Chapter 3: The Heavenly Lions
The Heavenly Lions. A veteran mercenary group once led by the late Lucius Orgueil.
At present, fifty mercenaries wearing the group uniform were flying in towards the Galarc Castle. They descended rapidly until they reached an altitude of two hundred meters, where they started firing bullets of light towards the ground.
Each light bullet was a few centimeters in diameter. They were actually bullets of magic energy, but they could be compared to hard orbs just under one kilogram heavy being fired at a speed of three hundred kilometers per hour. Such an attack was being rapid-fired by fifty people at once.
The light bullets became a rain, closing in on the ground in an instant. Their targets were Sara on the roof, Celia and the others around the mansion, and the two platoons of aerial knights Francois had dispatched. They split into groups proportionate to the number of targets.
“Haaah!”
Sara and Alma both summoned a huge barrier of magic essence, blocking the bullets from reaching them. Sara focused on minimizing the damage to the mansion, while Alma protected the others around her. Their defenses worked successfully, but the aerial knights were helpless against the attacks from above.
“Gah?!”
“Gwargh!”
The knights and griffins let out screams of pain as they were hit by the attack.
The knights that were critically hit lost consciousness, their griffins turning violent from the pain. While they had safety tethers, they started falling out of their saddles one by one. By the time the attacks stopped, there was no one left flying. It was pandemonium.
“Ngh...”
Sara and Alma were unable to do anything but watch on. The attacks were incessant, leaving them no choice but to focus on keeping their barrier up. During that time, the assailants came within landing distance of the ground.
Tch, all the top-priority targets are unharmed. Mister Reiss said there was a high chance they’d block the first attack, but at least one could have gone down and made things easier for us...
One of the mercenaries of the Heavenly Lions, Arein, clicked his tongue in annoyance. But he immediately switched gears.
“Follow the plan! Lucci, your squad takes the outside! Ven, your squad heads inside the mansion! My squad will be the commando unit. We’ll stop the castle knights from approaching by foot. Move out!” he ordered his comrades around him.
“Right!”
The mercenaries moved swiftly. Thirty of them continued the attack from above with Arein, while the others split into two groups to descend to the ground. Eleven mercenaries and Lucci landed near the dirt walls Celia had put up earlier, while Ven and the remaining seven closed in on the front door of the mansion.
“Ngh, the enemies are getting inside...!”
The number of assailants firing bullets from above had decreased, but the fierce barrage still continued. Sara had no choice but to continue holding her barrier.
They’re completely ignoring me... Are they after the princesses?! This is bad!
Sara guessed at the mercenaries’ aim and called out to the others below. “I’m going to support the others inside! Take care of the outside!”
“Go, Sara!” Celia replied immediately. The rain of bullets tried to stop Sara from moving. However...
With their forces split up, the focus on me has lessened. If it’s like this...!
While keeping her barrier maintained, Sara summoned several spears of ice around her. Then, she fired them to the sides, sending them to the sky in a curving arc. She controlled their trajectory with spirit arts, aiming for the mercenaries attacking her.
“Tch.”
The mercenaries being targeted circled in the air, evading the lances. In doing so, their attack on Sara faltered.
“Now!”
Sara spotted that slim opening and used the chance to jump down to the ground floor, rushing into the mansion through a window.
◇ ◇ ◇
While Sara was returning to the mansion, the mercenaries under the command of Lucci reached the ground.
“Guh, they’re on the other side of my dirt wall...!” Celia cried in frustration.
The moment of landing was a big chance to counterattack, but they had landed out of line of sight of her to avoid her magic. Their knowledge of how to handle the terrain in battle, their carefully planned ambush strategy—it was clear they were a much more formidable enemy than the revenants that had attacked earlier.
“Quattuor Magi: Magicae Displodo.”
Celia fixed her gaze on the two walls she had created and chanted an attack spell. Magicae Displodo was a spell that fired a powerful magic cannon, making it extremely lethal. The possibility of casualties flashed through Celia’s mind.
...This isn’t the time to be holding back!
If she hesitated here, someone among them would definitely die. She manipulated her magic as fast as she could, spending three seconds to create four magic circles before her. However, she didn’t fire them immediately.
“Potentia Incantatio! Superfundo!” she shouted.
The glow of the magic circles increased in luminosity. The next moment, four powerful bursts of light were fired from the circles like cannonballs.
They were, of course, aimed at the two giant dirt walls Celia had created. The tip of the light collided with a loud explosion. By controlling the trajectory of the spells, she made sure to break the walls down thoroughly. In reality, the enemies on the other side of the wall were buried alive by the rubble.
“Ooh!” the knights cheered.
But immediately after...
Boom.
The fallen rubble was blown away with great force.
“Wh...Wha?!”
A torrent of darkness came from the other side of the wall, swallowing all four of Celia’s magic bursts in a violent storm.
“Guh...!”
Everyone recoiled at the shock wave—except for Alma. She moved the barrier she had placed over their heads to her front, blocking the advancing wind. The flying rubble collided with the wall, but it disintegrated on impact.
The wind eventually stopped, leaving a cloud of dust that obstructed their view. The mercenaries wouldn’t be able to see them either.
“Ha! Ha! Ha ha!” From the other side of where the wall had stood was a man cackling in gleeful laughter. It was the larger man in the group, Lucci.
“Damn, this sword is great! The commander’s memento is amazing!”
He looked down at the black sword in his hand with a smirk, a crazed look in his eyes.
“Ngh... Alma, I’m going to keep the enemy in check and secure a line of sight. Take down the barrier to the front.”
“Right!”
“Vortex.” Celia used a new spell to clear their vision and keep the enemies in check. A swirling whirlwind was released from the magic spell, blowing away the dust cloud while moving forward. However—
“Just try me!” Another shock wave of darkness blew at them violently. Lucci had swung the sword in his hand, mowing down the whirlwind magic Celia had used.
At the same time, their vision rapidly cleared. All the rubble had landed by then, so the two sides could finally see each other properly. Celia’s side was met with the sight of twelve mercenaries in black combat uniforms.
“Wh-What was that...?” Celia trembled uneasily.
“All hands, draw your swords! Enhance your physical abilities!”
Louise drew her sword and immediately assumed combat readiness. She chanted the spell to enchant her physical ability, and her six subordinates followed suit.
It was a bad move to act with no idea of the enemy’s position, but now that the view had cleared up, the battle could start at any moment.
“I’ll take over the barrier casting, Alma. Magicae Murum,” Celia chanted in a hurry. Her barrier overlapped with Alma’s from the inside, creating a wall against physical and magical attacks.
Maintaining a barrier limited the caster’s movements, so it was better for a sorcerer like her to handle the spell over the highly mobile Alma.
The attacks from above had ceased after Sara slipped inside the mansion, but there was no telling when they could start again. She had to keep the barrier up just in case—this was what it meant to have control of the air.
“Please.” Alma nodded and canceled her own barrier. She advanced forward while glaring at Lucci and the other mercenaries with their weapons held ready. Yet despite the critically tense atmosphere, Lucci burst into a hearty laughter for no identifiable reason.
“Ha ha ha!”
It was so creepy, Celia and the others frowned in response.
“Celia, have you realized it?” Alma whispered to Celia without moving her gaze.
“Realized what...?”
“That man with the black sword is part of the gang that attacked us on the way to Rodania with the princess.” Alma had faced him herself, so she remembered him clearly.
“Ah...!” Celia gasped.
“Ha! Looks like you’ve finally caught on to us. We even wore our squad uniforms to make it easy for you. Hey, let’s continue from where we left off.”
Lucci pointed his sword at Alma without any attempt at hiding his identity. Alma had won last time, but his haughty attitude seemed to imply he thought his victory would be certain this time.
What kingdom is that aerial knight uniform of? Could it be a mercenary squad uniform? Either way, why would they attack our castle in clearly identifiable uniforms...?
Without knowing anything about him, Louise came up with her own guess. Like the Galarc Knights, this group of people wore a combat uniform of the same design. But that aside—
“That brat with the mace and the tiny sorcerer casting the barrier are our targets, right, Lucci?” a mercenary beside Lucci asked. There was no one else among them that Alma and Celia recognized the face of.
“Yeah, exactly like the briefing. You guys aim for the sorcerer. Take care of the extras around her as well. The mace-wielding brat would be too much for you, so she’s mine.”
“Just because you have the commander’s sword now...” a disgruntled voice mumbled. The other mercenaries looked at Lucci’s black enchanted sword with discontent.
“I was the only one that matched it in compatibility, remember?” Lucci said boastfully. The jet-black enchanted sword that Lucius used was powerful. They had just witnessed its power moments ago. It was understandable for Lucci to be excited about fighting, but—
“Tch... Don’t forget that taking just one target hostage is enough to accomplish the mission,” one man warned Lucci, reminding him not to forget about fulfilling the assignment in his enthusiasm.
“Of course. Why else are we here?”
Lucci glared at the man with a frown. They were here for revenge on the man who killed their captain.
“Let’s finish this before the enemy reinforcements arrive. Follow my lead.”
He pulled himself together and returned his gaze to Alma, adopting a battle stance.
“Celia.”
Sensing the enemy’s movements, Alma called out to Celia while moving to stand in front of her. They planned a strategy using the least amount of words possible.
“I know.”
Celia had a barrier held up overhead and to her front, but she removed the one to the front. Alma then walked forward.
Next, Louise and the other knights stood before Celia. Celia adjusted the shape of the barrier to create a dome shape with an opening only to the front of the knights.
Once Alma saw that, she slammed the head of her mace on the ground. A thick wall rose from the ground behind her, stopping at a height of one meter. It partially blocked the section of the barrier Celia had left open before the knights.
“...”
They had already confirmed that both sides could make wide-ranged attacks. It would be reckless to charge forward, so they had no choice but to glare warily at each other.
However, the more time passed, the more of a disadvantage the attackers would be in. The silence would soon be broken.
“Let’s go!”
“Come at me!”
Lucci and Alma yelled at the same time. Lucci burst into a run towards Alma, followed by the other mercenaries one beat later.
They’re fast...
That kind of speed wasn’t achievable with magically enhanced physical abilities alone: they had to be using enchanted swords that could reinforce their physical bodies as well. Lucci’s movements in particular were something special; he was considerably faster than the others.
However, Alma had her physical abilities and body enhanced as well, which was why she was able to capture their initial movements accurately.
This formation was the right choice after all.
The knights on their sides could only enhance their physical abilities, so they wouldn’t have been able to keep up with that speed. Last time she faced Lucci, Arein, and Ven, the three of them possessed enchanted swords that could enhance their physical bodies. Fearing that the other mercenaries were in possession of similar weapons, she had asked the knights to stand back.
“Hah!” Alma charged straight forward, and in the next moment, Lucci was within her reach.
However, the converse also applied to Lucci. Their weapons clashed together with a screeching ring. Alma tried to push forward with her dwarven strength, but Lucci had more arm strength than she’d expected. In fact, he was clearly stronger than the last time they fought. She could tell he had a powerful physical body enhancement applied through Lucius’s enchanted sword.
“Guh...”
“Damn, where does that animal strength come from?!”
Alma’s physical strength won by a faint margin, pushing Lucci backwards. It wasn’t enough to knock him off-balance, however, as he immediately charged forward once again.
“You’re taking too long, Lucci!” While he was pushed back, two mercenaries passed by on each side of him, slashing at Alma.
“Hey, you two! That’s my prey!” Lucci growled.
It doesn’t matter how many there are of you. No one’s getting past me! Alma slammed her mace on the ground, unaffected by the number of opponents. The ground cracked open, sending a shock wave of stones and pebbles flying.
“Gah!”
“Out of my way!”
The two mercenaries stepped back and Lucci charged forward in their place.
“I won’t let you!” Alma slammed her mace against the ground before her, using magic essence to create spikes of earth, similar to those of a hedgehog.
“Ooh, how scary.” Dreary darkness flowed out of Lucci’s sword. In one swing forward, he flattened the spikes of earth, then in another swing back, he swung at Alma, who was no longer obstructed.
“Ha!” Alma raised her mace reflexively, blocking Lucci’s sword.
“This brat is my prey! You all attack the others from the sides!” Lucci yelled at the other mercenaries.
“Tch!” There were some mercenaries who frowned unhappily, but they swallowed their pride and prioritized the goal. They split up as ordered, passing by Alma to aim for Celia and the knights.
“Now!”
“Ignis Iecit!”
“Fulgur Sphera!”
At Louise’s order, two of the knights cast attack magic through the gap in the wall before them. They weren’t sorcerers, so their magic ability was limited, but they could still use lower-grade spells—and when it came to battle with humans, lower-grade attack magic was more than enough of a threat.
While the barrier protected them from outside attacks, there was no way of attacking from inside the barrier. That was why Celia had purposefully left the front of the barrier open and Alma had built a low wall to act as an obstruction.
Like this, Alma could stop the enemies from advancing through the middle, while Louise and the knights could stop any enemies trying to go around with orb-style spells. This was the plan Celia had come up with on the spot earlier. However...
“Tch.”
Orb-style attack spells had high lethality even at lower grades, but the tradeoff for their power was a slower projectile speed. This made it difficult to aim at experienced soldiers with bodies boosted by their enchanted swords. The mercenaries fell back and went around the points of impact, negating the spells.
“Photon Projectilis!”
Two other knights aimed for the moment the mercenaries evaded the spells. Photon bullets had less power than orb-style spells, but as bullet-style spells, they had much faster projectile speed. Light-type bullets were the fastest of them all, but...
“How annoying.”
“They’re not the pushovers I expected. That’s some skill.”
“Don’t underestimate your enemies! They’re still elite knights.”
The mercenaries continued to evade the magic with ease. They even had the leisure to complain while leaping about.
Meanwhile, Alma’s mace collided with Lucci’s sword in a life-or-death struggle. “Take that!”
Lucci was evidently stronger than the last time they fought. His basic techniques hadn’t improved, but his physical abilities had increased dramatically. Alma had slightly more physical strength, but they were on par in terms of speed. On top of that, Lucci was clearly more experienced in fighting against other people. All his mercenary experience wasn’t just for show.
I’m meant to be luring the majority of the enemies too! Alma gritted her teeth, frustrated that she was only able to distract a single enemy. It was times like this where her lack of combat experience left her disadvantaged.
“Ha. I see your friends have focused on going on the defense to buy you time. But they won’t hold on for long,” Lucci taunted, seeing through the panic in Alma’s expression while swinging his sword.
“Guh...”
The situation wasn’t looking good. The assailants were all skilled mercenaries from the renowned Heavenly Lions. Though they couldn’t advance with the barrier and spell barrage hindering them, they weren’t about to retreat quietly.
“Photon Projectilis.”
The mercenaries started counterattacking as they evaded. Their target was, of course, the unprotected front of the barrier.
The low wall Alma had built provided good cover from projectiles, but there were gaps for the knights to expose the upper halves of their bodies and cast their magic. The photon bullets slipped through those gaps and rebounded around the inside of the barrier.
“Ngh. Lady Celia, stay down.”
“O-Okay.” At Louise’s order, Celia bent over.
The most important factor of a magic duel was cover. The risk of being hit was reduced by the amount of cover they had while casting.
“Keep your heads low and the spells coming! Cast until you run out of magic essence!”
“Yes, captain!”
The knights crouched down and continued casting spells over the wall, but their accuracy naturally dropped with their heads so low. That made it easier for the mercenaries to move.
“All right, get around them!”
“A barrier of this size has gotta be a burden to hold up!”
“Break it with your attacks!”
Eventually, the mercenaries surrounded them on all sides and began attacking the barrier.
“Ugh...” Panic filled Celia’s face as she watched the malicious assailants attack her barrier with their magic and weapons.
There was no doubt her barrier was a powerful defense method capable of blocking all attacks and keeping out intruders, but it also consumed a lot of magic essence. Just having it up consumed essence, but blocking attacks consumed even more. The essence consumption went up exponentially as the area of the barrier increased, and the barrier’s strength weakened the less essence there was remaining.
If she wanted to minimize her essence consumption, she had to shrink her barrier while keeping it sturdy enough to withstand the enemy attacks—but doing so was no simple feat. Most people had no choice but to use all their magic essence just to make the barrier big enough. That’s why barriers normally consumed a lot more essence than was necessary. It wasn’t practical to use the spell on the battlefield unless the attack was unavoidable.
Celia had much more essence than the average sorcerer, but even she would struggle with over ten mercenaries surrounding her barrier. They were basically on board a sinking ship right now—and the moment she ran out of essence, the enemies would wipe them out instantly.
I-It’s okay... I have the essence in the spirit stone Rio gave me, and they’ve caused this big of a fuss already. Reinforcements will be here soon. I just have to hold on...!
Rio wasn’t here right now... That fact weighed on her heavily. But in order to prove she was fine without him, she had to fight. Celia clutched the spirit stone she received from Rio and frantically told herself that it’d be okay.
Alma could see Celia holding the spirit stone as she fought and came to a decision.
There’s no other choice...!
She still had one ace up her sleeve, and she had hoped to keep it hidden—no, her village had ordered her to keep it hidden at all costs. But if she didn’t use it here, the situation would become irredeemable.
Ifritah!
Alma yelled the name of her mid-class contract spirit in her heart. A giant lion-shaped beast appeared out of thin air.
Ifritah immediately charged at the mercenaries surrounding the barrier.
◇ ◇ ◇
Some time before Alma summoned Ifritah...
In the hanging gardens of the castle, King Francois was aware that the newest assailants were humans. In fact, he was irately watching things take place from afar in the very present.
It was clear that the battles on the ground were not going well. Several people had entered the mansion, and the enemy griffin riders were circling the skies, preventing any reinforcements from reaching the area.
“The nerve of these people...”
Francois gritted his teeth to stifle his anger and frustration. Losing his composure wouldn’t help the situation, and above all, he had his dignity as the king not to do something as unbecoming as breaking down and shouting before his vassals.
Besides, he had already given orders to deal with the situation. The knights on the ground were still engaged in combat with revenants, but his aerial knights were heading for the mansion.
However, the revenants that preceded the mercenary attack had created much chaos in the castle, and support teams were focused on transporting the injured. One-third of the aerial knights were stationed in the castle, but out of the six hundred knights available, only one hundred could be sent as reinforcements.
Despite that, there was still a considerable number of troops flying towards Rio’s mansion at once. Arein and his subordinates had no choice but to intercept them, sparing Celia and the knights on the ground from an aerial assault. But that was the extent of their effect.
There were thirty mercenaries in Arein’s group, and a number of them had descended to stop any reinforcements from approaching on foot. In terms of numbers, the Galarc Kingdom side had the overwhelming advantage, but what was most burdensome was the supporting fire that occasionally rained down on the aerial knights from far above.
On top of that, the mercenaries that had descended to the ground had released their griffins back up to the sky to assist the others. Because of that, the Galarc side was yet to assume control of the air.
Sandwiched between fire from above and griffin attacks from below, the aerial knights were forced into combat with Arein and his squad. Francois could see they were struggling to make a proper advance.
“Your Majesty! The assailants have been identified! The emblem on their uniforms is of a mercenary group called the Heavenly Lions.”
A soldier ran up to where Francois was being protected by his own knights and sorcerers. Finally, the identity of their enemies had been revealed.
“What?” Francois furrowed his brow.
They were a famous mercenary group, so it wasn’t that he hadn’t heard of the name before. What had actually caught his attention was their leader, the man who was killed by Rio for being an enemy to his parents. He was also the culprit behind Christina and Flora’s recent abduction.
“Hmm...”
Right now, those mercenaries were raiding the mansion of their leader’s killer. Inside the mansion were the two princesses that were previously abducted.
Francois thought hard about why the Heavenly Lions would launch an attack like this.
◇ ◇ ◇
Meanwhile, Ven’s squad had just charged into the front door of the mansion. The mercenaries opened each door as they went past, checking the interiors.
“It’s Sara! Please open up!”
Sara had the advantage of knowing the mansion’s layout, so she went straight for the window of the room connected to the safe room. However, she knew she could be mistaken for an enemy if she charged straight in, so she knocked on the window in a hurry.
The knights inside the room had been watching what was going on outside, so while they were surprised by Sara’s sudden appearance, they immediately let her inside.
Standing before the corridor leading to the safe room were Satsuki with her spear-shaped Divine Arms, Latifa with her dagger, and Vanessa. Satsuki and Latifa had been inside the safe room, but decided to join the defense efforts when the battle started.
“Excuse me...”
Fearing the enemies’ detection of her location, Sara kept her voice low as she slipped inside. She held a finger up to her lips, signaling to the others to keep quiet.
“Sara.”
They could see the battle outside from the window, so they must be aware of the situation already. Satsuki called Sara’s name quietly, a fretful look on her face. Just then, Miharu, Christina, Flora, and Charlotte emerged from the safe room.
“There are intruders in the mansion. Not monsters...but people.”
“R-Right. What do we do?”
Hearing that their opponents were humans made Satsuki’s expression even more uneasy. The others were similarly nervous. The battle had just started outside.
“I will defeat them.”
Sara looked between the entrance to the room, the window, and the direction of the safe room. Then, after a moment of hesitation, she steeled herself. “Everyone here will continue to protect this room. I will defeat the enemies in the mansion.”
She started for the door leading to the outside corridor.
“I-I’ll go too,” Satsuki offered in a fluster. However...
“Your spear will be difficult to use in a corridor. If you wish to fight, you should do so in this room. I saw a total of eight intruders. Please stay in this room and fight any that I miss.”
The enemy is probably aiming for this room, Sara’s words implied.
“I understand...” Satsuki nodded, struggling to swallow.
“There’s a chance of being attacked from both ends of the corridor. We will accompany you,” one of the two knights under Louise offered, drawing her sword. They were equipped with short swords suitable for fighting indoors, so they would have no trouble in the corridor.
“Please,” Sara said, giving a short reply. She looked at the entrance of the safe room. “Latifa, please remain here. If the enemies enter, you and Satsuki will be the final line of defense.”
“Okay...”
Latifa nodded with a stiff expression. It was at that moment that the battle outside the mansion commenced. The fierce sound of clashing weapons reached their ears.
“Once we leave the room, lock it and stay back from the door. Be careful of the window too. Now...”
With those parting words to Satsuki, Sara exchanged looks with the two female knights. They all nodded at each other, then went out to the corridor.
The meeting room was at the end of the first-floor corridor. Since the corridor connected to both the entrance hall and the dining hall, it was possible for enemies to come from both directions.
“Let’s split into two groups to protect the corridor,” Sara suggested.
“There they are!”
“At the back of the first floor!”
Mercenaries appeared out of a room along the corridor towards the entrance. They had been moving in pairs, so they shouted loudly enough for the other intruders in the mansion to hear.
“I’ll deal with them. Protect the side leading to the dining hall!”
As soon as she finished speaking, Sara charged towards the two mercenaries.
“It’s the silver-haired dagger girl! Be careful!”
“Her enchanted sword gives her the power to control water. Sounds fun!”
The two mercenaries shared information with each other as they drew their swords and stepped forward to meet her. They took a diagonal position to each other as they closed the distance. There was no hesitation in their movements—it was clear they were veteran fighters.
They had probably received an explanation from Arein, Lucci, and Ven, who had previously fought with Sara. She had used water spirit arts to defeat the three of them, so they naturally assumed her enchanted sword could control water.
They know about me? Then...!
Meanwhile, at this point, Sara was still unaware of her opponent’s identity. She was confused to hear that they had information about her, but she wasn’t about to let that affect her movements. In fact, if they knew of it already, there was no need to hide it.
“Haaah!” A few steps before the two came within reach, she swung one of her daggers to release an opening slash of water. The power was suppressed out of consideration of the mansion interior, but it was strong enough to feel like a whip strike against an unguarded human.
“Whoa, there!” The two mercenaries evaded the water slashes by sliding under them.
So fast!
Sara could tell their reaction speeds were faster than that of a knight with physically enhanced abilities. The intruders inside the mansion were equipped with shorter swords than those outside, but they were most certainly enchanted swords with physical body enchantments.
“Take that!”
One of the mercenaries slashed at Sara’s feet while sliding. But instead of using the blade to slice at her feet, he tried to slam the flat side of the blade against it.
“Ngh!” Sara jumped to avoid the attack.
“Gotcha!”
The other mercenary similarly swung the flat side of his blade at Sara while she was in the air. Short of being able to fly freely, jumping always left one defenseless. That was the reasoning behind their improvised strategy, and it was executed perfectly. The only thing Sara could do was block the attack with her dagger. Yet...
“...Huh?”
The man’s sword swung through empty space.
Sara had jumped in midair. She proceeded to do a backflip and evade the attack, retreating with nimble steps.
“Haaah!”
She cast slashing spirit arts through both her daggers at the mercenaries who just finished sliding.
“Damn!”
“Whoa!”
The mercenaries were the ones with no choice but to take the attack. They tried to regain their balance and fall back promptly, but they were too late to evade it. Instead, they parried the slash.
One of the attacks Sara unleashed was a slice of water. Slashing it caused the men to feel a dull impact as water sprayed everywhere. The other attack she made was an ice slash.
After landing on the corridor floor and regaining her balance, Sara retreated to glare at the two mercenaries with their swords held ready once more. They were back to square one.
“There’s frost as well. One water and one ice dagger, then.”
The man who cut down the ice slash had his blade frosted over. He reacted cautiously.
“More importantly, did you see how she jumped midair?”
The other mercenary was surprised at how Sara did a double jump.
For the record, Sara had jumped midair by creating a small wall of magic essence with spirit arts, using it as a foothold. She could run through the air if she used it continuously, but doing so required a lot of skill—it was easier to just use regular flying spirit arts.
Could these people be...
It was at this moment that Sara finally caught on to who these assailants could be. Lucci and the others she had previously fought with flashed through her head. “Be careful! These two are fast! They both have enchanted swords. The other intruders might be similarly equipped. Use magic to block the corridor with a barrage of spells!” she shouted at the two female knights.
“R-Right!”
No mercenaries had approached from the direction of the dining hall yet. The two knights who had been protecting their end while watching Sara’s fight nodded firmly.
Meanwhile...
“...”
At the end of the corridor leading to the entrance foyer, Ven and the other mercenaries were silently watching Sara from the shadows.
Fighting indoors as a group was extremely difficult. Weapons that were tricky to handle had the risk of getting caught on walls and furniture, movements had to be minimized as much as possible, and the layout of the building could be used to gain an advantage. All of these factors had to be considered when fighting strategically. As mercenaries that had fought many battles before, they understood this well.
“There’s no need to send everyone here down such a narrow corridor. But they’ll suspect us of something if we don’t send some reinforcements... Two of you go down the corridor and back them up. The remaining three of you will come with me. We might be able to get in from a window outside,” Ven decided immediately.
“Roger that.”
“Let’s get this party started!”
They quickly decided who would stay and who would go outside, then commenced their plan.
“There they are!”
“This way!”
The corridor team yelled loudly to draw Sara’s attention. Then they ran in to help their comrades.
“All right, we should head off too.”
Once he confirmed that, Ven led the remaining three mercenaries outside the mansion.
◇ ◇ ◇
Around the same time, the battle outside the mansion was growing intense.
The trigger was the appearance of Alma’s contract spirit, Ifritah. The beast, which was large enough to fit two or three people on its back, had materialized out of nowhere, so those in the dark about its identity were astounded.
“Grr!”
“Whoa!” The mercenary beside Ifritah recoiled at its appearance. Ifritah used that chance to tackle him, sending him flying. It then proceeded to chase after the man at a speed too fast to follow with the naked eye.
“Grrrah!”
“Oof...” The mercenary that had fallen on his back had his stomach stomped on. Although his body was enhanced by an enchanted sword, it wasn’t a hit that could be withstood safely. The damage to his internal organs was severe enough to render him unconscious.
“What is that monster?!”
The remaining mercenaries stopped attacking Celia’s barrier to focus on Ifritah.
“Grr!”
Ifritah rushed at the next mercenary, but the enemies were more vigilant now that they had lost one of their group. The target of the attack reacted swiftly, distancing himself from Ifritah with quick movements.
“Tch, we’ve gotta deal with this monster first!”
Thus, the main focus of the mercenaries shifted to Ifritah.
“Wh-What is that beast...?”
“Where did it come from?”
“It seems to be attacking the enemy, but...”
Louise and the other knights inside the barrier were equally confused. Only the mercenaries were being attacked so far, but there was no guarantee they wouldn’t be next. It was only natural for them to be wary. The only person other than Alma who knew about Ifritah’s identity was Celia.
“Alma...”
The existence of spirits must not be revealed to anyone. If there was a need to inform someone about them, that person had to be extremely trustworthy. Even if someone was trustworthy, they were not to be informed about spirits without necessity.
These were the rules the elders placed on Sara and the spirit folk girls when they left their village. The spirit folk had long held distrust of humans because of the way they were discriminated against and persecuted by them. That was why the spirit folk departed from the Strahl region before the Divine War commenced, relocating to the depths of the Wilderness. They participated in the Divine War when necessary, but they left Strahl again as soon as it ended.
There were also records of the spirits in the Strahl region moving to the Wilderness with the spirit folk. They had also given up on humans. According to the legends left in the spirit folk village, humans had once used forbidden spells to enslave the spirits.
That was why in modern-day Strahl, spirits were even rarer than enchanted swords. There was literature that mentioned spirits existing in the world at some point, involving powerful secret arts, but it was all lost ancient sorcery now.
No human alive had ever seen a spirit—not even royalty. There were some spirits who still lived in Strahl, but those spirits would never approach humans of their own accord. Even if they did show themselves, they were always mistaken for some kind of animal.
Alma had chosen to expose her spirit in front of humans. Humanoid spirits like Aishia would be assumed human when appearing before others, but Ifritah was a mythical lion beast. It was only natural for others to assume it was a monster—Celia was the only person who knew she had summoned it.
“Tch, what a pain... Did you summon that monster here?”
Lucci hadn’t realized it was a spirit, but he suspected it was serving Alma in some form. He questioned her out loud while crossing weapons with her.
“...”
“The silent treatment? C’mon, it appeared out of nowhere at a time like this and just started attacking us. There’s no way it isn’t your pet! We’ll dispose of it quickly!”
“Do you think I would let you? Hmph.”
Alma swung her mace with all her might, knocking Lucci back bodily. Lucci instantly leaped back, killing his momentum. But Alma was immediately in front of him again, aiming a follow-up strike.
“Tch!”
He clicked his tongue, and darkness flowed out of his black sword.
“Huh?!” Alma was wary of the mysterious darkness coming from the sword. She immediately poured magic essence into her mace, releasing a shock wave of pure light.
“Rah!”
Lucci lunged forward, slamming his sword at Alma’s mace. As a result, light and darkness clashed, offsetting each other.
“Ngh...”
The power of darkness overpowered light, swallowing the shock wave and pushing Alma back.
“I wanted to capture you alive if possible... But this is the way it must be.”
With a grating sound, her mace met his sword. Now that Ifritah had been summoned into the situation, Lucci had no choice but to change his plans.
“You were trying to capture me alive...?” Alma asked dubiously. His wording made her suspect she was part of their goals.
“Heh... Unfortunately for you, I still haven’t got the hang of this sword’s abilities. Don’t blame me if I hit the wrong spot, yeah?” Lucci grinned, pushing his sword back against her mace.
“What are you...” Alma frowned in suspicion, when she suddenly felt an ominous flow of magic essence near her stomach. She looked down reflexively.
But it was already too late. She should have jumped aside as soon as she felt the essence. There was no helping it, though—the attack was impossible to avoid without prior knowledge. Rio was the abnormal exception for being able to deal with such a nasty move at first sight.
“Huh...?” Instead of pain, Alma felt a source of heat. She looked down to see a jet-black sword stabbed through her from behind.
“Move it.” Lucci kicked her mercilessly.
“Aah!” Alma screamed in pain. The kick came from the front while the sword was stabbed into her from behind, so she had been forced backwards onto the sword.
“Oops, my mistake,” Lucci sneered, apologizing mockingly. A moment later, the sword in Alma’s stomach disappeared.
“Urgh...” Alma slumped face-first against the ground.
“Tch. The blood loss will be an annoyance, but at least I didn’t get the heart.” Lucci chose to leave Alma lying there, not bothering to stop her bleeding. Instead, he turned his attention to Celia.
“A-Alma!” Celia shrieked from within the magic barrier.
“Gwaaark!” With its contract master defeated, Ifritah roared furiously. It abandoned the other mercenaries to lunge at Lucci.
“Damn it, leave the monster to me! Bring that barrier down right now!” Now, Lucci had no choice but to face Ifritah.
“Guh...” Alma took that chance to secretly cast healing spirit arts to stop her bleeding.
◇ ◇ ◇
Meanwhile, inside the mansion, shortly before Alma was stabbed by Lucci...
During times of war, the group holding the castle had to pay particular care to secure their field of view. Holding the castle meant they were protected by the building itself and could hide themselves, but at the same time, it meant their view of any incoming enemies was obstructed.
Defenselessly exposing oneself to incoming enemies by monitoring the outside was a problem, but hiding away out of fear of being discovered wasn’t good either. At worst, it was possible for the approaching enemy to invade without notice.
However, short of constructing forts intended for battle, it was difficult to design buildings with securing a field of view or preventing invasion in mind. Rio’s mansion was constructed with a focus on aesthetics, so it wasn’t suitable for holding during a siege.
Presently, right beside the drawing room where Satsuki and the others were hiding, Ven and his group of mercenaries were sneaking closer. They communicated to each other with hand signs while checking inside each window for their targets.
Then, they hit their jackpot: they could see Miharu and Satsuki inside the room. Farther inside the room was a passage that led to a safe room.
It’s here.
One of the mercenaries signaled with a hand sign. There were a total of four men outside the window, including Ven. They decided on their roles and silently began their invasion.
“Magicae Murum.”
One of the men activated a spell to set a magic barrier in front of them and started charging towards the window.
“Haaah!” Latifa, who had been hiding in the corner of the ceiling above the window, fired a ball of magic essence at the unguarded mercenary’s head.
“Wha?!” Taking an attack to the head was enough for even a physically enhanced body to fall unconscious. The first mercenary who entered collapsed to the floor. However, they had accounted for the possibility of an ambush. Seeing one of their men go down wasn’t enough to shake the others outside, and they responded rapidly.
“Above the window!”
“Photon Projectilis!”
One of the mercenaries aimed above the window, hoping to eliminate Latifa from the other side of the wall.
“Aah!” Latifa backed away from the window immediately. She spun midair and landed on the floor.
“The enemy’s here! Miharu, go back into the room!”
“R-Right!”
At Satsuki’s order, Miharu promptly headed for the safe room.
Satsuki’s side was naturally aware of the possibility of an outside attack. They could have all hidden in the safe room to remove the risk of being spotted from the window, but there was no way of hiding the passage to the safe room itself. Considering the likelihood of the enemy coming inside to check, they decided to set a trap. Miharu had been placed in the drawing room on purpose, to act as though they were defenseless.
“Next!”
“Magicae Murum!”
Another mercenary cast a magic barrier, attempting to enter again.
“I won’t let you!”
However, Satsuki was waiting with her Divine Arms. She fired a wind bullet of materialized magic essence from the end of her spear, hitting the barrier of the mercenary at the front.
“Whoa!” The mercenary who received the attack was sent flying several meters back out of the mansion.
“Get inside!” Ven and the remaining mercenary entered the room.
“Haaah!” The first to move was Latifa. With daggers in both hands, she leaped at one of the invading men.
“Tsk. Whoa, there...”
The mercenary immediately lifted his sword to take Latifa’s attack. She followed up with several swings of her daggers, but they were all parried away.
“...”
Latifa retreated with a light step, putting one meter of distance between herself and the man. Her expression was stiff, and her hands clutching the daggers were trembling.
“She’s fast, but...” The mercenary instantly perceived that she either had little experience when it came to killing another person, or felt some kind of aversion to it.
“Don’t let your guards down. She’s stronger than the knights outside,” Ven warned his men as he faced Satsuki.
“I know. But who’s the target?” The man facing Latifa no longer looked like he was underestimating her.
“Any of the ones at the back will do. These ones will just get in the way, so eliminate them.”
“Roger that.”
Having exchanged the necessary information, Ven and his men prepared for battle.
“Barging into someone’s home like this...” Satsuki muttered, her body trembling.
Ven furrowed his brow. “Huh?”
“...means you’re willing to be treated as intruders, right? This is justified self-defense!”
“Huh? What are you... Whoa!”
Satsuki suddenly accelerated, closing in on Ven. She then swung her spear with all her might. Ven reflexively went to block the spear with his sword.
“Haaah!” Satsuki swung her spear through, knocking Ven away bodily. In response to her anger, her Divine Arms boosted her physical body far more than an imitation enchanted sword.
“Ngh...” Ven was blown backwards with great force. He crashed into the window and toppled outside of the mansion.
“Are you serious...? Hey, Ven, you okay?!” the remaining mercenary in the room yelled.
“Y-Yeah!” Ven staggered to his feet and yelled back. He had received some damage, but he was fortunate enough to block most of the attack itself with his sword. As he was rolling backwards, he was able to adjust his landing to fall safely.
“Get out of here already!”
Satsuki charged at the remaining mercenary in the room.
“Tch.”
The man seemed to realize there was no good in remaining in the room. He retreated through the window.
“I won’t let you get away!” Satsuki chased him out the window.
“W-Wow, Satsuki...”
Latifa was taken aback by the sudden turn of events. But she soon snapped to her senses and rushed over to the window to check on the situation.
Ifritah’s out in the open! A-Alma!
She must have realized Ifritah was going wild from the sound of its roars. Latifa watched on as Ifritah lunged at Lucci, while Louise ran with Alma in her arms.
◇ ◇ ◇
Meanwhile, far above in the skies where no griffin could reach, Reiss manipulated bullets of light to provide support to Arein and the others on the ground as he observed the battle. Although he could control their trajectories, he was quite a distance away from his targets. His accuracy was low, but it was enough to keep the kingdom’s aerial knights back.
I knew there was a bird mid-class spirit here, but I hadn’t expected any others... They must be demi-humans of the Wilderness after all, Reiss thought, guessing Alma’s identity. He had previously seen a bird mid-class spirit patrolling the area when Rio was escorting Christina to Rodania.
Giving that sword to Lucci was the right decision. That sword is great against spirits. It should be able to take on a mid-class one easily. Though he seems to be struggling... And I don’t see the other two outside either.
The “other two” that Reiss was thinking of were Sara and Orphia. If Alma was contracted to a mid-class spirit, it made sense that one of the other two was contracted to the bird spirit.
If two of them are contracted to mid-class spirits, then the third is likely to have one as well... I could deal with the bird one if it appeared in the sky, but another mid-class spirit on the ground would be troublesome.
With one of them materialized with no regard for the human witnesses, it wouldn’t be strange for the other two to appear at any moment. Reiss hummed in thought as he focused on the movements taking place near the mansion.
The Heavenly Lions were all experienced fighters. They didn’t have any secret abilities, but they were all equipped with imitation enchanted swords that could enhance their physical bodies, an effect stronger than magic. They had enough strength to take on a mid-class spirit as a group. Most importantly, they were here to avenge Lucius, making their movements sharper than ever.
However, although the two most dangerous people—Rio and Aishia—weren’t here, the people around Rio were formidable as well. A hidden weapon had just appeared outside the mansion in the form of a mid-class spirit, and Ven’s group had gone through a window just moments ago, but was promptly chased back out. The situation everywhere was changing by the moment.
There’s a spirit’s presence outside the capital? This is...the second mid-class spirit? But why is it outside?
Reiss redirected his attention from Rio’s mansion below to the edge of the royal capital. Then, he cast his gaze over to the mountainous region a few kilometers away from the capital, where he saw a huge bird several meters in size flying.
Things involving this boy never go according to plan... I’ll have no choice but to use my trump card. That, and a number of the revenants remaining on the ground...
Reiss returned his gaze to Arein and the others below, ceasing his support fire to hold his hand at the ground instead. But nothing visible happened. After a few seconds of maintaining that pose, Reiss began to fly towards the outskirts of the capital.
Moments later, the remaining revenants on the ground all started charging for Rio’s mansion at once.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login