Chapter 157
Chapter 157
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 157
Chapter Title: Shadows of the Great Mountain Range (6)
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"...Well, that's not something I should be saying to a Gem-rank mage."
Daimus lightly shook his head. Having been tangled up in all those major incidents Galen had resolved back when he was Gold-rank, Daimus kept forgetting that Galen had now reached Gem-rank.
"Then I'll leave the frontier zone to you two. I'm heading back over the Great Mountain Range. It's crucial to report to His Holiness as soon as possible."
"Why don't you head back with Bishop Myra for now? Wyverns aren't the type to fly around at night anyway. You can watch over the group as well."
"Hm, that's a fair point. Then we'll depart from Abaka tomorrow morning..."
"We'll head out right now—if Lilia's okay with it."
"Shouldn't you be asking me about that?!"
Lilia's eyes went wide.
"Aren't you the one who must be tired? You've been riding wyverns and horses all day, and now you want to pull an all-nighter?"
"You'll use Vitality on me anyway."
"Well, sure, but..."
"No need to push yourselves. Sure, your stamina might be full, but that doesn't erase mental fatigue."
"Not like there's been anything particularly mentally draining."
Galen said it nonchalantly. Mages usually got tired from casting a lot of spells, but he hadn't used much today, so he felt fresh as ever.
"They probably didn't expect Siren to die either, so right now's the least likely time for interference. Whether the frontier's intact or there's trouble, better to check quickly and rest accordingly."
"Very well. Do as you think best."
It was a solid argument, so Daimus agreed. They were doing him a favor by handling it themselves, which was nothing but welcome from his position.
"Just be cautious. Evil spirits aren't made directly by demons in large numbers by nature, but that doesn't mean there are only one or two. There are likely more Sirens at minimum, and other evil spirits too. Keep all possibilities in mind."
"Yes. We'll be careful."
"And... if, by any chance, it's not just evil spirits but a demon as well."
Daimus paused briefly before speaking in a stern tone with a grave expression.
"Do not engage. Retreat, even if it means abandoning the frontier."
"Are demons that strong?"
"That's exactly why you don't fight them—because you don't know."
Galen tilted his head, not immediately grasping it. Daimus elaborated.
"Demons' strength varies wildly depending on how much hellish power they descend with. Even at the minimum, a Gem-rank struggles one-on-one. At worst, it takes several Gems piling on."
"Ah, I see."
"Our goal isn't 'mutual destruction' with a demon. You need overwhelming force to 'hunt' one. Two Gems aren't enough against a demon. That's why—no engagement."
"Understood."
"Remember that, Archbishop Lilia. I don't want to lose promising talents like you two pointlessly. No heroics. Got it?"
"Yes!"
Daimus emphasized it several times, clearly quite worried.
Galen had no intention of attempting such a gamble anyway.
Sure, if demons were that strong, the experience would be massive—but why risk your life when you could level up safely by curbing a bit of greed?
"Then we'll be off."
"I leave it to you."
"Be careful, Lilia."
"You too, Bishop!"
Galen and Daimus exchanged a light handshake, while Myra gave Lilia a tight hug.
And so the group split in two.
Daimus and Myra loaded the priests and warriors into carriages and headed south to Abaka.
Galen and Lilia mounted their horses and rode north toward the frontier zone.
The regular route between Abaka and the frontier's first village was scheduled for a generous five days.
But that was because the convoys were huge and slow.
If it were just people traveling light, it'd be much faster—but with merchants hauling carts of goods over mountain paths, it naturally took longer.
In other words, a lean group of two people and two horses had almost no reason to slow down.
Of course, fiend ambushes were par for the course, so they'd have to deal with those.
Pow-pow-pow-pow-pow-pow!
They meant nothing against a Gem-rank mage.
A casual swing of a water hammer swept away the fiends charging from the right. No need to slow the horses.
"A few more on the rear!"
"Got them."
If any fiend could slip through the dual sensory fields of Water Flow Manipulation and Spiral Current, it'd be worth seeing. That'd mean it wasn't ordinary.
Whoosh!
Sometimes water, sometimes fire, sometimes wind.
Even spells cast on a whim scattered the fiends like fallen leaves.
None ever reached Lilia through the barrage, so she never even drew her weapon. She just cast the occasional miracle during breaks.
Of course, that was the most vital help for Galen. No matter how healthy, a normal person couldn't avoid saddle soreness from riding.
"The ambush frequency has definitely increased compared to before..."
"Not to a serious degree, though. Bishop Myra said it was terrible."
"Maybe because Siren's dead? This her territory?"
"Could be."
They'd traveled through the night, and the sun had been up for quite a while.
The horses might be a bit tired, but both Lilia and Galen were full of energy. No sense of having fought through fiends to get here.
Whether misfortune or fortune, the reason soon became clear.
"Oh..."
Mountain paths weren't flat; they had their undulations.
Atop a gentle rise, they spotted fiends in the far distance—packed in a dense formation, completely blocking the road.
"Looks like another Siren there."
Lilia said after peering with enhanced vision.
Fiends sometimes gathered in groups of over a hundred.
But this lot numbered in the thousands—maybe tens of thousands—and were all sorts of varieties.
Yet they stood quietly, which could only mean some external control was at work.
Having witnessed an example last night, the answer was obvious.
"If I remember right, the first village comes into the basin just a bit further?"
"So they're blocking the front gate. That explains why the convoys couldn't get through."
"No signs of a big battle on the way here, so the convoy from Abaka must've made it to the village safely. Just couldn't come back out."
"Not sure if they're still holding because the village is resisting or if they're just blocking the road regardless. We'll know when we break through."
"Heading straight there?"
"By the time we reach the village and grab breakfast, it'll be perfect timing. Sound good, Lilia?"
"Of course!"
As always, they agreed amiably and rode side by side at a leisurely pace.
The well-trained warhorses bravely advanced toward the fiend horde. Maybe their courage had swelled from seeing so many fiends die the night before.
The closing distance now let Galen clearly make out the fiends' features with his naked eye.
They'd obviously spotted the pair too—by sight or smell.
Yet they just growled without charging.
Proof of tight control—but preemptive strike would sort that.
As Galen pondered which spell to open with—
"Here she comes."
Lilia said curtly.
Right then, the fiend mass—loosely in formation—parted left and right as something strode forward.
First to catch the eye: a Taurus fiend.
Nearly twice a grown man's height, with a bull-like head, walking hunched on two legs. Not quite ogre-level, but close to Gold-rank power.
But right now, it was just a mount.
Perched demurely sidesaddle on its shoulder was an evil spirit.
Greyish skin. Horns curled round like a ram's on either side of her head. The whites of her eyes staring this way were ash-gray.
Aside from the colors, her features resembled a beautiful human woman's. No clothes; long, curly, voluminous hair draped down, covering her chest.
But her arms and lower body were covered in mysterious scales—like armor modeled after fish scales, not the real thing.
"Siren."
"Oh? You recognized me at a glance?"
The evil spirit—Siren—laughed merrily.
No time for chit-chat, but her hearing was sharp enough to catch Galen's mutter.
Conversely, Galen's hearing wasn't that acute, so he shouldn't have heard—but Siren's voice carried clearly over the distance.
Due to its unique timbre.
Half air, half sound? Like heavy audio effects layered on in editing software.
More like playing an instrument than singing, her voice continued.
"Well, you're servants of the gods, after all—you wouldn't fail to recognize me. But odd? How'd humans get this far?"
"On horseback."
"No, no—not that. My seventh sibling was blocking the road. She's not one to slack off."
"Yeah. She was real diligent."
"You've met already? What happened?"
"What do you think?"
"Dead, sadly."
Siren feigned a sad face. Her features so human-like—for an evil spirit—that her expressions were surprisingly vivid.
"So, gonna kill me too?"
"You seemed close with your sibling. Join her."
"Not that close."
Still sad-faced, she shot back sharply—then smiled with her eyes at Galen.
"Anyway, half-breed."
"Me?"
"Yeah, you. Got something fun on your wrist."
"Hm?"
"I can feel it. What you humans call spirits. So you're a spiritist, then."
How'd this thing spot the spirit bracelet? Oh—wrong wrist.
Still, sensing its presence without seeing it was impressive.
"So?"
"Even your companion didn't know? Bringing a spiritist against us is taboo of taboos."
"...What?"
"If you didn't know, now you do, half-breed."
Siren's eerie, far-carrying voice already wove subtle mana into its waves.
He couldn't detect sound waves, but mana he could—and with Earth Bind guarding his body, tricks wouldn't work anyway.
As Galen watched to see what she'd try—
Glurp!
The spirit on his wrist convulsed wildly.
"What the—?"
Galen reflexively suppressed its thrashing and rolled up his sleeve.
The water bracelet undulated anxiously like choppy waves.
Always linked to his mind, the spirit normally responded instantly to commands—but now control slipped.
Not completely unresponsive, just unstable—like a dying remote where buttons sometimes worked, sometimes didn't.
"B-Brother? You okay?"
"I'm fine, but..."
"Whatever name you slap on it, its essence is a lifeform born of mana. 'Mana spirit' fits better than 'spirit.'"
Siren mocked the startled Lilia.
"And beings born of mana can't resist our voices. That's the authority our Master granted us."
"For something like that, it doesn't seem to obey you that well."
"Two command-holders now, so confusion's inevitable. But so what? It ignores you as much as me."
Siren clapped her palms lightly—a signal. The fiends lining left and right surged with feral bloodlust, like beasts eyeing prey.
"Fight hard protecting your spiritless spiritist, servant. Show me the skill that killed my sibling."
Siren's hand swept elegantly, sentencing them to death.
The fiend army advanced as one.
Lilia glanced at the still-fussy spirit.
"You sure you're okay?"
"Sorry... could you buy me a little time?"
"Huh?"
"Fool. Think my voice unravels that easily?"
Siren scoffed at overhearing, but neither Galen nor Lilia cared.
And theirs was a bond that needed few words.
"Is this what I think it is?"
"Seems like."
"Wow, seriously! Too much!"
"Sorry."
"...If you're really sorry, I feel bad. How long?"
"I'll let you know when."
"Okay... gotta pace it then..."
Siren could never grasp their exchange. Lilia hopped lightly off her horse.
She drew the mace from her back and strode forward.
Boom!
The lead fiend—freed from restraint and charging—took a full mace smash to the head. Skull shattered bone-deep amid a thunderous crack.
Crack! Crack!
The next wave crumpled instantly under her strikes.
Light and swift, they'd surged ahead but were lightweights. Dozens fell in moments, shredded.
"Good, that's more like it."
Siren said calmly. Just an appetizer anyway.
"How about these?"
Now Bronze-grade rabble were out, replaced by at least Silver-grade heavies.
Flanking from both sides while the front pinned her—blatantly aiming for Galen.
Lilia countered by moving several times faster.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
No need to kill—just a solid hit to disable and save time, then dash to the next.
Even glancing blows crippled them; fiends groaned, combat-ineffective for a while. This naturally formed a front line.
Simply put: Lilia circled Galen in a ring, blocking fiend approaches.
But limits existed. The safe zone around Galen shrank steadily.
"Ahaha! Not long now!"
Siren cackled from her relaxed vantage.
"Such effort guarding a companion not even half-breed caliber. Try harder!"
"That's rich coming from you!"
"Easy, Lilia."
Galen soothed her flare-up.
"She's kindly pacing the encirclement for us."
"Exactly. Not 'cause you're good—just know your place."
Siren gloated.
If she'd truly unleashed the horde at once, Lilia's defense would've crumbled ages ago. No clone technique—she couldn't physically cover all directions alone.
Seeing this, Lilia grumbled uncomfortably.
"Can I just go smack her once? She's so smug."
"Sure. Go ahead."
"Huh? For real?"
"Just finished deciphering. Let's see... like this?"
During the brief chat, Galen eyed a closing troll.
The troll raised its club. Galen quietly stopped Lilia from smashing its face.
"Stop."
Mana rippled through his voice, striking the troll.
The fiend's movement twisted.