“Sir Ur. What shall we do?”
Shizuku asked. Her eyes held a hint of anxiety. It was immediately clear that she was worried about the knights being injured right before their eyes. Ur nodded in agreement.
“Either way, we can’t just stand here and watch. Let’s lend a hand—”
“We’ve been waiting for you.”
“—Whoa!?”
A third voice interrupted their conversation. Startled, Ur turned around to find a woman dressed as a servant standing behind him and Shizuku, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. Instinctively on guard, Ur gripped his dragon fang spear, but he recognized the woman with black hair and blue eyes.
“You’re… Diz’s…”
“Diz’s attendant, Jenna, at your service. We’ve been waiting for you, Sir Ur, Lady Shizuku.”
Jenna bowed her head. Before Ur could react, she handed him a small pouch.
“Here, take this.”
“……Silver coins?”
Inside were several silver coins. What’s this for? Ur wondered, but he quickly understood her intention and his face twitched.
“This is the advance payment. With this, the quest to accept the request for Diz’s escort and miscellaneous tasks is complete.”
“Escort.”
“Yes.”
The escort mission for Diz was originally scheduled to begin here in Alto. Ur had heard that the advance payment would be given here. In that sense, things were proceeding as planned—but…
“……Where is Diz?”
“Inside the burning Island Devouring Turtle.”
“Protect her, you say?”
“Yes.”
“Can I renegotiate the working conditions?”
“I don’t have the authority to negotiate that. Please discuss it with Diz after rescuing her.”
Ur clutched his head. In his mind, he punched the face of his past self, who had laughed, “This might turn out to be an easy job, hehehe,” but the situation hadn’t changed.
“Sir Ur!”
Meanwhile, the situation was rapidly unfolding.
At Shizuku’s call, Ur looked up. The leg of the Island Devouring Turtle, which from here looked like a massive wall, had begun to move slowly. It was clearly moving away from this harbor.
“This is bad!!”
“Chase it! Hurry—ugh!?”
“No! Focus on the undead soldiers!!”
The knights were being held back by a large number of undead soldiers. It didn’t seem like they could stop them. Where the Island Devouring Turtle was headed was unclear, but it was certain that nothing good would come of it.
“Guess we have to chase it… but how do we board—”
“Follow me.”
Without a sound, Jenna began moving through the night. Without time to think, Ur and Shizuku followed her. She led them to the carriage dock at the mobile fortress’s harbor. They had heard it was possible to board the Island Devouring Turtle with a carriage, but—
“Here.”
They arrived at a carriage parked there. A splendid carriage and—
“The black one is Dal, the white one is Sul. Lady Diz’s beloved horses. Please mount them.”
“How beautiful.”
—A black horse with jet-black fur and a white horse with pure white fur, Dal and Sul greeted them. They were likely the horses meant to pull Diz’s carriage. Already equipped with saddles and ready to go.
“But even if we mount them, how are we supposed to—”
“It’s alright.”
As Ur hesitated, something grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. A warm breath blew directly into his face. And before he could even turn around—
“Whaaaaat!?”
With a whoosh, Ur’s body was lifted and thrown with incredible force. He instinctively corrected his posture and landed on the saddle of the massive black horse he had just seen. Apparently, the black horse had grabbed him by the neck and tossed him. Next to him, Shizuku had somehow already mounted the white horse, Sul. She hadn’t been thrown like Ur, though…
[──────]
As if confirming that Ur was on its back, the black horse glanced at him for a moment and neighed. Of course, Ur couldn’t understand what it was saying, but somehow he knew exactly what it meant. Translated, it was:
—Stop dawdling, let’s go.
And in the next moment, the black horse’s muscles surged with incredible power. At that point, Ur realized this wasn’t an ordinary horse, but it was already too late.
“Whoooooaaaaa!!!”
With an explosive burst of speed, the two horses charged into the night.
“Please take care of Lady Diz—she’s bound to do something reckless.”
Jenna called after the two horses as they raced toward the Island Devouring Turtle, but Ur, of course, had no time to listen.
Quest Issued
[Escort Quest – Golden Phoenix Gordian-Phoenix: Escort Diz Gran Phoenix]
Reward: Advance payment of 20 silver coins, 1 gold coin and 10 silver coins monthly.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
The outskirts of the city, still far from dawn, were pitch black.
Even with some light at hand, it only illuminated the ground beneath their feet. Beyond that was complete darkness, making it impossible to see what lay ahead.
The night is frightening and terrifying. Few in this world would carelessly venture into a world without the protection of the Sun God Zeuradia.
“Ooooooohhh!!!”
Riding through the dark night at an extraordinary speed and scaling the cliff-like shell of the burning Island Devouring Turtle was an experience too terrifying for words.
“Ugh, ah…!? Ugh… eek…”
After a wild ride where he could no longer tell which way was up or down, Dal landed on the ground, and Ur tumbled off, dizzy and groaning.
Staggering to his feet, he finally took in his surroundings to confirm where he was.
“On the shell…?”
To be precise, he had arrived on the rooftop of a building constructed on the shell of the Island Devouring Turtle.
Shizuku and the white horse landed silently beside him. Compared to Ur’s arrival, theirs was quiet and graceful.
“Thank you, Lady Sul.”
As Shizuku dismounted and gently stroked Sul, the horse responded with a soft sound. The white horse’s temperament seemed quite gentle. Meanwhile, when Ur glanced at Dal, he was met with a look of utter disdain.
—Don’t go losing it over something like this, weakling.
This bastard… Ur’s face twitched.
“Sir Ur.”
“Yeah…”
But there was no time for that. At Shizuku’s call, Ur readied his dragon fang spear.
The space, likely a visitor’s observation deck, was in ruins. Fires had been set haphazardly, and something was wriggling through the flickering flames, approaching them.
“They’re coming.”
[Kakakakakaka!!]
From the flames, undead soldiers clattered forward, their skeletal bodies rattling as they attacked.
In Ur’s mind, the words of Greed’s violent instructor echoed.
—The movements of undead soldiers differ depending on whether they’re natural or familiars. Observe carefully.
As Shizuku pointed out, these were familiars. They were being controlled by a human will. Keeping that in mind, Ur observed their movements.
[Kakakakakaka!!!]
They swung their tattered swords wildly, clearly targeting Ur and ignoring Shizuku. Their killing intent was high, and it was hard to tell how they determined their targets, but for now, it was convenient.
[Kaa!!!]
“!”
Ur blocked the descending blade with the edge of his dragon fang spear.
The blade, forged from the drop of a Gem Doll, gleamed in the firelight. Its unyielding strength, showing no signs of chipping, gave Ur confidence. He slid the blade along the undead soldier’s body and cleaved it in two.
[Kakakaka────]
The skeletal body crumbled effortlessly.
“Fragile!”
Compared to regular monsters, they weren’t particularly sturdy. But Ur didn’t let his guard down. The upper half of the broken body was still moving, writhing as it tried to grab Ur’s throat.
—The weak point is the vessel that holds the soul, but skilled necromancers hide it cleverly. If you can’t find it,
“Shatter it to pieces!”
[Ka────]
With a follow-up strike, Ur destroyed the spine, scattering the body and kicking it away. Even then, it tried to move, but unable to maintain its form, the undead soldier eventually crumbled and disappeared.
Indeed, they weren’t that strong.
The undead soldiers were ranked 12th out of 13 levels. They weren’t opponents Ur and Shizuku couldn’t handle. The problem was,
“Three more, coming from the front!”
The number of enemies.
The threat of undead soldiers lies in their fearlessness and their mechanical, overwhelming attacks. Even the knights, specialists in urban defense, were being pushed back by the sheer number of undead soldiers.
Ur spotted the three in his line of sight. He could handle them. But he didn’t want them to get too close.
No matter how fragile the opponent, numbers have the power to overwhelm—a lesson Greed had drilled into him with his fists (though it was hard to take seriously from a man who single-handedly beat up a bunch of trainees).
The thought of using [Howl] for a long-range shot crossed his mind. His magic core had been strengthened through battles, but it still took time to recharge after each use. He wanted to conserve it. The same went for Shizuku’s magic. Then,
“Here we go!!”
Ur grabbed the tattered sword that the fallen undead soldier at his feet had been holding. Without hesitation, he stepped forward and hurled it forward with all his might. The strength he had gained through battles was infused into the sword. Though his aim was slightly off, it struck three undead soldiers emerging from the flames.
[Kaaa!!!?]
One shattered from the direct hit, and the impact blew off the arm of another. Ur closed in on the remaining unharmed one, driving his spear into its skull, then turned to crush the one with the missing arm.
“Shizuku!”
“I’m fine! There’s no more noise from outside!”
Feeling a small sense of relief at Shizuku’s words, Ur gazed at the shattered sword he had thrown and muttered,
“…Not bad.”
Choosing to throw the sword had been a split-second decision, but it had been more effective than he expected. As a way to unleash the power he had absorbed from magic from a distance, it left a strong impression on him.
“Sir Ur, I’m sorry for leaving it to you.”
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