CH 26

In Another World, there’s a religion that believes in a pantheon of gods that created this world. At the temple where this religion’s believers worship, you receive a quest that’s one of the conditions for upgrading to a Rank 2 class. All three of us have finally reached level 50, so we’re at the stage where we can change classes. Thank goodness we somehow made it in time. It was really close.

Each class has a temple (there are temples in every city, so that’s not a problem) and by making the designated offering for each class to the gods of creation, you receive power from the gods and change classes. The offering could be monster materials, items you can get from ruins, or other things like that, but all three of ours are monster materials, so we easily obtained them and placed them on the pedestal of the temples as an offering. Then, the things we offered rose in a pillar of pale light, and when the light faded, the class change was complete. The priests were kind of staring at us with wide eyes, but is a class change really such an unusual sight for NPCs?

Now, as for the Rank 2 classes we changed to, Alexia’s was Sage obviously, mine was Wizard, and surprisingly, Irene’s was Berserker. It’s true that Irene is good at evasion, so Berserker wouldn’t ruin that like the defense-oriented Knight and Paladin classes would, but we already have the Sage’s powerful support magic and the Wizard’s powerful attack magic, so our party of three might become even more unbalanced than before. I really hope an Archer joins the party.

Now, I’ll hurry and check my skills. Since the Rank 2 class’s skill tree is independent of the Rank 1 class’s skill tree, there are no skills that require you to know any Rank 1 skills in order to learn them. Ever since I acquired Mana Explosion, I’ve been saving my skill points as much as possible, so I can use them to obtain a lot of Rank 2 skills right from the start. A Wizard’s greatest power is that they can learn the highest tier wide-range and single-target spells of each of the four elements as well as the non-elemental ones. However, I don’t have nearly enough skill points to learn all the wide-range and single-target spells. There are a lot of Rank 2 skills that I need, so I’d have to choose anyway. I especially need Double Spell, which makes it so that you only need to cast once, eliminating recasting delay (for example, if you use Mana Explosion, you wouldn’t need to recast it, so you could use it continuously), Intelligence Shield, a defensive spell which puts up a barrier that reduces damage depending on your Intelligence stat, and a lot of other powerful spells like those. (By the way, all Rank 2 Magician-type classes can learn those same spells or similar ones.)

This time, I decided to learn the wide-range wind spell, Thunder Storm. I chose that one because it’s a lightning spell. I’ve always wondered about lightning spells in RPGs. Could spells like that be used in a cave or somewhere with a ceiling? I wouldn’t expect them to be unusable in caves, but what would actually happen? There’s also a non-elemental spell that rains down from the sky, but I’ll save that bit of fun for the official release.

Alexia learned spells that make up for all of her past misfortunes: the balance-breaking strengthening spell, Addition, and a weakening area spell that nullifies enemies’ buffs at random, Erase. Both of them have already been tested. For Erase, we tried it out by nullifying my Intelligence Shield (it’s a thin white membrane in the shape of a dome), but monsters aside, it would even make people furious in PVP battles.

Now, let’s hurry and test out Thunder Storm. I used Warp Portal to teleport to a limestone cavern. The rugged terrain is difficult to walk on, but these stalactites and stalagmites formed over many years which are taller than Alexia and come up to Irene’s shoulders are a creative world with a mysterious atmosphere. Irene is also admiring them. She seems to like this scenery.

When we get to a suitably wide open area, I start casting. As I do so, a blue magic circle appears on the ceiling. I told them that I was going to test a spell, but I kept it secret which spell I would use to surprise them. So, when they see the magic circle, they cry out in surprise. Since max tier spells boast tremendous power, the casting and recasting times don’t change no matter how much you level up the skill. It takes 20 seconds to cast and 5 minutes to recast. The spell with the highest casting and recasting time until now, Mana Explosion, takes 7 seconds to cast and 45 seconds to recast, so you can infer just how powerful it is. It consumes almost half of my MP, so I have to be careful about where and when I use it.

A black cloud appears, unbefitting of the blue of the magic circle it came from, and covers the stalactites. It seems like that magic circle is creating this cloud. Occasionally, lighting shoots between the cloud and the stalactites, illuminating the area. But, this cloud… Isn’t it way too wide? …Maybe since it’s in a confined space, there’s nowhere else for it to go…? My face breaks out into cold sweat.

“Chaos, is this really alright?”

“…This might be bad.”

With this brief exchange, we start running from the cloud as fast as we can. Just then, an intense light fills the cavern and there’s a thunderous roar at my back.

“Lady Alexia, are you unharmed?!”

“Yes, I’m fine. Teacher protected me. Are you alright, Irene?”

The lightning’s echo was so loud that Irene is covering her ears as she approaches. I somehow managed to shield Alexia, but Irene couldn’t protect her. Apparently, she escaped the danger by using a stalagmite as a shield.

“Thank goodness you’re safe… I am also uninjured. But I never imagined that it would…”

Irene and I are covered in white, coughing violently. Though, that’s not what Irene is talking about.

The magic circle and black cloud have already disappeared. The fantastical scenery has been destroyed by a lightning strike that would normally be impossible. The stalactites that were hanging from the ceiling like icicles are all broken at the base, and now all that can be seen of them are their meager remains. Similarly, the stalagmites that were in the black cloud’s dominion are in a miserable state, in pieces on the cave floor. If this were reality, this beautiful space would have been created over an unimaginably long period of time, but in less than a minute, it was turned into a vacant lot and a cloud of dust.

…Awkward. This weird silence feels awkward.

“Chaos.”

Her voice is so cold that a chill runs down my spine.

“You b*****d, did you know this would happen?”

I shake my head and deny it, but Irene doesn’t ease up on her chilling gaze. With pleading eyes, I look to Alexia for help, but after a moment of confusion, she gives me a bitter smile.

“As I thought, you can’t say a word in your own defense,” she says in confirmation. “Please thoroughly reflect on your actions.”

What’s with this feeling of deja vu? Ah, I remember. This is like that time my mom got mad when the business card of a girl from a hostess bar fell out of my dad’s suit pocket. Back then, my mom was about to tort– I mean, interrogate him, and my dad looked at me pleadingly, but I only smiled back at him. Sorry, Dad. If you resent me for abandoning you back then, I don’t mind.

“Chaos, have you prepared yourself?”

Okay, Irene, I’m prepared. I won’t hesitate to beg on my knees for forgiveness. The S in seiza stands for sincerity.

The sound of lightning echoes throughout the limestone cavern for the second time today.

How could you put Lady Alexia in danger, she said. Take the power of your own spells into consideration before you use them, she said. Don’t act so rashly, she said. Learn some common sense, she said.

Irene’s lecture went on for an hour, and Chaos felt a numbness in his legs and a headache unlike any he had ever experienced before. At first, the points she was making made sense, but somewhere along the way Chaos started wondering if Irene was just nagging him. However, in a situation like this and with Chaos pressured by Irene’s threatening attitude, he had no choice but to shut up and take it. Actually, even if this was only a game, this scene seemed likely to traumatize someone, but it would probably be reset in a week during server maintenance. But until then, the terrain would remain in its altered state, so it might have been too thoughtless to modify the terrain needlessly. With that in mind, he could see why she would tell him to be more sensible, so he accepted her lecture. Sensing that it would continue for even longer, Alexia intervened and set him free. Then, they left the limestone cavern, the sun already nearing the horizon.

“Since we’re almost out of time for today, why not end it here?” Alexia suggested. At this point, she felt that it was only natural and obvious that they would see each other again tomorrow. It is because she believed this that she said these words.

However, although she knew this day would come someday, this belief was suddenly destroyed by a few short words.

“Sorry. We won’t be able to meet for a while.”

“Eh—”

What did Teacher… What did Chaos say just now? Alexia’s mind went blank and she was left speechless as the cruel reality set in.

That was the start of their sudden parting.

In a room that’s dyed with bright red and a bit of black, several young women are waiting on a girl. With a bored expression on her face, the girl plays with the tips of her long platinum blonde hair adorned with purple ribbons.

“Ahh, I’m kinda bored. If it was going to be this easy, maybe I should have picked a different country,” she says, drinking red wine. Red droplets spill out of her mouth, dripping down her morbidly white skin, and she wipes them off with her black lace gloves, creating a captivating sight unbefitting of the girl’s age.

“They’re taking a lot of time. What are they dawdling for? The master’s orders are absolute,” she says in a huff as she hands the empty glass to a nearby woman. The surrounding women are in a panic, as if frightened by something. That is, they were afraid that the girl’s bad mood might be a life-threatening situation.

“Aaagh, I’m so booored… Oh, I know,” the girl says, clapping her hands together as if she got an idea. By appearances, this may seem to be a gesture befitting of her age, but there’s a tense mood in the air around her.

“Wasn’t there a knight that fought back until the end? Someone bring him here. And prepare everything I tell you to,” the girl says with a bewitching smile. However, there’s a strange, somewhat unnatural feeling to it, as if it’s the smile of a demon. The women are relieved that they aren’t the ones to be sacrificed.

One of the women brings a middle-aged knight to her. Even though the muscular man is bound with rope, it looks a bit unnatural that he’s completely helpless before the woman. The knight grimaces, perhaps because of the suffocating smell in the room.

“Uhh, so you were the captain in charge of defending this city, right? Good evening.”

“…You monster,” the knight says, and the woman moves to shut his mouth. However, the girl in the black dress stops her with a look.

“Oh my, you say such horrible things, calling a cute girl like me a monster. Aren’t you a gentleman, or were you not taught proper etiquette?” the girl says, sounding amused rather than offended.

“Hmph… So what do you want?” the knight responds with disinterest.

“I just wanted to kill time with a bit of entertainment.”

“Entertainment?”

“Yes, entertainment. A simple game. If you win, I’ll let you go safe and sound.”

The middle-aged knight squints in silence, as if trying to determine if her words are genuine.

“…What happens if I lose?”

“Nothing in particular. It’ll be no different from now. I’m holding the power of life and death over you, so isn’t that enough of a condition?”

“…”

The knight thinks. He has subordinates and family in this region. What meaning would there be in abandoning them for his own freedom? However, if the demonic being before him was unleashed on the world, it would undoubtedly cause harm to his country. He has his doubts that she’ll keep her promise, but the chances might not be zero.

“If you stay silent, I’ll consider that a yes. You won’t get another opportunity like this,” she asks again in a bit of a bad mood when she doesn’t get a response.

He closes his eyes. He pictures the faces of his subordinates, his father, his wife, and his son. ‘I’m sorry. I don’t mind if you resent me for this,’ he tells them, although his words of atonement for the sin he is about to commit don’t reach anyone. Betting on his duty to defend his country and the sliver of hope that they might also be saved, he makes a devil deal with the girl.

Four ordinary glasses of red wine are lined up in front of the knight.

“The game is simple. How good is your tongue? Do a wine tasting and see if you can guess where this wine came from.”

“Hmph, even a monster can do wine tasting, huh?”

“Yes, I’m quite good at it. You could say it’s my specialty. I can guess in great detail. Are you good at it?”

The knight shows no emotion on his face, but internally, he’s gloating. Since this country is a trade nation and this city is a transit point, wine from every nation is brought here. He’s such a heavy drinker that he would often drink all night with his subordinates and get a nasty scolding from his wife. Therefore, he is confident in himself.

“Since you’re tied up, I shall feed it to you. Consider it an honor.”

The girl picks up a glass and brings it to the knight’s mouth. He smells the fragrant scent… and starts choking.

“Cough, cough…! What is this?!”

“Oh, what’s the matter? Is there some sort of problem?”

“Don’t play dumb, you know exactly what the problem is! This isn’t wine at all! This is blood, isn’t it?!” the knight says, and the girl stares blankly at him. Then, she gives him a look of remembrance, as if to say, ‘Oh yes, that’s right.’

“Oh, my apologies. I never told you, did I? It’s blood wine. It’s the sort of wine a monster would serve, so it’s only natural, isn’t it?”

“There’s no way a human could drink something like this!” the knight says in indignation, and the girl lowers her head as if in sadness.

“You truly are a cruel person. The worst of the worst. Even though I carefully selected this blood wine especially for you…”

Then, she fans the glass of blood.

“This one is a young man’s blood. He trained his body quite well, so the taste of his blood is refreshing. But unfortunately, I’m guessing he isn’t a virgin, so it may taste a bit bitter. He seems to be from this city.”

The knight gives the girl a dubious look as she suddenly begins the blood tasting. The girl picks up a different glass and makes a disgusted face.

“This one stinks of the elderly! Ugh, this sensation is simply the worst. Blood gets worse at this age! It’s probably from this city, but they’re all similar in every city!” she says, tossing the glass.

“To cleanse my palate, this one is a middle-aged woman. It seems like she was a beautiful woman, but it also seems that she had a child, so I’d prefer a taste that’s a bit fruity. Maidens truly are best. This one is also from this city, I suppose.”

“H- hey… Don’t tell me…” The knight’s face gradually freezes.

“The last is a boy of around ten years of age! Oh, yes, the taste is very mild. This one is the best of them all! Just as I’d expect of a virgin! Ten-year-olds truly are different! It tastes similar to the woman from earlier, so it must be a relative.”

“Stop… stop!” the knight shouts and struggles as his suspicion turns to conviction. However, he was held down by the female attendant.

“You finally realized, I see. But wasn’t it far too slow? Though, I could tell by the smell. Aren’t humans too heartless? Or perhaps you’re especially heartless?”

“I knew it… That’s…”

“That’s right, you guessed correctly! They’re all people who were close to you! So, what do you think? I truly did select them especially for you.”

As he watches the girl cackle, the knight loses all color in his face.

“The first was your subordinate, I suppose. It seems he got married just recently. Well, it is unfortunate, but he sacrificed his life for his captain, so I’m sure he’s satisfied. Ahh, there was a message he wanted me to give you if you participated in the game. ‘Captain, why did you betray us?’ he said. Well, there’s no helping it. Anyone would curse you as they bled to death if you told them that you just wanted to be saved. For a captain, you sure are unpopular, aren’t you?”

She offers to pick a good girl out of her underlings to introduce to him and gives him other such words of pity.

“Your father and wife were dauntless. Oh yes, I have last words from them as well. They said, ‘Don’t worry about it too much. Protect the country at all costs.’ And I believe your wife said, ‘Take care of our son for me.’ What a sad story. I forgot to tell her, ‘Your son’s gonna die too after this!’ before it became time for her to die. I’m so thoughtless, I’m going to cry. Well, I did my best, so it’s not an issue,” the girl says, crying fake tears. The knight’s face is already drenched with tears as he grits his teeth.

“And lastly, a message from your son! ‘I’m scared, it hurts, Daddy, Mommy, Grandpa, help! I’m cold, it’s dark… Someone… help’… Oh, I felt so bad for scaring him, I almost apologized. Well, I figured he was just unlucky for having a father like this, so I gave up on that idea! Plus, his mommy was waiting for him on the other side! And Grandpa’s with them, too,” the girl says, making an insincere gesture of apology after she mimed suddenly collapsing on the ground as if imitating the knight’s son’s last moments.

“Oh, and I didn’t waste their sacrifice, so you can rest assured. I had my underlings take care of all of them except your son, but the portion that didn’t fit in the glasses was responsibly disposed of. Of course, I drank from your son directly and helped myself to his delicious blood!”

She gives the knight a thumbs up to say, ‘It was really delicious, thanks for the meal!’ The knight’s struggling becomes even more violent.

“So, how does it feel? Having the family and city you were supposed to protect stolen from you so unfairly, wasting the chance they gave you to escape… Hey, how does it feel? Hey, could you tell me?”

“…ill you.”

“Huh, what was that? Carmilla couldn’t hear yooou! Could you say it a bit louder for me, Mister?” she says, putting her hand to her ear and leaning in closer to the knight’s mouth.

“I’m… gonna kill you… I’m gonna kill you, I’m gonna kill you, I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you! I’LL KILL YOU!” the knight screams, his eyes filled with despair and intense hatred. His skin has lost the paleness from before and is now burning bright red. The only words he can form are curses directed at the girl.

Confirming this, the girl, Carmilla, is truly delighted, smiling broadly.

“Oh yes, how delightful! The despair and hatred are mixing together wonderfully, you really are the best! As a reward, I shall personally embrace you…”

The girl’s dainty arms curl around the knight’s body.

“…and put you out of your misery.”

Carmilla opens her mouth wide and bites into the knight’s neck. In that moment, there were two sparkling fangs in her mouth.

“Ahh, I’m satisfied. Oh, you can take care of the rest however you want,” she prompts the surrounding women to take care of the remains, blissfully content.

“Now, I suppose it’s about time. Display.”

She puts her hand on a crystal on the table and pours mana into it. As she does so, an image starts flowing into the crystal from far away.

Fort Eisenstadt, located on the northeast border of the Weichsel Empire, was originally built to confront the Allied Commune to the east, with which they had a hostile relationship. However, nowadays, defending against invasions from other countries has become a thing of the past, so the soldiers there are equipped for monitoring the monsters to the north. However, even now that the monsters have become more active, not even a single monster has made it past the fort. It’s an impregnable strategic location. But now, Fort Eisenstadt is suddenly in an uproar.

“Damn! How many of them are there?!” a sentry curses the reality before him. There are innumerable silhouettes on the horizon. At first, he couldn’t tell what they were, assumed they were Commune soldiers, and panicked thinking it was a war. But as the silhouettes approached, he realized that they weren’t humans, but monsters, and in unbelievable numbers, which caused his panic to intensify.

The fact that monsters are swarming and attacking the fort is unusual in and of itself. However, it would usually be impossible to misidentify them. But nevertheless, he mistook them for Commune soldiers at first.

“Why are the monsters coming from Commune…?!”

The monsters aren’t only coming from the north. Most of them are advancing from Commune. It’s true that there are open flatlands in the direction of Commune, which is convenient for forming hordes. If they’re following military tactics, that is. However, it’s unthinkable to the soldiers that monsters would attack with military tactics.

“Hey, what is that?” the sentry points at the sky.

“That’s… This is bad, it’s coming this way! That’s a griffin!”

With a roar, a monster with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion flies towards the fort and attacks from the sky. They counterattack the griffin with archers, a few mages, and the ballistas that the fort is equipped with. As if sneering at this desperate attack, the griffin makes good use of its mobility and evades them, dropping a spherical object that it was holding in its forelimbs.

There’s an explosion.

The tower of the fort collapses, and several soldiers are crushed beneath it. Soldiers climbing the fort walls are blown away by the blast at point-blank range, and some of them fall from the wall.

“An explosion?! Do they have gunpowder?! How?!”

There’s nobody there to respond to the cries of the injured soldiers. They scream in agony from the disaster caused by the explosions. There was more than one.

The fort walls are soundly destroyed by the bombs dropped by the griffins. The ballistas are already gone, greatly reducing their anti-air measures. The air of Fort Eisenstadt is under the complete control of the griffins.

However, the tragedy doesn’t end there.

There’s a thundering roar.

A wall collapses. The fort’s gate is breached. Monsters charge in.

The imperial soldiers are the first ones to ever see this monster. It has incredible speed despite its huge body, with a sharp horn on its nose and a thick hide unrivalled in defensive ability.

If someone who knew of Another World was present to see this, they would refer to it as the rhino-type monster, Rhinos.

In only half a day, Fort Eisenstadt falls to the monsters.

“Wow, I was skeptical, but that’s some incredible power. To think that the griffins would take control of the air with their excellent mobility, break through enemy lines, and then immediately suppress the ground troops and annihilate them. That’s just what you’d expect from the master’s strategy. Well, it’s a strategy suited to those muscle-brained beasts. Though, even if it’s from the other world, it does bother me that it’s a strategy that humans originally came up with… What was that strategy called, I wonder?”

Carmilla nods in satisfaction at the image in the crystal of the destruction caused by the allied army, but her eyebrows lower in annoyance.

“That other world’s military strategy, I think it was called…”

Carmilla crosses her arms and remembers her master’s words.

Don’t underestimate humans. Learn from humans and make use of that knowledge.

She has no intention to oppose her revered master, but even Carmilla wondered if that warning was even necessary. However, considering what they’ve achieved in each region, the accuracy of her master’s foresight leaves her more in awe than ever before. This strategy is also something her master brought.

“That’s right, it’s called a blitzkrieg. It’s a pretty good name.”

As she watches the pitiful sight of the fort doomed to collapse, she’s in deep thought, a bewitching expression appearing on her face.

“Now, I wonder if the empire can endure?”