Riezel naturally had no idea what was happening outside.
At this moment, he was watching the scene before his eyes with a hint of amazement.
He saw that Artoria, who had rung the Bell of Pilgrimage, stood there quietly with her eyes closed, her entire body surging with intense starlight and magical energy that continued to grow stronger as time passed, causing the aura emanating from her to become even more overwhelming.
Indeed, Artoria was getting stronger.
Just like when she had rung the Bell of Pilgrimage in Salisbury before, the Fairy of Paradise was borrowing the power of the Bell of Pilgrimage to gradually release her true strength.
Riezel could sense that Artoria’s power had already risen to a level extremely close to Level 7.
If it were Artoria now, even compared to Spriggan’s personal guard, she was probably on par, or maybe even stronger.
"She’s only rung two Bells of Pilgrimage, and she’s already this strong?"
Riezel pondered thoughtfully.
At this rate, if Artoria rang another Bell of Pilgrimage, she would definitely reach Level 7. If she managed to ring the remaining four Bells of Pilgrimage, then reaching the peak of Level 7 would be guaranteed, and she might even take that next step and reach Level 8.
Level 8—a level that barely a handful could reach, even in Faerie Britain.
Including Riezel himself, those who could wield power at Level 8 could be counted on one hand.
If Artoria truly stepped into this realm, then even against the likes of Gawain or Lancelot, she would likely be able to stand her ground.
’So this is the so-called Fairy of Paradise?’
’Such incredible potential.’
As Riezel sighed inwardly, he suddenly sensed something and turned his head to look at the entrance of the bell tower.
Over there, the sound of strong, heavy footsteps was rapidly approaching.
*Whoosh!*
*Whoosh!*
*Whoosh!*
Along with several whooshing sounds, a group of sturdy fairies of the Fang Clan burst into the bell tower, appearing in front of Riezel.
"Go!"
Spriggan’s personal guard, who was leading them, gave a low shout.
"By Lord Spriggan’s command, capture the Child of Prophecy and his companion who trespassed in the bell tower!"
As soon as he finished, the personal guard was the first to rush forward, charging straight toward Artoria!
Clearly, this so-called personal guard was not as courageous as he pretended to be—in the end, he chose what he thought was an easy target.
Upon seeing this, Riezel’s eyes flickered, but he did not make a move.
An easy target?
Yes, that might have been true before, but not anymore.
He had to admit, their timing was truly unfortunate—of all moments, they had to show up right after Artoria had finished ringing the Bell of Pilgrimage.
They really were unlucky.
And sure enough...
"AAAAAHHH—!!!"
*BANG!*
As starlight exploded within the bell tower, the personal guard who had charged at Artoria let out a miserable scream. He was sent flying back even faster than he had rushed forward, crashing into the wall of the bell room.
He was covered in wounds, clearly suffering serious injuries.
"S-Scared me half to death..."
Saying this, the culprit, holding the Staff of Selection with lingering starlight still on its tip, looked shaken and utterly terrified, as if she had just received a tremendous fright.
"...Shouldn’t you be the last one who’s scared right now?"
Riezel couldn’t help but make a sarcastic remark.
"Captain!"
"Captain!"
It was only at this moment that the other fairy guards finally reacted—seeing their captain lying battered on the ground, every one of them cried out in alarm.
Immediately after, they all glared furiously at Artoria.
"Damn intruder!"
"How dare you hurt the captain?"
"Kill her!"
As expected from the hot-headed Fang Clan, these fairies truly embodied brutality and recklessness.
Shouting and yelling, they all charged at Artoria together.
However, it was Riezel who made a move this time.
"Sun Halo Dragon Head Dance!"
A blazing fire dragon appeared inside the bell tower, whipping its body around as it swiftly swept through the surroundings—the surging flames instantly raised the temperature in the air.
*Pu-chi!* *Pu-chi!* *Pu-chi!* *Pu-chi!*
Blades of flame cut through the Fang Clan fairies one by one, slicing them open.
"Ugh!"
"ARGH—!"
"Kheok!"
None of the fairies could even react in time.
All they saw was a flash of fire before a wave of searing pain shot through their bodies, forcing screams from their throats as they crashed to the ground.
*Click—*
Riezel calmly sheathed his sword and, without anyone noticing, was already standing beside Artoria.
"Let’s go. We’re leaving."
"Um!"
Riezel spoke simply, and Artoria quickly nodded, snapping back to her senses.
Now that they had offended Spriggan, it was impossible to stay here any longer.
Unless they planned to start a massacre and take down Spriggan as well, there was no way Riezel and the others could remain in Vault Fortress—perhaps not even in Norwich.
In the next moment, Riezel pressed a hand to Artoria’s shoulder, preparing to use teleportation magic to escape, when a sudden commotion erupted outside the bell tower, drawing their attention.
*Clang-Clang-Clang-Clang-Clang-Clang—!*
It was the sound of an alarm bell ringing out.
As the alarm resounded, a chorus of shocked cries, shouting, angry roars, and screams followed one after another, completely changing the atmosphere in the air.
"What’s going on?"
Artoria froze and muttered in confusion.
A glimmer of light flickered in Riezel’s eyes as he looked outside the bell tower—no, outside Vault Fortress, and peered into the streets of Norwich.
And the moment he saw, Riezel’s pupils contracted.
He let go of Artoria’s shoulder and strode quickly to the hollow wall of the bell tower.
Artoria followed close behind and looked outside as well.
In the next instant, Artoria was stunned.
It was a scene straight out of hell.
From the direction of Norwich’s port, in the sea opposite the city, a vast black shadow had begun to surface from the water, as if the sea itself was being swallowed by darkness.
Little by little, the shadow devoured the sea, staining the water black and emitting a strange, evil, corrupt, and decadent magical energy.
It was the aura of a curse.
It was the power of darkness.
And the true form of this power, this shadow, was a horde of Moss—creatures as black as ink, resembling soft-bodied organisms.
What made it worse was their staggering numbers.
They formed a massive shadow in the sea, densely packed together, swarming in groups as they surged toward Norwich.
They invaded the port, submerging all the ships docked there.
They poured into the city, appearing in street after street.
"Moss!"
"T-The Moss are here!"
"W-Why are they coming from the sea?!"
"Weren’t they supposed to come down from that vortex above?!"
"AAAAHHH! STAY AWAAAY!"
All the fairies in Norwich had fallen into total panic, not even putting up a fight.
Faces full of terror, they fled in a frenzy.
Meanwhile, the guards bravely took up their weapons and charged forward to battle the Moss, but unfortunately, they were quickly swallowed up by the horde, one by one.
Some were devoured while screaming in agony, while others, after touching the Moss, became infected and transformed into new Moss, joining the enemy and further swelling their numbers.
Ordinary fairies simply stood no chance against the Moss.
It was well known that the Moss were natural enemies of the fairies, where any fairy that made contact would be instantly infected, devoured, and assimilated.
Only the fairies of the Fang Clan and those wielding iron weapons could put up a slight resistance.
Iron, which was deadly poison to most fairies, had a restraining effect on the Moss as well, while the fairies of the Fang Clan also had higher resistance to Moss infection.
For this reason, only these two groups could offer any real resistance.
Regrettably, the strength of their resistance was extremely limited.
It was only natural.
There were simply too many Moss invading Norwich—at least a thousand by any estimate.
Faced with their terrifying numbers, Norwich’s defenses collapsed instantly.
To make matters worse, the defeated fairies did not simply die—they were infected and assimilated, turning into new Moss and adding to the enemy numbers.
Needless to say, this was a nightmarish, unsolvable crisis, utterly crushing the fairies’ will to resist. All they could do was scream and flee in panic, turning the entire city of Norwich into a cursed hell.
Watching this horrific scene unfold, Artoria was stunned, frozen in place.
A moment later, Artoria finally cried out.
"Calamity... has broken out?!"
Honestly, there could not have been a more obvious sign.
’It really happened as the prophecy foretold, huh?’
Riezel also stared at the now hellish Norwich and muttered inwardly.
Everyone had expected that Calamity would break out sooner or later, but in the original story, the Calamity of Norwich had not erupted until about a month after Chaldea arrived in Faerie Britain.
Now, Chaldea had only been in Faerie Britain for a few days, and already the Calamity of Norwich had erupted.
Clearly, this was because the Child of Prophecy had arrived here.
Just as Artoria had worried before, her arrival had directly triggered the brewing Calamity.
Evidently, this had nothing to do with timing but was a fixed result of cause and effect.
"Let’s go!"
Riezel pressed a hand on Artoria’s shoulder again and spoke calmly.
"We need to get to Mash and the others first!"
His voice snapped Artoria back to her senses, making her realize that this was not the time to be shocked.
"Right!"
Gripping the Staff of Selection tightly, Artoria’s eyes became firm as she nodded forcefully.
"Greater Teleportation!"
Riezel cast teleportation magic and disappeared from the bell tower of Vault Fortress.
*Clang-Clang-Clang-Clang-Clang-Clang—!*
Within Norwich, as the alarm bells continued to ring, the vortex of dark clouds in the sky spun even faster.