The Pontiff

It was a perfect day for flying, with nary a cloud in the sky.

Right in front of me, the massive, eighty-meter dragon was crouched low to the

ground, watching me with her reptilian eyes.

I hesitantly approached Felfi Visrotte, tilting my head back farther and farther as I

drew closer.

"Are you sure about this?"

She narrowed her violet eyes and jerked her chin forward, urging me to hurry up.

"Hey, you were the one complaining about this, right? It'd take too long to teleport

there and back, you said. Now hurry up and get on my back so I can fly you out there."

She motioned again for me to climb up on her back.

The night before, we'd decided that I needed to travel to the two locations where we'd

be teleporting our split forces to take on the undead armies. After hearing my plan,

Felfi Visrotte had suggested that there was a much faster way for me to get there.

Flying on the back of a Dragon Lord would greatly reduce the travel time, since I no

longer needed to worry about rivers, mountains, or other place where I'd have a poor

line of sight.

Given that the undead armies of the Holy Hilk Kingdom were drawing closer by the

minute, it made sense to use whichever method was fastest. However, I still felt my

heart race at the very idea of riding on the back of a dragon.

I'd never felt this way, even when riding on my driftpus, Shiden. But there was

something inside me that felt slightly uncomfortable about riding on top of a woman,

even if she wasn't actually human.

"Hey, Ariane, Chiyome, do you want to join?"

I called out to my friends in an attempt to make the situation a little more comfortable…

and to serve as an emotional buffer.

Ariane shook her head. "I-I think I'm all right here for now. I'd hate to be a bother."

Chiyome's cat ears went flat atop her head and her tail puffed up. She stepped behind

Ariane, as if to hide. "Just thinking about flying is scary enough, to be honest."

I shrugged, though I felt a bit dejected. If they didn't want to come, then I certainly

wasn't going to force them. I felt Ponta tapping the top of my helmet, as if to encourage

me.

"Kyii! Kyiiiii!"

I was happy to have my cheerful little travel companion at least.

"Glad you're coming with me, buddy."

Felfi Visrotte rolled her eyes at my incessant stalling and urged me to hurry up. "Listen,

Arc, I don't have time for these stupid games. Hurry up and climb on so we can get

going. I need to make sure you don't fall off while we're flying, so I don't need any extra

people around. It'll just take more time to get up to speed."

She lifted her long tail into the air and swung its crystalline tip around to my lower

back, nudging me forward.

She was right, of course. I was the only one who needed to travel to these locations. It

wasn't necessary for anyone else to come along.

However, as I looked up at the sea of black scales, I did discover one problem with

riding on her back.

Unlike Shiden, who had a saddle for me to hold on to as he ran along, Felfi Visrotte had

nothing of the sort on her back.

Not that this was unexpected. Dragon Lords, after all, weren't meant to serve as mounts.

In fact, I highly doubted anyone had even dared to try until now. Besides, there wasn't

a saddle out there big enough to fit across her body.

To not fall off during flight, I'd just have to act like Ponta did atop of my head: by

ducking low and hanging on tight.

I shoved my teleportation diary and something to draw with into a bag and cinched it

over my shoulders. Once that was done, I climbed onto Felfi Visrotte's back.

The dark scales had a strange texture to them—hard, yet with a bit of give to them at

the same time. Intrigued by this odd sensation, I ran my hand across her glistening

hide for a moment, until the Dragon Lord's sharp voice brought me back to reality.

"Stop feeling me up like that, you pervert!"

I immediately stopped what I was doing and offered an apology. "Ah, I'm sorry! I've

never felt something quite like this before."

I could sense Ariane glaring daggers at me, but I couldn't bring myself to look at her.

Here I was, claiming I felt weird about climbing on top of a woman, and then the

moment I did, massaging her like that. It wasn't my proudest moment. Even I could

admit that.

Once I finally got into place atop her back, the elves who'd come to see us off stepped

away to give us space. Felfi Visrotte unfurled her wings.

"All right, and we're off! Hang on, and try to not fall!"

"All right, I got iiiiiiiiiit?!"

A beautiful pattern flashed across her wings as she began flapping, and suddenly I was

thrown back by the sheer force of her takeoff. It was everything I could do just to hang

on.

"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!"

I could hardly hear myself scream over the roar of the wind as we tore through the air.

It was a completely bizarre sensation, unlike anything I'd experienced before.

Since simply keeping my grip was a struggle in its own right—and daring to glimpse

over the side was out of the question—all I could do was relish the new sensation and

watch the sky as we flew. This must have been how astronauts felt as they rode their

rockets into space.

"Kyiiiiiiii!"

At least Ponta seemed to be having fun.

I felt a brief wave of jealousy wash over me. However, after a few more minutes, my

body went light and the wind died down.

Sensing this was my chance, I leaned over and looked at the terrain below. The city of

Saureah was already a tiny speck.

I had no idea exactly how high we were, but judging by the size of the capital, I figured

we had to be one or two thousand meters up.

"We're pr-pretty high! If I fall off now, I'm done for."

"Kyii! Kyiiiii!"

If I'd had skin, I'd almost certainly had been covered in goosebumps.

A new feeling began overtaking me, a sense of excitement at speeding through the air

as the beautiful world moved beneath me.

Felfi Visrotte flew easily through the air in a long, lazy turn, putting the sun at our

backs as we headed west. Moments later, Saureah was a lost sight, and I found myself

looking down at the snow-capped Sobir mountain range that served as the border

between the Nohzan and Salma kingdoms.

The mountains themselves were quite large, so we had to be at least 3,000 meters above

ground by now in order to clear them with ease. However, Felfi Visrotte continued

climbing higher into the sky as we flew.

"Well, this will definitely get us to the Salma capital in no time."

Ponta slowly crawled out of its hiding place in the crook of my arm and let its large tail

unfurl and billow in the wind.

"Kyii! Kyiiiii!"

Felfi Visrotte tilted her long neck to glance back at me and smiled. "Of course we will.

You're flying with me, after all. And hey, I even made sure to check a map this time, so

you've got nothing to worry about. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy the view!"

Outside of my long-distance teleportation magic, this was the fastest method of travel

by far. It was a shame we couldn't transport all 10,000 soldiers like this.

Although, judging by the way the others had reacted to the suggestion, there was more

than a little hesitation about transporting people by Dragon Lord.

Not only was there the issue of having to endure the sheer cold that accompanied

being up so high and flying at such great speeds, but it also took quite a bit of strength

to hang on during takeoff and even throughout the flight. It was probably for the better

that Ariane and Chiyome hadn't come along.

Felfi Visrotte probably knew this too, which is why she'd objected to bringing anyone

else along. Though, it did make me wonder how she'd known that I would be able to

hang on. Perhaps she hadn't and it was simply a risk she'd been willing to take.

In any case, that left teleportation as our only option to get 10,000 soldiers where they

needed to go.

Ponta was the real trooper here, though. It was having a great time speeding through

the air and letting its long, cottony tail billow in the wind.

After a short while, Felfi Visrotte called out from up ahead. "Hey, Arc, you're pretty

quiet back there. Would you mind talking about something to keep me entertained?"

I was perfectly satisfied just sitting quietly and taking in the sights, but apparently, she

was looking for conversation.

I hesitated, unsure what to talk about with her. I finally settled on the topic of the first

time we'd met.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Of course not. Whatcha got?"

While I was certainly impressed with her appearance the first time we'd met, there

was something that had struck me as even more interesting: her accent.

Since Villiers Fim was the first Dragon Lord I'd ever met, I kind of assumed that all

Dragon Lords spoke in the same formal manner he did. I couldn't get over the unique,

casual way Felfi Visrotte spoke.

Since no one else had said anything about it, though, I'd just let it go, until now.

"You have a rather unique way of speaking, so I was wondering if you've always had

an accent. Or maybe Villiers Fim is actually the one who speaks strangely?"

She blinked her large, violet eyes at me several times before bursting into laughter.

"Gyahahahaha! That's what you wanna know? You really must be from the other world

then, huh?"

She faced forward again before continuing. "Y'see, Eva was the one who taught me

how to speak your language, so I guess I just picked up her accent."

She cocked her head, as if unsure how to provide a more definitive answer.

"Hmm, I guess that makes sense…"

Now that I thought about it, her accent had a slight twang to it that resembled the way

people from Kyoto spoke. Not exactly spot on, but close. But just what had she and the

founding elder talked about anyway?

I'd always kind of figured that Evanjulin, the founding elder of the Great Canada Forest,

was Canadian. But from the way Felfi Visrotte spoke, it now sounded possible that

Evanjulin might have been Japanese.

"Kyii! Kyiiiii!" Ponta mewed excitedly as it looked over the Dragon Lord's side at the

world passing below. Its fluffy tail whipped about in the powerful gusts of wind.

I leaned over to see what had gotten Ponta so excited only to find that we were now

past the Sobir Mountains and flying over vast, open plains—the lands of the Salma

Kingdom.

"Looks like we've crossed the border already. That really was fast!"

"If I recall correctly, the capital city of this country is called Larisa, and it should be

right on the water."

Before leaving Saureah, Felfi Visrotte had looked over some maps to get the lay of the

land. Fortunately, it seemed to have worked, as she had a pretty good understanding

of where we were.

The plains below us seemed almost endless… until I caught sight of a body of water

on the horizon. That must be the South Central Sea.

I felt relief wash over me. We'd made it here in less than a half a day. At this rate, our

original battle plan might still work.

In the distance, I could just make out a port city surrounded by a massive wall. In the

middle was a large fort that sat atop a hill, giving it an imposing view of surrounding

lands. According to the description given by Margrave Brahniey, this was Larisa, the

capital of the Salma Kingdom.

Felfi Visrotte began her descent as we approached our objective. The closer we got,

the more detail I could make out. It rapidly became clear that things were not right

with the city.

All of the boats docked at the pier had either been destroyed, and were sitting low in

the water, or they were on fire, sending billowing smoke high into the air.

A little further off, I spied several other ships floating aimlessly in the bay, but almost

all of their masts were too damaged to serve any purpose.

The city itself was a scene of destruction, flames running rampant through the remnants

of once-great neighborhoods.

The messenger from Larisa who'd met with the margrave had told the truth: The city

had fallen to a massive army of undead.

From this distance, it was impossible to tell if there were any survivors.

After giving the city a quick look over, Felfi Visrotte twisted her neck and looked back

at me.

"There are a lot of undead down there, but I'm not seeing anywhere near the number

you guys told me about. Maybe one really big one and a few other smaller ones is more

accurate. At most… 10,000."

"Wow…"

I was thoroughly impressed that she could get a sense of their numbers from this

height. I mean, I liked to think that I had pretty good vision and could generally make

out small details, but figuring out what was going on in a city 2,000 meters below was

another thing entirely.

Regardless, we had a far graver problem than my vision on our hands—that of the

number of undead in the city.

The messenger had said that Larisa was under attack by an army of at least 200,000.

If they weren't in the city below, that meant they'd already left, and the ones here were

merely to prevent anyone from taking the city back.

Factoring in the number of days it must have taken the messenger to reach the

margrave, and then for the margrave to make it to Nohzan, quite a bit of time must

have passed since the city was first attacked.

It was possible that the undead army had moved on to Brahniey and were already

there, but based on Goemon's observations in the Delfrent Kingdom, it didn't sound

like they left immediately after crushing their objective.

The man-spiders leading the armies could move about as fast as a horse, but the

general rank-and-file troops could only manage human speeds.

I felt certain that we still had at least some time left.

"Felfi Visrotte, would you mind letting me down for a moment? I'd like to draw the

location."

I figured it couldn't hurt to make a sketch of Larisa in my teleportation diary, should a

situation arise where I needed to get back here in a hurry.

"Sure thing, lemme find a place to land." Felfi Visrotte tilted her wings and dropped

into a steep dive.

"Waaaaaaugh?!"

"Kyii!"

She jerked back suddenly, and a massive blast of air caused me to temporarily float up

off of her back. I tried scrunching myself down as small as I could to hang on tight.

A moment later, I heard a loud crash and felt her whole body reverberate beneath me.

Venturing a glance over the side, I discovered that Felfi Visrotte had landed right on

two man-spiders and was batting undead soldiers with her tail, deftly deflecting

oncoming blows with its crystalline tip.

In a single, massive sweep of her tail, she wiped out a large group, like a god of death

wielding a soul-reaping scythe.

"Now that's a stench that's hard to get out of your nose." She scowled at the stench of

rotting flesh. Despite her initial attack, there were still quite a few undead left.

We'd landed a fair bit away from the entrance to Larisa, in what must have once been

a field. As I dropped to the ground, I felt wheat stalks crunch beneath my feet. This

year's harvest seemed like a lost cause. However, some fields seemed to have been

spared, so if there were any survivors, at least they'd have something to eat.

I turned my attention to the city, a vast wasteland filled with dead and undead alike.

Aware of the pressure of time we were under, I pulled out my teleportation diary and

tried to get a feel for my surroundings.

Before I could start, however, I caught sight of several undead soldiers and manspiders closing in on me. I'd never get my sketch done if I had to keep fending them

off, so I shot a pleading look up at the Dragon Lord.

"Sorry to bother you, but would you mind taking care of these pests while I finish my

work?"

The large dragon propped herself up and puffed out her chest.

"Not a problem. I'll play around with 'em for a bit while you do your thing. Just call out

to me when you're done, 'kay?"

She gave her wings a flap, sending up a whirlwind of dust, before launching off toward

the oncoming enemy. The air snapped as she swung her tail around, like a bullwhip

breaking the sound barrier.

In no time at all, the undead were lying in pieces, while what was left of the destroyed

crops floated about like a golden snowstorm.

"Kyii! Kyiiiii!" Ponta mewed at me, as if prompting me to get back to work.

I hurriedly opened my teleportation diary and stared down at the empty page. If I

didn't get this done soon, she might finish off the undead out here and move on to

those inside the capital.

Since I didn't have much time, I just focused on one part of the city wall, sketching it

as simply and as quickly as I could. I could fill in the details later.

"As long it's accurate enough to jog my memory, that should be enough."

I held the teleportation diary up and looked back and forth between the sketch and

the wall a few times before giving a satisfied nod. It was a bit rough, but it captured all

the unique details.

With that done, I put my supplies back into my bag and looked about until I spotted

the Dragon Lord smashing undead like ants. I waved my arms as I called to her.

"Felfi Visrotte!"

Fortunately, she seemed to have excellent hearing, and she instantly turned her neck

to look at me. With one final swipe of her tail to clear away the lingering undead

soldiers, she darted through the air back to my side.

"Well, that was faster than I expected."

She narrowed her reptilian eyes, staring at the gates of the capital.

"Something wrong?"

"Kyii?"

Ponta and I looked at the Dragon Lord with concern, but she shook her head and

turned her attention back to me.

"I sensed a large presence in the city earlier, but now it's gone."

I looked up at the battered walls, but try as I might, my senses were nowhere near as

keen as Ariane and Chiyome's. I couldn't sense anything similar to what Felfi Visrotte

was talking about.

She clearly wasn't talking about the man-spiders or undead. The only things I could

think of were either the pontiff or one of his cardinals.

Being able to disappear all of a sudden also suggested that they were able to use

teleportation magic like me, in which case it'd be impossible to follow them. We

needed to focus on more pressing matters.

"I'm afraid the main undead army is likely marching on Brahniey as we speak. I'd like

to try and track them down, if you'd be willing to help with that."

Our original plan had been to come out here and find a place to teleport troops to, then

immediately head back to Saureah to notify Ariane. But if the undead army was

already closing in on Brahniey, then figuring out their current location was of the

utmost importance. Depending on where they were, it could change our plans entirely.

Fortunately, Felfi Visrotte agreed to my request without a second thought.

"I said I'd help, didn't I? So no need for you to make all these little requests. Just hop

on my back and hold on tight!"

I adjusted the bag on my back, pulled Ponta close to my chest, and hopped onto Felfi

Visrotte's back. She seemed to take this as the sign that I was ready and immediately

rocketed into the sky.

"Thanks, I appreciate iiiiiiiiiiiiit!"

I squeezed my body against her back and held on. Ponta seemed to be having a grand

time.

"Kyiiiiiii!"

Once we got up to altitude and the wind died down, Felfi Visrotte started moving

through the air in slow circles. She glanced back at me to check where we were heading.

"Brahniey is off to the east, right?"

"That's correct."

She nodded and turned. "And we're off!"

She gave a powerful flap of her massive wings, causing the wavy violet patterns on the

membranes to glow, before blasting off toward our objective.

Since I was taking the brunt of the wind, Ponta loved moving at such high speed.

"Kyii! Kyiiiii!"

I noticed that the wind around Ponta seemed to be weaker, probably thanks to its

magic. It was pretty impressive. From what I'd heard, cottontail foxes often traveled

on wind currents in large packs, so it only made sense that they would be able to

strengthen or weaken such gusts.

I, for one, would have given anything for that kind of power while I fought not to be

thrown to my doom.

Fortunately, it wasn't long until Felfi Visrotte slowed, and the buffeting wind calmed

slightly. She called my attention to the scene below.

"Heya, Arc, look down."

I glanced over her side and swallowed hard. "That's… Wow."

The plains were covered with what looked like a black, undulating carpet moving

east—the tightly packed undead soldiers.

They didn't move anything like the trained soldiers I'd encountered in the Holy East

Revlon Empire's colony on the southern continent, but they were still progressing

steadily, marching slowly but surely toward Brahniey and the Ruanne Forest.

"They're not far from Larisa, so we still have time until they arrive at their destination.

But this definitely isn't a good sign."

Even Ponta watched the black blob with great interest. "Kyii!"

"If they were all clumped together, I could wipe 'em all out with a single strike. But

they're too spread out right now. I'd need to chase a lot of 'em down."

Felfi Visrotte made no effort to conceal her annoyance. She turned to look at me, a

scowl on her face.

"So, what're we gonna do, Arc?"

"Hmm…"

If hundreds of undead soldiers were packed tightly into a single formation, an areaof-effect spell should be able to wipe them out in one go. However, with them dotting

the entire countryside like this, it would take several hundred of our biggest attacks

to kill them all.

Felfi Visrotte and I could probably do it on our own, but we didn't have a lot of time to

spare.

Sending the troops to Larisa was pointless now, so we needed to find a second dropoff location. That left either the border of the margrave's territory, or the city of

Brahniey itself.

However, there was a very real risk that the undead army would split off before

reaching Brahniey and send half of their forces south as an advance strike on the

village of Drant in the Ruanne Forest.

We needed to figure out a place to attack them before then. But where?

I thought back to the map I'd looked at earlier, trying to recall some sort of landmark.

"What about the Wiel River that runs along the border? They'll need to stop there and

get organized, don't ya think?"

It was as if Felfi Visrotte could read my mind. I'd been thinking of the exact same place.

"Agreed. I think it'd be a good idea to set our teleportation spot at one of the forts on

the border."

Margrave Brahniey had said that there were a series of forts east of the Wiel that had

once belonged to the Nohzan Kingdom. They were from the days before his ancestors

had taken possession of the land. He'd maintain them meticulously, and they were still

fit for service.

Though technically just spaces to garrison the troops charged with maintaining the

border, they served another important purpose—to keep an eye on the nobles as they

traveled around the Salma Kingdom.

Before the forts were actually up and running, villages across Brahniey's domain had

often been attacked by bandits. Ariane had been shocked to hear this, though King

Asparuh had looked unsurprised. The margrave had to be constantly on alert for raids

not only by outsiders, but also from his own countrymen.

In any case, I figured that one of the forts overlooking the Wiel would be a good place

to start.

"Do you think you could fly past this group and let me off near the river? I'd like to set

our new teleportation point there and then head back to Saureah."

Felfi Visrotte nodded. "All right. We're off again!"

She twisted her mammoth body around in mid-air and turned back east.

Fortunately, none of the undead soldiers marching along the plains seemed to take any

notice of us as we flew above them at breakneck speed. Within a few moments, they

were just a dark stain in the distance.

I had to squint in order to keep an eye on where we were going through the gusts of

wind buffeting my body. Assuming Felfi Visrotte was flying at the same speed as when

we'd left this morning, I could calculate how long we'd have until the undead army

arrived at the Wiel.

I caught sight of a river up ahead, winding its way from north to south. That had to be

it, with the peaks beyond being the Sobir mountain range.

Judging by the time it had taken us to pass over the undead army and get here, my best

guess was that they'd only recently set out from Larisa. The road they'd be taking

traveled mostly across flat plains, though there was a mountainous region where the

road grew narrow and the soldiers would have to bunch up to pass through.

Figuring this would slow them down, I guessed that would give us two, maybe three

days until they arrived at the Wiel.

I could see two forts, each surrounded by their own robust stone walls. These were

heavily fortified locations from back in the days when the Nohzan Kingdom had

needed to fend off their invading neighbors, though by garrisoning his own forces

here, the margrave had done a good job cutting off most of the easy routes any roaming

bandits could use to gain entry.

Next to the fort was a magnificent stone bridge that ran across the river. Though I

couldn't tell how deep the water was, I was pretty sure the undead would need to cross

that bridge in order to pass into Brahniey.

"Life certainly works in weird ways. What was once used to harass belligerent nobles

will now serve as a base of operations to mount our defense."

I was surprised at how things could take such a turn over time.

"Kyii!" Ponta seemed to be feeling much the same.

I truly had no idea if Ponta understood a word I said, but I gave its head a gentle rub

all the same before instructing Felfi Visrotte to let me down near the fort.

Since leaving his lands for the Nohzan Kingdom, the margrave hadn't returned to his

people, nor had he made any mention to those stationed at the outposts about the

upcoming battle. The guards charged with watching the borders would know nothing

about me, and the sight of an eighty-meter Dragon Lord would only alarm them.

On the other hand, my goal was to teleport the incoming armies as close to the fort as

possible, so I couldn't be too far away if I wanted to get the details right.

They'd probably still notice us, but hopefully they'd assume this was just some sort of

intimidation attempt. That should give me enough time to make a basic sketch for my

teleportation diary. Then we could return to Saureah.

"Okay, hang on tight!"

The Dragon Lord dropped into another steep dive, heading straight toward the eastern

bank of the Wiel. The shoreline was completely bare, giving me a great view of the fort

below and the soldiers running around in a panic at the sight of a dragon. The reaction

was pretty much what I'd expected.

Even though we were trying to keep our distance, there was simply no way someone

could ignore the impressive sight of a Dragon Lord.

Fortunately for me, the stone bridge spanning the river had a rather unique design, so

I figured I'd be able to get off a quick sketch before we wore out our welcome.

"Once I'm done getting this down on paper, I'm going to use my teleportation magic to

take us back to Saureah. Would you mind transforming into your humanoid form?"

Felfi Visrotte smiled and nodded.

Though it would have been possible for me to teleport her in her dragon form, it would

require a lot of magic to do so—magic that I'd need to bring the margrave and about

5,000 soldiers here.

I slid off the Dragon Lord's back and started pulling out my supplies.

"Kyii!" Ponta hopped up onto my head while I focused my attention on the scene in

front of me.

"We won't be staying long, Ponta. We'll be back in Saureah soon."

The Wiel River was at least 100 meters across, and probably double that in some

places. The large banks on either side made it look even bigger.

However, that was where the good news ended. The river looked to be relatively

shallow, with small eddies circling around rocks just under the surface. I doubted the

man-spiders would have much difficulty making their way across.

I started drawing while Felfi Visrotte began her transformation.

Just as she was about to finish, I looked up and noticed several soldiers in the fort's

watchtowers. They were pointing right at us and talking hurriedly among themselves.

A part of me felt a little bad that they'd have to explain to their superiors why they'd

claimed to have seen a massive dragon when there was now nothing of the sort

anywhere around.

"Kyii! Kyiiiii!"

Ponta patted my helmet, reminding me to focus on the task at hand. I turned my gaze

away from the tower and began sketching again.

Once I had the general design down, I held my teleportation diary up and checked it

against the actual bridge. Felfi Visrotte leaned over my shoulder for a closer look.

"Not bad, kid."

"Let's head back to Saureah."

I turned to Felfi Visrotte as I slid my teleportation diary back into my bag. She wore a

faint grin on her face, as if remembering something from her distant past.

"Y'know, it's been quite a while since I've teleported anywhere."

Now that I thought about it, I remembered hearing that Evanjulin had also used

teleportation magic. Maybe they'd traveled around together?

"Transport Gate!"

A magical rune spread out from beneath my feet until it was wide enough to encompass

Felfi Visrotte as well. She watched with great interest.

I focused my mind on the courtyard in front of the palace in Saureah, which we'd left

mere hours ago. The world went dark, and an instant later, we were back in Nohzan.

Felfi Visrotte stretched out her arms and nodded approvingly. "That's a pretty useful

technique."

"It's thanks to your incredible speed that we were able to return here in less than half

a day."

Considering she'd probably never let people ride her before, I felt it only proper to

thank her for all she'd done.

"You've really got your act together, kid. Nothing like Eva." She tilted her head to the

side and gazed at me with great interest. "So, what's next?"

She smiled, and began wagging her long, dagger-tipped tail.

"Well, I suppose we'd better share what we've learned."

After turning to face the castle, I pulled Ponta close and started walking.

"Kyii! Kyiiiii!"

***

We gathered with Ariane, Chiyome, Goemon, and the other leaders in a room deep

within the castle to discuss the next phase of our fight against the Holy Hilk Kingdom's

assault.

Everyone crowded around close to me and Felfi Visrotte, their eyes fixed on the map.

The white tokens sat exactly where we'd left them the night before. I took one of the

black tokens and moved it from Larisa, in the Salma Kingdom, to a spot farther east.

A look of shock overcame the margrave as his eyes followed the token. "Wait, you

mean to say they've already begun their advance?!"

"That's correct. We only found a few undead in Larisa, just enough to maintain control

over the region, while the rest of the army moved east toward Brahniey."

Felfi Visrotte tapped the black token with her fingertip.

"We coulda wiped 'em out right then and there if they'd marched in columns like you

humans, but no luck."

King Asparuh, Prince Sekt, and Margrave Brahniey—the human representatives in

this alliance—frowned. Princess Riel looked puzzled at their shared reaction and

turned to her father.

"If Felfi Visrotte is as powerful as everyone says, then we've got nothing to worry about

if the undead attack us. So why are you scowling like that, Father?"

King Asparuh shifted uncomfortably under his daughter's intense gaze and cleared his

throat.

Margrave Brahniey looked straight at me. "How long do we have until they reach

Brahniey? I don't need an exact hour, just an estimate." The margrave's eyes pleaded

with me. He was clearly clinging to the hope that there was still time.

"At my best guess, I'd say two days. Three, tops."

He groaned at this, deep wrinkles forming in his forehead. "That's much faster than I

would have expected."

Dillan, also scowling down at the map, offered some clarification on how they could

cover so much ground. "Unlike the living, the undead need not eat nor rest, so they can

focus entirely on moving. Judging by the lay of the land, it would take less than four

days to cover that distance."

He was right, of course. The undead weren't burdened with the obligation to waste

time on feeding and resting their soldiers.

As an added bonus, this meant that they didn't need to deal with carts or the animals

that drew them. They were only limited by the speed at which a person could march

under the full weight of gear.

These were, in a sense, the ultimate soldiers. They could march twenty-four hours a

day and still fight once they reached their destination. Plus, they were already dead,

so they had no fear of death in battle.

While I might look like one of them, I still enjoyed eating, sleeping, and even a nice

bath. We were, in these respects, fundamentally different.

Felfi Visrotte picked up one of the white tokens, moving it toward the Wiel River.

"We've decided to make our stand here, at the Wiel, since they'll need to stop there.

We'll take care of as many as we can and leave the rest to you. Think you can handle

that?"

King Asparuh and Margrave Brahniey looked worried at this rather brazen plan, while

Fangas and Dillan nodded confidently.

Fangas even smiled. "I've been looking forward to the day when I could finally see the

great Dragon Lord in battle."

This seemed to reassure Asparuh and Brahniey, and they nodded their assent.

Here, in the presence of a Dragon Lord who spoke of facing off against 200,000 undead

as if it were nothing and a dark elf elder who laughed at the thought of the upcoming

battle, it was clear the humans were way out of their league.

All they'd have to do was take care of any survivors that made it past Felfi Visrotte's

attack.

Though I would have loved to see that battle unfold, it was quickly becoming clear that

she would handle the Salma front while I held off the assault in the Delfrent Kingdom.

Dillan laid out his plan. "All right, we'll place around 1,000 soldiers in the two forts on

the Wiel River and defend from there."

With no objections, it seemed that the matter was settled.

Dillan picked up two white tokens and placed them next to the Wiel.

"We don't have a lot of time to prepare. On the Salma front, Fangas will command the

elven soldiers and Prince Sekt will lead his. Arc, I'd like you to take care of teleportation."

He picked up two more white tokens and set one down on a forest and another on a

town.

"After the troops have been moved to their new location, I'd like the margrave to return

to Brahniey to muster his troops. Fangas will head to Drant in the Ruanne Forest to

bring together the other elven soldiers who've agreed to join us."

He turned back to me.

"Once you're done preparing the Salma front, Arc, I want you to head to Delfrent so we

can get our troops out there as soon as possible. We'll be relying on you and Villiers

Fim for this fight, with some support from the Jinshin clan and soldiers from Canada."

I held Dillan's gaze as I voiced my concern. "If Felfi Visrotte will be stationed on the

border with the Salma Kingdom, then it will take me quite some time to reach Lione

in the Delfrent Kingdom."

Now that we knew the undead were moving far faster than we'd originally assumed,

everything on the Delfrent front had changed as well. Sure, Goemon and his comrades

had observed the undead armies still lurking around the capital, but much time had

passed since then. The situation could have easily changed.

Since there was no easy way to send information across long distances in this world,

other than my teleportation magic or a Dragon Lord, there was an added pressure of

simply not knowing exactly where the undead were or what they were doing.

They'd already toppled both the Delfrent and Salma kingdoms with relative ease, after

all.

Having lived my entire life in the modern world, where we had the advantage of quick

transport and information exchange, I felt completely out of my element here.

I was trying to say that if we hoped to strike a definitive blow against the undead, then

I would need to borrow Felfi Visrotte for a little while longer. However, she quickly

offered up a different plan.

"I don't see the problem here. I brought another Dragon Lord along with me, didn't I?

If I ask him, there's no way he'll say no."

Her mouth curled up into another one of her trademark grins.

Just thinking about riding on Villiers Fim reminded me of our first encounter, when

I'd kicked him right in the back. I let out a quiet laugh at this interesting turn of events.

***

To the west of Brahniey, the Wiel River flowed out of the Sobir Mountains and ran

south, creating a natural border with the rest of the Salma Kingdom.

An imposing stone bridge spanning the river served as a critical road that connected

Brahniey's domain with the capital of Larisa. This was flanked by large forts, originally

built by the Nohzan Kingdom, where soldiers were garrisoned to watch over the roads

and all who crossed the bridge.

These refurbished forts were typically quite large compared to the number of soldiers

stationed within them, but their tranquil atmosphere was disrupted as hundreds of

new soldiers descended upon them with a certain excited fervor.

In addition to the guards who maintained posts here, there were now soldiers from

Brahniey, the Rhoden Kingdom, and even the elven realms roaming about.

The elven soldiers from the Great Canada Forest had been joined by elves from the

village of Drant in the Ruanne Forest, led by village elders Iwahld and Serge.

Many of the humans stationed here had never seen an elf before and couldn't help but

stare, as if they were some great novelty.

But it wasn't only their elongated ears that drew the human's attention. It was also the

fact that the elven ranks were filled with women, something practically unheard of in

the male-dominated human military. This actually helped them cope with the anxiety

of standing on the front lines of a battle against the undead, a battle for their very

survival.

One of the soldiers leaned over and whispered to his comrades. "Y'say that the purple

lady's a dark elf? Man, you see the way her chest bounces when she walks? I gotta

admit, she really does perk things up around here."

Several soldiers slapped the man on his back.

"I know you're desperate, but you best keep yer little buddy in your pants there, my

friend. Man or woman, the elves are ferocious fighters. I already saw some drunk idiot

come on a little too strong with one of the elven women. She worked him over so bad

that they had to send him to a medic."

The man shrugged dismissively. "Don't lump me in with that idiot! I wouldn't dare try

something like that."

Everyone was already experiencing a mixture of excitement over the upcoming battle

and a severe case of nerves at the thought of facing a massive army of the undead. No

matter how attractive someone might be, they still had a job to focus on. The people

gathered here were the best their respective countries had to offer, and with that came

a certain sense of duty. They all knew too well that they were fighting for the survival

of their species.

Humans, elves, and even mountain people were all here to face a common foe. They'd

been warned by their commanders not to do anything that would disturb the peace.

But even though no one would dare say it out loud, it was clear that the humans felt

uncomfortable having all these non-humans around.

Suddenly waking up to thousands of soldiers appearing out of nowhere, not to

mention seeing elves, a species many had only heard about in fairytales, was a shock

in its own right. Even more shocking was the sheer power on parade before their very

eyes. The elven forces were superior in every way to anything the humans could offer.

If the elves chose not to cooperate in the coming battle, the humans were pretty much

done for.

***

As such, the humans treated them with the utmost respect. Their commanders would

frequently go around "inspecting" the elven encampments so that they could offer

praise on everything the elves had. Not a single human dared voice their annoyance at

this preferential treatment. And when the large dragon landed in the courtyard, that

pretty much put an end to even the thought of squabbling.

Until recently, the Dragon Lord known as Felfi Visrotte had been nothing but a legend,

the topic of many songs and poems. No one had believed that such a magnificent

creature actually existed until they witnessed her soaring high in the sky on her violettinted wings.

At an impressive eighty meters long, the sight of her was so awe-inspiring that no one

dared to step out of line, regardless of their rank or how full of bravado they usually

were.

The Dragon Lord brought power beyond comprehension. One would have to be

exceedingly dense to take a hard stance against the elves now, especially knowing that

they could call upon the impressive might of a Dragon Lord if needed.

This made many human soldiers question whether their presence was even necessary.

However, this entire battle was based on the idea of a unified front. If that cooperative

spirit were lost, the dignity of the human species would be lost along with it. Each and

every soldier here, from the untestedy novice to grizzled veteran, knew that much.

Fortunately, the troops' morale was bolstered by the fact that they had powerful allies.

Even that, however, was nothing compared to the revelation that the undead army

they were about to face was commanded by the Holy Hilk Kingdom. They were barely

able to contain their surprise upon hearing these words.

Recalling this, one of the soldiers who'd been listening to the previous exchange

brought the subject back up. The disbelief was still evident on his face.

"D'ya think the Holy Hilk Kingdom is really using some kinda dark magic to control all

these undead like they say?"

The other soldiers stopped cleaning their weapons for a moment and exchanged

glances. There were some who didn't—couldn't—believe these claims, while other

reactions ranged from confusion to disillusionment with the church.

The Holy Hilk Kingdom was the de facto head of the Hilk religion, the most prominent

religion on the northern continent. For practitioners of the faith, it was hard to

overcome their long-held belief that the Holy Hilk Kingdom was beyond reproach.

According to King Asparuh and Margrave Wendly, the Holy Hilk Kingdom had used

dark magic to create an army of the undead and was now crushing their neighboring

kingdoms. While no one went so far as to say that their leaders were telling lies, it was

difficult to reconcile these statements with their idea of the church. It was like being

stuck between a rock and a hard place.

The only ones who didn't seem particularly troubled by this declaration were the

soldiers from the Rhoden Kingdom, where the majority held their country in higher

regard than the church's teachings.

But for the soldiers of Brahniey, who'd been raised from childhood to believe that the

church's teachings were universally true, the idea of having to change their entire

worldview shook them to their very core. Despite their uncertainty, however, they all

had unwavering faith in the margrave. Such was the influence he wielded.

"Y'know, I got a buddy who traveled with the margrave to the Nohzan Kingdom.

According to him, some of the locals were saying that when the Hilk cardinal faced off

against the elves, he turned into a giant monster."

The soldiers leaned close, intrigued by this bit of information, and urged him to continue.

The man smiled at his enraptured comrades.

"In fact, they say that all the Hilk cardinals are monsters. The whole reason the Hilk

even preached about kicking around the elves and beast people was because they're

the only ones who can tell the cardinals aren't human."

This was met with several suspicious glares.

The Holy Hilk Kingdom being behind this whole ordeal was hard enough to believe.

The idea that their ranks were made up of monsters was downright outrageous.

Moreover, it meant that the soldiers themselves were complicit in the Hilk plot by

following the teachings that had been ingrained in them since birth.

Whether or not the man's story was true, the soldiers around him agreed that something

significant must have happened in order to bring the species of the world together.

The soldiers hadn't had nearly enough time to come to terms with the tempest of

emotions racing through them when the situation took a sudden turn for the worse.

Every day, the Dragon Lord would fly off toward Larisa and report back on what she'd

found. Today was no different. The guards on watch spotted her as expected.

She flew straight over the fort and landed in a large clearing nearby to describe her

findings. A short time later, messengers were dispatched to notify the troops to

prepare for an attack.

The soldiers, who just moments before had been chattering like schoolchildren,

immediately made their way toward the fort's outer wall to get a look at who they'd

be up against. They squinted at the far bank of the Wiel.

A low, gray fog hung in the air, limiting visibility. However, they could just make out a

faint, black blob spreading across the horizon. They swallowed hard as the blob began

taking shape.

As this indistinct darkness crested the hill on the other side of the river, it spread out

even more, continuing its slow march toward the Wiel.

The undead didn't move like any army these soldiers had seen before. It was like they

all happened to be moving east toward Brahniey together in a large mass. There was

something about the sight that sent chills up the spines of all who watched.

From a distance, the undead looked like infantry in dull armor, moving about in small

squads. There were so many of them that they were impossible to count. The knowledge

that these were no mere foot soldiers made the humans' skin crawl.

Among the squads were other bizarre creatures that clearly weren't human. The

soldiers let out quiet gasps of horror as these freaks of nature took shape.

One of them muttered his thoughts aloud to no one in particular. "It's like the entire

continent is covered in monsters…"

The feeling was mutual among the soldiers watching this scene unfold.

The bizarre creatures stood much taller than the undead around them. They seemed

to be made of the lower half of a spider, while their upper body consisted of two human

torsos melded together, each sporting two arms and wielding a variety of weapons.

Neither human nor beast, these abominations were like nothing the soldiers had ever

seen. Worse, they seemed to be leading the squads around them as they prepared to

cross the Wiel.

The forts began ringing their alarm bells to notify all soldiers in the vicinity that the

undead army was approaching.

Up in one of the fort's towers, Margrave Brahniey and Fangas stood watch.

The margrave groaned. "Even knowing this was coming, I still can't believe it. Hearing

is one thing. Seeing such an army with my own eyes is another thing entirely."

When the messenger from Salma had first shown up with a report on what had

happened in the capital, the margrave had understood on an intellectual level just how

grave things were. That's why he'd immediately headed for the Nohzan Kingdom to

seek help.

While there, by sheer luck, he was able to get his request out to the elves, beast people,

and even the Rhoden Kingdom, and muster a force far greater than he could have ever

hoped for.

He glared across the Wiel at the slowly approaching undead.

If they failed to hold the line, then everyone within his domain was doomed. He felt

his muscles tense under the burden of that responsibility.

At his side, Fangas clapped Margrave Brahniey on the shoulder and smiled. "You look

tense, Wendly. Don't forget, we have Felfi Visrotte on our side. So long as we stick to

the plan, there's nothing to worry about."

Fangas unclasped the heavy war hammer from his back and swung it effortlessly into

the stone tiling beneath their feet. A dull thud reverberated through the room.

"Warriors of Canada, heed my call!"

His voice boomed out from the tower.

"Archers, launch a barrage of arrows to keep them in place! Felfi Visrotte will strike

when the time is right! Now, show 'em what we're made of!!!"

The elven soldiers let out a thunderous roar and lifted their weapons skyward. Brightly

colored flags were raised from the tops of the watchtowers surrounding the fort,

billowing in the strong breeze off the river. The second fort soon followed suit with

their own flags.

The signal given, the archers hurried to their positions and took aim.

On the far bank of the Wiel, the front of the undead army had just reached the water's

edge and were preparing to ford the river. Though they were undead, they were still

limited to crossing where the water was shallow enough and they could maintain their

footing. This caused the squads to cluster together.

The man-spiders rushed ahead, as if impatient to lead the charge, tossing their own

soldiers out of the way like rag dolls to be dragged under by the powerful current.

The undead soldiers continued their march forward, even as they began dropping, one

after the next, into the river's depths.

Margrave Brahniey stared in astonishment. "Just what in the hell…"

He wasn't the only one at a loss for words. Soldiers all around the perimeter watched

in surprise.

The elves' expertly aimed arrows were finding their marks and thinning the ranks of

the undead.

While the fort was somewhat close to the river, there were still a good 500 meters

between the archers and their targets. Even with the added difficulty of the breeze off

the water, the elves were still able to find their marks. This kind of archery was leaps

beyond what the best humans could do. Their arrows seemed almost self-propelled,

hitting their targets even when the undead attempted to dodge.

The aerial onslaught wasn't limited to the infantry either. Even the musclebound manspiders took their share of casualties from the barrage, despite their armor.

The arrows exploded the moment they pierced the man-spiders' flesh, sending limbs

in every direction. Once a man-spider was incapacitated, the archers would follow up

with another two or three arrows until it was nothing but a lump of meat.

Margrave Brahniey watched with great interest as the elves showed off their

marksmanship. Looking closer, he noticed that the archers were chanting an incantation

before launching each arrow. They were using magic to power each shot.

Alas, no matter how good their archers might be, the casualties they inflicted were

little more than a drop in the bucket against the invading army. Between the two forts,

nearly 1,000 elven soldiers fired volley after volley, but it just wasn't enough to make

a significant impact against the army of 200,000 undead.

It wasn't all for naught, however, as it had the effect of putting the enemy on the

defensive and caused the man-spiders to order a halt. Slowly but surely, the undead

fell back and reassembled on the far shore of the river. It looked as if their plan now

was to rush ahead all at once, rather than sending small squads, in order to limit the

effect of the arrow barrage.

The fact that they could make such a tactical move was all the proof the humans and

elves needed that these were no normal, mindless undead. Someone was clearly

commanding these forces.

Fangas whistled at the peculiar sight. "Knowing something logically and seeing it for

yourself are completely different, eh, Wendly? I doubt I'd have believed it had I not

witnessed it with my own eyes."

Brahniey nodded. Fortunately, even this had been accounted for in their plan.

The two men watched as the undead bunched up on the far shore. Excitement welled

within them as they anticipated what would happen next. It was only a matter of time.

Fangas looked up at the wispy clouds. "Any second now…"

A moment later, he spotted Felfi Visrotte floating high above the battlefield, flapping

her wings and building up magic as she waited for the perfect moment.

Once she was ready, a powerful ball of magic as bright as the sun appeared above her

head, glowing white-hot. It grew bigger and bigger as she pumped more energy into

it.

The undead began their second rush across the Wiel, moving forward in an endless

stream through the barrage of elven arrows. When one fell, another stepped up to take

its place.

The archers shivered, their brows wrinkling as the arrows seemed to have less and

less effect.

Then, everything changed.

The Dragon Lord grabbed the glowing object above her head and hurled it down at

the undead army below. Fangas gave the signal, and the fort's alarm bells immediately

began ringing in a slow, controlled rhythm.

Squad leaders, who'd been briefed on what to do once they heard this bell, began

shouting orders for their troops to get into defensive positions.

"Lower your weapons and get down! Everyone, behind the wall!"

Margrave Brahniey and his aides ducked below the window in their small watchtower

while Fangas continued standing in the center of the room. He gave a wide, toothy grin

as the ball of light descended silently in front of them.

The whole world went white.

BAFOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The thundering explosion was followed by an equally powerful pressure wave that

caused the very earth to groan as the fort's foundation strained. A moment later,

soldiers' fearful cries reached the margrave's ears.

A shower of pebbles and fist-sized rocks ruthlessly pelted the hunkering soldiers,

followed by a deluge of water that turned the dust covering their bodies into mud.

Margrave Brahniey's ears were still ringing as he pulled himself to his feet. He had to

yell to the soldiers next to him just to be understood.

Though everyone knew to expect a powerful magical attack, none of them had

experienced anything quite like this before. It defied all expectations.