An hour and a half later, the vines on the ruined plaza began to grow again.
Thread-thin vines squeezed out from the crevices of the rubble, crawling up the edges of the craters to weave a massive vine net, hundreds of meters in diameter, in the center of the plaza.
The ground beneath the net began to vibrate as thick vines burst from the earth, pushing dirt and rubble to either side.
The vines along the edge of the shaft began to climb upward.
They intertwined, weaving a spiraling staircase that stretched all the way from the five-hundred-meter depth to the surface.
The stairs were wide enough for four people to walk abreast, each step woven from thumb-thick vines, forming a dense and flat surface.
Colin was the first to climb out of the shaft.
Gripping the vines at the edge of the shaft with both hands, he hauled himself out, kneeling on the gravelly ground as he panted heavily.
Blake followed behind him. His plate armor was caked with mud, his helmet was missing, and his hair stood up in a messy tangle.
Then came Duke Leo, holding onto the vines at the mouth of the shaft with one hand while supporting the Duchess's arm with the other.
The escort knights emerged in single file, followed by a large crowd of servants.
A lingering daze of survival hung on everyone's face.
Once everyone had cleared the shaft, the vines at the opening automatically retracted into the earth. The shaft was filled back in, covered with rubble and soil until not a single trace of it remained.
Colin stood on the ruins, his mouth agape and his eyes wide.
The entire plaza was gone.
The ground was scarred with countless craters, the deepest of which held muddy groundwater at its bottom.
The dozens of carriages brought from the Imperial City, a convoy laden with luggage and supplies, had been pulverized by the shockwaves of the battle.
Splintered wood, twisted iron wheels, and shredded canvas lay scattered across the ruins.
The horses were gone as well, leaving only dark red stains on a few patches of rubble.
“This... this...” Colin's voice was dry, his lips twitching as he squeezed out a few syllables, unable to form a coherent sentence.
Duke Leo stood in the center of the ruins.
He pressed his hand against the hilt of his sword at his waist, his gaze slowly sweeping over the completely destroyed plaza.
His expression was calm, though the deep crease at the corner of his eye was slightly more pronounced than usual.
The Duchess stood beside him, her hands clasped in front of her.
She stared at the ruins, her lips pressed tightly together as complex emotions swirled in her eyes.
Just then, beside a broken stone pillar in the center of the ruins, a vine broke through the soil.
The vine was only as thick as a finger, its surface shimmering with an emerald-green light.
It climbed up the pillar, unfurling two tender leaves at the top that shimmered with a pale gold luster in the sunlight.
The two tender leaves swayed gently.
Then, they began to unfurl at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The leaves grew from the size of a palm to the size of a basin, and then to the size of a tabletop.
The vine thickened from the size of a finger to the size of an arm, and then to the width of a waist.
New shoots branched out from both sides of the main vine, spreading in all directions, crawling over the piles of rubble, scaling the broken walls, and draping over the edges of the craters.
An emerald-green glow shone from within the vines, casting a soft luminescence in the sunlight. Over the ruins of the plaza, they interwove into a massive canopy, blanketing the entire area.
Everyone was transfixed by the vines.
Colin looked up, his mouth opening even wider.
Blake kept his hand on his sword hilt, his eyes warily scanning the continuously spreading vines.
The vines themselves twisted, stretched, and crossed, forming distinct letters.
“I am fine. I will return in a few days.”
Colin read the words aloud.
His voice was exceptionally clear in the silent plaza, each word trembling slightly.
Duke Leo stared at the line of words, falling silent for a moment.
Elizabeth stood in place.
She clutched her skirt tightly with both hands, her lips moving as if she wanted to say something, or perhaps she was repeating that sentence over and over in her heart.
The light from the vine canopy slowly faded.
The vines began to disassemble from the canopy down. The main vine retracted toward the stone pillar, the secondary vines unraveled from the net, and the smaller shoots peeled away piece by piece.
Every vine retracted, shrinking back into the two tender leaves at the top of the pillar. The leaves shrank back into the stem, and the stem retreated into the cracks of the stone pillar. Finally, only a finger-thick vine remained to burrow back into the ground.
The stone pillar returned to normal, and the ground was as it had been, as if none of it had ever happened.
Elizabeth took a step forward.
Then another.
And then her entire body swayed.
Duke Leo reached out to steady her.
She leaned against her husband's arm, her body trembling slightly. “Ethan...”
The name slipped through her gritted teeth.
Duke Leo did not let go.
He looked down at his wife's face. His lips parted, but he said nothing.
It wasn't that he didn't want to speak, but rather that he didn't know what to say.
His gaze swept over the ruins, over the shattered bases of the walls, over the shivering servants huddled together, and over the escort knights who stood looking around in confusion, hands resting on their sword hilts.
Finally, his eyes fell upon Colin.
Colin stood there, staring up at where the vine canopy had just vanished.
His expression was strained. His lips were pressed in a tight line, and his eyes were red though no tears fell. His chest rose and fell heavily.
“Father,” Colin said, his voice somewhat hoarse. “My brother...”
“He said he is fine,” Duke Leo cut him off.
Colin closed his mouth.
He raised his hand to wipe his eyes with the back of his hand, but then, finding the gesture too embarrassing, he turned his head to stare at a nearby pile of rubble.
Duke Leo steadied his wife, let go, and turned to face everyone.
The escort knights gripped their swords and looked around in confusion, while the servants huddled close.
“My Lord, all our supplies are gone,” Blake said, walking up to the Duke. “Carriages, luggage, provisions—nothing is left. We don't even have a single horse.”
Duke Leo nodded.
“Gather materials, summon the surviving subjects in the area, and rebuild.”
Blake froze for a moment.
He opened his mouth to say something, but looking at the Duke's face, he swallowed his words.
“Yes, my Lord.”
...
Snake flew at an incredible speed.
He tore through the clouds, the sonic booms he produced shredding the surrounding mist into tatters.
He clutched Ethan's left leg, looking down at his prey every so often as he flew.
Once he confirmed that Ethan showed no signs of unusual movement, his speed would surge once more.
The landscape flashed by below.
Grayish-green plains gave way to dark brown hills, which rose into deep green mountain ranges, before flattening out into a dusty yellow desert.
After flying a bit further, a dark blue line appeared at the edge of the desert.
The line stretched from horizon to horizon, slicing the dusty yellow desert and the grayish-blue sky in half.
The coastline.
They had arrived.
Snake's altitude began to drop.
The gravel beach at the edge of the desert expanded rapidly in his field of vision, the white foam kicked up by the waves crashing against the reefs becoming clearly visible.
The sea was dark blue with a deep green undertone characteristic of the deep ocean, the waves slamming against the gravel beach with a dull, rumbling roar.
Snake landed on the gravel beach, his eight-meter-tall frame sinking to leave two deep footprints in the stones.
He released his grip, and Ethan's body crashed onto the gravel, rolling twice before coming to a stop face-down among a pile of cobblestones. The rough stones pressed into his cheek, and the splashing seawater soaked his hair.
Ethan's fingers twitched slightly against the gravel.
Snake stood behind him, his vertical pupils locked onto the prone prey.
The dark green energy was still spreading across Ethan's body, the dark green patterns on his face growing slightly deeper than before.
His breathing was barely audible, his chest pressed flat against the ground, rising and falling only once in a long while.
Rate on N.U.
