Chapter 26 “The Watchers Observe”

I walked toward Eryell and noticed that her heartbeats had become much steadier than before. It seems that she has calmed down the moment she saw me. I can’t say that I don’t feel the same as her. I’m really sorry that I have to put you through all of these, my dear. I’ll try to compensate you for that in the near future.

“Hmm?” I tapped my cane and noticed that she was injured. Since the scent of blood that comes from her is not that strong, I think she might just have been bruised. Ah, the impact she had might injured her back. If that is the case, then that’s quite dangerous. I shoved my hand into my pocket and pulled out a small bottle. I crouched down near her and then opened the cork that sealed the bottle after placing my cane next to me.

“What’s…that?”

“Potion.”

“A-Ah, good.” She then tried to move her hand, but I put mine on top of hers, stopping her. “Nerva?”

“Let me help you.” I then put my free hand behind her head while positioning the bottle near her mouth. “Don’t rush, okay? Take it easy.”

“…Yes…” Hmm? Her heartbeats rose all of a sudden? She is embarrassed? Really, Eryell. This is no time to be embarrassed. But as expected of her, she did follow my instruction and start drinking the liquid inside the bottle. After emptying the content, I smiled at her and wait for a while. “E-Eh?”

“Don’t move yet.” I said to her as I placed my hand on her shoulder. I know that she was eager to stand up and help, but I have different plan for her. “Wait for the potion to work. After that, I have a request for you.”

“Request?” I gave her a slight nod. After that, I pulled out yet another potion. “Another one?” I shook my head.

“Not for you. For Ingolf.” I said to her as I gestured my head toward the fallen knight before handing her the bottle. Fortunately, I could still hear his heartbeats. Shallow and slow, but it was still beating. As long as he still clings to his life, no matter the condition, I could help him. But at the moment, I have my hand full and I also need the two of them to get away from the dangerous field. “Help him drink this and then drag him to safety.”

“…What about you?” You are still able to worry about me even at your current condition? Aren’t you a sweet one, my dear Eryell. “D-Don’t laugh!” Oh, she noticed. Forgive me.

“Don’t worry.” I gave her a smile. “You can leave the rest to me. I’ll promise you it will not be long.”

“…Get back safely.”

“I promise you.” I nod again and then offered her my hand. She took my hand and then I help her stand. Judging from her steady heartbeats, I think her condition has improved. Although my potion works well, her strong body constitution helps with her recovery too. With those two combined, her recovery has been quite fast. “Now help him.” I said as I once again gestured her to help him.

“…Be careful, Nerva.” She then hugged me for a split second. After that, the sound of her running toward Ingolf entered my ear.

At first, I was at lost. I didn’t expect her to hug me all of a sudden like that. It was pleasant, I confess. But it is still unexpected. I could feel a small smile appeared on my face as I relive the pleasant experience.

“Hey, wake up, you.” My side was nudged and I immediately turned toward the one that did that. “Don’t lose your focus just because she did that.”

“…”

“What is it? Say so–OWW!!!” A yelp came from her mouth as I hit her shin with my cane. “What was that for!?”

“Being told like that by you made me slightly irritated.” And that you ruined my good mood by that. I know that you meant well, but still…Yeah, let’s leave it like that.

“What!?” She shouted. “And you think that’s okay!? To hit me like that!?”

“You’re exaggerated. And be quiet for a while.” After I said that, she did become quiet. But her heartbeats had increased tremendously, a sign of her still angry at what I’ve done. Sorry, but I don’t regret doing that. As I clear my mind and ignored her frustration, I readied myself. “Give me power to see the unseen. Let me be the one to give the proper judgment.”

Just like many times before, I felt energy started to gather inside my empty eye sockets. They turned and swirled, producing a slight warm feeling. After a while, I could feel the swirling energy stabilize and the heat has subsided a bit to a comfortable level. I then removed my blindfold. As I opened my eyelids, the scene in front of me entered my vision.

“Ho? You’re using that? The ‘Soul Eyes’?”

“I don’t want to take any chances right now.” I said shortly to her.

“But you didn’t’ use your other spell, what was it called?” I glanced at Cyrielle and saw her tapping her forehead as she kept her eyes closed. “Ah! ‘Magic Pool’!” Oh, she remembered the name? That was a surprise. A pleasant surprise. “Hey! You just thought that it is a surprise that I can remember the name, didn’t you?”

“…No comment.” She let out a loud ‘hmph’ sound as she heard my answer. Well, I guess my glowing eyes gave out my emotion much easier than I thought. I better remember to train myself better next time. “In normal situation, I will use that first. But I fear that my magic will affect the beast since the beast is highly sensitive to any kind of magic energy. I might make it stronger.”

“Hmm, I see what you mean.” Cyrielle then looked at the lying beast while nodding. “True, that creature really gave out a lot of magic energy. That reminds me, is there any reason for you to avoid using ‘Soul Eyes’? And is there also a reason for you to always combine that with ‘Magic Pool’?”

“Aren’t you being a little bit too relax there, Cyrielle?” I let out a sigh after looking at her rather carefree attitude even while we’re facing a strong corrupted beast.

“That’s just how I am,” said Cyrielle with a wide grin on her face as she puffed up her chest with pride. “Enough about me. Aren’t you going to give me an answer?”

“Sheesh…well, to make it easier for you to understand–“

“What’s that supposed to mean!?”

“–it is due to the fact that the magic consumption is quite high.” I continued my explanation while ignoring her shout. “It’s just as simple as that.”

“Hah?” She looked at me weirdly. And then she burst into a loud laugh to the extent that she bent her body forward while holding her stomach. Is it that funny? Really now. “You’re kidding, right?” She asked me while wiping the tears from her eyes. “Someone like you, choose to not use some technique just because of its magic consumption rate?” She then laughed again. “That is hilarious!!”

“Really now?” I looked at her with one of my eyebrows raised. “I seem to fail to see how hilarious that was.”

“Huh?” She stopped her laughing and then looked at me with a slight grin. “You, Nerva, possessed a very high amount of magic energy. Even among the Watchers yours can be considered to be one of the higher ones, if not the highest one. Well, maybe the twin, but they are a different story, you know?”

“Hmm, the twin does have a tremendous amount of magic energy pool.”

“But they can’t use it as freely as yours.” She waved her finger at me. Somehow her gesture irritated me. But I will let it slide this time. “It’s not a good comparison.” Sometimes it makes me wonder why Cyrielle rarely shows her smart side of her just like previously. And yes, she is far from stupid. I guess she just loves to act stupid like that. It is her choice to act like that. “Besides, even without considering the high amount of magic energy you already possessed, your magic recovery rate is stupidly high.”

“I felt rather conflicted to hear you use the word ‘stupid’ with me although it is a part of a compliment,” I said to her as I wore a wry smile.

“Ah, that’s the best I can come up with in a short amount of time. Don’t mind the small detail.”

And that is one of her bad habit. She always left out the small details. In contrast to her, her partner, Reiyes, is one of those that always pay extra attention to the small detail. So I have to say that I don’t know whether making them work in the same team is the best decision ever. But all I know is that they make an interesting combination. Certainly not the worst, but I’m afraid also not the best, most of the time. There are time when they work wonderfully together. Well, as long as their difference will not hinder their mission, it is good for me.

“Let’s just say that I’m one of those that prefer to have a backup plan in case something goes wrong.” I said as I looked at Cyrielle that tilted her head to the side as if saying ‘I don’t understand’ to me. “So let’s forget about it. Besides,” I then moved my sight to the beast, “we have a more pressing matter at hand, don’t you think?” After I said that, Cyrielle followed my sight and found what I was talking about.

“Ah, you’re right.”

And just as she replied, a loud growl came from the beast. It seemed that it has recovered from Cyrielle’s previous kick. I also noticed that the sunken part of its mouth has turned normal, a sign of its fast recovery ability.

The amount of damage that came from Cyrielle’s kick is anything but trivial. The evident that came in form of its sunken cheeks is strong enough to indicate how powerful that was. But it has recovered to the point where it seems that the previous attack it received was a lie. Although I never saw or feel the beast using any recovery spell, it has indeed recovered. Does it really have a fast natural recovery rate? I really doubted that. Even for a corrupted beast, it is still impossible. So what made it able to recover so fast?

“What troublesome task this has become.” While I was still wondering about the strange phenomenon in front of me, a grumbling voice came near me as the figure of Reiyes appeared out of thin air. He had a very annoyed expression under his cowl. And unlike the usual, his expression didn’t change immediately. The same could be say about his heartbeats. It really tells how annoyed he really is at the moment.

“Seeing you here, I suppose you have finished your task.”

“I have finished it. I have finished the annoying task.” He let out a grumble after he said that.

The task Reiyes was talking about is a part of our plan. He is the one that instructed Eryell to throw the knife onto the beast’s eye and act as a decoy to lure it away. Although I oppose his suggestion, the fact that she is the best choice remains and that force me to eventually agree with his suggestion. He then organize his Shades to control the whole commotion so that no one will follow us since the first reason we instructed Eryell to lure the beast is so that we can deal with it personally and away from any intervention that may come from anyone, be it from the royal knights corps or the town militia. Apparently that particular task is the one that he deemed as annoying. How annoying that is? Only he knows.

“What’s so annoying about that?” Cyrielle’s honest question earned her a scowl from Reiyes. But as usual, that didn’t affect her at all.

“It is the fact that the knight corps wants to storm into the forest and deal with the beast personally, saying that they need to avenge their brothers in arm.” He then let out a tired sigh. “If that wasn’t annoying enough, the militia also want to go catch the beast, saying that it is their duty as the one in charge of guarding the forest and also to help their superior.” Another sigh escaped his mouth. “Is it so hard to understand that they are far too weak to deal with it? I just can’t comprehend their suicidal tendency.”

“Well, it just shows how close they are with each other and also they are probably worried since their leaders stormed into the forest by themselves.” I said as I remembered the feel I could sense from the knights that were left behind as Ingolf decided to follow Eryell into the forest.

As one might know, Eryell is never in any danger. I always followed Eryell when she was running into the forest. I kept some distance from her as I also observe the beast’s movement. It was hard for me to hold myself back from helping her since I need her to lure the beast deep enough into the forest, away from anyone’s intervention. But I was planning to rescue her when the situation goes dire and her life is an immediate danger.

To that extension, I could also say the same for Ingolf. Although we barely know each other, I can see him as a friend and I don’t want to let him die that easily. The fact that he was beaten to his current condition, even to the extent of losing one of his arms, is one of my miscalculations. I thought the beast will not be that furious after being stabbed by Reiyes’ knife. But it seems that it has entered into a frenzied state, making it much dangerous. And for that, I’m willing to help him recover as best to my ability.

“Nerva, look.” Cyrielle called my name, stopping me from my own pondering. She pointed at the beast. “It stands up again.” I then followed her finger and noticed that.

“It’s a strong one.” Reiyes commented. “Even after receiving your attack.”

“And here I thought that my kick is strong enough. But…” She looked at her own shoe. “If I use more strength, my shoes will be ruined.”

“You are in the middle of a battle and you are still able to care for your footwear?” Reiyes raised his voice as he heard Cyrielle’s carefree reason.

“Hey! Battle or not, I still care about my own looks. It is a very important aspect that one should always take care of!”

“Huh?” Reiyes let out an annoyed voice. “What a strange things to remember.”

“Ah, it will attack.” I said that as I saw the beast lowered its body. Seconds after that it pushed its large body toward the three of us with clear intention of killing us in one strike.

But it was a futile effort as we jumped away from its attack effortlessly. Maybe it thought that since we didn’t really pay attention to it, it can take us by a surprise. Sadly for that beast, that is not the case. We were able to dodge in time before we became part of the crater the beast has just made by attacking us. I have to say that the previous attack is quite strong since the crater that was left on the location where the three of us just stood moments ago is quite deep and large.

“Oh, almost forgot.” I heard Reiyes’ voice as we landed not far from the crater. Before I could say anything, he already jumped toward the beast and landed on its head perfectly.

The beast, clearly surprised to see that its target was able to reached its head quite fast, was unable to react in time. Before it can even swipe at Reiyes, he had already grabbed the embedded knife and then pulled it out in one swift motion, producing a disgusting sound together with the beast’s roar full of pain. Without waiting for it to react, Reiyes then landed besides me.

“Hmm, the blade is still good.” He muttered as he pulled out a cloth to wipe out the blood from the blade of the knife. “It seems that the blood doesn’t have the same effect as its saliva.” After that, he proceeded to clean his weapon with a calm expression.

I then moved my sight from him toward the beast. Due to Reiyes’ action, it was currently thrashing around while letting out a pained growl from time to time. Blood kept pouring out of its wound and fell onto the forest’s soil with a splattering sound. And just as Reiyes’ mentioned, nothing happened when the blood make contact with the soil, unlike its saliva. As I concentrated, the beast’s heartbeats sounded very wild and irregular, the sign that the beast is enraged, confused, and hurt.

“So what’s the plan now, Nerva?” While I was trying to gauge the beast’s condition, I heard Cyrielle’s voice. “Can I take it down?”

“Although I hate to agree with her, I think she is right, Nerva.” And that comment of Reiyes made Cyrielle pouted. But since he ignored it, I will do the same. Actually, even if he didn’t ignore it, I will still ignore her reaction. “The faster we kill it, the faster we can save the Marked Soul.”

The moment he said that, I couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh. As expected, I could see the two of them looked at me as if I have gone crazy.

“What’s so funny?” Cyrielle asked me while still looking at me.

“Well, the both of you suggested that we should kill it to save the Marked Soul, right?” They gave a nod. “But that’s the funny part. We can’t save the Marked Soul if we kill it.” Hearing that, the two of them gave a different reaction. Reiyes showed an expression that tells me that he understood where I was going with at the moment. Cyrielle, on the other hand, just tilted her head while looking at me with a confused expression. Is she really a stupid one? That made me wonder. But after that thought ran by me, Cyrielle’s expression changed.

“Wait? Don’t tell me!” She then shifted her sight toward the beast. “That beast is the Marked Soul?” Oh, she understood. Impressive.

“Nerva, is that true?”

“Hmm, that is…not far from the truth. But from what I can see, that is not exactly right.” I tapped my chin as I tried to find the best word to explain it to them. “It is true that if we kill the beast, we will also kill the Marked Soul. But that is not because the beast’s soul is the Marked Soul in question. It is simply because the soul in question is contained within the beast together with the beast’s soul.”

“What? Is that even possible?”

“In a regular condition, it is not.” I replied to Cyrielle’s question. “Look closely at the beast’s back.” The two then followed my pointing finger. “You can see a blade embedded on it, right?”

“Oh, I can see it,” said Cyrielle while nodding. Reiyes just gave me a short nod to tell me that he has also seen it.

“For some reason I don’t know, that is the cause. And–ah, wait a bit.” I then lifted my cane and then positioned it above me. Then an impact sound was made as the beast’s large limb landed on my cane. In regular situation, my cane will shatter in pieces. But since I put my magic energy in the last minute, it can withstand its full force easily. Combined with my own strength, the beast’s limb was unable to hit me at all, making it growl in frustration.

I then parried away the beast’s limb. It is quite strange to see that a large beast like that is rendered useless by someone small like me. Due to my action, it has become disoriented and clearly losing its balance fast.

“You’re so annoying!!” A shout reached my ear, followed by a strong impact sound. I then saw the beast in front of me was thrown back quite a distance.

I managed to take a quick glance and noticed the reason for that. It was due to Cyrielle giving the beast a string punch on its jaw. Since the beast was too focused on me and still disoriented, it failed to dodge and the attack landed right on target, making it flew back and landed on it back.

“Hahaha! Take that you–OWW!!!” A yelp of pain came from her. “Why did you hit me!?”

“I never said that you can hurt it!” I raised my voice after I land a hit on her shin.

“B-But it was attacking you!”

“And it failed to do any kind of damage.” I shook my head. I moved my sight toward the beast and saw that it was still breathing. The sound of its heartbeats also told me that it was still alive. I’m glad to know that. “And didn’t I say that we shouldn’t kill it? Did you not hear that?”

“Ugh…” She took a step back after realizing what she had done. “S-So, what should we do? Should we let it live just like that?”

“No, we can’t.” I let out a sigh. “At the moment, it is draining the Marked Soul’s life force to strengthen itself and also to recover itself.”

“Ah, so by hurting it, the beast will use the life force of the Marked Soul, endangering it in the process.”

“Correct.” I nodded to Reiyes’ words.

“Wait a minute! Then why didn’t you scold him?” She shouted to me while pointing at Reiyes. “He used the knife!”

“Ah, that’s different.” I said to her. And she is clearly not happy with that. “Reiyes’ knife, the ‘Everlasting Wound’, can make any injury it inflicted becomes unable to be healed even after using the best recovery spell and potion. That’s just its effect.” I once again reminded of how terrifying his weapon is. Just like Cyrielle ‘Igneous Hatcher, the ‘Everlasting Wound’ is Reiyes Marked Artifact. It is a very strong weapon that is capable of dealing such terrifying injury.

“Ugh…that’s unfair!”

“Even if the beast tried to use the Marked Soul’s life force, it will not be able to and it also pushed back the energy, making it unable to waste any on said injury.”

“Then what now, Nerva?” Reiyes asked me. “We can’t kill it since we will kill the Marked Soul. But we also can’t let it live or it will kill the Marked Soul eventually.”

“This is crazy!” Clearly frustrated at the complicated situation, Cyrielle let out a shout.

I won’t blame her though. This is a very troubling situation. But at least I have one possible plan.

“There is one thing we can try.” I then tapped my cane as I tried to gauge the beast’s condition. It is still trying to recover. Good. I can explain this shortly. “We need to immobilize it. And since we can’t use any movement seal magic, we need to improvise.”

“How about cutting all of its limbs? And to prevent it from recovery, I will burn the wound with my Igneous Hatchet.” That is a great plan, but there is one flaw.

“No, we can‘t do that.” I shook my head. “Unlike Reiyes’ knife, the beast can try to put its power to recover the wound even though there is no chance of it recovering. It will still drain the Marked Soul.”

“Then what?” She raised her voice. While throwing her arms to the air, once again showing her frustration at the situation. “Burry it?”

“That…” Hmm? “…is not a bad plan.”

“Eh?”

“Yes, that is good.” I gave a nod. “Let’s go with that. Cyrielle, you will use your hatcher at full force.”

“Really!?”

“But not at the beast.” Her happy expression disappeared right away after I said that. “You aimed at the ground under the beast while Reiyes is luring it around. Try to make a crater as deep as possible, at least to the point where it is deep enough to reach bury half of its body. After that, use your flame to melt the stone under the soil to trap it without burning the beast in the process. Can you do it?”

“I guess…I can try.” What an unconvincing answer.

“Reiyes, how about you?”

“I can.” Now that’s a more likely answer. “How about you? I suppose you will do the continuation of the plan?”

“I will try to separate the soul so that we can deal with the beast after rescuing the Marked Soul. But since they are bonded, I need to minimalize the risk by immobilizing it. I might try to remove the sword stuck on its back first since it might be the key of saving the Marked Soul. Do you understand?” After that I looked at the two of them. The both of them gave me a nod. “I take that as a yes.”

“Give us the cue, Nerva.”

“We will move as soon as you signal us to.”

“Very well.” I looked at the beast in front of me. It already started to move again. “Let’s move then.”

Author Note:

How exactly will they save the Marked Soul?.

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