“The Black Forest?”
Ceres rose from her seat and walked over to the window. As soon as she saw what lay outside, her expression stiffened.
Along with the descending darkness came another change.
“The ground...”
It was glowing. Unlike an ordinary Black Forest, where thick darkness lingered without end, the surroundings were rapidly growing brighter.
Ceres knew exactly what that meant.
“An S-Class...”
***
“W-What is this...?”
“I-Isn’t that a desert?”
The priests who had rushed out of the temple at the sound of the Black Forest alarm could hardly believe their eyes. A landscape unlike anything they had ever seen stretched beyond the building.
In the distance, the mountains that had remained green year-round had vanished, replaced by enormous sand dunes. Even the streets were swallowed by sand.
And that scorching sun overhead... what was it doing there? It wasn’t even summer. No, even in the middle of summer, they had never experienced heat this intense. It felt like they had been dropped into the middle of a desert.
“The buildings...”
Unlike the temple, which stood on relatively high ground, the buildings below were slowly disappearing beneath the sand. The sight of people scrambling in panic to escape the encroaching sands looked like a scene straight out of hell.
Rumble.
“—!”
Just then, a powerful tremor shook the ground beneath them. The priests once again questioned what they were seeing.
“The ground...!”
The sand-covered earth began to undulate as if it were alive. As waves of sand surged and churned violently, those who had stood frozen in shock collapsed to the ground.
[SKREEEEEECH!]
A shrill screech split the air, and monsters burst out from beneath the sand.
“A-Aaaah!”
Giant centipedes, each easily over five meters long, bared their vicious fangs and lunged at the people.
Thud.
“T-That’s...”
“Oh, God...”
As the priests watched the nightmare unfolding below, they sank helplessly to the ground. Some clasped their hands in prayer to God, while others wept in terror.
The temple itself wasn’t safe either. The sand surrounding it began to writhe. Moments later, monsters started emerging one after another.
[SKREEECH!]
[SKRIIIIK!]
“E-Everyone, inside!”
At someone’s shout, the priests hurried back into the building. Countless people outside were under attack, but what could they do when they had no means of fighting back?
The holy knights who had rushed out were no different. Unlike the others, they didn’t retreat inside, but neither could they bring themselves to rush down and help.
An unfamiliar landscape and an endless stream of monsters bursting forth without pause. All they could do was watch with grim expressions as the creatures swarmed toward the temple.
“Aaah!”
One of the younger priests, who was hurrying toward the entrance, stumbled and fell forward.
“Priest Annie!”
Another priest hurried over to help her up, but—
[SKREEECH!]
“—!”
A monster had already reached them, its jagged maw looming in front of their faces.
The two priests squeezed their eyes shut. Just as they thought they were about to die...
BOOM!
[SKREEEEAAAGH!]
“...?”
Someone had rushed past them. A monster’s agonized shriek rang out a second later.
Still trembling, the two priests cautiously opened their eyes and froze.
Someone was cutting through the huge, heavily armored monsters with a sword. The figure looked strangely familiar.
“L-Lord Ersi?”
It was Priest Ersi, the same man who always comforted the younger priests with his gentle smile. Yet, the icy look in his eyes as he cut down the monsters was so unfamiliar that they could hardly believe he was the same person.
[Skree... eeeek...]
The four monsters that had lunged into the air were all split apart by Ersi’s blade. They now lay strewn across the ground.
After casually flicking the blood from his sword, Ersi turned to the two shocked priests.
“Are you two alright?”
The young priests finally come to their senses after seeing Ersi’s usual gentle smile.
“Y-Yes!”
The two priests nodded and scrambled to their feet.
“It’s dangerous here. Please head inside.”
Nod.
Bowing deeply in gratitude, the two priests forced their shaking legs to move and hurried back into the temple.
Step.
“—!”
Just then, Annie came face-to-face with someone walking out of the temple. Before she could warn her of the danger, the woman had passed her and strode straight toward Priest Ersi.
The moment Annie recognized her, her eyes widened.
That’s...
Wasn’t that the woman she had escorted to Priest Ersi’s room earlier? The one who had inherited the Tamer’s Relic...
In her hand was a sword. A pitch-black sword.
“You stay here and hold them off.”
“What about you, Master?”
Master?
Annie’s eyes widened further in confusion. Why was Priest Ersi calling that woman Master?
“Priest Annie.”
“Ah, yes!”
The other priest who had run back inside earlier called out to her.
Annie finally tear her eyes away and hurry inside, recoiling at the sight of countless monsters erupting from the sand again.
***
“What about you, Master?”
“It’s an S-Class. I have to try and stop it.”
Protecting the temple grounds alone wasn’t enough. Even now, many people were being devoured by those monsters.
This is insane.
An S-Class, out of nowhere? And right in the middle of the capital, no less.
Has the world truly gone mad? Since when did S-Class Black Forests start appearing casually?
“......”
Ceres turned her gaze toward the distant sand dunes. The best option was obviously to take down the boss lurking there. But even for Ceres, defeating an S-Class boss alone was impossible.
Just feeling the presence emanating from that place was enough to make her skin crawl. Every instinct she had was screaming that it was dangerous.
The last time she had conquered an S-Class Black Forest was long ago, and it had required an enormous amount of time and sacrifice. Even after the Empire’s finest mercenary corps and the Imperial Knights had all been mobilized, the casualties were still devastating.
Besides, I wasn’t alone back then.
She’d had Artia, blessed by mana, and Kainel fighting beside her. Even with the two of them at her side, defeating the boss wasn’t easy.
Just remembering being trapped there for over a week, fighting monsters day and night, made her irritation flare.
Don’t tell me I have to go through that again.
Artia wasn’t even here this time.
“Just keep this place safe.”
“Are you really going alone?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re not planning to take on the boss by yourself, are you?”
Ersi looked at her with concern. More than anyone, he knew what kind of person his master was.
She could be selfish and stubborn, but she could never ignore people dying or getting hurt in front of her. Rather than stand by and watch many people die, she’d rather charge straight at the boss, whether she stood a chance or not.
“I’ve got a family now.”
“Huh?”
“I’ve got two kids.”
“Gasp! D-Does Lord Kainel know?”
“...? Why are you bringing him up all of a sudden?”
“W-Well, that’s...!”
“.....?”
“...Never mind.”
“Anyway, I have a family now.”
There’s no way she’d do something reckless when those kids were waiting for her.
“So don’t worry.”
“Okay. But please be careful.”
Ceres left the defense of the temple grounds to Ersi and the holy knights, then slowly surveying the area.
Whoosh!
A powerful aura flared from the sword in her hand. Ersi couldn’t tear his gaze away as Ceres dashed forward.
She hadn’t changed at all. His master was still as strong and beautiful as ever.
***
[SKREEEEEECH!]
[Grrrr]
[Krrk, krrr...]
It wasn’t just giant centipedes. Every kind of monster that lurked in desert regions was crawling out of the sand.
Unlike an ordinary Black Forest, hiding inside your house was pointless. The landscape itself had become a desert, and buildings were being swallowed by the sand at an alarming rate.
As they watched their homes disappear beneath the sand, people had no choice but to flee outside, only to find themselves completely exposed to the monsters.
“Ugh... ugh...”
“M-M-Monsters...!”
Among them was a couple who looked to be in their late twenties. Slumped on the ground, they couldn’t even manage a scream. All they could do was tremble helplessly.
When they saw a giant spider approaching with an eerie cry, they hurriedly tried to retreat back inside. But their house had already vanished beneath the sand.
[SKRIIIIK!]
“Aaaah!”
The man let out a terrified scream as the giant spider’s razor-sharp legs shot toward him.
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