“First… Everyone get down!”
The source of that explosive sound is in front of me.
There’s something that looks like a giant diving beetle, but the actual source of the noise is a humanoid shape that’s sitting formally on top of it. Every time that thing knocks the palms of its hands together, I hear a noise and something I can’t see expands very fast.
Before I can even understand what it is, my instincts tell me to get down.
I jump down from the Hipopo brother, stab my sword on the stone pavement, and brace myself.
And then, I’m attacked by something that feels like some sort of shock wave.
“Kya!”
I hear Princess Lily scream, as she clings to Charil.
And just after she screams, herself and the Hipopo brothers start being pushed back.
“Gu… Guh…”
My body is also being forcibly moved, along with the sword that is still pierced to the ground.
What is this!? It doesn’t feel like that repulsive field that Rust told me Zwei used, and it’s too slow to be a shock wave. It’s like the space itself is being pushed back.
Eventually, it stops, and I’m dozens of meters away from where I was, away from the castle.
I pull my sword from the ground and get up. And even though I dragged my sword through the stone pavement for dozens of meters, there’s no trace of it to be found.
“Princess Lily! Princess Lily! Are you all right?”
I find that strange, but leave it aside for now and look around.
It’s terrible. Hipopo brothers are turned over, and several are piled up.
Thankfully, as far as I can see, they’re all moving their legs to try to get back on their feet.
“Knight Kalin, I am fine. There was a gap, but now… I can’t get out!”
Thank goodness, Princess Lily is all right. The Hipopo brothers all seem fine too.
Now the problem is how do I break down this mountain of Hipopo brothers and get Princess Lily back on her feet…
“I don’t think it’s going to give me time to do this at my leisure.”
I whisper as I hold my sword at the approaching giant diving beetle.
I can finally see what’s riding it. It’s a woman.
She looks past middle-aged, but her posture is perfectly straight and she seems to be full of vigor.
Her clothes look all proper too. Like the kind of elegant clothes a lady would buy in a company’s big store. She’s sitting perfectly straight on top of that giant diving beetle.
And they’re right in front of me.
I can see her about to start knocking her hands again.