Chapter 418
Chapter 418. Descent
During the first explosion, because of the Sword Demon Karvas’s interference, things did not go as Arthur intended.
But the second explosion was different.
“D, do not move!”
At the suddenly changed mood, the Dark Storms reacted with bewildered faces.
They raised their flashing blades to control the crowd, but unlike before, it did not calm so easily.
“...Why!”
The absence of the Black Stars was the biggest factor.
With the Black Stars vanishing without giving any orders, both the crowd and the soldiers looked lost.
The ongoing spy purge also grew chaotic as the black shamans left together with Rengua.
The purge was halted.
All of it came from the second explosion.
“Stop! Do you want to die!?”
“Cause a disturbance and it is summary execution!”
The Dark Storms tried to get a grip on the chaos in the plaza.
While suppressing the turmoil, they wondered about what they were seeing.
What urgent situation had made the Black Stars abandon the plaza and disappear.
Their doubt was brief, they soon learned why.
“Ah! Cold!”
“...What is this? Why is there water?”
Rough water surged in through several alleys of the plaza connected to the north.
At first it was ankle deep, but the water slowly rose and began to cover the plaza.
Even the erected barricades could not withstand the rough current and were pushed inward.
At that sight, everyone began to panic. Since most were residents of Reruze, they grasped the situation at a glance.
Their eyes turned to the northern rampart beyond the alleys, buried under massive smoke.
“Do not tell me, the lake...??”
The word lake spread in an instant like contagion.
The frozen lake.
That lake water was filling the plaza.
“The northern rampart collapsed!”
The plaza was the lowest ground in Reruze.
Realizing that if the lake overflowed the plaza would be the first to flood, people simply started running.
“It is dangerous...!”
“We have to get out! If we are late, we will die!”
In a flash, the plaza turned into a madhouse.
The Dark Storms shrieked and tried to control it, but from this point on, control did not work.
Even when they cut throats, more people fled.
They, too, could not possibly cut the throats of everyone in Reruze.
In the end, the crowds surged over the barricades and began to scatter outside the plaza, and the Dark Storms, their swords lowered, could only stare blankly at the scene.
And among that crowd.
Damn it!
Arthur was there too.
For some reason, Arthur’s expression looked urgent.
He glanced back, bit his lower lip, and quickened his pace.
Then, when he slipped into a back alley and out of everyone’s sight, he hurriedly lowered his posture and opened his eyes wide.
Burst Strike!
KWAANG!
The ground split with a crack.
Arthur’s figure vanished from the center of the uproar.
A moment later, a handsome man in a pure white robe appeared in the space Arthur had hastily vacated.
Tinkle
An earring rang with a clear tone, resonating.
A blue sapphire earring.
Arcane fiddled with the earring and slowly examined the area.
After briefly checking the debris shattered by the shock and sweeping the traces with his fingers, Arcane straightened and clicked his tongue.
“...Did I lose him?”
Arcane had detected the traces of a divine name mixed among the countless crowd moments ago and moved to confirm that existence.
Because of the distance, the traces had been faint, so he had not properly grasped the identity, and he had lost that mysterious presence here.
He had thought he was secretly on the trail, but could it be he had been noticed.
Arcane soon shook his head.
He had moved chasing the traces of a divine name, but in the midst of a huge crowd, picking up his presence and hiding would be impossible.
He decided the other was simply lucky.
“Who was it?”
Was there anyone bold enough to come alone to Reruze, where the Sword Demon Karvas sat?
He ran through the masters of divine names related to Prime Root, but Arcane found no answer.
The Star of Demtor.
The World Tree Union.
Even the Hunt.
With various forces entangled with Prime Root, it was not easy to think of a specific person.
Arcane let out a low sigh and turned his steps.
“These days nothing goes the way I wish.”
He was moving according to revelation, having received the will of God, but the surrounding circumstances were not shaping into the picture God desired.
It was because of the butterfly effects born of the world’s twisted fate, and since that twist was hard to correct in Demtor, he was waiting for an opportunity in Prime Root.
“Since revelation has descended, the opportunity will come.”
Convinced that the way to set the twisted world’s fate straight lay here, Arcane looked toward the northern rampart.
The place all the Black Stars had headed.
If they had abandoned the plaza plan, something big had clearly happened.
Arcane’s figure soon vanished northward.
He needed the Black Stars now, so he had to help.
A place directly opposite Reruze’s northern rampart.
Reaching the southern wall, Arthur hid between buildings and looked around.
When nothing was caught in his Open Eyes, he exhaled in relief and sank to the ground.
“That was really close.”
Arthur thought of Arcane.
He had believed he kept a safe enough distance, but Arcane’s sensing range far exceeded his expectations.
Good thing Samuel Barber detonated the bombs in time, if he had been a little later, Arcane would have uncovered his identity.
For now, it looks like I passed the big crisis.
Now that the Black Stars had headed north, there was no one around here who could threaten Arthur.
With some leisure, he began to climb the southern wall.
Because the wall’s forces were kept to a minimum for the Black Star Scramble, slipping past the sentries and over the wall was not very difficult.
Crossing the wall and leaving the city, Arthur quickly moved toward the frozen hills.
How far did he go.
Spotting a small cairn atop one of the many hills piled with white snow, Arthur’s eyes lit up and he climbed that hill.
Finding the small pile of stones, he perched on it.
“Samuel.”
When Arthur called Samuel Barber, after a moment, the stones of the cairn tumbled down and a familiar face suddenly popped out.
It was Samuel in a wide brimmed hat.
Brushing the dirt off his clothes with the brim, he came out of the hideout. After a moment, when he stared in silence, Arthur blinked and asked,
“What is that look? Do you have something to say to me.”
“Plenty. I am wondering what to start with.”
“What are you dissatisfied about?”
“I went two days hungry. Someone boldly said they packed lunch for my share as well, so I could not make preparations.”
“Ah, I forgot, did I not? Shall we eat first and talk?”
“You plan to get away with it like that?”
“If you go two days hungry and I hand you one more subspace pouch, is that not a fair trade?”
When Arthur produced the remaining lunch before him and pressed an empty subspace pouch into Samuel’s hand, Samuel quietly looked at the pouch.
Looking back at Arthur, he casually tucked the pouch into his coat and sat down in front of the lunch.
“The lunch looks tasty. Did you make it yourself?”
Samuel clearly liked money as much as Fenry.
Hungry, Samuel Barber wolfed down the lunch. Seeing that, Arthur felt needlessly sorry.
Once the lunch was mostly gone, Samuel drank some water and spoke.
“You did not come for so long I thought you had been discovered by the Black Stars.”
“I nearly was. If you had not detonated the bombs in time, it would have been dangerous.”
“The mood in the plaza felt strange, so I delayed a bit to check, I am glad I was not late.”
“It was good timing.”
“What now. It seems everything went according to plan.”
As Samuel said, they had succeeded in fixing Prime Root’s gaze.
The raid on Reruze would give the Black Stars a strong sense of alarm, so for a while they would not turn their eyes outward.
With their identities not exposed, this operation was certainly a success.
I am curious about the state of the northern rampart, though.
In the novel, Reruze had so few assaults it was called an impregnable fortress.
He had figured the northern rampart was the only part worth targeting and brought it down, but its ripple effect seemed far greater than expected.
Because they left the spies they had rounded up in the plaza and every Black Star moved to the collapsed wall.
He wanted to know why, but that information could be checked later by sending someone.
He did not want to take any more risks here, and he was just about to ask Samuel Barber to return.
[We must check the north.]
“...Huh?”
Reto, who had been quiet until now, spoke for the first time.
Even when a great crisis came in the plaza, Reto had kept its mouth shut...
What it said was puzzling.
“Check the north?”
“What do you mean? The north, all of a sudden.”
[The King of the Dead. Her presence has grown stronger.]
“Her presence has grown stronger, what exactly do you mean?”
[Descent. It seems she has descended through a medium.]
Descent.
At that word, Arthur’s face hardened.
“Jess Milo has descended?”
He recalled the gold coin dolls she had fashioned from souls she had corrupted with greed in the past at Tobaron.
Where she descends, only death remains.
And such a descent of hers had occurred in Prime Root?
This was a development never heard of even in the novel. As Reto said, it needed to be confirmed.
“Exactly where in the north?”
The frozen lake. She is there.
Arthur looked at Samuel Barber and said,
“Samuel, go wait at the portal first. I will check the north and return.”
“It looks dangerous, will you be all right?”
“If you are worried, shall we go together? It might be a support.”
“Support, my foot.”
Samuel gathered up the leftover lunch boxes. Then, turning toward the portal, he said,
“Make sure to come back. I will guard the portal well.”
As if afraid Arthur would snatch him, Samuel disappeared quickly toward the portal without hesitation. It seemed he had had a hard time during the two days apart, for he would not go toward Reruze again even if it killed him.
Sending Samuel off, Arthur let out a long breath and set his direction.
“Can you locate her, by any chance?”
[Vaguely.]
“If we approach, will she not detect us? Does she not sniff out Reto’s existence like a ghost?”
[Descent is not easy for her. Just maintaining the state will be burdensome, so she will not have the leeway to mind her surroundings.]
“You mean the more her presence thickens with descent, the poorer her detection becomes?”
[Even so, we should be careful in approaching.]
“I understand.”
Nodding, Arthur began to run in the direction Reto indicated.
The pouring snow blurred his vision.
A cold like a blade.
Reruze’s environment was certainly harsh.
Past the frozen hills, an open sheet of ice greeted Arthur.
The frozen lake.
As he looked at the outer lake, lost in thought, Reto sent word of her position.
[She is getting farther from here. She seems to be heading for Reruze.]
“Reruze, I cannot grasp her intent.”
It seemed he would learn that intent if he went to the collapsed northern rampart.