CHAPTER 9
THE FALLEN HERO
The Archsage of the Six Heroes—Arakael Degradios. His age already exceeded two hundred even before he achieved immortality by merging with the Holy Tree worshipped by the elves.
Once an old man lauded as the wisest and greatest of mankind, Arakael had lain waste to the Dark Lords’ Armies on countless battlefronts. One thousand years later, the Archsage had appeared in battle yet again, but the form he took was a far cry from the one Leonis knew.
“A Void…?” Leonis found himself swallowing nervously upon seeing what his old rival had become.
The bark of the Holy Tree had festered, inflamed with the same black mist that had accompanied the Voids that attacked the Garden. Its branches, which once produced the fruit of immortality, were now adorned with the writhing faces of countless Voids. They raised their voices in unnatural roars as the creatures tried to crawl out into the world.
The Holy Tree was birthing Voids.
“…Now I understand. You’re the Void Lord,” Leonis concluded.
Voids were indeed ancient monsters; they’d been transfigured by some unknown power. Since that was the case, it wasn’t a far leap to assume the Six Heroes had become Voids as well.
—LE…O…N…ISSSSSS…
The countless faces of the Voids mouthed his name as if chanting a curse. Arakael’s hatred was palpable even a thousand years later. No, perhaps it was more appropriate to say his anger had been growing, boiling here for one thousand years…
“Did you truly long to meet me again that badly, you pathetic corpse?” Leonis cracked a thin smile.
He chanted a sixth-order spell, the Cursed Inferno Blast, Mel Ziora.
Booooooooooooooooooooom!
The raging flames incinerated the Voids along with the writhing roots.
So it snatched Riselia away to lure me out…
—LEO…NISSSS…
“Just you wait,” Leonis said, stepping over the charred remains of the Voids. “This time, there won’t even be ashes left when I’m done with you.”
He glanced back, feeling eyes on himself. The children of the orphanage were watching Leonis with frightened expressions.
…I suppose I can’t blame them.
—It wasn’t all that different from that day so many years ago.
He was used to seeing people look at him like that. Possessing such overwhelming power stirred fear in the hearts of men. That was true even when he’d saved the kingdom as a hero.
…As the Undead King, I should be pleased by this.
Leonis heaved a small sigh and walked away from the orphanage. All the Voids in the area were destroyed, and there was little danger of it being attacked again. It was just a matter of time until the academy’s Holy Swordsmen arrived anyway.
Whether this orphanage was attacked or not didn’t matter much to Leonis, but this place was dear to his minion’s—to Riselia’s—heart. Leonis held up his Staff of Sealed Sins and chanted.
“Eighth-order spell—Zoah Doma.”
The Obsolescence Barrier settled over the orphanage like a black fog of death. With another spell, the Undead King conjured a pair of greater skeleton knights, powerful undead warriors. They were reliable enough to be trusted with the protection of great treasure or nobles. Leonis realized that the barrier he’d conjured was a bit wider than necessary, but it wouldn’t be broken through easily.
“I put up a barrier. If you don’t want to die, stay inside this building.” Leonis addressed the frightened children with an indifferent tone.
He then made to leave, only to hear a voice call from behind.
“…Erm… P-please wait…!”
The orphanage’s door opened, and the oldest girl among the children stepped out timidly. Tessera.
“L-Leo…”
A skeleton knight brandished its sword, ready to stop the girl, but Leonis raised a hand, prompting the knight to sheathe its weapon.
“E-erm…” The girl was so nervous, her voice couldn’t pass her lips.
“What is it?”
“Th-thank you…for protecting us…,” Tessera said, bowing her head.
“…Y-yeah…”
Those unexpected words of gratitude left him somewhat surprised.
“Please, save Selia.” She’d likely seen Riselia’s abduction. Her head remained bowed her head as she made the request.
“I will. Leave it to me.” Leonis nodded, patting her lightly. “I promise I’ll bring Selia back.”
“O-okay!”
The skeleton knight pulled the girl back inside.
The Undead King always kept his promises.
His back to Tessera, he headed for the giant fissure in the ground. At the edge of the great shaft, sitting on top of a pile of rubble, was a black wolf.
“—Our old nemesis has returned from the grave, it seems.”
“Blackas, what are you doing here?”
“I’ve hastened to your side, my friend, slaughtering the creatures in my path.”
“Did you eat them?”
“I would not. They seem disgusting.” Blackas shook his head and dropped a large cloth sack at Leonis’s feet.
“What’s this?”
“The spoils of war. I gathered them while investigating the city. They are far more delicious.”
Inside the sack were several skewers lined with grilled meat.
“You didn’t steal these, did you?”
“I’m a member of the royal family of the Realm of Shadows. I would never do such a thing,” Blackas scoffed, disappointed. “I allowed the humans to stroke my tail, for which they gave me these.”
“…I see.”
He would have preferred Blackas not doing anything to make himself conspicuous.
“I am hungry, though. Would you share these with me?”
Leonis may have used one powerful spell too many. Using his dark magic the same way he had back when he was the Undead King was problematic in this body.
Blackas picked up one of the skewers in his mouth, presenting it to Leonis. The boy quickly scarfed down the grilled meat and threw the skewer into the pit. Riselia had likely been snatched away to bait Leonis, but the tree might’ve also been trying to assimilate the massive power of a Vampire Queen. If that was the case, he had to hurry.
“Now, then. It’s about time you returned my minion, Archsage.”
“Thundering Lightning Slash!”
Raikirimaru’s blade flashed through the air. Sakuya Sieglinde’s transcendent, well-honed swordsmanship sent the heads of the hydra-class Void soaring into the air. Her movements struck as swiftly as her weapon’s namesake. She bounded along the ground, moving faster and faster.
“Two-Stage Moonflower Flurry!”
The robes of her homeland danced in the wind as she once again severed one of the Void’s heads.
“Not bad! So you’re that young student they say is skilled enough to slay Voids?”
A Holy Swordswoman wielding a wind-type Holy Sword fought side by side with Sakuya. She was a vanguard attacker from the ninth platoon that had been dispatched to the same sector.
“If you keep flapping your tongue in the middle of battle, you’ll die, ma’am,” Sakuya remarked curtly.
“Yeah, yeah. I get it…”
The other girl didn’t seem to take offense and moved to slash at the hydra class’s legs.
“Its heads are already regenerating. Burn away the severed sections!”
Elfiné had been analyzing the Void’s classification and relaying the data to all the other platoons using her tablet.
“Leave that to me! Drag Howl!”
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
Regina’s Holy Sword spewed fire. Her attacks—capable of single-handedly defeating an ogre-class Void—sent ripples through the air as the hydra-class Void was enveloped in flames.
But when the dust and smoke cleared…
“N-no way…!” Regina ground her teeth bitterly.
The Void didn’t seem to have taken any damage. Instead—there were tree roots growing out of the neck stumps left behind following Sakuya’s attacks.
“Wh-what’re those?!”
“…I don’t know. There’s no match for that kind of specimen in our data.” Elfiné shook her head. This was different from a regular hydra class.
“…Spread out!” the ninth platoon’s acting commander ordered, sensing incoming danger.
Three vanguard attackers finished their combo assault and jumped away. Sakuya refused the command, however. She simply stood in front of the Void, staring her enemy down.
Crrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaasssshhhhh!
The roots bursting out of the severed heads of the hydra class whipped about, destroying the nearby buildings.
“Sakuya?!” Elfiné raised her voice in a shout.
“How strange. You monsters become more and more like specters every day.”
Dodging an attack by a hairbreadth, Sakuya tightened her grip on Raikirimaru. Those treelike necks moved as if without regard for the Void they were attached to. The commander shouted something, but Sakuya didn’t hear it.
Sakuya had a tendency to be blinded to what was happening around her in the heat of battle. It was why no platoon had sought her out, despite her prowess.
But regardless of that…
…Thank goodness.
Elfiné heaved a sigh of relief knowing Sakuya was still alive. Had her Eye of the Witch had been working at full strength, its overwhelming power would have allowed her to provide cover for all the attackers on the field at once. But the true power of her Holy Sword remained sealed from her.
…I’m still too afraid of Voids.
Elfiné hugged herself, as if trying to restrain a shiver running through her limbs. She couldn’t conquer the terror she’d felt since that fateful day.
Even so, she chose to stay on the battlefield and offer intel to the Holy Swordsmen fighting on the front lines. That was the greatest contribution she could make right now.
“El…finé… Miss Elfiné…”
Elfiné suddenly jolted in surprise as a voice echoed in her mind.
“…Leo, is that you?!”
It was indeed the boy’s voice.
“Good, you can hear me…”
One of the orbs she had sent to the nearby areas must have served as a relay. Leonis’s voice came in clearly.
“Yes… Are you using Selia’s communication device?”
Leonis shouldn’t have been supplied with one of his own yet.
“Yes, this is Miss Selia’s.”
An unpleasant feeling slithered through Elfiné’s thoughts. If the two of them were in the same place, why wasn’t Riselia herself using the device?
“Miss Selia’s been captured by Voids.”
Elfiné’s fear was right on the money.
“…?!”
She was at a loss for words.
The Voids abducted a human being? Why…?
But the next thing Leonis said only served to frighten her further.
“I’m going to rescue her. Miss Elfiné, I need you to use your ability to pinpoint her position.”
“You’re going to go save her…alone?”
Elfiné was shocked by his suggestion. It was too reckless. He may have had the power of a Holy Sword, but he was only a ten-year-old boy.
“—Yes.”
“Just wait for a bit, I’ll ask another platoon to help rescue her right now…”
“We won’t make it in time if you do that,” his cold voice said through the terminal. “And besides, you haven’t the capacity to spare any capable fighters, do you?”
“That’s…”
Elfiné returned her “eyes” to the battlefield. Sakuya’s group was fighting to the best of their ability, but the massive Void was proving to be too much for their small numbers. They were struggling.
“I’ll bring her back. Miss Elfiné, please tell me where she is.”
“………”
I should stop him.
Going on a rescue mission on his own was insane. But there was no guarantee Riselia would survive until another platoon could come to help her.
Leonis fell into a short, hesitant silence.
“…Miss Elfiné, could you use your ‘Eye’ to look at the sector where I’m located?”
“…? I could, but…”
Dubious, she linked her vision with one of the orbs flying past. When she did…
“What is this…?” Words of astonishment left her lips.
Tree roots had destroyed the asphalt, carving scars into the ground. And…scattered all around Leonis were the remains of countless Voids.
“Did you kill all of…?”
“Yes, I did this,” Leonis answered tersely. “I’ll tell you everything later, Miss Elfiné. For now, please just trust me.”
His voice was far too calm and collected for a ten-year-old.
“………”
Elfiné swallowed a quick breath.
“…All right. I’ll try.” She nodded.
After seeing that much, she had to believe. Cutting off all other information for a moment, she focused on tracking Riselia’s registered information. The reception was weak. The miasma the Voids released was likely jamming it. And yet…
“…She’s underground… Deep underground. Four layers below…”
The underground area of the Assault Garden was a concealed space kept hidden as a military secret. Its interior was sealed off by countless bulkheads, making it difficult even for Elfiné’s Eye of the Witch to pierce. Shutting out her own senses, she focused as hard as she could.
“You should be able to access the main shaft from where you are, Leo. I’ll use my Holy Sword to unlock the bulkheads, so you should be able to go as deep as the seventh stratum…”
“I’ll destroy the bulkheads if need be. Lead me down the shortest route possible.”
“Destroy them…? F-fine, all right…”
As soon as she had refocused herself to the task…
Boooooooooooooooooooooom!
“…?!”
A catastrophic blast reverberated, shaking Elfiné’s body.
“…Miss Elfiné, what’s happening?”
Elfiné got to her feet and returned her senses to her immediate surroundings. The hydra-class Void had broken through the vanguards. It rushed forward, the earth trembling beneath its feet with every step.
“Wait, is it coming this way?! Miss Elfiné, look out…!” Regina shouted from the rooftop of a nearby building.
“………”
Elfiné couldn’t move, though. The trauma of losing her old squadmates to a Void attack had left her frozen, chained where she stood.
“Ah…”
She cowered, shrinking in place, and squeezed her eyes shut. And then…
The air whistled as the Void was cleaved in two.
…Huh?
One of the heads of the Void bearing down on her had been, quite suddenly, removed from its body.
Fyoo! Fyoo! Fyoo!
The rest of its heads were lopped off as well, in quick succession. The hydra-class Void sank to the ground before Elfiné’s eyes.
“…Wh-what?” Sakuya whispered in surprise, Raikirimaru still gripped in her hands.
“I don’t…know…”
One of the orbs of Elfiné’s Holy Sword then caught a glimpse of a small shadow standing on the rooftop of a nearby building. A girl clad in a maid’s uniform retracted whips made of darkness into her hands.
“…Good grief. My Undead King certainly has a habit of working his maid to the bone,” she whispered in slight displeasure before grumpily munching on a doughnut.
“Farga!”
Booooooooooom!
Leonis’s Bursting Curse Shot tore through the bulkhead barriers as he continued his silent descent. He was heading down the massive shaft leading into the depths of the Assault Garden’s underground. His drop was regulated by powerful gravity-control magic.
“I never imagined there’d be such a vast labyrinth beneath the city,” Blackas remarked from Leonis’s shadow.
“There are probably tunnels spread out for transporting supplies and manpower.”
Perhaps they had been dug with the intent of moving Holy Swordsmen swiftly in case of emergency, but the buried passages were blocked by the roots of the tree.
“Still, mankind’s magical technology has advanced so far,” Leonis marveled as he burned through the roots attempting to devour the intruder.
Even the dwarves hadn’t achieved a structure this large.
…Which reminds me, I haven’t seen any elves or dwarves at this academy, Leonis thought.
Were they isolated from human society, or perhaps…?
Destroyed by the Voids…? I don’t remember them being that weak.
The demi-human alliance had made a pact with mankind. The elves of the Spirit Forest in particular had given Leonis a hard time back in the day.
“…Keep going that way. The route continues straight ahead.”
“Understood.”
Following Elfiné’s instructions through the earring, Leonis landed on a platform sticking out from the shaft’s side.
“Farga!”
He destroyed the closed bulkhead barrier and advanced into the dark corridor with his staff in his hands lighting the way.
“…—Keep going…fighting…city’s power source…—”
The static grew worse and worse. Perhaps the Void Lord was at fault for the interference, which must have meant they were getting close. The sound of Leonis’s shoes clicking against the floor echoed loudly through the corridor.
“You sent Shary to help the humans?” the black wolf asked from within the boy’s shadow.
“Mm, yes…”
Shary may have been a ditzy maid, but she was a skilled assassin. She was no match for Blackas in terms of sheer combat prowess but was still capable of toppling a castle all on her own.
“We’re up against one of the Six Heroes. Are you sure not bringing her along was a good idea?”
“…The two of us will be more than enough,” Leonis answered as if to evade the question.
He realized what Blackas was getting at, of course. Why did he send his right-hand woman, Shary, to protect the humans? His minion Riselia was another matter, but there was no rational reason he would elect to defend the other members of the eighteenth platoon.
Leonis cleared his throat, feeling Blackas’s suspicious gaze on him.
“Elfiné’s Holy Sword is useful. I can manipulate it to my ends. Besides, Regina Mercedes is my minion’s maid.”
“………”
Blackas didn’t seem quite convinced, though.
…Ugh, This is so irritating!
Honestly, Leonis didn’t know the reason, either, but some part of his heart didn’t want to lose those girls.
“I’ve grown a bit interested in those girls. That is all,” Leonis eventually admitted, slightly discouraged.
“…I see. That reason suits you well.”
This time, his brother in arms seemed satisfied with his answer. Come to think of it, this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened. He’d given Shary a place by his side on a similar sort of whim, even after she’d come to assassinate him.
“You’ve always been too kind when it comes to your minions, but perhaps this body is making you soft, more humanlike.”
“…Impossible.” Leonis shook his head bitterly. “Farga!”
He destroyed another bulkhead in his path. The opened passage was infested with writhing tree roots. The miasma filling the air of the tunnel was suffocating.
“Our time for idle talk is at an end, Blackas. It should be straight ahead now.”
“Yes…”
Communication with Elfiné had gone completely silent now.
“Uuuuooooooooooooh…!”
The roots swelled, giving birth to small, animallike Voids.
“Phranis! Phranis! Phranis!”
Leonis used the third-order spell Swift Flame Wave to mercilessly mow down the newly birthed creatures as he rushed the the corridor. Any grand destruction spell that was above the eighth order would likely blow his foes away, but casting such a spell in a closed space like this would bury Leonis alive.
Continuing his advance, the boy eventually came upon a ruined bulkhead. Behind it lay an enormous opening. Bright, green-tinged light illuminated the space.
“What’s that…?” Leonis furrowed his brow the moment he stepped inside.
The source of the light was a massive chunk of mana crystal. Coiled around it were the many roots of the Holy Tree. It was enormous, such that even the portion not enveloped in roots was roughly fifteen meters in diameter.
“I see. So this is the city’s power source,” Blackas said.
Mana crystals were grown by spirits and ancient gods and, during the era of the Dark Lords’ war, served to power the Crag Castle of Dizolf, the Lord of Rage. Nothing but a mana crystal could’ve powered such a large city. Except…
“I didn’t think one this large could form naturally.”
“…You don’t think this could be man-made, do you?” Leonis whispered.
The two suddenly found themselves interrupted as…
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…
The roots of the Holy Tree began writhing around the mana crystal. They tore through the bulkhead with a loud, quaking sound, sealing Leonis in the chamber. The knots on the roots began swelling, forming countless human faces. Faces, faces, faces—hundreds of them, all resembling wood carvings. Each was an identical visage—the Archsage of the Six Heroes, Arakael Degradios.
“You’ve fallen quite far, my old nemesis,” Leonis observed, tapping the handle of his staff against the ground. “A hero of mankind once lauded as his race’s greatest sage is now naught but a seedbed of monsters…”
The Holy Tree’s surface was coated with that same black mist. From its body, the tree birthed Voids of different shapes and sizes. They were the fiends the Archsage had consumed in the war one thousand years ago… And within the tree was Riselia, trapped.
“Now then, Arakael, I’ll be taking my minion back.” With indomitable confidence, Leonis smirked and began chanting his spell.
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