------------------
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
------------------
Chapter 195
"Leon? Is it already over?"
"Yeah. They got here pretty quickly. What about over here?"
"Still the vanguard. The main force will arrive soon. There's nothing to stop us up front, so let's just go inside and wait."
At my words, Luna casually threw away the blood-covered lump she was holding.
"Leon."
"Yeah?"
"Among those things, there are some that aren’t human."
"Like that... whatever it was, Ma Cheon or something?"
"Nothing as twisted as that one, but quite a few are seriously distorted. And also, that brother and sister pair."
Looks like she sensed similar traces from the siblings, Hwa Ryeong and Cheon Ryeong.
"They’re in a better condition compared to the others. Most of the rest are already closer to the dead."
I see.
As we entered Bata’s camp, it was buzzing with tension.
A small number of knights were hurriedly gathering terrified staff members to a safe area and preparing to assess the situation.
"Young Lord Leon!"
"Sir Bagood, has everything been alright?"
"Yes. This place is still secure, but… what just happened?"
"Coral and the Eastern Continent have broken the treaty and started a military provocation. From now on, you can consider it a localized war."
I hadn’t disclosed the attack by Coral and the Eastern Continent to them earlier, fearing the risk of leaked information.
To them, this situation must have felt like a bolt from the blue, but the risk of variables from leaked intel was worse.
"Brother!!"
At that moment, Arsha came running toward me like a madwoman, clutching a small bundle in her arms.
She leapt into my embrace.
Startled by the sudden movement, the black hatchling inside the bundle jumped out from between us.
But that didn’t matter to Arsha right now.
"I'm sorry, Arsha. I left you alone."
"It’s… it’s okay. Arsha stayed strong and waited."
It was my mistake to leave Arsha alone, considering she still showed signs of separation anxiety.
I thought it would be okay for a short while since the black dragon hatchling was with her, but apparently not.
"I'm sorry. I stepped away for a bit because I didn’t want to show you something unpleasant."
"It’s not your fault. It’s okay."
I held Arsha in my arms and asked her,
"Arsha, your big brother is right here with you, so don’t worry."
"Okay…"
That was good enough.
As I gently comforted her, she buried her face in my shoulder.
“But isn’t it strange they only sent a vanguard? Why hasn’t the main force arrived yet?”
“I don’t know about the main force, but I think two people are on their way.”
Just as she said that, two figures appeared before us in swift, graceful movements.
Was it Qinggong?
They were the legitimate son and daughter of the Sichuan family — the siblings Cheon Ryeong and Hwa Ryeong.
“Hwa Ryeong! Why did you rush all the way here like that?”
Cheon Ryeong hadn’t heard the news yet, it seemed.
He must have followed because Hwa Ryeong moved so urgently.
“Is the letter true, my lord?”
“There’s no reason to lie. Bata has decided to accept your request.”
At my words, she trembled slightly, trying to control her shaking hand.
“But the situation is very urgent right now. My brother and I still have… inside our bodies…”
“Don’t move.”
In a flash, Luna approached Hwa Ryeong and thrust her hand into Hwa Ryeong’s chest.
“Eek!”
A light burst out, and Luna reached into it, pulling out a dark, murky mass.
That parasite could be removed through divine tech, aura manipulation, or magic — but the least harmful way was through Luna’s divine energy, which, while faint, was extremely potent.
“Huh? How did you…?”
“We don’t really need rituals or anything elaborate.”
That parasite was said to be removable by using the fresh aura of youth, but Luna’s divine power completely ignored those limitations.
Hwa Ryeong’s eyes widened like saucers.
She must be shocked.
She probably struggled for ages trying to get rid of that parasite.
Even after requesting asylum with us, she likely assumed it would take a long time to remove it.
Not like this — not so easily, not so quickly.
Luna then reached toward Cheon Ryeong and pulled out the same thing.
“What is that?!”
Unlike Hwa Ryeong, Cheon Ryeong hadn’t known about the parasite, and his eyes widened in shock.
“How did that end up inside us…?”
“Brother, the elders secretly implanted it in both our bodies. It was easier to control you with just Ma Cheon’s existence, but not so with me.”
Cheon Ryeong became obedient like a hunting dog when Ma Cheon was mentioned, but since Hwa Ryeong believed her younger sibling was already dead, that wouldn’t work on her.
So the elders subtly hinted at the parasite inside her to keep her under control.
“Those damn bastards…”
Realizing the truth too late, Cheon Ryeong gritted his teeth in rage.
“Brother, please trust me. We can’t be manipulated by the elders any longer. The Sichuan family is no longer the home we once knew.”
“But what about Ma Cheon…”
Cheon Ryeong, still unable to let go of their youngest sibling, looked conflicted.
“Lord Cheon Ryeong, your sibling is already dead. What remains is a shell without a soul, processed into a special kind of zombie — or, to use Eastern Continental terms, a jiangshi.”
Cheon Ryeong flinched at that.
“It’s true.”
Luna's words sealed it, and he clenched his teeth hard.
“They called it Ma Cheon? I told you before. That child is already dead.”
“But…”
------------------
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
------------------
“If you can’t believe it, I’ll show you myself.”
Luna turned her gaze in one direction.
There, unnoticed until now, numerous martial artists, including the elders of Sichuan, had started to reveal themselves from all around.
“Elder…”
Cheon Ryeong called out to him quietly, but the elder merely gestured coldly.
At that moment, Ma Cheon revealed himself beside the elder, letting out beast-like howls.
“Ma Cheon!”
Cheon Ryeong rushed toward him in alarm, but Hwa Ryeong grabbed his arm to stop him.
“Brother! You mustn’t go there!”
“You ungrateful wretches. Do you dare betray the Sichuan Clan that took you in?!”
“What nonsense! How dare those who took over the clan our father once led and implanted restraints in our bodies speak so shamelessly!”
At Hwa Ryeong’s outcry, the elder gave a nonchalant shrug.
“Yes, we did that. You were too absorbed in your naive ideals, so it was done as a form of discipline. Was that wrong?”
“Wha… what did you just say?!”
“If you had obeyed the words of the Elder Council, there would have been no need for such restraints.”
“Are you even human?!”
At her scream of despair, the elder didn’t bother to hide his calm demeanor.
Cheon Ryeong held Hwa Ryeong back.
“Elder, may I ask just one question?”
“Hm? Cheon Ryeong? Go ahead.”
“Is Cheon… really alive?”
The elder gave a twisted grin at that question.
“What nonsense. Isn’t Cheon right here? Although his mind is broken, he’s standing here just fine.”
As he patted Ma Cheon’s head—who continued to let out beast-like howls—Cheon Ryeong’s face darkened.
“Brother! Don’t you understand yet?! The elders implanted restraints in your body to prepare for the day you might resist after learning the truth!”
“But… Hwa Ryeong, a jiangshi cannot speak. Yet Ma Cheon clearly called me brother before…”
“What if he’s not an ordinary jiangshi?”
Cheon Ryeong said nothing, unable to hide his confusion.
He’s breathing, moving—how could he be dead?
It was a truth he struggled to accept.
Ma Cheon now was more like a mad beast than a man, but just from appearances alone, he didn’t seem like someone who had died.
So there was only one way to clear things up—with a dose of the red medicine.
I reached my hand toward Ma Cheon.
And then—
I cast a basic necromancer spell.
[Turn Undead.]
A necromancy spell that returns the undead to nothingness.
Of course, there were surely countermeasures in Ma Cheon’s body to prevent such effects…
[Scatter.]
With the incantation added, the spell’s power amplified.
[Would you like to register and use the Merge Ability?]
‘No.’
I only have one slot—it’d be a waste.
—KIIIIAAAAAAAHHH!!!
At that moment, Ma Cheon began to scream in agony.
I couldn’t completely erase him.
Though Ma Cheon was technically dead, he was closer to a bio-weapon than a pure undead.
But it was enough to reveal part of what was hidden within his body.
Half of Ma Cheon’s face began to shrivel like a dried husk.
One half remained normal, while the other looked like a corpse.
“Cheon…”
As he slowly dried up and his face twisted like a mummy’s, it was a horrific sight.
Though appearance aside, Ma Cheon was still radiating immense power.
“What… what is this?! You bastard! What did you do?!”
“I just revealed what was hidden. That’s all.”
Turn Undead wasn’t originally meant for that purpose, but it succeeded in disrupting the balance that sustained Ma Cheon’s physical form.
The more sophisticated a bio-weapon, the more fragile it becomes when just one element is destabilized.
And Cheon Ryeong, not being a fool, began to grasp the meaning behind it.
A dead body, kept from decaying by unnatural means.
In other words, Ma Cheon had already been dead for a long time.
“N… No. This can’t be. This isn’t right…”
Cheon Ryeong dropped to his knees, despair settling over his face.
His heart shattered upon facing the truth he had desperately avoided.
“Aaaaaah… AAAAAAHHHHH!!!”
Hwa Ryeong silently let her tears fall, and Cheon Ryeong screamed in anguish.
The siblings, Cheon Ryeong and Hwa Ryeong, reminded me a lot of ourselves.
What was it called—Unlucky Cascadia, perhaps.
If it had been powerless me and Melissa, we wouldn’t have been much different from them.
Maybe that’s why I felt a stronger concern for them.
And as for the elder, doing things eerily similar to my late uncle Tyvel Cascadia, whom I had once killed—I didn’t feel anything positive toward him either.
“Damn it… These damned pests are getting in my way from all sides. I command you! Cheon Ryeong! Hwa Ryeong! Join us at once!!”
The Sichuan elder shouted, pulling a small gourd from his robes.
It must be the source parasite that controls the others.
When he shook the jar, a terrible screeching sound came from within.
But Cheon Ryeong and Hwa Ryeong didn’t respond at all.
“Hmm?! Why isn’t it reacting…?”
Of course, the elder hadn’t yet realized the parasites had already been removed.
I approached the weeping Hwa Ryeong and asked,
“My lady, what would you have me do?”
“Revenge… I want revenge. A thorough vengeance that will completely destroy them…”
“Well, sure. And since I’ve received such a nice payment, I’ll throw that in as a bonus.”
With that, I gently stopped Luna, who was warming up for a fight, and began walking toward them.
------------------
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
------------------
