Manda profusely sweated as he entered a passive situation. The Phantom’s Beard Vines held a strong advantage when it came to their composition and vast numbers. Against a [magic technique] of such rank, his sacred martial abilities were virtually hopeless.
Although the magic vines were enveloped by golden flames, this seemingly didn’t affect them. Manda, on the other hand, wasn’t that fortunate. His body had already been pricked several times by their thistles and thorns. In addition to the injury on his abdomen that was incessantly bleeding and getting worse by the minute, a spate of malaise and weakness was taking over him as well.
‘Even if it’s my fate to die… this mustn’t be the place. I’m the only one who knows that a great catastrophe is about to fall upon this city. Isn’t that so?’
“Why bother struggling? It’s better to resign yourself to fate. As a [Magic] attack, the Phantom Beard Vine is weak, but if you’re wounded by its venomous thorns, half of your life will already be gone.” Lan Yu sighed as he watched Manda continue his unsuccessful struggle to break free from the deadlock caused by the surrounding vines.
In the cave, despair and memories of Manda incessantly rushed forth, causing Lan Yu to fall into a slight daze. Immediately after, he came to his senses and shook his head.
In order to exterminate all demons, he mustn’t allow romance and sentiments to weigh over his heart… He had to continue seeing through everything he had started, even if he had to meet with the derision of the masses.
………
‘Did I overestimate my abilities in the end?…’
Manda held onto his shivering arms as his consciousness gradually turned hazy. With his sacred flame sword standing upright onto the ground, his thoughts grew distant.
As his life flashed before his inner eyes, a shadow brushed past his consciousness.
“Being overly attached to your personal feelings will eventually prove detrimental to the greater course of things.” A knight, clad in dark-silvery armor and armed to the teeth, would say so with a stiff voice devoid of any emotion.
As it turned out, that knight had always understood his temperament very well — He had known that such a thing would inevitably happen one day.
Manda incessantly gasped with heavy, coarse breaths all while his eyes were fixed on Lan Yu — who was slightly lost in thought amidst the crowd of vines.
‘Although I don’t know whether there’s still time left for me to make amends now…’
[Mortal Soul Flames]
The temperature spiked upwards abruptly in a split second as golden flames gushed out from Manda’s sword blade like a fountain, creating a majestic aura. They circled around with him in their center and turned into a golden ring of raging flames, temporarily forcing the vines surrounding him back.
Making use of the opportunity that Lan Yu was currently immersed in his thoughts, Manda spread out a scroll and tossed it to the floor.
‘Transmission begins, as for the destination… Anywhere will do, I just hope it can bring me to someone I can entrust a heavy responsibility to.’
‘Speaking of which, this is the first time I’ve used a strange magic contraption like this. I just didn’t expect that day to actually be the day of my death.’
‘…Neither do I exactly know how reliable this scroll is going to be.’
“Ssssss…” The unfolded scroll speedily disintegrated from its corners and turned into nothingness. With its physical form vanishing, the only thing remaining was the transmission formation engraved within that slowly lit up like a small sun.
Written on it were rotating incantations which Manda couldn’t decipher.
However, the speed at which they rotated was less than impressive, perhaps due to the extremely low-grade formation that had been copied onto the scroll.
Returning back to his senses, Lan Yu caught sight of Manda who was currently urging on the scroll formation. Surprisingly, he did not perform any actions to prevent him from doing so.
“Zzzzzt…” The low-grade transmission formation gradually grew larger as the speed of its revolution became even more intense and eye-dazzling. Finally, with the sound of air cracking, Manda disappeared from the meat cave alongside the formation.
After a moment of silence, Lan Yu shook his head.
‘Forget it, he won’t live for much longer anyway. Success is already in my bag and he’s no longer capable of being a variable… I’ll just regard it as repayment for the love and care he had given me for so many years.’
He waved his hands, and the Phantom’s Beard Vine returned into their formation like obedient kids.
“Hey, it’s time for you guys to take to the field.” Lan Yu clapped his hands, causing a series of intense churning and squirming to occur on the meat floor. Following which, a group of trolls was spat out from underneath.
“…Damn it! How dare you treat us like this! You wretched inferior species!”
The troll leader stopped his group of foot soldiers that had flown into a rage out of humiliation and narrowed his eyes to size up Lan Yu, whose appearance seemed extremely bizarre.
“Mister Lan, may I ask where our big boss and third boss are?”
“Like I said, they’re hiding within the sewers, waiting for the opportunity to move. I’ve set up a transportation formation over there.” Said Lan Yu in a monotone voice, not enraged over hearing the foot soldier’s words.
“Then, why didn’t I receive any news from them all this time??”
“Do you suspect that I’ve done something to them? Do you even think that’s possible based on the abilities of a lone human? Or are you trying to admit that it’s possible for a human like myself to humiliate your pride as trolls?
“You!…”
“That’d best be the case, Mister Lan.” The troll leader nodded and guided the soldiers under his wing towards the exit.
“…Hmph! Incomptent fools who are only capable of screwing things up” Lan Yu coldly harrumphed.
They could only play a supporting role, wrecking havoc as much as possible, as well as killing a few more people.
These meat walls, in other words his [external body], could be considered as being a true part of himself. They would promptly break down human corpses nearby to absorb their [Magic] into their own reserves for future use.
Now, after so many years of preparation, Lan Yu had gathered enough [magic] to fully use [Disaster Class] annihilation magic. It was time for everyone in the city to become bargaining chips for his coup d’etat.
This time, even the detestable night knights wouldn’t be able to stop him.
…………
“Whoosh…” The formation stopped revolving.
The scene in front of Manda began to freeze in place.
Panting incessantly, he leaned on his sword with his brain feeling like a pot of muddled mush.
As someone who had undergone space-time transmission, the up- and down churning sensation he experienced wasn’t pleasant in the least.
However, compared to the shock dealt to his mind, the one to his body gave him much more of a headache…
Since he hadn’t been on guard and hadn’t worn any armor, being directly struck by a magic [technique] had cut his skin open.
If everything went as expected, this old life of his would probably come to an end very soon.
Was Manda afraid of death? A person that doesn’t fear death didn’t exist in this world. However, he didn’t have time to worry about this right now.
‘Even if I have to shout it out, I have to speak up about the great calamity that is about to hit this city and have everyone prepare… It would be great if the Sacred Martial Association was close by…’
To his disappointment,the place he got sent to was an abandoned building with its entrances sealed; A place nobody would visit at all.
The vicious poison quickly attacked his heart, causing his life to turn into a flickering candle in a storm.
‘Can I truly do nothing about it?…’
Just when he despaired, a series of orderly footsteps heavily hitting the ground resounded.
A faintly discernible silhouette approached him amidst the haziness.
Manda narrowed his eyes and expended a great amount of energy to make out who this was.
The silhouette gradually got closer.
A cross-shaped molybdenum helmet adorned with a pair of wings, an old fashioned cloth armor, a pair of leather boots, as well as a fang-shaped long sword in his grasp.
‘I-Is someone there??’
Manda blurry old eyes lit up. He felt as if he had spotted an oasis in the midst of a desert.
‘Even though he seems like a strange person, there’s no way I can just do nothing… Perhaps, he can relay my words.’
“Tut, tut, tut…” It was clear as day that the man with a metal helmet had noticed Manda, as his footsteps were obviously striding in his direction.
The chilly and stiff gaze emanating from the other’s helmet zoned Manda out, and gave him a nostalgic feeling of Deja Vu.