Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 3.3 - Chapter 9

Fighting the Schnesturm 

The wall of layknights guarded me from all sides as I stayed high up in the air, sheltering inside Lessy. I squinted and tried looking up amid the storm, but the pure-white snow was beating against my Pandabus and making it impossible to see. It was so bad that even the dark-golden capes of nearby knights were nearly entirely obscured from my vision. 

Through the snow, one of the knights approached on their highbeast. “Lady Rozemyne. It’s me, Damuel. I have orders from Lord Ferdinand. May I come inside?” 

I made a door appear on Lessy’s passenger side for Damuel to climb through. He walked along his own highbeast’s wing and into my Pandabus, sat down, and then returned his highbeast to its stone form. 

“What did Ferdinand say?” I asked. 

While averting his gaze, Damuel informed me that Ferdinand had instructed him to stick with me, since he was uneasy leaving me on my own. Damuel was being rather roundabout, but I could imagine exactly what Ferdinand had told him. It was probably something like: “Do not let Rozemyne do anything until I arrive to get her. Keep a close eye on her, so that she does not cause any problems whatsoever.” 

It seemed that he didn’t trust me in the least. 

“In particular, he instructed me to do whatever it takes to preserve your mana,” Damuel said. “He mentioned that you have a tendency to prioritize emotions and pray without thinking when problems arise, which... ahem... won’t be acceptable here.” 

“Guh...” I groaned. Ferdinand could read me like a book now. I couldn’t even argue with that assessment since he was completely right. 

As I grumbled to myself, Damuel furrowed his brow and gave me an almost pitiable look. “I’ve finally been promoted back up to knighthood, so please refrain from doing anything that would get me punished,” he pleaded, tears forming in his eyes. 

Damuel had worked hard for the past year as an apprentice, so I had no choice but to nod back at him. But even then, I couldn’t make any hard promises. 

“...So this is your highbeast, then. Appearances aside, the interior is really quite something,” Damuel said, letting out surprised and impressed noises as he felt around the Pandabus from the passenger seat. 

“Eheheh. Pretty comfy, isn’t it?” 

“Very. It’s exactly as Brigitte said.” 

I could tell that Brigitte liked Lessy from how relaxed she always seemed in the passenger seat. She was a woman of very few words who rarely expressed her emotions, but I had occasionally happened to catch her ever-so-slight smiles every now and again. 

“What did Brigitte say?” I asked excitedly. 

Damuel closed his eyes as if digging through his memories. “She said that your highbeast is very comfortable to ride in, but that she would rather ride on a highbeast when in battle so that she would have room to swing her weapon.” 

“That’s true. Knights do need to fight, and Lessy doesn’t really accommodate that. But still... why not just reshape the highbeast based on your needs? You could have one form for battle, and another for travel,” I suggested. 

But according to Damuel, the fact that one needed training and a precise mental image to instantly produce a highbeast meant that knights would much rather focus on speed than attempting to balance multiple forms. 

“You can freely change the size of your highbeast, Lady Rozemyne, but that is not such a simple matter for most,” Damuel said. 

I didn’t really get what he meant. Whenever I summoned Lessy, I was always just imagining an automobile. It was more or less the same image no matter the size, so shrinking him into a single-seater or making him as large as a minibus didn’t cause me any problems. 

“Oh, it’s begun,” Damuel said. “Take a look. Lord Ferdinand and the commander are in battle.” 

I followed his pointing finger to see two bright lights, one on either side of the blizzard’s center. But no matter how hard I squinted, I couldn’t see either Ferdinand or Karstedt; all I could see were two lights of equal sizes. 

“It’s hard to tell from this far away, but that’s the same attack that Lord Ferdinand used to defeat the goltze back during the Night of Schutzaria,” Damuel explained. 

“Wait, the attack that killed the goltze in a single hit?” I asked. 

“Steel yourself, Lady Rozemyne! A powerful shockwave is coming this way!” Damuel yelled sharply, as the two lights raced in unison toward the whirlwind at the center of the blizzard. Light also trailed behind them as they arced through the air before suddenly slamming into the whirlwind, resulting in a roaring boom so loud that I instinctively covered my ears. 

The whirlwind faltered for a moment, during which I could see the two knights with their greatswords swung downward. Since Ferdinand’s attack had managed to kill the goltze in a single blow, in that moment, I foolishly convinced myself that it was probably already over. But an instant later, the knights closest to the vortex were knocked away one by one. A wave-like disturbance was rushing outward from the center, made visible only by those who were being thrown back. 

...Here it comes! I thought, and just as I braced myself, the shockwave hit us. I gripped Lessy’s steering wheel as tightly as I could, pouring more mana into him to keep us in place. The knights around us faltered slightly, but I could see them managing to hold on to their own highbeasts as well. We were this far away from the source, and yet it was still enough to nearly knock us out of the air. Just how strong had the blast been at the very center? 

Once the shockwave had passed, I looked around. Everything had gone silent. The only thing unchanged was the ever-present whirlwind of the blizzard. 

“...Did we win?” I asked. 

“No, the schnesturm is not that easy of an opponent,” Damuel replied, staring into the distance. 

I heard an earth-shaking roar, and the blizzard instantly became more intense. The whirlwind at the center grew to a massive size, turning from a violent vortex to an enormous tornado of destruction. 

...Can we even beat this thing? I wondered, my breath catching in my throat. 

Snow quickly accumulated into clumps inside the tornado, before suddenly being flung out. They appeared to be no larger than regular snowballs from this distance, but in reality, they were just a little bigger than the knights and their highbeasts. I squinted to try and get a better view, and on closer examination realized that the white clumps had taken animal forms, which immediately started attacking the knights. Some looked like tigers, others like wolves, and still others like rabbits. They were of various sizes, but they all attacked the knights, who responded in turn. 

“What are those things?” I asked. 

“The Lord of Winter’s servants, formed from his mana,” Damuel replied tersely as he continued to eye them carefully. 

Since the white animals were all being created from the schnesturm’s mana, the tornado was beginning to weaken as more and more were made, slowly revealing the massive feybeast at its center. 

“So that’s the schnesturm...” I murmured. 

Once the tornado had thinned enough for me to see through it, a feybeast even larger than the gigantic goltze I had seen on the Night of Schutzaria came into view. The schnesturm looked entirely like a white tiger made of snow. There were black stripes running down the white fur on its massive body, and sharp fangs jutted out of its mouth like spears. Its eyes were like huge rolling orbs that gleamed with a sharp red light, which might have just been a trait shared by all feybeasts. 

From this distance, it looked like a mountain, with Ferdinand and Karstedt on their highbeasts being the equivalent of mosquitoes flying around a cat. The size difference truly couldn’t be overstated. 

The schnesturm turned its head, trying to get all of the knights flying around it into its vision. Its movements were much quicker than one would expect of something its size, and when the knights closed in to attack, it swung its paw with impressive speed. With each swipe, a blizzard erupted. And when it roared, more servants were born from the swirling snow. 

“Can we actually win this...?” I asked. 

As far as I could see, Ferdinand and Karstedt’s combination attack hadn’t even made a scratch on the schnesturm. And if that really was the case, then what hope did we have of winning? It seemed to me that nothing we could do would be enough. 

I looked at Damuel with unease, and saw that he was looking at the schnesturm with a severe expression as well. “I believe it will be a lengthy battle of attrition,” he said intensely. 

And his assessment proved to be right. The schnesturm’s roars caused even more blizzards to form, creating all sorts of white feybeasts from the snow. They must not have been very strong, judging by how easily the knights were taking them down, but when destroyed, the feybeasts returned to the schnesturm in the form of snow. 

“There are more coming,” Damuel observed. 

Fewer feybeast servants meant a stronger blizzard surrounding the schnesturm. But before the blizzard could completely obscure it, the beast would let out another earth-shaking roar that echoed out all around it. This roar made more servants appear from the blizzard, immediately lunging at the medknights before being promptly defeated. 

But it was a never-ending battle. And while we had at first appeared to have the advantage, as the fight went on, our lead seemed less and less certain. Eventually, it started to look as though the knights were barely winning at all. 

“So they’re struggling this much, even with your blessing...” Damuel murmured. 

I had given the knights the divine protection of Angriff the God of War on the Night of Schutzaria as well, which had completely turned the tide of the battle. And yet, here they were struggling even with it. 

“Grr... This is bad!” Damuel exclaimed, gritting his teeth and clenching his gauntleted fists. He looked almost desperate to run into battle to help. There were now too many feybeast servants for the medknights to handle, forcing the layknights to desperately finish off the ones that were slipping through and heading toward us. 

I could understand how Damuel felt. As a knight, he believed that it was his duty to join the fight, but he had been ordered to protect me. I wanted to say that he could go off and join his fellow knights, but that would be seen as him abandoning his duty. 

“If only there was something I could do...” I murmured in thought, my brow deeply furrowed. 

“You’ve already blessed us with Angriff’s protection, and Ferdinand has strictly ordered you to preserve your mana. Don’t forget that,” Damuel said, warning me not to use any more mana than was necessary as he watched his comrades struggle. 

I hadn’t forgotten Ferdinand’s order, but it pained me to just watch them without doing anything myself. Anxious feelings were burning in my chest, and the fact that it looked as though they were losing made it even worse. 

“The Knight’s Order battles the Lord of Winter every year. Schnesturms are particularly fearsome Lords, but we have never failed to defeat one,” Damuel explained. 

Of course the fight would be a long one; it was like we were fighting winter itself. And given that this happened every year, rushing out in a panic would just make me look like an idiot. 

“The archknights are fighting as well. Your duty is to stay here and preserve your mana, Lady Rozemyne.” 

My eyes had been instinctively drawn to the knights fighting closer to us, but while the medknights and layknights were fighting the endlessly spawning snow servants, the archknights were launching direct attacks on the snow tiger. I could see several highbeasts facing the massive schnesturm, small lights flashing here and there before racing toward the beast. 

They didn’t seem as powerful as the ones from Ferdinand and Karstedt, but it was probably the same attack. The only problem was that no matter how many times the lights flashed, the schnesturm didn’t falter in the slightest, seeming entirely undamaged and unfazed. 

The stalemate continued for some time. More and more servants were defeated, only to be reborn. The knights desperately continued to slay them, but the battle only got harder, and I kept thinking that we were going to be overwhelmed. But that never happened. One by one, the knights downed the potions that they had prepared ahead of time, restoring their stamina and allowing them to continue the fight. 

Damuel had been right—it was a long war of attrition, and one that the knights were all very well prepared for. 

I sighed. “...I kind of wish they would drink the potions before the battle took such a toll on them.” 

“Since they don’t know how long the fight is going to last, they’re trying to preserve as many potions as they can,” Damuel explained. 

Personally, I had no idea how much time had actually passed. The endless cycle of servants being killed and reborn continued, but the blizzard surrounding the schnesturm now seemed less intense, and fewer servants were being created at once. 

“The schnesturm seems to be somewhat weakened,” Damuel observed. 

And a second later, two bright lights began to shine to the left and right of the snow tiger—lights that were just as bright as the initial attack. 

Damuel’s eyes glistened with hope, and he leaned forward slightly as he watched the schnesturm. “It’s Lord Ferdinand and the commander!” 

I gripped the steering wheel of my Pandabus and leaned forward as well, squinting to see what might be the final moments of the battle. The two lights launched forward, both aimed toward the schnesturm’s right foreleg. They intersected in the air before exploding on impact, though the shockwave didn’t seem to reach us, perhaps due to the attacks having first pierced into the snow tiger’s body. 

And the two of them must have poured their all into the attacks, as the schnesturm’s leg was torn apart and quickly fell to the ground. 

The surrounding archknights began launching attacks on the other front leg without delay. The focused swarm of blows seemed to be effective, and the schnesturm let out a deafening roar. It was different from the roar that had given birth to the endless stream of servants, and the snow tiger now appeared to be rampaging while howling with pain and anger. The blizzard around the beast disappeared instantly, as did all of the servants that the knights had been fighting. 

“Did we win...?” I asked. 

“I don’t know. But the blizzard is clearing— No! It’s healing!” 

I thought we had finally won, but that was a mistake; the schnesturm was simply using the power it had used to summon blizzards to heal its injuries instead. The wounds left from the archknights’ focused attacks on its front left leg started closing up before our eyes. All things considered, it wasn’t happening quickly, but at this rate, it wouldn’t be long before the leg they had finally chopped off regenerated completely. 

I watched the schnesturm with wide eyes, when I noticed a highbeast racing toward us at incredible speed. 

“Lady Rozemyne, that’s Lord Ferdinand!” Damuel yelled, climbing out of Lessy and bringing his highbeast back out so that he wouldn’t be in our way. 

I immediately gripped onto Leidenschaft’s spear as tightly as I could, watching Ferdinand approach. 

“Come, Rozemyne!” he declared, holding a hand out toward my Pandabus. But Lessy was still in the air. I didn’t know what he wanted me to do after opening the door, so I just stood there with the spear, uncertain. 

After a pause, Ferdinand clicked his tongue and whipped out his schtappe. He swung it through the air, causing bands of light to shoot out and wrap around me. As I blinked in surprise, trying to process what was going on, I was pulled toward him like a fish on a hook. I bounced through the air, and before I knew it, I was on Ferdinand’s highbeast. 

“Must you always make things difficult?” he sighed. 

“...M-My apologies.” 

I turned Lessy back into a feystone, then rode on Ferdinand’s highbeast. The lack of a Pandabus windshield meant that the freezing air stabbed into my skin as we flew, and it hurt to keep my eyes open while moving so fast. 

“Our chance at victory is now, while the schnesturm is focused on healing itself,” Ferdinand explained. “Do not allow this opportunity to escape.” 

“...Right.” 

“Grip the spear firmly with both hands, and pour as much mana into it as you can,” Ferdinand instructed, wrapping his left arm around me to make sure I didn’t fall. 

And so, I did as Ferdinand said. The feystones on it were all lit up, which I had assumed meant it was full of mana, but nothing stopped me from pouring even more into it. 

The clear sky clouded over, and snow began to fall again. The schnesturm’s front left leg had completely recovered, and it was once again using it to swipe through the air. Its right leg seemed to be about halfway regenerated. 

“Not yet,” Ferdinand said, his head above mine. 

I kept pouring mana into the spear as we approached the schnesturm. Ferdinand pulled his highbeast back to face the sky, so that we began climbing upward. 

“That is not enough,” he later repeated. But I was trying as hard as I could. 

Eventually, it began to spark with mana, its spearhead glowing bright blue—it must have finally become truly full. 

“Hold it with your right hand such that you can throw it at any time,” Ferdinand said. 

I gave a nod and readied the spear as instructed. Ferdinand then told me to tighten my grip, holding my wrist with his right hand while taking care not to touch the spear directly. His left arm was still around my stomach, serving as a safety bar while he kept the reins of his highbeast steady. 

“Now!” Ferdinand declared, plunging his highbeast downward. 

Our descent was rapid and only getting faster, so much so that it was honestly scarier than a freefall. All I could hear was the wind beating against his cape. The wind struck my cheeks like tiny bolts of electricity and my stomach churned, hitting me with a wave of nausea and making tears form in my eyes. I screamed silently, the both of us plummeting right toward the schnesturm. 

“Throw it!” Ferdinand roared, using his right hand to guide my own through a throwing motion. All I needed to do was let go of the shining blue spear at the right time. It left my hand like a shooting star made of pure light, racing directly down toward the beast. 

I watched it fall, but Ferdinand wasted no time before pulling his highbeast back. I was immediately hit with the impact of our sudden change in direction, forcing a grunt out of my body. 

An instant later, the earth exploded, and an enormous shockwave hit us from below. But thanks to Ferdinand having turned his highbeast around, we rode the shockwave high into the sky before eventually coming to a stop. I was clinging to Ferdinand’s left arm as tightly as I could, while he, on the other hand, just casually leaned to the side and looked down. 

“Mission complete. It is now time to retrieve the feystone,” Ferdinand said dryly, like he was giving a simple instruction, before lowering his highbeast to where the schnesturm had been. “Get a hold of yourself, Rozemyne. You must be the one to collect the feystone. If you intend to pass out or collapse, do so later on, not now.” 

Don’t be so unreasonable, I wanted to say. But instead, I just let out a loud huff. 

The schnesturm’s body had already vanished, and at the bottom of an immense crater in the ground was Leidenschaft’s spear and a feystone. The spear was drained of mana but completely without a scratch, its tip piercing the snow tiger’s feystone. As instructed, I removed the feystone, which was white and mostly filled with my faint yellow mana. 

“It seems to need a bit more. Finish dyeing it with your mana, Rozemyne,” Ferdinand said. “If you do not have enough left, you can put it in your pouch for the time being and spend tomorrow filling it, but I would rather not risk it being dyed by any other sources of mana.” 

I could empathize with that. A high-quality ingredient was right in front of me, and I wanted it to be as good as it could be. 

“I’ll do it,” I replied, starting to dye the feystone with my mana. Meanwhile, the knights spent time healing each other and preparing to go home. 

Karstedt came over, a wide grin spread across his face, and plopped a hand on my head. “This year’s hunt ended earlier than expected. It’s all thanks to you, Rozemyne.” 

To me, it had seemed as though the battle was a hard one, but it had apparently been way worse in the years prior. The God of War’s blessing and the fact that I had successfully landed the final blow had greatly reduced the time spent fighting and led to the hunt ending much earlier than planned, according to Karstedt. 

“I see the dyeing is complete,” Ferdinand observed. 

I took a good look at the feystone, now dyed with my mana. This was my first time successfully gathering an ingredient. I let out a loud sigh of relief, putting the feystone into my gathering pouch.

The blizzard cleared, and the next day was a sunny one. The kids in the castle apparently cheered at the long-awaited change in weather, and I heard that they all raced outside to play, apparently doing something that sounded similar to ice skating and sledding. I could guess that the kids in the orphanage were going to go and gather parues as well, since the sun was out. 

Why am I speaking as though I wasn’t there? Well, because I was stuck in bed with a fever. 

“Siiigh... I want to eat some parue cakes...” I murmured. But the only one who nodded in firm agreement was Damuel.