Side Story Chapter 138
-And you were so confident.
Evergrant quietly chuckled, making Kireua nervous.
‘Am I wrong?’
-You answered wrong.
Kireua’s face fell. Evergrant was the first Eighth Circle human mage, so what could such a person wish for other than reaching the next level? No way! If Kireua didn’t become a Master before his death, he would never be able to rest in peace.
“Hey, hey. No matter how important it is to win, you can’t lie,” Crevasse interrupted. “He got it right. Otherwise, what’s all the knowledge that I taught you?”
-He did give me a dragon for a teacher, but it wasn’t about teaching me Ninth Circle magic.
“Are you seriously going to do this? As I recall, I not only taught you Ninth Circle magic, I also taught you dragon-tongue.”
Kireua frowned. Word-wielding was a power derived from language; the most well-known form was dragon-tongue. It didn’t need formulas, nor did it need to be cast. A spell capable of killing thousands of people could simply be wished into existence.
-Joshua Sanders’s son specifically said that my dream was to become a Ninth Circle mage, so if I had to put a grade on it, his answer only gets fifty out of one hundred points.
Crevasse shook his head. “I know about how narrow-minded you are, but you’re just throwing a tantrum.”
-Hah. I got what I wanted, so did you really think I would cooperate?
Once a villain, always a villain, as the saying went. It described Evergrant perfectly right now.
-Even if Joshua Sanders activates his Overlord Symbol, I can just defy his order and choose to be annihilated. As I said, I’ve already achieved my dream.
“Alright.” Kireua clenched his fists. “How does this sound then? Evergrant con Aswald, you and I will fight here right now, and the loser will follow all orders from the winner. Let’s make a mana pledge or an Overlord’s covenant this time so that this deal must be upheld.”
The lights in Evergrant’s eyes flickered. Kireua was sure that Evergrant was shocked—much less the others.
“Kireua, are you out of your mind?!” Aisha snapped. “You’re challenging a Ninth Circle mage! On top of that, he’s an undead who has an almost infinite amount of stamina!”
-That’s exactly why I think I have a chance, Teacher.
Kireua’s telepathic message made Aisha scowl.
-What nonsense is that? He’s totally different from anything you’ve gone up against before.
-Please wait and see. If my hypothesis is right, it’s impossible for me to lose.
Kireua’s attention turned back to Evergrant. Although it was unclear what the lich was thinking, he was releasing thick demonic power.
-Hohohohoho, how interesting. Exactly what I would expect from Joshua Sanders’ son.
“So you accept my proposal?” Kireua tilted his head.
-Let me ask you: don’t you need anything else?
“What else?”
-Say whatever you want, because I’m willing to accept any terms.
Kireua couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth from creeping upward. Evergrant seemed sure of his victory but pretended to be considerate, which Kireua found truly disgusting.
Kireua clenched his fists. “Then I’ll accept your considerate gesture and ask you for one more thing.”
-Go on.
“Since we both consented to this, let’s not ask for any compensation when we inevitably end up hurting each other.”
-...What?
“I’m saying that the loser shouldn’t tattle when he gets beaten up, or act cowardly and try to claim that the terms weren’t valid. A lot of people are watching us—wouldn’t that be pathetic for people of our renown?” Kireua smiled.
The tense silence made each second seem to stretch for hours.
-Hahahahahahahaha!
Evergrant burst into manic laughter; he practically leaked amusement.
* * *
In the sky above Arcadia’s east gate, Theta clawed for breath. A pile of once-more-dead were scattered below him. However, the undead numbered over ten thousand and the undead regenerated endlessly; inevitably, Theta’s endurance gave out first.
He was currently the only living Eighth Circle human mage and the Master of the Magic Tower, but the more advanced spells he used, the more mana, stamina, and willpower he consumed. The magic formulas for highly advanced spells were as complicated as the spells were powerful, and Theta had to calculate them all in his head. Although he had the strength to cast Eighth Circle spells several times more, it would ultimately achieve little. The undead still filled the plains, their numbers unabated.
The one silver lining was that a group of monsters was fighting the undead at the rear. Apparently they weren’t on the same side as the undead.
Selim watched Theta drop back onto the ramparts and brandished his spear. “Why don’t you take a rest now? It’s time we step up.”
Valmont swallowed nervously. “They’re like a swarm of insects.”
“I think we need a group of people to distract the undead,” Selim said.
“What? A distraction?”
“We’re basically isolating ourselves by waiting for the undead to reach our walls.”
“I-In other words, you want to go down there and lure away the undead,” Valmont surmised. Selim’s unhesitating nod in reply made Valmont gape at him, dismayed. ”Y-Your Highness, why don’t you rethink this. There’s a reason why sallying out is considered an extreme measure.”
“Sir Valmont, look over there,” Selim ordered, pointing at the distant rear lines of the undead horde.
Valmont turned to look quizzically. Right at that moment, a skeleton was crushed by a black ogre’s punch, scattering its fragments across the ground. The surprise came a moment later.
“Oh no...!” Valmont’s lips trembled.
The skeleton began to regenerate, reconstituting itself from the dust. And then it threw itself at the black ogre again, this time with even more demonic power than before.
“That’s the scariest part about a black mage, although the demons are the ‘black mages’ this time. As you can see, the battlefield is the undead’s natural environment. Every one of our casualties only adds to the ranks of their army,” Selim said.
In the end, the black ogre was surrounded by hundreds of skeletons and collapsed to the ground with a thud. The skeletons swung their weapons, smashing the black ogre’s skull. Before long, the black ogre rose again, but it was covered in blood and many of its bones were exposed to the air. Nevertheless, the black ogre swung its bat at the monsters it had once been fighting alongside with just as much vigor.
“...This is getting worse by the minute.” Duke Tremblin let out a sigh and took a step toward the battle. “I’ll go, Your Highness.”
“I’ll go too. You won’t be able to effectively lure them away on your own.”
“But...”
“I’m His Majesty’s son.” Selim dismissed Tremblin’s concerns and then leaped down the rampart.
“Shit. Then I have to go too,” Valmont grumbled.
Tremblin heaved another sigh. “Go after him right now. His Highness’ safety is your priority.”
“I was going to do that even if you didn’t tell me. Don’t die, old man.”
“Can’t you do something about your vulgar way of talking? Whenever you and His Highness talk, I can feel my old heart racing out of nervousness.”
“You might have a heart attack if you saw how I acted around His Majesty.” Valmont shrugged and jumped off the walls.
Selim sprinted across the plains, spear resting on his shoulder, and was followed by Tremblin, who had one arm behind his back like always. Valmont was at the rear of the group since it was his job to create an escape route if they got surrounded.
“The undead are starting to notice us! Let’s scatter to the left and right!” Selim yelled.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The moment they set foot on the battlefield, there could be no such thing as defying an order. Nevertheless, Tremblin gestured at Valmont and jerked his head in Selim’s direction.
“Crap. Alright,” Valmont mumbled.
Selim headed left, mulching the undead in his way, and Valmont went after him. The undead split neatly down the middle as if the army had been cut in half with a knife.
“Your Highness! How many of them are you going to lure away?!” Valmont yelled.
“At least half of them!”
“H-Half?” Valmont’s face darkened.
There were now over one hundred thousand undead and counting. Half of them would be fifty thousand. And Selim was saying that the three of them were going to spread the large army on their own? It wasn’t like they were the Emperor of Avalon, who had stalled an army of a million soldiers on his own.
‘This is all wrong,’ Valmont thought, biting his lip. He was about to shout to Selim to stop him, but...
...Selim suddenly came to a halt.
“Your Highness...?” Valmont cautiously asked.
-I can’t believe my own eyes.
Valmont staggered. The voice triggered a primordial fear from deep within the human psyche. When he looked up, he found an impressively handsome man with black hair standing in front of him. Valmont instantly realized who—or rather, what—he was looking at.
“A demon...!”
-I see that humans are as reckless as ever. You two willingly charged into the center of such a large enemy army.
“Your Highness! I’ll cover you!” Valmont quickly stepped up to Selim.
However, Selim leveled his spear at the demon, his eyes burning with resolve.
“I’ll fight,” the prince declared.
“I can’t let you do that! If something happens to you, our army will throw down their weapons and flee!”
The demon watched Valmont and Selim argue and chuckled snidely.
-...Pah. Humans are just as stupid as ever, too.
“What?”
-Don’t you think you’ve gotten the whole order wrong? You have to take the pawns before you can take the king.
Selim and Valmont flinched. They could feel many presences lying beneath their feet.
Ground cracked and ten headless black knights erupted out of the ground, surrounding Selim and Valmont.
“Dullahans...!”
-If you bring them to their knees, then yes, I’m willing to at least talk with you.
However, that wasn’t the end of the surprises: a beautiful woman with silver hair suddenly dropped from the sky in front of Selim and Valmont.
“Right back at you,” the silver-haired woman told the demon.
The demon's eyes widened.
Valmont immediately recognized the woman.
“Si-Silver-Eyed Ghost Sword?” he stammered.
But something was off. Something quite big.
“...But what is the Ghost Sword doing with a spear?”
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