Free Web NovelFrom the moment the Starbell Lily had entered first-level alert until now, wave after wave of monsters had poured out of the mist to attack. Yet none had managed to break through the knights’ and sailors’ defenses. At this moment of life and death, people had, for once, found rare unity.
But contact with the Heroes’ party had been lost completely. Their fate was unknown, and the captain’s expression was grim.
If they wanted to minimize losses, then the moment ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) the engines restarted, the best course of action was to charge through the horde and press on toward their destination.
Yet the Heroes were missing.
“Captain, do you want me to rally the men, encourage them to keep holding out while we wait for the Heroes to return?”
The thin first mate came up behind the captain. The fat first mate had been so shaken by the illusion that he still lay unconscious in the infirmary. Naturally, the duty of bolstering morale had fallen to him.
Truthfully, the thin first mate was not nearly as good at such things as his counterpart. But as one of the ark’s officers, unable to fight himself, this was all he could do.
To steady his nerves, he had already downed two bottles of rum and three cans of gin.
He knew very well it was nothing more than a performance. Once the ark was operational again, if they didn’t sail, people would rise in protest.
They had been terrified for far too long in this mist, their nerves stretched taut.
A stirring speech could raise morale—but a failed one would cause riots, and he would be the scapegoat. It wouldn’t cost him his life, but he’d be branded a disgrace, fated to live out his days as nothing more than a sailor.
“Encouragement alone won’t be enough,” the captain said evenly, rough fingers tapping on the railing. “Hatred of monsters is good, righteous anger is good—but it lacks something... something that shakes the soul.”
“Then what shakes the soul? What do I do?” The thin first mate raked at his hair, near panicked.
“You don’t need to do anything.” The captain shook his head, his bearing suddenly solemn.
“Let them believe the Heroes will return. But also tell them this: the only reason we’ve broken free, however briefly, from the illusion—was because the Heroes out there traded their lives for this chance. For the sun, we must give thanks.”
The thin first mate’s eyes lit up. He snapped his head up, clarity shining in them.
“So we must wait for the Heroes to return—no matter the cost!”
Dark blue waters thundered with cannon fire, but even the blasts could not drown out the hoarse voices screaming “Fire!” again and again.
The elf girl drew her thin sword out from the heart of a whale-shaped monster. Its massive body collapsed with a crash, black blood spilling as it slid through a hole in the ice and sank into the depths.
The blue-haired Hero strode forward across the water, spear in hand. Every thrust launched monsters into the air. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
Every Hero’s true weapon was a bane to monsters. Like a red-hot blade cutting butter, mere contact dealt catastrophic holy damage.
Corpses piled high. If not for the collapsing ice beneath them, the bodies would already have formed mountains.
“Hero, miss—have you seen Vieya? Just now she suddenly... vanished—I’m sorry...” Aislin bit her lip. If that human fledgling came to harm, she would never forgive herself.
“First deal with the monsters before us.” Rotisha’s spear whirled, her Authority of Reversal coating its shaft. Each cast, each swing, created an invisible whirlpool at the point of impact, hurling clusters of monsters back into infancy. Palm-sized newborns were instantly crushed beneath the stampede of their own kin.
As she harvested lives, her voice remained level.
“That child won’t come to harm.”
“And what makes you so sure?” The elf girl bristled, angered. She loathed this manner of Rotisha’s—cold, measuring all things by weight and worth.
No doubt, if faced with the trolley problem, this Hero would cast aside the lesser life without hesitation to save the greater.
Even so, the elf fought alongside her and the blue-haired Hero, cutting down the swarm.
The cleaner they slaughtered these beasts, the safer Vieya would be.
That was the logic, though carrying it out was brutally difficult.
Unlike the Heroes, the elf had no natural advantage against these creatures. To kill them she had to strike their weak points. Alone, she would have been drowned long ago by the tide.
The blue-haired Hero was right. For now, they had to focus on the monsters. Annoying as she was, she was far from useless—her very presence was a bomb that obliterated monsters.
The elf panted hard. Slaughtering monsters like this drained her strength, especially out here on the frozen, barren waters.
If only they were in the forest, she could call on countless elven magics to deal with these tenacious brutes.
“Can you reach the ark?” she gasped. A report and coordinates could bring a rain of cannon fire down in support.
“No.” Rotisha planted herself at the elf’s side, spear poised. They had beaten back this wave, but the next from below would rise soon enough.
“And for now—conserve strength. The monster pulling the strings is intelligent. To command so many followers, it must be no ordinary beast.”
“I know.” The elf sat down, spreading her traveler’s cloak under her, chewing on a honey stick to replenish energy. “That’s why I’ve kept to the sword. My magic is still in reserve.”
“Good.” Rotisha nodded.
“Here, have one.” The elf held out another stick, watching the Hero hesitate. “Even Heroes, however strong, still bleed and tire. You still need food and rest.” ƒгeewёbnovel.com
“...Thank you.”
Rotisha accepted it, biting off a piece, her dark red eyes fixed on the mist beyond. “Can you fight the next round?”
“I wonder...” The elf smiled faintly, voice low. “Even you Heroes, full of lofty ideals, must have someone you cherish, don’t you? Fighting monsters every day, treading the edge of death—if one day you couldn’t return, would you feel regret?”
“......” Rotisha said nothing. Silence was her answer.
“But I would.” The elf wiped her slim sword carefully, voice dropping softer still. “My family waits in the Elven Forest for me to return. If I died here, swallowed by this cold sea, never again to see them—”
“...that would be a regret beyond measure.”
She rose, sliding her thin sword into its scabbard with a snap. Facing the monsters rising from the depths, her eyes burned fearless, her voice ringing with the conviction of a pilgrim.
“So I will find Vieya. I will bring her back to her kin. That is my promise as an elf—and I will not break it halfway!”
“What are you planning?” Rotisha asked sharply, sensing something wrong in her smile.
“The Silver Deer Oriana, guardian god of the elves’ worship.” The elf girl’s smile deepened. “I can borrow Her strength.”
“...What did you say?” Rotisha froze, every pore of her body prickling with cold sweat.
