Chapter 113 : Revocation of Qualification - 1
Chapter 113: Revocation of Qualification - 1
Helena answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“I intend to take her with me. To Hell.”
“Hell? But you used your wish with Magireta. You begged her not to take your daughter to Hell.”
Without realizing it, my tone shifted.
“But now you’re saying you’ll take her yourself? That doesn’t line up.”
“No. There’s nothing strange about it. What I truly wanted was for my daughter not to fall into Magireta’s hands. But she already participated in the Quest. Magireta didn’t fulfill my wish.”
I wondered. Would Magireta really see it that way?
“From now on, I won’t depend on Magireta’s mercy or compassion. I’ll take my daughter with my own hands, and I’ll protect her.”
“…….”
“Well then, I suppose it’s about time…….”
The next moment.
The snakes that had been frozen suddenly opened their jaws wide.
And then they began spewing some kind of black, murky fluid in every direction.
“Move! Absolutely don’t let it touch you!”
Aina was the first to shout a warning.
Karin had the spirits toss and pull us around, keeping us moving.
“I have no idea what kind it is, but that’s poison. I can feel it instinctively.”
“Looks like it. Look over there.”
Even while being dragged around, I managed to point somewhere.
The scattered trees and bushes sprouting across the canyon.
Among them, those that had been hit directly by the poison were completely shriveled and dried up.
“Ugh. Ugh! Hey! At this rate we’re gonna get hit eventually. Do something!”
“Sir. Can you cast a defensive spell!?”
“I already have!”
At last, Berseum was using three spells at the same time.
And as soon as he said that—
Shraaaack—
The poisonous fluid struck the barrier directly.
It was originally an invisible transparent veil, but soon, holes started popping open like a block of cheese gnawed through by mice.
“Ugh. This is bad. As expected, running two spells simultaneously is…… huh!”
“Why? What is it?”
“This is bad. My invisibility spell broke!”
That was when—
“There you are.”
The clock inside my body began to move slowly.
From extreme concentration, my head buzzed and throbbed.
Keep your head up!
She was trying to look at us.
The poison splashing against the spell. The barrier’s faint silhouette appearing because of it.
The broken invisibility magic.
And the snake that noticed it.
Helena was turning her gaze toward where the snake had indicated!
“Damn it!”
No more time to hesitate.
I hurriedly untied the knot and opened the sack’s mouth toward Helena.
The moment she looked directly at us—
—Paaaaaahht!
My blood burst out with a force incomparable to when I used it on Louis in Bucklet Forest.
Like the greatest waterfall in the world.
The torrent of blood-water completely blocked Helena’s vision.
“What is this!?”
Helena was hit squarely by the spray of blood.
“Guaaaahhh!”
It’s working?
I couldn’t see her, hidden behind the waterfall, but she was definitely screaming in agony.
Good. Let’s keep going.
I widened the sack’s opening even more.
Guuuuush—
“Argh! Aahhh!”
Helena staggered back and collapsed onto the ground with a thud.
If this went well, I might even be able to finish things here.
Just when I allowed myself that small hope—
Sssrrrk. Ssssrk.
Countless strands of hair—no, snakes—suddenly began to coil around Helena.
Before long, they completely wrapped around and covered her body.
Like an unyielding umbrella shielding her from the deluge.
My blood melted the grotesque snakes, but they regenerated almost instantly as if nothing had happened.
For every snake I dissolved, two appeared.
For every two I melted, four sprouted.
Armelia spoke in a shaken voice.
“The regeneration speed is increasing, Mason.”
“Indeed.”
“It’s fortunate that your blood works on such a monster at all, but it’s not touching her actual body.”
There was more bad news.
Berseum spoke in a heavily exhausted tone.
“I repeat, you must retreat. Hurry.”
“Sir?”
“I’m getting sleepy.”
My blood ran cold.
If Berseum—the strongest among us—fell asleep here, everything would be over.
I pulled out the Teleportation bead and shouted,
“Let’s return right now. Tactical retreat!”
“Ah! Look!”
Aina pointed to a spot.
Behind the crouched Helena, one enormous serpent—no… a dragon—was rising.
Her longest strand of hair.
It was outside the waterfall’s range and shot toward us.
“Lunaaa! You’re there, aren’t you!? My daughter!”
Suddenly the serpent shuddered violently.
Its scales peeled off, and like a rain of arrows in the middle of a battlefield, they came flying at us.
I shouted urgently.
“Karin!”
Karin manipulated the spirits in bizarre ways, dodging every incoming scale.
And in an instant, we were far from Helena.
She seemed unable to pursue.
The spirits were so fast that we returned to Berseum’s house within moments.
First, I checked everyone’s condition.
“Is everyone alright?”
“I—I think I’m fine.”
“I think I’m okay too?”
“I’m alright. Probably.”
“I don’t feel any pain.”
Two people didn’t respond.
Berseum and Karin.
But Berseum was asleep, so that made sense.
Karin, however…
“Khuk! Ah, damn it, I’m gonna die.”
A hole had been punched straight through her abdomen by one of the scales.
She’d taken a direct hit.
Her blood pooled across the floor as she spoke.
“No… saying I might die isn’t it. I will die. I’m dying.”
“Calm down. You won’t die.”
“Hey! Easy for you to say when it’s not—”
“Your Highness.”
As if it were the most natural thing, Armelia stepped forward and touched her wound.
Then the Light of Healing manifested, slowly closing the hole.
Karin blinked a few times before speaking.
“W-what is this.”
“You saw it yesterday when we explained what happened. This is Her Highness’s ability.”
“No, Mason. This is your ability. I merely borrowed it for a moment.”
“I’m honored you would say so.”
“I only stated the truth.”
“Hey. Focus on the healing. Don’t look at Mason!”
Anyway, Karin was safely revived.
Armelia had also fallen asleep without issue.
Only then did I finally have a moment to breathe, and as I laid Armelia down comfortably, I glanced around.
“So that was what pierced your stomach.”
Apparently it had moved with us—on the floor lay a massive scale fragment.
When I propped it upright, it reached about up to a person’s calf.
Aina spoke.
“How much do you think we’d get if we sold this?”
“The world’s ending soon and that’s what you choose to say?”
“Anyway, we confirmed that your blood works. And we also confirmed that Grandpa’s invisibility spell keeps us from being noticed.”
“…….”
“So next time, why not sneak in and ambush her? Like pouring the blood directly into her mouth.”
It sounded reasonable enough that I nodded without thinking.
Of course, who knew if things would actually go that smoothly.
‘At the very least, it should take her a day to get here.’
Even Helena had no way of knowing our current location.
And given the Future Diary’s record of her visiting Deut Territory on the 10th, we still had plenty of time.
In the meantime, once Armelia and Berseum woke up, we would prepare thoroughly and start round two.
Just then, Sienne asked,
“But Mason. Where do you think Helena is right now?”
“She’s probably still at that canyon.”
“Check it anyway. I have a bad feeling.”
“Huh?”
“That.”
Despite being unable to see, Sienne pointed precisely at the scale lying on the floor.
Why the scale?
“That scale is vibrating ever so slightly.”
“I don’t notice anything.”
“It is. I pick up this kind of thing better.”
“…….”
“It feels like it’s calling something. I hope it’s just my imagination.”
A chill ran down my spine.
I quickly checked the compass map.
‘……There it is.’
The red dot’s path was different from before.
It was cutting straight across the continent—heading directly toward Deut Territory.
Given Helena’s stride from earlier, this speed was almost like she was running.
“Sienne was right. Excellent work.”
“That doesn’t make me happy.”
Sienne sighed and drew her sword—chaang—then swung it like lightning.
The scale that had followed us split cleanly in two.
“The vibration stopped. I suppose it was a living creature.”
“Even so, it means our location has already been exposed.”
“I agree. Should we move again?”
I shook my head.
“Helena will assume we’re still here. So she’ll definitely come to this location first.”
“And then? …Oh.”
“Yes. If she stops by Deut Territory, everyone there will turn to stone.”
“…….”
“Eris is there. Even if she weren’t, we can’t allow innocent casualties.”
At that, both Sienne and Benjamin nodded.
Aina snorted—and Benjamin flicked her forehead.
Karin spoke.
“What the hell. You’re more human than I thought. Very different from the people in my village.”
“Is that so.”
“If someone like you existed when I was young, maybe I wouldn’t have run away.”
“Well, you definitely can’t run away anymore. Not physically.”
I said that and unfolded the map.
Since the compass couldn’t be shared with the others, we had to use this instead.
“Helena is approaching in a straight line. Let’s check what lies along that route.”
“Hmm. Fortunately, it doesn’t pass through areas with many people. Though there will be a few casualties here and there.”
“Even if they turn to stone once, they’ll return to normal once we defeat Helena. So let’s focus solely on dealing with her.”
I pointed to a spot on the map.
“We’ll hold round two here.”
—Mount Karlin.
Mount Karlin was a massive mountain rising at the center of the continent.
Not only was it tall, but its treacherous terrain made it an isolated region like Bucklet Forest.
Who knew? Maybe even a First-Come Quest had opened here at some point.
A little later, once Armelia and Berseum woke up, we moved toward Mount Karlin.
And we waited quietly for Helena to arrive.
“As I explained before, this time I plan to pour my blood into Helena’s stomach.”
“Do we have enough stored blood?”
“Yes. I don’t know how big her stomach is, but it doesn’t matter. It’ll melt anyway.”
Surely even Helena wouldn’t be raising snakes inside her body.
Like a sentry keeping watch, I stared blankly toward one point.
A bit of calm returned, and my mind began wandering.
“But Karin.”
“What.”
“Are we really allowed to kill Helena?”
“Ask that after you kill her.”
No, asking after would be too late.
“You know I have no memories at all. Even if a mountain-sized monster says she’s my mother, it doesn’t feel real.”
“…….”
“Is that too heartless?”
“No. That’s a normal reaction.”
“Besides, I was betrayed by my parents since childhood. I’ve never believed in familial bonds. I’m only family when I behave well—one mistake and I’m just someone else’s kid.”
I couldn’t find any words to answer her with.
Then Aina jumped in.
“Not all families are like that. Actually, most aren’t. Like my brother, for example.”
“Did I ask you?”
“That attitude… You’re just like how I was when I was little.”
“You’re clearly younger than me. Don’t act like you’re reminiscing about your childhood, shrimp.”
“Whew. Let it go. The one with the higher mental age must endure.”
They suited each other surprisingly well.
So that’s why future-me wrote that Karin blended into the group fairly well.
I was thinking such idle thoughts when—
Thud. Thud.
The ground began shaking.
Aina ended her bickering with Karin and looked toward a point.
“I see her.”
“I don’t.”
“You will soon. Grandpa, get ready.”
“Already done.”
Like last time, Berseum cast invisibility magic.
Since we weren’t planning to talk to Helena this time, he skipped the voice-altering spell.
Instead, he reinforced the defensive barrier in case of emergencies.
For the final check, I spoke.
“With the Teleportation bead, I’ll move right next to Helena’s face. The moment she opens her mouth even slightly, I’ll undo the sack’s knot.”
“Mhm.”
“Huu… Alright. Let’s do this.”
That was when—
Karin suddenly shouted.
“Wait!”
“Whoa—what!?”
“The spirits told me—approaching Helena right now is dangerous.”
“What? Why?”
“They said they can’t breathe.”
Can’t breathe?
Something clicked in my mind. I widened my eyes and stared toward Helena’s silhouette.
It was still just a faint outline, but something dark and murky trailed around her like drifting fog.
Aina spoke.
“It’s miasma.”