Chapter 57 :

Bloodstained Ball (4)

"You might get hurt, so please stay by the bed."

"Wait, hold on…. Derrick. You’re suddenly breaking the window? If you keep damaging the furnishings of the Duplein Ducal House so easily….."

Denise, who had raised her body while watching Derrick try to commit such a sudden and bizarre act, trembled slightly at her fingertips when she saw his expression. It was because Derrick’s face was incomparably serious.

A crisis often comes without warning. Derrick knew that fact better than anyone, so whenever he thought, “Is it okay to do this?”, he tended to act first.

Overreacting was far better than reacting too late. He had never regretted following this iron rule even once.

–Crash!

"Kyaah!"

The chair Derrick threw flew out the window and rolled across the garden floor.

There was no one near the garden anyway, since darkness had settled there.

After kicking aside the remaining shards of glass with his boots, Derrick stuck his head out and checked the surroundings.

Even after breaking both windows, the space was still very tight for a person to squeeze through. Still, since Denise had a small build, it seemed possible to take her along.

"D, Derrick. Why are you doing this?"

"Draw out your mana sense and focus it toward the corridor. The corridor is filled with an unfamiliar kind of mana."

Denise also had some knowledge of Search-type magic.

As soon as she heard Derrick’s words, she focused her mind and began to grasp the surroundings through the 1-star magic ‘mana sense’.

It did not take long for Denise’s expression to harden. The mana rising around the corridor was fundamentally different in nature from the bluish mana she usually handled.

That dark-red, sticky aura of mana was ominous from the very feel of it.

Denise had never encountered this kind of mana before, but Derrick had seen and heard about it to some extent.

‘It seems forbidden magic is involved. This is my first time encountering it since coming to this world.’

Combat Magic, Transformation Magic, Illusion Magic, Summoning Magic, Search Magic.

In addition to these five fields that divide magic, he had heard that there were several kinds of forbidden magic prohibited on the continent.

The way mana was used was completely different, and their growth methods were also very different from star-rank magic.

Sucking human blood, absorbing souls, eating corpses, and so on….. cases often involved methods far removed from general human ethics.

There was always a reason why something was forbidden.

"Excuse me."

"Kyaah!"

Derrick quickly scooped Denise up into his arms.

Denise blushed at the sudden contact and gasped, but Derrick had no time to care. He stepped on the shattered glass with his boots and threw himself into the dark garden.

Whoooong!

Jumping down from the height of the third floor was practically suicide.

However, when Derrick drew out his mana and manifested the 2-star Transformation-type magic ‘Earth Wall’, a wall imbued with mana suddenly rose up against the outer wall of the mansion.

Throwing himself down from three or four Earth Walls in succession, Derrick landed without much difficulty in front of the garden and set Denise down.

"D, Derrick…!"

Denise, who had barely set her feet on the ground, looked dizzy for a moment.

"….. The mansion is strange."

After setting Denise down and collecting his mana, Derrick looked up at the mansion together with her.

Young Lady Delia had debuted in High Society, and countless distinguished guests had gathered to celebrate it.

However, the mansion they looked up at was strangely quiet.

And from between the windows and the outer walls, dark-red mana was billowing out like a bleak smoke.

The sight made it look as if this huge mansion was bleeding. Even someone ignorant of magic could tell it was not normal.

"Th, that thing….. nobody noticed that?"

"Among the guests, there should be quite a few 3-star mages, and I heard there were even two 4-star mages mixed in. It’s strange that so many Upper-level Mages didn’t notice this anomaly…"

Derrick roughly remembered the list of invited guests.

He couldn’t possibly know all the lower-rank nobles, but at least for mages of 3-star and above, he had tried to remember their names as much as possible.

At their level, they should have had enough ability to notice this ominous mana enveloping the mansion.

However, strangely enough, there was no reaction at all from inside the mansion.

"We need to check what’s happening inside the mansion. Right now, this Duplein mansion is full of high-ranking figures from all over the continent. If something happens….. it’ll be impossible to handle…"

"I think something has already happened."

"… What?"

"That dark-red aura is….. either Necromantic-type corpse magic, or disease magic."

At those words, Denise swallowed her breath.

Necromantic-type magic was the most famous forbidden magic. To raise its rank, one often had to eat corpses or kill high-level mages and absorb their realm.

That was why, historically, all necromancers who left their names behind were massacring madmen.

‘Safety comes first.’

Derrick quickly grasped the situation. There was nothing good about staying near this mansion.

Securing Denise’s safety came first.

"Trying to find out what’s happening in this mansion right now is not a wise choice. Let’s get out through the front gate first. It’ll be better to assess the situation from there."

Crossing the central garden and escaping toward the front gate was the wisest choice.

If the gate was closed, they could just smash it open. In a situation like this, counting the value of furnishings was foolish.

"O, okay! Derrick! I, I’ll follow you!"

Denise did not argue.

When it came to situations like this, Derrick was the expert. Rather than expressing another opinion, Denise judged it was better to follow Derrick for now.

Thus, Derrick and Denise ran across the central garden toward the front gate.

Denise lifted her dress hem tightly, gritted her teeth, and kept up with Derrick’s steps, while Derrick ran while being as wary of the surroundings as possible.

. Tap, tap, tap!

In the quiet garden, only the sound of their footsteps echoed.

As they ran for a long while, Denise began to run out of breath, but since she had trained with Derrick regularly, she somehow managed to endure.

They crossed the central garden, passed the tea tables prepared for the guests, and went past the pavilion decorated with pretty rose vines.

It was just then.

A man guarding the path to the front gate came into view, and the two had to stop for a moment.

While Derrick quickly took a stance and watched the man in the darkness, Denise barely caught her breath.

"Who goes there?"

"Derrick, is that you?! It’s me, Delron! The head butler, Delron!"

It was a familiar face.

Among those in the Duplein family he had known, head butler Delron was the one he had known the longest.

His sharp eyes were still keen, and the collar of his neatly dressed butler uniform was standing stiffly.

However, his uniform was covered in blood here and there.

Moreover, Delron himself was panting and clutching at his wounds.

"H, head butler! You’re the head butler of the Duplein family!"

"A, and the Young Lady of the Beltus family is also safe. That’s a relief. The mansion is in chaos right now. Th, these strange monsters have been pushing up from the underground of the annex….. and they’re killing the servants indiscriminately."

Blood was welling up from the wound Delron was clutching.

"W, we need to inform the main house about this….. Young Lady Denise, please evacuate outside the mansion first….. I, as the head butler, must go to the main house and deliver the news….."

"Monsters appeared from the annex? How could that….. how could something like that happen in the middle of a mansion where people live?"

"I, I don’t know either. I heard that monsters usually push up from labyrinths….. Maybe a place similar to a labyrinth manifested under the annex….. We can analyze the cause later, for now, evacuating the guests staying in the main house comes first!"

"Y, yes…! The main house is full of representatives from influential noble families. If even one of them gets hurt, it’ll be a disaster!"

Denise looked over Delron’s condition and took a deep breath.

One of Delron’s arms was already tattered and no longer functioning properly.

"H, head butler…! First, your wounds…!"

"I’m fine! There’s no time! Derrick, I’m counting on you. You must inform the main house about the monsters! Please… please…"

The staggering Delron said this while panting.

"F, first let’s support you….! You’re bleeding too much! We need to lay you down and treat your wounds…!"

Just as Denise was about to support Delron, Derrick grabbed the back of her neck and yanked her backward.

–Thud!

"Kyaah!"

Denise stepped on her dress hem and fell flat onto the ground with a scream.

Before she could even grasp what was happening, Delron’s nails sliced through the air where she had just been.

–Swoosh!

Nails. That word itself felt wrong. Derrick swallowed dryly.

The moment Denise let her guard down and closed the distance, the hand of Delron, which they had thought was tattered, had flown at her.

To be precise, it was not the same hand.

Crunch, crack!

A new hand was growing out of Delron’s left shoulder.

It was far too grotesque to be called a human hand. It was rotten and decayed, with only the nails grotesquely overgrown.

At that nauseating sight, Denise’s eyes trembled violently.

Derrick narrowed his eyes.

The life vanished from Delron’s eyes, which had been shining intelligently just moments ago, and a foul stench unique to monsters began to seep out from all over his body.

Bulging blood vessels popped out all over his skin, and his gradually paling skin became as hard as stone.

Delron spat out a mouthful of blood and, making a rough retching sound, charged toward Derrick.

Without even showing a hint of panic, Derrick kicked him in the lower abdomen, twisted and snapped the rotting hand, and flung the monster straight into the garden lawn.

–Crash! Bang!

Delron’s neck bent at a right angle, but he didn’t care and pushed himself up from the ground and stood again.

Looking at that grotesque figure, it didn’t feel like a living creature at all.

"Th, this….. this is…"

"Get up, Young Lady Denise."

"This… this is… what is this… kyaaaah!"

–Pook, pook.

From the lawn on the other side of the garden, various shapes of hands were suddenly popping out.

It was the sight of the dead buried in the ground rising one by one.

All of them reeked of rot, a sight that sent chills down one’s spine.

Right next to Denise, an arm suddenly popped out and grabbed her wrist.

Denise gasped and tried to shake it off, but the grip was already far beyond a human’s strength.

If it squeezed for just a few more seconds, it felt like Denise’s slender arm bone would be crushed.

Just as strength went into that bony wrist—

. Slash!

Derrick, who had drawn a dagger from his thigh, cut the arm cleanly in two. Blood splattered.

Rotting flesh clung together, and the oozing fluid dripped down along Denise’s arm.

That sight alone nearly made Denise faint.

"Kyaaah! Huh… huh…"

"Young Lady Denise. Please get up. The situation is urgent."

"I, I can’t… my legs… huh… ahh…"

Denise’s thighs began to tremble violently.

She herself couldn’t believe what had just happened, and with dark-red blood splattered on her face, she was hyperventilating.

Derrick quickly lowered his posture, placed his hands on Denise’s shoulders, and looked straight into her eyes.

"Regain your composure, Young Lady Denise."

"Derrick… De, rrick… huh… huuuh…"

Derrick, who had jumped into countless labyrinths filled with flying flesh, adapted quickly.

But for a Young Lady who had lived her whole life in a noble mansion, it was far too much to ask her to immediately accept and deal with such a horrific situation.

So Derrick first met her gaze and matched her breathing.

Just as fear spreads easily, composure also has a contagious nature.

In this hellscape where corpses were slowly rising all around, Derrick did not panic at all and first calmed Denise’s racing heart.

His composure was chilling.

Before long, even Denise’s scattered reason slowly began to return.

"Huh… Derrick… s, sorry… I… in a situation like this… I…"

"It’s only natural. Can you stand?"

"Yes….. for now….. we, we have to run to the front gate…"

Derrick glanced toward the front gate.

The number of corpses rising increased the farther it went toward the outer edge of the mansion, as if they were trying to trap all the guests inside.

Even if they broke through all of that and went outside the front gate, there would only be open ground.

If they had to face that army of corpses there, their stamina would be exhausted first.

‘It would be nice if we could escape by carriage, but there’s no way the coachman is still at his post.’

Derrick quickly reassessed the situation and rebuilt his strategy.

"Let’s go back into the mansion. It’s more dangerous outside. We don’t even know how many of those corpses there are, and before we can even gain proper distance, Young Lady Denise’s stamina will run out."

"I, is that so?"

"There are guests inside the mansion. Among them are quite a few 3-star mages, and I believe there are also some 4-star mages. If so, it would be better to find those who are still safe and join forces."

It was unsettling that the main house was quiet despite all this chaos, but it seemed better than running blindly into the open ground with no plan.

Derrick quickly supported Denise and began running toward the mansion.

Countless corpses, led by head butler Delron, began staggering after them.

"Uh… huh…"

Denise, who had barely started to catch her breath, seemed to slowly regain her senses.

Basically, Denise was quick-witted. But still, she was only a girl of her age.

In front of grotesque scenes where human flesh was torn apart and arms burst out of backs, thinking inevitably stopped.

However, as soon as she regained a bit of composure, Denise made the most rational judgment possible. Her presence of mind was remarkable.

"The west wing of the mansion is entirely for the guests’ rest, right? When we came out from the west wing, there was no reaction at all. Either everyone already ran away, or….."

"… Or?"

"They were already suppressed somehow. I, I don’t know why something like this is happening right now, but if someone planned this….. the first thing they would do is suppress the high-realm mages among the guests."

It was sound logic.

Something was happening in the Duplein mansion. Whatever goal the instigator had, if they were going to cause this much chaos, they would have prepared countermeasures against the Upper-level Mages gathered here.

"You said that it was an anomaly that 3-star or higher mages could definitely detect, right? In fact, you noticed something strange and moved first."

"Yes. Besides me, there were quite a few 3-star or higher mages among the guests."

"Right. They must have done something to suppress them."

"But….. I’m fine."

"Derrick’s realm isn’t well known. It’s not easy to expect that a mercenary from a commoner background is a 3-star or higher Upper-level Mage."

Derrick himself was a variable.

Even though the world was wide and mages were many, it would not be easy to assume that someone of this age could already use Search-type magic at this level.

In fact, there were only a handful of people who knew Derrick’s true realm.

"In the worst case, you might be the only one among the 3-star or higher mages who can still act properly, Derrick."

"Then you have to move and check the condition of the other mages."

“...”

"That won’t be a big problem. Anyway, while checking the safety of the guests, let’s gather those who can still fight and secure the inside of the mansion first."

When Derrick calmly organized and explained the situation, Denise took a deep breath.

Only then did her trembling fingers finally calm down.

Clenching her teeth, Denise let herself be led by Derrick toward the mansion.

"I showed an embarrassing sight."

"In front of a situation like this, anyone’s body is bound to tremble. I’ve seen far more horrific things while going through labyrinths, so I just adapted faster."

"Yes, you’re reliable. But the other noble Young Ladies inside the mansion must all be trembling in fear too. If things go wrong, the damage will increase exponentially."

"…"

Denise was right.

As he ran toward the mansion, Derrick recalled the list of guests who had attended today.

Aside from a few Upper-level Mages, most of them had no real combat or battlefield experience.

Especially the noble Young Ladies—if something like this happened, there was a high chance they would be too frightened to do anything and be killed.

Human flesh flying, blood splattering, grotesque monsters roaming the mansion grounds.

It was only natural to freeze in fear.

*

–Pshk! Pook!

A servant-shaped corpse that had burst into the room was hit by a Mana Arrow. Its rotting arm was torn off, and dark-red blood splattered across the room.

–Splat!

"Kyaaaaaaaaah!"

The tea table overturned with a loud crash, and a lower-rank noble Young Lady who had been sitting there screamed.

–Thud

The fallen corpse dropped to its knees and collapsed. It soon rolled on the floor, and its severed head rolled across the floor and met the Young Lady’s eyes.

That Young Lady, whose name no one knew, ended up wetting herself in terror.

Ellente decided to pretend she hadn’t seen that.

In a situation like this, there were almost no people who could keep their composure.

It had not been long after Derrick ran out of the mansion when a corpse burst into Ellente’s room.

From outside the door, mana seemed to be leaking out, and then a servant came in carrying a tray of tea.

However, the servant, dressed in a neat butler uniform, gradually twisted his body grotesquely, and then, spewing blood, rushed at Ellente—that had just happened.

She had been chatting in the room with a lower-rank noble Young Lady she had befriended at the tea party.

Startled by the sudden attack, Ellente nevertheless calmly drew out Mana Arrow and shredded the charging corpse.

The lower-rank noble, shedding tears, looked up at Ellente.

Even though she was covered in dark-red blood, Ellente did not even blink and was simply brushing off her dress hem.

"What in the world is this…..?"

She had heard the rumor that she was the shining star of the Belmiard family, but being this calm even in such a situation was strange.

However, for Ellente herself, it was not that strange.

When she had been training intensely, a magic master from a mercenary background had once taken her through all kinds of labyrinths that were no different from hell.

There, she had seen humanoid monsters having their body parts severed in all kinds of ways, flesh torn apart, and even human bodies being split in two.

Just because a corpse-shaped monster had splattered a bit of blood, she was long past the stage of trembling.

‘… She’s completely terrified, huh? She probably won’t be much help…’

Ellente sighed as she looked at the noble Young Lady trembling like a leaf.

Then she stuck her head out toward the corridor filled with an eerie atmosphere. It was filled with nothing but silence.

‘Should I check the condition of the other rooms first…..? Or should I stay put..? I’m not sure how to decide my course of action…’

As Ellente slowly looked around, the Young Lady who had been rolling on the floor was left dumbfounded.

Indeed, keeping composure in a situation like this did not seem normal.

But from Ellente’s point of view, it was not that strange.

From time to time, Ellente closed her eyes and imagined the labyrinths she had gone through with Derrick.

They were horrific scenes that popped up in her dreams whenever she started to forget.

Compared to those, just a few corpse-shaped monsters lying around was not even worth calling child’s play.

In a way, Ellente was not normal either.

Regrettably, this too was Derrick’s influence.

‘Anyway, before things get even bigger, figuring out the situation comes first…’

Murmuring that to herself, Ellente looked down the corridor again—and her breath stopped.

The western corridor of the Duplein mansion.

A space lined with waiting rooms for the many guests to rest.

There….. grotesque servants who no longer had any reason were dragging guests out of their rooms.

Most of them looked like limp corpses.

Looking at the faces of the guests being dragged along the floor, there were more than a few whose names were known across the continent.

The sight looked as if they were preparing sacrifices for some ritual ceremony.

‘No matter what….. this is….. way too big of an incident…’

Holding her breath, Ellente realized.

If all of them were really corpses, this incident would be recorded as a great catastrophe that would be talked about across the entire continent for a long time.

She was standing right in the middle of that scene.

Ellente swallowed dryly and thought.

‘Derrick….. where is he…? He must be somewhere in this mansion too…’

At this moment, who was someone she could rely on?

Strangely enough, that seasoned mercenary was the first person who came to mind.