Time of Massacre
Time of Massacre
━Neptune is the Great Chief who governs all the fishmen tribes of the Western Continent. They command no fewer than twelve chieftains under their authority.
I sorted through the information I'd gathered from the fishman as I sprinted down the road.
━Lord Neptune has ruled over us fishmen for a full fifteen years, acting in place of our missing king. Of course, they've never once appeared at any official function, so other beast-races probably don't know much about Lord Neptune. They were a figure we fishmen served only in secret.
The one who stands in for the king of the fishmen.
Every beast-race across the continent has its own ruling monarch.
In the case of us Dream Demons, I've heard that a queen called Nightmare rules over our kind somewhere out there.
By contrast, the throne of the fishmen king had been sitting vacant for decades already.
I'd assumed they'd simply scattered into separate tribes, but apparently, there was a sovereign secretly commanding the bastards all along.
Great Chief Neptune.
The bastard was also the ringleader who ordered the fishmen of the Western Continent to riot in the first place.
━Lord Neptune declared that we must sweep away every other beast-race to prove the superiority of the fishmen. That all beast-races besides fishmen are worthless insects. So they said we should first stop by the nearest city and cleanse it of its human race.
Cleansing the human race — this so-called Great Chief's ideology was dangerous.
The man was utterly deranged.
Turning every fishman under his rule into a murderer just to prove the superiority of fishmen?
I'd really like to see what kind of face goes with that kind of thinking. If the bastard had taken up art in his youth, he'd have made one fine piece of work.
━So what's this nearest city you mentioned? Where exactly is your Great Chief planning to grind into dust?
The moment I heard the fishman's answer, I was genuinely shocked.
━The port city, Lotus. I heard that the Great Chief is leading their direct subordinates and marching on the port city today. That news spread to all the tribes of the Western Continent a week ago, and right now, armed fishmen are departing for the port city. To join the Great Chief and carry out the slaughter.
In other words, the fishmen were throwing a massacre party in the port city today. With the Great Chief and their subordinate chieftains rampaging as one, the scale would be anything but small. There were soldiers stationed in the port city, but that place was surrounded by water. For fishmen who control water, it'd be the perfect stage to raise hell.
━When does your slaughter party start?
━I-it's probably already begun! We got word an hour ago that the Great Chief had arrived at the port city! That's all. I've told you everything I know.
That was the end of the fishman's information.
The Great Chief had already reached the port city and begun the terror. The odds were high that Bella and the others, who were staying in the port city, had gotten caught up in it. While I was away, Bella and my lovers had been exposed to grave danger.
'They have to be safe.'
After finishing off the fishman, I ran without pause toward the port city. Partway there, I summoned a wave, climbed on top of it, and raced along the road at high speed. About ten minutes later, I was able to reach the port city.
"Hah, hah!"
I passed through the wide-open city gate and arrived downtown. The gate had been smashed beyond any hope of closing, and I could see the guards who'd been stationed there lying dead. The corpses were all soaked with water — definitely the fishmen's handiwork.
Before long, as I entered the downtown area, I encountered a bizarre phenomenon.
'Water Mist.'
A thick water mist hung over the port city's downtown, making it hard to see ahead. It wasn't a natural occurrence, but the result of the fishmen's supernatural abilities. The fishmen who'd raided the city had spread water like fog to obscure vision.
They must be sealing off sightlines to wage guerrilla warfare.
However, controlling water was something I could do just as well.
"Liquid."
The moment I chanted the spell, the water mist blanketing everything compressed into a single point and became a droplet. I pulled the mist into the droplet and secured roughly twenty meters of visibility.
The downtown panorama came into clear view.
"Uwaaaaaah!!"
"Churrrr! Kill them all!!"
On the streets, the port city's guards and countless fishmen were entangled in a chaotic melee. The fishmen side had held the advantage until just moments ago, but the moment the water mist vanished, the tables turned in an instant.
"T-the fog is gone!"
"Someone's clearing the fog for us!"
The guards who'd been scattered inside the mist confirmed each other's positions, quickly rallied, and formed ranks. They began fiercely contending with the trident-wielding fishmen.
'Clearing the mist gave them some breathing room.'
I'd only secured my own vision to save my skin, but it brought an unexpected stroke of luck.
Thanks to that, the fishmen who'd been ransacking the downtown area had their ankles caught by the guards.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
War cries and screams echoed from all over. Fishmen rampaged through every corner of the waterlogged downtown. I was racing toward the city center, thinking about where Bella might be right now.
A familiar voice rang out from somewhere.
"Huaaaaaah!! Save the nun!! I said stay the hell away, you fish-freak bastards!!"
"Churrrr! Waste that noisy blonde wench!"
On the main road leading to the city center, I spotted a familiar blonde-haired nun.
At the sight of my party member, whom I was seeing again after a full two weeks, tears welled up in my eyes.
"Kate!"
Sister Kate!
She was running with a string of ten fishmen hot on her heels.
It's no exaggeration to say every ounce of the fishmen's aggro was laser-focused on Kate right now!
"Hiiiiiiiiiiiiik! Why are you all only busting my chops! None of you know how precious a nun is!!"
Kate, who'd fallen into a kind of panic, didn't hear my voice. Her stamina completely spent, Kate stopped running and unfurled a holy incantation.
"Lord Baldur who art in heaven! Grant unto me a sacred barrier!"
In that moment, a spherical barrier formed around Kate's body.
As I ran toward her, the barrier made me do a double take.
'Our Kate never learned a holy incantation like that, did she?'
This is the nun who always just strolled at a distance and tossed out the occasional heal!
But something must have happened over the past two weeks, because she'd mastered a barrier!
Kate — the same Kate who was lazing on the sofa munching snacks while I spent my time training in magic!!
Low-Tier Holy Incantation: Holy Barrier.
A barrier-type spell you might call a nun's very identity.
The fishmen jabbed their spears at Kate furiously, but the barrier blocked them. Of course, with the sheer number of fishmen being no joke, the barrier soon cracked.
Crack!
"Bwahaha! Blonde wench! You dodged us slick as could be, but now it's over!"
"Someone save the nunoooooooooooh—!! Why is there no dealer anywhere, and what the hell is a nun supposed to do all alone—!! Someone come out here with a weapon!! I'll pump you full of heals, I swear!!"
Kate, trapped among the fishmen, shrieked.
Her face distorted just like the famous painting I'd seen back on Earth, The Scream by Munch — an absolute work of art.
If I immortalized this as a piece, I could call it The Scream of the Nun Left Behind!
Crunch! At last, a hole was punched through the round barrier. One fishman tried to thrust its spear through the opening.
I slammed my staff into the back of the fishman's skull — blinded as it was by the aggro from Kate.
Crunch!
"Hagalaz! Blizzard!"
The instant the staff connected, I unleashed Blizzard. The Blizzard, compressed to a single point at the tip of the staff, erupted and swept the surroundings like a storm. The ten fishmen surrounding Kate were hurled back by the monstrous wind pressure.
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaah—!!"
Of course, Kate was no exception to being hurled back by the wind pressure! Ancient Magic sweeps away everything without distinguishing friend from foe. As she was flung into the air with her barrier smashed to bits, I dashed up and caught her in my arms.
Thud!
"L-let go! You fish-bastard!"
"It's me, Kate."
"What— Mongma-nim?!"
Kate thrashed wildly before realizing it was me and her eyes went round as saucers. The two of us had reunited after two weeks, but we had no time for leisurely catching up.
We needed to deal with the fishmen first.
I was going to make them pay for laying a hand on my own personal little nun.
"Churyaaaaaak! A mage!"
"The nun and the mage have joined up! Kill them both!"
The fishman whose skull I'd caved in had its head blown apart. Even after watching their kinsman get brutally slaughtered, the fishmen didn't back off. The nine remaining fishmen charged in with war cries.
"Mongma-nim, let me shift positions so you can move freely!"
Kate swiftly climbed down and hid behind my back, then let out a laugh — "Kkeul-kkeul!" — and screamed at the fishmen.
"You're all dead now! You fish-freak bastards! Mongma-nim is here—!!"
The nun's voice rang out loud and clear. The moment she realized I'd appeared, the cowardly nun from moments ago was nowhere to be found. The instant Kate hoisted her mace overhead, I cast a spell at the fishmen.
"Magic Missile."
The moment I spoke the incantation, mana spheres formed in the empty air. I swung my staff and swatted the floating mana spheres, sending them flying like a baseball player.
The staff, with Rapid Freeze activated, coated the mana spheres in ice the instant they collided.
Clang!
The ice covering the mana spheres was incredibly sharp.
I'd enhanced the basic spell Magic Missile with Rapid Freeze. A mana sphere with an impact force approaching that of a pistol round — coated in ice.
The frozen mana spheres traced a parabolic arc and rained down on the heads of the charging fishmen.
"Aaaaaaaagh!!"
"I-it's an ice-pick downpour—aaagh!"
Papapak! Where the frozen mana spheres hammered down, the blood of the fishmen streamed out and formed puddles. A few lucky survivors remained, but they posed no major threat.
I walked right up to them, swung my staff, and caved their skulls in.
"Mongma-nim! I'll help too!!"
Kate helped me finish off the fishmen with her mace.
As luck would have it, both of us wielding blunt instruments, we turned the fishmen into paste.
Ice paste and bloody paste, that is.
After we'd cleaned up the main road, Kate asked me,
"That pure white staff! You brought it from the temple, right? Does that mean you safely completed the trial to awaken as a Rune Mage?"
"Yeah. I've awakened as a Rune Mage now, so I can manipulate ice. The feel of cracking skulls with this staff is something else."
"I thought you'd come tomorrow, so I'm so glad you're early! We've been in serious trouble since this morning with all the flooding! The fishmen going on a rampage! Getting chased by a fishman that turned into some horrific shark!"
I asked Kate the question on my mind.
"Why are you all alone and separated? What about Rebecca and Miss Bella?"
"We got split up while running from the fishman that turned into a shark! That shark bastard's a total killing machine, so even combining our strength wasn't enough. He called himself the Great Chief's bodyguard warrior!"
A fishman with an appearance like a shark.
It seemed that bastard was the one who attacked Miss Bella and my lovers. If even Rebecca couldn't beat him, it meant he's at least stronger than a third-rate. I couldn't quite gauge just how strong the Great Chief who commands such a subordinate might be.
"So where are the two of them? Where did they evacuate?"
"We promised to meet again at the villa! The Vice Guild Master's villa by the beach!"
"Let's hurry."
I summoned a wave and climbed on top.
With Kate likewise aboard the wave, we raced down the main road, heading for the port city's beachside. As we sped along without slowing, I continuously absorbed the water mist, swelling the wave's size.
The closer we got to the beachside in the port city's downtown, the more the area was flooded by overflowing seawater. If you were walking, the water would come up to your ankles.
At last, we reached the beachside and confirmed Bella's villa with our own eyes.
I'd assumed the villa was similarly flooded, but the reality was nowhere near that level. A gigantic whirlpool of water had swallowed the entire plot of land the villa was built upon.
Whoooooooosh—!
The whirlpool had severed the villa completely from the outside world. It wouldn't be easy to get close, and there was no way to know what was happening inside.
I accelerated the wave and charged straight for the whirlpool.
"Mo-Mongma-niiiiiim! What are you doing right now?!"
"I'm busting through!"
Kate, beside me, was horrified to see me trying to ram the whirlpool head-on.
But I couldn't let Kate off here. A nun who'd mastered the barrier would be a valuable asset in the fight against the fishmen.
"C-couldn't you please let me off?! I'll walk, nice and slow!!"
"No."
"Huaaaaaang."
Kate flattened herself on the wave, trembling.
Just as the speeding wave was about to crash into the whirlpool, I gripped my staff tight.
Nistrond's Rapid Freeze is most powerful when it makes direct contact with the target. This was the best way to break through the whirlpool in one go.
I poured strength into it and swung a full-force blow at the whirlpool.
"Freeze solid!"
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaah!!"
Amidst the shriek of the blonde nun, we burst through the whirlpool.