2. Winter Expedition - 05
2. Winter Expedition - 05
To put it bluntly, I was utterly useless.
BOOOOM!
"Aaaaargh!"
The moment the Witch flicked her hand as if shooing away a fly and sent me hurtling backward, I was removed as an obstacle, and the battle between the Winter Expedition and the Winter Witch began in earnest.
It was a spectacle that could truly be called the return of myth.
Woooooong—
From Bianca's fingertips, a colossal flame like hellfire blossomed and painted the sky. Where it grazed the ground, the earth melted into sludge like a marshmallow.
"Haaaaaa!"
With every diagonal swing of the Imperial Princess's sword, the ground caved in. The shockwave that narrowly missed the Witch sheared off a distant mountain peak at an angle. The sight of a mountain peak being sliced clean off by a single longsword not even two meters in length felt completely divorced from reality.
Kkiiiiiiik—
An arrow, drawn to its absolute limit, shot forth from Kirie's fingertips. Tracing concentric rings through the atmosphere, the arrow annihilated everything around it with a tremendous sonic boom. Even if it missed its target, Kirie's arrow would pursue as if it had eyes, intent on tearing its mark apart to the very end.
"O Goddess, look down with mercy upon thy servants..."
Light descended from the heavens, centered on the Saintess. Kneeling at the heart of that sacred light, which seemed to connect sky and earth, her figure radiated a natural nobility and divinity. Even I, standing far outside the light's reach, could feel my wounds rapidly healing and my whole body surging with vitality.
...Honestly, I was spellbound. I'd known the Winter Expedition members were strong, but I'd never imagined they were that strong.
For the past year, Bianca's magic had been limited to heating water or conjuring a fireball in her hand to bully me. Kirie's archery was only ever used on the occasional magical beast or wild animal. The Imperial Princess usually didn't even bother to draw her sword against magical beasts, finding them beneath her, and the Saintess only used her healing art to patch me up after I'd been pummeled by various beasts. The other members rarely got injured in the first place.
So this was the first time. The first time I was seeing them unleash one hundred percent of their power.
"...Hah."
And the Witch standing against those monsters was even more outrageous than they were.
She twisted the trajectories of Bianca's spells in an instant, conjured ice barriers to block the Imperial Princess's sword aura, and took a direct hit from Kirie's arrow with an utterly untroubled expression.
It was four against one, yet the tide of battle refused to tip easily either way. The Witch was a monster in her own right, single-handedly fighting those four on equal footing.
...But at this moment, the thing preoccupying my mind was not that brutal, savage clash of monsters.
The Witch waved her hand. Following her gesture, the spells Bianca had fired scattered in different directions. The flames Bianca had redirected flew off toward a target entirely different from the original. Yes, toward the main castle of the Estel Duchy, which stood behind the Witch.
BOOM—BOOM—BO-BO-BO-BOOM!
The heart of the castle, struck directly by Bianca's flames, evaporated in an instant. With the middle section of the building gone in a flash, the unbalanced lower half could hold on no longer. Emitting a death rattle, it slowly crumbled to the ground.
"...Ah."
Ruuuumble—
It was a historic moment: the castle of House Estel, which boasted a thousand-year history, was smashed to pieces under my generation. Even if it wasn't by my own hand, it was still a fact that the main castle had collapsed while I was the head of House Estel. And watching that sight in real time, my heart collapsed along with it.
"......"
"Oops? My mistake."
As I stared blankly at the castle, I heard Bianca's voice from beside me, remarking on her "mistake" in a tone that sounded not the least bit sorry. I wanted to rush over to that wretched bitch and strangle her for daring to utter the word "mistake," but the situation wasn't so leisurely.
Perhaps having gained a brief respite after deflecting every one of our attacks, the Witch's fingers began to move in a manner clearly different from before.
Crack—BOOM!
A lightning bolt erupted from the Witch's fingertips. But it did not strike down upon us. The Witch's lightning surged upward into the sky.
Ruuuuumble!
A thunderous roar echoed. Dark clouds rolled in across the heavens. Cumulonimbus clouds formed, and static electricity began to crackle within the clouds themselves.
'...Crazy.'
I didn't know much else, but one thing was unmistakably clear. The next strike heading our way was going to be unbelievably dangerous.
"Heh. I've never used this on people before, so I'm not very good at moderating the force. Well, good luck."
The Witch's voice sounded almost languid. An instant later, her finger twitched downward.
KA-BOOOOOOOM!!
".....!"
Disaster itself came crashing down. From the sky, dozens of lightning bolts, each larger than a typical building, forked out and began pouring down upon us. Dear gods. I knew she was strong, but was the Witch's power really this overwhelming?
But that was the moment.
【My shield I have entrusted to the Goddess who seeks righteousness.】
A reverent voice resounded across the battlefield. The next instant, a magnitude of light beyond all comparison began pouring from the heavens.
"...Ah."
An illusion flickered. Behind Saintess Ariel, I saw the phantasm of someone looking down upon all humanity with compassion and love. Faced with that sanctity, an impulse to kneel stirred within my chest.
【All the paths illumined by the Goddess are mercy and truth unto those who keep Her covenant.】
The light expanded its domain. The sacred radiance spreading outward from Saintess Ariel became a shield that protected all things, repelling every worldly principle in its path.
"Kain, what are you doing over there?! Have you got a death wish?"
But the halo of light had not extended its reach to the spot where I was sitting stunned, so Bianca used magic to frantically hurl me into the illuminated domain. One second later, a lightning bolt the size of a house struck the exact spot where I had been.
KA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BOOM!
Seeing the place I'd occupied moments before blasted to bits, leaving not a single trace behind, I couldn't even muster a laugh.
"...Hah. This is insane. Completely insane."
The thought that just moments ago I'd been babbling arrogantly about stabbing the Witch in the throat made me seem so pathetically stupid I wanted to lose my mind.
I realized that if the Witch had simply felt like it, I'd have been a corpse after her very first attack. The reason she hadn't bothered was probably because I wasn't even worth it.
"You stay put behind that shady woman. If you go flailing around and end up dead, it'll probably give me nightmares."
With those words, Bianca set me down beside Saintess Ariel. Then, just as she was about to fly back into the fray, she suddenly whipped her head around to look at me.
"Hey! Aren't you forgetting something?"
"...?"
What was she picking a fight about now? As I stared back with a look of utter incomprehension, Bianca thumped her chest as if something was frustrating her. In my eyes, she looked exactly like some uncivilized primitive.
"I just saved you! You forgot already?"
"...Ah."
Now that she mentioned it, that did happen. But my expression remained thoroughly unimpressed. Wasn't it a bit too brazen for the very person who had destroyed House Estel's main castle to take credit for saving my life once? But I pride myself on being a civilized man, incomparable to the primitive standing before me, so I politely offered her my thanks.
"Thank you. I'm alive thanks to you, Bianca."
The moment I thanked her, Bianca's complexion shifted. It looked like she was angry at me, but in a way, it also looked like she was flustered and embarrassed.
"Oooooooh!"
Bianca suddenly shook her head wildly like someone with water in her ears. She glared at me with a terrifying look for a while, then turned her body back toward the Witch.
...Seriously, is she insane? I said thank you because she told me to, and then she gives me that incomprehensible reaction.
As I watched Bianca's retreating back in a daze, Ariel quietly approached and tapped me on the shoulder.
"...Um. Kain. Could you stay behind me? It might be dangerous. Please don't venture too far forward. You might get hurt."
Her warm, caring words automatically translated in my ears as, "If you're small fry, stop posturing and stay quietly behind me." No doubt that was the actual meaning behind them.
"...Well, I won't refuse."
But pride doesn't protect my life. I quickly hid myself behind Ariel's back. I know it looks pathetic, but I can't help it. Better to roll in shit and stay in this world than the alternative.
****
The battle between the Winter Expedition and the Winter Witch lasted for a full half-day.
And at the same time, the Estel Duchy, which had served as the main stage for their war, was utterly wrecked.
The lord's castle had long since been reduced to dust, and the various buildings around it were smashed to bits. Farmland reclaimed over decades was completely overturned, and hideously enormous craters were gouged all across the territory for all to see.
And staring at that spectacle, I, the head of House Estel and the lord ruling this land, felt the sky turn yellow.
"...I miss my mom."
Those words carried a fair amount of sincerity. Today, more than ever, I ached with longing for my mother, who passed away when I was young.
"Auuugh..."
"....."
The battle was over. The Winter Expedition and the Winter Witch had fought madly, each trying to kill the other, but in the end, there was no victor.
Bianca, the Imperial Princess, the Saintess, and Kirie had all lost consciousness and collapsed on the ground. The Witch had not escaped unscathed. She hadn't lost consciousness, but at the same time, she didn't seem to have the energy to so much as twitch a finger. Seeing her lying on the ground, only able to release faint groans, she had clearly sustained fatal wounds as well.
"....."
Having been wrapped in Ariel's skirts the whole time, I was utterly unharmed, and I simply stared blankly at the scene.
Isn't this my chance? Now, while the Witch has lost all her strength and is sprawled on the ground—isn't this the one and only opportunity to finish her off?
Shhhing.
Thinking that, I drew the sword from my waist.
And I began trudging toward the Witch.
"...Haaah."
Noticing my presence, the Witch turned her head toward me. But at the same time, she did nothing more than look at me quietly, showing not the slightest sign of resistance.
...It seems she truly is spent. For a moment, the whole thing felt like a farce. When the Emperor and his higher-ups included me in the expedition as a human shield, they could never have imagined this outcome. No one could have imagined that Kain von Estel, who couldn't even reach the expedition's toes in terms of combat power, would be the one entrusted with the role of plunging a sword into the Witch's heart.
"...Witch."
I looked down at the Witch's face as she lay panting on the ground. With her snow-white hair and her youthful beauty, she could, on appearance alone, pass for the young lady of some noble house. But she was also a Witch. The vicious, wicked Witch who had brought winter upon the entire continent and driven countless people to their deaths.
Chiiiing—
I raised the sword. I aimed for the heart. The choice remained death, but I intended to make it as painless as possible. We were the victors, and she was the vanquished. She had to offer up her life as the price of her defeat, and I had no intention of demanding anything more from her. I didn't have the right for that anyway, having done nothing but tremble behind Ariel without ever even joining the battle.
"Farewell. In your next life, try living a little more kindly."
Muttering those words, I plunged my sword toward the Witch's heart.
Just before my blade pierced her heart, the Witch's eyes met mine.
"....!"
The next instant, time stopped. This was no metaphor. In a fleeting moment as if a single second had been split into a hundred pieces, the Witch and I realized we were looking into each other's eyes.
In that moment where only she and I existed in the world, the Witch slightly moved her lips.
"...This time, you're the one who's left. Heh."
"What?"
Startled, I tried to ask what she meant, but it was already too late.
Time returned to normal. My sword, too, continued unhesitatingly toward its intended mark.
Thunk!
My sword pierced the Witch's heart. There was no resistance. Blood erupted from the corner of the Witch's mouth. But her eyes held no resentment. She quietly pushed away the sword lodged in her heart, and then gently stroked my cheek as I stood frozen in bewilderment.
"Thank you."
With those words, the Witch collapsed into my arms as if fading away.
And the next instant, my vision began to warp. The world started spinning. I could feel reality itself beginning to shift, centered on the Witch and me.
Feeling a brilliant light envelop me, my consciousness sank into darkness, as if switching off.