“Enough. Where did you put Darren’s soul?”
“It would not be any fun if I told you already. Why do we not take our time and enjoy ourselves?”
“…I can see right through you.”
Rud glared sharply at Shuran and continued.
“On the day you went to retrieve the corpse, you discovered that the Heros you had cast had been dispelled. You immediately went to the nearby village and began investigating. Then, when you happened to learn that Darren’s aunt was a Mage, you sent Karte after me. You wanted to force me to use Dark Magic in front of a Mage.”
In truth, Shuran had never intended to kill Rud from the beginning.
Although he had not yet confirmed it, he feared that if a Dark Mage had joined the police, Rud would eventually establish contact with the Magic Association as well.
Shuran had therefore tried to create a deep conflict between the two sides.
What would be the most effective way to accomplish that?
He would create an environment in which Rud had no choice but to use Dark Magic, arranging matters so that the Mages would discover his identity naturally.
Karte and Arsil had both been used for that purpose.
At one point, Shuran had worried that Rud might use Mana instead, but that concern had been foolish and premature.
Rud could not use Mana.
Once Shuran knew that, everything became simple.
By sharing the sight of the corpses under his control, Shuran had witnessed everything that had happened.
The result had been an overwhelming success.
Rud had now been reduced to someone who could no longer move freely within either faction.
“You are more intelligent than I expected. I am also surprised that you came all the way here despite understanding everything.”
Shuran spoke with a mocking grin.
“No matter how closely connected you are to the police, you will never evade the Magic Association’s pursuit alone. Of course, the situation would be different if there were someone willing to help you.”
“Are you mocking me?”
“It is simple curiosity. I know almost nothing about you. At the same time, I do not believe I need to know anything.”
Refusing to take an interest in others was Shuran’s strategy for survival.
Without lowering the corners of his grinning mouth, Shuran arrogantly raised both arms.
“You have two choices left. You can serve beneath me as a slave for the rest of your life, or you can become a stinking corpse and spend eternity obeying my commands. Choose. I am confident that I can respect either decision.”
It was less a choice than a threat designed to force his submission.
Rud quietly snorted in disbelief.
Shuran had probably lived this way for hundreds of years.
He artificially created circumstances in which his target could never refuse his offer. Then, after displaying overwhelming power, he turned the person into a slave he could exploit forever.
The thought filled Rud with anger.
How many corpses had been exploited for Shuran’s selfish desires?
Rud did not expect anything resembling human compassion from him.
What could one expect from a man who manipulated the corpse of a dead mother and forced her to murder the villagers before the eyes of her surviving child?
Rud had expected Shuran to make such an offer from the beginning.
He intended to bring Rud, a Secret Police Officer, under his control and use him to violate and dismantle Public Authority as he pleased.
‘He probably intends to make me a Double Agent.’
Unfortunately for Shuran, Rud had not come here intending to obey him.
The objective of this mission was Shuran’s elimination.
Rud had come here with that single purpose in mind.
He would consider nothing else.
Rud raised the corners of his lips in the same manner as Shuran and declared,
“Then will you also respect my decision to refuse?”
A brief silence followed.
Shuran blinked as though unable to understand what he had just heard.
Rud was fully aware of his current position, yet he had still given such an answer. Shuran found that fact profoundly strange.
“I am afraid that is not a decision I can respect.”
Shuran spoke with finality.
A moment later—
HISSSSSSS!
A murky aura began surging violently from Shuran’s body.
As though responding to it, countless skeletons that had been sleeping beneath the earth dug their own way out of their graves and gathered around Shuran protectively.
“…?”
Startled, Rud quickly examined the Skeleton Knights glaring fiercely at him.
There appeared to be more than a hundred of them.
Their upper bodies were covered in Silver armor riddled with holes, and each held a rusted sword whose edge had long since crumbled away.
They appeared to be Knights who had died in an ancient war.
Rud now understood why Shuran had chosen to meet him here.
“Do you know anything about this Lake?”
Shuran spoke as though he had read Rud’s thoughts.
“One hundred years ago, soldiers exhausted by war stopped here to catch their breath. A passing enemy soldier discovered them and immediately summoned his allies, who slaughtered everyone in the area. Today, the incident is known as the Lakeside Tragedy.”
Rud knew the story.
Gared had not allowed Rud to remain a simple-minded brute who knew nothing but training.
Whenever there was time, he summoned tutors and forced Rud to study. If Rud failed to achieve the required scores, Gared doubled the intensity of his training.
As a result, Rud possessed a respectable amount of general knowledge.
Rud spoke.
“Are you trying to boast about how knowledgeable you are?”
“Of course not.”
Shuran raised his chin arrogantly and looked down at Rud.
“However, you will regret underestimating them merely because they are piles of bones.”
Rud was well aware that ancient Knights had been trained to a level where they could rival Mages.
That was probably what Shuran had intended to tell him.
Even so, the man was underestimating Rud far too much.
SNAP!
Shuran snapped his fingers.
As though it were a signal, the Skeleton Knights charged simultaneously at the motionless Rud.
The creaking of their bones whenever their legs moved grated unpleasantly against Rud’s ears.
The Skeleton Soldiers had been dead for a full century.
Nevertheless, they appeared to remember every instinct they had possessed while alive.
Moving in perfect formation, the Skeleton Knights leaped high and thrust their rusted swords toward Rud without hesitation.
The remaining Skeleton Knights followed closely behind, swarming around Rud like moths drawn to a light.
It was over.
Before Shuran could finish that thought—
BOOOOM!!!!
Every Skeleton Knight surrounding Rud was blasted away by a Shockwave.
Their entire bodies crumbled miserably into powder.
“…?!”
“There must be a great many mosquitoes because we are in the mountains.”
Rud muttered calmly, as though nothing had happened.
Shuran’s eyes widened before an awkward smile appeared on his face.
“So that is your ‘Unique Magic’…”
“Shairin… Shairin…”
Didia repeated her name several times in a trembling voice, but tragically, Shairin could not answer her call.
The pool of blood beneath her continued to deepen.
Her lifeless skin had turned White, and her half-open eyelids showed no sign of closing.
She was dead.
Shairin had died.
She had died while trying to save someone as insignificant as Didia.
There was a limit to how senseless reality could be.
The grief in Didia’s eyes rapidly burned away beneath the flames of rage as she fixed her gaze on the Knight.
The Knight appeared accustomed to killing people and displayed no emotion whatsoever.
His relaxed expression made it seem as though he were merely passing through another part of his endlessly repetitive daily routine.
“Why are you glaring at me so frighteningly?”
Noticing Didia’s gaze, the Knight spoke in an irritated tone.
“You Mages always claim to work for the public good, but the truth has always been the opposite. Am I wrong?”
The Knight knew all too well the atrocities Mages had committed in the past.
He wanted to hack Shairin’s corpse apart until nothing recognizable remained.
He restrained himself only because he considered himself a person who disliked cruelty.
Without saying a word, Didia glared at the Knight as though she intended to kill him immediately.
Then she climbed down from Gaten’s back.
“Didia? Didia! What are you planning to do?!”
Letra, who had hurriedly approached, sensed something deeply unsettling and shouted.
Whether she could no longer hear Letra’s voice or simply chose to ignore it, Didia spoke in a suddenly frigid tone.
“Letra, take Darren and leave this place.”
A hideous murderous aura shimmered within her rage.
She intended to fight the Knight.
Letra shouted as though Didia had lost her mind.
“No! You know how powerful the Knights of the past were!”
Letra had known Didia for a long time and understood the full extent of her abilities better than anyone.
She understood how Didia felt.
However, fighting now would be no different from throwing away the life Shairin had sacrificed herself to save.
“Didia!!”
Even when Letra desperately called her name, Didia paid no attention.
“Mana Restriction Released, Size Enhancement!”
The moment Didia shouted without hesitation, Gaten’s already enormous body began expanding rapidly.
She was serious.
At this rate, Darren might be injured.
Letra hurriedly used Levitation Magic to lower Darren safely to the ground.
“Darren, are you all—?”
Letra’s words came to an unnatural stop.
Her thoughts fell into confusion when she saw Darren staring blankly ahead with wide, unfocused eyes.
“Darren? Darren, what is wrong? Say something!”
“…”
Only silence reached her ears.
Letra’s complexion turned ashen.
Darren had been in the company of a Dark Mage named Shuran.
She had prepared herself for the possibility that he might have done something to the boy.
Even so, seeing Darren in this condition caused rage to surge within her.
“Do you intend to challenge me with that ugly mutt?”
The Knight mocked them in a contemptuous tone.
Gaten’s expanding body had now reached a height of five meters.
Greater size was not always an advantage.
Whether Didia understood that or not, she extended an arm toward the Knight.
“Gaten, erase him without leaving a trace.”
The moment she issued the command—
BOOM!!!!
A Sky-Blue Orb rapidly formed inside Gaten’s mouth and launched like a cannonball in the blink of an eye.
Its speed was enough to catch even the Knight off guard.
Through miraculous reflexes, he instinctively lowered his upper body and avoided it.
Had it struck him directly, it might not have killed him, but it would certainly have inflicted serious injuries.
BOOOOM!!!!
The enormous Orb tore through the air and struck the empty ground, producing a thunderous explosion.
To the Knight, it felt as though an enormous bomb had fallen.
Gaten was not merely a wolf that wagged his tail and obediently followed human commands.
The attack did not stop.
Gaten formed more Orbs of the same size inside his mouth and fired them in rapid succession like a Machine Gun.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
It sounded as though gunshots were erupting from his mouth.
The Knight sliced neatly through the Orbs flying toward him with his sword, diverting their trajectories.
BOOOOM!!
The fragments struck the ground in the wrong places, producing repeated bursts of displaced air.
A dense cloud of Dust billowed upward and obscured the surroundings.
The Knight ignored it and ran in a straight line, closing the distance between himself and Didia.
He was targeting Gaten’s master.
Realizing this, Gaten quickly swung a forepaw at him.
The Knight lightly leaped over the attack.
WHOOOSH!
Although it was only a single leg passing through the air, it produced the heavy sound of a massive blunt weapon.
Only four meters remained between them.
The Knight steadied his posture and raised his sword high.
Gaten attempted to stop him somehow, but controlling a body that had become more than twice as heavy was difficult.
Ignoring everything around him, the Knight swung his blade toward one of Didia’s vital points.
At that moment—
WHOOOOSH!!
Another tree came flying toward him from the side.
The Knight sliced it neatly apart with his sword and retreated to create some distance.
He glanced sideways.
Letra glared at him viciously and spoke in a low voice.
“Tell me where Shuran is.”