Chapter 201
Chapter 201
Perhaps because of the intrusion yesterday, the surveillance inside the castle was wider than before. Yet, as if it couldn’t escape the blows from Hans and Snoc, there weren’t that many soldiers considering yesterday’s trespassing.
The two went inside the castle. Lyla grabbed Zich’s hand tightly in nervousness.
‘If it’s really like the ruin in Violuwin, we won’t be able to teleport.’
Her greatest trick would become obsolete then. The loss of this trick was also the reason why the robed figures almost caught her in Violuwin. No matter how confident she was in her skills, a person couldn’t help but have a heavy heart at the thought of losing their greatest skill. As if he knew how she felt, Zich grabbed her hands tightly.
Lyla stared at Zich, specifically at the place where she thought he would be. She couldn't see him because of the magical power or even sense his presence. However, she knew he was definitely there.
‘…He really is a troublesome fellow.’ Although she didn’t show it, the stress she got from her past and the abnormal signs Zich had been recently showing gave her indigestion these days. Yet, Zich couldn’t have been more trustworthy than in times like this. She couldn’t see him, but she followed his lead and headed outside the castle.
As Lyla went down the basement, she soon found an entrance. The entrance looked like it had been forcefully penetrated after the stone floor was lifted. There were more soldiers at the entrance than before, but they weren’t interlocking their bodies to fill every gap of the entranceway and they had no way of blocking the two under an invisibility spell.
No matter how keen the guards were, there were bound to be blind spots; Lyla was impressed with the way Zich used these blind spots to lead her past the guards. She nervously stood when he did and followed his movements—she’d only be able to breathe a sigh of relief after reaching the bottom of the basement’s staircase.
‘Amazing.’ If she were by herself, she would have never been able to trespass like this.
Thankfully, there were no soldiers on the staircase, so the two walked down a bit more freely than before. However, that lasted only for a short time. As soon as they arrived at the bottom of the basement, Lyla tensed up again.
“See? I was right.” Zich muttered quietly when he saw the situation. As he expected, the shaman was in the basement today too. Lyla recognized the shaman right away since she had seen a portrait of her.
However, the situation in front of them didn’t allow them to leisurely talk to each other. In a room shaped like an aisle, troops stood from left to right. With their spears pointed upwards, they stood neatly and faced one another. Between them, there was a small altar—one that looked fitting for a sacrificial ritual—at the center; the shaman was lying on top of this altar.
From a quick glance, her condition didn’t look great. No, it looked extremely serious. The amount of blood that poured down from the altar was shocking. The altar was dyed crimson, and a cold gray light peeped out between the ominous red color. The cold gray light was probably the original color of the altar, but it seemed meaningless as the shaman’s blood dyed it into a completely new color.
“…She isn’t dead, right?” Lyla brought up the worst possible situation.
“That amount is fine. Elves have a stronger life force than humans. There are surprisingly many situations where they survive injuries that would have killed humans,” Zich said with confidence since he had experienced this first-hand endlessly before the regression.
“Of course, if we leave her like that, she will die.”
Lyla wanted to save the shaman immediately, but she couldn’t. She asked, “We won’t be able to break through that easily, right?”
“Yeah.” It wasn’t even a ‘maybe’; he agreed with her definitely.
The ritual area was strangely distorted. It wasn’t at a level where the altar’s form was impossible to see, but something hindered their vision.
Lyla said, “It’s a barrier.”
“Is it a type that automatically defends the ritual once it begins?”
“Probably. From the mana that I feel coming off it, it’ll probably take a considerable amount of time to break it.” There was a high chance that Romanne might die from blood loss or be killed during that period.
“Hm, did I underestimate those guys?” Zich groaned.
Even if these guys were obsessed with this so-called ‘power,’ Zich didn’t expect the situation to escalate like this in just one day.
“So, are you going to give up?”
“Of course not.”
The situation had simply become more complicated and difficult than he had expected, but nothing more than that. If Zich couldn’t handle a situation just because it went out of his expectation by this much, he wouldn’t have become the Demon Lord—more or less, died a pitiful death somewhere in the streets as soon as he left his family.
“Judging by her breathing or heartbeat, we still have some time.” Dragging out his mana, Zich concentrated on his hearing and assessed Romanne’s condition. An elf’s life force was truly formidable.
“I’m sure there’s a crack somewhere in that ritual.”
In the first place, a ritual—moreover a ritual that offered a sacrifice—had a clear goal. It was different from rituals where their purpose was to express their gratitude to nature or praise a god (in short, rituals where the main goal was to gain a peace of mind).
Lyla agreed. “You are right. Guys who do things like this are all similar. In some ways, I am almost thankful that I can see their intention so clearly.” Such people mostly wanted the same thing: the power to accomplish their goals.
“It’s a ritual that requires the blood of a strong elf who lived a long life, moreover, a shaman. I don’t know their exact goal, but it’s clear that there would be a considerable resonance when the power comes out.”
When that happened, no matter how strong the barrier that protected the ritual was, it would falter for a moment.
“Are you planning to utilize that moment?”
“Yeah.” Zich quietly raised Windur.
“And I suppose you are aware of how difficult that’s going to be.”
When it shook, the barrier’s density would be lowered. However, that would be an extremely brief moment. Zich had to properly judge when to attack in that short amount of time when the barrier randomly shook at the start of the ritual. Moreover, he not only had to accurately strike against the gap in the barrier; in order to destroy the barrier, he needed an enormous amount of power. To sum it up, Zich needed his sight to catch the gap in the barrier, the speed to get to the barrier when it shook, and the strength to rip it apart. It was theoretically possible, but this was impossible for even Lyla. She did not think anyone could possibly do all that.
However, the person holding her hand loved to shatter common logic.
“Hey, Lyla. Did you forget who the person next to you is?”
Lyla was definitely sure that—even though she couldn’t see Zich because of the magic, her troublesome but refreshing friend was confidently smiling at her.
“Yeah, you were that type of person,” Lyla said with half admiration and half exasperation. “Then I entrust that job to you. I will also prepare.”
“All right,” Zich replied to Lyla and strengthened his resolve. He sharpened his gaze and focused all his attention on the barrier.
“…It’s done!” They heard a voice filled with delight. It was a type of voice that made Zich want to immediately crush the speaker’s face.
‘It’s the Iron Tribe King.’
The elf performing the ritual was obviously Renu, the Iron Tribe King. He was holding up a golden goblet. Several red lines dripped down the yellow surface of the goblet, which was traces of blood, while the goblet was filled with Romanne’s blood. He looked at the goblet as if it was a precious treasure and could not suppress his smile.
‘Ah, when is the barrier gonna start shaking?’ Rather than saving Romanne, Zich was more interested in crushing Renu’s smile.
“Finally, our long-cherished wish will come true!” Renu strongly cried out to himself.
Then Romanne’s words quickly followed after. “The hell with your long-cherished wish. You wouldn’t have even thought about doing this if someone hadn’t pushed you from the back, you fucking coward. Or was that short time a long time for you? Rather than an elf, aren’t you more suitable to be a dayfly?”
Zich really admired Romanne. Even while she was bleeding an amount that would have killed any human, her talking abilities were still the same. There were very few people that Zich admired.
Renu scowled. “…Even while you’re dying, your filthy tongue is still the same.”
Even though it was the opposite of what Zich was feeling, Renu also seemed to be impressed by Romanne’s ability to talk like usual. Zich’s mood went down when they shared similar emotions.
“Whatever, the only thing you can do right now is lie on the floor like that and spout out useless words. You’re going to die here, and your tribe is going to be my slave. If you followed my orders obediently, it wouldn’t have come to this.” Renu clicked his tongue and mocked her.
“Yeah, now that I think about it, that doesn’t seem too bad…” Did Romanne finally give up in the face of death? Unlike before, Romanne began to say some weak words.
Yet, Romanne was Romanne.
“…Yes, if you were even a bit less cowardly, less annoying, and less of a loser. Why are you so fucking pathetic? It makes me resentful of you. If you were even a bit like a normal guy, my tribe and your tribe could’ve had a better relationship.”
Renu gritted his teeth. The hand holding the goblet flinched as if he wanted to choke and kill her at that moment.
“…I’m going to use your tribe as my slaves through and through.”
“I think that will be too much for you. Unlike you who have a slave mentality, our tribe is going to be very rebellious.”
“Even then, nothing’s going to change. As you die, watch me gain this ultimate power.”
Renu turned his back to Romanne and approached the ordinary-looking wall made out of stone bricks. Neither an extraordinary mural that blinded people’s eyes nor strange and bizarre patterns were inscribed on the wall. However, Zich further increased his concentration. There had to be a reason why Renu drew a picture with blood on such an ordinary-looking wall.
“We will finally be able to get back our power!” Renu shouted. “The power that the cursed Lake Tribe stole from us! Our rightful power! We’re going to get it back!”
Splash!
Renu swung his goblet and splashed blood on the wall.
Wiiing!
A large vibration came out from the wall, and blue patterns began to cover the ordinary-looking wall.
“Oh?”
“Huh?”
Zich and even Lyla were surprised by this sight. They hadn’t noticed the magic sigil on the wall at all. The wall had an impressive camouflage ability.
“What is that?”
However, now that it was revealed, Lyla knew what it was right away. “It’s a seal. It’s probably a seal that only someone who possesses a specific bloodline and ability can undo. It’s extremely sophisticated and strong.”
“A seal that can be undone by blood and a sigil—that’s why they needed the shaman.”
There was a high possibility that the seal was done by a shaman from the distant past. The soldiers standing around like decorations began to mutter spells. The mana resonated, the walls shook, and the patterns on the wall became clearer. Romanne’s blood smeared on the wall also began to glow.
“We’re done now!” Renu loudly proclaimed to everyone around him.
Thud!
The castle trembled loudly. Large cracks began to appear on the wall, and the barrier that imprisoned the shaman shook. This was the moment that Zich had been waiting for.
Tap!
In an instant, Zich approached the barrier and swung Windur. It spread like a flash of light, and Zich precisely struck the area where the barrier was breaking apart.
Riiiiip!
A ripping sound rang across the entire room.