TDAA Ch 62

It was clear that there was some connection between that child and himself, but Siol didn’t know the exact reason why he had taken on the same appearance as that child.

Ryufen frowned with a strange expression, then sighed deeply and asked Siol.

“So what are you going to do?”

“Pardon?”

“You must have had some idea, that’s why you’re just standing here. What is it? What should we do? Or, should I just go over there and fight with my sister?”

Seeing him side with Eorzen without even a moment’s hesitation, he really was the dragon’s guardian.

“I was looking for a way to pull Nathaniel out of that body. If I do that, the Chieftain will probably stop…”

Siol’s voice trailed off. At first, it seemed like she would, but seeing Rifez fighting with such sincerity, it was hard to be certain.

“Do you have a way?”

“That fox on Nathaniel’s shoulder. I think that fox is the ancient creature. If we kill it…”

“No!”

Burdril, who had crawled over, panting, in the meantime, grabbed Siol’s ankle and shouted. He had only just arrived, unable to keep up with the wolves running at full speed.

Siol’s face crumpled as he looked at Burdril, who had crawled all the way here again when he’d told him to just stay put and make the shadow compass.

“The client I’m delivering for wants that fox! He said he’ll do anything if I just return the fox alive!”

Last time, Burdril had said his client was originally after the ancient creature. At that time, Siol had thought he just wanted the ancient power. But ‘return’? Wasn’t that a nuance that suggested the ancient creature was originally his?

The creature that was slumbering in these ruins, the ruins of the ancients, was his?

Siol was lost in thought for a moment before asking.

“Burdril, please ask your client. Can he- can he also manipulate darkness and space?”

After communicating with his client for a moment, Burdril nodded at Siol.

“In that case, I have a favor to ask.”

⋆୨🔮୧⋆

That ancient creature was bound to these ruins. So if Burdril’s client was originally the owner of the ancient creature, it meant that he was once the master of the ruins.

Since the ruins belonged to the ancients, it also meant that the client was an ancient.

Siol recalled his client, who had been startled and disliked being summoned from the Tower of Survival in Meric territory. He had just thought he disliked it, but thinking about it now, it seemed he had been embarrassed too. He might have been the ancient who was the master of Meric territory.

‘Oh my god.’

An ancient, who was said to have been destroyed at the hands of the Demon King, was living as a messenger of God.

‘My client was an ancient.’

To think he had been calling someone who was once close to a god a ‘delivery person’. It was surprising that he had found him cute all this time. Should he change his attitude now?

The times he had subtly been spoiled and willful with his client, who had been so good to him, flashed through his mind.

Siol, who had been dazed for a moment, shook his head to clear his thoughts. This was no time to be lost in personal thoughts.

“I don’t know why he wants this as a sacrifice, but…”

Siol held out the crystal ball.

Burdril’s client, who had been asked to track the ‘real’ Nathaniel and open a path, had demanded another price besides the return of the fox. He said he needed the crystal ball Siol had made and a part of Nathaniel’s shadow. He would acquire Nathaniel’s shadow himself.

Siol didn’t understand, but if he would grant the request, this was a cheap price to pay.

As he pushed his magic into the crystal ball, the runic circles clustered inside shone brightly and scattered in all directions. As the runic circles, which enveloped the surroundings in a box shape, resonated and connected with each other, the gravity within came under Siol’s control.

He brought down a strong gravity on all the wolves who were fighting Eorzen.

CRASH!!

Nathaniel collapsed to the floor and passed out, while Rifez and Kadion gritted their teeth and endured the gravity. She was glaring at Siol, demanding an answer. Whether he had found a way to get Nathaniel out of the child’s body.

Siol declared in a firm voice.

“Chieftain, we are going to kill Nathaniel today.”

Eorzen’s expression brightened as he asked.

“Should I kill him now?”

“No. Not that one, the real Nathaniel.”

“The real one…?”

In the meantime, Burdril had gone to Nathaniel, crouched down, and leaned over. The hand protruding from his neck trembled as it reached for the fox slumped on Nathaniel’s shoulder, but before it could touch, magic crackled and he had to withdraw his hand.

It was only natural. The client could not take anything from this world by means other than a trade. That was why they, who were practically messengers of God, willingly took on the role of mere errand boys for alchemists.

“Burdril’s client has agreed to find him.”

The moment those words ended, Burdril’s client pushed his hand into Nathaniel’s chest, pulled out a little of his shadow, and pushed it into the runic circle of the crystal ball floating on the floor.

Siol felt the rune manifested from the crystal ball pulse strangely and wriggle like a caterpillar.

Oh my god. Burdril’s client was changing Siol’s runic circle at will with just a small movement of his hand, without any preparation.

The six runic circles gathered on one wall and overlapped in layers. Surprisingly, the six runic circles resonated in that state. How could the magic not overheat and hold up like that?

Before he could even guess, something even more surprising happened.

In that state, the wall began to open.

Swoooosh–

A terribly cold and chilly magic flowed out from the cracked opening. It wasn’t an actual temperature, but a strange sensation, as if an ominous premonition, a cursing heart, had been converted into temperature.

What on earth was the runic circle on the wall connected to?

The scenery seen through the opening in the wall was moving toward somewhere, as if space had been folded and connected. Faint streaks of light whizzed past behind like shooting stars. A rough wind could be felt, as if looking out the window of a moving car. Just as he was about to ask Burdril what was happening, the thin crack suddenly widened.

“What, what is this?”

Ryufen muttered, bewildered.

What the runic circle, which had folded and connected space to space, showed them was a giant tree.

In the middle of a huge tree, whose trunk seemed to require a dozen people to encircle with their arms outstretched, was a middle-aged man with red hair trailing to the floor. In a bizarre state with both his arms and legs embedded in the tree.

“Is that by any chance Nathaniel, Commander?”

“The witch’s tree…! I couldn’t find it even after searching for so long.”

Eorzen said, almost growling, and stepped forward. To kill Nathaniel, as Siol had said.

But there was a wolf blocking his way. It was Rifez.

Was she trying to protect Nathaniel even in this situation? Just as Siol was about to say something out of frustration, she spoke first.

“Let me go first, Siol.”

“…You, Chieftain?”

“I’m asking you. If you let me strike the witch first, I will fully cooperate with the blue dragon’s plan afterwards.”

Witch?

Only then did Siol realize that Nathaniel was not the only one in the tree. From a form that was almost absorbed into the tree to one where most of the form remained, various human figures were visible on the surface of the tree.

Rifez was glaring at one female figure, whose form was particularly clear, as if she were her sworn enemy.

It seemed the ‘witch’s tree’ was the tomb of a dead witch. The woman whose form was still clear was the previous witch, and Nathaniel had hidden his body there for protection.

“You can think of it as me taking out my anger on the tomb of a witch who has already lost her life. I want revenge.”

Revenge for the child she couldn’t protect and had to let go.

Seeing her resolute expression, Siol nodded. If she was still suffering with that day in her heart, it was right for this to be done by Rifez’s hand.

Rifez grit her teeth and began to concentrate her magic into her sword. The sword glowed with a blue light, and magic swirled violently around it. The magic swirled around Rifez, then gradually became smaller and more intense. The magic, which took on the form of a hurricane condensed in her hand, swirled around the sword.

As Rifez thrust her sword forward with force, the storm of magic flew towards the tree and crashed into it.

KABOOM!!

As if hit by a giant hammer, one side of the tree completely crumbled. From inside the broken tree, a bright red sap, like blood, poured out.

And at the same time, Nathaniel opened his eyes.

Krrruuugh-!

Nathaniel let out a beast-like sound and lifted his head. Siol was startled and stepped back at the sight, in which not a single shred of reason could be felt. The moment Eorzen blocked his path, the tree trunk squirmed, squeezed through the opening, and began to stir inside. Ryufen and Kadion stepped up to strike the trunks, but the trunks pushed further inside, not caring if their own bodies burst.

Eventually, Eorzen grabbed Siol by the waist and took a few steps back.

“What’s wrong with that thing? Is it crazy?”

Ryufen asked, disgusted.

“A body without a soul is easily influenced by other souls. And Nathaniel’s soul has been in a fake body for a long time.”

Siol thought that was probably why his own body had become younger. He didn’t know how it happened, but maybe Rifez’s child’s soul had stayed in his cabin.

“The empty body has been taken over by uninvited guests. And… not just one or two, but a great many uninvited guests.”

Nathaniel was growling, then chirping like a bird, then making a beast-like sound again, repeating the cycle. It meant that the soul in control of the body was constantly changing.

Until now, it had been peaceful, so there was no reason to fight each other, but when they were attacked, a war had begun inside the body as well.

“Lord Eorzen, to burn that tree, we need a flame refined with high-purity magic.”

“I will prepare it.”

It meant he needed time. Ryufen puffed up and grew larger, standing between Eorzen and the tree, and Kadion also manifested. Kadion was a wolf with dark blue fur like the night sky. He was not a giant wolf like Ryufen or Rifez, but with fast and sharp movements, he weaved through the tree trunks, disrupting their movements.

Rifez moved her collapsed child’s body to a corner and then joined the fight. To keep her earlier promise.

“We don’t have much time.”

Burdril was staggering. The ‘opening’ wasn’t something that stayed open once created; it was being maintained by the power of Burdril and his client. Considering Burdril’s panting breaths, he wouldn’t be able to hold on for much longer.

Eorzen nodded and began to gather and refine his magic. Magic began to gather to a concentration that was visible to the eye. The magic flowed into Eorzen’s body and gathered in his hand. Ice formed inside his hand, which was shaped as if holding a sphere, with a crackling sound. It was a searing blue ice. Cold and heat were felt at the same time.

The flame, which defied the laws of physics, spewed out enormous cold and heat at the same time.

Cheep… Krawk!! Keeeee-!!

When the attacks using the tree trunks didn’t work at all and instead the trunks just burst or were cut off, Nathaniel let out a long howl and spewed a curse with his whole body. A purple-tinged fog flowed from Nathaniel’s body and rushed into the ruins. All sorts of germs and evil spirits that had lost the fight inside Nathaniel and been kicked out were in it.

But before those evil things could reach the wolves, Eorzen stomped his foot, and they were pushed back through the opening by a chilling cold.

Watching Nathaniel’s attack, which dealt no damage at all, Siol felt a strange premonition.

‘Something’s strange. No, ominous.’

Eorzen’s magic is almost ready.

He had deliberately knocked out the Nathaniel in the child’s body to exclude him from this fight, but was he really this absent?

That giant tree is the witch’s tomb. Did Nathaniel entrust his body here without any preparations?

No way.

Siol unconsciously glanced at the child Rifez had put aside in the corner earlier, and his eyes met Nathaniel’s. Lying on the floor, Nathaniel waved his hand.

As if to say, hello.

‘What?’

At that moment, he felt the sensation of something brushing past under his feet.

The moment his eyes met the black fox’s, a pitch-black darkness shot up from the floor and engulfed Siol.

“Siol!”