“…” At this point, Adlet was forced to consider that his initial assumptions were simply incorrect. Either Rolonia’s analysis was wrong or the assumption that the Saint’s poison would work on every fiend was wrong. “No…that’s not it.” He was overlooking something. He examined the cellar one more time.
That was when the table caught his eye—just one small part of it. The table was splotched dark red all over from the spray, but there was one little spot, just the size of a fingertip, that had turned orange.
Adlet immediately sprayed more solution there. That one part of the table turned orange, a circle of less than three centimeters in diameter. It was so small he had missed it. Had a different fiend carried the table? That couldn’t be. The color change was on top of the table, near the middle.
One other fiend aside from Tgurneu had been there—probably one so small Tgurneu could pluck it in its fingers. Adlet had never heard of any fiend that size. What was this tiny creature? And what had it been up to all this time? Where had it gone? Recalling their fight with Tgurneu, Adlet arrived at just one conclusion.
It couldn’t be. If so, then how the heck…?
“Addy. Addy!”
Adlet had been so lost in thought, he hadn’t noticed Rolonia calling him. “What is it?”
“Where did Goldof go?”
Adlet looked around. He considered for a moment, and then dashed into the tunnel Goldof had disappeared into.
A single minute felt like an hour—or a day. Mora poured power into the barrier, desperately awaiting the return of Adlet’s party. She checked on Tgurneu through her second sight. The fiend was calmly sitting on a rock, looking up toward the Bud of Eternity. Its minions had ceased their assault on the barrier.
Mora didn’t know how long she could keep Tgurneu trapped. The barricade was holding, but she couldn’t anticipate Tgurneu’s next move. The fiend had declared that it had already come up with a way to break out.
Mora gently placed her hand on her stomach, thinking about the trump card she kept within. She’d had a red gem surgically implanted there—her ultimate weapon, one that she and Liennril, Saint of Fire, had worked together to create. Stored within it was the power of volcanic eruption. If Mora recited the incantation written in the hieroglyphs, the gem would draw immense power from the magma within the earth. She would not need to control the power it would absorb. It would cause a massive explosion, blowing apart Mora and everything around her. When Mora had first fought Tgurneu, she had hesitated to use this weapon because at that time, she had thought she would still have more opportunities to kill it. Now she was starting to regret that.
Moments later, Fremy and Chamo, who had been out doing reconnaissance, returned to the Bud of Eternity. “Just as you said, Tgurneu isn’t doing a thing,” said Fremy. “What’s going on here?”
“Is Adlet yet to return, Fremy?” inquired Mora.
The Saint of Gunpowder scrutinized Mora’s expression, deemed it unusual, and turned suspicious. “Not yet. He also hasn’t contacted me to say that he’s found anything, either.”
Mora despaired at no word from her companion. How long did she have to wait for him to fulfill her hopes? She had no more time. She picked up the iron gauntlets that lay on the ground, put them on, and then walked out of the Bud of Eternity.
“Where are you going?” asked Chamo.
“I’m going to go fight Tgurneu. I can wait for Adlet no longer.”
“What’s wrong, Auntie? Calm down. Tgurneu’s trapped in here, right?”
“Just concentrate on maintaining the barrier,” said Fremy. “Let’s wait for Adlet.”
“No. I must kill Tgurneu now,” Mora insisted.
“There’s no need to rush. Even if we do let Tgurneu get away, it’s not such a big deal. This won’t be our only chance to kill it. We’ll fight Tgurneu once we’ve made sure we can win.”
“That’s right,” Chamo agreed. “What’re you going on about?”
Indeed, from their position, maybe that was the best choice. But Mora had no more time. She ignored them both and kept walking.
“Mora, stop.” That was when Fremy drew her gun, thrusting it toward Mora’s ear. “I’m sure of it now. You’re hiding something. I’m not putting my gun down unless you explain to me why you’re in such a hurry.”
“What’re you doing, Fremy?” Chamo demanded angrily. She vomited up a few fiends, sending them to surround Fremy.
“Think about it, Chamo. Mora is not acting normally.”
“Neither are you. You’ve never acted normal.”
Fremy and Chamo locked eyes, glaring at each other. Mora was facing away from them, so she couldn’t see them, but she could perceive what was going on behind her using her clairvoyant sight. The moment Fremy’s gun turned to Chamo, Mora sped away in a straight line.
“Mora!” Fremy yelled.
The Elder could not rely on Adlet any longer, and she couldn’t expect help from Fremy or Chamo, either. She had no choice but to kill Tgurneu with her own hands. She would use the ultimate weapon implanted into her stomach to destroy that beast and save her daughter. She had no other options left. Tgurneu said it had a plan to escape the barrier. She would not give the fiend the time to put its scheme into motion.
About a minute’s run away from the Bud of Eternity, fiends set upon her. She didn’t stop, even for an instant, body-slamming into one of her attackers. She didn’t have the time to waste on small fry.
Tgurneu, perhaps noticing the distant sound, spoke. “Hmm? Something’s happened. Hellooo, Mora? What’s going on?”
Of course Mora was not going to reply. She punched a fiend that blocked her way and stomped on it. Tgurneu wouldn’t yet have realized she had an
