Chapter 116: Respective Reinforcements (6)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 116: Respective Reinforcements (6)
Talaris watched Siris and Jin with a faint smile.
Taking Mort without even asking for my permission? Ah, youth…
However, as a mother, she felt she had the right to at least get a promise of when they would return. Especially with the Zipple clan’s ultimate weapon, the Kozec, looming in the sky above.
With a single leap, Talaris landed in front of Jin and Siris.
“It’s all well and good to be romantic in a crisis, daughter. But come back as soon as you can, alright? Even your mother can’t hold out against that thing forever. It’s especially taxing when I have to protect all these people.”
“He says we just need to go to Tikan and bring back their priestess, Laosa. We’ll be back soon.”
“Hmph. My daughter, you don’t seem to care one bit if your mother dies, do you?”
Siris snorted.
“If the Zipple clan could do anything to you with just this, Mother, the Secret Palace wouldn’t exist in this world anymore.”
Siris was well aware of the power of the White Night and the Kozec. But in her eyes, her mother was practically invincible once she summoned the Ten Thousand Ice.
Even the demigod, Cyron Runcandel, had once remarked that defeating Talaris while she wielded the Ten Thousand Ice would be extremely difficult.
But even for Mother, protecting a large number of people against the White Night will be a struggle. On top of that, she’s under the constraint of not killing the White Night mages.
Jin was thinking the same thing as Siris.
Lady Talaris cannot kill the White Night. Killing a few mages from the 7th Magic Tower was something the Zipple clan might quietly let slide, burdened as they were by the Secret Palace’s power. But finishing off the mages of the White Night is another matter entirely. It would force the Zipple clan and the Secret Palace into an immediate, all-out war.
Talaris had certainly come to Colon because she accepted Casimir’s ‘request.’
However, this was not a request she had to fulfill at the cost of a full-scale war with the Zipple clan. In fact, bringing the situation this far was already a significant loss from Talaris’s perspective.
Nevertheless.
There was only one reason why Talaris, the Ruler of the West Sea, had decided to help Jin even if it meant ‘overextending herself a little.’
I like the look in his eyes. There was a reason my daughter has been spacing out so often since she returned from the Runcandel banquet. The chances of this boy becoming the Patriarch are low… but maybe I should just marry him off to Siris and make him a member of the Secret Palace before he can even try?
Talaris stroked Mort’s large cheek.
“Now, hurry along. I’ll give you one hour. Until then, I’ll keep every single person under the request alive, without a single exception. And of course, I’ll make sure this handsome young man doesn’t have to transform back into his true form.”
Boooong!
Mort let out a cry, thrusting its snout forward, and a white dimensional gate formed once again.
“Hold on tight. If you fall into the Otherworldly Snowfield, you’ll never be able to return to this world.”
Swoosh!
The massive body vanished into the small dimensional gate in an instant.
The landscape that unfolded was a vast, endless field of snow. Mort was already racing across it, but strangely, neither wind nor cold could be felt.
It seems to be another world, like the Fire Realm… Is it using this space to teleport?
It was a fascinating spirit beast. Jin had never heard of it in his previous life, so he had assumed the Secret Palace would use a teleportation gate if they came to provide support.
“Mort says he smells a nostalgic scent on you.”
When Siris spoke in a low voice, Jin tilted his head.
“Pardon?”
“…Mort, is it Tess? Young Master Jin… are you, by any chance, the contractor of the phoenix, Tess?”
It was a sudden, direct question, but Jin was no longer particularly flustered by such things.
It won’t be long before the whole world knows I’m a magic swordsman. Now even a spirit beast I’ve just met recognizes my magical abilities.
He had no intention of denying it.
Whether it was when they first met in Mamit or now, when she had come to find him in this desperate moment, Jin felt that Siris was more of a benefactor than an enemy—even if he had crushed her in a duel during the Runcandel banquet last year.
“That is correct. How strange. Do Tess and Mort know each other?”
“He says they were old friends. A Runcandel and a phoenix… Well, I won’t ask for details. More importantly, hold on tighter. We’re about to arrive in Tikan, and there’s quite a shock when a new dimensional gate opens.”
Feeling a bit awkward, Jin pressed himself closer to Siris without a word.
“Usually, when we carry outsiders, Mort swallows them to move. Your subordinate, Casimir, was the same. Inside Mort’s mouth, you won’t fall into the Otherworldly Snowfield no matter how much it shakes.”
“Then why am I…?”
“You are the youngest Young Master of the Runcandel family, after all. I should show you at least this much courtesy. Besides, we need to collect a hefty additional fee for this job. This is a situation where the Secret Palace and the Zipple clan could become complete enemies if things go wrong.”
Bo-ong!
Far across the other side, another dimensional gate opened.
Visible through it was the scenery of the Tikan Free City’s 1st Port. Mort leaped with all its might and dove into the gate.
Flash!
They had arrived. As soon as they landed on the ground, Siris unsummoned Mort before anyone could see.
“Where do we go now?”
“Priestess Laosa’s house happens to be nearby. We’ve arrived quite close.”
It didn’t take long for the two of them to navigate a few dawn-lit alleys and stand before a small wooden door.
Bang, bang!
“Lady Laosa! Pan!”
“Agh, who the hell at this hour— Uh, Young Master Jin? Young Master Jin! What’s happening in Colon!?”
Despite the hour, Pan was neither drunk nor asleep. Instead, he seemed to have been praying until just now, with candles lit all over the small, single room. In the center, Laosa sat upright with her eyes closed.
“…I have been waiting, Young Master Jin. You have come with the Child of Snow.”
With those words, Jin instinctively knew that Laosa had foreseen their fate to some extent.
“Priestess Laosa. Did you perhaps know it would turn out like this?”
Laosa gave a bitter smile.
“If I had, so many of my kin would not have needed to die. I was merely sitting here, searching for my god.”
It was only a few days ago that Jin had reflexively asked, ‘Are you a god?’ because of her overwhelming aura.
Even at a glance, the divine energy surrounding Laosa had diminished significantly compared to when Jin first met her. She still carried an atmosphere different from ordinary people, but she looked just as precarious.
“It seems the Zipple mages are once again ravaging the land of Colon. I can feel my remaining divine power fading rapidly.”
“After my comrades and I killed Myuron, Zipple mages arrived at Colon as reinforcements. And just now, their elite force, the White Night, arrived aboard the flagship Kozec.”
Laosa nodded.
“You do not need to say more. You need my divine power to hasten the ceremony, don’t you?”
“That’s right, Priestess Laosa. And Colon is likely being destroyed with every passing second. We should leave quickly.”
“I understand, Child of Snow. In that case, may I have a moment to finish the prayer I was offering?”
Jin expected Siris to refuse, but surprisingly, she allowed it.
“It must be an important prayer. Very well. Jin and I will be outside. Come out when you are finished.”
Stepping outside, Siris let out a long sigh.
“Laosa, was it? It’s been a long time since I’ve felt admiration for someone who isn’t a powerhouse. You’re saying that’s all that’s left of her divine power…?”
“It seems you felt Lady Laosa’s aura as well, Lady Siris. When I first met her, that aura was several times stronger than it is now.”
“Seeing that woman in person makes even me curious now. Just what is this sacred object they are protecting?”
Before long, Laosa finished her prayer and stepped out the door. Siris summoned Mort again and opened a dimensional gate.
*
Directly beneath the massive hull of the Kozec, which seemed to cover the entire sky of Colon, Talaris and the mages were in a standoff.
Thirty minutes had passed since her battle with the White Night began, but not a single person had died yet. This was because Talaris was carefully controlling her martial prowess.
Whew, I promised to protect them for an hour, but… this is certainly exhausting.
Most of the mages from the 7th Magic Tower who had first tried to stop Talaris had retreated to the ship for treatment. Midore, as the Vice Tower Master, had formed a formation alongside the mages of the White Night.
However, Midore Elner—whom Jin had assessed as a ‘strong mage’ at first sight—looked like a mere commoner when mixed in among the White Night.
Fifty 8-star mages and two 9-star mages.
That was the strength of the White Night currently deployed to Colon. It was about half of the White Night’s total strength, a testament to how sensitive the Zipple clan had become regarding matters involving pure-blooded Zipples lately.
“Step aside, Palace Master! We do not wish to harm you either. If you hand over the natives and the one who murdered Myuron Zipple, we will leave quietly.”
Not a single foot of intact earth remained between Talaris and the White Night. The ground was overturned as if clawed by a pack of giant beasts, and the buildings were all frozen and shattered, scattered everywhere.
They had only been threatening each other from a distance. Talaris mostly just deflected the incoming magic, but it was the White Night who looked more exhausted.
“If you want to negotiate with me, bring Kelliark himself.”
“Palace Master! Must the Zipple clan and the Secret Palace truly come to blows over this? To you, this is merely a request, but we have lost a Tower Master and a pure-blooded Zipple!”
“You really don’t understand, do you? I’m barely holding back my urge to kill you all.”
The scheduled hour was coming to an end.
Are those two still on a date? I’ve managed to block them easily so far because the White Night bastards haven't dared to charge in recklessly, but…
Talaris cast her gaze toward the sky.
The Kozec.
If the White Night began a full-scale bombardment using that flagship, even she wouldn't be able to handle it lightly.
Surely they won't use that recklessly. The Zipples said there’s something here they’ve been obsessed with for hundreds of years.
If the Kozec’s ‘main cannons’ were unleashed, the entire Colon region would be scorched earth in an instant. Talaris didn't think the Zipple clan would go that far, potentially giving up on the object they had sought for centuries.
That was, until the White Night mages suddenly manifested the runes to activate the Kozec’s cannons.
“You brought this upon yourself. Permission from the Patriarch has just arrived from the main house.”
The bow of the Kozec split in half, revealing a massive cannon. Just as the enormous mass of mana condensing inside was about to strike the ground—
She saw them.
Jin, Siris, and Laosa, having just arrived back in Colon, were jumping down from Mort.
“Get back!” Talaris screamed.