CHAPTER 3
GAZOTH HELL BEAST
“…What in the world happened here?” Leonis whispered in aghast shock as he emerged to the surface.
The Rognas Kingdom’s castle, Ur-Rognasia Palace, was split in two like someone had cleaved through it. The wreckage of inactive Machina Soldiers was scattered about the road.
“I saw what happened,” Arle said. “A large orb of light appeared under the palace and burned through the city with a beam of light.”
The ball of light must have been the Deus Machina’s initial form. It likely recognized Nefakess as an intruder and risen to the surface to intercept him. But the priest had a trump card prepared to handle the Deus Machina and used an Artificial Elemental the humans made to take control of her core, forcing the Machina Soldiers to fight among themselves.
“They’re not going to start moving again, are they?” Riselia asked, gingerly eyeing a flipped over Machina Soldier.
“You don’t need to worry about that, I think,” Leonis said, tapping on the burnt armor of the machine.
Machina Soldiers were purely machines, and without their commander unit, the Deus Machina Schwertleite, they were completely inert.
“Let’s get out of the city for now. There could be cave-ins anywhere here.”
“Agreed.”
By the time they reached Ur-Shukar’s gates, the sun was already starting to set.
The formation of the stars is different, but the sun sets at the same rate…, Leonis pondered as he looked up at the twilit sky.
Which reminded him—did Veira successfully retake the Azure Fort from the Devil of the Underworld? She had wanted to use the Almagest contained within to inspect the position of the stars in the past, in an attempt to figure out how it changed over the last thousand years…
“Found it, it’s over there.” Riselia pointed at a rock formation in the wasteland.
Parked there was the battle vehicle they had rode earlier, the Thunderbolt.
“The sun’s about to set, so let’s set up camp here until dawn,” Riselia suggested.
“Good idea.” Sakuya nodded.
“Leo, is Regina still asleep?”
“Oh, yes,” Leonis reached for the shadow at his feet, which rippled, after which Regina floated out of it.
“You can hide people in your shadow?” Arle asked, curious. “Holy Swords really do have useful powers.”
“Y-yes…” Leonis nodded vaguely.
“Regina…” Riselia kneeled next to her, peering at Regina’s face with concern.
“Is she all right?” Sakuya asked.
“Yes, she’s just asleep.”
When one of the Machina Soldiers self-destructed during battle in the ruins, he ended up knocking out Regina. Sakuya was able to use some strange power to give her first aid that healed her wounds.
“It’s time to wake up now,” Leonis said, snapping his fingers.
“Nn…” Regina rubbed her eyes groggily and stretched. “Ah, Lady Selia. Good morning.”
“…Oh, Regina, thank goodness you’re safe!” As Regina sat up, Riselia hugged her tightly.
“L-Lady Selia?! Ah, wait, am I outside the ruins?!” Regina looked around, alarmed and confused.
“We’ll catch you up later. For now, we need to set up camp.”
“C-camp? Oh, you can leave cooking to me!” Regina said, her pigtails bouncing.
“No overexerting yourself, Regina. You can rest if you want.”
“No, Lady Selia. I got a lot of sleep, so I’m raring to go!” Regina hopped to her feet and energetically rotated one of her arms.
“Y-yeah? Well, if you say so…”
But as the two had this exchange, the elf girl turned around.
“…Arle? Where are you going?” Sakuya asked.
“It doesn’t matter where I go. This is where we part ways,” Arle replied curtly.
“Aren’t you going back to the Seventh Assault Garden?”
“Yes, I have a mission to complete. I must investigate this world further.”
“…I see.”
“Erm, won’t you at least stay to have dinner with us…?” Riselia suggested, which did make Arle halt for a moment.
“…I’m sorry, but I don’t intend to get along with humans.”
She waved goodbye and made to walk away.
“Wait.” Sakuya rummaged in her sleeve, took out a small sack, and tossed it over to Arle. “Take this.”
“Wh-what?” Arle turned around and caught the sack.
“It’s a Sakura Orchid traditional dumpling. Eat it as a snack.”
“…Th-thank you.” Arle pocketed the dumpling and walked off into the wasteland.
Leonis had a feeling he knew where she was headed.
…She’s going to look for the Swordmaster, who vanished into the Void tear.
Like Leonis himself, the elven hero was a personal pupil and protégé of Shardark. Her search, however, would likely yield nothing. The man who was once the strongest hero had completely succumbed to the emptiness and became a Void.
No point in stopping her, though…
Leonis couldn’t tell if Arle did this of her own choosing, given that someone seemed to be guiding her actions. He was curious as to who put suggestions into her head… Whoever they were, they were skilled enough to fight off Leonis’s attempt to control Arle’s mind with sorcery once. Leonis had since relented, as there was no telling what might happen if he provoked the suggestion placed on her.
…I’ll just let her do as she pleases right now, Leonis whispered to himself as he watched her leave.
“I was resurrected in this world about ten days ago.” The Lord of Beasts bit on a piece of meat attached to a bone that was about as large as his arm, chewed, and swallowed.
They were in the banquet hall at the bottom floor of the Dark Lord’s Castle. Littered over a table she had prepared were dishes and foods delivered from assorted eateries in the Seventh Assault Garden.
“…Pardon, Lord of Beasts, you said about ten days ago, but do you remember exactly how many days it’s been?”
“Huh? Why would I remember that kind of detail?” Gazoth turned around, a piece of meat in his hand, and glared at Shary.
“…M-my apologies, Great One!” Shary said, swallowing the urge to say people would normally remember that.
…I mustn’t displease the Lord of Beasts.
Shary had a mission—she needed to stall for time and gather information until Leonis returned.
Unlike the Dragon Lord, I believe he’ll be calm so long as I keep him fed…
But really, the beastman’s stomach seemed to be bottomless.
My lord’s military budget is getting smaller and smaller…
The table already had several hundred empty plates piled on it. What’s more, the Lord of Beasts turned out to have an epicurean streak and didn’t touch any simple dishes whose only redeeming quality was their mass. After gulping down high-class wine, the Lord of Beasts answered, becoming talkative.
“When the Eisen Fort fell a thousand years ago, I led my forces, the Grand Beast Army, on many battles, until I fought the Swordmaster of the Six Heroes on the Blood Fang Plains.”
“You mean Shardark Shin Ignis, said to be the strongest of the six.”
“Aye, him.” The Lord of Beasts nodded boastfully. “I’ve fought the Swordmaster a few times before, but that bastard gets stronger each time I face him. I managed to chomp off one of his arms, and at the same moment, he gouged my three hearts.”
“You have three hearts, Great One?”
“Aye. That way, if one gets destroyed, I can still regenerate. But if all three of them get done in at once, even I’d end up croaking.”
“I see. So crushing all three of your hearts at once would kill you… Allow me to jot that down…,” Shary whispered, secretly writing down this unexpected weakness he revealed.
…This could help my lord.
Shary tried to get information on the Lord of Beasts out of desperation, but it turned out he answered her questions both frankly and easily enough. Shary hadn’t interacted much with Dark Lords beside Leonis, but they didn’t strike her as this rough and careless.
I suppose the Dragon Lord was rough in her own way…
Come to think of it, Dark Lords were all apex predators, the strongest life-forms in this world. They likely didn’t feel the need to hide their power from those weaker than them. Perhaps Dark Lords who conducted themselves carefully like Leonis were in the minority.
“I was beaten by the Swordmaster and collapsed to the ground.” The Lord of Beasts growled. “My flesh was destroyed to the point where I should have been beyond the point of resurrection or becoming an undead. Or so I thought.”
The Lord of Beasts continued.
“But I was resurrected. When I came to, I was lying in a forest that grew where the Blood Fang plains were a thousand years ago…”
When the Lord of Beasts awakened, he wandered the land for a time in search of the enemy, believing the Dark Lord war was still ongoing. And when tears appeared in space and he began killing the unknown monsters that emerged, he was discovered by a unit from the capital on a mission to wipe out a Hive and was taken in as a refugee.
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