Mm. I was getting used to this scenery now.
Watching the immortals gathered in one place, each radiating the colors of nature itself, gave the impression that every force in the natural world had been tangled together at once.
It was like looking at a cost-effective natural landscape.
I watched the scene with my eyes burning blue.
“Um, Lord Gumu.”
“Hm?”
Ganyu, seated beside me as she had been last time, spoke to me.
“Doesn’t the atmosphere feel a little strange today...?”
“...Now that you mention it, yes.”
The immortals usually quarreled often, but those quarrels came from familiarity, so before a meeting began they would always exchange small talk.
But now...
...silence.
The atmosphere, dark and funereal as a wake, pressed down on Ganyu and me like wet cotton.
Even Marchosius, who would normally be busily cooking, was sitting quietly with his arms folded.
I looked around, then met the eyes of Huiliya seated across from me.
Huiliya smiled with her eyes and greeted me warmly.
I smiled back and returned the greeting.
Then, for some reason, I greeted Ganyu again because she wanted to be greeted too.
...Still, what was going on? Had something happened?
Ganyu and I quietly read the room, waiting for Zhongli and Guizhong to arrive.
“...Everyone’s here.”
Just as the suffocating mood was about to choke us.
Zhongli and Guizhong appeared.
But...
“...Then I’ll begin the meeting right away.”
Even Guizhong, instead of her usual lively energy, sat down quietly like an exhausted strategist and opened the discussion.
“...Guizhong.”
“I know. I have to say it. But...”
Guizhong clutched her head and let out a sigh.
A sigh? Guizhong?
“...I don’t know if everyone has heard, but the ruler of the Chenyu Vale, who has been fighting battles large and small for years, has finally issued a last declaration of war.”
...Damn it.
I sighed, only then understanding why the atmosphere was so grim.
If I remembered correctly, most of the immortals would have some acquaintance with the immortals under the ruler of Chenyu Vale.
Which meant their relationship with that ruler had not been all that bad.
...Though that was only a few years ago.
So now there was one more enemy.
But that apparently wasn’t the end of it.
“And the problem is...”
Guizhong continued.
“The ruler of Chenyu Vale has started advancing with the waters of the Bishui River, as if intending to uproot everything in one sweep. At this rate, by tomorrow he’ll likely have left Chenyu Vale and reached near Guili Plains.”
...Huh?
What was this? It was different from the history I knew.
Originally, the immortals should have stopped him, and the attempt to flood the Bishui River should have failed.
“We’re still in a standoff with the other gods, but once this battle is over, they may think we’ve weakened and launch an attack. So... we have to subdue the ruler quickly. It’ll be a hard fight. The ruler seems to have prepared himself as well, because he’s coming down with all the immortals under him.”
At Guizhong’s words, the immortals’ expressions grew even darker.
“...And because the ruler flooded the Bishui River, the people living around it are evacuating. If the immortals under him, who still have some sense left, hadn’t helped the people, they would have all been swept away by the flood. ...The ruler has already abandoned his qualifications as a god. So.”
Guizhong’s eyes flashed.
Not the curious eyes of the girl she usually was.
They were the eyes of a god who had weathered every storm and kept moving forward.
“Everyone, prepare yourselves. We’re going to wage war to save our people, and the people of Chenyu Vale whom the ruler is trying to abandon.”
At Guizhong’s words, every immortal nodded at once.
...I had been so immersed in everyday life that I had forgotten.
This was Liyue.
The greatest battlefield of the Archon War.
The worst era, where everyone fought and fought and fought again for the one throne that existed.
That was the Archon War.
I gripped the Yubao Stone Sword at my waist tightly and steeled my resolve.
If I wanted to raise my realm, surviving came first.
“Now then. First, I’ll explain the plan.”
Guizhong straightened her back and looked back and forth between Rex Lapis and me.
“Two people are the most important in this operation.”
...Rex Lapis made sense, but why me?
I was still far too lacking for a full-scale battle against a god.
“Morax?”
“I’m listening.”
Rex Lapis, who had been silent with a frightening expression since earlier, finally spoke.
“...I know. Because he’s a ‘ruler,’ it’ll be hard to attack him. But... we have to.”
“...I haven’t forgotten.”
“...Good.”
Guizhong let out a relieved breath and resumed her explanation.
“I’ve summoned Azhdaha, so if Azhdaha arrives on time, we can stop the flooding river. The immortals will all be deployed to rescue the people. The remaining Morax and Gumu will deal with the ruler. The key is to subdue him as quickly as possible.”
I closed my eyes slightly and nodded, and Morax, though sighing, nodded as well as if agreeing.
It was a war between gods, and yet the ones dying were the common people.
“The village will be defended by me, Huiliya, and the Yaksha of the Mountain.”
...If my disciples were guarding it, then I could rest easy. Those kids were improving by leaps and bounds; if they all fought together, they should be able to buy time even against a god.
“The Yaksha of the Mountain are already assembled and patrolling the village. And the villagers who had gone out gathering are also on their way back.”
...Wait.
As I was thinking, a lightning bolt of realization struck my mind.
“Lady Zhenjun. May I ask one question?”
“Hm? Ah. Go ahead.”
A bad feeling brushed through my head.
If it was what I knew, then it wouldn’t be a problem.
...But what if it had changed?
“The floodwaters released by the ruler of Chenyu Vale. They don’t... invade the territory ruled by the god in Qingce, do they?”
“.......!”
At my words, even Rex Lapis widened his eyes in shock.
“The dragon of Qingce! Why didn’t I think of that god! No. No! If that happens, the whole plan will be thrown off...!”
“...!”
“...!”
“...?!”
“...!!!”
“...!!!!!!”
At that moment.
Huiliya, Guizhong, Rex Lapis, and Marchosius all sprang to their feet almost at once and stared in the same direction.
“Lord Gumu? What’s wrong?!”
I couldn’t answer Ganyu’s question.
“Damn it... damn it all.”
In my blazing blue vision.
I could see black energy surging up beyond Guili Plains.
It looked like poisonous mist staining the sky.
It also looked like a black dragon rising to swallow the heavens.
Ominous.
If the aura of great calamity took shape, it would look like that.
“Lady Zhenjun! Have all the people returned?!”
“...No.”
“...What?”
“There’s still... one group that hasn’t come back. The people who went to gather herbs because we were short on medicinal supplies.”
...Shit.
“Hurry up, old men! We already finished gathering!”
“Hey now, Giyeon! How many times do we have to tell you we can’t walk as fast as you!”
“You’re all too slow!”
Giyeon, with a basket full of herbs in her hands, snapped at the adults who still couldn’t keep up with her and strode farther ahead at a brisk pace.
“Hehe. Still, we got a ton. Just like the old men said, there really are a lot of herbs around Qingce, huh?”
Rummaging through the basket in her hands, Giyeon beamed and waved it around excitedly as she walked on.
How long had she been walking like that?
Giyeon noticed that the adults who had come with her were falling farther and farther behind.
“...Seriously, you old men...! ...?”
Black mist.
Like mist rising quietly at dawn and soaking the earth.
Among the black mist that bloomed silently and stealthily, Giyeon and the adults who had come to gather herbs lay sprawled on the ground.
“...Old men?”
Giyeon’s voice began to crack.
Fear tightened around her throat.
Confusion slammed into her brain.
“Are you Morax’s people?”
And then.
As a sinister voice, like a snake, struck Giyeon’s ear.
“Kyaaaaaaaah!!!”
An ominous force crawled into Giyeon’s body through her ears.
A god’s voice carrying power within it was something a human could not withstand.
Like a snake.
And like a dragon.
Giyeon collapsed while screaming, the voice having slithered into her.
Only much later did she realize that the hand clutching her face was wet.
Tears were flooding out, streaming down without end.
Her body had begun to function abnormally from sheer terror.
“Good. If I use you, Morax will be in trouble.”
[It] revealed itself.
A god.
A transcendent being.
A being far beyond humanity.
The sum of all those epithets.
[It], like a giant serpent, crawled forward very slowly.
As [It] drew nearer, Giyeon’s screams only grew louder.
And fear multiplied exponentially.
In the end.
Giyeon gave up her mind on her own.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register