The Raid
"What do you mean? An enemy raid?!"
Faced with the sudden turn of events, Bernus turned on the soldier and demanded an answer.
"A great horde of monsters has poured out of the Black Forest and is attacking Kelebor Fortress as we speak!"
"That's impossible…!!"
At the soldier's report, Bernus sucked in a sharp breath.
Monsters, for all their danger, were little different from wild beasts at heart. And yet those wild beasts had gathered into a host and were assaulting a fortress? It defied every scrap of common sense.
Then—
KRA-BOOM!!
A thunderous crash split the air, and something smashed straight through the wall of the tower where they stood.
[Screeeeeech-!!]
From the swirling cloud of dust emerged the head of a reptile—massive jaws, elongated snout, and all.
"A-a wyvern?! Why is there a wyvern here?!"
Milia cried out in shock at the sight.
A wyvern. It was known as a lesser cousin of dragons, yet in truth it shared almost nothing with them. Forelegs fused into wings, stubby hind legs, and those vacant crimson eyes that held scarcely a flicker of intelligence. Compared to a true dragon like Schwarz, it looked almost pitiful—yet its threat was every bit the equal of a full-grown dragon.
[Screeeeeech-!!]
Even as Milia shouted, the wyvern loosed a rending cry and opened its enormous maw. Inside, frost laced with killing cold began to swirl and gather…
"Look out!!"
Schwarz was already moving. Without a word he lunged forward, charging straight at the beast.
In the next instant the frost became a breath of pure cold that blasted outward, freezing everything it touched. The temperature plummeted; thick rime filled the tower in a white haze.
[Scree…]
As if the matter were settled, the wyvern gave a low cry and prepared to take wing again.
[Scree-?]
Then, amid the billowing frost, a dark-blue light began to pulse.
The wyvern turned its head once more, staring into the mist where that deep azure glow flickered.
And in the next heartbeat—
[FWOOOOSH-!!]
A torrent of dark-blue flame tore through the frost and engulfed the wyvern whole.
[Screeeeeeeeeeech-!!]
Wreathed in fire, the creature plummeted from the tower. It thrashed a few times on the ground below, then lay still, blackened and charred.
"Haa…"
Schwarz leaned out over the broken wall, confirmed the wyvern's death, and wiped the last trails of flame from his lips with the back of his hand.
"Is everyone all right?"
He turned back toward the others as he spoke.
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"Why is everyone staring? Has something gone wrong?"
Faced with their speechless expressions, Schwarz tilted his head in genuine confusion.
"Well, it's just…"
"Y-you there—what in the world is that on your head?"
Amelia trailed off, while Heinz pointed a trembling finger at the top of Schwarz's head.
"On my head?"
Still baffled, Schwarz reached up and felt around.
His fingers met something hard and strangely textured. He froze.
"Ah…?"
"Haa… I can't believe this…"
A low murmur escaped him as he looked at his companions in flustered dismay. At the same moment Milia let out a short sigh and shook her head.
Bernus cleared his throat, looking thoroughly awkward, while Amelia simply stared as though she had no idea what to say.
And then—
"Are you a demon?! Or one of the beastfolk?! Either way is fine—once this is over, will you let me study you?!"
Heinz's eyes were sparkling as he gazed at him.
The sky above the fortress swarmed with flying monsters that screeched as they snatched soldiers into the air. Flames and smoke rose from every corner of the citadel, and the howls of beasts mixed with the shouts of men into a single, grating cacophony.
"All of you wait here."
"Father?! Where are you going?!"
"I'm going to assess the situation. Hold this place until I return."
With that, Bernus leapt through the hole in the tower wall and dropped to the ground below. Milia cried out in alarm, but her father's figure had already vanished among the soldiers. She let out a short breath and turned away.
"So what do we do now?"
"Hmm…"
Schwarz answered with a low hum. Bernus had left the tower in their care, yet the chaos outside was clearly growing worse by the second.
Through the shattered outer walls, monsters poured into the fortress in endless waves. Green Skins, of course—but also arachne that resembled giant spiders, minotaurs with the bodies of men and the heads of bulls, ogres and trolls. Every monster that lived in the Black Forest seemed to be charging straight for the fortress.
While the two of them still hesitated, uncertain what to do—
"I'll hold this place. You two go."
"Are you sure you'll be all right?"
"Don't worry. I'm not so weak that I can't handle monsters like these."
Amelia answered Milia's concerned question with a short, wry laugh. With her skill, creatures of this level would be little more than slaughter.
"Thank you, Senior. We'll leave it to you, then."
"You only call me Senior at times like this, don't you?"
Milia bowed her head to Amelia and started forward. Amelia watched her go with a faint smile, then drew the sword at her hip.
"M-Miss Milia! Please be careful! You too, Master Schwarz!!"
They nodded to Amelia and to the fretting Heinz, then made for the outer wall the wyvern had breached. Sharing a brief, knowing grin, they leapt without the slightest hesitation into the monster-choked ground below.
Kelebor Fortress had become a living hell.
[Kiiieeek-!!]
[Grwaaaargh-!!]
"Damn it! Hold the line! Hold it, I said!! If they break through here, we're all dead!!"
"Aaaagh! My arm! My arm—!!"
A desperate struggle raged between the surging tide of monsters and the soldiers fighting to hold them back. Screams and howls filled the air, and the sky was no safer.
[Kraaaagh-!!]
A manticore swept down with a roar, raking the air with razor claws. Schwarz slipped past the beast's foreleg by a hair's breadth and streaked past its body.
"Hyaaah!!"
At the same moment, Milia's spear—trailing afterimages of mana—ripped open the manticore's flank.
[Kyaaaaagh-!!]
Black blood sprayed as the creature screamed in agony. Its body lost balance and plummeted, crushing the monsters beneath it.
"Hah… hah…"
"Are you all right?"
Covered in monster blood, Milia was breathing hard. Between them they had already brought down more than a dozen of the flying beasts—manticores, wyverns, chimeras, and more. Not ordinary monsters, but mid- and large-class threats that normally required dozens of soldiers to fell.
"Hah… I'm fine… hah… How many was that just now…?"
"That one was the last of them."
Some had fallen to Schwarz's breath, others to Milia's spear. Every monster that had darkened the skies over Kelebor Fortress now lay as cold corpses on the ground below.
"The situation on the ground… doesn't look good."
"No, it doesn't."
Looking down, they saw Kelebor Fortress burning in places, an endless stream of monsters still pouring from the Black Forest, and soldiers locked in combat wherever the eye turned. The attack had been so sudden, and the numbers so overwhelming, that the defenders had never managed to form proper ranks. Scattered groups fought on until the monster tide simply swallowed them like tiny boats in a storm.
"Something's wrong. Monsters never gather in numbers like this. And look at them—every last one is fighting as if it's possessed."
"You're right. It's strange."
Ordinarily, monsters that took heavy losses would break and flee to save their own lives. Yet these kept coming even as dozens and hundreds fell to cannon fire, magic, and arrows. It was as though something were controlling them.
"It's just like last time."
"You mean the hound wolves?"
The mysterious cocoon they had found in the Black Forest. Before discovering it, the hound wolves had charged them to the very last beast, as if under some thrall. This was exactly the same.
"Exactly. What if the heart-like thing we brought back is the cause of all this?"
"It's not impossible."
There were far too many unsettling coincidences to dismiss the idea outright.
"Let's land for now. What we need to do is buy time."
"Yes, My Lady."
Schwarz nodded at Milia's words and began a gradual descent. Below them stretched vast throngs of monsters. Scores and hundreds had already been cut down by the fortress's artillery and magic as they approached the walls, yet the rest kept charging as though none of it mattered.
"Hup…"
Schwarz drew in the ambient mana from the air. Inside him it transformed into living flame.
[FWOOOOSH-!!]
In the next instant he unleashed every scrap of that power upon the monsters below.
[Kyaaaaagh-!!]
[Grwaaargh-!?]
[Kiek-!! Kieeeek!!]
Dark-blue fire swept over the horde surging toward the walls. The open plain between the Black Forest and Kelebor Fortress vanished beneath a sea of flame, and the screams of burning monsters rose from every direction. The mad charge faltered and stopped.
"That should buy us a little time."
Having poured out the last of his mana, Schwarz surveyed the blazing field.
It was only a delay, of course. Once the fire died, the monsters would come again—that much was certain.
"Well done. Let's head back to the northern tower."
"Yes, My Lady."
Milia nodded and turned Schwarz's course around, guiding them back the way they had come.