CHAPTER 8
STAMPEDE
With the shrill sound of the siren ringing in her ears, Instructor Diglassê rushed to Excalibur Academy’s tactical conference room. Several other instructors were already gathered. The air was almost tangibly tense.
“What’s the situation?”
“A contingent of Voids has appeared on the seabed directly beneath the Assault Garden,” said the Holy Swordsman serving as acting commander-in-chief.
His name was Castoros Nekeo, a buff, muscular man in his late thirties.
“And it’s not just any random large group. It looks like a Stampede…”
That word rendered everyone in the room speechless. A Stampede—a phenomenon where a swarm of Voids, led by a powerful leader called a Void Lord, ran amok. The memories of the Third Assault Garden’s destruction at the hands of such a Stampede were still fresh in many peoples’ minds.
“Were there no signs this was coming?” Diglassê asked as she broke into a cold sweat.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have any means of detecting a Void Lord,” one bespectacled researcher replied.
“Do we know how many Voids are out there?” asked a white-haired old man—he was a military advisor dispatched from Camelot.
“Their numbers are estimated to exceed several hundred…”
“Several hundred…?!”
That many enemies meant their chances were hopeless, even if they were all small Voids. But if this truly was a Stampede, then there was a possibility that a Void Lord, an extremely large class of Void that commanded the hordes, might appear.
“Whatever the case, our top priorities are evacuating the civilians and locating the commanding Void. Order the academy’s defenses tightened while our platoons work on leading the civilians to safety.”
Riselia rushed outside, siren blaring all the while. Leonis followed her, not quite sure what was going on…
…Wh-what’s that?!
The sky was covered in a sea of gray clouds. No, not clouds. A flock of deformed winged monsters flew across the horizon, their numbers blotting out the sun.
“Voids…”
These were smaller than the ones he’d seen in the ruin, but…there was no mistaking it. These were the same kind of creatures. The siren blared in his ears like a scream, and the citizens of the Assault Garden walking along the street simply looked up, shocked.
Where did all these flies come from…?
He recalled the underwater colony Elfiné was looking into…
“No! Why is there a Stampede here…?!” Riselia gaped with an expression of sheer despair.
“What’s going on?”
“I don’t know.” She shook her head. “Anyway, we need to evacuate everyone…”
The moment she turned around to the orphanage, a thick, black mist suddenly filled the street. A massive shadow grew where the miasma was the thickest. It quickly took the form of a collection of deformed nightmares resembling many different beasts—Voids.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
Terrified screams erupted from all sides at the sight of the Voids. Some people ran, while others boarded vehicles and took off.
“Everyone, calm down! Head for the shelters!” Riselia called.
But her voice failed to reach the panicked people. The girl bit her lower lip bitterly, likely recalling the Stampede that had destroyed her hometown.
Four, five, six…chimera-like Voids slunk from the black fog, one after another.
“Do these Voids have a designation, too?”
“They’re a large class of Void that’s a mix of different beasts—we call them the manticore class.”
…I see. So they call them manticores instead of chimeras.
But they were still based on the appearance of an ancient monster.
Voooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
The manticore-class Voids swung their tails around, smashing nearby buildings.
“…!”
Riselia looked back. The children were still in the orphanage. They wouldn’t be able to escape in the chaos.
“We need to call the academy for help…”
Riselia activated the communication earring dangling from her ear but heard only static.
“Leo, get behind me…,” Riselia said.
She still didn’t know Leonis had defeated the Voids in the ruins. She only knew of the bit of power he’d shown when they’d dueled Muselle. His minion stood in front of Leonis in an attempt to protect him. It wasn’t that she was overly confident about the power of her Holy Sword. No. Leonis could see the intent in Riselia’s eyes. It was the solemn resolve of a knight.
“Aren’t you scared?”
“Of course. If I didn’t have my Holy Sword, I might’ve run away. But…” Riselia looked straight ahead. “I can’t afford to run anymore!”
One of the manticore-class Voids crushed the ground beneath its feet as it leapt up. The creature’s body arced through the air, closing the distance between itself and the two of them in a single bound.
Zooooooooooooooooooooo!
Its massive bulk gouged the asphalt beneath it, forming small craters as it landed.
“Activate!” Riselia cried, and a slender sword formed in her hands. “Haaaaah!”
She raised her voice in a battle cry and made a swift strike to the Void’s head. Her sword flashed, but…
“…The blade isn’t going through…?!”
Her attack did little more than scratch the monster’s head, failing to inflict any fatal damage.
“Gooooooooooooooooooooooooh!”
The large Void swiped with a foreleg at Riselia—
“Beruda Gira!”
Bang!
Leonis fired a Heavy Gravity Bombardment spell that distorted the ensorcelled air. The manticore-class Void’s colossal frame was crushed under the pressure of his magic.
“I commend your courage, but assessing the enemy’s strength is important,” he said.
“L-Leo?!” Riselia took a step back, a shocked expression on her face.
The Staff of Sealed Sins, having emerged from Leonis’s shadow, was clenched in the boy’s hand.
“Was that you just now?”
“Be careful. There are still more coming…,” Leonis said, alert.
The large flock blotting out the sky was descending. Amid the swarm was one that clearly dwarfed the rest.
“Is that…? Could that be a Void Lord?!” Riselia gave a nervous gasp.
In contrast, Leonis simply smirked indomitably.
…Oh, how very nostalgic!
Between the piercing howls of the siren, the members of the eighteenth platoon ran through the third residential district, the most densely populated in the Garden.
“Please head to your nearest shelter!”
Elfiné used her Holy Sword’s orbs to search the area. Most citizens had already evacuated to underground shelters, but there might’ve still been some who’d failed to escape in time. The sound of flapping wings could be heard in the distance.
“…Where did such a huge pack come from…?!” Regina, who was stationed on higher ground, exclaimed as she used her Drag Howl to bombard the flying Voids.
The Assault Garden had already shifted to defense mode and had been firing off great barrages of gunfire, but conventional weapons didn’t affect their enemies. Many of the younger students had already fled. Even most among those who could summon Holy Swords, few had any real experience fighting Voids.
After all, this was the first Void attack on the Seventh Assault Garden in the six years since its construction.
“Miss Elfiné, can you get in touch with Lady Selia?”
“There’s a powerful jamming signal interfering with the connection.”
Apparently, one Void was somehow disrupting their long-distance communications.
“…Lady Selia…”
“I understand your concern, Regina, but right now we need to…”
“Yes, I know.”
Regina was a survivor of the Third Assault Garden tragedy and Riselia’s childhood friend…
To say she felt uneasy was an understatement.
And Leo’s missing, too…
They were both likely at the orphanage near the commercial district. Elfiné had sent one of her orbs there to investigate.
The Voids’ eyes shone crimson as their jaws creaked open with a hideous sound. They may not have had any intelligence per se, but Elfiné got a definite sense there was a kind of unity among the pack.
“There’s too many of them…!”
“Handle the large Voids with groups of four or more!” The battalion commander’s voice crackled from the communication terminal.
The commanding officer took over tactical command, but the actions of each individual platoon fell to their captains. That was because only the platoon’s members were familiar with the powers of their Holy Swords and which tactics were most effective.
“Regina, I’ll cut a way through. Cover me.”
Sakuya stepped forward, her white Sakura Orchid garb fluttering in the wind. There wasn’t a trace of fear in her eyes. At the bottom of those clear pools burned an intense hatred for Voids.
“Cut down all that opposes you, Blade of Lightning—Activate!”
Chanting the words that unlocked her power, the girl summoned her Holy Sword. The very soul of the Sakura Orchid clan materialized in her hand—a katana. It was her Holy Sword—the Blade of Lightning, Raikirimaru.
“Let’s do this, you accursed creatures!”
Sakuya’s boots kicked against the ground, the wind whistling as each stroke of her sword moved with incredible speed, as though she were a bolt streaking through the heavens. Blue electricity surged, licking at Voids and scorching them to embers. But the lightning was only a by-product of her power. With each slash, she accelerated, moving ever faster—such was the true strength of Sakuya’s Holy Sword.
“Mikagami-style swordsmanship—Dance of the Sakura!”
A flash of Sakuya Sieglinde’s sword, and cuts bloomed on her enemies like flowers in spring. This technique the small girl employed was a secret art passed down in her home village. A memento of the Sakura Orchid clan.
Carnage incarnate, she sliced through the smaller Voids.
“I’ve got your back, Sakuya!”
Regina’s Drag Howl belched a gout of flame, blowing back a flock of predators.
That was when it happened.
“Hold up! There’s something coming!”
Elfiné’s exclamation ripped through her communication device. It was something only her Holy Sword—the Eye of the Witch—had detected.
“There’s…something huge approaching…!”
Asphalt cracked and crumbled at the impending threat.
“Uooooo, uoooooooooooooooooooooooo!”
A massive Void the size of a five-story building appeared. A titanic beast with seven heads.
“It can’t be… A hydra class…?!”
Voids surrounded Riselia and Leonis as the two stood with their backs to the orphanage. Large manticore classes and small hell hound classes drew ever nearer. And behind them, the massive Void that filled the gray sky.
“…Is that the Void Lord?” Leonis asked.
“Yeah, that’s probably the one leading the others…” Riselia nodded.
The way it flapped its wings was reminiscent of dragons, the tyrants of the skies. But its wings looked to have rotted from the dark miasma that had appeared with the Voids. The titanic Lord’s body writhed in eerie patterns.
To think, even the great dragonkin have been reduced to Voids… Leonis felt an indescribable emotion prick at his heart.
They were once a proud race that reigned over the skies one thousand years ago. The Dragon Lord Veira had fought bravely during the war against the Six Heroes.
This is a show of mercy. The Undead King will put you to rest.
Leonis held up the Staff of Sealed Sins. If this Void possessed a resistance to magic on par with that of a dragon, a normal spell wouldn’t be enough to down it.
“Guuuuuuuoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!”
The towering Lord howled, and as if responding to its call, the Voids on the ground began swarming around Leonis.
“Selia, I’m going to use a powerful spell. I need you to protect me for a while.”
“All right!” Riselia stepped forward, brandishing her Holy Sword.
As Leonis chanted a wide-range destructive spell, he also prepared a multitude of strengthening spells. Attribute Protection, Mana Barrier, Mana Augmentation, Physical Augmentation, Agility Augmentation…
“Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
Riselia lunged at the swarm. The tip of her blade caught the light as she cut freely through her enemies. Her movements were quick and fluid, proof her body was acclimating to fighting as a Vampire Queen.
“Celestial Stars in the Heaven, Ye Haughty Sealers of Judgment…”
Charging his staff with large amounts of mana, Leonis began chanting a tenth-order spell.
…My word, what am I even doing here…? Leonis thought with a hint of self-deprecation.
His objective was to find the reincarnation of the goddess and restore the Dark Lords’ Armies. He shouldn’t care whether a human city got destroyed by Voids or not. Him putting on such a large show of power here only ran the risk of exposing his identity. However…
Leonis glared at the massive Void. Any fool who would pick a fight with the Undead King and his minion couldn’t be ignored. He completed his spell.
A tenth-order destruction spell—Dark Star Beckoning, Zemexis Jyura.
Countless fireballs were conjured from thin air, raining down on the Voids. The explosions shook the air around them, scattering waves of heat in all directions.
“…Ah, L-Leo? Isn’t this dangerous?!” a somewhat panicked Riselia asked.
“This spell is set to follow its targets, so just stay put!”
“I can’t hear— Aaaaah!”
Booooooooooooooooooom!
The fireballs collided with nearby buildings, reducing them to rubble. Black smoke issued around them, and countless craters dotted the ground. A number of the manticore-class Voids had been blasted to bits in the barrage.
“Hmm. Perhaps I got the coordinates a bit off?” Leonis cocked his head with a displeased expression.
Controlling his mana really was too difficult with his current body. Regardless, Leonis felt confident he’d adjust to it soon enough.
The shock from the explosions had knocked some decorations from the roof of the building, but the orphanage was otherwise unharmed. And when the intermittent explosions died down…
“What was that…?” Riselia got to her feet.
“Be careful. It’s still alive.”
“Huh?”
No sooner had Leonis’s words left his lips, than…
“Guooooooooooooooo!”
With a roar, the massive Void that had been knocked to the ground rose back up. The creature measured thirty meters long. Its massive form was suddenly enveloped with the faint light of a mana flare.
“Draconic Light Armor, huh? An innate spell.”
Dragons that lived long enough acquired intelligence and were capable of using innate spellcasting unique to dragonkin. Judging by its size, this Void was likely an elder dragon.
So even without its intelligence, it can still use sorcery…
Leonis hadn’t expected his spell to defeat it, of course. The Void Lord howled and raised its crooked neck. Its mouth filled with red-hot air…
“Selia, get down!”
Leonis reflexively deployed a mana barrier. The spherical shield blocked the dragon’s blazing breath, while the flames lashed their surroundings. The asphalt melted, forming a sea of lava around them.
The Void Lord then started chanting a second spell, forming multiple magic circles in the air around it. A large-scale destructive spell that would eradicate their surroundings indiscriminately. At this rate, the orphanage would be caught in the destruction, too…
Will I be able to cancel it out with a spell of equal strength in time…?!
The limitations of the human body restricted how quickly Leonis could chant.
“…I won’t let you!” Riselia made a fierce charge forward, Holy Sword in hand. “Hyaaaaaaaaaaah!”
She slashed, her shining, silvery hair streaming through the air. Any normal Void would’ve been cleaved in two by the attack, but the dragon’s scales deflected even the blade of a Holy Sword. The Void Lord lifted its tail and slammed it against the ground.
“…!”
She reflexively avoided the tail but was blown aside by its shock wave.
“Zamd! Zamd! Zamd!”
Leonis quickly undid the spell he was chanting and fired several Cursed Burst Shots—a second-order spell. Though the technique was capable of crushing even boulders, the dragon barely staggered. The Void Lord began chanting the large-scale destruction spell again.
But then… A gigantic black wolf leaped from the shadow of the rubble and sank its fangs into the Void’s neck.
“Guoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!”
“Blackas!”
It was indeed Leonis’s comrade in arms, the prince of the Realm of Shadows—Blackas Shadow Prince.
The Void Lord thrashed its neck, struggling to shake off its attacker, but the great obsidian wolf refused to release its jaws. Leonis used that moment to invoke his spell.
“Perish, Lackwit King. Know Your Own Foolishness…!”
The spell was loosed, and Blackas took cover in the shadows. It was a tenth-order spell—Massive Extinction Malediction, Meld Gaiez.
An orb of nothingness appeared above the Void Lord, bearing down on the creature and crushing it into the earth.
“Grrrrrrroooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!”
Cavernous fissures ran through the ground and split open. The Void’s massive form disappeared into the bottom of the chasm. Leonis then fired several Madia Zolf spells—the Incandescent Inferno Cannon. With each blast, flames surged up from the depths of the abyss.
May you rest in peace, proud king of the dragons…
Among all monsters, Leonis was especially fond of dragons. He had always found their aloof strength and pride very relatable. Thus, seeing them reduced to these creatures was unforgivable in his eyes.
Darkness filled the bottomless chasm. There had likely been a vast trench beneath this city to begin with. Turning, Leonis found Riselia breathing heavily.
“Do you need some blood?”
“…I-I’m fine…” The girl looked away.
Then something suddenly erupted from the cracks in the ground.
“What?!”
They were writhing tree branches and roots. In the blink of an eye, they coiled around Riselia’s body and dragged her down into the depths.
“Selia!”
“Leooooooo…!”
Leonis reached out to grab her, but his fingertips only grasped empty air. With a gentle sound, her earring communication device fell at Leonis’s feet.
What in the world is this…?
The encroaching roots seemed to be devouring the remains of the Voids that littered the area, growing larger as they did.
It’s eating the Voids?!
Leonis had seen this once before: a tree’s roots multiplying without end and devouring the armies of the undead. He’d seen it one thousand years ago in the final battle of the Dark Lords’ Armies…
“…Oh, I see. So it’s you…,” Leonis said, his lips forming the name of his hated nemesis. “One of the Six Heroes…Arakael Degradios!”
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