NOVEL WEB Chapter 57 - The Shadow Hidden Behind Gold☆ (1)
Alvit desperately swung her longsword at the one climbing onto the truck. The dark elf student wearing magic armor hurriedly took a defensive stance.
Clang―!
Black gauntlets scratched by the dark red blade.
An attack that made them stagger back with a great impact.
But Alvit’s attack didn’t end there.
‘Now!’
Alvit attacked with shining eyes.
“[Flash Sword Barrage]―!”
“…!”
The power of the second stage of understanding the world.
An ether skill newly realized recently.
She unleashed a strike that had reached the realm of [Vibration Ether].
Shashashash―!
Numerous sword strikes engraved on the armor.
Countless straight lines etched like a spider web.
They bore down on the armor with momentum like they might burst at any moment.
“Kugh?!”
The armored female student was flustered seeing the sword strikes approaching like a moving wall. Even after the attack ended, they remained entangled like a spider web, not falling off.
“…!”
But the surprise was brief.
The armored girl who had just climbed onto the truck activated the armor’s defense function. Befitting an item issued to
Whirr―!
The dark elf student in black armor grinned and shouted. Her voice was full of undisguisable confidence:
“To think I’d be pushed this far by a mere 1st year―! I’m different from the ones you’ve faced until now―!”
“…”
“Take thiiis!! Then the promotion and bounty are mine―!!”
Clang!
A golden blade entangling with Alvit’s dark red blade. And the armored girl quickly pressed a button on the one-handed sword’s hilt.
Clang―!
Whoosh―!
At the same time, a golden sword shining with ether circuits unfolding. An intense red light was bursting out like a whirlwind from there.
Whoosh―!
A momentary auxiliary function that can deliver an attack similar to a [Wave Ether] user’s strike. The only drawback is… it can only be used once or twice by melting in very expensive, high-purity ether conductive ore.
The dark elf student boldly activated the one-handed sword and attacked.
“Now’s not the time to be saving this―!!”
“Kugh?!”
Alvit hurriedly rotated her dark red blade and deflected the attack. It was an unconscious action from her experience sparring with Bell.
Blades falling away as they crossed.
But the attack continues.
“A 1st year showing off petty skills!! It’s not over―!!”
The armored girl swung her sword glowing like a red torch at Alvit again. Following the trajectory of the sword tip, it advanced leaving behind an eerie trail of flames.
Whoosh―!
The shining magic weapon emitted a threatening light, making a sound like a wheel of hell passing by.
“Take thiiis―!”
Alvit simultaneously twisted her sword that was readying an offensive, switching to defense. It was the flow of offense and defense as one, the basics of ether swordsmanship.
Clang―!!
Two blades clashing.
Deflecting and glancing off again.
The offense-defense situation reversed once more.
At that moment, Alvit caught the subtle opening created as offense and defense changed hands several times. The armor’s defense function was automatically adjusting for the user’s convenience.
‘The armor’s defense function weakened…! Now!’
Alvit spoke quietly with shining eyes in the darkness. But her voice was too clear to be covered even by the wind sound of the speeding truck.
“It seems… because you rely on equipment to fight, you have bigger openings than a real [Wave Ether] user.”
“What…?”
The armored girl’s face contorted.
At the same time, the numerous spider webs etched on the armor glowed.
The armored girl hurriedly touched her armor in confusion.
“Huh…? Huh? This is…?!”
“Goodbye. I hope we never meet again.”
“Huh? W-Wait…!”
Stab―!
Alvit lightly stabbed the armor with her dark red sword tip, then turned away as if she had no more business. After mastering stage 2 ether operation, she became able to completely control the explosion timing of [Flash Sword].
At the same time, the sword strike patterns etched like spider webs exploded.
Baaang―!
With the heavy sound of falling far under the vehicle as the end.
She succeeded in blocking all the students who had climbed onto the truck.
Then an impudent voice reached Alvit’s ears.
“Ooh~ Not bad~”
“…Senior Bell.”
Bell was giggling with smiling eyes. Having already swiftly defeated all five
Tap―!
Bell turned around meaningfully.
Furrowing her brow, wrinkling between her eyebrows, her expression looked like she was imitating Alvit’s serious face.
Bell recreated the situation and spoke playfully:
“Instantly defeating enemies charging in… Then turning your back like this saying ‘I hope we never meet again’… Looks like you’re gradually coming around to this side’s taste?”
“…”
“That turning your back timed with the explosion, that was honestly for show right? Hm? You actually have this side’s taste too~?”
She was probably referring to the taste full of desire to show off… shamelessly displaying the dignity of a strong person to strangers.
Alvit realized that and sighed deeply. A blush was gradually appearing on her cheeks, perhaps from embarrassment welling up.
“Haah… It’s not like that.”
“Ah, why~! This really feels great, you know? How good it feels to show off in front of weaklings~! Feels like you’ve tasted the true flavor of this act…”
“Okay, okay… Stop teasing me…”
Bell giggled for a while.
She patted Alvit’s shoulder as if proud and said:
“Hehe… Anyway, good job. The other kids can’t fight in such a narrow space, we were able to win because you were here.”
“I only defeated one person though.”
“That’s plenty! Hehe…!”
Bell, who had been laughing on top of the speeding truck for a while, walked over to the driver’s side. And she banged on the floor and shouted:
“We defeated them all~! Now just keep going straight and we’ll arrive soon!”
“Really? Well…”
Rattle!
The driver’s side window opened and Kara’s face popped out.
“Senior comrade Bell and comrade Alvit, well done! To think they’d chase us so persistently even after breaking through the encirclement…”
“I know right~ Who’d have thought that Andrea, that golden ghost girl, would chase after us. We were unlucky. Even though [Purple Spinning Wheel] worked so hard to divert attention…”
Bell sighed deeply. Then Sigrun and Greta sitting in the passenger seat made apologetic faces and said:
“I’m sorry, Secretary Bell―!! My guts were lacking―!! I should have fought even swinging my bow like a club―!!”
“Ugh, I’m sorry. I can barely fight in such an open area…”
“It’s fine, it’s fine~ You just need to follow this cute secretary well~! We’re almost there now, so rest as much as you can!”
Bell squeezed through the open passenger side window. But since Alvit’s body wasn’t small enough to fit through the window again, she sat down on top of the truck.
Whoosh―
Feeling the wilderness wind on top of the speeding truck.
“…”
Alvit recalled her pink senior while looking at the golden street’s wall gradually getting closer. Though she had said she was fine many times, the worry couldn’t be helped.
‘Senior… Are you really, really okay…?’
What came to mind was the start of the semester.
Memories of when she looked down on Clara.
Recalling that time, her heart ached at her own indifferent tone back then.
‘…I’m sorry.’
That was probably a guilt that would come to mind often from now on.
“…”
Again…
Again…
Is she again failing to hear her sorrow and screams.
Is she unaware of the senior’s loneliness as she burns herself for their sake.
‘If it hurts, please tell me, Senior… I won’t pretend not to know anymore…’
Alvit still had such thoughts.
Clang―!
The sword at her waist made a sound as it hit the floor. And Alvit blankly stared at the sword that had somehow become most precious to her.
“…”
The dark red sword becoming more familiar through battles.
Alvit hugged the precious gift left by her senior close to her chest, and prayed that all issues would be resolved… and they would meet safely again.
At that moment.
Vroom―!
Another engine sound is heard.
The road heading towards
A sound that shouldn’t be heard in the desolate western wilderness.
“…!”
Alvit looked back in surprise. There, a golden cargo truck shining with splendid decorations and patterns was fiercely chasing after them.
[We thought you’d be hiding among those insignificant beanpole bastards, but you boldly ran out… Thanks to that, our client is very angry, you know?]
And a sly voice was heard.
The unidentifiable broadcaster rambled through a loudspeaker.
[Hm, looks like all the disciplinary members we sent ahead were taken out. At this rate… even if we get a hefty performance bonus for attaching pursuers, I wonder if it’ll be worth it? But well… payment is payment, gotta do the job we were paid for.]
The low rumbling voice spoke towards them:
[Hey, you rats. If you stop there, we’ll specially only charge the principal amount for damage compensation… How about stopping? From now on it’s the moment the ruler of the academy city changes, so choose wisely.]
A high-performance loudspeaker audible from hundreds of meters away. In sync with the voice it leaked, numerous vehicles were approaching from far away.
Vroom―!
Vroom, vroom―!
Golden vehicles numbering at least several dozen.
The pursuers were gradually closing the distance. Unlike our vehicle hastily seized from the battlefield, it was a speed that seemed truly made for pursuit.
[Since you’ve screwed us over this much. Even your lives won’t be enough to pay the interest, you know?]
Along with the voice, the vehicle’s cargo compartment opens.
And what gradually becomes visible as the cargo compartment opens is…
Whirr―!
Whirr―!
Whirr―!
The eye-lights emitted by dozens of magic armor puppets.
Bell hurriedly shouted through the passenger side window:
“Th-That’s the voice of
“Even if you say that, they’re getting closer and closer…!”
“Uwaaah~!! This is driving me crazy~!! We’re right in front of it~!!”
Bell sobbed while clutching her head.
Alvit’s face gradually turned pale.
Even in the midst of that, the pursuers’ vehicles were getting closer and closer.
* * *
What I saw as soon as I entered the golden street was chaos.
‘What a mess…’
Two groups leaking murderous ether with veins bulging in their necks. Numerous high school girls distorting their beautiful faces, spewing out colorful hatred along with elegant insults and vulgar words.
“You damn furry beast bitches―!! You dare commit treason against
“Ha! You barbaric usurper bitches swinging those pathetic scraps of metal…! Since when has this academy city been your land?! Now the academy city will return to the hands of its rightful nobles!”
“Let’s see if you can still make those sounds with a sword stuck in your mouth!!”
“We’ll pull out all the teeth that utter such rude words and make them into gravel for the school garden!!”
And they collided without hesitation, making thunderous sounds.
Sharp swords and threatening magic. Numerous armaments flying through the air. Students charging dozens of meters. Collapsing buildings and shattering cityscape.
Rumble―!!
Boooom―!!
Like giants hammering from far away, the thunder shaking the earth and the collision sounds of giant armaments endlessly reverberate. And underneath that, students in black and white uniforms respectively were fighting in groups.
If the black and white stones of Go were replaced with people, wouldn’t it look like this?
‘Though it’s a bit cruel to say… It’s convenient that they’re clearly divided into black and white, making it easy to gauge the situation.’
Unlike the seemingly evenly matched momentum.
The momentum of the battle in front of the gate was tilting towards
“Golden armaments, obey―!!”
“Obey―!!”
“Obey―!!”
Sloppy swinging… without even spell chanting.
But numerous armaments appear in response to that swinging.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
Dozens of armaments instantly fly towards the students in black uniforms. And they were determining the course of the battle, causing threatening explosions.
Magics carelessly pulled out without even chanting spells.
A bombardment of alien and childish power with no trace of individual ether skills or characteristics…
It was mercilessly raining down.
I inwardly clicked my tongue seeing that.
‘Power that doesn’t follow the World Tree’s laws, having [Fate] stolen by an ancient god… In the game it was the setting for ‘heretics’ appearing after the ending, so I didn’t pay attention…’
The power bestowed by [Snake of Wisdom and Cycles] was… alien and bizarre. But the noble faction beastkin students using that power had shining eyes and satisfied smiles.
“Hehehe…! This is the dignity of the noble faction!! Finally!! Power given to the rightful rulers of the academy city, spanning 1000 years―!!”
“…”
“…”
Freya and Rota’s expressions watching that scene from afar were terrible.
It was the sight of a student from
Amidst the chaotic situation.
There were also noble faction students not fully participating in this battle.
“Hiiieek…!”
“Th-This isn’t why I came to school…!”
“I don’t know anything about the long-cherished wish of Bana nobles…!”
They were just trembling and hiding in alleyways with bated breath, as if unable to believe this reality. Most of those hiding like that were ordinary 1st year freshmen from
We focused on those helplessly sitting down.
Freya sighed in relief seeing them and said:
“A-At least… th-that idiot moron Frau didn’t force that power on the freshmen…”
“Yeah…☆ Could she have given the juniors a choice―♪”
“N-No… She probably just didn’t share the power with anyone who wasn’t fully her subordinate…”
“…I-I see―☆”
I recalled Frau’s petty personality, who disappeared as an early boss in the game without obtaining such enormous power.
‘Well, she was the type like Cao Cao who would casually grind up people according to her goals… Did she bring freshmen to use as cannon fodder instead of her main forces…’
Rota carefully spoke while grasping my sleeve:
“Senior, those kids… might know something about the current situation?”
“W-Well… There’s n-no one else to ask… Let’s j-just ask them a bit and leave them if they’re not helpful…”
I was taken aback by Freya’s words.
“Hey―☆ That’s too harsh~♪”
“T-Too harsh… is what those bitches who burned my thesis and luggage are… From the moment I saw those flames… petty distinctions and mercy on the battlefield… disappeared from my heart…”
“Haah…☆”
We were about to approach the students hiding and trembling in the alley like that.
“…!”
“…!”
Freya and I sensed the group coming toward us and looked at them. Noticing our gaze, Rota quickly moved behind me and hid.
Boom!!
A group of students appeared swiftly from a distance. They were central students wearing the uniform of the
‘Huh? That kid…!’
She was the 2nd-year vice president of the