The Cruel Dance of the Earth Mage (3)
Tirsi winked at me with practiced ease. “Nord, are you hurt anywhere?”
“No. Thanks to you, I survived. I thought I was dead for sure.”
“It’s nothing. I only came to support everyone. Ah, this is on the house. Clean.”
A cool breeze swept up and down once, shaking the mud away. It was the same cleansing magic I’d seen before. Tirsi must have grown since last time—she cast it without chanting.
“Nord!”
“Senior!”
The two party members who had broken free rushed toward me.
—Thud, thud, thud!
Ringling No. 3’s charge made Tirsi’s eyes widen at its sheer size.
—Bow!
Franc ran straight up and bowed to Tirsi. “Thank you for your help, Miss Tirsi!”
“Yes. I happened to be nearby, so I could lend a hand. Hmm, so…… you’re Miss Francesca, correct? You’ve been promoted to Bronze Class. Congratulations.”
“Oh, yes. Have you been well, Miss Tirsi?”
“Yes? Well, yes……”
The two adventurers exchanged rather stiff pleasantries. Black hair and white hair. Generous curves and modest ones. Short stature and tall. Rogue and mage. They were polar opposites in every way, trading rigid smiles like figures in a monochrome painting. Watching them made me feel like I was suffocating.
“Senior, senior, senior? Senior, senior, senior, senior!”
And Larilura, as always, was operating at full capacity.
“Senior, does it hurt? Is your back all right? The acrobats in our troupe always say a man’s waist is his life, so did you turn into a living corpse or—Ouch!!”
“Pick one: worry or tease.”
—Thwack!
I flicked Larilura on the forehead and surveyed the battlefield.
“Kiyoooooooyoooooyoooooyot──!!!”
“Hii─hya!!”
—Whoosh! Thud-thud-thud!!
The wasteland had become a maelstrom of flying magic and dancing blades. Golems were being crushed like ants! The threefold numerical disadvantage was shrinking at an astonishing rate. Even the golems that had given the Bronze-class teams trouble couldn’t withstand the Bronze-class swarm piling on with coordinated attacks.
Whether fortunate or not, the Gold Class team wasn’t joining the extermination and had gathered in one spot. Still, if I just stood around dazed, I wouldn’t even hit 90% proficiency! ‘It’s a burning event—I can’t afford to stand here gossiping!’
I sheathed my sword and dusted off my hands. One of the three greatest frustrations in any RPG is having to log out right before a level-up. Missing this chance to organize the Nordor expedition in search of the Hobgoblin Shaman? That would be madness no matter how I looked at it. So instead of wasting time here, I had to take down as many golems as possible.
With that thought, I turned to Tirsi. “Tirsi. I’m sorry you came all this way to help, but can the thanks wait until after the battle?”
“Of course. We can talk later.”
Tirsi agreed readily, then added, “But from what I saw, your party doesn’t seem to have a mage. If it’s all right, would you like me to assist?”
“We’d welcome that anytime. Though we can only offer equal shares of the loot.”
“Don’t worry about the reward distribution. We don’t take loot; the guild compensates us separately. Helping adventurers is also an order from above.”
That was welcome news. The rest of the party signaled agreement with their eyes. I bowed on everyone’s behalf. “That’s a generous offer. We’ll be counting on you. For now, let’s finish off the golems you already suppressed.”
Even if we extracted the cores later, finishing blows were necessary. Plenty of golems were dying around us, yet no mana succession occurred. It seemed I had to personally defeat the enemies to gain proficiency.
—Thud! Thud!
I quickly dispatched the golems that had lost their limbs. Tirsi made an excuse about conserving mana and rested while I swiftly extracted the cores.
Shwaaaaaaaaak─!!
Mana rose from the core-less golems and was absorbed. I checked my internal mana and felt a flicker of surprise. ‘The absorption amount is high?’
It was far more than when I had hunted near Heisvent. According to my calculations, I should have needed roughly three times as many kills as I’d just made, yet ten golems had already pushed me to nearly 95%. More than double the usual absorption rate.
“……This feels wrong.”
An ominous premonition slipped out. This other world was a fantasy realm of magic and monsters, but it wasn’t a game. Even in games, changes never happened without reason. Yet here was an unannounced experience-point submarine patch? The proficiency I absorbed was mana. In other words, double experience meant the golems themselves carried more than double the usual mana. The sudden increase in mana combined with the golems beginning to speak left an alien discomfort in my senses. Perhaps the eerie quality I felt from the absorbed mana was the cause.
—Squish.
The moment the sticky mud beneath my sole clung to my foot—
—Kuaaaaaaaaaak!!
I realized evil mana was flowing in through the ground. I should have noticed sooner.
“──Damn it!!! It’s a trap!!! Everyone, evacuate!!!”
The Gold Class adventurer in charge shouted. Those within earshot looked over in alarm, and from that direction a pillar of light shot skyward.
—Kwaaaaaak!!
As if answering the light, mana raced across the ground, tracing geometric patterns.
“It’s a magic circle!!”
Tirsi cried out to us. If that had been all, we would have realized it instinctively. But what followed was different.
“This form is── a barrier!!”
—Whoosh!!
Like a trigger pulled, the light spread across the sky and connected with the magic circle on the ground. A massive barrier completely enveloping the area! A blue membrane of mana on an entirely different scale from Anasis’s barrier. I drew my sword again.
The anomaly continued. The magic circle running across the ground also affected the remaining golems.
—Crack, crack, crack!
Their mud-like bodies hardened, transforming the golems into demonic shapes. Muscular gargoyles without wings would be the easiest comparison.
“POOOOOOOOO──!!!!”
“Kyaaaaak!! These bastards suddenly got stronger!!”
They rampaged as though responding to the geological upheaval. Adventurers who had been subduing them with ease now struggled against the transformed golems, taking hits or dodging desperately.
“These damn things!! Jackson!! Terrius!! Fall back!!”
The Gold Class adventurer wielding a sword launched an attack. His party members—a mage and a rogue, by the look of them—followed his orders.
—Flash!
The Gold Class hadn’t reached their rank by luck; his strike was viciously sharp. He bisected the enhanced golems and carved through the battlefield. With skill like that, maybe we could leave it to them? Whatever the barrier’s purpose, a Gold Class team shouldn’t have trouble with enhanced golems. Mages had always favored shield and barrier magic. With their experience, they would handle it.
Thinking that, I shouted to my party. “The evacuation order’s out—no need to argue! Let’s move!”
“You two, this way!”
—Whoosh!
Larilura darted forward and scooped Tirsi and Franc onto Ringling No. 3. Since neither could reinforce their bodies with mana, they were willing to burn their own reserves to escape faster.
—Tap, tap, tap!
We ignored the changed situation and fled. We had no obligation to risk our lives against the rampaging golems. Other adventurers, thinking the same, also turned and ran. Even strengthened, the golems’ legs remained slow; they couldn’t catch up to our retreat.
“Tirsi. Have you heard anything from the alliance’s upper ranks?”
I asked while running hard. I’d heard roughly from Carlyle, but that alone didn’t explain why this chaos had erupted. Tirsi, perched on Ringling No. 3, let out a small groan.
“Yesterday, guild leaders who secretly scouted here discovered a magic circle accelerating golem creation. The Gold Class team came to dismantle it, but something seems to have gone wrong during the process.”
“Dismantle?”
At those words, I understood. That team had been sent not only to prepare for contingencies but specifically to dismantle the magic circle Nefertiti and Carlyle had found.
“Shit!”
But the reason I cursed was different.
—Thud, thud, thud!!
“Open this!! Let us out!!”
At the place we were heading, a crowd of adventurers who couldn’t pass through the barrier had gathered. This barrier was indeed one that trapped people inside.
‘What?’
Yet something was strange. Some adventurers had already escaped outside the barrier! Many were anxiously crossing back and forth, which wouldn’t make sense if they had simply been unable to leave from the start.
“Hey, what happened!! Why can only I not get out!!”
“Kreisy!! Hang in there!!”
Adventurers watched their trapped comrades, struggling by pulling from outside or pushing from inside.
“Kyaaaaak!!”
The trapped adventurers tried desperately too, but couldn’t break through.
—Gurgle, gurgle!
They were blocked by the blue barrier wall with pantomime-like gestures, even though a comrade had half their body through right in front of them.
—Sizzle!
Our party reached the edge of the barrier. I swung my sword at it without hesitation.
—Whoosh!
The blade passed through the barrier like a hologram. I checked the edge—there was no damage or malfunction.
“……Damn.”
But that was all. The moment my hand touched the blue membrane, it refused to move, as though pushing against a solid wall.
“Can you guess what kind of magic it is?”
Tirsi approached and asked. I was slightly flustered that the mage was asking me about magic. My imitation of a deduction show last time must have left quite an impression.
“It doesn’t look like a dangerous barrier. There are people passing through over there right now.”
I pointed to an adventurer moving freely in and out. Not only were those people unharmed, but unlike the evil mana rising from the ground, the barrier itself felt almost sacred. It was probably a physical barrier similar to wide-area shield magic. Its purpose was likely to prevent escape so the golems could finish everyone off.
“I’ll try touching it too.”
Franc jumped down from Ringling No. 3. I nodded.
“Please. Be careful, just in case.”
“Huhu. You worry too much.”
Franc hid her tension behind a laugh and touched the barrier. Passing through── didn’t work. I swallowed a click of the tongue and looked at the others. Tirsi, closest to the barrier, reached out without hesitation.
—Whoosh!
“Kyaa, ah!”
Feeling no resistance, Tirsi stumbled and passed outside. With a bewildered expression she reached out again, and once more passed through easily.
“My turn.”
Larilura advanced Ringling No. 3. It passed through. Next, Larilura herself tried and slipped through as though it were nothing.
“Only Nord and I are left.”
As Franc muttered that, Larilura hesitated, then stepped back inside the barrier.
“No, you idiot. Why’d you come back in?”
“Huhu. I don’t have the taste for saying ‘Goodbye~’ here! If we deal with all those golems and erase that magic circle or whatever, it’ll be a successful escape♡?”
“Was it Miss Larilura? That’s a good idea.”
—Slide.
Tirsi also stepped back inside the barrier. Having integrity was admirable, but wasn’t this reckless?
—Thud! Thud!
Thinking that, I noticed the golems approaching and took a combat stance. I shouted to the nearby adventurers with everything I had.
“Those who can’t get out over there!! Come this way!!”
“What, what?”
“Since you can’t escape anyway, let’s take them down first!! If there’s no other way, come over! You’ll die if you stay separated!”
I could see the Gold Class team still fighting inside. We only had to hold out until they finished.
“Tizail! You go inform Sargadis!”
“H-hey! You people come in too and fight with us── This fucking!! Don’t run away, you bastards!!”
The adventurers each confirmed trust with their party members before gathering around us. Those whose comrades had come to fight, those abandoned by their comrades, those who had sent their comrades away—various types, but excluding our party, ten more people joined.
And I kept turning the situation over in my mind while watching the enhanced golems charging from roughly a hundred meters away. ‘Is this a trap? If so, what’s the purpose? Are they targeting someone among us?’
No, that didn’t feel right. Most of the people gathered here were adventurers. If they only wanted to catch a few specific people, there were far simpler methods. Would they set up such an elaborate trap just to snare adventurers below Gold Class? That would be a waste of time and manpower. Then what? ‘What was the goal behind this trap?’
The moment I was focusing more on that question than on the approaching golems—
──Rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble!!!
An ‘earth mound rose’ at the exact center of the barrier. That was how it appeared, and that was exactly what happened.
──Kuuung!! Kuuung!! Kuuuung!!!
The mound slowly emerged from the pit where the golems had come from, as though squeezing through a narrow opening. To my eyes it looked like── a colossal golem over thirty meters tall.
“Ah, ah. Greetings, foolish humans.”
A robed man standing on the golem’s shoulder spoke. His voice echoed loudly, as though amplified within the barrier.
“I am Abidus-Nubi. A black mage.”