Episode 295: The Ice Road
Hans and Charlotte hurried towards the main gate, stopping their car when they saw the military talking at the entrance.
They got out of the car and ran towards them, finding Andrew, a major leading the mobile reconnaissance unit. He was talking to his subordinates, so Hans interrupted.
“Andrew, you were supposed to bring the Japanese here. What happened to them?”
“Hans-san… they’ve already been released outside. It was the government’s decision. I don’t think even you can stop that.”
“I know that! Just open the gate!!”
Andrew remained calm in the face of Hans’s menacing glare.
“I don’t mind opening it, but you can’t bring them back inside. You understand that, right?”
“Yeah, I won’t bring them in. I just need to talk to them.”
Andrew paused for a moment before instructing his subordinates to open the gate.
The massive “Ice Gate” slowly opened again with a rumble. Hans and Charlotte immediately rushed outside the gate, looking around.
“…They’re not here. Did they already go somewhere?”
Hans frowned at Charlotte’s words. They shouldn’t have been out for long; they might still be found if they searched.
“Charlotte! You search that way, I’ll search the east side.”
“Understood!”
Just as they were about to run off, an ominous presence spread around them. Something was emerging from the shadows of the buildings. And not just one or two.
“Fish-men… damn it! All the way to this inland area!”
Hans muttered irritably.
“Hans-san! I have a weapon, but you don’t. Please fall back immediately!!”
As Charlotte said, Hans was unarmed. He usually didn’t carry weapons inside the Ice Kingdom (Ice Kingdom), and his longsword had been destroyed by the “Black Armor.”
Hans clicked his tongue and took a step or two back.
Behind him, the soldiers began to move busily. They probably intended to close the gate because of the Monsters.
It would be difficult to search for Amasawa and Mitaka in this situation.
Hans made his decision and shouted to Charlotte.
“Charlotte! We’re retreating temporarily. Those two should be fine even if they’re attacked by Monsters. We’ll regroup and send out a search party. Fall back for now!”
Charlotte reluctantly said, “…Understood,” and retreated.
The Ice Gate was closed by the military, isolating it from the outside world. Hans glared at the gate for a while, then said to Charlotte, “Let’s go!” and got into the car, leaving the scene.
◇◇◇
“So… what should we do now?”
Rui rested his Katana on his shoulder, looking around. A large number of “Fish-men” lay scattered as corpses.
They had suddenly attacked, but they were no match for Rui and Yuma.
They had taken down thirty Fish-men in a minute, and the two were taking a breather.
“Even so, it’s strange for “Water Monsters” to come up into the city like this. Charlotte-san mentioned the Monster invasion… it really seems like it’s about to happen.”
Rui nodded at Yuma’s words.
“It would have been nice if we could have fought together when that happened… but it didn’t work out.”
Rui sheathed his Katana, looking disappointed. He glanced up at the sky and saw something flying leisurely.
It had a long, slender body with wings, and its entire body was a vivid blue.
“Is that the Blue Dragon (Blue Dragon)…”
As Rui muttered while looking at the sky, Yuma called out to him.
“Rui! Let’s find a safe building for now. We’ll probably be attacked non-stop if we walk around outside.”
“Yeah, you’re right…”
Rui averted his gaze from the Blue Dragon (Blue Dragon) and began to walk down the street, following Yuma. Unlike Germany, London still had many private homes and commercial facilities intact.
He thought it would be easy to find a place to hide for a while, but—
“What… is this?”
The other side of the street was covered in ice. It was an abnormal sight, as if it had been swallowed by a tsunami and frozen in that instant.
The ice wall was over twenty meters high.
“Could it be the power of the Blue King!?”
Yuma approached the ice wall and looked around. There was a river at the end of the street. The water that had swallowed the houses seemed to have overflowed from there.
“Yuma, this is bad.”
“Yeah, this is…”
Something was moving inside the thick ice. It was approaching Yuma and Rui as if swimming in water, then it jumped out of the ice wall.
A large Fish-man over two meters tall.
It had the disgusting appearance of a fish head on the body of a muscular human. Yuma couldn’t help but step back as countless Fish-men emerged.
They had moved through the ice from the river and infiltrated inland.
“They can move through the ice!? What a pain!”
Yuma held his Pickel at the ready, glaring at the Fish-men. At that moment, a large shadow appeared in the ice. It was much larger than the Fish-men.
This huge shadow was—
“A Sea Serpent!!”
Spray erupted from the top of the ice wall. The Sea Serpent raised its massive head and glared at Yuma and his friends.
“Whoa, this is bad!!”
The moment Yuma shouted—the Great Serpent opened its mouth and spewed out a massive amount of water.
“Whoa!”
Yuma and Rui jumped back at the same time, dodging the water breath. The massive amount of water that was spewed out blew away the building behind them.
It was an incredible power. As Yuma thought that, Fish-men jumped at him from the left and right.
“Damn it!”
His reaction was slightly delayed. He tried to defend with his Pickel, but it was too late.
Just as he braced himself for the attack, the Fish-man’s head flew off. He turned around in surprise to see Rui with his Katana drawn, crouching low.
“Are you okay, Yuma?”
“Ah, yeah… sorry.”
Yuma regained his stance, held up his Pickel, and glared at the Sea Serpent. Fish-men continued to emerge from the ice wall.
“This is bad.”
“Yeah, it seems like all the Water Monsters can swim through the ice. If that’s the case, it’s the same as having a road built all the way inland… Just like Charlotte-san said, it’s only a matter of time before we’re hit with a full-scale Monster attack.”
Yuma gritted his teeth. The situation was much more urgent than he had thought.
The Blue King was probably the only one who could use “Ice Magic” in the Second Stratum. But if they could use that ice to move, the threat would be many times greater.
Should he destroy the ice first?
No, wouldn’t that be a never-ending task no matter how much he did?
While Yuma was thinking about this and that, the Fish-men attacked all at once.
Furthermore, the Sea Serpent opened its mouth wide, trying to attack.
“Damn it!”
There’s no point in thinking. I have to defeat these guys no matter what—
Just as Yuma steeled himself and gathered Wind Magical Power into his Pickel, a voice descended from the sky.
“Well, aren’t you having fun?”
A dazzling Lightning light poured down on the earth.