Product of Chaos (2)
"Hmm…"
"What is it, My Lady?"
Milia had stopped in her tracks with a low murmur, and Schwarz tilted his head at the sight.
"It's nothing… just this wall. Can't you break through it with your magic?"
"My magic? Ah. You mean that?"
Schwarz realized at once that the "magic" she meant was his breath, and he asked again. Milia only nodded in silence.
"Hmm… it might be worth a try."
If his breath could pierce this wall, there would be no need to fight the massive monster Chen had spoken of.
"Everyone, step back. You might get caught in it."
With that, he ushered Milia and Chen behind him, then approached a nearby stretch of wall and began slowly drawing in mana.
And then it happened.
"Guh…!?"
A pounding heartbeat and a sudden wrongness in his body wrenched a low groan from Schwarz.
"Schwarz…?"
Milia called out, puzzled by his abrupt change.
But her voice never reached him.
His heart hammered as if it would burst. Heat seared through every limb. Pain like a thousand sharp needles thrusting up from beneath his skin crashed over him.
"Guaaah…"
The agony was so vast he could not even scream. Schwarz dropped to his knees where he stood.
"Schwarz!!"
Milia rushed to him at once, checking his condition in a panic.
"Schwarz! What's wrong!? Are you all right!?"
"Hah… hah…!!"
Tears already glistened at the corners of her eyes, as if she might break into sobs at any moment. Schwarz looked up at her, gasping for breath.
The pain that had felt ready to tear him apart was already gone.
"I-I'm fine… I'm sorry for worrying you, My Lady."
"What kind of nonsense is that! Why are you apologizing!"
Milia shouted at him as he carefully offered the apology.
And then—
"Ah, My Lady!?"
She suddenly threw her arms around him. Schwarz's voice rose in startled confusion.
"If something… if something happened to you, what am I supposed to do!"
"Ahahaha…"
It really doesn't seem like something to worry over that much…
With that thought, Schwarz gave an awkward little laugh and looked at her.
Her eyes were red-rimmed; she looked ready to cry at any second.
Seeing her like that made a strange, sharp ache bloom in a corner of his chest.
"Thank you for worrying about me. But I'm truly all right now."
"Really?"
"Yes. Really."
Milia still eyed him with suspicion. Schwarz answered with a faint smile and a nod.
"So. What was that just now?"
"Mm… I'm not certain, but I think it's because the mana here is corrupted."
"Corrupted mana?"
"Yes. And… it feels as though some of my mana has recovered a little."
Even if it was twisted, it was still mana. He could feel the nearly depleted reserves inside him filling, if only slightly.
Of course, the efficiency was abysmal.
"Hmm… so even corrupted mana is still mana, then."
"It seems that way."
The searing pain that had struck the moment he took the twisted mana into his body…
Perhaps it had been the process of his body adapting to it.
"Hmm… for now, we'd better hold off on absorbing any more of this corrupted mana."
"Agreed."
The efficiency was terrible, and there was no telling what might happen if he kept taking it in. He could not risk drawing more mana carelessly.
"Haa… so we can't get out this way?"
"It would seem not…"
"Nothing ever goes right, does it."
"I-I'm sorry…"
Milia let out a short sigh. Schwarz bowed his head toward her.
It was not truly his fault, yet the knowledge that he had disappointed her pressed heavily on his chest.
"Don't apologize. It isn't your fault."
"Yes, My Lady."
"Whew… nothing for it. We'll just have to look for another way."
With no clear breakthrough in sight, Milia sighed again and walked over to the soldier, settling herself on a pile of rubble near him.
"I'd prefer you didn't tell anyone about what you just saw. Understood?"
"Y-yes, ma'am…"
She was smiling, yet the smile was so rigid that anyone could have read the warning in it.
Crushed by the sharp edge of her presence, the soldier nodded frantically in reply.
And so the three of them set off once more down the pitch-dark passage…
[Screeeech!!]
[Kyaaaaah!!]
They ran into packs of monsters that came shrieking and charging three or four times, but none of them amounted to much against Milia and Schwarz.
They pressed on, cutting down every creature that lunged at them, for quite some time.
"How much farther do we even have to go?"
"Mm… that's strange. If my memory's right, we should have arrived by now…"
Chen answered Milia's grumbling with a cold sweat beading on his brow.
"Don't tell me we're lost or something."
"No! Absolutely not. This is definitely the right path…"
He shook his head in haste at her question, yet the confidence was steadily draining from his face.
"I believe this is the correct way."
"How can you tell?"
"The concentration of mana is growing thicker."
With every step deeper inward, the corrupted mana grew stronger.
Milia and Chen, unable to sense mana, seemed unaware of it, but Schwarz felt a crawling sensation across his entire body—as though he were moving through a bottomless mire.
Then the flow of the air changed, and a wide space opened before them.
"See? I told you this was the right path."
"Hmm…"
Chen spoke with the look of a man who had finally caught his breath. Milia left him behind and surveyed the surroundings with a low murmur.
A chamber where shattered debris and chunks of flesh lay tangled together.
"Wait a second. Doesn't this place look familiar?"
"Mm… you're right. It does feel like I've seen it before…"
Milia's question made Schwarz narrow his eyes and dig through his memories…
"Isn't this the infirmary?"
"Ah! That's it! The infirmary!"
Chen's words sparked recognition. Milia clapped her hands together.
"Hold on. Why is the infirmary here? And in this state…"
"Yeah. What on earth happened…"
Milia nodded at Schwarz's words and started deeper into the room—
—Thump!
"…?"
A rhythmic beating sound reached her from somewhere. She stopped and turned her head toward it.
And what met her eyes was a mass of flesh shaped like a heart—the very thing that should have been in the northern tower.
"Why is that here!?"
"…"
Milia's voice rose in shock, but even Schwarz had no answer.
The flesh pulsed and throbbed in the unmistakable form of a heart.
"I don't see the monster from earlier."
"Maybe it went somewhere else?"
Yet the creature Chen had described was nowhere to be found.
"It seems our guess was correct. Mana is spreading outward from that heart."
Schwarz stood still for a moment, watching it, then spoke as he narrowed his eyes.
An immense volume of mana pulsed within the heart, flowing out along the vessels connected to it and seeping into every corner of the space.
"So if we destroy that heart, this whole place will collapse?"
"Most likely."
If this space itself was a living thing, it would require a vast amount of energy simply to maintain itself.
Which meant that destroying the heart-like mass could open a way out.
"Good. Then let's finish this right now!"
"My Lady! It's dangerous!"
Schwarz cried out urgently as Milia strode forward without hesitation.
"Why? The monster—or whatever it is—isn't here. This is our chance."
"That's true, but…"
No matter how carefully he scanned the surroundings, the creature was nowhere in sight.
Perhaps this truly was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Thinking so, Schwarz himself began to advance slowly.
And in that very moment…
"…!!"
A chill raced up his spine. He shouted for Milia at once.
"My Lady! Stop!!"
"What? Why all of a sudd—"
Startled by his sudden cry, Milia halted and turned her head toward him.
And then—
[KRA-BOOM!!]
A thunderous crash shook the air as something enormous slammed down right in front of her.
Caught completely off guard, Milia froze, staring at the massive shape before her eyes…
Slowly, the folded body began to unfold. Something was rising, lifting that colossal frame upright.
[Uu… ah… aaa…]
At the same time, a low groan leaked from the face at the center of the shadow.
"W-what… is that…?"
Milia's voice trailed off as she beheld the hideous form before her.
[UAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH—!!!!]
The next instant, the black shadow fully raised its gigantic body and unleashed a twisted, ear-splitting scream.