Chapter 64
Chapter 64
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: Nester Temple (3)
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I stared silently at the man.
He had swapped his ragged sackcloth robe for a white gown, looking somewhat cleaner than before, but his bizarre appearance remained the same.
So he really was alive after all?
However.
“Why are you here?”
“Kehehek. Have you seen me before?”
The old man cackled with a phlegmy rasp. From the way he spoke, it seemed he felt nothing toward me at all.
Did he not recognize me?
Some time had passed, sure, but not so much that it would erase the memory entirely.
Unless he had dementia, there was no way he’d forget the person who had sliced his body in half.
“No need to think too deeply. You’ll be dead soon anyway.”
One thing was certain—his overconfident personality hadn’t changed.
Hearing his words gave me a hint that instantly resolved several of my questions.
Right. I just needed to kill him again and see.
“Kehe, I was just needing some subjects for my experiments. Perfect timing.”
At his words, the masked figures growled once more.
The word “experiments” brought the surgery room I’d seen earlier to mind.
“What did you do to them?”
“I gave them new life.”
His wrinkled lips stretched into a long grin.
“Now, my children. Tear that bastard apart right now! Show him your mighty power! Kuhahaha!”
At the old man’s command, the figures scattered in all directions and charged at me ferociously.
Their movements were light and agile, like cats.
Physically speaking, they surpassed upper-level mana users.
Of course, that was still nothing.
The tip of my lowered sword swayed gently in the breeze.
At the same moment, an explosive sword strike erupted.
Flashes carrying razor-sharp energy split off in all directions like bolts of lightning.
Kwaaaaang!
The ferocious sword qi swept the area clean in an instant.
They were no longer human.
Killing them was probably the kinder path.
I showed no mercy with my blade. The extended sword qi sliced through several in a single stroke.
Even as their comrades lay in pieces, they charged on without a hint of fear.
It shouldn’t have been possible, but it felt like they were begging me to kill them.
Kwaaaaang!
Another explosion rang out.
Chunks of flesh scattered alongside a shower of red blood raining down.
Through it all, I fixed my gaze on the old man, who stood there with his mouth tightly shut.
“…….”
The mirth had vanished from his face as he stood alone, staring blankly.
Now, only he and I remained in the hall.
I clenched my molars while gauging the rebound force transmitted through my blade.
Their physical toughness rivaled that of monsters.
I could feel it as my sword cut through them.
That must have been what allowed such nimble movements...
How much agony must ordinary, untrained humans have endured to gain bodies like these? And how many had to be sacrificed to achieve such results?
What was the point of saying it out loud? It was an unforgivable sin.
I kicked off toward him.
Thud!
The moment my toes pushed against the ground, a whirlwind swirled up behind my step.
In an instant, I was right in front of him.
“Eek!”
Grinding his teeth, he scattered like the wind.
My Thundercloud Sword cleaved empty air for the first time in a while.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t cut him—it was that I chose not to.
The situation was different now.
No kidnapped Veron, no Allen or Iriel.
Any variables he possessed posed no threat to me.
I intended to learn a bit more about how he might come back to life.
“Die!”
He suddenly popped up from the side, swinging his staff, and a sphere blazing with black flames shot toward me.
Kwaaang!
The fireball exploded where I had stood.
Dodging it effortlessly, I charged through the scattering flames toward him.
He chanted another spell and swung his staff again.
Pzzzzzt!
Black lightning burst from the staff’s tip, streaking toward me in all directions.
It was like a storm of dark thunderbolts.
But that was it.
With a twist of my ankle, I evaded, and they tore only my shadow before scattering harmlessly into the air.
“You slippery bastard!”
Black hands then rose from the floor.
Arm-sized ones sprouted like field flowers, desperately grasping at my ankles.
I dodged them nimbly.
From his panicked look, it seemed black magic was all he had.
I decided to end this tedious fight.
Thud!
I stomped, leaving a blurry afterimage as my form shot forward. The black hands clutched at empty air behind me.
He frantically chanted and slammed his staff into the ground, summoning a black barrier that sprang up in front of him, blocking my path.
I simply crouched and smashed through it.
My body, wrapped in protective aura, was harder than steel, and with my momentum, I was little more than a shell without gunpowder.
Kwaaang!
The black wall shattered on impact with me.
The crumbling fragments flew in all directions like shards of broken glass.
I descended amid them, slashing downward with my sword.
Shwaaak!
A vertical white flash cleaved the dazed old man from top to bottom. A vivid red line traced its path across his body.
The noisy hall fell deathly silent in an instant.
Thud.
The bisected body crumpled to the floor.
I stood still, looking down at the corpse.
If he revived, I wanted to see how.
From the time it had taken last time—when we entered and exited the lab—it shouldn’t take long.
Sure enough, soon after, anomalies began with the corpse.
Light particles rose from the blood and body.
Like embers from a campfire, fragments of light floated up and scattered.
The corpse weathered away, following the countless specks of light, gradually vanishing.
And moments later.
Nothing remained where he had been.
* * *
“Is it over now?”
Cecilia pressed close to the iron bars and asked.
She looked every bit the prisoner. A far cry from the girl I’d met last night.
“It’s over. Step back.”
“Oh, okay.”
I opened the cell door once she retreated. She and the others, overcome with emotion, slipped out.
“……Thank you so much.”
They bowed their heads to me in gratitude. But it wasn’t time to relax yet.
“It’s not completely over. We still don’t know if the temple itself is involved.”
If this place was directly tied to the temple, it was still deep in enemy territory.
At my words, shadows fell over their faces. Feeling pity, I added,
“That doesn’t mean you should despair. I’ll set you free soon.”
“Oh, yes! Thank you!”
Their expressions brightened again.
“What on earth were they trying to do here?”
Cecilia said, eyeing the row of surgery rooms lining the corridor. She hadn’t seen the results of the experiments, so she must have wondered why such a place existed.
The others felt the same.
I didn’t bother explaining.
“I overheard that most of them, except Lily and me, were kidnapped here.”
“So you two were the only fools who walked in on your own.”
“……That’s not what I meant.”
“You all stay here for now.”
Ignoring her, I continued.
First, I needed to confirm any temple connection.
We couldn’t all leave together in this situation.
I planned to leave them here briefly and check outside.
But that was no longer necessary.
“Step back.”
I had them retreat and blocked the entrance I’d broken through. The long corridor stretched into darkness. Footsteps echoed from above.
Those who heard exchanged anxious glances with me.
That was when silver scales glinted from the far end.
“You bastard! What do you think you’re doing in the temple?!”
A furious figure charged like a wild boar.
Judging by his armor and the sun emblem on his chest, he was a holy knight of the Nester Temple.
I said to the reckless charger,
“You should calm down first.”
“Shut up!”
But he didn’t discriminate between friend or foe. I’d need to cool him off to sort that out. My form scattered like wind, reappearing before him as I thrust my fist.
Thwack!
The straight punch slammed into his gut.
“Guhk!”
He spat empty air, his back arching as he flew back with the same speed he’d charged.
Those following him halted abruptly to catch him.
Their shocked eyes turned to me.
They hadn’t expected him to go down so easily.
Anyway, now we could talk.
Soon after, the situation resolved anticlimactically.
Fortunately, they weren’t with the enemy, and once Cecilia revealed her identity, things smoothed over.
While sorting it out, we learned from the accompanying priest about the ward.
It was a building funded by some patron.
Even the priest didn’t seem to know who.
They must have tampered during construction—bold to do it inside the temple.
Given the funding, it had to be someone important.
Cardron was my first suspect, but Cecilia’s presence disproved that.
Why would a doting father use his own daughter as an experiment?
Clearly, there was a separate mastermind behind this.
The temple and Teynan Marquis House would investigate jointly.
With the culprits captured, we could uncover the truth.
With that wrapped up, Cecilia and I mounted horses and left the temple.
Her guard knight Lily remained hospitalized in the ward.
As we rode for a while, she spoke up.
“But how did you know I was here?”
“A hunch.”
“Oh…….”
I kept it brief, too lazy to explain.
“Anyway, thank you. I really thought I was done for.”
“I’ve heard enough thanks already.”
How many times had she said it?
My ears were calloused.
“Still. Everything in the world looks so beautiful now—my gratitude just keeps growing. What can I do?”
“I was bored anyway, so no big deal.”
We arrived at the castle just as Iriel and the others were celebrating finding the hole Cecilia had used to sneak out.
“See? I told you I’m the expert!”
Iriel strutted at the center.
But the attention on her didn’t last.
“Wh-what?! Lady Cecilia!”
The soldiers spotted her.
The castle erupted in chaos at her return.
Cardron rushed out and checked her over.
I left all explanations to her and returned to my room.
Iriel, Allen, and Nederman trailed after me.
“What? Why’d she run away?”
“Nothing else happen out there?”
“Was she really at the temple, like you thought?”
They bombarded me with questions.
I eyed Nederman amid them, bewildered.
“You could just ask Cecilia.”
“I don’t wanna see that Cardron guy freak out. Tell us the details.”
“Yeah, I’m dying of curiosity. Hurry up and spill—why’d she run away?”
Iriel clamored beside me.
But I had no intention of satisfying their curiosity.
“Never mind that. I saw the guy.”
“The guy?”
Question marks floated over their eyes.
“The mage who kidnapped Veron.”
“Nee?!”
Allen and Iriel shrieked in unison.
“Allen, you still have that book I gave you back then?”
“Yes, of course. I’ve kept it safe.”
“Bring it when we meet Cardron.”
“Got it.”
“Now everyone out. I need to think alone.”
I shoved them out, their curiosity unsatisfied.
Cardron would soon request a talk about the situation.
Better to handle it all at once.
Sure enough, he soon summoned me via Nederman.
And in his message was some welcome news.
The cipher I’d given him two days ago had been fully deciphered.