Chapter 85: Teleportation
Chapter 85: Teleportation
When Eugene reached out, the rings resembling an armillary sphere began to rotate.
The small sphere at the center stretched outward in every direction as though being pulled apart, opening dozens of fissures across its surface.
An immense mystic force poured from the fissures in brilliant light. It looked like the birth of a young sun.
[Where do you wish to go?]
"...!"
Korean echoed inside Eugene's mind, a language he had not heard in nearly twenty years.
The Wandering Castle had learned the language engraved deep within its master's soul.
It was the first language Eugene had learned, the one in which he had poured out love and anger, and the language that had shaped most of his identity.
Korean was the only scar engraved upon his inviolable soul, which had withstood even the heat and cold of hell.
Two bodies. One soul.
Just as a wife took her husband's surname after marriage, it was only natural for the flesh to follow the language of the soul.
Now the Wandering Castle's interface had followed its master and chosen that new language as its native tongue.
"I never thought I would hear Korean again."
Eugene smiled at the completely unexpected experience. To him, it was a reward more moving than gold or jewels.
WHIIIIINE.
When Eugene lost focus, the core lost hold of the image he had formed as well.
The rings slowed, and the sphere swollen by their power began to shrink. As the fissures closed, the mystic force leaking from them weakened.
"Damn it!"
Eugene collected himself and once more pictured a single place: the forest west of Kingdom's End, the village where he had grown up.
It was the vast forest he had seen more than a thousand times while climbing the mountain with his mother as a child and with Homi after he grew up—a green colosseum where countless wild creatures ate and were eaten.
The number of creatures that killed and died there each day would make human warfare seem trivial by comparison.
"Let's go. Let's bring meat and slaughter to that place."
[Beyond your memories of the past.]
The core fixed upon the clear image and began to shine.
"Warn them before we leave. The people outside need time to get away."
The additional command was accepted without complaint.
The first sign of teleportation was a tickle. The people surrounding the castle felt a tremor just strong enough to tickle the soles of their feet.
"An earthquake?"
The first to react were the dwarves preparing to breach the castle gate.
-Oh! It has come at last.
-Thank you for summoning us, Count. I'm Torim, their representative.
They were the dwarven craftsmen who had built the battering ram for Roxane's army.
-I heard you developed the new battering ram that smashed through Codon Castle's gate.
-Well... we did build it, but the knight who fought with us was the truly remarkable one.
Their fame from that battle had spread, earning them an invitation here as well.
The dwarves had since left siege engineering behind and switched to making arms and armor.
But how could they refuse a request to build a battering ram capable of breaking an ancient castle gate?
The pay was generous, and Torim's blood had boiled at the challenge. He gathered his companions and raced to Rostock.
But now his dwarven instincts were screaming at him to stop work immediately and run.
"Everyone, get out! This isn't just an earthquake!"
At Torim's shout, the dwarves under him dropped their materials and ran as one.
"Chief! The air has changed!"
"It's not just the air! The pressure is fluctuating wildly!"
Dwarves were sensitive to sudden environmental changes because, uniquely among primates, they could sense through their beards much like cats did through their whiskers.
That was why they could navigate dark mines so well despite lacking elven darkvision. They could even detect signs of collapse or changes in oxygen concentration with uncanny accuracy.
When forging steel, a human blacksmith had little more than touch and eyesight to rely on. Dwarves were different.
Their beards sensed the reverberations each hammer blow sent through the metal. With hundreds of those extra sensory hairs, they could read the metal's condition perfectly.
Dwarves owed their reputation as born smiths not only to skilled hands, but also to their beards.
"Why are the dwarves suddenly—agh!"
A veteran mercenary smacked the rookie across the back of the head.
"Shut up and follow me, dumbass!"
"Run!"
Seeing the dwarves flee, the mercenaries and knights immediately ran after them.
'If dwarves suddenly bolt, don't ask questions, don't argue—just run after them.'
It was a saying known to every adventurer.
By the time everyone around the castle had withdrawn far enough, their hair began to lift with static electricity.
"Look at that!"
WHIIIIINE.
The enormous castle rippled wildly, as though trapped inside a heat haze.
FLASH!
BOOM!
A flash blazed, followed by a sharp thunderous boom across the plain. An enormous bolt of lightning shot from the ground into the sky, and in an instant the Wandering Castle vanished.
Kingdom's End, the last village in the southwestern part of the continent.
The villagers called the forest stretching west of it the Demon Forest.
One minute in and the sunlight vanished. Five minutes in and growls sounded nearby. Ten minutes in and predators seemed to be watching from every direction.
Five hundred kilometers into the Demon Forest, a band of orcs had gathered, breathing hard.
"Blood smell. Spread far."
Though a freshly killed deer lay before them, fear outweighed hunger as they nervously scanned their surroundings.
Orcs had the habit of roasting their prey over fire before eating.
They were reasonably intelligent for monsters and inherited knowledge through tribal life. That was how they knew cooked meat provided more energy.
But the orcs of the Demon Forest tore into raw meat instead. Leisurely roasting prey and filling the air with its scent here would have been madness.
"Now. Eat."
At their leader's order, the orcs dropped to the ground and buried their faces in the deer.
The tender, chewy entrails went to the leader. Then, in order of rank, the rest sank their teeth into the belly, loin, ribs, forelegs, neck, and hindquarters.
"Hurry. Here. Green devils. Hunting ground."
The orc leader spoke through a blood-soaked mouth.
They had been lucky enough to find a wounded deer, but chasing it had carried them into troll territory. They had to eat quickly and run.
But words had a way of becoming reality.
"Ghk!"
A stone hurled from somewhere struck one of the feeding orcs in the back and dropped him.
A troll had cunningly approached low to the ground with the headwind masking its scent, then launched an ambush.
"Troll!"
The orcs panicked, abandoned their meal, and fled.
An orc, slightly smaller than a human, stood only eye level with a troll's navel. The hopeless difference in size was compounded by the troll's ability to heal wounds in moments.
A fight between the two species was barely a fight at all. Since ancient times, nature had fixed their relationship as predator and prey.
"Groor!"
The subordinate whose spine had been broken by the stone grabbed his leader's ankle and begged to be saved.
SLASH!
The leader answered by chopping off his subordinate's wrist with an axe.
The fleeing orcs looked relieved. They had eaten a fair amount, and their abandoned companion would draw the troll's attention.
But they were mistaken.
Apparently unsatisfied with half a deer and one orc, the troll chased after them with its club.
Unfamiliar with someone else's hunting ground, the orcs had made the mistake of fleeing toward the river. The troll had no intention of wasting a chance to secure so much meat.
The orcs were already exhausted from chasing the deer, and the troll was faster. The distance closed almost immediately.
"Guwoooh!"
The thick trees suddenly gave way to open ground and a gravel bank, with the river blocking the orcs' escape. They screamed in despair.
The troll grinned in satisfaction. Proving its own strength was even more pleasurable than chewing meat.
The troll stopped when the orcs did, taking its time to savor their despair.
That was the moment.
CRACKLE!
Static suddenly crackled across the clear sky, and a strange wind whipped around them.
THUD!
Then a wood pigeon suddenly fell from the sky between the troll and the orcs.
"...?"
"Grook?"
Both sides briefly forgot the danger they were in and looked up at the sky.
FLAP-FLAP-FLAP!
Every wood pigeon nearby took flight at once, filling the sky.
But the birds reeled around as though drunk, unable to fly straight.
When one of them fluttered toward the troll, the troll swung its club.
POP!
The wood pigeon burst apart in a spray of feathers and red mist.
CRACKLE!
Pure white lightning began striking from a cloudless sky. A few bolts hit the forest and river before the strikes began hammering the open ground.
Even the troll and orcs, which had endured countless storms, had never seen anything like it.
A final bolt of lightning dyed the world white as a powerful wind swept in every direction. Trees thrashed wildly and tens of thousands of pebbles rolled across the ground.
"Groor-!"
"Grook-?"
The orcs dropped their weapons, prostrated themselves, and prayed to the sky. They believed the god of storms had descended.
They prayed desperately for the god's wrath to pass them by and save them from the crisis.
FLASH!
BOOM!
A colossal castle descended amid the flash and thunderous blast.
The troll recoiled as a vast shadow swallowed it in an instant. For a moment it thought the sun itself had disappeared.
RUMMMMMBLE—.
As the fierce wind died down, the enormous gates opened slowly with a heavy rumble.
The orcs that had covered their heads and flattened themselves to the ground cautiously peeked up.
Blink.
A single pair of glowing red eyes appeared in the pitch-black darkness beyond the gate. It became two pairs, then four.
"Grrrrrr—."
At the sinister growl, the coarse hair covering the orcs stood on end.
Black tongues flicked out as the creatures savored the smell of meat outside. Awl-like teeth caught the light.
The orcs pissed themselves at the sight of the creatures in the darkness licking their chops while staring at them.
"Grrrr—."
The troll, by contrast, roared with fighting spirit.
The orcs' fear was tribute that rightfully belonged to the troll. As a predator, it raged at the intruders that had stolen that tribute.
The troll charged with its huge club raised. As if accepting the challenge, four demons burst out through the castle gate.
Skull-like faces, black bodies, jagged teeth, and red eyes brimming with malice. They were imps, the same demonic species Eugene's party had fought in the Wandering Castle's corridors.
"Amazing."
Varda and Homi greeted Eugene in front of the enormous window connected to the audience chamber.
They had known the castle could cross space, but experiencing it firsthand was another matter.
The plain overlooking the Inland Sea was gone. The castle had dropped into the heart of a vast forest, leaving both young women wide-eyed.
FWEET—!
Homi pointed toward one spot.
A blood-soaked troll thrashed there. Three imps lay at its feet, reduced to pulp.
The last imp clung to the troll's back and tore at its neck. Its arms and legs wrapped tightly around the troll like lovers embracing.
Unable to reach the imp, the troll changed tactics and slammed backward onto the ground with its full weight.
THUD!
"Ghk!"
The imp screamed.
The troll had cleverly chosen a spot where rocks jutted from the ground.
THUD! THUD!
After two more impacts, the imp could no longer hold on and fell away.
The troll immediately mounted it and rained down punches.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
The imp's nose caved in and its eyeballs burst. Several of its teeth lodged in the troll's clenched fingers.
"Hsssss—."
With all its teeth shattered and death near, the imp released its final breath.
CRUNCH!
The troll crushed the imp's skull with a final blow and roared in triumph. Most of the wounds covering its body had already healed.
"That's a troll for you. No matter how many people attack it, it means nothing if they can't kill it outright."
"I've never fought one, but I can see why they're so troublesome. It fought that fiercely and already has almost no wounds left."
Physically weaker humans preferred to rotate fighters against monsters, piling up minor injuries until the creature tired and collapsed.
That tactic did not work on trolls. Soldiers and mercenaries could not wear one down, so knights had to step in from the beginning.
They were also numerous for a medium-sized monster. Naturally, trolls were notorious as one of the monsters most likely to kill knights.
"This place is far more dangerous than the Emerald Forest. To look down on somewhere so perilous from complete safety... What astonishing power."
Varda wrapped her arms around her shoulders as she gazed down at the Demon Forest.
Her toes curled and her breath trembled. A thrilling sensation began in her lower belly and spread through every nerve in her body.
The noble elf mage shuddered at a sense of omnipotence she had never experienced in her life.
"Do you know the doctrine of the divine right of kings?"
"The king is a ruler sent to earth by God, so his authority is sacred and inviolable. A legitimate royal house is the one bridge between God and all the people. Something like that, right?"
"...That was far more detailed than the explanation I had prepared."
Feeling as though she had been the one taught, Varda gave a wry laugh.
"Many royal houses claim the divine right of kings. Usually they present a great holy relic or some treasure of comparable value as proof."
"And if they don't have one, they just claim their bloodline is sacred and call it a day."
"Exactly. But any treasure or bloodline feels insignificant before genuine power. To my eyes, this castle is exactly that."
Height and safety had symbolized power since ancient times.
To look safely down on even the Demon Forest from higher than any other castle—what other symbol of authority in the world could compare?
"It isn't as omnipotent as it looks. I learned during the teleportation that the restrictions are severe."
"What sort of restrictions?"
Varda's ears perked up with curiosity about the ancient magic.
Homi, who had no interest in such things, watched the troll trudge back into the forest with obvious regret.
"It needs a broad, open area, of course, and I also need a clear image of the destination."
"Have you actually been to this forest before?"
"Come on. Of course not."
Even Eugene, heavily armed and armored as he was now, could not say how long he would survive if he were dropped into that forest.
Daytime was one thing, but the darkness and drowsiness of night were difficult even for a great knight to overcome.
"When I was young, I climbed the mountain and looked out at the vast forest to the west countless times."
"But this forest must lie beyond the part you could see."
"It is."
Given that the castle had brought them this far, it seemed to allow a fair amount of latitude.
"And there can't be any human souls near the arrival point."
"Then you can't appear right beside a city or village. That is an unusual condition."
"The castle is terrified of it. It has an intense fear of teleporting anywhere human souls are present."
Imagine the space of the mortal world as countless bubbles packed together.
Teleportation was like sliding along the boundaries where those bubbles touched.
The Wandering Castle absolutely refused to enter any bubble containing human souls.
"I have a rough idea why."
Eugene recalled what Marbas had told him.
-If I fled after only tasting the threshold of hell, this castle returned from its very depths. It came back carved to pieces by a horrific realm you cannot even begin to imagine.
"You recall the surface of this castle, yes?"
"Of course. It was scorched and shattered all over, even though Ancient Kingdom masonry would not budge under ballista bolts or catapult stones."
Teleporting into a space where human souls were gathered.
Apparently, that reminded the castle of plunging—splash!—into hell long ago.
A puppy that sticks its nose into a burrow and gets bitten by a mole will never want to look at another burrow.
"It's strange for a structure rather than a person to suffer trauma, but I suppose we have to understand."
Eugene shrugged.
"There are all sorts of other restrictions too, large and small."
"Even so, it remains a tremendous authority."
"For now, I'm still a princess trapped in a castle."
"True. We've dispatched only four imps, after all."
Varda had kept watching the gate, but no more monsters came out.
"So, how do you plan to drive out the monsters inside the castle?"
"What can no armor block and no nimble footwork avoid—something that can drive even the most patient person insane?"
"I'm not sure. Riddles aren't my strong point."
Eugene grinned at the perplexed Varda.
"Heat, of course."
Eugene gestured around them with both hands.
"After we arrived, I turned the castle's heating up as high as it would go. Give it an hour and it'll feel hot enough to steam you alive."
"Mm."
Homi, who hated heat, looked horrified at the mere thought.
"With a cool forest and river right outside, do you think they'll really stay in there and endure it?"
"So that was the scheme behind that wicked smile."
It was undeniably effective. The heat would make the monsters throughout the castle leave of their own accord.
And in this vast forest, they would be torn apart like rats swarmed by army ants.
"We can't do much about the undead, but clearing out the living monsters will make the rest of the cleanup much easier."