Arc-7 Ch-58

The room echoed with my shout.

"I can't stand this anymore! I'm gonna go out there and kill that monster for hurting my cute little Ariel!"

『Calm down. Isn't the plan to wait until the girl deals standard damage to the magic beast?』

"I'm not the kind of father who just stands by and watches his daughter get killed!"

『Even if it ends up that way, it can't be helped. The magic beast is continuing to evolve and grow beyond our predictions.』

"Listen to you, talking like it's someone else's problem... And what's with this video feed anyway?! It's so choppy I can barely see a damn thing!"

『It can't be helped. The system has deteriorated extensively. It's a miracle this room can still record the interior and operate the doors at all.

In stark contrast to my raised voice, the ruins reported on Ariel's battle and the condition of the room in its usual calm, indifferent tone.

It didn't seem to care in the slightest if the rooms and corridors that made up its body were reduced to rubble. I doubted it was even capable of feeling any attachment to them.

Whenever we smashed parts of the ruins, or destroyed the monsters produced by its machinery, it neither grew angry nor showed the slightest hint of grief.

A machine that did nothing but collect records of our battles, analyze them without pause, and refine its data was terrifying in a way that no beast driven by instinct could ever be.

Ever since I first became involved with these ruins, I'd been plagued by an unsettling feeling. It was the same uncanny sensation you get when speaking to something that shares your language but thinks in ways utterly beyond human comprehension.

Even that floating sphere had been more emotional, more human. Compared to this, it had been far easier to negotiate with.

But these ruins? That was impossible.

They intended to use us from the very beginning, fully aware of how irresistible their technology was, and completely unshakable once they'd reached a decision.

I'd already made up my mind.

The ruins were my highest-priority target.

『Setting that aside, won't your daughter's attacks detonate the bombs?』

"Ariel's not that stupid. I carefully chose where to place them before we set everything up."

Granted, I had only given the orders. The elves had done the actual work.

For all their constant complaining, even they drew the line at being devoured by the monsters they'd modified themselves.

When it came to leading us to an appropriate chamber and planting the explosives, they'd been surprisingly cooperative.

If this somehow became the catalyst for breaking down their prejudice against humans, it would make things a hell of a lot easier.

But the world rarely worked out that conveniently.

The elves were hiding in a separate room under the terms of our temporary alliance.

As for me, I was waiting in the small room closest to the great hall where Ariel was fighting.

My job was to monitor Ariel's battle through the barely functioning equipment in this room, seal the monster inside once the time came, and blow the entire chamber apart.

But the magic beast's rate of growth had far exceeded anything I'd anticipated.

Its height, width, and thickness had all more than doubled since we'd fought it in the central chamber.

A simple calculation was enough. Double the height, double the width, and double the depth meant eight times the volume.

There was no way a human could stand against something like that.

Now I understood why the elves had been so confident they could overcome even the suits of armor with this thing.

Just imagining how enormous the magic beast would become if it continued growing at this rate was enough to send a chill down my spine.

Should I have been the one to fight it after all?

Ordinarily, I'd never even consider a plan that used my own children as bait.

I'd never imagined I'd be cornered into doing exactly that simply because I'd been injured at the very start.

BOOOOOM!

The deafening explosion and violent tremor snapped my racing thoughts back to reality.

I immediately turned toward the room's terminal.

But the pitch-black display reflected nothing except my own blurred face.

Something had happened.

An explosion and shockwave on that scale couldn't possibly have been anything minor.

"Hey! Why isn't it displaying anything?!"

"The impact may have severed the connection. It's no longer responding to signals from this end."

"Is Ariel safe?!"

"If anything, your daughter is the one who caused this. Quite impressive, really. She struck the magic beast directly with magic."

"She hit it with high-potency magic at point-blank range?!"

No matter how you looked at it, she'd acted without the slightest thought for the consequences.

I'd seen Ariel use fire magic to shape blazing fists and hurl fireballs before, but I'd never seen her unleash anything that produced an explosion with that much force or a shockwave that violent.

She might've been able to deal with ordinary monsters like that, but the magic beast wasn't the kind of opponent that would go down so easily.

If things had gone wrong, the backlash from her own magic could've seriously injured her.

Just imagining it made it impossible to stay still.

Panicked, I searched the room.

I'd made sure to leave everything I might need somewhere obvious before hiding here, but anxiety had thrown my thoughts into complete disarray.

After what felt like an eternity, I finally found the rucksack lying nearby and grabbed the rifle Ariel had been using.

The rifle I normally relied on had been destroyed by the magic beast's attack, so the one I'd entrusted to Ariel was the only firearm I had left.

I'd given Ariel the large-caliber handgun as a backup, leaving this as my only usable weapon.

Still, as long as it could fire, that was enough.

Right now, I had only two priorities: confirm Ariel's safety as quickly as possible, and stop the magic beast from moving.

"Gah..."

The weight of the rucksack on my back and the rifle in my hand sent a fresh wave of pain tearing through my body.

The painkillers and healing ointment had been nothing more than emergency treatment. They hadn't healed my injuries, and they sure as hell hadn't made the pain disappear.

I forced myself to swallow the blood rising into the back of my throat, its metallic taste coating my tongue, then steadied myself.

If anything, the pain might actually help strip away every unnecessary thought.

『I'm stunned. I never expected you to go save her while dragging around a wounded body.

"An unfeeling machine like you wouldn't understand in a thousand years."

『Though this arrangement may actually be more convenient.』

"Why's that?"

『Thanks to your daughter's rampage, operating the doors from this location has become impossible.』

"So if I want to trap that monster, I'll have to do it in person."

『Precisely.』

After hearing the ruins crack what passed for a joke, I left the room.

Between everything I'd learned from the floating sphere and my conversations with the ruins, I knew enough about operating the doors that even in my current condition, I could manage it.

The distance from my hiding place to the great hall was only a few dozen steps.

Yet those few dozen steps felt impossibly far.

Pain and fever surged from my wounds with every step, threatening over and over to tear away my consciousness and pull me into the comforting darkness of a faint.

I drove them back through sheer force of will.

If I couldn't save my own daughter here, I'd never forgive myself.

Not even in death.

One step.

Then another.

Blood I could no longer swallow trickled from the corner of my mouth as I staggered forward.

Even through the fever clouding my thoughts, the movements engraved into my body took over. My hands loaded a fresh round into the rifle with effortless precision, completely independent of conscious thought.

Spitting blood as I went, I finally reached the entrance to the hall.

Those few dozen desperate steps might've been the hardest march I'd endured since my days as a foot soldier in the Kingdom's army.

A hollow sense of accomplishment threatened to dull my mind, despite the fact I'd accomplished nothing yet.

I fought it off, forced my eyes open, and peered into the dim chamber.

As my vision slowly adjusted to the darkness, I saw something writhing across the floor, crawling toward me.

The instant I recognized that wriggling, caterpillar-like figure as a familiar blonde girl, the haze vanished from my mind.

I didn't even have to calm myself.

My mind and body had already identified the target, stripping away everything except the functions necessary to kill.

Air rushed through my blood-stained windpipe into my lungs.

Oxygen coursed through my body, feeding my muscles with the energy they needed to move.

The rifle was already loaded.

My target was that bastard monster trying to tear apart my precious daughter as she crawled desperately across the floor.

Blood burst from wounds all over my body, soaking through my bandages.

I didn't care.

If anything, losing the blood rushing to my head only made me calmer.

Colder.

More focused.

I squeezed the trigger with the strongest killing intent I'd ever felt in my life.

BANG!!

The detonation of the propellant fused with the magic carved into the bullet, tracing a brilliant streak through the air before disappearing into the grotesque mass of flesh.

An instant later, it expanded violently.

Then came the explosion.

The monstrous heap of flesh convulsed and twisted, spraying dark crimson blood and chunks of meat in every direction.

At the same time, blood mixed with stomach acid surged into my mouth, making me choke where I stood.

The liquid spilling from my lips was streaked with crimson, carrying a sour, metallic taste.

Anyone could've seen the truth at a glance.

The internal injuries throughout my body had torn open again.

I could hardly believe that the recoil from firing a rifle, something that would've been nothing to me under normal circumstances, now felt so crushingly heavy.

The agony that ripped through my body the instant I pulled the trigger nearly snuffed out my consciousness.

Even so, I gritted my teeth and clung to reality.

Don't you fucking collapse. Not until you've confirmed Ariel's safe and the magic beast is finished.

From my position near the entrance, I couldn't see clearly.

Still, the magic-armored beast's head had probably been mangled beyond recognition.

Maybe it'd been blown off completely.

I couldn't help being astonished that Ariel had managed to wound the monster so severely before my magic bullet even struck.

At the same time, I was equally horrified by the thing's monstrous vitality.

Even after suffering injuries like those, it was still alive.

No... Stay focused.

Watching the enemy was essential if I wanted to anticipate danger.

But right now, confirming Ariel's safety came first.

"Ariel!!"

I screamed from the bottom of my lungs.

Just shouting her name took everything I had to suppress the blood trying to flood back up my throat.

Despite the fact that my body was already half-dead, it was almost eerie how my hands automatically ejected the spent casing and chambered another magic bullet out of sheer habit.

Why is it that all I want is a quiet life with my family, to be a good husband and a good father, yet I'm so much more gifted at killing than the average man?

"Ngh... Father!!"

Ariel's voice reached me, halfway between a sob and a scream.

Thank goodness.

She still has enough strength to answer.

But she was covered in injuries.

Bruised.

Battered.

Her right arm, in particular, was bent at an angle no arm should ever bend.

A fracture.

Or maybe a dislocation.

Either way, if I didn't get her out of there and treat her immediately, she'd lose the use of her dominant arm for the rest of her life.

"Are you alright?!"

"I'm alive!!"

Judging from the strength in her voice, both Ariel and I could still move.

That meant I only had one job left.

Buy time until Ariel made it through the door.

BANG!!

The instant the next magic bullet slid into the chamber, I fired.

I didn't have many magic bullets left.

My body was already screaming in agony.

But holding back now could cost Ariel her life.

The magic beast's body, already blasted apart by the explosion, suddenly began to convulse.

Bulging masses of swollen flesh erupted across its hide one after another.

There was no mistaking it.

Whatever was about to happen, it wasn't going to be anything good.

Even someone like me, with no scholarly knowledge whatsoever, could tell that much.

The one piece of good fortune was that the magic beast had clearly stopped moving.

That alone was working in our favor.

It was probably diverting all of its strength toward repairing its body.

It showed no sign of trying to attack Ariel as she dragged herself across the floor, nor did it react to me as I continued my relentless assault.

In that case, there was only one option left. I had to keep attacking the magic beast, pin it down, and seal it inside this enormous chamber. A wonderfully simple objective.

“Can you stand, Ariel?!”

“I-I'm trying!”

“Get out of the room while I hold it off! Do that, and we win!”

“Got it!”

Keep the orders short. Give them fast.

Understanding exactly what I meant, Ariel desperately forced her arms and legs to move, somehow managing to push herself back onto her feet.

All at once, I found myself remembering the days when Ariel couldn't even stand.

Always more active than her twin brother Lionel, Ariel had learned to roll over, crawl, and pull herself upright sooner than he did. But she also failed far more often.

She cried when she couldn't roll over. She cried when a wall blocked her way. She cried again whenever she lost her balance and toppled over.

It had been Angie's and my first experience as parents, and we had spent those days completely flustered, never quite sure what we were supposed to do.

Among the upper nobility, it was apparently customary to leave child-rearing to wet nurses and tutors. But our children were simply too irresistibly adorable for us to leave them to someone else. That tradition never stood a chance.

It had been exhausting, a constant struggle from beginning to end. Even so, those memories remained some of the happiest and most beautiful of my life.

Why was I thinking about something like that now?

Because if I don't think about something happy, I'm gonna pass out from the pain, the heat, and the terror!

BANG!

BOOM!!

THU-THUD!

Without even checking how many rounds I had left or what elemental attributes they carried, I unleashed every last ounce of firepower I could muster at the magic beast.

Its body was beginning to swell into a grotesque mass of bloated flesh, which at least spared me the trouble of aiming carefully.

Even so, all I could do was hold it back. A grim certainty settled in my chest. With the equipment I had now, killing it simply wasn't possible.

Still, that was infinitely better than standing there doing nothing. Besides, I'd already accounted for the possibility that magic bullets alone wouldn't be enough to finish it.

I shoved a hand into my pocket for another round.

My fingertips found nothing.

So I'd finally run out.

That meant we no longer had any means of fighting the magic beast head-on.

Even then, I didn't feel a trace of despair.

Magic bullets had only ever been one way of attacking.

The true objective of the plan I'd devised was to lock the magic beast inside an airtight room, then kill it with a bomb.

“Ariel!!”

Throwing aside the rifle that had become nothing more than dead weight without ammunition, I reached toward Ariel as she crawled across the floor.

The situation was the exact opposite of what had happened in the heart of the ruins only a few hours earlier.

The realization drew an involuntary wry smile from my lips.

Back then, my son and daughter had desperately tried to save me.

This time...

It was my turn to save my daughter.

I seized Ariel's desperately outstretched hand with every ounce of strength I had left and pulled with everything I could.

Ignoring the sensation of muscle fibers tearing throughout my body, I threw my weight backward and barely managed to drag Ariel clear of the doorway.

Gurgle.

A scorching surge of blood rose into my throat, threatening to choke off my airway.

Damn... I might actually die.

But I have to fulfill my role, at least.

My duty was to protect my precious wife and children.

And to stop anything that threatened my family or sought to bring calamity upon the world.

“…Ngh, h-hurry... close the door..."

『Understood.』

The moment I heard the ruin's grating mechanical voice, the heavy metal door clanged and began sliding shut.

Hurry up and close already. I'm about to die here.

Fighting against my fading consciousness, I fumbled through my coat.

The thing I needed was exactly where I'd tucked it away.

The decisive moment would come the instant the door sealed completely. If I triggered it even a fraction too early, the blast would reach us outside.

The object I finally managed to pull free was small enough to fit in the palm of my hand.

The bomb's detonator.

All I had to do was disengage the safety and press the button.

That alone would remotely detonate the bomb.

But that was as far as I got.

As consciousness slipped further away, the strength drained from my body. My vision blurred, my hearing dulled, and I could no longer tell where the beast was or whether the door had nearly finished closing.

“Father!”

Whether she was trying to anchor my fading consciousness or take the detonator from my hand, something warm and steady wrapped around my fingers.

The sensation grounded me.

When I finally forced my eyes open, Ariel was staring down at me with tears welling in her eyes, both of her hands wrapped tightly around mine.

I had to say something.

Anything.

I hadn't suffered injuries this severe since my days as a teenage soldier.

Back then, I'd nearly died over and over again, until I'd even lost the will to keep living.

Compared to that broken version of myself, the man I was now must've looked like an entirely different person.

I thought I wouldn't regret dying after living such a happy life. But now that death's actually staring me in the face... it's funny how desperately I'm clinging to life.

If I'm going to die, I should at least leave behind some last words...

Those thoughts filled my mind.

Yet my body, and the words that left my mouth, chose something entirely different.

“…Press it.”

My trembling hand guided Ariel's fingers around the detonator.

The words that escaped my lips were nothing less than the means to kill the magic beast.

Man... I'm an idiot.

An absolute idiot.

“…I understand.”

Something warm suddenly trickled down my face.

Turning my head felt impossibly heavy, but when I managed it, I saw Ariel looking down at me, tears streaming freely from her eyes.

Seriously, don't do that... you're making it look like I'm really gonna die.

Hardening her resolve, Ariel turned back toward the door.

Its massive frame was only moments away from sealing shut completely.

Ariel stood poised with the detonator clutched tightly in her outstretched hand.

I couldn't see what had become of the magic beast trapped beyond the sealed door.

The instant the door slammed completely shut, Ariel drove her thumb onto the detonator's switch with every ounce of strength she had.

How many seconds had passed after that?

Time crawled with unbearable slowness.

Was it because I was hovering on the brink of death?

Or had several seconds truly passed because the bomb had failed to detonate?

As I stared blankly at the closed door, a tremendous shock rippled through my entire body.

Ah... so it worked.

My consciousness had already faded so far that I couldn't even hear the explosion through the heavy door.

With nothing left in my heart but the satisfaction of having fulfilled my duty, I slipped into unconsciousness.

✦✦✦✦✦

Lying in bed, I stared absentmindedly at the ceiling overhead.

It was a room I knew well, yet my body had become so much smaller that everything around me felt strangely unfamiliar, leaving me unable to settle down.

If only someone I trusted with all my heart were here beside me...

I hated myself for entertaining such foolish, ridiculous thoughts.

Thanks to negotiations with the current chief of the elf village, those attempting to detain our family had been driven back.

We were allowed to evacuate aboard the Bartfort Earl family's airship, which remained docked at the sealed airport, and relocated there to ensure our safety.

To be honest, remaining in the elf village would've been the more practical choice.

But given the circumstances, we couldn't afford to be so naive.

Even if the current village chief had personally guaranteed our safety, that didn't mean every elf in the village shared his views.

There was no way to know whether some of his subordinates were secretly connected to the radical faction seeking to drive humans from the island. Nor could we dismiss the possibility that their offer of protection was itself a trap.

To begin with, the elves who had attacked the inn where our family had been staying were members of the current village chief's own forces.

After that, expecting us to trust them was simply unreasonable.

Whether their sudden eagerness to treat our family favorably stemmed from a desire to avoid the scrutiny of the inspectors soon to arrive from the royal capital, or whether it was meant to restrain Leon after he descended into the ruins beneath the dungeon, remained impossible to tell.

"...I'm thinking about Leon again, aren't I?"

Several hours had already passed since Leon and the others departed.

There was still no word of their return.

To restore my body to normal, Leon had ventured into the heart of the ruins, accompanied by our eldest son, Lionel, and our eldest daughter, Ariel.

That place was nothing less than a mountain of ancient Lost Items.

There was no reason to believe the path ahead would be smooth.

The monsters that had attacked us in the dungeon were more than likely waiting to assault them again.

Although the terminal aboard that ancient human airship possessed unimaginable power, our relationship with it amounted to nothing more than a temporary alliance.

If the ruins and the Lost Item chose to cooperate with one another, Leon and the others would inevitably become their first targets.

On top of that, my second son, Leah, had been injured protecting both Yumeria and me from the mercenaries who had attacked the elf village.

For the time being, an elven apothecary skilled in herbal medicine had examined him, treated his wounds, and succeeded in stabilizing his condition.

Thankfully, his injuries weren't severe. He had suffered neither broken bones nor internal trauma.

Even so, that hardly gave me peace of mind.

Leah himself didn't seem to regret what he'd done.

Entrusted by his father with protecting me and his younger siblings, he had thrown himself into the fight without hesitation.

But I was his mother.

How could I possibly stop worrying about my child?

Was that instinct born from having carried him in my womb for ten months?

Or was it simply the difference between a mother's heart and a father's?

Then there was the matter of the clothes I was wearing.

Naturally, I'd never imagined I'd need the clothes from my childhood again, nor had I kept any in anticipation of becoming young once more.

The clothes I'd worn in my thirties now hung off my body like oversized robes.

Damn these hateful fat deposits! Why did they have to gather only around my chest, waist, and hips? Because of that, I can't even wear my underwear properly.

Left with no other option, I'd borrowed clothes from my second daughter, Roxanne, and my third daughter, Melanie.

Borrowing my own daughters' clothes...

As a parent, it felt utterly pathetic.

This isn't good. Why are my thoughts so scattered? Why can't I concentrate? Does becoming physically younger drag the mind back with it, making it childish as well? If this is truly the result of whatever procedure the ruins performed on me, then it's difficult to accept it as an unqualified blessing.

If Leon succeeded in seizing control of the ruins, then mishandling what came afterward, especially restoring me to normal, could ignite an endless struggle over its technology.

Not only the Holfort Kingdom, but countless other nations would surely seek to claim it for themselves.

Wouldn't the best solution be to erase the ruins completely? Destroy every trace of them before they become the source of even greater turmoil?

Was entertaining thoughts that dangerous proof that my emotions had become unstable?

I really should've left this floating island aboard the airship with Leon and the others instead of insisting on restoring my body. If I'd accepted this rejuvenated body as an excuse to spend some uninterrupted time alone with my husband, I probably would've been far happier.

Perhaps it was because I now looked like a child.

Being held by Leon in this form carried a faintly forbidden thrill, making my heart race in a way I'd never experienced before.

Before he departed for the ruins, he'd wrapped me in the embrace of his battle-hardened body.

He'd felt even more dependable than usual.

Just remembering it made my chest burn.

Whenever he held me, an overwhelming sense of safety washed over me, so comforting that I'd wished time itself would stop.

Once Leon comes back... I'll have him hold me just one more time.

I made that quiet promise to myself.

Clang. Clang.

Several knocks echoed against the metal door, jolting me back to reality as I hurriedly straightened my appearance.

The only people aboard this airship were Leon's domain soldiers and my children.

Judging from the knock, it was probably one of the soldiers.

"My lady, do you have a moment?"

"...Ah. Has Leah's condition worsened?"

"No. Young Master's condition remains stable. He has some sprains and bruises, but nothing appears serious."

"Then... has something happened to Leon and the others?"

"We don't know. However, this airship is currently receiving an incoming signal."

"What? Not from another airship?"

"No. The source is completely different. Even so, given the current circumstances, we judged it too dangerous to ignore, so I came to inform you."

"I understand. Open the line. If communication is possible, I'll handle the negotiations."

"Thank you, my lady."

I've got a bad feeling about this.

With that foreboding tightening around my heart, I hurried toward the door, awkwardly forcing my still-unfamiliar body to move.

┳━━━━━⁠━⁠━⁠━━━⁠┳

Author's Note

┻━━━━━⁠━━⁠━━━⁠┻

Even though the second season of the anime is currently airing, this update ended up being late... (sigh).

Part of the delay was due to working on adult-oriented chapters, but even so, this was pretty bad.

With this, Leon and Ariel's battle against the magic beast reaches its temporary conclusion.

There are some differences in how the monsters are depicted between the original novel, Shiori Jun-sensei's manga adaptation, and the second season of the anime. This story follows the original novel's interpretation.

In this version, Leon cooperates with Luxion, but the two don't truly trust one another. Because of that, Leon's fighting style is always a high-wire act, and he ends up suffering serious injuries time and again.

The next chapter will shift to Lionel and Luxion's perspective, where it'll explain why Leon didn't rely on Luxion during his battle against the magic beast.

Addendum: Thanks to many requests from the client, illustrations were provided by Osuwani-sama, 9430-sama, Kareki Aitsubaki-sama, and Rikuguma-sama.

Thank you all so very much.

Osuwani-sama: Pixiv (Warning: Adult content)

9430-sama: Pixiv

Kareki Aitsubaki-sama: Pixiv

Rikuguma-sama: Pixiv

I'd be grateful to hear your thoughts and impressions. Your feedback is what encourages me to keep writing.