Volume 3 Chapter 226 Resonating Echoes ①
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
A gigantic shadow drifted through the sky, silhouetted against the pale moon.
In the Western world, there’s a fairy tale called Jack and the Beanstalk. The vine in that story grew so high it pierced the clouds—just like this one. With every step the giant took, the earth’s axis seemed to lurch. The ground split. Mud burst outward like shrapnel, a shockwave from a boulder-sized impact.
This being was a calamity incarnate, a walking natural disaster.
”Kuh…!” Sarah grunted.
Now only two hundred meters from the giant, she realized closing the distance any further was suicide. She guided her beetle-type flying golem into a wide arc.
”────!!” the giant roared.
A massive, round lid slammed down from the sky.
Crash.
Sarah whipped around just in time to see the giant’s foot lift—slowly, ponderously—before descending again. Whether due to low magic reserves or simply its immense weight, the creature moved with heavy sluggishness. The beetle, straining to evade, barely slipped past the zone of impact.
But the blast of wind and flying mud caught them.
Boom.
The golem shuddered violently, flung skyward by the concussion.
”What is going on…! At this rate, we won’t make it in time for evacuation!” she shouted.
Below, Ramsey’s fortress teemed with trapped civilians.
She’d told only the bedridden to use the underground sewers, but—as she’d predicted—people rushed belowground en masse, seeking false safety.
A slow-moving column of soldiers and townsfolk snaked through the wheat fields, weighed down with children and furniture.
If the giant didn’t veer off its path, a wave of screams would break in less than an hour.
(This is bad. I can’t save them all. I’ll have to prioritize the soldiers and their families—Maribel entrusted them to me.)
”Rufna, we’re abandoning Ramsey,” Sarah said as she landed atop the castle wall.
The Dark Elf Head Magician turned from her position, commanding from the same wall, and gave a grim nod.
”It’s no use. Understood,” Rufna replied. “But how are we escaping? Are we just leaving them behind?”
”Them” meant the soldiers nearby, watching with wide, anxious eyes.
Time felt suspended. In their expressions, Sarah saw a flicker of Kian—the boy from long ago.
”I won’t abandon them,” she said. “We’ll teleport everyone—just not all at once. We’ll send them through the gate, somewhere near Izerland.”
”So… you and the girl are going to burn up all your magic to do it, huh?” Rufna asked.
”The time limit will beat us to it,” Sarah muttered, glancing back. The giant was advancing, slow but relentless.
”Listen up, everyone,” she announced. “Only you and your families are getting teleported. Don’t let the other residents—or other troops—catch wind of this. Panic will ruin everything.”
”W-What? Just us?” one of the front-line soldiers asked, voice cracking.
”Well, what about the others?” another pressed.
”Ms. Sarah, are you telling us to abandon the residents?” someone cried out.
”Yes,” Sarah said flatly.
”────”
”…!”
”…Ugh…”
”This is…”
”Anyone who objects will be rendered unconscious right here,” Sarah said coldly. “If you want to save your family, lead me to your home. Those without families—Rufna will handle them.”
She turned to the elf. “Rufna, once you’re done teleporting the group here, head back to the castle. Get as many people out as you can. Then meet me south of Ramsey, at the Snow Past of the Giant.”
”Understood,” Rufna said with a sharp nod.
”Ms. Sarah, um… can I bring household items?” a young soldier asked hesitantly. “What if I can’t find my family?”
”Only the essentials,” Sarah replied. “No beds. No furniture. If your family’s already fled—let it go. I want to save those we can save.”
”Understood…” the soldier murmured.
All around, the troops bit their lips and nodded.
Sarah inhaled, deep and slow, then led the soldiers with families down the inner stairwell of the castle wall.
* * *
An hour later, after teleporting as many people as they could, Sarah arrived alone at the Snow Past of the Giant. It lay just south of Ramsey, where the wheat fields thinned and Izerland’s mountains began.
She landed on the mountain path, then turned back.
Below, torchlight still flickered between fields. Chaos reigned.
Despite the presence of body-enhancing magic users, the evacuation was incomplete. The number of people still left behind staggered belief.
Climbing a nearby tree, she scanned the area—then froze, cold sweat trailing down her spine.
”────!!”
Crouched within a shattered section of the fortress wall was the Thorn Demon. Its glistening, black form hunched low.
(The Demon is holding back the invasion? What does this mean? Could it be…?)
She stopped blinking. Her entire body tensed.
The sensation mirrored the moment she’d first learned that her father, Shajar, and Natra had accidentally massacred an oasis’s worth of civilians.
(It’s feeding on life…)
The energy. The flesh.
The people who’d fled to the sewers. The ones still trapped inside.
(The Thorn Demon is eating them—!?)
It was no different than a predator gorging itself—
Only this predator had thousands of prey.
A horrific massacre was unfolding inside that closed, hopeless space.
”Miss!!”
”────! Rufna!” Sarah gasped.
Looking down from the tree, she spotted the dark elf below—her heavy coat now gone, dressed only in white.
”I got everyone I could to Izerland,” Rufna said quickly. “But some stayed to fight. They’re camped beside the pass.”
”Got it. I’ll head there now,” Sarah said.
Slipping down the tree like a snake, she started forward.
”How many did you manage to evacuate?” she asked.
”I don’t know,” Rufna said, trailing her. “Everyone at the castle, at least. If they said they’d run with their families, I left them behind.”
”What about Natra and Ms. Serena?”
”They’re safe. Aerial, Archbishop Homolka, and his guards too. The Holy Guard is with them. Yalchin, Bishop Mancuso, and Ramsey’s church forces weren’t at the castle, so… I couldn’t get them. Sorry.”
”No, it’s fine,” Sarah said. “You did well.”
”Well?” Rufna stopped. “What do you mean ‘well’? People are dead! So many of them! I let them all die!”
Sarah felt the guilt rise like bile—but shoved it down.
She couldn’t afford it.
”I tried throwing pebbles at the Thorn Demon,” she said, voice low. “They disintegrated before making contact. I haven’t tried meteorites yet. That’s next.”
”Are you seriously still talking about that?” Rufna snapped. “Are you out of your mind?”
”I am not out of my mind,” Sarah replied, turning with an icy stare.
Meeting her gaze, she continued, voice flat.
”Even if it crushes the wheat-field evacuees with its next step, their deaths were already sealed. What matters now is whether it can be subdued—even if it’s a gamble.”
”I’m not doing it,” Rufna said, shaking her head. “I’m not taking orders from someone like you.”
”Rufna!” Sarah growled, grabbing her collar and narrowing her eyes. “We are doing it. I’ll take responsibility. Say it was all my fault, if you want.”
”That’s not the point, you idiot.”
”──────”
Sarah stared at her for several seconds.
But Rufna didn’t flinch.
(Fine. I’ll do it myself.)
She released her grip and gave Rufna a hard shove.
”Miss,” Rufna said, “that Demon’s body… if it’s anything like a golem that size, every step it takes burns as much magic as three top-tier magicians use in a minute.”
She followed after Sarah as she resumed walking.
”It must be drawing power from the Spiritual Vein, but as long as it isn’t fed more, it won’t grow stronger,” she added.
”Is that why it didn’t throw any thorns?” Sarah asked.
”Probably,” Rufna replied. “Sprouting those to grow its allies must drain a massive amount of magic and thorn cells.”
She paused, eyes scanning the landscape.
”Maybe that’s why it’s swallowing humans whole. It’s probably trying to absorb the magic their Tachyonian cells generate until death. Being that huge, it likely can’t move much. Right now, it’s a sitting target for siege weapons. If we could prep the giant ballista and catapult Maribel’s dog—was it Guesclin?—used, we might tear it apart physically.”
She tapped the trunk of a conifer and nudged a large nearby rock with her boot.
”If we pack the ballista and catapult with oil and gunpowder, we could burn that monster down.”
”Where are we getting the gunpowder?” Sarah asked. “Should we just scream ‘Help!’ to the person who killed Kian?”
”If we don’t have any,” Rufna said, “we’ll fire anyway. If the Demon won’t stop, we torch all of Snow Past of the Giant and burn it flat.”
”A burning raid, huh…” Sarah murmured. “Right. Then we’d better prep to torch the wheat fields now.”
”But if we do, everyone evacuating will get caught in it. And if we lose the wheat, Ramsey’s economy will collapse.”
”It already has.”
Sarah climbed to the highest point of the mountain pass and looked back.
”Ramsey is dead. We tried so hard to protect it… but it was crushed, like it meant nothing.”
”No, not yet,” Rufna said. “As long as the wheat fields remain, people will return. Humans are stubborn. Even if we die, we regenerate. We’re monsters worse than Demons.”
As her words faded, the flap of a white tent rustled—flutter—and a rotund man in sleepwear stepped out. Behind him followed five Church knights, Serena, and Aerial.
”Lady Sarah!” he called.
”Archbishop Homolka. I’m glad to see you safe,” she said, softening her tone.
She tried to ease her expression as she addressed him.
”What exactly is going on? A Demon? Did Owl resurrect it?”
”As far as we know,” Homolka said, “he was the only one with the rituals to revive a Demon—and the core cells to do it. He likely activated it.”
”But the magic circle on the fourth basement floor self-destructed!”
”He probably made a new one at the Beastmen camp. The Thorn Demon came from the refugee camp north of Ramsey. It lines up.”
”So the Beastmen were sacrificed to trigger the resurrection ritual?”
”That seems to be the case.”
”Is this really the time to be tracking who revived it?” Aerial cut in, stepping forward.
The brown-haired Head Magician crossed his arms beneath his chest.
”What we need is to stop that thing. Pin it down if we can’t kill it.”
”Lady Aerial is right. Sorry, sorry,” Homolka said with a small bow.
”But… can we really defeat that giant?” one of the Church knights asked, stepping up beside him. “Even if we slash it with swords or spears… it wouldn’t do anything. And if the legends are true, magic won’t work either, right?”
”I tested that,” Sarah said. “We launched stone projectiles at it. They crumbled into dust before reaching its ankle—just returned to the earth.”
At her words, murmurs of despair rippled among the knights.
”It’s impossible…”
”Hey,” Serena said, finally breaking her silence.
Her pale blue eyes were steady—no fear, only the low, simmering heat of resolve.
”There are other ways. For example, we could guide it. Lure it toward the swamp, trap it in the irrigation canals, then freeze it. I studied basic Golem creation from Miss Sarah. Even with golems, moving a mass that large drains power fast. If that Demon’s about two hundred meters tall, it would take the magic of three top-tier magicians just to move it for one minute. Right?”
”That’s true,” Sarah said, nodding.
”In that case, if we freeze its legs in the canal, it should get stuck—like a cart in mud. Then we concentrate all firepower from the siege weapons Lord Bertrand used on the blue ice dragon of the black panther.”
”Good idea, Serena,” Sarah said. “There should be a core inside. We’ll keep hitting it until the Restoration Curse can’t catch up. If we load the ballista arrows with oil or gunpowder, even better.”
”Archbishop, do you have any gunpowder or oil?” Aerial asked, glancing up at the bishop.
”If you do, I’ll pay for it. But I’m not a merchant… and we don’t have a weapons cache near the church.”
”Wait, I have them!” a voice called out.
Everyone turned toward the tent.
From the white canvas emerged a red-haired female knight—Eleonora—and her pale-faced lieutenant. Eleonora’s white cape fluttered behind her as she stepped toward the group.
”You’re talking about gunpowder and oil, right? I know where a stash of Azrael-brand gunpowder’s hidden.”
”Oh? Lady Eleonora, I didn’t know you collected explosives,” Sarah said, voice like ice over glass.
Her words were measured, but the chill in her tone was unmistakable.
”Where did you get something like that?”
”I didn’t get it myself,” Eleonora said. “A few weeks ago, a woman from the black panther tribe asked to store a large amount of gunpowder and oil in a cave west of Ramsey.”
”That’s not in the provisional government’s records,” Sarah said. “You didn’t report it?”
”I didn’t. I made the call myself.”
”Hey, you—” Rufna stepped forward, eyes narrowing.
She’d taken Kian’s death with eerie calm until now. Her voice turned cold.
”When we were risking everything against Arminus, you were prepping to assassinate our Master behind our backs? If you were going to turn on us, couldn’t you at least have protected the Guild staff?”
”Assassination?” Eleonora shrugged. “As far as I know, Lord Kian hasn’t officially been declared dead.”
”That’s enough!” Rufna snapped. “Stop playing dumb!”
”Hey—stop it,” Homolka said, stepping between them.
Sarah tugged Rufna’s sleeve, pulling her back.
”Stop, Rufna. Lady Eleonora, thank you for your cooperation. We’ll take the Azraelian gunpowder. But we’ll also need to speak later about that black panther woman.”
”I’ll give you the information,” Eleonora said. “But we need all the gunpowder and oil. We have to give everything we’ve got to bring down that Thorn Demon. It’s for Izerland too.”
She folded her arms.
”That gunpowder is ours—we seized it. If it’s for the Demon, fine. But don’t expect to use it for anything else.”
”Hey, you!” Rufna turned—not to Eleonora but to the pale lieutenant at her side.
”You approved the storage of that much Azraelian gunpowder from an enemy tribe?”
”W-Well, I…”
”That doesn’t matter, does it?” Eleonora cut in, raising a hand to silence him. “Archbishop, you agree with me, don’t you?”
”No,” Homolka said flatly. “I don’t.”
”────…!”
”Kian was burned alive,” he said. “Logically, the culprit must be that black panther woman. And you—without a shred of evidence—helped her sneak in dangerous goods. You knew she’d kill him, and you helped her anyway. That makes you an accomplice.”
”Hey, what’s going on?” Rufna growled. “Keep dodging, and it’ll only get worse later.”
”A-Ah… uhm… I-I’m…” the lieutenant stammered.
His lips were as blue as his face. He squeezed his eyes shut.
”I’m sorry, Lady Eleonora.”
”Wait! It was me!” Eleonora said sharply, cutting in.
”I allowed the gunpowder in. I ignored orders and gave the okay. I… I suspected she might try to assassinate Lord Kian. And if she did—I thought that would reduce Izerland’s enemies. So I let it happen. I let her bring gunpowder and other dangerous materials.”
”Enemies!?” Homolka barked, stunned.
”Lady Eleonora, are you out of your mind?” he demanded. “Lord Kian was the hero who defended Ramsey from the Beastmen!”
”But he was too strong,” Eleonora said, her voice low. “His subordinates were all excellent… If that man got close to the Princess, the government would be taken over by the Azraelian.”
”That’s… Lord Kian is not someone with such grand ambitions,” the archbishop protested. “He’s a simple, kind-hearted, ordinary young man!”
”Archbishop, you don’t understand Lord Kian’s true nature,” Eleonora said, eyes narrowing. “That man decides who to save and who to kill on a whim! If he chooses to win over Princess Maribel…”
She spread her arms wide.
”We’ll be powerless! It’ll be just like when McCutchen seized power! A man more dangerous and cunning than Oswald will sit in McCutchen’s place!”
Silence.
The air itself seemed to tighten, as if those two words—more dangerous—had taken form.
Homolka, Aerial, and Serena stared at Eleonora, stunned by her tangled logic. But Serena was the first to shake it off. She stepped forward.
”Did you kill Kian?” she asked quietly.
”I didn’t do it directly,” Eleonora replied. “I just thought it would be good if he died… I only helped the female warrior monk from the Black Panther tribe.”
”A female warrior monk?” Rufna asked. “Could it be… Katyusha?”
Eleonora nodded. “Yes. That’s the name she used… It wasn’t an alias, after all.”
”It was an alias,” Rufna said flatly. “A common one among warrior monks. No one knows her real name. Katyusha never trusted anyone outside her tribe.”
”Lady Eleonora,” Homolka said, his voice like stone, “we will question you again after dealing with the Thorn Demon.”
”I have no intention of complying,” she said. “If you want to drag me to court, you’ll have to go through Princess Maribel.”
”It’s as if you’re saying the Princess will protect you,” Aerial said, frowning.
”I’ve known her a long time… With her intelligence, she’ll understand the correctness of my judgment.”
”Stop dragging the Princess into this!” Aerial snapped.
The moment she spoke, a distortion shimmered through the air further down the mountain road. Two powerful presences surged into view, cloaked in immense magical energy.
Sarah, Rufna, and Serena turned at once, hands on weapons. But before they could speak, a bellow echoed from uphill.
”Renaud de Châtillon, reinforcements have arrived!” a shadow shouted.
”What?!” Sarah gasped.
”Lord Renaud!?” Serena said.
”Hello, everyone,” said a calm voice.
A slender, graceful woman stepped out beside Renaud. She wore the deep blue robes of a church healer, yet on her back were twin swords and a staff. What struck Sarah and the others most, however, was the woman’s platinum-blonde hair, glowing with magic, and her long, pointed ears.
High Elf—an especially powerful being among the ancient elven races.
She radiated magic as she approached Sarah.
She looked up at Rufna and smiled.
”Long time no see, Ms. Rufna, Ms. Serena. I’ve come to assist you,” she said warmly.
”Ms. Aliona!” Serena’s light blue eyes widened.
Tears welled up, but she held them back, gazing up at the tall elf.
”You’ve grown since I last saw you,” Aliona said, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. “Everyone, pleased to meet you. I’m Aliona Gouldrin, a sister from the Western Church—but I expect most of you know me better as the ‘Thorn Magician,’ right?”
”Lady Aliona. Lord Renaud,” Homolka said, stepping forward.
”The Thorn Demon has been resurrected. It’s crawling on all fours in Ramsey—likely feeding on those who couldn’t escape in time.”
”Yes, we heard from the messenger,” Renaud replied, eyes scanning the gate. He gestured toward it. “My subordinates are on their way with as many slingshots and ballistas as they can carry. Have you drawn up a battle plan yet? Who’s commanding here?”
”I am,” Sarah said, straightening. “I’m the acting representative of Lord Kian. We haven’t finalized any attack plans yet.”
”Understood,” Renaud said. “We’re expecting ten ballistas and three slingshots. I’ll transform into a dragon and fight alongside you. Once the civilians are evacuated, we’ll regroup in the wheat fields and launch the attack.”
”We’ll set up a barrier to negate the Demon’s magic power absorption,” Aliona added.
She pulled a black wedge from her pocket.
”This is an ancient spirit technique. While the residents are being evacuated, deploy these wedges in a square formation around Ramsey. I’ll use the spirits’ power to activate the barrier.”
”Negate the magic power absorption!?” Sarah blinked in disbelief.
”Young lady, we can do it!” Aliona said with a grin.
”Yes!” Sarah replied, hope rekindled.
Reinforcements had arrived—and with them, a real chance to win.
(We can win! We can definitely win!)
Sarah felt the despair drain from her like water from a cracked jar.
Eleonora turned to Renaud.
”Lord Renaud, our Sunlightland Knight group is handling the evacuation. You should assist them.”
”Understood,” he said. “Sarah, Aliona, and Lord Kian’s magician—deploy the wedges. Archbishop Homolka, instruct my subordinates arriving late to head to the wheat fields.”
”Understood!” Homolka said.
”Ms. Sarah, what should Ms. Aerial and I do?” Rufna asked.
Soldiers arrived, escorting carts loaded with ballista and catapult parts. If the legends were true, and the Demon could multiply its allies, the wheat field would soon be crawling with thorn-covered monsters.
”Got it,” Sarah said.
”Understood,” Rufna echoed.
The group scattered, each person snapping into action.
Sarah summoned a giant stag beetle and soared into the sky with Aliona astride behind her.
”Let’s fill in from the northeast,” Sarah called out.
”Understood!”
Behind them, Eleonora and a lieutenant leapt onto horses, galloping down the mountain road—likely to retrieve the hidden gunpowder.
”By the way, how is Kian?”
The sudden question, tossed from behind, caught Sarah off guard.
She hesitated, then decided to pretend she hadn’t heard.
* * *
After parting with Mrs. Camilla, Burgkain, and the raccoon at the holy domain, Kian and Linca rode Nue west, deeper into the borderlands beyond.
Past the sacred boundary lay a small town—nothing like Moonshore. And beyond that, the terrain shifted to plains shrouded in danger. Black thorns crept across the landscape like malignant shadows.
Fortunately, a dried-up river carved a path westward toward a cave. They had Nue follow it on foot. They didn’t fly—not with Drake Cain roaming the skies above.
Unlike Renaud or Arminus, Drake Cain had no four-legged frame. His wings were shaped like arms—his body more like a wyvern than a dragon.
The enormous shadow that passed overhead from time to time belonged to him.
Even on foot, Nue was swift.
Its elongated frame and four legs made for blistering acceleration.
Kian and Linca covered ten kilometers in short order, bursting through the dry riverbed into a thorny maze.
The maze didn’t last. After a few dozen meters of winding path, the thorns thinned, revealing a vast cave entrance surrounded by jagged stones. It loomed twice as tall as Nue.
They dismounted.
The cave loomed silent before them, swallowing all sound. Even the distant barking that echoed in Moonshore was absent.
”I don’t see any barrier,” Kian murmured.
”No,” Linca said, stepping forward. “But there are traces. Look—see where the gravel ends unnaturally? Beyond that, the bedrock’s exposed.”
”That’s where the barrier used to be?”
”Probably.”
She nodded, and Kian turned to glance behind them.
The thorns writhed, but none dared approach the cave.
There was no presence of the Bloodsucking Kind here.
Only the silence of darkness.
”Sir Kian, it looks like the barrier was forcibly removed,” Linca said.
”Huh?”
She summoned will-o’-the-wisp.
Even without moonlight, the world around them brightened.
Kian said nothing. Instead, he followed the glow to the spot she pointed to.
At the edge of the cave lay a smooth, flat surface—bedrock carved into a precise square.
At first, he thought it was a pedestal.
But then he noticed something.
The square wasn’t only on the ground. It extended up the cave wall—cut cleanly through the stone.
”So the power of the Black Onyx spirit, Kharab, is ‘cutting’?” Kian asked.
”Yes. And according to Mrs. Camilla, it can only cut squares. Maybe by limiting the shape, the wielder avoids unintended destruction. If it could cut freely, the result might be chaos.”
”Which means there’s a good chance the Black Onyx spirit intruded here.”
Kian circled to the opposite wall. Another square-cut mark.
Linca stepped forward and placed her hand on the bedrock.
”When do you think he came?” she asked.
”Does it matter?”
”Yes,” she said. “If he came after defeating Erynys, it’s likely he was searching for something to reinforce her soul.”
”Something like the soul in those ‘glasses’?”
”If it was post-Erynys, that’s the only explanation. If he came during the festival, maybe it was just curiosity.”
”────”
If the Black Onyx spirit had come recently, then the dark spirit’s worshipers likely didn’t survive.
This investigation might be pointless.
Still, after coming this far, they couldn’t simply walk away.
If Mrs. Camilla was right, the worshipers’ black curved sword should still be inside. If it hadn’t been added to the Black Onyx spirit’s collection, it might remain untouched.
”Let’s go in,” Kian said.
”Understood.”
Inside, the cave had become a dark spirit’s temple—one likely riddled with traps and spiritual mechanisms.
But this time, Linca didn’t hide behind him.
She walked at his side.
Notes:
• Mag – The wolfwoman under Yelmar—the one who was caught by Kian’s group earlier.
• Serena – Wolfmen Girl
• Aerial – Female. A modern-looking young woman with short brown hair, revealing clothes, and gaudy accessories. She specializes in healing and basic magic but is cold and unsociable. She has a sad backstory related to losing her ability to sing magic.
• Bertrand – The recent knight recruited by Maribel from bandit. He is from boar tribe and have goblin-like face.
• Arminus – Male. Leader of the Black Panther Tribe. Possesses extraordinary physical abilities, enhanced by the tribe’s unique technique that repels energy and magic attacks. His speed and strength surpass those of High Warlord Isthbaran. Wields the magic sword Balmung, capable of cleaving through an ice dragon with a single strike. His black fur provides camouflage in low visibility, making him nearly undetectable. Relationship: Leader of the Beastmen Alliance’s delegation.
• Katyusha – A female warrior monk of the black panther race and a follower of Abbas Hashmalik Shakerdoust.
• Camilla – A woman; the subject of the chapter; her body was used to seal Erynys’ soul.
• Linca – Jibril’s favorite girl. High-ranking warrior monk woman from Shin, with strong abilities like ignoring attacks and poisons.
• Nue – A Shikigami summoned by Linca. It has the appearance of a monster with a tiger’s limbs and a monkey’s head. Nue is a powerful but dangerous creature that requires a skilled magician to control.
• Kharab – The enemy who stole Talia’s soul and possessed her body; referred to by the Black Onyx Spirit; defeated by Kian.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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