Side Story Chapter 211

Side Story Chapter 211

The voice belonged to a man wearing a black hooded robe trailed by a horde of undead.

“I’m really sick of the undead now...” Anna grumbled.

“Jack Steropes?” Kireua said.

The man’s eyes gleamed.

-Oh, I didn’t know someone still remembered me.

“I knew it...” Kireua grunted.

Cain positioned himself between Kireua and Jack. “I see that an old monster has made his nest in the middle of Avalon.”

-You still talk to me like that even though you know who I am? Hehehe, that’s interesting.

Black sparks erupted out of Jack.

-You seem to know a thing or two about fighting... What’s your name?

“Cain de Harry.”

-Cain de Harry? I’m sure I’ve heard that name before...

Jack tilted his head in confusion.

“I’m sure you have. My master is the one who killed you.”

Jack’s deathly energy intensified.

-Come to think of it...

Jack turned to look at Kireua.

“I’m Kireua Sanders, his son.”

Kireua had expected Jack to fly at him in anger as soon as he finished introducing himself, but Jack calmed his energy instead.

-You take after your father.

“Let me just ask you a question: are you responsible for these people’s deaths?” Kireua asked.

-You’re arrogant, boy. Do you get that from your father, too?

“...Just answer the question. Are their deaths your doing?”

-What if they are?

Jack chuckled.

“I should kill you right here.”

-I’m already dead.

“I’ll make sure you wish you’d stayed dead.”

Kireua’s harsh threats didn’t seem to bother Jack.

-Judging from the size of your forces, I don’t think I’m your original mission... Where are you headed?

“I ask questions here,” Kireua said firmly.

-You seem to be in a hurry.

“Busy people have taken time out of their schedule to deal with a lich like you,” Anna shot back. “Consider it an honor.”

-Hehehehe. By busy schedule, do you mean the war?

Jack knew everything that was going on in the outside world, it seemed.

Anna frowned. “Is that why you’re so relaxed? You’re making a big mistake, then. Now that they’ve discovered you’ve sacrificed Avalon’s people, every single person here wants you gone.”

-Relaxed? Quite the opposite.

He positioned himself in front of the group protectively.

-Relax. I’m just trying to show you something.

Jack waved his other hand, unleashing a torrent of lighting behind him. All of the nearby trees collapsed, revealing a deeply unsettling black portal. However, it seemed faint, as if it wasn’t complete.

And exactly seventy people were scattered around the portal, writhing.

“They’re the missing survivors!” a knight realized.

“You bastard... What have you been doing here?”

-I had no other choice. Human vital force is an essential, irreplaceable ingredient for completing the portal.

“What in the world is that portal...!”

Jack spread his arms with gleaming eyes.

-It’s a portal to another dimension.

The humans’ jaws dropped.

-I won’t be slaughtered like the gods after all the trouble I’ve gone through to become a lich. Anyone who wishes to go to a new world, join me now!

* * *

-You’re insane!

Creshua hastily gathered his mana, but Joshua seized control of his body and stopped him.

-Eeeek!

Although Creshua could eject Joshua’s soul and then use his mana, he didn’t have the time, so he tried to leap into the volcano.

However, Creshua was too late. The ice boulder disappeared into the magma. Creshua flew into a rage.

-What in the world have you done!

“Why are you angry?” Joshua asked.

-That’s your body! Yours! Are you going to squat in my body for my entire life?!

“If you don’t like it, then you can kick me out right now.”

-What?

“You can’t, can you? My body disappeared, so you have no hope of getting revenge once you kick me out.”

Creshua fell silent, but only because he was too dumbstruck to form words, not because his rage had vanished.

“You loved—no, love Crevasse. That’s why you’re still angry.”

-...Joshua Sanders, you must be out of your mind to pull a stunt like this just to make me face my emotions.

“It’s not meaningless. You need to accept your emotions and learn to value yourself; it’s your purpose and reason in life.”

-Value myself? You’re the last person who should be telling me that.

Joshua chuckled. “You might not believe it, but I value myself more than anyone else.”

-Bullshit—!

Creshua’s eyes widened as the ice boulder floated back to the surface of the lava, unmelted.

-H-How...?

Despite giving Creshua both the greatest surprise and rage of his life, Joshua grinned.

“It’s seven, not one.”

-...What?

“There were seven primordial stones born alongside the continent of Igrant.”