The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 191

191

Resurrect the Demon Slayer?

Miria and Millea blinked, while the elders reacted with near horror.

“Anyone want to guide me? If not, I’ll squeeze you one by one to find out, but you wouldn’t want that, right? Counting down from 10.”

No one readily stepped forward.

The Demon Slayer, Kassel Rinkan’s tomb. It was said that relics that should never be opened were buried there as well.

“I’ll guide you.”

In the end, Captain Doss took the plunge.

Someone had to do it; he thought to resolve it before there were any victims.

*It’s okay. They don’t know how to use that power anyway.*

But contrary to Doss’s expectations, Arthur Brius wore a wicked smile.

“Zernyx said that children who inherited the Demon Slayer’s blood had a high aptitude for that power?”

“……!”

“Hey, find two or three kids under ten. This guy says he’ll guide us, so we should take someone suitable too.”

Just as the rowdy adventurers were about to rush into the village, Witch Slayer Spiella’s eyes fell on Miria and Millea.

“No. They’re right here.”

Spiella took out a jewel from her bosom, redder than blood.

As she held it out to the sisters, the jewel began to shine dazzlingly.

“Arthur, did you see that? Bingo from the start!”

“Damn, you still have amazing luck. Stop the search. We’ll take these kids.”

Spiella flicked her fingers, and the two girls’ clothes were caught by telekinesis and pulled toward Spiella.

“D-Doss, help us!”

“Don’t touch those kids!”

Doss swung his fist and charged, but…

It was a meaningless resistance.

The moment Spiella stretched out her hand, his body was flung like a cannonball by an invisible force and slammed into the embankment.

“Let’s get Miria and Millea back!”

“Fight!”

The residents each grabbed metal scraps or clubs and confronted the adventurers. Spiella sighed as if annoyed.

“Do you think we’re joking? Should I kill ten as an example?”

The fight was one-sided.

In an instant, all the village men were sprawled here and there, seriously or moderately injured.

“Did we look like trash like bandits or pirates? Acting up like that.”

They were a mercenary group that had been very active on all fronts 500 years ago. Even the descendants of the Demon Slayer couldn’t be a match for them.

“Don’t, stop it! Stop it! We’ll come with you, so please don’t!”

“Please don’t kill us! We’ll come willingly!”

Miria and Millea shouted as the people groaned and moaned. Then Spiella asked Arthur.

“What do you want to do with these things?”

“Do you know where that ruin is?”

Miria, her face covered in tears, nodded frantically. She, who had been a tomboy, had often explored the island.

“Then there’s no need to kill them. But if this is a lie, I’ll kill 30 as an example of breaking trust.”

“……!”

“Spiella will go to the tomb. Lucia, Aaron, you guys stay here and keep these villagers from doing anything stupid.”

“What about you?”

“I have to go seize the city now. The rest, follow me.”

The Demon Slayer was the alias of Kassel Rinkan, a legendary berserker who massacred demons during the turmoil 300 years ago.

The Demon Slayer’s ruin was the place where he was laid to rest, his tomb.

His direct descendants guarded the tomb because the weapons he used in his lifetime were sleeping there as relics.

Because Frita, Link’s friend, had placed a seal with the highest level of magic, only his descendants knew how to enter the ruins.

Thanks to Miria’s guidance, the Slayers were able to navigate the maze-like seal without difficulty and arrive at the tomb.

“What, there’s almost no difference from the information that Zernyx gave me. Is it real?”

Spiella whistled as she flipped through a moldy old book.

“Put this jewel here, and this here… turn the roulette like this…”

The moment the operation was completed, the altar began to roar eerily. Red beams shot up and wriggled with translucent tentacles.

“Good! Now, you lie down here first.”

“Lie down? Here?”

“Yeah, hurry! I’ll make you a super strong human.”

But the tentacles were so gruesome… they stimulated an instinctive fear.

The two girls couldn’t dare to step forward, and Spiella’s patience reached its limit.

“Ha, really. I told you to lie down, didn’t I?”

Miria’s body soared with telekinesis. As she was dragged to the altar, Miria cried and reached out to Millea.

“Sister, sister, save me, sister, I’m scared! Sister!”

“Miria!”

It was at that moment.

Suddenly, a scream rang out in the distance, and the sound of metal tearing flesh repeatedly soared.

“Hmm?”

It was Gin. Gin was skillfully disarming the adventurers by cutting off their arms and legs, opening a path.

Miria and Millea’s faces lit up at the same time.

“Dad!”

On the other hand, some of the adventurers who were carefully examining Gin’s shabby combat gear had bewildered expressions on their faces.

“Uh, that, that guy is?!”

“Who is he?”

“He’s Goblin Slayer! He’s a Silver-ranked adventurer that everyone near the Tiris River knows. He’s damn strong for a Silver rank!”

Goblin?

Goblin Slayer?

Spiella burst out laughing, clutching her stomach at the absurd combination of words.

“How strong can a guy who only catches goblins be? Are you guys not doing your jobs right?”

“He’s really strong! Look! He only catches goblins, but he’s a Gold ranker [an adventurer who specializes in hunting goblins]!”

In fact, about twenty lazy adventurers were already writhing on the floor in pain, with one of their limbs cut off.

“Shit, it’s hard to use telekinesis inside the ruins. If I use my full power, I’ll be buried alive.”

“Millea, Miria!”

“Dad, Dad!”

Dad?

*Ah, that’s what it was.*

A bitter smile formed on Spiella’s lips as she clicked two iron balls together with her right hand.

“You lose because you try to fight fair.”

Miria and Millea’s bodies soared into the air as they tried to run to Gin. And in an instant, they were dragged to the vicinity of the altar where the tentacles were wriggling.

“Goblin Slayer, you don’t want to see your kids die, do you?”

“Let the kids go!”

“Oh, I’m so scared. I’ll let them go. If you put down that sword and shield first.”

Gin glanced at the sword and shield, glared at the adventurers surrounding him, and then glared beyond his mask.

“You expect me to believe that?”

“What are you going to do if you don’t believe it? You know what happens when a suitable person connects to this altar.”

Spiella smiled wickedly as she stroked Miria and Millea’s faces like a snake.

“Do you want to see your cute daughters end up like that? I value trust. I swear on my platinum badge. I don’t know if it still works these days, though.”

“······.”

“Hurry up. Do you want to see your daughters die?”

Was it an adventurer’s intuition?

Before putting down his sword and shield, Gin first lifted his mask and met his daughters’ eyes.

“Millea, listen carefully.”

“······!”

“Miria is Dad’s daughter no matter what anyone says. So she’s Millea’s younger sister. Got it? An older sister has to take care of her younger sister until she becomes a proper adult.”

“······!”

“Answer me!”

“Y-yes, Dad!”

“Stop playing around! Aren’t you going to throw away your weapons?”

Gin threw his sword.

And the moment he abandoned the shield that could block the attacks of mages and archers.

“Bang.”

The moment Spiella pretended to pull a bowstring, a large hole was pierced in Gin’s heart. It was an iron ball fired with telekinesis.

There was no time to do anything.

Gin spat out blood and knelt down powerlessly, Miria wailed and ran to Gin, and Millea tried to assess the situation in a white-hot hyperventilation.

“Miria… my beloved daughter…”

“Dad, Dad…!”

“Yes, Miria… calling me… Dad… now… go back to Mom…”

That was it. Gin’s eyes rolled back, and he collapsed against Miria’s body. The adventurers chuckled.

“Hehe, our boss used a dirty trick again.”

“What’s dirty about fighting? Winning is the only thing that matters.”

“What do we do now, boss? Do we let these little ones go?”

Spiella glanced at Miria and Millea, licked her lips, and nodded.

“What do you think of me? I have to keep my promises. And how many villages are there? There’s bound to be another suitable person.”

“Well, the boss values trust above all else.”

“Send the kids to another village. If they resist, kill about ten as an example.”

“I’ll do it! I’ll do it, so don’t give that opportunity to anyone else!”

The person who shouted that was Millea.

Her face was covered in tears from the sorrow of losing her father, but her dignified appearance made the adventurers whistle.

“Hey, are you serious?”

On the other hand, Spiella narrowed her eyes as if she didn’t understand.

“Your dad died for you, and you’re going to do what I tell you? Don’t mess around and get lost when I let you go.”

“You didn’t kill him. He was just a goblin-hunting adventurer, so that’s what happened.”

“Huh……?”

“If I lived a normal life, I’d become a pathetic adventurer like my dad. Rather than that, I’d rather become stronger with the power of this Demon Slayer. What a great opportunity this is!”

Spiella stared at Millea for a moment, then clapped her hands, saying, “Wow.”

“Good? Maybe you need to be obsessed with power to awaken as a Demon Slayer.”

At that moment, Miria, who was sobbing with her head buried in Gin’s corpse, looked for Millea.

“S-sister, Dad, Dad, Dad isn’t breathing, Dad’s, Dad’s body, body is cold… blood, blood, blood won’t stop──”

“──I’m not your sister! You were adopted! So don’t call me sister!”

Millea’s eyes, crying as she said that, her expression, were inevitably sad and desperate… Miria would never forget that day’s face for the rest of her life.

Everything was for her younger sister.

Millea had seen it. When Spiella held out the jewel to the sisters earlier, the jewel reacted most strongly to Miria.

If they couldn’t find a suitable person, they would come back… and that’s when they would take Miria.

And in other villages, there would be many people who would lose loved ones like Gin.

And if she could control this power, she might be able to take revenge on Spiella right away.

“Got it? If you pretend to be my sister again, I’ll blow you away! Drag her out, I don’t even want to see her…!”

“Boss? What should we do?”

“Do as she says. Take Dad’s body to the village. It’s a shame to use such a feisty girl as a sacrifice.”

As she was dragged out by the adventurers, Miria could hear her sister’s screams rising from deep within the ruins.

“How, how could this happen….”

The villagers couldn’t help but wail. The next day, when they went to bury Gin’s body in the tomb, Miria said to Linda.

“Mom, I’m going to become a Goblin Slayer.”

“What……?”

“The guy who brought Dad’s body said that. Whether he told me because he felt sorry for me, he said that the goal of creating a Demon Slayer is money.”

“Money?”

“But Dad said that goblin hunting is a good way to make money because there aren’t many people doing it… I’m going to make money like that and make sure my sister doesn’t have to fight. I’ll keep her from going to dangerous places.”

Linda hugged Miria tightly with a pale face.

“No, no. I can’t make both of you so dangerous! Miria. Just forget about Millea…!”

Miria swallowed her tears and continued, sobbing in a voice that was about to break.

“While becoming, while becoming so strong… I’ll become much stronger than those bad guys later… someday, I’ll definitely… bring my sister back… So Mom… please wait for me….”

Miria shook her head to push away the past.

The pyramid was eerie, perhaps because a large number of management personnel had left.

Somber corridors, rooms that smelled of blood and oil…

After suppressing her presence and overcoming all of that, she reached the top floor.

There was nothing there.

Not only was there nothing, but dust had piled up as if no one had been there recently.

*There’s nothing?*

She felt like she couldn’t breathe.

*Then where the hell is it? I’ve searched everywhere except for Island 3…*

“Looking for this?”

Miria held her breath at the sudden thumping noise she heard from somewhere.

It didn’t take long for her to realize that it was her heartbeat.

There, where she barely turned her lead-heavy neck… when on earth did he come, the Dragon Slayer was standing at the entrance.

“I should have thought about why the Special Task Force would make such a big deal out of it when I could have finished it myself. I was going to ferret out the traitors. A rat has been running around lately.”

And what he was holding in his hand… was a large disc.

It was said to be a relic that the Demon Slayer used to wear around his neck, and it was used to control his rampaging power.

It is now being used to control Millea.

“Anyway, they say you can’t fix a person, so you had to stab me in the back like this to feel better.”

“Give it to me.”

“What are you going to do with this? Your family and village are all being held hostage.”

Arthur smirked, and Miria’s mind went cold.

She drew her sword and lunged, but… the moment she saw the golden glow in Arthur’s hand, her body was thrown backward.

She felt as if her body had been cut in half, and tremendous pain exploded in her chest.

“Don’t worry. I hit you with the flat of the sword. It’s a *byeongdan* [military unit] rule not to kill traitors easily.”

Golden flashes were concentrated in the form of a sword in Arthur’s hand.

Not a *geomgang* [sword qi] that covers the blade with a mana chain, nor a *geomgi* [sword energy] that emits the power of the mana chain as a slash… but an absolute realm beyond that.

It was *simgeom* [mind sword], materializing one’s magic power in the form of a sword.

“You have to fight rationally. If you get caught up in emotions, you’ll get involved in a hopeless fight, and this is what happens. Fighting is business.”

As Arthur gripped Miria’s neck tightly, Miria could only struggle helplessly in the air.

“Your sister made such a tearful sacrifice to save you, but this is what happens.”

*Sacrifice, could that be called a sacrifice? Strictly speaking, it could be said that way.*

*But more strictly speaking, there was no need.*

Miria grabbed Arthur’s wrist with a limp gesture and barely pulled out her voice.

“If it weren’t for you guys… if it weren’t for you guys….”

Millea wouldn’t have had to end up like that in the first place. Gin didn’t have to die.

“Is all you do after rushing in blindly is whine? You haven’t changed at all from 10 years ago.”

“Shu…… tup…….”

“Still, I’m grateful for one thing. Thanks to you, while keeping your sister on the island, Herman found out all sorts of other uses─”

Something suddenly cut off Arthur Brius’s words.

An unrealistic sense of oppression swept over him, and the *yeouiju* [dragon orb] of the *bireong* [flying dragon] in his soul instinctively trembled, and his heart pounded.

The first thing that realistically embodied that presence was heat. A fierce heat, as if thrown into the middle of a fire, swept over him.

“Dur-Moris, Dragon Slayer Slayer.”

Arthur reflexively turned to the source of that presence, and then had to narrow his eyes at the greeting that flew in with the sound of joined palms.

“Death to the Dragon Slayer.”

As Arthur shifted into a defensive posture, Miria, freed from his grasp, rolled to the floor. The silhouette caught in her blurry vision was──.

*Gin is no longer here. There are no gods to hear my prayers. There is no one to reach out a helping hand.*

*Surely, surely it would be.*

“Aren’t you going to say hello properly? This is a dragon who came a long way to kill you.”

“Aki is Aki!”