.
Weble charged in beside him, slashing and kicking the wolves away—but the soldier was already torn apart, lifeless.
“Damn it all!”
The battlefield was utter pandemonium.
The massive bonfires lit for the festival had drawn every magic beast in the territory; kill them, and more poured in relentlessly.
These creatures, seething with malice toward humans, clawed up the 3-meter barricade, leaped at it, or climbed atop their fellows.
One or two could be fended off with spear thrusts from above, but with more beasts than spear-wielders, it was hopeless.
When a powerful one scaled the wall, the knights had to intervene—but only three atop the barricade were fully armed, those on night watch.
Festival-going knights fought with borrowed guard equipment, but such meager arms couldn’t showcase their skill.
Retreating to the manor to gear up properly would be ideal, yet the line barely held thanks to these under-equipped knights.
The moment they left, the few remaining knights and soldiers would buckle, leaving villagers exposed.
Any knight of honor couldn’t retreat from this.
“Ash Moth!”
Someone’s cry drew eyes upward: a massive moth with 4-meter wings on one side soared overhead.
Moths terrified some even small; scaled up like this, it was a nightmare for all.
The Ash Moth shook its wings toward those on the barricade.
“Cover your faces!”
“Aaagh!”
Several soldiers and squires screamed, clawing at their faces from the filth the Ash Moth scattered mid-flight.
The powder secreted from its wings caused excruciating pain and itching on contact with mucous membranes.
Knights weren’t immune; Weble shielded his face with cloth and fled the attack radius.
Small mercy: the Ash Moth’s assault didn’t discriminate. Beasts from its approach vector to the wall howled in agony too, buying time as the breach held.
“This won’t hold—whoever can, go get...”
“Just hold on a bit longer! Reinforcements are already on the way!”
Weble roared back at his fellow knight, then faced the oncoming beast: an Awl Deer.
He dodged its spear-tip horn, seized it, and wrestled the creature in a contest of strength.
The 250cm-tall knight twisted with all his might—crack—the deer’s neck snapped.
“Raaagh!”
He bellowed to shake off fatigue, glancing around. No improvement.
Off in the distance, a Fire Monkey approached.
“Fire Monkey!”
“Damn it—squires, fall back! I’ve got it!”
Weble bellowed confidently, but bit his lip in dismay.
Fully armored, he’d charge right in. Half-equipped like this? A dire foe.
Weaponless, he couldn’t guarantee a one-shot kill—and bare-skinned against fire spelled doom.
Then, a voice called from behind.
“Sir Weble!”
Arsen’s Jin racing toward him carried an arsenal: Weble’s greatsword, Kamin’s sword and shield, Zenovia’s spear, Palato’s javelins.
Arsen hurled the greatsword to Weble first.
Weble yanked it from the ground at his feet, cleaved a beast’s neck, then charged the Fire Monkey.
“Thanks for holding the line, kid!”
Before Arsen could respond, he was skimming the wall, tossing favored weapons to knights he passed.
The battlefield shifted into a new phase.
* * *
Among the active knights, Palato shone the dimmest.
His right arm had improved, but wielding a sword was still taxing; he gripped it awkwardly left-handed.
Knight enough to defend himself and allies, but stamina flagged faster than his peers.
“Sir Palato, please fall back a bit. You look pale.”
Palato wiped his face with his injured arm at the squire’s words. It came away sticky with blood.
“You’re right. Just for a moment...”
Mid-reply, chills raced over him. He peered beyond the barricade into the dark.
A normal eye would see nothing—but Palato the knight made out its hazy outline.
Something utterly ominous lurking in the shadows.
“Quick—fetch another knight nearby. Fully armed if possible. There’s a monster out there.”
“Y-yes, sir!”
The squire scanned frantically, but no nearby knight had spare capacity.
All were busy saving their own skins; one armed knight darted about rescuing comrades—hard to approach.
Watching the squire go, Palato leveled his sword at the dark.
“Come out!”
As if in answer, something slithered slowly from the shadows.
Tentacles of woven darkness, like overgrown, bloated vines.
The colossal magic beast advanced steadily on the barricade.