The Great Subjugation of Schytz (2)

Unlike most people, Senia possessed eyes capable of discerning something truly extraordinary.

The fact that demonic beasts had repeatedly collapsed before her without ever managing a single strike owed almost everything to this unique gift.

The Mana Eye.

It allowed her to perceive the currents of mana as vivid, solid threads, reading their trajectories with unerring clarity. For someone as sharp, perceptive, and analytical as Senia, it was nothing short of the perfect ability. In the hands of an ordinary fighter, such a power might have offered little practical use, but in hers, it allowed Team Tembris to enter every engagement with a comprehensive grasp of the enemy's nature—a distinct advantage none of the academy's other squads possessed.

"Senia, I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around this," Charlotte murmured, frowning. "Are you saying that monster detonated itself on purpose?"

"Exactly," Senia replied. "And it wasn't just an ordinary explosion. It was named the Scourge for a reason—it blew itself apart specifically to scatter those fluids everywhere."

"Then what about having me cast an ice wall?" Charlotte countered. "I could easily block it that way. Or Michel could throw up a wall of fire. Wouldn't that help just as well?"

A moment earlier, Senia had insisted that only Erika should cast a barrier, yet blocking liquid was something other members could handle just as easily. But Senia merely shook her head once more.

"No, Charlotte. If you had tried that, the fluid would have bored straight through your ice wall. The same thing would've happened to Michel's flames."

"Pardon...?" Charlotte blinked in bewilderment.

Merely bodily fluid piercing through a magically conjured barrier? The party members exchanged perplexed glances, unable to fathom what she meant.

"I told you earlier that those Scourges incubate their offspring inside blood, right? Then what do you think they actually eat to survive?"

"Uh... well," one of them ventured hesitantly. "Wouldn't they eat grain or crops? Something like that...?"

"Rats are omnivores," another added. "I figured they'd just scrounge up whatever leftovers they could find."

It was true that ordinary rodents fed on grain, and as opportunistic omnivores, they would consume virtually anything humans left behind. But that rule applied strictly to regular vermin—not to the demonic beasts known as Scourges.

Every living creature operated on the same basic biology: ingest food, extract and absorb nutrients, and follow the instinct to reproduce and nurture offspring. Yet these Scourges presented a glaring contradiction to the natural order.

"Those things have no digestive organs," Senia said flatly. "Perhaps because their entire lifecycle revolves around self-destruction, they never developed a digestive tract in the first place."

"What...?"

"Wait..."

"That's true... Self-destruction, but..."

While the others murmured in vague comprehension, Senia knew her own explanation still left an unresolved paradox. For a living organism to lack the organs necessary to ingest, break down, and absorb sustenance was biologically impossible. And that impossibility spawned a cascade of further questions.

If they possessed no digestive system and gestated their young within a host's bloodstream, how did they generate new offspring to begin with? What did those larvae feed on to grow into mature adults? It defied all reason.

No matter how bizarre demonic beasts could be, they could not completely circumvent the foundational laws governing living fauna.

Wait... come to think of it, there were several other corpses scattered along the path here, weren't there?

She recalled the mangled remains of several Canolatls and Orthoptera they had passed. Though the Scourges vastly outnumbered everything else, this region remained an active ecosystem, and other species were occasionally found dead along the trail. If that were the case, only one conclusion remained.

They didn't need a digestive system because they were built solely to consume a single specific substance.

Confidence hardened in Senia's voice as she pressed on. "In the end, even those monsters must feed on something to multiply. If an organism truly required nothing to sustain itself, it couldn't be classified as a living creature at all—not even as a demonic beast."

"Senia?" Aris asked, leaning in.

"What they consume... is pure mana. Not grain, and certainly not meat."

"What?!" the members chorused in disbelief.

Every living thing required a source of energy. Their critical mistake had been assuming that fuel had to take the form of visible, physical matter.

"Remember the Canolatl and Orthoptera carcasses we saw on our way in?" Senia asked. "Do you remember what their bodies looked like?"

"They were riddled with gaping holes," Cain answered immediately. "Looked like they'd been impaled by heavy spears."

"That's where you're wrong, Cain. A Canolatl or an Orthoptera wouldn't drop dead so easily just from being stabbed by an ordinary spike unless a vital organ was pierced. And even if someone had driven a spear through them, would the wounds really look like that?"

"Now that you mention it..." Cain's brow furrowed. "The flesh wasn't punched inward from the outside. It was blown outward... from within."

Something had burst out from inside the corpse. That was the crucial detail. Realization dawned across the entire squad in an instant.

"Are you saying... they gnawed away all the mana circulating through the host's bloodstream and then tore their way out?"

"Is that why the Canolatls launched an all-out assault toward Lemtert Village...?"

"The Orthoptera were likely the same," Senia confirmed grimly. "They weren't advancing; they were fleeing. They couldn't withstand the onslaught of those parasitic rats. Once the parasites consume enough mana within another creature's blood, they use that accumulated energy to swell in size and gestate new broods. That is their reproductive cycle."

Once the parasite burrowed into the bloodstream, it devoured the victim's mana until nothing remained, then tore open the flesh to extinguish the host's life. The newly matured adults expanded their bodies, nurtured the larvae within, and sought out their next victims by blowing themselves apart.

A reproductive cycle that treated even death as a mere step in propagation. A shiver ran down everyone's spine. If Senia's deduction was correct, any human serving as a host would meet an agonizing, inescapable end.

"Then we can't just stand around talking!" Aris said, turning frantically. "We have to go back right now and warn the others—"

"And how exactly do you plan to do that?" Senia interjected, cutting her off instantly.

"What do you mean, how? We just—"

"Even if we sprint all the way back to deliver the message, they'll already be thoroughly infected by the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠time we arrive. Do you honestly think running back now will solve anything?"

Aris fell silent. Just as Senia said, the spilt water could not be gathered back into the cup. Even if they rushed back with their newfound knowledge, there was no guarantee the frontline troops hadn't already succumbed. If they wanted to minimize casualties, their only choice was to strike at the root of the crisis right here.

"This is only a hypothesis," Senia said, "but monsters like this cannot possibly emerge through natural means. There is a fundamental contradiction at play."

"A fundamental contradiction?"

"You saw it on the trail, didn't you? Those long drag marks in the dirt, like a thick rope being hauled across the ground. No person would drag a rope of that size through this wilderness. In fact, no human has set foot in these depths for years. So what else could it be?"

"A brood mother..." Cain muttered, his expression hardening. "There's an apex queen."

"So that's what you meant when you pointed out those unnaturally massive tracks earlier," Charlotte breathed softly. "I had no idea."

"Which means our absolute priority is to put that thing down," Cain concluded.

Their objective was decided on the spot: breach through the swarm of Scourges and execute a precision strike on the brood mother.

"They feed on mana, then," Michel mused thoughtfully. "Whether it's an ice wall or a fire wall, they would simply devour the magic and charge through. Is that why you told Erika alone to cast a barrier?"

"Spot on. Divine power converted through faith isn't raw mana, so the Scourges can't consume it."

"That makes things tricky," Aris noted, scowling. "How are we supposed to fight them, then? We can't expect Erika to shield us through every single engagement."

She was entirely right. Slaying the Scourges only to have Erika erect a divine ward against every ensuing detonation was an extraordinarily inefficient use of magical reserves. Worse, the horde ahead numbered in the hundreds—perhaps thousands—more than what they had faced so far.

Relying on that tactic would drain Erika's power in no time. Forcing primary damage dealers like Michel and Aris to hold back while their sole healer was driven to exhaustion would quickly tear the squad's tactical balance apart.

After a brief hesitation, Senia offered the solution.

"Binding spells and hindrance magic will only trigger immediate self-destruction, so we have to resolve this physically. Either through pure kinetic force, or by employing methods that suppress and shut down their mana circuits entirely."

Of course, there was one additional method, but she could never speak it aloud. She could not dare bring up the secrets of the Sirens in this place.

The water had already spilled, and there was no cloth prepared to wipe it away. Even as the pooling liquid threatened to submerge the entire Principality, no countermeasures had been put in place. Events were retracing the agonizing path of the previous timeline with terrifying precision.

"...What are you shaking for?"

"They might not come all the way out here, right? Right?"

"They committed all the remaining forces to launch a full subjugation campaign, so surely the frontlines will hold them off, won't they?"

"Get a grip, all of you! The professor told us—if ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠we tremble in fear, who's going to protect the civilians? Pull yourselves together!"

This was northern Schytz Province. Although students from the Academy had mobilized, they had not been deployed to the vanguard of the expeditionary force. Even if they were stationed near the combat zone, their role was strictly that of a forward reserve unit, held back until circumstances demanded their deployment. Unless a direct request for reinforcements came down, they had no orders to advance.

Yet Junon knew with absolute certainty: They will inevitably push through here.

In his past life, he had been traveling with the members of Tembris and had not witnessed this sector firsthand, but by the time they returned, Revrant had already been on the verge of being overrun. That meant this forward reserve was destined to clash with the Scourges. The sheer, terrifying volume of the swarm had simply overwhelmed the vanguard's ability to contain it.

If there was any comfort to be found, it was that this timeline wouldn't deteriorate to quite that extreme. The vanguard units had retained sufficient frontline martial students this time, which meant casualties shouldn't escalate as catastrophically as before.

All they had to do was hold out here until Team Tembris arrived. Until they slayed the brood mother, Shanberesh of the Plague, and returned to clean up the rest.

Still... shouldn't something have happened by now?

The vanguard units ahead were supposedly blasting away with heavy offensive magic to purge the Scourges, but the frontline wasn't all that far off.

"Has anything come in from the scout teams?" Junon asked.

"No, nothing out of the ordinary," a student replied.

"Hmm... really?"

Silence wasn't necessarily a bad sign. It meant no rat ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠swarms had been spotted yet. And yet, this lingering stillness sat heavy and sour in Junon's gut. A starving swarm of beasts, driven mad by the scent of fresh prey, should have come hurtling toward them long ago. The delay was unnatural.

If the vanguard had truly established an impenetrable defense, why had they failed so miserably in the previous timeline? If not a single scout had spotted the enemy by this hour, how had Revrant been pushed to the very brink of collapse in his past life?

Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

For the Scourges to arrive this late meant that something in the chain of battle had warped beyond expectation. Just as Junon was about to request a wide-area detection spell to clear his mounting dread, an urgent voice crackled through the communications link.

Don't tell me...

They were here.

A grating, chaotic cacophony of shrill squeaks echoed relentlessly through the dense forest, rattling the ears of everyone within hearing range. The disorienting noise made it impossible to discern which direction the ambush was coming from, dragging the squad's movement to a crawl.

"Junon!"

Crack.

"Taken care of. Keep moving."

"Unbelievable bastard... killing them barehanded..."

The beasts, their cervical vertebrae cleanly snapped with sickening crunches, dropped dead without exploding. One of the students scurrying alongside him called out in frustration.

"Junon! It's great and all, but do we really have to just parry them like this?"

"Why? Do you want to cut them down yourself?" Junon shot back without turning. "A minute ago, you looked ready to turn tail and run."

"Come on... that was just nerves! But it feels completely backwards for you to tell us not to cut them and only deflect them with our batons."

"Yeah, you told me to conserve mana too," a support wizard trailing behind chimed in, "but how long are we supposed to hold back? We're armed, and we have our Magic Armaments. We could easily cleave these rodents apart!"

With their gear and the support wizard's spells, they could hinder the Scourges' movements and easily dispatch creatures of this size, even with lower offensive firepower. Yet Junon had strictly forbidden them from doing so. Hearing the complaints resurface, Junon laid it out plainly once more.

"Listen to the chittering echoing through the trees and try to estimate their numbers. Exhausting your energy when we have no idea how many we'll have to fight is suicide."

"Well... fair point, I guess."

"Fine. We'll stick to batting them back with our truncheons like you said."

Though his reasoning sounded plausible enough on the surface, conserving stamina wasn't the real problem. In truth, Junon was expending all his own strength while the others merely watched, resulting in virtually zero squad coordination. But Junon had a vital reason for taking everything upon himself.

These vermin existed solely to detonate and spread the plague. They were suicidal abominations that threw their lives away to gorge on mana. Their mana had to be disrupted before it gathered at their hearts to ignite, and they could not be slashed or ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pierced in any manner that would spray their contaminated blood. To protect every single life he could, Junon had stepped forward alone.

Using Anti-Cast, he could momentarily stun the Scourges by destabilizing their mana flow, instantly followed by precision martial arts to snap their necks cleanly without spilling a drop of blood. Thanks to his relentless drills, not a single member in his squad had been infected yet.

"...!"

"H-Hey... look at the size of these tracks..."

A squad mate swallowed hard. Junon's eyes narrowed as he examined the crushed earth. The reason for the eerie delay, the bitter dread that had gnawed at his instincts—it all made sense now.

So this is why Revrant was pushed to the brink of collapse...!

Everyone had assumed that with the vanguard deployed, the reserve units would only have to clean up scattered remnants. But the sheer volume of tracks told a completely different story. Instead of trickling through one by one, a massive secondary detachment had bypassed the front lines entirely, an overwhelming force that demanded the attention of an entire army.

Right now, the student units were stretched thin across a wide perimeter to prevent beasts from slipping through toward civilian settlements. Against a concentrated tide of this magnitude, what would happen to them?

Defeat in detail. They would be annihilated one pocket at a time.

The near-fall of Revrant in the past timeline hadn't been because the vanguard failed to fight; it was because an astronomical swarm had slipped past their notice and crashed down upon the vulnerable, dispersed reserve lines.

"How much further?!" Junon barked.

"We're there! Right ahead!"

Bursting through the tree line, Junon caught sight of Squads Two and Three, desperately holding a bottleneck leading into the northern plains of Schytz. Faced with an impossible mass of beasts, they had attempted to turtle up and hold their ground, much like they had during the Orthoptera incursion. It was an admirable tactical choice, but their position was crumbling rapidly.

They had been pushed back to their absolute limit, on the verge of being encircled. Right at that moment, a Scourge slipped through a fracture in their defensive line, launching itself through the air straight toward a defenseless female student.

She was far beyond Junon's physical reach. Even if he charged through the swarm with everything he had, the beast would bite into her and spread the infection long before he could close the distance. It seemed she was doomed.

Thwack!

"What the... a metal rod...?"

"Hold your positions!" Junon's voice roared across the clearing.

Struck squarely by the heavy iron rod, the Scourge crashed to the earth, knocked unconscious with a massive contusion across its skull—without a single drop of blood spilled.

Managed to reach it in time...!

Junon's greatest tactical limitation was his inability to cast long-range magical bombardments, even if he excelled at intercepting incoming spells. To bridge that critical flaw, employing specialized thrown weapons was second nature to him. What looked like a simple iron bar was actually a concealed throwing spike, forged to conduct and release mana on impact. Knowing that his own unique mana flow could not be digested by the Scourges, Junon had pre-loaded the weapon with an Anti-Cast frequency before hurling it.

"Junon! We made it!"

Shouts echoed from behind as reinforcements arrived in the nick of time.

Now, it was time to turn the tide.