Book 16 Chapter 15
The strongest black magic group of all time!
Clash, Chilhon (7)
Right now, this place where a boy is being led by guards, his hands bound, is the Prison of Despair, built underground in <Horusen>!
It is both a prison and a labor camp.
It would later be tallied that during the several months the Black Church occupied the royal capital, the number of citizens of the Hosen Kingdom who died here reached 30% of the total population.
“K-Kuhuhuhu.”
“A cute baby has arrived.”
“So young, yet he’s come here.”
In the room where the guard kicked the pitiful boy’s back, pushing him in, people began to drool.
“Huhuhu…”
Is he crazy? The boy laughed in that desperate situation.
“Huhuhuhuhuhu…”
Has he lost his mind? Not at all. This boy is, in fact, the mage of the Hero’s party.
A master of magic!
This crazy boy is laughing because he has always dreamed of such situations.
“Kih-hee-hee, from now on, I’ll teach you what the rules of this place are…”
He wanted to see the sight of the senior prisoners acting all arrogant like this, and then shrieking, “H-Hii-eek! Were you a mage?!” as their expressions changed.
The people gradually approached. Their features became increasingly clear in the lamplight.
“How can he be so young…”
But what happened! What they were shedding wasn’t drool, but tears. They weren’t laughing, they were crying!
They approached, crying, and patted the boy’s cheek, shoulder, or back with their emaciated fingers, and cried again.
“Let’s work harder.”
“Huhuhu…”
“Yes. Let’s protect him so those guards can’t harm him.”
“Huhuhuhuhuhu…”
“Sniff, sniff, how sad must his experience have been for him to only be able to laugh like this.”
Rin, noticing that something was going strangely, stopped laughing. His face slowly became tinged with bewilderment and despair.
“What is this? Something’s a bit strange.”
* * *
Rin successfully infiltrated the underground prison.
The mercenary group [Song of the Lion] was tasked with liberating the citizens from the underground labor camp in the meantime, and preparing for an all-out war with [Chilhon].
The beings who stood in their way were none other than [Chilhon]’s ‘Noble Family Branch Combo’.
“There wasn’t such a massive tunnel beneath the royal capital…?”
Before that battle began, Leonia, while defeating the Black Church’s henchmen, gazed blankly at the vast underground passage (地下道).
A cavern larger than the entire royal capital, at the bottom, deeper than the ocean, where nothing could be seen… was creating a passage that seemed to lead to the abyss (深淵).
The common people forced into labor were expanding this cavern at the bottom, and due to abnormal geothermal heat, they died from exhaustion and their flesh melting.
The Black Church provided that human flesh as food to the prisoners. Horrific!
“Pencion, can you see what’s happening down there?”
“I can see it, but… there are many ancient runes and most are forbidden Orbios, so I can’t interpret them.”
“Leonia, was there perhaps a dormant volcano down here?”
“Why?”
“The laborers we just freed said that at one point, lava leaked from below, killing hundreds.”
“Lava? That can’t be… We’re far from any volcanoes here.”
Something was eerie. That eeriness soon enveloped Leonia’s body as a chill.
No, this isn't a chill. Rain, rain was falling. Not just simple rain… but acid rain, grotesquely slimy, oxidizing armor and fur!
“Rain?”
“Crazy, aren’t we underground!”
“How is it raining?”
“This is magic! Everyone, be careful!”
Swaaahhh… Rain poured down so heavily that visibility was obscured. Amidst that noise, a being appeared in their midst, having erased all trace of its appearance, presence, and shadow.
A black mage, whose [Chilhon] robe and plate armor were harmonized in a heavy, creamy color. The rune embroidered on his back was [Water (水)]. Dazesos of the Torrential Rain (沛雨).
“Will anything change if you’re careful?”
From his two hands, a longsword and a short sword, crafted from ancient raven feathers sharpened into blades, targeted Leonia!
Leonia dodged. But the moment the sword touched the space where Leonia had just been, Leonia’s body multiplied into two. The Leonia who dodged and the Leonia who did not.
“!” “!” “!”
The feather blade easily sliced through the chest of the Leonia who hadn't dodged. The next moment, the body of the Leonia who hadn't dodged merged with the body of the Leonia who had, and the injury was also synchronized.
With a single strike that easily melted her fur and breastplate and carved out the flesh underneath, Leonia spurted blood!
“Leonia!”
Jussy, attempting to stop Dazesos from delivering a follow-up attack to Leonia, found her feet strangely heavy.
The ground was holding her feet.
Had the acid rain made the ground gooey and sedimentary? No, the ground seemed to have a will of its own, clutching Jussy’s ankles.
“That won’t do, it won’t do. Not if you try to live life so easily.”
In a singing tone, a woman was seen on the other side of the acid rain, bouncing jacks on her palm.
“Don’t you understand? The moment you cross us, the strongest duo in [Chilhon], it’s all over.”
Her [Chilhon] uniform robe was roughly torn to reveal her wildness (野性) and ensure freedom of movement. The rune embroidered on her back was [Earth (地)]. In other words, she was Hayezri of the Devouring Earth (食土).
“Damn it all!”
Leonia let out a battle cry and swung her axe blade widely in a horizontal arc.
The wind pressure itself was violence. Dazesos blocked it by crossing his feather swords. To lessen the impact, he kicked off the ground and retreated to where Hayezri was, beyond the rain.
“What happened? Leonia should have been in a perfect evasion trajectory just now!”
Cove shouted, firing arrows from his bow at the two.
“It’s because of that sword. A holy relic of the Abyss.”
More accurately than anyone, Pencion, who had observed the extraordinary abilities exchanged in that moment’s offense and defense through Bell Sidius, spoke.
“I don’t know how many ancient curses twisting spacetime are imbued in it.”
Artifacts refer to the legacies of <Those Who Came>, while Holy Relics (星物) generally refer to the products of fallen stars, in other words, legacies of the Abyss.
“And this voice… could it be Hayezri?!”
“Who is Hayezri?”
“From the eastern magic families, a descendant from a branch family of the Warden household. She’s a descendant of a family that at least made a name for itself among the branch families.”
Hayezri grinned broadly.
“Yes. But you are a princess with the first right of succession to the kingdom, the legitimate heir of Ludwig who awakened Bell Sidius, a promising talent of the [Taehwagung Faction], and an enforcer of the Republic? You’re all chosen ones from birth. I’m jealous.”
Hayezri, who suddenly snatched the jacks she had been bouncing on her palm, clenched her fist tight, causing the jacks to rub and grind against each other, creating an unpleasant grating sound.
“Because I’m jealous, I feel like smashing all of you to pieces.”