Chapter 92
Chapter 92
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 92
Chapter Title: The Truth of That Day
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A small canyon in the great desert, several kilometers from the entrance to the ruins.
Here, a place that had remained stagnant and unchanged for decades, even centuries, a faint tremor began.
*CRASH—*
Immediately after, the ground shattered as two figures clashed.
"Won't you just die for me now?"
Bionna's lilting, amused voice echoed in the darkness. Sand scattered and fragments of stone from the ruins flew, but she remained unseen.
Zaqnir's body was enveloped in a brilliant radiance, pushing back the shadows.
From the elongated light, a shadow spread like ink beneath his feet, and a figure emerged.
"Dear, you've gotten much weaker than you were three years ago, haven't you?"
"You don't seem to have changed much either..."
Zaqnir twisted his body sharply. A blade pierced through the wall of light he had erected.
But it didn't end there.
*Shing—*
A ghastly blade grazed his cheek.
A drop of blood clung to the blade that had shot up from the shadow beneath his chin.
Zaqnir barely managed to twist his chin away to dodge the attack, then scattered thousands of orbs of light in all directions.
*BOOM—*
The air exploded, pulverizing everything within the radius. Bionna had vanished at some point, only to emerge leisurely from the shade of a cliff.
"Dear, I'm over here. What are you aiming at?"
As she spoke with a gentle smile, Zaqnir bit his lip and glared at her.
Again. It was that attack again.
The method that had pierced his defense.
The Shield of the Heavens.
He was called that because he could block any kind of attack—be it physical, magical, or even mental.
"...There are just some mosquitoes buzzing around."
"Oh, is that so? Shall I help you with that?"
But her attacks were different.
"No, that won't be necessary. I prefer to handle my own affairs."
As long as there was a shadow, no matter how small, a blade would spring forth from it.
A blade of shadow that transcended the limits of space and distance.
He couldn't predict where the attacks would come from, so the best he could do was react.
As he replied with a consistently stern face, she walked around him with light, elegant steps.
"Why the long face? Anyone would think I'm bullying you, dear."
The corners of Bionna's eyes curved beautifully. Her demeanor was steeped in the confidence of a victor.
It was only natural. She had maintained the upper hand throughout their entire battle.
Zaqnir, a master of defense, had held on until now, but the chances of this endurance leading to victory were slim.
"...Are you going to claim that's not what's happening?"
"Me? Of course not."
She covered her mouth in an exaggerated gesture as if she had misheard, then shook her head with a look of pure innocence.
"Perhaps there's been a slight misunderstanding?"
Zaqnir's lips twitched at her detestable attitude.
"...Considering the age gap between us, are you really going to deny it?"
"Hm? We're only a year or two apart, aren't we?"
He let out a dry laugh.
She had held her position among the Eight Strongest for decades. How long had she reigned as the Queen of Shadows to act like this?
"Aren't you embarrassed to say such things yourself?"
"Embarrassed? When I've regained such a youthful body—"
"—The old hag is spouting nonsense."
The fine hairs on his arms stood on end. Bionna's smile vanished.
Her body melted into the shadows.
*CRACK—*
A massive greatsword, imbued with a crimson aura, shattered the space. The spot where she had been standing was instantly destroyed, leaving a small crater.
But she had been a step too slow.
A ragged wound, as if from an animal's bite, appeared on the shoulder of Bionna, who had reappeared a few steps away.
"Beast King!"
Her expression turned icy as she looked up at the top of the canyon.
Above the canyon, the silhouette of a massive figure stood against the night sky. A look of deep contempt was etched on Gaion's face.
He leaped down from the top of the canyon. A small gust of sand swirled beside his greatsword, revealing his white-furred ears.
"Old hag, have you lost your mind? You want to act like that at your age? You've gone senile... Tsk."
The Beast King, Gaion.
He gripped the hilt of his greatsword with an expression that said he'd seen something he shouldn't have. His appearance made Zaqnir's eyes widen.
"How did you..."
"Kid, getting pushed around by a senile old hag. Real impressive."
Zaqnir's face flushed at his sarcasm. But he also felt it was unfair. How could he have known she would appear after three years, burning with vengeance?
"...I was just caught off guard. If we were to fight again, the result would be different..."
"That's what you call skill."
Gaion cut him off, but Zaqnir couldn't retort because he knew it was true.
He could only resolve with hardened eyes to never let this happen again.
"Beast King, how did you get here? There's no way my movements were detected..."
As if realizing something, her expression changed in an instant, and she threw a shadow blade at a nearby rock.
The rock split cleanly in two, revealing a small, spectral wolf within.
"...Tracking magic?"
Gaion answered her mutter with a hearty laugh.
"It's great magic. Called 'The Wolf's Pack Hunt.' What do you think? Good name, right? This old man named it himself."
As Gaion spoke with a boastful expression, she glared towards the underground ruins and muttered.
"...Should have dealt with the professors first."
The problem was agreeing to just seal them away, worried about retaliation from the academy.
Guys like Zaqnir.
Just like his former family members, there wasn't a single thing she liked about him, from start to finish.
"Alright, old hag, enough with the pleasantries. Let's see this through. It's been a while."
Sharp teeth showed menacingly in Gaion's mouth.
"......"
Her face became a mask of ice. An assassin must always control their emotions. For her, who stood at the pinnacle, Gaion's taunts were trivial.
However, that didn't mean she could ignore the situation.
'It's a shame to retreat now...'
At least a serious injury, or if she was lucky, a fatal one.
If killing him was too difficult, she wanted to at least inflict the same level of humiliation she had received upon Zaqnir. But could she get past Gaion to injure him?
'If I risk my life, maybe an arm. Nothing more.'
At full strength, perhaps, but having already expended stamina fighting Zaqnir, she had no desire to face a man ranked among the top three of the Eight Strongest.
"......Haa. Luck is on your side, dear."
Three years of humiliation.
While she was missing due to her injuries, the power base she had painstakingly built was shattered, and her underlings took the opportunity to steal her wealth. Now, all sorts of riffraff were waging war, each claiming to be the new ruler of the underworld.
Everything she had built in her life had vanished with a single defeat.
That was why she had planned this surprise attack, both as a signal of her return and as an act of revenge...
"I guess today's not my day. Can't be helped. See you later, dear?"
"Old hag, you started this. Where do you think you're going?"
Gaion's aura exploded ferociously.
Having not had a proper fight in years, he craved battle. A dizzying fight on the brink of life and death. He wanted to feel that thrill.
She smiled sweetly at his unwillingness to let her go easily.
"Oh, are you sure? The little ones might be in danger."
Her finger pointed to Veðrf?lnir, which was plummeting from the sky. The sight looked exactly like a monster attacking from the heavens.
"It doesn't matter. It's a children's squabble. They can handle it..."
"Gaion."
Zaqnir placed a hand on Gaion's shoulder.
"We have to go. That monster is too much for the students. Many have likely died already."
"Those who are meant to die will die, and those who are meant to live will live."
"Gaion."
Seeing his troubled expression, Gaion sighed and quelled his aura.
"Tsk, and here I thought I'd finally get a proper fight after so long..."
He knew it, too.
That monster might be nothing to him, but it was too much for the students.
He had just been stubborn, hoping for a real fight after so long.
"Go. There won't be a next time."
"Hmph, that's for me to decide. Goodbye, dear. Oh, and I've prepared a gift for you over there—"
*Swoosh—*
Her body seeped into the shadow of the cliff and vanished in the blink of an eye.
"—so be sure to pick it up yourself."
With her final words, her presence disappeared completely. He couldn't relax his guard, but it was safe to say the immediate threat was gone.
At the end of the direction she had pointed, Zaqnir's former family members waited with anxious faces for the outcome of the battle.
Zaqnir's expression grew heavy.
"Kid, need a hand?"
"It's fine. I prefer to handle my own affairs..."
His tone was laced with a killing intent he hadn't shown even when fighting Bionna.
"I am more than enough on my own."
"Then I'll go help the kids."
Zaqnir gave a single nod and left the canyon.
Gaion watched him go for a moment, then shook his head. This is the kind of trouble you get when you don't clean up your own house.
"...Not that I'm one to talk."
After a brief glance at the falling star, he kicked off the ground.
The end of this long, drawn-out incident was approaching.
***
The bodies were in a gruesome state. If Allen hadn't spent time with them, he wouldn't have been able to recognize them. One of them wasn't even visible.
The ruins seemed to have crumbled when Veðrf?lnir emerged, as the corridor was filled with fallen debris.
Time began to reverse.
The broken fragments of the ruins returned to their places, and the monsters and ruin guardians walked backward.
The wounds on the corpses healed, and their broken equipment was restored.
In the time it took to draw a single breath, they transformed back into warm, living people. Allen watched, stunned.
And just like that, the reversed hands of the clock began to move forward again, and time flowed.
It began with a spatial transfer.
["W-What a surprise..."]
["Everyone, be careful... Guk."]
["William!"]
Caught off guard by the sudden teleportation, they reacted a beat too late to the attack of a ruin guardian beside them.
["William, are you alright!"]
They defeated the guardian, but William was already seriously injured.
They quickly healed his wounds with a potion. But William's face was already deathly pale, the fatigue from dozens of hours in the ruins compounding his injury.
["I-I'm fine. First, we need to assess the situation..."]
But it didn't end there.
*Rumble—*
The ruins continued to shake as monsters and guardians poured out from the other end of the corridor like a raging torrent.
Evan and Eriel, their faces pale, held the line, blocking the corridor as best they could.
["Evan! Just hold on a little longer!"]
["Kuh, alright! I can hold on as long as it takes, so don't worry!"]
Evan unleashed his family's secret techniques.
They were clean, efficient skills.
But it wasn't enough.
["If we don't push ourselves now, when will we!"]
Eriel, too, performed beyond her limits, but it wasn't enough to kill the endless flood of enemies.
["Baroque!"]
In the end, they could only catch their breath after Evan brought out his family's heirloom.
But the situation was grim, with no signs of improvement. Faced with this, Allen understood with a bitter heart.
'...They were just unlucky.'
It was exactly as it seemed.
The cavern on the seventh underground floor.
It was a coincidence that they had reached that place at that exact time, and the spatial transfer that occurred then was also unexpected.
It was also a coincidence that the monsters and ruin guardians had swarmed the location they were teleported to.
It was simply an accident caused by one stroke of bad luck piling on top of another.
["William, are you interested in me? You keep acting like that, and it's starting to make me a little conscious of it... you know?"]
["P-Please, stop joking around. This is an emergency..."]
Accepting their deaths, Allen silently watched their final moments.
["Let's meet after this is over."]
["That..."]
["Just the two of us."]
Seeing them act as they always did, even in such a difficult situation, brought a faint smile to Allen's lips.
As he prepared for their end, Evan spoke.
["Someone is coming this way."]
The moment Allen turned his head in confusion, he heard a voice.
A voice he could never forget.
["Oh, there are people here?"]
From around the bend in the corridor, a man with distinctive blue hair walked out.
["I-It's a person!"]
["That hair color... a Reinhardt?"]
["If it's a Reinhardt other than Allen... Julius."]
Julius paused for a moment at the sound of his name. Strangely, though he stood among the monsters, none of them noticed him.
It was the hidden piece he'd obtained at the academy, the Tattered Cloak of the Hidden One.
["...You know me?"]
["Yes, we do. You're Allen's younger brother, aren't you?"]
["More importantly, could you help us? We'll be sure to reward you."]
Julius rolled his eyes at their request. He glanced at them, then stared into the empty air before him.
["...Hmm, what a waste of time."]
["Excuse me?"]
["Wait, what are you talking..."]
Julius stared at them with an annoyed expression. They seemed to be Allen's teammates, but if Allen wasn't with them, they weren't worth his attention.
["No noteworthy supporting characters to look after, either."]
After scanning them with his Rainbow Magic Eye, he made his decision.
["You guys figure it out on your own~ Oh, wait a second..."]
Julius, who was about to ignore them and walk past, glanced in the direction Dong-dong was heading and nodded.
["If I try to grab the hidden piece, I might attract the attention of the monsters or guardians..."]
Julius remembered. The humiliation he'd suffered at the hands of the nobles in the supplementary class.
*'What? No dignity? Not like a noble? A ruffian compared to my brother?'*
The things they'd said after his decisive victory in the duel. That it was barbaric, that he'd gone too far. What did it matter? It was a duel.
Even after he tried to maintain a good reputation, it was the same.
*'I even formally apologized and we reconciled, but it didn't change anything.'*
It was hard to escape a label once it was placed on you. If it weren't for Dong-dong, he might never have shed that ruffian image.
He took a small box from the small subspace he had acquired at the auction house.
It was an item used in battle, a tool that made a loud noise to attract attention.
["Just draw their attention for me. You're all going to die anyway, so you can at least do that much, right?"]
["Wait, what are you—!"]
["...If your brother found out what you've done...!"]
*KABOOM—!*
The loud sound of a firecracker echoed through the corridor, luring the monsters.
["Shut up. It's not like he'll ever find out, so what does it matter?"]
The monsters began to swarm. The giant clam Evan had summoned began to fade as its summoning time ran out.
["Well then, struggle for me until the very end. Bye-bye~"]
With a mocking tone, Julius walked toward another passage at the fork.
The duration of the ancient artifact had ended.
["Evan, what do we do...!"]
["William, at least you should try to live. I'll hold them off for a moment—"]
["No, I'll hold them off. You two run—"]
Evan resisted to the end, just as he had boasted. But his resistance didn't last as long as he'd thought.
His arm was caught and, in an instant, torn off. Monsters swarmed through the opening.
*Crunch—*
There were no last words like you'd see in a novel. His body was torn to pieces, his form rendered unrecognizable.
Eriel was next.
["William, it looks like we won't be able to meet."]
["Eriel, w-wait, no, don't—"]
She pulled a pile of arrows from her subspace and charged forward, her prana running wild. Her body exploded, sending tens of thousands of arrow fragments shooting forward.
William fled, his face contorted in agony.
But there was no miracle, no one appearing to save him. Reality was cold.
*Crack—*
Before long, a blunt weapon thrown from behind shattered his spine.
["I... I have to live..."]
*Thwack—*
Dozens of blades soon pierced his body as he tried to crawl away.
["Lord Karl, Jenny, Evan, Eriel, Al..."]
The light in his shining pupils dimmed.
William's breathing stopped.
In the end, Allen's name was never fully spoken.
With that, Allen's consciousness returned to his body.
The orb, unlike before, had turned to ash and lost its light.
He heard a voice.
["Evan may seem arrogant on the outside, but he's soft on the inside. He always tries to act perfect so he won't be a burden to anyone."]
"Allen, we found you. There's someone who was looking for..."
["Eriel is proud, but she loves to play pranks. Did you know? She intentionally says things that can be misunderstood just to see my reaction and Evan's."]
He heard a voice.
["You, Allen... were fair. Even as the second-in-command, you never discriminated against anyone. I received so much help because of that at the beginning. They're all... truly good people. So good that I hesitated to even belong with them."]
"Are you okay? You seem really off..."
["It feels a bit strange to only talk about others, so I'll say something about myself... I'm looking for my younger sister. Did I mention I was an orphan?"]
He heard a voice.
["I'm looking for my younger sister, who was sold into slavery long ago. I came to the academy for that reason. Of course, I was a bit lost at first..."]
"Kid, that technique you said you used..."
["But now, I feel like I can find her. I can only remember her name, and that she has the same curly black hair as me."]
A voice, he heard it.
["I know I'll find her someday."]
A dark night. A campfire. Comrades. Secrets. Each other's dreams. And death.
The voice stopped.
"—Ah."
He couldn't hear it anymore.
He could never hear it again.