I Kidnapped the Hero's Women-Chapter 279: War for Survival (3)

The moon hung high in the midnight sky.

The Imperial Palace was thrown into sudden chaos by an unexpected commotion.

Someone had come to request an audience with the Empress at this ungodly hour.

Since the visitor was neither a bureaucrat nor a titled noble, the guards had tried to send her away.

"Irene Vermonte? Let her in."

"Ma'am? Commander! She’s a high-risk individual known to operate in the shadows! She's even currently wanted by House Vermonte!"

"I’ll take full responsibility. Let her in. I’ll awaken Her Majesty myself."

Vanessa had only just woken up when Irene was granted an audience.

And less than a minute into Irene’s explanation, Vanessa shot to her feet.

"Enough. From the sound of it, this is long, convoluted, and far too deep to finish explaining here. I’ll listen along the way."

"Thank you for understanding, Your Majesty."

"You’re mistaken. I haven’t understood a thing. I’m not saying I’ll listen to your explanation. I’m saying I’ll go because that man—my future husband—is headed there."

"Ah. Yes."

Vanessa retrieved the Holy Sword Tempest from her wardrobe.

Throwing on only a light suit of armor, she was about to leave the palace when—

"Your Majesty. May I bring one more person with us? She’s nearby."

"We’re pressed for time. Leave her a letter ordering her to follow us to the fortress city immediately."

"It was my brother’s request. He said we must bring Yuri Brussels as quickly as possible..."

"Then we have no choice. I’ll head to the Imperial Magic Academy dormitory myself."

"Wait, what—?"

At that moment—

Vanessa drew her sword.

And with a flash of lightning, she soared into the sky.

Irene stood there frozen in shock.

After about three minutes, another bolt of lightning streaked down from the heavens, and Vanessa came crashing back down.

...With Yuri slung under her arm.

"Eek! Wh-where am I?!"

"We’re leaving."

"..."

Vanessa tossed a groggy, half-asleep Yuri into the carriage.

Irene, still dazed, wasn’t sure what to think anymore—but decided to go with it.

If they could move faster, then so be it.

Scouts led the way under the command of the palace guard captain.

Behind them followed the high-speed carriage carrying Vanessa, Irene, and Yuri.

Finally, a portion of the palace guards and the capital defense forces were mobilized to march after them.

No one fully understood what was happening.

Which is why full readiness was absolutely essential.

"So, um, why exactly am I being dragged around like this...?"

"We were just about to get into that."

Yuri, now fully awake, rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

Vanessa gave the signal that she was ready to listen, and Irene began recounting everything that had happened.

Vanessa had already been informed that the Grand Duke of the North had discovered ruins in the Demon Zone.

But the part about the ancient oral legend stored in the archive—that was new.

A pitiful little tale from a long-dead nomadic tribe, so obscure it had nearly been forgotten.

Who would’ve thought it was actually about the fall of the ancient civilization from forty thousand years ago?

"So then they tried to dig up the ruins, using their ability to control monsters...?"

"And if they open the ruins, the ancients might pour out and massacre everyone?!"

Vanessa and Yuri’s eyes widened.

If that was true, it was an event that could decide humanity’s fate.

It didn’t matter what time it was—you jumped out of bed for something like this.

"Wait! If that’s the case, Your Majesty! Shouldn’t you have conserved Tempest’s thunder?! You used it twice just to bring me here! That means you can only use it once more now...!"

"Hmm. My mana reserves are classified information, and yet you seem quite well-informed."

"Ah... I-I’m sorry... When Your Majesty unleashed your aura before, I back-calculated your maximum mana pool from your hourly output..."

Vanessa chuckled at the flustered Yuri.

To think she had calculated her maximum mana from a brief flicker of aura—

It was a method no one had ever dared try. Considered possible in theory only.

"Count Vermonte seems to value you more than I do. I don’t mind using seventy percent of my mana for you."

"Th-that can’t be! I can’t possibly be more valuable than Your Majesty, the Swordmaster..."

"Spare me your humility and just accept it. Count Vermonte believes you still have untapped potential. If he’s right... then perhaps what will decide this battle won’t be Tempest’s thunder—but your strike."

"..."

Yuri was so stunned, she forgot to reply.

She knew Aslan Vermonte recognized her talents, but...

Surely not to that extent?

"But I haven’t even awakened my aura yet..."

"That’s exactly why you still have potential. My aura is dull and boring—it channels lightning through the Holy Sword and flings thunder around. But yours? I’m quite excited to see what it’ll be."

If you are reading this translation anywhere other than Novelight.net or SilkRoadTL, it has been stolen.

"..."

Vanessa let out a small chuckle.

Yuri suddenly felt a massive weight drop onto her shoulders—like she was about to choke.

She’d been slacking on sword training lately...

And now everyone expected her to awaken her aura out of nowhere.

I’m a healer, damn it... I awakened a healing ability...

"A beacon?!"

"Driver. Increase speed."

Just then, a plume of smoke rose in the distance.

One beacon meant the fortress city was under attack.

Two beacons meant reinforcements were needed.

Three... meant the city would soon fall, and the enemy was expected to march south.

For the first time in imperial history, the third beacon had been lit.

It was a sign that the Empire was on the verge of destruction.

"Sleeping here is gonna paralyze your face. Wake up, Your Grace."

[Who... are you?]

With a chilling voice, the ancient being tilted its head with a mechanical creak.

I had a rough idea of what we were dealing with now.

An ancient robot, powered by dark magic and capable of controlling monsters.

Heavily rusted and distorted—it wouldn’t last much longer.

It was trying to open the ruins and unleash more ancients before it completely shut down.

Luckily, my dark magic output far surpasses his.

Yes, his was powerful.

Even the massive Northern Grand Duke had nearly died from mana depletion after one squeeze.

But mine was far stronger.

At least, thanks to that, our fighters wouldn’t be dropping like flies to enemy magic.

So it’s not possible to disable it with dark magic alone...

I wondered if it operated on a mana system and tried to shut it down magically.

But it didn’t budge.

It must run on electricity instead.

Which meant physical destruction was our only option.

"Count...! Before you save us, please check on Esther first...!"

"You needn’t worry. Yulia is defending Esther now with Muddy, Soily, and the Undead Legion."

"Haah...!"

[The evil god 'Kali' is cheering for our necromancer, saying she’s the best!]

The Grand Duke turned his head at that.

A massive hole in the fortress wall was plugged by Soily’s enormous body.

Any monsters that scaled the wall were shredded by the Undead Legion.

Flying monsters were blasted down midair by Muddy’s water cannons.

It was the largest monster stampede in recorded history—but in a war of attrition, necromancers grew stronger.

Even if the wall fell, Esther would hold.

I left the rear defense to Yulia.

[So that’s it... A being favored by the evil god... Even among these degenerates, one was born with such talent...]

"...?!"

The ancient mumbled something—

Then suddenly opened its maw wide and fired a blinding beam of light from its throat, aiming straight at me!

"It’s targeting the Lord. If the Lord dies, we have no hope. I will prioritize protecting you above all else."

"A sound plan."

Just before the beam hit, Sylvia swept me into her arms and leapt to safety.

The second and third beams followed, but she dodged them effortlessly.

Just as she said—if I died, our fighters would fall easily to the enemy’s magic.

And since I had no combat ability myself, my role was to protect the fighters with my magic and run away.

Which meant—being cradled in Sylvia’s arms like this was not shameful at all.

It was tactical.

I had nothing to be embarrassed about.

[You damned pest...!]

"Charlotte! Now!"

"Rumble...!"

[...Huh?]

From behind Sylvia, Charlotte appeared—wielding her ridiculously powerful sword.

The ancient sensed something dangerous and tried to dodge.

"Going somewhere?"

[Let go of me!!!]

But its legs were being held down by the Grand Duke and his sons.

With a violent whir of motors, it kicked them all away, sending them flying.

But just as it broke free—

"BOOM BOOM MAXIMUM LEGEND ULTRA!!!"

[...]

Charlotte had already finished chanting.

A massive aura roared toward the enemy.

It rose like a mountain and split the clouds as it °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° crashed down—violet energy from the heavens.

The ancient tried to retaliate, firing a red beam of light—

But Charlotte’s aura sliced through it like paper and slammed down on the machine.

KWAANG!

With a thunderous crash, the ground split into a deep canyon.

The result of Charlotte’s ultimate, honed Boom Boom Thunderclap technique.

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[The evil god 'Kali' is bragging that our dark knight definitely finished the job.]

"Ah."

Kali’s premature celebration gave me a bad feeling.

Sure enough, as the dust cleared—

The ancient still stood, unscathed, in the center of the canyon.

...Enclosed in a shimmering golden spherical barrier.

A damn tin can full of nasty tricks.