Chapter 79. Scared?
The sight of the suffering Duke's forces and the Lich floating in the air.
Binaeril grasped the entire situation without a single word of explanation.
Balam, too, remembered Binaeril's face.
"You!"
"That one attacked us. Because he floats in mid-air, I could not mount a proper counterattack."
Despite his large build, his tone was like that of a younger brother reporting a mistake to his older brother.
Like a situation of 'He bullied me, punish him!'
"I know him."
"How do you know him?"
"He is one I encountered beneath Castle Paguin."
"That bastard!"
The one who threatened our Vivian!
The Duke regretted not throwing his mace harder.
"He was alive?"
"A Lich does not die."
"Is it not but a fake immortality obtained by plundering people's lives?"
"That arrogant attitude remains the same."
Balam was convinced. This bastard was the one who destroyed the altar.
The direction Binaeril had walked out from was toward the entrance to the hidden cave.
"Are you the mastermind behind all of this?"
Balam answered.
"What will you do knowing? You are a life about to die anyway."
Black mana began gathering at his fingertips.
Binaeril matched this by chanting the activation words for his magic bullet.
Kiiing— Bang!
Balam's black beam and Binaeril's magic bullet collided, causing an explosion.
From a single exchange, Balam intuited.
'I have the advantage!'
The opponent's magic was sufficiently powerful, but it could not match him who borrowed the demonic sword's power.
Binaeril, too, felt that the Lich's mana surpassed his own.
But he could not give up because of that.
The full-fledged battle began with the barrage of magic bullets fired by the charging Binaeril.
Balam evaded the flying magic bullets by gliding through the air, and Binaeril focused his concentration to intercept him while keeping his eyes on the Lich.
"Speak! What do you gain by offering people as sacrifices?"
"My armies. I increase the believers of my master. The offered sacrifices soon return as my power. With this mighty mana!"
Binaeril twitched his brows and latched onto a word.
"You have a master? Is that what controls you?"
"You have no need to know that much! Cascading Death and Decay!"
Unnaturally formed dark clouds chased Binaeril, following his movements and pouring black rain.
Binaeril led the attack toward the side far from the Duke's forces.
"Freeze!"
The falling raindrops froze in mid-air before touching his body. The black rain soon became black snowflakes.
"You, do you know the name Pyeollin? What about Page?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Your master is likely not a living person. Probably closer to an object. But isn't it a being with an ego attached to your mind?"
Binaeril had accurately seen through the existence of the demonic sword.
Balam did not know how he knew, but he could not admit the truth as it was.
The demonic sword was also the Life Vessel holding his life as collateral. If that bastard found out, he could annihilate Balam.
"Nonsense!"
'How about it? Veritas?'
-He's flustered.
The Lich was indeed a being connected to Page.
In the end, the Page on that side with an ego was the culprit behind all the incidents.
But it was strange.
No matter how much he examined Balam this way and that, no special object stood out on his body.
For example, something like the old book at Binaeril's waist that he carried every day.
The hood pulled over his head was all. Jewelry, weapons, or even the clothes inside the hood were all rags.
'You can't see it either?'
-I can't feel it well. Try approaching a little more.
Veritas said that if he got closer to the Page, he could clearly recognize it.
If he beat the Lich down and stole his Page, everything would end.
Binaeril approached Balam into a precarious range.
"Black flames that burn life!"
Binaeril sharply bent his waist and precariously evaded the flames.
'I can't approach any further!'
-It seems he doesn't have it on him.
-I can't feel anything. I can definitely sense traces in his mana, but it's not among the items he carries.
"Then hurry up and say so!"
The smell of roasted squid came from his singed bangs.
"Then what do we do? Fight for now?"
-It's certain he doesn't have it on him right now. We'll have to search the other hidden caves.
Binaeril performed a backflip to evade the Lich's attack.
"Hey, Lich! Where is your master!"
"Do you think I would tell you?"
"Must I tear your shabby body to shreds again to make you talk?"
"If you can…."
Balam took a deep breath.
Mana that had been greatly heightened through continuous exchanges. He prepared to pour it all out at once.
"Try it!"
Balam's black mana burst out explosively.
The aura of death and decay. It was mana condensed with things opposite to life.
The black mana spreading from Balam eroded the surroundings and pressed toward Binaeril.
Determined to push that force back, Binaeril fired magic bullets toward Balam.
Crackle!
The magic bullets Binaeril fired couldn't advance an inch and were devoured by Balam's field of mana, dying out.
Binaeril's mana alone was insufficient.
Binaeril drew upon Veritas's mana and imbued his magic bullets with it.
There had been such a situation before.
'Break through!'
When he defeated the dark mage goblin, and when he faced Dominic.
The moment when he had to focus on a single point and pour out everything he had.
He pushed mana like the ocean into a single ray of light.
Creaking and precarious, but a single move that much more powerful.
"Pierce!"
With Veritas's mana added to Binaeril's blueprint, his magic bullet gradually pushed back the black mana.
Balam jumped in surprise, nearly losing his focus.
The bones of his entire body rattled at the dense concentration of mana.
"I need more mana!"
He cried out to his master. The demonic sword responded to his call and poured in greater mana.
-…!
"Huahaha! That won't be enough!"
Binaeril's magic bullet was pushed back again.
"…Ugh."
Come to think of it, he had been unable to handle the Lich at Castle Paguin when they first met.
'How did I win back then?'
The Lich had taken Vivian hostage then. When that bastard's ominous mana targeted Vivian's life….
'I remember. What helped me back then.'
Binaeril called upon the spirit in his ring.
[…….]
But only silence returned.
Binaeril called the spirit's name again, but Eden gave no answer.
'She fell asleep treating the soldiers.'
The thought that it would be difficult to defeat Balam without her help dominated his mind.
Binaeril felt his strength gradually draining.
If he lost to Balam like this, the Duke and knights remaining behind would all meet their deaths at Balam's hands.
The Rotpalen expedition would end in failure.
He wouldn't be able to keep his promise to share beer with the Duke in Vintsburg either.
Binaeril called the spirit's name one last time with all his heart.
Eden still showed no reaction.
Flinch!
But there was a reaction from an unexpected direction.
'Huh?'
He felt Balam's black mana flinch and recoil instantly.
Binaeril tried to understand the situation for a moment.
The Lich's mana reflexively retreated once more. Binaeril realized.
'He's afraid of Eden's power!'
Eden possessed the power to reject all of the Lich's mana. That bastard was definitely wary of it.
Then he had to bluff as if he could use Eden's power at any time.
It was time for a bluff!
"Hehe…."
Binaeril hid his burning insides and put on a smile.
Would he be fooled? Wouldn't he be suspicious seeing that the spirit hadn't been brought out yet?
No, it wasn't a matter of whether he could be fooled or not.
He had to fool him.
"W-what's so funny!"
"As expected, I can't handle this with my mana alone."
"But that doesn't mean I can lose like this. I have a secret move, you see."
Maintaining his focus, Binaeril gritted his teeth and moved his hand to caress the ring.
He could feel the bastard's attention completely focusing on Binaeril's finger.
Balam, an astral body, feared losing control over his mana more than anything.
"Eden, attack him!"
Binaeril shouted Eden's name and poured his last mana into the magic bullet.
Finally, Balam's concentration broke, and Binaeril's magic bullet pierced through the black mana and advanced rapidly.
"You bastard!"
Balam pulled his body back and retreated.
Half of his body had been blown away.
"When we meet again, I will definitely take your head!"
Binaeril, too, had poured out all his mana at once, not a strand of strength remaining.
"I've heard that a lot, but it's not really scary."
Balam rattled his white bones and flew off to one side, disappearing.
Veritas spoke from within Binaeril.
-He drew upon the Page's mana. Thanks to that, I pinpointed the exact location.
Binaeril, who had moved to the forward base with the Duke, listened to Veritas's words and pointed to a spot on the map.
"What is this place, Gustav?"
Lord Gustav, who had been examining the spot Binaeril pointed at, said,
"It is where the Rotpalen underground cemetery is."
"That bastard called Balam is here?"
Binaeril learned for the first time that the Lich's name was Balam.
"Yes, Your Grace the Duke. Not only the Lich, but the being behind him controlling him is here as well. I am certain."
"The being behind him? Who is it?"
"I do not know its identity, but it is most likely an ominous object. An artifact with an ego."
While Binaeril and the Duke made plans to enter the depths of Rotpalen, there was another group heading to the same destination.
Their appearances were peculiar.
One person held something tightly wrapped in white cloth to his chest, while the other rode a horse blindfolded with white cloth over both eyes.
The horses they rode were all white, and they looked tired, as if they had already traveled a long way.
"Vice-Captain, how much longer?"
At the blind man's question, the man called Vice-Captain lifted the cloth-wrapped bundle forward.
Brrrr—.
He gauged the remaining distance by discerning the intensity of the vibrations.
"It seems not much remains, brother."
The attire the two wore was neither excessively fancy nor shabby.
However, the matching emblems embedded on their right chests allowed one to guess that the two were of the same affiliation.
A golden circular border with two black horizontal lines inside, and a long red vertical line crossing them. It was the emblem of the Vitory Sacred Order.
"I apologize, Vice-Captain. It was a mission I could have handled alone."
"No, brother. Doesn't that mean the Captain is taking an interest in this mission?"
"But there was no need for two of the Twelve Knights to step forward."
Transparent tears fell pitter-patter beneath the white cloth covering the blind man's eyes.
"No, brother! I'm fine! Please don't cry…."
"But because I am unreliable, the Vice-Captain has to suffer like this…."
"No, no, I'm fine! Really! I rarely get the chance to come to the Empire, so how nice it is to sightsee like this!"
"Is the Empire's landscape beautiful?"
The Vice-Captain raised his head and looked around.
Truthfully, they were on a forest path so there was no scenery to speak of, but he lied to calm the blind man.
"Yes! It is truly beautiful. To the point that when your eyes open, I want to bring you back here to see it."
"…Thank you, Vice-Captain."
The destination of the two strange men was Rotpalen.
They did not know the exact name of their destination, but they did not lose their way.
As they approached, whatever was in the Vice-Captain's arms and the demonic sword of Rotpalen began resonating and recognizing each other.