Chapter 52
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: Fair Compensation
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It wasn’t a coincidence.
It was anxiety.
Knowing this event had diverged considerably from the future in the Prophecy Book, I was anxious about whether Aint would be able to obtain it safely.
So I just wanted to see it through to the end with my own eyes.
“But it seems I did the right thing.”
That anxiety gave me a chance to prevent the future from twisting into the worst possible outcome.
“Condolence money?”
Heh heh, the Vile Breed’s half-bent back straightened once more.
“Insolent fool. Your corpse will vanish without a trace, never to be found by anyone.”
“Aint, can you stand?”
“Yes, yes…!”
Aint struggled to his feet, but he was clearly not in good condition. Pernyan tossed him a potion.
“Drink this.”
“Thank you. But why are you here….”
A rock wall erupted from the ground. A black flash pierced through it. But in that brief moment of hesitation, Aint managed to duck, narrowly avoiding the beam.
He rolled on the floor and picked up his fallen sword.
-Are you alright, Aint!
“Drink the potion and join the fight, Aint Armian!”
Aint quickly downed the potion. Pernyan had already engaged the Vile Breed.
“Do you think a whelp like you can stop me!”
“The more I hear that voice, the more disgusting it becomes.”
Clumps of demonic energy were blocked by a wall of rock.
─!
It shattered under the swipe of a claw that followed, but from within the dust cloud, Pernyan slammed his staff down.
Dozens of rock spikes shot out, blanketing the Vile Breed.
“Pathetic…!”
The moment it took a short breath in and out, the roiling demonic energy swelled and deflected every spear.
In the next instant, demonic energy erupted into thorns and rushed toward Pernyan. Like a storm.
──!
The rock wall that shot up was torn apart as easily as a rag. The storm crashed into another wall, but it failed to break that one.
However, unable to withstand the impact itself, Pernyan was pushed back. Just as he was about to steady his wavering stance, the black shadow descended upon him again.
*CRASH!*
The claws stopped just before Pernyan’s nose. A translucent barrier stood between them.
“You carry around quite a lot of shoddy trinkets…!”
Borrowing the power of the artifact, Pernyan unleashed a memorized spell.
*Rumble-*
The ground the Vile Breed stood on flipped over. Its body momentarily faltered and was thrown into the air.
Above it, a pair of giant rock hands clapped together as if in prayer.
─!
A deafening roar shook the underground chamber.
A moment of silence. Pernyan then threw dozens of glass vials at once.
*Clink, clank,* the liquids from the vials seeped through the cracks between the clasped hands.
In that instant, the rock hands shattered into nothingness. The Vile Breed’s groans mixed with the tremendous noise.
“You…! What in the world is this…!”
Along with acrid smoke, some of the demonic energy covering its entire body was dissipating.
What is it? It’s holy water, prepared specifically to catch things like you.
“Is there any reason I should tell you?”
Suppressing the urge to mock the creature, Pernyan touched the bracelet on his wrist.
A bolt of lightning struck down.
“Ugh, you damn bastard…!”
Even so, the Vile Breed swallowed its groans and managed to contain the demonic energy that was slowly being eaten away.
“Did you know? The element I actually have the highest affinity for is fire.”
The Vile Breed didn't answer. Pernyan hadn't expected one.
“I may have focused on learning earth magic, but I never completely neglected fire magic. It’s always good to have more cards up your sleeve.”
Though not as good as having more money.
“And did you know? Earth magic is the most useful of all elemental magics for drawing magic circles. It’s hard to think of a pile of dirt as a magic circle.”
So, what I’m saying is.
“You pretended to listen to me to buy time to control your demonic energy, but that, too, was within my expectations.”
At that moment, the magic circle drawn with dirt began to glow.
It was a massive circle, encompassing a five-meter radius around the Vile Breed.
“You son of a…!”
────!
A colossal pillar of fire engulfed the Vile Breed.
A roar echoed. The heat swept through the area.
“What are you doing, Aint Armian.”
“…Huh.”
Aint, who had been staring blankly at the scene, blinked his eyes.
“I was just about to drink the potion and step in….”
“Was there a spatial expansion spell on the bottle?”
“…That’s not it.”
“I’ll leave the finishing blow to you. My magic is too weak to finish off something like that.”
Pernyan was right. Where the flames had died down, the Vile Breed was still standing.
Although its demonic energy was greatly diminished and blackened burn marks were visible here and there, it was still alive.
Its fighting spirit and killing intent hadn’t died at all. No, its killing intent had only grown stronger.
“It doesn’t seem that weak….”
“Surely you’re not telling me you can’t even finish off something in that state?”
“Of course not.”
Aint’s expression hardened as he stepped forward. A brilliant white aura surged forth.
“Right, you have to earn the Heart of a Saint Bird.”
Aint kicked off the ground.
“I’ll kill…! I’ll kill you…!”
The Vile Breed roared, squeezing out its remaining demonic energy.
──!
Aint and the Vile Breed crossed paths.
The Vile Breed was still fast. But weakened by the holy water and the power of light, it was not as fast as Aint.
The Vile Breed’s hide was tough. But it was no longer durable enough to block a sword.
“To think I would end so meaninglessly…!”
With its last words, the Vile Breed’s head fell….
“Ah, wait, don’t kill it! We need to find out who’s behind it!”
…it didn’t fall, but its limbs were severed. Its body collapsed to the floor.
“Ugh…! My arm…!”
Aint screamed as his arm twisted at an unnatural angle, a consequence of forcefully changing the trajectory of his swing mid-motion.
***
-That one’s a real piece of work!
As Aint set his twisted arm back in place and poured the potion Pernyan had given him on it, he realized Gardner Alpenparsen was incredibly excited.
-His magical skill itself might be uncertain, but he knows how to utilize what he has and his surroundings. That is an outstanding talent.
-And above all, he shows no fear against a Vile Breed, and his mockery of it is a work of art!
‘It feels like you gave the highest marks to that last part. I don’t think he really mocked it, did he?’
-You lack insight. The brilliance to anticipate the Vile Breed’s thoughts and turn them on their head. And then, the taunt of kindly explaining it to the Vile Breed to twist its insides.
-Everything was perfect.
‘If you say so, Sir Gardner.’
Aint’s gaze shifted to Pernyan, who was sitting on a rock, resting.
‘Honestly, I didn’t expect him to be this skilled….’
If Aint was the eye of the storm among the first-years, then Pernyan Fallenberg was undoubtedly his counterpart among the second-years.
Rumors were rampant that he, who had been ranked 10th until his first year, had been hiding his true abilities, as he had started climbing the ranks at a frightening pace the moment he became a second-year.
‘He really was hiding his skills, wasn’t he?’
-It wouldn’t make sense otherwise. You have my help, but he does not.
‘Why would he hide such skills? If it were me, I would have shown them off immediately.’
While Aint was thinking of Pernyan in a slightly different light, Pernyan slowly approached the fallen Vile Breed.
“Crawling on the ground like an insect truly suits you.”
“You, you bastard…!”
“I have a gift for you.”
A glass vial was forced into the Vile Breed’s mouth. The holy water inside began to be poured down its throat, and the creature let out a bloodcurdling scream.
“Kraaaaaaahk!”
“It’s good for you, so drink up.”
The Vile Breed’s mouth and throat contorted as if burned. Pernyan reached inside.
“What are you doing?”
“I’ve been through this once befo… not there.”
Was it not a poison tooth, but a magical restriction? Then again, that seemed more plausible for demons.
“If I ask you to politely tell me where your master is, you won’t talk, will you?”
“Don’t be ridiculous…! Though I was defeated due to my own shortcomings, you will never achieve what you desire! You will die here today, with me…!”
It was at that moment.
*Crack-*
The Vile Breed’s chest caved in as Pernyan’s hand plunged inside. The creature coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Pernyan poured holy water into the gaping hole in its chest.
“Kuaaaaaaaahk!”
A scream of a completely different magnitude from before assaulted their eardrums.
It was only natural for the holy water to react violently with the demonic energy when poured directly onto the heart where it was concentrated—a place mages called the Mana Heart.
“Trying to self-destruct? Do I look foolish enough to fall for the same trick twice?”
A Vile Breed’s self-destruction wasn’t all that impressive. It was simply causing the demonic energy in its Mana Heart to go berserk. Naturally, if the demonic energy itself was erased, it would be impossible.
“I’ve thought of an interesting method. One that might even be able to purify you.”
Demons and demonic beasts that descended from demonic energy were ‘demonic’ itself. If one used holy water, which annihilates demonic energy, to its limit, they would likely just vanish.
But what about a Vile Breed?
They were creatures of this middle world. Vermin who betrayed humanity to worship demons and were granted their power.
Since their origin wasn't demonic, if one were to erase the demonic energy again and again, wouldn’t their original form eventually remain?
“When that happens, will you still be able to pledge loyalty to your demon and keep your mouth shut?”
It would require a great deal of holy water, but that didn’t matter.
“You can look forward to it. I acquired a large quantity recently.”
Unfortunately, the Vile Breed, which had collapsed foaming at the mouth with its eyes rolled back, could not hear him.
-A novel method. I believe making that one an ally from the start was a divine move.
-If you can truly purify a Vile Breed with that holy water, this could be quite useful.
-Perhaps adding the Armian family’s power of light might yield even more significant results.
-Hm? Aint, why do you look so pale?
“…No, it’s just….”
He couldn’t bring himself to say that Pernyan seemed more demonic than a demon.
-Nonsense. To think such a thing about an individual who seems more reliable than anyone.
-You still have a long way to go.
Of course, Gardner, who could read his thoughts, knew exactly what he was thinking.
Today, for some reason, Gardner felt very distant to Aint.
***
*Creeak-*
As blood was offered, the tightly sealed door slid open with a soft groan. A staircase leading down was revealed.
The staircase was quite long. About 100 meters.
Descending from one underground level to another, it was hard to gauge just how deep this place was.
“But am I allowed to enter here?”
“Yes, it’s fine. You saved my life, senior.”
“Well, if you say so.”
At the bottom of the stairs was a single door, and beyond it, a short corridor unfolded. The walls on either side of the corridor were covered with various murals.
“This is….”
-Demons.
“Demons.”
The figures depicted in the murals were ten in number, but they were not human. Despite being mere paintings, they were so vivid they evoked a sense of dread and disgust.
Aint stood before a demon with a near-human appearance, a snake coiled tightly around one arm.
“This must be the 72nd demon, Andromalius. And next to him is the 71st, Decarabia.”
Decarabia had a human form with multiple heads and held a book in one hand.
“But they seem to be glaring at each other?”
“So they are. I suppose they don’t get along?”
It wasn’t just those two. All the demons, paired in twos, were staring at each other with looks that were anything but friendly.
-He is right. Not all demons get along.
-Just as humans have countless kingdoms and organizations, demons too have factions and compete with one another.
-His late Majesty might not have been able to defeat that fiend Collomo had he not exploited that fact.
Passing through the corridor, they offered blood again to open another door. Inside was what Aint had been looking for.
A small, white, shard-like artifact.
“Is this the First Emperor’s provision? A fragment?”
“It’s an ornament. For this sword.”
“I see. Take it, quickly.”
Aint nodded and slowly approached.
-A high-level barrier is in place. Extend the sword. It will react to this blade and deactivate.
As he extended the sword, a small ripple occurred. An invisible barrier vanished like mist.
*Click.* The fragment fit perfectly into a small groove on the hilt.
Aint let out a ragged breath as a faint energy seeped into him.
“It’s done.”
“But I feel rather sorry. You saved my life, yet I’m the only one getting something like this…. If I could, I would give you anything.”
As the descendant of a poor, former imperial family, he had nothing to give. Or more accurately, he had nothing that would satisfy Pernyan.
“No, you have something that will satisfy me.”
But Pernyan firmly shook his head.
“Pardon?”
“Can you really give me anything?”
“…Yes. As long as it’s not this sword….”
“It’s not the sword, so don’t worry. That.”
Pernyan’s finger pointed upward. Aint’s head followed his gesture.
The ceiling. There was nothing there. Except for the magic lamps embedded at intervals.
“…There’s nothing but magic lamps….”
“Yes, that’s it.”
“Pardon?”
“Give me all the magic lamps installed in this dungeon. That will be more than enough for me.”
There were exactly 100 of them from the entrance onward; this dungeon was a gold mine.