688 – A Certain Girl and the Undying Witch (side: Miria)
“It’s all over! Aaaaaaah! Holy God-sama… Why… Why do you put us through this trial?! The Saint of legends, Jornes-sama, came to kill the people of the holy land… and now the Apocalypse that marks the end of the world has appeared! What in the world is happening!?”
Radda-san falls to his knees in despair. The other two warrior priests similarly clutch their heads in horror.
“If this is a bad dream, then let me wake up!”
“What have we done to deserve this?!”
All three have completely lost hope upon seeing the apocalypse.
Meltia-san is also staring at it in a daze, but she doesn’t seem as despairing as the warrior priests. The arrival of the apocalypse must be particularly shocking for people of the Holy God religion.
However, I can’t help but think the dragon they call ‘Apocalpyse’ is Irushia-san. In the first place, there aren’t very many high-ranking dragons in the world. That was why I couldn’t deny the idea that the dragon who attacked Harenae and killed the Hero was Irushia-san.
Moreover, that attack just now was clearly intended to save us. And, most importantly… I can sense something familiar in those eyes.
“T-that dragon probably came to save us.”
“That’s impossible!”
One of the warrior priests says, thrusting his spear into the ground.
“Look at its hideous appearance! Don’t you see how it looks like it crawled out of the depths of the underwor-”
From overhead, a thunderous crash resounds. I look up.
Above the headless Angel Lumira statue, where Jornes should have been, is instead a strange creature. Its appearance it to bizarre to be summarised briefly. Pale stone bubbles and reforms like clay, shaping into a giant human head.
Its appearance is so eerie that my only thought is that it is something that should not exist in this world.
“Jornes-sama…?”
The warrior priest I was speaking to says, looking up white-faced at the monstrosity.
The bubbling surface of the monster quickly settles down, becoming smooth like a sculpture. However, its appearance is entirely unlike that of the Saint.
A giant floating head, and a single wing. A huge mirror framed by snarling demons, and a giant wheel that must symbolise something on its back.
It’s a haphazard appearance, but it is accompanied by a strange gravitas and divinity that convinces me it isn’t a monster that was pretending to be Saint Jornes, but rather the result of what used to be Saint Jornes.
However, one question has been resolved now that I have seen Jornes’ true appearance. It finally makes sense why the monsters made from corpses had such haphazard appearances and porcelain skin. With a true form like that, it’s no wonder her creations look so wrong.
Besides, such uncanny monsters can be produced from the corpses of ordinary humans. So if the same was done to the dead body of the legendary Saint Jornes, then it makes sense that such a fearsome monster would result.
“Please look! That isn’t Saint Jornes any longer! The thing up there is probably just the remains of what she used to be!”
“S-such disrespect, outsider…! Look at her holy, sublime appearance!”
“Huh…?”
The warrior priest’s eyes are insane.
“Th-that’s it! Jornes-sama became an angel at the side of the Holy God-sama and returned to us! She came to slay the prophesied Dragon of Revelation! Doesn’t everything make sense that way….?”
“That’s absurd!”
“Haha, ahahahaha! I understand it all! She didn’t come to attack the Holy City, but to recruit soldiers! That’s why she didn’t destroy everything! That has to be it! It explains everything!”
He probably understands on some level that the monster above us is a dreadful abomination. But, he can’t accept it.
It’s understandable. The Saint that had been revered here for eons appeared and began massacring everyone. It must have been a much worse shock for the clergy than for me. Then, the feared dragon that heralds the demise of the world appeared, and Jornes changed into an even more terrifying monstrosity.
Suddenly, the apocalypse moves from the roof. With a speed like the wind, it flies towards Jornes.
“That speed… I don’t need the Maybel method to tell. It’s faster than upper A rank… It’s the real Apocalypse.”
Radda-san’s words take my breath away.
It is said that an upper A rank is capable of destroying an entire kingdom. If the apocalypse is truly much more powerful than that, then it really does have the power to destroy the world.
As the apocalypse nears the Angel Lumira statue, a huge explosion of iridescent light appears next to it. Jornes used [Ruin], it seems.
The apocalypse’s huge body is shot back by the blast, and slams into the Angel Lumira statue. The statue cracks, raining down stones around us.
It’s the same [Ruin] that was used to blow away the Angel Lumira’s head, but it’s much larger. A blast that big could destroy the Ridom Palace we were using as a shelter in an instant. It has made me fully realise just how easily we could have all been massacred if Jornes had shown a little interest in the city.
“Ooh, amazing! Look, Jornes-sama is pushing back the Apocalypse!”
One of the warrior priests points gleefully at the apocalypse. I examine it closely.
It certainly looks terrifying. But, I can also feel a warmth behind its eyes, unlike Jornes. The vaguely human-like sight of it wincing in pain seems somehow similar to the dragon I met near the village.
“As I thought, that dragon is Irushia-san…”
The apocalypse opens its eyes wide, flying to the side around the Angel Lumira statue.
The next moment, an explosion of iridescent light erupts overhead, and I lose sight of the apocalypse. A huge thunderous roar resounds. It seems the [Ruin] blasted the Angel Lumira’s torso apart. Jornes aimed it at the apocalypse.
The rubble from the Angel Lumira statue begins to rain down on us.
Getting away in time is impossible. It’s not at a level that I can do something about with magic. All we can do is stare up, open-mouthed.
The boulder falling towards me feels like it is moving painfully slowly. My brain has probably realised that death is coming.
I’m going to be crushed by that, and die. I curse internally at the warrior priest who would accept a Saint that fights with such disregard for the people of the Holy Land.
I shut my eyes. I hear the sound of the stone impacting the ground, and think that I must have died. But, I feel no pain.
Fearfully, I open my eyes… and see a strange monster flying above me. It looks like a green, round bird, about the size of a human head. Its face is hidden by a wooden mask.
Root-like growths have sprouted from its back and caught the rubble. I have no idea what this monster could possibly be. But it’s clear that it saved us.
“Um…”
While I’m struggling to make sense of the situation, a woman with black wings appears in front of me. She picks me up lightly in her arms and kicks off the ground to fly away, weaving between falling rocks.
The woman then continues to fly away from the destruction.
I-I was saved…? But are Meltia-san and the warrior priests okay? That bird monster protected me, but the scale of the falling rubble was immense. There’s no way it could have blocked all the falling rocks.
As I look for them, my eyes fall on two more black-winged women with the exact same face, each of them carrying two people in their arms. Are they triplets…?
“Th-thank you very much. Umm, who are you…?”
The woman blinks. Her eyes are a beautiful red and gold heterochromia.
“You don’t remember? At the castle in Alban…”
I gasp in realisation. Certainly, her face is familiar. She looks like the undead girl who saved me during the turmoil in Alban.
“H-huh? But, your age…”
…There’s a significant difference in her apparent age from when I last saw her. I know that the appearance of monsters can change a lot with evolution, but do undead usually age up like that?
“…More importantly, if you’re here, then that apocalypse really is Irushia-san…!”
It’s as I thought. Her appearance here is definite proof.
『Aro, treant, good job!』
A powerful thought reaches me. This is the skill some monsters can use, [Telepathy]. The apocalypse…Irushia-san is looking our way. Was that Irushia-san’s [Telepathy]?
『Leave it to me, master-dono! This much is no problem…! Aro-dono and I will carry them to safety, so please smash that boulder!』
The tree ghost replies with [Telepathy], puffing its chest up in pride.
Guessing from its appearance, it must be ‘Treant’. In that case, the undead woman must be ‘Aro’.
“Aro-san… is your name, right? Umm, what is happening? And… why are there three of you..?
“The other two are my copies.”
She replies.
“Copies…”
High-ranking monsters tend to acquire strange skills. It would be impossible to tell from her appearance alone, but Aro-san is a very high-ranking undead. It’s not too strange for her to be able to copy herself.
“We’ll talk later. Getting away comes first.”
“Unhand me! You foul minion of the Apocalypse! What are you going to do with us!?”
One of the warrior priests shouts in derangement. He struggles in the arms of the copy of Aro-san carrying him, trying to break free.
“Calm down and look in my eyes.”
The Aro-san copy calls out to the struggling warrior priest.
“Why would I calm down!? You minion of the Apocalypse…!”
The copy’s eyes shine with a bewitching glint. The warrior priest’s body goes limp in her arms.
“A-Aro-san!?”
“…We don’t have time. When he wakes up, please help me persuade him.”
Aro-san says, averting her eyes..
Carried by Aro-san, we continue to fly away from Jornes. In the meantime, I explain what has happened here. She apparently had almost no idea what had been happening.
“So then we holed up with the other survivors in the Ridom Palace. But we were reaching our limit… We were in the middle of attacking Saint Jornes to see whether not it was possible to kill her.”
Saying it out loud, I realise again just how reckless our plan was. The [Ruin] magic that Jornes is shooting around rapid-fire could easily level the Ridom palace in seconds. A single whim would be enough to kill us all.
Aro-san lands on the ground. We’re in front of the Ridom Palace.
The two copies land next to us. Meltia-san stumbles, supporting herself on the wall of the palace.
“Thank you for saving us… I think? I have no idea what is happening… Sorry, I’m a little confused. You know Miria? Umm, it’s okay to think of you as allies, right?”
Meltia-san uneasily asks Aro-san. She nods in response.
I haven’t asked her about Irushia-san yet, but it seems she’ll help us. I’m not sure how to explain Aro-san and Treant-san to the people in the palace though. No, Aro-san seems clever, so as long as I advocate for her, it should work out.
But we probably shouldn’t invite unnecessary confusion. For now, I guess we should avoid anything about the apocalypse…and hide the fact that Aro-san isn’t human?
I glance over to check on the fight between Irushia-san and Jornes, and instead see two monsters sprinting towards us. They’re more of the deformed monstrosities made by Jornes’ [Nirvana].
The ability of those monsters varies a lot. The two incoming look particularly tough. Radda-san said earlier that the ones of that size were around upper C rank.
Upper C rank monsters are a match for the top class of adventurers. If two monsters that strong forced their way into the palace, it’d be a slaughter.
“Ah, Aro-san! Please help us take down those two…!”
“[Gale].”
She points an arm at the two monsters. A huge tornado appears and engulfs them. The monsters’ bodies are twisted and torn apart by the winds, their remains scattering.
“Were you saying something…?”
“Ah, no, it’s nothing.”
There was no need for me to help at all. She was already much stronger than me at the Alban castle, but it’s clear she’s several times stronger still now.
Having Aro-san here is extremely reassuring. I was worried that bringing monsters into the Ridom Palace would cause a panic, but Aro-san doesn’t look any different from a human, so if anything having her here too should help with explaining the situation to the people inside.
“…There’s still a lot of them. Treant-san, I’m going to fly around and clear away the nearby ones. Look after these people, okay?”
『Roger that!』
Treant-san’s wing snaps to his forehead.
As I look at Treant-san, our eyes meet. He puffs his chest up in pride.
“U-umm…”
I can’t see his expression behind his mask, but I sense a strong will to protect us. Th-this is okay, right…?
“I’m in your care…”
『Leave it to me! You are master-dono’s friend, so you are no stranger to me!』
His small wings flap happily.
“Um, Aro-san, would it be possible for you to come with me to explain…”
Aro-san kicks off the ground, flying up on her black wings. Her two copies follow her. All I can do is watch them leave.
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