Chapter 89
Chapter 89
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 89
Chapter Title: Chapter 26 Time Attack
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Even as a sponsor, it was impossible to cross dimensions as freely as dropping by one's own home.
Even Number 1, who possessed supreme talent in dimensional abilities, required a long preparation period after crossing over to the Ald Dimension once before he could open the next dimensional gate.
And my own dimensional abilities were far inferior to Number 1's. Even if I scraped together every last bit of energy, it would still take ten—no, twenty days.
What if Claude took care of the remaining sponsored individuals during those twenty days?
Crunch...
Number 2 bit down on his nails without realizing it.
But he had neither nails nor a mouth anymore.
It was merely a habit that lingered from long ago, before he had discarded his body.
Yet ironically, that pointless habit was somewhat soothing the mind of Number 2, who had now forsaken his flesh.
"No, that's not it."
Number 2, barely regaining his composure, muttered to himself.
"At least two of the remaining five are ones Claude can't deal with right away. Yes, that's right. Pinpointing their locations is difficult in the first place, and even if he finds them, he won't be able to kill them easily."
It wasn't bravado. This was a solid prediction based on the information left behind by Number 1.
One of the remaining five wasn't even a sapient being—it was a monster lurking deep underground, its very existence unknown to humans.
Even Number 1 had gone to tremendous lengths to recruit it, but due to its lack of intelligence, he had left it as mere potential rather than actively utilizing it.
So now, all that was left was to make a choice.
Twenty days from now, which one should he select to drag into the Psyche Dimension?
A human with low potential but who could be reasoned with and easily manipulated?
Or a monster with immense potential, even if it couldn't be reasoned with?
"No, it doesn't matter what it is. Once I bring it here, I have confidence in handling it."
A smile spread across Number 2's face, visible through the bandages.
If Number 1's specialty was dimensional abilities, then his own was weapon crafting.
More precisely, his expertise lay in analyzing a target's traits and infusing weapons with pinpoint effects to neutralize them.
The Overseer must have highly valued that expertise when selecting him as Number 2.
In that case, shouldn't he craft the perfect weapon—one that could draw out maximum potential and eliminate Claude in a single strike?
"Who's there!"
At that moment, several elf guards kicked down the door and burst into the lord's chambers.
But all that remained in the room was the lord's corpse. The guards, swords drawn, scanned the room with baffled expressions and began muttering.
"I definitely heard a sound."
"Someone shouted from in here! I heard it clear as day!"
"Could it be..."
The moment the guards' gazes converged on the lord's dead body, one of them suddenly leaped back and yelled.
"It's that bastard Lanir! He dared spit on the corpse, enraging our late lord! No doubt about it!"
"What? You sure?"
"Lanir! Where are you, Lanir! You jinx of a bastard! I'll beat that rotten attitude out of you myself!"
* * *
"That was a close call. I was just going to help the Prince, right, Rune?"
Tolary stroked the head of the girl sitting beside him and asked. Rune glanced back and forth between Tolary and me before starting to stammer.
"Y-Yes. B-But while the Prince was away, it was nice that Tolary taught me magic... N-Not that it was wrong for you to go help the Prince or anything..."
"It's only been a few days, and she's already showing results?"
I cut in to rescue the flustered Rune and activated Emotion Eye. Tolary then grabbed her cheeks with both palms and kneaded them gleefully, grinning ear to ear.
"You can tell just by looking? The Prince is amazing. She's a total genius. Nothing like those thick-headed idiots I taught briefly at the magic guild. Aww, so cute."
No matter how cute she is, won't that dough-kneading be dangerous? Her face might get squished flat.
Race: Human
Current Magic: C+
Potential Magic: A
She had been D+ when she first manifested magic with the underwater breathing spell, but she'd already climbed to C+.
As expected, there's a world of difference between a true Arch Wizard's teaching and my own fake accumulation over time. Tolary really is something else...
"What's wrong, Prince? Something on my face?"
Tolary started rubbing his face this way and that. I forcibly suppressed the Lord's Eye that had activated alongside Emotion Eye and shook my head.
"No. It's just that your face..."
Is beautiful.
Of course, Tolary's appearance hadn't changed in the meantime.
Still skin and bones, still hollow-eyed with dark circles—the picture of wretchedness.
But Tolary's 'essence,' as seen through the Lord's Eye, was astonishingly brilliant and vibrant.
Beautiful harmony, pure and simple.
That flow of green light must be life force... The overlapping red and blue are mana, right? Standing out so vividly and radiant.
And the neural flows connecting and guiding all the others were crystal clear.
Ah, the slightly unusual part was that the neural flows showed distinct, separate paths on the left and right sides... But it wasn't jarring. The way they harmonized while retaining their individuality was rather charming.
This was the world as seen by that half-dead elf lord just a few days ago.
Thanks to it, I learned that outward beauty and essential beauty are entirely different things.
Of course, it might be a matter of personal taste, but the elves of the Eternal Forest were fundamentally grotesque existences. Just looking at them gave me a headache.
In contrast, the essences of my subordinates, checked after returning to the mansion...
"..."
"Prince? Is something bothering you?"
Meredes asked bluntly, our eyes meeting. I schooled my expression and quietly shook my head.
"No. Just happy to see everyone again after so long."
Wow, seriously.
Meredes' essence was dazzling to the point of being blinding.
Especially the flows I presumed to be life force—they stood out artistically, radiating brilliance.
How could anything be so vibrant? And the neural flows that gripped every part of her body so firmly—what about those?
Hmm...
No, something's off here.
It feels like my sense of beauty is skewing weirder and weirder. Noticing the change, Meredes narrowed her eyes and asked.
"Prince. Your right eye has turned green in the meantime. Are you really all right?"
"Yeah? Yeah. I'm fine. It's nothing, so don't worry."
My eyes were originally both blue.
But the left turned gold when I gained Emotion Eye, and the right turned green with the Lord's Eye. From the eyeballs' perspective, it was a pretty rough fate.
Anyway, it had been two days since contracting with the tree spirit in the Eternal Forest and returning.
Yesterday, right after getting back to the capital, I stopped by the palace and reported on the Eclipse Gate to the Emperor and the ministers.
The palace was thrown into chaos. Thanks to that, I had no choice but to spend the entire day in countermeasures meetings with the ministers.
"The important thing is..."
I began the real discussion while looking at my gathered subordinates in the parlor.
"The sponsor said before dying that they'll open the gate again in a year and invade this dimension."
Silence fell, accompanied by the sound of dry swallows. I closed my right eye and continued.
"And on a scale far larger and grander than the Eclipse Gate I described earlier. Not just once, but at least five times in succession, until we're wiped out."
Of course, the sponsor never said any of that. It was just the past I experienced.
But that Eclipse Gate hadn't existed in my past. The silver lining was that, compared to the real invasion, its scale was minuscule.
Excluding the fact that they were a seriously elite few, it was less than a tenth—no, a twentieth—of the first wave.
"According to Kyle's report, even the Death Worms, which made up the bulk of the enemy forces, were manageable. With a collective knight order response."
Davi then stepped forward and added.
"But the Terror Lord I faced was completely different. Just three or four of them crippled an entire empire elite knight order in an instant. From firsthand experience, they are truly formidable. Unbelievably so."
"But you won in the end, right?"
"I'm a Knight Master. And at present, I'm the only Knight Master in the entire empire who can fight."
Of course, there was one more. Knight Perzeka.
But Perzeka was a venerable old man turning ninety-six this year. He usually kicked the bucket around a hundred, so he hadn't been any help against the waves before. Could he maybe pull off something for next year's invasion?
"The knight order undoubtedly has their side of the story. It was so sudden and impossible to respond to properly. Of course, taking down two Terror Lords amid all that is commendable. But if the enemy scale grows larger—if Terror Lords come in dozens or hundreds—it's practically impossible to handle."
Of course it is.
Even I'd spit on the ground and give up if hundreds of Terror Lords showed up.
But the numbers of such special monsters were always limited. Dealing with the enemy's 'regular' forces pouring in en masse was the primary concern.
The problem was how to explain that...
"I don't think the next invasion will be composed mainly of such powerful monsters from the start. I received a revelation to that effect."
"A revelation... you say?"
"Yeah. A revelation from God."
I had no choice but to bring up God for now.
"While the sponsor was spilling the invasion plans, I saw a new revelation. Gates opening again in the future, us fighting those guys."
"Oooh. God truly hasn't abandoned us! He has indeed decided to manifest through the saint!"
Escort Priest Leader Trimum lowered his body in a prayer posture. Nice timing. The mood livened up nicely.
"That's my take too. It's much clearer than the vague one I saw before."
"What exactly did you see? We might need to set our policies accordingly."
Davi asked with a serious expression. I answered while recalling the first wave I'd replayed in my mind countless times.
"First off, not a single gate like this time—multiple ones opening simultaneously."
"Multiple... Do you know the exact number, by any chance?"
"More than five, fewer than ten, I think."
Exactly eight.
Three opened centered on the plaza in the heart of Emperlod, two north of the plaza, and the remaining three in the open fields outside the north gate.
"Between five and ten. That's crucial information. For preparing in advance, that is."
"And from each gate, otherworld soldiers clad in armor poured out endlessly."
"If soldiers, do you mean infantry?"
"Not the regular infantry we imagine. They're wearing thick, fully sealed armor. Felt as tough as a decent mid-grade magic armor—no, not felt, it really was. At least that's how it looked to my eyes."
"Not even low-grade, but mid-grade. Does that mean every enemy soldier is a knight?"
"Yeah. In terms of strength, they rival our low-grade knights. Doesn't seem to be just because of the armor, but hundreds of such soldiers per gate."
"Then... We have to think of it as a full knight order emerging from each gate."
"But their weapons are fire."
"Fire?"
"Yeah. Fire."
"Please wait a moment. Are you saying the enemy soldiers are knights who are also mages at the same time?"
"No. Not that they're casting flame magic... They spew fire from tubes connected to their armor."
The equivalent of every one equipped with a personal flamethrower. Davi fell silent in shock for a moment before asking again.
"How is that even possible? What's inside those armors?"
"How should I know? I just saw it in the revelation."
In reality, crack open the armor and there's no living creature inside. Just some unidentified, hazy gas-like substance dissipating like smoke.