Reincarnated as an SSS-Ranked Blacksmith Who Refuses to Forge Weapons-Chapter 143. The Price of Salvation

Chapter 143: 143. The Price of Salvation
They came out of the tunnel and into the ruins of what must have been a very impressive building. The Elite Royal Knight headquarters was built into the side of a hill, and weathered statues of knights in heroic poses marked the entrance.
Despite its age, the building exhibited excellent maintenance. The stone walls were thick and scary.
Lylia pointed to a structure that stood out from the rest and said, "The resonance chamber is in the central tower. We have to get there and turn on the compass."
They ran through an open courtyard, which was dangerous, but they had no choice. The entrance to the fortress was ahead, and the huge doors were already open.
The ground behind them exploded. And the Calamity came out of the ground like a metal nightmare.
It had followed them through the tunnel, or maybe it had just dug straight through. It was now standing at its full height, which was at least forty feet. Its body was so covered in weapons that it looked like a walking arsenal.
"What the fucking fuck! Why does it keep following us?! Let’s go inside! NOW!" Greg pushed Elwen towards the doors.
They rushed through the door and into a big hall. Pillars supported the high ceiling, and the building exuded a military precision. But they didn’t have an opportunity to look at it.
The fortress shook when the Calamity roared. Then there was the sound of hundreds of weapons firing, all aimed at the building.
"Get down!" Lylia screamed.
As swords, spears, and axes crashed through windows and walls, they dived behind pillars. The old stone held, but not by much. Cracks started to spread out over surfaces until parts of the wall fell apart.
"The chamber of resonance!" Greg yelled over the noise of the bombs. "Where is it?"
"Right there!" Lylia pointed to a staircase that went around in circles. "Top of the tower!"
As another volley of weapons hit the building, they ran for the stairs. The floor behind them fell apart, leaving a big hole where they had been standing just a few moments before. The Calamity was outside, methodically tearing down the fortress to get to them.
They climbed the stairs, their legs burning and their lungs gasping. Each landing brought them closer to their goal and made them more likely to die if the tower fell down.
At last, they made it to the top. There was a pedestal in the middle of the resonance chamber, which was a round room. There were runes carved into the walls that glowed with a faint blue light.
"Put the compass on the pedestal!" Lylia told her.
Greg took the compass from her and set it down carefully on the stone. As soon as it touched, the runes lit up. The compass needle started to spin so quickly that it was difficult to keep up with it.
The Calamity hit the tower outside. The whole thing shook, and Greg had to hold on to the pedestal to keep from falling.
"How long will this fucking take?" Hilda yelled.
"I don’t know!" Lylia yelled back. "I’ve never done this before!"
The tower swayed again, this time more violently. Greg could see the Calamity climbing the walls of the fortress through the window, its hands finding places to hold on in the cracks it had made.
Thereafter, the compass stopped moving. The needle pointed firmly in two directions, splitting the difference. Then it split, making two needles where there had only been one.
"It worked!" Lylia took the compass. "One Elite is to the northeast, and the other is to the northwest. We can get to them!"
"Assuming we live long enough to get out of this tower," Elwen said, stepping back from the window where the Calamity’s face had appeared, its vortex eyes staring right at them.
The creature’s arm broke through the stone, forming a hand capable of grabbing objects. It reached for them, and they ran in different directions.
Another arm came through from the other side. The tower was falling apart, and the Calamity was inside with them.
"The stairs!" Greg pointed to the only way they could get out.
They ran for the spiral staircase, but the Calamity’s arm blocked their way. Weapons turned into a wall of blades that blocked their way out.
"We’re stuck!" Hilda swung her pickaxe at the wall of blades, but it didn’t work. Every time she hit it, her pickaxe’s energy just added to the creature’s mass.
The Calamity climbed through the holes in the tower’s walls. Its giant body shouldn’t have fit, but it twisted and turned, weapons moving and flowing to let it get through tight spots.
Then it hit.
A whip made of linked chains and razor wire came out of its body. The weapon moved like a snake, wrapping around Lady Rosalina, who had somehow gotten to the stairs below them after following them.
"Lady Rosalina!" Lylia yelled when someone pulled her mentor off her feet.
A second whip came out, this time hitting Hilda in the waist. The miner dropped her pickaxe and screamed in pain as the links with blades cut into her.
Both women were being pulled towards the Calamity’s body, towards becoming one with it and becoming part of it. Rosalina fought hard, even though she was hurt, to grab onto something, anything. Hilda fought against the pull, and her hands were bloody from holding onto the razor wire.
Greg’s mind was racing. He could try to save Rosalina, who was closer and hurt worse. Or he could choose Hilda, who had saved his life in the woods but was being pulled towards certain death.
The Guardian’s Oath shield activated on his arm, and its weight brought him back to reality. He had only a few seconds to make a choice, and he had seconds to decide who would live and who would die.
He saw the same thing in both women’s eyes. Not begging, not asking, but accepting. They were aware that someone might not make it. They knew that this was the price of fighting monsters.
Greg, on the other hand, wouldn’t accept that. "Fuck this shit!"
"Elwen!" he yelled. "Plant magic, now! Aim for the whips!
Elwen’s eyes lit up with understanding. Her hands moved, and the patterns they made were more complicated than any he’d ever seen her cast. "Plant Prison!"
Plant roots suddenly emerged and encircled both whips with thick tendrils. The Calamity’s pull stopped for a moment when the metal weapons got banded.
Greg only needed that one moment. He lunged forward with his shield up and hit Rosalina with the whip. The metal managed to break, setting her free. Lylia caught her mentor before she could fall.
But the second whip, the one that was holding Hilda, was already getting tight again. The root was breaking up and loosening. The Calamity was too strong.
Greg turned and dived for Hilda, but he knew he wouldn’t get there in time. The whip was pulling her into the creature’s body, which was made up of flowing metal and weapons that had been absorbed.
Hilda looked into his eyes and mouthed two words. "Save them."
Then the ice broke into pieces, and she was gone, pulled into the body of the Calamity. Her scream stopped suddenly when she vanished into the metal.
"HILDA!" Greg yelled, but it was too late.
The Calamity’s vortex eyes were on him, and if a creature made of weapons could smile, it was doing so now. Someone had taken it from him. Someone who had helped him live. Someone who believed in him.
And he let her down. The tower let out one last groan of protest before it started to fall.
"Jump!" Lylia yelled to support Rosalina.
They jumped from the building that was falling apart around them, and the Calamity’s triumphant roar followed them into the morning light.