Slayers - Volume 16 - Chapter 4

4: Standing Silently in the Forest of Discord

A winged form passed through the azure above. If I hadn’t known better, I’d have pegged it for some kind of bird.

“Is it gone?” Zel asked from where he was hiding behind a tree.

“I can’t see it anymore,” Gourry responded.

“Okay, let’s go,” I concluded.

The group nodded in agreement and went back on the move.

It was now several days after our surreptitious stop in town. We’d left the mine shaft we’d been using as a base and were currently going deeper into the forest. The wind rustled the grass and leaves... Then suddenly, the birdsong and insect noise went silent.

It’s coming! Just as I thought that, a beam of light flew at us from the distance—a Zanaffar’s laser breath! It speared me right through the chest.

In the same instant, Alaina activated a spell. “Foggul!” Her magic filled the air around us with white mist, and I (my chest still pierced) disappeared along with the rest of our group.

I’m sure I don’t need to spell this out, but the impaled Lina was just an illusion.

This was another of Alaina’s little numbers. Functioning much like a mirage, the spell projected objects elsewhere in three dimensions. It was quite a popular trick with the elves, who used it to project fake giant monsters in order to scare away bandits or dangerous animals. The illusions could even move, and while you could tell something was off about them up close, they were pretty convincing from a distance.

To Tessius and the others, it looked like they’d just nailed one of us with their laser breath and we’d raised a smoke screen to hide in response. They would naturally close in to confirm the kill afterward—and that was when we’d strike. After all, the whole reason we’d left our hiding spot today was to bait the Hounds into attacking.

The moment the area was covered in white fog, me and my three companions broke into a sprint toward the laser breath’s point of origin.

Here’s the skinny on what was going down. Wings had spotted us, the Hounds had surrounded us at a distance, and then used that single long-range attack as their signal to descend on us. Meanwhile, our counterstrategy was using Alaina’s illusion to lure them out, then conjuring her fog for cover while we dogpiled on each one of the Hounds in turn.

Our first target was whoever had fired at us. I knew the Hounds had a sniper—the guy who’d shot a bow at us through the fog before—so I figured the most likely candidate was the Cyclops-wearing Sagan.

As the four of us ran toward his location, I noticed movement in my peripheral vision. There was something in the fog. A bird? The small silhouette moved as if flying parallel to us...

“Dodge!” I screamed, and we all leaped to different sides.

Vrm! A flash of light raced through where we’d just been—more laser breath!

“Gourry! Slice through any of those weird-looking birds you see!”

“Got it!” The big lug immediately seemed to spot something and slashed sideways with his sword. A pale purple light traced an afterimage in the fog, and the whatever-it-was hit the ground hard.

“What did you just cut through?!” I shouted.

“A gray... bird?” he replied. “But there’s no blood!”

“That’s fine! Slash at anything else like that you see!”

“What’s going on?!” Zel asked.

“I think Cyclops has drones!” I answered. “He’s using them to locate us!”

I’d wondered before how Sagan had been able to achieve such precise aim through the thick fog. I’d assumed at first that he’d employed forest critters as familiars, hiding them in the trees to ascertain our location. But the way the Zanaffar armor cut its wearer off from the astral side would make it impossible to use familiars in such a way. Each elven Zanaffar had been designed for its wearer, however, so I reasoned Sagan’s might have a similar function built in. Artificial “drones” could easily take the place of familiars for recon purposes. Granted, that was all speculation on my part... but this development seemed to clinch the theory.

We continued to race through the underbrush. Each time Gourry swung his sword, one of Cyclops’s drones hit the ground. I wasn’t sure if it was harder for Sagan to aim through the trees or if Gourry’s drone-slashing was doing the trick, but we hadn’t seen a second volley of laser breath yet.

One way or another, discovering that Gourry could cut through the drones—which were likely made of the same material as the Zanaffars—was a huge boon to us.

With no warning—Whoom!—we heard an explosion from overhead. Cyclops had opened up and fired something into the sky to let his allies know he was under threat. As for what that meant for us...

“This way!” I pointed and took off in a random direction. Immediately picking up what I was putting down, the rest of my group followed suit and Alaina generated more fog to keep us screened from our opponents.

See, if we’d stayed en route to Cyclops, he probably would’ve moved to hide—leaving us to walk into an ambush from his buddy Zanaffars. That was why I’d figured it was better to change course, but just as we did...

Thunka-thunk-thunk! Thunka-thunk-thunk! Thunka-thunk-thunk!

We heard something swiftly approaching us from the side. The rhythmic thunder of the footsteps was reminiscent of a horse. Obviously, there was no way an ordinary horse was running around the forest at a time like this. It was safe to assume it was an equine Zanaffar.

“Zel, ground! Gourry, sword! Alaina, ready!”

“Right!”

“Got it!”

“What? What?!”

Everyone except Alaina reacted immediately. Zel and I ducked behind trees as we began chanting, while Gourry turned toward the hoofbeats and readied his blade. After a moment of panic, Alaina slipped into the nearby underbrush to hide, and not a second too soon.

Thunka-thunk-thunk! The thunderous footsteps drew nearer, and a figure emerged from the fog. It had the silhouette of a centaur—a great horse with a human torso where the head would usually be. It carried a lance-like weapon in each of its hands. When this Centaur Zanaffar laid eyes on us...

“Humaaans!” it howled in a male voice as it charged forward even faster than before! Even the density of the trees around us didn’t slow it down... It actually accelerated as it approached!

That thing’s faster than I thought! I placed my hand on the ground, and... “Bepheth Bring!”

Bepheth Bring was a spell used for digging tunnels, so if you pointed it straight into the ground below you, you could basically make an instant pit trap!

Then it was Zel’s turn. “Dug Haute!” he incanted, his spell conjuring spires of earth.

I thought we could slow Centaur down enough with our one-two spell combo for Gourry to take off one of its legs... However, it’s always important to expect the unexpected, and Centaur was closing in way faster than expected!

I’ll never forget what happened next. The scene that played out before me seemed to pass in slow-motion, searing itself into my brain.

The Centaur’s forelegs hit the hole in the ground my spell had created. And just as its front half dropped inward, Zel’s earthen spire shot up into the horse’s stomach. Naturally, it wasn’t strong enough to pierce the Zanaffar armor, and as a result...

Wooow, serious hang time!

“Aaaah!” Centaur shouted as it was arced into the air, head over heels!

“Wait?! Huh?! What?!” Even Gourry, shocked by this development, quickly backed up. Then, as the armor tumbled back downward—Slash!—Gourry struck.

Centaur hit the ground behind him. Fwoomabangkrickle! The sound of that impact, man... I mean, the guy was an enemy and all, but I still couldn’t help wincing in sympathy.

We all stood there in a moment of silence.

But Centaur, apparently still conscious, moved slightly. “You...!”

“Take this!”

Ah. Alaina with the double-tap!

Vwooosh! A giant spear—no, more like a battering ram—morphed from the ground at her behest and sent Centaur flying high again. As it did, I saw the human torso rip right off the rest of the armor.

Gourry’s slash had probably nearly severed the armor, then the force of the landing plus Alaina’s final push had finished the job, tearing it asunder. It was funny, in a way, but I felt too sorry for the guy to laugh. I wasn’t sure if we should count this as a stroke of good luck for us or a major case of misfortune for him. We were fighting and all, but damn...

The bisected Centaur clattered to the ground. The group stared at it for a moment, and then...

“Urgh...” We heard its wearer groan.

Ah, right. The wearer was only inside the torso and the horse’s forelegs! Thus, cleaving Centaur at the waist hadn’t actually harmed whoever was inside.

Realizing this, we braced for combat again. Gourry ran at him.

“Don’t underestimate me, humaaans!” the front half of Centaur shouted as it... continued lying there, splayed on the ground and twitching.

Startled by the strangeness of this behavior, Gourry slowed his charge and kept his distance.

“This is nothing! As long as I have... the power of Zanaffar... I’ll never... Ah, why is it so heavy?!”

As I watched the guy struggle, I realized something. “Hey, dude inside the armor!” I called. He stopped moving then, so I figured he’d heard me. “You know that the Zanaffar’s a living thing, right? So when the armor kicks the bucket, you’re outta luck!”

In other words, he wasn’t going anywhere, much less firing any more laser breath.

“What?” the guy asked blankly. He struggled a little longer, and then... “Damn it! In that case...”

Krsh! The armor burst open. It was apparently designed with an emergency release mechanism that could activate even if the Zanaffar died. Its wearer, released from within, stood up slowly. He turned to face us, and...

Splat! I planted the heel of my boot smack in his face with a flying kick!

After I laid the guy out, Zel got a look at him. “Cashdial?!” he cried in shock. It sounded like it was someone he knew from his time infiltrating the Forest Hounds.

“He’s one of them, right?” I asked.

“Yes. He’s quite skilled... This must be quite an embarrassment for him.”

“Yeah...” You could say that again.

Gourry looked a little puzzled. “Um... So, what do we do now? I don’t wanna just, like, murder the guy.”

“Hmm. Yeah.” I wasn’t exactly sure what to do with him either. I knew how Gourry felt, although it was going to be a pain in the neck if this Cashdial dude woke up and started chucking attack spells at us. But before we could discuss the matter any further...

“Mind Rasp!” Thunk! Alaina hit the unconscious elf with a dose of magic.

“Hey!”

“Erm, that spell deals damage to the spirit,” she explained before I could muster an argument. “He probably won’t wake up for a few days, and once he does, he won’t be able to use magic very well.”

Aha, so it’s a little like Elemekia Lance. “Nice thinking, then!” I flashed a thumbs-up.

I didn’t know how many Zanaffars were out there in total, but that was one down! I was hoping we could take the rest of them out the same way, although I was skeptical we’d be that fortunate. Cyclops had probably been watching the whole fight with his drones, which meant our next move should be...

“Incoming!” Gourry bellowed before I could decide. I followed his gaze and spotted a figure coming out of the mist nearby. The sound of Centaur’s unfortunate fall—er, his tragic defeat in combat, let’s call it—had brought one of his buddies running! I would’ve loved to greet the new arrival with a spell, but the whole magic-doesn’t-work-on-these-guys thing made me rethink my go-to plan.

What emerged from the fog looked like a walking suit of heavy armor. Its arms were thick and its waist was broad, with its head almost entirely subsumed by its breastplate. It was also totally covered in spikes. It wasn’t carrying a shield or a weapon, but if you were gonna make armor for an ogre, that’s probably what it would look like.

It had to be a Zanaffar, of course. It was gray all over with four tentacles protruding from its back, each terminating in a ruby-like object that I could only assume served as a firing port for laser breath.

This new Zanaffar—Heavy Armor—could apparently make out our silhouettes in the fog. It made a beeline toward us until...

“What?!” Crying out in shock, Heavy Armor stopped short. I couldn’t see what had caught its wearer’s attention, but I could imagine it was the remains of the Centaur armor. “Impossible! Cashdial was...”

His shock at the sight of his defeated comrade left him wide open!

“Dark Mist!” Zel unleashed his spell. This baby created enough black mist to fill a simple room. It had no direct offensive capability and although it usually manifested around a target, Zel had summoned his to the side of ours.

The appearance of encroaching blackness when Heavy Armor was already shaken was, psychologically, quite effective. The armor’s “eyes” darted that way, then Heavy Armor drew back in fear. He was probably expecting an attack from something hidden in the darkness, but he was in for the opposite. While Heavy Armor was distracted by the black mist, Gourry dashed to get around behind him! But as he closed in...

“Win Blast!”

Whoosh! Heavy Armor burst, and Gourry went flying back with it! More accurately, just before the burst, Gourry leaped back in anticipation. Two lasers struck at his feet as he landed, forcing him back even farther.

“Are you okay?!” called Tessius, whose Horns Zanaffar now appeared from the fog. He must have seen Gourry advancing on Heavy Armor and fired—not at Gourry, but at Heavy Armor itself. If he’d aimed at Gourry, the big lug stood a chance of slipping past the attack and continuing his charge. But a magical attack centered on Heavy Armor ran no risk of friendly fire and made Gourry think twice about getting too close. Smart thinking, loath as I was to admit that.

But... Tessius had just cast an attack spell. I had to wonder why his Horns armor didn’t seem to be open.

“I’m okay! But Cashdial was defeated!” Heavy Armor reported.

“Impossible! An elf of Cashdial’s caliber? While wearing his Zanaffar?!” Tessius cried in shock.

The guy in the Centaur armor was apparently highly regarded by his comrades. It made me stop to appreciate what Zel had said earlier. We probably would’ve been in for a nasty fight if we’d tangled with him head-on.

“I... saw it,” Cyclops Sagan said as he, too, now emerged from the fog. Surely he’d seen the whole thing go down via the drones that Gourry hadn’t destroyed yet. “The moment he found them, they used unspeakable teamwork. Faster than the blink of an eye...” His voice was quavering with fear.

I wouldn’t have said it was “unspeakable teamwork” so much as it was dumb luck, but I wasn’t about to correct the guy. If his drones only relayed visuals, it would mean he hadn’t heard Gourry’s grunt of uncertainty at the time. And that being the case...

“We’ve gone easy on you so far!” Strike when they’re shaken, that’s my motto! So I got straight to striking! “But if you don’t back down fast, we can’t promise any more mercy!”

Details of intentionality aside, the fact remained that we’d defeated Centaur without losing a single member of our own party in the process. If the Forest Hounds had been brave enough to come out of hiding because of their Zanaffars, seeing one of those Zanaffars defeated had to be a serious blow to their morale.

Indeed, my threat sent a palpable chill through their group.

But suddenly, Gourry leaped forward! He pushed Alaina to the ground, tumbling with her, just as a laser tore through where she’d been standing. I turned and saw a gray silhouette suspended in a tree—the Spider Zanaffar!

“Don’t falter!” Lukoria, the guy in the arachnid armor, shouted. “Trust in my Zanaffars! They may have a way to cut through the armor, but I’ll bet that’s all they have! Their spells still won’t work on us!”

Tch! He saw through the bluff! Still, the fact that this Lukoria guy called the armors his Zanaffars suggested he was the one who’d made them!

“But...” Lucida of the winged Zanaffar landed next to Spider.

She must have seen the others gathering here and come to rendezvous. That made six of them, which, based on what Zel had told us, meant this was all of the Forest Hounds. I sure hoped it was all of the Zanaffars too.

“They’ve already defeated Cashdial! Our Cashdial!” Wings rambled on in panic.

“Remain calm and fight!” Spider bellowed, trying to shout her down. “Just line up and fire a solid wall of laser breath, and we’ll kill them easily!”

Crap! That would be pretty tough to dodge!

“But the trees!” Heavy Armor argued.

Spider brushed him off. “Which would you rather do, damage part of the forest now or turn it over to the humans and watch them abuse it?!”

“...”

“We’re doing this!” Spider ordered.

“Dil Brand!” I incanted the second those words left his mouth! This spell caused the ground between our two parties to swell and rupture! I used the dust cloud it created to... “Run!”

With that, our group made a break for it.

“Don’t let them get away!” Spider shouted after us. I felt an inescapable malice swell up behind me—a whole barrage of laser breath! Using my Dil Brand to set up a smoke screen before they could form ranks prevented them from aiming precisely, but they were bound to hit us sooner or later at this rate.

“Dark Mist!” Zel summoned a black haze behind us to obscure their vision further. It had the power to cancel out even magic light, though I doubted it would stop laser breath.

Just then... a figure in white appeared in the fog ahead of us!

“Aqua Kaleido!” As the new arrival incanted a spell, the scenery around us briefly warped, then returned to normal. A scream rose up behind us.

Part of me wanted to see exactly what had happened, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the sight in front of me. “You’re here?!”

“I made it!” Amelia Wil Tesla Saillune pronounced with a dashing pose and grin.

In that moment, I saw it.

The city of Atessa, awash with the sounds of battle from outside its walls. Its people, holed up inside their homes, trembling in fear. Knowing we’re out there fighting for them, the soldiers on the guesthouse terrace stare fixedly toward the unseen skirmish. A maid comes running up to them and says... “Princess Amelia has gone missing again!” Then the whole crew faceplants.

I couldn’t help feeling like something along those lines was happening right about now.

After dwelling on that vision for a moment, I pulled myself back to reality. I’d gotten a few inklings so far about how much the princess of Saillune had matured since we’d last traveled together, but it seemed she was still the same old Amelia at heart. I wanted to lecture her about responsibility, except this really wasn’t the time.

I turned around to see what had happened behind us. Scattered through the air over a fairly wide area were endlessly shifting fragments of blue, green, white, and brown. The best way I could describe it would be a kaleidoscope.

The reason the scenery had seemed to warp around us momentarily before was probably because we’d run right through the effect. I just hadn’t had time to work that out before all returned to normal. But now I could see what had been wrought on the other side...

The enemy’s laser breath had punctured Zel’s Dark Mist, dispersing its darkness. And beyond that, the Forest Hounds all stood around, staring... at the Heavy Armor Zanaffar with a giant hole in its stomach.

“H-How...?” whispered Wings in a daze.

And as if triggered by her words... Thunk. Heavy Armor fell to its knees and then collapsed.

“Londium!”

“Hey! Wake up!”

The other Hounds all called out to their comrade. Parts of Wings’s armor briefly opened up and folded back, becoming a lighter set of mail. Its wearer, Lucida, ran up to Heavy Armor and began chanting a spell. Healing magic wouldn’t normally work on someone completely enveloped in a Zanaffar, but given the hole in Heavy Armor’s abdomen...

“What are you doing, Lucida?! Don’t take off your armor!” Spider scolded her.

“We have to withdraw,” Cyclops whispered, his eyes cautiously fixed on us.

“Don’t be a coward!” Spider barked back.

“They just reflected our laser breath!” Cyclops rebuked him.

Wait... “You reflected the laser breath?!” I whispered in disbelief, casting a glance back at Amelia.

“More like I refracted and diffused it!” she proclaimed, still staring down the Forest Hounds.

“Amelia... you can use a spell like that?” I was stunned.

“When we beat that Zanaffar before, I thought about the potential risk of the creation method getting out! Then, after I returned to Saillune, I collaborated with the sorcerers’ council to work out a spell to counter it just in case! It’s an adaptation of a spell that controls wind to create illusions, to which I added in a little water magic to create something capable of refracting and diffusing laser breath!”

She worked out a spell like that?! I couldn’t help being impressed. But then something occurred to me. “Wait a minute, Amelia. How’d you know we were fighting Zanaffars? We didn’t tell anyone in town...”

“You said they fired lasers and were immune to attack spells! What else could they be but Zanaffars?!”

Well, girl had a point! Amelia had already fought one Zanaffar with us, so it only stood to reason she’d be able to peg it from that description.

“And since I have a spell that can fight laser breath, I knew I had to help! I wasn’t trying to reflect it back on them, but it looks like I got lucky with the refraction and diffusion!”

Another bit of dumb luck. Still, for the Forest Hounds, the fact that we’d just taken out two of their Zanaffars so offhandedly must have been a massive blow to morale. I saw no sign of more reinforcements showing up as we squared off either, which told me this was really all of them.

“We have to withdraw, Tessius!” Cyclops urged him again. “We acted too soon! We’re just going to see more damage at this rate!”

Selfish as usual, I found myself thinking in disgust. You get your little Zanaffar toys and get all riled up to attack a city. Then when one of your own gets wounded, suddenly it’s gone too far and you want to stop? What are you, a child?! I would’ve loved to have given them a piece of my mind, but it wasn’t like I wanted them to knuckle down and keep fighting, so I decided to keep my mouth shut.

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Spider howled. “After all this, you expect me to back off because it’s too risky?! They burned my face! They violated the forest! They took out Cashdial and Londium! And you want me to just back down? We can do this! And we will! We just need the Zanaffars I created!”

“Even without the laser breath?” Cyclops whispered bitterly.

“Lukoria,” Tessius said firmly. “It’s time to retreat.”

“Fine,” Spider responded, just as firmly. And then...

Heavy Armor sat up!

“What?!” A shiver ran through Cyclops.

“What the— What?!” Tessius exclaimed in panic.

Lucida, who’d been sitting by Heavy Armor and casting healing spells, suddenly saw her light armor transform, spread its wings, and envelop her. Then as she yelped in surprise, it spat her out onto the ground. She turned back in shock and saw the armor, now masterless, take the form of the winged Zanaffar.

What was that?!

“So be it. I’ll fight on my own,” Spider declared.

It was then that I put it all together. Although somewhat dissipated now, the white mist was still hanging in the area around us. I hadn’t realized it at first because of that, but I could now see that the countless tentacles extending from Spider—which had looked like a web while it was in the trees—had lashed out to grab Heavy Armor, Cyclops, Horns, and Wings.

“What... in the world...?” Lucida spoke tremblingly.

We all watched as the Zanaffars came together, pulled by Spider’s tentacles. Only Heavy Armor was released, falling to the ground. Parts of the other four armors opened, allowing them to attach together and merge into a single giant mass. The change happened so suddenly that Tessius and Sagan could do little but cry out in surprise.

Once the amalgamation was complete, the final form... didn’t resemble anything in particular. It was about the height of a two-story house. Horns and Cyclops were back to back, with Spider standing atop them forming a twisted sort of head. Some of Spider’s legs were clamped down on the Zanaffars below, while others waved wildly in the air. Wings had been split up into several pieces to plant wings of various sizes here and there across the mass.

The collective armor had the characteristics of Spider, Horns, Cyclops, and Wings, but on the whole, it was simply an abomination, lacking any rhyme or reason to its form.

“What are you doing?!” Lucida shrieked.

“Isn’t it obvious?” I answered. “Spider there... Lukoria, was it? He’s taken control of the Zanaffars.” The only reason he’d let go of Heavy Armor was because, regardless of the status of the wearer, the Zanaffar itself was dead and thus couldn’t be integrated.

“He’s taken control of them? He can do that?” Lucida whispered in disbelief.

But as far as I was concerned, the answer was obvious. If Lukoria had made the Zanaffars... “He built this capability into them from the start,” I explained, “so that he could hijack the others if it came to that.” Spider’s tentacles weren’t really meant for swinging through the trees, but for this.

“That’s absurd!” Lucida shrieked.

“‘Hijack’? Slander,” Lukoria said scornfully. “It’s a suppression system I designed on the off chance that a Zanaffar got out of control. Ideally, I’d have given each one the same function so they could all control each other... But the wielder needs to understand the technology to use it, so I didn’t implement it in the rest.”

“What about Tessius and Sagan? Are they all right?!” Lucida asked.

It was a fair question. They hadn’t uttered a peep since their initial cries of surprise when their armors were snatched up. Either their voices couldn’t penetrate the armor, or...

“They’re fine. Stop worrying, Lucida, and tend to Londium and Cashdial. Meanwhile...”

I got the feeling that the misshapen lump’s eyes, wherever they were, had just turned toward us. We sensed the malice rising from the new Abomination armor and readied ourselves for a fight.

“I’ll stop them,” Amelia declared, immediately moving into a chant.

Just then, a gray afterimage raced through the air! Amelia, Zel, Alaina, and I all leaped in different directions, while Gourry alone stood fast and lashed out with his sword. The wings here and there on Abomination’s body had transformed in the blink of an eye, becoming gray spears that fired straight at us. Gourry sliced through them, leaving just the severed spear tips sticking into the ground nearby!

“Oho!” Joy abounded in Lukoria’s voice. “That sword’s the key, eh?”

Crap! I felt a pang of regret. Centaur’s remains had given away the fact that we had a weapon capable of severing the Zanaffar armor. The purpose of Abomination’s attack just now had been to ascertain exactly what that weapon was.

As Lukoria spoke, Gourry dashed forward, intent to strike immediately. The Cyclops part of Abomination raised both its hands—the ports from which it fired its lasers. And just then...

“Aqua Kaleido!” Amelia cast her refraction spell around the extended appendages. There was no way Lukoria could risk firing like this!

Gourry swiftly closed in, and when he did... the abomination armor jumped! With a litheness and agility belied by its round, misshapen form, it leaped clean over Gourry—easily out of sword’s reach—and lashed out with its tentacles. They snagged nearby trees, allowing the mass to accelerate further and adjust its posture in midair. It was really heading for Alaina!

While Alaina just stood there, slow to react to the armor’s unexpected charge...

“Dug Haute!” Zel conjured spires of earth that struck the flying Abomination. Alaina used the disruption to get some distance.

Though Abomination should have been knocked off course, the mass of armor landed with ease. The awkward giant, which really should have needed a moment to get its bearings, immediately began pursuing Alaina again.

So his top priorities are the sword that can cut it and his fellow elf, while us humans play third fiddle?! Then again, the first time we met, Alaina had been the one to bust up Spider’s fireball and give Lukoria a good toasting, so maybe the dude was holding a grudge.

But right before Abomination could crush Alaina underfoot... she disappeared from sight!

A spell? No... She’d twined her whip around a nearby tree, speeding up in an all new direction. Abomination paused when it lost visual, and then...

“Earth Sloun!” Alaina conjured an earthen battering ram to send Abomination flying!

More specifically, it never actually made contact with Abomination’s main body. The arms and legs of Cyclops, Horns, and Spider moved to block the attacking battering ram, and Abomination flew backward through the air to mitigate the hit. The reflexes involved were almost absurd—Gourry-level, or maybe even greater—and I doubted those reflexes were Lukoria’s.

Like humans, elves generally had only two arms and legs. There was no way Lukoria’s brain could manage the Abomination, which had double that number, plus spidery tentacles and multiple wings. The same was true of his multi-legged and tentacled arachnid armor before the transformation, which told me that Lukoria left the finer controls of the armor to Zanaffar while he simply issued orders. That meant if we could get Lukoria to hesitate, we might be able to net ourselves an opening... but the Zanaffar’s incredible reflexes and athletic abilities wouldn’t make that easy.

While Abomination was still in the air, the part that had once been the Cyclops armor opened and shot out multiple projectiles. A hail of gray bullets about the size of songbirds flew at Alaina. More of the drones Cyclops sent into the fog to locate us?! I’d assumed the things were meant for surveillance and monitoring, but as extensions of a Zanaffar, they were probably plenty tough on their own. A blow from one of those would be like getting hit by a rock. Plus, Amelia couldn’t block them with a spell like she could the laser breath, and our attack magic still wasn’t gonna work on them. That being the case...

“Vu Vrima!” I placed my hand on the ground and incanted a different spell!

Abomination, having landed, seemed to be on guard as it scrambled backward. Then, in response to my words of power, the ground between Alaina and the incoming drone swarm swelled. The drones entered the rising cloud of dust, which absorbed them, roiled, and took on a giant humanoid shape large enough to rival Abomination!

In other words, I’d just made myself a golem. It would obey simple commands and it was built sturdy, but it wasn’t particularly fast. Obviously it didn’t stand a chance against Abomination, but...

“Golem!” I pointed in the direction opposite Atessa and gave my order. “Full speed ahead, thataway!”

The golem responded with an earthy creak and did as it was told. And though it wasn’t particularly fast, it was at least a little faster than a normal human could run. Behold, my secret technique—the drone snatch-and-dash! Abomination would have to destroy the golem to get them back, and Amelia’s spell would block any attempted uses of its laser breath. That meant it’d have to get up close and personal to do the job—leaving it vulnerable to an attack from behind! That was my plan, anyway, but...

“Bam Plosion.”

Fwoom! Following the incantation, an attack spell hit the golem!

Was that...

“Tessius?!” Lucida, who’d been treating her companion, identified the source of the voice.

It had sounded like Tessius to me too, but how could that be? He shouldn’t have been able to use magic from within Zanaffar armor... unless it was open, that is. Except earlier, when Gourry had tried to slice through Heavy Armor and Tessius had used an attack spell to drive Gourry back, he’d done so while his armor was seemingly closed. I could only figure that Horns’ opening port was designed to be difficult to perceive.

Now, magical logistics aside... Tessius had insisted on retreat earlier. Was he really cooperating all of a sudden with Lukoria, who’d ignored him and sucked him into the mega-Zanaffar against his will? Or... was Lukoria controlling Tessius through the Zanaffar, forcing him to chant spells?! Either way, we were now going to have to factor surprise spells into our battle plans.

My blown-away golem fell to the ground in chunks. The spy drones briefly stored inside flew out and resumed their attack on Alaina. But by then, Gourry was back in the game and broke out the swordplay! There was a flash, then a second, third, fourth... With each swing of his blade, a drone fell to the ground, cleaved in two.

In response, from some ways away, Abomination raised its hands and took a stance. Was it going to use its laser breath despite the risks?!

Amelia immediately began her spell... She was about to activate it, but hesitated.

Of course. This is... “Dodge!” I shouted.

Gourry and Alaina leaped aside, barely evading the torrent of drones. Seeing this, Abomination lowered its hand and eased up on its stance.

Damn, this is tricky. Abomination was threatening a twin attack with its laser breath and drones. If Amelia didn’t use her refraction spell to defend, we’d have to dodge the laser breath. But if she did use it, Gourry would end up blinded to the path of the incoming drones.

Abomination recalled the drone swarm to set up the same attack again, when...

“Vigas Gaia!” Zel unleashed a spell that caused tremors in the ground. It wasn’t going to harm Abomination, but it would throw it off balance. Thanks to that, we were spared another drone-laser double whammy, but the longer this fight kept up, the worse off we’d be. Therefore...

“Everyone! Let’s withdraw for now!” I called, and everyone—with Amelia just a beat behind—took off in a run. But not toward town.

“You think you can escape me?!” Abomination howled. Then, right in front of him...

“Aqua Kaleido!”

Amelia’s refraction spell coalesced! The fastest way to get out of it was simply to charge through it, but Abomination seemed worried about the possibility of an ambush waiting on the other side of the distortion, so he balked and took the long way around.

Alaina took the lead as she incanted, “Foggul!” More flame-dampening mist swirled around us.

Immediately after came Tessius’s voice—“Airplosion!” Whoom! There was a sudden burst in the air. The shockwave it produced rolled over us, but it didn’t hurt. That spell wasn’t an attack so much as it was an attempt to clear the air and find us. It accordingly thinned the mist, although not enough to unobscure our vision entirely.

Our foe was on high alert for attacks from Gourry through the fog, but he couldn’t afford to lose sight of us. After all, Abomination—or rather Spider Lukoria—had forcibly merged with Cyclops, Horns, and Wings. He couldn’t possibly remain active for long like that, and he’d surely have to eat or shit eventually. He’d have to take off the armor at some point or other. Once he did and Tessius and Sagan were freed, the only remotely passable excuse for his behavior would be if he’d successfully finished us off before then. If all he had to say for himself was “Teehee, they got away! Sorry...” Yeah, his friends would have his head on a platter.

Meanwhile, victory for us meant more than just shaking Lukoria off our tail. If we ditched him, he’d feel compelled to attack Atessa instead to make this all worth his while. In other words, we had to defeat him.

My call to withdraw before had actually been the signal to enact a little strategy we’d arranged ahead of time. I’d discussed it with everyone except Amelia, who hadn’t been with us when we’d cooked it up, but she seemed to twig it nonetheless.

The swarm attacks from Cyclops’s drones had ceased. Our opponent was focused on tracking us so as to keep us on his radar. We kept running, occasionally firing a blast behind us or renewing the smoke screen spell. And then...

“Everyone! Listen up!” I began to lay out the plan in a voice low enough that our pursuer, Lukoria, couldn’t hear.

Atessa, city of blacksmiths, was fueled by the Celcelas Forest, but its people had long abided by a pact of sowing a new tree for every one they cut down. Anyone who ignored this had to pay a fine. But wherever you have rules, you always have rulebreakers too.

I didn’t know the exact story behind it, but tucked away some distance from the city, there was an area where trees had been harvested without being replanted, resulting in a wide-open clearing. This was where we’d lured Abomination.

We’d had to run quite a ways to get here, but thanks to Alaina repeatedly casting her dampening mist, we’d been able to stay shrouded the whole way. Abomination had fired off a few attack spells en route, but perhaps thanks to the thick tree cover, we’d luckily avoided taking any direct hits. Gourry had struck out with his sword here and there too, probably responding to drones or incoming astral attacks.

“Alaina!”

Nodding slightly in response to my signal, Alaina threw a knife with a topaz on its hilt. It stuck deep into a nearby rotten stump. She gave another small nod... and we were ready to roll!

“Zel! Amelia!” At my call, my old traveling companions began to chant in accordance with the plan we’d gone over.

Then our group split up in four directions. When we did... Abomination appeared, barreling through the fog around us!

In that instant, Zel and Amelia unleashed their spells! “Freeze Arrow!”

Close to a hundred frigid bolts flew at Abomination! It dipped to the side with unthinkable speed, but the volley was too great and too dense to escape entirely. About a dozen arrows hit Abomination directly, and these puppies were designed to freeze anything they hit! They’d encase whatever they struck with a thin coating of ice that caused frostbite and hindered movement. The hitch was that we were dealing with a Zanaffar. The worst they could do was cause a cold chill... But the counter-hitch was that that was all we needed right now!

I took some distance from our opponent and incanted, “Sight Frang!”

Bwoosh! Responding to my words of power, a thick mist expanded so rapidly that you could hear it. This was different from the extinguishing spell Alaina used in that it simply summoned a mist without any special properties.

“A smoke screen?!” Lukoria hissed, and then...

“Algwin.” Vwoosh! Tessius’s voice boomed and a powerful wind picked up. I just managed to keep my footing to avoid being blown away.

The gust was probably to clear the mist and improve visibility. As intended, the mist thinned, but Alaina’s white fog remained. She then cast a spell like a winter storm—“Crystal Blizzard.”

Zel followed her lead, targeting Abomination again. “Freeze Arrow!”

“You really think you can freeze me over?!” Lukoria’s mocking voice echoed. “Or do you think you can freeze the person inside the armor? Go ahead and try!”

Vwoosh! Another cleansing blast of wind blew, and I conjured more mist to make up for it.

“Enough!” Abomination howled as Amelia blasted it with yet more frigid magic. “Why... you...!”

Tessius’s monotone voice incanted, “Valtrain,” and there came a flash of light that, for an instant, permeated the misty world around us.

Is this... an indiscriminate area-of-effect lightning spell?! Dozens of tendrils of electricity coursed through the fog, scorching the ground from heaven above. I fortunately escaped being struck despite standing in the spell’s massive range, but given its ferocity, it was optimistic to think the rest of my party had been so lucky! I wanted to make sure everyone was okay, but...

Even though it had slowed down, I could still see Abomination moving through the fog. “Damn this infernal mist...” Lukoria cursed, and that told me it was showtime.

“Zel! Amelia! Now!” I shouted.

“Vu Vrima!” they incanted in unison. Instantly, buds of earth blossomed all around us. The ground surrounding Abomination yawned open. This was the same golem-making spell I’d used before. Zel and Amelia had summoned golems on either side of Abomination, swallowing it up as they took shape.

“What in the world?!” The reason for Lukoria’s shock was obvious: The golems rising out of the ground were massive! Abomination could have easily broken out of the golem I’d summoned before, but these were almost double its size. The roiling earth seized Abomination’s legs and waist as it continued to swell upward.

Lukoria must not have realized it, but we were within the giant magic amplification circle that Alaina had created.

To be more exact, a few days prior, we’d secretly set up a few not-quite-complete magic circles close to town. The finishing touch? The topaz on the knife that Alaina had thrown earlier. The circle we were in now was as large as a few city blocks, and these babies boosted magic in direct proportion to their size.

If Lukoria hadn’t been severed from the astral plane by his Zanaffar, he would have been able to “see” the circle. They’d probably supercharged Tessius’s lightning spell too, but even if Tessius had “seen” the circle when he’d opened up the armor to cast, he probably hadn’t had the wherewithal to communicate that while he was being controlled.

And after all that, Lukoria’s next move was...

“Don’t underestimate me!” He let out a howl and fired several beams of light at the not-yet-fully-formed golems.

Laser breath! The incomplete golems took damage enough to interrupt their formation. But then...

“Noct Coffin!” Alaina’s cold spell hit the golems that had come to encompass Abomination like a great earthen flower. The moisture in the ground froze solid, trapping Abomination in a sturdy cage!

“Gourry! Alaina!” I called.

“Right!”

“Right here!”

Both responses came from close by.

So everyone’s safe after all! Lukoria must have drawn a really bad hand with those lightning strikes. Or perhaps Tessius had resisted a little, reducing their accuracy.

The three of us reunited. Alaina took Gourry’s hand with her right and mine with her left. “Lei Wing!”

Lei Wing was a high-speed flight spell I used a fair bit myself. It was hard to control and was easy to max out weight-wise, but with elven magic power and the amplification field, Alaina could easily carry us all! From above, we could see Cyclops and Horns buried up to their necks in the half-formed golems, making Abomination look like a spider stuck at the bottom of a crater. As we approached said spider, I began my incantation!

Blade forged of the freezing black void,

Be released under heaven’s seal

I was working on a spell that conjured a blade of darkness—one that I couldn’t use without the magic amplification afforded me by Alaina’s circle. It was powerful beyond a doubt, but it also drained my magic power like nobody’s business. I figured I’d be able to cast it here, but I had no idea how long I could keep it up once I invoked it.

Abomination noticed our approach and turned its lone free leg toward me...

“Stay on track!” Gourry cried. Alaina kept charging forward without bothering to dodge! The laser breath Abomination fired from its leg just brushed the wind barrier around us!

All right! Just as I hoped, he can’t see us very well right now! We’d showered the Zanaffar with icy attacks knowing that, even if they didn’t damage it, they would greatly reduce its surface temperature. Moving around the fog like that had collected condensation across the armor—including the surface of Spider’s eyes. Lukoria had only perceived it as the fog growing thicker, and his compromised vision reduced his accuracy.

The spidery leg shifted, taking aim again...

“Drop him!” On my order, Alaina shoved Gourry outside of the wind barrier! Instinctively, Alaina and I moved back slightly to counterbalance.

A blast of laser breath scorched the air between us and Gourry! He continued to plummet, landing atop one of the frozen half-formed golems. Then he took off running!

Meanwhile, I also let go of Alaina’s hand and landed on the second golem flanking Abomination. I ran toward the Spider portion, still chanting my spell.

Become mine, become part of me

Let us mete destruction as one

Smash even the souls of the gods... 

Abomination looked like it was preparing to attack Gourry. Its tentacles writhed and its wings changed shape, turning to whips and blades that lashed out at the blond swordsman. And if that wasn’t challenge enough, the ground he was trying to cover was shaped like a giant mortar oven, a wannabe golem frozen in a randomized form. Traversing it had to be like running up an uncharted mountain face...

Despite that, Gourry darted toward Spider as easily as if he was bounding through an empty field! If he landed this blow, it would all be over! He sliced through the tentacle whips and wing spears, and then... a drone flying out from behind a cleaved wing charged at him!

“Geh!” He just barely cut through the drone on his backswing, but the forward momentum of its charge kept it going and—Crash!—its remains hit Gourry right in the breastplate! “Wuh?!”

Knocked backward on unstable footing, Gourry lost his balance and found himself falling off the oven-golem! While this was unfolding, Abomination turned its wings in my direction for another attack!

Darn it... I’d been hoping Lukoria would dismiss me as a mere human sorcerer or whatever, but apparently that was too much to ask for! While I was charging, obviously, I was also on my guard. I wasn’t sure I was agile enough to dodge the wings’ attacks on this unsteady terrain. Welp... Guess this is it!

“Ragna Blade!” I spoke the words of power, and a dark blade the length of a shortsword appeared in my hands. I’d managed to cast the spell, but I could tell it was draining my magic awfully fast.

The Ragna Blade spell borrowed power from the Lord of Nightmares, written of in the legendary Claire Bible. I was using the imperfect version at the moment. The real deal was much more powerful, but it didn’t increase the weapon’s reach at all and it ate up my magic and stamina that much faster. So since I was more about duration than strength right now, the imperfect version was a-okay with me!

With one swing of this weightless blade of darkness, I cut right through a transformed wing. But in doing so, I instantly earned Abomination’s full attention. More transformed wings and tentacles lashed out in my direction, and Spider’s free leg turned to take aim at me!

Not good!

But just then, Gourry flew in! It took me a second to realize that Alaina had caught the falling lunkhead with her high-speed flight spell and given him a lift. Abomination only hesitated for a moment, but that was all my man needed! Gourry’s right hand swept through the air!

Did Lukoria realize he’d thrown the sword at him? Whether he did or not, Zanaffar’s reflexes responded and the armor took a defensive stance with its legs, wings, and tentacles.

But none of that mattered. Alaina’s magic circle amplified all magic power within it, which in turn increased the Blast Sword’s sharpness...

Without a sound, the blade pierced legs, wings, and tentacles alike before plunging straight into Spider’s core, right down to the hilt.

Silently, so very silently, Abomination came to a halt. Spider’s legs drooped, then went limp, flopping to the ground. Lukoria was likely dead before he realized what had happened.

Gourry effortlessly retrieved the deeply buried sword. The armor’s legs trembled slightly. Was one of the Zanaffars still stirring?

Gourry and I prepared for the fight, but...

“Lukoria?” The voice came from Cyclops. Spider must have lost control of it, allowing Sagan to speak again. He didn’t quite seem aware of what had transpired.

“He’s gone now,” Gourry said.

After a brief silence... “I see,” Sagan whispered, seeming to intuit his meaning.

“You still want to fight?” Gourry asked lightly.

“No,” Sagan replied quietly. “We lost. We’ll surrender the Zanaffars.”

And so the fight came to an end.

The light had left Tessius’s eyes. He was alive, but he didn’t respond to any of our calls.

Following Sagan’s admission of defeat, we’d destroyed the Wings Zanaffar and shattered the frozen earth that held Abomination—rather, that held Cyclops and Horns. Once Cyclops was free, Sagan had removed his Zanaffar. It was my first time seeing him up close without his armor, and he appeared to be, in human terms, a good-looking thirtysomething of average height. Maybe even a little on the muscular side as elves went.

But Horns had lain perfectly still after we freed it from Abomination. Sagan called to Tessius within, but after getting no response, he somehow managed to free his comrade from his Zanaffar. Yet even after being released, Tessius remained unresponsive.

“Why?!” Sagan whispered.

I replied, “Tessius was casting spells in our fight just now. If the Zanaffar was forcing him to do that, it might have had some effect on his mind. Just speculation, of course, but...”

“Damnation.” Sagan cursed. “Why? How could this happen? We were just trying to protect the forest.”

“You know...” I said wearily before letting out a sigh. “You really don’t know how this happened? It’s because your way of going about it all was totally wrongheaded.”

“What?!”

“Protecting the forest? Noble goal. So to do it, you get these powerful weapons known as Zanaffars and attack a human settlement in the forest. Then, when the humans threaten to burn the forest in retaliation, you decide to keep fighting in the forest to kill them. Then one of you decides to sacrifice some of you so you can keep fighting in the forest. What the hell did you think you were protecting? It wasn’t the forest, and it certainly wasn’t your friends. In fact, I’d say you got every part of this wrong. What were you even protecting the forest for?”

Sagan spoke up haltingly in response. “Elves have a special connection to the woods—”

“And humans’ll never understand, right? Not what I mean. Living beings are fundamentally simple. Elf, human, or animal, we’re all just trying to find as much happiness as we can. From that point of view, your manifesto about protecting the forest amounts to ‘I’m not happy seeing people ruin the forest. I want to stop them so I can be happy again.’ In other words, this was all a means to an end. But what was the price? How far would you have to go to get what you wanted? And could you really do it? You didn’t think about any of that, so you ended up on the path to a future where there was no winning. Even if you’d defeated us, you wouldn’t have ended up happy. That’s what I think,” I declared.

Sagan went quiet for a while. “Then what were we supposed to do?” he eventually asked in response.

“How should I know?”

“That was fast!” Alaina threw in for some reason (still speaking through the Regulus Discs).

“Well, what do you expect? No one can tell you what’s going to make you happy or how you should go about getting there. You have to ask yourself what’s really important to you, then keep thinking about how best to live your life without losing sight of it. There isn’t one fixed answer. That’s all any of us can do. Though, obviously, it’s easier said than done.”

I wasn’t sure if he accepted my words or not, but Sagan simply sighed and fell silent. He seemed to regret what he’d done, but I wasn’t sure he really felt sorry for it, exactly. Either way, though, I had to get the Hounds to repay Atessa for everything they’d done to it.

But just then... “Crack Wall!” We felt a presence and heard a voice and leaped back!

Krakabwoobwoobwoosh! Next came a series of small explosions. The whole area filled with thick smoke.

“Sagan! Let’s withdraw!” The voice that called out belonged to the female elf who’d worn the Wings armor, Lucida! Her spell seemed like nothing more than a loud distraction and smoke screen, but it kept us from getting our bearings.

Sagan had already surrendered, so I wasn’t sure he’d put up a fight if we gave chase. But Lucida, who didn’t know exactly what had just gone down, was a different story.

I readied a spell. “Diem Wind!”

But by the time I set my magical gust loose, Sagan and Tessius were already gone. All they’d left behind were two suits of light armor, the Cyclops and Horns Zanaffars, as if to say they were giving them up. Without a word, Gourry walked over to them, swung his sword... and with that, the last of the Zanaffars were destroyed.

“Should we chase down the Hounds?” Zel asked.

“No,” Alaina replied. “I’ll take over from here. It would be difficult for humans to pursue elves seriously attempting to flee through the forest. I’ll return to our village, explain things there, and rustle up a search force. I’ll see that they atone for their crimes against Atessa. But all that aside...” She looked around questioningly, then turned to me. “Is there... another of you here?”

That was an odd question, and yet...

“Yeah, there is.” The immediate answer came from Gourry, of all people. Me, Zel, and Amelia turned to him quizzically as he called out, “You’re there, right? Might as well show yourself, Xellos!”

“Erk?!” we all shouted in shock.

“Oh, you noticed me?” I heard his voice as a presence abruptly appeared behind me.

I jumped, whipping around. “Xellos?!”

Black hair and vestments. A mild expression punctuated by a bright smile. At a glance, he seemed your typical easygoing priest... but your typical easygoing priest didn’t pop up out of nowhere like that.

“You’ve been here the whole time?!” I cried.

“Yes. The whole time,” he responded flippantly.

Alaina collapsed to the ground. “Lina! L-L-Lina! That man...” she said hoarsely, quivering.

“Er...” I hesitated for a moment, then decided to be honest. “Yeah, he’s a demon acquaintance of ours.”

“What?!” Alaina’s voice cracked.

To be fair, freaking out was a normal reaction. We’d met Xellos during the previous Zanaffar incident and he’d traveled with us for a time, but despite appearances, he was a hella high-ranking demon. During the Incarnation War a thousand years ago, it was said that Xellos, Priest of Greater Beast Zellas Metallium, had destroyed an entire army of dragons all by himself. If Alaina could “see” Xellos’s true astral form, I perfectly understood her panic.

But Xellos smiled at Alaina and said, “No need to worry. I have no intention of making any trouble.”

“Eek!” Alaina scrambled backward and cowered behind my legs. “A stranger talked to me...”

Wait, it’s just the social anxiety?! I’d assumed she was afraid because Xellos was a high-ranking demon, but... Of course that’s all it was.

“I assume you’re here for the Zanaffars, then?” Zelgadis asked.

“Brilliantly deduced,” Xellos confirmed with a nod. “As you may already know, my standing order is to destroy Claire Bible manuscripts... but it seems knowledge leaked from that last one managed to reach the Forest Hounds. I was at quite a loss. Multiple elves controlling Zanaffars... it seemed rather troublesome to deal with myself. Should I tag on a little overtime to take care of it personally, or pretend I never saw it and accept the scolding later? While I was weighing these two options, a set of familiar faces just happened to appear, so I thought, why not take advantage of them? Though I did help you out in secret a time or two.”

Well, just come right out and say you took advantage of us, why don’t you?! “Your work ethic leaves a lot to be desired, y’know?” I muttered in vague disgust.

Xellos raised a scolding finger at me. “I prefer to say I’m efficient and logical. Or perhaps...” He glanced over at Amelia. “As Miss Amelia here might say, I rose up to save my old allies in their hour of need!”

In response to this obviously sarcastic comment, Amelia cooed, “Oh, how thrilling!” Eyes sparkling, she excitedly clenched her fists. “You couldn’t help but aid the imperiled friends alongside whom you’d once fought! Despite your protestations to the contrary, your heart truly does burn with justice! So to assist your former allies, you transcended your nature as a demon and—”

“Please no I take it all back I was being entirely facetious!” Xellos raved, waving his hands hastily. Once again, he’d underestimated Amelia’s zeal for all things righteous. “B-But I am impressed that you noticed me, Master Gourry.”

Ah, the good ol’ change-the-subject strategy...

“Well, y’know,” Gourry said, scratching his head. “While I was fighting, that thing that would pull my sword around... What’s it called again? The astrid plane? Those attack thingies disappeared at random a few times. I don’t know a lot of guys who could do something like that.”

“That explains that,” I said, finally catching on. “I’d been thinking our luck was a little too good. So you were helping out behind the scenes, huh? There was the nullification of astral attacks that Gourry mentioned, the dumb luck we had when Centaur attacked, the way that Amelia’s refraction spell just so happened to ricochet right through Heavy Armor, the fact that massive lightning spell managed to miss all of us...”

Upon hearing my speculation, Xellos scratched at his cheek bashfully. “Well... I was involved in most of that, but not the Centaur incident. That was purely dumb luck.”

“So it was just an accident...”

“It sure was, wasn’t it?”

“Well, such things do happen, I suppose.”

“I hope whoever was inside lives a long life after this! Though I didn’t see it, so I have no idea!”

“How absurd... Er, ahem!”

Awkward comments came from all assembled.

“Well, I’m happy that all the Zanaffars were destroyed and the person with knowledge from the manuscript is dead. And you must be happy that you purged the threat to the city. It’s win-win, wouldn’t you agree?” Xellos said casually.

“Is it possible...” I began to ask as the thought dawned on me. “Xellos, were you also responsible for Gourry’s final sword throw hitting Spider dead-on? To dispose of Lukoria, the only elf with the knowledge from the Claire Bible...”

At this, Xellos simply wagged his finger at me. “That’s... a secret.”

Ahh. Figured he’d say that. I couldn’t help but feel a little manipulated, of course.

He gave one last look over our group and said, “As I have no business with the remaining elves, I’ll leave them to you. But now that I’ve paid my respects, I really must be going.”

And with that, he vanished.

The wind blew, dispersing the last of the mist and smoke lingering on the battlefield. The green leaves of the forest trees rustled in the breeze.

And so, peace returned to Atessa... Or did it? As long as the city of blacksmiths remained, there would be elves who objected to its presence. Still, it was clear the Forest Hounds had abandoned their cause for now, as evidenced by the way they abandoned their Zanaffars.

We returned to the places where Centaur and Heavy Armor had been defeated and found the shells of their armor, but no bodies. I didn’t know exactly what had happened to their wearers. Plus, Xellos had said “all the Zanaffars” were destroyed, so I doubted there were any more lying in wait for us.

The threat, for now, had passed.

Amelia and her envoy departed Atessa two days after our final fight with the Forest Hounds. The reason for the delay was to prove to the mayor and her bodyguards that she was still hale and hearty.

Currently, there was quite a crowd at the gate just outside of town formed to watch the departure of the Saillune retinue. There were a few local security guys, the town bigwigs, and us, not to mention regularly stationed soldiers of Zephilia and your standard gaggle of lookie-loos. Alaina alone was absent, as she’d skipped town the day before. She’d told MacLyle (and none of the rest of us) that she’d form a party with her comrades and return with the conspirators in hand, then left.

I can’t deny that sneaking out because she couldn’t handle a proper sendoff did seem like a very Alaina thing to do, but Amelia was quite disappointed. She’d wanted to talk to the elf—apparently to learn how to use whips to travel quickly up to high places, so this was probably for the best.

Amelia stepped down from her carriage to speak to a few of the people in the crowd. She offered a handful of parting remarks to the mayor out of courtesy, and then she turned to me. “Are you sure you guys won’t come with us?” she asked.

It was true we were going to the same place, but... I shrugged. “Better not. You’ll probably be dealing with a lot of important people where you’re going, and your bodyguards will have to worry about us if we tag along. I’d rather take it easy, leave the door open for detours when I feel like it.”

“I understand. And you, Master Zelgadis?”

“I’m going to remain here a bit longer,” Zel replied. “Even if I did have my reasons, I was initially conspiring with the Hounds to damage the city. I think I need to make amends.”

The scars from the attack were still visible on Atessa, so I was sure the help would be appreciated. I’d heard from the mayor that soldiers were already on the way by the time they contacted the capital of Zephilia to let them know things had been resolved, so they’d be reassigned to help with rebuilding and repairs. Maybe it wouldn’t take too long after all.

“Very well. I hope we’ll meet again somewhere, someday,” said Amelia.

“Same here,” I replied.

“See you then,” Gourry offered.

“Hopefully under less onerous circumstances,” Zel chimed in.

“Now then, thank you for all your help. Farewell, everyone.” Amelia curtsied to us, then boarded her carriage.

The soldiers of Saillune straightened up and the carriage began to move again.

“See you!”

“Don’t justice too hard now, you hear?”

“And be mindful of heights!”

As we saw her off with various goodbyes, her procession made its way down the road. Once it disappeared beyond the trees, the gathered bigwigs, soldiers, and sightseers began streaming back to the city.

“Welp...” I looked to Zel, MacLyle, and Randa in turn. “I guess we’d better be going too.”

Gourry and I had already made preparations to depart as well. MacLyle had even paid us our service fee with a sweet bonus on top.

“You were such a help. Thank you for everything,” he said.

From beside MacLyle, Randa said, “’Preciate all the help. You told me to make up for my failures by acting... but I didn’t get to do anything in the end.” There was a tone of self-recrimination in his voice.

I responded with a grin. “Oh, come on. I never said it had to be in the fight with the Forest Hounds, did I? Just make up for it with little actions for the city from now on.”

“That’s right. Don’t overstep your bounds, and just do what you can, bit by bit,” MacLyle added with a smile. “Like forgoing rest and working only for a single loaf of stale bread or something.”

“Spare him that. Please,” I was forced to say. MacLyle’s words had a ring of truth beyond the obvious joke.

“Well, take care, Zel.”

“Yeah. You guys too. And Gourry, please don’t forget my name.”

“You got it! I’ll at least remember it for a month or so!”

With that, Gourry and I set off and left the city of Atessa behind.