I'm Not the Culprit (2)
Felix hastily slapped his own cheeks.
No. Get a grip!
The sheer size of the thing had thrown him for a moment — but only a moment. In the end, this too was a wall he had to climb. If he flinched here, nothing would come of it.
The level is…
Mana gathered in Felix's eyes as he measured the gulf between himself and his opponent. A groan slipped out of him unbidden.
"…At minimum, you'd need an Upper Knight for this."
Kuuuuuuung—
A bulk that seemed larger than the Colosseum itself. Crimson scales, and between them, countless black spots studded like freckles of night. He had seen this somewhere before.
The Scarlet-Spotted Centipede.
A centipede born to become a dragon, a creature that had lived since the ancient age. Only a handful of them still dwelled in the desert, and they fed primarily on sandworms.
Here and there, scales had been torn away, leaving open wounds. It looked faintly unsteady — not in peak condition. Even so, the sheer difference in raw physique was overwhelming. A single thrash of that body could half-demolish the Colosseum. Just avoiding being swept up in the shockwave of its emergence was already a stroke of luck.
The people?
Felix hurriedly swept the Colosseum for signs of life. Fortunately, only a few remained — a handful of what looked like guards, and the announcer. There was a presence that felt like an administrator, but that one would know enough to run. Everyone else was already pouring out of the Colosseum in a flood, thanks to Unit Five and Dead Bear's earlier rampage. Completing the evacuation would still take a little more time, but the odds of survival had jumped dramatically.
Felix's gaze drifted naturally toward Unit Five.
Don't tell me… on purpose?
Thud. Thud!
Unit Five slammed its fists together as a test. Apparently satisfied with its condition, it grinned and looked up at the centipede.
"…Hey. Can you understand me?"
Unit Five dug a finger into its ear — or rather, into the sand it had shaped into the suggestion of an ear, since it had no such organ. That was as good as a yes.
"Did you cause that ruckus on purpose? Of your own will?"
Unit Five shook its head and pointed downward.
Downward…
"Evan Alcarte ordered you to?"
A nod. There was a faint pride in the gesture — the look of a servant who took genuine pleasure in its master's capability.
…A peculiar golem in more ways than one.
If I'm going to step in, now's the chance.
But he couldn't rush it. Not everyone had evacuated yet. The moment that centipede went berserk, the entire Colosseum could come down without anyone batting an eye. Until they were all clear, he had to buy time.
Hold it somehow, no matter what—
Just as light began to spill from Felix's eyes—
"Heavenly Magic"
"Fifth Rank"
⟨ Veil of the Night Sky ⟩
Woooooom—!
The night sky descended. A canopy studded with countless stars. In a single breath, the sunset-washed heavens turned pitch black, and a barrier wrapped the entire Colosseum — or more precisely, the ground they stood on.
…?
To the centipede, it must have looked different; its head tilted in confusion.
"…This is."
For a moment, Felix was at a loss for words.
The Veil of the Night Sky. He knew it well. One of the shrine maiden's rarely documented abilities — a power that turned all damage back into dreams and deceived monsters away from people. A Heavenly Magic that borrowed the strength of the night sky itself. Even a modest casting imposed a crushing burden, and she had draped it over the entire Colosseum.
Thud. Thud!
Unit Five pounded its fists and stepped forward, as if to say the time had come. Felix steeled himself as well.
Yes. This was the chance. He would not let it slip.
"Hah…"
Felix settled calmly into his stance. He didn't ask for much. Just one strike. One clean, fatal wound.
This is Evan Alcarte's board. He set the pieces.
The cleanup could be left to him. What mattered was the will to stand and fight without backing down.
Huuu—!
Every last scrap of aura Felix possessed flooded through his body and gathered into his blade. He had never gone all-out before. He had always avoided enemies that demanded his full strength, and only ever faced those beneath him. For the first time, he felt his Aura Hole creak and scream under a load it had never known. He ignored it, wrenched every drop of aura free, and was swallowed in a dark-blue corona of light.
"Ssssss—"
Watching him, Unit Five gave a small flick of its hand. Reading the signal, Felix launched himself skyward — and in the same instant, Unit Five hammered its chest and roared.
UOOOOOOOH!
The Scarlet-Spotted Centipede's head snapped toward Unit Five. The golem dragged nearby sand into itself, swelling its bulk. Faced with that enormous mass, the centipede seemed to sense danger on instinct; its body began to coil. Then its jaws flashed, and it charged.
KUUUUUNG!
Unit Five drove a fist straight into the oncoming head. The overwhelming difference in size shoved it backward, yet it still locked onto the centipede's skull and held. Locked in a contest of raw strength, Unit Five bellowed.
Now.
Tak!
Felix sprinted head-on. Using the centipede's own legs as a springboard, he vaulted high and reversed his grip on the sword. Every ounce of power he had left — forced into a single point. The target: the torn scales above the head.
Elim Form One
Descending Strike
Shunk!
Kieeeeeeeeeek!
The blade sank into the flesh exposed between the torn scales. The centipede shrieked. Real damage had landed; it screamed and began racing upward along the barrier.
Kh—!
Tsztsztsztsztsztszt!
Felix clenched both arms and tried to hold on, but the limit was absolute. Strength drained from his limbs by degrees. At last his grip failed, and he plummeted.
Kieeeeeee!
KWAANG!
"Ghk—!"
The Scarlet-Spotted Centipede slammed into him with a scale that jutted like a dragon's horn. Felix hit the ground coughing blood. Concussion rattled his skull; his vision swam. Red crept steadily across his sight. With every scrap of aura spent, he couldn't so much as twitch a finger.
"Father… I did… everything I…"
Kiaaaaaaah!
The instant the centipede lunged to finish him—
Srrrrrk—
A shadow swallowed Felix's body whole. Unit Five charged in and took the centipede's full weight head-on.
"…Cough."
"Lapis. Please tend to him."
"Yes! Mister! Drink this, quick!"
Liquid slid down his throat. Felix's eyes fluttered open, unfocused.
"Well done."
Framed against the Veil of the Night Sky, golden light flashing in his eyes — Evan. In his arms, a strange little puppy. The words themselves were offhand, but Felix nearly burst into tears. Someone had acknowledged that he had given everything he had. That he had done well.
Pssshhhhhk!
Above the centipede's head, blood sprayed from the crack where the sword was still lodged. He hadn't won — but this was enough. Felix blacked out on the spot.
The centipede… I cut it…
He fought better than I expected?
Surprising. Evan looked down at the unconscious Felix, cradling the sleeping puppies — Hati and Skoll — in his arms.
At best a mid-rank knight. A clueless wandering swordsman who didn't even understand the true meaning of the Pilgrim's Path. Directionally hopeless, with no idea which road he was supposed to walk. Calling him a named character was a stretch — he wasn't particularly strong, and he didn't show up regularly in the game. So Evan hadn't expected much.
But the talent was real, wasn't it?
And that drive to protect someone… that's exceptional too…
Well. No wonder he ended up as Kyun-baek's personal guard in the future.
Tsk. Maybe I should just hire him as my own escort knight?
Better than losing himself as Kyun-baek's retainer. From Evan's perspective, a familiar face was reassuring. And while he was at it — hey. He could dump the odd jobs on him. Have him carry things. Pay him a fat salary in return. It wasn't even Evan's money, after all.
"Whoa. That thing really is huge."
Evan shook off his thoughts and looked up at the Scarlet-Spotted Centipede. Enormous, no question. Its wounds must have been serious — it was already being forced back by Unit Five's grip — but that was only thanks to Felix. Without that opening, this would have been a little rough.
Maybe because it woke early. It's smaller than I remember.
Originally, it had been large enough to coil around this Colosseum like a serpent and still have length to spare. It didn't look that long now. Plenty of scales missing, too — it was clearly in poor shape. Later on it would grow larger, its scales pristine. He was fairly sure it had been called the Heaven-Earth Centipede by then — able to traverse sky and earth alike.
Well. Still too early for that, I suppose.
Time to finish it off. Evan manfully stepped back.
"Lapis. Aegis. I'll leave this to you."
"Okay! Don't worry!"
"I'll wrap it up quick. A centipede with a cracked skull is nothing."
Aegis rolled her wrists and stepped forward. Lapis spun threads from both hands. Before the fight began in earnest, Evan pulled out a potion and handed it over.
"What's this?"
"A Rapid Freeze Potion."
The moment it shattered, everything within a one-meter radius froze solid. How well it would work on a centipede was anyone's guess, but better than nothing.
"Why did you even pack this?"
"It was hot."
"Ah."
Aegis accepted that without question!
"I'll handle it in no time."
"Yes. Please do."
He quietly brought Unit Two into the mix as well. With this much firepower, it shouldn't take long at all.
"I hate centipedes! When I lived in the forest, they always stole my meat!"
Lapis shouted as much and flung both arms wide toward the Scarlet-Spotted Centipede. Threads erupted and wound tight around its countless legs. The creature thrashed, but the dense mana-silk would not snap so easily.
Clap!
Aegis dropped into her signature transmutation stance and pressed a hand to the ground. The Rapid Freeze Potion Evan had given her shattered on cue; its contents burst free, spread wide, and bound the centipede in place.
Krrrk-krrrk-krrrk!
The Scarlet-Spotted Centipede struggled, but the wound driven into its head left it helpless.
Kieeeeeeeek!
Aegis's transmutation twisted its own scales against it, driving them back into its body. Unable even to mount a proper resistance, the centipede froze solid mid-rear, locked in a pose of surging toward the sky.
Whooooosh…
Done.
The finishing blow was Evan's. With Reconstruction, he shaped the Colosseum's nearby rubble into a single colossal spear. The massive lance punched straight through the centipede's skull.
Crunch!
The head caved in. Still frozen, the body hung suspended in midair.
Aegis exhaled hard, looking spent.
"…Without that Rapid Freeze Potion, this would have been rough. Who knew it was weak to cold."
"It's a desert creature. Most things here are weak to heat — so I figured the opposite would be its weak point."
"Heave-ho. Unit Five! Help me!"
Lapis grunted and hauled the centipede's body down. Evan turned his head.
The shrine maiden stood with a hand over her mouth. Between her fingers, a thin stream of blood was running from her nose.
"Shrine Maiden. Are you all right?"
"Yes. I'm fine."
She wiped the blood away as if it were nothing. Internally, though, she had to be a wreck. Fifth-rank magic, yes — but the scale of it was absurd. It had already crossed into the territory of a unique art, and Heavenly Magic as a whole traded crushing burden for raw power. The Veil of the Night Sky, in particular, presupposed that the caster would pay the price.
"Please drink this."
"…Thank you."
The shrine maiden accepted the potion Evan offered and drank it obediently. The moment she swallowed, color visibly returned to her face.
"…Phew. I feel alive again."
"I'm glad."
Feeling her gutted insides settle back into place, the shrine maiden looked at Evan and smiled.
As I thought. He planned and prepared for all of this.
Scarlet-Spotted Centipedes were famous as ingredients for magical reagents — in some respects, rivaling even dragons. That was surely why he had come. And then there was the wolf pup in his arms. Of course he had packed Rapid Freeze Potions and recovery draughts in bulk beforehand.
"…"
A stare boring into the shrine maiden. Lapis.
The shrine maiden wiped a fresh trickle of blood from her lip with the back of her hand and asked gently,
"What is it? Is there something you'd like to ask?"
"Well…"
Just as Lapis opened her mouth—
KUUUUUUUNG!
The ground began to heave again. The shrine maiden whipped her gaze skyward. Through the countless constellations of the veil, she saw the shape of the present fate.
There wasn't only one ancient centipede?!
She hadn't been able to read it. Because the Scarlet-Spotted Centipede's target had never been the shrine maiden or her companions.
KUUUUUNG!
Crunch! Crack!
With a tremendous roar, another Scarlet-Spotted Centipede appeared. This one was relatively smaller — but the moment it arrived, it jammed its jaws into the severed head of its kin.
Chomp. Chomp.
A centipede, feeding. Its condition improved visibly with every bite, and its bulk began to swell.
Evan's eyes went wide with pure disbelief.
Wait. There wasn't just one?
Originally they did come in pairs, but this was a bit much, wasn't it?
Tsk. This is getting out of hand.
Better to run while it was busy eating, prepare properly, and come back to—
Crack!
In that instant, a pure white line was drawn through the air. The Scarlet-Spotted Centipede's head split cleanly in two, and both corpses toppled companionably to the ground with a twin thud.
Whoosh—
A white robe fluttered before his eyes. Evan slowly lifted his head.
There stood a pure white old man. Hair, eyes — as if every color in existence had been drained from him.
Gyeolbaek.
The leader of the Knight Kingdom of Demicia, and the strongest knight on the continent.
Those bleached-white eyes swept the area, then fixed on Evan.
"Are you the mastermind behind this incident?"
No.
Absolutely not!!