(Heartfelt thanks to 'Kaede no Chōrei', 'Yuezuki Tatsuha', and 'Yume no Shouyou' for their rewards!)
"Roar----!"
"Awoo----!"
"Wooo----!"
Amid roars that would have long since grown tiresome to anyone, flying magical beasts rose from the mountain range split in two like startled birds, soaring into the sky and scattering in every direction.
Not only the flying magical beasts—even the ground-dwelling ones that could not fly seemed to have suddenly lost their purpose. In panic, they began fleeing in all directions, no longer single-mindedly converging on the Royal City at the center.
The defenders atop the Royal City's walls, who had been preparing for another battle against the nocturnal magical beasts, stared blankly at the sight of the beasts fleeing in all directions. A rising murmur of whispered discussion swept across the walls.
Before long, even Kate and the others in the royal palace were alerted. They all climbed to the top of the palace and looked toward the distant mountain range. When they saw the range that seemed to have been cleaved in two by a single blade, they exchanged bewildered glances.
"What exactly happened?..." Bolu, whose face was still somewhat pale and whose injuries from Kinuhata Saiai clearly had not yet healed, could not help asking.
"How did the mountain range get cut in half?..."
"Yeah!" Yeqi cried out in shock.
"It was perfectly fine just now, wasn't it?!"
"That isn't the important part!" Thunder King frowned.
"The important thing is that the magical beasts seem to be acting strangely too!"
Kate nodded. Watching the dense, ant-like silhouettes of beasts outside the Royal City scatter in every direction, while the flying magical beasts in the sky flapped about in blind panic as though they had no idea where to go, he murmured as if in a dream.
"The Magical