Ch.510Get Ready to Fight

I couldn’t see what form Invidius would take or what powers it would possess until I saw it firsthand. You’d have to fight it to know.

Still, recalling what Valenstein had said, this world surely had limits to strength—in other words, level restrictions.

So I decided to prepare for Invidius’s strength as if facing a powerful enemy that might appear at this point, or perhaps one level above that. Something like a fully awakened dragon lord or monsters classified as calamities.

…In truth, even that would be enough to abandon the city and flee.

Of course, my prediction could be wrong, and an even stronger enemy might emerge. But honestly, if something stronger than a dragon lord appeared, there would be no point in deliberating.

In a world where the Empire’s strongest were merely mediocre hero-class, if something surpassing a dragon lord appeared, it would be the end for everyone. Humans and other races alike would all become corpses. So why worry about such a future?

Yes. What I needed to do now wasn’t to overestimate an enemy that hadn’t even appeared yet and give up. It was to prepare everything possible so that no matter what enemy appeared, we could fight without hesitation.

“…Yes, you’re right. Lord Median is correct. Let’s fight. Let’s fight and stop it. With my faith and the divine will of Elpinel.”

“Good, well said.”

Lacy nodded. Her eyes were clear and bright, as if she had firmly steadied her confused mind. Yes, this was the Lacy I knew.

“Now that you’ve made up your mind, let’s retreat first. Come on, get on my back.”

“…Pardon?”

Lacy couldn’t hide her surprise. Well, it would be bewildering to hear talk of retreat right after being convinced to fight.

Of course, I didn’t mean we should just run away completely.

“Retreat…? But you just said we would fight…”

“Whatever comes out, the area around the bell tower will be devastated during the fight. The entire city might get involved. So before we fight, we need to evacuate the people of Arvil. I don’t know how much time we have, though.”

This was something that had to be done first if we decided to fight.

Even I couldn’t pay attention to collateral damage while fighting an enemy stronger than myself. If we fought here, most of the city’s residents would likely lose their lives in the aftermath.

“Ah! You’re right, we shouldn’t be hesitating here…!”

Lacy quickly scanned the entire city, turning her head from side to side. I bent my knee toward her and offered my back.

“Right. So first we need to meet up with the others. We’ll need help from the Saulite paladins too.”

It was impossible for me alone to evacuate everyone in the city. That required numbers, not strength. So first, we needed to regroup with our companions.

I carried Lacy on my back and sprinted from the bell tower plaza toward the city walls.

Ceylon, Agnes, and the others must have seen the darkened sky too. They were probably rushing toward us in shock right now. We should meet them soon.

—-

“Good heavens…! The sky! The sky!!”

“Everyone run! Monsters! Monsters are coming!”

As I sprinted toward the city walls, I passed city residents who, fortunately, were fleeing in the opposite direction at the sight of the black pillar, screaming. With their lower bodies exposed.

Seeing them undressed, they hadn’t broken free from the brainwashing. They simply sensed instinctively that this was no time to be leisurely engaging in debauchery, despite their manipulated “common sense.”

After all, hadn’t they all fled when we raced through the city in our carriage? Even animals in heat flee from forest fires.

I glanced down at them as I ran across the rooftops.

The city-wide brainwashing power deployed by Valkers, Dirade, and Eljur was collapsing following Valkers’ death. The miracle of mental protection that Lacy had cast was still in effect, which was proof of this.

Soon, the formation of debauchery would completely shatter and disappear.

What would happen to the city residents once the brainwashing spell vanished? I wasn’t sure.

The “common sense” implanted in their minds might disappear and they could return to normal, or the “common sense” Valkers had planted might persist until their minds were purified by holy light.

Perhaps they would freeze like puppets with cut strings.

Personally, I thought it might be better if the “common sense” remained. If they regained their original minds, they would panic and go berserk, and we weren’t in a position to restrain and care for such people.

“Lord Haschal! You’re safe!”

While sprinting through the city with these thoughts, I finally encountered some of my companions. Not all of them, just Ceylon, Nigel, and Leonore.

It seemed they had left the carriage outside the city gates and only the combatants who could move faster than the carriage had rushed in.

“What happened to Demian and Millia? Are they both safe?”

“They drove Eljur to the brink of death before passing out. Both sides were seriously injured, but not life-threatening.”

Well, that’s a relief. I thought they would have been utterly defeated by Eljur, but it seems they fought to a near draw. The two of them must have fought better than I expected.

“No, miss. More importantly, what the hell is that? I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.”

“It’s a terrifyingly ominous sight. Like the gates of hell opening.”

“What has Valkers done?”

The three of them fired questions at me in succession. Instead of stopping, I continued running toward the city walls, gesturing for them to follow.

“It’s similar to what Nigel said. He’s summoning his mother from hell.”

“What? Valkers had a mother?”

Nigel tilted his head in confusion as he ran.

…Was my expression too abstract? I was speaking figuratively so they wouldn’t stop in shock.

“What would be the mother of evil? The evil god they serve.”

Whether it was a mother or father, I wasn’t sure. Honestly, would such distinctions even matter?

“Evil god…? Did you just say evil god?”

Ceylon, who had joined me, asked as if he might have misheard. Unfortunately, your ears are working fine.

“Yes. That bastard was planning to summon Invidius. And it seems he’s succeeded, albeit clumsily.”

Just like Lacy and I earlier, the three were struck with disbelief. So much so that they nearly fell off the roof after missing their footing.

“Invidius? That can’t be…! Is such a thing possible?!”

Ceylon, who had planted his face on the ground, jumped up and asked.

“I don’t know either. But he said so himself. And looking at that, it wouldn’t be strange if something like that emerged. So let’s evacuate the residents first.”

“Good Lord, Astraea…”

Ceylon, who had leaped back onto the roof, muttered while making the sign of the cross.

“Evil god? You’re not joking, right?”

“Was Valkers that powerful? Powerful enough to summon something like an evil god?”

Nigel and Leonore, bewildered by the sudden mention of an evil god, pressed me for details.

As we headed toward the city walls, I explained to them what had happened during my fight with Valkers and our plans going forward.

—-

Around the carriage outside the city walls, Saulite paladins had gathered. As Ceylon had said, Demian and Millia showed no signs of waking up, but Hush was surprisingly fine.

Instead of telling them about the evil god’s descent, I explained that Valkers was summoning a powerful monster as a last act of defiance.

It would be problematic if they panicked at the news of an evil god’s descent, and equally troublesome if they rushed in like moths to a flame, eager for martyrdom.

Especially Lena, who would predictably grab my pant leg and beg to run away.

“Agnes, you go with the Saulite paladins to evacuate and protect the citizens. It might be better to keep them sedated rather than breaking the brainwashing, as they might panic.”

“Yes.”

Agnes nodded. She too understood well that she was the only one who could keep the citizens docile.

“And Hush, you guard the carriage thoroughly. If danger arises, you don’t need to fight—flee if necessary. Make sure not even a scratch comes to Demian, Millia, or Lena. Understood? If you do this well, I’ll even appoint you as my knight.”

“I understand!”

Hush nodded with a determined expression. He didn’t seem to realize yet that receiving a knighthood would make no practical difference from his current position.

“Sister… are you really going to be okay?”

Lena looked upset. She seemed to sense that I was going to do something dangerous again. She was oddly perceptive about such things.

“I’ll be fine. Your sister has never lost to a monster, you know? It’s not dangerous at all, so don’t worry. Have I ever lied to you?”

“You lie all the time…”

…That’s true, isn’t it?

Lena looked like she was dying of worry for me, but given the situation, I couldn’t waste much time comforting her.

I patted her head, put her in the carriage, asked her to take care of Demian and Millia, and turned away.

It was good I called it a monster. If I had told the truth, I wouldn’t have been able to separate from her without knocking her unconscious.

Anyway, that’s how the evacuation operation began.

Most residents were already fleeing at the sight of the black pillar, so it was enough to render unconscious those who came through the city gates. However, not everyone was fleeing.

Those strongly affected by the brainwashing were still entangled with each other even in this situation.

The paladins used a very simple method to lure them out of the city.

The women of the city moved to be “chosen,” and the men moved to select women to receive their service. So the judgment was that if all the women were removed, the men would naturally follow.

In this way, we began gradually emptying the city. Except for five people who needed to conserve their strength as much as possible in preparation for the battle with the evil god.

Nigel, Leonore, Ceylon, Lacy, and myself. While the others were busy evacuating residents, we five sat around the pillar of dark mana, waiting for the summoning ritual to end.

Ceylon and Lacy were praying to their gods for victory, while the other two sat on either side of me, sipping water from canteens to calm their nervousness.

“…Can we win?”

“We won’t know until we see it. But wouldn’t Elpinel and Astraea surely help us?”

I tapped my cigarette ash and pointed at the sky with the burning end.

“We have two holy maidens gathered here. I don’t think the gods in heaven would be shameless enough to do nothing while their daughters are about to die. Nor would they be incompetent enough to be unable to do anything.”

Nigel and Leonore, who were staring intently at my fingertip, burst into laughter.

“If you ask me, miss, you seem a bit crazy.”

“You’re just realizing that now?”

I forced a smile and took a deep drag of my cigarette. Though I was pretending to be calm, I was just as anxious as they were.

After about ten minutes.

By the time about half the residents had evacuated outside the city, the black pillar that had been rising endlessly quietly subsided.

And then the anomaly began.

– Crack!

The sky.

It’s breaking apart.

In the pitch-black void where nothing could be seen, a long crack appeared, creating a fracture.

Like ice struck by a hammer, the sky began to split open.

It was a strange and alien sight.