Genius Wizard Hides His Sword Skills [EN]: Chapter 111

111. Hidden Power (3)

“……What’s that sound?”

Carles frowned. Angel was also looking around.

Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!

An unpleasant noise continued.

“……Hmm.”

Aries’s and my gazes met. It was the same sound the puppets made when they self-destructed.

However, the sound was much louder.

[Is that one going to explode too?]

‘Looks like it.’

The source of the noise was the giant puppet that Carles had knocked down. As expected, its wooden mouth was moving busily.

‘If that huge thing explodes, this whole area will be blown away, right?’

[Let’s all die together, is that it?]

Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!

The sight of it lying there, moving only its mouth, was incredibly bizarre.

“Kuhah! How is it! My masterpiece!”

Dipon laughed heartily at the sight.

“Although I couldn’t fulfill my grand ambition because of you, Gongza…….”

His gleeful gaze landed on me.

“At least I’m taking one of you with me!”

Screech!

With that, the strange noise began to accelerate.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Dipon even started nodding his head to the sound that echoed through the forest.

“Isn’t it so ecstatic!”

He moved his head as if feeling a beautiful melody. A clear light even flickered in his eyes.

“Ah! How beautiful!”

Tears even welled up in his eyes.

[……He’s completely insane.]

And at that climactic moment.

Tap!

The moment the series of strange noises came to an end.

Dipon squeezed his eyes shut.

“Consider it an honor to die with my masterpiece!”

With that, he stretched his head towards the sky, magnificently embracing his final moment.

‘…….’

Silence enveloped us.

[He’s really putting on a show.]

However, contrary to his grand pronouncements, the forest remained still. After the giant puppet’s mouth stopped moving, nothing happened.

Whoosh…….

Only a cool breeze swept past us.

Did he sense that something was wrong?

“……Umm.”

Dipon’s tightly closed eyes slowly opened. What came into his view was our group, smirking.

“Wh-what.”

It was a natural reaction for the voice that came from his mouth to be trembling.

“What do you mean, what? We’ve done some art too.”

“……Art?”

Aries answered Dipon, who frowned.

“That’s right! How’s this body’s work! You crazy bastard!”

It was somewhat rough language, but she had every right to be confident.

“W-what did you do to Azuro!”

It was Dipon’s flustered appearance, which he had never shown before.

“Azuro? Hah! What a joke! You’re giving such a pretty name to such a grotesque thing? I’m not normal, but neither are you, huh?”

“……What exactly did you do!”

The puppet called Azuro seemed to be his Achilles’ heel [a fatal weakness].

“Hey! I told you to talk!”

Eventually, anger erupted from his mouth.

“Why should I? If you tell me how you did it, I might tell you……?”

But there was no way Aries would easily reveal her abilities.

[I’m glad I told her to prepare in advance.]

Having already experienced the small puppets several times, she had been preparing for any possible situation.

‘I know. The sealing magic worked perfectly.’

Aries had been preparing sealing magic for the giant puppet since capturing Dipon. She had completely blocked the giant puppet’s movements.

“Did I do well?”

“Yeah. I’ll admit this one.”

Aries winked at me. At that sight, Dipon’s angry voice erupted again.

“Y-you damn thing!”

However, the shadow cast on his face this time was not Aries’s.

“Ugh! Who do you think you’re yelling at? Know your place.”

Carles’s frowning face was reflected in his eyes.

“You’re going to get a beating today.”

“Wh-what?”

“I’m going to show you my own art or something.”

Carles clenched his fist tightly. From then on, no one could stop him in his rage.

[Yeah. Someone like him needs to be taught a lesson.]

‘He is annoying.’

Of course, I didn’t feel like stopping him either.

“Kkeuaaaak!”

From then on, Dipon’s screams echoed through the forest instead of the puppets’ strange noises.

* * *

“What? What’s going on?”

Drew and Admun, who had rushed out at the news of our return to the Lafel Inn, were already back.

“Haa. I couldn’t accompany Angel-nim because I was away when she was leaving. Please forgive me.”

I patted Admun’s shoulder, who bowed his head.

“It’s okay. Do you think I don’t know how you feel?”

I had fully expected his reaction.

“But who is that……? Ah? Isn’t that the merchant we saw earlier today? How did he get so hurt?”

Admun looked at Dipon, who was slung over Carles’s shoulder. He urgently shouted towards the upper floor.

“Karis-nim! We have a patient!”

He didn’t know Dipon’s true identity.

“You don’t have to. We’re the ones who did this to him.”

To be exact, Carles was the one who made him like that…….

“Yes? So everyone went out because of that guy?”

“Yeah. It got quite complicated.”

“Ah! Please come inside first!”

Following Admun, we entered the interior.

In the lobby on the first floor, there were tables and chairs that were not usually there.

“I ordered it. I thought it would be nice to enjoy a simple meal on the first floor.”

It was Angel’s voice, who was coming in behind us.

“Good job. Let’s sit here for now.”

Everyone took their seats.

“I have more to talk about with this guy.”

Only Carles, who was carrying Dipon, was still standing.

“Angel. Is there a place where I can talk to this guy alone?”

“Hmm……. There’s a small warehouse in the basement. That would be suitable.”

“Hoo. A basement. Perfect. I see. I’ll have a little chat with this guy.”

Carles smiled. His appearance was so creepy that I couldn’t help but say something.

“Carles-nim.”

“Huh?”

“……Please be gentle. He needs to stay alive.”

“Haha! My friend! Why are you saying such scary things? Did I say I was going to do anything to him? I’m just going to have a chat with him, so don’t worry!”

I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh at his nonchalant appearance. He was the one who had beaten Dipon to a pulp with his fists.

“There are things we need to ask him, so you must keep him alive.”

“Hehe! I understand. If you give me an hour, I’ll make him a good boy who cooperates with the conversation.”

“Yes. He just needs to be able to talk.”

“Ooh! I’ll do that! Oh, is Karis upstairs?”

Carles asked, smiling, about Karis’s whereabouts.

“I think so. Why are you looking for Karis-yang?”

“Please send Karis to the basement. It seems like there will be a need to treat this guy. Haha!”

At this moment, he seemed much more evil than Dipon.

[……Torture from Carles. It’s terrifying just to imagine.]

It seemed like Dipon would be given an hour that felt like a year.

“Kkeu, kkeueuk…….”

Dipon was dragged to the basement with swollen eyes.

Carles’s laughter continued all the way down to the basement.

Thud!

The rough sound of the basement door closing echoed up to the first floor.

“……That side will be fine.”

Only then did Angel give an awkward smile. As he said, it seemed I didn’t need to worry about Dipon’s mental education.

‘For now, I can leave Dipon to Carlos.’

There were still more things to check.

“Angel. How’s your condition? Are you really okay?”

He had just received a heart transplant early this morning. I needed to check his condition after he had immediately fought with Dipon.

“Yes. My condition is strangely good. Gongza also provided me with a vessel to hold mana [magical energy]. Thank you.”

“It’s nothing. It’s much better than you not being able to use mana.”

He was using the ego’s mana that was melted into the red bead that I had provided him with.

“The amount of mana itself was more than what I had, and the purity was much better, so the power of magic has improved.”

Angel kept bowing his head. He was willing to give his life for me, so that much was nothing.

“Ah, does the mana you use come back?”

However, that was the only concern. According to the tribe chief, it takes a long time to gather mana again once it’s depleted.

“Yes. The mana I used has returned and accumulated.”

“Oh? Really? Thankfully, it wasn’t a one-time thing.”

“The mana I used has already returned.”

That was a relief.

[The mana must have accepted him as its master.]

The ego’s mana, recognizing his body as a nest, seemed to have decided to stay.

“Thank you so much. It’s all thanks to Gongza-nim.”

Angel bowed deeply. However, mana wasn’t the only thing to check in his body.

There was one more part that I couldn’t understand at all.

“Hey, Aries. What did you do? Tell me honestly.”

“What?”

“About Angel’s body.”

“Huh?”

The guy tilted his head to one side as if he didn’t know anything.

‘How hypocritical.’

Angel suddenly had tremendous recovery power.

No matter how much Karis nursed him, it didn’t make sense that his body, which was on the verge of death, would heal in just one day.

‘She must have done something.’

I had clearly witnessed the wounds on Angel’s body healing instantly during the battle with Dipon.

“Hey, aren’t you going to tell me straight? What did you do to Angel’s body to make his recovery so good?”

Only then did Angel frown.

“Gongza-nim noticed too. My body’s recovery ability has suddenly become too good. No, it’s not just good…….”

Angel took a small knife and lightly cut his arm. Swish- Blood briefly pooled.

“Huh?”

Drew’s mouth dropped open at the sight that followed. The small wound was healing in an instant.

“Most wounds heal as soon as they appear. I benefited a lot from this when I fought Dipon earlier.”

Angel was also staring blankly at the wounded area, as if his own body was strange.

“Hehe! Why are you asking now! I’ve been saying it all along!”

Aries shouted loudly at the sight. The corners of her mouth were stretched as if they were about to reach her ears.

“What did you say?”

“I said that it’s all thanks to me that he’s healing well! I said it this morning and when we went to the mountain! It’s just that you didn’t listen to me!”

Only then did I remember. Aries, who had been saying that it was thanks to her when she saw the awakened Angel. She had been constantly making her voice heard.

‘I just thought she was trying to get attention…….’

She had really done something.

“So what did you do? What did you do to make his recovery…….”
The thought that flashed through my head at that moment.

‘Could it be?’

The only moment she could have done something to Angel was for a moment.

“The heart!”

“Ung?”

“The heart you put in Angel. That’s it, isn’t it?”

“Hehe!”

Aries smiled strangely. Finally, her head nodded.

“That’s right! I put in a special heart. It’s incredibly hard to get!”

Only then did Angel grab his chest.