Chapter 229

Chapter 229

The Castle of Demons. Atop the Washuburn mountains.

Craasssshhhhh!!

A sky-shattering noise pierced the still air.

It was soon followed by a clattering of bones as the undead garrisoned within the castle rushed to the center of the sound.

[Magnus!]

Inside the castle. A vast bathhouse.

A man sitting in one of the baths was tilting his head back, blood dripping from him and his long hair.

His entire body was drenched in blood, and the once-clean bath was stained by the black, gory pustules that protruded from his chest.

""

The man slowly lowered his head. Several of the 'Soul Bind' circles on his chest were broken, spewing blood and flesh.

Checking on the completely broken magic circle, he let out a long sigh and declared,

"Talahze is dead."

[!]

At that, the four undead closest to Magnus recoiled in surprise.

[Unbelievable. Talahze is!]

[We'll take revenge! We'll slaughter the murderer!]

The closest was a woman with the body of a human and the legs of a snake.

Behind her was a pale-faced zombie wearing a monocle and a well-ironed butler suit.

And standing beside the zombie was an abomination made of stitched-together chunks of flesh.

All of them were Ancient Undead.

[Wasn't Talahze investigating Roke Island?]

Asked the zombie butler.

Magnus nodded.

The Ancient Undead they'd encountered in the Jungle of Screams had certainly been strong, but not strong enough to kill a fleeing Talahze ten times over.

That was why Magnus was willing to send Talahze.

So someone else must've been involved. There was no reason for Kizen to destroy Talahze, even if it was trespassing. As the property of a Legion, all they could do to Talaze was hold it captive.

Whoever killed Talahze was trying to hide what it saw.

Reaching that conclusion, Magnus decided,

"The enemy is almost certainly a new Legion."

The four undead stiffened.

"The other Commanders haven't made any moves. Thus, the Seventh Legion must have been reborn on Roke Island, and it is responsible for the death of Talahze. That is the only reasonable possibility."

Ssshhhk.

The half-snake, half-human woman slithered in front of where Magnus was collapsed in the bath and helped him to his feet.

[Are you sure you're alright, honey?]

"Yeah."

Magnus put his hand to his bleeding chest and began to draw a new magic circle using the black blood.

It was worth preparing a backup, just in case.

He connected the formula for the broken magic circle to the new one formed from the black blood. It was dark magic that allowed him to see from Talahze's corpse.

Whirr!

The magic circle activated, and it paired with the coordinates of where Talahze died. Soon, a blurry haze appeared in front of Magnus, displaying the space around Talahze.

All four Ancient Undead in the room were focused.

Splash.

A beach with crashing waves.

The shape beneath them was barely recognisable as Talahze, now only remaining as a charred husk. It was likely burned to death.

Standing nearby was a barefoot, black-haired girl in a dress. Her red eyes shone through the darkness of the night.

[It was that human I see.]

[Revenge! Revenge! Tear her apart!]

The undead in the castle roared in anger.

Then, a heavy silence fell immediately as Magnus raised his finger above his head to signal everyone to be quiet.

"Alahze, who is that woman?"

A fleshy mass that wriggled like a giant cocoon, slipping between the other three Ancient Undead, answered Magnus' question.

[The enemy who killed my brother, Talahze. First-year Kizen student Lorain Archbold. Daughter of Nefthis Archbold.]

Undead rattled in fright at the mention of Nefthis, but the butler zombie fiddled with his monocle with a sense of certainty.

[If she is the Commander of the Seventh Legion, then the puzzle solves itself.]

If the Seventh Legion did exist, it was likely that Nefthis had interfered and hidden its Commander. After all, Nefthis participated in the Seventh Legion's last war.

Then, decades later, when her daughter was all grown up and enrolled in Kizen, she handed over the hidden Legion to her daughter. It all made sense.

"Is that woman strong?"

The two got ready to sprint before

"I'm coming, too!"

Hector crouched down next to Simon, prepared to leap forward in a burst of speed. Hong Feng smiled and clapped her hands.

"Oh, you're joining us too, Mister Moore? This is great!"

The two of them joined Hong Feng. Seeing this, Assistant Teacher Brett gave a few of the exhausted students some serious side-eye.

"Man Can't these bastards read the room? Imagine if Combat Dark Magic aspirants were getting beaten by people who won't even major in this."

At that, the resting aspirants flinched.

"Kizen has gotten so much better, huh? The students are seriously doing some unimaginable things! Don't you think you should just, you know, step forward when it should be your place to shine?"

Eventually, the aspirants were unable to take the provocation and jumped to their feet. Combat Dark Magic had a stricter hierarchy system than the other majors, so none of them could back down from the challenge.

"I'll also do it!"

"Me too!"

Hong Feng smiled broadly, pleased with the students' participation in class.

The Combat Dark Magic aspirants glared in resentment from behind Simon and Hector.

"What the hell are you staring at?"

Hector noticed right away.

The students looked away, unable to meet his fiery gaze. Simon on the other hand was too busy talking with Hong Feng to notice.

"Then Get ready~ and go!"

Hong Feng, Simon, Hector, and the aspirants sprinted up the hill.

Simon was out of breath from all the running he'd done, but he was feeling good.

It was as if being out in nature was flushing out the toxins in his body

'Toxins?'

Simon looked up.

Sure enough, every trail they'd passed through had those green specks floating in the air. He felt so much more refreshed than before.

"The pollen of the 'hemophy' plant is excellent at expelling toxins. It was in your drinks as well."

Said Hong Feng with a complicated smile.

"When I heard that my sister was coming, I planted hemophy seeds all over."

"Ah."

For some reason, Hong Feng looked very tired.

As Belya's sister, Hong Feng must've been quite used to her behavior. The professor was also the only one who could clean up her messes.

"Cheer up, Professor! Belya's classes are fun as well."

"Thank you, Simon. But if you feel like they're really not, please do tell my sister."

Just then, Hector let out a loud shout and suddenly sped up.

In a burst of energy, Hector sprinted forward until he slapped the tree they were running to. Then, he turned to look at Simon and smiled.

"Ah, congratulations on first place, Hector."

Said Simon, catching up to him. Hector's face turned red.

"Are you making fun of me?"

'I mean, what the hell do you want me to say?'

"Now, now. You shouldn't fight."

As Hong Feng intervened, Hector calmed himself. He could be obedient in front of adults, after all.

The Combat Dark Magic aspirants arrived soon after, gasping for breath.

"Then, shall we have a match between the two of you?"

Hong Feng flashed a small smile, seeing both Simon and Hector eager to race.

She pointed back to where they had started running and shouted, "Start!"

Simon and Hector immediately dashed forward.

'What the hell are they?!'

'I mean, honestly, don't you guys get tired?'

The Combat Dark aspirants irritably stumbled after them, their bodies screaming for them to stop.

* * *

Tap. Scratch scratch. Tap.

Professor Bahil leaned to the side in his chair as he expressionlessly scribbled formulas on a blackboard.

The way he didn't even look at the board, just scribbling away as if he were pasting the formulas from his head, was almost like art.

"Professor."

Just then, a knock was heard on the lab door. His chief assistant, Chehekle, appeared.

She bowed to precisely the right angle and said,

"It is time for your lecture with Class A."

Bahil instantly dropped the chalk he was holding, letting it break against the ground. Then, he wiped the chalk dust from his fingers with a towel from the table, stood up, and pulled on his white coat.

"I've been waiting for this day."