World Keeper

Chapter 441: Like Fish in a Barrel

Following the attack of the Earthshaper, the manascopes calculated that it would be five days for the next disaster to arrive. The devices that the various institutions were using were having some difficulty getting a proper understanding of this disaster. Its form seemed to shift oddly like a dense cloud. What they were able to tell, however, was that the total energy present in this ‘disaster cloud’ was no less than that of the Earthshaper.

With five days to rest and prepare, the forces of Earth took a brief moment to catch their breath. Of the six disasters that they had faced so far, five of them could only be described as ‘average’. While they could sweep through normal travelers and cities with ease, they could at most match up to four or five of the thousands of gathered combatants.

This last one, however… The Earthshaper easily had the power to topple nations. If not for the combined attack of everyone present, it would have taken countless losses to bring this single monster down. And this next opponent was no less powerful.

Worse still, there was one last disaster approaching from much further away. According to the manascopes, its power dwarfed all of the other disasters combined. It was a true disaster among disasters, and the forces of Earth weren’t sure how they could handle it.

As such, the days preceding the next battle came and went. When the time came, the champions once again gathered above a deserted coastal city in the elven kingdom. An ancient city regarded as the birthplace of modern magic. Normally, it would still be bustling, filled with trade and civilians living their normal lives.

Now, however, it was abandoned. Not only this city, but every city within five hundred kilometers had been evacuated by the elven government. There was too much risk in fighting such a creature while worrying about the civilian population, so Empress Margold wisely issued an order to clear out the surrounding area.

One of the elven troops present, a local commander, had a grave look on his face. His voice resounded among the gathered heroes. “Remember, we must not allow this creature to escape into the ocean! With its estimated power, we can not afford to lose it within the deep waters.”

Naturally, this commander was more concerned with his homeland than simply destroying the incoming monster. If it were any other area, then the person who hailed from that land would likely say the same thing. As such, they did not concern themselves overly with his words, everyone already knowing them to be true. Instead, they merely looked up at the sky.

Those with the best eyes could see a small, pulsating speck of silver rushing towards them. The ‘creature’ this time did not look particularly large, but continued shifting in a way that prevented them from getting a proper look. It was only later, when the creature had fully entered the atmosphere, that the eyes of these heroes went wide.

“It’s a swarm!” The elven commander shouted in shock, readying his magic staff. Now they could understand why the energy readings for this disaster had been so strange. The creatures were clumped together densely enough that they registered as a single entity, with each one being a disaster on its own.

The most dejected among the lot were those like the priestess of Accalia. Although her bow had played a critical role in the first five fights, it excelled only when targeting single enemies. The special feature of the bow would show no effect against a swarm.

So instead, the priestess moved herself to the backlines, closing her eyes and praying. She invoked the skill of Accalia’s Priests known as Identify Monster. “Silversoul Bass… levels range between one thousand and eighteen-hundred. Primary energy composition is spiritual. Total number… one hundred and nineteen.”

Each of the flying fish was no more than a meter long, lazily floating through the sky. At first, they had clearly been moving towards the ocean, an act which roused the concern of the people who had gathered to face them. Suddenly, however, they changed their course and began sailing straight towards the group.

“They’re fish, right?” The elven command asked with a furrowed brow, his staff crackling with lightning. A second-tier spell diagram formed above him, before bolts of electricity flew forward. As the lead fish was struck, the lightning began to spread through the rest of the school. The dense cluster was perfect for attacks such as chain lightning.

Various health bars immediately appeared within the swarm, though unfortunately none of them were outright slain by the spell. Still, the fact that such damage was inflicted inspired the rest. All of those with area attacks began launching them immediately.

Tsubaki floated near the front of the crowd, releasing her own lightning spells while Dana once again aided her as wings of light. The five slimes… were not as useful here. They launched rapid attacks, killing a few individual fish, but not before the swarm arrived in front of the group.

As he was standing in the lead, the elven commander was the first to encounter the school of fish. When they swept past him, one actually traveled through his body, causing his eyes to go wide with a mix of shock and pain. His health bar immediately appeared over his head, over half of his life sapped away in a moment.

There was no wound where the fish passed, only a mass of decaying flesh. Although only one had entered into the man’s chest, two swam out of his back. This scene was repeated multiple times within the group, the numbers of the fish now rising faster than they were being slain.

“Everyone fall back!” Tsubaki shouted, wielding her iconic bone scythe. “We can’t fight them properly when we are all grouped together!”

Tsubaki’s words quickly caused the forces to scatter, their trust in the Keeper’s Servant implicit. However, Tsubaki had a different reason for getting everyone to scatter. It was undeniable that within the entire group, Tsubaki and Dana had the most powerful souls. This made the two of them the perfect bait for these creatures which seemed to feast on souls.

As the others moved away, Tsubaki focused, empowering her soul as much as she could manage. Sensing this, the fish that had begun swimming after the fleeing fighters began moving towards Tsubaki instead. As she saw them swarming in, she readied her scythe.

Tsubaki’s scythe had always had a single property that it excelled in, one that had been given to it due to the environment where she had created it. Her scythe was able to sever souls.

Now that she had free reign to move as she pleased, her scythe flashed, cutting through fish with every swing. Dana created a barrier of light to hold back the swarm and protect the two of them, creating the image of a bubble of swarming fish. Inside this bubble, Tsubaki only had to wildly swing her arms to kill several monsters at a time.

“That should be it.” I muttered to myself, watching Tsubaki slay the silversoul bass. As Bihena predicted, there were numerous deaths that had occurred before they realized the special properties of these monsters. In fact, almost a tenth of the champions that were gathered had lost their lives, causing the school of fish to grow explosively.

Thankfully, none of the champions chosen by the deities lost their lives. That being said, the losses would be felt heavily by the respective nations of the world.

Just as I was letting out a sigh of relief, I saw one of the fish breaking off from the school around Tsubaki. Clearly, it realized the danger and valued its life above a tasty meal. It dove downwards, aiming to disappear into the water.

Moments before it hit the surface, however, a silver arrow pierced into its body. Changing the view, I could see that Accalia’s chosen champion had fired an arrow to stop this stray fish. While her combat abilities declined sharply against a swarm, she was still more than capable of finishing off just one fish.

Like this, Tsubaki dealt with the remainder of the swarm, while those that tried to escape were attacked by the others. With this strategy, they were able to cleanly finish the rest of the enemies without suffering substantial losses.

When the last of the silversoul bass had died, I could see Tsubaki’s health dangerously low. In order to keep the attention of the fish on her, and send them into a mindless feeding frenzy, she had actually ignited the power of her soul. This caused significant damage to her own body, but allowed her to gather the enemies to her.

She was left panting heavily, her face pale. With one swing of her arm, she cut open a portal to send herself back to the Citadel. From what I could see, she would need several weeks to recover the power of her spirit. Even if we weren’t planning to have the goddesses personally deal with the goldenleo, she wouldn’t be in any shape to participate in that fight.

“Alright!” Aurivy pumped her fists when she saw that the swarm had been dealt with. After saying that, she turned to face me. “When do you want the others to handle the big firekitty?”

I couldn’t help but let out a small groan at her nickname for what was potentially the single most devastating monster that the world had ever faced. “I planned to wait for a couple of weeks, to maximize the impact of the battle in the eyes of the people.”

Leaning forward, I kept my eyes on the screen. “If we defeat the goldenleo on our own, while the eyes of the world are focused elsewhere, there will only be a minimal impact from the battle. Some people may even become anxious, wondering where this super-disaster went.”

“If we wait until the monster is only a few days out, when the various groups of Earth are watching it closely and gathering forces to try and deal with it, they’ll see the gods acting to defend them. Normally, I prefer to let you guys act with a low profile, so that they won’t overly rely on us and can take care of themselves.”

“When an apocalyptic threat approaches the world, however, leaving people to fend for themselves doesn’t work. We’ve got to show them that, while we will not directly intervene for matters that they can deal with, we will still protect them when the fate of the world is at risk.”

“You know…” Aurivy rolled her eyes with a playful smile. “You could’ve just said ‘we’ll give it a couple weeks’. We all know your modus operandi by now, Dale.” Leaning over, she likely poked my side, earning a light chuckle from me.

“Thanks. But yeah, that’s the plan.” I nodded my head, reaching over to ruffle Aurivy’s hair. “Then hopefully, after the ‘big firekitty’ is dead, this crisis period will be over for a while.”

“Well, now you’re just jinxing it!” She called out in alarm, flailing her arms into the air. “Watch, now there will be aliens invading that were stirred up by the monsters spreading through space, tracking them back to Earth. What will you do then!? Aliens, Dale!” Aurivy’s eyes went wide as she said that with a dramatic tone.

“Pretty sure we would have gotten a notification of a world being discovered with sentient life on it.” In fact, there had been numerous alerts until now of worlds suitable for such, but they had all failed to properly produce such life before being rendered inhospitable. Until now, I had yet to receive a ‘successful’ alert of sapient life forming on other worlds.