novelraw Chapter 142: Rescue Operation
Chapter 142: Rescue Operation
Amidst the pitch blackness, the group of people unconsciously huddled together. With a grim expression, Fisher looked at the corridor where a chilling wind was blowing. He waved his hand, and a layer of [Illumination] magic lit up at the tip of his walking stick. Many attendants looked to the side, struck with panic. At the exact instant the magic in Fisher's hand lit up, he suddenly saw a layer of twisted shadows rapidly crawling right above their group's heads.
The shadows moved quickly across the wall surface like spiders, appearing as if they were about to attack the distant attendants. Prince Lausanne had obviously noticed this situation as well. A ring worn on his finger began to glow with a crimson light. But right before he made a move, an agile figure raised a blade and slashed toward the ceiling.
It turned out to be Caro, with her long brown hair and attendant's attire. Her expression slightly cold, she raised two short daggers, slashing down the shadow that was attacking the attendant beside her.
As the blade sliced into the shadow on the ceiling, a foul odor akin to a corpse instantly assaulted their noses. Everyone uncomfortably covered their noses. In the next second, a struggling monster dropped down.
Looking closely, the monster seemed to be composed of human body parts. In the middle of its spider-like physique, a long-haired head raised itself, howling as it looked at the people standing in the corridor. However, because Caro's dagger cut very deeply, the monster struggled a few times before collapsing paralyzed onto the ground, unmoving.
Everyone was startled by the monster's horrifying appearance. Only Fisher felt that the appearance of this thing was extremely familiar... It was exactly like those [Human-Insects] that had come to test Eliog previously. It was just that the thing currently attacking them surprisingly had a layer of Mana Circuits glowing with composite light on its body. With one look, it was the exact image of the Witch Research Society's Artificial Witches.
Behind him, Father Dirk stared blankly at the monster in the middle of the corridor. He raised his hand and shouted to everyone,
"It... it's the [Artificial Witches] manufactured by the Witch Research Society! Way back in Kadu, I heard they were manufacturing these things in a delusional attempt to turn humans into Witches. Who knew they would actually appear today! They want to snatch Kasiu's Silver Mirror! We should go back and protect that silver mirror!"
"Bullshit! Your family's Artificial Witches are the ones that look like this! This f*cking isn't even human anymore. Are you blind?!"
Just as Father Dirk finished speaking, the twin-blade-wielding Caro turned her head and cursed profusely at him, looking completely insulted."How do you know this isn't an Artificial Witch? I'm from Kadu. Could you possibly be more familiar with the Witch Research Society than I am?"
Caro gritted her teeth, almost on the verge of saying "Because I am an Artificial Witch from the Witch Research Society." However, looking at the scholars and Nali Persons staring at her, she finally let out a soft harrumph and turned to look at the monsters struggling to crawl up ahead.
"If you want to go protect that broken mirror, go ahead. If we continue staying here, who knows what might happen? Moreover, there are other people downstairs, right?"
"That's right, my goat-man is still downstairs. He must be absolutely terrified!"
"My wife and child too..."
Looking at the Schwari scholars who spoke up simultaneously beside him, Father Dirk opened his mouth and cursed loudly,
"You damned Schwalians! When you borrowed the mirror back then, you said you would put your very lives on the line to protect the integrity of our holy relic. But now that something has happened, you run away! You don't have a single bit of integrity or devotion!"
"Then can't we carry the mirror downstairs to find them?"
"Moving the silver mirror requires time and rituals. Moving it rashly will cause extremely severe consequences. You wouldn't want to get your head blown off by the mirror's magic while running, right!"
"Then don't bother with this broken mirror, therefore!"
"How can that be?! The goal of the Witch Research Society is Kasiu's Silver Mirror. We cannot let them succeed!"
Just as an indignant Caro wanted to speak up again, a broad palm behind her suddenly touched her shoulder, spooking her so much she nearly jumped. Looking back, it was actually Prince Lausanne.
Caro blanked for a second, then wordlessly moved a bit farther away from him, but didn't continue speaking to refute Father Dirk.
"Alright, now that we've encountered a problem, we must solve it. Regardless of the Witch Research Society's goal in coming this time, we must guarantee to the greatest extent that the silver mirror is not snatched away, and furthermore, we must guarantee that not a single person dies."
"Right now, there are only people in two places within the entire building. One is here, with us and the accompanying attendants. There is another location on the first floor below, where there are also some attendants and our family members. The silver mirror absolutely cannot be stolen. It is pitch-black everywhere now, and moving about casually can easily lead to accidents. Why don't the majority of us stay here where the silver mirror is kept, and then let those with combat capabilities go downstairs to bring the family members up as well?"
"Once everyone converges and safety is guaranteed, we'll then consider how to escape this magic. What does everyone think of this plan?"
Listening to Prince Lausanne's proposal, everyone looked at each other in blank dismay under Fisher's illumination magic.
The crux of this plan lay in the fact that there actually weren't many people present capable of combat. Fisher sized up the surroundings. Most of those Anti-Magic Scholars could be excluded. They didn't use magic themselves, and they were also old. Having them fight would just drag everyone down. In this sense, Chancellor Kaine was the same.
Thus, the only ones present who could fight were Fisher himself, Roger, Serena, plus Prince Lausanne and Caro. Kadu's accompanying church personnel could probably fight a little too, but it wasn't clear what other backup means the Pink Pavilion had apart from the sort of monster Caro killed just now.
Prince Lausanne was best situated staying here. After all, he was extremely important. Even if he alone were to encounter a mishap, the severity of this matter would escalate to the highest tier.
Even now, Fisher still didn't understand how the Pink Pavilion folks had silently and tracelessly set up such an ultra-ring magic amidst the supposedly inescapable dragnet of Nari's defenses. The arrangement of ultra-ring magic required a very long time, and it had to be near the building. Yet the vicinity had nearly been scraped three feet deep by the New Party personnel...
While Fisher was pondering, a scream faintly drifted up from below. The Schwari scholars simply couldn't contain themselves anymore, struggling to go downstairs. After all, their loved ones were all down there. Once a mishap occurred, they would have no reason left to live at their age.
Fisher glanced at Prince Lausanne. A decision swiftly formed in his heart, so he spoke up,
"How about this? Roger and I will go downstairs to bring the family members back. The rest will stay here to protect the silver mirror and the others."
Prince Lausanne smiled. Then, looking at Roger, who had also stepped forward, he produced a silvery-white dagger inlaid with several rubies from his bosom and said to them,
"Then let it be so. I've brought a dagger with me. If you are lacking weapons, you can..."
"There's no need. I have one here."
Fisher pulled the black sword hilt from his jacket. It was none other than his Fluid Sword. Jasmine beside him opened her mouth in surprise upon seeing this sword. Before she could say anything, she covered her own mouth. However, her gaze still conveyed extreme surprise. Fortunately, the atmosphere was currently tense, and no one was paying attention to her side.
"Uh, give it to me, Your Highness."
"Alright. Then we will wait for you on the fourth floor. Go quickly and return quickly."
Roger accepted Prince Lausanne's dagger, following behind Fisher somewhat nervously.
Fisher handed the walking stick illuminated with magic over to him. It had some pre-engraved magic on it, and Fisher simply gave it to him to use. After all, he still had his Constitution and Fluid Sword to protect himself. With one look, one could tell Roger hadn't brought in any engraved magic. Without magic, his combat capabilities were indeed not strong.
Caro called the attendants standing outside to sequentially enter the room where the silver mirror was stored. Then, Prince Lausanne and she stood by the doorway, vigilantly watching the pitch-black corridor outside.
Meanwhile, Fisher and a trembling Roger headed outward along the corridor, walking continuously toward the stairwell. Very quickly, the light source on their walking stick disappeared into the stairwell entrance.
"Hehe..."
Sounds akin to ghosts and demons echoed sequentially through the corridor. Shadows that almost seemed substantial lay dormant in the dark corners, quietly observing Fisher and Roger as they rapidly descended the stairs.
"Fi-Fisher... slow down a bit..."
After all, Roger had already reached middle age. Furthermore, having to exert himself in such a tense and confined environment rapidly led to him panting out of breath.
Fisher frowned and stopped, looking back with a slightly cold expression. Roger had initially thought Fisher was somewhat angry. But just as he wanted to explain, he saw Fisher suddenly raise his right hand. The silvery blade, identical to a whip, slashed all the way upward along the stairwell wall, slicing the bug-like monsters positioned within the shadows into two halves.
As it turned out, ever since they started coming down, many of these monsters had tailed them.
Covered in cold sweat, Roger hoisted the walking stick in his hands and looked toward the upper part of the stairwell. There, densely adhering to the upper walls were countless human figures resembling spiders. Human heads—twisted or stitched together—sat atop those figures, bearing chilling smiles as they locked gazes on the two people below. The sight terrified Roger so much he nearly lost his grip on the walking stick.
And outside the adjacent windows, human figures scaled upward one by one, seemingly climbing to the upper floors. At a glance, their target was the other people above.
"Fisher, what do we do? It looks like those guys are all running upward."
"There are some downstairs too."
Fisher turned his head to look, only to see numerous flickering black shadows in the banquet hall below. At a glance, those monsters intended to exterminate absolutely everyone inside the building, definitively not just for something as simple as Archbishop Kasiu's silver mirror.
After contemplating for a second or two, Fisher looked back and urged Roger,
"From now on, you follow behind me. We can't drag things out. We need to sprint straight into the company of those folks. The magic staff possesses ample magic; don't be stingy. Unleash them the second you catch wind of a sound. If you don't and get ensnared, someone is highly likely going to die. Need I say more?"
Despite Roger undeniably being the elder, at this current moment, a tranquil Fisher never failed to bestow a certain sense of safety. Roger nodded, erecting the walking stick exactly like a torch while raising the dagger in his left hand, assuming a posture of comprehensive readiness.
"No problem! May the Mother Goddess bless us, Mother Goddess bless us..."
"Alright, follow me."
Fisher retracted his whip-like Fluid Sword. The mercury-like blade body hadn't attracted a singular drop of blood. It was unexpectedly effective and additionally highly lightweight.
Swift upon the heels of Fisher's words, the two rapidly darted out from the stairwell junction. Their silhouettes operated akin to triggering a specific switch. Densely packed shrieks promptly resonated within the spacious first-floor lobby. Clenching his teeth, Roger threw whatever magic he registered on the walking stick, save for high-ring magic. Should the first floor be blown to smithereens, those folks would be dispatched straight to the afterlife.
In the pitch-black obscurity, a multitude of magics like [Bee's Dance], [Wind Swirl Blade], and [Weaver] illuminated, hurled toward the densely packed monsters scaling the walls. The intermittent shrieks and fetid blood made Roger's face blanch, but he still forcefully marshaled his spirits to follow Fisher at the forefront.
Fisher's rate of attack was significantly slower than Roger's, as he was concurrently hunting down the coordinates of that group of people. Upon registering something was wrong, they apparently located a room to hide in. With solely the sounds of monsters enveloping the vicinity, distinguishing their precise vantage point truly wasn't effortless.
They were unremittingly scouring the lobby for suspicious rooms when a magic radiance abruptly blazed into life upon the wall. Registering it, Roger screamed "Watch out!" Fisher swiveled around, sweeping out with his Fluid Sword. A Third-Ring Medieval Magic, [Spirit Flame Ball], was cleaved cleanly in twain by him, scattering identically to fireworks in the dark expanse.
"Mother of mine! Those monsters can use magic! They are the Witch Research Society's Artificial Witches!"
Fisher couldn't be bothered executing explanations for his sake. As an alternative, he loudly howled in Chevalie Language,
"Where are you at?"
In the aftermath of this shout, he unexpectedly caught one or two knocks against a door sourced from some general direction within the shadows. Fisher hurriedly jerked his head around to survey. Riding on the illumination issuing from behind, he spotted a door affixed to a room for stockpiling alcohol abruptly creaking ajar. Out peeked a solitary goat horn.
Over there.
Several more brightly gleaming magic crests ignited along the walls. It appeared some magics had been inscribed into the flesh of that cluster of abominations. Dimly, Fisher caught a glimpse of several monsters dragging blood-stained crests about on their frames. Still more monsters hissed as they engraved disparate magics onto their compatriots' anatomies.
Those magics were unilaterally Medieval variants, though ranking considerably low in ring counts. Compounding that, the method orchestrating the engravings operated mechanically to a fault. Scanning them laid bare that it amounted to a manipulated or grafted engraving technique.
Evading the magics, Fisher rapidly piloted Roger in a dash toward that side. Countless Human-Insects cascaded onto the floor to their rear, hissing as they vaulted at them. Roger levied his dagger, driving it straight into the frame of a lone beast. The monster's internal green bodily fluid erupted outward identical to a geyser immediately afterward.
"Pfft!"
Pondering over how Prince Lausanne's jewel-encrusted dagger had been submerged in green fluid, he chucked the dagger—both nauseated and regretful—dedicating his unadulterated focus to raising the walking stick in his hands.
Fisher rushed to the room's doorway. Barely having conceptualized nudging it ajar, he registered a dagger brandished from inside dead at his chest. Inspecting tightly, a shorn lamb-child eyed him, positively terrified. Upon acknowledging that he was human, his demeanor swapped into a sigh of relief.
"Y-You've finally arrived... Someone's injured."
The corners of that Goat-Man's eyes were brimming with tears. Giving him the once-over pegged him as excessively cute and frail. Fisher ignored him, pivoting the main door all the way open then clamping it shut. Issuing instructions for Roger to guard the gap, he at last initiated evaluation of the circumstances mapped inside.
Isolating the wives and infants of the Schwari scholars, the room housed a substantial lineup of youths. At this particular milestone in time, though, their courage had completely shattered. Petrified beyond limits, they were shrinking behind the beverage racks. Tripping over the presence of rescuers striding in caused them to gleefully step outward.
"What... what's happening? How come those monsters are loitering outside?"
"My mother's bleeding! She needs the bleeding stopped."
It completely defied anticipation that amongst this bulky band of people, the solitary component boasting defensive autonomy would genuinely be a Goat-Man slave reared by a Schwari scholar.
Fisher glanced over his shoulder at the male Goat-Man hunkered alongside the entryway clutching a dagger. Outfitted with a fetching visage, his attire was stained with select splotches of monster blood. At a blink, he was equally paralyzed by fear.
A single spouse of a scholar had been scratched. Fisher remained similarly blank on whether secondary complications might incubate following injury orchestrated by a Human-Insect. Regardless, Fisher's isolated recourse presently stood as applying Healing Magic stocked on the walking stick to aid her regeneration.
Green radiance flaring, Fisher supplemented his healing application by detailing the environment for them. Gathering that compliance necessitated trekking back to the fourth story mapping Fisher, several scholars' offspring initiated hysterical, desperate bouts of head-shaking. Pitching practically any defense, they staunchly elected to decline vacating this zone.
"N-No, that won't do. That pack of monsters must unilaterally be speeding after Dad and Prince Lausanne. They aren't tracking us down! Sticking right here to await rescue does the job perfectly..."
"Precisely! Let's hunker down right here to await extraction by the Nali Persons. Going up upstairs won't see us supply a lick of assistance anyway."
"I put stock in Dad extending his understanding on this."
Brilliant. A roaring laughter of great filial piety! For whatever it tallied to, the scholars above were, bare minimum, vying to scurry downstairs to extricate you. Ticking over to your spectrum, total and absolute forsaking was all that remained...
Lining up with that timing, a savage round of impacts suddenly vibrated straight through the room entry Roger maintained surveillance on. Roger alongside that Goat-Man wedged against the door with their bare lives.
"Fisher, we need to decamp with serious speed!"
Absorbing Roger's caution, Fisher cast an impassive glimpse across the clump of young masters resistant to mobilization. Mutely, he erected his drafted Fluid Sword, before sweeping his eyes around the ring of faces and observing:
"I possess zero care allocating what rationale you all adhere to. Either extract with me, or I will execute you on the spot to negate dumping luggage onto our plates. Whether you bear sentiments toward your fathers is a maybe. But I'll absolutely harbor none of that—them registering your wretched screams in a moment and executing irrational maneuvers that drown every last one of us to the base limits."
Peering up at the demon-replicant form of Fisher, those few adolescents conclusively misfired into muteness. Blessedly, their mothers assumed the front lines tracing this timing. Hauling their children erect, they pleaded in Fisher's direction.
"We are entirely eager to go upward. We'll adequately rein this clump of kids in so as not to compound your stress. Do safeguard our security, we beseech you..."
"Bang! Bang!"
"Fisher!"
The wooden door sealing Roger had teetered on the precipice of yielding. A blood-saturated hand had bored out a hole directly across its structure. Terrified by it, the Goat-Man rabidly assailed the hand protruding from the hole utilizing his dagger.
"We chart departure at this current juncture. Tail the illumination from this walking stick closely, zero straggling."
Barely had Fisher breached conversation prior to apparently far denser climbing friction traversing from outside, mirroring a design to knock this holistic construct to its foundations. Countless upon innumerable insect-aligned monsters charted the external walling scaling upwards. It was anyone's guess how bulky a lineup of beasts still charted the stairwell.
Fisher nonetheless failed to manifest variable expression. Propping up the Fluid Sword commandeered in his grip, he hinged the boxed-in main door open. Whirling into a slice directed at the monsters vaulting onto him from the exterior perimeter,
"Move out!"