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[Translator - Night]
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Chapter 23
After climbing the stairs through the dense darkness, what lay ahead was a pitch-black sky scattered with faintly glowing stars.
Below it stretched a silent sea of sand.
‘Damn, what is this?’
A foreboding sensation crept all over my body.
Nothing good had ever come from feelings like this.
“Ren, what’s wrong?”
Louise asked, noticing the tense expression on my face.
Should I even speak about this feeling when it’s still just a hunch?
‘No... better to be cautious than not at all…’
Just as I gathered my thoughts and opened my mouth—
Swsssss—
The sand on the ground began to shift.
If I focused, I could even feel the vibrations.
Judging by the looks on the others’ faces, they sensed it too.
“Something’s coming.”
“This doesn’t feel right.”
“We should get out of here quickly.”
The knights spoke to Louise with worried tones.
Louise clenched his teeth and looked at me.
“Ren, what’s going on? Judging from your face, it seems like you’ve known something all along.”
He’s seriously misunderstanding the situation.
Know something?
I don’t know a thing.
It’s just that a vague sense of dread washed over me.
‘What do I do? Go back into the tomb? Run? Hide?’
I can’t even figure out what’s happening, let alone come up with a plan.
Still, saying “I don’t know” to Louise doesn’t seem right either.
“For now—”
“What’s that?”
A thin voice suddenly cut through.
Suppressing the jolt in my chest, I turned my head toward the source of the voice.
From behind a high sand dune, a man emerged.
It was a bald man with a long face, dressed in a black robe, staring in our direction.
“How long has he been standing there?”
“Damn, he’s wearing the same outfit as that guy from earlier!”
The knights’ faces stiffened instantly.
Their voices trembled with unease.
‘Status window.’
[Nigermann]
-Trait: Demon’s Mark
-Skill: Intermediate Black Magic
-Strength: 5.0
-Agility: 5.5
-Endurance: 6.3
-Sense: 5.1
-Mana: 22.5
Despite his frail appearance, his stats were monstrous.
Even higher mana than Kaiden, the one we faced earlier.
“Well, well? Kaiden was supposed to be chasing you guys, but you’re still alive? Don’t tell me Kaiden’s dead?”
A chilling smile crept across his face.
The kind of glee you’d expect from someone who just found an interesting new toy.
His grotesquely twisted facial muscles made me feel sick to my stomach.
“Lord Louise, please escape with the knights.”
My sudden suggestion made both Louise and the knights frown.
Some of them looked downright offended.
“You’re telling us to abandon you?”
“Ren! Are you ignoring our code of chivalry?”
“You know that’s not what I mean.”
I calmly tried to persuade them.
“This man is stronger than the black mage we fought before. Even I won’t be able to win in my current state.”
“Stronger than that guy?”
One knight looked at the enemy and gaped.
They hadn’t stood a chance against Kaiden—this was worse.
“Then shouldn’t we help you even more?”
The mustached knight stepped forward and asked.
“It won’t make a difference.”
I replied firmly.
We couldn’t afford to waste time arguing.
The knights seemed to realize they wouldn’t be of help either and clenched their jaws in frustration.
“Isn’t your priority to protect Lord Louise? Please, go. If I’m alone, I’ll have a better chance of slipping away.”
My final plea shook their resolve.
Even they had to admit this was the best option.
“No, Ren. Even if you’re my secret guard, I don’t abandon my people. And in your injured state, escaping alone is impossible.”
I almost opened my mouth to argue, but stopped.
One look at his determined gaze told me no words would change his mind.
He must have accepted the possibility of death the moment he revealed I was his secret guard.
“Ren was a secret guard?”
“So that’s it. Yeah, it was suspicious how we met him right after the desert boss ambush.”
The knights nodded, recalling the past.
This wasn’t the time for reminiscing.
“So, are you done discussing?”
The man’s staff glowed with swirling violet energy.
“Run as hard as you can. It’s always more thrilling to chase prey that struggles.”
Ignoring his words, I turned to Louise.
“Could one of you help me? I need my side wound tied tighter. The rest of you—please buy us a little time.”
“Got it.”
“I’ll help.”
The mustached knight stepped back with me while Louise and the other three stood to block the black mage.
“Hold still. I’ll tie it tight so your guts don’t spill out.”
“Gghh…!”
He tied it so tightly I thought my intestines might burst.
I could barely breathe, but somehow my body felt more stable.
“That good?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll—”
“Wait, I have a favor to ask.”
“A favor?”
“Yes, it’s just…”
* * *
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[Translator - Night]
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Facing the black mage, Louise took a deep breath.
Just two casual spells from him made the gap between them painfully clear.
These weren’t ordinary mages—they were on a whole different level.
And for knights who had little experience fighting magic users, it was a losing battle from the start.
‘There must be a way.’
Watching Ren’s earlier clash with the black mage had sparked a small realization.
Now, he might be able to help more than before.
‘Ren can’t fight at full strength—I need to create an opening for him.’
Louise’s eyes glowed blue as he looked for his chance.
“How strange… how did people like you kill Kaiden? Could it be you never even met him?”
The black mage tilted his head, then cast his gaze beyond the knights, straight at Ren.
“Ah... I see. That must be him, huh? The way he spoke earlier, like he knew about me. Heh heh.”
Chuckling as if something was incredibly amusing, the black mage sliced the air with his staff.
From the tip of the staff, a black energy spread forward, dispersing like fog and settling down over the ground.
“What is this?”
“Everyone be careful! We don’t know what might come out!”
The black mist floated slowly above the desert sands, obscuring everything below the ankle.
Sensing something ominous, Louise kicked off the ground just as the fog descended, while the knights widened their eyes at the sudden loss of sensation in their feet.
“W-what? My legs won’t move!”
“Damn it! Why—Why can’t I—ugh!”
One knight, who tried to force his legs to move, collapsed as the sensation in his legs vanished, his pupils trembling.
Once inside the black fog, the feeling in their entire bodies began to fade.
Louise, who had leapt to a nearby rise just in time, watched as four knights were instantly incapacitated.
He gritted his teeth and dashed toward the black mage, clutching his sword tightly.
A faint blue aura shimmered along the blade.
It was clearly a level stronger than the aura he had wielded against Kaiden.
“Sloppy. Heh.”
Nigermann glanced at Louise coming in from the left and raised his left hand, releasing his magic.
With a casual sweep through the air, a square-shaped shield appeared.
BOOOOM!
A loud explosion echoed as he chuckled lightly.
Louise winced at the vibration through his sword and retreated.
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE…!!
Just as Nigermann prepared to finish him off, the desert floor suddenly erupted upward, and his expression stiffened.
“Guh...!”
Groaning, Louise grimaced.
He had nearly fallen to the black mage, but this new development was a problem in itself.
He rolled down the steep slope formed by the sudden uplift of the ground and saw a rising waterfall of sand.
A suffocating sandstorm spread in all directions, with an immense downpour of sand falling from the sky.
“A desert boss...”
Thud.
Fortunately, the sand cushioned his fall, preventing serious injury, but the aftermath of the failed attack seemed to have torn some muscles.
Louise lay there, momentarily unable to move, and saw a dark silhouette.
A massive, pitch-black worm emerged from beneath the sand.
“Your Highness!”
As Nigermann’s dark magic dispersed and sensation returned, the knights scrambled to their feet and rushed to Louise.
“Fortunately, it seems to be targeting the black mage. We must escape while we have the chance!”
The mustached knight helped Louise up, speaking urgently.
Snapping out of his daze, Louise quickly looked around.
“Where’s Ren?”
“He said he’d clear the escape route ahead of us.”
Louise clenched his jaw at the mustached knight’s words and nodded, turning away.
A yellow cloud of dust rose behind them as they ran.
Only after they had gotten far enough that the enemies were no longer visible did they let out sighs of relief.
“Haah...”
“We finally got out of that hellish place.”
“I think I’m going to die.”
Slumping against a large rock, the knights let out breathy complaints.
“But... where’s Ren?”
Louise, his face tense, looked around, then turned to the mustached knight.
Only then did the others also sense something was wrong.
“......”
Seeing the knight’s stiff expression, the others grew pale.
Louise ground his teeth and stood up abruptly.
“Your Highness!”
“Move, Khalid!”
Louise roughly shoved the mustached knight aside and turned back toward where they had come from.
But he suddenly dropped to his knees in the sand.
“It was Ren’s earnest request.”
“......”
Louise stopped, his fists clenched tightly at Khalid’s desperate voice.
“You must think rationally. If I had the power, I would’ve stayed behind instead of Ren.”
“So we just abandon the comrade who saved us?”
His cold voice was laced with indescribable fury.
The knights didn’t blame Khalid—they, too, would have made the same choice under those circumstances.
“To us, Your Highness comes first.”
“Please, end my life.”
“No. It should be me—”
“Enough! Stop it...”
Louise’s lost gaze wandered before settling on the place where the black mage had been.
Ren...
His anger wasn’t directed at the black mage, or the desert boss, or even the knights.
It was at himself.
Helplessness.
He knew all too well how that single word could persistently, relentlessly torment someone, and he struggled not to break down.
“Get up.”
He addressed the knights kneeling beside Khalid and leaned against the rock.
“We wait here until Ren comes back.”
“Your Highness...”
There was a black mage.
And a desert boss.
And Ren was even injured.
Everyone knew the chances of him making it back alive were slim, but none of the knights could bring themselves to stop Louise.
Because they knew he already understood that truth.
‘Please come back alive.’
At the edge of Louise’s gaze, a bright white star fell from the night sky.
* * *
“Tch. Maybe I should’ve run away with them.”
I hadn’t expected that giant worm to suddenly attack like that.
If I had known, I would've just slipped away with the group...
FWOOOOOOOSH!!
A pitch-black magical arrow burst through the mist-like sand and came flying at me.
“Gah!”
My heightened senses moved his body automatically, narrowly dodging the attack.
To be targeted like this even while the boss was attacking...
‘Yeah right, like I’d have been safe if I ran with them. I’d be a sitting duck.’
It wasn’t Louise the creature was after—it was me.
Or maybe the mage figured that even if he captured me, it’d be easy enough to catch the others afterward.
BOOOOOOM!!
Each time the worm writhed, sand exploded in every direction.
It looked like an even fight on the surface, but the black mage was slowly gaining the upper hand while keeping me in check.
At this rate, the worm would fall to the mage, and I’d be next.
‘Can I use my spirit energy now...?’
I had already spent most of it summoning Zalatan earlier.
If I summoned Zalatan again now, the spell would likely fail soon after—or my sanity would.
WHOOSH!!
CLANG!!
A boulder suddenly came flying at me.
At first I thought it was just debris from the battle, but I quickly realized that wasn’t the case.
Nigermann’s glowing blue eyes were locked directly on me.
“Shit...”
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[Translator - Night]
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