novelburst
Chapter 72
Chapter 72
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Chapter 72
"Nice to see you, you bastards."
At the sight of Luna and me descending, those who were still conscious widened their eyes in shock.
But they remained frozen, unable to react properly, their mouths simply moving.
“W-What?! How did you get here?!”
“How? I followed the GPS, you bastards.”
They spoke, yet they neither moved nor used magic.
In other words, they were nothing more than living punching bags.
Of course, that didn’t mean I could afford to be careless.
After all, at the center of their ritual magic circle floated a sinister-looking leather-bound book, scattering a violet aura that instantly made me think, Yeah… that thing is bad news.
A book suspended in midair as if it were alive—the Book of the Dead.
The Necronomicon of the ancient gods.
Did they even understand what they were using?
If their mindset was just "Screw it, let the world burn!", I might be able to comprehend it.
But in all my experience, I had rarely encountered people who truly wanted to bring about the end of the world.
Looking around, I noticed the entire area was covered in a thick, slimy substance—the kind you’d usually find in a kraken’s habitat.
So this is the kraken’s habitat.
“You… You’re that brat who was with the Sword Saint. Is the Sword Saint here as well?”
Did they not recognize me?
Or did they just not consider me important?
Either way, it worked in my favor.
“The Sword Saint? No, it’s just the two of us.”
At my calm reply, the leader of the cultists, who had been staring at me, suddenly smirked.
“Hah… I was scared for nothing. What are you all waiting for? Release them. Get rid of these pests.”
“Are you sure? Won’t we be interrupting something important? I mean, if I just—”
Tuk.
“—do this, what happens then?”
I lightly tapped the violet barrier surrounding them.
The cult leader let out a chilling laugh.
“You? A mere brat? There’s no way you could— Besides, you have more pressing matters to worry about.”
As soon as he spoke, grotesque masses of flesh began crawling out of the darkness.
Their bodies were too large and excessively muscular to be considered human, with mouths protruding from random places, clicking their teeth together.
Each of them wore eerie masks that resembled hockey masks.
“If this were just a horror movie, the visuals alone would be terrifying. But before we continue, I have a question.”
Turning to face them nonchalantly, I asked,
“Is that all?”
“What?”
“I’m asking, is that all?”
“Hah. You’re more fearless than I expected, brat.”
At his words, the grotesque giants simultaneously brandished massive cleavers and charged at us with frightening speed.
“I’m useless here.”
“You’ll be useful in a bit, so just wait.”
Without even bothering to draw my sword, I placed my hand on the ground.
BOOOOM!!!
A heavy, thunderous sound echoed as a massive, thick wall erupted from the ground, completely cutting off the advancing monsters from reaching us.
“And now, it’s just us.”
The smug expressions vanished from the necromancers’ faces.
The cult leader leading the ritual rolled his eyes in frustration, his expression hardening.
This was bad.
He never expected anyone to find this place.
Ordinarily, a mere brat like that wouldn’t have been a problem.
However, right now, neither he nor the other cultists could even move a finger, let alone fight.
Had he been able to move, he could have easily demonstrated the true power of a 5th-circle necromancer.
But since the ritual had begun, their physical bodies were already halfway detached from their control.
When the boy first arrived, he had been terrified, thinking the Sword Saint had come.
After all, the Sword Saint was the one person the cult feared the most.
Fortunately, it was just some brat and an absurdly beautiful girl.
Once the ritual started, it would take at least two to three days before they could move again.
If those two somehow survived that long, things would become incredibly troublesome.
Still, the protective barrier around them was sturdy, and the chimera guardians stationed nearby would handle it.
Or at least, that’s what he had believed—
—until a massive stone wall suddenly appeared, completely blocking the chimeras from reaching the boy.
“And now, it’s just us.”
The boy approached with a bright smile, and the cult leader found himself at a loss for words.
What just happened?
Was it spirit magic?
No, it didn’t feel like spirit magic.
Was it regular magic?
But there was no sign of mana movement.
Then what the hell was it?
BANG! BANG!
Beyond the wall, the chimeras repeatedly slammed against it, but the barrier remained firm and unyielding.
The cult leader, momentarily lost in panic, soon let out a hollow chuckle.
“So this is the best trick you could come up with? I’m sorry to say, but you won’t be able to harm us. As long as the barrier exists, you won’t be able to so much as touch a hair on our heads—”
CRASH!!!
The moment the boy placed his hand on the barrier, the last protective layer shielding them shattered.
In less than a second.
This isn’t supposed to happen.
This doesn’t make any sense.
Countless thoughts raced through his mind, but the boy who had just done the impossible remained utterly nonchalant, casually joking with the girl beside him.
“A barrier? You said there was a barrier?”
“I think that was a lie.”
“Right? So now we just beat them up, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Had the cult leader known that Leon possessed the power of a 6th-circle necromancer, he would have never been so confident.
And if he had realized that the death mana Leon wielded was that of a Death Lord at the pinnacle of necromantic arts, he would have been even more terrified.
“W-Wait!”
As he remained frozen in place, unable to move, Leon grinned and casually kicked his shin.
CRACK!!!
A sickening pain shot through his body as he stumbled violently.
“AAAAAGH!!”
Even as he let out a horrific scream, he couldn’t move.
It wasn’t just that his consciousness dictated he shouldn’t move.
The moment he tried to, his body fell out of his control, rendering him completely immobile.
“You try it too. A scream should come out.”
With that, Luna stared at the commander with her eyes closed, then boldly stepped forward and looked up at him.
Things were turning dire!
He had to buy as much time as possible—just enough for the chimera to break through the wall and burst into the scene.
Truth be told, he had some defensive magic cast on him as a precaution.
Most ordinary attacks would only hurt temporarily before his defenses kicked in.
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But…
Crack!
Luna, without hesitation, struck his opposite shin with a swift kick.
A grotesque sound echoed from his leg.
The sheer destructive power was unbelievable, especially coming from such a small frame.
Was it just brute strength?
No.
The strike was frighteningly precise.
The pain was so excruciating that he couldn’t even muster a scream.
“Why isn’t he screaming when I do it?”
“Is he broken?”
These insane bastards!!
Even as he teetered on the brink of unconsciousness from the unbearable agony, unable to collapse due to being fixed in midair, he could only swallow back bloody tears.
The moment the overwhelming light faded—
* * *
The Sword Saint, Osberg Mielephon, stood frozen, staring blankly at the surroundings.
Was it because he, like Leon, had instinctively cut through the unnatural distortions?
Most of the expedition remained in place without any issue.
Except for two people.
“…Th-This… this…!!”
He clenched his teeth.
Then, in a fit of rage, he grabbed the attacking mage by the collar.
“You bastard!!! What have you done?!!”
Indeed.
The two who had vanished—Leon and Luna.
Leon had been at the very center of the light and was pulled in.
As for Luna, she had pushed another mage out of the way and was sucked in instead.
“Th-That…!”
“I ordered you not to attack!”
“P-Please spare me! I didn’t mean to, I just…!”
Damn those Tower mages.
This was exactly why they shouldn’t have sent in an inexperienced aristocratic brat.
The mage responsible was a noble’s son who had been parachuted into the Magic Tower.
By all rights, he should never have been part of this subjugation force. But due to political maneuvering, he had forced his way in.
The corpse golem had disappeared without a trace, and the magic circle had vanished.
At the same time—
“Sir!!! The storm clouds! They’re rolling in! It’s a Kraken attack precursor!!”
Sailors always said—when an unexpected storm appeared at sea, you must suspect a Kraken.
Normally, the Kraken wouldn’t rampage like this, so they had planned to head out to sea and deal with it directly.
But now, the Kraken had gone berserk, shattering all expectations.
* * *
Whether they knew of Osberg’s mounting frustration or not, Leon and Luna were busy tormenting the cultists.
“Still no reaction?”
Thud!!
“How pathetic. This is how you do it.”
Wham!!!
Luna’s tiny hands struck the cult leader’s abdomen—right at the liver—with terrifying accuracy.
The man gasped, choking out a painful breath as he struggled to inhale.
“You sure know exactly where to hit to make it hurt.”
“I throw punches sometimes.”
‘Damn it!! I’m not staying still by choice—you demons!!’
The ritual was more advanced than expected.
At this rate, it would take at least a few more hours to fully complete.
But could they even last that long?
At this rate, these two lunatics could slaughter everyone here within mere minutes.
He desperately wanted to halt the ritual and kill them all, but he had no control over the process.
If just one cultist were to die… then the ritual would be forcibly stopped, and he would be free to move.
“If even one of them dies, they can move again.”
“So until then, they’re just scarecrows?”
“Probably.”
How in the world did these insane brats know that?
“W-Wait!! Stop! Let’s negotiate!”
Sensing imminent danger, the cult leader shouted urgently.
“You must want something, right? There’s no reason for us to be enemies.”
“No reason to be enemies? That’s hilarious.”
“What have we even done to deserve this?!”
Desperation painted his voice as he humbled himself in a way he normally never would.
This confirmed it.
The cultists here had no idea who Leon really was.
How was it possible that the organization’s intel was this disjointed?
“That’s strange. How could you not know me?”
In truth, during Leon’s time in Mielephon, several suspected cultists had infiltrated Cascadia, only to be swiftly exposed.
As he pondered this, a thought crossed his mind.
“Tell me—within your cult, do you have internal faction conflicts?”
“What…?”
“I see. That explains it. That’s why you don’t know who I am.”
So the cult’s factions were so divided that they were actively restricting information from each other.
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