137
My Villains Chapter 137
36. Phoenix of Zahakahr (1)
We safely escaped the rift.
Hmm, it might sound strange to say ‘safely’ when one person died.
Still, it was truly miraculous that the rest of us managed to survive.
I almost died too. The ground beneath my feet collapsed just as we were about to exit the rift.
If Atalante, who had regained some mental strength, hadn't extended her purple spear, and if Utequais hadn't grabbed it, Atalante and I would have been caught in the rift's collapse and turned to dust.
Anyway, the spirit world that offered us a strange and terrible experience collapsed like that.
Unlike the noisy interior of the rift, the current world was incredibly peaceful. The mine was dark as before, making it impossible to tell if it was day or night.
When we went outside the mine, we faced the dawn. More than a day and a half had passed while closing the rift.
"For now," I said, wrapped in the sackcloth Amias handed me, looking around at the party.
"It would be too much to move further, so we need to get organized."
At my words, a temporary camp was quickly set up. The mercenaries scattered around the mine entrance, tending to each other's wounds and resting.
Ellen, who had fainted right after my molting, was still sound asleep.
"...It's probably magic addiction," said Siren.
"Magic addiction?"
The Mage Siren nodded and replied.
"It's a symptom that appears when magic is overused. Ellen replenished her magic several times with the crystal ball and potions, so her condition is likely quite serious."
"Hmm. Then what measures should we take?"
"There's not much we can do specifically..." Siren glanced at Ellen as she continued.
"Fortunately, it doesn't seem life-threatening, so she should be fine if she rests without using magic. Well, probably."
"You mean she shouldn't use spells?"
"More precisely, we need to minimize magic fluctuations. Given Ellen's magic level, we can't prevent magic from recovering, so we should at least prevent it from being consumed."
"I see. Understood."
"Ah, and it's best to keep magical items away as much as possible. They'll keep stimulating her magic."
As Siren returned to her group, I collected Ellen's magical items - her wand, feather ornament, and robe. Instead, I wrapped her in a thick cloak we had brought for camping.
As I gently stroked Ellen's hair while she slept, Utequais suddenly spoke up.
"Girl lost much blood. When she wakes, must feed her meat."
"...She lost a lot of blood?"
Utequais, sitting on a nearby rock wrapping bandages around his stomach, nodded.
"Girl thought blood needed to save you. So she bled."
"...Ellen."
"Don't know how Mother will see it. But Phoenix, it was right decision for you."
Utequais tore the end of the bandage with his teeth. After finishing that rough treatment, he flopped down on his back.
"So, don't be troubled."
"...Troubled?"
"Eating enemy's blood and heart is honorable. Eating friend's blood and heart is monster's deed."
Utequais continued, using his arm as a pillow.
"You not monster. Not yet."
When I remained silent, Utequais soon fell asleep.
...A monster's deed, huh. I wonder what Utequais would say if he knew I had greedily licked Ellen's blood.
Shaking my head to clear my complicated thoughts, I pricked Ellen's forearm. Then I cut my own palm and pressed the bleeding parts together.
My control over blood had become stronger than before. Thanks to that, I was able to transfer a sufficient amount of blood to Ellen without wasting a single drop.
Color returned to Ellen's pale face. Her trembling lips bloomed pink.
After stopping the bleeding, I quietly looked down at Ellen, and suddenly she seemed unfamiliar.
Golden hair and a tiny face. Long eyelashes crossed in sleep, a straight nose, plump lips. Cute ears and a white neck, slender shoulders, a waist you could span with one hand...
With a strange feeling, I looked her over two, three times, but Ellen remained the same.
Yes, clearly the same, and yet...
«W
I must be going crazy.
Those damn troll bastards. It must be because I drank their blood that these weird thoughts are surging up.
But in a corner of my mind, another voice speaks up.
...Why? What exactly is the problem? What's crazy and what thoughts are weird?
"Ah, f*ck."
As I cursed, feeling like my head was getting tangled up in a mess, approaching footsteps flinched.
"...Mira? Boonie?"
The ones who approached hesitantly were freckled Mira and lanky Boonie.
"Um, it's not anything else, it's because of this."
At Mira's words, Boonie held out something. It was something like a black bundle.
"What is this?"
"You'll see when you look."
As the bundle was untied, I finally opened my eyes wide.
"You, you gathered all this? In that urgent situation?"
"I quickly gathered it thinking you'd regret leaving it behind."
The contents of the bundle Mira and Boonie brought were the items I had dropped in the rift.
The 'Dragon Slayer's Seal' and the 'Four Kings' Scale Belt’. There was also the necklace and accessory set called 'Rainbow of Incidents' that I had obtained from 'Madman Pangkog'.
Come to think of it, the cloth used as the bundle was that half-cloak I had gotten from 'Swift-footed Tobald'.
"Um, there was something like a stone tablet and a cloak wrapped around a headless corpse that seemed quite valuable, but we couldn't gather those."
What Mira was talking about must have been the 'Tombstone' and 'Angel's Ruin'.
Looking again, I couldn't see the lapis lazuli ring I had been wearing since falling into this world. But well, that ring was an item obtained in a low-level zone anyway.
Ah, there's no money either. It's fortunate that I only lost some of my personal money and public funds.
Quickly shaking off the regret, I smiled.
"Hey, it's fine. This is more than enough."
Saying that, I put on the Dragon Slayer's Seal first.
"Hmm."
My body, having gone through molting, had become stronger than before. With the Dragon Slayer's Seal on top of that, I could clearly feel myself becoming even stronger and more agile.
While I was clenching my fist, feeling a strength I had never experienced before, Mira and Boonie were wearing awkward expressions.
"Thank you. I'll definitely reward you for this."
"No, it's nothing to thank us for."
Despite my repeated thanks, Mira and Boonie waved their hands. After a moment, Mira, who had been moistening her lips silently, hesitated before speaking.
"Just a few gold coins will be enough. And,"
"And?"
"Um, about Ellen."
"...Ellen?"
Reading something on my face, Mira and Boonie’s faces turned pale.
"No, it's not anything else, just..."
"...What's with you suddenly being so polite?"
"Uh, well."
Seemingly frustrated by Mira's stammering, Boonie stepped in and blurted out.
"If Ellen tries to harm us, we'd like you to keep an eye on her, that's the kind of request we wanted to make."
"...Ellen harming you? Why?"
"Just, you know, it's a request we're making just in case."
I glanced back at Ellen. Making soft breathing sounds as she slept, she had the face of an angel.
"Don't worry. Nothing will happen."
"...That's exactly what we wanted to hear."
With brightened faces, Mira and Boonie disappeared as if fleeing.
What's with those guys?
As I was about to sit back down beside Ellen, another visitor arrived.
"Sir Phoenix."
"Mr. Zhanabas?"
The druid Zhanabas approached with staggering steps and gave a bitter smile.
"Hatanka is already asleep, I see."
"Well, Utequais is the type who can sleep as soon as his butt touches the ground."
Zhanabas made a strange expression for a moment before heaving a deep sigh.
"I'm sorry, Sir Phoenix."
"...What for?"
"Hmm, it seems you didn't hear anything in the commotion."
Zhanabas briefly explained the situation that had occurred inside the rift.
He spoke of how I had been caught by Karamek's thoughts and the power of the underworld, how they had tried to flee but were stopped by Ellen, and how it was a shameful affair.
"So, I wanted to apologize."
"...Oh, I see."
"Actually, I was going to tell you a bit later, but if I don't move right now, Siren looks like she might spit fire..."
While Zhanabas was rambling, I quietly scratched my eyebrow.
...Well, this is awkward.
If I had been awake in that situation, I would have cut off all their heads.
But now that everything has been resolved somehow and they've come to confess on their own, it would look a bit ridiculous for me to pursue their wrongdoing.
Glancing over, I saw that Zhanabas' face was pale. Though no wounds were visible, it seemed he had been quite seriously injured. Simos resting over there had even lost one eye.
As I began to speak, Zhanabas closed his mouth with a snap.
"I'm fine. I don't particularly remember anything, and you fought to save me anyway."
"Thank you for saying that, Sir Phoenix."
"No, thank you. However."
I shrugged, nodding towards the sleeping Ellen.
"I'm not sure what Ellen will think."
"...I understand."
Zhanabas seemed to be choosing his words carefully in his mouth, but in the end he swallowed them and withdrew.
We continued resting until evening. Everyone was exhausted and seriously injured, so we needed to conserve energy to move.
Around sunset, we came down from the mountain and set up camp in the forest. We planned to spend the night here and move to the mountain lodge as soon as it got light.
The reason for going to the mountain lodge instead of Longville was because the lord's army had been defeated.
With Anupads likely swarming around this area, there was no reason to return to Longville right now.
It was fortunate that we had sent Spotty and Lump to the mountain lodge. Before leaving Longville, I had asked Atalante's clan members to take care of them just in case. Looking back, it really was a godsend.
Suddenly, I imagined Lump swimming with his short legs in the bathtub. When we get back, we should take a bath together.
While we were getting organized, I was able to check my character sheet.
Ellen, Utequais, and I had each gone up two levels.
While gaining two levels was certainly a happy thing, the experience felt a bit stingy for some reason.
So I roughly calculated the experience points, and it turned out there weren't enough for two level-ups.
I thought we might have received some bonus experience for an unknown reason.
Setting aside Ellen and Utequais, my character sheet was, well, going crazy.
Name: Phoenix
Level: 22
Class: Blood Knight
Attributes: Remaining bonus - 1
Strength - 27(51)
Agility - 26(48)
Health - 24(42)
Magic Power - 20(30)
Skills:
Blood Blade 6pt, Plunder 2pt, Blood Shield 3pt, Flowing Blood 5pt, Hot Blood 3pt, Legendary Bloodline 1pt, Thirst 4pt, Blood Thirst 2pt, Blood Purple 1pt
The first thing that stood out was, of course, the attributes.
With the level-up bonus, I had only raised Strength, Agility, and Health by 1 point each. The rest had all increased for free through this incident.
The free increases were 1 point each in Strength and Agility, 2 points in Health, and a whopping 8 points in Magic Power. In terms of bonuses, it was like getting almost 6 levels worth of attributes for free.
The skills were just as strange.
I had strengthened 'Blood Shield' and 'Blood Thirst' by 1 point each with the level-up bonus, while 'Blood Blade' and 'Plunder' had increased on their own.
The strangest was 'Legendary Bloodline'.
This is a special passive skill in the bloodline category, with a required level of 25 to acquire. But it was just there, already learned.
A quick calculation showed that my attributes were at level 29 and skills at level 28.
Getting stronger is obviously a good thing, but... Suddenly, the flavor text of 'Legendary Bloodline' came to mind.
-The terrible power dormant in your bloodline awakens.
F*ck, is this really okay?