Ch.335335. Destiny (1)

Heavy bodies fell one by one. Human screams were endless, and blood flowed ceaselessly across the ground.

Yet all manner of sounds still echoed from every direction.

The clashing of weapons against magical beasts, the crackling of magic cast by humans meeting the flesh of the beasts, the roars of the howling magical beasts, and the shouts and screams of humans fighting against them.

The humans at the second line of defense were continuing their final resistance against the endless waves of magical beasts.

“Magic corps, preparations complete!”

“Vanguard has finished their response!”

“Fire!”

────!!

Numerous spells launched simultaneously, striking the magical beasts directly.

Nevertheless.

“KWEEEEEE!!!”

The magical beasts kept appearing endlessly.

─AAAHHH!!!

When they raised their voices, the humans raised theirs in return. When the beasts bared their claws, the humans raised their weapons to counter.

They had to give everything they had, as there was nowhere left to retreat.

Amidst this chaos, one person suddenly stopped moving.

“…”

“Renias? What’s wrong all of a sudden?”

She was the greatest military asset in the imperial army and a key figure who could boost the morale of the soldiers.

Since she had suddenly stopped moving after firing a flash of light at the magical beasts, anyone would be curious.

But Renias didn’t answer their questions and instead started running.

“Wait, Renias!!”

Before anyone could grab her, before the magical beasts could try to catch her, she released a burst of magical power and headed somewhere.

“What is this sudden…”

Not only was she leaving the military camp, but a key figure had temporarily disappeared from the attack formation.

The officers couldn’t just stand by and watch such independent action, both for maintaining the formation and for winning this battle.

“We must stop her. Without Renias right now, our central formation will lack firepower and be pushed back!”

“I’ll go after her and try to bring her back!”

“Yes! Hurry and persuade her to come back!”

Then Michelle stepped forward.

“No, just leave her be.”

“Miss Michelle? What are you saying?”

“There’s only one reason Renias would move so suddenly. It means she detected some kind of magical power change from afar.”

Sometimes, powerful individuals can determine someone’s condition just by detecting small changes in magical power. Renias was exactly that type, and if she concentrated, she could barely reach the sinkhole.

Therefore, the fact that Renias moved meant that some event had occurred there.

The officers asked with pale faces:

“Could it be… the Commander…”

“Has died…?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Lord Dusen?”

“It’s not entirely impossible. But I don’t think that’s the case.”

Dusen slightly turned his head toward Michelle, as if asking her to explain. Michelle nodded once and then spoke about why Renias might have left.

“Renias was following Junon’s orders not to contact Ashpern under any circumstances. If someone like her moved… it’s not because he died.”

“Then?”

“Rather the opposite. Because Ashpern has fallen. I believe she’s gone to bring Junon back.”

“”Ohhh…!””

Dusen raised his sword again with a swift motion.

“Then we must continue fighting as we are. Right?”

“What? What do you mean, Lord Dusen?”

“Shouldn’t our priority be to follow Renias and rescue the Commander?”

“What foolish talk. Don’t magical beasts prioritize fighting where there’s more prey?”

“But now that Ashpern is here, that rule doesn’t… Oh?”

The man who turned his head after hearing Dusen’s point realized that the battle situation had changed significantly.

Ashpern was no longer present. And the magical beasts were now one-sidedly attacking where there were more humans.

Everything was unfolding as Junon had predicted.

Having dropped Ashpern alone into the sinkhole, and with the distance between the magical beasts and the second line increased, the beasts could no longer properly follow orders and had stopped trying to break the human formation.

‘Gulp!’

Dumbfounded, they all swallowed hard as they realized how quickly the tide of battle had turned.

“Are we going to let that young man shoulder everything? No. We must handle the rest. By taking down as many of these creatures as possible.”

Everyone seemed to agree with Dusen’s assertion that they needed to create better conditions, as no one raised any objections.

But then.

“The magical beasts are disappearing from the center!!”

“The same on the left side!”

“The right as well! All the magical beasts are retreating!”

Something impossible was happening.

Ashpern’s objective and the orders given to the magical beasts should still have been valid. While they might not be able to properly follow orders due to the distance from Ashpern who had fallen into the sinkhole, it would have been natural for them to continue attacking when humans—their prey—were right in front of them.

“Huh. What in the world…?”

Nevertheless, the magical beasts all stopped their attacks and turned away, as if they had no interest in the humans.

Almost as if they had heard some other command.

.

.

.

Whoosh-

Silver hair fluttered in the wind.

Renias, who had increased her speed to something akin to flight using wind magic, realized through magical detection that some change had occurred at the sinkhole and headed straight there.

Although she had broken military discipline by leaving the front line, the only thing that mattered to her at that moment was one person.

Tap.

It didn’t take long to arrive after moving around the battlefield full of magical beasts.

“Brother is here…!”

A large sinkhole.

There were traces of evaporated ground moisture, land baked by flames into a parched terrain, and the impact of an explosion on the loose soil.

Below, she could detect faint magical power. The clean, pure magical power of Junon.

“It’s quite deep… but that doesn’t matter.”

Swoosh, whoosh.

Normally she would have protected herself with magic and descended slowly, but there was no time for that now. Wanting to see Junon as quickly as possible, Renias began descending into the hole with her bare body.

And soon.

“…”

“Brother…”

In the darkened bottom, his figure appeared.

The clear, pure mana had already hit rock bottom within his body. His body was covered with various wounds from the battle with Ashpern.

The sight of him barely leaning against the wall, breathing shallow breaths, unable to support himself… just looking at him felt like her heart was being torn apart.

“Re… n…?”

With those words, Junon closed his eyes.

With a sinking heart, Renias immediately rushed over to check Junon’s condition.

Thump, thump.

His heart was beating, albeit weakly. His breathing was shallow, and his body was injured all over, but she could at least be certain that he was alive.

That was a relief.

“You have no idea how worried I was…”

Holding Junon’s head to her chest, Renias sobbed and complained.

Just then.

“──…”

A faint voice was heard nearby. Renias immediately went on alert. According to Junon’s instructions, there should be no humans in this place.

Only magical beasts.

“Hu, man, scum…”

“…!”

Of all things.

Of all things, it was none other than Ashpern.

The dragon-man was stirring, which she had failed to notice earlier due to her focus on Junon.

“Even if I die, you all… I will…!”

“Huh?!”

Suddenly uttering incomprehensible words, Ashpern immediately emitted a red light.

And when Renias opened her eyes,

“…He’s… gone?”

There was nothing left in the place where Ashpern had fallen.

No. More precisely, no magical power other than that of the two people could be felt within this sinkhole.

***

-Drip, drop.

Water drips from the tightly wrung towel. The squeezed towel is spread wide in slender white hands, then neatly folded to the size of one hand.

The towel, moist with water, is soon used to wipe the body of someone lying on a bed.

The body of a man who had been unconscious for two days now.

-Renias. It’s Michelle. May I come in for a moment?

“Ah, yes. Please come in!”

“Excuse me.”

“Excuse me too.”

The silver-haired girl, who had been secretly wiping away tears, welcomed her guests as if nothing had happened.

Of course, they couldn’t help but notice the teardrops falling from her reddened eyes.

“It’s good that you’re nursing him, but you need to eat too.”

“I’m, I’m fine…”

“That won’t do!”

When Renias tried to refuse food, Charlotte immediately interjected.

“If the caretaker gets sick too, who will take care of Senior Junon? That would be terrible. I’ll have to force-feed you if necessary. Come on! Say ‘ah’!”

“Eh?”

“Senior Junon will wake up sooner if Senior Renias stays healthy. Understand?”

“Ah, I understand. I’ll eat by myself…”

The silver rabbit, who had been on the verge of not just picky eating but complete fasting, finally filled her stomach after a long time.

Clatter.

Pushing aside the empty bowl, Michelle sat down and asked Renias:

“He still hasn’t woken up, right?”

“…Yes.”

It was clearly a topic too burdensome to bring up during the meal. Had she asked about Junon’s condition then, the food would have surely stuck in their throats.

Afterward, silence fell for a long time, punctuated only by sighs.

On the front lines, uncleared magical beasts still occasionally appeared. The imperial army couldn’t rest easy until all those magical beasts were dealt with, and countless people had been injured in the great battle.

The biggest problem was that the commander himself was bedridden.

In a situation where his help was desperately needed in any direction, they were now facing a new problem, making the situation unbearably frustrating. The only solution would be news that Junon had awakened.

“I’ll be going now. Take care of yourself.”

“And make sure to eat your meals on time!”

“Thank you. All three of you.”

“Three?”

“You two can’t cook, can you? I know that.”

“Oh my, Aris told us to keep it a secret, but we’ve been found out.”

“Indeed.”

Still, she managed a small smile. Hoping that this tiny flame of hope would not be extinguished.