Chapter 71
Chapter 71
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: At the Summit (5)
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Wild animals were horribly torn apart, hanging from tree branches like laundry.
Among them were even ferocious carnivores.
The children who arrived late covered their mouths.
By not screaming, they had more than done their part as mountain folk.
“Ah, Altor. What happened? Are you saying a cowbear really did this?”
Martin's voice was trembling, and Lumina, seemingly unable to bear the sight, had turned her head away and squeezed her eyes shut.
Shirone made a decision faster than anyone.
“Let's go down. I don't think this is a problem we can solve.”
“No, let's go a little further. I need to know what this is.”
“Altor! This is a serious problem!”
“That's why we have to go! If something like this comes into the mountains, all the game will leave! Then we'll starve to death!”
“I know, but it's too dangerous. Let's just go down to the city and report it.”
“Report it? Did hanging out with nobles mess with your head? Who do you think cares about the plight of mountain folk?”
“You fool, that's what I'm saying! This isn't some trivial incident they can ignore. Look at those animals. Can't you see how much danger we're in right now?”
Martin interjected.
“Sh-Shirone. Altor. Look over there.”
A thicket of trees was rustling and shaking.
Shirone and Altor simultaneously nocked their arrows and aimed in the direction of the sound.
Rustle. Rustle.
The sight of the shaking leaves heightened the tension.
The other children also drew their weapons, waiting for the mysterious entity to appear.
When the one who had slaughtered the animals finally revealed itself, Shirone and Altor's arrows aimed much higher than their original target.
“N-No way...”
The voice of Altor, second to none in bravery, was steeped in fear.
“Grrrrr.”
A monster resembling a wolf, over two meters tall, was glaring at the children in a hunched posture.
Its chest muscles were swollen like a balloon, and its waist was thin.
Its arms hung down to its knees, and its hook-like claws were as long as a human's pinky finger.
Its knees were bent backward in a digitigrade stance, and it supported itself on long, cat-like soles, making it look agile.
Martin barely managed to squeeze out his voice.
“I-It's a monster.”
Evolutionary biologists hold the view that animals, including humans, are derived from a single source organism.
However, monsters were phylogenetically distinct beings that originated from a completely different source organism.
Therefore, monsters could not be fully analyzed by their animalistic features alone.
They were stronger and more agile than other animals, and some even possessed intelligence.
‘A wolf's appearance, bipedal. It's a Ulk.’
Shirone recalled the knowledge he had learned from books.
Ulks had poor linguistic abilities but could express hundreds of emotions through sound, and as they lived in tribes, they also possessed social skills.
They were a balanced type with tough claws, high mobility, and powerful strength, making them one of the monsters that even monster hunters were reluctant to fight when they formed groups.
‘But why did it appear here? I thought there were no monsters in this region.’
One possibility immediately came to mind.
A tribe of Ulks, defeated in a war with another tribe, had relocated and drifted this far.
As if to prove Shirone's thoughts, the Ulk's body was covered in wounds.
Its fur was matted with the blood of countless animals, making it impossible to guess how much it had bled.
The ragged breathing of the children awakened Altor's sense of responsibility.
As their leader, he had to find a way to overcome the situation.
‘Still, it's a living creature. A shot to the forehead should be an instant kill.’
Altor took a deep breath and aimed his arrow.
Despite knowing it was being targeted, the Ulk calmly rested a hand on a tree and watched its prey.
It was proof that it had reason.
‘Die! You filthy beast!’
Altor's arrow flew like the wind.
But the Ulk easily dodged it with just a slight tilt of its head.
Then it made a guttural, scraping sound, as if sneering.
“Grrr. Grrrrr.”
The children were horrified by its ability to dodge an arrow at such close range.
But this was only the beginning of their despair.
Krr-crack!
The Ulk shattered the tree trunk with its grip strength alone.
And it let out a roar at Altor.
“Kuaaaaargh!”
“Damn it! Run!”
The moment he saw the strength that ripped apart a tree trunk, Altor lost all desire to nock another arrow.
Everyone ran towards the summit, but Shirone stayed behind to shoot an arrow at the Ulk.
“Kuaaaaargh!”
Shirone's provocation enraged the Ulk even more.
But thanks to him, the other children bought time to escape.
The Ulk leaped with an agile movement and brought its claws down on the crown of Shirone's head.
At the same time, Shirone's body turned into a flash of light and shot up into the air.
“Grung?”
Having teleported into the air, Shirone looked down at the Ulk from above.
Deep in the mountains, it was difficult to cast Teleport repeatedly.
‘Not here. I have to get to the summit.’
Altor supported the exhausted children and ran and ran.
Not choosing the downhill path was the right decision.
In this situation, going down would have made them all tumble and fall.
“Hurry! Run faster!”
Having thrown away all their weapons and luggage, the children climbed the mountain, practically crawling with their tongues hanging out.
Lumina shouted.
“What about Shirone? I can't see Shirone!”
“He's buying time! Just keep climbing!”
Altor urged the children on.
He was worried about Shirone, but worry was useless in this situation.
First, he had to protect the other children.
“Kuaaaaargh!”
The moment the children reached the summit, the Ulk's monstrous roar came up from the downhill path.
Altor's brow furrowed.
The monster having come this far meant Shirone had either escaped or died.
“Damn it! There's nowhere to hide!”
The mountain summit was an open space, almost flat, with a cliff at the end.
The cliff was only twenty meters high, but there was no time to climb down its face.
“Altor! The monster's here!”
The Ulk pulled itself up, its claws digging into the ground.
Its rock-hard muscles, reflecting the sunlight, were clearly visible.
Altor, separated from the other children, willingly became bait.
“Over here! This way!”
But with cliffs on all sides, there was nowhere suitable to run.
Altor turned around, feeling miserable.
Even the muscles he'd trained every day were nothing more than a child's strength in front of a monster.
“Damn it! I don't care anymore!”
Just as he raised his fist, thinking he'd at least fight before he died, the Ulk vanished from before his eyes.
“Run, quick!”
Altor turned to the side with a surprised expression.
He hadn't even seen him move, but Shirone was suddenly grappling with the Ulk.
“H-How?”
Altor started to run towards Shirone, but stopped when Shirone's form once again turned into light and disappeared.
“Whoa. Th-That's magic, right?”
The children, seeing Teleport for the first time, were stunned.
No matter how fast the Ulk ran, whenever Shirone flashed with light, it would instantly lose its target, a situation that repeated itself.
“Kuaaaaargh!”
The Ulk roared, unable to contain its rage.
But the monster's anger was not as one-dimensional as an animal's instinct.
Deciding that anyone was the same meat, it pointedly turned and ran toward the other children.
“Aaaaaah!”
The pale-faced children scattered in all directions.
Only the timid Lumina was frozen, unable to even think of running.
“Lumina! Run!”
“Ah... Ah...”
Shirone extended his hand toward the Ulk.
And he combined the omniscience and omnipotence of Photon Output.
But Lumina was outside the radius of his Spirit Zone.
‘Damn! It's out of reach.’
Shirone converted his omnidirectional method to a targeted one.
As the zone changed into the shape of a cross, the Ulk was finally caught in his synesthesia.
‘Photon Output!’
A flash of light shot out and hit the Ulk's eyes.
The Ulk covered its eyes at the sudden brilliance and let out a monstrous scream.
“He got it! Shirone took it down!”
The impact of the light beam was so tremendous that the children thought the Ulk's face had been blown to bits.
But Shirone, knowing that Photon Output had no physical force, ran towards the Ulk and shouted.
“Lumina! Run! There's no time!”
Lumina hurriedly threw herself forward.
But her legs had already frozen up, and she just fell to the ground like a log.
Realizing Shirone's magic had no power, the children could only stomp their feet in frustration.
“What do we do? It looks like he can only shoot light.”
“Kuaaaaargh!”
Its sight recovered, the Ulk lunged at Lumina.
Its sharp, hooked claws caught on her hair tie.
The elastic band snapped, and Lumina's hair came undone.
At the same time, Shirone grabbed the Ulk's waist and cast Teleport.
The flash of light that shot up into the sky began to plummet from a high altitude toward the bottom of the cliff.
“Shirone! No!”
“Kuaaaaargh!”
Every time the Ulk tried to struggle, Shirone repeated the Teleport.
Setting the direction of a Teleport towards the ground was a dangerous attempt strictly forbidden even at the academy, but it was necessary to keep the Ulk's mind occupied.
‘What do I do? What can I do from here?’
If they just fell like this, the Ulk wouldn't die.
In a photonized state, there is no mass, so the potential energy from the fall would be zero at the point where the Teleport ended.
But if he gave up the magic and just fell, he had no way to withstand the Ulk's struggling.
‘Mass. I need mass...!’
At that moment, a chill ran down Shirone's spine.
It was a powerful extrasensory perception, stronger than anything he had ever experienced.
Countless fragments of thought flashed through his mind.
The beginning of the world. Gauge Symmetry. The vortex swirling above his bed. Mass is not force. The power of existence that opens the universe's activity. The crack that breaks symmetry.
The sense of deficiency Shirone felt as his mind, which had expanded into the realm of infinity, was reconstructed into a human one was the cause of this extrasensory perception.
The dissonance of omniscience and omnipotence.
The name of the lost fragment was gravity.
As omniscience was established, omnipotence—which had been making its presence known through nightmares—clicked perfectly into place.
With the activation conditions for the magic met, Shirone turned the Ulk into a photonized state and threw it downwards.
“Kua...!”
Before the scream could even finish, the Ulk's body collided with the ground and bounced up with a hollow thud.
Shirone, landing with a Rainbow Drop, glared at the Ulk.
It was an instant kill. The reason it received enough impact to break its bones in a photonized state was because the light was heavy.
“Hah. Hah.”
Matter is not born with mass.
There is another element that imparts mass to matter and then vanishes.
An unknown particle that humans cannot observe.
That was the omniscience Shirone had realized in the realm of infinity, and the reason why Gauge Symmetry appeared to be broken.
“I did it. I finally figured it out.”
Shirone clenched both his fists.
His body trembled with emotion, and his heart swelled so much he felt like crying.
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
At that moment, the children's screams came from the top of the cliff.
Shirone regained his composure and looked up.
“Don't tell me...?”
Come to think of it, Ulks were social monsters.
Even if defeated in a tribal war, the probability of one wandering alone was low.
“No!”
Shirone cast Teleport and flew up to the top of the cliff.
When he arrived at the summit, his body froze, just like Altor and the others.
Dozens of Ulks were surrounding them.
The entire tribe had been moving together.
‘I underestimated their social nature.’
He could hear the children whimpering.
“Wh-What do we do? We're all going to die now.”
“I haven't even gotten married yet. I don't want to die like this.”
Shirone didn't want to die either.
And now, he possessed the bare minimum weapon to fight the Ulks.
“It's okay, everyone. I'll figure something out.”
“What are you going to do? Don't. You should escape. You can get away with your magic.”
“It's fine. From now on, I'm not breaking any school rules.”
Shirone walked toward the pack of Ulks.
“Shirone! It's dangerous!”
Altor called out, but he ignored him.
He simply glared at the Ulks, reviewing the realization he'd just had.
A silver-furred Ulk, who appeared to be the chieftain, gave a dismissive nod, and an Ulk that seemed to be its right-hand man leaped forward.
“Kuaaaaargh!”
Shirone focused photons in his palm.
‘This isn't enough. More... More...’
The light gathered in his hand gradually grew pale, eventually emitting a white glow so intense it was blinding.
All the while, the Ulk was rapidly closing the distance to Shirone.
Shirone gauged the distance to the enemy while concentrating on changing the properties of the photons gathered in his hand.
Amidst the escalating screams of the children, the Ulk finally arrived and swung its claws.
Shirone's body was suddenly pushed back a meter.
Having created distance with a short-range Teleport, he opened his eyes wide and cast his spell.
‘Now!’
As he threw the compressed photons, a pale flash of light slammed into the Ulk's abdomen.
The photons, crushed into a spherical shape, pushed the Ulk back and then shot out again as a golden line.
“Kuaaaaargh!”
The Ulk flew back, letting out a monstrous scream.
It collided with another Ulk and tumbled down the mountain.
The children's eyes widened at the unbelievable reality.
“N-No way. Did you see that? That huge monster just flew back dozens of meters.”
“How is that possible? Is that what magic is?”
The Ulk chieftain, seeing Shirone's magic, wrinkled its nose.
Its intelligence was quite high, as human words leaked out.
“Ma... gi... cian...”
The eyes of numerous Ulks focused on Shirone.
But Shirone was glaring only at the chieftain.
He felt he could win.
The mass contained in the photons was minuscule, but the impact, weighted by the near-light speed at which it traveled, was beyond expectations.
Moreover, this was the magic of an Unlocker that only Shirone in the whole world could wield...
The Photon Cannon.
(End of Volume 3)