Let’s Block the Ruined Route in Advance Chapter 117

Albert watched Ian’s cloaked mongrel with deeply sunken eyes, then spoke.

 

“Ian, I’m sorry I’m late, but I’m going to get you back.”

 

Mongma snorted at that.

 

“In this body, you’re long dead. Power isn’t a bad thing, and I’ve put it to good use. Why, so you can have an empty body?”

 

Albert didn’t rise to the provocation, merely reminisced quietly about the past with his friend. 

 

Allowing Ian’s body to die as a human was the last gift he could give to a man who had lost everything.

 

“Die, all you damned humans!”

 

Mongma cursed, and the remaining demons poured out of the underground entrance, another battle between the Knights and the Demon Legion.

 

“Everyone, don’t disturb the display!”

 

The commanders of each platoon shouted, and Eileen, Felix, and Lucian threw themselves into the battle, their backs to each other.

 

“Where is Cordelia?”

 

Eileen scanned her surroundings throughout the battle. There was no sign of Cordelia, and certainly no sign of Aire.

 

“Lucian! Have you seen Cordelia?!”

 

Lucian replied as he cut a long length of worm-like creature.

 

“She must have been swept into the underground when that black wave came, and she ran in with Cordelia, so let’s take care of this for now and follow her!”

 

Eileen nodded at those words. The number of demons was high, but not too much for the all-powerful Knights of the Dawn to handle, so she figured she could make quick work of them and follow Cordelia and Aire.

 

“Tyrn…?”

 

Someone froze at the entrance to the basement, and the duke’s face hardened instantly as he turned to see the figure. Tyrn, the Transcendent who had gone missing during the last catastrophe, stood there in his undead form.

 

[Off, off, off].

 

Blackened eyes, pale skin stitched together, and a mouth that emitted nothing butanimalistic groans as if it had lost its intellect.

 

Even at a glance, the horrifying sight left the Templars speechless.

 

“Tyrn!”

 

The crown prince cried out in anger. Tyrn was also the crown prince’s martial arts teacher, which made the situation all the more horrifying to him.

 

“You trashy demons, how could you do this to him!”

 

His anger was short-lived. Tyrn readied himself for battle. He may have turned undead, but he was still Transcendent. It was no wonder that it possessed combat power that could not be compared to ordinary demons.

 

[Kaaaaaaaah!]

 

Tyrn roared and charged at the crown prince. The duke moved quickly to cover the crown prince. 

 

As the transcendents clashed, an extraordinary shockwave spread in all directions.

 

Eileen, momentarily shaken by the impact, turned her head toward the underground entrance.

 

“I can feel it, the end is coming.”

 

Every hair on her body pointed underground. The end of the story was calling to her. Eileen grew impatient, for Tyrn and the powerful creatures at his side were blocking the entrance to the underground.

 

“We have to get in there.”

 

Muttering softly, Eileen moved toward the entrance, Felix and Lucian following. The Duke, realizing that Eileen was heading underground, called out.

 

“Herrero, I need you to cover Eileen so she can get to the underground entrance!”

 

“Oh! The fairy of Gaudium?!”

 

“Ah! Come to think of it, she’s the successor of the Divine Beast, so it’s okay to follow the hero!”

 

The Herrero siblings, who had come to terms with the situation on their own, walked towards Eileen and shouted.

 

“We’ll cover you! Let’s go!”

 

“Thank you!”

 

The duke watched for a moment as Eileen broke through with Herrero, then turned back to Tyrn.

 

“I’ll count on you.”

 

 

***

 

 

“I’ll clear a path, get right in!”

 

The Herrero siblings, who had been slaughtering the giant beast to make way, turned as they neared the entrance. 

 

In front of the entrance sat a giant creature with a hard mineralized surface, much like a golem, which seemed to find it extremely annoying that it recovered immediately after being attacked.

 

“Originally, we’re supposed to find the core, but since we’re in a hurry, we’ll just aim to break through.”

 

“As soon as we break through, we have to go right through!”

 

Eileen nodded, and the Herrero siblings raised their sword, and with a loud crack, the demon’s body split in two. Felix used his magic to carry Eileen through the gap, and Lucian ran after them, carrying the auror.

 

“There!”

 

They reached the entrance and were relieved to make it through safely. The detached creature’s upper body swung around and slammed into the stone wall that formed the ceiling of the entrance. Eileen’s face slowly hardened as she realized that the stairs to the basement were about to be blocked.

 

“Go first!”

 

Lucian shoved Eileen and Felix into the basement.

 

“Lucian?!”

 

“Eileen, please!”

 

He stayed behind, slicing through the falling debris to make room for Eileen and Felix to descend the stairs. Felix led Eileen down to the basement. When he turned around, the debris Lucian hadn’t cleared had fallen down the stairs, completely blocking the entrance.

 

“Lucian, are you going to be okay?”

 

“Of course. He’s not the kind of guy to get hurt by a rock like that.”

 

Eileen nodded. Despite the blocked entrance, it wasn’t hard to get down the stairs, as there were still a few lighted paths.

 

“I’m pretty sure he’s been waiting for us.”

 

The two of them started down the stairs.

 

 

***

 

 

The lowest level of the underground lair. Urzar stood alone in the large, stage-like room. Despite the fact that all their plans had failed and they were cornered, Urzar seemed surprisingly cheerful.

 

“Alas, I shall meet you soon.”

 

The torch of Regia hung. It filled one wall, depicting Regia’s seven-day battle.

 

“My failures are not so worthless as yours, for you have achieved success after six failures.”

 

Urzar stroked the flame with his fingertips and turned slowly at the sensation of heat.

 

“The final ingredient is gathering now.”

 

Aire and Cordelia stared at him, swords raised.

 

“Urzar…”

 

“Finally. Finally, this moment has come.”

 

Urzar’s icy gaze swept over Aire’s body. “False hero,” Urzar said, not bothering to hide his displeasure.

 

“False hero. You’ve shed no blood, have you?”

 

Cordelia answered for him.

 

“The hero’s companions are too good.”

 

Urzar let out a deep, steaming sigh.

 

“No, no. No. Heroes shouldn’t be like that. What is a hero if not someone desperate enough to risk everything?”

 

He didn’t want a lukewarm hero like Aire; he wanted something stronger, something more poignant, something that resonated in his heart.

 

“But since you’ve come all this way, I’ll tell you something. I’ve already made all the arrangements. A body to hold Regia, a high concentration of magic and demon magic for the Netherworld Gate. But I haven’t gathered the final ingredient yet, and what do you think it is?”

 

Urzar raised his left hand, his nails blackened and lengthened.

 

“The blood of a flesh-and-blood relative to lure her soul.”

 

Smirking, Urzar lunged at Aire.

 

Aire struck back with a heavy claw, and Cordelia covered him.

 

Her blows were fierce enough to push the two of them back for a moment, but Urzar’s sword, strengthened by two lifetimes, was enough to keep her at arm’s length.

 

‘We have the advantage if we go the distance.”

 

Just when he was hoping for that.

 

“Ah, so much for faking it.”

 

Urzar leaped forward with his own sword.

 

“What?!”

 

The greatsword stopped dead in its tracks as it sliced him in half across the ribs. Urzar’s blackened bones caught the greatsword.

 

“Take it.”

 

Panic was fleeting. But it was enough for a demon who had seen his chance for two hundred years. The tip of Urzar’s nail grazed the back of the hand that gripped the sword.

 

A few drops of blood dripped to the floor.

 

“What?”

 

Bewildered, Aire struck him roughly and stepped back. A dense circle of magic began to glow from the floor of the crypt where his blood had touched the walls, the ceiling, and even the top of the torch.