Savior! Redemption in Another World! - Chapter 20

Why are you people here?

What are you doing here?

Why must someone always come along and ruin everything?

No.

Don’t.

Don’t take it all away again.

The wounds on Gust seem to be very slowly closing, yet before they’re able to fully heal, Marble collapses.

She isn’t a healer, let alone a real caster. At most she uses magic in her day-to-day life, and from what I’ve learned from Blaze, it seems that magic capacity doesn’t increase for adults as it does for children.

Gust can barely stand, and the rest of the warriors are struggling to keep up. Well over a hundred monster corpses can be seen, yet the monsters of the horde are still running rampant in the village. Most of them actually seem to have died or run away, yet those most violent are still attacking the warriors and the rest of the village.

No. Please, please stop.

Suddenly, Blaze seems to be hit by something. Hard. As his body comes cascading through the air, slamming into the ground a mere ten feet from our house.

As he lands, another warrior who was fighting the monsters looks back, and an Obsidian Cerva takes his distracted head clean off.

Four warriors remain against over twenty assorted monsters. Not to mention the monsters standing outside the hole, lying in wait.

Suddenly, a warm, sensual, and confident deep voice begins to sprout in my mind. It sounds almost familiar.

???????????? ???????????? ???????????????? ????????????????. The voice says, almost directly into my head.

No. I can’t. I’m not nearly as strong as Gust or any of the fallen warriors.

????????????????????????????????, ????????’???????? ???????????????????? ???????? ???????????????? ???????????????????????????????? ???????????????? ???????? ????????????????. ????????????????????’???? ???????????????????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????? ????????????????????????????????. ???????????? ????????????????????????????????.

How? I don’t even know any magic above Dominus tier that I can use safely. I would just end up holding them back.

???????????? ???????????? ???????????????? ???????? ????????, ???????? ???????????????????????? ???????? ????????????????. ???????? ????????????????????????????, ???????????? ???????????????? ???????? ???????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????? ???????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????????? ???????? ????????????????????????.

Following along with the now dominant voice in my head, I walk out of my house, keeping low to the ground.

Making my way over to Blaze, I try not to look at his corpse as I take his illustrious staff, made of deep blue wood and boasting a purple gem the size of a fist at the top of it.

????????????????, ????????????????. ???????????????? ???????????????? ???????? ???????????? ???????????????? ???????????? ???????????????????????????????? ???????????? ???????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ????????????????. ???????? ???????????? ???????????????? ?????????????????

Yes. I need to save the village. My village. My home.

????????????????????????????. ????????, ????’???? ???????????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????? ????????.

Strange wording, but nevertheless, I’ll listen to my own consciousness.

Following the voice’s instructions, I begin the incantation.

“I call upon the wicked cold, ???????????? ???????????????? ???????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????? ????????????. I call upon the winter sleigh, the spirit who steals night from day. ???????????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????? ???????????????? ???????? ????????????????, ???????????? ???????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????????? ????????????????????. I call upon the wicked Shepard, come and reclaim your wicked sheep. ???????????????????????? ???????? ????????????????????.”

As I finish, I can feel an enormous amount of mana begin to funnel into the staff. Even though I’ve spent every day since I arrived here expanding my mana pool, I feel at most I could cast three of these spells before passing out, and that’s with the staff’s assistance.

What a dangerous amount of mana cost.

As the mana finishes siphoning out of my hands and into the staff, as the staff touches the ground, a surge of pure white emanates from my core. It envelops everything I can see in a cold, blinding light.

Opening my eyes, it’s as if a blizzard had passed through in a mere moment. Yet, something horrible has occurred.

Everything is frozen.

Every monster, the adventurers outside of the village, even the smaller objects throughout the village are turned into nothing more than ice sculptures.

But that’s not the important part.

That’s not the horrible part.

As I look towards the group of warriors, my family, my knees collapse.

I did it again.

It happened all over again.

The entire village is frozen solid, it seems that everything the light touched became no more than ice. The villagers, monsters, adventurers, warriors, all of them. They couldn’t brace or prepare for it, they couldn’t evade nor defend against it.

This was a sneak attack. The whole point was that I would be able to catch the adventurers off guard.

I was supposed to stop the monsters and the adventures behind them.

That’s not what happened at all.

Most houses in the village had a door or window or hole opened in them, and a simple glance tells me that everything inside any of those houses is frozen solid. People included.

Everyone, everyone in the village is gone.

I’m sure that no one survived. It’s the most powerful spell I’ve ever cast, and not a single person had any time to use any defensive magic or techniques. All I wanted to do was help.

All I wanted to do was be of some use, to give back to the people who took me in.

I didn’t do anything.

All I did was fail.

I don’t even know that spell. How did I cast that spell?

I’ve never even seen that spell.

All I know now, as my body collapses and I fall sobbing into the now snow-filled ground, is that I failed. Again.

The spell didn’t do what I wanted it to, and I ended up doing exactly what I’ve spent so long trying to avoid.

???????????????????????????????? ???????? ???????????? ????????????????? ???????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????? ????????????????????????????????. ???????????? ???????????????????????????????? ???????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????? ???????????? ???????????? ????????????????, ???????????? ???????????????? ????????????? The voice said again, in a foreign, yet familiar, smug matter of a fact tone.

So what if they’re dead? So what if they’re stopped? The village is gone! The people are gone! The one thing I wanted to do is now flushed down the toilet! Why would I even begin to think something like that!

Suddenly, it dawns on me.

These aren’t my thoughts.

These aren’t things that I would ever think. Especially the mysterious spell that I have never learned and never known.

This isn’t and hasn’t been my consciousness.

It took me a moment to recognize, but I recognize that tone now.

I recognize that matter-of-fact way of speaking.

That voice that I can see the smug, assholish, obsidian shit-eating grin.

???????????? ???????? ???????????????? ????????, ???????????? ?????????????????????????

Ego. Of course, it’s you. This has always been some part of your wicked plan, hasn’t it?

????????????????????????, ???????????? ???? ????????????’???? ???????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????? ????????????????????????????????????????. ???????? ???????????????????? ???? ???????????? ???????????? ???????????? ???????? ???????????????? ????????????.

Great, that makes me feel so much better.

Just as that thought hits my brain, I feel a familiar feeling.. The feeling of falling, as my consciousness begins to fade.