Chapter 369: The Tin Knight and the Emerald Country (19)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 369: The Tin Knight and the Emerald Country (19)
The first to notice the anomaly were those fighting to break through the central palace.
The holy power that had been spread throughout the Kingdom of Heaven converged on the center of the palace, and the emerald soldiers blocking their path were instantly strengthened.
A final, desperate gambit, without a doubt.
Just as they steeled themselves, thinking they only had to overcome this to finally strike down the enemy's leader, the emerald soldiers, who had been exuding a menacing aura, began to melt away in an instant. The ground forces couldn't help but be bewildered.
Franka, looking more disheveled than usual from rolling around and recklessly using even the accessories on her body as alchemical catalysts, exclaimed in confusion.
“What… what is this? Is it a trap?”
“That’s not impossible, but…”
Gale, who had lost her magician's hat and was wielding a staff that was shorter than usual with its tip broken off, narrowed her eyes.
Her gaze fell upon the priests, who were panicking at the disappearance of the emerald soldiers.
“…This might be an even more troublesome situation.”
A moment later.
As if to prove Gale's words, the surrounding scenery changed completely.
The palace, which had been shining brilliantly with an emerald light, began to slowly turn black from the inside out.
The sight of the radiant turquoise transforming into a blackness from which not a single speck of light could escape was enough to incite instinctual alarm and fear in all who watched.
The changes didn't stop there.
“S-Stop! Stop it!!”
“Gack, kugh-huuuhk!”
“Oh, God! Why…!”
The priests, who just moments ago had been fighting the ground forces with tenacious fanaticism, were now screaming and writhing in agony.
The emerald holy power they had been wielding haphazardly turned black, then turned its fangs on its owners.
Chiiiiik!
Smoke rose from the priests' bodies all at once as they began to burn.
The ground forces were stunned by the sudden turn of events, but they were the elite of the elite, gathered from all over the continent. Their experience and knowledge were vast.
“…That’s what happens when certain magic beasts come into contact with holy power.”
Not animals that had developed special ecologies due to mana or their environment, but magic beasts whose very roots belonged to the underground.
That kind of phenomenon would occur when such beings came into contact with holy power.
And the quick-witted among them realized what it meant for this to be happening to ‘humans’.
Gale shouted.
“Everyone! Get back from them!! Don’t let the holy power touch you!”
It was just after everyone had hastily backed away.
The burning priests' bodies swelled as if they had reached their limit, then exploded, spewing black holy power in all directions.
“Kuh!?”
A few warriors whose skin was touched by the black holy power let out pained groans.
Despite being exposed to only a tiny amount of the holy power, they were tormented by a pain like being seared by a blazing fire.
If they hadn't heeded Gale's warning and had been exposed at close range, their entire bodies would have been burned and festered.
The problem was that the palace they were standing in was a place made entirely of materialized holy power.
The blackened palace trembled violently, then began to emit a jet-black light, as if it would unleash its power at any moment.
“Barrier!!”
After the scream-like warning, the palace itself turned into a mass of holy power and exploded.
KWAAAAAAAANG!
A black flash. A torrent of power. And then, silence.
The magnificent palace had vanished, and only two things remained.
A vast, empty lot, and the survivors.
“…Cough!”
“What the hell was that…!”
Gale and Franka collapsed, coughing up blood.
The state of the ground forces was not good, to put it mildly.
Thanks to their swift response, they had narrowly avoided annihilation, but with the palace itself having turned into a bomb, a perfect defense had been impossible.
“Hm, my apologies. I intended to wipe out those heavenly bastards, but it seems you got caught up in it too.”
With nearly all their forces—the Empire's knights, the Magic State's mages, the kingdom's royal guards—sprawled on the ground, barely breathing, a listless voice, unbelievable for the middle of a battlefield, was heard.
Seeing the young man who had approached them at some point and was speaking so nonchalantly, those with experience in the underground widened their eyes.
“—The Underground King!!”
“There are some familiar faces, so this will be easy to explain. Just rest. I’ve already taken care of things inside.”
The people of the ground forces fell into confusion at the Underground King's incredibly nonchalant attitude.
The Underground King showed no hostility toward them, nor did he seem to have any intention of causing harm.
Just then, a man named Alonso stepped forward and asked.
“…Underground King. When you say you’ve taken care of things inside, can I take that to mean you have defeated the Divine King Oz?”
“Yes. Oz, and the priests who served him, were all dealt with just now. There will be no more attacks on the surface.”
Murmur, murmur.
The conscious members of the ground forces were all visibly confused.
They had been steeling themselves for a final battle with the evil invader, only to have the enemy monarch's stronghold suddenly explode and be told the monarch was already dead. It was only natural they'd be bewildered.
In a way, it was a situation that had saved them trouble and reduced casualties.
But Alonso's expression did not relax.
His eyes were carefully studying the Underground King.
In the past, when he had briefly seen the Underground King while preparing to return to the surface, he had been as placid as a bottomless lake.
But now, while the Underground King's characteristic detached and arid demeanor remained, an immense aura and presence flowed from his body.
Alonso found this deeply unsettling.
“May I ask a question?”
“Since I’ve caused you trouble, I will answer if I can.”
“What is ‘that thing’ you now hold within your body?”
“A god.”
The Underground King answered with no sign of concealment.
Several people gasped.
Alonso's face grew even more somber.
“Is that your purpose for coming here?”
“To be precise, it is ‘our’ purpose. …Though I’m not pleased that I had to entrust the intermediate steps to another.”
“What do you intend to achieve with it?”
“I will make our lands fertile and gift my people a comfortable home. Just as was the original purpose for creating a god.”
“Then let me ask one more thing.”
Alonso—the king of the surface—asked the king of the underground.
“If your will is done, what will become of our surface world?”
He answered.
“It will become a difficult place to live. Just as it was for us.”
The Underground King hid nothing.
He could have deceived them and avoided a fight if he had wished.
He could have disappeared quietly without ever appearing before them.
But he did not choose such an easy path, instead revealing everything with dignity.
He was the ruler of the underground.
The lord of the eight proud generals.
Even if the Underground King himself did not pursue honor or pride.
Even if he knew it was inefficient and better to ignore such things for the sake of national interest.
If his subordinates valued such things, then he, too, needed to live up to them to some extent.
Therefore, the Underground King spoke.
“I—Jim—am an invader.”
“A thief who seeks to take what is valuable from the surface, and a sworn enemy who has scattered much blood upon your lands.”
“My past and my circumstances are of no importance to you, and there is no need for you to understand my suffering and resentment.”
“I will not justify my evil deeds, nor do I intend to preach right and wrong to you. So I ask.”
“—Will you try to stop me?”
Alonso—no, all who lived on the surface—answered.
“We will!!”
The battle that followed was truly one-sided.
When the Underground King extended his hand, Alonso and his men were all sent flying backward.
The Golden Monkeys fell to the ground with broken wings, and the immortal pirate crew was imprisoned in a cage made of black holy power.
The White Knight's spear could not pierce the Underground King's palm, and Villina's necromancy could not reach him.
The Lennart bloodline, who were unharmed by the black holy power, clung to him tenaciously, but the Underground King overwhelmed them with pure martial arts.
The Underground King was an outstanding martial artist, an excellent mage, and a technician who wielded bizarre skills.
With the immense power of a ‘god’ added to his hands, which seemed to be the very embodiment of the underground's history, no one could stop him.
But the ground forces did not stop fighting.
Even facing an overwhelming difference in power, not a single one of them despaired or gave up; they gritted their teeth and fought tenaciously.
Of course, there was a limit.
No matter how strong their will to win, no matter how desperate their desire not to lose, the world was not so lenient that they could win on that alone.
However. If one were to ask if it was a meaningless fight, it was not.
Because the time they had earned allowed ‘them’ to arrive without being too late.
Fwoosh!
Crackle!
Golden flames blazed.
Violet lightning erupted.
A sword strike from Adelaide was the first to break through the Underground King's defenses, severing his right arm in a single blow.
A look of admiration appeared in the Underground King's eyes.
“—Excellent. You’ve surpassed Geisel.”
“I appreciate the assessment, but I can’t go easy on you!”
“I never expected you to.”
Adelaide's offensive was truly fearsome.
She broke through the Underground King's defenses, which no one else had been able to breach, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, inflicting grievous wounds upon his body.
When he used martial arts, she met him with martial arts. When he launched magic, she evaded it with her unique evasive abilities. And she dealt with his strange, unidentifiable attacks with her wild instincts.
“I see. A one-on-one fight is impossible.”
Just after the Underground King muttered this, the ‘god’ within his body stirred.
Immediately after, a countless host emerged from the Underground King's shadow.
Small people. Giants. Half-beasts. Fairies. Spirits. Vampires.
As the countless people of the underground, formed of shadow and mud, unleashed a simultaneous barrage of attacks, even Adelaide began to be slowly pushed back.
Among the host summoned by the Underground King were figures resembling the generals seen in the underground; despite being copies and not the originals, they seemed to possess 70 to 80 percent of the originals' power.
The tiger pushed Adelaide back with savage ferocity, the fairy swept the battlefield with countless multicolored magic bullets, and the female warrior skillfully commanded the army summoned by the king.
And the black snake guarded the king's side, ensuring that no attack could reach him.
Watching Adelaide being pushed back by the overwhelming numbers, the ground forces wanted desperately to help her, but their injured and exhausted bodies would not move as they wished.
Just as they swallowed their bitter tears.
Shaaaaa.
A dazzlingly white.
Pure white holy power descended like snow, breathing vitality into their bodies.
“I will heal your wounds. Everyone, I know it is difficult, but please, muster just a little more strength.”
Sophia Hubris.
Having returned to being a human instead of a vampire, she had lost her immortality, but because of that, she no longer had to fear being harmed by her own power. The holy power Sophia emitted was truly immense.
Baptized by the holy power, the ground forces once again gritted their teeth and fought against the shadow army summoned by the Underground King.
Seeing this, a strange light flickered in the Underground King's gloomy eyes.
Having obtained the god, he had reconfigured the holy power, which Oz had tailored for humans, to suit the bodies of the underground dwellers.
The holy power that had once indiscriminately burned the beings of the underground should now heal them and, in turn, burn the humans of the surface.
And yet, the holy power Sophia wielded was healing her comrades as if ignoring that law.
The meaning was clear.
The god he held within him was helping Sophia, even defying the command of its creator.
A self-deprecating smile touched the Underground King's lips.
“Well now, as its creator, I have no choice but to admit defeat.”
“If you admit defeat, I would be grateful if you would stop this fight.”
“I cannot do that. In the past, I was merely a technician, but now, I am a king. Personal feelings and duty are separate matters.”
The clashing armies of humans and shadows.
In the battle of group versus group, the latter held the advantage.
No matter how much Sophia healed their wounds and replenished their stamina, for the knights and mages to fight properly, they needed mana to fuel them.
After the long battle in the heavens, their mana, without exception, had long since been depleted.
“All you need is mana? Then this is simple.”
With the sole exception of one witch, who alone possessed more mana than a dragon.
When Dorothea Aschengard slammed her staff into the ground, a net-like magic circle spread out around her.
Those who stood upon the magic circle began to fight, wielding the vast, high-quality mana supplied from an external source as their weapon.
With Adelaide keeping the enemy's key figures in check, Sophia healing her allies' wounds, and Dorothea supplying mana, the one-sided battle became a tense stalemate once more.
But to put it another way, a stalemate was their limit.
To tip the balanced scales to one side, one more piece was still needed.
And so, he gladly leaped onto the battlefield.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ exclaims that the hero always arrives late!]
Crackle.