Arcana Online
My huge shout shattered the air, and a group of rough-looking men came running.
“What’s all the racket!?”
While they combed the area, never once noticing me hidden inside the carriage, I racked my brain for a way out — but nothing came to mind.
No, seriously, I’d definitely activated the skill, so why wasn’t anyone coming?
“Yongyong. What do I do? I think the skill’s broken.”
“Kkyuung!”
I clung tightly to Yongyong, who was trying to wriggle out of my arms and go on his own, as if to say I should trust him.
“Kkyuung!?”
“No! What if you get hurt?”
“Kkyuuung!”
I kept chasing after Yongyong, who wanted me to let him go, ducking and weaving through the shadows, until a chill ran down my spine and I looked over my shoulder.
A blank-faced man was staring at me. The tattoos covering his face gave him an especially sinister look.
“You alone?”
“I’m with Yongyong, so I’m not exactly alone, but...”
His expression darkened, and then he shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Found her!!!”
At that, I heard footsteps approaching from all around.
Before I knew it, a ring of criminals had closed in around me.
“Where’d this rat come from!?”
“What the hell are the guards doing!?”
Apparently no one had even considered that I might have slipped in here alone. Just then, while they were searching the area...
“Enough.”
The crowd parted to both sides, and a huge man came forward.
He walked up to me, looking me over from head to toe with an unpleasant gaze, like he was appraising merchandise.
“Oh? A decent-grade specimen.”
“Me?”
“If you don’t resist, I won’t have to handle you roughly.”
He looked down at me with a vile smile, and then—
“Kraaaah!”
With a thunderous roar, a bear appeared.
The people around us froze in shock.
“W-what the hell is that monster!?”
“Isn’t that a war bear!?”
“As if! It’s over ten meters tall!”
Cutting through the panicked crowd, the bear stepped in front of me and blocked their path.
The others were still gaping at the sight of it when—
From the sky came a massive pillar of light, and one by one, monsters began to appear.
Gigantic rabbits that looked like they could take on three hundred to five hundred people at once arrived, each carrying a huge carrot.
A slime that looked lewd... no, beautiful, came bringing all of its kin with it, and then a goblin tribe appeared shouting, “For Valhalla!!”
The orc warrior who had once helped me led his people in alongside the war bear, fierce and intimidating, while above us countless griffons wheeled through the air and surrounded the village.
At the sight of the monsters, the men sank weakly to the ground.
Then, with a deafening boom, the earth split open and a gigantic tower rose from below.
Monsters poured out from inside.
From unruly rabbits to slimes, goblins, orcs, war bears, and even rowdy griffons.
One of the terrified people, who had been repeating “Save me, save me” over and over, let out a scream.
“It’s the end of the world!! The end of the world has come!!!”
He pointed at the sky, and that was when something impossible happened.
The clear blue heavens cracked like glass. The sky split open, and within the Crack—within the rupture—countless eyes appeared.
There were so many of them I couldn’t even begin to count, all looking down at the earth from above.
And among them, one pair of eyes was especially bewitching.
“Demon Lord!?”
[It has been a while.]
The Demon Lord greeted me warmly, and so did the dark elves among the many demons.
[Mom!]
[Eek! It’s our mom!]
[Move, ugly thing!]
[Me too! I want to see Mom too!]
It was nice and all, but was greeting me at a time like this really appropriate...?
Help Me! successfully summoned the summons!
The silver fox tribe I’d called for still hadn’t appeared, but plenty of other people had.
When I asked them to help clear the area, all the monsters and beastfolk and other nonhuman races trapped inside the carriage were finally released, and every single one of them turned their eyes on the humans who had kidnapped and imprisoned them.
“You can do whatever you want.”
With those words, screams rang out everywhere.
I turned my head and thanked the monsters who had come all this way for me, handing each of them a Magic Stone one by one until my pockets were practically empty. Yongyong, meanwhile, was desperately trying to stop me, insisting that at least one meal’s worth had to be left for dinner.
“Kkyuuung!”
“J-just one night wouldn’t hurt, right?”
“Kkyuu!!”
After scraping together every last stone except the ones Yongyong was supposed to eat later, I distributed them to the monsters. Just like when they had first appeared, they were wrapped in a brilliant light, and then vanished in an instant.
The Demon Lord and the demons watching from the Crack in the sky also offered their farewells.
[Come visit again sometime.]
[Mom! We’ll miss you!]
[We love you, Mom!]
I waved back, tears blurring my vision at the pitiful thought that I was already being called “Mom” at my age, but I swallowed hard and held them in.
Among the freed nonhumans, a beastman who looked a little older walked up to me and sank to his knees.
“Thank you, benefactor.”
“I only did what had to be done.”
“No. If not for you, all of us would have lived our entire lives in misery.”
He looked so gaunt it made my heart ache, and I wanted to give him something, anything, but I’d already handed out all the Magic Stones I had. No, wait—there were still a few left, but Yongyong was guarding them with murderous intensity.
Then a message popped up.
You have inflicted major damage on the secret organization Pentagram.
A bag of Magic Stones has been awarded.
Isn’t this a nice surprise?
When I opened the bag I’d received as a reward, it was packed with Magic Stones.
If I had this many, that should be enough.
I handed one out to each monster and beastfolk who had lost their strength, lacked energy, or seemed unable to think clearly, and before long they’d all recovered and looked healthy again.
The nonhumans cheered, delighted that their bodies were brimming with power, and the many monsters that had been weakened only moments earlier seemed to grow stronger in an instant.
Among them, a beastfolk with a human upper body and what looked like a mermaid’s lower half approached me.
“Thank you for saving us, benefactor.”
“I only did what I had to.”
“This is a modest gift, but it is a treasure passed down through our clan.”
With that, he held out a glowing sphere.
It looked exactly like the orb I’d gotten from the fortune-teller grandmother.
Atlantis Treasure Map
It looked like a marble, but it was actually a map.
The item I’d gotten last time had been marked ???, but this one was properly identified!?
“It’s a map that leads to Atlantis, the ancient city and homeland of our merfolk. It may be a city of legend, but if it’s you, benefactor, I’m sure you’ll be able to visit.”
After saying that, the monsters and beastfolk dispersed in every direction.
When I used the map I’d just received, the same voice spoke again.
Route guidance has begun.
“Where are we going!?”
You have deviated from the route and are recalculating.
“Are you messing with me!?”
*
*
*
“Damn it! What the hell is going on!?”
Overnight, our main hideout had been smashed to pieces.
I had heard there was a summoner who controlled monsters, but commanding that many at once was insane.
I’d barely managed to survive by sacrificing my subordinates so I could report to the higher-ups as fast as possible.
But before long, I’d been forced into despair anyway.
Countless foxes blocked the way in front of me.
Foxes were known to be gentle and weak, which was why hunters usually targeted them — but the foxes before my eyes were different.
Not only did they take on human form, every single one of them had nine tails.
I’d always heard that foxes with nine tails ascended and became immortals, so why were they here...?
“You touched the silver fox tribe’s benefactor and thought you’d live?”
“I-I didn’t know! I didn’t know!”
And with that, the world went dark.
Left behind in that spot, the foxes — no, the silver fox tribe — moved out to deal with the remaining stragglers.
“Big sis, we came all the way here. Shouldn’t we at least say hello before we go?”
“There are still too many targets that need to be dealt with.”
“Hiiing. But I wanted to see them.”
They had to finish off the remnants that had fled with their little sibling, and beyond that, they also had to erase the organization that had dared to bare its teeth at their precious benefactor.
Then they sensed it.
In the direction all the clan members were looking, a group of humans appeared, their black cloaks billowing behind them.
Their energy felt anything but ordinary. Were they enemies?
“Foxes, I see. Then you must be connected to our benefactor.”
At that, they lowered their guard.
There was only one person whom a group of humans that strong would call their benefactor.
The benefactor.
“Are you planning to finish off the stragglers? I can provide information.”
Introducing themselves as the Black Knight Order, they tossed over a scroll, and when she caught it and checked the contents, it listed the organization’s scale and the location of its hideouts.
“This was obtained through the information guild, so it’s reliable.”
“Since you’ve helped us, we’ll repay the favor later.”
“There’s no need. We’re doing this entirely for the benefactor.”
With that, the Black Knight Order vanished.
Leading her clan, she raided every hideout marked on the map.
So that they would never again dare bare their teeth at the benefactor.
That night,
every last human in those hideouts was wiped out.
Everything was for our beloved.