Echoes
It was two days before I set out for Yggdrasil. A long time, if you had it, and a short one if you didn’t.
There was a reason it had taken that long.
First, I needed at least some rough estimate of what I was capable of now.
I had to pick out a few spells from memory that could help in combat, then think through how to adapt and apply them in practice. It also took time to sort through the items stored in the quantum storage.
Even that had shaved a day off the original deadline of three.
There was no guarantee the blooming period would come any earlier than I remembered, but the reverse wasn’t guaranteed either. William might use some method to hasten it.
If that was the case, then it was better to skip the tedious formalities and move as fast as possible.
Besides, the fact that an ordinary person with no training had stepped up in the first place was embarrassing enough already.
“…Hoo.”
It’s fine. I did everything I could.
I sat on a boulder beside a fallen tree that had broken in the middle.
I muttered empty words to settle the nausea twisting in my gut. Then I lifted my head and looked around.
A dense conifer forest filled my vision from edge to edge. The smell of earth rose from the woods, where the mist had already begun to settle.
I opened my mouth and drew in one deep breath. The cold, damp air filled my lungs.
My stomach eased, just a little.
“Still.”
The state of the fallen tree wasn’t normal.
I turned my head and glanced at the cut surface.
It had been torn and snapped down as if something had forcibly seized it and broken it in half, the fibrous interior still connected in places.
Judging by how fresh the color still was, it hadn’t been down long.
I’d seen a few more trees in the same state on the way here, so it was probably...
Origin Species.
“Yeah, I figured.”
There was no way William was alone.
After all, Yggdrasil itself had been known to summon Origin Species in small numbers to protect itself while it was still growing.
And wasn’t he the bastard who had ordered Origin Species to clean up after the murder of his parents? It made more sense to assume he had a small pack under his control.
This was turning into a mountain of problems.
I checked the makeshift radar I’d put together. No responses showed up nearby.
It was nothing more than a shell of a thing, built through software refinement alone, but it was better than nothing.
Figuring I’d rested enough, I climbed down from the boulder and stretched my legs out.
I called the railgun out of the quantum storage. The moment its grip settled into my hand, a targeting reticle appeared before my eyes.
I closed my eyes for a moment, then opened them again.
I checked the direction.
Some translucent liquid-like flow moving beneath the ground was heading toward the direction I’d been aiming for.
Following that movement, I caught sight of a mountainside buried in year-round snow, and beyond it, something enormous.
A colossal trunk rose there, and thick branches packed so tightly they seemed to block out even the sun spread across the sky.
The flow visible inside the tree was so chaotic it was impossible to make out any direction at all.
The Gate of Yggdrasil.
It was my first time seeing it in person. The tree said to bring about the end of the world scattered an ominous white light.
▼
The sensation of passing through the barrier was bad enough. What came after was worse.
A red point bloomed in the radar in the corner of my vision, staining it with a blotchy crimson.
Countless red markers lit up across the HUD in front of me.
Some of them had already noticed me, and the numbers showing their distance were dropping fast. I could already imagine the Origin Species racing straight for me.
A chill ran down my spine. My body, startled by the sight, staggered back half a step. The part of me that wanted to turn and run was held back only by reason.
“…I didn’t come all this way just to run.”
Right, Justina?
Without realizing it, I muttered the woman’s name under my breath. Before I could even get a grip on my confusion, the rustling high in the trees drew closer.
I didn’t have long to think.
Ansuz.
The instant a monster burst from between the trees, a burst of blue lightning leapt from my hand.
It was quadrupedal, with a thick carapace slung across its back.
Something like pincers jutted from its front, and saliva streamed continuously from the mouth inside, as if it were hungering for prey.
I only caught a glimpse of it for an instant.
The lightning that had flown from my hand burned through the first creature from the inside out, then jumped to the one beside it, and the next, until four of them were reduced to ash in the blink of an eye.
The sensation in the hand that had thrown the lightning returned. Cold sweat was pouring down me.
My first impression after killing an Origin Species was... nothing special.
Warning. More hostiles are approaching.
I forced my attention back at the AI’s warning.
I didn’t have the luxury of sentiment.
I gauged the mystery stored inside my body.
What I’d just used had been barely more than a light expenditure, yet it had recovered quickly. If I kept dumping out power at the same rate, I might be able to endure for a while.
The problem was the other one closing in on the same line of attack.
Recommendation: use the railgun.
“Yeah, I know.”
Even from a distance, the shape looked hard and solid. It didn’t seem like the same trick as before would budge it at all.
But I couldn’t afford to focus on that single target. Too many others were already pouring in.
I’d thought ahead for a moment like this. I dropped to one knee and pressed a hand to the ground.
I began to recite the spell.
Ansuz, Wynn, Thurisaz.
“Ungh.”
The ground was full of mystery, and yet I couldn’t actually draw much of it out.
A faint groan escaped me at the feeling of mystery draining away from my body to make up the deficit.
There was a stinging sensation in the palm I’d pressed to the earth. I slowly rose and opened my hand.
Three blue spheres, each smaller than my little finger, rotated slowly above my palm.
I sent them flying forward.
The spheres flew straight ahead, then at some point scattered in three directions and plunged into the middle of the Origin Species pack crashing through the forest.
A moment later, thunder roared through the heart of the conifers.
Blue current split the atmosphere like thorns. The unlucky Origin Species caught in it were electrocuted in an instant and turned to ash.
Stay focused. It’s not over yet.
Wiping away the cold sweat beading on my bangs, I grabbed the railgun hanging from my suspenders.
The sound of wood splintering and breaking came faster.
The targeting reticle stretched toward the creature’s shape and trembled violently. Judging by size alone, it was only a little bigger than me.
And there were several of them.
—I ask for tireless vitality along the circulation of my heart, and strength through the forging of the furnace.
Because I’d been burning through mystery so intensely, dizziness swam through my head for a moment.
Maybe it was just the strain of overexertion. In that split second, a torrent of thoughts surged through me.
Lower the upper body, grip the handguard and stock properly, seat it against the shoulder. The alert for full charge sounded, and the green light came on.
The trigger was light.
“Hrk.”
But the recoil that came back was heavy.
With a sound like air being ripped apart, the alloy slug punched through a larger Origin Species.
The round tore through its outer shell like butter, then transferred all of its remaining momentum into the flesh beneath.
It had only passed through, and yet a grotesque spray of blood and viscera burst from the exit wound.
Without even a second to gag, I swung the reticle toward another target.
Just where I’d turned it, a dark, hulking mass crashed forward, snapping apart the conifer closest to me.
I kicked off the ground and bolted.
As I ran, I checked my body’s condition.
The mystery stored inside me was still holding out.
The dizziness from before had probably been a sign of overconsumption.
There wasn’t even time to catch my breath.
A marker had just appeared on the HUD.
It was right in front of me.
Hidden by the shadow of the trees, it was hard to see clearly. I made out only its general shape, stretched out a hand, and opened my mouth.
Ansuz!
Blue lightning burst from my hand.
A few of the creatures I hit twitched.
I flinched at the sight before remembering, belatedly, that it was just postmortem convulsions.
I drew a new stance where I’d run in and took aim again.
The smell of charred flesh drifted from the side.
The nauseating stink blended with the scent of the conifer forest and changed into something stranger still.
Another crack of destruction echoed through the woods.
Even after piercing the massive creature, the slug kept flying for a long time, shredding the tree behind it and knocking it down. The hulking body collapsed.
With that, the forest briefly regained its silence.
There was nothing left in sight that I needed to deal with immediately.
I took a moment to breathe and surveyed the surroundings.
Before I knew it, the red dots had packed the radar full. The number of markers showing on the HUD was outrageous. Too many.
“At this rate, it’ll never end.”
How annoying.
This was turning out to be a bottleneck far beyond what I’d expected.
It wasn’t fair to say I’d charged in blindly, either.
I’d prepared just as thoroughly on my side.
Considering I was still alive so far, it seemed I’d at least landed close to the right answer.
Still, I couldn’t keep pushing forward like this.
By now, even if it wasn’t magic, they’d probably realized someone had broken in.
I was in a hurry. I couldn’t afford to waste time here.
Suggestion: ignore hostile entities and prioritize approaching the target, William.
“…That might actually be better.”
So long as I didn’t have to deal with the tidal wave of monsters that would come crashing in afterward.
I let out a small, dry laugh.
Did the sole survivor really have to suffer this much just to save the world? Was this really why I’d been designated in the first place?
What would anybody think, seeing someone who had never properly held a gun doing this kind of thing?
Then one thought flashed through my mind.
Could I do it?
The question was brief. At this point, it was all or nothing anyway.
I ran again.