Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume2 Chapter7

Status: Incomplete

The Abandoned-Mine Battle

Part 1

It was the dead of the night when, after riding their horses throughout the day, the party reached the entrance of Mine Town.

Since all members rode here practically without rest, they were totally exhausted.

However, it wasn't possible to have a carefree rest.

"This is Mine Town Gado... It's like a ghost town."

Rinslet, who dismounted from the horse, calmly muttered.

"It's because several decades have passed since it became an abandoned mine. There should be no humans living here."

"Humans— huh."

Claire squinted her eyes stared deep into the darkness.

Bluish-white will-o'-wisps were wavering here and there near a ruin.

They were low-rank spirits that were floating about. For this sort of ruin, there were many nasty spirits gathered.

It was just like how the «Spirit Forest» was at night.

On the other side of the abandoned town, still containing countless abandoned tunnels, huge mines stood towering over the surroundings.

Gado Mine— It once produced a large quantity of spirit ores, it was the Empire's largest mine.

During the war, the spirit ores were dug up and exhausted, and it hadn't even been twenty years since it became an abandoned mine.

Below that mine, Jormungandr the strategic-class military-use spirit was sleeping; sealed by the Ordesia Knights of that time.

"—By the way, you better get away from him."

Claire glared at Fianna, who was tightly clinging onto Kamito's arm.

"I don't want to, after all, Kamito-kun will protect me."

"You may be in a position to be protected. However, to begin with, what's the matter with your contracted spirit? As that spirit contractor might be hiding in ambush, have it in a state you can use it immediately."

"That's—"

Fianna's words were blocked unusually.

She tightly closed her lips and abruptly turned away.

"I-It still isn't the time. The contracted spirit of the Ordesia royal family must not be summoned so indiscreetly. It's clearly different from your cat."

"Wh-What was that...!"

The ground at where the four were standing greatly shook suddenly.

"An earthquake...!?"

"It seems that we had better hurry. I have a bad premonition."

Claire softly muttered, and in her palm, a spirit magic fire was lighted.

The place of their objective was found instantly without even searching.

At the deepest part of the main street going through the abandoned town— before the entrance of the mine, there was a gigantic grand shrine.

It was a splendid shrine that made use of several gigantic stone pillars.

A grand shrine of this scale existed only in the capital even in the Ordesia Empire.

However—

"How terrible, this..."

The grand shrine, which had its sculptures destroyed, had the spirit ores inlayed in its stone pillar robbed and had let spirits enjoy themselves, had transformed into a ruin that was even tragic to look at.

"How strange—"

The one, who noticed the unusual phenomenon, was Fianna, who had received training as a spirit princess.

"What's strange?"

"This shrine, despite being in such ruins, shows traces of someone taking the trouble to perform a ritual. Furthermore, many times over the period of these several months."

"Ritual?"

Nodding at Claire, who was frowning, with a serious face, Fianna kneeled onto the ground.

It seemed that she was looking foot prints and traces of injury and so forth that were on the stone paving.

"This dance— is probably the Ritual of Releasing. It seems that it was more or less arranged, though."

"The Ritual of Releasing..."

Kamito groaned in a low tone.

It was because he remembered how the spirit contractor, who was also a male spirit contractor just like Kamito, assailed the academy and took away the highly classified material concerning the seal specification.

Is that brat really planning on releasing the sealed Jormungandr?

It was impossible for any kind of spirit contractor to control Jormungandr individually.

If that was the case, what was his goal?

At any rate, if the spirit's seal was undone, it was certain that the town in the vicinity would be turned into scorched earth.

"Is the seal almost undone?"

"No, it's still alright. This shrine isn't the superior «true shrine»."

"The «true shrine»...? What do you mean?"

"The grand shrine here, at most, it's purpose was to camouflage the original shrine— Which should be at an important place like the mine. There were many splendid grand shrine built needlessly above ground to hide the existence of the original shrine. Of course, it doesn't mean that this shrine isn't usable, though."

"That means there's a real shrine somewhere?"

"Yes, it's mostly likely being hidden in deep in the mine."

Fianna raised her head, at that moment.

"Be careful, there's something here!"

Rinslet, who was on a lookout of their surroundings, suddenly shouted.

Kamito turned around—

In the surroundings of the shrine that the four of them were in, there was a wriggling crowd of figures of people.

"Humans? No, they're—"

"Fire, illuminate!"

Claire recited the incantation, and a spirit magic fire lit in an empty space.

The figures that were shine by the flame's light were—

"Wh-What!?"

It was a crowd of skeleton holding rusty swords and clubs in their hands.

From the gap of their bones, something like a black fog was being emitted out.

"What, are these... spirits!?"

"The skeletons that were left alone seems to be possessed by low-rank spirits."

While muttering— Kamito noticed something with a "hmm".

Claire was slightly holding onto Kamito's uniform's sleeves.

"...You, by any chance, are you weak against horror-ish things like these?"

"Th-That's not it— Who do you think I am?!"

"You don't have to push yourself, look out, hold on."

"...I-It's not anything scary."

Claire, who was hiding her face while biting her lips, was a little cute.

"At any rate, it's strange—"

Normally, the so-called low-rank spirits didn't possess a distinct self.

Even if there were rare times when they attack humans, there shouldn't be a time when they formed a group like this.

"Kamito-kun, these guys, you know. They are the ones doing the ritual here."

"What was that?"

Kamito was surprised and turned around. Fianna nodded.

"Those movements of the skeletons are pretty rough, but...it's just like the Ritual of Releasing."

"Don't tell me, the low-rank spirits were doing an advanced Ritual of Releasing?"

Kamito stared at the approaching figures. Now that she mentioned it, he could see that the skeletons possessed by the spirits were moving with a fixed regularity.

"No, such a thing is impossible... There has to be some practitioner manipulating the spirits."

"Well, does it mean that these guys won't come to attack us?"

Claire tightly griped Kamito's sleeve as she said that.

The group of skeletons went up the stairs of the shrine in a slow manner of walking.

"Freezing ice fang, pierce «Freezing Arrow»!"

The ice arrow, released by Rinslet, collected and mowed down the group of wriggling skeletons.

It was the high-rank magic ice spirit «Fenrir's» elemental waffe.

To a spirit contractor, an enemy of this level was only a small fry.

From the broken skeletons, a black fog spouted out and vanished into an empty space.

"That's a darkness attribute spirit—"

Suddenly, a flash occurred in Kamito's mind.

Don't tell me—

He cast his sight to his left hand covered by his black leather glove.

A piercing-like pain was running in his engraved spirit seal, at that moment—

"...!?"

A terrible explosion sound resounded from the direction of the mine.

"Don't tell me the battle is beginning!?"

"Let's go, Kamito!"

Claire sounded her whip with a snap, and began running.