The Arrow That Crosses the Mountains
Simon caught his breath briefly, parted ways with Erzebet, and descended into the Abyss that Pier had been assigned.
There was not a single enemy attack. Impressed by how cleanly Pier had handled things, Simon let the Abyss's gravity carry him down in comfort.
Before long, the bottom of the Abyss came into view.
Found it!
Atop a mountain of countless destroyed undead, nothing left of them but wreckage, a tall skeleton stood proudly with a greatsword slung over its shoulder.
It creaked as it turned its skull.
[Khekhek! So you've come, Boy!]
"Pier!"
Pier caught Simon as he descended and set him down safely on the ground.
"What about the Northern God?"
[He wasn't here — but your timing couldn't be better!]
Pier looked up at the hollow, open ceiling of the Abyss.
[Their counterattack is just about to begin right now!]
PUHWO-O-O-O-O-ONG!
One side of the wall burst open, and an enormous worm undead shot out of it.
It was a Death Worm — the very summon his classmate Toto used — except this one was many times larger than anything Toto could produce.
Simon pulled up his Jet-Black, his face tightening.
They waited until I reached the bottom to attack. The same tactic as with Erzebet.
UUWEEEAAK—!
The Death Worm retched something up from its mouth, and small undead like zombies came pouring down like rain.
[Wear me, Boy!]
CLACK! CLACK!
Pier's body scattered in an instant into countless strands and began snapping into place across Simon's entire body. Simon let out a short laugh and raised his right arm.
"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
CHWAAK!
The moment the bone gauntlet locked onto his arm, the Greatsword of Ruin settled into his hand.
[Khekhek! Of course not! On my own, it's impossible to draw on the power of the fellow dwelling in that sword!]
WUUUUUNG—!
The paper-white blade of the greatsword began to stain over with green.
[The sword acknowledges only a Legion Commander! And against a horde like this, his power is exactly what's called for!]
"Here I go!"
Simon drove his right foot down hard enough to crater the ground and swung the greatsword twice in succession.
Karl Original — Venomous Yaksha
Karl Original — Venom Crush
In a single instant, the world was drowned in green ink, and the tormented undead melted where they stood, collapsing limply to the floor.
The Death Worm, the carrier itself, could not escape the poison either and took it head-on. It was melting away with a tortured shriek.
[Khekekek! Splendid! You've fully mastered the chained technique!]
"Moving out!"
Simon, wearing Pier, sprinted up the wall of the Abyss.
Such was the power of a Legion Commander — his physical abilities had leaped to a different dimension in every respect. His whole body stretched and extended with every motion. Each time he kicked off the wall, the background shot backward behind him.
WHIIIIIIING—!
In an instant, he reached the sky above the Abyss.
Just as Simon was wondering where to go next, a flutter of wings sounded, and black feathers drifted down.
[Reporting the state of the battle, Young Master!]
It was Akemus. He bowed his head respectfully in midair, one hand placed over his chest.
"Yes, please go ahead."
[The Legion has captured six Abysses in total, including the one you and Master Pier just emerged from.]
Progress: six of ten.
Four remained.
[One of those is marked by Erzebet.]
Where Akemus pointed, a cursed feather floated lazily in the air like a signal beacon. It seemed he had left it as a marker above the Abyss so that no one would mix them up.
[The other is being handled by Pluto of the 2nd Legion. He captured the first Abyss of anyone among the commanders and has already moved on to the next.]
That's the 2nd Legion for you! Was that explosion I saw earlier coming from the next Abyss over?
A Legion Commander's strength was directly tied to the strength of the Ancient Undead under contract.
Jean Arskalt's Ancient Undead was, for now, still stronger than any of the other Ancient Undead of the 7th Legion.
[Two Abysses remain. Which will you take?]
If Simon, Pier, and Akemus each took one, every remaining Abyss would be covered.
And one of the four would, without a doubt, come face to face with the true Northern God.
This is it.
Simon turned his head.
"Akemus. Do you have the strength left to fight?"
Akemus bowed his head with courtesy.
[Without question. If it is your command, Young Master, I will burn my whole body in battle.]
"Survival comes first. Then Pier and I will take the right side, and Akemus, please take the left."
[Yes, Young Master!]
Akemus spread his wings.
Taking Simon's shoulders in both hands, he kindly ferried him over to one side of the Abyss. Then Akemus himself wheeled away with a beat of his wings, already visible circling down toward the other Abyss.
The final battle. The Northern God may be waiting down there.
Hurling himself into the pitch-black tunnel, Simon tightened his grip on the hilt of the Greatsword of Ruin.
Just you wait!
In the darkness, countless eyes glittered as they turned to greet the intruder.
At the same hour, in Bilkenos.
KUKUKUKUUNG!
KWAAK!
The relentless fighting had laid half of Bilkenos's city center to waste.
Though lacking in physical capability, the 'Fourth' wielded raw dark magic beyond all convention, making it far harder to bring down than any of the Three Brothers had been.
Countless residents had been injured or killed, and some of those struck down by the Fourth's dark magic had risen again as zombies or skeletons to attack the very neighbors they had lived beside.
The sky was red.
The city burned, and the once-lively night market streets ran with blood.
KUNG—! KUNG—!
At last, the 'Fourth' had climbed over Bilkenos's outer wall and entered the city. It unfurled magic circles in the air, and each time one activated, black flame swept indiscriminately across the city.
The Fourth kept walking.
Its destination was the 'Grand Duke's Castle' at the heart of Bilkenos. Beneath it lay a shelter where many of the northern people were hiding.
If the Fourth reached that place, it would be catastrophe.
"Haaugh. Hah!"
A northern man clutched a wound in his chest, gasping for breath. His family was beside him. His young daughter held him tightly in her arms.
The family watched the 'Fourth' through terrified, stifled eyes.
A giant with a face bloated like a balloon. The thing, larger than a house, moved forward in slow, deliberate steps — and then:
Swish.
It stared directly at the spot where the family hid.
"We've been—!"
A jet-black fireball came flying like a beam of light.
The man sensed the end coming and moved to shield his wife and daughter — when:
"Run. Now."
PUHWO-O-O-O-ONG—!
A scarlet whirl of blood slammed into the black flames and canceled them out entirely.
The one who appeared, turning aside the Fourth's dark magic head-on, was a pretty girl with two flowing locks of violet hair.
She wore the black Kizen uniform, and over her shoulders rippled a cloak of blood.
Both her eyes were crimson, and the fangs behind her lips glinted. The long battle had clearly worn her down; she was still panting.
That's her — the famous Vampire of Bilkenos!
Somewhere along the way, she had become a celebrity among the northern people. She had even earned herself a nickname.
But something was wrong with the girl. Her crimson pupils were fixed, unblinking, on the blood that had splattered against the man's neck.
"......"
The world spun round and round, centering on that blood. His burning throat screamed at her brain with an overwhelming thirst. The girl approached him with a hypnotized, stumbling gait.
"A-are you all right?"
When the wife beside him spoke, the girl belatedly snapped back to herself and clapped a hand over her own mouth.
She doubled over and stayed still for a moment before forcing out her words in a strained voice.
"I'll... move you somewhere safe."
At her gesture, a carpet woven of blood gathered up the family and carried them away by force.
Not enough blood. Everything's spinning. My throat's going to burn away.
She had nearly torn into an innocent man's throat. It was the side effect of having unleashed Ursula's power.
Camibarez turned to face the Fourth.
The Fourth, too, regarded the strongest being left in Bilkenos with wariness.
I have to fight. For the northern people. For Simon.
She had trained so hard throughout the entire Special Lesson period.
Never in her wildest imagination had she thought she would be using that technique in actual combat like this.
I will fight!
She opened a subspace pocket, pulled out the last blood pack the northern people had provided her, tore it open, and drained it.
As the blood supplied her body, her fogged vision gradually cleared, and her reason returned.
GRRRRRRR—!
All the while, the Fourth had already finished preparing its attack. It lifted the nearby houses with gravity dark magic and laid a curse upon them.
Rose thorns erupted from the doors, and spore mushrooms bearing plague bloomed across the wooden walls. When the Fourth snapped its fingers, the contaminated buildings all hurled themselves at Camibarez at once.
She lowered her stance.
Simon's fighting somewhere in the North right now too, isn't he?
Her cloak of blood billowed, and Camibarez charged straight ahead.
Hang in there! I'm going to do my best too!
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWA!
The contaminated debris came flying one piece after another, but Camibarez immediately called on her dark magic. A whirlwind of blood rose and swept away the falling wreckage.
"I'm returning this!"
As she thrust out her arm, the whirl of blood reversed its rotation and flung the contaminated building materials back the other way.
The two waves of debris collided head-on, and in the gap between them, the girl in her blood cloak slipped free.
TAT! TAT!
Moaning from vertigo, she still did not stop. She ran across the blood pooled on the ground at a terrifying speed.
"Don't leave Lady Camibarez to fight alone!"
"Forward!"
The northern people who had been hiding in the alleys came pouring out all at once.
The planned assault.
Everyone had been waiting for the moment the Fourth climbed over the wall.
"FIRE!"
Jet-Black-infused arrows rained down from the rooftops. The Fourth spread a Jet-Black shield as large as its own body to block them, then sent the undead it had raised from the fallen northerners surging toward them.
"Don't meet the undead's eyes! It clouds your mind!"
Godric the butler, mounted on a horse, roared as he thrust out his one remaining hooked hand.
"Our target is the Fourth! Eyes forward! ADVANCE!"
The few cavalry the North had left charged furiously at the Fourth. In response, the Fourth sketched a magic circle in its hand and pressed it to the ground.
TUDUDUDUDUDUDU!
The paving tiles blackened and erupted upward. The warhorses were struck by the flying stone and sent tumbling.
"GWAAAAAH!"
Just then, a young rider leapt up from a rooftop with his sword raised high.
"Don't you dare underestimate the North!"
The sword he swung took the shape of a flying blade of sword energy and carved into the Fourth's leg. Blood gushed from the wound.
"NOW! Vampire girl!"
"Yes!"
Camibarez, who had followed close behind, activated the dark magic circle she had already unfolded in the air.
Massive Bleed — Overflow
CHWAAAAAAA!
Black blood fountained from the Fourth's leg. The Fourth grimaced and tried to stop the bleeding, but it was useless.
Jet-Black poured out alongside the black blood, and the leg began to wither and shrivel as though necrotic.
"Yes! We've got it—!"
KA-NG!
The Fourth severed its own leg.
Because the Fourth had behaved with such extreme protectiveness toward its own body until now, the warriors were momentarily dumbstruck. The Fourth, collapsed prone against the ground, spread its dark magic.
"Look out!"
Camibarez shouted, but she was a beat too late. A whip of pure Jet-Black lashed out from the magic circle and struck the rider, sending him flying in a spray of blood until he smashed into a building wall far away.
"Khhak! Kghh!"
"Mister rider!"
The rider stretched out his arm.
"Don't worry about me! Keep going, Kami!"
Camibarez gritted her teeth and threw herself forward.
The Fourth contaminated the surrounding wreckage once more and flung it at her, and Camibarez endured it by throwing up a wall of blood.
BOOM!
The Fourth fused the contaminated debris together, compressed it into the shape of a tower, and slammed it down from above. This time Camibarez couldn't react in time.
TERUP!
Godric, leaping off a footing of Jet-Black, seized Camibarez by the collar and yanked her sideways.
"C-Commander!"
"GO! Please, protect the people—!"
KWAAANG!
"But—!"
His body slammed into a pillar and was swallowed by a geyser of erupting dust and dirt. Sparks flashed in Camibarez's crimson eyes.
"AAAAAAAHHHHH!"
In a single leap she reached the point directly above the Fourth's head. All the blood in her body — her cloak included — converged at her center.
Camibarez Original — Red Typhoon
As she swept both arms down, a colossal, raging storm of blood crashed into the Fourth with a savage roar. The Fourth spread both arms and threw up a defensive magic circle.
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWA!
The two techniques collided, and all of Bilkenos shook.
But then, across the surface of the Fourth's defensive circle, new magic circles began linking themselves on one after another.
KEEEEEING!
The defensive circle's effect shifted, and the rotation of Camibarez's whirlwind began to slow, little by little.
As she fell through the air, her dark magic still driving downward, Camibarez's pupils wavered.
It's stolen control of my dark magic!
Her crimson whirlwind turned black and began spinning in the opposite direction.
KRRK! KRRRK!
A magic circle spread across the Fourth's mouth, and a voice flowed out of it.
The Fourth raised both arms above its head.
The whirlwind it had stolen from Camibarez thickened with ever more Jet-Black, swelling larger and larger.
Camibarez, drained of every last ounce of strength, could not stop it and fell limply toward the ground.
"Catch it, Kami!"
BOOM!
Something was flying toward her from behind. A flicker of curiosity crossed her eyes, and without even turning to look, she stretched out her arm and caught it firmly.
Twirl—
It was the 'flag' that the rider far away had thrown.
Seconds before hitting the ground, she spun her body a full rotation in midair.
"HAAAAAAAH!"
TEONG!
Then, wringing out the very last of her Jet-Black, she hurled the flag. The Fourth, forced to keep controlling Camibarez's stolen magic, could not block it — and had to allow it to strike its chest.
Srrrk—
The flag struck the Fourth's chest, tracing a black mark across it. But it failed to pierce the skin, ricocheted off, and tumbled to the ground.
KEEEEEEEEEEEING!
The Fourth's head snapped around.
Suddenly the sky darkened, bruised a deep black. Every one of the fallen northerners scrambled to their feet.
"That's—!"
"No way—!"
The Fourth's mouth fell open.
SHWAAAAAAAAAAAAAK!
The symbol of the North's victory.
From far beyond the mountain range, a black arrow was flying in. It cleared the mountains in an instant—
KWADUDUDUDUDEUK!
—and buried itself dead center in the Fourth's chest.