Chapter 40
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: The Successor from the Mountain Pass
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"Don't ever go outside alone."
Roberta warned, her eyes fixed beyond the open doors and windows of the house. A pack of monsters called Carnipus was approaching. There were at least thirty of the wolf-like monsters at a glance. Counting those out of sight, their number would likely reach forty.
It was no wonder the village had been ravaged. Even she had rarely seen such a large pack of Carnipus. Where, and how, had such a horde formed? The question arose, but there was no time to dwell on it.
"Let them come. The filthy vermin."
The dwarf Toruhel slammed the butt of his axe on the floor with a thud.
The monsters hesitated for a moment but quickly quickened their pace. There was no standoff. One monster that reached the threshold leaped in with fierce momentum, while another vaulted through a window.
Roberta was the first. She was among the five people, and she stood at the forefront. The first monster through the door kicked off the floor, aiming for her.
She instantly leaned to the side. The monster's claws swiped through empty air by a hair's breadth, followed by the sound of tearing wind. Had she been a moment slower, her head would have been torn off.
A blade honed with mana sliced through the monster's side, cutting it in two.
With a wet tear, flesh was severed. Having dodged the claws, she had swung her sword. She confirmed the fallen monster on the floor with a cold gaze before turning to face the next one.
"Impressive skill!"
Toruhel shouted, raising his double-bladed axe high.
"Do human priests learn to hunt too!"
Before the words had even left his mouth, the axe blade came crashing down on the head of the monster in front of the dwarf. The circumference of his arms, rivaling her thighs, was not for show. He split the monster, larger than himself, like a log.
As Roberta cut down one monster after another, she kept an eye on the rest of her party. Fritz, unlike the other two, struggled with even a single Carnipus. It couldn't be helped. He lacked experience.
Instead, the boy suppressed his impatience and built up his counterattacks. He narrowly dodged its attacks, inflicting small wounds each time. The monster was covered in wounds, large and small, from its neck and belly to its legs.
The enraged monster roared. It was a demand to fight honorably. But the boy's approach did not change. Soon, the exhausted monster collapsed.
'He has talent. Time will take care of the experience.'
She shifted her gaze to the terrified villager. The only man to survive in this village cowered against the wall. Unarmed, all he could do was hope the monsters wouldn't target him.
"..."
Ulrich stood beside him.
His sword was at his hip, but he had not drawn it. He quietly watched the other three fight. As if waiting for something.
"Above!"
Toruhel shouted.
The monsters' movements changed.
A skittering sound came from the walls.
"They're coming from above too. Be careful!"
The monsters outside had climbed the walls to invade the upper floor.
Ulrich shifted his gaze to the stairs. A Carnipus appeared at the top of the staircase. The stairway was narrow, so only one appeared at first. And the moment it met his eyes, it lunged.
It must have been laughing to itself. Its opponent was a human holding nothing in his hands. He wore a sword, but what resistance could he offer if it bit his head off with its maw before he could draw it?
But the monster stopped in midair.
Ulrich had reached out with his left hand and seized it by the neck. Though the monster would have been taller than him standing on its hind legs, he held it as if it were a piece of paper. His hand dug into the flesh of its neck, grasped the vertebrae, and crushed them.
Then he threw it at the next Carnipus rushing down. The creature collided with its kin's corpse and tumbled down the stairs, where Ulrich smashed it with his right fist.
With a sickening crunch, the Carnipus's skull caved in.
"Huh..."
Toruhel clicked his tongue.
Roberta, too, swallowed a disbelieving laugh. She prided herself on her own martial prowess, but Ulrich's display left her speechless. To snatch a monster five or six times his own weight, break it, and throw it? And to shatter a skull with his bare fist?
Before long, the battle reached a lull. Too many carcasses had piled up inside the house, leaving no room. The pack of monsters couldn't get in.
"Now we'll have to fight them outside."
"Be careful. It's dangerous if they spread out in the open space."
"Don't you worry. I know that much."
The party left the house. Outside, the night was deep and darkness had fallen thick, and the monsters' bright yellow eyes shone in the moonlight. The remaining monsters, now about half their original number, hesitantly stepped back.
'They should be running by now.'
Monsters lacked intelligence, so they usually fled when their momentum was broken. But these monsters were different. They only retreated a few steps to create distance, showing no sign of fleeing.
'Is someone controlling them?'
Roberta's gaze suddenly shifted.
She felt a stare. Someone was standing far in the distance. They were in the shadows of the night and not clearly visible, but the figure was human.
Why would a person be in a place where monsters had killed every living thing?
Her intuition whispered that this was the one controlling the monsters.
"...Lord Armin,"
she called to Ulrich in a whisper.
He was already looking at the same spot, so no further words were needed. The two of them immediately broke into a run. Ulrich took off first, and Roberta followed close behind.
The figure, realizing they were coming for her, turned her back. "That's the one!" Roberta shouted at the figure running out of the village.
At that, the remaining monsters charged at the two of them in unison.
"You're not getting away!" Toruhel roared, throwing his axe. Fritz also stabbed the back of a monster chasing the pair, drawing its attention. Still, four monsters remained.
Roberta glanced between the figure and the monsters as she ran, then twisted her body and swung her sword. The front paws of the Carnipus right behind her tumbled to the ground. Now three of the four were drawn to her.
"Be careful!"
But before her shout, Ulrich had already acted. He grabbed the jaws of a leaping monster with both hands and tore them apart. Then he resumed his chase after the figure.
#
She fled into the forest.
It was a forest near the village. The night was already deep and the moon faint, and the dense undergrowth obscured even that little light. She ran through a darkness so thick she couldn't see a foot in front of her.
Ulrich pursued her. They were the only two people moving through the forest, and the only sound was their running. And then, at some point, she stopped running.
"Giving up so soon."
In the deep darkness, Ulrich saw her. He could make out nothing but her female form. She caught her ragged breath and turned to face him.
"Aren't you going to lead me to your pack?"
Instead of answering, she gathered her mana. Mana gathered at her fingertips, and for a moment a strong wind rose in the forest, only to abruptly cease. The mana she held scattered powerlessly.
She looked down at her hands in bewilderment, her body trembling.
"So it was you."
He read the emotion in her voice. It was not fear. Her voice trembled greatly, almost a sob, but it was not the tone of someone afraid. Joy—that was the emotion her voice carried.
"You know of me."
"I've heard about you. And I've longed to meet you."
"Well, you've gotten your wish. Are you satisfied?"
"Yes, very," she replied.
"What does it feel like, to neither age nor die?"
Ulrich took a step forward, and she took a step back.
"It feels like nothing. It's not what you people expect."
"Do you know what it is we expect?"
"It's painfully obvious."
A sound of innocent laughter spread through the forest.
"You're all we have left."
"You're mistaken. I'm not the being you think I am. I merely, unwillingly—"
"Arturus."
He stopped in his tracks.
"You're the only one who thinks that."
Just then, she reached into her tunic. Ulrich realized what she was about to do and ran, but he was too late. There was the sound of piercing flesh, and her slender body collapsed.
When he caught her falling body, she had already stopped breathing. She had stabbed her own heart and twisted the blade. He reached out to touch the wound, then stopped.
Ulrich looked down at her with calm eyes. Her eyes, losing their light, were staring up into the void, and happened to meet his gaze as he stood over her.
She had a smile on her lips.
"..."
He let out a short breath and closed her eyes.
#
Roberta waited for Ulrich at the entrance to the forest. She had intended to follow him after dealing with the monsters, but she didn't know where in the forest he had gone and could only pace anxiously.
A short while later, he emerged from the woods. He was carrying the woman they had chased as the culprit, so Roberta smiled and asked.
"Ah, did you catch her?"
Ulrich shook his head.
What he held was a lifeless body. Crimson blood flowed endlessly from the wound in her chest, soaking his clothes and dripping onto the ground.
As he laid the corpse down, the moonlight illuminated her features.
"...An elf?"
Roberta blinked, seeing the pointed ears.
"A Gallua."
Gallua.
The word for a half-breed of human and elf.
Thanks to their elven blood, they were beautiful and long-lived. Roberta had seen them often during her time as a common priest at the Grand Temple of Nua.
In her memory, Galluas had short, rounded ears. No different from a human's. The elves she had seen, on the other hand, had long, pointed ones. That was why the dwarf Toruhel referred to unknown humans as "short-ears."
"For a half-breed, aren't her ears too sharp?"
"Not all Galluas are born with human ears. You know as well as I do that some half-breeds are born with a stronger inheritance from one side."
*Is that the case with this person?* she hummed thoughtfully, examining the body. Now that he mentioned it, her ears did seem a little short.
"If she's a Gallua, it makes even less sense."
As far as she knew, there was no such thing as a Gallua of low birth. It was rare for an ordinary human to even encounter other races, and elves were too proud to mix their blood with others.
Only a person of a certain standing, one who had many opportunities to interact with other races and was acknowledged by the elves, could have a Gallua for a child.
"They're a bloodline known as the nobility of nobles. What kind of problem would lead one of them to summon monsters and hunt humans?"
Ulrich knelt on one knee and examined the body.
"The karma of the Pantheon, I suppose."
"Pardon?"
Kneeling, Ulrich took the corpse's right hand.
There was a silver ring on its right index finger. Like a family signet ring, its top was a flat circle, engraved with a crest.
Roberta bent over to see the crest and frowned. It was a familiar design. There was no way she wouldn't know it. She was human, after all.
It was the crest of a hand holding a torch. It was one of the symbols of Hestio.