TL: Yuki
◆ Wizard Kingdom Castle Dungeon ◆
「The specific punishment will be decided later. Until then, please stay here peacefully. And also, because this jail is imbued with a special system using specialized magic barriers, forcing your way out would also be useless」
A soldier that was pressured by Hasuto-san before and another one that was not part of the group rudely pushed our backs into the castle jail. After quickly locking us in with a special prison key, they immediately left.
I wonder if the magic barrier in here is the same as the one Lars mentioned. There was a small window with iron grids attached to a seemingly old-fashioned iron door.
I think it would be more like it"s made of something inorganic is how I would describe the wall surrounding the room and closely resembles iron.
I think a toilet excuse would be the only thing that I would need to ask for at worst or this place would end up becoming filthy. This reminded me of my days inside that cave where there"s barely any light. I was nervous when darkness continued to stay but there were also floors that were properly illuminated.
As for this situation, of me being locked in this place is because of Hasuto-san.
It"s because he requested us to get caught without resisting for now, and we agreed in following it, but I don"t know if this was really a good decision.
I still don"t know as to how I would act depending on the situation, but I wonder what I would do if they decided to punish us with death? I will definitely not let myself get killed though.
The only people inside this room are me and Roel. Roel was currently surveying the room without showing her fear.
「I wonder this result was fine following what Hasuto-sama suggested. What do you think Roel? 」
「Hmmm, I think this is fine because the situation would end up becoming worse if you did resist before」
「Mou! I can"t really understand what that old man is trying to do!」
Testing us with a Fire Rain, now being confined here, and also it was quite frustrating that haven"t found any clues about that one winged demon at all. If I become A Rank, I will be able to go directly to the village, but there is still an exam take before that, and if I couldn"t pa.s.s it would probably take a long time for to be able to visit.
I don"t know what fun thinks to talk about so I sat on the bed. It"s a little dirty but it was still much better if compared to the condition I was in in the cave. At that time, I could only sleep on the floor after all.
「……I wonder who is coming? 」
I could feel a presence approaching. Then footsteps resounded through the dark corridor. The sound was getting closer and closer.
「Was it a soldier」
「It is not」
It was Hasuto-sama"s voice that could be heard on the other side of the iron door. That little old man won"t be able to reach the iron grid, but I could tell that he was standing behind the door.
Because of the irritation from the current situation that we are in, I was a bit enraged and instead of asking politely I actually lashed out a bit. Despite showing him my frustrations, he still replied in a calm and relaxed tone like usual.
「Hasuto-sama! What is this, why do we need to be in this situation! 」
「Now then, what to do? For the time being, would you please just stay silent and wait? 」
「Are you messing with us! 」
I was thinking that I might have frightened Hasuto-sama who didn"t really react despite my loud voice. But now that I think about how that old man usually reacts, then I could imagine nothing but how that old man stroking his beard not minding it like usual.
「You know, why did you try to obtain that much power? 」
「Wha, what do you mean? 」
「You see, it was something that I heard about from my granddaughter.
At first I was skeptical about it, but I didn"t even imagine that you would endure that Rain of Fire without even a scratch.
To have such an immeasurable power, so much that it could overwhelm many. Everyone would have tried to take you in for them to have that power.
Of course, this world is a really wide place. You will be able to find a lot of strong individuals. But you on the other hand, you would probably stand even on higher ground that those people, you see?
With strength stronger than anyone else, so powerful that it would be unparalleled. There were times that a strong person would meet another strong person, and from that moment a weak person will result from their confrontation.
There are those who cannot resist, who cannot defend, who cannot attain justice. And there are a lot of scenes where most of them are just beaten down by the strong.
Even now, there are those who try to resist the inevitable. A cycle like this is something that children like you still haven"t experienced.
That"s why I want you to think about this every time.
Is it really fine to just beat down with power just about anyone who tries to get in your way because you have the power to do so? 」
At first I was puzzled as to what Hasuto-sama is trying to make me understand because of my naivety, but somehow I do get what is trying to imply.
「You have the power to beat the unreasonable. In the future, there will probably be a lot of situations where things might end up like this time. That"s why I want to show you this time the proper way to handle such absurdities」
Is that the reason why he let us be confined here? I do understand a bit why they call Hasuto-sama a wiseman, but I think he much more of a simple person that what I have expected. What is it that we need to do now? Needless to say, we only came here for one thing. But if we do it in a bad way, then we will probably end up becoming more like the bad guys.
「If we force our way out of here, and then it will result in a huge mess. I don"t want to do bad things if possible. And especially, I don"t want to unnecessarily kill anyone」
「Is that so, then what if you are in a situation where you cannot choose an option?
Well if I can"t protect the important people around me, it might also become the end of me. That"s why I want you to think about the consequences of what you will do from this point onward」
Hasuto-sama kept on preaching while also giving me time think. The tone in the way he speaks is seemingly relaxed, but the of meaning from his words is different from how he usually speaks at home.
「You see, I have lived for a very long time. I have witnessed a lot of events and some of them are so disastrous that I even wanted to erase it from my head when I cover my eyes.
I have also seen a lot of these crying in bitterness from their sufferings. There a lot of such events that if I didn"t endure, and then it might have broken me down. That"s why right now even for a little, I don"t want anyone to suffer the same fate anymore.
Although I did show a bit of my power before, but this body was already considerably weakened. If I put a little more extra burden to it, then I will definitely end up kicking the bucket and leave this world.
That"s why in my current state, I know that I won"t have the power to beat those golems」
I felt a little sad at what he told us before the end.
At that time before, I understood that there was no one else who could compete against his power, but it was only a display of what his true power would be.
Even for a powerful old man, 100 years is very long time and even with his strength, he can"t beat the flow of time.
I don"t really know just how much experience he acc.u.mulated in that amount of time. But just by listening to his story, I could understand that he went through a lot when he left. Hasuto-sama is already tired both in mind and body.
That"s why when he heard of me, he was making sure of a lot of things. That"s why thinking about something trivial like that Rain of Fire even though it was kind of overkill was pushed out of my mind.
There are much more important things that I have to think about right now.
「Understood, Hasuto-sama, I will do my best on my way too 」
A magical barrier is it, and then first I have to test if I"m able to break this to make myself feel relieved.
The King and Soldiers would probably try to resist my escape taking up weapons and stuff, but that won"t matter to me.
And then with great force, I swing my fists.
◆ Wizard Kingdom, East Gate ◆
Once it was a white town that spreading in that place, but now it was nothing more but a pile of rubble. The area near the Wizard Kingdom"s East is almost extinct. When the gate was attacked before, it was not possible to resist even with all of the thunder team and all of the 20 people defending were killed.
They were able to drive them out, but it was too late when reinforcements arrived. Though the walls surrounding the country were encrypted with barrier magic to improve its defense, the barrier magic that was placed in it is not that perfect. If it receives a powerful impact, then even thebarrier and the wall would collapse.
For the huge golem-like being that attacks forcefully without holding back, the destructive power incredibly strong and was unexpected by those defending, even though it was supposed to be a magical being. Because of not expecting the severity of its power, the magicians and soldiers defending on the wall were crushed along with it. If it wasn"t for the A Rank wizards that came after as reinforcement, the damage made would have been more sever and widespread.
「Reflection Barrier Deployment Completed! 」
It was a soldier from the remaining thunder corps that reported to Captain Tucker. They are currently stationed near the east gate that was destroyed from before. The walked were ruined and it was defenseless enough that the ruins beyond the walls could be seen from the other side. If another attack is initiated, then it would be the end for those that defend the east side.
There were three A Rank Demons, 100 B Rank Demons, and 300 C Rank Demons.
Against this are the more than 4000 people combined with the Thunder Group. This force alone is currently deployed near the East Gate. In terms of numbers, it will be several dozens more compared to the previous number of defenders. Calculating based on the power that easily pulverized the 20 elites from the Thunder Team, they made sure put this much manpower to fight back despite the immeasurable strength of the golem they faced.
Oh, and of course, I was one of the fighters that joined as a C Rank adventurer. Shortly after they sent my friends into prison, a defensive force was ordered to come to the east gate. We, the adventurers were also contracted to help in the form of a request, but well it was more like the country is desperate to find manpower to help with the resistance and is using the remaining forces that could be arranged.
Even though the S Rank Hasuto-jii is present, why did they try to send out adventurers first to combat which they have been blatantly driving out of their country before. I may have agreed in fighting to defend this country, but I won"t easily let myself be used by this country.
Lars who was previously stunned by the King was currently standing beside me. They still treated people as workforce despite knowing that they won"t even be of use against the golems. Anyway, all I know is that this is going to be a desperate battle.
「Everyone in the platoon! Don"t lose focus! We will definitely know when they start their a.s.sault! 」
We are currently in preparation to intercept the golems, and we are all under the command of the captain of the Thunder Squadron Captain Tucker.
We won"t know if they might come today, or it might even be tomorrow. That"s why everyone is camping in this ruined site.
I wouldn"t have returned if I knew something like this is going to happen. It was more fun when I was adventuring with everyone.
I am not a soldier of this country after all. I"m just a solo wizard adventurer called Tolppo. I understand why Lars who won"t be able to use his forte, Illution Magic, is looking down and is depressed.
「Tolppo-nee, what am I supposed to do to be of help here? 」
「Lars, I think that you should go back. I will do something about the things here……」
Even I am not that calm. Indeed I am a C Rank adventurer, but I am not that much of a force either.
Never the less, Hasuto-jii still cared for me despite not being that promising. It"s probably because I am his real granddaughter after all.
「Golem Detectedーーーーーーー! 」
At the same time the vanguards started to make noise, thunder magic was release to the sky as a warning. It could be clearly felt that the ma.s.s and number was overwhelming just by the vibrations from the ground that could be felt.
A large shadow could be seen from a distance away lined up in a row. They crushed trees in the forest that they are crossing as they approach closer to the kingdom.
There are golems with characteristics that were having long limbs and square torso looking more like a man made of rocks. Others were in different sizes and shapes the other but are moving in a uniform way as they were. It could only be identified as such an odd group of being aiming for the kingdom.
「Lightning Bolt, Shoot! 」
About 4000 of the thunder squadron fired mid-tier lightning magic at the center of the golem group. Along with that are adventurers casting magic attack of their own respective fields. This creates a field of flashes and explosions that even those who watch could see nothing but that. Golems that received the attack are sc.r.a.ped off until they eventually crumble.
The combination of the condensed mid-tier magic was on the same level as that of a lightning cannon. It is a magic that a B Rank Wizard could cast but only in a small number. This is the culmination of the Thunder Squad that researched how as to how they can minimize consumption while increasing fire power. This method is also implemented by the fire and other squadrons which focus one attribute and create a combination attack that could use the amplification of attack power.
Even though there are Wizards that are quite flexible in regards to their attributes and becomes dexterous in using those attributes, it is only in this country that they create a system which uses this method of systemizing. It could be said to be a specialty of this country. That is also what I thought. It was less than a minute since the lightning attack was released, and if the opponent was not a golem, that attack would have only lasted in an instant. Even if that is not the case, there would be few enemy units that would be safe.
「If it"s like this then we can do it, right? Right, Tolppo-Nee-chan! 」
「Un, It"s great…… but, something is strange」
Not many of the golems crumbled, and there were more golems that are still moving despite receiving the attack. Also, it wasn"t only those golems that were acting weird. There was a person walking majestically in front and was leading the army of golems. Also that person"s arm seems like that of a golem. It was only now visible after the lighting attack cleared up the forest and destroyed some of the golems. His rock-like arm was sticking out to the front and was receiving the lightning attack. Not only that, it seems like it absorbing the lightning attack.
Despite the continued a.s.sault of lightning attacks, it only gets absorbed by his rock-like arm and disappears. Other than his big rock arm, other parts of his body was that of a human which gives off a really weird ambience on his presence.
「Well well, what a splendid welcome.
Since I had a good mood last time, I was thinking that I could rampage more today」
The man laughs without care despite facing the troops of more than 4000 people. Of course, the lightning a.s.sault didn"t stop, but as the man closes in, the amount that destroys the enemy started to dwindle and continuously decreased in damage.
Right now they are closing in on the ruined walls along with the golem army. Eventually, the lightning a.s.sault continued to be absorbed and the Thunder Squad stopped the a.s.sault. I was thinking that it would be a loss of battle potential, but Commander Tucker deemed that continuing the attack would be a waste of magic power. Above everything else, the group of golems stopped just right before the walls.
「Nn～! What overwhelming numbers!」
Out of the flock of golems, one who was as big as an adult man came to the front. It was the same long limbed series with spherical limbs and a square torso. The spinning round head was giving an impression as if it was provoking us.
「Nn! I am the deputy general of the Golem Army, Boran!
This will be the last stage before we crush all of you, struggle with everything you"ve got! 」
「What is that thing…… He doesn"t like he would be a big deal if compared to other golem 」
Probably hearing the comments about him, Boran decided to show off his power. After stretching his hands towards the sides of the platoon, he aimed at the members of the platoon with his pincer like hands. A member of the platoon responded to the attack and shot lightning bolts to counter but was easily crushed then captured the soldier. The soldiers that were caught by the pincer like arms crushed the soldiers caught in it. The soldier breathes out his last after suffering from being crushed. After opening his b.l.o.o.d.y pincer like arm, the bodies of the crushed lifeless soldier fell to the ground.
「Nnn～! Too weak! Fighting someone like that for the golem master would only be boring! 」
What they feared more was the arms that were not affected by the lightning attack than its actual strength of being able to crush the soldiers. Looking closely at the golems from behind him, some golems stayed undamaged and were in perfect condition. That group that is not affected by their attack would be far more dangerous in comparison to the entire demon that they have faced before and they won"t be able to handle it. Probably realizing the graveness of the situation, a large number of the unit with several thousands of people grew upset.
「Everone, Cast it! Hit them with the best magic we could cast and destroy those golems! Adventurers too, cast your highest usable spell possible on the enemy! 」
Even though they understand the difference, they still followed the instructions. A large number of high level spells was unleashed and exploded on the enemy. Thousands of high level spell rained towards the enemy that could even flatten a small nation if use as a tactical attack on a normal scale.
During that time, I also aimed for Boran and casted a spell. However, I could understand the huge difference between us even if I don"t want to admit it. After all, I have witnessed a being that is on an even different dimension called Ryuua.
This is impossible.
One more golem far bigger from the first one went in for the offensive. The move was so simple as if it was a child having a tantrum. Even so, the platoon of wizards was easily dispersed like a splash of water droplets that was shoved off. The wizards were smashed into chunks of me by the long arms of the attacker. Even those who tried to escape were not able to run away from the onslaught of incoming attacks. The rounded arm of the golem pierces through the back of those trying to escape reaching even those that was far in front of them. Tracking its targets like a snake, it continued piecing more and more victims making it look like beads on a necklace.
「Uwaaaaaa! I don"t want to die」
I saw Lars who was stunned looking at a wizard who was pierced and was now lifeless in front of him. The little kid couldn"t help but shiver in fright from the sight os such a brutal murder happening in front of him.
「Lars, get away from here」
「But, but Tolppo-neechan, what about you……」
「I will do what I could in here, so do what you can」
Lars looked at me with tears on his eyes.
「Nn～, how disappointing. There"s not too much of a conflict.
The wizard kingdom, which I have heard as a powerhouse is only at this level. Now that I think about it, I heard that there was somebody that was supposed to be called as a wiseman in this place, right? 」
This question was being asked by Boran, but there was no such things as a person as fearless as he expected to exist in the current battlefield.
In this situation, Lars who couldn"t do anything hugged me as if to protect me but he still haven"t abandoned hope.
Even I know that there is still a chance to change the situation.
「Nnn～ well, if we destroy this country, then he will definitely come out. If he won"t, then I guess that"s it for this country and we will aim for somewhere else after」
Boran then stared at me after throwing away the corpse in his hand, and then waved the arm dripping with blood towards us.