When I woke up, I noticed a burnt smell. The surroundings were teeming with a dense concentration of mana.
Due to only a small amount of mana left in my body, I was struck by a sensation similar to sickness and my head was spinning. I hurriedly took out a potion out of the tool bag and gulped it down like an energy drink. The taste was awful, however. Like spinach and Japanese mustard spinach was crossbred and only the bitterness was passed down and extracted.
Mimino-sanâs special âSuper Mana Recovery Medicineâ. By the way, the âSuperâ is referring to the effectiveness, not the taste.
ăUe, Gehogehoâă
Although I was choking, I noticed the back of the girl standing right in front of me.
Her clothes were sooty here and there. Her hair was uneven, like it was burnt. And her exposed skin had many burn marks. It was Her Highness Anastasia.
ăYour Highnessâă
Why are you here? âŠBefore I could ask that, Her Highness looked back at me.
ăAh⊠Iâm glad you woke up.ă
Small flames burst like bubbles. That was all that manifested.
I heard Her Highness speaking properly for the first time. Her voice was too feeble and too weak.
ăFire Magicămanifests when Her Highness speaks out. That hasnât changed. But even though she was speaking full words, there was only a faint flame.
ăYour Highness!!ă
I stood up and ran to her. I hugged Her Highness, who was about to fall on her back, with both armsâthere was almost no mana left in Her Highnessâ body.
Her Highness, who boasted such a colossal amount of mana, was out of mana? Just what in the world happened?\n
ăAhâŠâŠă
I noticed as I looked up.
The red sky was cracked, and the night sky of this world was visible beyond. The small number of black dots that were falling like sprinkles seemed to be monsters.
The wilted snake anemone was still hanging from above, but then it fell as if its source rotted away. Despite being withered, it was still a ridiculous mass. When the head touched the ground, it splashed its own pool of blood. The rest of the withered body fell to the ground, destroying buildings spanning over a wide area again, kicking up a large cloud of dust and sending tremors across the land.
After the snake anemone was torn off, the red sky was diminished. The sky looked like cracked, chipped, fragments of glass, but the collapse stopped at that point.
ă!!ă
A gigantic golden eye appeared in the red sky.
Because it had horizontal pupils, the blackish pupils in the center of the golden eyes seemed closed. It felt incredibly mysterious. I instinctively thought it was the same as a goatâs pupil.
Speaking of the size of the eye, if that eye truly belonged to a goat, the snake anemone from a while ago would only be about the goatâs leg size.
(Donât come, donât come, donât comeâŠ)
I was thinking only about that. The spread of the red sky had stopped. If there was a giant goat on the other side, it wouldnât be able to get through that fragmented red part.
GAN!
It seemed that the giant goat was ramming at the gap to pass through. The shock wave reached all the way to where I was. I fell on my butt, still holding Her Highness.
GAN! GAN!
The vibrations felt like echoes of a huge bell tolling.
No, it might actually be a bell.\nA bell signalling the end of this country.
What in heavenâs name is that monster even? If something like that appears, this country will be turned into a wasteland.
I hugged Her Highness, thinking that I should at least protect her. There was no other choice but to ârunâ. However, in a state of lacking mana, it was not possible for me to carry Her Highness on my back, let alone run.
I had no other choice but to wait patiently. Because Mimino-sanâs medicine was working. My mana was gradually recovering.
ăOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEă
The frustrated giant goat bellowed. It was not a cute âMeeâ like a regular goatâs bleat.
The moment it entered my ear, goosebumps ran all over my body. My pupils widened, and my head almost turned blankâsuch a fear striking voice.
Is it frustrated that it canât come over to this side? Is it frustrated that it canât break through the sky? Or is it just hungry, and frustrated that it canât eat the prey right in front its eyes?
Itâs okay. Youâre okay. That giant goat will never come over to this side. All I have to do is to hold Her Highness and run away.
And I wasnât the only one who thought that.
The crews of the airships, who were looking up at the sky in a daze, also started to move. Maybe they realized that the only thing they could do was run away from the giant goat, as they were making a sharp turn and flying away in the opposite direction.
I searched for the âQueen of the Nightââthe ship where Lark was supposed to be, but it was nowhere to be seen. As expected of Larkâs companion. They escaped perfectly. âŠAlthough I couldnât meet her, it was already a good harvest to find out that she was on board the âQueen of the Nightâ.
Behind me, the people of the giant airship also fled far away after getting off the ship. Someone was yelling at me, probably asking me to go with them.
ăI⊠Iâm cominâă
Just then, a cold chill ran down my spine.
ăEEEEEEKEEEEEEEEEEă\n\nWith this, we should not be sucked in.
ăThe hell?!ă
I was too naive. The pillar, together with the ground itself, was pulled into the air.
My body soared into the sky with Her Highness.
A large amount of debris, big snakes from earlier, and two airships that were too late to escape were sucked up around us.
The giant goat in the sky was already gone. Either the space above is not connected to the space where the giant goat was, or the giant goat had disappeared.
We were continuously sucked in. Acceleratingly.
To the red space.
I could do nothing else but embrace Her HighnessâI should keep at least this person alone safe.
At long last, she finally found a way to overcome her peculiar constitution.
If she does her best, she should be able to speak normally.
I only heard her voice a little bit.
Furthermore, it was only a faint voice.
I am sure that if Her Highness laughed, it would sound bright and cheerful.
At least this person alone should be protectedăŒ.
My entire field of vision turned bright red, and my body was wrapped in the feeling of being hurled into the air.