CHAPTER 87. I’m a Bird, Not a “Dog-Bird,” Though
Underground in the ancient ruins.
“…Damn it!”
Along with the irritable shout, a sharp impact rang out—clang!
The sound echoed, bouncing off the walls of the cavern and overlapping again and again, and Solion ran a blood-dripping hand through his hair.
“Belloc… I knew I shouldn’t have trusted a bastard like that…”
A few days ago.
- Pop.
When the spirit link with Belloc snapped, Solion immediately sensed that something had gone wrong—gone very wrong.
“Hunting? Hunting, my ass… he got eaten instead. You worm of a bastard.”
Normally, it would’ve been something you just brushed off with “Is that so.”
Salvatium. The Order of forbidden mages.
They were gathered under that name—comrades, if you could call them that—but what did it matter if one piece of trash like that met an accident?
If anything, it was welcome.
A forbidden mage—especially the corpse of a forbidden mage who had reached 탈각 (脱却)—was a precious resource.
He would’ve gone strolling around the spot where Belloc died, full of anticipation.
For the corpse.
But the situation at hand wasn’t something he could dismiss so lightly.
“If the job fails… the elders won’t let it slide.”
The elders’ way of acting was surprisingly simple.
- If it takes thousands of years to fulfill the wish, it is never too late. What must be avoided is the wish of the Order becoming known.
If it was something that could fulfill their wish, they rushed at it without hesitation—but only that, always.
This time was the same.
They had dispatched Solion and Belloc and supported the Black Mages, but beyond that, there was nothing.
It wasn’t that Destrow’s existence wasn’t important.
It was that they were even more wary of Salvatium rising to the surface.
But.
“And yet… and yet…!”
The punishment for failure was brutal. No—“brutal” wasn’t even enough.
Even death wasn’t the end.
The souls of forbidden mages were held in the elders’ grasp, so even after reaching death, they could not be free.
“…Hah. What… what should I do?”
With a heavy gaze, Solion stared at the crystal.
Perhaps because he’d been punching it whenever his anger flared, the surface was smeared with thick, dried blood.
“Muspellun, that damned thing… suppressed the ancient specters.”
That was the biggest problem.
No matter how much he performed the rite of liberation, it couldn’t compare to the deathly energy the countless dead offered to Destrow.
And that wasn’t all.
[Mask… join. Mask… join.]
Two days ago, the evil spirit he had released to scout the 4th Base Camp brought back that message.
He didn’t know what “mask” meant, but given the situation, it wasn’t hard to infer.
“Reinforcements… joined the 4th Base Camp.”
Then what was left now?
Muspellun would not stay still.
For now, for some reason, he’d stopped at suppressing the ancient specters, but soon he’d push in all the way here.
And at the end of that…
“…Failure.”
Only failure awaited.
“Hu…”
A deep sigh leaked out at the reality before him.
But only for a moment.
“First… yes, first, calm down.”
Leaning his back against the crystal, Solion looked up at the ceiling.
“Nothing has happened yet. Nothing.”
Punishment from the elders? That hadn’t happened yet.
Muspellun pushing into the ancient ruins? That was still only his prediction.
It was something he could see if he thought a little more coldly.
“…Yeah. It was strange from the beginning.”
Why would the great Muspellun not move personally, and instead coil up at the 4th Base Camp?
If even half the power recorded in history was true, there would have been no reason for that.
“There’s a reason.”
One more thing.
“The reinforcements… aren’t many.”
They were probably few.
It was easy to infer, considering Belloc’s nature.
That gloomy bastard ran his mouth about being a hunter and whatnot, but in the end he was nothing more than a petty coward with a heart the size of a wheat grain.
Someone like that got taken down?
“The opponent… was stronger than expected. Or there was some variable.”
It couldn’t have been a large group.
If it were a large group, Belloc would have come back shamelessly, with a face of steel, asking for more support.
Like this, if he traced the situation back with a cool head, it felt rash to accept it as pure despair.
And yet, the reason he couldn’t keep his composure…
“It’s because of that damned monstrosity (凶物)… tsk.”
The pressure Destrow exuded was insidious.
Not only did it drain the life force of the living, it gnawed at the mind as well—like the demonic energy (魔氣) that flowed through the Demon Realm.
“I thought I was being careful…”
It seemed he couldn’t completely avoid the influence.
“Huu…”
Eyes closed, Solion steadied his mind. Inhale, exhale.
How much time passed?
“…It’s settled down a bit.”
Having pushed away Destrow’s influence, Solion resumed his contemplation.
“Most likely… Muspellun cannot move.”
He didn’t know why.
But if Muspellun could move, he would have struck the ancient ruins directly rather than setting up such a large-scale barrier.
Then…
“The reinforcements are the variable.”
But their number was small.
So what options could Muspellun’s side choose?
“…In the end, it’s that, isn’t it?”
They said Muspellun’s strategy was simple. But lethal.
You could see it just by looking at the final battle.
“He crushed a hundred thousand soldiers alone… and struck the royal castle with a small force.”
Doesn’t it match the current situation perfectly?
No.
“It… has to match.”
Because that was the only way Solion had any chance.
If Muspellun truly used the same strategy as in the final battle, then there was something Solion could do.
Or…
“If Destrow wakes up, it would be perfect.”
It wasn’t a completely hopeless thought.
Though all the ancient specters were suppressed, look—even now.
Sss—
Without even performing the rite of liberation, the energy of the seal was thinning moment by moment.
“Why…?”
He couldn’t know.
He had a few hypotheses. If he had to pick the most plausible…
“Something is stimulating Destrow.”
An object or a person deeply connected to the sealed vessel served as a medium and awakened its existence.
But.
“…Tsk.”
Destrow was a monstrosity not even recorded in history. All records had been erased—he didn’t even know what era it belonged to.
So how could he find a related medium?
Still…
[Reverse Heaven (逆天)… oh… coming…]
The occasional voice of Destrow—no, rather than a voice, it was a current of thought.
From that current of thought, there was clearly something.
“The possibility that this ‘Reverse Heaven’ or whatever wakes Destrow at just the right moment…”
Was slim.
So Solion let go of his lingering attachment to it.
If Muspellun pursued the same strategic approach as in the past, then the thing Solion would have to face was a small, elite strike unit.
“If it’s that much… it’s doable. No, I might even… eat them alive.”
Solion’s eyes turned upward.
But those eyes were so dull you could scarcely find a trace of intelligence.
It was because he hadn’t fully shaken off Destrow’s deathly influence.
A full day after leaving the 4th Base Camp.
The journey with the pieces of luggage was peaceful. No—it couldn’t help but be peaceful.
“The monsters around here are practically wiped out.”
With the monsters pushed out to the outskirts of the Hamelin Great Forest by the ancient specters, the Hamelin Great Forest was filled only with silence.
And so we arrived at the barrier zone.
“Huff, huff. Mage-nim, please—can’t we go a little slower… just a little slower?”
Leaving the panting luggage behind, I climbed a tree and looked out.
Normally, thick undergrowth would have blocked the view, but because of the evil energy (邪氣) Destrow was emitting, the nearby brush had withered and twisted dry.
Thanks to that, I could secure a clearer line of sight farther out.
Anyway.
“…Hmmm, there.”
Far in the distance, a massive curtain that wasn’t visible to the naked eye was caught by my perception.
“As expected… it’s incredible.”
A gigantic dome, the scale of which was impossible to guess.
Riheim sunbae’s barrier in person felt different from what we’d studied via terrain map inside the stone chamber.
It was an unfathomable scale for a single mage—especially a mage with a core split in two—to have deployed.
But I couldn’t just gape at the barrier, because what lay inside was truly miserable.
[Grk… grrk.]
[Kiik, kieeek.]
Undead swarming inside. Their number was impossible to count.
Maybe “half water, half fish” was the kind of expression you used for a moment like this.
Truly…
“Disgusting.”
Even ancient specters couldn’t avoid rot, I guess.
Even from this distance, the stench stabbing into my nose was ridiculously strong.
And that wasn’t all.
They looked disgusting, too.
Since they were monsters to begin with, their baseline was already on the filthy side, but after becoming Undead and starting to decay, it really—
Those eyeballs were like rotten goblins…
“…There are actual rotten goblins, too.”
Anyway, a shape that could haunt your dreams.
As I took in those filthy appearances, I heard a voice.
“Huff, huff… Sunbae. Is this the place?”
Oberon, panting.
Looks like this guy needs to work out.
How is it that his stamina is worse than Raileigh’s, when Raileigh is the lowest-level among us?
Sure, you could shrug it off with “because he’s a mage,” but I didn’t see it that way.
“A true mage should have harmony of mind, energy, and body.”
Look at me.
A righteous mindset, clear and pure mana, and a body sturdy enough to go toe-to-toe with a knight’s fistfight.
Anyway.
“But… huff. Why are we moving so urgently? The time isn’t that tight…”
“Not tight?”
“Yes.”
“Hm. True.”
At Raileigh’s question—laced with dissatisfaction—I nodded.
The operation start time wasn’t fixed. If anything…
“It’s up to the strike unit’s discretion.”
Depending on the strike unit’s judgment, we could start immediately, or we could rest sufficiently first and then begin.
“We can’t drag it out forever… but it’s not something we need to rush, either.”
So why were we moving this fast?
I hopped down from the tree and landed lightly.
“Have you heard the saying, ‘The early bird catches the worm’?”
“I’ve heard it, sir.”
Yeah. There was no way he hadn’t.
Even among the Black and White Zone vagrants who hated writing with a passion, it was a fairly famous proverb.
“But why are you suddenly bringing that up…?”
“This proverb is a very cruel saying. Because from the worm’s perspective, if you wake up early, you get eaten.”
Once, back in my days as a Black and White Zone vagrant brat, I’d thought about this.
Am I the worm, or am I the bird?
If I’m the bird, then of course I should wake up early. That’s how I catch worms before other birds.
But if I’m the worm?
“It’s truly horrifying.”
You wake up diligently, only to end up inside an early bird’s belly.
But.
“I’m the bird.”
“What the—cuugh!”
A betrayal—spitting curses at your master after swearing loyalty. I lightly “refined” Raileigh when he tried to commit that betrayal, then looked toward the ancient ruins.
“I’m the bird.”
I heard something like “dog-bi…” by my ear, but I didn’t react to it.
It was just this.
“So we should move early.”
“…What? What does that even—”
Was he finally sensing something off? Raileigh’s expression stiffened.
But I didn’t care.
“Our operation starts now.”
Operation name: Early Bird
The idea began with Shine’s report.
Not long after we set out—right when we were thinking about preparing camp.
- [An evil spirit (邪靈) just spied on us and left.]
- Again?
Even when we first entered the 4th Base Camp, Shine had noticed an evil spirit’s presence.
This was the first time since then.
- [I don’t know what scheme it is. From what I can tell, it’s so weak and so warped it can’t even spy properly.]
- So you’re saying there’s a scheme…
- [It’s fairly periodic.]
I had a feeling.
“So… you’re trying to pull some bullshit again.”
People need to grow.
And the feeling I’d had after facing the first forbidden mage was this:
You can’t give these bastards time to prepare.
If you give them time, they’ll obviously pull some curse or some other shitty trick.
Though, I doubt it’ll be anything that impressive…
“Leech.”
Crackle!
[Leech, leech! …You damned bastard.]
I summoned Shine and set him before me.
The leech was ready.
Now the next things to prepare were me and Oberon—two mages.
“Oberon.”
“Yes, sunbae.”
“Draw the mana accumulation array.”
“…Ah, ah. Y-yes!”
The mana accumulation array I meant was the same one spread out in sunbae’s stone chamber.
Of course, the auxiliary core magic circle was separate.
Anyway.
“Leech.”
[Leech, leech! …You dog-like bastard. Couldn’t you at least remove it when you’re calling my name?]
“If this goes well, I’ll do that.”
[…Damn you.]
My Early Bird operation was simple.
“I’ll send mana. You cut down the forbidden mage. Oberon, you finish the mana accumulation array quickly.”
In the Hamelin Great Forest, overflowing with mana, the mana accumulation array was incredibly efficient.
If we ran the breathing method on top of it, we’d have enough mana for Shine to go wild.
“I’m sure you’ve stored quite a bit already…”
But the more, the better.
[…Damn it, but… it’ll probably be impossible for me alone to deal with the forbidden mage.]
“I know, weakling.”
Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much.
Even if Shine had been a master knight, his transcendent (超越) mentality remained valid, but his body was a false illusion.
A half-transcendent.
“And you can’t output freely.”
How could someone like that cut down a forbidden mage?
“Just… hold.”
[Hold?]
“Yes. Hold until I get there.”
Shine’s role was simply to buy time so the forbidden mage couldn’t pull any bullshit.
Yeah. Just…
That was all.
[You miserable bastard…]
While Shine muttered in despair, and Oberon—without even time to catch his breath—pulled mana stones out of Subspace and formed the magic circle…
“What are you doing? Not going?”
[I’m going, I’m going. But…]
“Yeah. You cut his head off.”
Shine snorted and charged into the Undead. Riheim sunbae’s barrier only affected the ancient specters, so it seemed Shine could move fairly freely.
Was the evil spirit watching even now? I didn’t know. If it was, it was better.
They’d scramble to prepare to defend against Shine.
“…Yeah. This is what you use slaves for.”
I wore a relaxed smile.
Ah—there was one more person smiling brightly.
“I don’t know what it is, but…”
Raileigh was quick on the uptake.
He could sense like a ghost when it wasn’t going to be him suffering.
He recovered his complexion in an instant, rubbing his hands and grinning.
But.
“I don’t know what it is, but… truly, it is a brilliant strategy. A genius villain of the era. Smarter than a two-headed ogre—kuugh!”
He was the kind of bastard who begged to be hit.
Anyway.
“…It’s started.”
I sat down and began the breathing method.
Mana drained steadily out of my core. Truly… that damned leech.
Leaving his own mana behind, he coveted mine.
“Tell me when the accumulation array is finished.”
With that, I closed my eyes.
