Chapter 448: The Third Calamity (2)

WHIRRRRR...!!

As the swarm surged forward, the insects’ hard shells scraped and clattered, creating a deafening cacophony. Pinpointing their exact location was nearly impossible.

“Aaaargh!!”

“Gaaah!!”

“Deploy the shields! All remaining magic artillery units, fire everything you’ve got!”

The fleet commanders in the helm shouted orders until they were out of breath.

Bang—!!

“...!!”

One of the nearly microscopic insects slammed into the control room window. The glass cracked as if struck by a bullet, blood splattering across the surface.

The commanders and officers stared at the bloodstain, petrified.

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

In the next instant, dozens—no, hundreds—of insects began battering the control room door all at once. The interior side crumpled like paper.

“Sh-Shield! What happened to the shield?!”

“It’s... It’s already active. Looks like they’ve managed to breach it.”

“They breached the shield? We installed a mid-tier Class 5 shield system, the same one used in the imperial capital! How the hell...?

Crack... Creeeak...

The commander bit down on his lip, eyes fixed on the spreading cracks in the glass.

“Damn it! How the hell are we supposed to fight monsters we can’t see or track? We’re screwed!”

Booom...!

The wyverns of the Wyvern Squadron circled high above the Silverwing Fleet, eventually releasing something from the sky. Small, box-like devices struck the water’s surface and exploded in flashes of lightning, flooding the waves with light.

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Zzzzzap—!!

Crackle... Bzzzzz...!!

The barrier dome enveloped the ships, instantly scorching the frenzied insects and leaving only their charred remains behind. The surrounding waters glowed red.

“We... We’re alive...”

The commander collapsed into a chair, his legs giving out. The nerve-wracking sound of the Lice pounding on the door had finally ceased.

Boom...!

BOOM!!

The dome of light continued to spread across the water, shielding more ships and incinerating the swarms of insects around them.

“Barrier bombs deployed! They’re working!” shouted a wyvern rider.

The Lice were fleeing from the Silverwing Fleet. Some of the insects had survived the full force of the barrier bombs. But now, charred and blackened, they were finally visible.

Whoosh...!!

Following the bombardment, the surviving Lice clustered together into a writhing mass.

“Good. That means magic isn’t the only way to fight them,” Ganeth muttered to himself as he was thinking of Wingel Hart, the one who had created the barrier bombs.

When he first heard the plan to combat Lice using magic troops, it had seemed like the most reliable option. The only problem was, there simply weren’t enough sorcerers to defend the entire continent.

“Wyvern Squadron! Descend! From here on, we fight!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Understood!”

The Wyvern Squadron was made up of Sword Expert–level knights. While they could protect themselves with mana, soldiers of that rank weren’t capable of killing the Lice—at least, not until now.

The successful bombardment had turned the tide of the battle. The pests were no longer invisible, and now they moved as a cluster, like a massive monster. Targeting them had become easier, though defeating them would still prove difficult.

“Don’t forget it’s a Calamity we’re dealing with! Stay in formation! Don’t try to take them on alone!”

As he shouted, Ganeth swung his massive halberd—mana surged along the blade, forming a blazing edge of energy. His strikes instantly scattered the swarm of Lice across the deck.

Szzzzzt...! Crack!

A few insects burned on contact with the halberd’s blade—but only a handful. The rest circled around and closed in on Ganeth.

“Gah!”

Struck from all sides, he was quickly overwhelmed. The Lice swarmed over him, forming a living barrier that sealed him in.

“Commander!”

The wyvern riders rushed in and swung their swords to aid him, but insects that had slipped through a Sword Master’s attacks were not about to fall to ordinary knights.

“Scatter, all of you!”

At his shout, the riders quickly backed off.

“Haaaah...!!”

Ganeth spread his arms wide, flinging off the insects clinging to him, and released a tremendous burst of mana.

Booom...!! Zzzzzzt—

After the thunderclap, the Lice fell from the sky like charred rain. Ganeth had taken down hundreds with a single blast—but that was only a tiny fraction of the swarm.

“

Huff

...” He wiped the blood from his cheek. “They’re not going down easy, are they...?”

The wyvern riders’ morale, boosted by the earlier bombardment, had quickly faded after seeing their commander struggle.

“Sir Ganeth, I’ll lend my strength! Have the knights focus on rescuing the soldiers of the Silverwing Fleet! I will handle those things,” came a voice from behind him.

Aidan?

Recognizing the familiar voice, Ganeth suddenly realized that the Mana Ship had already reached the center of the wreckage.

“When did...”

The speed was incredible.

Fwoosh

—!!

In that instant, something shot past behind Ganeth, leaving only a scorched trail on the deck before vanishing.

Crack!

BZZZZT—!!

Blinding sparks erupted in front of Ganeth, forcing him to raise an arm to shield his face. The lightning resembled what he had unleashed moments ago—but this was something else.

The bolts didn’t fade after the initial burst. Instead, they crackled outward in all directions, linking together to form a vast net of electricity.

Fwoooosh

—!

Wind came first, followed by brilliant lightning.

“That’s incredible...” Ganeth murmured to himself, barely able to keep his eyes open. He had heard of Aidan Hamil’s speed before, but this was the first time he had seen it with his own eyes.

Of course, he hadn’t truly

seen

it. Maybe he had caught a blur of Aidan’s figure out of the corner of his eye, but that was all. Even so, the lightning erupting in his wake was proof enough of his incredible speed.

Aidan was moving faster than light itself.

I heard he’s mastered the Shadow Arts... Has he gone beyond even that?

Ganeth wore a bitter smile. He had stagnated under the lofty title of one of the Five Sword Masters, but those who had once sought Karyl before his departure, like Miliana and the others, had continued to grow.

Maybe this is why I wasn’t chosen as one of the Ten Godslayers...

Thud—!

Something landed on the ceiling of the control room.

“Huh...”

Ganeth’s eyes flickered with surprise at the sight of Anchar, clad in what appeared to be bear hide.

“Aidan! I’ll gather them all in one place!”

Her eyes changed color, and the energy radiating from her shifted in an instant. She released the breath she had been holding, raised both hands high above her head, then slammed them down with all her strength.

BOOOOM...!!

A shockwave erupted from where she stood, briefly lifting the people around her off the ground.

“...!!”

They had floated for only a second—maybe two—but to Ganeth, it felt as if time had stopped. In that instant, everything appeared with perfect clarity.

For a brief moment, it felt as though every living being in the area had become linked to her.

“Ransen! Unt Gabna!”

She began chanting in the tongue of the Wildings. But it was not quite a spell, nor was it anything like the prayers used by priests. It felt more like a ritual, a plea to the spirits of nature.

Shhhhhh...!

As she brought her arms together, the insects began swarming toward her, as if under her control.

“A Druid...” Ganeth chuckled in disbelief, out of breath. He was witnessing for the first time the powers of the Wildlings—powers he had only ever heard about in stories. There were countless forces beyond the world he had once believed to be the pinnacle.

“...Well, I can’t afford to sit here and do nothing, can I?”

Crack—!

With renewed vigor, Ganeth brought his foot down on the deck.

BOOM—!

“I have wielded the power of lightning longer than anyone.”

He couldn’t stand idly by while Aidan, whose affinity lay with the wind, wielded Thunderstrike and Thunderclap. As the only one among the Five Greats with an affinity for lightning, Ganeth couldn’t allow himself to be outdone.

“Hraaaah...!!”

With each swing of his halberd—condensed with mana—bursts of brilliant light flashed across the deck.

***

“This is going to take forever at this rate. Are you really not going to help them?” asked Allen Javius.

Karyl sat astride the massive wolf, gazing down at the carnage from the hill’s crest.

“No.” he shook his head. “I need to watch. I already know what Aidan’s capable of, but I’m still not sure about her.”

“Oh, please. It’s not like you forgot what she was capable of in your past life.”

“Things are different now. The Anchar I remember was a girl who awakened her powers in a fit of rage after losing her father.”

“Even so, from what I’m seeing now, she looks more than capable.”

“It’s different. Once we enter Pharel, someone will definitely be left behind. If it comes to it, I will leave behind even the Godslayers to reach the Divine Throne.”

“So you’d abandon your comrades?”

“No. I believe they can survive without me.” Karyl gave a faint smile. “So if this is all it takes to stop them, they need to be able to handle it without me.”

“Haha. You sure do talk a good game,” Allen scoffed, though he didn’t disagree. He had seen the Pharel within the Ice Cave himself, and he knew all too well how terrifying that place truly was.

“Honestly, only a monster like you could do it.”

“Aidan has clearly taken himself to the next level while I was gone. And you, Anchar... What about you?”

Karyl narrowed his eyes, watching them through his Infinity Circle.

“Hmm?”

At that moment, something caught his attention.

“Well now. This is getting interesting,” he murmured with a faint smirk.

***

Among the reinforcements aboard the Mana Ship with Aidan and Anchar, another entity emerged.

It was Alkar, the Divine Deer.

“Mew...”

Anchar gently placed her hand on the fawn’s forehead.

Five sacred spirits dwelled within the Great Jungle, and Anchar was the only Wildling to have bonded with all of them. But before leaving the jungle to follow Karyl, she had become something more.

A sixth spirit.

“Shape.”

Wuuuuuuuumm...

As she whispered the word, a pure white light enveloped her entire being.