Ch.843Greeting Formalities

The wooden palisades and watchtowers densely surrounding the city outskirts. Houses built in a style completely different from the western regions. Even the Aishan imperial palace located inside the inner stone walls carved from rock.

The panoramic view of Ordos seen from a distance remained exactly as I remembered it from two years ago, unchanged in every detail.

Livestock including horses and sheep were frolicking leisurely across the vast plains, completely unaware of what was about to happen. A group of shepherds and guard dogs patrolled around, watching to ensure the animals wouldn’t escape.

Across from the pasture, serfs dressed in rags were busily harvesting grain in the fields while warriors who appeared to be overseers glared at them with sharp eyes, shouting commands.

It was a peaceful scene that seemed impossible for a capital in the midst of civil war over the empty throne since Kagan Orhan’s death. The sight contrasted starkly with the archipelago that had been reduced to ruins by the attack of the Thunder Dragon.

“It’s disgusting.”

Lacy narrowed her brow, revealing her contempt.

Her expression resembled someone watching rats in formal dress and tailcoats enjoying a ball. She clearly found it unpleasant to see these fierce and cruel barbarians enjoying such peace.

“It’s surprisingly peaceful. I expected them to be on high alert… Perhaps they didn’t anticipate our arrival?”

“They must trust their patrol’s abilities. If not for this ship, wouldn’t we have been detected long ago? A flying ship—the Magic Tower has truly created something remarkable.”

Nigel and Frider chatted as they put on their combat gear.

Unlike Nigel, who was heavily armored with black iron protective gear reinforced with dragon remains over Rurik’s leather dyed black, Frider’s combat outfit consisted only of a uniform and coat with metal threads woven between two layers of leather.

“Wow… you’re wearing some nice gear.”

Frider glanced at Nigel’s armor and grinned jokingly as he lightly tapped the black iron breastplate.

Perhaps he was envious. Though her armor was also top-quality befitting the daughter of a ducal family, it couldn’t compare to the Winter Armor series made from the Were King’s hide and dragon remains.

“If you want one, join Épée de Ciel.”

“You want me to become your subordinate? That’s a bit…”

Frider made a disgusted face and shook her head with exaggerated gestures in response to my words, which I offered in place of Nigel who smiled awkwardly.

“Suit yourself.”

I simply shrugged my shoulders at her rejection since I was only joking. Making the ducal family’s only daughter my private soldier would be absurd, and even if she did join, we had run out of Rurik’s hide and couldn’t replenish it.

If absolutely necessary, I could probably obtain enough hide for one set from Rurik’s taxidermied body kept in the northern mansion.

“Anyway, if we haven’t been detected, we can proceed to the imperial palace—”

“Haschal! Over there!”

Just as I was about to give instructions to the group while lightly stretching in preparation for battle, Millia urgently turned to me and pointed toward the Barun River behind Ordos.

“What is it?”

I leaned my upper body over the deck, raised my left hand to shield my eyes, and stared at the steadily flowing Barun River.

– Rumble…

Though the distance was too great to hear any sound, I could immediately tell something ominous was happening.

One would have to be blind not to notice. The river water, which had been calm until moments ago, was now bubbling and creating a black whirlpool.

[Have we been detected?]

‘I suppose so.’

I clicked my tongue lightly as I glared at the black spray of water.

As expected, they might have missed ordinary warriors, but there was no way they could escape the eyes of sorcerers.

The river water rapidly took form. Before I could blink twice, the water vortex had already transformed into a translucent serpent.

A water serpent so massive it could be mistaken for a dragon. As it opened its mouth wide, an enormous current of mana gathered inside its gaping maw.

“Lacy! Holy Barrier!”

“O Elpinel! Bestow your veil of grace upon us!”

As Lacy raised her cross spear and struck the deck with its base, holy light erupted from her and spread like a vast skirt, creating a white veil across the front of the airship.

The next moment, the water serpent spewed forth a black beam.

– KWAOOOOO!

A colossal pillar of light.

It resembled Nidhogg’s breath, which had been a torrent of dark mana, but what dwelled within this was not dark mana but a mass of curses layered countless times until they had taken physical form.

“Everyone grab onto something tight! Don’t fall!”

Before the echo of my warning had faded, the curse bombardment struck the pure white veil with enough force to tear it apart.

– KWAGAGAGAGAGAK!

The entire airship shook with a thunderous roar.

A noise like thousands of glass panes shattering simultaneously scraped at our eardrums, and fragments of black and white light scattered like broken stars. A storm-like wind whipped through our hair.

“Kuk…!”

I lowered my stance slightly and gripped the deck railing as I glared at the holy barrier blocking the curse bombardment.

The neutralization of mana and holy power. The pure white holy light was fluttering like a cloth being pounded by a waterfall, but nevertheless, it held firm without being helplessly torn apart, purifying the curse mass fired by the sorcerers.

The black fragments that scattered like shards transformed into crow-like forms that pecked and clawed at the holy barrier, but whenever streams of white light brushed past them, they were purified with death cries and dispersed like dust.

Perfect defense. Lacy’s holy barrier, which had surpassed the wall, was not a veil weak enough to be penetrated by mere sorcerers’ curses—perhaps a dragon’s breath could manage it, but nothing less.

Besides, curses themselves were naturally opposed to holy power.

After several seconds, Lacy withdrew the holy barrier once she confirmed the curse beam had completely disappeared, and wiped away the sweat trickling down her cheek.

“Whew… what a terrible curse. This attack alone proves they are heretics unworthy of association.”

I suppose so.

While curse magic itself might be barely within the allowable range by church standards, there are limits.

Any practitioner capable of wielding such concentrated curses would be designated as a heretic to be eradicated without hesitation, not just by the Church of Elpinel but by any church.

After all, the power and concentration of curses grow stronger the more evil the caster is.

“…Quite the grand welcome. Lacy, how many more shots do you think you can block?”

“Perhaps eight more. Beyond that would be difficult. Though Elpinel’s grace is limitless, I, in my inadequacy, cannot fully manifest His glory.”

I wasn’t sure whether to call this humility or deception.

If a saint who had received the Stigmata claimed to be inadequate, other priests might as well take off their robes and find jobs as laborers.

It felt like watching a top student in school lamenting they were stupid because they hadn’t achieved a perfect national score.

“Eight times, huh. Better to destroy it than to approach while blocking.”

Judging by the water serpent gathering mana again, we’d face three or four more shots before reaching the airspace above the imperial palace.

Rather than depleting half of Lacy’s holy power while approaching, it seemed better to snipe and eliminate that snake.

“Lacy, bless the mana cannon shells, then go give the order to fire on my signal and come back up. No, just stay there and block the second shot with your holy barrier. Can you do that from there?”

“Yes, be careful.”

Lacy nodded and ran toward the cabin to bless the mana cannons located in the firing chamber below.

Though mana and holy power typically repel each other, blessing just the metal shells rather than the mana stones themselves would prevent any neutralizing reaction.

“And Millia, prepare ‘Eternal Rain,’ was it? With your heroic tale, you should be able to reach the river from this distance.”

“That’s true, but… I don’t have anything to use as arrows. Ordinary arrows wouldn’t be meaningful…”

Millia pointed to the quiver on her back with a troubled expression.

Eternal Rain—a heroic tale that compresses large objects to arrow size and fires them to achieve widespread destruction.

While its maximum power and range might be greater than my, Demian’s, or Joshua’s heroic tales, its effectiveness depended entirely on the size of the compressed object, making it useless without suitable materials to use as arrows.

In ground combat, one could improvise by uprooting terrain, but such a feat was impossible on an airship. Pulling up parts of the deck or sails could result in a crash.

“That won’t be a problem.”

Of course, I had it all figured out.

“Joshua, your ‘Giant Hunter’s Sword’—how long can you maintain it when separated from your hand?”

“About 10 seconds.”

“That’s enough.”

I tossed a prepared black iron sword to Joshua and gestured for him to go stand beside Millia.

“If there’s nothing to use as an arrow, Millia can compress the sword that Joshua enlarges. The weight will remain that of a black iron sword, but our target is just a mass of water anyway.”

“Is that possible…?”

Well, it should be. In the original work, heroic tales that affected objects could be combined for joint attacks.

When I nodded for them to try it, Joshua and Millia, with skeptical faces, first enlarged the black iron sword and then compressed it again to create a black arrow.

“Ahem.”

Demian, who was watching, showed signs of discomfort.

To maintain the Giant Hunter’s Sword for as long as possible, Joshua couldn’t release it until just before the arrow was fired, resulting in the two standing very close together.

Perhaps he’d developed jealousy after gaining emotions. He looked like a college freshman watching his childhood friend being taken by a middle-aged professor.

Well, not my business.

Though it might have appeared somewhat inappropriate from the outside, both Joshua and Millia’s expressions showed nothing but discomfort, without a trace of ulterior motives.

“Port side! All gun ports open!”

A shout came just in time. Lacy must have finished the blessing, as the airship gently changed direction and aimed three gun barrels at the water serpent.

“Get ready.”

I pointed at the creature with my right index finger and concentrated the flames of murder karma at my fingertip.

The crimson sphere condensed at my fingertip blazed with sun-like heat.

Millia drew her great bow’s string, revealing the clearly defined muscles of her back. I glanced at her briefly before firing the compressed karma flame beam toward the water serpent that was about to shoot another curse beam.

Behold—

‘Cheonma Death Beam.’

[What a bizarre name…!]

With Hersella’s shocked voice at my naming sense, the crimson beam cut through the air like lightning.

“Haah!”

“Commence firing—!”

Along with an arrow compressed from a sword dozens of meters long and three thundering cannon shells.

– KWAAAAANG!

The Barun River revealed its bottom as it churned violently.

The water serpent, pierced by the great sword and shattered by the shells, evaporated in the heat of the karma flame before it could fire its prepared curse. Along with the magic circle inscribed on the riverbed.

“Full speed ahead! Everyone prepare to descend!”

I turned my gaze from the geyser of steam rising like clouds and shouted loudly as I looked down at the residents of Ordos who were in panic from both the serpent’s beam and our counterattack.

The sorcerers couldn’t have prepared just one water serpent. Both the curse bombardment and our response were merely somewhat grandiose greetings.

The real assault was about to begin.