Chapter 229
Washburn Mountain Range Summit, Demon King’s Castle.
BOOOOM!!
A thunderous roar, as if the sky had shattered, erupted through the once quiet castle.
The undead garrison stationed inside the castle rushed en masse toward the source of the sound.
[Lord Magnus!]
Inside the castle, in a vast indoor bath.
Within it, a long-haired man leaned his head back, bleeding.
Drops of blood dripped from his hair, and the once clean bath was now a mess, black and red lumps of flesh spewing from his chest had polluted the water.
"......."
The long-haired man slowly lowered his head. Several Eternal Truth formations etched on his chest had broken, causing him to cough up blood and chunks of flesh.
Confirming the completely ruined spell formation, the man let out a deep sigh and spoke.
“Talaze is dead.”
[......!]
At those words, the four undead nearest to Magnus reacted in shock.
[Impossible. Talaze......!]
[Revenge! Slaughter!!!]
A woman with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a snake.
A pale-faced zombie in a well-pressed butler’s uniform and glasses.
A grotesque creature sewn from flesh, holding a bloodstained kitchen knife.
And a squirming larval mass, lacking face and arms, like a giant cocoon.
All of them were Ancient Undead.
[Talaze was scouting Roke Island, was he not?]
To the zombie in the butler’s uniform, Magnus nodded.
The Ancient Undead they encountered in the Jungle of Screams had definitely been powerful. But even so, not enough to kill a fleeing Talaze ten times. That’s why Magnus had willingly sent him.
But then, who killed Talaze? Although it was an illegal intrusion, Keyzen had no reason to destroy him. At most, they’d capture him and use him as a handicap.
Whoever killed Talaze must have wanted to conceal what he saw.
Thinking this far, Magnus opened his mouth.
“The enemy is most likely a new legion.”
The expressions of the four undead hardened.
“The other Legion Commanders haven’t moved an inch from their positions. Which means, the 7th Legion was born on Roke Island, and they’re the ones who killed Talaze. Nothing else makes sense.”
Shffft.
The half-snake, half-human woman slithered into the bath, coiled herself around Magnus’ collapsed body, and helped him stand.
[Are you really okay, darling?]
“I’m fine.”
Magnus placed a hand on his blood-soaked chest and began drawing a spell formation with that blood.
Thankfully, he had prepared a backup formula just in case.
He connected the broken formation’s formula with blood to draw a new black magic formation beside it. It was a black magic spell that allowed one to view the scene where Talaze perished.
Vwoooom!
As the blood magic circle activated, the coordinates of Talaze’s death were locked in. Before long, a hazy fog-like vision appeared before him.
All four Ancient Undead focused their gaze on the vision.
Whooooshhh.
Waves crashed along a shoreline. There, barely recognizable and appearing burned to death, lay Talaze.
Standing around was a girl with black hair and red eyes, barefoot and wearing a one-piece dress.
[That was a human?]
[Revenge! Revenge! Tear her apart!]
The dead within the castle roared in fury.
At that moment, Magnus raised a finger overhead, and the surroundings instantly fell quiet again, as if nothing had happened.
“Alaze. Who is that girl?”
In response to Magnus’ question, the large cocoon-like mass of writhing flesh among the four Ancient Undead answered.
[The one who killed my sibling Talaze. First-year at Keyzen. Loraine Arkbold. Daughter of Neftis Arkbold.]
At the mention of Neftis’ daughter, murmurs rippled among the dead. The butler-zombie fiddled with his monocle.
[If she’s the 7th Legion Commander, it all fits.]
If the 7th Legion truly existed, it was highly likely that Neftis interfered to hide its master. After all, Neftis participated in the last war of the 7th Legion.
And decades later, Neftis could have handed over the hidden legion to her grown daughter who had enrolled at Keyzen. A highly plausible scenario.
“Is she strong?”
To Magnus’ question, the butler-zombie nodded.
[She’s inherited the blood of the Witch of Death, of course she’s strong. Though she maintains mid-tier grades at Keyzen, probably to avoid attention, her true strength is immense. Moreover, the 7th Legion is the Legion of Betrayal, even if she’s Neftis’s daughter, she would’ve had to keep it hidden.]
The Ancient Undead called the Lamia frowned.
[Troublesome. I’ve killed nobles, royals, even kings without hesitation. But Neftis’ daughter? That’s a different matter.]
[Loraine Arkbold. Exceptional talent. If she truly commands the Legion, probability of Talaze’s survival: 10%.]
As his subordinates spoke, Magnus stroked his chin.
“So this is revenge for taking her Ancient Undead, huh? That little thing’s got a temper. I like it.”
At that moment, murmurs rose from the dead watching the black magic vision. Loraine had looked up directly at the screen they were viewing.
[She noticed.]
She curled her lips slightly and her crimson eyes gleamed.
CRASH!
The vision shattered, shards scattering in every direction. Magnus smiled with amusement.
“She’s got good instincts.”
[So what now, Magnus?]
“Looks like I need to go to Roke Island myself.”
Whoooosh.
Magnus stood from the blood-soaked bath and strode over to a nearby rack, grabbing a robe and throwing it on.
“I don’t care if she’s the next commander or not. As her senior Legion Commander, I’m going to give her a little advice.”
Lamia’s expression turned stern.
[Whatever you do, you must not kill Neftis’ daughter. You want another 7th Legion incident?]
“I know, I know. I’ll handle it.”
Magnus offered a faint smile and turned his head.
“Alaze. Find a way to get me to Roke Island. Whether it’s an official dispatch, an event, guest professor—anything. I don’t care what it takes.”
[Outsiders. Absolutely forbidden from entering Roke Island. Magnus Legion. Already broke the rules by sending Talaze on their own. Entry denied.]
“Then find a better way. That’s your job, isn’t it?”
[Order acknowledged.]
Magnus, with his hand in the pocket of his robe, let out a chuckle.
“This should be fun. Legion of Betrayal, huh......”
* * *
“Professor Hongpeng says to pick up the pace!”
“No stragglers! Everyone moves together!”
The first Magical Combat class of the integrated second semester had begun.
Class A students were running up a steep mountain trail, all panting and trying to keep up with Hongpeng, who was leading the charge.
“Simon?”
Simon was jogging at a moderate pace in the middle of the group. Kamibarez came up beside him.
“You seem to be in a good mood today.”
“Oh, really? Maybe it’s just the fresh air after a while.”
In truth, there was no way he wouldn’t be in a good mood.
Last night, he had successfully destroyed the eyes of the Magnus Legion.
When Talaze discovered the ruins of Feer, things could have spiraled out of control—but thankfully, he had somehow forced him to use up all ten of his lives right on the spot.
He’d even considered making him his own Ancient Undead, but Feer had said that undead already bound by a Legion contract couldn’t be converted unless the Legion Commander was killed.
Still, a huge hurdle had been cleared. Even Magnus wouldn’t be able to enter Roke Island without solid evidence.
“Haaah.”
His mood was good, and his physical condition was great too.
They finally reached the halfway point. Everyone collapsed as if they’d been waiting for this moment, gasping for breath while the TAs passed out stamina-recovery drinks.
‘Huh, tastes different this semester.’
There was now green, pulp-like stuff in the drink, instead of the usual red. It tasted healthy.
“Simon!”
As Simon was resting, Professor Hongpeng approached him with a bright smile. Simon beamed in return.
“Professor Hongpeng!”
“You’re looking really good today! Want to run a bit more with me?”
“Sure!”
Maelyn, who had been lying flat and gasping for breath, gave Simon a look like he was out of his mind. Is that really human stamina? she wondered.
The two stepped forward and lightly stretched. Hongpeng raised her arm and pointed.
“See that tree on the hill? We’ll touch that and come back!”
“Sounds good.”
The two lowered into a ready stance.
“......I’m coming too!”
Hector stomped over and lined up next to Simon at the starting line. Hongpeng clapped cheerfully.
“Oh, Hector’s joining us too? Love it!”
The two joined Hongpeng. Seeing this, Brad, the TA for Magical Combat, subtly signaled to a few students.
“Ay—so clueless. My kids getting shown up by some randos who don’t even major in combat?”
At that, the Magical Combat hopefuls sitting down flinched.
“Keyzen’s gotten soft. This kind of thing? Back in my day? Unthinkable. If you’ve got the guts, you step up and run. No questions asked.”
Eventually, the aspiring combat students couldn’t stand the pressure and scrambled to their feet.
“We’ll join too!”
“Me too!”
Hongpeng smiled brightly, pleased with the students’ enthusiasm.
The Magical Combat hopefuls cast resentful glances at Simon and Hector.
“What’re you lookin’ at?”
Hector noticed immediately.
Unable to meet his fiery gaze, the students averted their eyes and pretended not to see. Meanwhile, Simon and Hongpeng were caught up in conversation.
“All right, ready~ go!”
Hongpeng, Simon, Hector, and the combat hopefuls sprinted up the hill in a burst.
Though Simon felt like his lungs were going to burst from running in such a worn-down state, his spirits were still high.
As he embraced the natural surroundings, it felt as though toxins were leaving his body—
‘Toxins?’
Simon looked up.
Now that he thought about it, all the paths they’d run had this green stuff floating in the air. He felt much more refreshed than usual.
“Hemophy pollen is excellent at removing toxins. It’s in the drink you all had too.”
Hongpeng spoke with a subtly conflicted smile.
“I heard my sister was coming, so I scattered Hemophy seeds all over.”
“......Ah.”
No wonder Hongpeng’s expression looked pained.
Family was family, after all—she must be worried about Belya’s reckless behavior. And she was probably the only one who could rein her in.
“Cheer up, Professor! Professor Belya’s class is fun too.”
“Thank you, Simon. Still, if things get too crazy, promise you’ll speak up to her.”
Just then, Hector suddenly picked up speed with a dramatic burst.
He darted ahead and slapped the tree with his palm. Then, turning proudly, he smirked at Simon.
“Oh, congrats on first place, Hector.”
Simon said as he followed behind. Hector’s face turned beet red.
“You making fun of me right now?”
‘Like, what do you want me to say?’
“Okay okay, that’s enough. No fighting.”
As Hongpeng intervened, Hector pulled back his temper. He did, after all, listen well when adults were around.
Then the late-arriving combat hopefuls came panting up the hill.
“Shall we settle the match between the two of you now?”
Hongpeng pointed back to the starting point and called out, “Go!”
Simon and Hector immediately shot forward.
‘Who the hell are these guys!?’
‘Seriously. Don’t they ever get tired!?’
The Magical Combat hopeful trailed behind, wheezing in irritation.
Tak. Takak. Tak.
* * *
Professor Bahil of Katarology leaned crookedly on a chair, his face expressionless as he wrote out formulas on the blackboard.
He didn’t even look at the board. As if pasting directly from his brain, he filled the space fluidly, without pause. It was practically an art form.
“Professor.”
Just then, a knock came from the lab door, and the head TA, Chehekle, appeared.
She bowed politely and said,
“It’s time for your Class A lecture.”
Bahil placed the chalk down with a clack. Then he wiped the chalk dust from his hands with a wet towel on the table, stood, and donned the white suit hanging on the coat rack.
“I’ve been waiting for this day.”
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters