Screams raised all over the castle were heard even from within the bathhouse.
Parts of the ceilings fell into the bath with a great splash.
「W, WAAAHH!? Wh-what is it, an earthquake…!?」
「Maybe. It sure is big.」
The two sat beside each other as they watched the situation unfold.
Then, after the tremble came to an end, next was—
「M-, Magic Stone Beasts! We’ve got Magic Stone Beasts!!」
「Assemble! Protect the lady!」
「Women and children, take shelter in the basement now!」
Concerned shouts began to echo from various sources.
「!? Magic Stone Beasts…!? Even though there’s no notice from the guard outside the walls…!?」
「Either way, we have to help too! It’ll be a disaster if something happened to Lady Cyrene!」
「You’re right. Let’s get dressed ASAP.」
Just as Inglis and Rafinha were readying themselves…
DOONN!!!
The bathhouse’s roofs were blown away as though it just exploded.
Fortunately, the rubble fell in a vacated spot, so they were safe and sound.
However,
GYAAAA!!! GIGIGIGIIII!!!
Rodent Magic Stone Beasts jumped in through the hole on the roofs.
Each last of them were bloated to the size of a large feline, large enough to easily kill and devour an adult man.
They numbered in ten or so.
「…Rani. I’ll hold them off here, can you get your Artifact and the clothes?」
Inglis was reluctant to fight in her birthday suit, but the situation called for it.1
「Yeah, got it. Glis.」
「Here I go, then!」
Performing her role as the distraction, Inglis advanced towards the enemies.
The three closest beasts leaped at her one after the other.
「Attacking a woman while she’s taking a bath! You have no manners…!」
She then sped up and closed the gap in an instant.
The high kick she delivered sent the foremost of the three flying into the bathhouse’s wall.
Without losing her momentum, she lowered her leg onto the ground and spun in place.
Next, she struck the second incoming beasts with the back of her hand, making sure to send it knocking into the first beast.
She twisted her body further, executing a back kick to the third beast.
The Magic Stone Beast was thrown into the previous two, pinning them all to the wall.
「There’s more of me!」
That wasn’t the end of it.
The remaining Magic Stone Beasts were all kicked, punched, and thrown off by Inglis, one after the other, to the exact same spot, piling them up.
In the meantime, Rafinha succeeded in withdrawing from the bathhouse.
By the end of it, every last beast was pinned to the wall in a row.
「Hmm…」
Not bad at all.
Had any other person witnessed the scene2, they would be slack-jawed, calling it a superhuman feat, but this much was nothing more than a warm-up for Inglis.
The Magic Stone Beasts had been rendered immobile, but they were not defeated yet.
They would start moving again soon enough.
「…I guess I should do it.」
This was an emergency, just waiting for Rafinha was wasting enough time.
Inglis stuck out her index finger.
From there, the pale brilliance of Ether began to converge into a small mote of light.
She then directed her fingertips toward the squirming row of beasts.
「Go!」
Pshoo!
A thin ray made of Ether flashed from her fingertips and penetrated the magic beasts all at once, right through the wall, then disappeared into the night sky.
Every single Magic Stone Beasts spasmed all at once and before long, they stopped moving altogether.
Should Inglis dub this technique Ether Pierce? The principle of this attack was to condense Ether and focus on its power to penetrate.
Each and every battle technique that involved Ether would always pack a tremendous amount of firepower and cover a wide area, so to micromanage them was a difficult task.
Amongst those battle techniques, Ether Pierce was controlled to have small firepower and area of attack, it was categorized as a comparatively small technique in her book. Its energy consumption was on the smaller side as well.
However, being able to manipulate small tricks using Ether was proof that her mastery over it had considerably improved.
This level of mastery was unachievable in her previous life as King Inglis.
In a way, it could be said that this was evidence that she had reborn and surpassed her previous strength.
She was ecstatic the first time that she managed to pull the trick off.
「Sorry for the wait, Glis! Wait, you’re done already! So fast!? There’s nothing left for me now.」
「It’s alright. There are still more, this is just the beginning. Come on, let’s change already.」
「You’re right.」
The two hastily put their attires on and then kicked off the bathhouse’s wall to get an extra boost for them to exit through the ceilings.
Then, as they laid their eyes on the scenery below, they witnessed a large Magic Stone Beast sitting on the courtyard.
In its vicinity were Knights who had fallen victim to it, collapsed in a pool of their own blood.
That Magic Stone Beast was a humanoid one.
There were wings on its back and bulges on its chest, indicating that it was once a female before.
And, on its forehead was a stigmata, the symbol of a Highlander.
「!? No way—!」
「I-, impossible… that’s Lady Cyrene…!?」
With her voice trembling with shock, Rafinha called her name. 3
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