Chapter 127 : Eyes Met
Chapter 127: Eyes Met
A search party centered around one Imperial Prince and one Prince stepped into the forbidden land of the Ergest Mountains.
Martin entrusted the lead to Belof, who was more familiar with the mountain range.
Belof sent three ranger corps, including the White Weasel Corps, out in all directions.
“We will proceed by thoroughly searching the surrounding area using the ranger corps. In the end, this is a battle against time.”
Since the tower had to be found no matter what, it was a question of how long it would take.
Even if it took a bit longer, it was better to proceed with certainty.
“Yes.”
And so a week passed. Around then, the search party could not help but sense that something was strange.
Monsters such as yetis, frost wolves, and trolls did appear, but they were few compared to the infamous reputation of Ergest.
“Is it usually like this?”
“No. No matter how much this is just the entrance, Ergest is a place where monsters swarm from the very start.”
Belof Korzen frowned. As the captain of the White Weasel Corps, he had climbed Ergest several times. Although he had never managed to move beyond the entrance, he clearly remembered just how many monsters had welcomed them each time.
“Wouldn’t it be better to expand the rangers’ search range and locate the monsters first before moving on?”
“Let’s do that.”
The search party set up camp on a suitable snow-covered hill and took some rest, while at the same time running about in all directions to uncover the cause.
“This is, somehow....”
“Yes, it seems that way.”
Unlike the others, Hero Hillan Cargill and Granada had clearly grasped the cause of this situation.
A strategy of luring the mountain’s monsters together and detonating them all at once.
The current silence was no different from the calm before a storm.
“Sir Hillan. Did something like this also happen during your hero’s march?”
At that moment, Daphne approached. Granada quickly closed his mouth.
“No. Back then, there were many monsters from the entrance onward. It was my first time in Ergest at the time, so I can’t say for certain, but I believe it matched exactly the Ergest I had heard about in Hortonwork.”
“It was the same when I climbed to search for the tower. If that’s the case, then this kind of situation is unprecedented....”
Daphne stroked his chin.
“It must be the Demon King’s doing. The ecology of monsters is inseparable from the Demon King, after all.”
There was now one more thing they had to keep in mind. To command monsters meant that the Demon King’s influence had grown that much stronger.
“Hiding the monsters suggests they intend to unleash an attack all at once later.”
“I think so as well.”
“Then it becomes a question of where, how, in what manner, and how many monsters will come flooding in.”
The Demon King awaited the hero at the top of the tower, but sending monsters after the hero or planting Black Mages and demons within human society to interfere with the hero’s march had always been traditional methods.
At that moment, a knight approached and called for Hillan and Daphne. It was a summons from the Imperial Prince and the Prince.
“What do you think?”
As soon as they arrived at the tent, the two were met with Martin’s question.
“It is the Demon King’s scheme.”
“As expected. We were thinking the same. What would be the best course of action?”
“When Sir Hillan and I climbed before, there was nothing like this. In other words, the Demon King’s influence cannot be that strong.”
“Then it is likely to be limited to the monsters at the entrance that were pushed out of the food chain.”
“Yes. It will be different from the mid-slope onward. And most likely, the attack will begin there.”
“Then it will be soon.”
“We should make thorough preparations....”
That was when it happened. A commotion erupted outside.
A knight of the Kingdom and a knight of the Empire rushed urgently into the tent.
“Your Highnesses, you should step outside.”
“What is going on?”
“Have monsters appeared?”
“No. Demons have appeared.”
“Demons?”
They hurried outside. On a snow-covered hill not far from the camp, shadows could be seen.
A woman who concealed her body with a robe and hid her face behind a mask. And behind her stood those who were arrayed in formation.
“Human?”
“I can feel demonic energy. There’s no way she’s human.”
“Those behind her are Dark Elves. That woman must be a demon as well.”
People murmured among themselves.
“Is this the Demon King’s ploy?”
“If you give the order, we’ll capture them immediately.”
Some were puzzled, while others burned with fighting spirit.
But all of them felt a strange sense of unease.
In the middle of the Ergest Mountains, which were teeming with monsters, a masked woman standing there—
It did not fit at all.
“They said it was the Demon King of Dark Flame, but we’re not mistakenly heading to the Tower of Lust, are we?”
If she were a subordinate of the Lust Demon King, known as a succubus, it would be entirely possible. However, no matter how one looked at her, the woman before them was far removed from a succubus.
“Sir Daphne.”
“...Nothing about the Demon King of Dark Flame has been revealed yet. No matter what he does, it wouldn’t be strange.”
Even so, among all the hero’s marches he had participated in, this kind of situation had never occurred even once.
At that moment.
“Hello.”
The woman gently bent her waist in greeting. It was incomparably soft and elegant.
Her voice was quiet, yet it rang clearly in everyone’s ears.
The commotion died down, and all eyes focused on her.
The woman wore a satisfied smile.
“Nice to meet you, humans. I am one of the Four Heavenly Kings who serve the Demon King, the Spirit Sorceress of Darkness.”
“...Four Heavenly Kings?”
“Four Heavenly Kings? What is that?”
“A demon who’s a spirit sorceress?”
There were far too many contradictions packed into such a short statement. The existence called the Four Heavenly Kings, which they were hearing of for the first time, and the claim of being a spirit sorceress.
Spirits were the very foundation that composed the world. That demons, invaders from another dimension, could wield spirits made no sense.
‘...This is insane. Ernan Hilderan?’
Hillan and Granada suppressed the expressions that threatened to twist, exercising superhuman restraint.
More than anyone else, they knew exactly who the being before them was. They had seen her and experienced her directly.
‘What on earth is she thinking?’
‘What if she gets found out...!’
She had disguised herself to some extent along with the mask, but it could not perfectly conceal the aura she possessed.
Fortunately, there was a fair amount of distance, she was wearing a mask, she was even giving off demonic energy, and no one would ever imagine that a princess would claim to be a subordinate of the Demon King, so no one made the connection—but one could never know for sure.
As their worries deepened, the Spirit Sorceress of Darkness opened her mouth once more.
“I came to deliver the Demon King’s words to you. Who is the highest-ranking person here?”
Martin and Belof flinched at the same time. They exchanged glances, but in the end, it was Martin who stepped forward.
“It is I.”
“You must be His Highness Martin Zespine, the Third Imperial Prince of the Empire.”
“You know me?”
“Of course. How could I not know a prince of the great Empire? As an Imperial Prince, you are qualified to hear the Demon King’s words.”
Ahem. She awkwardly lowered and roughened her voice.
“Descend the mountain immediately. If you do, I will spare your lives. This is the final mercy I bestow upon you.”
At the crudeness of it, Hillan and Granada let out silent screams, but fortunately, the others, swept up in the atmosphere, found nothing strange.
“Ridiculous.”
Martin shook his head.
“It was you who planted Black Mages in Hapstrain Gorge and provoked the Empire. The Empire will not overlook this matter, and the Demon King will surely regret it.”
“Those words will only further displease the Demon King.”
“Then let me warn you in turn. Even now, confess your wrongdoing and hand over the princesses you abducted. Otherwise, the worst possible ending awaits you.”
“We’re not getting through to each other. It seems you need some education.”
“Education?”
“On behalf of the Demon King, I, the Spirit Sorceress of Darkness, will teach you your place.”
In an instant, mana surged. The demonic energy of the mask intertwined with the mana, concealing her presence.
“So that you may understand just how displeased the Demon King is.”
“And what kind of existence I am, as the one who serves that great being.”
Kugugugugu—
The mountain trembled.
“...My heavens.”
The humans cried out in astonishment.
It was snow. A wave made entirely of snow.
“Accept it gratefully.”
A tidal wave of snow bordering on calamity. The knights unleashed their aura. The mages hurriedly formed defensive barriers.
“Such a paltry demon race...!”
The pride of the Empire, the Platinum Shield Mage Corps, began chanting a joint spell. A massive wall of ice blocked everything.
“Your Highness!”
Martin hurriedly retreated behind it together with the knights.
But—
“Isn’t this actually better?”
The Spirit Sorceress of Darkness smiled. By erecting a wall, the humans had cut off their own field of vision.
As if she had been waiting for this moment, hundreds of mana cannons that had been hidden behind her revealed their muzzles.
They concealed their forms within the avalanche and the ice wall, hid their sound within the roar of the avalanche—and then unleashed fire.
Bangbangbangbang—
Explosions erupted in rapid succession. The wall shook violently.
“Kgh...!”
“Something is striking the wall!”
“Is it dark magic?”
“Hold on! If it collapses, it’s over!”
The mages vomited blood as they poured more mana into it. The wall shattered and reformed repeatedly, but in the end, the victor was the mana cannons.
The hundreds of mana cannons, crafted by artisans counted among the finest even among the dwarves, far surpassed what a mere handful of human mages could ever hope to block.
────!
The wall collapsed. The mages spat blood. And through the gap, the avalanche of snow—momentarily suppressed—swept everything away.
Screams, shrieks, everything was buried.
“Adios Amigo.”
The Spirit Sorceress of Darkness muttered softly.
* * *
On a different hill from where Ernan stood, Berje looked down upon the scene of carnage with his arms crossed.
“I shouldn’t make Ernan act anymore.”
He had been anxious she might be exposed by her awkward acting. Still, setting that aside, the mission had been completed without issue.
“There are many survivors.”
The even larger avalanche had swept everything away, but they were not elites of two nations for nothing.
The mages reinforced their barriers, the knights endured with aura, and the rangers entrusted their bodies to the snow to minimize injuries.
The formation had completely collapsed, but the number of survivors was relatively high. Exactly at the level Berje had intended.
“...Um. Will Sir Hillan and Sir Granada be all right? The Red Hawk as well.”
Ernan, who had completed her role and approached where Berje was, asked worriedly.
“Even after you properly said your goodbyes?”
“I accidentally met eyes with Sir Granada, so before I knew it....”
She was far too immersed in the role of the Spirit Sorceress of Darkness. Well, it wasn’t bad. The more she acted like that, the more it benefited Berje in return.
“There’s no need to worry. There’s nothing more cockroach-like than those bastards.”
“That’s a relief, then.”
“But we can’t just let them calmly reorganize.”
Berje signaled with his eyes. Puuuu— a Peul Orc blew a horn.
The Peul Orcs who had positioned monsters around the battlefield began to move all at once.
Dozens—no, hundreds.
The ferocious monsters that had survived in the frigid snow mountains became calamity itself for the allied forces, who were already thrown into confusion by the avalanche and the unexplained attack.
Battle broke out, and blood and shrieks filled the air.
Among them, the most dazzling figures were, as expected, the two Stars.
Hillan Cargill and Daphne Phillian.
Each time lightning flashed, Hillan’s sword severed a monster’s neck. The moment Daphne’s arrow left the bowstring, it pierced the enemy’s vital point without the slightest deviation.
“Send more monsters and draw those two out.”
At Berje’s order, the Peul Orc blew the horn once again. As the battle grew fiercer, the distance between the two heroes and the Third Imperial Prince gradually widened.
“Let’s collapse that snowbank over there.”
“Yes.”
Ernan and the elves once again set the spirits in motion.
At that moment—
Sssseeeek—
A flickering flash imbued with dimensional interference power rippled through the air.
Crack—
Berje’s grip was torn apart. The arrow, forcibly halted, could not endure the strain and shattered. Ernan blinked at the arrow that had reached right before her eyes.
Feeling the interference power burrowing into his body, Berje frowned.
“...Was I about to die?”
“You seem awfully calm for that.”
“I was surprised. Quite a bit.”
Still—
“I felt like the Demon King would protect me. And it really did turn out that way.”
Berje snorted and turned his head. His eyes met those of Daphne Phillian, who was already drawing a new bowstring aimed this way.
Once again, arrows flew. That was only the beginning. A single arrow evolved into dozens in an instant.
He hurled black flames. The blaze devoured the flashes.
“Krutu.”
“Yes.”
“Deal with that one.”
Krutu charged forward atop a frost wolf. The Peul Orcs that had finished driving the monsters followed behind him.
The screams grew ever more savage.
Before long, none of the heroes could spare any attention for the Prince.
Only then—
The Demon King, who had been merely observing, finally moved.
To abduct the Prince.
“Have you loosened your mouth? To persuade your older brother, your tongue needs to be smooth. I did mouth exercises before going in to persuade you.”
“Um....”
Kaede swallowed dryly.
It was information she did not particularly want to know.