Chapter 79

Chapter 79

Leonhard’s head went blank for a moment and began to swell with heat.

“What did you do?”

Many wizards flinched at the angry voice.

“The core of the boss monsters is an ensemble of pure magical power. It is the most powerful power source of all.”

“I didn’t ask for that. I’ve been sending it all this time, trusting that you’re handling it with thorough care…”

Leonhard clenched his fists. If he hadn’t been in a situation where he had to lay low, he would have already shouted.

In the meantime, all the cores of the boss monsters were sent to the imperial family, with only a few exceptions. It was possible to bring a significant number of them to the north, but he believed that they would be more useful in the imperial family.

‘…There will be no reason for me to send the cores here in the future.’

He gritted his teeth.

Now was not the time to interrogate them. He had to somehow persuade them to open the great door down there.

“Please open the door. I will not ask for any responsibility.”

“…I’m sorry, Lord Leonhard.”

Silence passed.

Leonhard and the wizards stood still without moving. Even though several methods came into his mind, none of them seemed to solve the situation.

—Bang!

At the same time as the entire building shook, a huge explosion was heard from the basement. Instead of standing stiffly like Leonhard, the wizards began to run outside all at once, stumbling and rolling.

Dark despair filled his heart.

The next moment, the wizards were running away, abandoning their colleagues for their own comfort. They even refused to go down underground, saying that Leonhard should not die. He was not naive enough to not know their hidden true intentions. When he died, the duty to subdue the warlock would fall to them.

‘Bastards.’

Leonhard glared at each and every one of them running outside. Due to the extremely shaking floor, the process of the wizards escaping the building was a scene of mayhem itself. Finally, all the wizards left the building, and only he was left there.

No, it should have been.

‘….?’

He blinked.

It wasn’t a fantasy.

Only one person remained at the door, watching him. He was a sorcerer who looked to be in his forties. However, considering that wizards usually look younger than their age, they must have been over fifty.

“Why are you not going?”

Now that there was no reason to please the wizards, Leonhard’s voice clearly showed a hint of ridicule. Seeing that he hesitated at the door, he seemed to have been left to apologize for his petty conscience. However, the wizard let out a hoarse voice.

“…My daughter.”

“I see.”

Leonhard nodded lowly.

No further explanation was needed. As he pointed down with Rashir, the wizard nodded his head. The building vibrated more and more as time went on, but the two of them ran down at high speed, not caring.

After a while.

The two of them stood in front of a huge door leading to the basement. The moment the wizard approached the door, Leonhard asked a question that suddenly came to mind.

“What is your daughter’s name?”

“Rose.”

At the same time, the door opened.

Leonhard frowned.

‘Cowards.’

Even though the vibrations still resonated strongly, he didn’t feel any evil or dangerous energy in the dark space in front of me. They lit up the underground space with light.

“….!”

Leonhard’s heart beat painfully in his ribs. It was because all he could see was people drooping everywhere. He then hurriedly checked the pulses of the people who had collapsed by the doorway.

‘…They’re alive.’

Eventually, he let out a sigh of relief.

They were only unconscious but did not appear to be in any mortal danger. While he walked quickly and examined the people who had fallen on the floor, Celine was nowhere to be seen.

Cold sweat ran down his chin.

“Stop!”

As the wizard’s urgent voice came from behind, Leonhard frowned but stopped as he said.

At that moment, darkness engulfed them all.

Celine had no idea how long she had been curled up in the dark, holding her breath. It felt like a very long time, but it probably didn’t last long as she couldn’t keep her shield up that long.

‘I can’t stay like this.’

She vowed never to live again the life of aimlessly waiting for death. Even if she was rescued, what use would it be if she died several times in the meantime?

‘Door… I have to open it.’

She staggered to her feet.

It was impossible for her now to dispel this darkness itself, but she was at least able to move. Celine maintained her shield, and she moved her steps slowly. Her shield was also made of fire, so she could see right under her feet without stepping.

“Ack…”

Celine groaned softly.

It was already the sixth time she’d fallen by bumping into people or rolling objects on the floor. Before she knew it, her body was full of wounds.

Fortunately, as she walked, the dark aura that gripped her whole body seemed to weaken. Now, even with her shields down, Celine could breathe easily. It probably meant that she was going in the right direction.

—Bang!

Goosebumps ran through her whole body. It was because the cave began to vibrate more violently with a huge rupture. Even though she built up her shield again with Ringzor, Celine paused as the vibrations only grew stronger and did not weaken.

‘I have to go.’

She gritted her teeth and moved slowly.

After a while, after stepping over numerous people and things, nothing was visible beneath Celine’s feet.

“….?”

She blinked her eyes, making Ringzor’s light even stronger. However, there was only darkness in front of her. If she had been a little less exhausted, she would have known what that meant.

…But now, Celine only thought she had to move on.

She stepped her foot into the darkness.

“Aaaaaagh!”

At the same time, a scream that no one could hear rang out.

Celine gasped for breath and let out screams. When the darkness shattered the shield as if they were laughing and crushed her, she wielded Ringzor as she struggled with one conviction that she couldn’t die.

In an instant, the force of darkness softened just a little.

‘…It works. It works!’

Her hope shimmered.

Celine swung Ringzor while reciting ‘it works’ like an incantation inside her. She hadn’t done the stupid thing like ignorantly pouring all her magic as she had a moment ago. With no information given to her, she did her best to find out the weakness of this energy.

Ten minutes after, she fell into the trap.

Just seconds before Rose’s father opened the door, she succeeded in overpowering the darkness.

At least temporarily.

“Lute!”

Leonhard called out loudly and clearly to the wizard, but no answer came.

‘Did it work?’

He had experienced the magic that blocked her senses a few times. Leonhard closed his eyes and took out Rashir to analyze the flow of magic around him.

‘….?’

It was obviously unfamiliar, but it wasn’t as powerful as he thought.

He moved Rashir slowly and carefully, like a delicate sculptor, breaking through the darkness around him, and his surroundings were illuminated by the light emitted by Rashir.

Soon, he began to slowly remove the darkness around him one by one, starting from where he stood. It wasn’t a difficult task because the vibration stopped before he knew it, but his heart beat like crazy every time he saw the fallen people one by one.

After a while, he removed most of the darkness inside the huge cave.

Rose’s father, upon finding his daughter, turned white and refused to leave her side. Fully understanding his feelings, Leonhard left the father and daughter alone. He glared at the darkness that seemed to cover only one person.

‘…Is it only over there?’

In fact, he passed by it a long time ago, but for some reason, he felt ominous and postponed destroying it, so it remained until the end.

Leonhard took a deep breath and began slowly cutting through the darkness with Rashir. He was more careful than ever, fearing that he would cut down even a little of the person behind the darkness.

“….?”

Suddenly, darkness the size of a whole arm’s width shuddered in his arms.

“Celine!”

Leonhard spat out the name that burned inside.

“Celine! Are you there?”

The darkness shook more and more violently and, finally, began to swallow even the objects around it. Even though he tried to block the growing darkness with Rashir, there was a limit to controlling the flow of magical power that instantly intensified.

Leonhard closed his eyes tightly.

‘Celine must be in there.’

There was only one way for this to happen.

…To be swallowed together in the dark. As he put Rashir into the scabbard, Leonhard felt the cool aura of darkness approaching his nose.

—Bang!

Hearing a rupture that seemed to tear his eardrums, he blinked his eyes.

He did nothing.

Even so, the darkness that had troubled him a little while ago had completely disappeared. There was only Celine sitting on the floor, gasping for breath.

“Celine…!”

Leonhard immediately knelt on the floor and hugged Celine. Her whole body, drenched in a cold sweat, made it possible to guess how much she had suffered.

He tightened his arms around Celine.

“Are you okay? Please, say something.”

Celine’s head was confused.

She had finally won the battle against the darkness. Exhausted, she could only lie on the floor and fall asleep, but before she knew it, she was in Leonhard’s arms.

‘…Am I dreaming already?’

However, Leonhard’s desperate voice felt too vivid to be a dream. Her heart also ached at the despair and pain contained within.

‘I’m just checking.’

As she thought so, Celine slowly raised her head. Her gaze met Leonhard. At that moment, there were no thoughts other than each other in their heads. To her, he felt like everything in the world, just as Celine to Leonhard.

As her bloodless lips opened slowly, Leonhard watched the small movement, possessed.

“Leonhard…”

He never even heard his full name.

Celine’s body in his arms exploded, and red blood covered him. At the same time, a vast swamp bathed in the dim moonlight spread out in front of Leonhardt’s eyes.

“Celine…!”

A beastly cry echoed throughout the swamp.

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