Mount of Demonic Beasts, Toward the Summit (8)
After the unicorn smashed through the stables and flew off toward the Mount of Demonic Beasts, the ducal household erupted into complete chaos.
It was only natural.
For all that the unicorn was usually frivolous and given to sexual harassment, the fact remained that it was a divine beast created by God Himself. The stable hand who had suddenly found himself hosting a divine beast in his stables went running about with a face as black as death. If anyone started assigning blame for why the unicorn had escaped, he figured his own negligence would be first on the list.
"Aigoo… I'm finished. Totally finished."
He had done his absolute best—given it the finest feed, the warmest stall—yet the unicorn's grievances had apparently piled up until they finally exploded. Why had they ever put a divine beast in a stable to begin with? A creature like that belonged indoors, somewhere warm.
The steward went pale and dashed about in every direction; the stable hand did the same. Startled by the sudden uproar, the holy knights and warriors hurried back and forth, trying to grasp what was happening—why a unicorn that had been so well-behaved until now had suddenly run away, and where it had gone.
"Divine Beast! Where was the last place anyone saw the Divine Beast?!"
"Word from the marketplace says it headed toward the Mount of Demonic Beasts—"
"Is this a runaway, or just a stroll? Either way, the unicorn is a divine beast made by God Himself. If anything unfortunate happens to it, all of us—"
"Gather the warriors! We head for the Mount of Demonic Beasts at once! Move!"
Every last person in the ducal household tore about like rabbits with their tails on fire. Soldiers assembled at lightning speed.
"Honestly. All this fuss over that perverted bastard?"
"Ahaha… The unicorn's usual behavior is pretty bad, sure, but it's still a divine beast…"
"A colt that walks up to people on the street and asks if they're virgins? I can't even. That thing is a divine beast?"
"Haha…"
Kenis offered a sheepish smile at Friga's grumbling. There was nothing wrong with what Friga had said.
"All these people suffering because of one vulgar horse. Humans really are strange."
Estel muttered under her breath, her pointed ears on full display. As a member of the ancient Five Races—an elf—Estel's position within the expedition was peculiar. Too special to be called a mere guest, yet too loosely attached to count as a full member. No one had asked her for help with the unicorn incident. Somehow she had shown up of her own accord anyway. Perhaps being cooped up indoors because of the cold had left her restless.
Once the hastily summoned warriors and holy knights had more or less gathered, Kenis stepped forward at Duke Lushan's courtesy and drew every eye.
"Ahem, ahem! Everyone! Our objective is to search for the unicorn that flew toward the Mount of Demonic Beasts! First we will divide the area into zones—"
KRAAAAAANG—!
A colossal explosion rolled across the heavens. From the direction of the mountain's peak, several enormous pillars of fire rose into clear view. If anything could hold up the sky, it would look exactly like that.
"That is…!"
"Demons! Demons!"
The aura radiating from those pillars of fire was unmistakably demonic. The holy knights and Kenis reacted at once, drawing their weapons and directing raw hostility toward the towering flames.
There it was. A demon was hiding near the summit of the Mount of Demonic Beasts.
"We depart at once!!"
Kenis glared at the pillars of fire and shouted. The time for demon-slaying had come.
The expedition prepared for the purge with blistering speed.
The highest priorities were the safe return of the warriors who had already climbed the Mount of Demonic Beasts, and the extermination of the demon. The unicorn's recovery was pushed to the very back of the list. The unicorn itself was hardly the sort of creature that would get itself beaten up wherever it went—it had already shrugged off multiple lightning strikes, after all. So the expedition set the unicorn somewhat lower in the order of business.
Hans…
Kenis stroked her holy sword and bit her lip in secret. A demon had appeared on the Mount of Demonic Beasts. The aura she felt belonged to something of at least Archdemon rank. The warriors who had received the oracle and headed for the summit—whether they still lived was uncertain.
The memory of how coldly she had treated him to the very end jabbed at a corner of her heart. If he was still alive… no, he was still alive. She shook her head hard and shoved the negative thoughts away. Hans was not the sort of man who went down easily. He would be alive. When they met again… she would apologize for being so frosty.
Kenis wiped away the single tear that had slipped free, finished arming herself completely, and stepped outside.
The holy knights, the imperial knights, and the northern warriors had already gathered in one place, ready to march. Their weapons, edges gleaming blue, thirsted for enemy blood; not a flicker of fear showed in the warriors' eyes. This was an expedition proclaimed in the name of God. The absolute elite had assembled to purge a demon—fear had no room to squeeze in.
"…We depart."
No long speech was needed. No florid oratory, no rousing lines to lift morale. Their champion stood at the head of the column, and a demon waited ahead. The only thing promised to them was victory.
Clatter! Clatter!
Just as the grim-faced expedition began climbing the mountain at a rapid pace, the sound of hoofbeats reached them from somewhere—from the sky itself.
"Hm? That is… hoofbeats?"
Estel, whose hearing was unusually sharp, caught the sound first. Kenis, Friga, and Iscal lifted their heads next.
Puhiihihing—!
A unicorn streaked across the sky like a comet. And hanging from its back were people—not one or two, but a full eight.
Prrruh! Pruh—! Ah! Maidens! Maidens!
Spotting the expedition, the unicorn changed course and came toward them. The closer it drew, the clearer the figures dangling from its back became: the very warriors who had earlier received the oracle and climbed the Mount of Demonic Beasts, now hanging limp. Among them was Hans.
"Kyaaaak! Hans!"
Kenis let out a piercing scream and rushed forward to check his face. The way he hung limp was unmistakably that of an unconscious man, yet aside from soot and the smell of burning here and there, he showed no major external wounds.
"Hans! Hans! Wake up! Hans!"
"Umm… uh…"
"Wh-what on earth happened—no, wait. You met the demon, didn't you? Right?!"
"…"
Hans only gave a weak groan. Even Kenis's desperate calls produced no sign of him rising.
The unicorn muttered in a somewhat wounded tone.
Hey now, maiden… Anyone can see I got hurt worse than my master…
"Ah. You're safe, Divine Beast. Thank goodness."
Is that all?!
Leaving the dejected unicorn behind, the holy knights and knights hurried over and carefully lowered the warriors draped across its body. None of them showed serious external injuries, yet their minds seemed to have been driven to the absolute limit; they could not speak properly and only rambled. The only two who could still hold a coherent conversation were a holy knight and a hunter.
"Run—run! We have to run from here right now!"
The hunter shouted, trembling violently. Run? Was he talking about the demon?
"Elder, what do you mean, run? If you're speaking of the demon, you need not worry—"
"The demon! That shit-eating dung-beetle bastard did something insane! If we stay here we're all dead! All of us!"
He cried out like a prophet who had seen the end of the world, hands and feet shaking as he muttered.
"The demon… that bastard collapsed the eternal snows on the summit! Avalanche! An avalanche is going to bury this place! We have to run right now!"
"What do you mean…?"
Kenis and Friga locked eyes for a moment. Avalanche? Collapsing the eternal snows? A story they had never imagined.
They stared blankly at each other for a beat, then Kenis whipped her head around toward the mountain's peak.
Those pillars of fire earlier—!
A scheme to bring down the eternal snows. Now that she looked with purpose, the snowfields on the summit were visibly lower than before. Accounting for how small things appeared at that distance, an impossible volume of snow was already pouring down.
Grasping the gravity of the situation at last, Kenis screamed at the top of her lungs.
"To the castle! We return to the castle! Run at once!"
"No, Kenis. Not the castle. If those eternal snows have collapsed and started an avalanche, even the walls won't hold."
Friga murmured darkly. Born and raised in the north, she knew the danger and sheer force of an avalanche better than anyone. She could say it with certainty: if the demon had brought the entire eternal snowfield down, Montegras's sturdy walls would crumble like a sandcastle before a wave.
"Then…"
Where were they supposed to go?
"We abandon Montegras and flee farther. There's no other way."
Friga spoke with her head bowed low, so her expression could not be seen. Who could possibly measure the heart of a woman forced to say she must abandon the home where she had been born and raised?
"My lady."
Iscal carefully wrapped an arm around Friga's shoulders. For some reason her shoulders looked especially small just then. Friga did not push his hand away.
"…There's no time. An avalanche moves far faster than any of you can imagine. Go back at once, evacuate the people, and pull as far back as you can."
The sole princess of Montegras delivered her confession.
"Montegras—"
If they could not stop the avalanche.
No—if they could not escape the avalanche's reach.
"—is finished."
Shaaaa—
The once-still Sea of Souls began to surge. It knew its master had returned.
Kenelm carefully rested the Great One's head upon her thigh. The slight weight pressing against her leg brought her a pleasant heaviness of her own.
"Great One. Please awaken."
"Umm…"
She would never dare shake him awake, so she whispered carefully beside his ear. The warm breath tickled; he twisted a little, yet showed no sign of rising.
Soft.
"Just a little longer…"
"This is troublesome."
He went so far as to hug her thigh and rub his cheek against it. Kenelm's brow filled with awkwardness.
She knew full well what miracle the Great One had wrought, yet the surface world needed him right now.
I never imagined He would create an entirely new dimension.
It was small, yes, but it was still a dimension ruled by entirely different laws. That the backlash from forcibly drawing out so much power had left him only this exhausted was already a mercy.
Kenelm turned her head toward the mirrors. The floating mirrors each reflected a different scene: an avalanche overturning the mountain as it advanced, the people of Montegras already on the road of evacuation, and something black wriggling at the mountain's summit.
"Hooo—"
Problems to solve were piled high as a mountain. Kenelm let out a deep sigh. First, the avalanche.
"Sss… kuh—"
Grab!
"Hyit!"
The Great One, still deep in sleep, shifted and seized her thigh. Kenelm's startled gaze, flailing through empty air, locked onto one place.
A man's hand. Large and sturdy, nothing like her own feminine one.
Gulp.
She swallowed dryly for no reason. She already knew no one else was around, yet she still glanced about to confirm it.
…There's no time, but just a little…
She carefully stretched out her hand and gently stroked the Great One's.
The veins standing out in ridges, the rough texture, the calluses…
A man's hand.
The Great One was male, after all.
So this is… a man's hand…
It was nothing like her own smooth, delicate fingers. She lightly traced the tips, tickled them, then gathered her courage and gave the fingers a soft squeeze.
"Umm?"
The Great One let out a faint sound. Kenelm jerked her hand away at once and rubbed it needlessly against her clothes.
"Uh, uh…"
Fortunately it seemed to be only sleep-talk. Kenelm secretly heaved a sigh of relief; a cold sweat even beaded on her skin.
Now there truly was no time left. Kenelm bent at the waist and whispered toward the Great One. Her soft chest brushed against something.
"Great One."
"Eup, euup—"
Her low whisper traced along the curve of his ear, delivering something that sent a shiver through him. Did she know what she was doing? Or was she simply trying to wake him?
Kenelm only whispered to the god sunk in deep sleep.
"Awaken, Great One. The world still needs you."
Truly, the world needed its god.