Chapter 176: The Second Event – Collapsing Kingdom – part thirteen

Someone complained that 175 was short. I hope this satiates you.

Happy Holidays

Cheers!

(PoV of a Guard of Hermagne)

“Hey… Do you think that the second prince’s… That the new king’s policy is a sane one? Allowing this many migrants inside the kingdom?” I asked my guard comrade while we were on lookout.

“I don’t know if it’s sane, but… If you start badmouthing him, you might end up in trouble.” My friend advised me.

“I know, but… Migrants created so many troubles to us already. Why let even more inside!?” I asked.

“I mean, we are in need of more manpower.” My comrade shrugged.

“But that’s putting us all in danger!” I exclaimed.

“Stop it, before someone takes you away…” He advised me.

I took a deep breath, then said, “I’m sorry, it’s just… The antidote to cure my wife from whatever poison the migrants inflicted her with was so expensive…”

“It’s okay, I understand your feelings… They had to not only attack us with poisons, but also cut our contact with the sea… It’s so hard to get anything for a proper price now that we lost Belzenstock.” He sighed while making this comment. Things really were rough right now…

As I was about to reply to his comment, I noticed something strange… “Hey, what is that? A flock of migratory birds?” I asked him while looking up.

******

(Rena’s PoV)

“Hey, are you really going to do this…?” Hannes asked me.

“But of course.” I answered.

We were far enough from Hermagne’s capital that we couldn’t even see it yet… In this location, Kageyama stretched its shadow while using <Materialization> and <Hardening>. At the same time, Hymn’s Guru used <Quicksand> and put it on top of the shadow path. Like this, the shadow path could be maintained even if I didn’t throw smoke bombs high up.

It was a bit annoying to get Hymn’s Guru to cooperate though, since he seemed to be unable to hear us at all in the middle of his incessant talks about Maria, who isn’t even here… That said, once Ranka slapped him a few times, he started hearing us, so we ended up coming up with this setup.

“Alright, is everyone ready?” I asked… Nobody replied, so, “I’ll take that as a yes! Let’s go!”

Then, I used <Jet Propulsion> and <Accelerate> to make Jun, in motorcycle form, move as fast as possible. Our group was all on top of Jun, while the soldiers, who were split in four different groups, were tied behind us with threads.

And like this, we ran through the skies at an amazing speed!

“You damned woman!” Hannes shouted.

“I want my mom!” Ranka exclaimed.

“I’m coming, Saintess Maria!” Hymn’s Guru exclaimed.

… They’re so loud. Why can’t they be like Tapiocaman, who is calmly sitting in his spot.

“I’m already seeing the capital! Prepare yourselves, everyone!” I exclaimed, mostly to the soldiers behind us.

“Slow down!” Hannes shouted, but I ignored him.

… Though I was a bit surprised by how quickly we were approaching the city. Seems like the last few levels and skill levels I obtained ended up making quite the difference.

While I wondered about that, we were already crossing above the Western gate of the Royal Capital, “First Group, it’s your cue!” I told the soldiers, then untied one of the threads from Ponko.

The first batch of soldiers started falling down, but with Inoue’s and Yamada’s buffs on them, paired together with their fall being slowed down a bit by me holding the thread that was tying them up, they should be able to survive.

“They’ll die!” Hannes exclaimed.

“Lord Buddha, please let their souls safely return to the cycle of reincarnation…” Ranka prayed.

… The soldiers did fall pretty harshly on the ground, but they still seemed to be alive. They probably lost 20% of their HP or something, which is within the acceptable range.

“Alright, next squad!” I exclaimed, and started dropping the other groups in the same way as we moved through the South, East and North gates of the city.

Then, with all soldiers deployed, I said, “Alright, you all ready? Let’s get off!”

“Ah, I don’t care anymore! Just do whatever you want!” Hannes exclaimed.

Ranka started chanting Buddhist sutras again.

“This vertical descent trajectory must be the ideal one to bring me closer to lady Maria…” Hymn’s Guru mused… He really is kinda annoying.

Oh well, everyone seemed to be ready, even if Lily isn’t here with us, so… Let’s jump off!

As I jumped, I took out a sphere that I had made to ‘play’, but didn’t have a chance to use until now.

“Just what is that!?” Hannes asked me.

“You’ll see.” I told him. It was faster to show it than explain it anyways.

Then I threw the sphere towards the center of the capital and… Boom! A large explosion took over the capital!

… A really large one. This was a bit of an experimental explosive using Hydrogen and Oxygen, so I knew it was going to have a lot of firepower to it, but I didn’t expect it to be this big. For a moment it was as if the sun was right in front of our eyes… When in fact, it was just my explosion.

However, I wasn’t really hurt by it… In fact, Hannes actually hugged me and protect me from the brunt of the explosion.

Well, I guess I should drink a potion just in case.

“I think I might have overdone it a bit…” I commented.

“You definitely did.” Hannes told me.

Then, I looked around, and saw that the other three people of our group were safely falling towards the city as well.