Iceworm Subjugation (2)
While the main force of the subjugation party grappled with the Iceworm, the cavalry waiting endlessly grew restless with discontent.
Gooo—gooo—
"Sirs, at this rate, aren't we going to miss out on all the glory?"
The boredom burned just as fiercely in the beasts that carried them. A warrior stroking the beak of a Snowrunner that had begun pacing in place out of sheer tedium blurted out his true feelings without a shred of restraint. No one disagreed. Every last one of them hungered for the honor and merit of distinguishing themselves in the subjugation.
Still, it was the sort of remark that could easily get a man in trouble. The cavalry commander waved a hand.
"Mind your tongue. For your own sake, if nothing else."
"Understood."
"Well… even so. Sitting around like this doesn't sit right."
The commander himself was no less dissatisfied. Especially after the mage had just unleashed large-scale magic against the Iceworm, the frustration only deepened.
"It ought to have resistance to ice magic. Yet it's working?"
"Does that mean she's skilled enough to crush the resistance outright?"
"Despicable sorcerers. I'll grant them their power, at least."
"Tsk. Are we really just going to sit on our hands?"
More than a few burned to ignore orders and charge out then and there. But disobedience of orders was the one line that could never be crossed. Their lord and employer, Alfred, was famous for his leniency toward subordinates—yet rebellion, or any defiance born of ambition for glory, was something he never forgave.
As the cavalry's discontent swelled, a messenger came sprinting frantically from the command post. Before the commander could even ask what was wrong, the man shouted:
"I deliver Sir Zoric's orders! He says you may charge at once!"
The news they had been waiting for had finally arrived. Most of them lit up with joy and scrambled to prepare, but the knights tilted their heads in puzzlement. Once they heard the reason, they began lavishing praise on the very mage they had been cursing moments earlier.
An evil sorceress she might be—but glory was glory, and the more of it the better. To yield glory already firmly in her grasp, and to others no less… what virtue!
"To yield the glory… how honorable a deed!"
"I took her for nothing but a greedy witch. Hmm… I think I'll only feel right after sending a small gift of apology…!"
"All right, then! You all heard that? The order has been given!"
The cavalry commander tightened his grip on his lance and roared.
"Just in case I ask—I trust no one is unprepared!"
Warriors, riders, and knights astride boars, Snowrunners, and warhorses all wore the same greedy smile. Of course they were ready. That went without saying.
"Vice-captain! Cavalry signal!"
At the command of the cavalry commander as he lowered his visor, the vice-captain raised the horn to his lips and blew the cavalry call with all his might.
Booooooooong—!
A low horn note rolled across the chaotic battlefield. Its source lay near the snowy hill where the command post stood. Those who still kept cool heads shouted at once.
Screeeeeech—!!!!
"Scatterrrrrr!!!"
"Clear the way! The cavalry is coming!"
"If you don't want the knights to trample you flat, get to the sides!"
"Don't let go of the ropes no matter what!"
The knights and squad leaders directing the Iceworm subjugation on the ground heard the signal and forced a path open with words and force alike for the men whose blood was already up. Even those whose heads had grown hot took a solid cuff or two, recovered their senses, and scrambled aside. No one wanted to die under the hooves of their own allies.
The Iceworm, which sensed noise and vibration, naturally detected it as well. The horn's call, the dozens—then hundreds—of footsteps racing toward it, the shifting sounds of those who attacked and bound it… everything changed. Instinct told the creature that something dangerous was coming.
"Kyaaaaah!"
Whoosh—thud!
"Watch above! It's slamming down!"
"A mouthful of dirt won't kill you! Roll! I said roll!"
"Kyaaaaagggg!"
Crunch!!
The Iceworm thrashed more violently than ever in its bid to escape, while the subjugation force fought to hold it and the wounded screamed. Catherine's magic still bound it, and the cavalry closed in by the second. The entire chaotic scene was visible from the command post. Even from a distance the momentum of the charging cavalry could be felt—proof that the messenger had done his job.
Zoric, who had been tapping his arm with one finger, glanced at Catherine as she concentrated on her magic.
"Lady Atanitas. Are you truly all right with this?"
"What's with all this thrashing. Hm? What did you say?"
"I'm asking whether you're willing to yield the glory to others."
"Ahh. That."
Catherine had no real choice but to yield. Her specialty, her true forte, was ice magic and ice magic alone. She could pin the Iceworm in place with it, directly or indirectly, but turning that same power into a killing blow was extremely difficult. Above all, the restraint spells she had formed on the spot through ice… what she needed was magic of another attribute with matching force, and the mediums or reagents to cast it.
But oh, damn it all. She had forgotten to bring them.
She could hardly admit that. Glory or no glory, saying it aloud would put a crack in her pride for certain. So Catherine lifted her chin and shook her head.
"Well, I could finish the whole thing myself if I wished. But if I did, there wouldn't be just one or two who would resent me for it."
"An undeniable truth."
"At least the knights currently with the cavalry would."
"For a knight, honor and glory are practically everything. Of course they would."
What mattered most to a knight was honor, and honor was won through glory—which in turn directly affected a knight's pay. The costs of maintaining dignity so other nobles would not sneer. The horses and gear that were a knight's pride, displayed by crushing enemies and projecting power. Quality meals essential for keeping and honing formidable martial strength. Even the small things needed to command subordinates. Everything cost money.
The same held true for Zoric himself. He might have begun as an adventurer, but he had become a proper knight and taken his place on the fringes of the nobility.
"Sir Zoric. From the way you speak, it almost sounds as if you have no particular need to distinguish yourself."
"Well, I am the subjugation commander. So long as I see this force through to success, honor and glory will roll in of their own accord. My circumstances are different."
"True enough. For a commander of a force this size, that would certainly be the case."
"Yes. Ah—it seems the cavalry is about to make contact."
At those words Catherine turned her gaze toward the subjugation force. The tips of the lances of the cavalry charging at full tilt cut across the path the surrounding troops had cleared for them as they raced over the snowfield.
Kiiiik—!
Thud!
"Kyaaaaah!"
"Grrk!"
A few unlucky souls lost their footing to the tremors the Iceworm raised and tumbled, yet the charge never faltered. Enduring falling rocks with their armor and dodging the creature's crushing blows, the force drove on until, at the last instant before impact, they put every ounce of strength, speed, and weight behind their lances and thrust.
Craaash—! Crack!
The points punched through the Iceworm's carapace, shattered, and sprayed fragments. Lances were consumables meant to be spent this way from the start; there was no problem at all. The riders discarded the broken shafts and, like a river splitting around an obstacle, divided into two streams without a backward glance and wheeled about to withdraw. Those behind them wheeled their mounts in the same motion and followed the lead.
Screeeeeech!!!!????
Under the successive, accumulating strikes the Iceworm's shell cracked open in an instant. Chunks of pure white flesh tore free, spraying bright red blood. If this continued, it would die. The Iceworm felt the threat to its life.
"Hmm!?"
"Lady Atanitas?"
Catherine sensed the anomaly at once. Something had begun to interfere with her magic. She tightened her control and sought the cause—and found it. Ownerless mana lingering in the air and on the ground was gathering toward a single point. The direction lay straight ahead of her, toward the Iceworm at the heart of the subjugation force.
"Good heavens. A breath in this situation? It isn't even a sub-dragon."
"Did you just say breath—"
"Yes. It's about to fire a breath!"
Zoric's eyes sharpened. Breath. A dragon's breath was the most famous example, yet dragons were not the only creatures capable of it. A handful of powerful monsters could produce something similar—if not identical—and its destructive force could never be dismissed as mere imitation. But for this Iceworm to unleash one now, of all times?
No. Zoric shook his head. There was no room for doubt in the present crisis. He immediately drew out a magic orb—a precious tool Alfred had lent him against just such an emergency.
"Vice-captain, respond!"
—…Sir Zoric? What's goi—hey! Clear the way there!
"It's about to fire a breath! Get everyone out of the line of its maw at once—"
—Breath, yes—huh? Breath!?
"Yes! Even if it's chaos, hold your positions! I'll handle the defense!"
Before anyone else could react, Catherine shouted.
"Lady Atanitas, what on earth—"
"If we retreat now the damage will only grow worse! Vice-captain, do not tell the others!"
Only then did Zoric recover his composure. Issuing a sudden retreat to those holding the encirclement would throw the entire net into chaos at once. Had there been even a few other mages among them it might have been different—but right now the subjugation force possessed only one. He steadied himself and asked:
"Is there a method?"
"Yes. It might even become a chance to turn the tables."
Then the air itself changed.
Gooooooo—
The four-part maw yawned open and a threatening low hum began to build. Anyone on the field could sense a lethal attack approaching. Before a single voice could rise in response, the Iceworm's jaws split wide in a cross.
Pwaaaaaaaaaah—!
With a roar like a mountain waterfall, a breath laden with blizzard and ice shards came howling forth.
"Hup—!"
Catherine, calculations already complete, reshaped the magic she had deployed. The dozens of ice spells binding the Iceworm scattered as one and formed a hemispherical barrier that wrapped the troops standing in the breath's path.
Shaaaaaaaa—!
Like a boulder splitting a waterfall, the barrier bisected the torrent. Even the streams that peeled away to either side bent like waves back toward the shield rather than striking the rest of the force, reinforcing it further.
"Good heavens. So this is why our lord sent only a single mage."
"What are you standing there for?"
"Huh? Ah!"
"We need to prepare the counterattack."
A breath was a fearsome weapon, but it was not endless. Zoric, momentarily awed by the sage's prowess he had only ever heard of in stories, snapped back to himself and barked orders through the orb to the equally stunned vice-captain on the other end.
"Phew. At least I managed to raise the barrier in time."
"Indeed, Contractor."
Mary, who had slipped into the command post at some point, answered Catherine's mutter.
"Huh? What? When did you get here?"
"More importantly—haven't you forgotten something rather vital?"
"Huh… uh?"
Mary stepped lightly to her side and held out a backpack. Inside were the carefully portioned media Catherine had completely forgotten.
"As expected of my retainer!"
"Hehe. Truly a contractor worth looking after—even if you are a hopeless mess."
"Hey."
Having finished his orders, Zoric noticed the newcomer as well.
"Lady Atanitas. This woman is the one from before—"
"Ahh. My exclusive maid. In any case, this makes things simpler. Sir Zoric—ready the cavalry again. I will create the opening myself."
"…Adjutant! Send a messenger so the cavalry can re-sortie the moment they return!"
While Zoric issued the command, Catherine merely nodded. Telekinesis lifted the small, plump pouches from the bag into each of her open hands as she faced the Iceworm, and she reversed the mana she had gathered.
Nature cycles; every path leads to one. The attributes held by every scrap of mana under her dominion inverted at once. The power that had wrapped the barrier and bound the splitting breath melted, then ignited. Catherine's burning mana swam upstream against the Iceworm's breath like salmon fighting a river. Before the creature could react, the reverse flow became a pillar of fire racing back along the stream like flame racing up a fuse.
Pwaaaaaaaaaang—!
Screeeeeech!?
The Iceworm exploded from within and its entire body began to burn. The external shock that had shaken its insides forced the monster to collapse its massive bulk onto the ground.
Thud—!
And there were those who did not miss the chance. The cavalry, having withdrawn, resupplied their lances, and charged once more.
"Hahahaha! Yes! This is the mage our lord hired himself!"
"Horses! Drive like a blizzard!"
"Clear the way! The cavalry rides out!"
They all surged as one toward the defenseless head of the fallen Iceworm.