Chapter 146
In front of the ever-expanding Thorn Fortress stood the ever-multiplying vine-rose dragons and soldiers.
Were there so many dragons and soldiers just to flaunt their overwhelming power?
"Wow, that's amazing."
Pike pursed her lips in displeasure at Ture's laid-back remark.
"It's not amazing. I can do it, too."
"No need."
Cyril, carried on Ture's back, promptly tried to stop her, but Pike ignored him and waved her right hand.
Ice crystals sparkled at her fingertips. They swelled in an instant, taking the form of dragons and soldiers made of ice. There were almost as many of them as there were in the vine-rose army.
Every ice sculpture created by the Ice Spirit Asshel Pike was a masterpiece.
Unlike the grotesque dragons and soldiers cobbled together from vine-roses, the ice dragons had every scale carefully rendered, and the soldiers' armor and swords were elaborately decorated. They looked as if they might come to life at any moment.
But the ice sculptures lacked the flexibility of the vine-roses.
The vine-rose dragons bared their fangs and the soldiers swung their arms, while the ice sculptures, naturally, remained still.
"Go."
As if answering Pike's command, the ice sculptures soared through the air and rained down on the grotesque vine-rose creatures.
The sight of the intricately detailed ice sculptures—so lifelike they could have been real—crashing into the creatures with thunderous booms and shattering was nothing short of spectacular.
It was strangely gruesome to see the heads and limbs of the shattered ice soldiers rolling toward them, too.
"D-did they really need to be ice sculptures...?"
At Cyril's involuntary groan, Pike said with a proud air, though her expression remained blank,
"Ice sculptures look cooler."
It was a staggering waste of magic. A mere chunk of ice would've been plenty, and for that matter, a rock lying around would have done the job.
Still, the ice sculptures' charge, backed by their considerable mass and magic, had a decent effect. The grotesque vine-rose creatures stopped advancing.
—And someone was silently waiting for the moment when the 〈Thorn Witch〉 stopped moving.
＊ ＊ ＊
(Now!)
Monica, who had been waiting for the right moment to intervene from outside the barrier, immediately dispelled the magic-battle barrier.
Raul and Pike were almost evenly matched, but Raul's limits were impossible to gauge now.
And Pike was at a disadvantage, since she had to protect Ture and Cyril as well.
Most importantly, if Raul's thorns caught Cyril and the others, Monica would be completely out of options. If she was going to act, now was her only chance.
The sudden disappearance of the barrier around them distracted both Raul and Pike.
In those few seconds, Monica completed her magic formula.
A spell of the highest rank, usable by only a handful of high-ranking mages.
"—Open, gate."
A great magic circle shone in the sky above the Thorn Forest.
Floating at its center was the white, radiant gate used to summon the Spirit King.
It opened without a sound.
"Appear from the edge of silence, Sheffield, King of the Wind Spirits!"
Blades of wind rained down in what seemed like a chaotic pattern—though it followed a pattern only Monica could understand.
Summoning a Spirit King was the most powerful means of attack Monica could use.
As the gleaming white wind blades swept across the area, the Man-Eating Rose Fortress, the vine-rose soldiers, and the dragons were all torn to shreds and blown away as if struck by a storm.
The severed thorns thrashed like snakes, spraying plant sap instead of blood. New vines sprouted from their cut ends in an instant.
With their terrifying regenerative power, the soldiers and dragons began to reform.
Monica brought the blades of wind down on them again.
Monica had already used a fair amount of magic maintaining the magic-battle barrier. She wouldn't be able to keep the gate for summoning the Spirit King open for long.
Even so, Monica silently continued to tear away at the Man-Eating Rose Fortress with blades of wind.
Pike seemed to understand what Monica was trying to do, too. She changed her ice sculptures into ice daggers and joined the attack.
Amid the scattered clumps of thorns, Raul tilted his head languidly and glared at Monica.
"—'Summoning a Spirit King... What an extravagant diversion.'"
He'd noticed.
Cold sweat beaded on Monica's cheek, but she kept her focus on maintaining the gate for summoning the Spirit King.
＊ ＊ ＊
While Monica drew Raul's attention with the summoning of the Spirit King, Isaac approached the Thorn Fortress, using a detection spell as he went.
(There.)
He sensed a magical presence within one of the scattered clumps of thorns.
Isaac drew the dagger he'd hidden beneath his jacket. It wasn't a small knife for self-defense, but a thick, double-edged blade.
He used it to cut through the clump of thorns in front of him, then picked up with his blanket-wrapped left hand the pitch-black ring hidden among them—the 〈Knowledge Keeper's Key〉, Sophocles.
'Ooooooh, pie maker! You came to save me! You really came to save me!'
"You don't have to remember me, but could you remember my great and esteemed master?"
As he spoke, Isaac held the 〈Knowledge Keeper's Key〉 over his head.
He held it where the gate for summoning the Spirit King in the sky—and the precisely aimed blades of wind pouring from it—would be clearly visible.
"The world's only user of magic without incantations: Monica Everett, the 〈Silent Witch〉, one of the Seven Sages of the Kingdom of Ridill. She's the master I revere. By the way, five of her papers are in the Ascald Library's collection. Shall I read out their titles?"
'Th-that little girl...'
Isaac smiled smugly at the trembling 〈Knowledge Keeper's Key〉 and said,
"Now, I could use you myself, but... you'd rather choose your own master, wouldn't you, Sophocles?"
'U-ugh...'
Isaac took the ring's groan, which sounded very much like a reluctant answer, as consent.
The surrounding thorns rustled and intertwined, closing around Isaac.
The 〈Thorn Witch〉 fixed her gaze on Isaac and narrowed her eyes as if amused.
"'Black... I don't dislike black-haired men, you know. I'll plant a rose that will bloom into the most magnificent flower.'"
"I'm afraid it's dyed."
The regenerating vine-roses took the shape of soldiers and swung their spear-like arms at Isaac.
Isaac took a single step to the side to dodge the attack, then cut off both arms of the vine-rose soldier with his dagger.
At the same time, a blade of wind came down from above and cleanly cut the vine-rose soldier in two. Monica was covering him.
Summoning a Spirit King was an incredibly powerful spell. That made it all the more difficult to control.
Monica was probably the only person in the world capable of wielding it with such precision.
(My master really is amazing.)
Enraptured, Isaac shifted the dagger to his left hand and clenched the ring in his right.
"Cyril!"
Cyril, still carried on Ture's back, raised his head and looked at Isaac.
Isaac gave a light toss, throwing the 〈Knowledge Keeper's Key〉 toward Cyril.
'You treat me far too roughly—!'
Pike caught the 〈Knowledge Keeper's Key〉 as it spun through the air, looking distinctly displeased.
＊ ＊ ＊
Hearing his beloved prince call his name, Cyril looked up.
Isaac tossed something in Cyril's direction. A pitch-black ring—the 〈Knowledge Keeper's Key〉, Sophocles—spun through the air.
Pike caught it and looked at Cyril with a blank expression.
"Should I break it?"
Isaac's intention hadn't gotten through to her at all.
Cyril climbed down from Ture's back and held out a hand to Pike.
"...Give it to me."
"Mm."
Cyril hesitated over whether or not to put the ring he'd received from Pike on his finger.
He didn't think he deserved to wear it in his current state.
(This situation happened because I made the wrong decision... because I simply wasn't strong enough. I asked too much of Raul without knowing my own limits, let the 〈Knowledge Keeper's Key〉 get taken from me once, and dragged His Highness and Monica into this...)
As Cyril went pale and bit down on his lip, the 〈Knowledge Keeper's Key〉 scolded him.
'Hey! Hurry up and put me on!'
"But..."
'Otherwise, that man will be eaten by the vine-roses and die.'
Cyril looked up at Isaac with a start.
Isaac was surrounded by vine-rose soldiers.
He was fending off the soldiers' fierce attacks with nothing but a dagger as they swung their whip-like, razor-sharp arms.
Monica was supporting him with blades of wind whenever she could, but against the ever-multiplying vine-roses, he would eventually be overwhelmed by their numbers.
"—There's got to be a way to save His Highness... to save that man, isn't there?!"
'Who do you think I am? The guardian of the Forbidden Books Chamber at the Ascald Library! The great Knowledge Keeper—'
"If there's a way, tell me now!"
A moment ago, he hadn't even been able to bring himself to put the ring on. And now look at him.
Cyril became short-tempered to an extreme whenever 〈His Highness〉 was involved. The 〈Knowledge Keeper's Key〉 grumbled in displeasure, then prompted him, 'Put me on your finger.'
Cyril slipped the pitch-black ring onto the middle finger of his right hand.
The smooth, black gemstone shifted in color as if reflecting a rainbow.
Then a pattern appeared on his middle finger, centered beneath the ring: the contract mark of an ancient magical artifact.
'Raise your hand into the air.'
Cyril lifted his right hand as instructed, and his fingers began moving on their own.
The tip of his middle finger glowed gold. Stretching the light like ink, Cyril's right hand drew a magic formula in midair.
"Wow, it's pretty."
Ture murmured, narrowing his golden eyes.
The magic formula drawn in the air stretched out like a ribbon and encircled Raul.
Raul immediately tried to move away, but blades of wind raining down from above wouldn't let him.
'In the name of the 〈Knowledge Keeper's Key〉, Sophocles, I seal this person here.'
The golden ribbons floating around Raul spread out thinly and enveloped him.
It was a powerful barrier used to seal away creatures in the old era, when beings called monsters still roamed the land.
Raul Roseburg possessed such immense magical power that he could break an ordinary barrier by sheer force. But this barrier had a spell woven into it that severed Raul from his magic.
The grotesque thorn creatures lost their strength one after another and fell to the ground. They no longer writhed like snakes.
And the barrier nullified any magic cast on Raul—including the mental interference magic imposed by the Roseburg family.
Within the barrier, Raul's head drooped limply.
His red-rose-like curls hid his expression.
"...Raul?"
At Cyril's call, Raul slowly raised his face.
What returned to his vacant face, now devoid of expression, was the cruel smile of the First 〈Thorn Witch〉—or perhaps...
"Whoa, I can't use magic for some reason! Heeey, what a strange feeling. It's not like my magic's run out; it's like part of my body suddenly went all floaty and disappeared... Oh, hey, Cyril! Is the trial over?"
His handsome face wore a carefree, sunny smile.
Raul waved energetically from inside the barrier, and Cyril was surprised by just how relieved he felt.