Chapter 136: A brief reunion

Among the Four Heavenly Kings, Clanis is definitely the craziest.

“Didn’t you say Pector was fine before?”

“That bastard isn’t normal either, as long as he’s one of the Four Heavenly Kings! He’s better than the Hero, but still. For now, block the door with the teddy bears so nothing gets out! Don’t let the others in!”

“Yes!”

Syria’s teddy bears moved toward the exit.

Right now, the priority was preventing the other mages of the Mage Corps from getting hurt.

These things weren’t just ordinary monsters.

***

“Dark Lord. Dark Lord. Dark Lord.”

“Dark Lord. Dark Lord. Dark Lord.”

“For the Dark Lord.”

The monsters called out to the Dark Lord with desperate voices.

At first, they seemed to want to leave, but since they were blocked, they turned their attention to me instead, charging forward.

Krrrrrk, krrrkkk…

Along with strange cries, their fingers made unpleasant sounds whenever they moved.

“Shit. These things are disgusting.”

There was no saving them now.

They hadn’t been created as offerings or anything—they were just experiments, monsters born from twisted research.

Their human minds were probably long dead.

“Dark Lord. Dark Lord.”

“O great Dark Lord.”

There was no choice.

These things were no longer human.

‘Hadn’t I dealt with plenty of them already?’ This would end the same way.

“Yeah. That’s all it is.”

“Why do they seem so pitiful, though?”

“Not all of them were real nuns, probably. Since this was Ashtar’s domain, some of them must have been former Ashtar citizens. The war against the demons had already reduced their numbers significantly, and many had likely been kidnapped by Clanis.”

“This was war, after all.”

I couldn’t afford to pity them.

But still, my eyes kept lingering on them.

“So… don’t resent me for this.”

Elemental magic wouldn’t work in this place, not when I had no idea what Clanis had done to it.

The only thing I could rely on was magic bullets.

The nuns-turned-monsters lunged with their claws, but my bullets tore through them.

Tatata! Bang!

Lately, I felt like I was using magic bullets all the time.

“Kyaaaagh!”

“Keaaak!”

‘But at least they were effective against the nuns. There were dozens of them in total. Clanis didn’t seem to have been managing them for long. ‘

‘Maybe Bernoa had handed them over to Clanis back when he was one of the Four Heavenly Kings, and after Crad Castle was reclaimed, Clanis had abandoned them.’

‘He did hate troublesome things, after all.’

‘He wouldn’t have wanted a laboratory in a place where a warrior strong enough to defeat Bernoa existed.’

“Still… to think he would do something this monstrous.”

‘It was beyond repulsive. I should have gotten rid of him first.’

“Kiiiieeek!”

“Crap.”

***

While I was lost in thought, the nuns rushed me.

I quickly prepared to fire another round of magic bullets—

But suddenly, they stopped attacking.

Instead, they just stared at me.

“…What the hell? Why are they acting like this?”

“Dark Lord. Dark Lord. Dark Lord.”

Out of nowhere, they all dropped to their knees before me.

“What the hell is wrong with these lunatics? Dark Lord?”

‘No way. It couldn’t be.’

‘They couldn’t actually think I was the Dark Lord, right? Just because of that single fragment? Seto and Clanis didn’t react this way, but these experimental creatures saw me as the Dark Lord?’

‘Maybe Clanis had brainwashed them into fanatical worship, so now they were just following their instincts.’

“…Well, in that case.”

There was no reason to hesitate anymore.

No reason to struggle.

The nuns gathered around me, clasping their hands together as if in prayer.

They were truly treating me as their Dark Lord.

Their minds and bodies had been too far corrupted to return to what they once were.

“Dark Lord. Dark Lord. Dark Lord.”

“Only the Dark Lord can save us.”

Salvation or not, I had no intention of becoming their Dark Lord.

Chwaaak!

Even though they were monsters, knowing they had once been human made killing them all the more frustrating.

“Shit. This is seriously messed up.”

This should have been the Hero’s job.

‘Why the hell was I the one doing it?’

And to think that fragment from Zerato was what caused all this.

“…No.”

That fragment probably wasn’t the real reason.

This body of mine was different from the start.

At first, I thought I had fused with mana so quickly just because of my natural talent. But maybe—

Maybe it was something that insane woman, Lily’s mother, had implanted in me.

***

“Olivia? We’ve sealed the entrance!”

“Ah. It’s fine. I’m already done here.”

While Syria had been blocking the exit, I had finished dealing with the nuns.

With them all huddled in one place, it wasn’t exactly difficult.

“Wow. That was fast. There were quite a lot of them, though.”

“They practically offered themselves up.”

They had been kneeling there, praying.

‘If I hadn’t taken them out, I’d be an idiot.’

“So, is it over?”

“No. Let’s look around some more.”

There was probably something else Clanis had left behind.

‘Maybe even a clue to track him down. I needed to catch him and finish this once and for all.’

***

After searching around for a while, we found nothing useful.

‘Had he taken all the research materials with him?’

“There’s really nothing here?”

“Looks like he cut ties completely.”

Not a single scrap of information remained.

It was like he had deliberately left this place for us to take over.

“Leaving the nuns behind was basically her way of telling us to clean up after her, huh?”

‘Yeah. When I thought about it that way, it pissed me off even more.’

“I can’t believe I’m being played like this. But that doesn’t mean I can just sit back and do nothing. If I leave this place as it is, it’ll only be a burden for Ashtar.”

In the end, it’s always humans who have to deal with the troublesome things.

“Clanis, you damn evil. That so-called hero? That bastard. Ugh, everything is just pissing me off.”

Ssssshhhh—

An eerie presence was felt from outside.

“What’s going on out there?”

“Olivia! Outside the forest! It’s Pector!”

A mage rushed in to report.

Sure enough, as I stepped outside the forest, I was met with a thick, ashen fog.

Pector always made an entrance like this.

“Seriously? Now it’s Pector?”

‘This is bad. If he’s targeting the mage division… And of all times, why now, when they’re just recruits? They’re not even official members yet. If Pector uses his Authority, they won’t stand a chance.’

“Ha. If Pector’s showing up here, then… And it’s not even a one-on-one fight. This is a mess.”

“So what? Let’s just take him down while we have the chance.”

Easier said than done.

To be honest, it’s less stressful to fight him head-on.

But when it comes to his Authority, he’s the biggest pain to deal with.

“Killing him isn’t the problem. If he actually fights, his Authority could put Ashtar’s territory at risk. And the mage division too.”

“Really?”

This is getting complicated.

I just hope Pector isn’t here to start a fight.

For now, I had all the mages retreat.

They wouldn’t be able to fight him anyway.

I left them in Syria’s care and went to face Pector in front of the temple.

***

“Noah—no, Olivia. It’s been a while.”

“What are you doing here? Didn’t you say you wouldn’t mess with the Empire? Ashtar is imperial territory. Or what, are you here for revenge on Berna?”

He shouldn’t be attacking.

At least not for now.

“No. The one who was attacked was Berna, not me. And honestly, I was never that close to that corrupted saint in the first place.”

Fair enough.

“I wouldn’t want to be friends with someone like her either.”

“Then what is it?”

“I’m here to clean up.”

Pector pointed deeper into the temple.

“You knew about this?”

“Clanis told me. He’s planning to use this place to launch an attack on Ashtar.”

“Ah. Right. Considering those angels, their numbers weren’t small.”

Ashtar could fend them off, but if they launched a surprise attack at night, the civilian casualties would be significant.

But I should have already taken care of them all.

“I already wiped out everything inside.”

“That’s not all.”

Pector stepped further in.

Then, he slashed his sword through one of the grotesque monster statues.

With a loud crash, both the statue and part of the wall crumbled.

“A hidden chamber?”

“Not just that.”

He was right.

It wasn’t just a room.

As we moved deeper inside, a thick, oppressive miasma filled the air.

It was so intense that any ordinary human would lose their mind and die just from exposure.

And then, below us—I saw it.

A massive, black sphere, pulsating like it was about to explode at any moment.

If that thing detonated, it would be a disaster.

Half of Ashtar would be consumed by the miasma.

“If this goes off, the whole area will be blanketed in miasma.”

No kidding.

‘Clanis is more ruthless than I thought.’

“Step one: monster nuns. Step two: a bomb.”

“Exactly. If something this big explodes, even if the Empire bombards the place with their strongest cannons, the land will be contaminated. It’ll turn into a part of the Demon Realm. Those who can’t use mana will either be poisoned to death or forced to abandon their homes.”

Pector erased the sphere instantly with his Authority.

‘If that thing had exploded and tainted the land, even swinging my sword wouldn’t have been enough to fix it.’

“…Well, thanks for the warning. But why go this far?”

I couldn’t help but ask.

I never know what this guy is thinking.

He’s just as much of a weirdo as Clanis.

I can’t tell if he’s simple or just incredibly smart.

“I already told you—I won’t touch the Empire.”

Nice excuse.

“That’s just you. What about Clanis?”

“That lunatic got some ideas uafter my invasion of Ashtar. That’s why he came up with this plan. So technically, I’m involved too. He already suspects Noah is in the Empire. That’s why he’s targeting it.”

That makes sense.

I figured that lunatic man would catch on to something.

He might come looking for me soon.

“Hmm. Even so, ‘for now’ is surprisingly short. Whether you attack or not, you’re free to do as you please now, aren’t you?”

“The road ahead is long. For me, ‘for now’ still has a long way to go.”

“Is that so?”

Hmph. I see.

Still, this is all making my head spin.

‘What the hell is Pector really thinking?’

“There was never a reason to attack the Empire. If it could be destroyed by the Four Heavenly Kings, it would have fallen long ago.”

“Like you’d ever let that logic stop you. Or are you planning to fight again? Threatening the Empire sounds right up your alley. I have to protect it now, you know.”

‘If he actually threatened the Empire, that would be a problem. But at least he’s being upfront about it.’

“I have no interest in threatening the Empire. That kind of petty nonsense is more Clanis and Seto’s style. For me, all that matters is you.”

For a moment, my mind went blank.

‘Did this bastard really just say that?’

“You should at least pick your words more carefully.”

Damn. I got chills.

“That’s the kind of thing you say to a girl, not to me.”