Chapter 623
Crack!
"!"
With a thunderous sound, huge tentacle-like things began to sprout from the body of the fallen fanatic.
Along with an ominous and evil magical power, the tentacles intertwined like a chimera and took form.
The fallen fanatic had long since lost its human shape.
"For... for... for... for Lord Prahgal..."
"It's an evil god worshipper!"
Jijel shouted in shock.
Among the many enemies of the empire, these were the most insidious and twisted ones.
Evil god worshippers were those whose minds had been corrupted by worshipping bizarre evil gods.
Swish!
"Turn to iron, cloak!"
As a tentacle arm thickened like a club flew towards him, Yi-Han went on the defensive instead of dodging.
His friend was behind him.
Thud!
Even as the impact lifted his body backwards, Yi-Han concentrated.
"Power, boil up!"
The spell taught by Gonadaltes' black book drew out powerful strength.
Yi-Han felt a strength capable of destroying anything imbue his arms as he grabbed his cloak once again.
Thud!
This time his body didn't fly away.
"Lightning, dwell within!"
Crackle crackle crackle!
At the same time, lightning began to spark and jump on the cloak.
It was , the most difficult of the 3rd Circle lightning element enchantment magic.
Despite showing the textbook combat mage technique of quickly casting iron transformation, strength enhancement, and lightning enchantment, the fanatic paid no heed. ꞦἈℕꝋβÈŠ
It pushed forward, disregarding its necrotic tentacle arms.
"...Why don't you dodge!"
Jijel, half a beat late, raised her dual swords and dove into the fanatic's embrace.
She reacted late because she was surprised that Wardanaz was blocking instead of dodging.
And there was only one reason why Wardanaz wouldn't dodge and block now.
'Damn it!'
Jijel bit her lip and awakened her swords.
The famous swords of her family, forged from the floating ice of the north, emitted light with a chilling sound of ice light and ice flowers.
Receiving their owner's mana, they began to pour out the bitter cold of the north from the blade.
Zing zing zing!
"Well done, Moradi!"
Having bought time thanks to his friend, Yi-Han quickly distanced himself and chanted his next spell.
The other combat enhancement spells had already been cast earlier.
"Light fog, spread!"
As the surroundings suddenly became hazy, the fanatic's movements stopped for a moment. Yi-Han advanced his skeleton warriors.
"Bind its feet! Bones, shoot forth!"
After taking bone fragments from his reagent pouch, Yi-Han shot the bones like arrows.
The bones pierced the body of the fanatic that had transformed into a tentacle chimera, but it didn't budge.
'How tough is this bastard?!'
It was a precious reagent with condensed dark elements, but it was enduring it with just its bare body.
The enhanced skeleton warriors stabbed the fanatic while binding its feet.
The fanatic, slowed down by Moradi's earlier attack, creaked as it couldn't process them immediately.
"Your arm?!"
"What arm?"
"I'm asking if your arm is okay!"
Yi-Han was flustered when Jijel suddenly asked an out-of-place question.
"It's fine?"
"Okay, then that's settled!"
"What's settled..."
"Just cast your magic!"
"What do you know about Prahgal? What kind of being is it?"
"I think our family subjugated it once or twice before, but I don't really have any information...!"
Yi-Han debated whether to choose lightning element magic, water bead, or another attack method.
He couldn't choose immediately because he lacked information about the opponent.
'Why is that evil god worshipper so powerful?'
Clearly, when he first saw it, it wasn't that threatening, but once it started raging madly, it exerted monstrous strength.
'Is it because it's mad?'
Even among priests, not many could use holy magic.
The head of the Wardanaz family used to explain it simply as 'because there aren't that many truly mad people'.
Blind faith was the biggest condition for holy magic.
Looking at it that way, it made sense that the evil god worshipper was strong.
Being madder than anyone else, it could use stronger holy magic than anyone else.
"There's no choice. Moradi. Don't approach. It might splash around."
"What?"
"Blaze forth!"
Yi-Han called forth flames in the air.
Given the opponent, it was a bit larger than the size he usually restrained himself to.
'It's the cold north, so it should be fine. ...Probably!'
"In the name of Aphar!"
It didn't end there.
Yi-Han used the holy magic he had learned. The white flame of the Aphar Order replaced the flames and began to blaze vigorously.
The evil god worshipper, having dealt with the skeleton warriors and broken through the encirclement, showed a different reaction from before.
"Grooooowl!"
'I chose correctly!'
Yi-Han felt that his choice was right.
The creature feared the holy magic of another order!
"Rise, warriors made of bone!"
Once again, as the skeleton warriors bound its feet, sparks of white flame flew and exploded on the evil god worshipper.
"It's working!"
Jijel lowered her aimed swords and shouted.
The creature that had firmly endured any attack earlier was now screaming every time it was hit by the flames.
"Pr, Pr, Pr... Prahgal...!"
"It's charging!"
Yi-Han nodded and gave a signal with his eyes.
The skeleton warriors blocked the front and the power of the flames condensed and grew even stronger.
Whoosh!
The flying sparks combined and attacked the evil god worshipper, almost burning it.
The evil god worshipper's scream struck their ears as if to tear them apart.
At that moment, the evil god worshipper squeezed out its last strength and turned its entire body's flesh into tentacle spears.
"!"
Yi-Han, who had predicted the trajectory that would soon fly with his divination magic, grabbed Jijel and threw himself to the side.
However, there was no need for that.
Jicklin, who had run from afar, swung her sword and split the evil god worshipper.
Slash!
"...!!"
Jicklin swung her sword to split the evil god worshipper in half, then swung again to split it into four.
When the evil god worshipper still tried to move while wriggling, she unleashed a series of sword strikes. The fragmented evil god worshipper could no longer endure and burned up completely.
'What power...?!'
Yi-Han doubted his eyes at the sight of the creature that had endured various magic earlier being cut like butter.
"I'm sorry I'm late!"
"Ah... It's alright."
"Hey. Move."
Jijel pushed Yi-Han's head away and stood up. Jicklin apologized to them again.
"I'm really sorry. To put you two in danger while looking for game."
"..."
"..."
Yi-Han and Jijel exchanged glances.
They absolutely couldn't say that they had approached the criminal first to end the hunt quickly.
"It's fine."
"This much is nothing..."
"No. This was my mistake. Let's end this hunt here."
"!"
Yi-Han and Jijel's eyes opened slightly wider.
Oh...
'Wait. Don't be too happy.'
'I know. You stay calm.'
"It's really regrettable..."
"I'm sorry too, Wardanaz. But I can't take guests along in such a dangerous situation."
"Sob sob."
"...Sob, sob sob."
Jijel had no choice but to play along with her friend.
But she couldn't stop the self-loathing rising from deep in her heart.
"Please wait a moment."
Jicklin stopped them and turned her head.
Then she swung her sword to extinguish the white flames that were spreading vigorously.
They had already burned all the surrounding trees and were spreading around with great momentum.
Seeing this, Jijel asked as if she didn't understand.
"Why did you spread the flame magic without controlling it like that?"
"...It's a secret."
Yi-Han avoided answering.
***
"Prahgal? Another mess."
The skull principal, sitting in the family head's office, sighed as he received the report.
These evil god worshippers came out from somewhere like mold no matter how much they were cleared away.
Perhaps it was because of this painful world.
The skull principal had abandoned his flesh and reached the state of enlightenment, but he couldn't expect that from other mortals...
'Truly regrettable!'
"Lord Gonadaltes."
"Ah. Sorry. Continue speaking."
"Our family subjugated Prahgal fanatics a few years ago too. I suspect they might have a temple somewhere in the north."
Despite being past middle age, the head of the Moradi family still showed no change in appearance. Anyone who saw would think he was of similar age to the skull principal.
Strong will settled on the family head's cold and sharp face.
"Another subjugation..."
"Why not do it?"
"We need the help of excellent mages."
"Urgh..."
The skull principal openly showed his reluctance.
Finding hidden evil god worshippers in this vast northern empire was like finding a needle in a haystack.
The needle in the haystack could be found with easy magic, but for evil god worshippers, one really had to pour in magic with determination.
"I'll think about it."
"Yes. I ask for your consideration."
The family head's eyes as he said he was asking didn't look like asking at all.
As if he would glare until it was accepted, he stared as if he would eat him.
However, the skull principal didn't care. Having lived for so long, he wouldn't be shaken by the pressure of such a young elf.
"By the way, who found the Prahgal fanatic? It must have been hard to distinguish the fanatics, but they found them well."
"Lady Jicklin..."
"Ah."
Both the skull principal and the family head made expressions that said 'that's possible'.
A knight of Jicklin's caliber could catch them by intuition.
"She went hunting with Lady Jijel and Mr. Wardanaz, and they found them."
The skull principal and the family head lowered their heads at the same time. That's how surprised they were.
'What on earth is this guy doing?'
The skull principal was dumbfounded.
He had told him to rest until the banquet, but he couldn't stand it and went out to catch a Prahgal fanatic.
Was he crazy with ambition??
'It's not like he's trying to make his name known throughout the empire...'
When the skull principal looked at the family head, he also seemed quite flustered. His cold face was shaken.
Well, it made sense.
Jicklin's hunt wasn't an ordinary hunt, was it?
To take someone from the Wardanaz family, a great noble family who was invited, on such a dangerous hunt.
It was something that the family head, an efficiency-oriented rationalist, could never tolerate.
But the skull principal knew the truth.
'Surely that Wardanaz bastard must have suggested going first!'
Although he hadn't asked yet, the skull principal could bet the gold coins he had just received in support that Yi-Han had offered to take responsibility.
"This is..."
"Ah. Ah. Don't be too surprised. It's because they're close."
"Pardon?"
The family head looked at the skull principal with eyes that said 'What nonsense are you talking about?'
No matter how he thought about it, it didn't make sense.
"They're Einroguard students."
"But they're from different towers?"
"Oh my! Are you saying they can't build friendship because they're from different towers? How can you have such a narrow-minded thought!"
"..."
The family head was dumbfounded to hear such words from the person who had separated the towers and made them fight each other.
"Anyway, it's because they're close, so don't be unnecessarily surprised. When you're close, you can go hunting together and catch fanatics too."
"...?"
The servant listening from the side tilted his head.
Is that so?
"I understand."
Although he still didn't believe it, the family head nodded for now.
Come to think of it, there was no reason for the skull principal to lie about something like this.
And neither Jicklin nor Jijel were people who would take a precious guest of the family to a dangerous place for no reason.
'...No. Jicklin might do that.'
"Lord Gonadaltes. I'd like to meet the boy from the Wardanaz family."
"Uh. That doesn't seem like a good idea."
The skull principal sincerely advised, feeling that the family head's blood pressure might rise.
At those words, the family head pondered again.
'Is he trying to prevent friendship with the Wardanaz family as someone who maintains the balance of the empire?'
"Hey, just let them meet."
The skull principal thought with disgust.
‘This is why I hate young ones who think too much.’
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