Chapter 2 — 사자(獅子)
Part 2, Chapter 26
Lion
The smile Jeff had worn against Tasha was gone from his face.
“What was it you said earlier?”
It was then that the Golden Lion drew near.
“Right. You said I was weaker than Usden, didn’t you?”
No sooner had he finished than a terrifying killing intent erupted from the Golden Lion’s body.
So sharp it made Jeff’s skin ache.
His face twisted and he barked out, fast.
“Taihol, get the young lady of Neresta out of here!”
“…Sir?”
“What are you doing! Move!”
“R-right!”
Crushed under the Golden Lion’s presence, Taihol had been out of it, but Jeff’s shout snapped him back to himself.
He hurriedly supported Tasha and got them out.
A part of him worried if Jeff would be all right.
But the Free Revolutionary Army had one rule:
—Don’t drag your comrades down!
Superior, deputy, or friend. The Revolutionary Army’s creed was free will. When the last moment comes, honor it in the way that respects his will the most.
Now was no different.
Taihol respected his superior and decided to follow his wish.
Watching Taihol and Tasha pull away at speed,
Jeff felt a quiet relief.
‘I figured this could be my last battlefield. I just didn’t think it would come this fast.’
He opened his Magic Eye and looked at the Golden Lion.
The Golden Lion was still staring back, his face cold.
Whether Taihol fled or not, he looked indifferent.
“From the way you talk, you sound like you’ve actually met Usden.”
Golden radiance flashed dazzlingly from the Golden Lion’s sword.
“Then why don’t I let you see for yourself.”
Krrrrrrrr—
Bolts of thunder came crashing down in succession.
Sweat beaded in Jeff’s grip on the spear shaft.
* * *
“Can you stand?”
“…Who are you?”
All through their escape, Tasha had barely come to and looked at Taihol.
With her stamina and mana completely spent, all she could muster was a wary stare.
“Lord Elric sent me.”
“Lord… Elric? Aren’t you with the Revolution?”
Tasha narrowed her eyes. She couldn’t see how Elric and the Revolution were connected.
Taihol swallowed dryly. Even if he’d saved her, this reaction was only natural.
He’d tried to gloss it over, but that seemed to have only made her more suspicious.
He wanted to tell her everything, the way he had with Jeff.
But things were too urgent to sit and explain.
“Well, that is—”
“Enough. I’m sure you have your reasons.”
Tasha cut him off mid-sentence.
She prided herself on reading people well enough.
‘More than anything… I can smell Lord Elric’s mana on him. And it isn’t tainted by bad intent.’
“This way, quickly!”
Even without knowing the why, Taihol led them on.
Sway.
Tasha was already beyond exhausted and couldn’t keep her balance,
but with Taihol’s support she managed to steady herself.
They’d gone some distance when—
“Lady Tasha!”
They spotted the carriage Hanabi had kept ready.
Pale-faced, Hanabi rushed to help Taihol get Tasha up into the carriage.
“Go!”
The driver snapped the reins.
Following Taihol’s directions—he knew the terrain— the carriage sped out of Hyuilran.
‘Sir Jeff…!’
Only then, with a little room to breathe, did Taihol look back through the slit in the carriage toward where Jeff was.
What he saw defied belief.
Flash! Flash!
Rrrrrumble—
They’d gone too far to make out the details,
but golden lightning was hammering the ground without a pause, the earth splitting in real time as blue waves geysered up.
Scenes out of myth.
Yet the golden aura was clearly devouring the blue.
There was no mistaking whose mana that blue belonged to.
Beside him, Tasha was equally stunned.
Jeff, who’d rendered her helpless—
—was being swept aside so easily.
‘Just how strong is the Golden Lion…!’
She couldn’t even begin to measure the gap.
* * *
Spatter!
Blood poured from Jeff’s body like rain.
He didn’t care. He kept swinging his spear.
Swish! Swish!
The air shrieked under the spear’s edge, but none of his attacks reached the Golden Lion.
Meanwhile, every time the Golden Lion’s sword moved, another deep wound opened on Jeff.
“Gh—!”
Jeff grimaced at the prickling pain.
Watching him, the Golden Lion smiled and asked,
“How about now? Can you finally compare us properly? Usden and me—who’s on top?”
He didn’t give Jeff time to answer.
He only pressed him harder, fiercer.
Open mockery.
Realizing it too late to change, Jeff bit his lip until it bled.
“Hm? When are you going to answer? Still can’t decide?”
The Golden Lion kept needling him.
As if arriving at a decision, Jeff’s eyes went wide.
“…Hm?”
The sudden shift in pressure made the Golden Lion frown.
And in that instant—
Bzzzzzeee—
Jeff’s blue eyes blazed brighter than ever.
Capillaries burst in his eyes and blood-tears spilled.
Jeff Original
Boundary of the Magic Eye
He pushed his ability to the absolute limit.
A flinch.
For a heartbeat, the light sheathing the Golden Lion vanished.
He was dispelling every zone that entered his sight. Mana, divinity, aura—any force sourced from mana was forced to a halt.
The Golden Lion’s radiance was no exception.
‘Now…!’
Jeff seized the opening and gripped his spear hard.
His arm muscles swelled fit to burst. The spear aimed at the Golden Lion’s heart cut the air.
But—
Clang!
His all-out strike bounced away, swatted aside by the sword yet again.
‘He batted it away with strength alone…?’
Jeff simply could not believe it.
“Your answer?”
The Golden Lion was still sneering.
Jeff let out a small laugh, as if letting everything go.
“Usden’s far better.”
Slice.
Watching the Golden Lion’s face pinch ever so slightly, Jeff’s head rolled across the ground.
He was definitely smiling at the end.
* * *
By now the carriage had cleared Hyuilran completely.
Taihol saw Revolutionary subordinates sprinting to go help Jeff.
But—
Fwoooom—
A chain of golden flares burst from where the Golden Lion stood. The sky seemed swathed in a brilliant halo, as if a new world were being born.
Gentle to the eye, yet harsher and more savage than any force.
The recoil flung the troops back before they could even reach the Golden Lion.
And then—
Rooooar!
Rrrr-rrrrr—
Light blooming from a point roared like a lion and swallowed Hyuilran in one gulp.
Krakakaka!
“Hyuilran…!”
Despair washed over Taihol’s eyes as he watched.
Buildings touched by the light were ripped up into the air as if a typhoon had hit, and the ground was turned over at random.
It was like a cataclysm sweeping Hyuilran clean.
“Ah…”
Watching Hyuilran vanish fast,
the group could only groan.
Zen, Formant, Trang, and even the unconscious Elric. All of them.
Tasha, too, bit down hard on her lower lip as she looked back.
Then she glanced around at those in the carriage and asked Hanabi,
“What happened?”
“Ah, well…”
Hanabi shot a glance at Taihol, who looked half-catatonic, then continued.
“We got lucky. We managed to link up with Sir Taihol in the middle—he was carrying Lord Elric.”
“Taihol? Ah…”
Tasha finally nodded, recalling that the man who’d saved her was named Taihol.
The reason Taihol and Hanabi had been able to meet was simple.
By the time the Hyung Tribe had finished evacuating to some degree,
Taihol had grown alarmed when he could no longer sense Elric’s presence, and—ready to die for it—he’d gone back to pull the unconscious Elric out.
Fortunately, the Golden Lion hadn’t killed Elric and had moved on to the village.
Thanks to that, Taihol got Elric out safely.
On his way to rescue Tasha, he’d run into Hanabi nearby.
Hanabi recognized Elric’s face and brought them together.
‘And then you came back again to save me.’
Tasha meant to thank Taihol, late as it was.
But he looked so wrecked she couldn’t bring herself to speak.
Not just him—the other members of the Hyung Tribe he’d brought along,
their grief at losing their home was written across their faces.
“…”
Tasha thought to offer comfort, then let it go.
Half-baked consolation would only do them more harm than good.
Instead, she looked to Elric.
Burning with fever, drenched in sweat, he showed no sign of waking.
She knew better than most what that foretold.
He needed treatment as soon as possible.
‘What on earth happened?’
Kiiu!
Kiiu!
The hatchlings guarded Elric’s bedside with worried little faces.
That only made Tasha ache more.
* * *
Elric opened his eyes several days later.
Kiiu!
Kiiu!
The hatchlings were the first to greet him when he sat up.
Rubbing their heads all over him, they told him how much they’d fretted.
“Okay, okay—hold on…!”
Elric flailed, startled,
“Are you awake?”
Tasha called, relief on her face.
They’d stopped briefly to rest, and she ran over the moment she heard the commotion in the carriage.
“What happened?”
Still fending off the hatchlings, Elric asked in a sober tone.
His memory cut off at the fight with the Golden Lion.
In truth he’d only just managed to clear his head; his body was still a mess of internal injuries.
“It’s a long story… but you’ve been unconscious for about five days.”
“Five days?”
Longer than he’d thought.
Elric clenched his teeth. The aftereffects of Launch Control must have been severe.
Tasha sat opposite him and explained what had happened over the past five days.
How Taihol had saved him, and that they’d left Hyuilran and were on the run from the Golden Lion.
“On top of that, we think the Inspectorate has started to tail us. We dealt with all of them, but we were resting just now after another ambush.”
“No one hurt?”
If the Inspectorate realized he was here, relations with the imperial family could be ruined beyond repair.
Of course, the Golden Lion had seen his face, but they still needed to keep evidence to a minimum.
‘I need to get a read on the situation first.’
He was thinking that when—
『What happened in your inner world? From what I can tell, nothing seems to have changed.』
[Ah, well. Haa.]
At Mephisto’s question, Elric could only scratch the back of his head, dreading the explanation.
The Mage Who Devoured Talents