Chapter 110: Fake Boss
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 110: Fake Boss
It took exactly three days for Diane to fully recover.
Immediately after Macherite arrived with Diane on her back, Yarismal performed emergency first aid with divine power and said:
“It’s difficult to inject any more divine power into her body. As you know, unlike the Bierma patterns, the tattoos of the Eruhin tribe possess a power that triggers absorption and transformation suited to the individual. That is why these tattoos have come to represent lineage and family. Right now, Diane is absorbing Barion’s power and digesting it as her own. It will clash with the demonic energy, so she has to overcome it herself.”
As a side note, Macherite is the name of the former station manager.
The person who became our exclusive carriage driver after Arasen.
I’m just adding that in case you were wondering, so let’s get back to Diane.
Fortunately, the wound was a long gash from her shoulder to her chest.
It was a relief that her internal organs weren’t damaged, but Diane kept her eyes closed in bitter resentment, perhaps shocked by her defeat to Mirei.
“Even though I used my space-time power… she noticed and followed me… Mirei’s movements were completely different from before… It’s strange, she shouldn’t have had time to train…”
“This is the Magic Tower. She might have taken some kind of drug to strengthen her body.”
I made that up to comfort her, but it sounded quite plausible.
“If there is such a thing, don’t even think about taking it. The side effects would be severe.”
“Okay…”
After that, she just breathed quietly and fell asleep.
Yarismal breathed a sigh of relief and suggested we rest too, but Rune was incredibly heated in her own way.
“Dammit, I thought it would be possible, but to get countered like that. I can’t even look Diane in the face.”
“Rune, don’t worry about it too much.”
“How can I not worry? Diane got hurt… I might have disliked her, but seeing how hard she tries, I never wanted her to die.”
“Me neither.”
“I feel like I’ve done Diane wrong.”
“We all do.”
Contrary to her usual cold attitude, Rune was suffering and felt very sorry.
She stayed up all night nursing Diane alongside Yarismal.
Later, when Diane opened her eyes and saw Rune asleep nearby, she looked quite surprised.
“If what Diane said is true, something must have triggered it. As you well know, My Lord, the current Diane is at a level where she could have easily and comfortably defeated the Mirei from back in Lukart.”
“Don’t underestimate Mirei. She might be lacking in teamwork, but her combat sense for analyzing and growing in a crisis is outstanding. We have to give credit where it’s due. Even if the others are different, Mirei is the kind of talent who could have reached Hero rank on her own if she just had more experience. I didn’t form a party with her for nothing.”
In fact, in the early days of the party, I tried to handle the combat myself, but Mirei showed significant growth in a short period, setting aside what she said to me.
That’s why I left the fighting to her without much complaint.
Once the parts where she stood out due to her solo actions were covered, everyone proved they could pull more than their own weight.
On top of that, Mirei had a protagonist-like quality where her skills improved the more she was backed into a corner.
Hmph, maybe it was because of that side of her that I couldn’t make a decision for so long and waited indecisively.
“You’re sure it happened outside the Magic Tower?”
“Yes, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to carry her back on my back…”
Rune repeatedly confirmed the location of the incident with Macherite.
The Magic Tower had clearly stated they wouldn’t interfere with matters outside the tower, and they kept that promise.
We were planning to snatch them away in a similar fashion, but the variable of Diane being defeated occurred.
Rune tried to call the Magic Tower administrators to argue again, but Narupa stopped her.
“It’s an ambiguous situation, and if we keep hounding them like this, a cornered rat might bite the cat. You have to leave them some breathing room for a threat to be effective. If they get desperate, they’ll just say let’s all die together.”
“Sigh, dammit. Politics, justifications, breathing room. This is too exhausting to deal with.”
“Rune, if you just swing your power around ignorantly, it only makes it easier for others to swing their power back at you.”
“I know, I know, Narupa. It’s the same thing Count Dakuus told me every single day.”
The two women were heatedly debating how to respond, but the busiest person was actually Yarismal.
She had to nurse Diane and attend to Rune; I didn’t see her rest even once.
Even when I told her to rest, she said she couldn’t stay still because she felt restless.
She isn’t a dual member of the Adventurer Guild headquarters and the Church for nothing.
Though she arrived with severe injuries, Diane’s recovery speed was miraculous.
Whenever I looked away for a moment, I could see the wound healing in real-time.
She might have even absorbed Barion’s regenerative abilities.
Anyway, after a frantic three days, Diane regained consciousness around lunchtime, and her wounds had healed cleanly without a single scar.
“That’s a relief.”
“I’m sorry for letting Mirei get away…”
“Don’t worry about it. I can catch her whenever I want. Diane, you’re the one who shouldn’t get hurt. It hurts us when you’re in pain.”
“Why? Someone like me is just…”
“Don’t say that.”
At that moment, Rune cut in.
“I at least think of you as a comrade.”
At those words, Diane stared blankly for a long time before eventually sobbing and wiping her eyes.
“…I’ll work hard.”
“Don’t just work hard, do well.”
“Yeah, I’ll do well.”
Honestly…
When you see someone reflecting and trying so hard every day, it becomes difficult for even a person with a right to be angry to stay mad.
With that feeling, Rune and I looked at each other and shrugged…
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
“…?! What was that?”
Did the Magic Tower just shake violently?
No, it’s still shaking!
“This is an actual situation! This is an actual situation! A major error has occurred in the Magic Tower control module. All residents are requested to leave the Magic Tower immediately. I repeat!”
“Adrian? Why is Adrian making the general broadcast instead of Silone? She’s not at that level yet.”
“This is not a warning, but a notification! Due to the error in the Magic Tower control module, the dungeonization of all floors will begin within 20 minutes! Everyone, get out!”
Narupa muttered suspiciously upon hearing the broadcast, followed by another urgent announcement.
Then, the sound of an impact.
[CRUNCH!]
“Aaaah!”
“Ah~ so this is that internal broadcast magitech microphone? Hmm. Still a useful little trick.”
A new voice broke in after Adrian’s scream.
This voice was very familiar.
This was…
“It’s Resin. Looks like she’s awake.”
Narupa stood up lightly, providing the answer for me.
“So, it finally comes to this? I guess there’s no need to go easy on them anymore.”
“Narupa, did you know it would turn out like this?”
When I asked Narupa, who didn’t seem flustered at all, she simply shrugged.
“Maybe that it could happen? That’s why I have a countermeasure.”
“What is it?”
“Clearing the dungeon.”
At those words, everyone stood up and took a combat stance.
Raising her shield in front, Rune asked Diane:
“How’s your body?”
“Healthy, as if I was never hurt. I’m fully ready for battle.”
“Good. Narupa and Yarismal?”
“As you can see, this is my territory, and I’m itching for a fight.”
“It’s an opportunity to show My Lord a cool side of me!”
“Finally, Alto?”
“Well, obviously…”
I licked my lips, holding Roar and Howling in both hands.
“The hunt begins.”
Hello, Resin?
I never thought I’d face you as a Bloodhound.
I thought you were below the mark, but why did I sense demonic energy in that voice just now?
* * *
Exactly two days ago.
Liras, who had managed to stockpile a day’s worth of energy, and his secretary Silone had entered the laboratory where Resin lay, leaving other administrative tasks to Adrian.
“It is a pity. If only the body were in better condition, I would have swapped the souls and then slowly induced a mutation to match the soul’s gender and form.”
“It can’t be helped. We shall proceed by discarding your cursed body first and then looking for more ‘meat’ to reconstruct the physical form later.”
“Yes, where else could I have found a body with a matching mana wavelength? Simply replenishing the flesh is not difficult compared to that. In a grand undertaking like this, the absence of variables would be more unsettling.”
“I am glad the error is within a manageable range.”
“Mwahahaha. Our fruit is finally ripening.”
Liras condensed demonic energy and mana at his fingertips.
“Now, stand back. Watch from outside the laboratory door. I shall match the mana wavelengths and swap the souls.”
“Yes, Dean!”
“It will take a few days. Stay with me until then.”
“Of course. Adrian is also working hard on her duties.”
Encouraged by the support of the women he loved, Liras reached out immediately after Silone left the lab.
“Personally, I find her disgusting for stabbing Alto in the back. But I’m in no position to be picky.”
His hand, heading for her head, hesitated.
No matter how broken her mind was, a direct entry into the brain would likely meet significant resistance. It seemed better to take her hand and slowly encroach upon the body.
“A body that would have been torn to shreds by Alto Bertrand and those women anyway, useless even as fertilizer. I shall put it to good use.”
Liras’s plan was this:
Find a body that matched his mana wavelength and swap souls.
By doing so, he would escape the Curse of the Magic Stone Crystals.
Then, he would reconstruct the body to match the shape of his soul.
Escaping the curse, regaining a healthy and better-looking body, and spending the rest of his life with the women he loved.
That was his goal.
Then what about the one whose soul was forcibly swapped?
They would die trapped in Liras’s body.
They would likely be buried alive by the magic stone crystals.
And what about magic stone production after that?
Who cared.
Liras wanted to escape this wretched dungeon.
From the beginning, supplying magic stones to Narupa was never his concern.
Only his own safety mattered.
That was the being known as Liras of Greed, one of the Four Heavenly Kings.
And now, the first step of that grand plan…
Grip.
“Huh?”
“Got… you…”
Surprisingly, it was Resin who reached out first and grabbed him.
As she grabbed him with her one remaining arm, mana and demonic energy flowed into Resin simultaneously.
“Guaaaaaaaaagh!”
“W-What are you doing?!”
The speed at which the power flowed in was abnormally fast.
At this rate, his body might overload and explode.
Liras tried desperately to take control, but his eyes widened as he realized the initiative of the power lay with Resin.
“How can this be—!!!”
One fact he had completely failed to foresee:
Narupa had been intentionally using a low-output Darkness Erosion to improve Resin’s mana control skills in a short amount of time.
If she hadn’t constantly performed the work of analyzing, converting, and making it her own, Resin would have been consumed by the darkness and wouldn’t have even been able to lie there in the first place.
Her muttering and twitching fingers were also part of an incantation to resist Narupa’s mana.
Resin had guessed.
That there was a reason she was being kept alive.
And that it was likely an experiment related to human transmutation.
In that case, the moment someone touched her, she would steal their power and make a grand return.
However,
She had caught an unexpectedly large fish.
A renowned mage, and the Dean at that!
“Let go! You wench!”
“Haaaaaa~ Dean…! You weren’t human, were you? Even better! Yes, would a great person like me be trapped in a vessel as small as a human!”
He tried to shake her off, but he couldn’t.
The Curse of the Magic Stone Crystals had been gnawing away at Liras’s power for a long time.
Resin would have been no match for him during the Final War, but due to his weakened condition and her mana that clung to him like a swamp, he was helplessly defeated.
“Dean!”
“Don’t come in! Don’t come! You must run! Take Adrian and run!”
Silone, realizing the situation, opened the door, but Liras screamed for her to flee.
In the moment she hesitated to leave her beloved,
Thwack!
“Ah…!”
Magic stone crystals sprouted from the shoulder area that should have been torn away by frostbite, piercing Silone’s abdomen.
“Silone—!!”
“What is this? Magic stones? Fufufufu, I see. Does this mean I have also come to possess the power of demons?”
“You damn bitch!!! You dare covet my power? Fine, try and take it all, even my power and the curse… Ugh!”
“Shhh.”
Resin whispered as if soothing a baby.
“Don’t be like that, Dean. Isn’t this what mages are like? Using even friends as experimental subjects if necessary. You were trying to do the same to me before you got caught. Hmm, I do feel a bit sorry for this woman. Reconstructing my body is difficult with just you alone. I need fresh meat, you see.”
“Guh… ack!”
“Wonderful. With this, I can even restore my purity and show it to Lord Alto. Yes! Since I’ve been reborn, it’s only right that I’m a virgin, isn’t it? Fufufufufu!”
Little by little, her mana amplified, and her missing limbs began to sprout.
Liras didn’t just stay still either.
“Try it then!”
He tried to resist by deploying demonic energy, but—
Crack, snap!
Resin showed no mercy and snapped Silone’s waist in the opposite direction.
“Hyaaaaaaaaaaaaa—!!!!!!!!”
Witnessing the hollow death of the love he had worked so hard to find, Liras exposed a massive gap in his mental defenses.
“I’ll enjoy the meal.”
Resin’s hand, seizing that opening, pierced through Liras’s eye socket and reached into his brain.
This was the full story of what had happened two days before the event that would shake the very existence of the Magic Tower.