Chapter 100: The Battle Begins
The day of the fierce battle dawned.
Knights sharpened their swords, and mages gripped their staves, preparing to ascend the mountain. Ken took the lead alongside Aracila, guiding the way, while Albi paired with Damian to follow from the rear. Damian, still uneasy about Aracila taking the front, approached her as she inspected the magic stone embedded in her staff.
“Lady Aracila, it’s not too late to switch. Let me take the lead.”
“No chance,” she teased, pointing her staff at him with a playful wrinkle of her nose. “You just stay back and cover me like a good boy, alright?”
Damian pressed a hand to his forehead, letting out a heavy sigh. Despite his efforts, he’d failed to sway her up to the very last moment. Only one option remained.
“Then at least take Isaac as an escort.”
“What, Damian? Do I look that weak to you?”
He shook his head firmly. As someone who’d fought beside her, he knew better than most—Aracila was anything but weak. Anyone who’d seen her in battle even once wouldn’t dare suggest otherwise. Yet, there was a single reason he insisted on an escort.
“It’s for my peace of mind,” he admitted.
He trusted Aracila’s skill, but six high-tier magical beasts were no trifling opponents. If she found herself in danger, Damian, tasked with leading the knights from the rear, wouldn’t be able to rush to her side. She’d taken the vanguard to prevent her own death, but that made it impossible for him to focus on the battle without worrying. His compromise was to ensure Isaac, at the very least, stayed by her side.
“I know you don’t need anyone’s protection,” he said, his voice earnest. “But I’d feel better if someone—anyone—was there in my place.”
Reading the desperation in his eyes, Aracila let out a soft hum. “Hmm, isn’t the vice-captain of the knights a bit much for an escort?”
“Only someone like Isaac can keep up with you at the front. Anyone less skilled would just slow you down.”
She couldn’t argue with that. After a moment’s hesitation, unable to ignore the pleading in his gaze any longer, Aracila relented. “Fine. I’ll take Sir Wind with me. Will that ease your mind?”
“Yes,” Damian said, his expression visibly softening. “Much better.”
Aracila shook her head with an exasperated smile, as if to say she couldn’t win against him.
After Damian left, Isaac approached her. “Lady Aracila, I’m in your care,” he said with a courteous bow. “If things get dangerous, don’t hesitate to take cover behind me.”
She raised an eyebrow, a faint smile playing on her lips. “Oh? So if a beast attacks, I should skip the defensive spells and just hide behind you?”
Isaac, quick to catch her tone, corrected himself with a sheepish grin. “My apologies. Let me rephrase: I’ll do my best not to get in your way, and I hope we can face the beasts’ attacks together.”
Pleased with his quick wit, Aracila gestured for him to follow. Isaac fell into step behind her, moving like a shadow.
Sally, spotting her senior with a knight in tow, widened her eyes. “Senior, why’s Sir Wind coming with us?”
“He wants to play escort,” Aracila replied lightly. “So I’m letting him tag along.”
“Exactly,” Isaac chimed in with a warm smile. “A pleasure to work with you, Miss Sally.”
Sally, caught off guard, gave a quick nod in return. She leaned in to whisper to Aracila, her voice tinged with concern. “Is it okay for a knight to join us? What if our spells accidentally hit him?”
“Then you’d better stay sharp and aim true,” Aracila shot back, her tone merciless. “Unless you want to send an innocent knight to meet his maker.”
Sally paled and took a step back, clearly imagining the consequences of accidentally striking a noble like Isaac. She stole a wary glance at him before edging away.
The other mages reacted similarly when introduced to Isaac. Nobles found his knightly status inconvenient, while commoners were doubly intimidated by his rank and title. Surprisingly, Isaac remained unfazed, greeting everyone with an easygoing charm.
So that’s why Damian chose him, Aracila thought. Isaac’s ability to navigate the mages’ prickly attitudes with grace likely played a role in his selection. Despite the wary glances, he stood confidently by her side, undeterred.
With Ken on her left and Isaac on her right, Aracila took her place at the head of the formation. The scouting party, sent at dawn to locate the beasts, returned, and the subjugation team began to move. Ken led the way toward the reported location without hesitation, navigating the mountain without so much as glancing at a map.
The team moved as quietly as possible, muffling their footsteps to avoid alerting the beasts. An hour into their ascent, Ken whispered, “We’re close.”
Aracila raised her hand, signaling the mages behind her to halt. She sent out a pulse of mana, casting a detection spell to sweep the area. The beasts were quickly located. “There’s a cave within fifty meters,” she reported. “They’re all huddled inside.”
With two flicks of her hand, the mages raised their staves, readying for attack. As they approached the cave, the beasts came into view—massive, writhing creatures resembling grotesque, deep-purple maggots. Several mages grimaced, some even gagging at the sight. Aracila, too, wrinkled her nose in disgust, and even Isaac’s expression soured.
“Let’s make this quick,” she muttered. Counting six beasts as expected, she raised her staff to signal the attack.
The mages split into two groups: one formed a protective barrier around the team, while the other fanned out to unleash offensive spells. Magic orbs rained down on the beasts like a meteor shower.
“Skreeeee!” The creatures’ shrieks echoed through the cave.
“Skreeeek!”
The ambushed beasts surged out of the cave, their bodies writhing as they unleashed guttural roars. Gone was the sluggish crawling of moments ago; now they thrashed violently, rampaging with frenetic energy.
Thud, thud.
Each movement of the creatures sent tremors through the earth, toppling trees with splintering crashes. From their gaping maws, a viscous, mustard-yellow liquid spewed forth, melting everything it touched into a sizzling puddle.
“Watch out for that liquid!” Aracila shouted, her voice cutting through the chaos as she aimed a spell at one of the beasts’ mouths.
But the creatures, sensing their lives were at stake, flailed desperately, making it nearly impossible to land a precise hit. Isaac, standing beside her with his sword drawn, muttered under his breath, “Gods, I think I’m going to be sick.”
“Hold it together,” Aracila replied sharply. “We’re far from done.”
Her eyes flicked to the side, catching three of the six beasts breaking away toward the flanks. The Red Hawk Knights in the rear will handle them, she thought. Just in case, we need to finish these quickly and reinforce them.
Drawing several times her usual amount of mana into the magic stone of her staff, Aracila focused intently and unleashed a concentrated blast into a beast’s maw.
“Skreee!” The creature let out a deathly screech and collapsed, twitching faintly before going still.
Quick to seize the advantage, Aracila shouted to the mages, “Target their mouths! It’s the fastest way to bring them down!”
Following her command, the mages redirected their spells, bombarding the beasts’ gaping jaws. As one fell, the remaining two grew even more frantic, spewing their corrosive liquid in all directions as their sense of danger intensified.
Then, in a fleeting moment—
“What the hell is that?!” someone cried out.
All eyes turned to a beast that had frozen mid-thrash. Its body split down the middle, tearing apart with a sickening rip. For a brief second, Aracila wondered if a stray spell had caused it, but then the two halves began to take shape, each forming a new, distinct creature.
It was attempting the self-division they’d been warned about.
“It’s splitting! Kill that one first!”
Panic spurred the mages into action, and they unleashed a barrage of spells. Fortunately, neither of the half-formed creatures could fully take shape before collapsing to the ground, defeated.
While the mages fought fiercely at the front, the Red Hawk Knights in the rear were locked in their own grueling struggle. Unable to rely on long-range attacks like the mages, they worked in teams, closing in to overwhelm each beast with coordinated strikes.
“Hit the body all at once to bring it down!” Damian’s voice rang out, commanding the knights with precision. Years of training together allowed them to move seamlessly, their paths never crossing as they adjusted their positions instinctively. With calculated slashes and stabs, they targeted vital points, steadily wearing down the beasts.
Damian himself took on the most dangerous roles—delivering the first and final blows too risky for his subordinates. By the time Aracila’s team felled the last beast at the front and moved to support the rear, the knights had just sliced the final creature in two, ending their battle.
All six beasts had been eradicated without a single one slipping through.
“We did it!”
“The beasts are down!”
Knights and mages alike erupted into cheers, their voices echoing through the mountain. Damian and Aracila, confirming each other’s safety, exchanged a relieved sigh.
As they began to reorganize their ranks to descend the mountain, a low rumble shook the ground.
Boom.
The ominous sound reverberated, and startled faces turned toward the cave. The vibrations were emanating from its depths.
Boom, boom.
The cave shuddered violently, and a pair of glowing eyes emerged from the pitch-black entrance. Something massive was clawing its way out, scraping against the stone walls. With a final, earth-shattering crash, it burst through, revealing a creature identical in form to the ones they’d just defeated—but more than twice their size.
“…We’re screwed,” someone muttered, voicing the dread that gripped them all.
***
Oscar Vandermir was a man of foul temperament. His interest in anything—or anyone—burned bright but faded quickly. Once he claimed what he desired, boredom set in, and he discarded it without a second thought.
Having arrived in the capital, he’d toyed with a mansion maid, only to grow tired of her within days. Ignoring her tearful protests at his sudden coldness, he sent her away with a dismissive wave, yawning as he mused to himself, Well, that was a nice warm-up. Time to get serious.
His dalliance with the maid had merely been a prelude to his true target: seducing Iris. Just then, a report from a servant detailing Iris’s movements and schedule arrived. Humming a tune, Oscar flipped through the pages.
Tomorrow at 2 p.m., a meeting with Eric Roberts is scheduled.
Note: Reserved VIP seats at the Parcsian Opera Theater.
His eyes narrowed at the final line.
Stealing Iris Hugo from Eric Roberts would be simple enough. His first step was clear.
“Reserve a seat next to theirs for me,” he ordered.
For now, he’d trail their date and make his move to disrupt it.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ✧: *. ꕥ .* :✧ﾟ. ───
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