The Paramere Search Operation (16)
The Paramere Search Operation (16)
Daniel, captain of the Blue Punk Mercenary Company, was horrified. Amid the scattering sparks, he instinctively stepped backward.
Beautiful. That was Daniel's first impression. A saw blade spinning at high speed. When the circular axe moved, the ground split apart. Pebbles flew in every direction, letting out sharp sounds.
CRASH!!!!
Flames surged within the deafening noise. The overwhelming destructive force left nothing behind. It tore away everything it swept over, ground it down, as if the flames themselves were drawing a deep breath.
"Astonishing! For a mere priest to surpass the 'Realm'!"
"Why don't you try getting your head shaved clean by a mere 'priest'!"
A balance of skill that had never been achieved before continued. Through dozens of exchanges, sharp metallic sounds filled the surroundings.
A fierce battle no one could intervene in. A breathtaking spectacle that drew every gaze around it.
Amid the sound that made his heart pound, Daniel rose to his feet. He pulled the sword embedded in his shoulder and swung it at the knight.
"Ugh?! You bastard!"
A momentary opening brought about by a miracle. Daniel exploded with his remaining latent strength. It was obvious he would suffer for it later, but he had to survive first.
"URAAAAAAAH!!!"
Change begot change.
Daniel's thrust sword forced the knights to stagger backward, if only for an instant. In that momentary opening, the mercenary company's wizards, who had been suppressed, unleashed fire all at once.
BOOM!!
An explosion erupted. Amid the swirling magic, the Apostle of Isis brought his hands together.
"Pray! To the sanctity of life!"
Holy Arts burst forth like an explosion and enveloped everyone. Daniel's wounds recovered in an instant under the pink Sacred Power powder that covered his entire body.
A large-scale recovery Holy Art. The mercenaries rose to their feet. Daniel shrugged his shoulders.
For some reason, laughter escaped him. He didn't know why. Was it the reversed tide of battle? Or was it because he had received help from the priests he had ignored the entire time before entering Paramer?
Ah! Shit!
Once I get out of here, I'll dump a fortune in offerings on the church!
"Isn't it all a lie that the churches are a setting sun?!"
"We didn't know we were capable of that much either!"
"Iskandar must be blessing her!"
Daniel glanced back at the paladins of Iskandar.
Laughter crossed between them. The agents of Iskandar gripped their weapons.
"Little brother. Can you move?"
"A warrior moves even with nothing but bones left, big brother."
Divinity settled upon the bodies of Lucas and Marcus. Its radiance paled in comparison to Rosemary's, but they too were paladins of the War God.
The deep cuts slowly healed, and bodies that had reached their limits gradually rose. The Holy Arts that supplemented their failing strength began to blaze fiercely.
"It's the monster that killed Paramer along with the entire city."
"If it's set loose, the damage would be beyond words."
"Little brother. Put strength in your legs."
"I'll support you from behind, big brother."
"This too must be Iskandar's guidance."
"We shall resist to the very last."
The axes crossed.
"Valhalla."
"Big brother. Valhalla is calling us."
"For the best outcome, the worst choice."
"It is the will of the god to break them before they break us."
Amid the chaotic battle, the axes of the paladins, who had been tangled up and unable to fight properly, moved simultaneously.
As if burning their final flames, their rough shouts were filled with the souls of warriors.
"Iskandar! Look upon me!!"
"Ugh?!"
BOOM!!!
The knight blocking the two of them was slammed into the wall.
In battle, momentum is everything. The atmosphere shifted. The knights who had been pressing with superior skill began to falter.
The mercenaries who had been stabbed in the stomach and had arms dangling limply rose to their feet. As their wounds recovered under Isis's Holy Arts, they picked up the weapons they had dropped.
"Shit... if we stay still, we're gonna die at the hands of those bastards..."
"Move! Follow the captain!"
"If I get out of here, I'm definitely converting!"
One-on-one skill wasn't enough.
Daniel knew it. The sword that had scraped together magical power wavered unsteadily. It was neither as flashy nor as weighty as Ian Pamel's.
But if enough of us gather, the story changes!
His remaining latent strength surged like an explosion. Daniel's feet left the ground. The ground he had kicked off from. The negative pressure of the air against him.
In the swirling world, a mana blade faintly settled at Daniel's fingertips.
BOOM!!!
"Push them back!!!!"
Right now!
This is the branch point!
"Rage! O wind!"
"Pour out everything you've got!!!"
The mercenaries launched a fierce assault. The knights faltered and barely managed to fend off the attacks.
The wizards of the Blue Magic Tower raised their hands. The magical power that had begun to condense gathered in one place.
A large-scale spell meant to overturn the strange atmosphere. The magical power gathered around Hudson, the caster, glowed blue.
"Wh-why are you interfering like this?!"
"W-we just want to live too!"
A droplet of water grazed Daniel's face. Aside from the manifested magical power, the moisture in the air was drying up completely.
The gathered moisture clumped together. It spun continuously in a circle, rotating at high speed above Hudson's head to fire countless water bullets.
"...We have no choice either."
Magical power powerful enough to make the underground tremble. Hudson, having made up his mind, brought his staff down.
A shockwave.
The mercenaries who had been charging in with full intent were all sent flying backward.
"Ugh?!"
"What the fuck!"
But the wizards weren't the only ones preparing a decisive blow.
"O Isis."
Noah, the Apostle of Isis, reached out his hand. As befitting someone born as an apostle, immense Sacred Power gathered at his fingertips.
"With a gentle touch You caress us, and the faithful belatedly realize that it was a blessing all along."
In sync with Noah's movements, ice rose in Pablo's hands.
"In Lu's name, a lullaby for the children who cannot sleep."
Moon and life intertwined. At the same moment the wizards' combined grand magic was completed, a vortex of countless water bullets, large and small, settled above Hudson's head.
A mass of immense pressure.
Noah and Pablo's gazes met. Their simultaneously extended hands merged two Holy Arts into one.
Forces that would not mix repelled each other. But precisely because of that, they caused an even greater explosion.
A bomb in the shape of ice.
"O God! Forgive this blasphemy!!!"
The surface of the launched ice mass cracked all at once.
PASASASASAK!
"What?!"
Stray shots.
The cracked ice fragments were weak. Against the destructive power of the water bullets gathered at high speed, they were like a candle before the sun.
But they had their merits. Fast activation and a wide area of effect.
A knight hurriedly blocked Hudson's front, but the ice fragments slipped through the gaps. They passed between the sword and poured onto Hudson.
"Ugh?!"
PASASASASAK!
Blood sprayed. Hudson staggered.
It was a minor hit. Compared to the water bullets, its destructive power was infinitely weak.
But it changed everything. The magical power of Hudson, who had been about to cast a large-scale spell, wavered unstably. To a battle wizard hardened by countless battles, it would have been a trivial injury to laugh off.
But Hudson was not a wizard who had stood on battlefields. He was merely a researcher who had devoted his entire life to the laboratory.
"M-my magical power...!"
The magical power knocked loose by pain slipped from his grasp. One formula of the grand magic he had been preparing began to tangle.
The magic began to burst apart simultaneously from that single collapse. The collapsing grand magic engulfed the plaza. The blue wave that erupted from the shockwave swallowed everyone, friend and foe alike, except the caster.
"You stupid fool!"
Ian Pamel swung his mana blade roughly. He broke Rosemary's stance and faced the oncoming grand magic head-on.
CRASH!!!
The mana blade carved the blue wave to pieces. Droplets of water pattered against Ian's face.
"Swept up by your own magic! No wonder the Blue Magic Tower cast you out!"
Rosemary's spinning saw moved violently. The heated flames formed a massive wall.
"Everyone, get behind me!!"
Rosemary's spinning saw, thrust out between the mercenaries who had desperately thrown themselves aside, collided with the oncoming wave.
"Ugh?!"
Rosemary's feet were pushed straight backward.
The water pressure was immense!
It wasn't simply the weight of water. Grand magic was grand magic. The blue wave prepared by the Blue Magic Tower's wizards was strong enough to split iron with its force alone.
"Ngh!"
Sparks flew from Rosemary's spinning saw. The Sacred Power resisting the magical power began to drain at a rapid pace.
The rotation of the spinning saw gradually slowed.
Shape Transformation was a form of 'miracle' that only a chosen few could perform.
But Rosemary had only just obtained it. She hadn't built enough proficiency with it or learned how to use it properly, so it was unstable.
"A-at this rate..."
Everyone will die!
"AAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"
Rosemary, who had been pushed back, swung her spinning saw wide. She struck down at the surging water and pressed down fiercely.
Flames burst forth. The spinning saw rattled severely.
The strain in her hands. The suffocating scent of magical power.
One side of Rosemary's lips split as she faced the grand magic alone. The blood that leaked out burned like fire.
More.
More.
Just a little more!
A monologue no one would hear echoed inside Rosemary. Her extended foot split the fierce torrent.
Amid flames that burned even time itself, Rosemary's palms tore open.
Blood dripped down.
. . .
The magic that had seemed like it would never stop came to an end. As the torrent gradually weakened, Daniel swallowed dryly.
"I-is it over...?"
"Captain. I've told you over and over not to say things like that."
"That mouth! Shit! That's the one thing you're not supposed to say!"
The spinning axe that had been whirling fiercely came to a stop. Rosemary staggered. The axe she let slip dropped to the floor with a thud.
Blood dripped down. The flames that had been leaking out stopped.
The Shape Transformation faded away. The flames of the Divine Artifact that had settled gradually thinned. It returned to the original half-destroyed axe.
"...Sh...it."
If she had been alone, it might have been fine. But she had used too much power protecting everyone.
Rosemary collapsed, gasping for breath. She couldn't put any strength into her body.
But Ian Pamel was different.
"What a foolish woman."
He swung his sword. Ian Pamel raised his head. His fellow knights were all slammed against the walls, reduced to lumps of flesh.
The Blue Magic Tower's wizards were the same. Except for Hudson, everyone was soaked in water like crushed corpses.
Ian Pamel hadn't blocked it. Rather, he had let everyone be swept away.
Because he knew that only by surviving alone could he claim more. Hudson alone was enough as a wizard.
"Helping the weak and caring for the pitiful. As a priest, it's an admirable choice. But in the end, it was a foolish act. Without you, who is left to stop me? You should have prioritized your own life above all else. That was your only way out."
Magical power flared up from Ian Pamel's sword. The mercenaries trembled. The paladins of Iskandar gritted their teeth. The priests clasped their hands together and continued their prayers with difficulty.
But it was all pointless.
"Wizard. Wake the Clock Tower Monster. By now, it should have broken all its chains on its own."
"...I-I... my disciples..."
"Blame yourself for spending your whole life in a laboratory. Losing your composure just because a few pieces of ice got stuck in your body."
Ian Pamel snorted.
"If you don't want to die, open the basement again. That's the only way you survive. Hudson. You can raise new disciples. Didn't you say that with that monster, you could open a new path for magic?"
"Ah.... Aaah..."
"Move. Wizard Hudson. Do you intend to make your disciples' deaths completely meaningless?"
Hudson moved, trembling. He limped toward the darkness.
Ian Pamel stepped forward. He looked down at a trembling mercenary with cold eyes.
"Pathetic swords. Your magic is worse than the Magic Towers'. Typical weaklings. You cannot stop me."
He glanced at the paladins of Iskandar.
"Their only merit is their toughness. Their strength is great but they lack flexibility. They know nothing but pressing forward. Not enough to withstand my sword."
He sighed as he looked at the priests.
"All they can do is throw ice shards and cast barriers. Religion truly is rotten. It's of no use in this era."
Finally, he looked at Rosemary.
"But you were different. You must have been their only hope, their leader. And now you're nothing but burnt-out ash. You were quite useful. Priest. I'll ask your name. As payment for making me flustered, if only for a moment, I'll personally remember that useless name of yours."
"Ha."
Rosemary looked up at him. She let out a small laugh.
"Me... the leader?"
Ian frowned.
"Have you gone mad because there's no hope?"
"Mad, my ass... who's mad? It's just funny."
"What's so funny?"
"You're seriously mistaken about something. Ian Pamel. You said you wanted to tame the monster, right? But what a shame..."
Rosemary's ears perked up. As if she had detected a sound, they stood sharply upright.
"We've got a monster on our side too."
"...What nonsense are you spouting?"
Ian Pamel snorted. She must have gone mad. Thoroughly mad, it seemed. Seeing her babble about monsters and whatnot, the Sacred Power driven to its limits must have scrambled her brain.
"You're not worth listening to any further."
Ian Pamel raised his sword. The red-hot blade moved.
"Farewell, nameless paladin. You were pretty tasty, though, bitch."
"Oh, really?"
A voice was heard.
"Then how delicious is this?"
A flash of light pierced the empty air.
"Ugh?!"
CRASH!!!
Flames surged. Ian Pamel's sword, reacting in an instant, was knocked backward. His wrist twisted, and the spear that flew in pierced through his shoulder.
"Aaaagh!!!"
"Should I stick it in your throat this time? That might be even more delicious."
Rosemary whipped her head around. Her eyes, which had been on the verge of death, sparkled.
Ian Pamel staggered, clutching his shoulder.
"Y-you coward... a surprise attack...!"
"A bastard who was about to kill everyone to get rid of witnesses is calling me a coward?"
The spear was pulled from the wound. It flew back into the stranger's hand, and a flame briefly flared in the darkness.
In that brief flare, the stranger's face was revealed.
A youthful face. A middling height, as if he had not yet fully grown.
But the boy, whose smile was utterly demonic, grinned.
"In the name of Ra."
The sacred spear spun around. The butt of the shaft lightly tapped the ground.
"You’re so dead."