SIDE: URSLARS
“BEEN A LONG TIME since I’ve been to Jillbird.”
“Gods, you’re huge, mister. You an ogrekin?”
“You guessed it.”
I watched the harbor on the horizon as the sailor talked to me. He seemed friendly and looked at me with great interest. People usually kept a safe distance away from me, so it was quite the new sensation. There weren’t many ogrekin in this continent, so rumors of my arrival would probably spread immediately.
“Business or pleasure?” the sailor asked.
“Can’t say it’s business, exactly…”
If anything, I made the crossing from Chrome to Jillbird on something closer to a whim.
“Call it a hunch.”
“A hunch?” The sailor tilted his head. “Really?”
That was fair enough. People didn’t usually cross oceans on a hunch.
It sounded like a throwaway answer, but I was telling the truth. My Class Skill, Premonition, enhanced my intuition and instinct. It allowed me to judge whether someone was lying and let me sense traps and hidden enemies in dungeons. It wasn’t infallible, but it had saved my life many times. And now, my intuition pointed me in the direction of Jillbird.
Murelia, a Fiend, probably had something to do with it. When she died, she said she wanted us to save a boy called Romeo. And she wasn’t lying, I knew that for sure. I also sensed a deep sadness from a man called Theraclede. He was cruel, but his sadness was real. Back then, I still didn’t know why…
I only understood later, when I heard that Theraclede had kidnapped Romeo. I didn’t know why he pretended to betray Murelia, but he was on her side until the very end. So, of course, Theraclede would carry out her last will and testament.
But even then, it took a while to work out where he would take the child. Murelia researched orphanages before she died, and one of the candidates was in the city of Bulbola. Mea and the others found that out after looking through Murelia’s belongings, so I knew it was true.
There really wasn’t much of a point in my following the trail. I didn’t know whether I wanted to rescue Romeo or just have a rematch with Theraclede, but after letting my feet take me where they wanted to go, I found myself on a boat headed for Jillbird.
“It feels like I’m on a wild goose chase…”
I got off the boat and asked around for the location of the orphanage. It was pretty famous in town, especially after an A-Rank became its chief patron. Once there, I asked a modest-looking woman about Romeo, but apparently he was no longer here.
“Theraclede took him away…”
I could just let the whole thing end here, but…
“Something stinks.”
The whole thing just didn’t sit well with me. So, instead of forgetting about the whole incident, it took up my full attention. Where had Theraclede gone?
Besides, I couldn’t just give up, not after coming all the way across the ocean. I at least wanted to see Theraclede and the boy for myself.
“So, where to next?”
Theraclede was a wanted criminal across the whole world, so bringing a child along would only cause him trouble. If nothing else, Romeo would make it difficult for Theraclede to run away in a hurry. Still, there was a place where fugitives could live in relative ease. A safe haven for criminals around the world. Somewhere where a strong man like Theraclede could make a living quite easily.
“Goldicia. Where the past remains buried for the strong…”
People in Goldicia hired anyone, no questions asked, as long as you helped them meet their daily quota. They weren’t going to lose out on someone strong because of something as meaningless as their past actions.
“Which means I’ll have to go east to get a boat to Goldicia.”
That was on the other side of Jillbird, but it gave me the opportunity to stop by Granzell’s capital.
“Don’t think I’ve ever been there before. I normally just keep going on to Alessa.”
The capital was majestic. I’d never seen so many ramparts in all my long years. It was hard to find the right place to build a capital city. The surrounding areas must be clear of powerful monsters and their spawn points, the environment had to be stable, it needed to be easy to get to, and there also had to be a water source. Ticking off all these boxes was difficult. Finding a spot free of strong monsters around was especially tough. You just couldn’t build a city where dragons and giants kept spawning nearby, and even if you did, it probably wouldn’t last very long.
In that respect, Granzell’s capital was in the perfect spot. Only small and medium-sized monsters spawned in the area, and they could be easily dispatched by a team of adventurers and knights. Even if a big monster strayed into the region, the capital’s manatek weapons would make quick work of it while its powerful barriers kept the city safe. Even a country as big as Granzell had difficulty gathering all of its strong fighters in one place. If they happened to hang around for a while, great. But countries last for hundreds of years, so defense which relied on numbers and equipment was much more reliable. The capital was the center of a country’s civilization, after all.
“Didn’t think there would be riots here…”
As I looked for information on Theraclede, a sudden explosion shook the city. I left the bar where I was asking questions and stepped outside. Pillars of fire shot up all over the city. This was no ordinary brawl. I didn’t know if it was a coup, but I spotted humans fighting with each other. The capital was impregnable from the outside, but on the inside, it was as vulnerable as any other city.
Either way, this riot was huge. I figured that I probably shouldn’t pick sides as things would get messy if I intervened. But as I was thinking about what to do, I was attacked by freaks with swords in their backs. They were pretty strong, and they could nullify magic too. I didn’t sense any emotion or reason within them. I didn’t even know who they were, but I couldn’t let them run amok here.
The Adventurer’s Guild had several branches in the capital, and they told me that a marquis was staging a coup. The people with swords in their backs were his men, and their guildmaster had already enlisted elites to help.
“Don’t suppose I can just let things be.”
I didn’t know whether or not the capital was fortunate to have me here, but I wanted to make sure that Fran was okay. That was a good trade. My investigation of Theraclede might have ended in a dead end, but at least I knew that Fran was in town. Apparently, she stood out here as much as anywhere else. For now, I would see what I could learn at the palace, where the knights were focusing their efforts.
I’ll take care of their marquis problem if I have to.
I had a lot of fight left in me after Fran and the others calmed me down, so I wouldn’t have to worry about going berserk for a while.
Evidently, I was being too optimistic.
By the time I got to the palace, a girl was destroying the knight brigade. She was a drake with blue scales on her body, and she was emitting enough mana to rival my own. I didn’t know what she was doing, but if she wanted to level the capital, she could do it in a minute or so. I had to intervene. Fran and Teacher would be in danger if I didn’t.
So, I greeted the bigwigs talking about Dimitris, then launched myself into an attack on the drake girl. It didn’t do much damage, so I started thinking I’d have to get serious here.
“But how long can I last?”
If I went berserk in the middle of the fight, then things would go from bad to worse. That was a genuine threat when I was fighting an enemy this powerful. Buying time here was not an option. I had to end this quick. The knights were ordering people to evacuate, so I guess they were paying attention to me. Still, their commander had more balls than I thought.
“Hey, get everyone out of here!” I said. “You don’t wanna get caught in the crossfire when I start fighting!”
“Wh-who are you…?”
“The name’s Urslars. Adventurer. You may know me as Friendly Fire Urslars.”
The commander’s face paled. “All knights, evacuate the citizens and fall back! Retreat to the palace immediately!”
“Sir!”
He gave the order as soon as he heard my name. Smart guy. That should make it easier for me to take care of this.
“You ever heard of an adventurer called the Black Lightning Princess?” I asked.
“You are acquainted with Fran, Sir Urslars?”
Jackpot.
“I am. Where is she now?”
“She is investigating Marquis Aschtner’s mansion.”
“Is that far from here?”
“Quite.”
Great. That meant I wouldn’t have to worry about hurting her either. I still winced at the thought of accidentally killing acquaintances. My conscience kept quiet for all the rest though.
“You guys better split before you get hit!”
Now I can go all out. I haven’t had the chance to let loose in a long time.
“Haaaa! Godsword Release!”
At my command, Gaia transformed. The immense mana sent chills down my spine as the doors holding back the Godsword’s power were blown wide open.
Gaia allowed its user to use Land Magic. I had its entire arsenal of spells at my beck and call now that it was unleashed. I could even borrow mana and fire off grand spells. No wonder people called me a weapon.
“Gravity Prison!”
“Gaah!”
And yet the girl easily broke out of my spell. She must have a lot of Magic Resistance. Binding spells wouldn’t do much good here. This was going to turn into a slugfest.
“Hey, ugly!”
Well, that was a surprise. The girl might look like she’d lost all control, but she could still talk. Still, something wasn’t right. She seemed to be speaking with the voice of a man. All of that was fine by me. More talking meant more time for people to get away.
“What?”
“That’s a Godsword you have there, isn’t it? A real Godsword, not like the fake one the Black Cat brat has!”
“Black Cat?” I said. “Are you talking about Fran?”
“If we have your Godsword…”
“Hey!”
“If we have more Godswords…”
She could talk, but she was too crazed to have a proper conversation. As she mumbled, the girl’s sword emanated wicked mana. Was she being controlled by it? Was her sword an Intelligent Weapon like Teacher? Teacher seemed human enough, but this thing was completely insane. Whatever it was, it wasn’t a good sword, that was for sure.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I don’t know! That’s what I wanna find out! But I do know one thing… We can go back to normal with that Godsword!” The broken sword was definitely talking through the girl. “Hand it over!”
I had its attention now, and that worked out just fine. It wasn’t as likely to run away now.
“Time to get serious.”
I couldn’t sense anyone else in the vicinity. There were still people in the palace, but it was better to destroy the noble district than the common one. At least the nobles could afford to rebuild the area their houses.
“We need it to fix us!” said the girl.
“I’m not attached to this thing, but you’re not getting it!”
“Then I’ll kill you and take it from your corpse!”
“Bring it on!”
We started the fight in high gear, trading blows that leveled mansions in a single swing. Our surroundings were reduced to ruins in less than a minute. Roads turned into rubble and large holes were gouged in the ground. Even then, both of us were still holding back. We would feint to bait a powerful attack, but even if it landed, the fight went on. Arms were bent, legs were broken, our bodies were riddled with holes. But the wounds healed, and our weapons kept clashing.
“Why can’t I control you?!” cried the girl.
“Control me?”
Apparently, the enemy had some kind of mind control power. That wouldn’t work on me. I was already under the terrible influence of Mad Ogre Form. So long as you couldn’t surpass that awful Skill, you would be hard-pressed to control me.
“Yaaaah!”
“Aaargh!”
The cycle of attacking and healing repeated for a while, but the girl was beginning to panic. Even though it looked like we were evenly matched, she was at a disadvantage. She couldn’t maintain this stalemate for long. Our abilities were even. She was better at regenerating her health, and I was better at controlling the battlefield. But the difference between our weapons was clear. I was wielding a Godsword, while the girl had some kind of broken magic sword.
Even if she could heal every hit I landed on her, she couldn’t recover from a Godsword’s damage so easily. It wasn’t easy to tell, but she was getting exhausted. Her movements were getting slower—not by much, but enough to make a difference. The battle was beginning to turn in my favor. She was landing fewer hits, while I was landing more.
In an attempt to whittle me down, the girl took to the skies and pelted me with projectiles. But she overextended and got too close—either because she was desperate to steal my Godsword, or because she needed to cut me with her sword to control me. She must’ve been confident with her swordplay.
Under normal circumstances, the girl would’ve overwhelmed me with her superior Sword Mastery, but Gaia was too powerful for her. With its power unleased, it was imbued with a divine element, taking a chunk out of her life with every swing. Of course, I was feeling the pressure too. The last time I was up against an enemy like this, it was a lich, an A-Threat monster. But awareness was the first step to overcoming this kind of pressure, and I was plenty aware of that now.
“Aaargh!”
She’s backing off!
But I wasn’t going to let her get away now that she was at a disadvantage. I brought the Land Sword Gaia down to the earth and used its ability.
“Kiss of the Land!”
“Yaaaaargh!”
An area around a hundred meters in diameter was immediately flattened and driven down by an invisible force. This was no Land spell—this was the power of Gaia itself. The girl slammed into the ground, yanked by the force of the land. Gravity pushed her down hard into the ground.
Was that too much?
My surroundings were completely flattened, including the walls protecting those inside the castle. But the safety of the capital was at stake here, so I did what I had to.
“Land’s Embrace!”
The flattening focused in on one spot, creating a cage of gravity around the girl and perfectly constricting her. Her mouth opened in a silent scream. This combo would’ve killed an earth dragon in an instant. Enduring it was commendable, but teleporting away was the only way to escape.
The girl screamed before I could deal the final blow.
“GODSWORD RELEASE!”
“Dammit!”
She broke free of the gravitational cage, and the mana coming off of her began to rival Gaia’s. I hadn’t needed to be on my toes like this in a while.
“‘Godsword Release’?”
That’s what I’d heard, anyway. Was that sword of hers a Godsword? It looked broken, but maybe it was a discarded one, like Teacher.
I knew a thing or two about Godswords since I’d been acquainted with Aristea for so long. There were six discarded ones that I knew of. Cherubim, Meltdown, Judgment were the three that the gods had ordered to be destroyed, so it couldn’t be any of these three. But it had to be a Godsword. If it only looked like one, as Teacher did, it wouldn’t have this much power. That meant it was probably destroyed in an accident or battle. It could only be Holy Order, Fanatix, or El Dorado.
As I pondered the Godsword’s identity, a shrill voice broke out.
“That’s it! You’re dead, asshole! Forty years I slaved away for this!”
“Tell that to someone who cares!” I shouted back.
“I chipped off bits of myself and melted them down to forge replicas. Now we have a dragon maiden whose bloodline possesses Shinryu Form. And just when everything’s lined up, you showed up to ruin it all!”
The sword was wailing in frustration. Despite unleashing its powers, it was still broken. However, its guard had grown larger—forming a gauntlet that now covered the girl’s arm up to her elbow. It was etched with countless human faces, but one stood out. It looked like a man’s head and it seemed to represent the sword’s core. It was the same size as an adult male and moved like one too. Even its expressions were human.
“So, you’re the one behind this mess?” I asked.
The sword cackled. “That’s right! We got Aschtner to do our dirty work! Not that it worked out!”
“What do you want?”
“Phyllius’ Godsword, Diablos! I was going to take control of the king and order an invasion of Phyllius, until you came along!”
“To fix you…?” I asked, looking at Gaia.
If this sword wanted Gaia to repair itself, then it probably wanted Diablos for the same reason.
“Yes!” the sword screamed. “I need Godswords made of Orichalcos, and Diablos was also made by Dionis! Like us! It will be a perfect match!”
That confirmed my suspicions. This was definitely Fanatix, the Sword of Mad Faith. It had lost most of its power when it was defeated by Holy Order, but it managed to escape complete destruction. Apparently, it had been plotting to repair itself ever since, and it didn’t care how much blood was shed as long as it could be made whole again.
But the thing that shocked me most was the fact that it had a mind of its own. Still, meeting Teacher softened the blow somewhat.
“It’s all your fault… I’ll kill you, even if I have to break myself to do it! I’ll kill everyone in this city! You’re all dead!”
The sword’s broken blade began disintegrating. Was Godsword Release taking its toll on it? At this rate, it was only a matter of time before Fanatix destroyed itself. The full force of its own power was too great for the broken Godsword.
“Come at me, you scrap metal!” I shouted.
“Gladly! You’ll be the first to die!”
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