Chapter 257: Who

TDADP chapter 257: Who

A country to the west of the Ream continent in the third year of the Holy Calendar. Compared to the five major countries, that country was a country with a small territory and population. However, it excelled in 『Spirit Magic』 and 『Alchemy』 and with that power it had the same voice as a great power. In addition, it was praised as the sixth major power nation, even though it was a small country, for actively supporting the poor countries in the vicinity by using the technology generously. Many countries support that country and it was rumored that it would join the ranks of major powers in the near future.

However, the wonderful country was transformed into a brutal figure by war.

"This is also added"

A soldier was dragging something that was dyed bright red. If you look closely, you'll see that it's the corpse of an old man. The reason why no one couldn't judge that it was an old man without squinting was that the corpse had numerous lacerations. The arms, legs and whole body are shattered on the face and chest, as if they were torn by fangs and claws.

"Is this all?"

One of the soldiers asks as if fed up.

"That's not true. Even though it's a small country, it's a whole country, including the people"

A man who looks around, knowing what his colleague says, has a surprisingly pale face on the corpse. The man hugged himself, perhaps because he couldn't control his body tremors. Lying on the ground were small children and women, men, old men, soldiers and knights of this country and even babies who died indiscriminately. Most of their dying faces seemed to ask 「Why?」 Surprisingly, none of the soldiers in the country had collected over 120,000 corpses. Surprisingly, no one in this country was among the soldiers collecting 120,000 corpses. Strangely, the armor that the soldiers collecting the corpse wear is not unified. There are red-based armors that are often seen in eastern countries, blue-colored armors seen in northern countries and leather armors that emphasize speed in southern countries. There are a wide variety of military departments, from infantry to archers to magic artillery units, cavalry and dragon knights straddling wyverns and some units with servants. In addition, the soldier's skin, hair, and eye color varied. In other words, a total of 280,000 troops here are multinational troops. It was obvious when someone saw the flags in the army. The most prominent are the flags of the five major nations and the others are the flags of about ten vassal states.

"Hey, look!"

"Whats going on?"

"Wraith"

One of the soldiers silently collecting the corpses notices the existence of Wraith staring at the work.

"This is how many people are dead. It springs up like Wraith"

"What are you going to do? Do you want to kill him?"

A man puts his hand on the handle of a sword.

"Stop it. You can't do anything anyway"

"But the command from above is――"

"This no more――"

Leaving the quarreling men alone, the people around them silently collect the corpses with dead faces. Everyone had hollow eyes and the pile of corpses piled up one after another was like a hellish sight.

-----------------------------------------

Burning. The flower garden which was his favorite, the castle, and the town all become ashes. Everyone is dead. The people, the knights, the soldiers, all died to protect this country. Brother and sister, who were always harsh and scary but kind, had a lot of small words, but the old man who was always kind and the gardener who often talked about flowers took care of him――, cooking――, everyone was dead.

"Hey, look!"

"What's going on?"

"Wraith"

He can hear the voices of men in the distance, but he can't do anything about it now. Wrong. He can't do anything because he is helpless from the beginning. He failed to reincarnate and became one of the lowest undead, not the higher undead. He lost his proud hair, skin, voice and even his name. There is no power. He is helpless.

"I――similar to"

"Aanaacya, ――I don't have any status or shit. I don't want to have such a miserable end."

"Sure"

He heard a loud voice. Many men are gathering and marching. He proudly pushed up a number of long spears. On the tip of the spear――

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA―― !!!

and the spear......there are many freshly severed heads stuck on the tip of the spears. All of them are torn into pieces, but no matter how miserable they look, only their faces cannot be mistaken.

――Father and mother.

His beloved father and mother......aaaaa......, na......the men are marching while piercing their heads into the tips of their spears and yelling. He knows other faces too. ――It is. That is――and that face is――.

Undeads feel no pain. It's a lie. Then, what is this chest pain that is full of tears? Undeads have no emotions. It's a lie. How do you explain this feeling that overflows from one to the next?

Want to kill. He can't forgive the people who caused this to his father, mother, brother, sister, grandfather and people. He´ll kill them. Even if it takes hundreds of years, He will definitely do it. He'll definitely kill them in the same way. That is his role and mission.

Don't let this anger weather over time. No, does someone want him to do it? Is it something he can collect? From now on, his name is Russ.

---------------------------------------

Each country has recorded this unfortunate event that happened in the third year of the Holy Calendar in history books so as not to forget it. Each country wrote from different perspectives, but there was something in common. that is――

The beastman's sneaky betrayal destroyed the benevolent country of the human race.

――It is. No details are given in any history book about this nation of the perished human race, what the speculation was. With this event as an opportunity, the prejudice from the human race to the beastman race will increase. It becomes more and more radical, expanding not only to the beastman race but also to other race prejudices such as elves and dwarves.

In the same year, the Ream Continental Federation changed its name to the Raem Allied Nations. At the same time, a law was enacted to prohibit individual acquisition of 『Undead Magic』 and possession of various materials and to destroy all documents.

The following year, a country was approved by the Ream Allied Nations as the sixth major power. From around this time, the number of countries calling other races demi-humans increased.

In the 8th year of the Holy Calendar, the Ream Allied Nations and the demi-human country 『Mixing』, which was composed of multiple races, began a war. This war created a decisive rift between humans and other races. A historian's history book states: This kind of thing should never be forgiven. Don't be forgiven. The spelled history books are scattered in several places, but all have been recovered by the Ream Allied Nations.

-----------------------

The 77th layer of 『Devil's Prison』. This level cant be reached even with a party consisting of A-rank adventurers. It is a magic world where only the strong are allowed to survive. Until now, it was known from the materials kept by the Adventurer's Guild that it existed up to the 77th layer, but due to the existence of the ancient dragon Magranals that nest in the 74th layer, it is known that no one has set foot there. The great sage stood in the haunts of wicked men. In front of the great sage, there was a huge structure that made him wonder if he could call it a gate.

"There seems to be no abnormality......"

The height of the gate is strange to say in the labyrinth, but it just reaches the heavens. Is the width as much as one kilometer? The thickness is light and exceeds 200 meters. Surprisingly, there is nothing behind this gate. Even the Adventurer's Guild doesn't even know who built it in such a place for what purpose.

"Did that little boy use 『Space-time Magic』....... Then is it possible enough to go to the other side......"

The great sage was looking up at the gate, mumbling to himself, but when he floated softly, he turned so that he fell backwards. The heavens and earth turned upside down and the great sage made a big yawn.

"Huaaaaaa....... I don't know who, but to monitor this me means that the other person knows that I´m the great sage?"

Even for a brief moment, he gets a little angry at not realizing its existence. The magic power of the great sage, who is usually completely controlled, spreads to the surroundings as if to deceive it.

"When I'm monitoring, you know how much I'm going to do"

"Hoh, I was surprised at this. In a place like this, an undead――mumuu!? You......you're alive! No, I shouldn't say anything like that to an undead"

"It's been a long time, great sage. I thought that if my master and the great sage met, you would definitely come to this place, so I forced my master to bring me here"

"Is your master that cheeky little boy?"

"What cheeky......no matter how great the great sage is, your words are too much"

"I don't think you´re so intoxicated. Even so, I thought you were destroyed in the aftermath of the battle with Gajin"

"For some reason, I'm still exposing my unholy appearance"

"If I have anything to do with this, please let me know"

"Thank you. Now, let's move on to the matter. I have come to meet the great sage to ask not to touch my master no matter what"

Silence as if the Great Sage and Russ had agreed. A strange sense of urgency arose in the field, even though they didn't use magic or release their magic powers. Suddenly, the great sage who was looking in the direction of the day after tomorrow looks like a mischievous child and releases his magic power.

"What if I say I don't like it?"

The magic power of the great sage rushes to Russ, but Russ lightly softens the magic power and keeps calm.

"I will release the 9th rank dark magic 『Black Death Plague』 to Udon Kingdom, which the great sage loves. If you are the great sage, you can guess the effect from its name. It can be argued that it is impossible to save more than tens of millions of people in the Udon Kingdom, even the great sage who possess a great magic that is beyond one's control"

The smile disappears from the great sage and the magic power transforms into an aggressive thing.

"Do you think I forgive you for trying to do such a thing?"

"No"

"If I kill you here, I don't think there is any problem"

"It won't come true"

"Hmm, do you say you can beat this me?"

"As I said earlier, I know who you´re. I don't think I can beat the great sage, but if I just run away, I'm sure I'll succeed"

"Ahyohyo. You´re saying I don't know much about it"

At the same time as the great sage swings his cane down, countless meteors fall from heaven toward Russ. Russ, on the other hand, deflects the meteors with the 8th rank holy magic 『Holy Barrier』. The meteors that deviate from their orbit dig into the earth and pierce a number of huge craters in distant places.

"Ohyo? You survived my 8th rank black magic 『Meteor』 that was released. And even though you´re undead, you can use holy magic?"

While leaving the high-level magic that affects a wide range, the great sage floating in the sky doesn't show any tiredness, but spins happily. There is not much room for Russ. In fact, the 『Holy Barrier』 that Russ casted earlier had already been shattered by the magic of the great sage.

"I remembered that there are people in robes for the last two hundred years who give prophecies and advice to leaders and talented people all over the Ream continent. It seems that they are called by a large number of names such as 『Guides』, 『Bystander』 and 『Observer』. I remember. There was a big idiot who broke the barrier of this 『Devil's Prison』 about several decades ago. Unfortunately, did you miss it? The person also hid his face in a robe. You, do you know anything?"

"Well, what about it? I have some idea"

In contrast to Russ, who holds his cane alertly, the great sage floats around in a playful manner.

"If you have any idea, it's a good reason to destroy you. Here"

The 9th rank spirit magic 『Prominence』 is activated. A pillar of fire with an ultra-high heat of over 10,000 degrees rushes toward the heavens with Russ.

"Nuuu"

Russ makes full use of the magic of the barrier and ice, but the fire pillar breaks the barrier without competing, evaporating the ice and wrapping Russ.

"Nohyohyo. Can you bear the present?"

Smoke rises from the Arch-Demon robe worn by Russ.

"If you think about it, I've had a long relationship with you. Did I see you for the first time during the First Holy Devil War in the 88th calendar year? In retrospect, you have been dying since then. Maybe you were. I should have noticed it earlier and destroyed you"

As if playing a beanbag, spheres with high-level magic are created one after another, moving around the great sage at high speed.

"No, that's not the case"

"No? What is it?"

"I first met you not during the First Holy Devil War"

Russ looks up at the great sage while recovering his injured body at high speed.

"Is that so? I've been forgetting a lot lately"

"No wonder. At that time, I wasn't undead and the great sage was also called by a different name"

The body of the great sage solidifies as if time has stopped. Then the sphere, which was moving around at high speed, also stopped moving.

"At that time, your forehead didn't have a 『Dragon bead......』 and you always covered your face with a mask. Everyone was in awe and called you wise――"

The great sage was staring at Russ with a face that seemed to have lost its emotions.

"You......no, you......who......are you? Stop, I will destroying you and reveal your true identity"

"I can't be caught here, either. No matter what kind of sacrifice you make, there are things I have to do at any cost."

Russ put the cane in his hand into the item pouch and took out a replacement cane. Looking at the cane, the eyes of the great sage are opened wide.

"Why do you have that cane......holding the 『Cane of Mad Saint』!? No, wait, wait, why are you equipped before that――muoo"

That cane was decorated with a mysterious power that was disproportionate to the undead, a terrifying being. In fact, the cane has a huge amount of magic power with holy power.

"My affairs are over, so I'm going home. Great Sage, don't forget how much damage my master will do to the Udon Kingdom"

Russ releases the power of the cane of the mad saint. Dazzling light, which is difficult to even open your eyes, spreads around Russ.

"This is not over. Wait!"

After the light went out, the great sage couldn't find Russ anywhere. Even with the power released by Russ, the huge gate wasnt scratched, but all the monsters within a radius of 30 kilometers of the circle of light had disappeared.

"Have you been able to escape from this me?"

Like the giant gate, the unblemished great sage muttered dissatisfied.

-------------------------------------------------- -----

"How was it?"

In the 83rd layer of 『Devil's Prison』, Yuu asked the recovering Russ.

"It was a very serious and inflexible old man, so I couldn't listen to him honestly. Anyway, what about this place?"

"This is the 83rd layer of 『Devil's Prison』. Kuro wants to test his power."

When it comes to Yuu's words, Russ is convinced by the familiar scenery. However, Russ thinks that something is a little strange. Probably Yuu knocked it down. Yuu, who sits on the back of a humanoid demon, keeps his back on Russ. Kuro who is on Yuu's side hasn't his armor damaged, but his left arm is torn and his right leg is bent away. He must support his body with his big hammer in his right hand.

"Master?"

Russ gets upset when he turns in front of Yuu.

"Did you get hurt!?"

Russ hurriedly casts recovery magic on Yuu, who is bleeding from his head.

"Unexpectedly, it was a strong demon. It was a summoned typed cherubim-class wise angel. It took time to defeat it because it summoned troublesome monsters one after another"

"What were you on the master's side for?"

Russ curses Kuro while healing Yuu's injury. Normally, Kuro would say something back, but since he injured Yuu because he was clinging to its feet, he remained silent without saying anything.

"If it's true, I was thinking of letting you guys get along with each other here. It seems impossible"

"Joke. Why am I a goblin? It's an incompetent servant who can't protect master. Now you know how incompetent you are, right? You understand that you´re not suitable for being master's servant. If you do, you should give up"

"Si......Silent"

Just by speaking, blood spouts vigorously from Kuro's whole body.

"Don't fight in a place like this. Kuro knows this, too, doesn't he? He still have a long way to go"

"Haa. Don't be proud......I'll work harder and harder......"

Even though he tries to kneel, Kuro sways without listening to what his body says.

"Then, do you want to go home?"

"Master, are you really okay?"

"I told you earlier. It seems impossible, he......noticed me and was heading at a tremendous speed"

"That......that's not true"

To Yuu's words, Russ´s magic power shook as if it was upset.

"Now there's no Namari and before it becomes troublesome, Russ goes to the mansion and Kuro goes back on the island. I'm going to work like this"

Not saying anything more, Yuu sent Russ and Kuro back with 『Space-Time Magic』 and returned to the royal capital.