Chapter 151: Evil Spirit of All Souls Day (part five)
Tirnanog entered the alley next to the golem workshop.
Then I jumped off from Tirnanog’s hand using Leap.
Tirnanog’s armor peeled off like scales, returning to the form of a small steel armor once again.
Tirnanog’s body, which has shrunk back to its original size, went into the armor.
With that, the transformation into the usual small Tirnanog was completed.
『Umu, seems like we have successfully thrown them off.』
“Thank you, Tir.”
Auguste’s voice resounded from Goldberry who was flying over Tirnanog’s head.
『But they have healing abilities, so the number wouldn’t decrease at all, huh~』
“As expected from Lucanrant. If we don’t change our strategy, they will be able to take countermeasures soon.”
That said, I can’t think of any other way of fighting them.
『When I discussed it with Klaus, he suggested that you should confine them.』
“…Is it really okay for you to discuss things like that during a meeting?”
『I tried using telepathy. By letting our feet touch.』
Entwining their feet like that during a meeting, wouldn’t that create a strange misunderstanding?
I feel like I forced Auguste and Klaus to commit a grave error.
『‘I don’t get it, small fries like this, you just have to seal their movements,’ he said.』
“They are no small fries to me! What should I do with them!”
『‘Weren’t you good at making pitfalls and burying others alive’…wait, Klaus, that’s not something you should say to a girl.』
“I see…bury them alive, huh.”
Setting aside normal opponents, I wonder if that would be effective against those Lucanrant swordsmen.
But even if I cover the pit with magic, they would use their snowsilver swords and make their way out quickly.
To begin with, magically generated materials do not last long, so what should I use to cover the pit?
“…Maybe that could work quite well.”
I had come up with a very nasty plan.
I wonder if Tirnanog still has those mutant brown worms.
“Hey, Tir. Did you already eat the brown worms from that cave?”
『After eating one, I propagated them a little. What are you going to do with them?』
Tirnanog took out a small jar from the inside of his armor.
There were four or five worms squirming in that small jar.
This is a bit cruel, but we are not inside that cave, so it should be safe even if we do this.
“I got a nice idea. I’ll capture those suspicious individuals as bargaining material for you, Auguste-sama.”
『That would be great. It will make it a lot easier on our side too.』
“In exchange, please direct four or five mages who can use Grease spell here.”
I said so to Goldberry while showing the jar of worms.
『These are…! You’re merciless, Erica…!』
A terrifying worm that resists poison and fire, has high physical attack tolerance, and launches hypnotic attacks.
If I propagate them in an abandoned house, then destroy the entire building…alright, let’s go!
“Now then, can you look for an appropriate abandoned building, Auguste-sama?”
The preparation is complete, now let’s see the outcome.
I’ll create a trap of terror that has never been experienced before by those of Lucanrant.
☆
『Erica, I found an old abandoned chapel about two main streets from here. It’s a building that is going to be demolished in a month.』
“That’s an ideal location.”
That means I can take action as much as I want while keeping the damage to a minimum.
『The swordsmen who were scattered before have gathered.』
“When a giant golem suddenly disappeared, they must have realized that they were tricked.”
From here on, it is a deserted area with no crowds of people for me to blend myself in.
I arrived at the old abandoned chapel.
Adjoined with the chapel was an old bell tower.
From those guys’ perspective, now I would seem like a trapped mouse.
I used the scroll of Pa.s.swall to enter the bell tower.
To start it off, I used Levitation to ascend to the top floor.
When I reached the top floor, I opened about twenty bottles of magical power replenishment potions from my bag and splashed them around the room.
Finally, a brown worm was thrown into the room. After seeing the worm propagate, I retreated to the roof.
『The pursuers are coming! Seven from the front, five from the back door, and eight along the roof.』
From the vision shared by Auguste, I could see that they had bitten the bait.
Twenty people, huh.
There has to be more of them who are still hiding.
I wish I could catch more of them, but I guess this is the best thing I can get for now.
I chose the finisher wand.
That is, the wand of Digging.
I used up all 1000 charges in order to make a large hole that can swallow the whole ruins.
Once the huge hole had opened in the ground, the ruins crumbled down into the hole with a deafening sound.
Brown worms could be seen propagating as if covering the stones.
By the time those suspicious people break out from underneath the stones, the worm h.e.l.l would be ready.
As expected, screams came out from the big hole.
I guess I have succeeded in stopping those suspicious individuals.
Alright, now I can meet up with Chloe safely.
Without worrying about my surroundings, I leisurely moved from my current floating position to the roof and aimed for my initial destination again.
Then, after a while, Auguste sent important information via Goldberry.
『Erica, instead of a monstro, I found some suspicious individuals. There is a carriage that has departed from the academy and is heading north. That’s the route to the old fortress in northern part of Lindis. There are a bunch of people that look like the Military Order of Útför, and a crate that looks like it can store a person. Doesn’t it seem like these are the guys who took Beatrice?』
“Does this mean the witness was mistaken?”
Jan Carlson said that it was a silver monstro, a wolf.
But, was that actually a person disguised using magic?
『Or maybe it was an act of perjury.』
Jan Carlson perjured himself?
If so, it was a correct decision to leave Tricia and Palug on the site.
Speaking of which, he’s in the position where the game version of Harold was supposed to be.
…He might not be a mere student.
『Also, if she’s taken to the North, it would be hard to get her out because of Harlan. So if you want to stop them, you need to do it right now, okay?』
“I understand.”
While she is only taken away for the time being, it can become fatal if we keep dilly-dallying like this.
『And one more thing, I have to cut off the connection. It seems that I’ve reached my limit. Now I will concentrate on just searching.』
“Thank you very much, Auguste-sama.”
With that, I rushed to the promised meeting place with Chloe.
☆
The way to the dock was safe without any pursuit.
Kullat-Nunu River was also a key point in the water transport of Lindis, where it merges with Alrescha River.
I flew past the launching site of the large flying golems.
“Now I need to find Chloe on the riverside…”
I could see the glint of metal sparkling on the riverside where withered gra.s.s spread.
Chloe was clashing swords with a swordsman in a dark brown robe.
Unexpectedly, Chloe also had a snowsilver sword in her hand.
Pehaps she s.n.a.t.c.hed it from her opponent.
As expected, Chloe.
At first glance, it seemed like Chloe was being pushed back.
However, at the next moment, the hand of the swordsman of Útför which was raised to attack suddenly drooped without strength.
She seemed to have dislocated the joint of her opponent’s dominant arm in an instant.
As he dropped his sword, Chloe struck the handle of her sword into the jaw of the swordsman who could no longer defend himself.
She bent the joints of the unconscious opponent’s limbs towards wrong directions and tied them with stolen metal restraints.
On top of dislocating his joints, she also restrained them?
I see, with this method he wouldn’t be able to restore himself using his healing ability.
I ran up to Chloe.
“Chloe-san! Sorry I’m late!”
“Erica-san…I’m glad you’re safe…!”
From what she told me, Chloe had arrived at this place long ago.
After exploring the surroundings, she wasn’t able to find anyone.
She also sneaked into the harbors that were crowded with lots of people, but found nothing special.
Of course, there was no corpse floating on the water.
“I suppose the carriage that was seen by Auguste-sama is suspicious.”
“Then, that’s where we’ll be going next.”
“But it’s too far from here, and it may be difficult to catch up with them right now.”
“That means…Beatrice, she can’t be saved…?”
Chloe let out a choked voice.
The carriage is travelling on the route towards the old fortress on the northern part of Lindis.
We are now on Kullat-Nunu River flowing on the southern part of Lindis.
We still have to travel the distance as far as one city.
And even though we have stopped about twenty suspicious individuals before, it is likely that more of them are still lurking somewhere.
—I was too fixated with my death and made a wrong first move.
I really regret having been influenced by information in the game.
At that time, the last large fireworks pieces were launched.
Fireworks were shining in the night sky like a waterfall of light.
After that should be the aerial show using flying golems.
If I remember correctly, the flying golems would be flying over Lindis from south to north.
…Aah, there is still one way to go!
“Maybe we can use a flying golem to track them, before it’s launched.”
“Eh, I mean, will the flying golem even be able to carry us both?”
“Perhaps.”
Beggars can’t be choosers.
Let’s borrow a flying golem and soar across the sky of the academic city.
☆
Chloe and I arrived at the wooden building by the riverside.
There were mechanical flying golems made by the students of Elementary Golem Engineering.
They had a humanoid shape that looks like the one in Castle in the Sky.
A familiar red-haired pirate was inspecting the golems nearby.
Harold saw us and let out a hysterical voice.
“Haa!? Why in the world are you here!”
“How wonderful, Harold. By any chance, are you the person in charge of launching the flying golems?”
How lucky!
I’m really glad that I have such a versatile partner.
“What do you mean by ‘wonderful’! You’re going to do something bad, right!”
“As expected, Harold. You’re sharp.”
I laughed and glossed over it.
I then briefly mentioned the possibility of Beatrice Glaw’s abduction.
“That’s serious. This is why I can never say no!!”
“So, do me a favor. I can only depend on you for this, you are truly the only one.”
“Aah~ again! You’re the same as always!!”
Harold grabbed his head with both hands.
“d.a.m.n it, I want to help you somehow! But now each creator has their own pa.s.sword, and it would take me a lot of time to a.n.a.lyze and tamper with it!”
Pa.s.sword?
That means we can’t be unreasonable about this.
Certainly, that was written in the blueprints I received from Tricia.
…Ah, wait, speaking of which!
“It will be fine! I have the blueprints for Tricia-san’s golem here!”
I took out the said blueprints from my bag.
I gave it to Harold and he looked it over.
“Seriously—…there’s even the encryption logic and hints for the pa.s.sword! This might work out…okay, wait a bit!”
Harold begun to alter the flight handling of the flying golem made by Tricia.
“The destination?”
“The old fortress in the northern part of Lindis.”
“Aah~ the castle built in front of that mountain cave, huh… wait, this will only take a few moments, okay?”
Harold quickly corrected the process with an athame knife.
He re-engraved some letters on the core that had been removed.
It seems that not only the destination, but he also scratched the processing of the shape process.
After it was done, he returned the core to the heart of the golem.
When the heat source was turned on, the golem’s back became dented and two seats appeared.
“Alright, it’s fixed! This is not actually for boarding, but I made some seats, so get on.”
Harold moved to the rear of the golem.
I got on the front seat while Chloe sat on the back.
Finally, the mechanical flying-type golem was rearing up.
The part that looks like a propeller began to spin with a terrifying roar.
“Okay, here we go! You hear that, ladies!”
Harold was also finishing up preparations for the other flying golems.
He distanced himself from the golems that were ready to launch and retreated to a safe location.
“I wish you guys luck! Return to my side safely, Erica! Promise me!”
The vibration of the fuselage was becoming more and more intense.
Then the flying golems took off at ridiculous speed.