Chapter 49: What is this…
"Did the train leave?"
Jack asked, and Iberis nodded as she approached, stomping the ground with her fluctuating feet.
"Yes. I've got her on board."
"Raffi… seemed to have followed her along."
He stuck the Dáinsleif in his hand into the ground and looked down at Iberis, who stood off to the side.
"Are you sure you didn't want to go too…?"
Hearing this, Iberis snorted. "If I leave too, your chances of survival will be zero."
"…"
Jack gripped the hilt of his Dáinsleif and glared ahead.
"…. That's good too. Once the attack on the Nightmare is confirmed, you're to pursue the train immediately, without regard to me."
"… I have no comment on that. I'm not sure I can make it back in one piece either. That's the truth." Iberis replied straightforwardly and examined the dark forest in front of her. As the sun had already gone down, the lights outside the shelter barely illuminated it, casting it in dim light. The devastation of the ground, gouged out by the explosion when the White Queen was intercepted, was still there.
Outside the shelter, Jack stared ahead in his hazmat suit. Iberis was dressed lightly in a shirt and a skirt.
"Do you think they are coming…?"
Jack asked, and the girl responded in a strained tone.
"My Bandersnatch has been very noisy for a while now. At their side, they're probably already aware of our presence."
"So they're aware of us but just not showing up huh… This is troubling. We have no idea of their abilities."
"It's not that complicated. At the first sign of anything, we'll flee into the shelter."
"I understand."
After a quick exchange of whispers, they settled into a back-to-back position and slumped down.
"How many times did you manage to touch that sword?"
Iberis asked, and Jack returned in a small voice.
"Three… no, up to four…"
"Okay. Adequate enough. Now let's see if we can stick to the plan…"
After saying that, she felt a gut-wrenching pain in her head and groaned, falling to her knees.
"What's wrong!"
"What… is this hatred… this amount of resentment…" With a slight shudder, the girl scanned her surroundings. "… This is not normal…!"
"Is there an enemy? Where is it!"
Drawing his Dáinsleif from the ground, Jack poised it and looked around. The leaves of the forest trees swayed as they rustled. Then, one after another… the leaves began to fall like snow. The trees gradually thinned out and withered and deteriorated into dead woods.
"What is this…?"
Although they were stunned to witness the sight, it did not stop the trees from turning into dead woods. Slowly, the wave approached the shelter.
The sound of a bell was heard. Pointing his sword in that direction, Jack stared stiffly.
A figure carrying what appeared to be a long cane was slowly advancing towards them from the depths of the forest. With a tap on the ground with the cane, all the surrounding trees simultaneously shifted into dead ones. Then the figure took a few more steps and tapped the ground with the cane again.
She seemed to be an old woman… But her head was bizarrely enormous. Her face was ugly, with bumps like tumors emerging from it.
With her eyes darting around, she repositioned the hat she was wearing with her other hand. It was a neat little hat with feathers. And she was wearing a medieval aristocratic style dress; it was a red outfit.
"The Red Queen…?"
Iberis, who looked in that direction, gnashed her teeth.
"Do you know her…?"
"She's one of the most heinous Nightmares out there. I don't even know what kind of Seventh she possesses…"
The Red Queen halted a short distance away upon spotting Jack and Iberis in a battle stance facing her. She then struck her cane into the ground with a thump. The sound reverberated around… a radius of about ten meters from where she was standing. The ground became a soggy swamp and began to boil. As the bubbles burst, a strange odor permeated the area. The two of them backed away from the swamp, and the Red Queen, standing in the center of the swamp as if floating, spoke up.
"… There's not enough… According to Humpty, there's supposed to be two Alice."
The monster emitted a shrill voice and watched them with eyes that seemed to be ready to pop out.
"… Is she inside? Hey, you two. Is she injured and can't come out or something… like that?" The "thing" continued, laughing with her mouth open as if she were about to tear it apart. "Well, I shall hunt without reservation."
"That's enough… Let's go inside!"
Then Iberis uttered in a low voice and withdrew his hand from Jack's. When Jack snapped his gaze away from the Red Queen, he pulled out the pin of the grenade on his hip and flung it at her. The Red Queen's neck bones cracked as she observed the weapon flying in a parabola line.
In the following moment, the grenade exploded before her eyes. There was a raging explosion and the noise of rupturing air. Then the bombs were scattered throughout the area. However, all of them were reduced to a soggy sludge right before they landed on the Red Queen's body, and disappeared as they flowed down.
"…"
The smoke subsided and the unharmed monster lifted her face. She glanced around, but Jack and Iberis had already made their way to the shelter's entrance.
Jack gritted his teeth as he gripped his Dáinsleif in one hand. Then he pressed a button to close the entrance to the shelter, its shutters.
On the verge of closing, he directed his eyes, warped by loathing at the Red Queen. At the sight of the completely closed shelter, the Nightmare smirked.
"It seems that you have given it some thought… I wonder if your efforts will be rewarded…"
Laughing hysterically, she began to pace through the swamp.
"Oh, Happy… day…"
Singing in a soft voice, she drew nearer to the shelter. Her eyes were stained with the color of deep red blood and emitted a dull light.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone