The Hero King, Reincarnate to Master the Art of War (LN) - Volume 2 - Chapter 6

Chapter VI: Inglis, Age 15—The Chiral Knights’ Academy (6)

“Chancellor, my lord,” Inglis said. “I apologize, but it’s as you see. I was unable to capture the ambassador.”

“Well... You didn’t really have a choice in the matter. Well done.” Even as the chancellor spoke, though, the ceiling and floor of the cabin rumbled and began to collapse. “Mm?! Now what?!”

Springing from the ceiling and the floor were dark, thick spikes that looked like insect legs upon which were solid gems. As the legs came forward, the next to be revealed was the body of a gigantic spider. Inglis was face to face with a giant spider with a hard, armor-like carapace.

“It’s a magicite beast!” Chancellor Arcia yelled.

“But the Prism Flow didn’t fall!” Rani said, confused. “And we’re so far up in the sky!”

Leone turned to her friends. “Then it’s the Steelbloods, isn’t it?!”

Inglis nodded. “Yeah. The Steelbloods have Prism Powder, so they can create magicite beasts whenever they want.” Rumors had been swirling around about today’s business, and it seemed like the Steelbloods, too, would not remain silent.

“More and more are appearing!” Rafinha fired an arrow of light from her Artifact. It pierced the body of a spider magicite beast with a sickening squelch, and the beast stopped moving.

“Anyway, let’s take them down!” Leone extended her dark sword Artifact and swept it through several of the beasts, smashing them.

The two were certainly powerful; these sorts of magicite beasts were no threat to them. Inglis decided to leave the fighting to them. After all, it wouldn’t hurt to let Chancellor Arcia see Leone in action.

Inglis approached the chancellor and asked, “Your Excellency, what shall we do? Break off the exchange and escape?”

Arcia paused to think for a moment. “I’d prefer to complete the exchange, with a substitute if need be, but we have quite the mess on our hands to deal with first.”

“Then, shall we go through the ship defeating the magicite beasts?”

“That would be helpful.”

“Understood. However, wouldn’t it be for the best if you evacuated the ship for a time?”

He stopped, considering that. “Yes, I suppose that would make it easier for you all to fight.”

“Then I propose we return to the Flygear Port.”

Just then, Rafinha and Leone, working together, finished off the first wave of enemies.

“Good idea! Let’s hurry, Chris!”

“When we finish these—!”

Inglis called over to the person who was the reason they were there in the first place. “Yeah. Then, Fars—”

“Yeah? What?”

“Are you still not ready? This seems like your chance.”

Fars was startled for a moment but quickly pulled himself together. “Ha ha. I see... I should’ve expected that. You’re right. It’s about time.”

“Huh? What do you mean, Chris?”

Leone was just as confused as Rafinha was. “What are you talking about?”

“Well, I mean—” Inglis began.

But before Inglis could finish, a frazzled man who seemed to be an official from Highland barged into the cabin.

“Ambassador! Ambassador Muenthe! Big trouble! The cargo from Rambach Company is full of magicite beasts! Gahhhhh!” He screamed as the sharp leg of a magicite beast thrust through his back. Next, another swarm of magicite beasts appeared in the cabin.

“No way... Fars, you—?!” Rafinha gasped.

“So you were with the Steelbloods!” Leone glared.

“Well, yes and no. This is my doing, but I have nothing to do with the Steelbloods. See?” Fars pulled back his bandana with one hand, revealing the stigmata on his forehead, the mark of a Highlander.

“A Highlander?! I guess you’re not lying about being separate from the Steelbloods, then,” Leone said. “After all, they oppose your country.”

Rafinha didn’t follow. “But why is a Highlander doing this to another Highlander?”

Inglis thought back on Fars’s earlier words. “So Highland really isn’t monolithic either.”

“Just out of curiosity...when did you notice?” he asked.

“The first time we met. I believe I invited you to fight?”

Suddenly, a new magicite beast charged at Inglis, its legs extending, ready to cut her into pieces.

Inglis caught the first leg without even looking, gave the creature a forceful heave, and sent it flying at Fars. It was a casual throw, but incredibly fast nonetheless.

However, Fars smashed it back toward Inglis practically without moving. He, too, had extraordinary power.

Inglis continued. “But you pretended to be powerless, so I had my suspicions. I didn’t imagine you were actually a Highlander, though.” Inglis volleyed back the incoming magicite beast with a well-timed kick.

“Son of a— You saw through me from the beginning? And you just played along? You scheming little—” Once again, Fars smashed the magicite beast at her.

And Inglis returned the favor. Fars did as well. As they bounced the magicite beast back and forth, their conversation continued.

“I shall accept a challenge from anyone at any time, but I don’t mean to force it onto others. I was just waiting for you to be ready.”

In Inglis’s mind, even if she won against someone who wasn’t able to bring their power out, it would be boring. It’d be a waste. She wanted to fight on their terms, let them do what they wanted, clash against their full power, and still win. Only such a scenario could bring out her true potential. One must make the most of opportunities.

“I see—but I’m a Highlander knight, one of the few combat specialists,” Fars explained. “You saved me the trouble of killing Muenthe, so as thanks, I’ll try not to betray your expectations.”

Gradually, the speed of the magicite beast volleys between them increased. Their fierce wills competed for victory.

“Thank you. I’ll enjoy this.”

Due to the momentum of Inglis’s last shot, Fars’s aim went wide. His kick sent the magicite beast through the wall and into the sky. “Ugh...! Guess I missed.”

“We can’t measure the superiority or inferiority of each other’s strength like this. Go ahead, please attack.” A smile drifted to Inglis’s face.

A Highlander knight—that’s what Fars had called himself. If that was true, she could expect him to be strong. If a Highlander knight was weaker than a knight from the surface, they wouldn’t be able to oppress the surface. Being beaten with the very Artifacts they had sent down would be laughable. It would stand to reason that they had some kind of power to overcome surface forces. She looked forward to seeing it for herself.

“Look at you smiling happily. I’d love to see that beautiful face half-crying with fear,” Fars threatened.

“You’re right. I would too—if such a thing could happen.”

“Then... How about this? Gate, release!” Space seemed to distort around Fars’s clenched fist. In the blink of an eye, that distortion wrapped around them, and the scenery in front of their eyes changed. When Inglis and the others realized where they were, they were standing in a borderless space of sparkling yellow-green particles of light.

“Is this...another dimension?” Inglis asked.

“It’s like the Labyrinth of Ordeals!” Rafinha said.

Leone’s focus was on other things. “More importantly, look around us! Magicite beasts are—!”

“There’s so many!” Chancellor Arcia cried.

An unbelievable number of magicite beasts swarmed around them—perhaps hundreds or nearly a thousand of them. They surrounded Inglis and the others, who stood in an area bathed in a pillar of pale light. Inglis concluded the pillar was a safe area where the magicite beasts couldn’t enter.

“Did the magicite beasts that appeared on the ship earlier come from here?!” Inglis hadn’t sensed them at all. When she and the others were on the Flygear Port, the magicite beasts must have been here, not existing in their own dimension yet. Unlike the Steelbloods’ method of creating magicite beasts with Prism Powder, the magicite beasts had been gathered here and then released.

“Exactly. It’s nasty to keep these beasts in here, though.”

“Meaning, you gathered them here to disguise this attack as the work of the Steelbloods?”

“Yeah. Their tactics are well-known. The stupid knights from before are too hasty. If you’re going to disguise something, you need to do it properly or you’ll fool no one. I’m cautious.”

Inglis began to see the full picture. “I see, so inviting us as guards must have been for that purpose too.”

“What do you mean, Chris?”

“He wants people to think we, connected to the Steelbloods, killed both Ambassador Muenthe and Chancellor Arcia to ruin the exchange.”

Leone paused. “I see. If I’m here, it becomes a lot more believable that we’re connected to the Steelbloods.”

“And if I’m here, it would be suspected that even Rafael was a Steelblood!” Rafinha gasped.

“Yeah. I think that’s his plan,” Inglis said. “A rather detestable scheme.”

“Yeah! It really is!” Leone’s expression became even more severe.

“You won’t get away with what you’ve done!” Rafinha said, glaring at Fars.

“That should be my line!” he yelled. “That isn’t the only reason I drew you in—I also want to take revenge for Rahl!”

As his words washed over them, Inglis and Rafinha shared a glance.

“For Rahl? I’m surprised he’s that popular.”

“You want revenge for someone like him? So greedy! You’re no different from the ambassador before!”

“Hmph... You’ve got a lot of guts saying that about a boy in front of his father.”

“F-Father?!” Inglis and Rafinha both gasped in shock. They had questions: Was he Rambach? Was the change in the merchant company’s leadership also fake? Furthermore, how was he so young? He looked about the same age as Rahl.

“When I became a Highlander, I also got this new body...along with the obligations of a knight. My previous body was sick, falling apart, so what choice did I have? Anyway, he may have been a bad son, but he was my son! And you killed him! Of course I want revenge!”

“Why would you hate us?! He—!”

“Don’t just ignore your own failures in parenting!”

Inglis had to agree with Rafinha and Leone. “If you fight with hatred and grudges, it’ll only weigh your power down. You won’t enjoy it. I recommend having more fun and appreciating your strength all on its own.”

“I will—after I kill you all! I should tell you, now that you’re in here, you’re already trapped. This isn’t just a dimension for sealing away magicite beasts. It was originally an execution ground for surface knights like you! In this dimension, your Artifacts are worthless!” The grin that came to Fars’s face was like a menacing blade.

Rafinha checked her Artifact. “It’s true, I can’t make my arrows of light!”

“My sword won’t listen to me either!” Leone cried out.

“I see.”

This had to be Fars’s trump card. Inglis figured this was how Highlander knights could suppress forces from the surface.

“Maybe this...?” She converted aether into mana to create an ice sword—but before it could appear, her mana scattered, unable to be properly controlled. Fars was able to stop the use of Artifacts by disrupting and blocking the flow of mana. That held true for direct manipulation of mana without a Rune. “Looks like I’m no good either.”

“Yes...but I, possessing a stigmata, am different! Now, fall by my hand!” At Fars’s command, the pillar of light shrank, isolating only him. Inglis and the others, cast out of the light, were swarmed toward by the magicite beasts.

“Rani! Leone! Take care of the chancellor!”

“Got it!”

“We’ll figure something out!”

Trusting her friends, Inglis advanced on her own. An oppressive number of magicite beasts swarmed around her. With this many, she couldn’t underestimate them. Her best chance to keep everyone safe would be to beat Fars, who controlled the dimension, and escape.

“Haaaah!” Inglis rushed toward the nearest magicite beast and kicked it as hard as she could. Sent flying, it crashed precisely into the pillar of light surrounding Fars.

Snap!

With a harsh sound, the body of the magicite beast bounced away. There seemed to be no effect on the pillar of light.

“Ha ha ha ha! I’ve got front-row seats to your deaths! That won’t work—”

Crrraaack!

With a rumbling sound, the pillar of light crumbled.

“What exactly won’t work?” Inglis challenged, sheathed in the pale blue light of aether.

“Gwah?!”

She grabbed Fars by the throat with one hand and lifted him.

“Wh-What?! How did you—?!”

“I just hit it as hard as I could.”

“What the hell... Does this dimension not affect you?!”

In response, Inglis smiled gently, like a beautiful maiden. To Fars, on the contrary, that expression was terrifying to behold. Inglis said she’d hit the pillar—but he hadn’t seen her move at all.

“Oh, it does. But I possess a different kind of strength—other powers.”

Even if mana didn’t work, if one had aether techniques, they could be used normally. This other dimension could not interfere with the flow of aether.

“Ugh... That’s a load of crap. What other powers even—”

“Return us to our dimension—unless you’d like me to defeat you here and now. After all, Rani and Leone are hard-pressed.”

The two of them had somehow managed to take on the attacking magicite beasts and protect Chancellor Arcia, but without their Artifacts’ powers, they were struggling. At this rate, they probably wouldn’t hold out long. Inglis had to end things quickly.

Suddenly, a part of the swarm surrounding them was blown away. Something rose from beneath them.

“Wh-What?!” Rafinha shrieked.

“New foes? Give me a break!” Leone complained.

“Ho hyo! Ho hyo hyo hyo!”

A humanoid magicite beast—the Rune-Eater—stood in their way. Its Rune-studded body had grown into a low, bloated shape, with the sturdy hide and embedded gems of a magicite beast. From its chest grew the head of the Highland ambassador, Muenthe. The creature let out a large laugh.

Inglis gasped. “A magicite beast! But now it looks like...!”

The Rune-Eater had eaten Muenthe, and now the absorbed Muenthe had become a part of it, transforming with it. And that wasn’t all...

“Ho hyo hyo hyo hyoooooo!” The humanoid magicite beast, while letting out Muenthe’s laugh, extended swords of ice from each of the fingers of its gigantic hands.

“It’s using mana!” This dimension had no effect on Highlanders; Inglis guessed the Rune-Eater was using Muenthe’s stigmata.

Next, the monster swung the blades at the spider magicite beasts around it, creating several magicite beast skewers. Then, just like when the Rune-Eater had devoured Muenthe, they turned to black coal and were absorbed. Could it absorb magicite beasts now that it was one itself?

Rafinha and Leone watched, frozen in place.

“Is that...cannibalism?!”

“It’s so strong!”

It absorbed the many magicite beasts in the blink of an eye and transformed, its lower body growing spider legs, probably a result of eating so many spider magicite beasts. Abruptly, the other spider creatures began to scramble toward it. Did absorbing many of them give the Rune-Eater the controlling power of a queen bee or queen ant?

“They’re combining—” In no time at all, its lower body had completely taken on the form of a spider magicite beast.

The Rune-Eater’s body and Runes...

Muenthe’s face and stigmata...

And a spiderlike magicite beast’s lower body...

This was no longer just a Rune-Eater, or a magicite beast, or a Highlander. It was a messy chimera. There was just one thing Inglis could say for sure—it seemed strong.

“An impressive chimera—I should have known you were concealing something like this. I’m starting to be impressed.” Since the enemies had gathered together, she could take them on just herself. To be honest, she was just a little disappointed that this could only happen in this dimension.

But Fars denied it. “Th-That wasn’t me! All I did was gather the magicite beasts!”

“Huh? Then what— I see, this time it really was Prism Powder...”

The Steelbloods really had launched an assault, albeit through a different route than Chancellor Arcia’s knights or Fars had. If not, she had no explanation for why Leon was in the capital. The Prism Powder they’d piled up was now showing its effects here.

“So this situation is just a coincidence?” Inglis giggled. “I must really have the right daily routine.”

“Sheesh, Chris! Don’t be happy about that!”

“Yeah! That thing is really disgusting!”

Neither Rafinha nor Leone, gathered around Chancellor Arcia, were pleased.

“M-Maybe I have the right daily routine too!” Fars’s body, still held up in one of Inglis’s hands, distorted suddenly, disappearing along with his weight. “It’s a pity that I can’t watch from my front-row seat! Die there! I’ll be back later to gather your corpses, if that monster doesn’t devour you!” Only his voice echoed loudly around the scene. He’d left Inglis and the others behind, departing alone.

“Ah...! He’s gone?!” Rafinha cried.

“He left us behind and ran away?!” Leone shouted.

“He must be avoiding the dimension crumbling in on him were he to lose.”

“No way...” Rafinha turned to Inglis. “Can we get out on our own?!”

“What do you think, Inglis?” Leone asked. “Can you do what you did before?”

“If I destroy the dimension, we’ll probably be fine. But before that—”

Maybe she could have some fun fighting the chimera.

“Ho hyo! Smells like Inglis! Inglisssssssss! Become one with me! Becoming one feels sooooo good!” A tongue slurped forth from Muenthe’s face. Inglis wasn’t particularly surprised to see that frog-like tongue now that he was a magicite beast.

“That really is revolting.” Looking at it sent shivers down her spine.

“Of course it is! Hurry and beat that thing, Chris!”

“I don’t want to see its face for much longer,” Leone complained, grossed out.

“Mm-hm.” Inglis, alone, moved in front of the chimera that contained Muenthe. “Defeat me, and you can do whatever you’d like. Now, let’s begin!”

“Ho hyo hyo hyo hyo oooooh!” The tips of its countless spider legs transformed into blades of ice and swung toward Inglis. It was gigantic, but its movements were definitely not slow.

“Wh—?!”

Quite the opposite, they were very fast. The attack of each individual leg was fiercer than that of the original Rune-Eater, and the sheer number of attacks was beyond comparison. It was a barrage of ice swords. Even for Inglis, it would be difficult to break through from the front. The attacks were too precise. There was no gap she could slip through.

“It’s big, it’s nasty, and it’s fast!” Rafinha shouted.

Leone stuck with her, comforting her. “But it can’t hit Inglis! It’ll be okay!”

Inglis knew if she allowed herself to fall back, it would be impossible to make it through without being hit.

“Such movements—it’s like I’m seeing multiples of her!” Chancellor Arcia was overwhelmed as he tried to watch. Inglis wasn’t just fast—her movements were beautiful. Anyone watching would be swept off their feet by their brilliance. “Y-You can see just one of her?”

Rafinha nodded. “I can, more or less.”

“Well, I can barely see her,” Leone admitted.

Arcia stared at all three of them in awe. “It seems the knights’ academy is raising some truly talented people.”

Meanwhile, Inglis continued to avoid the chimera’s attacks by rotating clockwise around it, but falling back was boring—it lacked a certain artistry. She decided to prepare her counterattack.

“Ho hyoooooo! Pucker up, sweetheart!”

Inglis dodged a slash aimed for her neck while working her way behind and to the side of the chimera. The chimera shifted its body to face her in her new location, but it had a problem forming.

“Now!” Inglis yelled, leaping in the opposite direction. This placed her completely outside of its field of vision. Due to its large size, it couldn’t turn around quickly. She took advantage of that to attack while its guard was down.

“Ho hyo?” it muttered in a silly voice, having lost sight of Inglis.

“Haaaah!”

Thuuud!

“Gaaahhhh!”

Inglis’s kick pierced Muenthe’s face, twisting it hideously, but that was all it did. The face twisted, and the upper body swayed back, yet the countless spider legs tensed and stayed in place.

“He really is heavy...” she groaned. A normal magicite beast could be sent flying with a single kick. This was no normal monster—but that’s what made this interesting!

“Ho hyooo!” Struck strongly, it reacted quickly. Muenthe’s face, distorted from the kick, quickly stretched out its tongue and wrapped it around Inglis. It clung to her from her knees up her thighs, and to her chest.

“Ho hyo hyo hyo! So sweet, so soft!”

“Cease that at once. That’s vulgar.” Inglis formed her Aether Shell around herself. As she was wrapped in a pale blue light, Muenthe’s tongue was shredded and fell away.

“Aaaggghhh!”

“You were impressive nonetheless.” She hadn’t planned to use Aether Shell yet, but unable to use mana in this dimension, she’d had no choice. Aether techniques were a huge drain on her. When using it, she needed to keep fights short.

And she still had to escape this dimension and deal with Fars.

“Haaah!” Inglis landed after gaining some distance and this time rushed straight in.

“Ho hyo ho hyo ho hyo!” In response, the curtain of ice swords fell on her.

“I’m surprised you can move. I commend you.”

It deserved praise. Most couldn’t manage even a single step when faced with Inglis under the effects of Aether Shell.

“But it’s not enough!” Inglis responded to each of the falling blades with a punch.

“Gahhhh?!”

The result was as expected: the magicite beast legs, transformed into ice swords, fell like a curtain and shattered!

“Sh-She suddenly blew its legs off! What in the—?!” Arcia yelled.

“W-We’re just as shocked as you are!” Rafinha exclaimed.

“Yeah, they were blown off when they touched the blue light!” Leone said.

They never saw Inglis swing her fists. In an instant, the countless legs seemed to have been blown off. Before they knew it, the legless Muenthe’s giant form was rolling around.

“Looks like this is goodbye yet again.” Inglis discarded her Aether Shell and thrust her right palm at the writhing Muenthe.

Light swirled and converged around her hand. The vivid blue-white light grew into a giant clump as everyone watched.

“Aether Strike!”

Blammmmmm!

“Ho hyoooooooooo?!”

The gigantic ball of light swallowed Muenthe’s gigantic form.