Guiding Star
“Ah—”
Racing blindly after the guiding star, I suddenly remembered something I had nearly left behind. The sword the dwarves had gifted me—the one engraved with seven stars—was still waiting where I had set it down.
I corrected the star’s course at once, willing it toward the place that held the thing I wanted most.
The glittering point of light darted this way and that through the empty air before swinging back the way we had come. Its long, luminous tail stretched out behind it, painting a path across the platinum-colored sand. For a moment it looked exactly like the Milky Way spilled across a night sky.
I followed that trail for a long while. Beyond the shimmering desert we plunged into a forest drowned in thick, unrelenting darkness.
Even at the entrance I could tell monsters lived deeper inside. From the heart of the woods came a raucous chorus of howls, and the trees themselves seemed to dance.
A flicker of unease touched me, but Nightmare showed no hesitation. He charged straight into the trees as if to say, Don’t worry about a thing.
Rough branches whipped past my cheeks. No path had ever been cut here; human feet had never walked this ground. I pressed myself as flat as I could against Nightmare’s back and kept my eyes fixed ahead.
Perhaps it was because the forest knew neither day nor night, only endless gloom. Through the guiding star’s light I felt countless pairs of eyes turn toward us.
The star’s radiance stretched deep into the trees, making those eyes glitter. Dozens of them appeared and vanished in the dark, all fixed on Nightmare and me.
Honestly, it was a little terrifying. If I could have seen the monsters clearly it might have been different, but only their eyes shone in the blackness—like a scene from a horror film.
What if those dozens of eyes belonged to a single creature instead of a pack? I shook my head hard, banishing the grotesque shapes my imagination was already sketching.
The dense, thick-trunked trees forced Nightmare to slow. Even so he was still far faster than any ordinary horse, yet nowhere near his usual blistering pace.
That must have been why the pursuit began. Rustle-rustle— the undergrowth thrashed and heaved with noisy life.
It looked as though a black wave of shadows was rolling toward us, a clear warning that something could leap onto our backs at any moment.
I frowned and raised my right hand. The instant lightning sparked above my spinning mana circle, I flung it into the depths of the forest.
Crackle-zzzt!
Blue lightning forked outward and the entire wood flared bright for a heartbeat. In that flash I finally saw them.
Long arms and legs, razor-sharp claws and nails, bipedal frames covered in thick fur. Most striking of all were the dog-like heads.
Every detail pointed to one monster: gnolls.
The Chain Lightning I had scattered in that instant clearly washed over the pack chasing us. Yet their pursuit never faltered.
Thud-thud-thud—
Rustle-rustle—
Heavy hoofbeats were joined by the overlapping footfalls of the gnolls. I scowled down at my own hand. I had watched the blue electricity engulf them with my own eyes, yet they moved as if they had taken no damage at all.
Even without a mana stone the spell should have done something. Could they possess magic resistance? First the eagle drake, and now this—strange things kept piling up.
Then, from deeper in the trees, the gnolls attacked.
“Kyaaaaak!”
A gust of wind carried the thick, beastly stench of them. Mana surged up in a panic and shaped itself into a sword.
The blade glittered with starlight and shed a faint cold, yet it was weaker than ordinary iron. A hasty construct of pure mana. It ought to stop a gnoll’s strike, but the waste of power was enormous.
I swung the mana blade at the gnoll dropping from above.
Slash—!
The moment the blade met the creature’s head, its skull twisted sideways. The sensation traveling up the sword felt wrong—less like cutting living flesh and blood, more like striking something solid and unyielding.
Crack—!
The mana blade shattered under the impact. In that same instant I layered the fragments with the principle of Magic Missile. The spell was crude, but its effect was anything but. Dozens of mana shards shot straight at the gnoll.
Papapapak—!
Same result. I glared at the falling creature, brow furrowed. It had been shoved back by the blade, yet not a single drop of blood marked its body.
Thud-thud-thud—
Nightmare never slowed. He knew that stopping meant being surrounded by the entire pack.
I bit my lip. If I poured everything into a single assault I could probably finish one or two of them easily. The problem was what came after. The darkness hid far more than a couple of gnolls—at least ten, maybe more.
To deal with all of them I would have to use my mana with real cunning.
While I was still wrestling with the thought, another gnoll lunged. My mind was too tangled to invent a new spell. In desperation I simply thrust out my arm and pressed my palm against its body.
What followed was the simplest possible use of mana. Freezing mountain cold poured through my hand.
Hwaaaaah—!
The chill raced outward, freezing the air and coating the gnoll. In that moment I saw something bizarre. The instant the pure-white cold covered its body, a thin, bluish lattice of lines rose across its fur.
A fleeting manipulation of mana. The secret of their magic resistance was laid bare. I still didn’t understand the exact method, but right before a spell touched them they raised a veil of mana to protect themselves.
“Kieeek…!”
Frosted from head to toe, the gnoll dropped to the ground, movements sluggish. Yet it recovered almost at once, shaking the rime from its fur.
I could coat myself in mana the same way. But a barrier formed like that would be weaker than iron—hopelessly inefficient.
I deflected the next gnoll’s attack and scattered white cold again.
Saaaah—!
The same outcome. Its fur was sheathed in frost, yet after a few breaths it was moving freely once more.
The pattern repeated. Once, twice, three times—each exchange made me more familiar with the way they used their mana.
Threads…?
On the seventh assault, while I was once more slipping past a claw and pouring mana over the creature, my eyes—now attuned to their technique—caught the motion of impossibly fine threads.
They were threads of pure mana. Drawn out thin as silk, they tangled and wove themselves into a precise pattern.
A perfect hexagon.
Hundreds of mana threads formed hexagons, then spun those hexagons into still more threads. The resulting lattice multiplied without end until it sheathed the gnoll’s entire body.
A mana veil woven in a special pattern—absorbing, deflecting, reducing every attack to almost nothing.
The instant I understood, the mana circle in my heart spun faster, drawing out threads of its own. Hundreds of strands flowed from my fingertips, interlacing in the same measured pattern until they became a single continuous thread.
At first only one strand emerged. But that single strand opened the way; hundreds more followed in a rush.
Those threads wound around one another, knitting themselves into a veil.
Skreee—!
My newly formed barrier and a gnoll’s claws brushed past each other. An ordinary mana shield would have cracked under the blow. This one remained flawless.
Understanding arrived like a sudden flash of light.
My heart’s mana circle whirled, weaving thousands of threads. They tangled and layered across my body until a thin, perfect membrane of mana was complete.
I yanked Nightmare’s reins. He understood at once, wheeled about, and halted in place.
What had I been missing all this time? Even with powerful offensive magic I had possessed no true way to protect myself. That lack was finally filled.
Confidence surged through me so strongly I could barely believe it was my own. And that confidence translated at once into greater mana output.
The veil covering my body strengthened and shielded me at the same time, which meant every drop of mana I spent now worked at peak efficiency.
“Kieeeek!”
Roughly twenty gnolls began to close in around us. No further howls rose from the darkness; this was the entire pack.
I vaulted from Nightmare’s back and drew Storm Bringer from the scabbard hanging at his side.
The greatsword’s weight settled into my wrists, yet I could move it far more easily than before.
There was no signal to begin. The gnolls scattered around us simply charged, choosing the softer-looking target over the fierce black horse.
I swung the heavy blade at once.
The Emblem of the Great Warrior flared to life. My vision narrowed; power flooded my limbs. Blood boiled, and my heart hammered like a war drum.
My left leg drove hard into the earth. Every ounce of strength traveled up through my waist and into both hands.
Whoooom—!
The moment Storm Bringer’s edge met a gnoll, I understood the sword’s true nature.
As the blade struck, the mana coating the creature was sucked into the steel and transformed into blue lightning.
Crackle-zzzt—!
The lightning, swollen with stolen mana, became a storm that crashed down on the gnolls rushing toward me.
KRA-KOOM—!
The black forest lit up for an instant. More than five gnolls were swept away in a single stroke.
After that I simply lost myself in the sword’s power, swinging without thought. My racing heart narrowed my vision still further.
I abandoned all defense and poured out every attack I had ever imagined.
Sometimes I smashed them with the flat of the blade. Sometimes I kicked the sword up from the ground to change its path in a flash. Unstable footing no longer mattered. Even when their claws raked toward my skin I paid them no mind.
Sharp nails and talons sought my soft flesh, yet they only scraped harmlessly across the mana veil.
Drunk on strength, I kept swinging the greatsword that was larger than my own body. Then, all at once, I realized no more gnolls were charging.
I was unhurt. Plenty of mana remained.
Clang—!
“Haa…”
I drove the massive blade into the earth and let out a long breath. The heat and excitement still thrumming through my body refused to fade.
A small laugh escaped me before I could stop it.