This bizarre stalemate. If Gostola and the others try to attack Elena, I’ll retaliate, and if I move to protect Elena, I’ll be attacked from behind.
Elena and the others aren’t just being protected either. Elena can use Magic, and her close aides, the old butler and the guard maid, are also Rank 3. Even weakened, they can’t fight Gostola, who is close to Rank 5 in combat strength, but they can buy a little time.
If I use the Iron Rose, I might be able to break through the current situation, but if Elena is attacked during the few dozen seconds it takes to defeat one of them, it would be meaningless. Elena might buy that time for me, but I couldn’t take such a gamble.
[Aria (Alicia)] [Race: Human Female] [Rank 4]
[Mana Capacity: 105/320] [HP: 153/250]
[Overall Combat Strength: 1428 (Body Enhancement in progress: 1774)]
Before that, I haven’t recovered from being poisoned and not sleeping for several days. Considering Combat Arts and Body Enhancement, it’s difficult to even use the Iron Rose easily.
In a few more hours, it will be morning, and the situation will change, but Gostola and the others probably realize that too. But they stubbornly prioritized attacking Elena, even at the cost of their comrades. It was as if everything would end if they captured Elena… That action was unnatural, and I felt a sense of unease.
But what I have to do doesn’t change. Nero and Viro bought time with their lives and guided me here. In order not to waste that, I will protect Elena at all costs.
“You little brat!”
The middle-aged Dark Elf called Garii brandished circular Blades in both hands and charged at me. At the same time, one-armed Gostola headed towards Elena, and at the same time, my Knife and Garii’s Chakram collided.
Clang!!
While fighting with Garii, I manipulated the Ball-Shaped Pendulum that I had thrown for deterrence with my left hand, aiming for the back of Gostola’s head, who had turned his back to me.
“Damn!”
“[Air Bullet]!”
Gostola barely dodged the Pendulum from behind, and taking advantage of that gap, Elena unleashed Wind Magic, stopping him and forcing him to retreat to his original position. Garii’s Chakram flew past me as a feint, returning me to my original position as I tried to change position towards Elena.
“Tch.”
Gostola glared at me and Elena resentfully, but it’s troublesome for both of us.
And you’re underestimating Elena. She’s not that weak.
“Nuooooooo!”
Clang!!
Garii threw his Chakram, and I instantly knocked it down in mid-air with the Ball-Shaped Pendulum that I had pulled back.
I couldn’t have done that a little while ago. But the experience of seeing through the invisible threads in the battle with Grave made it possible.
Better today than yesterday. Better tomorrow than today. I’m getting stronger little by little.
My master and Viro taught me that Overall Combat Strength is just a guideline. Overall Combat Strength is just a numerical representation of Status and Skills, and in battles between high-ranking individuals, the will and experience to face the battle… an invisible “something” was needed.
Clang!!
Without averting my eyes, I deflected the Chakram swung by Garii’s powerful arm with my Knife just a few centimeters in front of me, and then, as if spinning with my whole body, I thrust the Black Dagger into Garii’s forehead.
“Guooh?!”
Even so, Garii still didn’t perish. At that moment, Gostola’s sword swung from the side to save his comrade. If it’s the same Rank 4, I could block it or avoid it. If I can do that, then there’s even more I can do.
“What!?”
I parried the flat of the sword that was aiming for my neck from below with a hand chop. If I hesitated even a little, I would have been the one to die. But I have no hesitation.
“You bastard!”
I jumped over Garii’s Chakram, which was swung from the opposite side, as if slamming my hand chop down from above, and switched my posture as if kicking my legs in the air. Garii’s eyes widened.
“You, that ‘Combat Art’ is!”
“[Cyclone]—!”
The Combat Art [Cyclone], a ranged attack with Magic attributes, raged, slashing Gostola and Garii at the same time.
My consciousness changes. The world I saw changes. I took another step into the world of the “strong,” which I had been stepping into, and focused my consciousness even further into the depths.
(What a monster.)
Aria’s Overall Combat Strength is no different from theirs. Her appearance is that of a little girl who has only lived for a dozen years. But why can’t they kill this girl even with two of them?
Gostola and the others, who hadn’t rested during the day, had lost their regenerative ability, but this girl should be weakened in the same way.
Is this the potential of humans? Gostola and the others, who gained a strong body and power by ceasing to be human, simultaneously lost their growth as humans. But this girl is different. Effort? Talent? It’s not something like that. Just like the Princess didn’t give up even in despair, it felt like they were once again shown the potential of humans that anyone could have but couldn’t obtain because of their weakness—that “radiance.”
“Gostola-sama…”
Garii’s voice, his one eye crushed and his forehead pierced, called Gostola’s consciousness back.
The [Cyclone] from earlier was a ranged technique with low power and not a technique to be used in individual combat. But that attack shaved away the Mana that could be called the Vampire’s life force, and even Garii’s wounds, which would not normally be fatal, were steadily shaving away his life force to a dangerous level.
Aria wasn’t doing anything passive like buying time, she was definitely trying to take their lives. Perhaps she instinctively knew that if she fell behind in the face of a strong enemy, her heart would lose. Garii probably sensed that too. He looked at Gostola with his remaining eye, which had begun to cloud over like a corpse, and once again asked him for that “resolve.”
They had come this far with the sacrifices and dedication of their comrades. They had fought for the survival of their clan with only ten people in a foreign land where they couldn’t rely on anyone.
If they had been prepared to sacrifice everything from the beginning, they might have been able to accomplish their goal. But Gostola couldn’t abandon Garii, the last remaining comrade, at the very end. But—
“…Please.”
“Leave it to me… Please, even if it’s just you, survive and ensure the survival of the clan!”
Garii’s body twisted greatly like a beast. He revealed the true nature of a Vampire instead of a warrior, and released all his power.
If he did such a thing with his current body, it wouldn’t last long. But Garii chose to sacrifice himself for the sake of the clan and for the comrades who had died.
Seeing Garii’s condition, Aria tried to change position to become Elena’s shield, but Garii, not wanting to let her do that, threw away his Chakram and attacked like a beast.
“Gaaaaaaah!”
“…”
Aria, who had only narrowed her eyes slightly, met him head-on. She saw through the line where his claws grazed her, parried both of Garii’s arms with hand chops using both hands holding the Knife, jumped into that slight gap, and with that momentum, slammed one knee into his face.
“Guooh!”
Black blood splattered, and broken fangs flew into the air.
In a space where extreme concentration even stretched time, Gostola took advantage of that moment of opening when Garii had drawn all of Aria’s attention and jumped out towards Elena and the others.
The moment Aria immediately tried to move towards them, Garii’s parried arms embraced Aria’s body.
“I won’t let you go!”
Garii shouted with a desperate cry from his blood-soaked, crushed face.
Attack Magic was unleashed from Elena and the old butler. But Gostola didn’t dodge it, and even as his face was burned by the flames, he used his brute strength to knock away the guard maid and the old butler, and reached Elena while his life force was being shaved to its limit.
“Elena!”
At that moment, the throwing Knife that Aria had thrown pierced the back of Gostola’s head. Even so, Gostola didn’t stop, and while stomping on Elena, who he had punched away as she tried to use Magic, he took out a “ball” about the size of his fist from his chest.
“It’s too late.”
Crack…!
When Gostola crushed the ball, Mana overflowed as if exploding, blowing away the guard maid and those around him.
“…Fuhaha… I did it, Garii… Restes… my comrades!”
Gostola muttered as if shedding tears of blood, and glared at Aria, who had thrust her Dagger into Garii’s heart from behind.
“It’s too late. Do you understand… you humans?”
It was a Dungeon treasure that Samantha had once taught him about, that Grave had used to drive Nero away, and that Viro had used on the Dungeon boss, which sealed Magic.
“This is a [Spatial Transfer (Teleport)] Orb.”
The head of the Vampire Clan, a friend of Gostola’s, had given him the clan’s treasure, a dungeon secret treasure—the Orb of [Spatial Transfer (Teleport)]—for their return.
This was a genuine secret treasure, with only a few confirmed in history on this continent. Gostola was grateful to his friend for entrusting it to him, but he had no intention of using it if possible.
However, after obtaining information from Grave and the noble lady who had become a new collaborator, Gostola and his group came up with a plan to kidnap the Princess using it.
Even from Gostola’s perspective, Princess Elena possessed high qualities as a queen. Initially, he had intended to weaken the Kingdom of Claydale by having her compete with the Crown Prince for the throne, but if the Crown Prince showed no signs of growth, Elena would likely become queen.
If she became queen, the Kingdom of Claydale would increase its national power even further after a few years of chaos.
As a member of the Evil Race, he needed an incompetent person to ascend the throne. However, simply assassinating the Princess would cause those on her side to side with the Crown Prince, preventing the chaos he desired.
That was why the “charade” of kidnapping the Princess was necessary. If the Princess was alive and the Crown Prince was incompetent, those who disliked the Crown Prince would surely show dissent. But if the Princess was kidnapped, the Crown Prince would inevitably become king, and the nation would naturally split in two.
“Guh…”
Elena, realizing his intentions, reached for a knife to take her own life, but Gostola stomped on her hand.
Those with weak Mana could not even approach his immense Mana, and the blown-away escort maids and the old butler crawled towards their master. As if mocking them, the fallen Elena and Gostola, who was stepping on her, began to be enveloped in a circular darkness of Mana Particles.
“Be quiet. You don’t want to suffer unnecessarily, do you? It’s useless to struggle anymore. Even if I die, the activation of this Magic cannot be stopped. Princess, you will watch from the best seat as your own country is destroyed along with me—”
“—[Iron Rose]—”
A voice like the tinkling of bells.
A girl with her pink hair dyed a gray-iron color like burnt ashes, and the afterglow of light fluttering like silver wings, flew past everything like a shooting star, plunging a Black Dagger into Gostola’s heart up to the hilt.
“Did you think I’d let you return alive?”
Gostola, whose heart Magic Stone had been pierced, opened his eyes in disbelief, and as his pupils trembled slightly, they lost their light.
They had underestimated the Dark Elves’ tenacity. They immediately tried to escape with the fallen Elena, but as Gostola had said, the activation of the Magic did not stop, and we were enveloped in the darkness of Mana Particles.
The old butlers were shouting something from outside, but their voices no longer reached us. I lightly waved my hand towards the outside for the last time, and embraced Elena to protect her body.
“Aria…”
“It’s okay, Elena. I’m here with you.”
Elena, who was anxious in the Darkness completely enveloped us, where we could only see each other, clung to me with a faint smile at my words.
Gostola’s collapsed corpse disappeared into some space, and the two of us were also transported somewhere.
Whether it was a few minutes or a few hours… In the Spatial Transfer where even my own senses became ambiguous, suddenly the scene in front of me opened up, and the night sky and moon spread into view.
Confirming up and down by looking at the sky and the ground, I landed on the ground a few meters below with Elena in my arms, cushioning the impact. A faint scent of green and dry soil… Judging from the low temperature and dry air that this was not Claydale, I put the anxious Elena down on the ground and gently let her stand on her own feet.
“Where is this…?”
“I don’t know yet.”
There were no ambushes as expected. Not even a sign of living creatures, let alone a settlement of the Evil Race, in the dry Forest. I had Elena, who was still in her room slippers and thin nightgown, put on the coat and school short boots that I took out of my Shadow Storage, and started walking through the Forest.
When the night sky turned a pale indigo color and we came out of the unfamiliar Forest, Elena covered her mouth as if suppressing her surprise at the spreading desert and the huge ruins that could be seen from the top of the hill, and opened her blue eyes wide.
“…The ancient ruins of the desert… Lace Veil…”
This is the end of Chapter 1.
I was quite worried about where to put the story from the next time, but I decided to put this story in the middle of the second part because this story is an Otome Game event.
To be precise, it will be equivalent to Part 2.5, “The Evil Race Arc.”
In the Otome Game event, the Heroine was supposed to avoid the war with the Evil Race together with the Crown Prince and the capture targets. Whether to reconcile with the Evil Race or defeat the Evil Lord would change depending on the hidden character’s favorability and the event choices.
Next time, Part 2, Chapter 2, “The Desert Rose” will begin.
It will include the desert country part mainly featuring Aria and Elena, and the school part mainly featuring the fake Heroine, Carla, and Clara.
I have added place names to the map for this location, so please refer to it.
The image will be rough if it is left as is, but if you click on it, you will be taken to a high-quality site.
The location of the ancient ruins is on the west side of the continent, south of the mountain range, and north of the Calfaan Empire.
Thank you for your comments and typo reports. Even one bookmark is very encouraging.