房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

Chapter 498 162 - Perserios territory - part 5 - Countering the plan that was thirty years in the making (part 30)

　　A perfect silky shadow spilled out from its hiding spot in a rabbit's hole underneath the ground, dyeing the frosted grass with its lightless darkness before a jet-black-haired older man emerged

　　"We have a traitor amongst the ranks... who would have thought... Was that the reason for Rethaq's disappearance...?"

　　The jet-black-haired man snickered evilly, as his eyes gleamed with fury when he thought about the beloved comrade that he lost – the only member of the Ghosts of Bellcephora he truly trusted.

　　"Commander – it's me, sorry for breaking the curfew, but I found someone with similar power to the target who erased Evorietto."

　　The older man called out, looking down and causing his hand to turn into a clump of murky darkness.

　　"You are not above the command chain, Kiorterell."

　　The older man was answered by a low, strict voice that didn't sound as if it cared much about his findings.

　　"Sorry for that – I will try to possess the guy and see whether I can use his power~"

　　"WHAT?! NO! You idiot, what if you are going to get erased too?!"

　　Kiorterell hummed, putting his aetherial limb to the dark-haired young man's hand, and pushing it in through his skull with no resistance whatsoever despite the opposition of the leader of the Ghosts of Bellcephora.

　　"Sorry, commander – that sounded like a personal request and not an order. If I don't respond in five minutes, assume that I'm dead~"

　　The older man snickered and his entire body turned into darkness and was sucked into George's head.

　　A minute passed.

　　Then the second one...

　　Third...

　　And then fifth.

　　As that happened, more of the perfect darkness spilled out from the convenient hiding spot and a massive muscular man with a scar going down his face and neck climbed out of it, wielding an enormous darkness blade surrounded by a horrifyingly threatening aura of certain death.

　　Carcassuss, the commander of the Ghosts of Bellcephora and a bastard child of a king ruling the Kingdom of Bellcephora over three hundred years ago, looked at the motionless body of a dark-haired young man and squinted his eyes.

　　"The connection got weaker, but I still can feel your presence, Kiorterell. Don't try to be smart, old man."

　　*wham*

　　"Urgh...!"

　　Carcassuss scoffed and gave George a solid kick in the guts, making the young man let out a pained groan as he tumbled a dozen feet away from his original spot.

　　"...I was adjusting... Look at how messed u this guy got. It was done by the kid you said that we have nothing to worry about."

　　George scrambled back up into a half-sitting position, motioning at their mutilated lower limbs of his, and opened his eyes, looking straight at the massive man with a scar.

　　The young man's eyes were no longer bluish-gray and instead were jet-black just like the eyes of the older man who accessed his head...

　　"Already in full control? Is this child really have the same type of power as the individual who managed to kill one of our own? In the first place, wouldn't that remind him immune to whatever the other child throws at him?"

　　Carcassuss noticed the change immediately and asked in a dismissively mocking voice.

　　"This boy's power is just a juvenile version of the one the other one used. Also, according to the memories at hand, he is a child of a magician and someone calling himself a Heavenly Star Nation citizen. Apparently, the Heavenly Star Nation is a land beyond the line of death. According to the boy's father, the land where we live is but a small portion of a much greater world – but the thing is that mana and magic only exist here. Mana is also supposedly a poison for anyone besides the people already living here. His father was a part of an expedition meant to explore and conquer new lands but the entire armada worth of ships was destroyed one by one in the violent mana storms across the line of death and he miraculously survived... He had access to techniques cleansing the body of any poison called the law of Aquarius and a little bit of proficiency in the law of Aries which allowed him to survive as long as he did and even seduce a female magician and have a child with her before succumbing to the poison of mana. The boy himself is resistant to mana thanks to being a half, but he can use the star power. He has an affinity to the law of Gemini and the law of Taurus, thanks to being born under the right stars, and while he can use just a little bit of the law of Aries, he never learned the law of Aquarius due to his father passing away. There are apparently even more laws, but the star power users not born under the right stars cannot train without a skillful teacher, Fascinating...! So fascinating...! All this time we were trying so hard to become gods of this world, while we were believing a single house to be an entire city...!"

　　Kiorterell gasped, supporting himself on his hands alone and leaning back, staring at the cloudy sky with a smile that some would describe as dreamy while the others would call it straight-up insane.

　　"You do realize that his father could have just lied to him, while he just had some rare disease and a variant attribute that he had passed down to him, making a whole story up to make his child feel better about his condition?"

　　...Carcassuss certainly belonged to the latter group, or at least was extremely skeptical about the whole tirade that the older man had gone on to.

　　"Nonsense! This explanation makes so much more sense! Look at this! Law of Gemini!"

　　Kiorterell scoffed, shaking George's head while smiling wildly before calling out the name of a star technique.

　　"Look! See?! Isn't that just incredible?!"

　　The next moment another George crawled his way from behind the original one and cheered with excitement.

　　"That's not all! Law of Taurus!"

　　*WHAM*

　　Kiorterell's copy called out and punched the ground, creating a crater that a strong earth magician would not be ashamed of making – but it ended up disappearing just a few moments later.

　　The copy of Kiorterell, not the hole he created.

　　"Not very impressive, probably just a rare variant attribute after all. Something like that would never defeat Evorietto. We should be careful and observe the situation – what's ten more years of waiting for us?"

　　Carcassuss was stone cold with his reaction and wasn't mincing his words.

　　"The strength of the laws is only like that now, because this body is severely injured! Not to mention that hit just now – it completely ignores mana and enchanted gear! I have clear memories of this boy decimating mages in full enchanted gear as if they were wearing paper! I'm telling you, commander, this is the real deal!"

　　Kiorterell objected to the statement rather vigorously, pointing at George's legs that looked more like mincemeat than actual limbs.

　　"Tsk... if that's the case then wouldn't that mean that you would get damaged while possessing him if you let him recover and then use the full power of those techniques?"

　　The commander of the Ghosts of Bellcephora merely clicked his tongue and eaved his hand dismissively as if he already rejected the idea and was about to tell the older man to leave the body of the dark-haired young man and leave him to perish on his own.

　　"No. That's the thing, commander~! This kid's body can handle mana – although it has a much lower resistance to it than our commoners – and can't get rid of it. It builds up over the years and lowers his resistance more and more. As long as he will not miraculously unlock the knowledge of the law of Aquarius – I am perfectly safe! As for this injury... Could you just cut off the legs?"

　　*SHING*

　　Kiorterell wasn't going to give up on his own plan – whatever it was – and apparently, George was supposed to play a part in it, so he asked for cooperation.

　　And his commander certainly didn't hesitate to fulfill his request, cleanly cleaving off the messed-up muscles and bones, leaving George with just two stumps that got engulfed in darkness as soon as the damage was done.

　　Then, as if it was the most normal thing in the world, the darkness extended, creating makeshift limbs that Kiorterell put into action the next moment.

　　He stood up and dusted off George's torso before twisting the young man's face into his own evil smile lacking sanity.

　　"Now then. Commander, since I am already here, and you are already here – why don't we come to check up on the variant magician who used the plan I set on the right track to pave his way to the crown of Bellcephora? It's the other kid we were supposed to have our eyes on. He can use darkness attribute, and with his wits alone he proved to be worthy of joining our ranks."

　　Kiorterell checked the mobility of the rest of the body he possessed and asked, facing Carcassuss without changing his unhinged but enthusiastic expression.

　　"He seems to be pursuing the same dream that we do, and he does seem to be trying his hardest to master the darkness attribute, although he doesn't seem to have a talent for it. That makes him more akin to people we usually assassinate... but I guess that we could spare a moment to test him."

　　Although skeptical at first, the commander of the Ghosts of Bellcephora agreed to his subordinate's request, nodding his head benevolently while releasing his darkness blade and scratching the part of his scar going down his neck.

　　"We shall see whether he is indeed as wise as you claim he is, or whether the power he gained recently had gone to his head inflating his ego beyond any reason."

　　He breathed out and submerged himself into darkness, without waiting for the Kiorterell – who still followed him with nothing more to say.