Volume 2 - CH 61

Chapter 61 – The Fall of Babel

I cannot remember clearly what happened in the following moments.

Before I realized it, I was hurtling through the air.

“WAAAHHHHH!!!”

“Aaah…!?”

A high-pitched shriek let me snap back to my senses. I had lost consciousness, apparently.

“What the…”

I quickly assessed the situation. I had been thrown out of the tower: Rossellia was clinging to me, eyes closed and screaming.

“…no serious wounds. How about you, Rossellia?”

Her clothes were burned and charred here and there, but I couldn’t see any signs of wounds.

I managed to protect her, though I couldn’t remember exactly how.

“…well, we’re still pretty deep in trouble, though.”

Rossellia and I were flying through the air: though rather than fluttering like birds, we were dropping straight down like cannonballs.

“Grett is…whatever.”

I looked above and saw the tower of Babel, visibly crumbling. The thunderbolts and flames had completely wiped the top floor: there was no chance for Grett to have survived.

“Tch…lost him again. Little prick was good at running away till the very end!!”

I couldn’t cut off his head with my own hands, in the end. The feeling that he stole my chance of getting revenge forever made me sick to my stomach.

“L-Lord Dyngir…!!”

“It’s all right, Rossellia. Just don’t let go!”

I had never fallen from such a height —obviously — but we were probably going to hit the ground in ten seconds or so. I could see the corpse of the blonde girl below us.

“Can’t let Rossellia turn like that too…okay, let’s see what we can do.”

I made my decision and looked at my left arm. The silver bracelet was still glowing brightly.

My lifespan would whittle down even more, but if we landed right we might be able to save our lives.

“Well damn…I’m not looking forward to getting old!”

I shouted and activated the magic tool.

The bracelet emitted a stronger light and enveloped us like a halo.

“Let’s do this, Herakles!!”

I rotated in midair and braced for the landing. The ground was getting closer and closer at blinding speed.

However — 

“Sea Drake!”

“Gfuh!?”

“Waah!”

I was dreading the impact with the ground — but suddenly, a column of water engulfed us both. It was a very unexpected kind of impact, and I couldn’t help but swallow some water.

“Hngh!? Nnghhh!?”

We thus descended towards the ground, tossed about in the rising pillar of water.

When we could finally emerge and breathe fresh air again, we were promptly smacked against the ground.

“Gwah!”

“Eeek!”

Just barely, I managed to act as a cushion to shield Rossellia from the brunt of the fall. Thanks to the water current, the impact was much lighter than expected: a stinging pain pricked my back, but nothing worse.

Herakles flashed on my arm, sort of pitifully. I did not have to use the immortality-granting powers of this magic tool in this instance, thankfully.

“Well met again, master. You must be overjoyed you brought me along.”

“Shana…hey there…”

Shana smugly looked down at us, her water manipulating lance — the source of the water column — in hand.

“Princess!! I am so glad to see you safe!!”

“E-Estia…I’m sorry for making you worry…”

The princess’ knight ran up to Rossellia and embraced her tightly. Maybe a little too much, as the beautiful princess seemed to be struggling a bit.

“Welcome back, my lord. You had a rather harsh time, I see.”

“…nah, not really. I mean, isn’t my life always like this?”

“Though I must say that most of the time, my lord himself is to blame for that…”

Sakuya came closer to me, an almost imperceptible frown on her otherwise expressionless face.

I guess I made her worry. Feeling a shred of guilt, I gently stroked her black hair.

“Anyway, we better get out of here. Or the tower will come down on us.”

Because of the weight of the debris from the top, the lower floors were crumbling as well. The tower born from divine powers would soon become a pile of ruins.

Babel, one of the greatest relics of the empire, fell alongside Grett Baal’s ambitions.

It almost seemed like the gods punished a man who foolishly attempted to reach their heights.

The series of tumults involving the Baal empire thus came to an end.

It was the conclusion of the “war without victors”, as it would be called in the middle age annals of the continent.