Chapter 69 : Role

Chapter 69: Role

Survive.

People did.

Those buried under debris.

Those who were being swallowed up by leeches.

Those who crawled on the ground, hindered by blinking eyes and twitching limbs sprouting everywhere,

Those who had all their will drained away by <Gluttony> and sat helplessly on the floor,

Whoooong—

Blue light rose up in all directions and evacuated them to a safe space.

[Mass Teleport]

Nearly a hundred researchers were transported at once to the ‘Academic Hall’, where the Central Seminar Hall was located.

“Haaak!”

Lorraine, the one who had performed this miracle, collapsed on the spot.

Hot blood streamed down from her nose, and her vision twisted from the burning fever.

“Lorraine. You really....”

I couldn’t tell whether Cask was moved, angry, or on the verge of weeping as he helped Lorraine up.

Even though she had drawn power from the Mana Heart, it was still Lorraine’s own mana that had to control it.

To the point where all seven Circles had been completely drained—she was utterly exhausted now.

Supporting her trembling body, Cask spoke with a choked voice.

“Let’s go. We have to return too.”

“Uh... please... Cask.”

Cask carried the limp Lorraine on his back and ran.

Even now, <Gluttony> was absorbing mana, will, and life itself. But Cask layered [Shield] and [Protect] spells over himself and Lorraine, enduring it all.

“There! I see it!”

The laboratory’s landscape, shattered and jumbled until it felt completely unfamiliar.

At the end of it, the ‘Academic Hall’ appeared, fitted with a massive Mana Cannon.

Inside there was the Central Seminar Hall.

The situation was still dire, but since Lorraine had saved so many researchers, they might be able to endure a little longer.

To arrive even a little bit faster, Cask cast [Acceleration] once more.

『Guueegh!』

Was it just coincidence?

Or was it proof that the gigantic Apostle could see even the slightest movements from this far away?

< Summoning > threw back its head and vomited forth a waterfall of leeches, which rained down directly above Cask and Lorraine.

“Damn it!”

The situation grew even more critical.

Leeches poured down from the sky,

『Krrrk! Kakh!』

While on the ground, figures of researchers sprang out to block their path.

But were they even still researchers? Twisted by <Contamination>, their appearances had already become closer to monsters.

Lorraine, barely opening her eyes to survey the surroundings, gave a bitter smile.

A dead end.

Checkmate.

Those words suited it perfectly.

There wasn’t a single ally around them, only enemies.

Above their heads, leeches poured down. From all directions, contaminated researchers closed in.

The sight of those researchers, twisted into forms resembling monsters, stabbed painfully into Lorraine’s eyes.

“No wonder their life signals were so strange... That’s why I didn’t teleport them. But really, they were all like this...”

On Cask’s back, Lorraine flailed her arms.

She meant to be put down.

But Cask only held her tighter.

Lorraine struggled and snapped irritably.

“Let go... You impudent junior. This senior will clear the way, so let go.”

At those words,

Cask clenched his teeth.

Again.

Again with this.

She wanted to clear the way in that condition?

“What? Planning to overdrive your Circles and chant some self-sacrificing spell?”

Boiling with fury, Cask seemed ready to explode.

But Lorraine only chuckled.

“It’s not like it’s impossible.”

Cask slowly bent his knees. Lorraine’s feet touched the ground. Though she staggered, she stood upright on her own strength without falling.

“Finally, you listen. Good job, kid.”

Lorraine ruffled Cask’s light-yellow hair.

She was taller than him by at least seven centimeters, so the image looked entirely natural.

Lowering his head and quietly accepting her touch, Cask called out to her.

“Noona.”

For the first time, not by her name, but by that old title.

“Mm?”

Crackle!

A surge of pale-yellow lightning roared across Cask’s entire body.

Leeches that had already begun falling here and there were struck by the current, burning black and scattering to ashes.

“Do you remember? You regretted it so much when I decided to become a Magic Swordsman.”

“Out of nowhere? Hm... Of course, I regretted it. A legitimate magician who had graduated early from the prestigious Mivabar Magic University, suddenly becoming a Magic Swordsman? What a waste.”

“That was because of you.”

“What? Me?”

“When I saw you, I realized. Ah, magic should be done by someone like her. No matter how hard I tried, I wouldn’t be of help with this....”

“What nonsense? At your level....”

Crack! Crackle!

Through the storm of electricity, leeches kept pouring endlessly.

It was only a brief moment, yet their numbers had already multiplied tremendously.

A torrential downpour was about to come.

A rainstorm of Abyss Leeches that drank human blood and twisted flesh.

But Cask continued speaking calmly.

“That’s why I changed my path. To a Magic Swordsman. Magic Swordsmen of Orocera can, at the very least, cast certain battle spells faster than anyone else. That way... I thought I could be of help.”

“Help? What kind of help?”

Cask smiled faintly.

Was she pretending not to know, or truly that dense?

Srrrng—

He drew his sword.

Crackle!

The light-yellow current surged across the blade as he slashed it through the air.

A magician’s imagery was a vessel that held the world.

From that vessel, only the fiercest sparks were drawn out, and by resonating them with the Sword Spirit, a new amplification was achieved.

This was the secret art that only officially recognized Magic Swordsmen of Orocera could use.

“So the reason I chose the path of a Magic Swordsman… was for this very moment.”

Thud!

The moment Cask drove his sword into the ground,

Crackkkkkk!

A flood of pale-yellow lightning engulfed the earth and sky.

『Keeeaaaah!』

『Krrrghhh!』

Researchers turned monsters convulsed, trapped by the chains of current.

Bzzzzt—!

Leeches, now pouring down in earnest, were all caught in the electrified net spread across the sky and burned to cinders.

“Go. Lorraine.”

With his sword planted into the ground, Cask spoke.

“You must have one, right? A potion that restores stamina and mana, even temporarily.”

“Cask, you…!”

“Hurry. If you don’t go now, I’ll really get angry.”

Lorraine knew. Just how much strain Cask, as a Magic Swordsman, was forcing on himself to unleash such a massive spell.

If she left him behind here…

“I won’t die. I’m a Magic Swordsman. Our survivability is far stronger than that of a Battle Magician. If I run out of mana, I’ll fight with my sword. If my sword breaks, I’ll fight with magic again. So,”

Cask smiled. Brightly.

“Hurry. Fool. Everyone’s waiting for you.”

Choked. What was this feeling that surged within her?

Lorraine reached out, wanting to stroke his cheek, but bit down on her lip and withdrew her hand.

Yes. This was rational.

Right now, the one best suited to command the battle was herself.

She had promised, hadn’t she? With Ransen.

That she would endure. Absolutely.

And yet—

And yet, why did it feel as though she might break apart?

“You… later, you and I are going to have a talk.”

“Yes, yes. Noona.”

That was all.

All she could say.

Lorraine sniffled, her nose trembling sharply, then turned her back.

She ran.

Without looking back.

Because moving even a little faster would be what helped Cask.

*         *         *

The Command and Control Room (Central Seminar Hall) was sheer chaos.

“Loading Unit! Hurry, hurry! We need to fire as many shots as possible before the Shield collapses!”

“Y-Yes!”

“Firing Unit, what about targeting?!”

“We’re on it!”

“Faster! Faster, faster!”

“Qi-gunners, what are you doing?! Those damned spheres have already multiplied to three!”

“Apologies! But the interference zone of <Distortion> keeps expanding…!”

After Lorraine had rushed outside, the researchers steadily returned and resumed their posts.

They thought it would get a bit easier but…

‘Why the hell is that thing only getting stronger!’

The senior researcher, who had received command from Master Eodran, swallowed a deep sigh.

It felt as if they had run up against an insurmountable wall.

The higher they climbed, the higher the wall grew in turn.

At this rate…

At this pace…

‘Five minutes? No… could we even last three?’

Despair crept in.

It wasn’t just the senior researcher.

Everyone felt it.

The shadow of death, slowly tightening around their ankles.

Kwaaang!

Lorraine smashed through that despair, kicking the door open as she entered.

It took only one second.

One second for Lorraine to scan the enchanted wall, enhanced with vision and magnification magic, and assess the battle situation.

She sprinted straight to one Qi Cannon battery and seized control.

“Move!”

“Who—ahh! Director?!”

Shoving aside the Qi-gunner and taking the position, her cannon alone roared to life, spewing light.

Tutu-tutu-tutu-tutu!

Every shell was enchanted with [Purify].

On top of that, she had even enchanted the Qi Cannon itself to push its rate of fire to the extreme.

“Those bastards are weak to purification magic! Everyone, start imbuing with that type!”

Fighting leeches outside, Lorraine had learned this firsthand.

Now, shouting it out, her shots struck true—every single one.

Even with <Distortion> twisting space to shield them, Lorraine calculated through it all and blasted down the three gray spheres without fail. Five seconds each. Exactly fifteen seconds.

“Crazy…”

“We all knew the Director was amazing, but…”

“Can a human even do that?”

In truth, the researchers here were elite magicians by any standard.

And yet, Lorraine had just displayed power that even made them gape in shock.

Only then did she rise from her seat.

No—she tried to.

Stagger.

“Ugh….”

Her limit.

The stimulant potion she had drunk to escape.

The temporary boost of stamina and mana had just now been consumed in those fifteen seconds of bombardment.

“D-Director!”

“Are you alright?!”

Startled researchers rushed over, but Lorraine raised a hand to push them back.

“I’m fine.”

Hiding her trembling legs, she took back command authority.

“Now! Hold out! If we endure, we’ll win! You know it, right? We have a hidden blade in reserve! So all we need to do is endure!”

The researchers, who had been drowning in despair, slowly regained their light.

And then, the storm struck again.

“Raise the Shield!”

“Sixty seconds until Shield reconstruction!”

“Too slow! Firing Unit, maximum output, fire!”

“Fire!”

Kwoooaaang—!

When there wasn’t enough time to recharge the Shield, they stalled with the 10-Refim-class Mana Cannon.

“Mana Heart cooling down! N-no way to respond!”

“It’s possible if we overdrive the Mana Heart, but then afterward—”

“Observing <Annihilation> movement! It’s coming again!”

When they could neither raise the Shield nor fire the Mana Cannon,

“Detonate the Mana Stone Processing Plant! With that blast, we can at least push back the Annihilation Beam!”

“B-but that place is…!”

“Do it!”

They sacrificed the laboratory’s most precious and expensive facility.

Kwagwagwagwa—!

The Mana Stone Processing Plant was the facility where Mana Hearts were produced, packed with immense energy.

Its explosion did not end with a single blast; it distorted space itself and flared in a chain reaction.

Thanks to that, even the gray Annihilation Beam split apart to the sides, sparing the central building, the ‘Academic Hall.’

But looking at the laboratory as a whole, it was utter devastation.

The outer perimeter was almost entirely annihilated, leaving only the core barely intact.

Ten minutes.

That was how long Lorraine had endured, sacrificing everything.

And then came the checkmate.

Right after they had barely blocked one Annihilation Beam,

“Hah! Second strike! The second strike is incoming!”

“W-what! Without any delay?!”

Until now, <Annihilation> had always panted for a moment after firing before launching another. But this time, immediately after releasing a beam, it prepared the next.

Thanks to the endless mana and life force that <Gluttony> had absorbed, its exhaustion had lessened.

“There’s… no way to block this!”

For once, Lorraine agreed.

Until now, they had used every extraordinary method imaginable to hold on. But now, truly, every option was gone.

So now, the only thing left was to trust.

“Overdrive the Mana Heart!”

“W-what? Then we won’t be able to use it anymore…!”

“We’re going to die right now anyway, so what does it matter! Overdrive it!”

“Y-yes!”

“And Loading Unit! As fast as you can! Stronger than ever before! Complete the Converged-Law!”

“Yes! Preparing Converged-Law!”

In that instant, Lorraine’s voice sank heavily.

“And Firing Unit.”

“Yes.”

“Pour all the output of the overdriven Mana Heart into the Mana Shell.”

“Yes! All of it… what?”

Every researcher stirred in shock.

“You mean the last of our mana… not on the Shield, but on an attack?”

“I-if we do that, the Mana Cannon itself will shatter…!”

But Lorraine was cold as ice, unwavering.

“Do it. This is our last chance.”

“B-but then we’ll all…”

“Silence!”

Her roar spread among the anxious researchers like the breath of a dragon.

“This is! Our last chance to live. Trust me. Focus all output! Commence!”

“C-commence!”

Was this why discipline had to be drilled in advance?

Even when ordered to throw away their lives, the researchers moved reflexively.

Watching them, Lorraine bit down hard on her lip.

Ransen,

‘This is… our last chance….’

We had endured as much as we could.

We truly gave it everything.

So now…

It’s your turn!

*         *         *

Chiiiik—

Chiiik—

I dragged my tattered body forward.

My body was in ruins from the savage aura, yet my senses had never been clearer.

I heard it all.

I felt it all.

Yes.

Master Eodran was dead. A troublesome man, but a rather admirable old one.

Mitsi. I never thought you would go that way. Why did you suddenly rush in to save someone…?

Cask. You really…

One by one, all of them.

I only felt it.

I did not mourn.

I did not look back.

I ignored the final breaths of those dying behind me and walked on.

They had their roles, and I had mine.

Crawling forward step by step without rest, I thought:

‘I won’t say I’m sorry.’

Instead, I lifted my head.

At last, the colossal gray mass of flesh loomed before me like a cliff.

Within striking distance—if I swung, I would reach it.

Finally, the time had come for me to do my part.

Gritting my teeth, I raised Banroa. I poured into the blade all my will, my unyielding oath.

I would cut it down.

That horrific calamity.

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