Escape (2)
Escape (2)
The corpses here were the dregs, drained of most of their life force.
Just as a person dying of thirst in the desert obsesses over water, it was only natural that these corpses craved life force.
Since Richard had swallowed so many, constant vigilance was necessary wherever you went.
But who would have expected something that bizarre to appear?
'Did they roll themselves into a ball to keep from losing what little life force they had left?'
While Ian analyzed the thing that looked like a massive lump of rock, Danya murmured dazedly.
"It's like a ball made of corpses..."
The incomprehensible voices spilling from the hundreds of gaping mouths of the corpses were grotesque.
The countless arms that flailed ceaselessly, as if begging for help, evoked an instinctive fear.
Danya had seen many things, both beautiful and ugly, while living in the forest, but she had never seen anything so grotesque.
If hell existed, that thing might be it.
Gazing at the corpse monster, Danya shouted urgently.
"Dodge!"
No sooner had she spoken than the corpse monster spewed pitch-black energy.
— Shhhhhk!
The snow melted away, emitting black smoke, and trees turned to black dust and vanished.
"Incredible."
Yergina looked down at her half-destroyed shield.
She had wrapped the shield in magic to gauge the enemy's strength, and it meant the opponent was powerful enough to pierce through her magic without effort.
"Everyone, fall back."
As soon as she finished speaking, Yergina shot forward.
— Boom!
A tremendous sound erupted.
One side of the sphere-shaped corpse mass caved in bluntly, like a bitten apple.
But immediately, other corpses burst from inside and filled the gaps left by the crushed ones.
"... Disgusting."
Yergina immediately widened the distance.
— Crackcrackcrack!
The corpse monster's pitch-black energy exploded once more where she had just stood.
Yergina charged again.
But the monster was strong.
— Wham!
— Boom!
— Crunch!
No matter how Yergina attacked, the corpse monster instantly regenerated and even counterattacked.
As with the other corpses, it reacted violently to mana-based attacks.
'We can't let this turn into a prolonged battle.'
Everyone, including Yergina, had to keep their strength at maximum. Once they escaped this damn snowfield, the final boss would be waiting.
'But it'd be ridiculous for me to join the fight.'
Ian couldn't afford to waste any energy here. The means to destroy Richard's dantian rested entirely in his hands.
The damned corpses' natural trait.
Their mana avoidance was the root of all problems.
How the hell do we deal with that...?
'Wait.'
An idea flashed through Ian's mind.
What if they disguised their magic as life force and attacked?
The creature would surely lunge for magic on its own. And in this world, the closest thing to life force was the reaction between grass and water.
'The problem is there's no water...'
... Couldn't they just melt something and use that?
Ian immediately started giving orders.
"Yergina! Freeze the surface of that monster!"
"Hm? Understood."
Yergina closed in on the corpse monster.
The mace swelled instantly, ice forming on its surface.
— Skreeee!
The frost-laden mace struck, and ice spread across the corpse monster.
"Rina, melt the ice!"
"Huh? Okay!"
Why freeze it only to melt it again?
Rina was flustered but obeyed Ian's order immediately.
Experience had taught her that when Ian gave commands like that, nothing ever went wrong.
Fire swept over, melting the ice.
Steam rose, and the surface of the corpse monster became damp.
"Danya!"
"I know, meow!"
Countless plant-element arrows were summoned above the corpse monster.
... When did she learn something like that?
Ian was amazed by Danya's growth, but only for a moment.
The multitude of grass arrows rained down on the corpse monster.
Normally, the creature would have evaded them.
But due to the interaction of elements, countless flower buds bloomed on Danya's arrows.
The corpse monster's eyes rolled wildly at the dense life force, but only for a moment.
— Thwackthwackthwack!
The magic arrows struck and embedded themselves all over its surface.
— Grraaaaah!
It was an effective hit.
At the same time,
— Gurgle!
— Gurglegurgle!
A grotesque sight unfolded.
The corpses that should have immediately repaired the collapsed outer shell instead burst outward as if devouring each other, trying to grab Danya's life-filled arrows.
"Yergina!"
"I know!"
Yergina's ice mace, already enlarged with magic, was now massive enough to cover the monster and more.
Her mace slammed precisely into the center of the corpse monster.
— Kwaaaaaang!
A tremendous tremor shook the ground.
Most of the corpse monster crumpled and vanished.
Completely off-balance, the remaining parts ravenously swallowed each other.
— Craaack! Crunch!
A grotesque spectacle of corpses chewing up corpses.
As Ian watched, scowling, he heard a cough.
"Cough."
Bright red blood stained the snow.
It was Asilia's.
"Master!"
Ian rushed to her side and supported her.
"... That's my disciple for you."
Cold.
Asilia's body felt as cold as ice.
"As expected..."
Asilia covered Ian's mouth as he tried to speak.
"... I did well to take you as my disciple. Worrying about me so genuinely."
He had suspected.
That cave had been the place that barely sustained Asilia's life force.
Now that she was outside, even her remaining life was quickly draining away.
"We have to find a way..."
"It's fine. I'm just a little dizzy."
"......"
"I'm more worried about your face. You'll get wrinkles for no reason."
Asilia's hand touched Ian's forehead.
— Press.
"What I waited for wasn't someone's rescue."
Asilia kneaded Ian's face as if working clay.
"I've had plenty of time to see this through to the end. That was your master's goal. So relax your face."
Asilia smoothed out the furrow in Ian's brow.
But a faint sadness lingered in her own smile.
"It would have been better if we had met outside."
A small commotion arose.
The group that had finished off the corpse monster returned.
Danya rushed over and looked back and forth between Ian and Asilia.
"Wh-what's going on? Blood? A-are you okay, Asilia?"
"Miss Danya. I'm fine."
"B-but!"
"Master is fine. Let's stick to the plan, Danya."
— Press.
Danya grabbed his sleeve.
Then she turned and started walking.
The others tactfully followed after Danya.
"......"
When they had moved far enough away,
Ian quietly knelt with his back to his master.
— Slide.
Without a word, his master climbed onto his back.
She was unbelievably light.
One flake, then another.
Snow began to fall.
Ian carefully started toward the summit.
"There are so many things I want to say."
"If you talk fast, I think I can listen to it all on the way."
He couldn't see his master's face, but he could imagine her smiling.
"What did you hope for during those long years of waiting?"
"The hope that a fine disciple like you, Ian, might someday come. And the expectation that one day I could bring this place down. Actually, it was rather nice. Unlimited hot springs, and all the time in the world to refine my swordsmanship."
"Then..."
Ian was about to swear revenge.
Revenge against Richard who had done this to her.
But it felt like a waste of time to say such an obvious thing.
"Look at that white snowfield. Isn't it beautiful?"
Asilia said, completely natural.
She had been trapped here for decades.
Yet she remained unwavering, without a single crack.
He had learned a lot.
Not just about swordsmanship.
The most troublesome enemy.
He had learned the values needed to stand against the Blood Rock Sect.
If he hadn't met her, Ian knew he would have eventually stumbled and fallen badly.
Ian put all of that into one sentence.
"Thank you. For being my master."
A brief silence passed.
"Thank you, too. For becoming the disciple of someone as inadequate as me."
◆
They reached the summit.
An endless snowfield stretched beneath their feet.
"... It was a snowflake-shaped formation."
Yergina's murmur reached them.
Ian closed his eyes as well.
He could sense strange energies crossing the snowfield. It was a barrier shaped like a snowflake, massive enough to cover the snowfield beyond the horizon.
"You made all this, Master?"
"Oh, I just created it at the beginning and kept maintaining it. I was quite lively when I was young, hehe."
— Whooosh.
The wind grew stronger.
The blowing snow also became fiercer.
"Richard's mana is growing violent."
"Now, Ian, it's time for you to show what you've got."
Ian nodded.
He carefully set Asilia down, leaning her against a tree.
Then he drew the sword that had once been a staff.
Ian stood at the origin point of the formation.
"Hoo."
Now the business in Richard's dantian was finished. Once they escaped, they would head straight into the final battle against Richard, the last boss.
But he wasn't worried.
Sasha Asilia, who had stood against Richard.
He had received his master's teachings.
"......"
She nodded at Ian.
Ian raised the sword.
He felt snowflakes gathering on the blade.
He felt their weight.
He recalled a branch trembling under an unbearable load.
And then.
Following the path Asilia had paved, he brought the sword down.
There was no need for a flashy sword dance.
Black flowers bloomed in profusion along the sword trail.
Thus, the massive formation activated.
The sensation of all his mana draining away passed in an instant.
— Rumble.
A tremendous roar approached from afar.
The snowfield heaved like a giant beast exhaling heavily.
The world began to crumble.