Chapter 85

Chapter 85 - Transmission

As Eugene reached out his hand, the rings looking similar to an armillary sphere began to rotate.

Then the small sphere in the center stretched as if pulled in all directions, and dozens of cracks appeared.

Massive mystery spewed out from those cracks and emitted intense light. It was like the sight of a young sun being born.

[The place you desire is?]

"...!"

Korean, which Eugene was hearing for the first time in nearly 20 years, echoed in his head.

Because the Moving Castle learned the language etched deep into the owner's soul.

The language Eugene learned first, poured out love and anger in, and helped form most of his identity.

Korean is the sole scar engraved on the inviolable soul that blocked even the heat and chills of hell.

Two bodies. One soul.

Just as a married wife follows her husband's family name, it is completely natural for the body to follow the soul's language.

Now, the interface of the Moving Castle also chose a new language as its mother tongue, following its owner.

"I never thought I'd get to hear Korean again."

Eugene laughed at the unimaginable experience. Because to him, it was a reward more overwhelming than gold and silver treasures.

Kyooooo.

As his concentration broke, the core also lost the image Eugene had drawn up.

The rotation slowed down, and the sphere that had swelled from that force shrank. As the cracks were filled, the mystery leaking out also weakened.

"Oops!"

Eugene regained his senses and brought up an image again. The western forest of Kingdom End village where he grew up.

The vast forest he had seen over a thousand times while climbing the mountain with his mother when young and with Homi when grown up. The green colosseum where numerous wild beasts eat and are eaten.

The number of lives dying and killing there every day would be at a level to scoff at human wars.

"Let's go. Let's bring meat and slaughter there."

[Beyond your passing memories.]

The core, directly facing the clear image, emitted light.

"Before leaving, give a warning first. Because the people outside also need time to step back."

The additional command was politely accepted.

* * *

The presage of transmission was a ticklish sensation. The people surrounding the castle felt a slight tremor tickling the soles of their feet.

"An earthquake?"

The ones who reacted first were the Dwarves preparing the work to breakthrough in front of the castle gate.

- Oh! You've finally arrived.

- Thank you for inviting us. Count. I am Torim, the representative.

They are the Dwarf artisans who manufactured the battering rams in Roxanne's army.

- I heard you developed a new battering ram that smashed the castle gate of Codon Castle.

- About that... It's true we made it, but actually the knight who was with us was amazing so.

As their reputation from that time spread, they were invited here as well.

The Dwarves had actually all washed their hands and switched jobs to weapon manufacturers by then.

But how could they refuse the demand of 'Make us a battering ram that will smash an ancient castle gate.'?

With the rich reward making his blood boil, Torim gathered his companions and ran to Rostock in one breath.

However, right now the Dwarves' instincts were shouting to immediately stop working and run away.

"Everyone get away! This is not a simple earthquake!"

At Torim's roar, his subordinate Dwarves all threw away their materials at once and started running.

"Boss! The air has changed!"

"It's not just the air! The pressure is undulating wildly too!"

Dwarves are sensitive to sudden environmental changes. This is because they are the only primates capable of sensing through their beards. Much like a cat's whiskers.

That is the reason they maneuver well in dark mines without dark vision like Elves have. They catch signs of collapse or changes in oxygen concentration like ghosts.

Even when forging steel, human blacksmiths rely only on the feel of their hands and eyesight, but Dwarves are different.

Because they sense the reverberation echoing when the hammer strikes the metal through their beards. They can perfectly grasp the condition of the metal using hundreds of a third sense.

The fact that Dwarves are treated as born blacksmiths played a significant role beyond their dexterous hands; their beards also played a role.

"Why are the Dwarves suddenly act-... Ugh!"

A veteran mercenary's palm smacked the back of a rookie's head.

"Shut up and follow, retard!"

"Run away!"

Seeing the fleeing Dwarves, mercenaries and knights also scrambled to run.

'If Dwarves suddenly bolt out running, follow them and run away without asking or arguing.'

This was a maxim that worked for all those who adventure.

By the time the people surrounding the castle had retreated far enough like that, they felt a sensation of their hair standing on end from static electricity.

"Look at that!"

Kiiiiing.

The giant castle wavered wildly as if trapped in a haze.

Flash!

Paaaang!

With a flash of light, a cheerful explosion sound spread across the plain. At the same time a giant lightning bolt surged from the ground to the sky, the Moving Castle disappeared in an instant.

* * *

The final village in the southwestern part of the continent, Kingdom End.

The villagers call the forest extending west of it the Demonic Realm.

A place where taking 1 minute in makes the sunlight invisible, 5 minutes in brings growling sounds, and 10 minutes in makes the gazes of predators felt from all directions.

A point 500km deep from the entrance of the Demonic Realm. A group of Orcs are gathered there exhaling rough breaths.

"Blood smell. Spread a lot."

While surrounding the deer they just hunted, they surveyed their surroundings full of fear rather than gluttony.

Orcs possess a habit of roasting their prey over a fire before eating.

A decent intelligence for monsters and knowledge inherited from tribal life. Thanks to that, they knew that roasted meat provided more calories.

But the Orcs of the Demonic Realm tear into raw meat without any of that. Because leisurely roasting prey and giving off the scent here is crazy behavior.

"Right now. We eat."

At the boss's words, the Orcs lay face down in unison and buried their faces in the deer.

The tender yet chewy innards were the boss's share. Following the hierarchy, they sank their teeth into the belly fat, sirloin, ribs, forelegs, chuck, and hind legs.

"Hurry up. Here. Green devil. Hunting ground."

The boss Orc spoke with a mouth covered in blood.

Pursuing an injured deer they luckily found had trespassed into a Troll's territory. They had to eat quickly and run away.

But they say words become seeds.

"Kuek!"

One Orc eating meat was hit in the back by a flying stone from somewhere and collapsed.

Cunningly keeping a low posture against the headwind, a Troll approaching launched a surprise attack.

"Troooll!"

Startled out of their wits, the Orcs halted their meal and started to flee.

An Orc, slightly smaller than a human, matches eye level with a Troll's navel. Despairing difference in weight classes combined with regenerative ability where wounds heal in an instant.

There is no fight established between the two races no matter what. It is a relationship of prey and predator determined by the providence of nature since prehistoric times.

"Geurueo!"

The subordinate whose spine was broken after being hit by the stone grabbed the boss's ankle begging to be saved.

Swish!

The boss responded by cutting off the subordinate's wrist with an axe.

The quickly fleeing Orcs had relieved faces. Anyway, their bellies were somewhat filled, and the abandoned comrade would draw the Troll's attention.

But that was an illusion.

As if unsatisfied with a half-eaten deer and one Orc, the Troll chased after them holding a club.

Because the trespassing Orcs were unfamiliar with the geography of another's hunting ground, they happened to flee toward the river. The Troll had no intention of missing the opportunity to secure meat in large quantities.

The Orcs were exhausted from chasing prey, and the Troll was faster at running, narrowing the distance in an instant.

"Geuwoeo!"

The Orcs wailed seeing an open ground and pebble field revealed beyond dense trees, and a river blocking their retreat.

At that sight, the Troll smiled in satisfaction. Because something even more enjoyable than chewing meat is confirming one's strength.

Following the Orcs stopped before the river, the Troll also came to a halt. To slowly savor the sight of them despairing while looking at him.

It was that moment.

Bzzzt!

Sudden static electricity sparked in the clear sky, and bizarre winds whipped around.

Thud!

Then a turtle dove plunged from the sky landing between the Troll and the Orcs.

"...?"

"Geuruk?"

At the sudden situation, both sides completely forgot the seriousness for a moment and looked up at the sky.

Flap flap flap!

All the turtle doves in the vicinity were taking flight in unison, creating a spectacular sight.

But the turtle doves were unable to compose themselves, swaying here and there as if they were drunk.

When one of them flew toward the Troll, the Troll swung its club.

Bam!

The turtle dove exploded to death leaving behind countless feathers and red mist.

Pachuchut!

Pure white lightning thunderbolts began to strike from the clear sky. After striking the forest and river a few times, it battered the open ground thereafter.

Bizarre phenomena seen for the first time even by the Troll and Orcs, who had seen quite a lot of bad weather.

As the final lightning bolt dyed the world white, a powerful wind swept in all directions. Trees shook crazily and tens of thousands of pebbles rolled.

"Geurueo-!"

"Geuruk-?"

Dropping their weapons, the Orcs lay flat and prayed toward the sky. They thought the god of storms had descended.

The Orcs prayed desperately that the god's wrath would swerve past them and save them from this crisis.

Flash!

Paaaang!

The giant castle descended, riding the flash of light and explosion.

The Troll was panicked by the shadow that instantly swallowed it. It almost mistook that the sun had temporarily disappeared.

Kuuuung-.

As the fierce wind subsided, a massive castle gate slowly opened with a heavy sound.

The Orcs, who had laid flat grasping their heads, peeked their heads up.

Blink.

Beyond the castle gate in the pitch-black darkness, one pair of eyes glowing red. Soon it became two pairs, and amplified to four pairs after a short while.

"Kyareureureu-."

The rough body hair of the Orcs bristled up intensely at the evil growling sound.

Pitch-black tongues licked their lips, smacking their lips at the smell of meat wafting from outside. Pointy awl-like teeth reflected the light.

The sight of the presences in the darkness smacking their lips while looking at them made the Orcs pee their pants.

"Keuwoeo-."

On the other hand, the Troll shouted filled with a competitive spirit.

The fear of the Orcs was a tribute rightfully owed to it. The Troll was enraged as a predator at the intruders who snatched that away.

When the Troll charged holding the large club, 4 demons rushed out from the castle gate as if to counter him.

Skull-like faces and pitch-black bodies. Disorderly teeth and red eyes filled with malice. They were the Imp species, the demon race Eugene's party fought in the corridor of the Moving Castle.

* * *

"Amazing."

Valda and Homi greeted Eugene in front of a large window connected to the audience room.

They knew the castle could leap across space. But directly experiencing it was a separate issue.

As they dropped directly into the middle of a vast forest when the plain overlooking an inland sea disappeared, the eyes of the two ladies went wide.

Whoosh-!

Homi pointed towards a certain place.

There a blood-covered Troll is struggling. At its feet were three Imps that became a pulp and died.

The final one clung to the Troll's back and tore its neck apart. It tightly embraced the Troll's body with its two arms and legs as lovers do when engaging in love.

When trying to tear it off didn't reach his arm, the Troll changed its strategy. Putting all its weight into it, it bumped its back against the ground.

Thud!

"Kuhek!"

The Imp screamed.

The Troll cleverly only picked places with protruding rocks to fall back on.

Thump! Thump!

After repeating it twice more, the Imp unable to endure got knocked off.

The bastard soon had its mount position taken by the Troll and received a barrage of punches.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

The Imp's nose bridge collapsed and its eyeball burst. Several teeth were impaled into the fingers of the fist-clenching Troll's tightened grasp.

"Shueuek-."

The Imp, whose teeth were all broken resulting in a moribund state, let out its final breath.

Crack!

The Troll, smashing its skull with a final blow, roared in victory. Many of the wounds filling its body were already healing up.

"It's a Troll as expected. No matter how many gang up on it, it's useless if they don't have the power to snap its breath in one breath."

"I haven't faced one before, but I can understand why it's a tricky bastard. For it to not leave a scratch even after fighting so fiercely."

Physically weak humans prefer relay combat when facing monsters. Making it collapse from exhaustion by accumulating minor injuries.

But a Troll is an opponent on whom such a tactic does not work. Since their strength cannot be depleted using soldiers and mercenaries, knights eventually had to step forward from the start.

Their numbers are also on the numerous side among mid-sized monsters. It naturally became recognized as a representative monster that kills knights.

"It is a place where danger incomparable to the Emerald Forest lurks. To think we can comfortably spectate such a malicious place. It is truly an amazing authority."

Valda embraced her shoulders looking down at the Demonic Realm's forest.

Her toes curled up and her breath trembled. The thrilling sensation starting from her lower abdomen spread into the nerves of her whole body.

The noble Elf magician shivered in a sense of omnipotence she had never felt in her entire life.

"Do you know the Divine Right of Kings?"

"The king is a ruler sent down to earth by God, so that authority is sacred and inviolable. A legitimate royal family is the one and only bridge connecting God and all the people. That kind of logic, isn't it?"

"... You explain it in much more detail than I had thought of."

Valda gave an empty laugh, feeling rather like she was the one receiving the teaching.

"Numerous royal families claim the Divine Right of Kings. Offering a great holy relic or a treasure equivalent to it as a token is typical."

"If they don't have something like that, they just brush it off saying their bloodline is sacred."

"Yes. However, the rule states that before true mighty authority, any treasure or bloodline ends up feeling trivial. In my eyes, this castle appears so."

Height and safety. Since long ago, these two were symbols of those in power.

To safely look down even on the forest of the Demonic Realm from a place higher than any castle. Could an authority equivalent to this truly exist again in the world?

"It's not as omnipotent as you might expect. I learned it while teleporting, but the restrictions are severe."

"What kind of restrictions are there?"

Valda perked up her ears with curiosity about the magic of the ancients.

Homi, who had no interest in such things, regrettably watched the Troll trudging back to the forest.

"A wide plain is needed of course, and a clear image must also be present."

"Are you saying you've been to this forest by chance?"

"Ay. As if that would be."

Even the current heavily armed Eugene cannot guarantee how long he could endure if dropped into that forest.

Setting daytime aside, the darkness of night and drowsiness are things difficult to overcome even for a great knight.

"When I was young, I climbed a mountain and gazed at the vast forest to the west countless times."

"I presume this place exists beyond the place you had seen."

"That is correct."

Seeing it fly this far shows quite a bit of flexibility is allowed.

"And there must be no human souls around the destination's vicinity."

"Because of that it could not appear directly next to a city or village then. It's a peculiar condition."

"This castle was scared. It extremely fears transferring to a place where a mass of human souls reside."

Let's compare the space of the present world to a place piled with an infinite number of bubbles.

Transmission is like sliding along the boundaries where bubbles touch each other.

The Moving Castle absolutely refused to enter a bubble where human souls were gathered.

"I can roughly guess the reason."

Eugene recalled the words he heard from Marbas.

- If I tasted the entrance to hell and ran away, this castle had returned from the end of hell. Having been slashed and hacked by a terrible space that one wouldn't dare to imagine.

"Do you remember the surface of this castle?"

"Of course. It was scorched and broken here and there in all directions on all sides. Though it stood firm even when hit by ballistas and catapults."

Teleporting into spaces gathered with human souls.

That seems to remind it of the memories of splashing into hell in the distant past.

A puppy bitten by a mole while sticking its nose into a burrow would not even look at a burrow thereafter.

"It's a wonder that an infrastructure experiences trauma instead of human beings, but it needs to be understood."

Eugene shrugged his shoulders.

"Other than this, there are various major and minor restrictions."

"Even still, it is a tremendous authority."

"Right now, it is in the position of a princess trapped in a castle."

"Indeed, since it was merely killing 4 Imps."

Valda continuously looked down toward the castle gate, but no additional monsters have poured out.

"So how do you plan to drive out the monsters inside the castle?"

"Something no armor can block, and no swift movement can dodge. Do you know what makes even those with steadfast patience go crazy?"

"Well. I am weak at riddles."

Eugene smiled widely at the troubled Valda.

"It is exactly the heat."

Eugene pointed in all directions with his palms.

"After finishing the teleporting here, I activated the castle's maximum intensity heating. Even if just an hour passes, it will become so hot it would feel like boiling to death."

"Mmm."

Homi, who is weak to heat, made a terrified face, as if just imagining it was awful.

"With a cool forest and river right in front, would they hold out and not go out?"

"You smiled so wickedly because you had such a scheme."

However, it was definitely an effective method. Since they could voluntarily draw out the monsters from every corner of the castle.

And those bastards will be torn into fine pieces like rats overwhelmed by army ants in this vast forest.

"Undead can't be helped, but getting rid of just the monsters performing vital activities will make cleaning up much easier."