by Hiro Ainana
“An anti-theft automatic self-destruct function.”
The king looked doubtful, but I used my “Fabrication” skill to come up with an explanation.
At skill level max, it was ridiculously powerful, enough that he believed my made-up story.
Aside from that little incident, the long-practiced ritual went off without a hitch in the inner sanctum. Soon the Box would be loaded onto a portable shrine and carried in a parade through the main street.
As a precaution, I put a marker on the Box.
It was going to be heavily guarded, but there was no telling whether the Skeleton King or Yuuneia might show up.
I didn’t think they could possibly have heard that thought, but it wasn’t long after that the incident occurred.
“Your Highness! We’ve just received a report from one of the coastal watchtowers!”
The king was waving to his people from the balcony when a soldier came running up below.
“Go on.”
“A giant sea-dwelling monster has appeared in the sea to the east.”
“What sort of monster exactly?”
The soldier hesitated for a moment.
“What is it, man?”
“I-it’s an octopus-type monster… Possibly one of the sea lord’s spawn.”
Checking my map, I saw that Yuuneia was aboard a small ghost ship next to the octopus monster. The monster was in a possessed state, much like Yuuneia herself.
Most likely, it was being controlled by a monster like Yuuneia’s ghost bird, Chibi.
“Prepare the castle’s Magic Cannons. Suspend the festival and evacuate the people to the underground shelter.”
“““Yes, sir!”””
The king’s vassals jumped into action at once.
“T-terrible news!” Another messenger appeared.
“Calm down! What is it now?”
“A ghost fleet has appeared in the sky to the west.”
Looking at the map, I saw a fleet of nearly thirty ghost ships.
However, the Skeleton King wasn’t with them.
“Seems like they’re both diversions.”
“Of course. That empty-headed skull always uses such obvious tactics. He’ll come at us himself from either the north or the south.”
Just as the king confidently stated, the Skeleton King was approaching from the northern sea, with a school of undead monster fish coming from the south, likely as another diversion.
This nation’s army could probably take on any one of these attackers individually, but judging by the information displayed by my AR next to the king of Lalagi’s City Core, they wouldn’t be able to supply all the Magic Cannons and Heavenslight Protection with magic power at once.
I should probably turn into Nanashi the Hero and help them fight off the enemy.
But first, I wanted to confirm a few things…
“You mentioned an ‘empty-headed skull.’ Does that mean you know who’s attacking, Your Highness?”
The king nodded. “It is said that the filthy undead monster who calls himself the companion to the final queen of Lalakie seeks the remains of the main engine from the floating island era, which are kept deep within this castle.”
Huh?
So the Skeleton King’s not after the Box?
“Have you ever spoken with this creature directly?”
“Nay, only the king of two generations ago was foolhardy enough to do such a thing.”
Since the king could speak Hallowed Language, I thought he might at least have tried to negotiate with the Skeleton King, but apparently, that wasn’t the case.
They probably thought of these attacks as a sort of natural disaster.
“Forgive my insolence, but might it not be safer to return the Box to the castle?”
“You are quite the worrier, Sir Pendragon.” A rare smile graced the king’s face. “Fear not—I have already ordered for the Box to be returned. Besides, no undead monster could ever break through the holy protection of the Heavenslight Protection given to us by the gods. If the undead attempted to break through, they would simply be purified and turned into ash.”
In that case, there was probably no fear of the Skeleton King stealing the Box.
I breathed a sigh of relief, then decided to take my leave so as not to trouble the busy king of Lalagi further.
“Your Highness, given the situation, I believe I had best leave you be.”
“Indeed. You should hasten to the underground shelter, too.”
The king didn’t even spare me a glance.
He was looking out at the sea lord’s spawn, which had broken through the barrier around the bay.
“Let’s go, Rei.”
“Y-yes, Satou…”
I took Rei’s hand and headed toward the square where the rest of our friends were waiting.
“Th-the Sea Lord’s coming for us!”
“Don’t worry! His Highness will protect us somehow!”
“Official orders from the king! Evacuate to the underground shelter until the monster has been defeated!”
The townspeople were quavering at the sight of the octopus monster in the seas of the harbor, but thanks to their faith in the king and the swiftly issued evacuation orders, they didn’t fly into a panic.
The Heavenslight Protection over the castle gleamed and created a glowing dome around the entirety of the castle town.
A rock thrown by the sea monster crashed into the dome and sent ripples of light across its surface with an echoing bell-like sound.
The sound seemed to have an added magical effect of calming people down.
Running along the now-empty streets, I soon arrived at the square to meet up with my companions.
“Liza! Is everyone here?”
“Yes, master. We are all prepared for battle.”
Liza responded fiercely, but the enemy this time around was just too strong.
“I’m sorry, but I need you all to evacuate underground.”
As I spoke, I handed out various magic items for self-defense.
“
When I put a topaz ring on Rei’s finger, she went into a trance again.
That sounded like an important item, but there was no time for that now, so I entrusted Rei and the ring alike to the rest of the group.
“Arisa, take this seal slate. If anything happens, call me with Telephone.”
“Okey-dokey!”
Arisa’s Telephone had a fairly short range, so I gave her permission to use her unique skill “Over Boost” just once in case of an emergency.
Before I left, I gave more detailed information to Arisa and Liza about the possibility that the Skeleton King or Yuuneia might come after Rei’s hair ornament.
Since they were outside the Heavenslight Protection dome, however, I doubted they would be able to get in very easily.
Well, I guess it’s hero time.
The enemy was attacking from all four cardinal directions.
To the east, the octopus monster. It was level 51 with “Water Magic,” “Water Resistance,” and “Regeneration” skills. The small ghost ship carrying Yuuneia was with it, as well.
To the west, a fleet of twenty-eight ghost ships. They carried a total of sixty or so skeleton soldiers, ranging in level from 30 to 45.
To the south, a school of over a hundred undead monster fish. They were all level 30 or below.
And to the north, the Skeleton King.
“The ghost fleet to the west is probably the most dangerous, but I know where I have to go first.”
I transformed into Nanashi the Hero in a back alley, then headed north toward where the Skeleton King was approaching over the ocean.
It’s important to beat the main culprit first in situations like this.
“Not the most ideal area for this…”
The Skeleton King’s ghost ship was approaching above a beautiful coral reef in waters so clear and blue, it made you want to go scuba diving.
If I attacked with magic from here, I’d end up destroying the coral reef in the process.
I withdrew the Holy Sword Claidheamh Soluis from Storage and put magic into it, transforming it into thirteen blades.
“Wait—is the coral turning into a monster?”
The parts of the reef the ship passed over grew rapidly and began to produce tentacles that broke through the water’s surface. It looked more like a sea anemone than a coral monster.
“
When I spoke the scripture, the Holy Sword released a blue light and zoomed toward the ghost ship like a seabird that had sighted its prey.
Its holy power turned the ghost ship into a cloud of black dust in a matter of seconds.
Quickly, I opened my log and map to check the results.
“…He sure runs away fast.”
The Skeleton King had escaped into the Spirit World.
I hadn’t expected him to get away so easily. Maybe he had started fleeing while I was hesitating about destroying the coral reef.
Things hadn’t quite gone according to plan, but I had dealt him a significant amount of damage just like before, so he shouldn’t be back for a while.
I used the Water Magic spell Remote Harpoon to destroy the coral tentacles and headed off to the next location.
This time, my target was the octopus monster in the east, which was being led by Yuuneia.
“Magic Cannons won’t work on something that’s under the control of my Chibi!”
Yuuneia was standing aboard a single-person boatlike ghost ship, looking smug.
There was a thick wall of seawater in front of her and the octopus monster, which was blocking the crimson cannonballs fired by the Magic Cannons of the castle and the defensive tower.
Fireworks and explosions danced across the surface of the sea, and the seawall created rainbows as it splashed apart.
The water wall seemed to last for only two Magic Cannon shots before falling apart, but the octopus monster was simply creating more walls incessantly as each one was destroyed.
“They stopped attacking! Get them, Chibi!” Yuuneia shouted.
SHWNESHWNEEEE!
TWAWWWAAAAAAKYWOOOO!
The mynah bird–like cry rang out, overlapping with a low howl like the sound of air blowing through a conch shell.
Massive spears made from ocean water formed in front of the octopus monster’s tentacles.
They were so big that even a single one looked like it could sink a battleship.
“How many of these can your precious Heavenslight Protection withstand?”
Sorry, Yuuneia, but not even one of those is going to reach its target.
I used my concentrated Laser to slice through the octopus monster, defense magic and all, and broke apart the massive spears with Break Magic.
The Laser created an explosion of steam, blasting a huge quantity of hot air and salt water up into the sky.
Oops, looks like that was some pretty serious overkill. I probably could have used a few regular Lasers instead of the concentrated one.
The little ship carrying Yuuneia was tossed around like a leaf, but before I could rescue her, she quickly fled into the Spirit World. Like father, like daughter.
The brief battle had created a small tsunami on the water’s surface, so I flew through the rain of seawater and cast my Magic Hand out like a net, storing some of the water to reduce the size of the wave.
It was still fairly large, but that shouldn’t cause a problem.
With my cleanup finished, I moved on to the next battlefield.
“Are these the sailors from those drifting ships?”
The ghost ship at the head of the fleet looked just like the SS Cloud.
Its crew lined up perfectly with the amount of people who seemed to have been missing from the unmanned ship, too.
I poured plenty of magic into Claidheamh Soluis and transformed it back into thirteen blades.
SKREEEEEEEE!
The shrieks of the skeleton sailors shook the skies. There was a deep sadness and lingering regret in their cries.
Saying a little silent prayer for them, I recited the scripture of the Holy Sword.
“
The Holy Sword flew about purifying the ghost ships and skeleton soldiers, leaving a trail of blue light in its wake.
Occasionally, a cannonball from a Magic Cannon on one of the ghost ships would fly toward me, but I caught them with Flexible Shields and quickly used them to recover some of my spent MP by using Mana Drain.
With a quiet shiiiing, the Holy Sword Claidheamh Soluis returned to float at my side.
Taking it along with me, I headed south and destroyed the school of undead monster fish.
As I was starting to recover the corpses, Arisa contacted me with Telephone.
“Master! Come back quickly.”
“Coming!”
Without sparing a second to ask what was happening, I quickly operated my menu and teleported back to the group.
“
When I arrived, there was Yuuneia, already back from the Spirit World, facing off against my friends as they protected Rei on the opposite side of the room.
This must have been their main objective.
“
Rei’s fake hair decoration was lying at Yuuneia’s feet as she spoke to Rei in a dispirited voice.
The hair ornament’s purifying mechanism must have activated when she took it from Rei.
I was still connected to Arisa with Telephone, so I let her know that I’d arrived, moved to a position where I could intervene if needed, and listened to Rei and Yuuneia’s conversation.
“
“
Yuuneia’s wrath caused the miasma to swirl and well up around her, scaring Rei even further.
“
“
“The larva has amnesia, I inform.”
Nana responded to Yuuneia’s question.
“
A range of emotions played across Yuuneia’s face: confusion, despair, and finally anger and frustration.
Overwhelmed by these feelings, she lowered her head and hugged her arms to her chest.
Her hands were shaking, revealing her inner turmoil.
Finally, she looked up and shouted accusingly at Rei.
“<…It’s not fair; it’s not fair; it’s not fair!>”
“
Rei didn’t seem to know how to respond to the sudden statement.
“
The “curse of the binding chains” probably referred to the miasma chains and shackles around Yuuneia.
Her right eye, which had returned to normal, was starting to turn back to the same inverted coloration as her left eye.
“Calm down!” Arisa exclaimed. “I’m sure our master can free you from that curse with his cheating powers!”
I’m glad you have so much faith in me, but was the “cheating” part really necessary?
Since no one else seemed to be around, I removed my Nanashi disguise and showed myself in front of them.
“
Seeing my face, Yuuneia screamed as if a horrifying monster had appeared before her.
I had to admit that hurt my feelings a little.
“
I used “Warp” to get close to Yuuneia in an attempt to catch her and get rid of the miasma around her, but a gross undead corpse started to rise from the shadows at her feet.
Geh?!
I instinctively stopped short, and as I did so, ghost birds started attacking me from all sides.
Creepy co
rpses were one thing, but I had no problem dealing with a few birds.
All of them seemed to be copies, and they exploded into feathery black shadows when I punched them.
Yuuneia faded away amid the swirling shadow feathers.
“
Her voice echoed around the room.
This time, there was no wormhole at the source of the voice, so she must have learned her lesson.
Liza and the others quickly took care of the undead creature.
“Rei, are you hurt?”
“I’m…fine.”
“Larva, I have recovered your hair ornament, I report.”
Nana fixed the fake hair ornament back on Rei’s hair.
“Satou!”
“Master, bad news!”
Turning toward Mia and Arisa, I saw that Rei’s Fairy Pack–style pouch had fallen to the floor, its contents spilling out.
“Rei’s hair ornament is gone!”
According to the marker on my map, Rei’s hair ornament was now in the Spirit World.
Unlike the other kids’, Rei’s bag didn’t have any user restrictions, so Yuuneia or the ghost bird must have stolen the key.
That’s not good…
Elsewhere on my marker list, the Lalakie Box had also been moved into the Spirit World.
I may have won the battle, but we’d lost our advantage in the war.
I was a little frustrated, but our most important priority was to protect Rei from the Skeleton King, so at least she was still safe.
“Sir Pendragon…”
I was summoned to the royal castle to meet with the king of Lalagi.
Somehow, he almost seemed to have aged considerably in the short time since I saw him last.
“The Skeleton King has stolen the Box… Soon the world will end.”
That seems like an exaggeration.
“The letter from the king of Ishrallie said that the Flame Lord’s seal has been undone. And that it was the doing of the Skeleton King…”
His voice was low and loaded with despair as he continued.
“If the Skeleton King was foolish enough to release the seal in order to steal the Blazeshine Sword that held it in place, despite his fear of Doghead and his kin, then he must have found a way to bring Lalakie back to the skies.”
