TWEM Vol. 6 Chapter 13 Part 2
“You left me with a pain in the ass as a farewell gift!”
I couldn’t help but spit out a lot of curse words.
The thing that crawled out was a black dragon about 50 meters long.
“Another dragon. Give me a break… I’m already tired today.”
I let out a sigh, “Haaa.”
But now that they’ve appeared, I have no choice but to fight them.
I gave up and pulled out my sword and swung it at the floating dragon.
The dragon was easily cut in two and crashed to the blackened ground.
I thought that I had defeated it easily, but my bad premonition had not yet subsided.
“What the…?”
The next moment, the black mass in the form of a dragon melted and was sucked into the ground.
At the same time, my Detect Danger skill sounded an alarm and I jumped back from the spot.
Then, from the ground, a black hand-like object reached out to grab me.
“What is it this time?”
I quickly cut it down, but the black hand split into countless hands and attacked me.
My intuition told me that if I touched it, I would not be spared.
“—Disordered Cherry Blossom!”
With a clicking sound, the countless hands were shredded into small pieces.
Even so, the black hands regenerated at an abnormal speed, further multiplied, and approached me again.
“Tsk, there’s no end to it.”
I took a big leap again to get away from them. But—
“Huh!? Shit!”
Before I knew it, a black hand came around to my side.
I tried to shake it off with my sword, but at this speed, I couldn’t react in time.
I immediately put up an Aegis barrier, and the black hand hit the barrier directly.
I was blown away along with the barrier, crashed through the wall behind me, and was thrown out of the arena.
It seemed that my Aegis barrier could not be broken, but the impact still had enough power to blow me away with the entire barrier.
I released the barrier, adjusted my stance in the air, and landed on the ground.
“Haruto-san!!”
“Finne!? Why did you come back!”
When I turned around, Finne and Zero were there.
There were no other people around, and it seemed that the evacuation of the area around the arena, which had become the battleground, had been completed.
“That’s because I’m worried about Haruto-san… everyone else is protecting the evacuees. More importantly, Haruto-san, what on earth is that…”
Finne’s gaze was directed at the hole I fell through… no, it’s directed at the countless black hands inside.
I shook my head.
“I don’t know. Damnatio used this magic just before he died. He said it was the Supper of Madness… Does Zero know what it is?”
Hearing my words, Zero’s eyes widened slightly.
“Did he really say that, Supper of Madness?”
“That’s certainly what he said. Do you happen to know about it?”
Zero had lived for a long time and seemed to know what magic it was, as expected.
“Haruto-sama. Supper of Madness is—”
Then Zero explained it to me like this.
The forbidden dark magic, the Supper of Madness.
That magic was invoked at the cost of life, in other words, using one’s own “soul”.
This was exactly what Damnatio had said.
“Its essence is magic that spreads death. That black hand will gradually expand its range, and eventually it will swallow the entire imperial city. And if you touch that hand, you will die instantly. If you are immune to status abnormalities, you can withstand it to some extent, but you will still die. A long time ago, there was someone who used this same magic, and an entire country was destroyed, leaving no survivors. That’s all I know.”
It was a good thing that I had set up the barrier as quickly as I did.
If I hadn’t done that, I might be dead right now.
Sigh… I wish I had instant death resistance in times like this… Usually in times like this I could acquire skills right away, but if there’s no reaction, it meant the skill didn’t exist, or I couldn’t get it.
In other words, if we didn’t do something about that thing with the skills we had, the Imperial City would be destroyed.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem to have spread outside the arena yet…
“Zero, how do we stop that magic?”
“I am sorry, Haruto-sama. I don’t know.”
“Don’t worry. Just having some information will help.”
Finne had an anxious look on her face, perhaps because she had heard Zero’s story.
“Haruto-san. So, you won’t run away…? Because if you touch that…”
“I know.”
I interrupted Finne and continued.
“I know that. But if we don’t stop it here, a lot of people will die. That’s not the outcome I want.”
Besides—
“Since I told Oskar, ‘I’ll take care of it,’ I can’t just run away, can I? I’ll do something about that. So Finne, please run away with everyone as soon as possible.”
Finne closed her eyes, and after a while she looked into my eyes and nodded, “Yes.”
“Zero, I’ll leave everyone to you.”
“Good luck, Haruto-sama. Never let your guard down.”
“Yes, the information was helpful. Take care of everyone then.”
“I will protect everyone, I promise.”
With that said, Zero grabbed Finne and left the place.
I slowly walked towards the arena.
“If I touch it, I’ll die instantly. That’s too much for a fucked-up game. Moreover, if I die, about 400,000 people in the Imperial City will die as well…”
I couldn’t help but smile.
Ah, what a perfect situation.
“—Now it’s time to settle the score. Let’s make this the best banquet you’ve ever had.”