Chapter 139: Rikrakakmur (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 139: Rikrakakmur (2)
Around the time the battle between Rikrakakmur and Alon began.
"Thank you so much, Saint!"
"It is not thanks to me, but the grace of Sironia."
At the border wall, another monster wave had been successfully repelled.
"Yes...! Thanks to the grace of Sironia, there were almost no casualties!"
"That is a relief."
Saint Yuman replied as he looked down from the wall.
Below the wall, which had been hastily repaired after being smashed a few days ago, soldiers were clearing away monster corpses. The sections of the wall that still hadn't been properly restored caught his eye.
"When did they say the mages would arrive?"
"We contacted them urgently, and they say they are on their way, but it seems it will take some time."
"That is worrying."
Yuman’s expression darkened.
It’s not a major problem right now, but...
Immediately after the expedition left to hunt Rikrakakmur, Yuman had repelled a total of two monster waves, both relatively successfully.
However, the reason he felt anxious was the still-broken wall.
If the wall were intact, we might have had no casualties at all...
Even with Yuman present in the Allied Forces, casualties continued to occur.
No matter how many times they repaired it, the monsters had an uncanny knack for smashing through the same spot again. Even Yuman could not save a soldier who died instantly from a single blow.
...The mages need to arrive as soon as possible.
Of course, the casualties were few.
Holding out with this level of damage was a remarkable feat.
But to Yuman, the "small amount of damage" didn't matter. What mattered was human life itself. The fact that there were any casualties at all weighed heavily on his heart.
He was, after all, a Saint.
He lowered his gaze and looked closely at the bodies of the soldiers lying among the monster carcasses. Though the state of the corpses was gruesome, he did not turn his eyes away, calmly offering his condolences to the dead.
After the cleanup was mostly finished, Yuman was discussing how to block the next monster wave with Kiriana’s aide.
"...Someone in the north?"
"Ah, it's just an unreliable rumor, but..."
He heard a rather strange story.
"...So, you're saying that when the soldiers went out on a border patrol, they saw something resembling a person in the north?"
"Yes, well—it's just a rumor circulating among the soldiers. You don't need to pay it much mind. I only mentioned it because it suddenly occurred to me."
"...If it's not too much trouble, could you tell me more in detail?"
Yuman’s face grew serious.
The aide, who had brought it up lightly to change the mood, looked puzzled but continued the story.
A moment later.
"...So, a rumor has been going around that someone with white hair was seen in the canyon area to the north?"
"Yes. But as you know, there's no way a person would be in the border region. Both our side and the Empire are controlling access. A report was sent to Lady Kiriana, but everyone dismissed it as an illusion."
"Hmm."
"However, after Cardinal Yutia arrived recently—"
The aide paused to catch his breath before continuing.
"The fellows who saw the silhouette back then said that the person they saw looked similar to Cardinal Yutia... well, that's the gist of it."
"..."
"Haha, now that I've said it out loud, it is a bit of a ridiculous rumor. It makes no sense for the Cardinal to be out there."
"Besides, the soldiers saw it from a great distance, so it's not very reliable," the aide added, scratching his head awkwardly.
But Yuman, having heard the story, remained silent.
...
Lost in thought, he gazed toward the north, where the battle was likely in full swing.
* * *
A massive crystal fell, piercing Rikrakakmur’s body and exploding, while ice flowers bloomed in full under the blue moon.
──────────■■■■■■■■■■!!!!!!!
Rikrakakmur began to thrash, letting out a blood-curdling shriek.
With a single sweep of its tail, the surrounding trees were leveled, and spiny tentacle worms poured from its sharp maw, scattering frantically in all directions.
The ground shook so violently from its mere writhing that it felt as if the entire continent were experiencing an earthquake.
Amidst the monsters' shrieks, Rikrakakmur’s red eyes flared.
Red eyes that had lost all reason.
Simultaneously, black slime began to erupt from the end of its whale-like, streamlined body.
It was the same slime Alon had discovered at the castle gate—the substance that devoured all mana.
This power, a law granted only to the Abomination Rikrakakmur that rendered the strength of all mages futile, instantly began to melt Alon’s massive ice crystals—no, it was erasing them.
The crystals that had accurately pierced Rikrakakmur’s body were vanishing.
Alon’s magic, crafted through a combination of magic and an application of Self-Embodiment, was disappearing due to the irrational laws of the world bestowed upon the Abomination.
Like a mirage.
Even within that irrationality, Alon prepared his next spell.
Having known about Rikrakakmur from the start, Alon had fully anticipated its actions and remained confident in his victory.
Alon checked his mana.
Though he had only manifested the magic for about two seconds to conserve as much as possible, his mana was already down to half.
It was enough to manifest small-scale magic several times.
But it was woefully insufficient for magic capable of dealing a significant blow to Rikrakakmur.
Nevertheless, it didn't matter.
He had already wounded Rikrakakmur, and the fact that it was thrashing in a swampy area where the ground was visible meant that Alon’s plan was falling perfectly into place.
"Union of Shadow and Light."
As Alon whispered softly, Blackie, who had been tucked away in his chest pocket until a moment ago, popped out, manifesting red eyes all over its body.
At the same time, a tail flowing from Alon’s hand instantly seeped into the ground.
He then raised his hand and used another spell to deploy a shield.
Soon, the Shadow Tree was fired toward the shield deployed in Alon’s hand.
Boom!
With a loud noise, Alon’s figure soared into the air.
Having escaped the range of the black slime, Alon looked straight ahead.
There, Rikrakakmur’s red eyes—chillingly eerie and twice the size of the Golden Dragon Rainisius—were fixed on him.
A question flashed through his mind for a moment, but his hands instinctively formed a seal.
"Refraction, Repulsion, Clear Light."
Immediately after, the Phrases tumbled from his lips.
The speed of the incantation was noticeably faster than before.
And then.
"Linear Diffraction."
As if flicking a finger.
Alon fired the blue Clear Light formed on his fingertip.
Not at Rikrakakmur.
But toward the ground, which had already been heavily cracked by the creature's frantic thrashing.
KABOOM—!!!
The lightning that shot from Alon’s hand struck the earth.
It was a small-scale spell, hardly enough to damage Rikrakakmur’s physical body.
However, that small power pierced the already unstable, cracked floor of the swamp.
Rumble—CRACK!!!!!
Starting with that minor impact, the ground collapsed.
KABOOM—!!!!
Rikrakakmur’s massive body began to be dragged down into the abyss.
* * *
Kiriana stared blankly in one direction.
She wasn't the only one.
The knights, the soldiers—everyone was looking at the same spot.
It was where Marquis Palatio stood.
With his shadow-like black coat fluttering and his left hand enveloped in ash-white mana, his figure floating in the air was impossible to look away from.
Beneath the sublimely shining Marquis Palatio.
Rikrakakmur—the creature that every knight and soldier had been terrified of just by looking at it...
The creature that had made even Kiriana feel awe beyond fear... was falling through the collapsed ground.
CRAAAAASH—!!!
A noise so immense it felt as if it would tear their eardrums echoed through the air.
A powerful vibration erupted, causing soldiers and knights to momentarily lose their footing and collapse, yet they still could not take their eyes off the scene.
Rikrakakmur was being dragged into a bottomless abyss.
And in contrast to that, the sight of Marquis Palatio inspired a profound sense of awe.
While everyone was staring blankly at one man.
"Ah..."
On the outskirts of the swamp.
In a dense forest that everyone had failed to notice.
Yutia was admiring the sight of Marquis Palatio as if enraptured.
Behind her.
Crunch—CRACK!!!!
A dying scream rang out along with the sound of bones being pulverized.
As she quietly turned her gaze toward the noise interrupting her appreciation, she saw monsters.
A goblin whose bones were completely crushed, pinned to the ground like a paper doll.
An orc whose skin had been torn off.
A gnoll whose entire body was twisted in every direction.
An owlbear that had pierced its own neck with both arms.
Cruel corpses were strewn about as if they had been put through a grinder.
Dozens?
No.
Hundreds?
Not that either.
An immense number of corpses, enough to form a massive boundary line around the outskirts of the swamp, stood behind Yutia.
And then.
"G-gurgh..."
In the midst of it all, one creature made a sound.
A single troll that had not died despite being wrapped in black tentacles, thanks to its absurd regenerative powers.
A troll significantly larger than the others.
With its entire body broken, it looked at Yutia with eyes filled not with savage ferocity, but with instinctive terror.
She gently placed her index finger to her lips.
"Oh dear, you must be quiet. You shouldn't interfere, should you?"
Smiling at the ferocious troll as if soothing a child, Yutia slowly stepped toward it.
Her red eyes, reflecting the blue moon, shone.
"Now, don't look at me. Look over there."
Snap—CRACK!!!
With that, the tentacles wrapping the troll forcibly twisted its neck to make it look toward where the Marquis was.
"Gyaaaagh!"
The troll let out a scream of agony.
However.
Crunch!
The tentacles soon grabbed its jaw and tore out its protruding tongue.
The troll struggled in horrific pain, but the tentacles forced it once again to face Marquis Palatio.
Heave—heave—
Breathing in terrified gasps, the troll rolled its eyes to look at Yutia.
In the midst of that cruel scene, she still wore a crescent smile on her lips.
"You, too, must offer your awe and faith."
As if whispering.
"The awe and faith that He requires."
Quietly, she commanded.
"To my one and only god."