Chapter 115: Revival (1)
On Elwin’s airship, in the medical bay.
“Urgh…!”
Nero lay unconscious on the previously empty bed.
Even without consciousness, she seemed to feel pain, groaning continuously.
Knock, knock.
“Sercia. I found what you asked for.”
“Thanks, Mr. Calix.”
Calix handed Sercia a vial of clear, shimmering holy water. It was holy water Nahrhan regularly made and stored.
“…I hope it works.”
Trickle.
With careful hands, Sercia poured the holy water on Nero’s ear and heart.
At those spots, two Deadman’s Flowers had taken root, using her flesh as soil.
The one at her ear was pitch-black, and the one at her heart was bright yellow, but both exuded a sinister aura regardless of color.
Flash!
As the holy water touched them, the sinister aura in the flowers was momentarily purified.
‘But this is just a stopgap.’
It would soon recover. They had to be completely removed before that!
Closely examining the affected areas, Sercia spotted a connection between the Deadman’s Flowers and Nero’s soul. More precisely, a tiny gap in that connection.
‘There!’
Sercia infused her mana into a scalpel and carefully widened the gap, severing the flowers’ roots.
“AAH!”
At that moment, Nero’s eyes snapped open, and she screamed. Despite her limbs being restrained, she thrashed, and Calix hurriedly held her down.
“I’ll keep her still. Keep going!”
Sercia nodded silently and raised the scalpel again.
How much time passed? She exhaled heavily and slumped.
“…It’s done.”
The Deadman’s Flowers that had been parasitic on Nero’s body fell off. The uprooted flowers withered rapidly.
Clang—
The scalpel slipped from Sercia’s hand, hitting the floor with a loud noise.
“Phew.”
Perhaps due to the intense focus, her strength drained, leaving her exhausted. Her body was soaked in cold sweat.
Someone extended a hand to her.
“Good work. Drink.”
“…Ah.”
It was Calix. He offered her a cool water bottle, shaking it slightly to urge her to drink.
“Thanks.”
Sercia smiled faintly and accepted the gesture.
“When Lord Elwin first entrusted me with Mr. Nero, I wondered how I’d manage… but somehow, we did it.”
—Sercia, please take care of Nero’s treatment! The Deadman’s Flowers are eating away at her soul. We need to remove them completely as soon as possible. And… only you can do it!
“How did he know…”
Sercia muttered softly. She was undeniably special, even among the ‘Witch’s Children.’
—My beloved Sisi. This is the last gift I can give you.
Sercia had inherited all of the witch’s abilities, even the power to manipulate ‘souls.’
But she had never once spoken of this.
To anyone.
—Nahrhan and I, just the two of us, will enter the Forgotten Stone Tower. Sercia, please stay here to treat Nero. Calix, I ask you to protect His Highness and Jana. There’s a chance Depicio remnants might come for the Batevil royals.
As if it were obvious, Elwin entrusted the critical Nero to her and left the airship with Nahrhan.
Sercia set aside her thoughts. She’d have a chance to question this later.
“Will they be okay?”
Sercia didn’t specify who, but Calix understood keenly.
“Why they took that mercenary and for what reason is still a mystery… but they’ll be fine.”
Calix’s deep blue eyes held firm trust.
“Because it’s none other than Lord Elwin who went. He’ll rescue them smoothly.”
As he always had.
“We just need to do our part here and wait.”
“…You’re right. Well said.”
May they all return safely.
---
In the underground of the Forgotten Stone Tower, the revival ritual was underway.
A malevolent aura vibrated in all directions.
Uuuuung—!
Immense mana boiled over from the massive jar, pouring toward one point.
“…”
To Gale, unconscious and bound in midair!
Around him were dozens of withered trees and cracked stone piles scattered about.
“Hmm♪”
Humming excitedly, Floetta gestured, causing the dry trees to crumble and the stones to split further.
The mana swirling around Gale grew even stronger and more ominous.
“Haha! Hahaha! Finally! Finally, He will be freed!!!”
Spinning in place, Floetta burst into maniacal laughter.
Her beautiful red dress, like petals, flared wide.
“Floettaaaaa!!!”
At that moment, someone roared furiously, charging into the underground chamber.
“Oh, my! Look who’s here!”
Floetta smiled brightly, extending both hands.
“Welcome!”
It was the Mountain Elder, sprinting at terrifying speed. His eyes, blazing with killing intent, looked ready to tear her apart.
“How dare—!!”
The Mountain Elder shouted with venom. Simultaneously, countless roots surged from the ground, attacking her.
BOOM!
Whether resonating with his rage, their momentum was indescribably fierce.
“You betray us?!!!”
Anyone who knew the usually composed Mountain Elder would be shocked to see him now.
Always controlling his emotions, he was now raging, out of his mind like a lunatic.
“How dare, how dare, how dare—! To ruin our long-cherished cause!!! Our dream, our cause…!!!”
He had completely broken.
“Hmm~? When did I ever say I was on your side? I told you from the start.”
—Our goals seem kinda similar… so let’s team up for a bit! I’ll help you! To meet the Beastkin King.
“I only said we’d work together ‘for a bit,’ didn’t I? Never lied!”
Floetta grinned with an innocent face.
“As the leader of a group, you should’ve read the subtext of a suspicious person’s words~! Disqualified as a ruler.”
“Youuuu—!”
The enraged Mountain Elder’s roots moved even more fiercely. Their speed was now nearly impossible to follow with the eye.
“Hahaha!”
Floetta nimbly dodged the roots pressing in from all directions, laughing hysterically.
“By the way, doesn’t Jerar Gnaude, leader of the Gnaude tribe, care about his kin? You must know I stole them.”
“…Kin?”
“Yep, yep~! Look over there!”
The Mountain Elder’s empty gaze followed where Floetta pointed.
The Gnaude tribe members, selected for Sacrifice Devouring, had served their purpose and turned into worthless trees and stones.
“Thanks~! They were super useful!”
A hollow laugh escaped the Mountain Elder’s lips.
‘I didn’t demand their sacrifice to die for such… trivial reasons.’
Moreover, the White Moon, who should’ve been underground, was nowhere to be seen. Her life or death… uncertain.
For a better tomorrow for his kin, for an eternally radiant future.
He had never doubted. For the Gnaude tribe, always the weak in history, to rise!
For the ‘demi-humans,’ discriminated against, to seize a better life, extreme measures were necessary.
‘I wasn’t wrong.’
In this world, everyone’s share is limited.
If someone enjoys a warm bed and plentiful meals, another starves on the cold streets.
That was reality.
To give even a little more to his kin, to the ostracized Frauqi, they had to compete with the haves, to take.
‘What’s wrong with that?’
But suddenly, his brother’s piercing words echoed in the Mountain Elder’s mind.
—Do you really think sacrificing the present for a distant future is the right way?!
The Mountain Elder clenched his teeth. Defiance surged from deep within.
‘…I wasn’t wrong.’
He would prove it. With results.
“Floetta, what the hell is your goal!”
The Mountain Elder waved his hands like a conductor on an orchestra podium, manipulating the roots.
A massive wave of trees surged toward Floetta, ready to engulf her.
“What are you trying to revive?!”
Floetta wasn’t aiming to revive the Beastkin King.
It was a gut feeling. One born from years of desperately striving to revive an ancient being.
Moreover, Floetta was protecting a massive Deadman’s Flower, even while being attacked by the roots.
“…What did you do to the Beastkin King? No, what are you planning with him?”
—Floetta, she too seeks to revive an ancient being.
“The Beastkin King?”
Floetta’s lips curled into a cold sneer.
“There’s something I’ve been dying to say…”
Despite wearing high heels, Floetta lightly leaped, landing on the surface of a root.
Tap, tap, tap.
Like a stunt, she weaved through the rushing roots, then stood stably atop one, splitting her mouth into a mocking grin.
“Do you really think a human soul, separated from its body, could survive 500 years?”
“…!!!”
“Oh, sure, it’s true! The Beastkin King you so desperately wanted to revive was special, enduring that long time. But.”
Floetta raised one corner of her mouth.
“Did you think a mere human wouldn’t erode or wear down over that long time? Really? Seriously?”
Then WHOOSH!
She launched herself toward the Mountain Elder.
“That Beastkin King you idolized is a living corpse! He lost his sense of self ages ago, barely able to speak. He knows how to fight, but that’s it.”
The Mountain Elder’s withered hand dropped limply, like a marionette with cut strings.
Slumping to the ground, he muttered in a hollow voice.
“…Hah, haha! Were we chasing a mirage?”
Had he known of the necromancer Abito Yully, who could raise the dead and manifest all their former abilities, things might’ve been different. But the Outsider before him was Floetta.
“Then why…”
He didn’t want to believe it, but he had no choice.
He couldn’t see or manipulate souls.
“Why did we endure such agonizing time?”
But no one could answer his question.
They had pursued unattainable greed and chosen unnecessary suffering themselves.
As the Mountain Elder floundered in deep despair and revulsion, a red hand reached him.
“Finally reached you.”
Floetta, now standing before him, folded her frenzied eyes into a pretty smile.
“Welcome~! My final sacrifice!”
As Floetta’s eight spider tentacles enveloped him, the Mountain Elder’s body stiffened from head to toe. Green Deadman’s Flowers bloomed across his body.
His body, and even his soul, were being transformed to serve as a suitable sacrifice.
‘…That’s right. Zeraphe, no matter what you studied, you were always slower to learn than me.’
In excruciating pain, he recalled.
‘But you always produced wiser outcomes.’
A long-forgotten memory from ages past.
‘You were right.’
The last Mountain Elder of Depicio, Jerar Gnaude, closed his eyes.
---
Meanwhile, above the Forgotten Stone Tower.
Two figures soared, their golden cloaks fluttering.
“…This is bad.”
One of them, Elwin, gazed into the distance and muttered softly, as if sensing an ominous portent.
“What’s wrong, Lord Elwin?”
“…The situation’s urgent. I need to go ahead.”
Without waiting for Nahrhan’s reply, he unleashed tremendous mana and flew off.
Ten minutes until Elwin’s arrival…