Chapter 100 - Don't Mess with Moles Carelessly (2)

Seen through the world, the blue oak was crying.

Before unjust violence it could do nothing about, all it could likely do was thrash and cry out that it hurt.

"..."

Vlad saw a single shining bead inside the tree's gaping wound.

It gave off a feeling similar to the yellow amber now attached to his sword hilt.

As Vlad looked at that glimmer, he could feel it.

That he had come to the right place.

"I think I understand what you were trying to do."

The troll held an axe, and the tree was crying.

The children's breaths hung atop the bell tower, and their parents were crying.

No matter how shining a thing one possessed, without the strength to protect it, it could only be taken away.

This world was full of those who sat atop such stolen tears.

"I have business with this tree too."

Vlad raised his sword in place of the weeping tree.

To raise a sword in place of a being that had no way to protect itself.

"So don't touch it."

The Swordmaster's Code called that a knight.

※※※※

BOOM!

Leaving the exploding ground behind him, Vlad quickly rolled through the troll's legs.

A reckless advance that risked danger, and the fleeting instant gained from it.

Though his posture was a mess, Vlad did not miss that moment.

"Hup!"

Blood burst out along with the flash of a shining blade.

GRAAAAAH!

The troll's muscle could be seen dangling through the sharply sliced hollow behind its knee.

"Got..."

Vlad was about to hurry and launch a follow-up strike at the troll as it staggered as if it would collapse, but at the sudden chill that came over him, he quickly raised his sword.

CLANG!

"Urgh!"

It was no ordinary attack.

It was as though the clinging malice dwelling in the axe was sticking to him.

Though he had raised his sword and blocked it, the force he failed to fully deflect sent Vlad rolling mercilessly across the ground.

"... You've got to be kidding me."

The troll's severed head, lying far away, began to grin broadly at Vlad as he stared in bewilderment.

The sword wound had recovered completely before he knew it.

Until just a moment ago, its muscle had clearly been dangling, but now there was not even a trace that the sword had passed through.

'What a fucking ridiculous recovery.'

Trolls were not monsters active in the North.

That did not mean they were easy to see even in the central region, so it was only natural that Vlad, who was seeing a troll for the first time, was bewildered.

GRRRR.

The troll, which had already picked up its own head and fitted it back onto its neck, began staring at Vlad with bloodshot eyes.

A murderous intent too fierce to dare meet swirled in the troll's death-filled eyes, but Vlad merely spat and faced it calmly.

"You bastard. You're ugly as shit."

He did not know what kind of thing it was, but he understood that it had a filthy impressive ability to recover.

Now that he knew that, it was time to check whether it would still not die even if something other than its head was cut off.

"Let's see if this still won't kill you."

From Vlad's left eye, the aura he had not managed to contain in his sword began rising like smoke.

It was an aura with such an extraordinary presence that even the troll, which had been wearing a relaxed smile until now, hardened its expression.

※※※※

SQUEAK.

The mole was no longer a shining being.

Because there was no one who recognized it.

No matter how special a being was, if no one recognized it, it was only an ordinary mole.

But the human with the golden light was different.

A person whose armor and sword gave off the scent of the same kind as itself.

Though his gaze had been faint, he had been someone who recognized it.

"This thing won't die!"

No matter how solid a world he possessed, it would not be able to stop the thing ahead.

Because no matter how excellent an attack was, if they were of a different order, it could not reach.

This human's level had not yet reached the point where he could break the curse of immortality.

SQUEAK!

Then it should help a little.

Because while some humans burned forests and cut down trees to widen their fields, other humans would offer up a handful of wild berries even while hungry.

It could only hope the knight with the golden light was a human worthy of having his order raised.

※※※※

He cut off its arms, cut off its legs, and even tried slicing through its waist.

He pierced its heart, burst its lungs, and pulled out its entrails to rake through them.

Vlad's desperate struggle was already being testified to by his blond hair, dyed bright red with blood.

"... Is this thing insane?"

In a battle that felt as if he were sinking deeper and deeper into mud, Vlad only grew more anxious.

He had to find the answer somehow.

Before he exhausted himself and collapsed.

'The voice managed it, though.'

It was a faint memory, but he knew the voice had borrowed his body and brought down the headless man.

Though it had not finished him off, if there had been time, it probably could have ended him.

'... Is it because my world is still shallow?'

Vlad bit his lip as he looked at the troll, which had recovered before he knew it and regained its original form.

Though he had only now climbed up one step, there were still far too many things in the world he did not know.

Vlad felt as though he finally understood why Joseph had expelled him from Soara.

"Don't smirk, asshole."

Still, he had to do it.

There was still a contract he had not fulfilled.

Vlad did not want to part from the voice without even being able to call its name.

The swing he made now was for himself, not for the tree crying behind him.

"...!"

If cutting did not work and stabbing did not work, then this time he would sever its limbs entirely and scatter them far away.

The moment Vlad, resolved, clenched his teeth fiercely, a cluster of sparkling light began to shine from the distant forest.

'What is that?'

It was a light too far away to make out.

With the bizarre troll before him, Vlad hurriedly took a guarded stance, wondering if yet another strange being was appearing, but that was not it.

NEEEEIGH!

The spirit of the plains, charging without hesitation, did not tolerate obstacles blocking its path.

Even if that obstacle was an undying troll.

"Noir?"

BOOM!

Noir, who had rushed out at a speed no one could react to, slammed into the troll's side as though there were no need to think.

The shock of the two colliding was so great that even Vlad had to close his eyes for a moment.

GRAAAAAH!

An astonishing speed, the distance it had leaped, and even the pure white horn formed on its forehead.

Before Noir's charge, which had gathered all that force, even the troll had no choice but to roll across the ground mercilessly this time.

Your world and mine become more complete by touching.

Noir, who had crossed the forest to find a more complete self, finally found the golden knight.

NEEEEIGH!

"How the hell did you get here!"

Without hiding his joy, Vlad quickly mounted Noir and hurriedly widened the distance as he looked at the troll.

Unlike when it had faced him, the troll was hastily backing away and stuffing the hideous entrails protruding from its side back in.

'Why?'

The fact that its entrails had not yet found their place meant it was not recovering properly.

Unlike Vlad's attacks, the strike from Noir's horn had clearly dealt the troll an effective blow.

'Then!'

Perhaps the spirit blood Noir possessed had worked on it.

Having judged so, Vlad gripped Noir's reins and began racing fiercely around the troll.

"Now!"

NEEEEIGH!

Now that Noir's appearance had given them the initiative, there was no need to force an opening.

The troll hurriedly brought its axe down at the two charging toward it, but Vlad was atop Noir.

CLANG!

THUD!

They parried with a knight's sword and rammed with a spirit's horn.

At the speed added to the horse's weight, the troll felt pain that seemed as though it might kill it and ended up rolling across the ground.

'It works!'

The pierced abdomen was not closing this time either.

This was an attack that worked.

"Again!"

The moment Vlad pulled back again to widen the distance for a leap, the troll also quickly began searching for a way.

The tree it had been chopping until just now.

The troll quickly ran over, stood with its back to the tree, and spread both arms, preparing to catch Noir.

GRRRR...

If it could not dodge, it only had to catch him.

Though it might be pierced badly, if it stopped that pitch-black horse's charge, then the knight on top would not matter either way.

"...!"

As Vlad charged toward the troll, he saw it spreading both arms and bit his lip.

He had known it was no ordinary creature, but even so, this was a judgment beyond the realm a monster should be able to think in.

"...?"

Just as he was wondering whether he should charge or not, Vlad felt the sword in his hand grow slightly heavier.

"What the hell, you little..."

The glowing mole had crawled out from inside his armor before he knew it.

Clinging to the amber Alicia had given him, the creature waved one paw at Vlad as he looked down at it.

If it were a person, it looked as if it were giving him a thumbs-up.

"What are you doing right now..."

Just as he hurriedly tried to pull the mole off the hilt after its incomprehensible sudden action, Vlad felt a strange resonance spread from the sword he was holding.

'What?'

A feeling unfamiliar yet not unfamiliar.

A feeling similar to when Heinal's white snake had wrapped around him was shaking Vlad's right hand.

Alicia's amber was shining.

Some worlds stab at each other whenever they touch, but other worlds expand each other.

Noir had been like that, the white snake had been like that, and the voice had been like that.

"This is..."

And now, the glowing mole was the same.

The mole's blessing, beginning from the amber, started climbing along the face of the blade.

The blessing of the earth, which any being that lived with its feet planted on the ground could feel, was dwelling in Vlad's sword.

The earth was the foundation that bore all things in the world.

Like a weight sinking into the sea, the blessing of the earth burrowed deep into the imagery world and made Vlad look into the depths of his own world.

It made him draw out, if only for a moment, the foundation of himself hidden down below.

"Go!"

At the end of Vlad's command to charge, a beastlike growl had mixed into his words before he knew it.

The troll that had seemed impossible to do anything about until just moments ago now looked like something lower than a rag rolling across the floor.

How dare the likes of you challenge me.

GRAAAAAH!

As the troll watched Vlad drawing closer and closer, it unknowingly cried out loudly.

A human whose momentum had, before it knew it, soared to the end of the sky.

The white horn of the pitch-black horse and the shining sword were frightening, but what was more frightening than those were the eyes of the man charging toward it now.

"Now die!"

Within the sword thrust out together with the spirits' blessings, the troll let out its final death cry.

At the end of the worlds that met sharply, the troll, feeling death, remembered the eyes of the knight who had passed by it one last time.

Within those cold blue eyes dwelled the most perfect ferocity in the world, something impossible to face.

※※※※

WHOOSH.

Inside a dark room.

In that place full of burning candles yet without light, there was one candle that suddenly went out.

"..."

A woman whose hair began blue and ended black was staring closely at the candle that had just gone out.

It was the light that indicated the troll she had sent to the forest of Dobrechiti.

"... There shouldn't be anyone of high order in a rural territory tucked away in a corner."

Only a soul that had surpassed its limits could break her curse.

Knowing that, the woman moved the tips of her feet that did not touch the ground and shook a small bell.

"You called, Lady Lamashtu?"

A knight entered with the sound of the bell.

On his chest was engraved the crest symbolizing House Uthman.

"Go and confirm it."

The woman spoke as she tossed the already extinguished candle to the man.

"And change into a new face."

"Understood."

If one possessed something that shone, one had to be able to protect it.

And that applied to Vlad as well.

In the dark room, amid the flickering candles, the woman whose feet did not touch the ground quietly looked in the direction of Dobrechiti.

※※※※

A little girl was sitting inside a small cave.

Thanks to the wild berries scattered around her, placed there by who knew whom, she had avoided starvation, but her swollen ankle looked serious.

SNIFFLE.

She had not been able to fall asleep last night.

At the bizarre sounds coming from the forest, she had only shed tears.

It was probably the sound made by the bizarre giant she had seen then.

If only the kind mole would come back quickly.

"Boss. Is this the place?"

"The mole says it is."

"Now you talk to moles too?"

"I talk to you, don't I?"

At the sound of conversation murmuring from far away, the girl held her breath and opened her eyes wide.

If only she could be certain they were villagers, she would have shouted to let them know she was here, but the girl, already terrified because of the troll, was in no state to make a rational decision.

But the sound of footsteps reached the front of the cave with sure steps, as if they knew where the girl was.

"...!"

The girl, terrified, clenched her trembling hands.

At last, the man who appeared before her was a fine young man with blond hair and blue eyes.

But what reassured the girl was not the man's appearance, but the mole perched on his shoulder, waving at her.

"Hey, kid. Let's go home."

Vlad and the mole were both exhausted, but they still had enough strength left to give a small smile to reassure the girl.

Warmth came from the girl's body as he held her in his arms.