Chapter 42 : Chapter 42

Chapter 42 - The Sunglasses Destroyer

“I'll yield the first move.”

With those words, the Youngest Son did not move.

He even retracted the bone marrow that had extended out like questionable branches.

He didn't bring out his Undead Private Soldiers; he just stood still.

He just stood still, with his hands behind his back and his legs crossed casually.

Due to the sunglasses perched on his nose, only half of his blood-red eyes were visible, but it was still clear.

He was looking down on you.

He was holding you in contempt.

It was felt very keenly.

“…Fifth Son. You're not just digging your own grave, you're hammering in the tombstone yourself.”

“Hmm. Sorry I can't laugh for you. The jokes people your age tell aren't funny.”

“……”

The Gu'an flashed.

Pooooow—

Chiiiiik—

Smoke rose from my face.

Plink—

Something fell.

It was a piece of a sunglass lens.

But the shattering stopped there.

“…No, how could this be…”

Normally, not just the sunglasses but the face behind them should have been shattered and broken, falling away in pieces of flesh.

What broke was just a pair of ridiculously pitch-black glasses.

But the shock seemed to be the same for the Youngest Son as well.

“……”

He fell silent, holding the half-remaining frame in his palm.

The lenses were naturally shattered, and the sunshade that blocked the sunlight was completely gone.

Tuk—

The half-remaining frame also fell to the floor.

“Even if I yielded the first move, I didn't plan on yielding it like this.”

“You, you…! What in the world did you do? I’ve never heard of such a curse resistance…!!”

The Gu'an continued to emit light.

Pooooow—!! Pooooow—!!

Pooooooow—!! Pooooow—!!

He kept increasing the output.

Explosions continuously erupted from the Youngest Son's body.

The resulting blasts made even the listener's ears ring.

Yet the Youngest Son, standing at the center of it all, stood unmoving.

With a very heated expression, his brows furrowed.

He was merely glaring at the atrocious sunglasses destroyer.

The thought that he should have put them away himself before the fight was not in his mind.

He just pointed his index finger at the sunglass fragments that had fallen to the floor.

“I will make you just like this. I swear it.”

“……”

…An oath?

Kuuuuuuuung—!!

The Griffin was launched from a space split open in a cross shape.

I acrobatically mounted it and grabbed the sunglasses destroyer with its talons.

Its beak, with a hardness comparable to diamond, shattered the outer wall of the Central Hall.

The chill of the dawn breeze quickly enveloped my entire body.

At the same time, my eyes stung.

It was because I had no sunglasses.

“If you damage another's property, you must compensate for it.”

“Th-this crazy bastard…!!”

I slammed the villain, whose disposition was cruel beyond words, into the giant fountain in the garden.

Kwaaaaaaang—!!

Since he was thrown almost like an object, the fountain shattered and scattered in all directions.

Seeing that reminded me of my sunglasses, and my heart ached.

My anger grew even stronger.

I put away the Griffin and brought out another one.

“What you wanted to do in life, let's try it even after death.”

Gurgle—

Meryl, reborn as an Undead Private Soldier, stepped onto the garden floor with his slimy body.

With every step, a squelching sound was made, and his translucent body, a mix of three colors, was grotesque.

Hinek, who had brushed back his wet hair, shook his head, which was dizzy from the impact.

And so he saw clearly.

The appearance was certainly different, but the smell he exuded was definitely familiar.

“Chairman of the Physicians’ Council…? Meryl, is that you?”

“To act friendly after trying so desperately to kill him, you have a bad taste.”

I extended my hand, saying the words he probably wanted to say himself.

[Activating Unique Skill 「Material Ingestion」.]

The unique skill was activated.

The body of the Chairman of the Physicians' Council swelled and began to devour the surrounding debris.

It absorbed everything without discrimination, from the water soaked into the ground to the fountain debris, the garden's vines, and flowers.

At the bizarre sight, Hinek bit his lip so hard it seemed it would burst.

“Dammit…!! Fifth Son, you’re using forbidden sorcery!”

A common phrase when one can't keep up with the pace of the situation.

A curse other than Gu'an manifested.

A curse sorcerer who contained 99 individual curses in a single book.

He might be able to use other sorcery systems, but it was clear what he was most confident in.

That's what made it pitiful.

Because picking up a steak knife instead of a curse would have a slightly higher chance of winning.

Gaaaaaaaaak—

A rotating, formless, circular saw blade.

It came crashing down as if to grind the Youngest Son to pieces.

At the same time, Hinek's eyes flashed once more.

The pupils between his wrinkled eyelids were not yellow but orange.

It was a mental curse used simultaneously with a physical curse.

“Khuhuhut. Our eyes have met. You can no longer move. No matter how high your curse resistance is, you can't ignore it completely. I'll carve off your flesh little by little.”

“That's fine, but.”

Step, step—

The Youngest Son's slow steps quickened slightly.

“I can't stand you carving up my sunglasses.”

“B-But the curse should have taken effect…!!”

“Yes. It did. It just broke immediately.”

[Activating Unique Skill 「Internal Potion Combination」.]

[Combined Potion: Vine Growth Promoter]

The Chairman of the Physicians’ Council raised both arms.

A part of his body, fired as if handling a firearm.

It fell at the feet of the property destroyer, who was frozen in panic.

Swoooosh—

Vines grew.

Thick vines, growing in dozens of layers so they couldn't be broken by force, bound him like ropes.

Starting from his legs, they climbed up his shins, thighs, past his chest, and pulled both his arms out to the sides.

“Th-This kind of weed!”

He drew out his magical power to its maximum to enhance his physical abilities.

The more he did so, the more internal potions the Chairman of the Physicians' Council injected.

The vines kept growing.

And the stronger the resistance, the stronger the binding force became.

Like justice prevailing, the property destroyer was finally captured.

“Is it over?”

The old man's lips trembled noticeably.

His wrinkles deepened, and his eyes became bloodshot.

“Fifth Son…! You dare to look down on me─!!”

Kwaaaaaaaaaaang—!!

The vines exploded.

Simultaneously, Hinek's life force visibly diminished.

It was obvious from how weak his heartbeat had become, as if it couldn't be heard.

“Did you amplify your power in exchange for your lifespan?”

It was a sacrificial effect used in sorcery.

The caster offers themselves as a sacrifice.

They expose a weakness to gain a new, unprecedented strength.

“Not much lifespan left. Let’s see if you put it to good use. Do whatever you want.”

“This son of a bitch…”

“Perhaps I didn't need to worry about justification. To say such harsh words to a blood relative. Still, I will spare your family from extermination.”

“Kraaaaaahk!!”

He roared like a beast and formed beast-like claws.

Not just his fingernails, but both his eyes were completely dyed yellow.

A golden radiance literally poured out from his ten fingernails and two eyes.

I could guess what had happened.

“You expanded the range of Gu'an from both eyes to both hands with a sacrificial effect. A foolish choice.”

“Die─!!”

Shouting loudly, he swung both hands wildly.

His pointed fingers and nails revealed the properties of Gu'an.

A chain explosion occurred along the trajectory.

“On top of property destruction, you're also destroying public property. You're no different from a terrorist.”

[Activating Unique Skill 「Material Ingestion」.]

The tricky thing about the Chairman of the Physicians' Council.

The Chairman of the Physicians' Council did not distinguish between materials.

He stretched out his body and enveloped his master in a dome shape.

The unique skill of the Chairman of the Physicians' Council activated as it was, absorbing the power of the explosion, the noise, and everything else.

“He even tried to absorb the hellfire, which gave me some trouble.”

Moreover, the absorbed non-material elements combined with the existing material elements.

[Activating Unique Skill 「Internal Potion Combination」.]

[Combined Potion: Sonic Bomb]

A cylinder wriggled out from the dome.

Thwang— Thwang— Thwang—

It loaded the potions made just a moment ago into its body and fired them like cannonballs.

It didn't matter where they landed.

Because sound does not discriminate by direction and torments everything within its range.

Jjeoooooooooong—!!

“Kuaaaaaaak…!!”

The enhanced physical abilities, in turn, wounded his body.

His ear canals bled, and his nostrils created a waterfall of blood.

“Uh, uh uh, uh uh…”

He couldn't hear.

His vision was hazy, as if in a fog.

Something was slowly approaching him.

It was slimy enough to be recognizable even with such vision.

“Chairman… of the Physicians' Council…”

He continued speaking in a voice that sounded like it would break at any moment.

“As expected… I shouldn't have listened to the words of the lowly, even if they told the future…”

“Is that your last will? You choose only foolish options until the very end.”

He wouldn't be able to hear with those ears anyway.

He probably wouldn't know what was about to happen to him either.

Because it was too terrible to imagine right now.

[Activating Unique Skill 「Material Ingestion」.]

The body of the Chairman of the Physicians' Council spread wide and embraced him.

“Guk… guuuk…”

As it wrapped around his entire body, the slime seeped into his open mouth and exposed orifices.

It was the process of absorption.

Blood, bones, the marrow within, organs, brain, and so on.

Everything that made a person a person, everything inside the body, was an exceptionally superior material for the Chairman of the Physicians' Council.

When it absorbed even the heart.

[Do you, the player, wish to possess the new unique skill?]

A now-familiar message popped up.

It was a choice I made because I didn't want to see the sunglasses destroyer's face again.

I didn't want to bring something I disliked into my Undead Private Soldiers.

“M-My Lord…!”

Edwin, tired from having just recovered, ran over panting.

“A-are you alright? Have you defeated Councilor Hinek…?”

“Can’t you tell by looking? More importantly, you did well. Your contribution was great.”

“Ha, ha ha… Thank you for saying so.”

Being praised while looking perfectly fine in front of the Youngest Son, whose clothes were torn to rags, was embarrassing.

As he scratched the back of his head, he remembered something he had momentarily forgotten.

“M-more importantly! There is something you must hear, my Lord. The reason the guards are so quiet right now is—”

“You’ve made quite a spectacular mess.”

Insignificant clothes, just like the Youngest Son's now.

But everyone here knew his face.

The bodies of the guards and knights tensed up, unable to lower their saluting hands.

Chairman of the Confederation, Chapman.

He looked at his junior, now trapped within the Chairman of the Physicians' Council, with only half of him left.

In his eyes, there was bitterness and a slight hint of pity.

But what could be done?

Hinek had broken the only rule for survival in the Citadel.

“You should have followed the trend, my friend. The waves are made by the wind, and we are but lives swept away by the waves. You thought you were the wind.”

He slowly shook his head, closed his eyes, and comforted the soul.

After a brief wish for peace.

He looked at the Youngest Son, the person of interest in this incident.

“I must grant your request. This kind of one-on-one fight of force couldn't have been what you wanted, my Lord.”

“Indeed. There was an untimely interruption.”

“I will assume there was no help from the Fourth Son. In that case, should I grant the request you made in front of the lake?”

“It would be good if you do it now. The situation is perfect.”

“…Then this friend.”

The Chairman of the Confederation's head turned to Edwin.

This time, the confidence he had displayed before the councilors faded.

The Chairman. He was the Chairman.

The administrator of the very land he stood on.

His superior's superior's superior. Literally the heavens.

While he swallowed nervously, the Chairman spoke to him.

“What is your name?”

“I-It’s Edwin D. Hacid.”

“Edwin D. Hacid, is it? Congratulations. You’ve just been promoted.”

“P-p-p-promoted…?”

“Yes. To Associate Councilor.”

“Associate Councilor… I’ve never heard of that rank before…”

Everyone who breathed in the Citadel would probably say the same.

Associate Councilor was a newly created rank, and it would become the new dream of the stationmasters.

“M-my Lord? What is going on?”

“Hear the details from the Chairman. I must leave before the sun rises. At this rate, I can’t live with my eyes hurting.”

“M-my Lord…!”

Fwoooosh—!

The Griffin carrying the Youngest Son took flight.

The direction was not the mansion.

The Black Citadel. The Fourth Son's camp.

Now that the trash was cleaned up, the next turn was for the litterbug.

Tip: Tap/click the left or right side of the screen to go to previous/next chapter.