PMS 11

Chapter -11

Bricks asked,

“Do you know how to catch a harpy?”
“Of course.”

Of course I did.
Unlike other birds, a harpy’s center of gravity is similar to a human’s, so once it starts gliding, it’s hard for it to change direction.

“In other words, you just have to read its descent path and raise your sword at the right moment.”
“Ten points!”

Obviously ten points, old man.

But the words that followed caught me off guard.

“Out of a hundred.”
“Huh?”

Bricks wagged his finger and clicked his tongue.

“What you said is just the standard strategy.”

He picked up a rock and threw it into a nest.

Flap!

A flock of harpies burst out instantly.

“Watch carefully.”
“Hey, you’re starting just like that—?!”
“Everything in life happens suddenly!”

As one harpy swooped down, Bricks didn’t thrust his sword upward.
Instead, he jumped into the air.

“Kreee?”

The harpy panicked as Bricks stepped on its back, then leapt forward, stepping on another.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

With paper-light steps, Bricks quickly ascended into the sky.
Then he drew his sword, scattering flashes of light through the air.

“I’ll show you.”

Several crescent-shaped slashes stretched outward, as though devouring the sky itself.
The half-moon strikes swept over the harpy flock in an instant.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Three harpies crashed to the ground before I could blink.

Thunk.

Landing as lightly as he had risen, Bricks blew out a sharp breath through his nose.

“See that? That’s how the Herther Mercenary Corps handles things, kid.”

It was certainly an impressive display.
No ordinary mercenary could imitate it, and even high-ranking knights of noble houses would struggle to pull it off.

“Eh?”

But I answered flatly.

“That’s it?”

Without waiting for his reply, I released a long slash from where I stood, cutting down a harpy still circling in the air.

Swoosh—Shk.

“Huff…”

The strike sliced through the air with a radius of tens of meters—
and split the harpy clean in half.

“W–what the—?!”

Boom!

The harpy’s body hit the ground after it was already dead.

Bricks stared at me, completely dumbfounded.

“What?”
“T–that’s cheating!”

He pouted in protest.

“Firing long mana slashes one by one is a horribly inefficient strategy!”
“One by one?”
“Yeah!”

Swish—

The moment he said that, all the harpies still in the air shattered into pieces and fell.

Thud. Thud.

It was like rain made of harpies.

“Wh–what the…?”

One-Slash Severance.
Cutting all with a single strike.

Bricks was literally speechless.
I clapped him lightly on the shoulder.

“Now, who’s the kid mercenary here?”

“…”

Bricks couldn’t come up with an answer.

I can feel it clearly now.

Since meeting that lich in the village, I’d reached the stage of imbuing mana into my sword.
It was rapid growth, yes—but even rapid growth has its limits.

I’d planned to spend months refining the quality of that mana.

And yet, a perfect sparring partner appeared before me.

The Runaway General.
A legendary hero of the Wildflower War who earned countless merits before falling in battle.

It was through that duel that I regained my edge.
By endlessly revisiting every memory of the sword,
I’d reached a state where the instincts of battle outpaced the limits of my body.

Like a castle built on sand—
but one that reached majestically into the sky.

Crack—

Releasing my physical restraints made my tendons bulge as if about to snap.
For a short while, I could wield great power.
The slash that felled the harpies just now had been one of those moments.

But I can’t do that many times.

Tremble…

As my hand shook, Bricks took a step back.

“Ugh, you cringe-inducing bastard.”
“What?”
“Don’t tell me you’re getting goosebumps from your own swordsmanship?”

Not quite…
But the aftermath of that strike had drained me so much I couldn’t even argue back.

Fine. Let him think what he wants.

“Sure, let’s go with that.”

Bricks chuckled awkwardly and patted my shoulder.

“I’m kidding, kidding. It was pretty badass, though.”
“Sure, let’s go with that.”
“Aw, come on, Allen! Don’t sulk!”

After some tiresome banter, we began collecting the harpy corpses.

The only part worth money was the wings.
Their hearts were oversized versions of bird hearts—useless.
Their flesh was tough, with a foul iron stench, so wings were the only thing of value.

Sizzle—

We burned off the rest.

“Still no movement?”
“Dead quiet.”

But our eyes stayed fixed on the massive nest in the tree.
We figured the queen would appear sooner or later—
a normal harpy if lucky, a harpy queen if not.

Yet it was too quiet.

“You killed them too quietly.”
“Harpy hearing isn’t that dull.”
“Then why?”
“There’s only one reason I can think of.”

Wild beasts only dull their senses in one situation.
I sliced my arm open and scattered blood into the air.

Then—

Rustle.

The nest moved.

“Feeding time, huh? It’s eating something, so it ignores other noises and the scent of blood.”

Bricks let out a low whistle and tossed away the sack of wings.

“So, do we go in?”
“Yeah. It actually works in our favor.”
“Judging by the nest size, there might even be a harpy queen.”
“If it’s a queen…”

I gauged the balance of power, then came to a conclusion.

“It’ll be troublesome.”
“Mmh… Not unbeatable, though.”

With that settled, I unleashed a slash that shattered part of the nest.

And from within, the harpy queen emerged—screaming.

“Kyaaaaak!”
“Knew it—you were eating.”

Entrails dangled from its beak.
Still fresh—whoever it had eaten had died only a few days ago.

“Kyaak! Kyaaak!”

But as more viscera spilled out, our expressions hardened.

“Bricks.”
“…A human, huh.”

Now we understood why we’d been called here.
The barrier had been breached, and even their attendants had been eaten—no wonder they wanted mercenaries.

We raised our blades toward the massive harpy queen.

“Come on then!”
“Let’s lop off your head first!”

Slice.

But beside it, another harpy queen pushed out of the nest.

“Huh?”

Slice. Slice.

And two more heads emerged.
Judging by their size, they were all queens.

Thump.

When the last one appeared, the nest was packed full.

“One, two, three, four…”
“Five.”

There were five harpy queens.
All sharing one nest.

That shouldn’t even be possible—there’s a reason they’re called queens.

“…”
“…”

We looked at each other.
Then turned our backs simultaneously.

“This is bad, Bricks.”
“Yeah…”

Bricks shouted with all his might—

“Run for your liiiives!”

Clang! Clang-clang-clang!

We fought as best we could, but against five harpy queens? No chance.

Our shirts were shredded, our bodies drenched in blood.

“Grrgh.”
“Behind you, Allen!”
“I know!”

Normally, I could have created an opening.

“Aaagh! Damn it, come at me all at once, you bastards!”

But not this time.

Throb!

The aftereffects from before still clung to my body.

“Damn it…”
“Stay sharp, Allen! One slip and you’re done!”

Kaaang!

I deflected another claw and scanned around.

There’s got to be something…

Anything. Even a desperate gamble.
Five queens in one nest? That’s the kind of freak accident that makes people say “hit by a meteorite.”

But blaming bad luck wouldn’t save us.

There has to be a way…

Then my eyes caught something in the distance—

My backpack.
The one carrying the lich’s skull.

Right. That’s something at least!

I poured mana into my legs and zigzagged forward.
The queens faltered at my sudden movements, breaking formation—

“Got it!”

I snatched up the pack.

[Hey, Lich! Any dark magic stronger than necromancy? I’ll give you my blood!]

The lich’s reply was as apathetic as ever.

[Of course not. You know black magic draws from the laws of the underworld. For human blood, necromancy’s the most efficient spell.]
[Useless bag of bones!]

Like they say, even troll bones are worth something—but this one? Worthless when it mattered.

No, think, Allen. Think!

I forced my mind to focus.

There should be a graveyard…
In a city like this, there had to be a cemetery.

An image flashed in my mind: the one by the outer gate.
But it was far. Too far.

“Damn it! Unless…”
[Aren’t you going to use necromancy?]

The lich still had the nerve to sound bored.

[There are no corpses, idiot! How do you expect me to?]

A fair point.
Regular necromancy required human remains.
It didn’t work on monsters unless it was specialized “monster necromancy.”

So here, in this empty wilderness—useless.

[There are bodies.]
[What?]
[Right here. Beneath us. Lots of them.]

I staggered mid-step.
A harpy claw grazed my ear.

[Beneath…?]

It was a ridiculous claim—but I had no choice.

“Bricks!”
“What?!”
“Run!”
“I am running!”
“Not like that!”

I sliced my arm again and drenched the backpack in blood.

“…Get away from me!”

The lich’s skull radiated an ominous aura.

[Ahh, rich blood indeed, human. Good, good—let them all rise.]

Thump!

My heart lurched once—
and then a surge of purple energy exploded outward.

Crack. Crack-crack. Crunch.

The ground split open—
and ghouls crawled out.

“It worked!”

I was thrilled for half a second—

Then it hit me.

Right. Damn it.

I shut my eyes, dizzy with dread.

Now everyone’s going to think I’m a black mage.

Two terrible thoughts came at once:

One — Bricks would realize I’d been the cause of the ghoul outbreak in Carnage Forest.
Two — I’d be expelled from the Herther Mercenary Corps, and once the prophecy clans heard of it… I’d have nowhere to return to.

I’ll be exiled across the entire continent.

But then—