Lightning's Reckoning
“Hey, over here!! Someone’s buried in this pile of rubble!!!!”
“K-kill him!! No—subdue him!!”
Save me, fuck.
I thought it was finally my turn and felt the blood drain from my face. But whether it was fortune or misfortune, what they discovered was someone else.
—Stab! Stab!! Thud! Thud!!
The merchant group’s guard, who had apparently been caught in our battle and killed, was shredded into a bloody rag. Broad shoulders like that screamed knuckle-dragging gangster, so I felt zero guilt. Still, if things kept going this way, in a few minutes I would either be riddled with holes or dragged off for the isekai version of enhanced interrogation.
……Veronica? Can you hear me?
I tried sending a telepathic message, but there was no reply. It looked like Enlir’s lightning baptism had blown my runes to hell.
At this point, I had almost no options left.
‘Fuck……! Hurry up, hurry the hell up……!’
I waited desperately for a shift in the situation. My body had no strength, and the potions I’d brought were obviously either smashed or evaporated. There was only one way out.
Shwaaaaaah──!!
The change I’d been praying for arrived right then. Mana pouring down from the ceiling!
Buried beneath the debris, I cheered inside.
‘It’s here!!’
The mana Enlir once possessed flooded into me. The amount dwarfed what I had gained from slaying the giant on the Bicorn clan’s Garden Island. The pressure was so intense I nearly groaned out loud.
‘Shiiit……! Way more than I expected……!’
The first law of mana: too much mana harms the body. I squeezed my eyes shut and endured as the ancient god’s mana swelled inside me until I felt ready to burst.
‘The Ogre’s Seal…… is it still intact!’
Lucky me. My clothes were rags, but the Ogre’s Seal I had brought didn’t appear badly damaged. I poured the absorbed ancient god’s mana into it. At the same time, I acquired a new rune to help me escape.
The rune ᚲ (Kenaz) was a bad hand. Even if my presence vanished or my features blurred, my shape would still be visible, so arrest would be inevitable.
‘The only rune I can pick is ᛒ (Berkanan)!’
I had already guessed I lacked talent for transformation magic. But there was no choice. To get out of here, I needed to turn into something small, like an animal, and slip away.
—Whiririririk!
Using mana to learn the rune, unlocking transformation magic, and even attaining true enlightenment in the process. Quite a lot of the ancient god’s mana still remained afterward, but the situation was too urgent to check the exact amount.
With every ounce of strength I had left, I reached for the spear and chanted the spell.
"Berkanan......."
⟨ Transformation ⟩
Chanting at the lowest possible volume, the transformation succeeded.
—Clatter!
The moment I became a small mouse, the wooden planks covering me collapsed.
“Wh-what the—!!”
“Over there!! First squad, converge!!”
The guards were raising a commotion! I had just witnessed how they wouldn’t let even a single rat escape, so even while groaning in pain I checked my condition with the frantic urgency of a hunted dog.
‘Fuck……! Transforming doesn’t remove the damage……!’
Now a four-legged beast, I moved my powerless body awkwardly. The equipment and items I carried had transformed along with me. It seemed to work on the same principle as when Veronica changed her clothes and belongings during her own transformations.
Just as I had predicted, I had no talent for transformation magic.
‘I’m probably only barely maintaining it thanks to the rune stone’s buff.’
It was only because of the rune magic buff from the rune stone Veronica gave me that a talentless person like me could manage this at all. The sensation was like trying to do the splits in pants that were already two sizes too small. Any slightly rough movement and it felt like the costume would rip open and the real me would pop out.
Staying still was tolerable, but the more I moved the stronger the discomfort grew. It was absolutely miserable.
‘Still better than getting captured.’
It seemed the damage I took in transformed form was linked to my original body, but a small mouse’s frame was apparently easier to move than a human one. While failing to fully adapt to the awkwardness, I slipped past the guards.
“Grrrrr……. Bark bark bark!!!”
As I circled around the merchant building, the awakened guard dogs began barking at me. They had been too scared to come out while Enlir and I were fighting each other, yet they showed no fear toward a little rat. Annoyed, I transformed into an adorable Pomeranian.
“Kyung? (The hell?)”
The guard dog tilted its head. As a white Pomeranian, I widened my eyes and radiated killing intent.
“Grrrr, yip yip, arrr!! (Where’s the potion, you stupid mutt!!)”
“──Keeeeeeng!!!!”
—Flop!
Beast instinct instantly engraved the hierarchy with a single burst of killing intent. The guard dogs rolled over, exposing their bellies in submission, and guided me to the room with the potions. Whether because they were smart breeds chosen specifically for guard duty, they led me without error to the warehouse where the potions were stored.
I chased them off and crawled inside with great difficulty. Transforming into a snake, I slithered under the door crack, then released the transformation. With a body that felt ready to die, I grabbed a recovery potion from the shelf.
I flopped onto my back and poured the potion over myself like a shower.
—Glug glug glug.
—Hssssssss.
The wounds that had been torn to shreds healed, leaving behind ugly scars. Feeling my strength return, I swept my hair back.
‘Damn it. At least stab wounds look cool. These lightning scars are hideous.’
I’d have to spend some money later to get them treated. I couldn’t let my wives be traumatized every time we had sex.
—Crunch.
Feeling my stamina return, I smashed open a nearby crate. Using the claws from Beast Regression, I carved eyeholes. Tying it with string from inside the box, I completed a crude mask. I added a rune to it and put it on my face.
“Uga uga.”
Thus was born a half-naked, masked, spear-wielding barbarian. This might add an Aztec cannibal legend to Hremar’s urban folklore.
—Crunch!!
Since the warehouse had no windows, I smashed the lock and escaped. Focusing all five senses, I dashed toward the direction of the commotion. It seemed they still hadn’t finished off the merchant master; the sounds of battle carried on the wind.
Conserving my stamina, I sprinted again and again. I briefly returned to the spot where I had fought Enlir after turning back into a mouse and clicked my tongue.
‘As I thought, it’s gone.’
I activated the rune to search, but Enlir’s soul was nowhere to be found. Either it had been ground away by magic because I had fought with everything I had, or—like what happened with Yerna—some trick had caused the soul to vanish quickly.
‘Too bad, but it can’t be helped.’
Well, whatever. What’s gone is gone. At least I had learned a few things.
‘Besides, my mana vessel has grown considerably.’
I’d have to check the exact amount later when I had time, but even a rough estimate told me it had nearly doubled. The mana gained today alone seemed greater than the total I had accumulated from all previous Successions combined.
These human elixir bastards, seriously.
—Thud!!
I climbed onto a roof and arrived at the battlefield. They must have moved during the fight; everyone had broken through the merchant building’s walls and come outside. There were no guards left. My wives were safe.
Confirming the state of the battle, I dropped down from the roof.
“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaa──!!!”
Zoid, bleeding from a head wound, roared. The shout sounded exactly like an eight-cylinder motorcycle engine with the accelerator floored. He charged forward like a bullet and brought his sword down.
The merchant master caught Zoid’s sword with a gauntlet.
—Clang!!
I didn’t know where his hammer had gone, but the merchant master was empty-handed. The reason he didn’t use his remaining shield was because Veronica was chanting behind him.
“Get lost, you coward!!!!!”
“Kuhk!!”
The merchant master bellowed and sent Zoid flying.
Now!!
That was the moment. Larilura swung Ringling’s arm. Mana chains shot out from the hammer held by the marionette and wrapped around the merchant master’s arm.
“Grrrrrr!!!”
—Whiriririk!
The chains bypassed the shield and seized his arm. Veronica completed her spell as well. As if pulled by an invisible hand, the merchant master’s arms were forced apart.
Light blazed from inside his helmet as he resisted the force.
“Do you think a descendant of the Dvergr would lose a contest of strength!!!”
—Creak creak creak!!
The arms that had been forced open began closing again under the merchant master’s raw power. Our three party members plus Zoid had only managed to buy about five seconds at most, but Franc burst forward as if those five seconds had been exactly what she needed.
Franc’s fist was covered by a stone golem’s hand. Each step left a footprint deep enough to remain permanently.
—Kwaaaaaang!!!!
Her fist struck the merchant master’s solar plexus while he was immobilized. The destructive power was no joke; it shattered his armor and nearly sent him flying backward. But the merchant master staggered and held his ground.
“Pathetic!!!”
He moved his mirror shield and nullified the mana chains, then swung it to sever Veronica’s magic as well. Franc immediately pressed the attack. When her golem fist flew in with a whoosh, the merchant master raised his magic-reflecting shield. Franc instantly dispelled the golem and dumped the resulting earth onto him.
Franc’s warhammer smashed into the side of the merchant master’s head while his vision was blocked.
—Crack!!
The arm covered in black armor was instantly bent backward at an unnatural angle by the hammer blow. Yet the merchant master showed no sign of pain and tried to headbutt Franc.
Where do you think you’re planting a forehead kiss on my wife?
Of course, that was the perfect moment for me—having hidden my presence—to drive my spear into the bastard’s helmet.
—Baaam!!
The merchant master, struck in the head, bounced away like a rubber ball.
“Nor, those wounds……!”
Franc was shocked to see me covered in hideous injuries, but she seemed to realize this was no time for conversation. Even with the mask on, I could clearly picture her biting her lip in anguish.
—Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!!
Throwing knives flew without hesitation and pierced the gaps in the merchant master’s armor where his feet had stopped. The fact that he didn’t even groan was honestly eerie.
“……Huu, huuk, huuk.”
The merchant master, now resembling a victim of pirate roulette, panted heavily.
“To think you’re still alive after that much lightning…… it seems that immature fool is dead.”
“Why? Missing a friend who was like a son to you? When you die you’ll see him. You and that guy are headed to the same place.”
“Niflheim, huh. If he feared the cold he never would have come this far.”
So he had been prepared to go to hell? It wasn’t even funny. Even in a world with an afterlife, people who commit sins never seem to disappear.
“……Brother. I still don’t understand.”
Zoid, clutching his solar plexus and coughing, spoke up. At the word “brother,” the merchant master glared at him.
“I told you that you are no longer my brother.”
“Shut up. Why? Why go this far? I may not have known the full extent of your sins, but I know your past well. When you were young you were neither a warrior nor anything else.”
I realized this wasn’t mere small talk. Veronica was secretly moving her mana. Although the connection between Veronica and me had been severed by Enlir’s lightning, it seemed she had instructed Zoid to buy time.
“Back then you were an ordinary dwarf boy who admired an artisan’s work and dreamed of showing it to the whole world. On the day Father died you swore you would fulfill that dream!”
“……Kuhuhu. Kuhahaha! Kuhahahahaha!! A dream? A vow?”
The merchant master, perhaps affected by the beating, actually responded to the conversation.
“That’s right. Once upon a time, it was. Until I learned that Father’s death was poison—until I lost my wife and two-year-old daughter as the price for finding that out.”
“……Poison? Father?”
Zoid looked stunned, as if he had been hit in the head. The merchant master looked at his younger brother as if he were filth.
“That day. The day I was chased by elves and left to die in the forest. The ones who saved my life told me the truth of the world. The reason Father had to lose his life, and the story of the cursed human blood flowing in my veins.”
"We must regress beyond antiquity, all the way to the age of gods."
"Only by regaining the purity of blood and reclaiming the arts that even the gods could not imitate will a future open for our clan!!"
An X shape rose on the merchant master’s chest as he spoke. It was a rune. The ᚷ (Gebō) rune used to swear an oath. The merchant master coughed up blood. It overflowed from beneath his helmet. Without a doubt, it was a gag order forced upon him by Tabula and Enlir’s organization. His eyes gleamed with suppressed rage.
The armor shattered by Franc’s sincere punch broke apart. The chest bearing the ᚷ (Gebō) rune was covered in scales like a reptile.
“Glory to the descendants of the Dvergr!!”
The merchant master threw off his helmet. The old dwarf who resembled Zoid gouged out his own eye—the one already ruined by Franc’s knife. He then held up the eyeball, optic nerve still dangling, toward the sky.
“Those who taste blood, I ask you about Berserk—!”
The chant, reminiscent of Jade’s bloody vomiting, was cut short. My freezing beam had struck his hand.
—Craaaack!!
The eyeball, exposed to steam pressure and cold, crumbled like a dried-out snowball.
“I already saw it, dumbass.”
Duplicates are forbidden. I spoke while exhaling smoke-like vapor from my finger.
“Enough with the giant transformation and second phase. I’m already exhausted from playing with your friend earlier.”
—Ssssh.
The eye that had become ice powder fell to the ground. I didn’t know how merciful the great madness dwelling in the heavens was, but it probably wouldn’t accept that as a sacrifice. There is a limit to respecting a one-eyed man. Treasure the eyeballs your parents gave you.
“Kuh, uuuugh……!!”
When the merchant master trembled while clutching his frozen hand, Veronica activated her magic. She drew a vertical line with her lips, and a ᛁ (Isaz) mandala rose on the merchant master’s shield. The mirror-smooth surface turned dull and dark.
“──How?!”
“Magic reflection is, at its root, rune magic. Once its structure is revealed, there is no reason it cannot be broken.”
Veronica said. The shield that reflected magic had been neutralized. Franc and I charged forward with our weapons raised. The merchant master cut the strap holding the shield and hurled it at us. A final desperate act.
I gathered my recovered strength and swatted the shield away.
—Kaaaaang!!
The ancient civilization relic flew backward like a frisbee. Franc dashed through the opening I created. The sturdy armor was stripped away. Franc’s weapon changed to a knife. As she closed in, the merchant master’s broken arm suddenly swelled.
“──Ugh!”
Franc, caught off guard, seemed to consider retreating, but at that moment a sword flew in and stabbed into the merchant master’s swollen arm. It was Zoid’s sword. He had thrown it into the gap created when the swelling armor split open.
Franc did not stop.
—Flash!!
Her arm shot forward like a ray of light. The throwing knife could not withstand the thick scales and Franc’s strength and snapped. But it had still fulfilled its role.
“……Cough.”
The aged merchant master, now cut in half, stared at the knife that had pierced his chest. Franc, holding the knife, pulled the blade out without hesitation—yet somehow with a trace of mercy.
—Splatter.
Blood poured from his heart like a cork had been removed.
“If losing your family is what made you who you are today…… then instead of obsessing over some uncertain future for your clan, you should have lived the life in front of you more fully.”
Franc said as she let go of the broken knife.
“A happy future comes only to those who live today with all their might.”
“……Did your husband teach you that too?”
“No. It’s what I learned by watching him.”
At Franc’s answer the merchant master closed his mouth. He looked back and forth between my face and Franc’s, then spoke.
“There is a faction that hates every human race in the world. They will never forgive humans, nor the mixed-bloods who carry human blood.”
He soaked his front with the blood surging from his mouth. The gauntlet gripping his heart sprayed a bloody mist as if trying to suppress a fountain. It was as if the rune on his chest was squeezing his heart as punishment for speaking forbidden knowledge.
“You may take all my treasures. Even if left alone, they probably won’t find a proper owner.”
—Thump.
Having left that message, the merchant master fell to his knees.
“Child of my kin, beware the elves beyond the wilderness…….”
He lowered his head at Franc’s feet as if repenting his sins and stopped moving.
“Marina, Zophie…… I’m sorry.”
Those were his last words. They were probably the names of the merchant master’s wife and daughter, whom even Zoid had barely known because they died so young.
Franc stared at him for a moment, then removed a few pieces of his equipment and gently covered his face with her hood.
“There are sins that cannot be repaid even with death…… but desecrating a corpse would only make me feel better. That’s all.”
Franc spoke as if she had sensed my question. If all the wrongs that deserved punishment had been punished, perhaps that was enough. Having guessed her feelings, I decided not to argue with Franc’s decision.
“……Let’s withdraw. Before the guards swarm us.”
“……Yeah.”
Franc said and buried herself in my arms.
—Flash!
Thus we escaped the half-destroyed merchant building by leaping over the wall, avoiding the rush of guards. The battle that night—too hollow to call revenge and too emotional to call divine punishment—came to an end.
I could only hope that it had provided Franc with some kind of closure.