Chapter 5: The Wind Spirit Hresvelgr
The moonlight vanished.
A mud-like mana covered the entire capital, forming a massive dome that imprisoned the Sleepless City and blotted out the sky.
And yet, out of place amidst the crisis, the city continued to sparkle with an orange glow, illuminated by its own magical lights.
It was a scene of “Pandemonium.” Faced with a phenomenon akin to a natural disaster, the trapped citizens began to scream in terror.
“Hey! What the hell is going on!?”
“Sh-shit… Run! Run for your lives!”
“Run where…!? Run where?!”
Panic is contagious. In an instant, the cries spread, and a moment later, a chorus of screams erupted, making the entire capital shudder.
Kaguya, looking down at everything from the summit of the Night Heaven, widened her eyes at the gargantuan shadow beginning to take shape.
She realized it then—she was too late.
“The sight of humans trembling at a nightmare is quite comical, isn’t it, Gremory?”
Behind her, Seere mocked Kaguya, savoring the pleasure of the moment.
“You wretch…”
“A ‘Nightmare Curse’? No, it’s not something so trivial. This is a true ‘Dream’—the vision the Curse desires, projected onto humans struck by the overflowing negative mana. The real curse starts—right now.”
[Ooooooohhhhhhh…]
It let out a low, guttural cry.
That sound alone made the very earth tremble.
Its size was roughly that of a dragon. Its mana capacity likely rivaled one as well.
It had no solid form. A raging torrent of reddish-purple mana began to shape itself into the silhouette of a four-legged beast.
The mana crawling across the ground first formed legs to stomp the earth and “Sundering Claws” to serve as spears.
Rather than imitating a specific animal, the mana shifted fluidly, retaining traces of the various Beast Gods that had been sacrificed. Its silhouette changed by the second.
One moment, it mimicked a mane, forming the shadow of a lion.
The next, it looked like a sheep with twisted, gnarled horns.
The mana, rampaging with resentment, continued to writhe as if mourning those who had perished.
Regardless of its form, only one thing remained constant: its twin-forked tails.
“Shall we call it the [Beast God’s Sob: Beast Curse]? Look closely, Gremory. Feast your eyes on the sight of your country being infested by the curse!”
[—ROOOOOOOOAAAAAARRRRRR!!]
The shadow of the four-legged beast arched its neck and roared toward the heavens.
In that instant, a violent gale erupted with the Beast Curse at its center.
The resulting storm raced through the Sleepless City. A ring of wind expanded in a circle, reaching the edges of the capital in the blink of an eye.
But…
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“…What was that just now?”
Kaguya frowned, suspicious.
From her vantage point at the peak of the Night Heaven, the view remained unchanged.
Even after the storm that should have trampled the capital passed through, there were no signs of collapsing buildings.
“Worry not, Kaguya. The Beast Gods have no grudge against this country you love. That is all there is to it.”
“What are you…?”
While being buffeted by the gale, the voices of people still fleeing in confusion could be heard from all over the capital.
And in those voices, Kaguya felt an unnameable anxiety swell in her chest.
Something was wrong.
Something was different from before.
She strained her eyes and ears against the vague sense of wrongness.
And then.
“—Hey! Are you okay!? Hey!”
That voice came from behind Kaguya. The speaker was an attendant stationed in front of Kaguya’s private chambers.
Kaguya pushed past Seere—who wore a hateful, theatrical smirk—and dashed out of the room.
“What happened!?”
“Kaguya-sama! The soldiers of the Night Heaven are collapsing one after another! Most likely, they are all natives of the Sleepless City!”
The soldier the attendant was supporting had dark circles clearly visible under his eyes.
No grudge against this ‘country.’ Realizing the true meaning behind Seere’s taunt, Kaguya immediately peered down at the city from her window.
And there, she grasped the nature of the “wrongness.”
“The voices… they’re fading…”
The screams that had filled the Sleepless City.
The cries of her citizens that were even now tearing at Kaguya’s heart were rapidly losing their vigor.
Kaguya understood. That roar and the storm from earlier… their purpose wasn’t destruction.
It was to scatter the curse throughout the Sleepless City.
“…The time limit is likely less than an hour.”
Seere shrugged his shoulders broadly and stated it matter-of-factly.
The time limit. It went without saying what that implied.
“Your country will die as if falling into a slumber. What remains will be a ruin littered with carrion. How does it look to your eyes, Gremory—the sight of your peak prosperity withering away?”
The Bael Faction, who sought to hoist Bael up as the True Demon King.
Kaguya realized the depth of their fanatical devotion, and at the same time, spat upon it with rage.
“You woke that thing up just as spite for being rejected by me? I didn’t think you were so pathetically lingering on the past.”
“Hahaha! Say what you like. Regardless of what you do, that thing won’t stop. If it roars again like before, the time limit will be halved… He-hahaha!”
Seere covered his eyes with his right hand and laughed until he had to hold his stomach.
The Beast Curse lifted its high-density mana body and advanced, shaking the earth.
Then, it swung its mouth wide open, and a sphere that looked like a condensed storm began to form at its maw.
“Oops, that one is different from the roar earlier! It seems the Beast Gods don’t like the state of this country either! I’d say the magic level is around 8? If that fires, a fourth of the Sleepless City will be vaporized… Hehehe.”
Seere snorted at Kaguya, who was glaring at him with narrowed eyes.
“This is a warning—not just to you, but to those fence-sitting fools who refuse to recognize Lord Bael as King and even dare to brand him a traitor. Once they see your country annihilated, they’ll surely change their minds, won’t they, Lord Gremory?”
Seere reveled in his triumph over Kaguya.
The obsidian in his left eye—the proof of a demon—vividly reflected the impending moment of the Sleepless City’s downfall.
“Come, Lord! It’s your turn! Your citizens must be desperately praying for your help right about now! Well, what’s wrong…? Please, show me the power of the one who dares to describe me, a Monarch, as a mere ‘lad’!”
Primordial Species are the natural enemies of demons.
Demons are a race that exerts the most power within Hidden Realms.
In contrast, Primordials can fight at full capacity anywhere in the world.
In this setting, their raw specs were simply too different.
However, a Lord was an exception. By taking human form, they were able to intake and manipulate mana using the same mechanisms as humans.
Kaguya hesitated.
Certainly, with Kaguya’s power, it might be possible to settle the situation.
However… she had no room to hold back against the Beast Curse.
But giving it her all was synonymous with causing immense damage to her own country.
“Choose, Gremory. Will you watch your country slowly perish… or will you end everything with your own hands!? Come, choose, Gremory!”
Wearing an expression of absolute ecstasy from the sheer thrill of it, Seere pressed closer to Kaguya, unable to wait.
“Come, choo—”
“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!”
A blast of flame flew in a straight line toward the Beast Curse.
Living up to her name, [Koka – Crimson Flower], she made a scarlet flower bloom in the sky.
“Stop that right now!!”
She pulled back her elbow, concentrating ultra-high-density fire-attribute mana into a single point on her fist.
[Oooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhh]
“I have no idea what you’re saying!”
Toward the magic the Beast Curse was charging—which looked ready to explode at any second—Linfa Neville delivered a maximum-output strike without a hint of hesitation.
“Take… THIS!!”
Using her extraordinary physical ability, she corrected her unstable posture mid-air, bringing her form into an ideal striking position.
The blow, unleashed with a spirited shout, brought sunlight to the dome-covered Sleepless City.
────────!!
After a heavy bass sound like the air itself had ruptured, a delayed blast of hot wind swept through the capital.
Following the blinding flash that forced even Kaguya and Seere to shield their eyes…
The Beast Curse staggered, its massive frame swaying.
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