Chapter 766
The girl’s gaze trembled uneasily.
“Lady Hongpeng… you cannot meet her. Right now, she has been captured and imprisoned underground.”
At her answer, startled exclamations burst out among the group.
“P, professor got captured? By who?”
The young girl shook her head as she continued.
“I don’t know exactly who… it was a being draped in a robe.”
“That’s impossible.”
As if her legs had lost strength, Maelyn crouched down on the spot.
“You mean Professor Hongpeng was really captured? Someone that strong….”
“L, Lady Hongpeng!”
At that moment, the girl raised her voice for the first time.
“She wasn’t captured because se lost in battle!”
“?”
The girl explained how it happened.
When vacation came, Hongpeng had returned to her homeland after a long while.
She had always used the salary she earned from the school to help the development of the Marlat tribe and the grasslands. She provided food during winters when there was nothing to eat, and she brought livestock that grew high-quality fur.
Above all, she believed that even nomads, who often had to move their dwellings, must devote themselves to education. Thanks to her help, children could learn the continental language and letters from a teacher.
So when vacation arrived and Hongpeng returned to the grasslands, she said she would invite the students she taught here. It would be a joyful time for her students, and for the children of the grasslands, meeting the students of Keyzen would be a good experience as well.
The tribe gladly agreed to Hongpeng’s will, and everything seemed to be going smoothly.
But then.
“While Professor Hongpeng stepped away for a short time to investigate the surroundings, strange monsters suddenly stormed into the village.”
As if recalling that moment, the girl’s face turned pale with fear as she continued.
“The monsters captured the villagers and locked them here underground. Professor Hongpeng came to rescue us, but in the end, ‘that one’ threatened him with the villagers’ lives….”
Unable to finish her words, the girl shed tears, and Kamibarez stepped forward to gently embrace her.
Soon, the sound of sobbing spread.
“……”
The remaining three gathered with grim faces and began to deliberate.
With an enraged expression, Maelyn spoke.
“Who the hell, and for what reason, would do this? There’s nothing to be gained from attacking the grasslands!”
“I have a guess.”
Dick said. Simon and Maelyn turned their heads toward him.
“What is it, Dick?”
“Think about it. The ancient temples that suddenly emerged, the mysterious inhabitants and monsters! Didn’t we see those people performing some suspicious rituals?”
“That’s true.”
He spread his hand.
“The vengeful spirits of a ruined civilization, trying to rebuild their old civilization in the present! Professor Hongpeng is the strongest and most threatening obstacle, so they captured her, and the villagers will surely be used as live sacrifices.”
“What? Live sacrifices? Isn’t that too far-fetched?”
Maelyn rolled her eyes, but Dick’s voice was full of certainty.
“Remember, the ancient civilization of the grasslands had the custom of human sacrifice. That wasn’t for cannibalism, but in truth, all of it was for black magic rituals!”
“Wait a minute.”
Simon cut in.
“The idea that people of that era used black magic doesn’t fit with the timeline.”
The continent’s history as handed down in records was as follows.
First, the ‘Age of Ancient Civilization’, a period whose very existence was debated even among scholars.
After that came the ‘Age of Horsemen’, the golden era of nomadic tribes.
Then the ‘Age of Knights and Magicians’, when Aura and Pure Magic clashed fiercely.
And at last, the present ‘Age of Necromancers and Priests’.
“The ruins below belong to the Ancient Civilization Age. At that time, black magic itself did not exist.”
“No, no.”
Dick waved his hands.
“Even in that era, a very primitive form of black magic must have existed. Look at the use of live sacrifices. In modern black magic circles, live sacrifices are unthinkable. It’s unethical, and inefficient in its workings. If they used live sacrifices, then it must have been a very primitive system.”
Simon closed his eyes with a grave expression.
Though he couldn’t say it to the others, he too had a suspicion.
What if all of this was the work of ‘Myurr’, who had once belonged to the 7th Legion? Feer had said as well, that among the generals of the 7th Legion, Myurr was the most dangerous one.
And more than anything.
‘Ancient Undead.’
An Ancient Undead was an existence that had lasted for over a thousand years. Myurr may have lived even longer than other Ancient Undead.
If Myurr was the progenitor of ancient black magic, and was trying to use some kind of black magic through live sacrifices….
‘We must hurry.’
Simon rose to his feet.
“Enough with speculation, let’s move.”
At Simon’s words, everyone nodded. The girl too had calmed down and stopped crying, and Kamibarez asked her gently.
“Could you lead us to where Professor Hongpeng is being held?”
“Yes.”
The girl gave a small nod and pointed toward a narrow passage.
“This way.”
Simon’s party and the girl of the grasslands rushed through the interior of the ancient temple.
It was like a labyrinth. Since the place was built for rituals or black magic, its design was not convenient for humans to walk through.
There were many passages where long, snake-like creatures might have crawled, and spaces thought to be used for passing dismembered human flesh beyond the walls.
The young girl, with her small body, could slip through such places freely.
“…My lower body is stuck!”
The others, however, struggled greatly.
Still, they managed to make their way. Especially after Dick developed a method of smearing Slippery Potion on the walls and squeezing through, their progress became smoother.
“I’ll go ahead first!”
Next after the girl, Kamibarez, whose body was also small, took on the role of scout. She slipped into the narrow passage, checked if monsters or natives were passing, then signaled to the group that it was safe.
After passing through the stinking, cramped, labyrinthine section, the group finally entered a fairly spacious chamber.
“Ugh, finally free.”
Maelyn stretched her back with a pained expression. Dick chuckled.
“Makes you realize the need for a diet… ugh!”
He ducked his head to dodge Maelyn’s kick and hid behind Kamibarez. Simon too straightened his back and looked around.
‘This place….’
The walls of this chamber were covered in all sorts of bizarre markings.
In truth, even calling them letters was questionable. They were almost like pictures, primitive hieroglyphs. Simon slowly traced over their content.
“This is it.”
Dick, who was also scanning the drawings on the wall, raised his arm. Depicted there were what looked like parts of the human body.
“Heart, kidney, liver. And look here. It says, if you mix the heart with something, ‘rain’ will fall.”
“…You’re right. If you add something to a tongue and skin, it says a ‘snake’ will be created. This must be the place where formulas of black magic using live sacrifices are inscribed.”
Kamibarez and the girl clung to each other, terrified.
Maelyn sighed.
“You two, I get that you’re thrilled by adventure, but enough, alright?”
As she said, they wanted to interpret more, but there was no time. Rescuing Hongpeng came first.
Without even time to straighten their backs, the group decided to move on again.
“Oh.”
Walking quickly, afraid Maelyn might kick him again, Dick pointed ahead.
“There’s a wide corridor over there. Should we head that way?”
“No, not there….”
Wooooooong!
At the sudden sound, everyone flinched and crouched low. All at once, a magic circle began to spread across the floor.
Clank!
Clank!
Sections of the room opened like doors, and the faceless, blood-soaked monsters they had seen outside burst forth.
“Th, they found us!”
“Run!”
Everyone bolted at full speed, tails tucked. The bloody monsters shrieked hideously as they gave chase.
<Ice Bolt> <Bloodshot>
Maelyn and Kamibarez hastily chanted the black magic they could manage and fired it off, but the attacks were casually deflected.
They seemed to be powerful summoned beings, crafted from corpses.
‘So Myurr really is here.’
Simon stopped running and looked back at the others.
“I’ll draw their attention! Everyone else, escape through that corridor!”
“What?”
Raising Darkness, Simon lured the monsters into the wide space. From inside the passage, Kamibarez anxiously poked her head out.
“S, Simon!”
“I’m fine, Kami!”
Simon sent out Bone Needles to keep the monsters’ eyes fixed on him.
“It’s just division of roles! You all must keep going and rescue Professor Hongpeng! Only she can resolve this crisis!”
Kamibarez gazed at Simon with a worried face, then finally nodded.
“Yes, Simon!”
“I’m counting on you!”
“If you get hurt, I’ll really be mad!”
Dick and Maelyn also called out something each as they threw themselves into the narrow passage. Left alone, Simon continued to lure the monsters deeper into the wide space.
He tried attacking with things like <Bone Spear> and <Impalement>, but they hardly took damage, as if their bodies were extraordinarily durable. Even curses like <Sleep> showed no effect.
‘I’ll entrust Professor Hongpeng’s escape to the four of them.’
Simon’s eyes sharpened.
‘I must meet Myurr.’
Scanning the area, Simon spotted another narrow space and dashed into it. The monsters followed in after him.
Though much larger in body than Simon, once they entered the narrow place their bodies shrank to fit the space.
At this rate, they would catch him. Feer’s whereabouts were still uncertain, and Prince’s Ring remained unresponsive. Simon opened subspace.
“Herseba!”
[What, me again already?]
Herseba burst out from subspace and landed with a slap in Simon’s hand.
Simon slammed the tip of his staff against the floor.
<Golden Transmutation>
The narrow space around him turned golden, the walls closing in. Just barely, the monsters that leapt in were caught and distorted.
Crunch, crunch, crunch!
“Kh!”
Simon jerked his head back. From a narrow crack, a monster’s arm flailed wildly right before his face, but missed by a hair’s breadth.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Simon pulled back to put distance between them.
“My strength hasn’t fully recovered yet, but help me, Herseba.”
[Well, can’t be helped! Got a plan?]
Simon rose to his feet.
“First, I need to meet Feer. He must be here on the grasslands.”
* * *
Maelyn, Dick, and Kamibarez, along with the grassland girl, had to delve even deeper after parting with Simon.
The underground maze seemed endless. They didn’t know how deep they had gone, but it was starting to feel like there was hardly any oxygen left to breathe.
“Do you think Simon will be alright?”
Kamibarez still sounded worried. Dick forced cheer into his voice.
“Of course! Haven’t we seen all the things that guy has pulled off? For now, let’s trust him.”
“Yes, Dick!”
Just then, the grassland girl stretched out her arm.
“We’re here! Whenever I brought Lady Hongpeng her meals, I always came through this passage!”
“Good.”
Maelyn’s expression turned serious.
“We must rescue Professor Hongpeng as quickly as possible.”
Climbing out of the narrow passage, she looked around.
And then, her pupils widened rapidly.
“Ah.”
In the darkness where no sunlight reached, against the moss-covered walls of the temple, they saw the figure of a woman bound in chains.
“…We, we found her!”
“That’s really her, right?”
The face was one they all knew well.
Without doubt, it was Keyzen’s professor of Magical Combat, Hongpeng.
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