Chapter 64 - Night of the Hunt (2)

"Always Noel, Noel, Noel—"

Katya muttered under her breath, her face full of discontent. She was thoroughly annoyed at having been separated from Noel and Aiden yet again and sent wandering around on her own.

Her arms were loaded with stakes she had taken from Aiden. Her latest instructions were to go around planting them in various places.

The man himself had made it clear that he would rather not give her such menial work, but she had insisted on taking it. It was better than being the only one doing nothing.

'... Fine. I can run a few little errands for him.'

Pouting, she set off again, driving stakes into the ground as she went. The work was dull and repetitive, but knowing it was helping Aiden made her feel a little better.

The task itself wasn't particularly difficult. Her main complaint was that she had been left on her own again.

'Why does he always put that woman first?'

He really did.

Whenever they had something to do together, Aiden invariably turned to Noel first, not her. It had become second nature to him.

Seeing how his every gesture showed how much he relied on Noel in all sorts of ways, Katya could hardly help pouting.

Well, sometimes it even felt like this:

'So I'm just in the way.'

Dwelling on that thought left her feeling inexplicably gloomy.

She had once pressed Noel to explain exactly what their relationship was, but whatever the answer, it was an undeniable fact that they had promised to marry.

Whatever lay behind that arrangement, their relationship was officially closer than hers with him.

"..."

Naturally, Katya hated that state of affairs with a passion.

She worked her way along the edge of the cliff near the gorge, hammering stakes into the ground with savage force as though venting her anger.

What exactly should she call this feeling?

She hated seeing Aiden with anyone other than herself. She understood perfectly well that it was a kind of possessiveness.

Was it jealousy, then? A desire to take that woman's place?

But that definition didn't quite fit either.

'I don't even really know what a wife is...'

Wasn't the dictionary definition of marriage accepting an outsider as part of one's family?

But she couldn't say for certain that she wanted to become that herself.

After all, to her, family meant—

"..."

Katya froze at a tight tugging sensation deep inside her chest.

'Ah.'

This was dangerous.

Recognizing that, she calmly suppressed the divinity surging inside her.

Even with a body that could feel nothing, there were things that sometimes went beyond those physical sensations to disturb her mind. Emotions.

Insults. Contempt. Humiliation.

Beyond those jumbled memories, the violent movement of her mind that took the clearest shape could only be called one thing.

Rage.

Violent, pitch-black rage that seemed to tear her mind apart and bleach her reason white.

To her, the word family was nothing more than a trigger for those feelings.

Her body twitched. Her breathing threatened to quicken against her will.

'... Friend.'

Until that word came to her, the symptoms had been severe enough that she might have unleashed flames around herself without realizing it.

Aiden.

Aiden Kellermain.

That man was her friend.

Not anything like family.

"..."

Repeating those words in her mind, she finally regained her composure and steadied her breathing.

Yes. In that sense, trying to separate the Lionhearted from him was practically doing him a favor.

Wasn't she helping him escape the dreadful shackles of family?

So if she caught that woman flirting with him again, she wouldn't be satisfied until she found some way to interfere—

"Can't you run any faster?!"

"I'm sorry, but this is my top speed!"

"..."

Just as Katya was stoking her fighting spirit, Noel and Aiden burst out of the forest behind her, clinging tightly to each other. Their faces wore uncharacteristic looks of sheer terror.

Katya's eyes immediately narrowed at the sight of Noel carrying Aiden on her back like a sack of luggage again.

She had only just been thinking how sick she was of seeing them glued together...

"What are you two—"

Before Katya could finish, her eyes flashing, Noel scooped her up and slung her over her shoulder.

It happened so smoothly that Katya had no chance to resist. Wide-eyed, she dangled like a sack over Noel's left shoulder.

"What? What's going on?!"

Thoroughly flustered, she directed her question at Aiden, who was hanging over the right shoulder. His reply came in a breathless rush.

"I'll explain later! Just fire a shot first!"

"...?"

What was she supposed to fire, and at what? The questions immediately occurred to her, but no further explanation seemed necessary.

She could see at once what they were running from.

A magical beast flew up from below the slope beside them.

Yes, "flew" was the only word for it.

It had clearly hooked its legs over the edge of the slope and hauled itself up. Its absurd leg strength, however, had launched it skyward as though it had fired itself into the air.

Katya's jaw dropped as she watched a corner of the hill where she had been standing collapse from the sheer force of the beast kicking off it.

It was a four-legged magical beast resembling a predatory cat.

But comparing that horrific magical beast to a mere wild animal would be a considerable insult to it.

She wasn't even sure it was a living creature that belonged in such a category.

It was as large as two houses put together. Vicious muscles pulsed along limbs like the steel framework of a building.

With primal violence pouring from every inch of its body, the proper description would be a living tank.

The earth shook with its every movement.

Looking at it drove something home.

That magical beast which had sprouted from the grand duke's daughter's body before...

'... Wasn't shit compared to this.'

So this was what a monster at the very pinnacle of magical-beast strength looked like.

This was what it took to frighten even other magical beasts, creatures driven by instinct alone, into fleeing.

As those realizations struck her one after another, Katya twisted her lips.

"... What is that thing?"

Aiden did have a very precise answer to that question.

⊙ Soul Reaver [Berserk]

A magical beast at the apex of the ecosystem among quadrupedal magical beasts within the void region. Few creatures other than dragonkind can rival its raw physical abilities, and in certain areas it surpasses even dragonkind.

It possesses great pride and intelligence sufficient for conversation, but has gone berserk for an unknown reason. It is currently incapable of rational thought and is hostile toward everything in its sight.

-Weapon: Entire body

-Strengths: Physical prowess at the pinnacle of magical beasts, defenses tougher than dragon scales, vitality approaching immortality

-Weaknesses: None.

Of course, he honestly felt it would be better to keep his mouth shut than rattle off a list of ridiculous stats like those.

The Soul Reaver slammed into the ground with a shriek like metal scraping against a steel plate. Its four legs began tearing across the earth at terrifying speed, the wind pressure scattering the dust before it could even rise.

It was clearly faster than Noel, who was sprinting flat out with the aid of her supernatural power!

"... Ha."

At this point, Katya could wholeheartedly agree with Aiden's suggestion to shoot first and leave the explanations for later.

Divinity pulsed through her entire body.

An immense quantity of it surged within her, enough to justify calling her a walking supernatural-power plant alongside the Lionhearted.

As she formed a hand sign, that divinity honed itself to a sharper edge. Every member of the Holy Kingdom's royal family diligently practiced the Flourishing Flame Arts to wield their innate power more destructively.

And Katya was hardly someone to be underestimated in technique, either, not merely in raw output.

Spinning blades of divinity formed all around her. Blades that would melt through thick steel plates with ease shot straight at the Soul Reaver's eyes.

No living creature could toughen up vulnerable parts such as its eyes or internal organs. And Katya's blades of divinity, aimed precisely at those weak points...

Bounced off in a shower of sparks.

Katya's jaw dropped before she could stop herself.

The attack hadn't been entirely ineffective, apparently. The Soul Reaver roared in pain and slowed its furious charge slightly.

"... Did I really just see that?"

Needless to say, it was absurd for a creature to take a hit to a vital spot from one of the strongest members of the Holy Kingdom's royal family and merely slow down.

Katya's fingertips trembled, a rare sight. Her pride had suffered no small blow.

No, this went beyond wounded pride.

That attack would have inflicted near-fatal damage even on most powerful supernatural-power wielders. Yet this thing had taken it directly in the eyes without suffering any real injury?

"... How the hell are we supposed to kill that?"

It was only natural for her to ask.

She could understand why even the Lionhearted, who had distinguished herself in the Coalition War, could do nothing but run.

Aiden, however, answered as though there were nothing particularly strange about any of it.

"It's fine! We can't kill it anyway!"

"... What?"

"I never intended to kill it in the first place!"

It wasn't utterly, hopelessly immortal like Katya, of course, but it was still a monster that the system window itself compared to dragonkind.

Dragon scales were considered the very symbol of impenetrable defense. Even with both the Lionhearted and Deathwish present, this maddening magical beast was beyond their ability to defeat for the simple reason that they lacked the firepower.

Killing it had never been an option.

"Then what are you going to do? Tell us the plan!"

Fortunately, Aiden had a clear answer to Noel's almost-screamed question.

"I'm going to tame it!"

"..."

Noel and Katya both stared at Aiden in disbelief.

"... Tame it?"

"Yes!"

"... That thing?"

"Yes! I'm going to keep it!"

"..."

"The goal is to ride it around!"