Chapter 163
Chapter 163
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 163
Chapter Title: Ague Elixir 6
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“So, you need pure humans for this. Ones untouched by the Nether’s power?”
Azadin finally grasped Arael’s intent and groaned.
“Sorry, but I’ll pass. I don’t even know what that potion is.”
“Then I’ll have to kill you…”
Indim started to draw his sword as he spoke, but Arael stopped him.
“Don’t touch Azadin, Indim. Who gave you permission for such rudeness?”
“But Lady Arael, if they leak the truth…”
“It’s fine. At least Azadin won’t sell us out to the Qinggandang, even if he refuses my request. Right?”
Of course, Azadin had no intention of selling them to the Qinggandang. But hearing the person in question declare it so boldly left him a bit miffed.
“Why are you so sure?”
“Because you’re my brother.”
“It would’ve been nice if you’d felt that way when you scarred my eye.”
“Watch your words. Where were your eyes back then? You look much handsomer now, at least.”
“Hey, you…”
“Shall we move on to the next item? Azadin, you took the copy of the Divine King Formation Manual from Dimia, right?”
“Oh, that.”
“Could you return it? As proof of our friendship.”
“Nope.”
Azadin shook his head. The copy of the Divine King Formation Manual served as an excellent source of pure white mana for him. He’d been using those copies for his ongoing mana training.
The more the better, since using them temporarily depleted his mana. It was incredibly useful even for Azadin, who couldn’t cast proper spells—what good would it be if Arael’s gang got their hands on it? The thought alone made him unwilling to hand it over.
“We should just take it by force. Lady Arael, how long will you tolerate Azadin’s insolence? If you truly want him, it’s better to crush him with strength and keep him by your side.”
Indim fumed when Azadin rejected Arael’s demand. Yet even in that moment, Arael turned down Indim’s suggestion.
“My little brother, who was always cowed, is finally spreading his wings a bit. I have no intention of breaking that. Alright, Azadin. How about joining me and fighting the Council of Elders together?”
“I can’t decide that yet.”
“If you come under me, I won’t have to dirty my hands as much. I could carry out my plans without killing so many civilians, Azadin. You’re really going to refuse? Refusing means you’re throwing away thousands, tens of thousands of lives you could save in the future.”
“You must think I’m an idiot. Is this your idea of a threat?”
“It’s not a threat—it’s the truth. But I get why you hate me. You won’t realize it until that time comes. Don’t regret it later.”
Arael left those words behind and vanished into the stormy darkness with Indim.
*********
“Impressive.”
Once Arael was gone, Zibek marveled.
“What is?”
“From what I saw, she really cares about you. Even as the head of a precarious organization, she never tries to overstep with you.”
“That scar on my eye is her doing? She’s just enjoying herself. No need to read into it.”
Azadin rejected Zibek’s assessment of Arael.
“But Azadin, from my experience, her type doesn’t lie idly. She might lie if necessary, but it would be a calculated one. Even if half of what she said is true, it’s dangerous.”
“…”
Azadin agreed with that point. Arael never spoke empty words.
“Well, she seems to have high expectations for the boss as family, no matter what. In other words, the boss can get plenty of backing from the higher-ups on either side, right? Sounds good to me.”
Azadin turned to Scott, who was spouting such carefree words, and jolted in surprise. Scott had somehow started munching on something again.
“Hey!”
Just as Azadin was about to chew him out, the heavens and earth shook with a blinding flash. Lightning bolts rained from the sky, striking the camp in multiple spots.
“Kyaaak!”
“Uwaaak!”
“…What the?!”
Azadin panicked at the continuous lightning strikes hitting the refugee camp.
Lightning in open fields wasn’t rare, but this many in succession on one field was abnormal.
“What’s going on? What’s happening?”
“Ugh!?”
Zibek jumped up and adjusted his armor.
“This is…”
Scott flinched too, swallowing whatever was in his mouth and grabbing a talisman.
“My god.”
Azadin drew his Azure Steel longsword. A chilling aura emanated from the blade, enveloping his body.
Tents collapsed amid the pouring rain as monsters appeared.
“Kwaaaak!”
“F-Father!”
“My son!”
“My daughter!”
The refugees screamed. Their children, family members were turning into monsters.
“This is it, right, boss?”
“Yeah. The ones who took the Qinggandang’s potion…”
Azadin frowned.
Those who had consumed the Qinggandang’s elixir to cure fevers and ague were now mutating into Nether emissaries, their kin.
Everyone’s heads split open, thick limbs wrapped in oak-like bark sprouting from within.
Human torsos dangled from these new limbs like hanged men, resembling grotesque figures on the gallows.
“P-Papa!”
A young girl wailed toward one such monster. But the mindless beast extended an arm toward the girl blocking its path. It was no familial embrace.
“Dodge!”
Azadin leaped in and swung his sword.
The bark-covered arm could deflect ordinary blades, but it was cleanly severed by Azadin’s blue sword light.
Black blood sprayed from the stump.
“Grroooaaarrr!”
The monster writhed in pain.
“P-Papa!”
“Get her out of here! Shati!”
“R-Right!”
As Shati rushed to protect the child, Zibek charged out, raising his shield. Instead of drawing his sword, he grabbed an axe embedded in a nearby tree stump.
“Kak!”
The kin kept yanking out oak roots to target Azadin.
Azadin sliced through the attacks with his Azure Steel longsword while assessing the kin’s condition.
When Zibek targeted the torso—the still-humanoid part—the kin wrapped it protectively with oak roots.
“The human part is the weak spot!”
“Then!”
In that instant, Scott sent something charging forward.
Huge rats the size of human forearms raced with red glows in their eyes, climbing the oak roots toward the human torso.
“Boom!”
The giant rat exploded, blasting the kin’s torso away.
“Keeek!”
The oak branches shuddered, then the trunk split open like a chestnut or sea urchin, spilling its brain matter downward where it withered and twisted.
“That’s the weak point. But…”
Azadin and Zibek turned in dismay—the girl had fainted at the gruesome sight.
The sudden attackers had blown up what was once her father’s body, spilling his brains onto the ground. Fainting was only natural.
She wasn’t alone. Wails of those losing family echoed everywhere.
Children crying for lost parents. Parents grieving lost children.
The sounds pierced the thunder, swirling chaotically around Azadin.
‘I don’t have what you’d call family…’
Azadin had no traditional family. To him, family meant Arael, Aldis, and Kazas.
Even so, these heartbroken cries tore at his chest. The raw, sanity-shattering anguish in their voices made him groan.
“Great Archangel of Mercy!”
At that moment… countless corpse fragments twitched with eerie propulsion, closing in on the kin and exploding. Scott was using necromancy to eliminate them.
“Not bad, right, boss?”
“…”
Before Azadin could stop him, Scott jammed a twig into a fragment of the girl’s father’s corpse on the ground and cast a spell.
The severed arm stump sprouted a twig like a leg, crawling on its own. The grotesque sight of blood spurting from the stump with a branch jammed in was horrifying.
“Scott…”
“Go!”
In front of the bereaved family, Scott modified the scattered corpse pieces with necromancy and sent them charging at the kin.
A human arm chariot crafted by Scott slithered under the oak-demon kin that slaughtered and prowled.
“Boom!”
The corpse exploded again, severing the torso. Brains spilled once more, halting the kin. Scott began repurposing the new fragments.
The watching survivors tore at their chests, wailing, rolling in the mud, and collapsing.
‘This guy’s talented, no doubt. But his methods are too repulsive. No wonder people grab necromancers and burn them at the stake first.’
Even Azadin, who had little aversion to necromancy, felt disgust at the horror.
Zibek trembled, gripping his axe, itching to cleave Scott right then.
But without Scott’s efforts, the kin would slaughter more people.
*********
The Qinggandang Daoist trembled violently.
“W-We’ve been tricked! It’s a trap!”
Oak branches still grew from his ears, antler-like twigs sprouting from his head.
Unlike others who lost their minds to become monsters, he could control his state.
But the majority who had taken the Qinggandang’s elixir and joined weren’t so lucky—they became Nether kin.
Fortunately, the Daoist could control the kin nearby, preventing pointless slaughter. But falling into this situation meant they were already trapped.
“Excellent. Are you a higher kin?”
“Nah, higher what? I’m just barely holding onto a shred of reason.”
The ones eyeing the Daoist wielded bizarre bows.
The four of Flower-Bird-Wind-Moon, now under Arael—Flower’s Dimia, Bird’s Seraph, Wind’s Aleph, and Dimia’s sister Jenis—looked down on the Qinggandang Daoist.
“H-Herald Clan! What horrible thing have you done? Do you even know what you’ve wrought?”
“Haha. What have we done?”
“Never mind. Hand over the key to the Emperor’s treasury.”
“Don’t make me laugh! I won’t— Do you know how many innocents you’ve killed?”
“Nope.”
“What?”
“Not interested, so I didn’t count.”
Jenis grumbled while filing her nails on a whetstone.
They hadn’t batted an eye at the deaths in the refugee camp.