Book 18 Chapter 29

144th Episode

<Orwarudan> Fierce Battle, the Foreshadowing of a Farewell Story (2)

"Riesta, lighten up! I told you, you don't have to worry!"

Friede shouted.

"This Fire Dragon Shamaness Friede has already issued orders to the front-line commanders. I told them to observe the routes leading to <Orwarudan>. Report immediately to me if even one blood tribe rat is spotted."

This place, a desert, is where the Hero Party and their allies are traversing through a hazy sandstorm, unable to see an inch ahead!

It might be redundant, but originally, it wasn't a desert; it was a grassland where resilient wild grasses grew waist-high!

But what desolation! The Abyss is truly fatal to nature and the ecosystem!

"Hmm… Even so, I don't think we can fight the Blood Tribe with our usual strength."

At Riesta's concern, chief tinkerer Nils Blantz narrowed his eyes.

"Our opponents are the Blood Tribe. What will you do if you overexert yourselves rushing and then face them head-on when you're exhausted?"

Friede let out a dismissive snort.

"What do you take me for? I said to retreat immediately without overexerting ourselves the moment a Blood Tribe army is spotted."

From this front-line base <Belsnarim> to <Orwarudan>, it takes exactly half a month by Republic foot-travel.

Considering the delays due to sandstorms, one should allow for at least 20 days.

There was a need to find out what the Blood Tribe, specifically the 'Pale Baronets,' were plotting in <Orwarudan> during those 20 days.

"Truly incredible leadership, isn't it? Great, isn't it? Supreme, isn't it? Kyahat, eventually, she'll just become the Shamaness who leads both the Northern and Southern Republics, won't she?"

Pipi, perched on top of that pipe, nodded in high praise!

"Kyahat, Kyahat, Kyahat! Great, supreme, Friede is the best."

Suddenly, Friede's cunning and despicable gaze turned towards the young mage engrossed in a grimoire on Lin's shoulder.

"As you can see, when this Fire Dragon Shamaness gives an order, the entire Republic stirs… Lin, you don't have a single subordinate like that, do you?"

"?"

"Of course not~ Who would listen to the commands of a bookworm mage like you, who just goes on and on about being the [Strongest Mage] every day, putting on all sorts of ridiculous shows, and only reading grimoires? Kyahahaak!"

Pipi also flapped her wings, following her owner, in provocation!

"No, no, there's no such thing."

Sval, who had only poked his face out from Lin's arms to provide a cooling effect, raged!

"Kyoooooong!"

"Triggered? Triggered? Triggered?"

"Kkyung-kyuk-kyut!"

As Friede and Pipi burst into laughter, clutching their stomachs, Lin gritted his teeth and retorted.

"The strongest mage naturally reigns alone. Subordinates are unnecessary."

He originally held such a firm belief, but seeing Friede's handling of affairs this time, he felt that having many subordinates might make various things easier.

'I should add a new item to my bucket list.'

The strongest mage giving orders to subordinates, hehe, the sound of it is the best, isn't it? No, it's the strongest.

"What a truly insane party. I'm already terrified of how these guys will be packaged and recorded in history if they end the turmoil."

At Ryuminik's muttering, Nils and Kiesa nodded in agreement.

"Why are you nodding, you idiot!"

Friede immediately punished Kiesa!

[(ㅠㅁㅠ)]

Amidst such banter, the time it took to cross the wilderness was merely 10 days!

It was time drastically shortened by Friede and Lin, who fought against the sandstorm, even overexerting themselves!

However, even as they gradually approached the city, not a single soldier came out to greet them; instead, a terrible stench of blood began to permeate the air, which was enough of an omen to make the party's mood turn chillingly grim.

"Blood… this sand, it's still damp with blood."

Riesta said, after deeply poking her index finger into the sand. When she pulled it out again, blood and sand clung to her finger.

It felt less like a sand field and more like a swamp had spread out.

Just how much blood would it take to turn this entire area into this state?

"According to ancient history, the Lord of Time is a being who has most cruelly devoured humans alive…"

Friede said, sweeping her gaze around with no hint of playfulness in her eyes.

"…And the Blood Tribe who serve that madwoman also continue the ritual of living sacrifice as a tradition. They definitely performed a ritual here!"

"!"

"Those crazy bastards, how dare they, they're performing a living sacrifice ritual with my Republic subordinates!"

Ryuminik's veins bulged on his forehead as he pulled out a tattered piece of clothing that had been buried in the sand.

"The emblem of the Martial God Alliance… so they killed them all. But there are no bodies. So where did they take them?"

<Orwarudan>, with its entire area soaked in blood, was as if engulfed in a sandstorm, and it was extremely bizarre! No, it looked dangerous at first glance!

Something!

Something unseen, yet etched into their genes as instinctive fear, was stirring and numbing their senses!

"The Southern Star, <Orwarudan>. It was a beautiful city where light poured in from all directions at noon. Now, I don't even want to go near it. To think it all rotted away in the Abyss."

Friede muttered, exhaling cigarette smoke like a sigh.

Soon, everyone's attention turned to 'her'. To Fae-Quirrier Riesta, the leader of the Hero Party!

Riesta, who had been silently gazing down at the blood-soaked city from the edge of a sheer cliff overlooking it, finally spoke.

"Hmm, it seems like everyone would be in danger if we went in there."

"Who doesn't know that?"

Lin's retort! Calm!

As everyone stared blankly at the city, holding similar thoughts, Nils spoke.

"We'll need the power of observational tools."

As Nils was about to connect an observational artifact to the six-legged walking artifact Kaptylt-II, Riesta said this:

"So Lin, how about you just blow the whole thing away with your power?"

"?"

"Wait! Let me interpret Lin's expression. Roughly, 'That's a cultural heritage site, so we should preserve its original state as much as possible for restoration!' That's what you mean, right?"

As Lin, hit exactly where it hurt, tilted his head precisely 45 degrees, Friede and Kiesa began to chuckle. Riesta said:

"I hate complicated problems. How about you, Lin? If you solve things lightly like this sometimes, the world might look different to you."

Riesta usually seemed like a madwoman, but in situations like this, she would wear an even more mad smile. As if there wasn't an inch of pretense. She's a psycho.

"And you think I don't know you'll just dump all the responsibility on me later? You evil, regionally discriminatory hero."

"I'll take all the responsibility. There are times in the world when you can just do something and regret it later."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah, because you guys are several times more precious to me than cultural heritage like that."

Riesta, of course, did not end her words as magnificently as recorded in the annals of history.

The events described hereafter were so utterly insane that they could not be recorded in history, yet they are the undeniable truth (眞實).

"And when did I discriminate regionally! Lin is the real bigot!"

"When did I, where did I, on what year, month, and day of the Common Era? How many times have the sun and moon risen since then?"

"W-well, I can't say that specifically, but anyway, you don't respect people who can't eat northern food!"

Friede stepped in to mediate the fight between the hero and the mage with cigarette smoke. As the two coughed from the smoke, Friede said:

"Blow it all away, Lin. Didn't you always want a toy that wouldn't break, no matter how much power you put into it?"

"!"

"Your dream, embracing endless possibilities, is spread out dazzlingly before you!"

"!!!"

"You don't need to feel any burden at all. Since the position of Southern Republic Shamaness is currently vacant, I am the Republic's top, Lin, happy belated birthday. I'll give you the authority to demolish that city."

Lin's eyes welled up.

The dew from his tear ducts made his eyes shine transparently.

"Y-yes, yes…!"

Brain-Blood Discharge, maximum output deployment.

Usage count is unlimited (無制限).

It's unlimited in name only; currently, the Brain-Blood Discharge can be used 3 times.

'It just means I'll use it continuously until my magic power is depleted, and then I'll drink a magic potion when it runs out!'

Madness!

True madness!

True madness that would make even the <Forgotten Kings> flee their thrones!

"Ahahahaha!"

"Ohohohoho!"

"Kyahahaha!"

Pure, innocent laughter, as if children were splashing water on each other and demolishing sandcastles in the sea!

However, this was a battlefield!

Instead of friendly water droplets scattering at the beach, remnants of rubble and aftershocks from a massive explosion were incessantly flying around the Hero Party!

"This one's going with much stronger firepower, Yaaah!"

"Lin, over there, over there, that's left too!"

"Bashat!"

"Hey, you idiot, Lin! That building is perfectly fine! I told you not to go easy on it!"

"Yah!"

[☜☜(★ㅁ★)]

"Even if you don't rush me, I'll destroy everything, Kiesa! Bashashat!"

Nils pulled out the X-Blast Plasma Cannon that had been attached to Kaptylt-II and said:

"Hey Lin, can I also play along and destroy your sandcastle?"

"Of course. Yaaah!"

"Kwooohh!"

The lightning bolt that immediately struck Nils made the control terminal of the X-Blast Plasma Cannon emit a dazzling light!

"Charging 2,000%! Lin, just say the word! I'll hit and smash anything you want!"

"Lin, Lin, Lin!"

"That building, you say? Hah, you rascal! So greedy! Just wait. I'll smash it for you right away! Yah!"

"Lin! Lin! Lin!"

"Direct hit! Guhahahaha!"

In the midst of that madness, Ryuminik, the only one maintaining his sanity, asked Sval in terror.

"Are you guys really the Hero Party? No matter how I look at it, you seem like the Demon Lord's Party, don't you? You just secretly swapped your name tags with others, right?"

"Kkyung…"

"That's right, that's right, that's right."

Of course, that tragic revelry of destruction was halted by the Apostles of Justice who hastily appeared when the city was almost 50% ruined.

It was blood!

Blood droplets formed the shapes of flying insects, swarming and flying towards them! It was also Riesta the Hero's trap working.

"Well, finally, a big one has been caught."

Although there was no information about the opponent, he could be recognized immediately just by his terrifying presence.

The fact that this guy was one of the Blood Tribe leaders.

A Pale Baronet!

If the Hero Party had had information about this man, someone might have shouted "Blood Insect Fiend (血蟲貴) Kasian!"

"This is interesting. How on earth did they discern and interfere with the ritual that was being conducted inside… Is there a future that 'His\/Her Excellency's' foresight couldn't see?"

That's not all.

Something that shot up as if rebounding from within the city, landed on the sand field, empowered by its strong elasticity.

Blood Combat Fiend (血鬪貴), Jigen!

"Finally, a worthy opponent has appeared. I was getting rather tired of how vulgarly weak humans are."

And the blood buried in the ground shot up like a standardized frame… that is, like iron bars, almost trapping the Hero Party.

"I had hoped that heroes might have a certain dignity in their bloodlust, but you reek worse than other humans. It's irritating."

Sitting above it was Dicado, the Blood Prison Fiend (血獄貴), with an eternally tired expression. He was the youngest among the three Pale Baronets who had come here. Visually, he looked to be around Lin's age.

"Smell? You say I smell? Really?"

Riesta suddenly put her nose to her own body and began sniffing.

"Lin, do I smell? No, right? I don't, do I, huh?"

Just as Lin, finding her reaction utterly pathetic, opened his tiny bird-like eyes, the Blood Tribe's eyes trembled with rage.

That was top-tier provocation!

Wasn't it a provocation that deeply conveyed a sense of ease, implying that the opponent was no challenge at all, thus instilling a feeling of defeat in them!

"What did you do with those guys who were here?"

Friede asked.

Blood Combat Fiend Jigen raised an eyebrow with a truly puzzled expression.

"Do humans ask a servant what was done with cattle or pigs used for cooking? I could answer if you really want."

Martial Master Ryuminik flexed his muscles and stepped forward.

"Teasing people is indeed a hobby among hobbies for this Martial Master Ryuminik, but Pale Baronets, even the time to play such games with you is a waste. Where is Berom? Tell him this Ryuminik is here to kill him right now, and tell him to come out."

At that, the Blood Insect Fiend began to laugh.

"Hehehehehehe. Lord Berom, by the likes of you? I've lived long enough to hear such amusing sophistries."

The Blood Combat Fiend also let out a snicker, and only the Blood Prison Fiend gazed at the sandstorm with a bored expression.

"The stench is pervasive. Why are you laughing leisurely? Why not just end it immediately?"

At that moment, a murderous torrent of blood (血流) began to swirl over the backs of the Pale Baronets.

What an overwhelming presence!

What a surging pressure of blood within their bodies! At that moment, Riesta laughed! Friede and Kiesa smirked! Only Lin, with a dismissive sigh, stated the reason.

"What, I was somewhat expecting something when they put on such a show, but they're still far too weak to contend with the four of us."

Of course, if they had to face them individually, it might be quite threatening, but they are the Hero Party. When the four of them fought together, they had been victorious (戰勝) in all battles against strong enemies so far.

"Why just you four? Where do we go, you idiot!"

A wrench plunged onto Lin's crown! Attempted murder!

"Crazy, I almost died! I could even see the Dean waving from across the river!"

"I meant to kill you, you idiot!"

"You crazy dwarf, are you suggesting that because you're short, your brain is also small?"

That farce truly made the blood boil in every vein of the Pale Baronets with an indescribable insult.

Humans are prey.

The Blood Tribe is the apex of the ecological pyramid, reigning over humans.

Does prey have the leisure to play tricks in front of a predator? No. That leisure is something only a predator can afford.

Yet these guys were playing such tricks.

That was clear proof that they perceived these Pale Baronets not as predators, but as prey.

"How dare these lowly beings… I'll turn you into living sacrifices and offer you before His\/Her Excellency's altar right now!"