BBYW Vol. 4 Chapter 50 (WN)
Chapter 50 – Necropolis
Every time I kicked the sand, a cloud of dust swelled up.
I was racing through the desert, as if chased by a sandstorm. Enveloped in the golden light emanated by my bracelet, I advanced straight west.
“Haha…I might get addicted to this speed!”
The scenery flew past me: I felt as if I had become a living arrow, or a bolt of lightning.
Shape of Indra, the secret technique of Herakles, boosted my physical abilities to the limit, easily surpassing the speed that using Herakles on my horse had achieved.
Moving faster than the wind and even sound, I could cover days’ worth of distance in mere minutes.
It almost felt as if time had stopped around me.
“It hurts a bit…but less than expected.”
The first time, I could activate Shape of Indra for just a few seconds: delivering just one blow to Captain Drake left me exhausted.
My body, however, already grew accustomed to it to a degree: I did not feel the fatigue like the first time at all. On the contrary, the bracelet’s healing powers even reduced the feeling of exhaustion, pleasantly so.
If I used this power excessively, though, my lifespan would be surely severed — even if I had an immortal creature as my mother. I needed a resolve strong enough to resist the temptation of using this technique.
“I can’t let this power get to my head…well, let’s save that for later…hm?”
I leapt high in the air and landed on a sand hill.
From the moderate height of the hill, I could see a large river flowing in the distance.
“…turns out it was closer than expected. Almost there.”
All along the bank of the river that split the desert, there was a city made of stone buildings.
Then — over the greenlands enriched by the large river’s waters, rose a gigantic triangular construction.
Could something that large truly be built by human hands? Or was it the product of a magic tool, or divine intervention?
The triangular building, much larger than the royal castle of Lamperouge, had a crushing, imposing presence.
“Well damn, look at that size. To build something like this in the desert…surely deserves a round of applause.”
I smirked and whispered to myself.
I deactivated the bracelet, so the golden light vanished. A heavy sense of fatigue rose from the pit of my stomach, but I could still move.
In the stone settlement under the hill I was standing on, I could see mummies prancing about. Every now and then, the undead creatures came out of the city and started walking towards the horizon. They probably wandered in search of prey.
They all headed either east or west: to the east there was my Kingdom of Lamperouge, but…maybe there were human settlements on the western side of the desert too?
(In the far west lies the fabled land of Gandhura…or so the picture book I read when I was a kid said, at least.)
“…the world’s wider than I knew, after all. Well, not that it matters now.”
I looked down at the city, teeming with mummies, and grinned.
“A true “necropolis”, isn’t it…? And the queen is in that triangle over there, I bet. Very well…your time is over, fiends. I came to shut down the gates of hell!”
I slid down the side of the hill and rushed towards the city, advancing straight to the triangular building — cutting down all mummies on my path.