Outside the cabin, with the Phaerimm drawing near, this sudden battle became more brutal and bloody than ever before.
Magic was twisted, ordinary arcane arts were practically useless against the enemy, and Arcanists with nowhere to maneuver were devoured almost every moment by monsters emerging from all manner of unimaginable places.
Rather than a battle, it was more like a one-sided slaughter.
So this was the kind of terrifying monster that we of Netheril had been fighting all along?
It was an indescribable despair. Only when they saw Captain Blade still charging at the very front, nearing the end of the tunnel, and saw that the magic ship remained intact beneath their life-risking cover, could that sliver of hope well up within hearts engulfed by boundless terror.
Just as the captain had said, perhaps they would all die here today.
But if the plan succeeded, if they could pass on hope's kindling to the homeland behind them, leave it to those who had once placed the hope of life in their hands, and ignite the beacon fires of a counterattack against the Phaerimm—
Then their deaths would not be meaningless!
"For the eternal survival of the Netheril Empire!
"Long live the Netheril Empire!!!"
Listening to the cries behind him, which had begun impassioned but gradually became scattered and faint as time passed, Blade—who had already charged into the safe zone, shaken off the Phaerimm's pursuit, and landed once more on the ship's prow deck—felt not the slightest joy at the plan's success.
Because those silent comrades had all died on his orders.
"Blade! Something's wrong! I just observed one of the Phaerimm—it seemed... to have transformed from some other creature!"
The God-graced Arcanist, his eyes bloodshot, suddenly landed beside Blade and reported his new discovery. Yet he quickly noticed that