“When the material body is infected with the Ghostdemon sickness, the astral body is also affected via contaminated mana. As the disease progresses, you lose the ability to think for yourself and start to attack everyone around you.”
So, the disease more or less hijacked their astral bodies—their souls—and forced them to attack the people around them... Yeah, this was definitely zombie movie material.
“So, how have you managed to stay safe, Lyun?”
Lyun lived here, too. How was she the only one left standing when everybody else had turned into zombies?
“I’m one of the more powerful spirits in the valley, so my body naturally holds more mana.”
The treatment for Ghostdemon sickness was usually very straightforward: purge the infected mana from your astral body. It was the same way a surgeon would excise a tumor or amputate a badly infected limb. Of course, purging mana from the astral body was a lot simpler than all that. Anyone could do it. Come to think of it, Lea had actually done something similar earlier. After she’d been bitten by a sickened sylpheed, she’d expelled her core from her body of magical energy. Turns out she’d made the right call.
“In other words, since I have more mana, that means I have more to spare.”
But that didn’t mean her supply was infinite. When she was down to the mana she needed to live, she wouldn’t be able to purge any more of it. Otherwise she’d die. And so even though she had the perfect hiding spot with this underground cave, she still had to go out and find mana-filled fruit to eat and sustain herself.
“...But so how did this Ghostdemon sickness end up overrunning the valley? I thought anybody was able to purge infected mana from their body?”
Based on what she’d said, they could always get more mana by eating fruit, and there was no lack of mana in this world thanks to the mana spring. So how could the disease have possibly wiped out the entire valley?
“The mana spring in the valley dried up,” Lyun finally said with a pained expression.
The mana in the atmosphere and in the fruit of the trees all came from the mana spring. So if that had dried up, then...
“The first thing we noticed was that the mana fruit had stopped growing in the forest. But by then, it was too late. The capital where the Spirit King lives is a long way away, and the sylphs kept collapsing trying to go for help... I did my best to help, too, but two days ago, a child came down with the Ghostdemon sickness and bit a sylpheed. From there, it ran rampant overnight...”
Ghostdemon sickness affected the material body as well as the astral body, causing fevers and fatigue. Those who contracted it became too tired to move, and were helpless as their minds were slowly taken over. It was such a cruel, clever tactic that it was hard to believe there was just a disease behind it.
But Lyun said this started two days ago... That would’ve been the day before we arrived here. While we’d been struggling down in the dungeon, she’d been up here running for her life. Lyun had been all alone in a valley full of zombies. I didn’t even have to ask this time. It was obvious she was a heroine.
Her happy ending was probably just making it out of here alive. It was simple enough, but it was certainly dangerous. We couldn’t hide down here forever. We didn’t have that much food, and none if it had mana for Lyun. We needed a way to get out of the valley, and soon.
“Lea, do you think you can protect us and fly at the same time?”
“Doubtful. I might have been able to earlier, but that ambush set me back pretty badly. It cost me most of the energy I’d had saved up, so I don’t think I could fly fast enough to outrun the sylpheeds anymore.”
If only I had been paying more attention when we left the cottage... But it was too late for regrets.
We couldn’t fly out. And there were too many zombie fairies to leave the valley on foot. It would be extremely difficult to dodge them all. Everyone was silent, and nobody had a plan.
“There is a way, actually...”
But then Corona spoke up.
“You mean a way to get us out of here?”
“I do. That.”
As everyone waited to hear what her plan was, she pointed at the Hero’s Sword.
“You just heard that sylph and sylpheed bodies are made out of mana, right?”
“Don’t tell me...”
“No, I imagine it’s exactly what you’re thinking, young man. The Hero’s Sword has unmatched power against any kind of magical energy. Using it will make getting out of the valley easy.”
I grimaced a little when I realized my bad feeling about this was justified. The Hero’s Sword had the power to cut through magic. And since sylphs’ bodies were essentially made of magical energy, it was extremely likely that the sword would work just as well on them.
“Wait! You’re going to kill them?! You can’t do that!” Lyun screamed when she realized what we were talking about.
“Yeah... I’m not okay with that, either.”
The people afflicted with Ghostdemon sickness could be cured as long as they got their mana back. They were sick. There was no way we could just kill them.
But it wasn’t like Corona meant anything bad by suggesting it. And it was true that if we wanted to escape the valley alive, we needed to do something about the infected. The question was how, though. If only we could just pass through the obstacles like we’d done in the dungeon... Wait. Pass through... obstacles? Come to think of it...
“Lyun, there’s something I want to ask you.”
“What is it?”
“What is it that makes the infected attack us?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Lyun’s face made it clear she didn’t understand the question.
“I don’t know how to answer that... They’ll attack anybody, even friends and family.”
“But they didn’t attack me and Tsumiki.”
I recalled what had happened just before we came across Lyun. Tsumiki had tripped, and I’d gone to help her. We were separated from the group, but the zombie fairies ignored us and walked right past. Was it because we were from another world? No, Lea was, too. It was clear they were interested in her. They’d attacked, and even tried to infect her. So the difference between me and Tsumiki, and Lea and Lyun was...
“...It’s mana.”
“Huh?”
“Tsumiki and I are normal humans, so we don’t have any mana. But you and Lea do.”
That was it. The Ghostdemon sickness infected the astral body, which was entirely made of mana. That meant that in order to spread the infection, it had to be passed on through creatures with mana. That’s why the zombie fairies were attacking specific people—they could sense mana and were going after those of us with magic power.
“I see... Since the fairies all have mana, it’s only natural that the disease would prey on that, huh?”
“I suppose so.”
That would also explain why Lyun hadn’t realized it. All of the fairies and spirits inherently had mana, so it was impossible to tell that’s what the disease was targeting. As I was thinking about that, Mio looked up at me (she was still clinging to my waist, by the way) and asked an important question.
“But... how does knowing that help?”
We knew that the zombies came after anybody with mana. And we had Harissa, Lea, Corona, and Lyun in our group. They’d definitely be coming after us. Still, knowing how they behaved gave us an advantage. We could come up with some kind of plan from there.
“...There’s something I’d like you to help me with, Mio.”
Mio gave me a puzzled look.
I kneeled down so I could look her in the eye, and then shared my idea with her and the rest of the group.
▽
After that, I took Mio and Tsumiki to the village at the bottom of the valley again. I hadn’t brought the Hero’s Sword with me. It was partly because I could move faster without it, but also because Lyun still seemed to be afraid that I might try and use it. So, in the end, I’d left it wit
h Corona. All that was left to do now was pray that my plan worked so we wouldn’t actually have to resort to using the sword.
“I guess this’ll do.”
I took the girls into the cottage next to the one we’d blown the roof off of earlier and opened the windows. The funnel shape of the valley made it so that noise here in the heart of it easily echoed throughout the area. I’d confirmed as much by asking Lyun if she’d heard Mio’s song earlier while she was running.
“Mio, will you sing for me again?”
After a pause, Mio nodded reluctantly and took a deep breath.
“Not far away, not behind me, what’s in front of me is...” she began singing.
“That’s ‘The Day Before The Future,’” Tsumiki whispered.
Tsumiki and I were supposed to survey the surrounding area while Mio sang. We watched the tree line from the windows, carefully listening for any noise in the underbrush and keeping tabs on each other’s blind spots. And sure enough, before long, there was a rustling from the woods and our first audience—a tiny zombie fairy—appeared.
As Mio continued to sing, more and more fairies showed up. It was just like the first time we were attacked. I didn’t know if they responded to sound in addition to mana, or if Mio’s song had some kind of effect on them, but what was important right now was that the zombie fairies of the valley were all being drawn to the same place. It seemed the sylpheeds overhead couldn’t hear it, but we’d just have to deal with them later.
“Crap!”
Eventually, one of the zombie fairies tried to come in through the window, so I hurriedly pushed it away.
“Hey! Don’t you think we’ve done enough?”
“Yeah!”
Tsumiki and I moved at the same time to shut the windows.
“Rrrgh...”
“Hrrrgh...”
“Rrragh...”
There was a bona fide zombie fairy horde outside now.
“Mio, that’s enough.”
“Okay...”
Mio stopped singing. She came over to grab on to my waist again, but when she saw what was outside the window...
“Aah!”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine... I just got a little headache.”
“Yeah?”
I wondered why that would give her a headache, but I figured it just must be that much of a shock for such a delicate girl. That aside, however, the mission was going well so far.
The plan was for those of us without mana to get all the zombie fairies in one place while Lea and the other girls with mana made their way out of the valley. It was a simple way to ensure that no one got hurt. As for us, now that we were surrounded by zombie fairies...
“Okay, time to go.”
“If this doesn’t work like you said it would, I’m going to hate you forever. You know that, right?” Tsumiki reminded me.
Mio just silently clung to my waist. And then the three of us... Yeah, we just walked right out the front door.
“Aaagh...”
“Hurrrgh...”
Of course, right on the other side of the door was the horde of zombie fairies.
“Rrrgh...”
But we were able to walk right through them without provoking them. All according to plan, Tsumiki, Mio, and I—the mana-less team—simply walked away.
“That was bad for my heart. It felt like all of those bloodshot eyes were staring right at me...”
“I agree with you there.”
Tsumiki and I laughed dryly as cold sweat dripped down our foreheads. Mio’s singing had the power to draw the zombie fairies, but once she stopped singing, she was just a normal girl. In other words, she had no mana or magic power, meaning there was no reason for them to attack her. And as far as I was concerned, the mission was a success. Honestly, the zombie fairies seemed even more spaced out than I’d expected. Or maybe it just felt that way because their eyes were so red. It was hard to tell where they were looking. But nevertheless, things had worked out.
Tsumiki and I took turns carrying Mio as we left Windsong Valley, though we had to stop a few times to get her to sing and lure the zombie fairies away. Once we finally made it up and out of the valley proper, we trekked another kilometer or so and waited. Eventually Lea’s group, who had left the valley from the other side, circled around to meet up with us.
“Rekka!”
“Good, you guys are all safe?”
“That’s my line,” Lea said, and we both laughed in relief.
“Not bad, young man,” Corona said, playing with the cloth-wrapped sword over her shoulder.
“It was all luck.”
“No. I thought the same thing when you escaped from the Ruler’s... You know. But you have the ability to intuitively weave together the threads you have, and the guts to put a plan into action.”
It felt weird getting that much praise. I could feel my face turn red as I tried to come up with some kind of reply, but then my blood ran cold when I saw something appear over Corona’s shoulder.
“Sylpheeds!” I yelled.
Everyone turned and looked up at the sky. One, two... three of them had followed us from the valley?!
“Everyone, into the forest!”
I called for a retreat, but the speedy sylpheeds would close in on us before we would ever be able to manage an escape. My heart skipped a beat thinking about them going after Harissa or Lyun with that kind of speed, but then...
“Hmph. I guess I have no choice,” Corona said to herself as she raised the Hero’s Sword high.
“No...!” Lyun screamed, thinking that her friends were about to be killed.
“Corona, stop!”
I thought the same thing, too, but...
“Just leave it to me. Let me have my turn in the spotlight.”
She then swung the sword long before the sylpheeds reached us. It seemed like it would be a wild miss, but when she swung the cloth-wrapped blade, I swear something flew out of it. The next thing I knew, the sylpheeds overhead fell to the ground like they’d been struck.
“My friends!”
“Don’t worry. They’re not dead,” Corona said as she shouldered the sword again.
But those words alone weren’t enough to assure Lyun. She ran right over to the sylpheeds now lying on the ground. She leaned in and pressed her ear to one of their chests... then sighed in relief. As promised, Corona had neutralized them without harming them.
“Corona, what was that?”
“You seem to be a very unusual hero, so perhaps you don’t know, but this sword can do more than just dispel magic. It can steal it, reflect it, seal it... all kinds of things.”
All I could do was gasp in awe. Corona was certainly the real deal when it came to this hero business.
“But if you could do that, why didn’t you do it earlier?”
“This technique takes a lot more stamina and mana than just killing something. It would’ve been rather difficult to do it after I’d only just recovered,” Corona said as she idly flipped the sword over and over on her shoulder.
“So what do we do now? Do you have anywhere to go?”
“Hmm... What are you going to do, Lyun?”
We’d made it out of the valley, but we couldn’t just leave Lyun here.
“I’m going to head to the capital. I’ll have to ask the Spirit King for help saving the valley...” Lyun explained as she moved the unconscious sylphs to a bed of grass.
“Hmm... The capital, eh?”
“Something up, Corona?”
“...No, it’s nothing.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
She waved her hand dismissively as if to tell me not to worry about it.
“All right, then I guess we’ll head there.”
Thinking about it, we hadn’t gotten any details about Aburaamu from Corona yet, but I figured it could wait until we’d safely delivered Lyun. Apparently the capital of the spirit world, home to the Spirit King, was what lay ahead of us.
<
br /> Side Story 2: Hibiki Feature (July 21st)
It had been one day—15 hours, to be exact—since Ellicia had been taken by Yang. Hibiki’s group had now reconvened with Satsuki and Tetra. They explained what happened with Ellicia and Nartessia, then decided to go over how to proceed as a group.
“...Then Rekka’s team went to a different world than originally planned?”
“Yes, so it seems.”
What is he doing...?
Hibiki had gotten worried about how long Rekka was taking to come back, so she’d asked Satsuki to use her magic to check on him. The whole group sighed when they learned that he was caught up in another bad situation.
“Well, it’s too far away for us to deal with. If he’s safe for now, we’ll just have to wait for him to come back.”
“You’re right...” Satsuki nodded, a little worried.
But what’s going on with Rekka? Compared to me, it feels like he’s getting caught up in these stories at a crazy rate...
Something seemed off to Hibiki, but she decided now wasn’t the time to be worried about it and put it out of her mind.
Shirley’s group, which had gone to find a way to fight against psychic powers, wasn’t back yet, either. It was possible to just wait until everyone else returned before making their next move, but with Ellicia captured, wasting time didn’t seem like a good idea. And that didn’t leave them with a whole lot of other options...
“The problem is how much we can trust them,” Hibiki said quietly as she looked up.
She was looking up at a nine-story building: the department store that doubled as a hotel where they’d tracked down Ellicia. It was the biggest building in the area. They were all here because Nartessia had summoned them. After Yang’s group had fled, she suggested a mutual exchange of information and arranged this meeting.
“You sure you don’t want to wait, Satsuki?” Hibiki asked.
Her family’s Magic of Omniscience had been kept a careful secret from other mages. And if she wanted it to stay that way, it was risky to take her anywhere other mages might be.
“I’m the only one here who knows anything about magic, right? I’ve never met this Nartessia girl, so I don’t know what she’s like, but if she tries to use magic on you, you’d all be in danger.”
I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse: Volume 7 Page 11