Chapter 696: 542 I will find you
"————"
Time had stopped.
It certainly wasn’t because Reiger had used some time magic.
When the pitch-black monster with deer antlers emerged from the sea, and under the escort of countless Mors, slowly made its way towards Norwich, every surviving life in Norwich—be it human or fairy—found themselves unable to move without exception.
"Ah... Ah..."
Someone wept while standing as still as a wooden chicken, their mouth wide open in a scream.
"Guh..."
Some appeared to have been attacked mentally, vomiting on the spot.
Some screamed belatedly.
Some ran desperately as if caught in a nightmare.
Only the Mors squirmed on the streets of Norwich, their bodies undulating as if to welcome something. Their movements and frequency gradually synchronized into a bizarre spectacle.
In such a situation, even Altoria, Matthew, Da Vinci, Tristan, and the others stood still, staring at the pitch-black monster with deer antlers, their bodies beginning to shake uncontrollably.
"Don’t look at that thing!"
It was then that Alberon’s voice finally rang out.
"That thing will mess with the mind of anyone who looks directly at it! Pull your gaze away!"
Panic and urgency filled Alberon’s voice.
Reiger immediately cast a spell on everyone.
"[Heart of the Lion]!"
It was a magic spell that could eliminate the state of fear and grant complete resistance to it.
Reiger cast this spell on everyone present, finally enabling them to break free from their terror.
But even having escaped the terror, everyone inevitably fell into chaos.
"What, what is that...!?"
Altoria cried with a voice much higher than usual.
"That... is that also a Mors?"
Matthew looked incredulous.
"...I see, so that is the ’Calamity’, huh?"
Da Vinci’s face was filled with bitterness.
"...If that enters Norwich, the entire city will be destroyed, won’t it?"
Tristan spoke solemnly, as if witnessing a nightmare.
What appeared before them was something that induced such chaos and fear.
Even the Caldea group, who had been walking through numerous singularities and anomalies, seeing all sorts of bizarre things, and Tristan, who in his lifetime as a Knight of the Round Table had campaigned with King Arthur and vanquished many monsters of non-human realms, realized almost instinctively upon witnessing that monster.
It was that what appeared there was a monster no one could match.
Only this point, was absolutely certain.
And when it appeared here, including Altoria and the others, all came to realize something.
Norwich was probably beyond saving.
That was everyone’s first thought.
Only Reiger stood calmly still, speaking out to the others.
"Now’s not the time to be stupefied," he said with utmost calm, "Let’s leave this place first."
With that, Reiger cast a spell.
"[Teleportation Portal]!"
A small black dot appeared in the space in front of the group, slowly spreading into darkness.
A semicircular gate of darkness then opened—Reiger had indeed used a teleportation spell, ready to send everyone out.
"Go ahead."
Reiger pushed Altoria, intending to push her into the [Teleportation Portal].
But at that moment, Altoria resisted as expected.
"No! If only we leave..."
The fairy maiden had barely uttered these words when Reiger cut her off with another phrase, silencing her.
"If you can’t even save the people close to you, you don’t deserve to save others." Reiger gazed directly at Altoria and spoke bluntly, "Do you think, with your current ability, you can truly save Norwich?"
"I know you’ll probably say that even if you can’t save it, you should at least try, right?"
"But have you thought about this? Once you decide to do that, the people close to you will definitely follow you to do the same."
"You can risk your own life to save others, but can you disregard the lives of your companions to save a group of fairies, whose worthiness of being saved is uncertain?"
Reiger’s blunt words left Altoria silenced on the spot.
"Mr. Reiger, we..."
Matthew seemed to want to say something too, but was also stopped by Reiger.
"You all are good people, who can’t stand to watch lives being lost before your very eyes; I understand that."
It was for this reason that Caldea was able to save the human order, the history of panhumanity, time and again.
But Reiger still wanted to say one more thing.
"Even if such a decision must be made, you should at least wait for your Master to wake up," Reiger said indifferently. "He’s still in a coma, his life completely entrusted to your hands. If you make a wrong move, not only will you suffer, but Fujimaru Ritsuka will never wake up again, lost to eternal slumber."
"Do you really think that’s alright?"
Reiger’s somewhat pressing words left Matthew completely at a loss for words.
"Let’s go, leave this place."
Pointing in the direction of the "Teleportation Gate," Reiger spoke to the group.
"If you leave now without wasting time, I can open a few more ’Teleportation Gates’ to get the survivors out."
"If you keep hesitating and delaying, only more people will die."
With these words, a light bulb went off for everyone.
"Right, we shouldn’t waste time here," Alberon hurriedly added. "Only if we leave can Reiger go save others."
"He possesses space transfer magic. Even if that monster breaks into Norwich, he still has the means to escape with ease."
"He’s the only one who can stay behind to save others, this is the most suitable choice."
Hearing this, they looked at each other, and though still hesitant, they clearly seemed persuaded.
"Let’s go." It was then Da Vinci finally spoke, "Reiger is right. Us staying here any longer will only waste his time and lead to more unsaved lives."
Having said that, Da Vinci took the lead, as if to dispel everyone’s hesitations, and was the first to climb into the carriage.
"...Take care, Sir Brilliant."
Tristan followed, addressing Reiger formally before he followed Da Vinci into the carriage.
"Please be careful."
Matthew was still hesitant, but with Da Vinci and Tristan already on the move, and thinking of the Master in the carriage, she struggled for a moment before finally looking at Reiger with concern for a while and then boarding the carriage.
Only Altoria remained, staring straight at Reiger, standing motionless.
"Altoria!"
Alberon couldn’t help but call out to Altoria.
Altoria didn’t respond to Alberon but continued to stare at Reiger.
Reiger knew that this fairy girl might have seen something.
The next moment, the words she uttered proved just that.
"...You’ll catch up later, won’t you?"
Altoria fixed her gaze on Reiger, as if trying to see through his heart.
Meting Altoria’s gaze, Reiger was silent for a moment before smiling faintly.
"I will find you."
Upon hearing these words, Altoria seemed to understand something and her eyes abruptly reddened.
But she held back, wiped the corner of her eyes, and once again fixed her gaze on Reiger.
"Don’t lie to me."
Without asking anything, that was all Altoria said.
"If you’ve lied to me, I’ll hate you for the rest of my life."
If it had been Altoria from the past, she definitely wouldn’t have said something like this, nor would she have refrained from asking questions.
Perhaps because of the memories from Pan-Human History, the girl seemed to understand some things, knew that there were things that shouldn’t be forced, things that had to happen.
Reiger and Altoria locked eyes, and after a moment, he nodded.
Altoria gazed deeply at Reiger, as if trying to memorize his every feature, then after a long while, she turned around and boarded the carriage without looking back.
"We’re heading out first!"
Alberon shouted to Reiger.
"You better hurry up and follow us, Reiger!"
Leaving those words behind, Alberon spurred his horse, causing the white eight-legged horse to let out a neigh as it charged into the "Teleportation Gate."
Reiger watched as Altoria and the others departed.
"The eight-legged horse is left for you to use, make good use of it."
Once the "Teleportation Gate" reached its limit and space returned to normal, Reiger murmured to himself.
The white eight-legged horse had been summoned by Reiger through a permanent summoning and would not disappear due to the time limit of the summoning magic or an issue with the summoner himself.
Since the white eight-legged horse could be summoned by using just "Second-Level Monster Summoning," its permanent summoning requirement wasn’t strict; some gold was all it needed.
Therefore, realizing he might encounter some issues in Norwich, as a contingency, Reiger had the white eight-legged horse permanently summoned and the magic for creating the carriage, a permanent effect construction spell from the Akashic Continent, would not disappear.
In this way, Reiger was free to do what he intended.
Raising his head, Reiger looked up at the sky.
There, the clouds formed into a rapidly spinning vortex, and the magic power it was concentrating became more and more massive.
"About time."
Recognizing that the vortex wasn’t a ’disaster’, Reiger shifted his gaze to the giant creature approaching Norwich.
Seconds later, as promised, Reiger opened several "Teleportation Gates" in various directions around Norwich, allowing the frantically fleeing fairies to fend for themselves, before he swiftly flew towards the port.
"Boom, rumble..."
The vortex in the sky suddenly spun even faster, seemingly bringing with it the sound of thunder.
By the time Reiger arrived at the Norwich port, a pillar of light descended from the vortex, enveloping both him and the creature, swallowing everything.