Chapter 400
Chapter 400
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 400
Chapter Title: Grand Ball (7)
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1.
Albireo Jemernai was out on a business trip to handle affairs in the present world.
Connecting communications between the present world and Gehenna required enormous costs and equipment, but Countess Jemernai gladly shouldered the expense.
While she was in the present world, she could manage family matters without needing to make a round trip. Conversely, when back at the estate, she could contact business partners in the present world. But the most important reason was that she could video call her adorable twins.
Through that expensive communication device, Albireo received a report from Head Maid Galina that made her doubt her own ears.
"How much?"
"Siu did?"
"Why...? Oh, even Galina doesn't know."
"Got it. Sorry to trouble you, but please visit the vault bank in person and double-check. Thanks for always working so hard."
She ended the call.
Albireo blinked in a daze, her expression blank.
Just an hour ago.
A report had come in that a massive amount of gold had been withdrawn via the credit certificate she'd given Siu.
It was an amount even a countess who wouldn't bat an eye at blowing hundreds of millions on fine liquor couldn't ignore.
"What in the world is going on?"
Albireo had entrusted Siu with a credit certificate of unlimited limit.
But she never imagined he'd blow through more than double the promised reward amount in a single day—and in one lump sum, no less….
Did he buy a castle in Renomund Town?
No, probably not.
Not even purchasing a castle on Gehenna's most prime land would cost that much.
If it were anyone else, she'd immediately suspect some scheme.
But Siu was different.
Albireo knew him, if only a little.
He wasn't the type to squander a fortune recklessly like some wastrel playboy.
Combining his usual temperament with the circumstances, the notion of "Is he eating and running?" was about as unlikely as it got.
"This is weird…."
If anything, it felt suspicious.
Like suspecting voice phishing if someone suddenly tried withdrawing that much cash from a bank.
The fact that he'd used such a huge sum without asking permission or even consulting her….
Albireo immediately reactivated the remote communication orb.
"Yes, Deneb. I need you to check something."
2.
Amelia stood frozen, dazedly scanning her surroundings.
Every place she'd wandered while hunting so far had been polar extremes or uninhabited wastes.
So seeing a massive city in the present world was a first for her.
The chaotic flood of people, the ear-piercing car horns.
Buildings taller than Gehenna's greatest tree loomed over the city, their glass windows flashing menacingly.
"……."
Normally, Amelia never let her attention wander while on the hunt.
Just silently carrying out her task was grueling enough to nearly break her spirit.
But this was Korea.
Siu's long-dreamed-of homeland.
She knew it was pointless, but she couldn't stop her eyes from drifting toward it anyway.
Still, the situation wasn't ideal for indulging in sentiment.
The location listed for Bianca Bellirilli was Busan, Korea's port city.
Amelia had left a sleeping Clara behind and set out alone, only to realize shortly after arriving that she was in quite a bind.
"What is it? Cosplay?"
"Whoa... how does a person even look like that?"
"Should I ask for a photo?"
The stares pouring in first, followed by the chatter surrounding her.
Even among witches, Amelia was renowned for her striking beauty, drawing eyes just by standing there blankly.
Normally, she'd suppress her presence immediately, but overwhelmed by the onslaught of noise and the deluge of unfamiliar information that made her dizzy, she finally snapped her fingers belatedly.
In that instant, people lost interest in her as if she'd vanished from existence.
But that wasn't the real problem.
"……."
For starters, there were too many people.
The hit list didn't provide an exact location for the public enemy witch.
Amelia's usual method of tracking them was to deliberately scatter mana particles and lure the target in….
Doing that in a place swarming with crowds would cause far too much commotion.
And erasing the presence of each individual particle was impossible.
Moreover, baiting the enemy as usual meant yielding first strike, which was a serious issue.
According to the hit list, Bianca Bellirilli was a witch skilled in long-range sniping.
No pushover, but a formidable rank 22 public enemy.
Even for Amelia, starting a fight by handing the initiative to a sniper was no small burden.
-Thwoom!
A massive mana pulse registered in Amelia's senses as she felt lost on where to begin.
Despite coming from far away, the heavy thrum of mana made her circuits tingle in response.
Her sky-blue eyes turned toward the distant source.
-Thung!
Another impact rang out, confirming it wasn't her imagination.
No visible disturbance on the surface.
It meant a pulse of this magnitude had leaked from inside a barrier realm.
Something rare.
Amelia immediately enveloped her body in particles and began tracking the origin.
3.
"...Kuh!"
Bianca let out a pained groan.
Shin Siu burst through a tear in space.
The slash he unleashed severed one of Icarus's wings.
If it were ordinary wings, losing balance and plummeting wouldn't be surprising, but Icarus's wings were artifacts.
Her speed might have dropped slightly, but evasive maneuvers defying inertia were unaffected.
The aerial battle began naturally.
To shake off her tenacious pursuer, Bianca unleashed every artifact at her disposal.
"Fire!"
Flower-shaped explosive artifacts scattered about, butterfly-shaped ones that sluggishly tracked and restricted enemy movement, flare-types dispersed to lose pursuers, laser-beam emitters, and more.
Dozens of varieties alone.
The number of projectiles was already beyond counting.
-Shing!
Now a relentless hunter, Shin Siu never let Bianca escape.
She'd spread starlines and use every trick to finally gain distance, only for Siu's body to vanish in bluish light and reappear piercing through empty air somewhere.
Not linear teleportation, but spatial leaps jumping from point to point.
Even without 'gates,' folding space to run was astonishing enough, yet he wielded such high-level Nature Magic while wielding that red branch riddled with distortion fields.
That wasn't all cornering Bianca.
-Crackle!
Chasing with flight and spatial jumps. Waging aerial combat with hundreds of ribbons. Pouring out mana so wastefully—it should bottom out soon.
"Bloom."
But just when she'd think he'd collapse from exhaustion, a golden mana burst.
His nearly depleted mana refilled completely.
Meanwhile, Bianca's was steadily draining.
Even she, confident in prolonged wars, was starting to feel uneasy.
"Grrgh…!"
Archeart's bow's sole weakness: the interval between shots.
Bianca felt it for the first time.
Normally, no need to even notice.
For clingy foes, blast them with starlines.
If enemy ranged attacks interfered, use Icarus's wings for short tens or long thousands of kilometers separation, then snipe with line-of-sight observation.
Gaps while drawing the bow were covered by Bietge's shield.
Each had flaws alone, but together, five flawless divine tools.
The reason Bianca had never lost in over a century.
However.
Now, that weakness was glaring.
The ballroom ledger binding them to the battlefield until the fight ended, and the arena flag.
Bianca had arranged it to prevent his mid-battle flight and outsider detection.
The flag's battlefield radius maximized stealth at about 3km.
Far too narrow for Bianca's greatest strength: one-sided long-range bombardment.
She hadn't anticipated such close-quarters intensity, turning her precautions into a noose.
Of course, her ability was artifact tuning and assimilation.
With a little time, she could lift the constraint.
The problem: Shin Siu hounding her without a moment's gap.
Siu caught up to Bianca again.
The red helix drew an arc, pounding the shield mercilessly.
-Bang! Kwang! Kwarang!
Bietge's shield nullified all physical energy to zero.
Yet it screamed each time the red branch struck.
Proof its defense was degrading under concentrated distortion fields.
Watching shield fragments crumble, Bianca knew decision time had come.
If stalemated like this, she'd lose to gradual mana drain.
Of course, if his clearly overworked body shut down first, she'd win by outlasting.
Defeat.
Defeat.
She let out a wry chuckle at the unfamiliar taste of the word in her mouth, born for the first time.
"Haaap!"
Bianca gathered all her mana.
Chipping away petty sums to see whose pot was bigger didn't suit her.
In gambling, the final bet was all-in.
Bianca vigorously shook the starline.
Siu rocketed to the barrier's edge.
Simultaneously, hundreds of millions of tiny cubes filled the 3km airspace.
Even for Bianca, handling that many artifacts at once was impossible.
But those sparkling like star fragments swimming in zero gravity were "Mimic Dice."
Decoys mimicking artifact appearances to deceive foes, low mana cost.
Normally for inducing overreactions and gaining attrition edge, but this time, different use.
Observation showed his spatial jumps always landed in empty space.
In this obstacle-filled void with no footing, that cheating blink would be restricted.
Even if he rushed here fast, drawing Archeart's bow would be quicker.
-Kikikik!
The bow drawn once more.
But different form this time.
Seventy-two split Bietge shields aligned cylindrically into a gun battery.
A formation conceived watching Siu's ringtunnel deflect arrows.
Shield defenses inward minimized force dispersion.
Arrows that should radiate every direction compressed by shields toward one point.
Result: a strike far stronger than any before.
"So that's how you'll play it?"
Siu's response upon landing far out at sea.
Did her intent reach him?
He didn't array ribbons defensively.
-Kuuuung!
Instead, he flared them out like a flower.
Difference: ribbons now dozens instead of twelve.
From seabed cranes, shipwrecks— all commandeered as bowstrings, pulled with terrifying roar.
Reenactment of prior clash.
Both sides' final strikes.
Finally clashed midair.