by J. J. Pavlov
And with this exact question, another terrifying possibility forms in my mind instead: They were live humans once, and something turned them into gold. This could be a unique type of magic or even the power of a curse. There are still too many things I don't understand about either after all.
"I have a bad feeling about this." Asoko comments while eyeing the golden face of a man in plate armor, eyes closed and shield raised to block something he wasn't sure he could withstand.
"Do you know anything about this?" I glance at Adano but then turn around completely to stare at him. His lips are curled up slightly, but his expression is cold. The sight sends a shiver down my spine, and I feel that something is wrong with this situation.
"Do you know the legend of the Golden Queen?" He asks in the tone of a priest speaking of their god.
Chapter 69 - The Queen's Trial
"What are you talking about?" I stare at Adano, whose aura has wholly changed. Kozii is standing by his father's side, but his expression is the same neutral one he had all this time. It seems that he knows what Adano is talking about, but doesn't share his enthusiasm.
"I don't fault you. Few have heard of Queen Aurelia, as her existence was unjustly struck from history. But when you share knowledge across millennia like us Nomads of Ogin do, you will inadvertently learn about her tale." The elder dark elf explains in the same manner a teacher would do to their students. He walks past us, toward the back of the hall where a female golden statue sits on a throne that stands atop an elevated platform.
That's when I finally realize that the golden shine coming from all around us not only originates from the lifelike statues but also an uncountable mass of weapons in stands, stabbed into the ground or simply piled up carelessly. If the hall earlier was the treasury, this is the armory.
Adano comes to a stop at the bottom step of the throne platform and kneels before the long-haired woman, whose lifeless golden eyes continue to peer across the room. Kozii follows his example and joins him in reverence before what is most likely the statue of this Queen Aurelia that he just mentioned.
The level of detail on her is the same as in all the others, but differently colored gold was used to make her beautiful features and regal robes. She looks far more lifelike, as even her combed-back long hair that drapes itself over the throne and down to the floor is of a shade different from her skin. With sclerae of white, lips of rose, and many other hues of gold employed across her body, she appears far more human despite possessing an overall metallic sheen.
"You stand before the Golden Queen. She will weigh your strength in one hand, your spirit in the other. Should she find you lacking, only death awaits you. Should she find you worthy, the world shall be at your fingertips." Adano turns to me with his arms outstretched in a grand gesture and announces ceremoniously. He really is like a different person compared to when we talked with him in his inn. "The Queen's trial awaits you."
The dragon seemed to be the obvious final boss of this dungeon, but the voice mourning his death somewhat prepared me for a revelation that he wasn't. But the woman on the throne is a golden statue, so she can't be...
Who am I kidding? She's going to come to life, isn't she?
The very fact that she's more intricate in her color scheme means that it's what she always looked like, while all the others in the hall were only turned to gold. It was most likely her ability that did this - maybe a unique form of magic or a curse. She may even be a minor goddess; that shouldn't be a novelty in this world, considering we ran across one of the fourteen major gods in the middle of a continent-spanning desert.
Something tells me I should avoid touching her at all cost.
But instead of the Golden Queen statue starting to move, all the others in the hall straighten their postures from whatever they were doing in their final moments. As if acting as one, they turn around to us and raise their weapons.
The first slashes at me with his sword, but I let it hit and cut through my collarbone to my heart. I have to admit that it was a very efficient swing which would have killed a normal human being in a single stroke. But I'm neither normal nor a human being.
Grabbing the weapon with my wound and turning my body, I disarm the golden man. Then I pull out the sword and cut at him with all my strength. I read somewhere that pure gold is very malleable, and find that the sword leaves a dent in his shoulder armor, but also bends from the impact. He doesn't even stagger and pulls his dagger; physical attacks like this won't even be able to slow them down.
Hestia shoots a black spirit spear at an aureate female adventurer coming at her. The explosion of darkness blows her upper body open like a grenade launcher did with a certain liquid metal enemy in a certain movie. The enemy falls over unmoving, meaning that this level of damage can take it out.
I try with a spirit spear of my own, producing a similar effect to a lesser extent. The explosion gouges a hole into my target but doesn't wholly incapacitate it as Hestia's spell did. The same happens when my other half casts it.
I always thought my magic had needlessly strong output, but in the light magic department, I don't measure up to Hestia at all. Though in her case it's a corrupted version of light magic.
Shooting at the slowly approaching golden troops one by one, I understand the need for speed and area of effect in action roleplaying games. When an enemy takes two or three shots, others can cover the distance in that time and engage you in melee combat. With the sheer amount of enemies in this room, we'll get overwhelmed eventually.
My eyes fall on the golden statue sitting on the throne, and I have to wonder: Will this end if I destroy it? The only way to find out is to try.
"We have to get to the throne." I point at the platform next to which Adano and Kozi are standing and silently watching our struggle. "Open a path for me."
I transform into a vularen and lunge forward to push down the aureate warrior in my path, only to find that a man made from pure gold is heavier than a wolf-beast more than three times the weight of a grown person.
Instead, I get a sword to the head, which embeds itself halfway into my skull. Luckily, it doesn't hurt a Crawling Chaos to get cut or pierced, and I grow myself larger until I can overpower my opponent with weight alone. When I'm nearly five meters tall, that point has been reached, and my paw pushes the golden man down. While I've been struggling with this one enemy, Hestia and Asoko have already gotten past me and created an opening toward the throne platform using spirit spears.
Wordlessly, I rush forward and slam aside the aureate soldiers trying to get back up or approaching me while still damaged by my two companions' spells. I have to be quick about this because, without me, their clear speed is a third slower now. The angel girl won't survive a sword through the heart like our kind does.
I aim to shoot as many spirit spears into the Golden Queen as it takes to destroy her. She hasn't moved so far, but I'm sure that she's alive. And that means she's most likely the one controlling the golden company. In fiction, when the central command structure is taken out, the whole army will conveniently collapse.
Adano and Kozii watch my approach with different expressions; the latter is clearly intimidated by my giant wolf impression but continues to stand his ground next to his father, who looks not in the least concerned. Does he think that I wouldn't attack him if he acted like a simple observer? He knew about this and led us here on purpose, so that's a betrayal in my book.
"Hasta de Lumin!" When I'm nearing the stairs, I chant ahead of time and shoot the first spell at the unmoving statue on the throne. However, the projectile doesn't even reach her and explodes prematurely, as if there was a barrier. I stop and stare, but can't see it.
It wouldn't even be funny if it just happened to hit a fly in midair, causing the spell to go off. I haven't used the spirit spear often enough to know all of its properties, so maybe it really explodes the moment it comes into contact with anything regardless of its size.
I try again, with the exact same result. Bu
t I see that the boundary seems to be the elevated platform, so maybe I can get inside that area and ignore the invisible shield. It does put me dangerously close to the Golden Queen's touch, though. Even if she isn't moving now, I doubt she won't be aggroed if I get into that area.
Peering back, I find that Asoko and Hestia are already back to back, close to being surrounded. I'm sure they'll figure out that they can just fly out of the encirclement when it gets too dangerous, but people forget the simplest of things when the situation is tense - just like how I didn't fly over here and fought my way through in vularen form.
"I'll deal with you later." I growl at the two dark elves next to the stairs and rush up the steps.
But before my paw reaches the first one, something pierces me through the back and pins me to the ground. Looking over my shoulder, I see that it's a spear from among the massive collection of weapons in the hall.
"Who gave you permission to ascend?" The voice I heard mourning for the elder dragon echoes through the hall, but it's filled with righteous ire this time. When I peer up at the throne, I find that Queen Aurelia has risen from her seat and is looking down at me with a cold glare. Adano and Kozii instantly fall to their knees and keep their heads low, though I don't know whether in reverence or in fear. Her rose-colored lips curve into a derisive sneer. "As expected of a mongrel. You took the form that suits your nature best. Know your place."
She points at me, and my body is pierced by countless golden swords that pin me to the ground. I had just pushed the spear out of me by shrinking and employing my malleable body, and now I've returned to square one. This is frustrating!
I shrink further while turning back into my human form to shake off all the golden blades in my body. Throwing my arm around, I whip a tentacle toward her in anger but stop myself just in time to remember that I shouldn't touch her.
"You dare to extend your filthy appendages towards me, vile beast?" Once again, with the most casual gesture, she lifts a hand in my direction, and a sword cuts off my arm. "Prostrate yourself."
Just as I extend tendrils to reattach my severed arm, a sledgehammer comes down on my back, and my knees buckle under the weighty impact. If I were a human, that would have shattered my spine. She just made me kneel with the right amount of force as if knowing what I can survive. In other words, she's playing with me.
"Even as a child of the stars, you are nothing before me." The Golden Queen states in a haughty tone that reminds me of Drills for some reason. But there it is again, child of the stars. Both she and Kiamedras seem to know something about me that most others in this world don't. But I don't have the leeway to think such idle thoughts. I need to create a shield to give me some space, but the incantation is pretty long.
"Spiritia Sanct-" I mutter under my breath while acting like I'm in pain to hide my actions, but a sword pierces the back of my head and emerges from my mouth, locking my jaw in place. "Ack-?!"
"When in the presence of a queen, you speak only when you are allowed to do so." Adano breaks the rule he just preached to me by speaking for Queen Aurelia. But I guess he's her loyal follower, and she keeps him around for such occasions.
"Chloe!" I hear Hestia scream and peek over my shoulder to see her flying toward us on her black wings, accompanied by a massive blade of darkness that cuts a swath through the golden company. It seems Asoko somehow gave her enough time to cast this spell again, and it's aimed straight at Aurelia standing atop her high platform.
"A fallen angel." She shifts her gaze from me to Hestia and comments with a disdainful expression, using the same English-sounding word to describe a Fata that Kiamedras did. My eyes widen when I see her wave her hand at the angel girl almost in passing.
"Stop!" I pull out the sword in my throat and scream. Then I hear the sound of metal striking flesh behind me.
A single spear has pierced through the center of Hestia's back and emerged from her chest before pinning her to the ground like a butterfly on a needle.
My mind blanks out for a moment, but then I spin around on the spot and rush to Hestia's side without caring about leaving my back wide-open. To my surprise, nothing hits me, but I don't even want to waste any time looking back to see why that is.
"I do not attack those who have lost the will to fight." As if having read my mind, I hear the Golden Queen's voice announce. It seems she's so sure of her victory that she doesn't feel the need to finish me off now.
But saying that I've lost my will to fight is a huge assumption, and I'll prove to her that it's a wrong one soon enough.
When I reach the fallen angel, I find that she's still breathing, albeit only barely. Asoko runs over toward us but is beset by aureate warriors again, causing her to be delayed. I'm really glad that I met her when I did because she gave me an opportunity to recall all the light spells I learned from Arcelia's holy book. If I hadn't taught her when I did, I would have forgotten the longer ones by now.
"Luce Puellam Hoc Gravissimum Vulnus Sanandum!" I chant, then grow a tentacle from my back to pull the spear out of her body with one swift move before putting a hand on the profusely bleeding hole between her breasts. This is a high-level light spell that can heal a heavy piercing wound but does nothing for an extensive one such as what I sustained from Aldebrand's explosion or what Asoko suffered from Kiamedras plasma beam. The hole closes itself before my eyes, but I double check her back to make sure that the same is happening there.
"A monster from the infinite above mourning a black angel that fell from the heavens. How poetic." Queen Aurelia's voice echoes through the hall in a taunting undertone. I'm sure she isn't that petty, but under the current circumstances, anything coming out of her mouth sounds like a taunt to me.
Once I've verified that Hestia is completely healed, I look at her face and find that she has fallen unconscious. Unlike water magic, light magic doesn't drain the beneficiary's stamina when they get healed, but she must have lost consciousness from coming so close to death.
"How is she?" Asoko has slipped past the golden company by transforming into a small vularen - all she can muster with her current lack of mass - and asks when she reaches us.
"Protect her for me." I whisper to her and place Hestia in my other half's hands, trusting that she'll be able to do it. Then I stand up straight before turning to Aurelia, who sat back down on her throne without a care in the world.
"Has she passed?" Queen Aurelia asks with little interest in her voice. It seems she didn't notice that the angel girl has been fully healed, as the blood on the latter's clothes makes it hard to see the wound at this distance.
"You will pay for this." I glower at Aurelia and start walking toward her. Even though I've calmed down after saving Hestia, I have to keep the illusion alive that she took the angel girl out of the picture.
"Hoh? You are approaching me? Instead of running away, you are coming right to me?" The Golden Queen looks down at me while asking in a derisive voice. "Even though I told you that I do not attack those who have no will to fight, and the door behind you is still open so that you can run away with your worthless life?"
"I can't beat the smug out of you without getting closer." I clench my fists and continue without looking back.
"Oh! Then come as close as you like!" Queen Aurelia stands up from her throne and peers down at me with a self-assured smile. Her wide-open eyes show me that she's not as amused as her expression might suggest though. "But know that touching a queen has consequences."
She essentially confirmed my suspicion that she has the power to turn things to gold with a single touch, most likely through some kind of magic or curse. The thought that I may be unaffected by it, just like I was by Daica's, crosses my mind. But if it's a unique magic spell or even a divine ability, I doubt being a demon will protect me from it.
"Grandor Mico Ignis Fortior!" I chant the unstable amalgamation of a fire and two wind spells that got me a scolding from Astrid during my first fire magic class. It doesn't exist in any textbooks and is one of two un
ique spells that I created by pure chance - not like they're especially original. Their destructive power is real, though.
A massive whirling sphere of fire surrounds Aurelia, and this time, even Adano is compelled to dive to the ground in fear of getting caught up in things. Letting go of the spell last time caused it to implode on itself and take a whole chunk of the ground with it. This time, I'll be letting that happen on purpose and hopefully turn her into a puddle of molten gold.
But an uncountable number of golden weapons fly in from all sides and start circling in the opposite direction of the flames. Within moments, my spell has disappeared before I could let it implode in her face.
A terrifying thought crosses my mind at the sight of her effortlessly controlling so much gold at once: The aureate army isn't actually alive, but lifeless statues moved individually by her will. That should require an immense level of concentration. If I tried to create a split body connected to me through a thread, I'd most definitely fail to control either well, but she's doing it with so many at once.
And even if it seems like she can't really hurt me with physical attacks, getting cut into tiny pieces should be game over. Which part would be the one that houses my consciousness? Will it even stay intact when that happens? I never tried it, and I never want to.
"Is that the extent of your power?" Aurelia asks rhetorically as the swirling blades stop their dance and open up like a flower to reveal her with arms crossed.
"I'll stuff that mouth of yours!" I point at her in a threatening gesture, even though from the outside, I might appear like a weakling shaking a fist at an insurmountable obstacle. "In fact, when I get to you, I'll fill every single one of your holes with my tentacles and make you scream for mercy!"
"How amusing." The Golden Queen looks anything but as she lazily lifts a hand, and a rain of golden blades comes down on me before I can even put up a barrier. Her attacks are so fast that the times I was able to get off any spells were only because she let me. Unlike the dragon's telegraphed breaths, she essentially doesn't have any windup animations.
