Translator: Kurehashi Aiko
Volume 3 Chapter 23: Dragon-san Witnesses a Disaster
Having no time to wonder how it was possible for mere spirits to use Teleportation magic, I put Lish.e.l.la down and run towards Ligurila.
「Ligurila, are you okay!?」
「Yes, it"s nothing big, merely a scratch. That swordsman, he got me good. But next time I see him, I"m going to make him feel sorry! You"ll see!」
Said Ligurila in an angry manner while getting rid of the parts of her dress that were torn by the people who attacked us earlier.
Hey, it looks mostly fine, so are you really sure that you want to get rid of it like that?
I look around at the guests, who all seemed to be slowly regaining their senses. They were getting up from the ground and some of them were clearly wounded and were bleeding. I"m sorry for that!
「It"s fine, don"t worry about them. I"m actually more worried about that strange sensation just now. What about you, Lava? …… Lava?」
I seemed to have s.p.a.ced out, because Ligurila"s words make me come back to my senses.
Yes, that"s right. There was that thing with Lute"s hostility towards us, and the reason for this look of despair in his eyes. There was a lot of things to think about, but for now let us focus on the things at hand.
I tried to focus my thoughts grasp a hold of our current situation.
Maybe it was the mind control spell, but even though they lost consciousness, there must have been something that served as a catalyst to make the spell hold them within its grasp with such strength.
I think that this catalyst must have been the artificial magic stone, since Lish.e.l.la was the only one here without it, and wasn"t affected by Oblivio"s mind control.
If that"s the case, then I should be able to do something about it.
It was too early for us to give up. Too early to give up on Lish.e.l.la"s wish.
「Lava, did I overdid it this time?」
「Nah, I should be able to fix this. Take care of Lish.e.l.la for me, why don"t you?」
I had Lish.e.l.la over to Ligurila and get to work.
Even though Ligurila noticed that the barrier blocked all kinds of sorcery, she let me do my work in peace, although she seemed puzzled.
The n.o.bles immediately came all over me, but still, I threw my hands in front of me as if nothing strange was happening.
I release my magic and take control of all the magic in the area.
Then I searched for even the faintest signs I could find.
「Come to me, Oblivio.」
Come back, come back to Lish.e.l.la.
As soon as I felt his response to the calling, I used all of my magic to pull him closer and enshrine him within one of the artificial magic stones.
A few pieces of his being materialized in the air as particles of light.
As soon as the light came into the magical stone, the guests began to back down, but I had no time to concern myself with that right now.
Being careful not to miss anything, I let him into the stone while cleansing him of any impurities.
When he finally materialized on the top of my hand, he was no bigger than the tip of my fingernail.
It was a being that was known as Oblivio only mere moments earlier.
Since all of the artificial magic stones were made of his magical core, I thought it might be a good idea to put them all together and refine them into something new.
I could do something like this because I had experience in taking out the nuclei from the magical stones, and because Lute didn"t fully erased Oblivio"s existence.
But since he was now so small, it will probably take him hundreds of years to develop a consciousness again.
So I try to keep my enthusiasm at bay.
Then the magic spreads throughout the area, so sweet-scented and so soft.
「For the time being, I think it"s best to modify the child"s memory and keep the truth away from her.」
「Thanks, Ligurila.」
I thanked Ligurila for her offer, and while she was preparing herself to do the deed, I took the small Oblivio and stored him safely inside of the interdimensional storage.
「Let"s track these guys down. I should be able to sense their magic waves.」
「That would be a huge help.」
Ligurila said so while putting her hand on my arm, and as I was expanding my searching field, I cast the last quick glance towards Lish.e.l.la.
There were a whole lot of emotions swirling around inside of me, but for the time being I brushed them all aside.
Just sleep, while we will make sure that your wish comes true.
I used every last bit of my magic to try and track down our prey.
The moment I tracked them down, I urged Ligurila and we both flew towards that direction.
Once we got closer, all of my senses were a.s.saulted by something painful and irritating.
But more than that, I was overwhelmed by what was now laying in front of me.
「What is, what is this……?」
Judging from the point of view, it was somewhere over Melias.
It looks like they took precautions against anyone who would dare to try to track them down.
I immediately try to adjust my position and look for possible clues.
However, there was this strange kind of light coming from under the ground around the city, there were sirens ringing, and the images of ma.s.ses of monsters rushing towards Melias in blind rage and bloodl.u.s.t.
From the size of them coming out of the dungeon, I estimated that the monsters coming towards the city were mostly of third and second cla.s.s.
And more and more of them were being born out of the leylines with every pa.s.sing second.
If it wasn"t an emergency situation, it could have been a breathtaking view, but the thing that caught my attention more than the monsters was the volumes of thick white mist spilling from inside of the dungeon.
It wasn"t even all that menacing. It looked relatively harmless if it wasn"t for the fact that it was shining brightly in the middle of the night.
However, something in my gut was telling me that it was something unnatural, something that shouldn"t really be there.
I cannot be a hundred percent sure, but the chills I got earlier were most probably because of that.
Right next to me, Ligurila must have thought exactly the same thing upon seeing the mist.
Seeing this mist up close, I was overcome with the sudden urge to get rid of it right here right now. So in order to do that, I cast one of the most powerful spells that I knew.
「Firewall Wind!」
As soon as I spoke the words in ancient language, the air around the dungeon was filled with hot gusts of wind filled with scorching flames, engulfing the mist in blazing inferno.
Even thought it was the spell of the highest caliber, I knew that Nectar would be able to protect himself and the guys from it, so I could go full throttle with it without reservations.
I couldn"t see the white mist and I let out a sigh of relief, but then suddenly the flames disappeared as they were never there in the first place.
「My magic was dispelled!?」
Ligurila saw that, too. As soon as my flames touched the white mist, they disappeared in an instant.
Certainly, the flow of magic around here was becoming unstable, and it could have been even more powerful than it was, but still it was magic strong enough to wipe the entire city from the map!
But with so much of my magic, it should be impossible for the whole of it to disappear without a trace just like that!
The city was about to be overrun by hordes of black monsters.
「Nectar …?!」
I could clearly see Kyle, Senjiro and Nectar emerging from within the dungeon situated under a mountain near the city.
In fact, the light that was coming from the dungeon was in no way magical, and once it settled down there was only mist left, as if nothing strange or out of the ordinary has happened.
It was just so strange, seeing this white mist emerging from within the dungeon.
I thought that they might be able to prevent it, but for some bizarre reason the eerie fog kept on spreading, soon engulfing the whole dungeon in its milky-white grasp.
No way, was Nectar within that mist right now? Inside of the mist where all of magic was supposedly rendered useless?
I could see nothing but darkness in front of my eyes due to tremendous shock and anxiety, I also lost strength in my whole body, I slumped to the ground.
However, I then felt a surge of familiar magic, and as I turned around I could see lightning strike after a lightning strike, blowing the monsters away in dozens.
One of those men was Senjiro, who was retreating from the dungeon with someone else following closely behind him.
I could sense the waves of magical energy swirl about.
I could see Nectar there as well, and so I folded my wings and went straight down towards him.
「Lava.」
I accelerated my flight with Ligurila right behind me, while Nectar stood in the middle of the field, the city of Melias behind him and the dungeon right in front of him.
Suddenly, all of the magic here was cut off, as the protective barriers were erected all around town, separating the town from the hordes of invading monsters.
From the looks of it, it was certainly the kind of barrier that was erected around Ligurila and I during our little duel a while back at the Hunters Guild.
Truly, it was a blessing to have it right now, and I couldn"t be happier to see it!
My expression brightens instantly as I jump right into Nectar"s arms, my heart filled with a bright sense of relief.
「Nectar, you"re safe!」
「And so are you.」
Even though I knew that Nectar and his company would somehow manage, I was still relieved to see him safe and sound. I threw my arms around him, hugging him tightly.
「Yeah, just barely. But what happened here? And what happened to the party? I just don"t get it.」
「There"s a lot of things we need to discuss, but for now let"s focus on what"s going on here. Just where did that fog come from? I can"t sense any magic from it.」
「This is……」
I parted from Nectar and looked at Kyle and Senjiro.
「Let me tell them.」
Seeing how his expression changed drastically, I was confused and puzzled.
「Belga was turned into a spirit.」
Hearing that, both Ligurila and I were at a loss for words.