The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 190

190

“Ah, ah, ah……”

A chillingly desperate scream echoed through the 8th floor of the Third Island’s Golden Pyramid.

A young boy, holding a pen and paper, emotionlessly issued commands to the technicians in the 8th-floor laboratory with practiced skill.

“We can add one more. Replace a spinal joint, too.”

No, he wasn’t a young boy.

He was a Dwarf.

Among all the races on this land, they possessed the greatest aptitude for science and technology.

“He might die from the pain.”

One of the technicians voiced his concern, and the Dwarf glared at him coldly. The technician flinched!

“You humans just need to follow my orders. You lot don’t have a shred of intelligence.”

His name was Herman.

500 years ago, he was a wicked technician who harmed countless lives with his monstrous creations and didn’t hesitate to conduct live experiments.

His mercenary work in the border regions was all to gather research data on humans.

Herman was better known by the moniker ‘Engineer Slayer,’ meaning he was an Arc-tier Slayer [a slayer who has reached the Arc-tier level of power].

“Yes, sir! Then we’ll dissect one more vertebra from the Demon Slayer and transplant it!”

In the center of the laboratory, visible at a glance, were two operating tables.

Whether hygiene was nonexistent or meaningless to maintain, bloodstains and flesh were scattered everywhere.

On one operating table, a boy who looked about ten years old was screaming, his limbs bound.

“Begin.”

On the opposite operating table lay a woman who looked barely twenty, with a disheveled appearance.

Her vacant eyes showed no trace of reason either.

The Butcher Slayer casually tore open her back with a cleaver, then brutally twisted out a spinal joint, yet her expression remained unchanged.

“That’s the Demon Slayer’s replacement… Millea, my sister.”

Kora said, looking down at the scene from the darkness of the observation room.

“Miria doesn’t know about this yet. This is why I said Miria was in danger. If that girl finds out……”

Two Master-tier Slayers were collapsed over there, all thanks to Valencidi’s handiwork.

Valencidi alternated between looking at the core data he had taken from the archives and the horrific scene unfolding before his eyes, swallowing hard.

‘The Demon Slayer’s power can only be transplanted into someone with Cassel Ringkan’s genes……’

Were the Slayers trying to revive the Demon Slayer and then create an army of that lineage?

‘That’s why they conscripted all the young, combat-apt descendants of the Demon Slayer living on the island.’

Individuals with poor combat abilities were transferred to the birthing facility… What’s a birthing facility? Are they breeding them like animals?

‘Why……?’

Why would they turn all of Cassel’s descendants into Demon Slayers?

If their only goal was the mercenary business, there would be no need to go this far.

Until now, they were content with dominating the underworld, but now, are they aiming for something bigger?

“What the hell happened on this island?”

Just then, someone rushed in and reported something to Herman. It must have been a report on the situation outside.

“Arthur, that bastard, finally entrusted the Special Task Force to yours truly, Herman. Demon Slayer, Order-27.”

Then, Millea, who had been lying still even while having her spine removed, raised herself up. Her movements were unnatural, like a machine.

“Command confirmed. I will eliminate the intruders.”

“They’re VVIP guests. Try not to kill them. Killing them would only cause unnecessary trouble.”

Before Herman could finish his sentence, Valencidi was urgently pulling Kora towards him.

In that instant, the situation changed drastically.

Suddenly, the observation room was completely destroyed as Millea reached out towards them, and a large hole was torn in the outer wall of the Golden Pyramid.

“Hmm?”

Doran Slade raised an eyebrow.

The explosion of power was naturally more visible from outside the Golden Pyramid.

He had just ordered the Special Task Force mages to capture the Master-tier Slayers and about 27 other thugs.

Just as Doran was about to give orders to his subordinates, the bound Trickster Slayer began to laugh.

“Heh, heh heh, heh heh heh heh…… You’re all finished too. Special Task Force? What a joke. That monster is going to─”

The mad laughter was cut short.

In the next moment, his upper body was crushed into a bloody mess. The Special Task Force mage standing next to him met the same fate.

The smile vanished from Doran’s ever-smiling face, and his eyes narrowed.

‘What is this presence……?’

Clang, clang, clang…….

A dull metallic sound, like iron dragging across the ground, first pierced his ears.

His heart pounded for a moment, and then the owner of that presence emerged from the cloud of dust from the collapse.

“Target confirmed.”

It was a woman in disheveled clothes.

Ragged clothes thrown haphazardly over her body, hair matted with blood and sweat, and skin stained black with grime.

Not even livestock were treated this way, yet she had something like a gag in her mouth, and there wasn’t a shred of reason in the voice that leaked through the gag.

What shocked Doran…… was not her beastly appearance but the massive iron chains she was dragging with both hands.

‘Can she materialize magic into weapons?’

The chains, materialized from the bracelets on both wrists, burned fiercely with blood-red magical energy.

He recalled a few passages he had read in hero stories as a child. Passages about the chains wielded by the Demon Slayer.

In a blood-freezing bewilderment, a dazed voice escaped his lips.

“Could that be a relic of the Demon Slayer?”

* * *

– Miria, come here.

When she was young, she always had her father, or rather, Uncle Gin, by her side.

An uncle who would always come to her side when she was crying and solve everything with a smile…….

But now, her uncle wasn’t by her side. Because he died that day.

‘Even if I cry for help, there’s no one who will reach out to me.’

Miria caught her breath.

She threw away the knife covered in blood and fat and pulled a short sword from the side of the Trap Slayer she had just defeated.

‘I have to solve it alone…….’

Is that what it means to be an adult, Uncle?

Quietly, she caressed the hilt of the Shaman Sword, Gin’s keepsake.

Gin…… that nostalgic echo traced back to fragments of memories from 11 years ago.

– Ugh, that smell! Mom! Sis! Dad came back smelling like sewage again!

– Haha, you. Yeah, want to smell it up close?

Gin always wore old armor. His main job was goblin extermination, which all adventurers avoided.

– Gin, really…… Are you going to tease Miria as soon as you get back?

Gin was an adventurer.

It was a long-standing tradition for outstanding people from the island to become adventurers and spread the fame of being descendants of the Demon Slayer.

– It’s fun to tease Miria.

The one who giggled whenever Gin teased Miria was Miria’s sister, Millea.

– You shouldn’t tease your little sister. Gin, stop joking around and take off your armor.

The family was harmonious and happy.

Gin often had business trips to the continent…… but even the pain of such separations was nothing compared to the joy of meeting again.

– Dad, Dad, you know. Why do you only catch goblins?

– Can’t I just catch goblins?

– The adventurers in the adventure books all catch dragons or giants in a cool way!

Gin looked at Miria at Millea’s sarcasm.

– What do you think, Miria?

– I think Dad is cool. I want to be an adventurer like Dad and explore the world!

Hahahahahaha!

Gin laughed heartily and shrugged his shoulders.

– A long time ago. Dad went to a bathhouse on the continent with Grandpa.

– What does a bathhouse have to do with goblins?

– Listen. But there was a rock sticking out in front of it. Some people almost tripped over it, and some people fell, but no one removed it.

Gin took a cool gulp of the beer that Linda had brought and continued to talk about things that were hard to understand.

– Then Grandpa stepped up and removed it. No one was paying him. He wasn’t even going to come back there tomorrow.

– ······?

– I thought Grandpa was so cool. Goblin hunting is the same as that. It’s something that someone has to do, but no one recognizes it, and no one does it.

Millea pouted.

– It’s not cool at all. An adventurer has to do cool things to be an adventurer!

– If you do good deeds like that, the gods will bless you.

– What kind of blessing?

– Look, I was able to save Miria from there and bring her here.

Gin, who was grinning from the alcohol, closed his mouth as if he realized he had made a slip of the tongue. Linda’s face, who had been happily doing the dishes, turned pale.

– What do you mean you saved her and brought her here?

– Th, that is, well, Miria when she was young…… a goblin…….

– There are no goblins on this island! Dad said so!

Miria’s body was trembling as she stood up from the table. Tears welled up in her small eyes.

– Dad…… you’re not my dad······?

– Miria.

– I, the reason why I’m the only one who doesn’t look like Mom and Dad…….

– Miria, listen to me.

Miria didn’t listen.

She just kicked the door open and ran outside.

Miria had been nimble since she was young, so neither the drunk Gin nor the sickly Linda could catch up.

– Millea, Millea!

– Huh?

– Chase after Miria and bring her back.

– But Miria is─

– ─No matter what anyone says, Miria is your sister. Got it? Answer me, got it?

Confusion flickered in Millea’s eyes as well, but she nodded maturely and ran outside after Miria.

– Where are you going, Miria?

At that moment, Captain Dos, who was unloading cargo from a fishing boat, stopped Miria as she ran somewhere.

When Miria, who had been caught, finally told him what was going on, he burst out laughing.

– What? You want me to take you to the continent? What nonsense. Gin came back, but you’re not even eating with him.

– Gin isn’t my dad! I’m going to find my real mom and dad! Take me! That’s why Mom likes my sister more!

The expressions of the sailors, who had been listening to the tomboy’s shouts with chuckles, suddenly darkened.

Only Dos gave a bitter smile and knelt down on one knee in front of Miria.

– What do you think connects people as a family? Blood? Hmph, that doesn’t help! Look at my second daughter. She left the island because she liked a man and hasn’t contacted me once.

– Then what is it!

– It’s the heart. The heart that cherishes each other more than their own lives! From that point of view, you guys are the real family.

– ……Why?

– Do you know how Gin brought you here, you troublemaker?

The goblins had not been exterminated in time, and their forces had grown too large.

Those with more than five hundred combat troops attacked nearby villages.

That was Miria’s hometown. They killed all the living people and plundered all the livestock and grains.

– That fight must have been difficult even for Gin, who had gone through all sorts of hardships. How many wounds were pierced in his back or side? That’s all from that time.

– ……!

– Gin jumped in there to save you when you were a baby. What reward was there for that fight? The village that would pay the reward was gone?

Then the sailors wiped under their noses, talking about the emotion of that day.

– He almost died several times, but when we took Linda to the hospital on the continent, Gin was smiling like a boy.

– Ah, right! Holding Miria!

– When Linda asked who it was, he said, ‘She’s my daughter’…….

Dos patted Miria’s head with his fingers, which had become thick from years of seafaring.

– And he raised her with the same love as Millea. We are all witnesses to that. If that guy isn’t your dad, then who is?

– I, I didn’t know that…….

– Miria!

At that moment, Linda, who had run over, hugged Miria tightly from behind. Millea, who had followed panting, hit Miria’s head.

– Why are you acting so selfishly! Hurry up and apologize to Mom and Dad!

– Sis, I’m sorry, it hurts! It hurts!

– Okay, let’s go back now. Gin will be worried.

The true despair, which seemed to have no end, came at that moment. Suddenly, a huge ship appeared beyond the horizon.

– A warship?

– What kind of ship is that big?

– Isn’t that a ship from an adventure party?

The ship was approaching at an incredible speed, and when the sail began to be visible, the eyes of the sailor, who often traveled to the continent, widened.

– Slayers……?

The day the Slayers, who had been revived after 500 years, landed on Ringle Island, the island collapsed into madness and terror.

– Dur-Morris. We are the Slayers. I am Arthur Brius. The leader of these thugs.

– ……?

– You have a look that says, ‘Why did I come?’ In the central canyon of this island, there is the tomb of the Demon Slayer, right? From now on, I’m going to revive the Demon Slayer.