< 115. Blood wets the sand (6) >
#115
Ronan placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. Her man who was behind her opened her mouth without turning her head.
“Welcome. “It’s my first time meeting you in person.”
“…!”
The group froze. It was a friendly voice as if greeting a neighbor. Ronan quickly looked around but other than them there was no one worth talking to.
‘You crazy bastard. ‘You noticed this?’
Ronan gritted his teeth. It was an absurd skill. Regardless of the long distance it was not at all easy to detect signs of presence with such a collection of magical power right in front of you.
In fact Ronan and Schlieffen’s detection abilities were not working properly due to the mana spewing out from the Dainhar magic stone. Ronan took a deep breath and looked back at the raging storm.
“Thank you for guiding me. “Go quickly.”
“Ha but…”
“You idiot. “You said you would keep your promise?”
“…I get it. “I’m going.”
The angry storm retreated backwards. It was only after he disappeared around the corner of the entrance that Ronan finally relaxed. The man’s voice rang out again.
“You must be quite loyal to evacuate your colleagues first.”
“shut up. “Where have the people you captured gone?”
“It’s too hasty. Let’s at least talk face to face. As well as the one person still left.”
Schlieffen narrowed his brows. It seemed like the surprise attack had already been accomplished. The boys exchanged a look and then took a step forward. The man turned around only after they were within five steps.
“Nice to meet you. I only saw it through energy but when I actually met it it was a new feeling. “I never thought I would be this young.”
“Fuck you.”
Ronan raised his middle finger. The other person was a middle-aged man with an ordinary appearance. His beardless face was as simple as a farmer’s and he was neither tall nor short.
He was wearing the pure white robe characteristic of the Nebula Clazier and unlike other believers he had a small star on his sleeve. He was quietly watching Ronan and said in an interesting tone.
“Surprisingly it doesn’t attack right away.”
“Because I’m not an asshole.”
“That’s clever. “Yes there may still be people alive.”
The man smiled. It was a statement close to a threat. Ronan had to exert considerable effort to keep his hand from reaching the hilt of his sword. It was a wickedness that contrasted with his benevolent tone.
‘Disgusting bastard.’
But it wasn’t just the hostages that stopped him from swinging his sword as soon as the gap was closed. There was absolutely no gap to be seen.
Schlieffen’s dead-eyed gaze glaring at him proved it. The eyes of the man who suddenly encountered Schlieffen widened.
“oh my god. Aren’t you the Duke of Grancia? “I never thought I’d see you in a place like this.”
Schlieffen did not answer. The man made a fuss at her as if he had witnessed a completely unexpected piece of luck. Her man turned his gaze back to Ronan and opened his mouth.
“Let’s take a walk first. “There’s something I want to show you.”
Suddenly the man took a step forward. Ronan and Schlieffen followed him. Suddenly a question raised its head in Ronan’s mind.
‘You know me.’
The man was aware of Schlieffen’s existence but did not know her identity. Of the three Ronan was the only one he could identify completely. It also bothered me that he only saw things based on energy. Ronan who was walking after her man growled and asked.
“How do you know me?”
“I personally did some research. “I’m very interested in you.”
“interest? Was he a fucking faggot?”
“That’s not what I meant. You probably know Miss Brigia and Cirilla right? “There is also bloodshed between Edeon and Aden.”
Ronan’s eyes widened. They were all followers of Nebula Clage that he killed or imprisoned in Lodolan. Her man listened to her.
“They were all my people. All of them failed in their assigned missions and ended up in an unfortunate situation. “At first I thought it was just bad luck but that wasn’t the case.”
“Get to the point.”
“I noticed that there was mana commonly found at the scene of the incident. It was a trace that was faint but had such a strong personality that it was impossible to confuse it. Yes it is your mana.”
The man’s explanation continued. In short she discovered Ronan’s mana while investigating the cause of her subordinates’ failure and through researching it she found out.
“You must have already noticed that I came here.”
“of course. “I knew it before you entered Dainhar.”
She said that the man could sense Ronan’s mana from kilometers away. Ronan tilted his head.
“Why didn’t you stop me?”
“Because there’s nothing you can do in the first place.”
“Your confidence is through the roof. “Are there any other assholes out there chasing my ass besides you?”
“at all. The church isn’t busy enough to care about you. “I brought this up at a meeting recently but ended up getting scolded by the church leader.”
The man tasted her. He explained that investigating Ronan was something of a hobby for him. No matter how he looked at it it seemed like it was a homo but regardless Ronan sighed in relief.
‘Thank goodness.’
They said that if I just kill this bastard today the hassle will be greatly reduced. Of course I wasn’t sure that would be possible. The man still hadn’t revealed even a trace of her weakness.
‘…she deserves to have Brigia as her subordinate. ‘What on earth is it?’
They continued walking. The sound of three footsteps echoed. Even though I looked at the space covered in white I couldn’t get used to it.
It seemed like not even a dwarf could handle metal so elegantly. I also had no idea what the light source shining from the high ceiling was made of. It was not the brilliance of fire or the light created by gathering mana. Suddenly the man opened her mouth.
“Do you know what this place is doing?”
“I don’t know.”
“It’s a very old ruin. “It holds a secret that should not be known to the world.”
“Secret?”
“okay. I don’t know the details but if the leader would say that it must be a huge secret. “Our mission is to take the magic stone and destroy this place.”
Ronan frowned at the incomprehensible sound. There was a fishy smell of blood coming from somewhere. Her man listened to her.
“The reason I brought the natives here was because I wanted to know that. We’re going to blow it all up anyway so it wouldn’t matter if we found out the secrets of the ruins and destroyed them. Even so I have a very curious personality.”
“What kind of bullshit are you talking about earlier?”
“But they didn’t cooperate at all.”
Then her man stopped. A wide and deep staircase appeared before their eyes. I could feel the scent of blood becoming more intense. Ronan’s face hardened as he looked down the stairs.
“This is…”
It was a scene reminiscent of a corpse pit on a battlefield. Approximately hundreds of indigenous people had been killed in droves. The dark red blood that had flowed down the stairs was pooled at the bottom.
At the end of the stairs which turned into a red reservoir was a low and wide rectangular parallelepiped. Intricately shaped metal fittings and ten buttons of different colors were lined up on the top of the rectangular parallelepiped. The man sighed and shook his head.
“I wonder how I can touch that… but no one wants to touch it. “I didn’t know that everyone would keep their pledge that they would die.”
There were no survivors in sight. Given the circumstances it appears that they were all murdered while refusing to reveal secrets. Among the corpses were women old people and even a snotty dog that must have been less than ten years old. The man who was looking around her corpses laughed.
“Well even though they are from a barbaric race I like their grit. “I really wanted to show you this.”
“Let’s see this dog.”
Ronan tugged at the hilt of his sword. Almost at the same time Schlieffen’s sword was drawn.
Slashes that flew at an unrecognizable speed were fired at her man. His mouth which had a faint smile on his face opened quietly.
“…there will be a storm.”
Paaaaang! At that moment Ronan and Schlieffen’s bodies were thrown backwards. Ronan who was flying like a shot put crashed into one of the hexagonal pillars. bang! The metal tile flipped over and sparks flew out. The lights that illuminated the room turned off for a moment and then turned on.
“Wow!”
I was out of breath. It was such a shock that I would have believed even if his entire spine had been broken. Thick blood burst out from deep in the throat. Ronan slipped down the pillar and fell to the floor.
“Keuuuu…!”
Ronan lifted himself up using La Mancha as support. When he raised his head his nosebleed poured like rain. Ronan who noticed that his nose was broken just from the impact gritted his teeth.
“This…sounds familiar.”
It was somehow a feeling of déjà vu. Uduk. He glared at the man after fixing his broken nose.
A pair of translucent yet gigantic wings were growing on the man’s back. I definitely remembered seeing wings covered in feathers in the past.
The wings gradually faded and disappeared from sight. Ronan chanted his nemesis’ name as if possessed by something.
“Ahayute.”
It’s definitely true. The wings were just like those of that child. Ronan soon noticed that the texture of the wings was made of strange mana like the protection of the stars. The man who turned towards Ronan smiled.
“The introduction is late. “This is Teranil Bishop of the Southern Diocese of Nebula Clage.”
“Bishop…fuck.”
Ronan spat on the floor. For some reason I felt like it was really strong. I don’t know much about the organizational system of those heretics but it seemed clear that they were at least a strong group that would be ranked in the top 20.
“You damn bastard…if you’re going to do this why are you talking so loudly?”
“It’s a gift from the underworld…and I just got convinced.”
The man who introduced himself as Teranil laughed. Two unusual stab wounds crossed his body.
One from the back of the hand to the elbow and one from the thigh to the shin. The fabric where the blade passed was turning red. This was the scar left by Ronan and Schlieffen just before the frenzy was fully triggered. Terranil’s relaxed face suddenly became fierce.
“You must die here.”
“Have you tried it?”
bang! Ronan kicked the ground and ran away. At the same time Schlieffen who had been pinned to a pillar in the distance appeared.
“Shoot right away! “You can’t give yourself any time to rest!”
Ronan shouted. If creating wind with wings was the same principle as star protection it would have been difficult to activate it continuously. Schlieffen clutching the hilt with both hands swung his sword.
“Hmph!”
The bluish sword body drew an arc. A huge half-moon shaped sword was shot towards Terranil. A huge sword measuring at least 5 meters in diameter was shaking with the energy of a storm.
“Huh do you even know that?”
Terranil laughed as if he was amazed. As expected he couldn’t take out his wings. The distance between him and his sword was about five steps. thud! Suddenly a huge shadow landed in front of his eyes. Ronan’s eyes widened.
“ok?”
Kwaaaaang! Schlieffen’s sword energy collided with the shadow. However only an explosion occurred and no tornado occurred. At that time dozens of harpoon-like metal objects were fired at Ronan and Schlieffen beyond the thick smoke.
“Nimi…!”
Kagagak! The two people hastily raised their swords and cut away the metal objects. Every time a spark flew cut metal pieces fell to the floor.
Ronan noticed that it was the same object that was stuck in the bodies of the natives. Seaaaa… Eventually the smoke subsided. Ronan frowned at the sight of the giant hedgehog.
“What the fuck is this?”
“Grrr.”
It was a hedgehog larger than most water buffalos. Its torso was entirely made of bright red metal and thousands of metal pieces identical to those that Ronan had struck down were clanking on its back. In many ways it felt more similar to Phileon’s Magic Knight than to a living creature.
“Hmm? “Did you stop all of that?”
On top of the head of the only hedgehog that did not have thorns a person was sitting with his legs crossed. Because she was wearing very wide clothes and her face was covered with a long veil her identity could not be determined. At that time a tickling voice came from beyond the veil.
“Ha…Isn’t this a bit weird Bishop Terranil?”
“What do you mean Branch Manager Yuria?”
“You leave me with such a boring mission and then enjoy such a fun event by yourself.”
It was a woman’s voice. Her billowing curtain stood between her and her boys. It was the blessing of the stars that I had seen so well.
‘It’s much bigger.’
The only difference was that it was much larger than the one used by Brigia or the old man riding the wyvern. Her star’s protection spread out in a hemispherical shape encompassing not only her and her hedgehog but also Terra Nil. Terranil who heard her complaints smiled kindly.
“Hey don’t be angry. Let’s have fun together from now on. “Are there any natives left?”
“The seeds are dry. “I should have enjoyed it in moderation… Well if I find it my two kids will bring it.”
It seemed like her mission was to capture the natives who would reveal the secret. She was talking about various things with Terranil as if the situation had already been concluded.
Her tension was completely relaxed. He seemed to think that the blessings of the stars would solve everything. Ronan grabbed the hilt of her sword.
‘I have to catch it this time.’
I felt like my only chance was now. For a moment Ronan and Schlieffen exchanged glances. Ronan ran out after counting the three seconds and swung his sword. Wedge! A crescent-shaped sword was fired along La Mancha’s sword path.
“Huh?”
The red sword flew towards the woman called Yuria. Turning her head she snorted.
“That’s right you don’t know this.”
“Schlieffen!”
Either way Ronan shouted. Schlieffen who was waiting swung her sword. Pajik! At that moment the star’s protection and Ronan’s sword energy collided and disappeared simultaneously. Schlieffen’s sword which was flying right behind him hit the monster’s chest directly.
-Kwasik!
“to?”
Yuria’s eyes widened. Terranil tried to shout something but it was too late. Quaaaaa! A huge whirlwind engulfed the two figures.
