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Chapter 129: Have You Heard of the Demon Tribe?

It was the same again.

I didn\'t know why this was happening.

I didn\'t know what was going on.

The moment I heard the explosion, my legs moved first.

All I could think about was running away.

After days of fighting, the clan mages were nowhere to be seen.

Fountains of blood and screams erupted from all directions.

Oh, shit, fuck.

I just made eye contact with one of them.

I had to hide.

I couldn\'t die a dog\'s death like this.

"Here, you stubborn fool!"

Someone called me from between the protruding rocks.

"Senior Noh!"

"Shh, you fool. They\'ll hear us."

Senior Noh pulled me completely into the pile of rocks.

I looked at Senior Noh\'s profile as he held his breath and observed the situation through the cracks in the rocks.

"..."

This old geezer from the Crazy Mage Squad had no talent for magic.

He was about on par with me.

But it wasn\'t a mere coincidence that this old man had survived until now.

In my view, Senior Noh had an instinct for survival that was second to none.

I didn\'t know his name.

Whenever I asked, he told me to call him Old Soldier, Old Man, or Old Noh.

He was a strange person.

He never called me by my name either.

"You stubborn brat."

I owed much of my survival to this Senior Noh.

Recently, I had saved Senior Noh\'s life as well.

Both of us had survived longer than our skills would suggest.

If someone asked why we looked out for each other like this, I wouldn\'t have a clear answer.

Perhaps it was a feeling of shared suffering.

"It seems like things are almost settled. I see the Black Scale Flag over there."

"...Damn it. What took them so long? How many people died today?"

"It\'s enough that we survived."

A clinging to life.

Senior Noh\'s eyes, between his wrinkled eyelids, were always alive.

I didn\'t know what made this old soldier cling to life so much.

I never asked.

"Let\'s join them."

I went outside the rocks first, and Senior Noh was about to follow when...

I stopped.

"You fool, move aside. Let me out too. My back hurts."

"..."

"Is this kid trying to be a real pain in the ass? Why is this young man so slow? ...Is there something there?"

It was almost an instinctive intuition.

To the right, diagonally, in a blind spot I hadn\'t noticed, someone remained.

It was a familiar face.

The mercenary who had gone missing three days ago was completely dyed black.

"Demonic Soul Human, damn it! Get away, Senior Noh!"

We both ran with the pile of rocks at our backs.

I counted the seconds in my mind.

One second... two seconds...

Fwaaaang—

Three seconds until the explosion.

The heat hit first. The moment I felt my body float forward, a tearing pain surged through my back.

"Gah!"

Thud—

I crashed to the ground. A sharp pain shot through my abdomen.

It took a long time just to move my fingers.

As soon as I regained consciousness, for some reason, Senior Noh came to mind.

Senior Noh was nearby.

He was looking at me, his left arm gone.

We looked at each other and laughed. Because we both looked pathetic.

"Are you okay, you stubborn fool?"

"Okay, my ass."

"It\'s enough that we\'re alive."

We forced ourselves to get up.

I couldn\'t feel my left leg properly.

But there was no time to hesitate.

It was obvious what would happen if we didn\'t join the main force now.

"I\'ll lead the way."

"With one arm?"

"Better than a cripple with a leg injury."

"No, Senior Noh. I\'ll lead the way."

"Shut up. I can\'t entrust my life to a cripple with a leg injury. Follow me. Let\'s take a detour. The appearance of a Demonic Soul Human means there are more of them nearby."

Corpses were strewn about.

The main force\'s flag was farther away than I thought.

The high altitude made it hard to breathe. I felt my left leg dragging.

The distance between Senior Noh and me gradually widened.

As we passed another pile of rocks and the path narrowed, Senior Noh, who was walking ahead, stopped.

"What\'s wrong? Is there something there?"

Senior Noh didn\'t move.

He just silently raised his remaining right arm above his head.

By the time I hurriedly lowered my stance and looked ahead again, Senior Noh\'s head was already gone.

That was the end.

There wasn\'t even a bang— sound.

Senior Noh, who I thought would survive till the end, died just like that.

Just like the others, Senior Noh died.

Black smoke billowed.

The situation was clear.

It was them.

I saw a figure approaching, stepping over Senior Noh\'s corpse.

Humanoid, no, they resembled humans more than any monster I had ever seen.

A higher species of monster.

"...Ha."

It was looking directly at my hiding spot.

When I closed my eyes and opened them again, it was right in front of me, grinning, baring its teeth.

Its mud-stained fangs glistened.

I wanted to slap it before I died, but my hand wouldn\'t move.

Crackle—

With a flash of lightning, the monster\'s head was separated from its body.

White sparks flew.

Then, with a surge of mana, a man flew in and landed awkwardly in front of me.

Lightning crackled around his right hand.

I knew this man.

"There was another demon."

"Damn it, you\'re late."

The man, with an expressionless face, looked around and then suddenly focused on one spot, his expression subtly changing.

"...Gazillion is dead."

The man\'s lips moved, but he didn\'t say anything and closed his eyes for a moment.

It felt like he was suppressing something.

After a while, the man opened his eyes and finally looked at me.

I had never seen this man\'s face so close before.

He was a member of the Crazy Mage Squad like me, but he had never spoken a word to me.

"Did you see it?"

"I saw it."

"How was it?"

"He raised his right hand."

"I see."

The man looked at me and Senior Noh alternately, then said,

"You were lucky. Join us. Youngest."

The man disappeared first, and I briefly approached Senior Noh.

I searched his pockets and found a crumpled piece of paper.

Thinking it was a memento, I put it in my pocket.

And when I looked back...

"...What?"

Surprisingly, the demon whose head had just been severed was laughing in front of me.

Its fangs glistened as it grinned from ear to ear.

So surprised, I tried to slap it, and this time, my hand moved.

Slap—

The demon\'s head turned.

Only then did I feel a sense of incongruity.

"It\'s a fake."

I kept slapping the demon.

Even as its cheek exploded, it continued to laugh.

Only after I tore out its fangs did it scream.

Now I slapped my own cheek.

Slap— Slap—

There was something I wanted to tell myself.

***

"You stubborn little shit."

When I opened my eyes wide, Blair, who was watching me, was startled and fell backward.

"What?"

"...Ah, it\'s nothing. I was worried because you were out of it."

A middle-aged woman urgently approached from the side.

"Are you feeling better?"

"Who are you?"

"I\'m Rachel, the healer."

I remembered.

She was the chief healer of Ardehain.

"May I check your pulse for a moment?"

I nodded, and Rachel placed her hand on my wrist.

Meanwhile, I looked around.

Soft bedding.

The sunlight streaming through the window felt refreshing.

"How long have I been out?"

"You\'ve been lying down for about half a day."

"...Is that so? That\'s strange."

It was a nightmare I hadn\'t had in a long time, but it was a familiar one.

I used to have this dream quite often.

Whenever I woke up from it, at least three days would have passed.

But half a day?

This was a first for me.

Suddenly, the old man from the Crazy Mage Squad came to mind.

Although it had been a long time since I lost him, I still remembered him vividly.

He was the one who was in the most similar situation to mine.

Senior Noh, who raised his right hand just before he died.

What was he trying to tell me?

Even now, I don\'t know why he acted that way at the end.

However, I could somewhat guess his thoughts.

It was a few years after he died that I took out his belongings again.

When I unfolded the crumpled piece of paper, it was written at the end of the sentence:

— To my beloved son, Mollilion.

I didn\'t bother reading the whole thing.

Confirming the end was enough.

I felt that the last sentence of the letter he sent at the end of his life was also a message to me.

It was then that the door opened with a clatter— and several women entered.

"You\'re awake, Ruin. How are you feeling?"

Chief Rachel, after checking my pulse, nodded.

"There\'s nothing unusual. He\'ll be fine soon."

"Oh, that\'s a relief."

Loren nodded, and Celestine, who was next to her, exclaimed,

"That\'s really a relief."

I looked at Loren and smiled.

"Appearing at the perfect time. As expected of Ardehain."

It was a loaded statement.

Loren didn\'t make any excuses and simply bowed to me.

"I\'m sorry, Ruin. You did your part, but Ardehain failed to do ours."

Celestine and the swordsmen also bowed to me along with Loren.

It was significant that the prideful Loren would speak this way.

Actually, it wasn\'t something to blame Ardehain for.

Even I didn\'t anticipate this.

Being caught off guard and something happening that\'s beyond common sense are two different things.

They probably only noticed the aftermath when Parin activated his magic.

Considering the time it took to check Parin\'s body, sense the self-destruction of the Demonic Soul Humans, and arrive here, they weren\'t exactly late.

I asked Rachel,

"How are Taylor and Arin?"

"Taylor is resting. It seems he pushed his mana core beyond its limits trying to activate defensive magic at the last moment. His body is under a lot of strain. Arin has severe external injuries, but nothing too serious. She\'ll recover soon."

Just then, the door burst open, and Taylor and Arin appeared.

Arin, wrapped in bandages, looked fine, while Taylor looked pale as if he were about to die.

Chief Rachel looked at them with a surprised expression.

"I told you not to move. Especially you, Taylor, you need absolute rest!"

I looked at Taylor and said,

"You\'re alive? Why didn\'t you just die?"

Taylor, glaring at me while checking my condition, let out an incomprehensible sigh and suddenly collapsed to the floor.

Chief Rachel hurriedly helped Taylor up and said,

"We need to move him to bed immediately."

As Blair moved Taylor to the bed, Rachel moistened Taylor\'s lips with a special potion from the shelf.

"You damn fool. You really do everything."

Arin sat next to Blair and looked at me.

"I\'m glad you\'re alright."

"You seem fine."

"Yes."

"Sigh."

I shook my head and looked at the two of them.

The stubborn fool acted like a stubborn fool.

However, it was unexpected that Arin was doing better than I thought.

She was directly affected by the self-destruction, but she only had external injuries?

"What a strange body."

As the situation seemed to be settling down, Loren spoke,

"Ruin, I have some questions."

I met her eyes.

It was a loaded question.

I also had a lot of questions for her.

"Let\'s dismiss everyone first."

At Loren\'s gesture, the servants and the chief healer left in an orderly fashion.

Only Loren, Celestine, a few escort swordsmen, and me and the Three Musketeers remained in the room.

Once again, mana fluctuations spread widely.

A barrier was deployed, and Loren, sitting facing me, said,

"Balkan is dead."

"I know."

Loren nodded.

"I thought so. Was it Parin\'s doing?"

"Most likely."

"What are your thoughts?"

"There\'s a high chance he was forced to commit suicide."

Loren\'s voice grew a bit lower.

"That\'s what I thought. I detected a wave completely different from ordinary mana in Parin\'s body. What\'s interesting is that the self-destructing guys emitted the same energy."

"They\'re not human. They\'re called Demonic Soul Humans."

"Demonic Soul Humans?"

"Humans without souls. They\'re practically dead. Parin\'s puppets."

Loren stood up.

"It sounds like you have an idea of their identity."

"Before that, there\'s something I want to ask first."

"Go ahead, Ruin."

"Have you ever heard of the Demon Tribe?"

Loren tilted her head and said,

"I remember seeing it in the clan\'s ancient texts."

I also stood up and asked,

"What did it say?"

"Well, it was a story about fighting against enemies that threatened the clan. It wasn\'t very credible. Clans with long histories have many such legends. Are you trying to say this incident is related to them, Ruin?"

This was the first time in this life that I had heard the Demon Tribe mentioned by someone else.

But even a clan like a noble clan only considered the Demon Tribe a legend.

Instead of answering, I took something out of my pocket.

"...A hidden weapon?"

"It\'s what Parin was using. Take a look."

I handed the evidence to Loren.

"It\'s a strangely shaped hidden weapon. The material doesn\'t seem to be metal, hmm?"

Loren\'s face hardened slightly as she sensed something.

As she injected energy into the hidden weapon, it turned from white to black.

Thick demonic energy oozed from the tip of the weapon.

"...What is this?"

As Loren tried to block the demonic energy, it spread even more intensely.

"It\'s resisting?"

Fwaang—

Loren\'s energy flared up intensely.

With a twitch of her eyebrow, Loren tightly gripped the weapon and injected more energy, and only then did the demonic energy disperse.

"...This is an unpleasant energy. It has the property of destroying mana. You\'re saying this is the hidden weapon Parin was using?"

"To be precise, it\'s not a hidden weapon, but a part of the body."

I said as I retrieved the fallen evidence.

"A demon\'s tooth, a fang to be exact."

"..."

Loren looked at me without answering, then closed her eyes.

She didn\'t open them for a while, as if a candle had burned down.

I waited for her without saying a word.

She would need time to make a judgement.

After a while, Loren, releasing the barrier, said to the outside,

"Bring in Fichte."