Chapter 87

Unceasing snow turned the moonless night gray.

The great snowfall, known as "The Lament of the Ice Spirit," occurred a few times a year.

In a usual Maranova, people would stay indoors, listening to the sound of snow piling up while going to bed.

However, now, shouts of anger and cries of despair, along with the dry sounds of shattering, echoed throughout the city.

—Bones.

Suddenly, human bones, animal bones, and all kinds of bones crawled out from the harbor and canals, overflowed from the catacombs, and appeared from back alleys and attic rooms.

The people who remained in the city were terrified by the sudden appearance of skeletons.

They couldn't venture outside without guards, and the skeletons were frightening.

But the bone masses paid no heed to the people's confusion and advanced through the city toward a single point.

On the eighty-ninth day of the White Moon, just before midnight.

High above Maranova, where even the flying dragon patrols and spirit mage detections couldn't reach, stood a skeleton on the back of a massive Bone Wyvern.

The notorious thief Skeleton, also known as Zeeva Roschanov.

Her dark eye sockets, which seemed hollow to others, gazed down at Maranova visible through the gaps in the clouds.

Snow fell continuously on Maranova, which looked like a child's toy.

The city walls were lined with warning lights, and the port side, where the state-run chamber of commerce was located, was densely lit with watchtowers. The Maranova Bay was also guarded by numerous small and medium-sized ships.

However, on the opposite side of the central square, there were lights from houses where residents, who had not evacuated, were staying up all night for sightseeing.

"I warned them. Let them know that Keigbird is not a mirage on the horizon of the desert."

There would be no mercy for those who ignored the warning and did not flee.

Zeeva recalled the city of Maranova, which she had secretly visited many times.

Ships were docked at the port, and the voices of sailors and porters echoed with vigor and anger.

Heading from the port to the city center, the sound of string instruments flowed from somewhere in the alleys, and fresh vegetables and fish were lined up in the market.

The smell of roasting meat and seafood wafted from the square, mixed with the strong scent of seasonal fruits.

In the alleys, the sound of hammers striking red-hot swords could be heard from somewhere, and the laughter of boisterous women could be heard here and there.

The only difference was the appearance of the people and the presence or absence of spirit magic.

The daily life of Keigbird before it was taken overlapped.

A wave of sentiment washed over her.

But soon, hatred and anger swallowed the sentiment like a fire on withered grass.

The usual daily life was engulfed in flames.

The earth split and rose, and countless lightning bolts pierced the people.

It was a bolt from the blue.

One day, they crossed the sea and visited Sauran.

After several negotiations, they appeared one day with a dozen large ships, made a unilateral declaration, and burned Keigbird to the ground from their ships.

The people of Keigbird, who did not know spirit magic or conscious life spirit magic, could not defend against it.

And in a moment, Keigbird was taken.

The resistance movement of the bone people, the power balance between the northern countries and Lechahim, and the efforts of the attendant of the Moon Goddess barely led to a ceasefire and the establishment of an autonomous region.

However, even fifty years after the ceasefire agreement, Lechahim continued to attack, claiming it was retaliation for terrorism, and had taken over seventy percent of the bone people's autonomous region.

Lechahim was despicable and cunning.

The bone people, who could not use spirit magic, were oppressed as high skeletons, a kind of magical beast. However, the treatment of the former Keigbird residents, who could use spirit magic, was different.

They were called the "chosen ones" by Lechahim and were granted broad autonomy in their autonomous regions as long as they did not defy Lechahim, based on their race or tribe.

Still, the former residents of Keigbird never actively helped in the oppression of the bone people, but a small number of them began to look down on the bone people who continued to resist.

The generation of Keigbird residents was changing.

If the resistance movement and the activities of the thief Skeleton were stopped, would Lechahim's attacks cease?

That was not the case.

No matter what, Lechahim's attacks did not stop.

Lechahim staged attacks and blamed them on bone people's terrorism, launching retaliatory actions. While there were some acts of terrorism by the bone people, more than half were staged by Lechahim.

The northern countries, which had colonies on the Sauran continent, turned a blind eye to this.

No one would listen unless force was shown.

So Zeeva issued a warning and flaunted her existence.

Zeeva raised her face and gazed at the White Moon, which closely resembled the color of the bone people.

Born from the White Moon and returning to it.

Becoming a corpse, weathering, and the weathered bone powder being carried by the wind, returning to the White Moon.

Thus, the moon waxes and wanes.

It was an old legend.

Zeeva's father, mother, grandparents, and friends were all in the White Moon.

The full moon floating in the cold night sky was proof that the deceased had gathered.

"Eventually, I will go. Today's story will be an interesting tale. Look forward to it. —Shall we go?"

At Zeeva's words, Gajiaji folded his bone wings and dove into the gray clouds.

Maranova has two prominent buildings.

The tallest is the Sandra Church, an old Gothic-style building. At the top of its spire was the symbol of the Sandra faith, a holy sword piercing the earth.

The other is the state-run chamber of commerce, which looks like a fortress. On the roof of the convex-shaped building, made up of large and small cubes, stood two flags: the national flag with a flying dragon knight on a yellow and green background, and the city flag with a sailboat pulled by a flying dragon on a bright blue background.

Without hesitation, Gajiaji descended toward the state-run chamber of commerce, where the two flags stood.

On the ninetieth day of the White Moon, at midnight.

Suddenly, a massive Bone Wyvern flew out from the gray clouds covering Maranova.

The giant body, more than twice the size of a regular dragon, flapped its bone wings once.

It accelerated silently and quickly passed through the waiting flying dragon knights.

The trained dragons were startled by the sheer power and presence.

The flying dragon knights calmed their startled dragons, turned around, and tried to catch up, but the distance did not close.

The massive Bone Wyvern, with Zeeva standing tall, dived.

The Maranova defense force, composed of patrol guards, constables, and former adventurers, was reminded of the "Record of the Demon King's Defeat" written by a saint, and shuddered with fear.

It was a fundamental fear as Sandra believers.

"The opponent is just a High Skeleton and a Bone Wyvern. It's merely a high-level magical beast, not a demon king!"

The commander encouraged the defense force.

Gajiaji approached.

The defense force waited for the signal. And then—

The moment it entered the range, a bell rang.

The tension of the defense force, taut like a drawn bow, was released.

Lightning bolts, ice spears, fireballs, magical arrows, bolts, and arrows were fired simultaneously, forming a thick barrage to intercept Gajiaji.

But Gajiaji opened its massive jaw at the approaching barrage.

A flickering red light appeared at the mouth—

Waves of flames dyed the ash night red.

The wave-like flames burned through the barrage with overwhelming heat.

The continuous flames then rained down on the city.

But the flames were blocked just before Maranova.

As if a shield covered the city, an invisible barrier completely blocked and dispersed the flames.

It was the Basilio-type wide-area composite barrier "Prayer of Aube," a self-operating magical device developed by Yurifranz.

Since it required a large amount of magic power to be continuously infused by human power, it could only be activated in emergencies, but it was said to be able to withstand even a dragon's breath in theoretical scenarios.

It was a revolutionary self-operating magical device that allowed for counterattacks from inside while defending against all external attacks.

Gajiaji, which had been diving, flapped its bone wings and ascended sharply just before the barrier. During this time, several skilled archers and mages' attacks hit, but they lacked the power to penetrate Gajiaji's sturdy bones.

However, the flying dragon knights attacked.

As if to reclaim their wounded pride, ten flying dragon knights armed with long lances formed a formation called "umbrella" and launched a surprise attack.

They thought they had him.

The moment they caught Gajiaji's nose in the ascent, everyone thought so, but Gajiaji braked suddenly, leaned back, and for a moment, faced the group of flying dragon knights.

Gajiaji, with agility uncharacteristic of its massive body, completed a backflip faster than the flying dragon knights' turn and attacked from behind, like a whale devouring small fish.

The flying dragon knights were elite.

The ten knights immediately broke formation and scattered in all directions to avoid Gajiaji.

Above Gajiaji, who missed the flying dragon knights, ten new knights cast the intermediate-level lightning spirit magic "Lightning Wave" in unison.

The moment they cast it, before the purple lightning wave could strike, Gajiaji opened its jaw at the "Lightning Wave"—

The "Lightning Wave" exploded in front of Gajiaji.

While it did not completely disperse everything, the remnants of the lightning were not enough to harm Gajiaji.

Simultaneously, the twenty flying dragons were startled and moved significantly.

The knights riding them also felt the trembling air and shuddered, but they tried to calm their dragons to avoid being thrown off.

The lightning spirits and flying dragons were intimidated by Gajiaji's silent roar.

In life, Gajiaji was the king of dragons reigning over the rocky mountains between Keigbird and the Sauran Desert.

It was a unique species of the Sauran continent, known as the Crimson Dragon, also called the Crimson Dragon in Albaum, and was a feared existence. It was larger than the basic dragon and the green-maned dragon, and was the only dragon species that could breathe fire.

Gajiaji, a rare individual with snow-white scales like its parent, was even larger and more powerful than other Crimson Dragons.

After repeated reconnaissance and thorough preparation by Lechahim, it was finally defeated, but it also meant that it could not have been defeated without such thorough preparation.

Through Zeeva's "Necromantic Negotiation," Gajiaji became a skeleton, losing its tail venom, but to Gajiaji, the defense force gathered through forced requests was merely a mob.

However—

Gajiaji dodged the anti-aircraft fire, engaged in dogfights with the flying dragon knights, and repeatedly unleashed flames, but it could not break through the "Prayer of Aube" covering the city.

But this was a common sight. Large cities in any country had wide-area barriers.

"Well, next—"

Suddenly, Zeeva's vision went dark.

In the large hall on the third floor of the convex-shaped building, Akikawa and Banis were on the roof.

Akikawa, who could not engage in close combat, was relegated to the cold roof, but it was not just because of Ryuji's harassment.

He could not overlook the thief Skeleton just because of the matter of the summoner. It could also be said for the sake of the summoner, but he could not ignore the destruction of innocent citizens and their city right before his eyes.

Outside the state-run chamber of commerce, which was under Maranova's jurisdiction, Akikawa was treated as if he did not exist. No matter how many achievements Akikawa made, they would be credited to Maranova, but if he did not care about achievements, he could move freely.

Akikawa put on a monocle from his pocket, pointed a fountain pen at the sky, and a white bead-like object was embedded in his wrist.

In front of Akikawa was a massive Bone Wyvern dealing with the anti-aircraft fire and flying dragon knights.

"Beautiful silver spider's thread"

As Akikawa whispered in Japanese, his fingertips glowed white for a moment.

"Still, I can't figure it out at all."

Banis, standing with her arms crossed behind Akikawa, gazed at Akikawa's back.

"I don't know the exact principle either. I only know the result."

"Still, it's beyond me, isn't it?"

"Perhaps only Hayato could use it."

In front of Akikawa, a human bone fell from the massive Bone Wyvern, with a black hole in its skull.

Akikawa aimed at the thief Skeleton riding Gajiaji with a light spirit magic.

It was called a "Light Ray," a medium-level light spirit magic, which was an impossible magic for the people of this world who did not even have the concept or image of a laser.

Light spirit magic was not lethal to anything other than the undead. At best, it could blind the opponent with a strong light.

The combination of Japanese scientific knowledge and imagery, high affinity with light spirits, and Akikawa's blessing made the "Light Ray" possible.

Akikawa used a monocle, which also served as a telescope, to capture the distant enemy and modified a high-end fountain pen he had used in Japan into a magic activation device.

To convey the image more clearly, he used Japanese, and familiar phrases, in his incantation to convey the concept of a laser, which did not exist in this world, to the light spirits, and simultaneously transferred his magic power to the limit.

Using the "Converging Method," he activated the medium-level light spirit magic and fired a "Light Ray" that could penetrate anything at the speed of light.

Even if the same summoner did the same thing, they could not cast the "Light Ray."

Akikawa connected the "Finger Line" to the light spirits, fixing the spirits he used and maximizing the "friendship" with the same spirits.

Continuously using spirit magic with the same spirit could sometimes make the spirit more cooperative. This "friendship" improved the smoothness of will transmission, reduced magic power consumption, and increased power.

Even if the light spirits did not understand the concept of a laser, they could reproduce the image through advanced will transmission.

To connect the "Finger Line" to the spirits, it was necessary to know exactly where the spirits, which could not be seen or touched, were located, but this was solved by asking Hayato, who possessed the "Spirit's Beloved."

Up to ten "Finger Lines" could be used simultaneously, and five of them were connected to the light spirits in the white beads, third-level spirit orbs, embedded in the wrist.

Ten or more light spirits were required to cast medium-level spirit magic, but with the light spirits he had used for over two years, it was sufficient to achieve the necessary power.

Due to the amount of magic power, it could only be used three times a day, but it was Akikawa's only weapon in battle.

Akikawa shifted his gaze from the falling skeleton and leaned out from the roof in surprise.

It was too easy.

The thief Skeleton's bones were sturdy, and he was an expert in autonomous magic.

Even if it was a new light spirit magic, it was impossible to penetrate the skull with one hit.

Akikawa infused magic power into the monocle, saw the human bone bounce off the barrier, and looked around the city.

There was nothing unusual.

"Is something wrong?"

Banis called out to Akikawa, who was silently staring at the city.

"No, just a mistake—"

Akikawa's throat tightened.

Bones were emerging from the city.

They were falling.

But it was not Zeeva. It was a human bone shaped to resemble