MTM 121

“…Allen.”

At the same moment, in the underground sanctuary . Amidst a standoff with Bernak within the sealed space, Leon called out to Allen with a tense expression.

Allen, covered in the dust swirling within the sanctuary and drenched in the crow’s blood, glanced sideways over his shoulder with a face stained black.

“I know. You felt it too?”

Leon nodded silently. The vibrations rumbling through the ground since earlier were anything but ordinary.

‘Could it be… the imperial palace is collapsing?’

Allen frowned. The image of the Bellancia Cathedral, engulfed in flames, flashed through his mind. Simultaneously, he thought of Lidel, a member of the Night Rage who had died before his eyes.

It had been a tragedy without warning. And the situation he now faced was equally beyond prediction.

“Caw-aah!”

A crow’s piercing caw erupted through the black dust. Immediately after, countless black feathers rained down like poisoned darts. Allen quickly swung his weapon and deflected them all. Fortunately, Leon’s shield had averted major disaster. But judging by the shield’s fading state, it wouldn’t hold much longer.

‘Damn it, the enemies know this too...’

It was obvious that when the magical shield lost all its power, the enemy’s full assault would come crashing down.

Allen was shielding Leon from the attacks coming in from all sides. The reason he was overprotecting Leon, who could easily handle himself alone, was because Isadora had suffered a severe injury. Leon was pouring his entire focus into healing magic to save the unconscious Isadora.

The accident happened in an instant. The cause was the horned crow conjured by Bernak’s illusion.

The crow, adorned with red iron horns, possessed three pairs of enormous wings, and its body was studded with dozens of red eyes. This monstrous creature, terrifying in form alone, relentlessly attacked the party, leaving them no breathing room.

The moment countless eyes simultaneously focused on Isadora, her vision wavered. It was a powerful hallucination that instantly paralyzed reason.

‘…I must kill it.’

Normally, she would have calmly assessed the enemy’s weakness before engaging, but the crow’s provocation instantly shattered Isadora’s composure. Uncharacteristically agitated, she charged recklessly, determined to pierce every single one of the crow’s eyes.

‘Isadora!’

Isadora was driven mad, she charged forward and ended up suffering a severe laceration running from her right shoulder to her chest. Fortunately, it missed her vital organs, but she lost too much blood. Regaining her senses too late, she struggled to hold on, but ultimately lost consciousness.

Immediately after, Leon deployed a shield and used healing magic to staunch Isadora’s bleeding, while Allen raised his sword to protect the two. The crow circled them, relentlessly unleashing attacks, but Allen’s swordsmanship was no less formidable. He severed both of the crow’s wings and parried the rain of poisoned feathers.

‘Those eyes… Those damn eyes are the problem. You absolutely must not meet them.’

Witnessing Isadora’s ordeal, Allen realized the crow’s pupils consumed one’s mind. Shielding his vision with one arm, he swung his sword relying solely on the flow of air and movements.

As his strategy changed, the crow hesitated to close in and kept its distance. It stalled and waited insidiously for them to tire.

But he wouldn’t let things unfold according to its plan.

Allen steeled his resolve, determined that today, he would not allow a single death.

Caw caw caw!

Then something happened. The intermittent tremors erupted into a massive rumble. Because of this, the sturdy underground sanctuary, which had endured for ages, began to collapse.

Amid the falling debris, Bernak’s gaze, which had been watching all this, turned toward the small window overlooking the northern tower.

[…Bernak. I need your help.]

Magnus’s voice rang in his head like a thunderclap. Sensing the situation was turning more serious than expected, Bernak’s eyes narrowed.

“… Go ahead. Finish this place off properly and return.”

Bernak issued his command to the horned crow locked in battle, then instantly transformed into a crow himself and flew out the window.

“Caw-!”

The horned crow let out a cry, as if swearing allegiance to its master, then turned to face its final battle. Without further delay, it charged toward Allen. Dozens of crimson eyes embedded in its body flashed simultaneously. As it sprayed poisonous feathers in all directions like a sandstorm, the magical shield, already pushed to its limits, gradually faded before shattering like broken glass.

Swish-!

As if waiting for this moment, the creature spun in a spiral, driving its sharp red horns down toward Allen.

Thud!

In a split second, Allen flexibly bent his waist to evade the trajectory. Then, swinging both sword-wielding arms simultaneously, he sliced through the crow’s neck as it closed in.

Splatter!

Blood spurted like a fountain, soaking the surroundings. The moment its head was severed from its body, its bloodshot eyes met Allen’s gaze as it rolled through the air. Realizing its impending death, the beast flapped its wings with its last ounce of strength. The resulting shockwave sent considerable tremors through the sanctuary.

“It’s collapsing! Get out of the way!”

Rumble! Boom!

With Allen’s desperate shout, the sanctuary collapsed.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

Whooooooosh.

An unusual wind blew in from the west, and Harto paused and turned his head toward it.

“Harto, wait. If you move…”

[Ah, sorry…! Zed, did you climb on? If you feel like falling, grab my horns!]

Zed carefully climbed onto Harto’s head. The latter had transformed into a massive black dragon. Zed grabbed the sturdy horns and climbed up, quietly surveying the surroundings. The panorama of the Regnovar imperial palace came into view.

[How is it? Are you fine?]

“I’m fine. I never expected to see this view from here… but it’s not bad.”

Seeing Zed’s bitter smile, Harto flew higher, hoping to lift his spirits. He wanted to soar across the palace skies, flaunting his form to the fullest, but in this standoff where enemies could strike again at any moment, he had to settle for this.

“Harto, this form you’re in now… is it some kind of animal you imagined?”

[Uh, well… it’s like this…]

Harto hesitated for a moment, unsure how to explain this form.

After escaping the nightmare-like hallucination Magnus had created, Harto felt an unknown power. It wasn’t borrowed from outside like the spirit stone. It felt like a power, sealed deep within him for an immense length of time, had shed its shell and awakened.

The moment he became aware of that overwhelming power, Harto decided he must become the strongest being he knew to protect Zed and win the fight against Magnus.

The image that suddenly came to mind was that of an easterydragon, a mythical creature. Since dragons naturally didn’t exist in this world, it was no wonder Zed looked surprised.

[It’s just that… I thought I’d look really… cool like this…]

As Harto trailed off, sounding embarrassed, a gentle smile appeared on Zed’s face. The exterior looked ferocious and powerful enough to lay waste to this place instantly, but the warmth felt within was the Harto he knew.

It didn’t matter to Zed what form Harto took. Whatever shell enveloped the outside, what he yearned for with his whole heart was Harto himself, that one and only being.

“But Harto, if I’m not mistaken, it feels like I can hear your voice inside my head right now. Is that right?”

Zed asked, slowly stroking the dragon’s head with his hand.

[Yes. I’m not entirely sure myself, but I can convey my voice to you without opening my mouth.]

“Really?”

Zed felt wonder at Harto’s ability. He had already suspected it, but Harto’s potential might be far greater than he had imagined.

[But… Zed, did you… notice?]

“Yes, the presence vanished.”

Zed replied.

They looked at the interior of the tower, more than half of which had collapsed. But the giant spider’s corpse was nowhere to be seen. Only the foul-smelling slime he had left behind remained.

[I distinctly remember stepping right on him… he must’ve escaped in the meantime.]

Perhaps he had shrunk his body and hidden inside the tower.

[Mr. Robert!]

“Robert…”

Both men blurted out Robert’s name simultaneously. Only then did they worry about the safety of Robert, left alone at the base of the tower.

[…Huh! Wait a minute. Mr. Robert seems to be safe!]

As if he had received an urgent signal, Harto called out in a bright voice. It was news from the elementals. They had gone to check the tower entrance at Harto’s request, found the injured Robert and reported that he had safely escaped from the tower.

[And since it’s safe here, I asked them to go to the underground sanctuary and help out. Something about the west didn’t feel right….]

Moreover, Harto had sent reinforcements for their comrades in the western underground sanctuary. Zed, consumed by the battle before him, hadn’t even considered the others, and he felt admiration for Harto’s mature judgment.

“Well done. We’ll handle this place…”

Piiit!

It was the instant Zed tried to speak. A high-pitched sound, loud enough to scrape at the eardrums, rang out. Zed instantly twisted his upper body and caught the feather streaking through the air with his hand. It was a paralyzing poison.

[Zed?!]

Harto, who sensed the attack a beat too late, scanned the surroundings, but nothing was visible in the darkness.

“…It won’t work twice.”

Zed muttered briefly as he pulled a ball from his robe and hurling it skyward. Silver dust scattered in all directions as the steel ball exploded mid-air. It was Leon’s magic tool, like the one they used in the western branch of the Royal Knights.

…Flash!

This time, however, it was a different kind of magic tool. An intense flash erupted, illuminating the area brightly. Bernak, who had been hiding in the darkness in the form of a crow, revealed his true form.

Without hesitation, Zed lunged forward. He grabbed the crow’s leg as he reeled from the blinding light.

“Caw! Caw-!”

The flustered Bernak flapped his wings, trying to shake Zed off, but it was futile. Zed drew his dagger and plunged the blade into the struggling crow’s torso.

“……!”

He precisely struck a vital point, the crow began to plummet, his black feathers fluttering. Just before he hit the ground, Zed tried to release his leg, but for some reason, his palm seemed stuck to the crow’s skin and wouldn’t come off.

In that moment when he sensed something was wrong, the crow’s eyes flashed.

“…You are still foolish.”

“……!”

By the time he realized it was a trap, it was already too late.

“Harto! Get out of the way!”

No sooner had Zed’s scream fallen than thousands of crows emerged from the darkness like a black wave. The crows’ sharp beaks and claws plunged toward the dragon’s torso.