Mana Power Plant (2)
The two of them tore down the corridor in a heartbeat, and the moment they burst into the power room, what greeted them was an enormous cocoon giving off a faint green glow.
Its surface looked as smooth and hard as silk, pulsing at a steady rhythm like a beating heart.
Veronica stared up at it as if spellbound and murmured, "…What the hell is that?"
"A White Heavenly Silkworm's cocoon. It's a species of moth—people call it the silkworm of the sky."
"A moth?"
She asked again without taking her eyes off the cocoon. "Let me get this straight first—that thing hasn't hatched yet, right?"
"Hmm. It hatched long ago. Metamorphosing would be the more accurate word."
Unlike ordinary silkworms, the White Heavenly Silkworm fed not on mulberry leaves but on mana itself. Even now, threads stretching out from the cocoon were connected to the mana cores scattered throughout the power plant.
"Looks like we've just found the cause of the city's mana shortages lately."
"So? Any other useful information, or what?"
"I've got one piece of good news and one piece of bad."
"…Good news first."
Oscar shrugged. "For starters, a silkworm mid-metamorphosis isn't all that dangerous. If we just go fetch Elder Maxim, this whole situation will be over in five seconds."
"Then what was I even scared abou— I mean, surprised about. What's the bad news?"
"Because I wasn't finished talking."
Oscar went on as he shrugged off his white robe. "A silkworm that's just finished metamorphosis is racked with a monstrous hunger, and it'll devour every living thing around it."
"Then we just get the Elder here before that happens. That's not exactly terrible news, is it?"
"It is, because I still wasn't finished. The way those slimes were fleeing for their lives tells me the metamorphosis is nearly done."
Boog!
At the ominous sound from the cocoon's direction, Veronica bristled like a cat. "…I just heard something really disturbing. What was that?"
"The sound of it tearing its threads from the inside. The scent of fresh prey has it losing its mind."
"Fresh prey"—Oscar, setting his neatly folded robe down on the floor—muttered quietly.
"Prepare for combat."
Thud! Boooong! Screeeech!
The Heavenly Silkworm's cocoon, famous for its toughness, split apart like a sheet of paper, and two pairs of massive wings unfurled.
"…Holy crap, it's huge!"
Veronica shrieked, then demanded, "But it's a moth, so it can't fly, right? Moths can't fly!"
"Right. Moths can't fly."
Oscar answered with total indifference, as if it were someone else's problem, rummaging through his memory. "But that one flies just fine."
FWOOOOOOSH!
In an instant, the silkworm burst free of the cocoon and shot toward the lofty ceiling, all four wings beating.
"Let's run!"
Veronica screamed, but Oscar stood rooted in place and shook his head. "No."
"What? Why not!"
"If we run, that thing will fly to the nearest city in search of food."
And then it would devour the citizens there, swallowing up whatever it could catch. There was no telling how many people would die in the process. By any means necessary, they had to stop it from escaping this place.
"Ah… ugh…!"
Realizing it a beat too late, Veronica clenched her jaw tight. Then she glared up at the silkworm and stepped forward a couple of paces.
"You're a real piece of work, you know that? Get behind me."
At her protective motion, Oscar's face registered surprise.
'Not bad.'
An ordinary Level 4 mage, faced with a Heavenly Silkworm, would normally freeze up in terror. But she was different. In her two sharpening eyes, fear had been drowned out by a bottomless well of fighting spirit.
A faint smile crept onto Oscar's lips.
'…Look at this kid. She's exactly like I was when I was young.'
He understood—he'd been an orphan too. That instinct to act twice as fierce and twice as proud, just so no one would ever look down on you. And that was precisely what worried him.
'The me of back then couldn't see anything beyond the tip of my own nose.'
Oscar moved his lips in a silent prayer, hoping she would turn out differently than he had.
Message
A thread of mana shot like an arrow down the corridor they'd come through. The spell carrying his voice would reach the coachman waiting outside—its message, a request for reinforcements.
"First things first."
Just then, having completed a massive magic circle, Veronica muttered coldly. "Let's start by getting on eye level."
Wind Press
Compressed air dropped from the power plant's ceiling and crushed down on the silkworm.
—Skreeee!?
Under pressure it had never once felt in its life, the creature plummeted helplessly, unable to mount any resistance.
KUUUUNG!
The impact kicked up a thick cloud of dust—and the instant it bloomed, Veronica's next spell was complete.
Air Explosion
Her sharp eyes locked onto a single point. The air around it was sucked in and compressed at terrifying speed—then detonated in an instant.
BOOOOOM!
—Kieeeeee!
The silkworm's agonized scream shook the whole chamber. Panicked by the relentless barrage, it flailed on the ground, struggling to rise.
"Huh? This is easier than I thought."
Certain she had seized the momentum, Veronica curled one corner of her mouth into a smirk and sprinted forward.
Jet Booster
The moment the spell took hold, her body became noticeably lighter—and faster. It was an intermediate spell of the White Tower, granting a speed boost two full tiers beyond even Acceleration.
'When you've got the momentum, you finish it in one strike.'
She knew nothing about Heavenly Silkworms, but she could feel it in her bones: if it wasn't killed now, freshly emerged from its metamorphosis, the ones in danger would be them.
Gust Hand
Grind! Crrrunch!
Palm after palm of wind rose from the floor, linked like a staircase to receive her. Veronica stepped onto them in sequence, and just as she was about to launch herself above the silkworm—
Oscar suddenly shot out from behind and yanked hard on her hood.
CRASH!
"Gahk—khh!"
Slammed to the floor in the blink of an eye, Veronica blinked her sharp eyes in blank bewilderment. Then, grasping the situation, she screwed her face up in fury and spat out a curse.
"You absolute lunatic! What the hell do you think you're—"
"Wind."
FWAAAAASH!
The wind Oscar kicked up drove a cloud of invisible powder toward one wall.
Ssssssss.
The wall where the powder clung thickly melted away in seconds.
"The White Heavenly Silkworm's transparent scale-dust melts whatever it touches on contact," Oscar declared, glancing back at her like a teacher delivering a scolding. "In other words, if I hadn't grabbed you, you'd be dead right now."
"…!"
Understanding struck a beat too late, and Veronica's pupils quaked as if hit by an earthquake.
Oscar fixed his gaze back on the silkworm. "I gave ground on purpose. That thing is intelligent—and cunning."
—Kiiiit.
Letting out a sound of chagrin, the silkworm rose smoothly from the floor as if it had never fallen at all, then circled haughtily near the ceiling, showing no intention of coming down again.
Veronica stared at it hard, then bit her lip and asked, "…How did you notice powder I couldn't even see?"
"I focused mana into both eyes and observed every particle suspended in the air."
"What kind of insane nonsense is…"
She was reflexively about to argue back when her voice suddenly trailed off. She'd caught sight of Oscar's dead-serious face, and realized he wasn't joking.
"…You're telling me that's actually possible in combat?"
"It is. Though it would take you an enormous amount of practice."
"So you're mocking me for lacking the talent?"
"Quite the opposite."
Oscar shook his head. "If anything, I'm only telling you it's possible because you do have the talent."
Perceiving the world at the level of individual particles was never an easy feat. It demanded genius-level mana control, and the mental fortitude to stay sane under the information overload of endless streaming data. No ordinary talent could manage it in ten lifetimes.
'But her composure facing down a Heavenly Silkworm without panicking, and her grasp of magic—wielding intermediate spells freely at just Level 4…'
It was more than enough to knock on that door.
—Kiiiiit!
Just then, the silkworm—every wound on its body now healed—let out an enraged shriek. Simultaneously, its wings began to shimmer with a brilliant light.
"Damn it—get down!"
Oscar threw himself over Veronica and flung up a Wind Shield.
FWOOOOOOOM!
The next instant, a green beam spewed from the silkworm's wings slammed into them.
"Ugh!"
Oscar's Wind Shield scattered the incoming beam in every direction. By the time the violent assault ended, his whole body was caked in sweat and dust.
'This isn't good.'
Blocking a single attack had burned through seventy percent of his mana. The only saving grace was that the silkworm needed roughly five minutes to recover after firing its beam once.
'With what I have left, I absolutely cannot block a second beam.'
In other words, he had to force a decisive outcome within the next five minutes.
Oscar slowly rose to his feet and held out a hand. "Get up. We don't have much time."
"…Bastard."
"What?"
Whap! Whap!
Veronica, looking like she wanted to die of frustration, kept slapping her own thigh. "Th-this goddamn leg… won't move."
"…"
Two brushes with death in the span of minutes had drained all the strength from her legs. She was, in the end, a twenty-year-old mage. She could put on a brave front in front of him, but conquering the fear of death was another matter entirely.
"…Go."
Furious at her own weakness and helplessness, she bit her lip hard enough to draw blood. "I'll hold that thing off and draw its attention as long as I can. So go."
"…"
Oscar looked down at her in silence. Apparently his gaze didn't sit well with her, because Veronica exploded.
"What are you staring at, idiot? I already told you I can't stand the sight of you! So if you don't want us dying together, get the hell out of here!"
"…"
Oscar quietly read the air around her. The currents trembling unsteadily, like a frightened cat, were saying something entirely different from her mouth.
'She's terrified.'
That artless, un-honest little act overlapped with his own childhood. And maybe that was why—
"It's okay."
Pat, pat.
Oscar absently patted her head. Just as his master had once done for him, all those years ago.
"…What?"
"There's no need to be scared. I'm not the kind of person who leaves people behind."
Veronica's wavering eyes stared fixedly at the hand patting her head.
'It's okay?'
Ridiculous. Just bluster wrapped around baseless confidence. He himself clearly couldn't beat that thing—so what could a mere Level 2 mage possibly do?
'And yet…'
Logically, that was the right answer—an ironclad truth with no room for rebuttal. So why did that single phrase it's okay ease her heart so much? Every time his hand touched her head, she felt like she might burst into tears, as if some button had been pressed.
Slap!
She barely knocked the hand away and demanded, "…So what's your plan, then?"
"We fight."
Oscar answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Your legs might not work, but backing me up with spells should be doable, right?"
"…You're seriously planning to fight that thing? As a Level 2 mage?"
"Even if I were Level 1 instead of Level 2, it'd be the same."
What is with him?
Those deep, unhurried eyes looking down at her seemed harder than any stone she had ever seen. And at the same time, they were warm. Like a spring breeze.
"Don't forget. A mage of the White Tower never abandons a comrade. Never."
"…"
At that moment, a thread of wind swept past, stirring her hair. It was so warm—warm enough that, though she'd never once felt it in her life, she thought this must be what it would feel like to be held in a mother's arms.
Acceleration
Wrapping that warm wind around his whole body, Oscar shot forward in an instant. Rat-tat-tat! The moment the silkworm instinctively sprayed venom-tipped needles at him—
"…I clearly told you to run. I even gave you the chance to ditch me and go."
Veronica clenched her teeth and spread her hands wide. "So if you die and try making excuses later, I will genuinely kill you!"
BAAAAANG!
Oscar glided through the baptism of needles with room to spare, thanks to the Jet Booster—an intermediate acceleration spell that should have been beyond any but a Level 5 mage of the White Tower—now granted to him.
'That kid really is something.'
Oscar threw a surprised glance back at her. The spell fit her like a shoe made for her own feet. Casting a spell this precisely tailored onto another person meant she was blessed with delicate mana control down to her bones.
'Veronica Frix—one gold star sticker for you.'
Crossing the power plant at explosive speed, Oscar reached the abandoned cocoon and drew a single thread from it.
'Heavenly Silkworm Silk.'
Beautiful as it was, this thread traded at staggering prices on its strength alone. Oscar channeled mana into the thread and flung it at the silkworm.
—Kshshshit.
The silkworm looked at the thread winding around its body and sneered, as if to ask what on earth a worm like him could possibly do. Oscar gave it his answer.
"Veronica! Pull it down!"
The instant the call for support went out, two spells completed themselves. Gust Hand, Wind Press.
A pair of wind-grown grips rose from the floor, seized the thread alongside Oscar, and hauled on it with all their strength. At the same moment, compressed air dropped from above.
—…!
Pressed from above, yanked from below. The silkworm beat its wings furiously to resist, but in the end it couldn't withstand the force and crashed down once more.
'About twenty-eight percent of my mana left.'
Confirming where it had fallen, Oscar ran toward the spot while slipping a hand into his coat. A considerable weight settled into his grip.
What he drew out was a rather handsome black sawed-off shotgun—a modified weapon engraved with not one but three enchantments: Acceleration, Penetration, and Reinforcement. His trophy from the herb field.
'The name engraved on this gun's barrel is…'
Trinity.
Now that he could drag the creature down to the ground and close the distance, it was possible to punch through the Heavenly Silkworm's armored hide with this monster of a gun's destructive power.
Bursting through the dust cloud in a heartbeat, Oscar leveled the muzzle at its head.
—Kiit?
"Rest in peace."
Clack! Then, without a flicker of hesitation, he pulled the trigger.
BAAAAAAM!
"Ghk!?"
Nothing more than a pull of the trigger—and his right shoulder tore and popped out of its socket, nearly sending the gun flying from his hand. He genuinely wanted to resurrect that gunman from the other day just to ask how the hell he'd fired this thing so recklessly.
But it had been worth sacrificing a shoulder.
FWOOOOM!
—Kieeeeee!
Dozens of holes had opened across the silkworm's body.
Still, Oscar swallowed his disappointment. If the creature hadn't twisted its body at the last second, its head would have been blown clean off.
"Hm?"
Just then, the silkworm—spewing green ichor in every direction, glowing with fury—shot straight upward. Simultaneously, its wings pulsed with brilliant light once again.
"…The beam's recharged already?"
Impossible. Three minutes and forty-two seconds were still left on the clock. And sure enough, this was a reckless gamble even by its standards. The wings flashed for the barest instant—and all it managed was a sliver of a beam, far thinner than before.
"…!"
The problem was that this attack's target was neither him nor Veronica.
BOOOOM!
The ceiling. Sensing the threat to its life, the silkworm collapsed the power plant's ceiling and flew toward the gaping hole.
'It's going to run!'
Alarm bells clanged through Oscar's head as he clenched his jaw. If that thing escaped the power plant, the catastrophe that followed would be beyond imagination.
He looked down at the thread trailing up behind him at high speed—and grabbed it with his uninjured left hand.
"Hey! Are you insane!? Why are you grabbing—!"
Veronica's shocked voice receded rapidly below him—and then an overwhelming sensation of speed swallowed his entire body.