Chapter 26: Who are you guys? (6)

'The Second Imperial Princess?'

Cale moved and the whole group quickly approached the unconscious person.

'Did something happen to the Second Imperial Princess's team?'

Cale quickly looked around. Eruhaben spoke in a low voice at the same time.

"This won't do."

Crack. The ancient Dragon broke the magic stone in his hand.

Mana was rising in the area surrounded by dead mana and the ancient Dragon controlled it before it could disappear.

Shhhhhhh-

Gold dust that resembled the black sand but was a different color surrounded the ancient Dragon who moved his hand.

"I'll shine some light."

"Yes sir."

A gold orb floated up and lit up about ten meters around them.

"Cale-nim, she is alone."

"It seems so."

As Choi Han mentioned, there was no person or any living creature other than Olivia in the ten meters around them.

They could see trees or weeds dyed black but even they were dry as if to show that this was a desert.

'Where did the others go?'

Shh. Shh.

Cale walked past the black sand and arrived near Olivia.

"I will look-"

"I'll do it."

Choi Han tried to approach her but Cale stepped in first. Mary followed behind him.

Cale moved the sand around the Second Imperial Princess. Mary helped him flip Olivia over.

'…This is serious.'

Olivia's condition was quite serious.

It was quite serious in multiple ways.

"Both arms are broken."

Both of her arms had marks that looked as if they had been tied by something and were twisted in odd directions.

"There is a deep cut on her leg."

Her two legs… Her right leg had a deep cut from her thigh to her knee.

Most importantly…

"…There are too many injuries."

Olivia's whole body had a lot of large stab marks.

"They are not critical. She must have run this way before she fell."

Cale looked at where Eruhaben was looking.

Olivia must have run over from that direction as blood was scattered on top of the black sand.

'Something happened to the Second Imperial Princess's team and she was running away toward Precinct 9 when she lost strength and fell.'

She would have slowly died from excessive blood loss.

"Dead mana seemed in through her wounds."

No, her death would have been because her body would have received serious damage from excessive consumption of dead mana and blood loss.

Although the Second Imperial Princess was a necromancer and free from the poisonous nature of dead mana… Dead mana seeping into her body while she was injured was not good.

It was similar to how excessive amounts of mana being focused and absorbed by a seriously injured mage who could not control themselves was bad.

"Oo…ooooooooo...."

It was at that moment.

"…Oo..."

Olivia groaned. Her eyelids were shaking. It looked as if she was about to regain consciousness.

"Young m, no, I will check it."

Mary immediately approached Olivia and checked her condition.

She pulled a cloth out of a spatial pocket bag she brought with her to wipe the blood from Olivia's mouth and put some water on a handkerchief and placed it on Olivia's lips.

"…Oo…ahhhhhh...."

Olivia's eyelids opened.

Mary's voice sank down.

"…The areas around the wounds are being dyed black."

Necromancers had their whole body covered in black spider webs. They always looked like webs regardless of if they were light or dark.

However, the areas around Olivia's injuries were being dyed black. This meant that an excessive amount of dead mana had been absorbed through the wounds.

– With the density of dead mana being this high, it is similar to regular mages being inside mana that is fifty times more dense than normal. This environment is excessive. At least for a necromancer of her level that is.

The cheapskate analyzed the situation in a calm and collected manner.

"Are you awake?"

Cale looked at Olivia with a calm gaze.

Her pupils moved without being able to focus until they slowly returned to normal.

"…I, I'm ali-"

"Yes. You are alive."

Cale was calmly saying that she was alive but Olivia could feel that her body was at a point where it was difficult for her to even talk.

Her blurry sight slowly started to focus.

'Ah.'

She realized who she was looking at right now.

'Heni Wishrop's subordinate.'

It was the man who seemed to be her chief advisor.

'That means-!'

Her eyes started to move.

"She's right here."

Cale pulled Mary toward him and Olivia started to speak as soon as she confirmed that Mary was there. Her lips were shaking intensely. She seemed to be trying to say something even though it was extremely difficult to do so.

"R, run-"

Choi Han's face stiffened up as he watched.

The Second Imperial Princess knew that Mary was strong. She was still telling Mary to run.

'That means-'

That meant that there was something there that even Mary would be no match against.

And since she was telling them to run…

'Does it mean that it is chasing her?'

Choi Han's hand moved on top of his scabbard.

"T, the wall-, we need to inform-"

Olivia's voice was so faint that it could go out at any moment.

She had to focus so that her eyes would not close.

'…I'm done for now.'

She could tell that she was dying right now.

There was no way not to know this sensation of death.

'My sight is weird as well.'

Heni Wishrop and her subordinate looked weird to her.

The rose gold light surrounding the two of them… There was a glowing barrier around them as if to protect them. The light was especially clear around Heni Wishrop's subordinate, making it look as if he had cast that light himself.

She had never seen something like this before.

She must be seeing things because she was on the verge of dying.

'Anyway, I need to quickly inform them.'

She must inform them about what she had seen.

She had to do so.

She had to tell them as quickly as possible.

To run.

Run if they don't want to die.

She needed to tell Heni Wishrop that a skilled person like her needed to survive.

"Are you saying we need to quickly run away toward the wall?"

Olivia resumed speaking after hearing Heni Wishrop's subordinate's question.

"A lake at the c, center of the desert-"

'A lake?'

Cale's eyebrows slightly rose up.

"T, there is a m, monster there c, chasing m-"

Olivia looked at Mary with a desperate gaze.

"C, can't win-"

"Did the others all die?"

Olivia said something else instead of responding to Cale's cold question.

"Hurry, hurry back to the wall-"

Mary opened her mouth.

"We will move to Precinct 9 for now."

Olivia shook her head after seeing Mary trying to take her with them.

She was already done for.

'This is not a good environment where you can quickly run away while carrying someone.'

It was better for them to leave her here.

She couldn't end up as baggage.

'Your Royal Highness! Please go let them know! The Empire will be destroyed if t, this thing reaches the wall!'

'We will stop it so please go! You are the fastest of our team!'

Second Imperial Princess Olivia. She had chosen a team that would make her stand out the most but she had not put much importance to it.

People whose identities were clear and she could guarantee that they cherished the Empire.

She had picked such people for her team even if they were lacking a bit in strength.

A team had to consist of people you could at least trust enough to protect your back.

'I'm sure they died.'

She had escaped on her own despite knowing that they would die.

It was because she had to inform everyone.

"The monster is c, coming-"

The rain cloud was not the problem.

"The tree at the forest, the bush- is heading toward the Empire, m, must stop-"

She could see the subordinate's mouth open.

"There is a lake in the middle of the desert and there is a tree there and a bush of that tree is heading toward the Empire?"

Olivia closed her eyes and opened them back.

It was her way of saying yes.

Cale continued to ask.

Accurate information was sometimes more important than time.

"Is it strong?"

"…S, size-"

"It is strong and it is big?"

Olivia nodded her head.

"My team, I, was nothing a, against it-"

The monster was so strong that she was nothing compared to it.

The thing that she couldn't tell whether it was a plant or a living creature was so scary that people got scared just approaching it and looking at it.

"That's not good."

Olivia was getting frustrated while questioning the mindset of the group after hearing Cale's comment.

'Why are they not running away?

Have they not heard enough?'

"…A monster that made you feel like you were nothing against it did not manage to hold you there?"

Olivia's eyes opened wide after hearing Cale's question.

Cale was looking down at her with a stoic gaze.

"Are you sure it didn't let you go?"

'Huh?'

"What if it let you go and stealthily followed you?"

"Ah."

The moment Olivia gasped…

"…The air is weird, young master-nim!"

Mary jumped up in shock. She even forgot that she needed to pretend to be Heni Wishrop.

In the distance from the direction of the Second Imperial Princess's blood on the ground… Something was pushing this way from there.

She could sense a large amount of dead mana from there.

"Cale-nim!"

"Cale."

Choi Han pulled his word out while Eruhaben held a magic stone in his hand.

'Cale?'

Olivia's eyes looked toward Heni Wishrop's subordinate.

'It…

It seems like this person is the leader?

Not Heni Wishrop but him?'

The moment she had that thought…

– Something is headed this way. It is very strong. It is also giving off an intense venomous aura.

Cale heard the cheapskate's warning and took off the robe in his hand.

Olivia saw the radiant crest underneath the plain robe.

'I feel like I've seen it some-'

She was certain she had seen it before. However, she could not recall it right now.

That crest was glowing rose gold.

"Second Imperial Princess Olivia."

Cale smiled at Olivia.

"I'm sure you are well aware of this, but you will need to keep your mouth shut no matter what you see from here."

Olivia's pupils started to shake.

"Of course, you won't be able to escape now that you are in our hands."

'Why is he threatening me like this?'

She questioned his intentions but flinched after feeling the aura coming from the robe that was being placed on top of her.

Her body was losing strength and she was even losing the feeling of pain…

But she could feel the coldness.

'It's warm.'

However, her body felt warm as soon as this robe covered her.

Furthermore, refreshing air that did not have dead mana surrounded her body.

'Ah.'

It felt as if she was standing in the middle of a forest.

No, it felt as if she was next to a warm fire.

'How does he have a robe with such power?'

She could see her body being surrounded by a rose gold barrier as well. She raised her head.

She wanted to ask him.

She wanted to ask this person named Cale about this power.

Boom-!

However, her face soon turned pale.

The ground, the area underneath the sand was shaking.

This vibration…

"I, it's here- that thing is here-"

Olivia heard a noise.

Shhhh—

Shhhhhhhhh- sssssssssss-

She heard something cutting through the sand and quickly approaching them.

'I know that I escaped far away!'

She had escaped for close to two hours.

'But this monster followed me so quickly?

Did it really let me go on purpose and follow me like this Cale person said?

Then it would see me go to the wall and know the way there.'

The wall was not very far from here.

'I can't let that happen!'

This monster could not get to Precinct 9 before they could prepare for it.

They might be able to kill the monster but there would be a lot of casualties and the wall would be destroyed.

'We can't let that happen!'

"Cale, what do you want to do?"

Eruhaben had mana swirling around him as if to show that he could teleport at any moment.

Olivia reached her right hand forward. It was her less broken arm.

Her hand grabbed at Cale's pants.

"We need to s, stop it no matter what- someone has to stay back to hold down the last line of defense-"

The person who had been saying that they needed to run and quickly inform the others was now begging them to stop it.

However, Olivia had to do that.

Shhhh—

The sound was getting faster and louder.

It was close.

The monster was close.

It was quickly approaching from the darkness.

They would see it once it got within ten meters.

"Imperial Princess Olivia."

Cale removed Olivia's hand from his pants.

As Olivia's eyes became full of despair…

"You said that the monster was a tree and a bush right?"

As Olivia couldn't respond to Cale's sudden question… She felt the ground shake.

"Cale!"

Choi Han had already pulled his sword out as Eruhaben shouted.

10 meters. They could not see the enemy.

Boom-!

However, the rumbling was close.

Then there was only one answer.

"Below!"

Choi Han saw a root shooting up right in front of him as soon as Eruhaben said that.

The black root had a thick liquid flowing from it.

"…It's so big."

The black root that shot up was so big that Eruhaben had to look up quite a bit to see the end.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

However, that root was not the end.

Around ten roots shot up all around them.

Shhhh—

The black bush moved past the darkness and revealed itself under the light. This bush that had sharp thorns around it was as thick as an adult thigh and there was thick liquid flowing from its thorns.

"Ah… Ah… poison-"

Olivia thought about her subordinates who had died because of this poisonous liquid. As sorrow appeared underneath the despair in her gaze…

"It really is a tree and a bush."

She heard a relaxed voice.

Olivia looked toward the person who said that.

'Ah.'

This person named Cale…

He looked a bit different from earlier.

'The light-'

The rose gold light that had been faintly wrapped around him like a barrier…

That rose gold light was fluctuating much stronger than before as it wrapped around Cale.

'No.'

Fluctuating or wrapping around him… Those words were not right to describe this.

'This looks like-'

It looked like he was releasing this light himself.

It looked as if it could leave his body at any moment and shoot out in all directions.

She heard Cale's lighthearted voice at that moment.

"We just have to burn it up."

'What? Burn it up?'

As Olivia had trouble understanding that…

"Everybody step back. We will destroy it to a degree and then head toward the wall. Mary."

"Yes, young master-nim."

"Take care of her Royal Highness properly."

"Yes, young master-nim."

'Mary?

Heni Wishrop is Mary?'

Olivia lost her train of thought as her eyes filled with confusion.

"Ah."

Cale.

His hand was glowing.

'Is it a fire?

No, is it a thunderbolt?

Is it a fiery thunderbolt?'

That thing was rising from Cale's hand.

The radiant rose gold light wrapped around Cale and started to go wild as if there was nothing to hold it back anymore.

Olivia thought that he looked as if fire and thunderbolt was taking the form of a human.

"W, who is this person-"

Mary debated for a moment after hearing her question.

'Do we still need to hide our identities?'

It looked as if it was basically revealed but Cale had not introduced himself to Olivia. That was why Mary debated how to address Cale in this world and chose the following.

"The purifier."

Mary's voice reached Olivia's ears.

'…Purifier?'

She did not look at Mary.

She just looked at the light.

'Ah.'

The thought of asking what a purifier was came second to a different thought that filled her mind.

Even though she had no idea that this thought came to her, but…

'It suits him.'

The purifier.

That word seemed to suit this person's current appearance so perfectly.

Rose gold light was glowing in the darkness.

It looked as if it could burn everything including the darkness.

—
Translator's Comments

This BOY is on Fiyaaaaaa~

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Yu Ryeo Han]

[Translator – Anowa]

[Proofreader – Rai_Mayank]