Chapter 102. Loss (1)
Two shots of ga Explosion.
That should have been enough to decisively break their formation.
Indeed, the field before my eyes had turned into a pile of ashes.
Scorched bone fragnts, lted iron armor.
Only the occasional, eerie squeaking sound echoed from among the incinerated lumps of flesh.
But I couldn't sheathe my blade.
“Strange.”
A single word scattered softly.
Adel and Alvarez were gripping their swords, staring ahead.
Number 1 and Number 3 also maintained their battle formation, their gazes fixed on .
Iris, her expression still unchanged, was waiting for the scouts' reports.
The front was devoid of any composure.
But sothing didn't sit right with .
‘The aftermath of Noemi's explosion magic went beyond simple flas and changed the very terrain of the battlefield.’
Despite that, the enemies showed no sign of retreating.
The attitude of the undead, maintaining their formation even in the face of annihilation.
Broken, but not fallen.
The remnants that crawled forward even while burning were truly grotesque.
“Are they buying ti?”
It wasn't a question ant for anyone, just a thought to myself.
Of course, the undead do not fear death.
They are already dead beings.
But their unconscious instincts should remain.
They would try to avoid pain, cower before overwhelming heat, and at tis, be terrified.
‘But their appearance is reminiscent of kamikazes.’
To crawl forward without screaming, to not retreat even while burning, ant that, ‘Is battle not their objective?’
At that very mont.
The scabbard at my waist vibrated strangely.
To be precise, a small crack had begun to form on the jewel embedded in the center of the scabbard.
“?!”
I reached out my hand reflexively.
A faint vibration felt at my fingertips.
Followed by a slightly spreading warmth.
It felt as if soone was sending
a signal to save them.
‘Could it be?’
The person who made this sword for
was none other than Anonymous.
I unconsciously turned my gaze to the west.
Beyond the Elburz Mountains, on the other side.
I had a feeling that sothing was happening sowhere over there.
“Iris.”
She looked up when I called her na.
Although she didn't say anything, she seed to have noticed sothing just by looking at my expression.
“Is there any word from headquarters?”
“Not yet. But it should co soon.”
I nodded slightly and looked down at the scabbard again.
A sword and scabbard made by Anonymous herself.
I had a foreboding feeling.
There was no reason for a perfectly fine jewel to suddenly crack.
The sword was still trembling faintly inside the scabbard.
‘This is a warning. A sign that sothing terrible is happening.’
I pressed my lips firmly together.
The movents of the undead in front seed even more ominous.
Movents not ant to kill the living, but simply to delay ti.
‘For whom? For what?’
The ominous feeling digging into my heart grew larger and larger.
And finally, I was certain.
“We've been had.”
Sothing had been taken.
No, soone had disappeared.
That was why they weren't retreating.
I looked up at the western sky once more.
Sothing irreversible was about to happen.
***
Iris quietly closed her eyes.
She had been feeling a strange premonition for a while now.
The battle line had been wiped out twice by Noemi’s magic, and the number of visible undead had noticeably decreased.
But sothing felt unpleasant.
She felt that the enemy had collapsed too easily.
It was then.
When Frank suddenly muttered.
“We've been had.”
It was a short phrase, but Iris' nerves were instantly on edge.
The expression on his face as he looked at the jewel.
It was the face of soone who had seen sothing other than the collapsing undead army before him.
‘Sothing has definitely happened.’
She didn't hesitate and approached Frank's side.
“Father.”
He didn't answer even at the word ‘father’.
His lips were firmly shut as he stared only at the western sky.
Iris quickly reassembled the entire situation in her head.
The composition of the undead army's forces, their direction of advance, their operational thods.
‘Sothing's strange.’
For the number of troops, there was practically no strategy.
Unlike their usual eerily orderly selves, there was no pattern to be seen after the first charge.
The undead moved as if they wanted to be consud to the very end, not turning back even as they burned to death.
“Was it a trap?”
She muttered quietly and cautiously took out a magic crystal ball from her robes.
It was to contact the Unseen Ones stationed nearby.
“Reconnaissance team in the Regensburg direction, respond. Do you see any enemies?”
“Nothing unusual.”
“Kingdom of Essex, report your situation.”
“Not a single ant in sight.”
It was the sa in other places.
The only place where enemies could be seen was here.
Iris pressed her lips together tightly.
‘It’s too late.’
She had a hunch.
The battle so far was not the ‘real’ one.
It was a cleverly fabricated deception.
In other words, it was a fake fight to draw attention.
Just then.
Woooong.
The magic crystal ball vibrated.
The vibration was small, but it made Iris' heart pound fiercely.
She hurriedly infused her magic power and opened the channel.
“Th-this is terrible!”
The other party's voice was rough and urgent.
“A large-scale undead force confird crossing the Elburz Mountains! Tens of thousands! According to information from the command post, there are also reports that a giant dragon has disappeared!”
Iris' hand trembled as if in a seizure.
Who could the giant dragon be?
It was obvious without asking.
It must be Anonymous.
She cautiously looked at Frank.
Only now could she clearly understand the aning of the anxiety and anger that had been cast over his face.
This was a mistake.
To think she would lose sight of the real direction of the attack because she was focused on the battle before her.
While she was contemplating how to make up for this.
An additional report ca from the magic crystal ball.
***
The person on the other side of the magic crystal ball was gasping for breath.
“A mont ago, we confird Anticus' fall in the southwestern part of the Elburz Mountains!”
The report was blunt.
Iris imdiately shifted her gaze from the front to the west.
Frank also turned his head to focus on the ball.
“Anonymous fell?”
She was the queen of all dragons.
In the original version of PP, she was a being far stronger than the Demon King.
Iris had no way of knowing this, but she was well aware that she was stronger than anyone else.
A voice was heard again from the magic crystal ball.
“I couldn't see clearly, but it seems she transford into a human form during the fall. And……”
Iris cleared her mind and focused.
The top priority was to figure out ‘why’ the enemies had moved at this timing.
“And?”
“The undead forces sward her all at once. After binding her in a short ti, they retreated back over the mountains.”
“What?”
“They are no longer in sight now. What should we do?”
Iris' eyes widened.
It wasn't a simple retreat.
This was a clear operation.
Their target was only the queen of the dragons.
Just one.
As the silence lengthened, the other party's voice trembled as if they had done sothing wrong.
“I-I think we were deceived.”
At that mont, the air grew heavy.
Adel looked at Iris with a surprised face, and Alvarez frowned.
Number 1 and Number 3 had already switched from the battlefield to a rear guard posture.
Frank silently closed his eyes and fiddled with his scabbard.
Iris silently looked down at the magic crystal ball in her hand.
The wave of magic power that had already disappeared was trembling faintly.
Like a failed protection spell, only an intangible entity remained as an afterimage.
‘She was the target from the beginning.’
Iris gritted her teeth.
No wonder the enemy's attack felt so unnatural.
In the end, this entire battle was nothing but a huge smokescreen.
“Noemi!”
Iris called out Noemi’s na loudly.
“Do you have any magic power left?”
“Of course. I can shoot a few more.”
“That's okay. We'll take care of the remaining enemy forces. You go back to headquarters with Dad right now.”
“What? Now?”
Noemi was too surprised to speak.
But Iris was resolute.
“Return to headquarters right now with transition magic. With your magic power, you should be able to track her. Go beyond the Elburz Mountains and find Anonymous' traces!”
A mont of silence.
Noemi slowly nodded her head.
“Got it. I’ll be sure to find her.”
Noemi bent her waist and instantly drew a transition magic circle.
Iris looked at Frank once more.
His expression was unshaken, but in his eyes lingered a sense of loss deeper than anger.
Iris whispered quietly.
“It was my mistake. But it's not too late yet.”
The wind cut through the desolate battlefield, and sowhere in the western sky, the cruelly broken balance seed to be whispering sothing.
pressed his lips firmly together and slowly nodded.
For the first ti, Iris felt like she had seen his true self.
‘Did he have this expression when I ran away from ho?’
His expression was so terrifying that Iris couldn't continue speaking.
***
This couldn't be happening.For her to be captured.
The queen of dragons, the strongest being on this continent, my very own maid.
Is this even possible in a common-sense way?
I felt my vision go blank.
The surroundings were still a pile of ashes, and the smoke rising from the undead corpses obscured my view.
But now, what had consud my mind was not smoke or flas.
‘Anonymous…….’
She was gone.
She had fallen by soone's hand, and the enemies had snatched her up as if they had been waiting for it.
This whole fight had been bait to lure her.
I felt the strength drain from my entire body.
The hand holding the sword trembled.
It felt like my legs would give way.
But, I couldn't fall.
If I collapsed now, all of this would beco aningless.
At that mont, my eyes t Iris'.
“Father.”
At that one word, I barely managed to hold onto the thread of my sanity.
Only now did it belatedly pierce my heart that she was calling
that again.
“…Iris.”
“You have to go back now.”
Iris was resolute.
Her expression was one that had pushed aside emotions and made a decision based solely on judgnt.
“What about the remaining enemies?”
“With a force of that size, the soldiers here should be able to handle them sufficiently. Their formation is already broken.”
Her words were not wrong.
More than half of the enemy had already been burned, and there were no follow-up forces in sight.
As Iris said, this battle had to end here.
I nodded with a grim face.
“You're right. Now is the ti to go back. Noemi!”
“I can go right now, Dad.”
She was already prepared to activate the transition magic.
Before I knew it, light began to leak from the magic circle at her feet.
“I'm counting on you.”
In an instant, a flash of light erupted and my vision distorted.
When I opened my eyes, I saw the familiar scenery of the mansion.
The place where Anonymous always greeted
with a smile.
But her figure was nowhere to be seen.
Only her absence was keenly felt in this familiar place.
I looked up at the northern sky beyond the window.
Thinking of her, who must be sowhere out there.
Beyond the mountains, sowhere in that deep, deep darkness, her, who must still be alive.
‘Wait.’
I clenched my two fists tightly.
I swallowed the sha, the anger, and the regret.
What I needed now was not these emotions, but resolve.
‘I will definitely get her back.’
I will bring her back to my side.
No matter what price I have to pay.
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