Bodies rained down from the sky.
Everywhere the orc shaman looked, there were the corpses of humans who had met gruesome deaths.
Even the orc shaman who prided itself on its mastery of blood magic and its affinity with death found the countless deaths gnawing at its sanity.
“This, this can’t be. This can’t be happening! How can just one human cause this many deaths?”
Spells never lied.
And so the orc shaman had already discerned that this rain of death before it was no illusion.
It wasn’t just the orc’s mind that was shaking.
Everything had its limits.
Naturally, the spell the shaman had prepared also had its limits.
Due to the excessive number of deaths, the shaman’s spell which redefined them as illusions began to falter.
In response, the shaman hastily tried to manipulate the spell, but the enchantment surrounding the entire outpost did not respond to its commands.
Its control over the spell had been usurped.
“H-How!”
“If you used what belonged to others, you should have been prepared for yours to be taken.”
Despite not understanding the human language, the shaman turned his head toward Shane.
“How did you do it?”
This was one of the major weaknesses of blood magic.
The ownership of magic or spells created by the caster was unclear.
Generally, magic that was handled had a clear ownership.
However, because blood magic involved taking and using what belonged to others, the process of modifying it for one’s own use resulted in a loss of ownership over the magic.
As a result, anyone with a deeper understanding of blood magic and detailed knowledge of the spells or curses used could usurp it.
This was why, in the past, Gordon had taken precautions by creating a mask from the living body of the original owner of the blood magic.
While the orc shaman’s mind went blank, Shane spoke again.
“Let’s see if you can handle this.”
The cold fallen corpses began to twitch.
Hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands of corpses twitching their arms and legs simultaneously created a scene that was enough to induce cognitive dissonance.
Despite the situation, the orc shaman seemed unable to accept that its spell had been taken by another.
“This can’t be… It can’t be! How could a mere human steal the great ancestors’ magic?”
But words do not work with corpses.
The corpses slowly stirred and raised their bodies, and now the corpses numbered in the hundreds of thousands turned their vacant eyes toward the orc shaman.
Facing that multitude of deaths, the orc shaman drooled and laughed.
“This can’t be happening… No, this is impossible. This must be a dream. Kuhehehe.”
Unable to accept reality, the orc shaman foolishly attempted to reclaim control of the spell that had slipped from him.
In response, the spell attacked the orc shaman instead.
To be precise, when Shane returned the spell’s control to the shaman, the control Shane had been maintaining came crashing down like a tidal wave.
Unable to handle the countless visions of death, the spell began to burn the orc Shaman’s brain black.
“Kuhuhu, Kuhehehe!”
Before the uncontrollable power of the spell, the orc shaman bled from all seven orifices.
The corpses rushing at him from all sides further hastened his mental collapse.
Black teeth began to appear beneath the orc’s feet.
“It would be troublesome if you died just like that.”
Before long, the spirit that responded to Shane’s Origin opened its abyss-like mouth at the orc shaman’s feet
Soon, when the orc shaman had completely disappeared.
With the caster gone, the spell began to dissipate naturally.
The dome-shaped sphere made of blood magic disappeared, and the sky of Arunvida where the sun was setting was reflected.
“Kuh, these damn orcs… huh?”
At that moment, Kevin who had been repeatedly swinging his short sword and stumbling was the first to regain his senses.
“Uh, novice, no, what should I call you? Anyway, Mage. Is it over?”
“Yes.”
With that, Kevin’s legs gave out from under him, and he collapsed to the ground.
“Phew… Damn, I almost died. But why have they all collapsed? They’re not dead, are they?”
Unlike Kevin, MacGowan and Hackerts who had used their magic without thinking were lying on the ground unconscious, and Felice was bleeding from various parts of his body with his eyes closed.
Fortunately, Shane had dispelled the spell quickly, so their lives were not in danger, but the mental damage seemed huge. That’s why they were unable to regain consciousness immediately.
“I’ll explain later. First, take care of our companions. I’m going to search that building.”
“Uh, okay. Damn… uh, thank you. You saved my life.”
“I was just doing my job.”
“You seem to be quite shy despite your appearance. Ahem.”
Feeling embarrassed, Kevin spoke and then approached his fallen comrades.
Although he too had sustained significant mental damage from the spell and couldn’t move well, such extreme situations were fairly common in the life of Arunvida.
Shane briefly watched Kevin approach Felice who seemed to be in the worst condition, and headed towards the building where the orc centurion and orc shaman had resided.
Inside, the building was filled with a strange mixture of herbal and blood scents.
Shane moved towards the area where the scents were strongest. He eventually arrived at what appeared to be the orc shaman’s room.
It was filled with unpleasant traces of experiments. It actually looked like a black mage’s laboratory.
However, Shane paid no attention to these and instead headed towards a pile of animal skins.
Orcs couldn’t make paper, so they used dried animal skins written with orc language in the blood of animals or monsters.
After he quickly examined these scrolls, Shane took the one he needed and moved on.
“Ugh, I have nothing to say.”
When he went outside, he found that Felice had regained his senses and Kevin was grumbling incessantly while bleeding from both nostrils.
“Damn it. Punching the person trying to help you. What the hell is wrong with you? Who told you to use magic anyway? Damn it.”
“I said I’m sorry.”
Apparently, when Felice, who was filled with killing intent due to the shaman’s spell, regained consciousness, he instinctively threw a punch at Kevin who was right in front of him.
“Apologize twice and kill someone. It’s a good thing I blocked it with my hand; otherwise, my skull would have been shattered.”
“Ahem…”
Felice had nothing to say about this. He hoisted the bulky MacGowan over his shoulder and turned to Shane.
“I’ll hear the explanation later. Did you get what we needed?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s move right away. The ones outside seem to be creeping in.”
Felice glanced at the dried-up corpse of the orc centurion.
“Tch. We’ll have to pick one of the orcs outside to bring back alive. Sorry about that.”
“It can’t be helped. It’s not like we killed him.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
With that, the three of them carried the still-unconscious MacGowan and Hackerts before they used the prepared ropes to climb up the steep canyon.
***
“Phew, this is killing me.”
They found a place to rest and set up a small camp; before they knew it, night had fallen.
MacGowan and Hackerts who had been unconscious woke up, while Felice who had gone out to hunt returned with an orc he had knocked out during the chaos.
“I really want to kill it.”
“That’s right.”
MacGowan and Hackerts gritted their teeth as they looked at the unconscious orc. Kevin who heard this glared at them in disbelief.
“What I want to kill is you two, you idiots. He told you not to use magic, yet you did and almost got yourselves killed.”
“What, were we supposed to just sit there and get beaten up when the orcs charged at us at breakneck speed? That’s ridiculous.”
“That’s right.”
“Damn you, you can’t even argue properly.”
“Ahem.”
Meanwhile, Felice who had his own grievances cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention.
“Anyway, Shane, we’ve got a live orc sample. How did the search for their stronghold go?”
“I got the information we needed. Now we just have to head back.”
“Then I guess we can blow this place up now.”
Meanwhile, Felice smiled broadly as he waved the blue flare in his hand.
It was the flare that would signal the end of the long special scouting operation.
***
Late at night.
Anastasia stood on the balcony, where the moonlight fell with the snow. Her gaze was fixed northward.
Behind her, Mimir appeared and handed her a cup of hot tea.
“Mimir.”
“Are you out here again today? How many days has it been? The weather is cold.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not that weak.”
“There’s nothing you can do by just standing here.”
“Even so, it puts my mind at ease more than doing nothing.”
It had been nearly a month since Shane, Felice, Kevin, and the rest of the trio had begun their search for the orcs’ stronghold.
Anastasia had been on the balcony for the last fortnight, spending her time looking in the direction they had left until late at night.
“Are you nervous?”
“I don’t know. I can’t even remember the last time I felt nervous. So, I can’t really say.”
It had already been seven years since she had been practically banished here at the tender age of fourteen.
Yet, even when the luxurious life of the imperial family which she had taken for granted for fourteen years had come to an end,
On the first night in Arunvida, where she faced one-sided hostility.
Even amidst the monster waves that surged like a tidal wave, Anastasia had never felt nervous.
Was she nervous now?
Anastasia couldn’t even understand her own emotions.
Perhaps she was nervous, but she simply didn’t recognize it because it was unfamiliar to her.
“Do you wish to return to the imperial palace?”
Even Mimir’s sudden question made her heart feel cold.
The imperial palace.
Was she nervous because she wanted to go back to that place that was like a shining star in the dark night sky?
No.
“Mimir, I can’t see that far into the future. I’m someone who struggles just to handle the situation right in front of me.”
The reason she stood there with a heart as cold as the weather in Arunvida was because she was more worried about the strange phenomena occurring there recently than about distant imperial affairs.
The orcs had started using magic and were attempting to cause monster waves.
For now, these were just ominous signs, but if they became a reality, could she protect Arunvida?
And the reality that there was nothing she could do in such a crisis was what kept Anastasia standing there.
Mimir sighed at the sight of her.
He had served her since the days she toddled around.
Yet, he had never truly grasped what worried her.
When he heard the boy Shane’s proposal, unlike himself who looked to the imperial palace more than Arunvida, Anastasia was more concerned about Arunvida which she led.
Having seen this side of her, wasn’t that why he had pledged his loyalty to Anastasia?
Mimir cast a spell to reheat the teacup that quickly cooled in the freezing weather and then spoke to the princess who still fixed her gaze northward.
“I spent quite some time in the imperial palace, and I thought I had a good eye for people. Yet, there were always those whom I found hard to read.”
And those people invariably rose to the highest places.
To the point where he had to look up at them until his neck ached.
“…Really?”
“Yes, but I’ve met people like that so often that I’ve developed a sense related to that. I don’t know exactly what it is, but there is something special about them. I’ve met many of them here in Arunvida, but due to the nature of this place, they never rose to great heights.
As he said this, Mimir recalled the boy who didn’t hide his killing intent when the crown prince was mentioned.
“But I didn’t feel that from Shane.”
“Hmm? I thought you were going to say you sensed something from him.”
“Haha. On the contrary, even at my current level, I couldn’t discern anything significant about him, more than anyone else I’ve seen in the imperial family. Doesn’t that make you curious about how much he will grow?”
“…That’s true.”
“Trust this Mimir who serves you. And also trust the boy I believe in.”
At Mimir’s words, Anastasia smiled and pointed to the sky she had been watching.
“Haha, yes. It seems you’ve got a good eye for people.”
“…The timing was quite good, wasn’t it? Haha.”
Smiles spread across both their faces.
From the distant north, a blue light burst forth.
It was far enough that one would miss it without focusing, but to their eyes, the blue light was vividly clear.
The signal flare they had given Shane and his party to use upon completing their mission shone brightly even in the sky of the strange land of Arunvida.
Leave a Reply