Chapter 125 - Possibilities

Naofumi: “Not Yet! Report your situation!”

Soldier: “The people who received the attack have yet to recover. We are confirming the situation.”

How is the front line holding up?

I look towards Rafatalia and Firo, who are currently battling around the heart.

The assaulting familiars seem to be endless. Both of them are exhausted.

When the chance comes, they break through and reach my location, but their faces are pale.

Naofumi: “A-are you two alright?!”

Rafatalia: “Y-yes… but… my Mana is…”

Firo: “Yeah… you know… they absorbed our mana…”

Ku… how troublesome. This attack has the same effect as the electric blast from the head.

I receive an information report from the back line.

Soldier: “A large number of troops have died from Mana depletion.”

Naofumi: “How is the situation on the front?”

Soldier: “Because of the Hero of the Shield’s protection, they have begun to prepare the sealing magic for the heart.”

Naofumi: “I see…”

For my Drain resistance to come in handy in a place like this…

The casualties are great, but we will still be able to carry out the mission.

Naofumi: “It might be difficult, but please finish the sealing preparations as quickly as possible!”

Magicians: “S-sir yes sir!”

By this pattern…

The Spirit turtle’s heart begins releasing the magic energy it has stored up.

I rush in front and hold up my shield to deflect the blasts of energy.

Spirit Turtle: “_____________!”

Naofumi: “Gu-…”

The output is even higher than before.

The white masses the heart had released are now re-assimilating with it to increase the output.

Long! The duration of this attack is much higher than any of the others I have withstood. My HP begins to drop.

Naofumi: “Guuuuuuuuu-…”

I can’t change my position or the blast will be reflected on our forces.

Firo: “Mu… Don’t use Firo’s power to hurt Master!”

Firo takes a stance.

Firo: “Rafatalia Oneechan, Costume wearing Oneechan! Please keep monsters away from Firo for a little bit.”

Rafatalia: “Y-yes!”

Rishia: “I Understand!”

Rafatalia and Rishia get into formation and repel the swarms of monsters from Firo.

Firo: “Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuu…”

Firo takes a very deep breath.

I can feel the wind gathering around her.

The white masses that had returned to the heart are being pulled away.

More specifically, Firo is sucking them in.

The white clumps are forcefully pulled towards Firo, being drawn to her strong magic.

Soon, the magic blast weakens.

Naofumi: “Good job, Firo!”

Firo: “Gepu-”

I look behind me and see Firo waving happily. She looks slightly more inflated than before.

…Did she eat those things?

Firo: “Payback.”

Firo faces the heart and opens her mouth. Something comes out.

I think it is the air that she sucked into her body.

A sphere of pressurized air flies towards the heart.

Spirit Turtle: “_______!!!”

The turtle hastily deploys a magic barrier around its heart, as if it sensed the dangers presented by Firo’s attack.

The familiars, as if protecting the organ, fly head on into the ball of air.

But the sphere merely sucks in any monster that gets close, and continues to fly at the heart.

A large sound fills the area, and the magic barrier around the heart breaks.

The heart is reconstructing its defenses. It’s the perfect time to activate the seal.

Naofumi: “Now!”

Magicians: “Ha!”

『We have read and understood the origin of power. It is the time for the Truth of the world to manifest. Now become that chains that binds one of the four: the Spirit Turtle, this beast of Calamity! 』

A large magic circle appears centered around the heart.

The turtle is currently focused on healing the damage caused by Firo’s attack, it is unable to perform a follow-up attack.

This is the end!

「Large Scale Covenant Spell: ‘Magic Sealing’!」

Ribbons appear from the magic circle,and begin encircling the heart, which has almost finished repairing itself.

Spirit Turtle: “____________!?”

Badump… badump… ba… dump… ba…

The beating sound of the heart gets fainter, and eventually fades into nothingness.

The monsters outside seem to have also stopped. From the next room, I can hear some noise.

Soldiers: “YYYEEEEAAASSSS!”

They are celebrating.

Soldier: “Victory! We Won!”

Soldier: “Hooray!”

Soldier: “It was long and difficult, but we finally did it!”

Fuu……..

Firo: “Oneechan, Firo is returning these.”

Rafatalia: “? Firo, what are you doing?”

Firo suddenly throws up all of the white clumps she had inhaled at Rafatalia. Are they Spirit attribute? Maybe I should absorb them.

Rafatalia’s face color is getting better as the Drain effect wears off, but her expression is getting much, much worse. It’s as if a bug had dropped down her back.

Slapping the White clumps away, Rafatalia begins chasing Firo around in rage.

Rafatalia: “Oy, Firo! I definitely won’t let you off easily!”

Firo: “Ahaha~”

*Sigh* It seems we were somehow able to finish the sealing.

Firo: “…- Master!?”

Firo suddenly stops. Her face is pale.

Badump! Badump!

The heart beat sounds resume.

With the sound of breaking glass, the magic circle breaks apart.

Naofumi: “How could this be!?”

Firo: “Firo did her best, so why?”

The eye on the heart grows very large, and releases the beam attack once more.

Rafatalia: “This thing knows not when to give in!”

Firo: “Yeah!”

Naofumi: “Was it a failure?”

Magician: “No… the spell went perfectly… but it was able to shrug it off with ease.”

Dammit! Damn it all!

We don’t have any forces left. The head has regenerated. We cannot seal the heart.

… No there still has to be a way. I can’t give in.

Naofumi: “Rafatalia, Firo, can you handle it?”

Rafatalia: “Leave it to me.”

Firo: “Yes!”

Both Rafatalia and Firo prepare to unleash their respective strongest attacks.

Even though it’s broken free, there must be some information I can gain from this exchange.

Naofumi: “Tell the troops in the back lines to fall back!”

Soldier: “B-but-”

Naofumi: “If possible, try to support these two, otherwise, tell them to focus on protecting themselves. Worse comes to worst we will have to retreat!”

Soldier: “U-understood!”

The army follows my command and withdraws the back line.

And Rafatalia, Firo, Me, Shadow and Rishia prepare for battle.

Naofumi: 「Zveit Aura」

I cast support magic on the party. The two rush forward.

Firo: 「Spiral Strike!」

Rafatalia: 「Hakke Destiny Slash」

Forward! This may be rash, but there are no other options.

Spirit Turtle: “_________!?”

The two fighters rush the Heart of the Spirit Turtle. The turtle tries to summon familiars to protect it.

But those two are putting all their magic remaining into this strike. The familiars have no effect.

There is a grotesque sound. The heart has been pierced.

Rafatalia: “…”

Firo: “This is the limit”

Naofumi: “I understand… please stand down.”

I observe the heart. Just as when it had been sealed, the beating has stopped. Did we do it?

Most of the arteries around it have been reduced to scraps of flesh. The heart itself has a large hole in the center.

If it could recover from this, it would truly be immortal.

…badump.

___!?

Before my very eyes, the arteries restore themselves and the hole begins to close.

Rafatalia: “Wha…”

Naofumi: “What tenacity…”

Rishia: “Fueeeeeeeeeee…”

I also want to say Fueeee.

Shadow: “The mission… was a failure-gojaru. We must call a retreat-gojaru.”

Naofumi: “And after that? Can the seven star heroes win against a Monster like this?”

Out of rage, I unintentionally speak my mind.

Shadow: “T-that may be so-jaru… but staying here will not accomplish anything-gojaru.”

Naofumi: “Ku…”

Shadow’s right. Nothing has come out of fighting for hours inside of this thing.

Where is it getting all of this vitality?

If a monster like this appeared in a game, then no one would buy it.

Naofumi: “… I understand. We’ll retreat for now and think of another plan.”

Soldier: “… Sir yes sir.”

The hearts of the soldiers is heavy.

To fail after we had found victory. The mental damage inflicted is quite high.

Carefully avoiding danger, I lead the men away from the heart and out of the Turtle’s body.

Naofumi: “It will be easier to escape from the town than from the mountains.”

The mountain path is heavily sloped. With the earthquakes caused by the moving turtle, the footing is unstable.

Though we may have to deal with the rubble, it will probably be safer to dismount from the town area.

Commander: “We are thankful to you for finding a safe escape route.”

The army’s commander gives me words of thanks.

Naofumi: “Don’t mind it. Protecting is my duty.”

But… for all our efforts to come out in vain…

The only information we got was that the sealing magic didn’t work.

Is there no way to win?

I fend off monsters as we head towards the exit in the town.

Naofumi: “This is…”

It’s a building similar to the temple I investigated with Firo.

Shadow: “It seems to be a temple-gojaru.”

Naofumi: “You can tell?”

Shadow: “I have been trained in scouting out buildings-gojaru. There are lithographs of the messages left by the heroes all over the place -gojaru.”

Naofumi: “Lithographs? Are they of the message I saw in the other temple?”

Shadow: “Perhaps these were made using that as reference-gojaru. Selling lithographs of these messages was this town’s specialty-gojaru. There were probably more but the entire town has been destroyed with the awakening of the Turtle-gojaru.”

Reference? Could there have been people who could write in Japanese here?

Hmm… so this temple contains various lithographs…

Keiichi left the method of defeating the turtle. Perhaps, I may find a lithograph of his message.

Naofumi: “Can you let me look around for a bit?”

Shadow: “I do not believe now is the time for that-gojaru”

Naofumi: “”The previous message I saw had writing regarding how to defeat the Spirit Turtle. However the most important info was left out.

Shadow: “How surprising, then we must search through these records-gojaru.”

My party and the rest of the army search for and gather all the Lithographs we can find.

These paintings are not very well done, they seem to be mass-produced varieties, with a simple picture of the Turtle and words printed on them.

And these works have also been damaged by the Turtle’s movements.

Shadow: “Can you read it-gojaru?”

Rafatalia: “How is it?”

Like a jig-saw puzzle, I gather the pieces of various mass produced pictures. Many of these have shattered beyond recognition. I don’t think I can decipher this.

Rishia: “I have found more.”

Rishia comes carrying a large fragment of a Lithograph.

… Finally, something I can read.

Even more so than the wave, his objective is… to stop…

I can also make out the words Head, Heart and Same.

I have to think, what would the Hero Keiichi want to leave behind?

Along with the head, you must… to defeat this monster, then… It’s cut off here.

Now that I think about it, from the start, Keiichi has been talking of a method to defeat, rather than seal it.

So in the past, people had already figured out the method for defeating it.

So why was it sealed until now?

I don’t understand.

If I can’t understand this point, I have to move onto the next.

I must gather some useful information from this.

Head, Heart, Same were used on the same line.

… Could it be that? That thing in Games and Manga…

However there is no way of testing that theory.

Soldier: “What?! Is that true?!”

As I am deep in thought, the army people are getting noisy.

Naofumi: “What’s wrong?”

Sodja Boy: “Look outside. The Spirit Turtle is approaching a city that hasn’t finished evacuation!”