Chapter 87 - Where Is She?
13 min read ·
Besides keeping Akan from finding the tower, Berge now had other objectives: defeat and steal a golem, and abduct a golem controller. They would be the cornerstones of a better, stronger tower.
After hearing his plans, Ernyan offered some advice.
“Akan treats golems as special strategic assets. They never export anything but lower-end models, and their controls are strict. If one breaks, they collect every piece of the wreckage.”
“Meaning?”
“Unless they're pushed into an extreme situation, they'll recover as much as possible even from a destroyed golem before returning.”
“That won't be easy.”
But that did not mean it was impossible.
“You said Logger thought they were made from an orichalcum alloy, correct? Then they must be the latest models, ones that haven't been revealed to the world yet. Their strength and destructive power are unknown, but considering they're superior to every golem released so far...”
He understood without hearing the rest.
“Are you saying I can't win?”
“I'm saying it will be impossible unless you take the field yourself, my lord.”
He had gotten that impression himself. No matter how many orcs charged in, they would all end up corpses. Akan's force had more than just golems, after all.
“Will you intervene personally?”
“I can't.”
Obtaining the Phoenix's corpse had given him new powers and an identity that freed him from the constraints of being a Demon King, but the other Demon Kings were a problem.
A Demon King leaving his tower and appearing elsewhere was decidedly an issue. It directly violated an explicit provision of the Guide.
If Berge intervened and someone escaped alive to spread word of his atrocities, the other Demon Kings would never sit idly by. A report would inevitably reach the grand duke, and some form of penalty would follow.
Yet he could not simply slaughter them all, either. Akan would not stand for it, and no one knew what trouble that might spark.
“Then there's no way.”
“There is. I don't need to use my own sword to corner an enemy. This is Erjest.”
There were more than enough blades to do it for him.
* * *
“...”
Lavinia opened her eyes.
“Demonic energy.”
Rubbing her sleepy eyes, she rose.
“Your Highness?”
The knight guarding the tent noticed her.
“Demonic energy.”
“Pardon?”
“Demonic energy.”
WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!
Just then, the demon hounds began barking. They thrashed wildly against their tethers, which were tied to posts weighted with magic to prevent them from being pulled out.
Only then did the knight understand the princess.
“Are you sensing demonic energy?”
“Yes.”
“Please wait a moment. I'll inform the prince at once!”
Soon the sleeping camp awoke. Cain hurriedly donned his armor and sought out Lavinia.
“Lavinia, do you really sense demonic energy?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Over there.”
“It must be very faint.”
“Yes.”
“And the rest of you?”
“It's very faint, but we can sense it.”
There was nothing but snow in the direction Lavinia pointed. Cain could not sense any demonic energy himself.
But he trusted her. The howling demon hounds and the accompanying heroes' agreement strengthened his certainty.
Still...
'Moving at night isn't a good choice.'
Besides, something they had not sensed during the day had suddenly become detectable.
That meant it was not the tower. A stationary tower could hardly hide its presence and then reveal itself again.
'I've never heard of anything like that.'
Ultimately, there was only one possibility: a demonic creature, or a demon.
'A demon appearing near our camp in the middle of the night means...'
An attack.
“Go on alert immediately! Demonic creatures may be coming!”
“Yes, sir!”
The soldiers bustled into action. Magic reinforced the barriers, and knights and soldiers took their positions. The mages hurriedly stored spells using Memorize. Atop a hastily built watchtower, a soldier peered through the darkness with a magical telescope.
“Nothing is approaching yet!”
“Don't let your guard down!”
They stayed up the entire night that way.
“...?”
Watching from afar, the Demon King tilted his head.
“This is more effective than sending monsters, isn't it?”
His initial irritation at their failure to follow the demonic energy had long since vanished.
* * *
Unfortunately for Berge, the same tactic would not work twice.
“Let's try following it.”
After spending the entire night awake, Cain found that the demonic energy persisted into daylight. After having everyone take turns resting briefly, he began a cautious advance toward its source.
“Could it be the Demon King's trap?”
“We have no leads anyway. Whether that place really holds the Demon King's tower or a trap, we have to go and check.”
They put the golems at the front to minimize losses.
“Master Granada, do you remember this path?”
“This isn't a route the expedition took.”
“Then it's all the more promising.”
The route the expedition had traveled had not led to the Demon King's tower, so an unknown path offered better prospects.
“Lavinia, we'll need you to guide us carefully.”
“Yes.”
The farther they ventured in, the more monsters they encountered and the rougher the terrain became. Naturally, their progress slowed.
“We'll camp here tonight!”
One day, two days, three, four. They walked ever deeper into Erjest and fought ever more monsters.
Yet among them there was not a single demonic creature, let alone a demon.
The strange thing was that they could still sense demonic energy. The demon hounds, Lavinia Akan, and the twelve heroes accompanying them all indicated the same thing: it was growing stronger.
'Is this a trap?'
But it was too late to turn back. Having come this far, they had to discover what lay at the end.
Another day passed.
“... It's rather quiet today.”
“There haven't been any attacks, in fact.”
That day, monsters were absent to an uncanny degree.
“Strange.”
Even without Lavinia saying it, everyone knew something was happening.
Tension reached its peak.
“Found it.”
“Over there!”
At last, they approached the source of the demonic energy.
It was...
GRRR...
A dog.
A hellhound, known as a dog of hell. Over three meters in size, it was a demonic creature capable of chewing up most monsters.
But it did not possess enough demonic energy to be sensed from so far away.
“No.”
Lavinia shook her head. That was not the demonic energy she had led them after.
A powerful sense of foreboding swept through everyone's minds.
“Everyone retreat! Turn around immedia—!”
WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!
The demon hounds howled furiously. The titan beat its chest.
RUMBLE...
The ground shook. Then it collapsed.
YELP!
The hellhound screamed. An enormous maw swallowed it.
CRUNCH!
Scarlet chunks of flesh scattered in every direction.
Cain caught his breath at the sight of the creature chewing and swallowing everything.
Legs as solid as rock. A ponderous body like a towering mountain. An enormous, ravenous head.
A monster that chewed up and swallowed everything.
It was a Behemoth.
A monster that could even devour ogres. Though classified as a monster, it possessed demonic energy, leading some to argue that it should be considered a demonic creature.
Its red eyes swept over the prey before it. It swallowed the remainder of the food in its mouth. Hornlike fangs jutting past its lips gleamed with blood.
“... Can we escape?”
“Despite its enormous bulk, a Behemoth has greater explosive speed than an ogre.”
That was a no.
Cain broke into a cold sweat and bit his lip.
“If we fight?”
“We can win, provided we make no major mistakes.”
The captain of the Blue Meteor Mage Corps spoke with pride.
True, however formidable a Behemoth might be, it could not compare to a Demon King.
But the problem was that their force was not capable of killing a Demon King, either.
'No, this won't do.'
It was not a question of whether they could kill it.
Mount Erjest was vast, its monsters numerous, and they were deep within the mountain range.
Win or lose, a fierce battle would leave both sides wounded, and Akan's injured force would face a hellish return march.
Cain could not accept those losses.
“We'll draw its attention with a golem and slowly retr—”
Losing a golem would be regrettable, but it was only equipment. Better to sacrifice one. This was Erjest, so there was no chance of anyone retrieving the wreckage and stealing its technology.
Just then...
“Your Highness. Behind us...”
“Ha...!”
Cain gave a hollow laugh. Hundreds of Poil Orcs were visible in the distance, positioned precisely to block Akan's retreat.
It was a trap after all.
“Sir Dolkin.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The commander of the White Wolf Knights answered solemnly.
“Lead the soldiers and hold off the Poil Orcs. You only need to hold until my sister and I, the golems, and the Blue Meteor defeat the Behemoth.”
“I'll sweep them away, then help Your Highness cut off that beast's head.”
“We'll help as well.”
“Thank you. That's reassuring.”
Cain gave a faint smile at Granada's offer.
“We must not let this battle drag on.”
They could somehow manage the Poil Orcs and the Behemoth. But if other monsters heard the commotion and caught the scent of blood, that would be when the real hell began.
ROOOAAAR!
The Behemoth's roar cut his thoughts short. It leaped, blotting out the sun as it descended toward Akan's force.
“Stop it!”
CREAK!
The golems moved swiftly, planting both feet in the ground and thrusting out their fists.
BOOOOM!
The golems staggered. But together, they halted the Behemoth's advance. And down onto it...
“Demonic creature.”
“Materials.”
The titan chimera descended, carrying on its shoulder a princess whose eyes gleamed with greed.
ROOOAAAR!
The titan landed on the Behemoth's back. With a boom, the ten-meter body lurched.
The titan hammered down its fists, and the golems rushed in from every side.
One ten-meter Behemoth against five five-meter golems and one titan.
At a glance, one would naturally expect the more numerous side to win. But the Behemoth's terror lay not simply in its size. It possessed overwhelming strength that surpassed even that massive bulk.
CREAK!
The golems covering the Behemoth were flung away with strange noises. Its enormous maw bit down on one golem's arm.
SCREEECH!
Sparks flew. The golem endured solely because it was made of an orichalcum alloy. Nothing more, nothing less.
With the forearm still clamped in its jaws, the Behemoth hurled the golem away. It swung its ponderous body into the titan charging toward it.
BOOOM!
ROOOAAAR!
The titan screamed as it was sent flying. Lavinia was buried in the snow.
“Lavinia!”
A steady stream of vivid blue aura poured from Cain's sword. Honed to an exquisite edge, it struck the Behemoth's flank.
SCRAAAPE!
The sound was impossible to believe from a collision between skin and aura. The powerful recoil jolted Cain's body. At the same moment, red blood sprayed.
The Behemoth screamed in pain.
A golem thrust its fist into the open maw. With a boom, a fang shook.
Behind it, spells rained down from the Blue Meteor Mage Corps. Sharp shards of ice struck the Behemoth's hide. They failed to pierce its tough skin, but its body shuddered.
“What a spectacle.”
Berge, secretly watching from afar, burst out laughing.
A battle between beasts that stood at least five meters tall. Such sights were common enough in the Demon Realm, but he had never imagined seeing a battle like this in the Middle Realm.
“Orichalcum, just as expected...! Not even the Behemoth's teeth left a scratch!”
“A lack of scratches is all they have going for them.”
“And they're enduring such rough treatment without a single malfunction! Akan's magical engineering really is the finest on the continent!”
Well, he would have to ignore that.
Berge's gaze returned to the battlefield.
No sooner had the battle of giants begun than the Poil Orcs and knights clashed on the opposite side.
Krutu and his personal guard took on the White Wolf Knights. The remaining orcs fell upon the soldiers.
The fighting was fierce, and the orcs were at a disadvantage.
Krutu was being pushed back by the White Wolf Knights' commander, while his personal guard could barely hold their own against the knights. The fighting between the ordinary orcs and soldiers was no different.
The orcs were inferior in every respect.
'Akan's elite, just as expected.'
It made abundantly clear how much Akan had invested in this operation.
But Berge was not disappointed. He had already expected as much, and annihilating the enemy was not the orcs' objective.
At that moment...
BOOOOM!
A golem knocked flying by the Behemoth landed in the middle of the smaller combatants' battlefield. Several orcs and humans crushed beneath it died without even a scream. Formations collapsed, and the fighting dissolved into a chaotic melee.
At the same time, Krutu and his personal guard broke into a run.
Their target: the golem controllers.
The knights hurried after them, but frost wolves that had been hiding in the snow sprang out from every direction and took the orcs onto their backs.
“No!”
Cain, was it? The prince screamed when he spotted the orcs.
Then came the collision.
The golem controllers and mages, wholly focused on fighting the Behemoth, fell defenseless before the attack.
That did not mean every golem immediately stopped functioning. Golems possessed egos, albeit unsophisticated ones. Once given an order, they did their best to carry it out until the next order came.
In other words, they would now fight without retreat until either the Behemoth died or they were destroyed.
Moreover, golem controllers did more than give orders and perform maintenance.
They supported the golems with magic to help them fight better and more flexibly. Without their controllers, the golems' combat effectiveness plummeted.
The effect was immediate.
BOOOM!
A golem rocked. The Behemoth flung three golems away in one motion and rampaged.
The titan caught its charge, but was pushed back, its body leaving long tracks in the ground.
Meanwhile, Krutu sounded the horn of retreat.
The Poil Orcs began withdrawing in perfect order. Akan's troops wanted to pursue them, but the Behemoth rampaging right before them was the more pressing concern.
“Stop the Behemoth!”
“Knights! Protect His Highness!”
“Leave the orcs!”
Dolkin, commander of the White Wolf Knights, ground his teeth. He barely suppressed the urge to pursue the orcs. His foremost duty was to protect Cain and Lavinia.
The knights charged toward the Behemoth.
An enormous, three-meter aura erupted from Dolkin's sword. It left a long wound across the back of the beast as it crunched on a golem's head.
ROOOAAAR!
Soldiers collapsed, their strength failing at the terrible scream.
'Damn it, nothing is ever easy.'
Grinding his teeth, Granada whispered to the members of the Red Hawk raiding party, who were exchanging wary glances.
“If we run now, we'll be branded scum. Each of you fight at least once before you look after yourselves.”
“O-of course.”
Bark threw himself at the Behemoth. Before his aura-reinforced sword could touch its hide, the Behemoth's tail struck him. Buried in the snow, he did not get up again.
He would probably stay that way until the battle ended.
The Red Hawk raiding party's members followed Bark's example.
'... Those bastards, honestly.'
Granada clicked his tongue.
The battle continued for a long time.
* * *
“... Hah, hah.”
Cain spat out the blood in his mouth.
The Behemoth's enormous body fell with a thud. A small avalanche swept over Akan's exhausted force.
“Are you all right?”
A protective barrier cast by the Blue Meteor Mage Corps enveloped them. Its captain approached Cain.
“... I'm fine. Please assess our losses.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The soldiers busied themselves dealing with the aftermath.
“The orcs' surprise charge inflicted some losses on the mage corps and golem controllers, but they aren't severe. The problem is that three golems have been completely wrecked. I doubt we can repair them.”
“Hmm.”
“Losses among the knights and soldiers are smaller than expected, thanks to the orcs' retreat.”
“That's something to be thankful for, at least.”
He did not know why they had withdrawn, but thanks to that, the losses were smaller than he had expected from such fierce fighting.
“Let's recover the remains of the dead, take the Behemoth's corpse, and leave this place. Ah, but...”
Cain looked around.
“Where is my sister?”
Lavinia and the titan were nowhere to be seen.