Subjugating the Legion Commander (3)

A sun appeared upon the earth.

That was the impression shared by everyone who beheld the place where the Legion Commander and the Hero clashed. Fortunately, Sharti had hastily raised a barrier, so the aftermath never spilled outward to ravage the rest of the battlefield.

"That is…"

"…The Hero?"

The human soldiers understood that the light had been born from the Hero's strike, and almost at once that understanding became soaring morale.

The Legion, for its part, sensed the same truth. It was the Hero's blow—and the Legion Commander who had been swallowed by the storm would not easily walk out of it alive.

Gergius, locked in combat with Caesius high above, felt it too. His massive claw stopped a hair's breadth from piercing Caesius's shoulder.

"…"

Caesius glanced at him, then spoke.

"Has it been released?"

"Yes… the contract has been released."

Gergius withdrew his hand and let out a hollow laugh.

"To think you would truly deal with the Oblivion Legion Commander."

He was not the only one who felt it. The Legion's officers—Gurka among them, still held at bay by Karna—knew by pure instinct that the heart of their army had vanished.

"How dare you… how dare you…!!!"

Hot tears streamed from Gurka's eyes as he poured everything he had into his axe. Murderous mana surged and seethed around him. Karna raised his spear high.

"Stop thrashing."

Karna's mana flooded into the Holy Spear. The relic drank that power and converted every last drop into ferocious thunder-qi.

Karna already knew. Erinn had succeeded. He had glimpsed her breaking through the storm and delivering the final blow to Eris.

From that fact alone he was certain of victory. With the Legion's core gone, all that remained was mopping up. He had left the Legion Commander—originally meant to be taken down together—to Erinn alone…

"It's already over."

So he would clean up the rest himself.

As Gurka charged, axe swinging with savage force, Karna gripped the thunder-charged spear in both hands and leveled it at him.

Then he thrust. Spear and man became ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a single, razor-sharp bolt of lightning—

KRAKAKAKAKAK!!!

—and in a single stroke he drove it clean through Gurka's skull. Residual crackles of electricity fanned outward; Gurka's blood erupted in a fountain.

His axe never found Karna. It only split empty air and buried itself in the bare earth.

"…Ghk…… my… master……"

"Go join him."

Karna casually yanked the spear free. Gurka staggered, blood gushing from the hole in his head, and toppled. After Erinn, another Hero had just pierced the Legion's core.

"Hero Karna has slain the monster!"

At that cry the soldiers' morale soared so high they forgot their exhaustion and threw themselves back into the fight. Karna raised his spear high. Raising the troops' spirits in moments like these was part of a Hero's duty as well.

"Soldiers."

With the Legion's first and second in command gone, and even their powerful dragon ally abandoning the fight, the Oblivion Legion—

"This is humanity's victory!!"

—had no chance left.

Albrecht felt the mana he had been binding simply vanish. He let out a long breath and released his own power.

"Ah…"

Then he toppled backward onto the ground. He had withdrawn his mana, but he had spent far too long in a state of complete depletion. He couldn't so much as twitch a finger—and he was so tired he genuinely felt like he might die.

"Albrecht…!"

At the voice calling his name he managed to crack his eyes open. People were gathered around him.

Clara, who had just called out in a voice thick with worry, was bleeding from a wound on her head.

Letisia, watching him with the same anxious eyes, was slumped on the ground just like him—her mana completely spent.

Freya, wearing a gentle smile as she looked at him, was busy healing their injured comrades. She looked the most intact of the group, though she still carried plenty of minor cuts.

And Ser-Aria, already knocking back a bottle of celebratory liquor by herself, was covered in serious wounds from head to toe. The fact that she was drinking in that condition was almost absurd.

"Pfft…♡ You all look like absolute wrecks~♡"

And then there was Erinn, a complete ruin of a girl whom Ser-Aria had hauled over tucked under one arm. She clearly had no strength left to move on her own. The twin-tails she always wore had come completely undone; her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠armor was shattered; her clothes and skin were torn in a dozen places.

Just as Erinn said, every last one of them looked like a disaster. And yet—

"Heh."

"Pwahaha!"

"Heh heh."

"Pfft…"

"Haha."

Hearing those words, Albrecht and the rest of his companions all broke into laughter. Erinn, who couldn't so much as lift a finger herself, asked him:

"Albrecht, you're not dying, right~♡"

Of course, Erinn herself couldn't move a muscle either—that was why Ser-Aria had carried her over under one arm. Albrecht laughed at the sheer ridiculousness of it.

"…I kind of feel like I am."

"No!"

Clara scrambled over at once, cradled his face, and rested his head on her thighs.

"You have to stay with us, Albrecht…!"

"…Before I die…"

"I said no…!!"

"Before I die, I wanna touch Clara's chest……"

"……Eh."

Albrecht closed his eyes as he said it. Clara's face went scarlet. Naturally, he hadn't actually lost consciousness—it was a joke. His breathing was perfectly steady.

"D-Don't say weird things, Albrecht…!"

"Ah, busted…"

Watching their little comedy routine, Freya spoke with a mix of disbelief and a touch of jealousy.

"Judging by the way you're talking, you seem fine."

She continued,

"Mana depletion will resolve itself with time. It'll be rough until then, but…"

"Uh…"

"Why are you only worrying about Albrecht~? My mana's at zero too, not a drop left~."

"You'll recover quickly, Erinn. And you have other problems."

As she spoke, Freya poured divine power into Erinn. Erinn let out a strained sound.

"Be gentler…"

"You should have at least taken my blessing before going in. Charging bare-bodied into a storm raised by a Spirit King? Were you actually trying to kill yourself?"

"No… if I'd stopped for a blessing, the timing wouldn't have worked~?"

Erinn's internal injuries ran far deeper than the wounds visible on the surface. Forcing her way through the Spirit King's power was one thing, but she had also pushed her remaining mana to its absolute limit.

Muscles torn, tendons snapped… her dual-core state was a complete mess. Freya spoke with genuine concern.

"Just as the Oblivion Legion Commander's existence was the heart of their army, you are the heart of ours, Erinn. You need to learn to be careful."

"…Sorry~♡"

"Still… everyone's alive."

That was Albrecht.

"Seeing all of you safe… I can finally relax…"

"Pwahaha, damn right! As long as everyone's alive, that's what matters!"

"…Well, that's true."

Freya agreed with a soft smile.

Then Erinn added one more thing for Albrecht.

"You really were a huge help, Albrecht. Thanks to you, everyone made it through."

She was thanking him for his contribution. Hearing it, Albrecht felt a swell of emotion rise in his chest.

It was the goal he had set for himself the moment he first possessed this body in this game world. Someday, he had thought, he would become a party member who could actually help these people…

And now, even in a fight against a Legion Commander, that contribution had been unmistakably recognized. Albrecht tucked the swelling feeling away and answered as if it were nothing.

"…A man keeps his word."

"Pfft♡"

But Erinn seemed to have read exactly what he was feeling. This time, though, she let it slide, and simply smiled.

And to the party members who had all survived without a single loss, she spoke the words that fell to her as party leader.

"Everyone did great~♡"

After that, Karna continued hunting the remaining officers with single-minded focus. Stripped of their centers of gravity and with their odds of victory collapsing, the Oblivion Legion ordered a retreat—but of course, choosing to fall back with the enemy right on top of you only made the losses worse.

Humanity pursued the Legion relentlessly all the way to the border of the Pact, and in the end drove them to the brink of total annihilation.

Humanity, which had once suffered catastrophic losses at the hands of other Legions, had at last claimed victory against one of them.

Erinn's party—the core of the battle—spent a long stretch confined to their sickbeds, every one of them except Freya reduced to patient status. Even Ser-Aria and Clara, who had looked relatively intact, carried far deeper internal injuries than expected from taking Eris's mana head-on.

Ironically, Albrecht and Letisia—whose only real problem had been mana depletion—were the ones who got back on their feet first.

"Yes, you can move around now."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Freya finally gave Albrecht, whose body had recovered considerably, permission to leave his bed. She left him with one firm instruction.

"But you are not allowed to overdo it. Absolutely not."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Heh heh. I do like a patient who listens."

Freya rose from her seat.

"I'm going to go check on the others as well."

"Yeah. Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

With that, Freya left the tent. She had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠said she would come back… he wasn't sure why she needed to, but he decided not to dwell on it. Being allowed to move again was far more important.

"I thought I was going to die of boredom."

Lying in bed had been nice at first, but after days of it there was nothing more stifling. Albrecht worked the stiffness out of his body.

While he was at it, someone came to his tent.

"Albrecht."

"Oh, Caesius. Been helping people out?"

It was Caesius. Lately she had been dragged around doing heavy labor for the recovery efforts. Not of her own free will, of course—Albrecht had asked her to.

"Yes. Thanks to a certain someone."

"Haha… so you came to rest for a bit?"

"No. I have something to say."

Albrecht tilted his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠head.

"Something to say?"

"You saw it yourself—there was a dragon among the Oblivion Legion."

"Yeah, I know. You held him off."

"It was only natural, of course… but no matter how gifted I am, the gap in years was simply too vast. Had we fought properly, I would have lost."

Albrecht was briefly speechless at her phrasing. Declaring herself gifted, just like that…

Anyway, that didn't seem to be the point, so he asked,

"So?"

"So I had no choice but to make a proposal. That we would resolve the reason he contracted with the Legion."

"Huh?"

As Albrecht looked puzzled, Caesius introduced the person stepping in behind her—a middle-aged man with striking light-green hair.

"This is Gergius. The Elder-class Green Dragon I was facing."

"A pleasure to meet you, Albrecht."

"Ah… yes."

An Elder-class dragon. Short of the Ancient-class, they were the oldest and most powerful of the great dragons.

Wondering why she was suddenly introducing him, Albrecht looked at Caesius. Through her, he soon heard the reason.

"Albrecht. I would like you to use your power to cure the illness afflicting this gentleman's daughter."