Chapter 361
Chapter 361
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 361
Chapter Title: Side Story 46. Guardian of the Family (5)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Krraaang!"
As Lanse thrust his sword forward, rotten blood sprayed out.
The undead leopard, its belly pierced through, collapsed.
This wiped out all the undead that had been charging at the front.
"They reek something awful..."
But that was no real comfort.
He'd only taken down the ones right in front of him. Countless more undead still swarmed beyond.
The main force would arrive in less than five minutes.
Erin, who had been back-to-back with Lanse, asked worriedly.
"Oppa. You okay?"
"No... Hoo, what makes you think that?"
Lanse shook his head.
He couldn't show any weakness.
Every ragged breath brought the taste of blood in his mouth.
He wasn't really hurt—it was just from swinging his sword so hard.
Erin smiled with her eyes.
"Don't worry. Erin will protect you, oppa."
"You little...! You gonna keep teasing?"
"But Erin took down just as many as you."
Erin's lips puffed out.
And it was true—corpses littered the ground at her feet.
The number was only slightly fewer than what Lanse had felled.
Unlike Lanse, whose breath came up to his throat, Erin's face was utterly serene.
"...Yeah, you did good."
"Ehehe, right?"
Erin patted Lanse's back with the back of her hand.
It was her way of saying she deserved a head pat for doing something praiseworthy.
Lanse let out an incredulous chuckle.
The gap in skill between him and Erin was closing bit by bit as time passed.
And he knew why.
Erin's snow-white hair meant she had inherited the savior's—Caine's—blood even more purely.
'She's catching up. Is this the gap in raw talent?'
The pure difference in talent born of bloodline.
He himself was a genius who had topped the Phileon Martial Arts Department entrance exams, but there was always someone better.
Of course, Lanse had no intention of accepting that quietly.
'Erin's Erin. And I'm me.'
In the end, it was Ronan—not Abel—who had won the final battle.
The one with jet-black hair just like his own.
So instead of burning with jealousy, Lanse gently stroked his adorable little sister's head.
"Still, you don't need to protect me, Erin. The ones who need protecting are those people back there."
Lanse glanced behind him.
The village chief and the villagers were fleeing in a frenzy.
Having seen the children's prowess, the chief had finally relented and decided to lead the refugees.
The distance had grown since before, but it was still nowhere near enough to escape the undead horde.
We need to hold out longer.
Lanse muttered to himself as he gripped his sword hilt.
"Hup!"
With a shout, Lanse swung his blade.
Sword energy shot out along the arc of his slash.
A silver-white crescent moon, torn into five prongs, sliced through the corpses of the undead.
"Kraaaagh!"
"Kek!"
The legless wretches toppled over.
Their advance slowed, if only by a fraction.
Lanse's sword energy flew straighter and farther than any of his Martial Arts classmates'—just like his upright character.
He kept firing it until his mana was nearly depleted.
"Oppa really is amazing."
Erin beamed.
She still liked her big brother best.
Lanse, who took after their mom, had a gentleness Ronan lacked.
Even learning the sword—something she'd never cared about—had been just to spend more time with him.
"Erin will help too."
Erin raised her sword again.
The black iron sword, a birthday gift from Ronan, had been tuned perfectly for her.
She couldn't unleash sword energy yet, but she could just charge in and fight.
Just as she was about to dash forward—
"Erin. Any further and it's dangerous."
"Eh?"
Sechika's voice came from not far away.
Erin's nape tingled as if yanked, and she fell flat on her butt.
A shadow fell over the siblings' heads.
"What the—"
Lanse looked up in alarm.
A dozen massive boulders were slicing through the air.
Boom!
Boom!
Kaboom!
The rocks arced down, smashing straight into the front of the undead legion.
"Incredible!"
Lanse clenched his fist without realizing.
The scale was on another level—one strike killed more at once.
That barrage alone must have crushed at least a hundred.
"Grr...! Sechika unnie, why'd you interrupt?!"
Erin glared up at Sechika in anger.
Sechika was levitating with telekinesis, raining ranged attacks.
Unlike Asel, her bold personality meant no hesitation in using her powers for battle.
Sechika descended and scooped Erin into a hug.
"Eep!"
"Sorry. But no matter how well you fight, Erin, you can't handle that many."
"Pha! O-okay, just let... go...!"
"There, there. Good girl?"
Erin wriggled, breathless.
She struggled to escape Sechika's "fat hell" (her own term), but the strength gap made it impossible.
Only after a while did Sechika release her and turn to Lanse.
"Lanse. Time to run. If the main force sweeps through, we won't make it."
"Y-yeah. I was just thinking the same."
Lanse averted his eyes hastily.
He'd been envying Erin right then.
The undead waves kept coming relentlessly.
Lanse shook the blood from his sword and nodded firmly.
"Guess we trust Dad and Lord Orse now. Let's go, Erin."
"Yeah!"
Erin agreed.
They'd done all they could.
Just as they gathered their resolve and turned to flee—
"Grroooaaargh!!"
"What?!"
A monstrous roar erupted from the undead ranks.
The three whipped around reflexively—and froze.
"My god..."
Clods of earth were flying at them.
More precisely, massive tangles of huge trees uprooted with chunks of ground.
Each one was house-sized, dwarfing Sechika's boulders.
"How do we even—?!"
Lanse gaped in horror.
Searching for the source, his eyes locked on a spot.
Scattered amid the undead army were freakishly huge figures.
"Groooaaar!"
"Graaar! Grrooaaargh!"
Another roar boomed.
The giants hurling the earth were golems stitched from corpses.
Covered in suture marks, they towered far beyond ogres.
To deploy siege weapons like that—who the hell were these enemies?
"Intercept!"
"Y-yeah!"
No time for shock or deduction.
Gathering his scant remaining mana, Lanse fired sword energy.
Sechika's invisible fists crossed the sky.
Kabooooom!
The earth clod exploded in a deafening blast.
But there was only one down—three more incoming.
"No."
Sechika groaned.
Even if the impact zones differed, their sheer size meant unavoidable splash.
And her mana was running low too.
'I have to block them!'
She had to do it.
She couldn't let her two favorites get hurt.
Besides, folding here would ruin the pride of following stubbornly.
"Nngh... Aaaah...!"
Blood trickled from Sechika's nose as she focused.
I'm the daughter of a grand mage!
She steeled herself to unleash telekinesis—
"Whiiiish!"
"A-Abel?!"
Abel, who'd been airsick the whole time, spread his wings and soared.
Sechika startled, her focus shattering.
"Eek?!"
Her nosebleed stopped.
Abel rocketed to the trajectory of the incoming clods.
Shiiiine...!
His white feathers glowed, and a broad, dish-like barrier bloomed over the trio.
"That's...!"
The siblings' eyes widened.
Glittering mana—the hallmark of Nebula Klazie.
Kaboom!
Boom!
The clods slammed into the shield, detonating one after another.
"Kyaaaah!"
Sechika clutched her head.
Unable to see the sparkling mana, she thought it was all over.
But as time passed, not even dirt crumbled down.
"Wh-what?"
"Pfft, unnie has her cute side too."
Erin giggled behind her hand.
Sechika flushed with embarrassment.
Confirming the attack blocked, Lanse cheered.
"Nice one, partner!"
"Whiii!"
Abel cried out.
Spreading his wings proudly, as if to say trust only me.
As the smug dream bird struck a pose—
Rumbleee!!
The earth shook with a heaven-rending roar from the undead side.
"Whiroo?!"
Abel wobbled, losing balance.
It dwarfed the golems' roars.
Suddenly, dust clouds erupted along the horizon.
"What the—?!"
Lanse gasped.
The ground was collapsing.
A massive fissure yawned open right at the undead vanguard.
"Krrrk!"
"Kyaaak?!"
The undead horde plummeted helplessly into the chasm.
The rift widened relentlessly, and since the corpses didn't stop, every last undead tumbled into the sudden canyon.
The golems' earth clods hung frozen midair.
Utterly still, as if pinned in place.
"What the hell...!"
It was a sight beyond dreaming.
So sudden, it felt unreal.
Suddenly, voices came from nearby.
"G-good? They almost died just now!"
"Even so, I couldn't just watch. You'll change your tune when you have kids, Lord Orse?"
The voices were deeply familiar.
The three's eyes went wide as they looked over.
High in the sky floated Orse and one man.
His blazing red hair was identical to Sechika's.
"Dad?!"
"Uncle Asel!"
Sechika gasped.
It was unmistakably Asel.
The unprecedented grand mage succeeding Rorhon—her father.
Snap!
Asel flicked his fingers, and the hovering clods plummeted.
"Kweeeek!"
"Gerk."
They smashed into the fissure, pulverizing the corpses within.
He handled masses Sechika couldn't budge with all her might like they were feathers.
Confirming all undead had fallen in, Asel spoke.
"Good work, kids. Leave the rest to us!"
"Where were you until now?!"
"W-well... You were stronger than expected. Lord Orse said to watch in cases like this, so I kinda... got carried away."
Asel gave an awkward smile.
Truth was, they'd arrived in the south much earlier.
He'd fallen for Orse's bait: aren't you curious how much they've grown?
Sechika, annoyed, yelled.
"What?! I hate you, Dad!"
"S-sorry... But it worked out, right? Hey? Can you three turn around first?"
"Turn around?"
"Yeah. Might hurt your eyes."
Asel nodded.
A telekinetic shield enveloped the three.
Orse, gazing down, opened his maw.
"Ugh, the heat...!"
Between his gleaming fangs roiled dark crimson flames.
In that moment, the kids realized Asel's warning wasn't empty.
What Orse was about to do.
Abel, feathers bristling and trembling, spread his wings.
"Whiyook!"
A hemispherical barrier enveloped the three.
Not trusting Asel's shield alone.
Confirming the kids safe, Asel nodded.
"Yes. Now."
Then the demon dragon exhaled.
Light like a second sun blanketed the world.
Lanse yanked Sechika and Erin close.
"St-stick together!"
"Kyaaak!"
As his hands covered the girls' eyes—
A searing atmospheric roar erupted, Orse's bellow resounding.
The flames that once razed the empire poured over the fissure.
The inferno coiled through Asel's artificial canyon, devouring every soul inside without mercy.
Inside a gloomy cave.
A laboratory lined with intricate devices.
"...What?"
Necromancer Kiersaji furrowed his brow.
His link to the undead had snapped in an instant.
Something was wrong with the legion under his command.
"Strange. Unless the entire force vanished at once, this shouldn't happen..."
It was unprecedented since becoming a necromancer.
As long as one remained, the connection never fully severed.
Probably a glitch from the massive-scale magic.
Time to reconnect the neural net.
As Kiersaji stepped forward—
"It's you. The bastard who shat all over the south."
Right behind him, an enraged man's voice boomed.