Chapter 76
The largest slab of stone pinning down Merga’s lower body didn’t budge an inch.
A shadow fell over Virelda’s face as she struggled to keep herself together.
We have to fight. We have to protect them. The fierce resolve she had shouted to others moments ago was gone. With their pillar collapsing before her eyes, Virelda herself began to crumble.
Seeing her strongest, most dependable friend falter like this made tears surge into Fay’s eyes.
But she did not break.
“Pull yourself together! I’ll try something with my wand!”
She shook Virelda’s shoulders to snap her out of it, then wedged the tip of her wand into a crack beneath the boulder, trying to use it as a lever.
“Ghh…!”
“Stop, Fay. It’s too heavy. Your wand won’t hold…”
Virelda’s face had gone slack with resignation.
“No. I’ll make it work…!”
Fay poured every last bit of strength into the wand.
A sharp crack sounded.
The wand—her mother’s wand—split with a faint, splintering noise.
Fay jerked her hands back in shock.
“Told you.”
Virelda muttered with a hollow laugh.
“There! A witch!”
“Cut off the witches’ heads!”
“Leave none alive!”
As if the situation weren’t dire enough, the enemy was advancing again. Weapons raised, they began climbing the walls, shouting about taking Merga and Virelda’s heads.
Thankfully, Scarlis was still holding the line. With a hiss, the creature lunged and slashed at soldiers who dared approach its mistress.
Virelda stared at Scarlis for a moment, then pushed herself up with her wand.
“I’ll hold them here with Scarlis. Take Lady Merga and go.”
She shoved Fay toward the fallen Merga. Fay grabbed her cloak.
“How are you going to handle that many alone?!”
“Go, Fay. I’m entrusting Lady Merga to you.”
“That’s suicide! You’ll die!”
“If I die, they die with me.”
Fay’s stomach dropped.
Virelda hadn’t regained her senses, she had made up her mind to burn herself out completely. With barely any mana left, she meant to detonate herself in one final act.
Fay couldn’t allow that.
“No!”
She clung to Virelda’s cloak, refusing to let go.
Then—
Bwooooom—!
A horn blared in the distance. The blood drained from Fay’s face.
Reinforcements? A renewed charge?
Is this it? Would all their efforts crumble in a single day?
Tears spilled down her cheeks again. She didn’t want to die. She had always known she would die someday, but not like this. Not so soon.
Should she abandon Virelda, who was ready to self-destruct? But she couldn’t even lift the boulder off Merga. And how could she run away, leaving both her friend and her mentor behind?
“I can’t… I just can’t…”
She didn’t want to die. But she didn’t want to abandon the people she loved either.
Trembling violently, Fay forced herself to stand. She stepped beside Virelda and raised her half-broken wand at the approaching soldiers.
“Why are you still here? I told you to run!”
Virelda yelled, shoving her with her shoulder.
“I’m—not—going!”
“Don’t act brave when you’re a coward!”
“Y-you’re the one whose v-voice is shaking!”
“Idiot. At least stop stuttering.”
“D-don’t insult me at a time like this! At least let me finish my l-last words properly!”
Fay suddenly grabbed Virelda’s hand.
“You… you’re the w-worst-tempered friend in the world.”
“I thought you said no insults?”
“But you’re also the best friend I have.”
“…I dragged you into a battlefield.”
“At least thanks to you, I d-didn’t get tortured before d-dying.”
She tightened her grip. Her heart felt like it would explode from fear.
The enemy horn sounded again.
Had another section fallen? If she turned around, would she see the enemy flag already flying over Aldehallow’s walls?
Her mind was on the brink of collapse.
Then—
“Retreat!”
One of the charging soldiers suddenly halted and shouted.
“Retreat!”
The golden tide that had poured in like a flood withdrew just as suddenly, like the sea pulling back.
Fay stared blankly.
Then slowly turned to Virelda.
“W-why… why are they running?”
Virelda shook her head, equally stunned. Then her knees finally gave out, and she collapsed where she stood.
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