novelraw Chapter 221
Chapter 221
Chapter 221
"The fish is already in! Move now!"
Boom...
Boom...
Within the elliptical barrier, strange movements began to stir.
Immediately after, the massive magic array above Timani’s head started to ripple with subtle fluctuations in its pattern, as if the magical formula had encountered some unknown situation and was undergoing emergency recalibration.
It could adapt. It could repair itself.
But all of that required time.
The initial disturbance had already occurred. The mutation was destined to outpace the array’s self-correcting speed!
——Boom!!
As if a balloon had suddenly been filled with rushing water, the once-deflated elliptical barrier swelled to its limit in an instant. The booming sounds echoed like the barrier itself was wailing in agony!
From a distance, the shape of the entire barrier now resembled the outline of a giant fish.
Spanning several hundred meters, it merely masked a colossal fish inside, hidden behind a veil of golden light.
Even enlarged, this fish was nothing more than a scaled-up version of an ordinary one. After all, it lacked the genes of a magical fish.
Timani quickly shot backward through the air to avoid being caught in the barrier's expansion, a slight arc finally curling at the corner of her mouth.
It had worked.
【"Teacher Shaya said my Word Spirit Magic could influence a creature’s state. So… I wanted to try if I could do it again. I made the giant fish inside the barrier expand to its limit in an instant."】
【"We already saw the barrier repairing itself earlier. It has elasticity. By forcing it to stretch to its maximum capacity, that’s when it becomes the most fragile. Hm? Evidence? …I don’t really have solid proof, but I think it’s like the balloon Mother gave me when I was little. When it's deflated, no matter how you stomp on it, you can’t damage it. Even poking it with a needle just leaves a small hole. But once it’s full of air, one jab from a needle, and it bursts into pieces!"】
【"My own magical reserves wouldn’t be enough to pull that off, so Miss Sylatrella, please lend me a bit of your magic! Not too much—just enough to support the fish's transformation for a few seconds will do!"】
Can’t believe you actually pulled that off…
The Third Princess’s hypothesis had already come true.
From here on out, the next step couldn’t be solved by brains alone.
"Xiarette!! Now!"
Without waiting for a response from the ground, Timani’s eyes transformed into bright crimson vertical pupils. Her arms spread wide, disregarding any concerns about her lack of magical control.
This attack was going to be full power. Whether it misfired or not didn’t matter.
—Everything in front of her was bathed in golden light; even if it misfired, it had nowhere else to go!
"Sheffy, just wait and see... When I get back, I’ll make you apologize! I’m not some freeloader just waiting to be rescued!"
【Flame Domain: Cataclysmic Surge】
A magic array even larger than the one in the sky coalesced behind Timani without hesitation, and immediately unleashed a world-shaking tempest of wind and fire!
At this moment, Timani was like a mighty dragon lying dormant within a volcano.
A searing, turbulent blaze far more intense than a volcanic eruption engulfed the entire upper half of the barrier, its direction aimed skyward—ensuring that even if the barrier shattered, the city below, half of which was enclosed within it, would remain unharmed.
At the same time—
The lower half of the barrier was equally dazzling.
【Thousand-Layered Radiance】
Even golden light had its variations.
Amid the countless intersecting flashes of sword-light, the cracks slashed into the barrier multiplied, densely packed and ever-growing.
All things have a limit to how much pressure they can endure.
The “balloon” burst.
KA—BOOM————!
Facing the morning sun, in that moment of complete daybreak—
The sky-spanning magic array shattered entirely, and the towering golden brilliance collapsed and scattered.
Timani exhaled a breath of scorching air. High in the sky, she flicked her sleeve, brushing off the lingering flames and scattered magic shards from the broken barrier.
Huff...
The barrier had shattered.
So—was the mission completed?
She wasn’t sure. The satisfaction of destroying the barrier was so intense that, for a moment, it made one forget what the mission’s original objective had been.
—To rescue the First Princess Ailellek.
But... where was she?
Timani frowned as she looked down at the ground, also sweeping her gaze across the sky.
The small town below had returned to its original state, every brick and tile untouched.
And no matter how she searched or sensed in any direction, she couldn’t detect any trace of Ailellek.
Had she never been here to begin with… or had she vanished the moment the barrier broke?
Timani wouldn't have overlooked her. After all, the enlarged fish, having lost its supply of magic, had returned to its original size just before hitting the ground. Even such a small fish—Timani’s dynamic vision could track it perfectly.
After confirming there truly was no sign of Ailellek, she adjusted her posture and dove down, returning to the ground to regroup with the others.
Livra lay on the ground using the holy sword’s sheath as a pillow, hands clasped in front of her, face pale, and wearing a thoroughly miserable smile—clearly down for the count again.
“What’s wrong with her?”
“Same symptoms as last time—magic depletion,” Xiarette replied, pulling out a vial of mana-restoring potion she carried on her person and placing it in front of Livra, getting her to drink it before she fully lost consciousness. “She couldn’t handle too much of Sylatrella’s mana. Most of it still had to come from Princess Livra herself. But thanks to Miss Sylatrella, her condition is much better than it was last time.”
Gulp, gulp!
Dizzy and weak, Livra clung to the life-saving potion and downed it in huge gulps.
Ughhh… How did people survive before mana potions were invented? This kind of mana depletion—it really felt like dying at any moment!
“Where’s the First Princess?” Xiarette asked, taking the empty vial from Livra’s hand and glancing around.
“Haven’t seen her. Judging from your question, I guess you didn’t find her either? Though... this guy's still alive—pretty lucky.”
The flapping fish was dangling from Timani’s hand, held by the tail.
Having escaped death, the fish was quite excited!
“Looks like we’re having braised fish tonight.” Before Sylatrella could pop out of the holy sword again to snatch it, Timani quietly stored the fish away.
!!
What’s the point of the fish surviving? Damn it, to hell with escaping death!
Xiarette wasn’t in the mood to talk about dinner right now.
She only felt... anxious without confirmation of the mission’s outcome.
“If we can’t be sure the First Princess is safe... then did we actually complete the mission? Or fail it?”
“We broke the barrier. That’s everything we could do. That Ailellek woman’s a total lunatic—wherever she ran off to, it’s not our concern.”
“True. Right now, the most important thing is to regroup with Sheffy and the others.”
“Got it. But actually, there’s something I’ve been dying to ask...”
Timani crossed one arm over her chest and looked down at Livra, whose face was twisted into a pained smile like she might ascend to heaven at any moment.
“Princess Livra, your skill—it’s Word Spirit Magic, right? What exactly did you say to the fish to make it grow that huge?”
“I just said one sentence...” Livra replied, extremely weak.
“What sentence?”
“I said, ‘You’re not a fish.’”
“...If not a fish, then what?”
"You’re a whale."
"..."
"Ugh... my head hurts... I can’t... I’m done for, I need to sleep..."
"Hey, hang in there! According to my survival experience, falling asleep alone in the freezing wilderness can get you killed."
"Am I alone?! Can’t you two move me or something?! Ugh... seriously, I’m out..."
Ah, to be young.
Say you're fainting, and down you go—out cold in an instant.
—
51. Insignificant?
Northern Region, outskirts of the icefield.
Overlooking the battlefield of the Second and Third Divisions, the scene looked less like a brutal war and more like a playful snowball fight.
Except... the weapons in this "snowball fight" weren’t snow.
Between the two army encampments, balls of multicolored magical light flew wildly. From above, it looked like tens of thousands of people tossing snowballs—chaotic, bizarre, and oddly lively.
But this snowball fight... only one side was getting hit.
From the Second Division’s position, all kinds of non-lethal restraining magic were being hurled in waves, knocking Third Division soldiers unconscious mid-charge.
Knowing that charging wouldn’t work, the Third Division had dug in from afar, letting their long-range magic experts launch attacks back at the enemy camp, avoiding close-quarters combat.
But it seemed the airspace above the Second Division had already been fortified with some kind of unbreakable barrier—long-range bombardments were completely ineffective!
Frustrated and humiliated, the Third Division soldiers boiled with rage. That bottled-up feeling of helplessness drove them mad!
“Damn it! You Second Division bastards! Got the guts to come out and fight like men?! Hiding like scared rats—is that fun for you?! Tch… Did these guys always have this much magic? Still not drained?!”
“We’re just afraid we’ll crush you the moment we step out! His Highness said to spare your lives—get on your knees and give thanks! Isn’t it better to take your sorry lives home and see your poor mothers? Or would you rather die out here in this godforsaken wilderness and feed the wolves?! You’ve fallen for the enemy’s tricks—wake up! Addicted to rebellion now, are you?! Acting like we owe you something!”
“Who are you calling rebels?! We’re carrying out a top-secret mission! I’m done talking, I’ll fight you—ugh...!”
And he’s out.
Anyone foolish enough to break from the trenches and charge forward would be promptly smacked in the head by one of the Second Division’s flying icefish. The sound was exceptionally crisp—whether or not your skull stayed intact, you’d be knocked out for days.
Under the morning sun, two silver beams of light streaked across the battlefield like shooting stars at dawn.
Too high up to see clearly—but they were...
The two princesses of the Demon Domain.
Belith squinted her left eye against the frigid high-altitude wind, holding Sheffy’s hand to keep from being swept off-course by the chaotic air currents.
The turbulence in the upper sky was due to lingering effects from Sheffy’s earlier cast of 【Extreme Dark Nova】.
Looking down at the full scope of the battlefield, all the towering snow-covered mountains that had surrounded the area had been leveled. The blast from 【Extreme Dark Nova】 had triggered a series of avalanches that buried the surroundings in snow. The falling snow had cleverly piled around the armies, trapping both the Second and Third Divisions in the center. Every route in or out had been sealed.
Now, with unstable air currents above, even escaping by air was impossible.
In other words, the Third Division could no longer bypass the Second Division and continue marching forward.
The Northern Region where the higher races resided was so close in distance—yet the actual difficulty of reaching it had become insurmountable.
This outcome had been shaped by Sheffy’s magic.
But the strategy behind it was Belith’s.
Earlier, Sheffy had intended to slightly deviate the trajectory of 【Extreme Dark Nova】 to intimidate the enemy commander. But Belith suggested that if they were going to use that magic anyway, then there was a far more valuable target.
The enemy commander couldn't be killed just yet—he was still useful for extracting intelligence.
Given that, why not use the natural terrain here to completely sever the enemy’s path forward?
With that, they’d buy precious time. Whatever followed could be handled with ease.
Sheffy tightened her grip on Belith’s fingers. In midair, she turned her head, silver hair whipped up by the wind, revealing brilliant violet eyes full of admiration.
“Belith! Did you eat some kind of smart-fruit growing up?!”
“What’d you say, Royal Sister?! Wind’s too loud—I can’t hear you!”