Chapter 185-186

Chapter 185 – It was Deja Vu!?

"Wh-what is happening?"

Alyssa looked as if she had no idea what had happened.

Sheorl had seemed so peaceful at first, and now people were running around and shouting. So she couldn't help but be surprised.

However, I could clearly see the oncoming magic energy from the north, which moved like a wave.

Even Rienna, who had been red-faced a moment ago, was able to see it. She turned to me with a serious expression.

"Lord Heal. This feeling…"

"Aye. It's happening again."

Sheorl was just a small isolated island in the vast sea, but strangely, we had had several visits from swarms of various creatures. Monsters known as Scissor Crabs and Devil Hoppers had come in such numbers that they covered the sea and sky.

And what was coming from the north now was on the same scale as the others.

However, the magic energy was stronger than previous incidents. They were still far away, and yet I could feel it pushing towards me.

Of course, these new visitors wouldn't necessarily be enemies. It would not be too bad if we could talk to them peacefully.

"In any case, let's have everyone on the island evacuate. I will…watch from inside of the armor."

I muttered while looking at the Mado Armor in front of me.

I had planned to make up some excuse to avoid having to ride it, but now, scouting ahead had become very important. The Mado Armors could fly, which made them very useful during times like this.

Fule raised her voice.

"Alright! Then you can take me and the princess with you!"

"Fine… Alyssa. You should go back underground. I'll explain what is happening to you later."

"I-I understand. But, please be careful."

I nodded at Alyssa and then decided to climb into the Mado Armor in front of me.

When I sent magic energy to it, the Mado Armor went down on one knee and offered its hand. Rienna, Fule and I stepped onto it and then the hand was raised until we reached the cockpit in its chest.

We climbed into it.

It was mostly an empty, spherical chamber.

"I see. Unlike the first one, there isn't a chair or any machines."

In this space, your own movements were replicated by the Mado Armor–that was what Mappa had told me. In other words, it really was like real armor.

When the chest closed, the scenery outside appeared on the walls of the cockpit.

"Good. We'll fly up just like this. But it might start shaking, so be careful."

"Yes!"

"Understood! Let's go!"

Rienna and Fule said as they stood on either side of me.

And so I unleashed wind magic towards the ground and flew up into the air.

I could see Alyssa outside as she raised her voice in astonishment. Soon, we were so high up that Sheorl looked very small. And from there, I moved to the north.

"Woah! We're so high up! This looks like fun!"

Fule and Rienna looked at the sky around them with deep interest.

As for me, I looked straight ahead. If I looked down, I might become scared and lose my balance… Well, I was actually quite used to it by now.

Perhaps it was because the armor was made of durable Hihiirokane. That really helped put me at ease.

"Still…it's amazing that such a huge mass of metal can fly in the sky."

"Mister Mappa never ceases to amaze me with his skill."

Rienna agreed. Yes, Mappa continued to make things that were hard to believe.

"It's strong too. We have nothing to be afraid of now!"

Said Fule. 'Aye,' I agreed.

Even without the Mado Armor, I had felt that Sheorl's defenses were perfect.

But I was worried about these reoccurring visits of magic energy from the north.

Perhaps it was the danger from the prophecy…

As I thought of such things, a black sky appeared up ahead.

I could sense it even when inside of the armor. The vibrations of numerous wings.

And more than anything…it was very hot. The cockpit had become so hot that I suddenly wanted to use ice magic everywhere.

"This heat… What is it… What is that!?"

I couldn't help but raise my voice at the sight up ahead.

It was all the more surprising because it was familiar to me.

The same black miasma that had covered the Undead in Arancia was now coming towards Sheorl.

"Are those…bees!? Could they be related to Heath and Garuda?"

As Rienna said, there were creatures that resembled giant bees inside of the miasma.

Heath and Garuda were also monster bees that had come to this island.

However, these looked like they were different in shape. Heath looked more like a honey bee, while these were slender and wasp-like.

I had seen them before. They were monster bees known as Lance Bees.

They were quite common in the Kingdom of Sanfaris and the surrounding areas. They usually lived in the highlands and would come down to attack towns and villages. Not only would they devour crops and livestock, but they would even eat people. They were ravenous monsters that ate anything.

Their stingers looked a lot like a knight's lance, and was not only hard and sharp, but also had a powerful paralysis venom.

Furthermore, as they moved in great swarms, they raised the temperature of the surrounding area. And so this heat was caused by their wings. Enemies that were immune to their poison would then be weakened by the heat.

Due to how they hunted in large numbers, the guards of the royal army always had a difficult time dealing with them.

So they were already horrifying as it was, but there were over a thousand of them here…and even worse, they had black tentacles coming out of different parts of their bodies.

Fule started to talk as if she just remembered something.

"Those black things…aren't they the same as the ones that were coming out of Garuda?"

"Aye. The tentacles that were writhing from its stomach."

When Garuda had first come to this island, it had also had black tentacles coming out of it.

And just like those ones, these too were filled with great magic energy.

"When Garuda came here, it said that it lost consciousness in a dark sky. Could it be that…"

I nodded at Rienna's words.

"Aye. Perhaps Garuda had become a part of this swarm… In any case, this is very bad."

Lance Bees could not be persuaded to begin with.

And so we had no choice but to fight.

"I'm going to try and attack them. It might shake in here, so be careful."

"And we will supply you with magic energy, Lord Heal."

I nodded at Rienna and then raised my hands towards the army of Lance Bees.

I could not let my guard down in front of such an enemy. And so I would attack them first with a powerful magic that I had learned from Elto.

"…Hell Explosion."

I chanted. And then a red light was unleashed from the hands of the Mado Armor.

0

0

0

Chapter 186 – Overwhelming!!

"—Hell Explosion."

I pointed both hands at the swarm of squirming Lance Bees and chanted. Quietly, and without using too much power.

The Mado Armor followed my movements and unleashed a red light.

The light turned into a sphere and drew an arc in the sky as it seemed to get sucked into the cloud of bees.

"Huh? Was it a dud?"

Fule muttered as she stood to my left.

On my right, Rienna also tilted her head as if puzzled.

"But the size of the light looked the same as Hell Explosion."

As Rienna said, the size of the light and the amount of energy used was not that different from when I used it normally.

I had assumed that the Mado Armor would have enhanced it. But perhaps it didn't work well with Hell Explosion. It was already quite a powerful spell anyway.

…That being said, it should have exploded already.

As I wondered about such things, from the depths of the place that the light was sucked into, I sensed an immense expansion of magic.

"…!? Both of you. Hold on!"

I said, and then immediately cast Shield in front of us.

The magic energy of the Lance Bees had already been incredibly dense, and now a new magic energy had appeared and was pushing it away as it spread.

Rienna and Fule also sensed the change, and so both of them grabbed onto my arms and helped me gather magic energy towards the armor.

"The light…ah…"

Fule's eyes were glued on the scene in front of us.

For a second, I saw red light leak out from amidst the swarm, and then in the blink of an eye, it covered all of them.

It was so bright that I had to close my eyes. And then I felt the energy rushing towards us at an incredible speed.

As I kept Shield up in order to keep it from going towards Sheorl, we were hit by explosive winds causing a great shock, and there was also an explosive sound that was greater than anything that I had ever heard.

"Tsk! What power!"

I had underestimated the force of Hell Explosion when being unleashed by a Mado Armor.

While it had looked the same at first, that light must have had an immense amount of energy within it.

Not only that, but the energy of the Lance Bees must have been affected as well, as volcanic explosions were erupting all over the place.

And there were no signs of them stopping. Just how many Lance Bees were there?

"Lord Heal! Are you alright!?"

"Fight! Lord Heal!"

Rienna and Fule had been sending me magic energy as if to support me from behind. No, they literally were holding my arms and supporting me.

The tight black suits that they were wearing had been designed to allow you to move the Mado Armor efficiently.

The designs were very stripped down, and the fabric was thin.

And so I could feel the warmth of their skin. And the softness of their…

In any case, thanks to their help, we had been able to stop the blast from getting past us.

After some time had passed, I could see that black tentacles were being smashed against the Shield.

Upon seeing the ominous miasma ooze out from them, Fule muttered, 'they are quite gross.'

However, they seemed to be already dead. And as the tentacles turned into black miasma, they dispersed into the air.

Rienna muttered.

"Lord Heal…so these tentacles…"

"There's no doubt about it. They are the same ones that were on Garuda."

After seeing them close up, I had been able to confirm that they were the exact same shape as the tentacle we had captured before.

Not only that, but the miasma was the same as the miasma in Arancia.

So did that mean it was related to the black sky that covered Arancia?

In reality, Arancia was a continent that was very far away from here.

But if these dark skies and tentacles were approaching other continents as well—the prophecy about the end of the world might just come true.

It felt like the danger was really approaching us now. The Barleon continent that I was born on might be in danger.

…Perhaps I should warn my father and the other countries. My father, the king of Sanfaris, had been especially concerned about the prophecy, and so he was likely to take what I had to say seriously.

After a while, the explosions finally stopped.

I assumed that the surface of the sea would be covered in Lance Bees, but it seemed like little of them remained after the explosions. There were great waves, and I could feel some movement of energy, but other than that, things were back to normal.

I let out a sigh of relief, and tried to wipe the sweat off my forehead with a handkerchief.

However, that's when I realized that both of my arms were being clasped tightly. My arms were being crushed between Rienna and Fule's chest.

I frantically raised my voice.

"Th-thank you! I'm fine now!"

"Huh? Oh, yes!"

Rienna's face grew red as if she just remembered something, and she pulled away.

Fule observed this and grinned. Then she moved away slowly.

"Ahh, at first I wasn't sure what was going to happen, but I think I know how to use the Mado Armors now. Still, it's quite amazing. I was impressed back when I saw the normal Hell Explosion, but when unleashed with this armor… I thought that the world was about to end."

As Fule said, Hell Explosion through the Mado Armor had been on a different level. There was a light that covered the sky all the way up to the horizon.

Mado Armor…it really was an incredible weapon. I would have to be careful that we didn't use them in the wrong way.

"Hey, Chief! Are you alright!?"

I could hear Erevan's loud voice from behind.

When I turned around, I saw that several Mado Armors were flying towards us.

The armor in the middle looked strong and muscular. It had been modeled after Erevan. In other words, Erevan was riding on it.

According to Mappa, he had made it so that your voice could be heard from outside of the Mado Armor. So we could communicate.

And so I spoke in order to reply to Erevan.

"We're fine, Erevan! How is the island?"

"As of now, there's no problem at all! Sir Baris is currently taking watch on the ground. However, that magic just earlier…"

"Aye, I was surprised as well. But the number of Lance Bees surprised me even more… All of you, stay watchful of the area for now. I'm going to go and circle the island as well."

"Aye! Alright, we'll guard the island with the Mado Armors as part of our training!"

And so for a while after that, we watched the area surrounding the island.