Underground Ruins (6)
For a moment, Owen recalled his final moments with Tanares.
'Chased by pursuers... I collapsed in the Eternal Forest. But what happened to the body afterward?'
No matter how much he thought about it, it didn't seem like the emperor would have given him a proper burial.
'But Tanares wouldn't have just let himself be taken like that...'
Tanares had been a meticulous sort, always picking up after Owen's oversights.
He must have done something with the body, but Owen had no way of knowing for sure.
His soul had slumbered for a long time before awakening again.
'It always nagged at me not knowing the truth. Still, I figured Tanares had handled it himself and didn't dwell on it. But resurrection?'
This wasn't some midnight knock at the window—what the hell did that mean?
Owen couldn't believe it.
But before he could even open his mouth, someone else stepped forward.
"Impossible!"
The firm declaration came from the grand magus Bellatel himself.
He thrust his magic staff forward, challenging the great chieftain.
"Raising the dead is a pipe dream on its own, and you're talking about reviving a True Dragon? Ha! Do orc great chieftains rank themselves by how hot their air is?"
"Oh ho? You're quite the powerful mage, aren't you?"
The great chieftain eyed Bellatel, one eye twitching with wariness.
The man's skills were enough to disrupt the ritual from here on out.
'I can't handle that mage while performing the ceremony. Much as I hate it, I'll have to borrow his help...'
The chieftain scowled at the thought of his unwelcome ally, then drew something from his belt and tossed it out.
It was a repulsive hunk of flesh like a misshapen starfish, and the moment it hit the ground, it reacted.
Slosh. Slosh.
It rippled a few times, then exploded outward in growth. Sticky tentacles lashed out in all directions, snatching up orcs.
"Gahk! What the—?!"
"Get back!"
The startled orcs scattered in a panic, but it was too late.
In moments, thirteen of them were ensnared.
They hacked at the tentacles with their weapons in desperation, but it was useless.
"Aaaargh!"
The orcs screamed as they began to shrivel.
Drained of life force while still alive, they crumbled into mummies.
Everyone stared in horror at the sight.
"Such vile sorcery!"
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Bellatel immediately unleashed light from his staff, halting the tentacle mass from devouring more orcs.
The thing flinched at the light, gave up on sucking in more victims, and began clumping together. It started forming a shape.
Owen watched, breath catching in his throat.
His palms slick with sweat, gooseflesh prickling his skin—this feeling, he knew it all too well from experience.
"A demon..."
This was unmistakably the phenomenon that occurred when a high demon manifested.
The cavern's occupants blanched in terror.
"Grrraaah!"
Several couldn't hold back their screams.
Owen, empowered by Tanares' strength, merely felt disgust, but the others fell under crushing mental pressure.
"Uwaaah! Urk!"
Some shook uncontrollably, clawing their arms until blood flowed; others foamed at the mouth and collapsed.
Bellatel, fed up, slammed his staff into the ground.
Boom!
"This world is no place for the likes of you! The Maou has been dead for ages—yet you still can't abandon your greed!"
Blue light scattered everywhere as mystical mana began to spread.
Those half-lost to panic snapped out of it.
But by then, the tentacle mass had coalesced into a complete form.
A hulking figure in black robes, with a bundle of tendrils dangling like a beard from beneath its hood.
"A demon after all."
Owen grimaced.
He'd encountered plenty in his past life, but this one was new.
The demon grinned darkly at Bellatel.
"Heh heh heh heh... Mage, your meddling kept me from manifesting at full power. But don't think that means you can defeat me."
"Shut your trap! Because of scum like you, I'm about to burn through spells I've been saving for a decade. I won't forgive that!"
"Hm...?"
"Ponder your last words! I'll beat you into submission, then bash your skull in with my staff—magic's too precious to waste on trash like you!"
As the grand magus Bellatel gathered his power, fierce mana surged around him.
For the first time, Owen thought the man truly looked the part.
But they couldn't just stand by.
"Karaku! We hit the great chieftain now, while we have the chance!"
"Got it! Lead on! Raaargh!"
Karaku bellowed and charged first.
The dark elves followed suit, and Owen summoned Grenville and mounted up.
"Eung!"
Gripping the reins, Owen shouted to Luke.
"If things go south, unleash the Similis Dragon entirely! It'll be risky, but better than dying!"
Time was short; Owen hadn't tamed the Similis Dragon yet.
Luke had lost control after his body modifications were reversed.
"Understood!"
The moment he heard Luke's reply, Owen spurred Grenville forward.
Karaku was already locked in combat.
The great chieftain's fanatical followers had moved to block him.
Many orcs in the cavern resented the chieftain, but these hundred participants in the ritual were different—they were his hardcore base.
"Hold them! For the great chieftain!"
"We must complete the ritual!"
The followers formed a massive wall, blocking Owen and his group.
"Out of my way!"
Karaku roared, mowing down devotees like wheat with his dual weapons.
But they came on with savage fury.
"Crawl back into history's shadows, you ugly old bastard!"
"The era of the great chieftain—and us—begins now!"
The bellowing orcs soon toppled under a volley of dark elf arrows.
The battle was fierce.
'Time is the problem.'
Owen's side had the edge in skill, but they were outnumbered.
Breaking through the stubborn defense was taking effort.
If the watching orcs joined in, it'd turn against them—but those orcs hesitated.
They resented the chieftain for using demonic power, true.
But jumping in to help humans, dark elves, and an exiled warlord attack him directly? They balked.
And that hesitation doomed them.
Vwoooom!
The entire cavern shook as a magic circle materialized on the floor—crimson-black and ominous at first glance.
As panic spread, the great chieftain cried out in rapture.
"Behold the tribute offered to the great one above! I give you these souls—take them, and grant us life force in return!"
With his words, orcs began collapsing everywhere like puppets with cut strings.
Their bodies bubbled and melted, absorbed into the magic circle.
It was devouring them whole.
"Kuhahaha!"
The chieftain laughed, shoulders shaking, knowing his spell had succeeded.
"Die usefully, you worms!"
He was committing the atrocity of forcibly sacrificing hundreds of orcs as living offerings.
"I saved you all myself anyway! Now it's your turn to repay me!"
This mass sacrifice hadn't been in his original plan.
It would erode even his authority.
But he'd wasted a precious Dragon Heart blocking the turtle dragon.
That botched the Tanares revival, so now he was sacrificing all non-follower orcs.
"No one leaves here alive today anyway!"
A few orcs who caught on too late rushed him, but it was futile.
Even the hardiest fell as the circle drained their energy.
They'd unknowingly drunk potions laced with ritual reagents.
Only the chieftain's followers, a handful who hadn't drunk, and Owen's group were spared.
But the outlook was grim.
The ritual was nearly complete, fueled by overflowing life energy.
Bellatel, the only one who could stop it, was busy with the demon.
"This is bad!"
The amassed life force from hundreds of orcs was terrifying.
Owen wanted to rush the chieftain, but the followers blocking them were no pushovers—elites.
Without Karaku's prowess and Grenville's strength, they might not have held.
'At this rate, we're done. Better unleash the Similis Dragon and shatter their lines.'
A medium dragon could smash through a hundred orcs like paper.
He'd hesitated over the aftermath, but now there was no choice.
"Lu—!"
As he started to call Luke's name, Owen froze—the chieftain was pulling something from a box.
A massive black bone.
Clearly a broken rib fragment, dragon-sized by any measure.
But Owen's shock went deeper.
The instant he saw the black bone, his heart pounded wildly.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
His chest resonated as if responding to a call.
'No doubt—that's Tanares' rib!'
How the orc chieftain had it was a mystery.
He buried the broken rib amid a pile of nameless True Dragon bones in the dirt.
Then he opened a second iron box.
Sharp dragon teeth spilled out.
As he moved to place them, the chieftain startled—the teeth were trembling faintly.
"What the—?"
He whipped around. Ahead, a boy astride a dragon stared him down.
He was the source.
"Impressive!"
The chieftain was awed.
So Bargulgu the Human Reaper had spoken true.
That one-armed orc had claimed to see a boy making Tanares' teeth vibrate on the battlefield.
Who'd have thought they'd meet like this?
'What connection does that human brat have to Tanares?'
Curiosity burned, but he had no time for it.
Tanares' revival came first.
But that was his fatal mistake.
Had he truly wanted success, he'd have targeted Owen first.
Thanks to Tanares' power etched into his soul, Owen grasped exactly what was happening.
'It's clear. He's transplanting Tanares' mana-infused remains into that nameless True Dragon skeleton. Then using the absorbed life energy to revive it!'
One thing was certain: this had nothing to do with the real Tanares' resurrection.
He was crafting some magical abomination using a True Dragon body and orc life force.
A failure short of the original Tanares, but dangerous enough.
'If that monster inherits even a fraction of Tanares' power, we're in deep shit.'
Owen resolved to stop it—and believed he could.
Tanares' power dwelled in his soul.
It could surely disrupt whatever the chieftain tried with those remains.
The resonance in his heart was proof.
"Grenville, cover me for a bit."
"Euung!"
As Owen dismounted to focus, Grenville planted itself in front.
A few orcs lunged, but one bite sent them reeling.
"Hoo..."
Owen took a deep breath and concentrated, analyzing the situation.
Then he realized something astonishing.
'Wait—the mana in Tanares' bones... I can absorb it?'
He was the master of all power Tanares left in this world.
Anyone else trying to use it? If Owen spotted it, he could seize it.
And with that, he learned something else.
'Reclaiming that power now will wreck the chieftain's ritual. No doubt. It's like yanking a key gear from a delicate machine.'
Two birds with one stone.
New power gained, enemy's scheme ruined—a golden opportunity.
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