Chapter 400

Chapter 400

Light poured in.
Orsay’s tail broke through the cloud layer.
A world unlike any I’ve ever seen before.
“Wow.”
Everyone but Orsay was stunned.
Surreal doesn’t begin to describe it.
Even by my standards, having seen it all, it was spectacular.
Centered on a giant white space, two seas of clouds faced up and down.
“Oh, my God–am I dreaming?”
“That’s amazing.”
[Kah-ha-ha-ha-ha! See, kid! Hee-hee-hee-hee–this is my power!
Orse chuckled.
I was still breathing heavily from the exertion, but it was definitely a feat.
I looked around, mechanically muttering to myself that Orse was the best dragon ever.
“Yeah—if you’re going to call yourself a higher race on a font, you should at least have some aesthetic sense.”
I promise.
It was one of the most beautiful landscapes that could be created in a world without color.
There was no blue sky as we know it, but the two cloud layers were so far apart that the one above them looked like the sky.
The two clouds ran in parallel lines that seemed to go on forever, stretching as far as the eye could see.
“——.”
We admired the view, forgetting that we were in enemy territory.
A cooler wind swept through the lungs.
The first to break the silence was Orsay.
[So where do we go from here. Is it that glowing place?
“—Ah, yeah. There it is.”
Abel nodded.
The alien skies had a way of mesmerizing even those who had been there before.
He stretched out his finger and pointed in the direction Orsay was looking.
In the distance, in a sea of clouds, a strange flicker of light.
“That’s their city. I’ve never been there, but I’d recommend treading carefully. If you’re Ronan, you can feel it.”
“Ugh. That’s a lot of dirt.”
I clicked my tongue and muttered to myself.
Despite the distance, I could clearly feel it.
There were tons of bald spots near that light.
Is this what you meant when you said you’ll recognize it when it’s up?
“Well, what else is there to do, anyone got a good plan other than a frontal assault?”
I looked around at the group and asked.
Honestly, at that level, I wouldn’t want to go in head-on either.
How many of them do I have to kill before I reach the portal.
The thought of the crimson blood soaking through my underwear made me feel very dirty.
I waited, but no answer came.
“Yeah. I knew it.”
It seemed like my nephew was the one who would suffer.
It was a car that was about to accept its fate and dictate a head-on collision.
“Pah, if I can find my way around quickly—it might be possible.”
“What does that mean?”
“I think I can use my magic to disrupt their perception—I’ve been working on it ever since I joined the Resistance, actually—but it’s a very tricky spell, and it’ll probably be self-destructive and short-lived—hmmmm.”
“—Awareness?”
Letancier let out an awkward laugh.
We all looked at her like we’d been hit in the head with a brick.
I’d forgotten about it.
Asel was not the only genius in the world.
The flying squirrel before me was already a notorious witch before she became Archbishop of Nebula Clazier.
Fantasia asked.
“Are you sure?”
“Okay. Give me a minute. First—you’ll have to polymorph into a human, because I can’t handle you if you’re too big.”
【Interesting. Wizard.】
Orsay also responded positively.
It was certainly an offer I was tempted by.
Even if I just walked in, something would have to work, but the very existence of the City of Giants piqued my interest.
I hesitantly opened my mouth.
“Okay. Go ahead.”
****
“There’s an intruder. Send in the exterminators.”
“Dip the souls of the foolish into the crucible of starlight.”
The conversation of the giants echoed across the sky.
I also heard a lot of mids and lows, which always excites me, but I was getting used to it.
Letancier’s face turned pale.
“Well, that wasn’t a good idea after all—.”
She was shaking like she was going to faint at any moment.
The distance between us in the air and the bald man was less than twenty paces.
Aside from those two, there were many other giants passing us by.
“It’s the end—it’s the end—we’re all going to die—ugh!”
“Shut up, you coward.”
I stopped Letancier in his tracks.
Choking, she flailed her arms and legs.
I removed my palm only after I got her to promise to keep her mouth shut.
“Paha—!”
“You’re doing great, you’re doing great, you’ve been an archbishop, what’s the big deal?”
“Ha, but I’ve never experienced anything like this before, and it makes me nervous to think that everyone’s lives are in my hands, so—oops.”
Letancier gagged.
I thought it was a bit of a stretch, but I couldn’t blame him. I was using telekinesis and a very high level of perception suppression magic at the same time.
“Let’s just keep this pace. You’re doing great.”
“Oooh—neh.”
Encouraged, Letancier chuckled.
Five of us, including myself, were completely dependent on her.
The de-awareness magic worked.
The bald men didn’t even notice us as we walked right by them.
“Whoa—whoa—whoa.”
Of course, I had to be careful not to make too much of a fuss or the spell would be broken.
Letancier warned him that if he made a loud noise or broke something, it was over.
Her telekinesis was levitating us through the air, transporting us to the center of the city where the portal was supposedly located.
Abel says we’re already in the city, but I can’t see any buildings or anything.
He said to himself.
“That’s a lot more than I thought. That’s going to be dangerous when the spell breaks.”
“Don’t be silly, man. He’s going to get nervous and throw up again.”
“I’m just telling the truth.”
“Isn’t it too boring to be in the middle of nowhere, anyway? You say it’s a city, but don’t you have any houses?”
To be honest, I was a little disappointed.
The giants were looking forward to seeing what kind of house they would live in, but all they could see were clouds and a light in the distance.
“I told you it’s not common sense. Don’t you know what it means to say a star is hundreds of times wider?”
“At least put up some signposts as a courtesy. Even our club’s training grounds weren’t this desolate–hmm?”
I was grumbling.
In the distance, an alien object caught my eye.”A ball?” A huge sphere floated in the air.
It was about the size of three buildings at Pileon Academy combined.
The mysterious sphere was surprisingly black, not white.Abel waggled his eyebrows.
“Aha. A warehouse.”
“A warehouse? That?”
“Yeah. It’s the most common facility. It’s the only one I’ve ever seen.”
“Interesting—Ltansi, let’s go check it out.”
“Excuse me?!”
Letancier was stunned.
Her displeasure was palpable, but I dismissed her complaint by making a fist.
We soon arrived in front of the sphere.
Up close, the overwhelming size was even more realized.
“That thing is huge. What the hell are you storing in there?”
I wondered what they were putting in them in the first place, since they don’t eat or drink.
I stroked the sphere.
Like the scalps of giants, the bare surface was composed of hexagonal thin plates.
Millions, perhaps tens of millions, of plates were precisely interlocked to form one giant sphere.
I was thinking it was like a beehive.
– Help me.
“Eek, surprise.”
My shoulders slumped involuntarily.
It was definitely a human voice.
With a soundless roar, Letancier looked back at me.
“Bar, did you hear that!?”
“—I heard that too.”
[Damn, what kind of bug is hiding in there].
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one.
Abel snorted and let out an unintelligible laugh.
As I cautiously put my face to it, I heard the voice again.
– Export from here.
– Ouch!
– Now let me die—please!
My heart sank.
You didn’t mishear.
A voice of agony echoed from the surface of the sphere, or perhaps from within.
Suddenly, I remembered the ecology of bald people.
If you think about it, they did eat something, too.
If this facility is used for storage, it shouldn’t be storing—.
“Soul?”
“You’re quick on the uptake, that’s the right answer.”
Abel snorted.
When I released the sphere, the voice continued to sound.
“Well, that’s it?!”
[Disgusting.
Letancier was stunned.
Orse’s brow furrowed.
Sadly, they were right.
The hexagonal plates were all made of the souls of intelligent beings.
“Fuck.”
It was a sight I couldn’t help but swear at.
We all froze, listening to the screams coming from the sphere.
In a doomed world, everyone I knew would have looked like this.
Nuna.
Asel and Marja.
Schlieffen and Erzebet–their cries of anguish had the power to bring back forgotten memories.
‘Not good,’ I thought, as a memory of my first life flashed through my mind.
20 Days of the Apocalypse.
That’s what we called the time after the descent of the three giants.
Despite his best efforts, the bleeding could not be stopped.
Family, friends, and even your own life.
The Bald Three took away everything people thought was important.
It’s still fresh in my mind.
It was a day of relief operations, as usual.
As I was toweling my hair and thinking about what to make for jjamjip, a soldier ran up to me and told me that my hometown was gone.
“——sister.”
It was Ahayute’s doing.
The soldier said that Nimburton was destroyed along with the Romaira Mountains.
In that moment, I remembered the face of my sister, who had been an annoyance my whole life.
With her words, you are my treasure.
– Holy shit, the mountain range is gone, how is that possible?!
– Why would I lie about something like this, Corporal?
– Shut the fuck up. I don’t believe it.
I immediately broke away and ran to the scene.
It was no small feat to outrun a gendarme who’d spent the night in a shithole.
I ran the fastest I’ve ever run in my life, covering a distance that would have taken me three days in less than a day.
But by the time I got there, it was all over.
The river where the mullet was caught, the unassuming trails, and the shabby cabin where my brother and sister were born and raised were gone.
It was just a giant pit, gaping open, swallowing up the trickling rain.
– Nuna.
– irl?
– Irene.
No matter how many times I called her name, she didn’t answer.
Torn clothing, broken furniture, etc.
The occasional sign of a village added to the sense of hopelessness.
I made animalistic noises and searched for my missing sister.
Digging with his bare hands in the wet dirt, he collapsed, and when he woke up, he dug again.
I want to save every hair on my sister’s head.
Unfortunately, not much came of it.
“—a useless memory.”
I gritted my teeth.
The memories that surfaced made my heart race.
Each plate here was like a big sister.
They were happy, going about their lives as usual, and could have died much later.
Before I knew it, my hand had gone to the hilt of my sword.
“Wait, stop!”
Abel cried out in an urgent voice.
At the same time, there was a loud bang.
Kaaaaaah!!!
It didn’t feel very good.
I turned my head and saw Fantasia breathing heavily and a double-edged axe embedded deep in the sphere.
Letancier let out a new scream.
“Farr, Fantasia, what the hell are you doing!”
“——Sorry.”
His large eyes were red and bloodshot.
The hand that gripped the axe was shaking.
Shaking his head, he muttered in his main voice.
“I couldn’t stand it.”
“Stupid, it’s all solved by smashing the root anyway!”
Abel grabbed his bangs.
His face was pale and worn.
Seeing that the giants’ eyes were on him, he kicked Fantasia in the shin.
“What are we going to do now, you damned deer? Every bald man in the neighborhood must have seen us. At best, Le Tansier will come up with some kind of magic, but this way—”
“No. Good job.”
I interrupted, cutting off Abel’s words.
He patted Fantasia on the back.
I’ll have to wait to hear the details, but it seems this deer had a similar experience to mine.
I didn’t feel sorry for him because he was selfish.
“It can be. It can suck.”
But I sympathized with his anger.
White light was emanating from the sides of the axe blade.
The liquid, bubbling mass of light began to rise into the sky as if it had been waiting.
I remember.
That’s what I got when I destroyed the source.
It was clearly the release of trapped souls.
“Intruder. Where did he get in?”
“We have a swordsman who defeated Epsilon. We need reinforcements.”
“The Cradle has been partially damaged. Secure the lost resources.”
All around me, giants were chattering away.
Unsurprisingly, the de-awareness spell seemed to have been broken.
Judging by their behavior, they’d be swarming in a matter of minutes.
This is their city, so recruitment should be much faster.
Turning away from Fantasia, I tugged on the hilt of my sword.
“I reflect. I think I may have lost my focus for a moment.”
“Beginner, what a bunch of bullshit.”
“It’s no big deal.”
The holy sword slipped from its scabbard and sparkled.
As if in response to my emotion, the sword vibrated at high speed.
No wonder.
There’s no one who wouldn’t be pissed off by this.
Resources over other people’s souls, assholes, do it in moderation.
“Whoa.”
I shifted the hilt between my hands and swung the sword diagonally.
I felt no resistance to the smooth, flowing strokes.
A pure white horizontal line is drawn over the sphere.
The blade that drew the arc has stopped.
Kaaaaaah!
The sphere of souls split in half.
“What!”
Abel was appalled.
The interior of the sphere was densely packed with panels made from processed souls.
The hemisphere slid along the cut surface and plummeted below the clouds.
Quack, quack, quack!
Millions of souls surged in unison over the vast cutting surface.
“You.”
It was as refreshing as an orange bursting with juice.
Fantasia’s eyes widened.
The giants’ voices tripled in volume, but I didn’t care.
Yes.
Lately, I’ve definitely lost my edge.
I spun my sword around and muttered to them.
“The knifeman shouldn’t be bothering to use it, should he?”