Chapter 112 : Medusa – 4
Chapter 112: Medusa – 4
Flying freely through the open sky like a bird… That’s something that only exists in literature, but we were actually flying through the air like that.
Karin had used what she called a spirit to lift us into the sky.
I had asked her to, but I never imagined it was actually possible.
“Uwaaah. Uwaaah.”
“Calm down, Your Highness.”
“Did I say something wrong?”
Armelia tried to act calm as she looked at me.
Honestly, even as I spoke, my heart was pounding so hard I felt like I might die.
Karin chuckled and spoke.
“Don’t pee yourself?”
“There’s nothing you can’t say, huh.”
“You actually look a little dangerous.”
“……”
“Want me to make us fly faster?”
“Don’t! …It’s dangerous to approach too hastily.”
“Good excuse.”
At that moment, Berseum spoke.
“A simple but effective tactic. Approaching from the air is better than sneaking in from north, south, east, or west.”
“That’s right. Of course, it’s not perfect. If she looks up at the sky, it’s over.”
“Exactly. Didn’t we say she was once an elf? Back then, Helena could have flown, so the idea of an aerial approach might exist.”
“That’s why you need to take the lead, brother.”
We weren’t going to confront Helena in a life-or-death showdown right now.
There was an uneasy feeling that it might come to that, but for now, the plan was to try speaking with her.
But unlike with Edgar, we couldn’t ask Magireta to exchange letters.
She seemed oddly sulky right now.
Berseum muttered the plan under his breath.
“We just needed to stay at a safe distance and talk in person. With my magic.”
“That’s right. Can you do that?”
“Amplifying the voice isn’t hard. Especially now that, thanks to you, I have unlimited mana.”
“……”
“I can make it audible from nearly a kilometer away. But the problem is…”
The problem was that ordinary people on the continent must not overhear our conversation.
If they did, and the topic of Magireta’s quest came up, it would be instant death.
Karin responded to him.
“I’ll check if there are civilians around. With my children.”
“Thank you. Not a single person can hear us.”
“Don’t underestimate my children.”
“I’m not underestimating them. I mean… you…”
“Don’t underestimate me either.”
Alright, got it.
Benjamin spoke up.
“So all that’s left is finding a quiet place with no one within a kilometer in every direction.”
“That’s right. Judging by her movement route, this should be optimal.”
“Even if it is, the compass map isn’t visible to us.”
“This is Terf Gorge. It’s as remote as Bucklet Forest or the Akrad Jungle.”
Everyone nodded.
But one question arose in my mind.
Helena had previously stopped at a territory while moving, then changed direction toward Terf Gorge.
Why?
Why show such a route with no one around?
What had been at the first territory, and why move to Terf Gorge afterward?
“It’s like watching a drunk person stagger along the continent’s major roads.”
[The speed is insanely fast, though.]
“Well, we’ll ask her when we meet. Don’t know if she’ll answer, though.”
We flew like that for a while longer.
Suddenly, our flight slowed.
Eventually, we were hovering completely still in midair.
Armelia said,
“That’s Terf Gorge.”
Below us, steep cliffs rose on both sides.
Between them was a narrow path barely wide enough for five or six people to walk shoulder to shoulder.
“Good. If we wait a bit, Helena should appear. Karin, now.”
“Already done. There’s no sign of humans for several kilometers around this gorge.”
“Then, brother.”
“I’m ready.”
I nodded.
After a little while, Karin’s shoulder twitched.
Just that movement was enough for everyone to realize.
“Something’s approaching.”
I checked the compass.
The red dot marking Helena’s position on the map was reaching the gorge.
I thought there’d be no problem.
But I was wrong.
There was a problem. No, many problems!
-Kuung. Thud.
The sound of something walking heavily struck our eardrums.
Through the clouds and mist ahead, I could make out the full figure of ‘it’.
I swallowed hard.
“Diary… you said it moves incredibly fast.”
[……That’s right.]
“I thought, since it’s MVP-level, it’s normal. I figured it couldn’t fly but had fast legs.”
But its legs weren’t fast.
Each step it took was simply massive!
“M-Mason.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“We’re under its line of sight.”
We craned our necks in unison.
The giant being above us was so immense we had to look up while flying in midair.
Louis was over 500 meters, right?
This looked at least double that.
A mountain—a massive mountain—was moving.
I yelled instinctively.
“K-Karin. Increase altitude! Stay out of its sight.”
“No need!”
Berseum said firmly, moving his lips.
Soon, our forms began to disappear.
The invisibility magic he had demonstrated during hide-and-seek.
Benjamin spoke anxiously.
“Great magic, but… can it really fool that monster’s eyes?”
“I can’t guarantee it either.”
Then,
Swoosh.
Helena’s gaze fell directly on us.
My heart froze.
But thankfully, we didn’t turn to stone.
“It doesn’t work. It can’t turn something to stone if it can’t directly see it.”
I nearly had ten years added to my life in shock.
Then, a voice that shook the sky rang out.
“Is something there? Show yourself.”
The short question echoed like a ripple through the gorge.
I looked at Berseum.
He had cast the voice amplification magic.
With the invisibility spell, he was handling two magics without strain.
Seeing him nod, I slowly spoke.
“That won’t be possible. If we show ourselves, we’ll be turned to stone.”
Helena’s hair wriggled with countless giant snakes.
Between those snakes, her golden eyes flashed.
She let out a faint laugh…
-Ku-guuuaaaang.
She settled down on a modest hill.
She was sitting on it with her butt crushing the hill beneath her.
As if she were simply resting from a long walk, Helena tapped her legs and spoke.
“Mason?”
“…Yes. How did you know?”
“I heard it from a human named Edgar. Seems like you’ve made quite an impact in this term’s quest.”
“……”
“As a senior participant, I must say that’s commendable.”
Her voice carried a surprising warmth that left me flustered.
I cautiously gestured to Karin.
I pointed at Helena’s head with my finger.
Luckily, she seemed perceptive enough and slowly increased our altitude.
And very carefully, we moved above Helena’s head.
The closer we got, the more vividly the snakes in her hair writhed.
This scene itself was a resurrection of hell.
“So, what made you pause my steps? I’m a bit busy.”
Helena’s gaze was still directed at the spot we had originally occupied.
Once again, it became clear that she could not pierce through magic.
I answered while moving.
“I wanted to have a conversation.”
My voice still echoed in all directions, so it would be hard to pinpoint my location.
“A conversation? Are you planning to ask me to kill Edgar?”
“It seems Edgar asked me to kill him.”
“Though I turned him to stone before he could ask, I roughly expected it would be something like that.”
“Turned to stone?”
“Well… it’s not important, so let’s move on.”
She continued in a soft voice.
“Before this, I thought I caught a glimpse of your form, but before I realized it, it vanished instantly. What kind of technique was that?”
“……”
“Magic, perhaps. I’ve heard humans use such things occasionally.”
“That’s right. During the ‘Elf’ era, it seems magic didn’t exist, right?”
Helena seemed considerably surprised by my words.
The wriggling of her hair intensified.
“Did you hear that from Magireta? How does the word ‘Elf’ come out of your mouth?”
“……”
“No. She wouldn’t have spoken so freely. Looks like you figured it out yourself… astonishing.”
“Thank you.”
“To answer you, elves cannot manipulate mana. Just as you cannot manipulate ether. That’s why my eyes cannot pierce through your magic.”
By this time, we had completely moved above Helena’s head.
I cautiously took out the Replication Sack.
And slowly untied its knots as I spoke.
“Let’s get to the point. What brings you here, the warden of hell?”
“You know even that? Truly a peculiar person.”
“Please answer.”
“I came to find my daughter. …Somehow, I feel that if it’s you, you’d know who she is as well.”
“Luna Protro Nine.”
The moment I uttered that name,
The snakes in her hair collectively froze in their writhing.
Before, I thought the writhing was unpleasant.
But no.
The stillness was far more disturbing. More terrifying.
Like a preparatory motion before moving in unison.
“You really know a lot.”
“……”
“To someone as knowledgeable as you, I’ll ask just one more thing.”
“……”
“Where is Luna, my daughter, right now?”
I couldn’t help but glance at Karin.
She was pale from the overwhelming presence emanating from Helena. Understandably, the others were similarly affected.
At least, this was not the expression of a daughter welcoming a reunion with her mother.
‘As expected, she remembers nothing at all.’
I gathered my thoughts and asked.
“And what will you do if you find out?”
“Answer the question first.”
“If you wanted to find your daughter, you should’ve been actively traveling across the continent. Not wandering about recklessly.”
“I wasn’t reckless. I was searching properly.”
Like a drunk person staggering across the continent?
I tilted my head.
Then Helena spoke something shocking.
“My golden eyes do not turn every target I look at to stone. Only the ones I have set.”
“…?”
“And I have currently set it to petrify only ‘humans.’”
“…Wait. Surely not.”
“Yes. Sharp observation.”
Swoosh.
She rose from her seated position.
Karin startled and quickly increased our altitude.
“If there is an intelligent being still ‘moving’ after I’ve circled the continent, that child must be my daughter.”
“Th-That means… you’ve been turning all the other humans to stone while traveling across the continents?”
Helena laughed, and that laugh was an affirmation.
An unbelievable mindset.
Turning everyone else to stone just to find the single person who could move freely from her golden eyes.
‘So that’s why I couldn’t write ten days of the diary…’
Simply because Helena had looked at me.
While turning everyone else to stone, she happened to visit Deut Territory on the tenth day.
That alone would have meant my death.
“Exactly the same logic as Edgar.”
“What did that guy do? No, no… never mind. Not really interested.”
“Your daughter must currently be human. That child would also turn to stone under your golden eyes.”
“You don’t know that much, do you.”
She shook her head.
“Even if her body is human, her soul is undoubtedly elf. That’s why she can manipulate ether.”
“…!”
“From the extinction of elves to the rise of humans. Over countless eons, my daughter was born and lived innumerable lives as a human. Continuously reincarnating. I wished that she not be killed.”
Magireta’s ‘not kill’ seemed to mean that her soul would not be dragged into hell.
“For short-lived species like you, the soul would suffer greatly. But my daughter could endure it. Even though memories are erased upon reincarnation, the strength of her elf soul sustains her.”
I glanced at Karin again.
She shook her head furiously, as if not understanding a word.
In any case, this roughly clarified the situation.
But there was still one thing left to ask.
“When you find your daughter, what will you do then?”