Side Story Chapter 234

The man pulverized Ulabis’s mana hall—he brought his foot down dozens of times with no regard for Ulabis’s existing injury. The man’s eyes were filled with madness. Still unsatisfied, the man grabbed Ulabis, who’d long since lost consciousness, by the hair and dragged him toward the dungeon’s exit.

“I’ll hang you in Thran’s central plaza for all your people to see,” the man muttered.” All those vermin will be able to see—”

“Aren’t you being too harsh on the weak?”

The new voice managed to cut through the man’s madness.

“Both of you are old men, so you oughta go easy on each other,” Bel remarked. He leaned casually against the dungeon's door with his arms crossed.

“That kind of complacency is what creates a nuisance like this, greenhorn.”

Bel chuckled. “I see that I still have something to learn from you, Grand Duke.[1]”

Only one man in the history of the Swallow Empire was ever granted the title of grand duke.

“You’re the last course in my revenge. I should save the best for the last. Hahaha.”

“You’re undead. Can you even taste food?”

The man released intense murderous energy. “Watch your mouth before I rip you to shreds.”

“Hehehe. Are you sure you’re okay with this? Starting a fight without a good reason at this point makes the future unpredictable.”

The man frowned. He was a man of rationality, so he understood that Bel was comparable to him; he could not predict the outcome of a fight between them. That came as a real shock to him—he’d never had known of anyone like Bel during his time, but the greenhorn’s was unarguably an Absolute. This was the second person the man had such an impression of after

him

.

Of course, that didn’t mean the man had any intention of backing down, so he released his stinging, red murderous energy.

“Shall we go for a round?

The man didn’t like Bel in the first place since he wouldn’t have had to go through this trouble if Bel had done his job right and killed Ulabis for good in Avalon.

“Woah, woah. I thought Joshua Sanders was the one you want to get revenge on, not me.”

Joshua’s name only made the man angrier.

“...How dare you say his name in front of me?”

Bel frowned as he uncrossed his arms. “...This is what I get for being considerate. I’m just giving you a heads-up, but I don’t put up with shit either.” His eyes burned fighting spirit. “If you’re that eager to fight, fine. Bring it on.”

The dungeon was gripped by a suffocating tension. A battle was primed to erupt at any moment.

Surprisingly, Lucifer backed down first. Because Bel had a point—Bel was a powerful opponent and the man couldn’t guarantee a victory against him. Even if he did win, he could still be injured, which would mean he wouldn’t be able to think about getting revenge. Although he didn’t want to admit it, that was just how strong Joshua was.

‘I’ll kill him over and over. And when I’m done, you’re next, greenhorn,’

the man seethed.

Both men allowed their energy to settle.

“Wise choice, Grand Duke.”

“Why don’t you stop getting on my nerves and go take care of your country?”

“I won’t lose my country. I left someone reliable in charge for times like this.”

That caught the man’s attention. Even though he thought little of Bel’s intellect, someone Bel was willing to trust could be a monster too.

“Ah, don’t worry. There isn’t anyone else like me around.”

“...You’re crazy,” the man muttered. As crazy as he was, perhaps.

“But the person’s similar to you in some ways.”

“What? What are you talking about?

“The person isn’t exactly like you, Grand Duke Lucifer. Still, I’m talking about the only child of Zactor, the Martial Emperor, my teacher and your rival, so he’ll at least get the job done.”

* * *

After carefully laying Anna on the ground, Kireua proceeded down the tunnel. He could feel the opponent silently calling out to him, urging him to come and fight. He instinctively knew that it wasn’t a trap—the chances of someone this strong resorting to a cheap trick were low.

‘There aren’t any more magic traps,’

Kireua thought.

There were around one hundred meters between him and the enemy. That was both short and long in some ways.

The tunnel was pitch-black. There wasn’t even a single light orb on the wall, so Kireua couldn’t see a thing. Nevertheless, he wasn’t scared. If there was no light, Kireua could create it. Besides, there was no sense in being subtle anymore now that he’d already been discovered.

Instead of his usual ebon flame, Kireua unleashed a great gout of scarlet fire, the fire he’d mainly used before meeting Coal. His fire spread forward, covering the long tunnel in no time.

The trail of fire brightly illuminated the tunnel, revealing his opponent standing tall at the other end.

‘Let’s... start with one attack.’

With a bit of concentration, the fire turned black. The Demon Realm's ebon flames scorched the walls of the tunnel, inextinguishable. However, the ebon flames were blacker than black, plunging the tunnel into darkness again. Regardless, Kireua had already located the enemy, so he gathered the flames into a mass to strike—

—Kireua reflexively ducked. The sound was so faint that no one would have heard it without paying attention, but Kireua could feel a sharp mana strike fly narrowly over his head.

“...A long-distance mana strike?” Kireua muttered.

It took at least a Master to deliver a mana strike properly—but Kireua had seen that his opponent wasn’t carrying a weapon when the tunnel was lit up.

That meant only one thing.

‘Did they use their fist to throw a mana strike?’

Kireua wondered.

It was entirely possible, given that Kireua was in Hubalt. Like the Martial Emperor and Bel, many warriors in Hubalt fought with their fists instead of using a blade.

Of course, throwing a mana strike using a fist was a lot more difficult than it would be using a sword. There was a big difference between covering a weapon or a body part to sharpen its energy and throwing a mana strike.

‘Who in the world is that?’

Kireua tensed. He’d never imagined someone this strong would still be in Hubalt after Bel had left.

Nevertheless, Kireua kept advancing. He had to pass through this tunnel to kill the cruel tyrant responsible for the ongoing catastrophe.

‘I’ll finish this war no matter what it takes!’

Kireua leaped toward the enemy like a bird of prey only to hear a very faint hum of mana. He froze up—he knew exactly what that meant.

‘Oh, no!’

There was a magic trap waiting for him at the end of the tunnel. Blue lightning arced toward Kireua from every direction, so he covered himself with mana.

Then things took a truly shocking turn.

“What?” Kireua gasped.

His opponent jumped straight into the intense wave of lightning as if they had a death wish.

“...I’m the one who called you, so I won’t be called a coward.”

“A woman...?” Kireua murmured blankly.

The voice he heard belonged to a woman, and they looked like one too—one his age.

Those were the last things Kireua had time to notice before a second series of explosions struck them.

1. The author continues to refer to Lucifer as “the man” rather than use his name. ☜