Chapter 163
Chapter 163
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 163
Chapter Title: Chapter 4. Uruun, the Land of Entertainment and Culture
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Descending the stairs revealed a long underground tunnel. Wooden pillars supported the ceiling at regular intervals, but they looked so precarious that it felt like the whole thing could collapse at any moment. The narrow space evoked a sense of claustrophobic dread, and even the elves seemed to feel it, their steps slowing naturally in tension.
"......"
The elves wanted nothing more than to collapse and burst into tears, but with Judah glaring at them from behind and urging them on, they had no choice but to press forward. Deciding that if they had to go through it, they might as well do it as quickly as possible, they closed their eyes and broke into a near-run.
The tunnel was longer than expected. They must have walked about 100 meters, yet the end was still nowhere in sight. It was astonishing to think when the Shadow Kingdom had even dug out such a passage.
'Well, thanks to them, I never imagined we'd escape Uruun this easily.'
The moment the end came into view, one of the elves shouted, "We're alive!" and bolted ahead at full speed. The others, not wanting to be left behind, raced up the stairs. If they'd had that much energy left, they should have run from the start.
Judah glanced back. The candles on the pedestals embedded in the walls were still burning brightly, illuminating the dark tunnel. There was no sign of pursuit, and no sounds either. Hearing the elves cheering above, he took the stairs two at a time.
"Oh, you're finally out?"
A cheerful voice greeted him, along with an outstretched hand. It belonged to Roxin. There was no real need to take it, but Judah grabbed the offered hand and emerged outside.
"Hoo—"
Stepping out from the cramped space into the open air brought a sense of liberation like an orgasm. The fresh air was just a bonus. Closing his eyes and taking a few deep breaths, the refreshing sensation lightened his heart. When he opened them and looked around, Arhil was there. True to his word, Roxin had brought her safely. She approached with a slightly bitter smile.
"You've worked hard, Mr. Yuda."
"Why the long face? Disappointed you couldn't say goodbye to Jeanne?"
Arhil slowly shook her head at Judah's question and looked at Roxin. Her gaze held a hint of pity, suggesting something had happened.
"No, I was fortunate enough to say goodbye to Miss Jeanne. Sir Wolfram saw this man enter my room and followed him in."
"Sir Wolfram? How?"
"Just... he couldn't sleep, so he was taking a walk and spotted him sneaking in."
"Did you fight?"
Judah turned to Roxin as he asked. Roxin held out his hands and grimaced, as if Judah had said something outrageous.
"Ew, don't talk nonsense. Who in their right mind would pick a fight with the owner of a spirit sword? Ha, I never even imagined the spirit sword's owner was in that mansion."
"So what happened?"
"I hurriedly explained that I wasn't there with any shady intentions. I said I'd come at your request. Luckily, Miss Arhil here overheard and vouched for me, so as you can see, I'm still in one piece."
He added that it had shaved ten years off his life. With that, silence fell between them. The only sounds were the elves chattering nearby. Judah broke the silence first, extending his hand to Roxin.
"You've worked hard."
"What are you talking about? Compared to what you did, it was nothing. So, what the hell did you do to make an explosion echo all the way here?"
Explosion? Judah paused mid-handshake.
"Didn't you have someone cause it?"
"What are you saying? Do I look crazy enough to blow up a great noble's mansion? Besides, most mansions have countermeasures against fire and magic, so a normal explosion wouldn't do squat. That's why I naturally assumed you'd pulled some trick...?"
If Roxin hadn't orchestrated the mansion explosion, then who had?
Judah had thought the Shadow Kingdom's people had triggered it to draw the guards' attention and more. The guide through the underground tunnel had led them so casually that he'd been even more convinced it was Roxin's doing.
"Not you?"
Seeing Judah go quiet, Roxin asked uneasily for confirmation.
"...That wasn't me either."
"Then who did it?"
"That was me."
In that instant, a third voice spoke from behind. The sudden emergence of a hidden presence made Judah's hair stand on end. He instantly summoned Altemia to his left hand, spun around, and slashed with his dagger. It was a sharp, swift, precise strike.
"Ah ha!"
A light, seductive, sultry voice rang out in surprise. But it wasn't laced with pain. Judah's dagger had sliced only empty air. There was no sensation of cutting flesh. Yet where the blade had passed, a human silhouette rippled like water disturbed by a sword.
"Asmodeus!"
She was a stunning beauty with purple hair, black sclera, and golden irises. The moment Judah saw her, he instantly recalled where he'd seen her before and shouted her name without thinking. Asmodeus blinked wide-eyed at the sound of her name, tilting her head.
"It's nice that you remember me... but how do you know my name?"
At least as far as she recalled, she hadn't told him her name during their last encounter before leaving. Yet this young man who'd just killed Count Jinmu called her by name with perfect accuracy—a name he shouldn't know, one that was miraculous even to have discovered....
"Roxin! Take Arhil and the elves and get out of here!"
Suddenly called upon, Roxin looked around wildly before pointing at himself and dumbly asking Arhil, "Me?" When she nodded hesitantly, he bellowed.
"You bastard! You said it was your last request!"
"Ah, then stay and die together!"
Roxin pondered for a second before making the wise choice.
"I'll leave the rest to you!"
But as he turned to run with Arhil, he noticed she hadn't budged and looked back in panic.
"I'm not going. I'll stay here with Mr. Yuda!"
Roxin tried to persuade her but nodded at the look in her eyes that screamed she absolutely wouldn't leave.
"Do what you want, then. I'm out!"
"Yes!"
Roxin immediately took command of the elves. Whether the prideful bunch would obey a human now that they were free was questionable, but they'd apparently come to respect him a little, as they started running at his order.
"Oh my?"
Asmodeus watched them go, let out a surprised sound, then smirked.
"You think I'll just let them leave?"
Her ample bosom, sliced through and rippling like waves on a calm lake, returned to normal. She spread wide the hand gloved in black fabric.
Kukukung...!
Before Judah could interfere, magic completed at her fingertips and unfurled. A central pillar erupted first, followed by others rising in sequence to form a wall. They curved in an arc, clearly meant to trap the fleeing elves, but the elves had recovered some mana after Judah unsealed their seals.
The pillars shot up right in front of them, but the elves reinforced their bodies and dashed forward at high speed, leaping over them. Roxin scooped up one elf who couldn't make it and vaulted across.
"Eh?"
Asmodeus let out a startled sound. The pillars rose at tremendous speed—fast enough that a misstep could impale someone. Yet the elves bounded fearlessly atop them and cleared them effortlessly. It was completely unexpected. Still, she took it in stride.
"No matter. I have no business with them anyway."
She swept her forward-falling hair behind her back and turned her gaze to Judah. Every movement was dripping with allure, befitting a demon of lust.
"Yuda. I can call you Yuda, right?"
Just as Judah knew Asmodeus's name, she knew his.
"How do you like the gift I gave you?"
"Gift?"
"Yeah. When you were rescuing the elves from the mansion, I lent a hand. Since you couldn't finish it cleanly."
At her words, images flashed in Judah's mind: the corpses killed by burst hearts and the exploding mansion. Come to think of it, when she'd revealed herself earlier, she'd said, "That was me."
"Why did you help me?"
She shrugged.
"No particular reason? Curiosity... and the fact that you have a fragment."
"!"
How did she know he had a fragment? Had she seen it?
Seeing Judah's stiffened expression, Asmodeus let out a light chuckle, "Hee hee hee."
"Why? Surprised? That I know?"
"......"
"I didn't just see it. I'd been searching for days for this 'elf thief' out of curiosity, and who knew you'd cause such a ruckus breaking into the mansion? I followed late and—lo and behold—there you were with the fragment that should have been in Count Jenner's possession."
Judah glanced down at his hand. Bare without gloves, Valentine and Carpediem gleamed iridescently even in the faint moonlight.
'Damn.'
Asmodeus, who had especially coveted Valentine, couldn't have missed it. She crossed her arms below her chest and tilted her head to the side.
"You thought I wouldn't notice? I don't know how you took it from that count... but talk about lucky. I nearly wasted my time fighting a fragment-less count, while it ended up in someone else's hands and slipped off to who-knows-where."
Murmuring that her curiosity had paid off, she suddenly turned and gazed toward distant Uruun, where the mansion blazed, lighting up one side of the city.
"Since it's come to this, I guess I'll use what I prepared for fighting the count as a warning to the humans."
Judah didn't yet understand her mutterings when pillars of fire erupted from within the city walls. Crimson columns shot skyward with enough force to pierce the heavens, immense mana surging within them.
"What...?"