Chapter 362

“What?”
“It gave me a big poop, too.”
Kearsarge turned his head.
A man stands in the doorway of a lab that was empty just moments ago.
His skeletal form, covered from head to toe in blood, clutching a knife, reminded me of a demon.
“——How did you get in here? There must be defenses up.”
But it wasn’t his coloring that had Kiersaj upset.
This is a cave in the middle of ancient ruins.
For more than 50 years, it remained undiscovered.
I had to break through over twenty defensive spells and guards to get in.
It’s designed to defend against army-sized raids.
Ronan replied grimly.
“I just walked in.”
“Don’t give me that nonsense—.”
“It’s real.”
Kearsarge’s defense was actually pretty good.
A lesser opponent would have been unstoppable, or at least bought me enough time to get away.
His misfortune was that the intruder happened to be Ronan.
“I just stabbed it a couple times and it went through.”
It had been a long time, but the power of the Star Blood was still strong.
All Ronan did was land a strike whenever he detected suspicious mana or something popped up.
After repeating this about twenty times, I reached the lab where Kearsarge was.
“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s not that flimsy. What kind of trick did you pull—”
“Stop. I’m not here to chat with you.”
“What?”
“I’ll give you a chance to make your closing argument. Why did you do this?”
Ronan pointed the tip of his sword at Kiersaj.
It seemed certain that this man was responsible for raising an army of undead.
Ronan is usually the kind of Ronan who chops things up without listening, but this time he’s a little more interesting.
What kind of a wrinkly inspirationalist holed up in a cave doing this for the riches?
“Funny you should ask, I have no reason to answer that question.”
“I’m surprised. Usually he gets all excited and explains how thick his poop is.”
“You stink, but that’s enough. It’s been a pleasure talking to you. I’ll make good use of your corpse.”
Kearsarge gagged.
The stench of rotting blood made it difficult to breathe.
He glanced at Ronan and snapped his fingers.
Kaaaaaah!
A geometric magic circle appeared in the air and a beam of ebony light shot out.
“It’s got a good skeleton, so I’ll use it as a skeleton.”
Light separating bone from flesh was his favorite magic.
The beam engulfed Ronan.
Back at his desk, Kearsarge is trying to figure out what to do with the bone.
“You’re the one who’s smelly, you mountain lion.”
“What the—!”
“Has your conscience rotted away because you’ve been fiddling with the corpse of a fictitious day?”
A voice came from inside the beam.
Turning around, Kearsarge raised an eyebrow.
Ronan emerged unscathed.
The rays were diverging from side to side in front of an upright blade.
“I was going to send you off nicely, but you won’t do. I’m going to have to send you to jail.”
“You bastard!”
Ronan sighed.
Sensing the danger, Kiersaji is ready for action.
I don’t know what tricks they used, but it wasn’t cheap.
“We’re going straight to power.
He was once a supernova at Phileon Academy.
Picking up the Tome, Kiersaj recited the incantation like a song.
Three high-level magic manifested simultaneously.
The space behind his back cracked open, revealing a massive beast.
【Guaahak!!!】
The demons that inhabit the Netherworld are monsters that even Kearsarge himself cannot fully control.
Dozens of magic circles floated around the lab, spewing out the same disintegrating rays.
Finally, the skeleton’s grip on Ronan’s body burst through the ground.
——wait.
Where was it?
“What.”
Kearsarge sucked in a breath.
Ronan was nowhere to be seen.
He was standing there a moment ago, and now he’s gone.
Kiersaj rolled his eyes, feeling uncomfortable.
A gust of wind came out of nowhere and drew a red line across his limbs.
“Huh?”
It took me a while to realize what was happening.
Crimson blood pooled above the line.
I thought I was going to lose feeling below my pelvis, and then my vision crashed.
“Huh!”
Then the numbness under both shoulders disappeared.
A limb detached from the body flew through the air.
Suddenly, Kiersaj realized that everywhere he looked, lines were drawn.
The giant skeleton’s hands, the beast’s head, and the magic circles that rose everywhere were smeared with red lines.
The caterpillar-like body of Kearsarge lay on the ground.
Pooh-pooh!
All the lines opened up at once, causing a chain reaction of explosions.
“Oh, no!”
【Kiek?!】
A flash of red.
The Netherworld Beast was summoned back before it could take its first step, its face torn to pieces.
The giant skeleton’s hands, harder than steel, crumbled into hundreds of bones.
The shattered magic circles lost their meaning and disappeared.
“Crack!”
Kearsarge coughed up blood.
I couldn’t understand what was happening.
Ronan’s raids decimated everything but Kiersaj’s research materials.
A pang of anguish washed over Kearsarge.
“Off, off, off! Aaaahhh!”
The cut was clean, but that didn’t ease the pain.
Kiersaj was writhing in pain as his limbs were amputated.
Bam!
A hard blow to the back of his head knocked him unconscious.
“Billion—.”
“Good, you’re not dead.”
Ronan smiled with satisfaction.
I roughly kicked him in the head, but fortunately, he seemed to have good control.
Regardless of his personality or purpose, he seems pretty competent, so it would be helpful to take him alive.
Ronan, picking up Kearsarge’s hair, muttered something about regret.
“How I wish I could set up my lab outside, in front of the kids, and foam roll.”
I thought that was a bit unfair.
By now, Asel and Orse should have taken care of the undead.
He would have done it in a flashy way, but he felt like he was too modest compared to them.
“I can’t help it–I’m a raggedy knifeman.”
Ronan’s mouth watered.
Still, it seemed like a good enough defense against an Archmage or an empire-burning Demon Dragon.
After some fumbling, he placed the kearsarge in a sack that looked suitable.
An old man with a missing limb is not going to be a good influence on a child’s mental and physical development.
It wasn’t until he left the lab with his essential materials that Ronan realized something was watching him.
****
“Kya, you just smashed it.”
The air outside was acrid.
Ronan chuckled as he emerged from the cave.
My prediction that it would be done in a flashy way was spot on.
It was like a piece of hell had been ripped out of the ground and moved there.
“Can I get that back?
The wind blowing southward carried a mixture of ash and embers.
The field, once filled with the undead, had turned into a giant crater.
Flames, thick as magma, sizzled and rose from the charred earth.
Thick smoke blocking the sun.
The fire was so hot that it didn’t even smell like burning flesh.
Ronan stuck his tongue out at the inferno map.
“Paaaaaah!”
“Huh?”
A familiar cry echoed from not far away.
Ronan hadn’t even raised his head.
Sita swooped down through the smoke and landed in front of him.
“Cheek! Cheek!”
“Sita? Why are you here?”
Ronan’s eyes widened.
The dream bird, covered from head to toe in black and white feathers, was unmistakably Sita.
Why did a kid who should be hanging out in the North come all the way to the South?
Sita, who had been pressing her soft cheeks to Ronan’s face, bowed her head in disbelief.
“What, you want me to get in?”
“Bam!”
Sita nodded.
Ronan was hesitant, but he did it anyway.
Faster than sound, Sita flew across the crater in a flash and reached her destination.
In a clearing untouched by the flames, Asel, the Lance Trio, and the humanized Orse gathered together.
Asel spotted Ronan and waved.
“Ro, Ronan, you’re here. Was everything okay?”
“As you can see. But why did Sita come all the way here?”
“Well, I didn’t know that, but I think the Great Warlord sent him, just in case anyone got hurt–there was a note tied to his leg.”
“My honey?”
Asel nodded.
He showed Ronan the note tied to Sita’s leg.
On the fancy paper was a note in Adeshan’s handwriting that said he trusted you and Asher, but as a mother, he was worried about Sita.
With a p.s. that we love you.
Ronan smirked.
“Anyway, it’s thorough.”
“Yeah—it says here that I’ve been following Orsay since he flew in, but I never noticed him.”
“Well, we all know there’s no sound from Sita’s wings—what happened to the kids, anyway? What’s wrong with them?”
Ronan pointed his finger at the children.
Lance and Sechika each grabbed a tree and scooped out whatever was inside.
“Lo, Uncle Ronan—are you here? Woohoo!”
“Oooh, oooh, oooh, oooh, oooh, oooh!”
His tears and runny nose made him look like he’d inhaled tear gas.
Erin was the only one who was unharmed.
She was writing a barrack barrack next to Lance, who was in the midst of vomiting.
“Why not Erin, show her too, don’t always pick on her!”
“No—oops, no way.”
“Yikes, I miss you too!”
Lance dropped his head to the floor and shook his head.
I looked over and saw that he was clutching something in his right hand, and it looked like it was full of energy and wouldn’t let go even if he was about to die.
I couldn’t stand this.
Ronan lunged forward and snatched the object from Lance’s hand.
“Dude. What are you all wrapped up in, Ms. Navarrozze’s new photo shoot or something?”
“Oh, Dad!”
What he was holding was a small magic tool.
The cube was engraved with intricate incantations, and from what Ronan could remember, it was something that recorded and projected images.
Lance reached out desperately, but in vain.
Ronan chuckled in amusement.
“Let’s see what you’ve got there.”
“Hey, that’s fine, but you can’t show Erin. Erin!”
“What’s wrong with you? Oh, it’s out.”
At that point, the tool worked.
The spell glowed in unison, and Ronan’s vision flashed before his eyes.
It was filmed from the perspective of none other than Ronan himself.
“Oh?”
Ronan’s massacre had been replayed earlier in the day.
With each swing of his sword, the undead fell, spilling blood and guts.
The first-person footage was even more horrifying than it was from afar.
“Erin can’t see— Erin can’t see—.”
Cut, pluck, tear, and flip.
The video ended with Ronan cutting off Kiersaj’s limbs.
Lance had secretly cast a spell on him to learn more about what his father was doing.
For a moment, the word majesty flashed through my mind.
Ronan, standing over Erin’s blindfolded eyes, muttered something to himself.
“Oops.”