Chapter 1024 – 1024. The Plum Blossom Swordsman Reincarnated Into The Baek Family
Kugugugugugung.
Our footsteps, which had been trudging along the mountain range, came to a halt. The ground was shaking. And not just shaking. There was something beneath the ground.
I lowered my gaze to my feet. Activating my Heavenly Eye, I peered into the earth. A massive, worm-like demonic beast was rising toward us.
“Yuria, Elena! It’s coming from underground!!”
Elena used magic. The weight of our bodies suddenly lightened, and we floated into the air. A few seconds later, a huge, worm-like demonic beast burst from the ground. The creature, with skin that looked as hard as rock, opened its mouth wide to devour us. But its mouth never reached us. The beast’s body plummeted back down.
‘Thunderbolt!’
Kwa kwa kwang!
A bolt of lightning from the sky struck the demonic beast’s long body. It had an effect. The creature writhed.
Weeeeeeeeee! Weeeeeeeeee!
Something fell from its rocky body. Looking closely, they were insects that resembled beetles. Of course, they weren’t ordinary insects. They were demonic beasts. Looking closely, I could see saw-like teeth rotating inside their mouths.
“Insects! They’re disgusting just to look at! I’ll burn them all!”
Pajijijijijik.
I scattered lightning toward the insects. The insects, struck by the current, fell to the ground with a slightly savory smell.
Kugugugugugung!
The ground shook. I glanced down. The giant rock worm was circling around before rising again. It was still targeting us.
“What an arrogant insect. It’s just kicking up dust. I’ll take care of it.”
Yuria descended. In a flash, she was on the ground. With my current skills, it was impossible to completely grasp Yuria’s movements.
The rock worm opened its mouth and rushed toward Yuria, who had landed on the ground. Yuria drew her dagger. The moment I felt her body stretch forward, it was already over. The huge worm was split in half, its bizarre innards and red blood staining the ground as it died.
I dealt with the insects and landed on the ground. I was about to tell Yuria she had done a good job when…
Kugugugugugugung!
The ground began to tremble.
It seemed there was more than one worm.
***
After wandering through the Hebersite Mountains for three days, we found the remains of the Dragon Lord.
It was underground in a certain location. The surrounding area was dug up here and there. It didn’t feel artificial but rather like the aftermath of the giant rock worms’ rampage. It seemed it had originally been above ground but had fallen below.
‘Is this the Dragon Lord’s remains?’
The Dragon Lord’s remains, which I saw directly, looked like hard rock. You had to look closely to see that it resembled a dragon.
‘If it looked like real dragon bones, people would have recognized it.’
I approached the rock and punched it. Thump, thump, the sound echoed back from inside. It meant the inside was hollow.
This time, I put more force into my punch.
Kwaaang!
The rock shattered, revealing the Dragon Lord’s bones hidden inside. I created lightning at my fingertips. The dark space was illuminated. Perhaps due to the long years, the Dragon Lord’s bones had turned yellowish.
‘There’s no heart here. Is it somewhere else?’
There were a total of seven rocks, including this one. The heart must be in the other six. I could take my time. Time was on my side.
I checked the second and third remains. There was no heart.
“Master. Uninvited guests have arrived.”
Yuria said as I was searching for the fourth remains.
“Uninvited guests?”
I followed Yuria’s gaze and looked outside. There were three men. Two of them, except for one, were people I knew.
“Kyle and Therius…”
Black hair, black eyes, a face like a nobleman. Kyle was almost the same as when I had seen him before.
On the other hand, Therius had changed. His severed arm was reattached, his whole body was muscular, and he was over 2 meters tall. His muscles were so hard that he momentarily looked like a golem made of rock rather than a human.
‘And the flamboyant blond-haired, blue-eyed man next to them… is that Baron Olrond Glbett, whom I heard about in the reports?’
Baron Olrond Glbett. He had become Kyle’s subordinate a few months ago, and I had received reports that Kyle almost always took Glbett with him.
They also seemed to have noticed us and paused.
I raised my hand and waved at Kyle. Kyle and I were brothers. We were currently maintaining a not-so-bad relationship. Kyle also recognized me as his younger brother, so he would meet my gaze and wave back.
“……”
Kyle didn’t react. His atmosphere was different from usual. Kyle looked back and forth between me and Yuria before drawing his sword.
“Kyle, brother?!”
“……”
I called out to Kyle. Kyle remained silent.
I felt my head grow cold. This situation, wasn’t it the perfect setup for an assassination?
‘Kyle is trying to kill me here? Not Gent, but Kyle?’
Given Kyle’s righteous personality, assassination was impossible. Unless I was his enemy. I was a rival competing for the successor position, and his brother. I was definitely not his enemy.
‘Has Kyle changed as the original story changed?’
It was entirely possible.
I clicked my tongue. My plan to use Kyle had hit a snag.
“Yujin Prukerussssss!!!!”
There was someone shouting my name. It was Therius. The guy who had been an arm cripple was screaming my name with a voice mixed with hatred and anger as he charged at me. In each of his hands, he held a large greatsword.
“Yuria, Elena. Don’t kill them. We need to find out what’s going on.”
“Understood.”
“Do we even need to step in? It seems Yuria alone is more than enough.”
I couldn’t deny Elena’s words. Yuria was currently at the highest level of Aura Master. She was more than capable of sweeping away the enemies by herself.
Yuria stepped forward. She was relaxed.
“Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!! Yujin Prukerus!! I’ll kill you!! I’ll kill you and save Nepia!!”
Therius, who was charging, fell forward. His ankle had been grabbed by a shadow hand. Therius, who had fallen spectacularly, rolled down the slope. Therius, covered in minor injuries, got up.
Pak!
Yuria’s back kick struck Therius’s nape. Therius lost consciousness and fell over. Then, shadow chains appeared and wrapped around Therius’s body. Therius was subdued.
“Yuria. You’re strong. I thought you were unusual… but to think you were hiding this kind of power.”
Kyle said as he approached Yuria. Kyle’s gaze and atmosphere toward Yuria were wistful. It seemed Kyle was under some kind of terrible delusion.
“There’s no particular reason to hide my power anymore. Kyle, you seem to have changed quite a bit since I last saw you.”
“Yuria. You’re being deceived by Yujin.”
Kyle said abruptly.
“…Huh?”
Yuria tilted her head. I was just as puzzled. Was there something I was hiding from Yuria? There were quite a few things I hadn’t mentioned, but nothing I was specifically hiding. Yuria was the one I trusted the most.
“Yujin is using you. Look now. He’s putting you in front to block me. He’ll probably be toying with you at night too. Step aside, Yuria. I’ll kill Yujin and save you.”
“…Kyle. You seem to be mistaken about a lot of things. I have given everything to my master. It’s only right that my master uses me. Even if my master deceives me, I don’t care. I’ve already given my body and soul to my master.”
“…It seems you’ve been thoroughly deceived by Yujin, just as Baron Glbett said. It’s okay, don’t worry! I’ll save you!”
Kyle tried to pass by Yuria and target me. Red aura rose from his sword. The aura gathered on the sword, forming an aura blade. His aura blade was as red as a plum blossom.
Yuria threw a dagger at Kyle. Kyle, startled, held his sword sideways. Clang! The dagger and his sword collided. The dagger bounced off and stuck into the ground, and Kyle’s body was pushed back.
“To think you had this kind of power…! Yuria! Step aside! I don’t want to fight you!”
“Kyle. Something seems strange. There are more than one or two things that don’t make sense. Did you perhaps hit your head? Or… did someone tell you something strange?”
“You’re the strange one, Yuria! Why are you following Yujin? Yujin is just using you! Listen to me!”
Yuria sighed. Rarely, her expression showed annoyance. It seemed she didn’t like dealing with Kyle.
“Kyle. There’s no need to disguise your feelings with nonsensical words. Just say honestly that you want me. Your feelings for me and your jealousy toward my master are clearly visible.”
“N-no. I’m doing this for you…!”
“I have never thought of you as special, Kyle. Rather, you were annoying to deal with. Yes, if it weren’t for my master’s orders, I wouldn’t have even wanted to deal with you.”
Kyle hesitated at Yuria’s words. Then, he suddenly turned his head toward me. Kyle’s killing intent was directed at me. A chill ran down my spine from the Aura Master’s killing intent.
“You’re overstepping your bounds.”
A cold voice echoed. Immediately after, Kyle’s body trembled. Kyle looked at Yuria with a hint of fear in his eyes.
“Yuria. Don’t you want freedom? I can kill Yujin and give you freedom.”
“Freedom without my master… The thought alone is terrifying.”
“Hoo…. Yuria. I’ll be honest. I… Yuria, I love you. I want you to be happy. I’ll make you happy.”
“I hate you, Kyle. If it weren’t for my master’s orders, I would have killed you… It’s a pity.”
“Y-you hate me? Th-that can’t be. You’ve been waiting for me.”
Kyle was shaken.
Baron Glbett shouted from afar.
“Kyle!! Get a grip!! Yuria has been brainwashed by Yujin! We must kill Yujin and break Yuria’s brainwashing! Kill Yujin!!”
“Baron Glbett… The Baron is right. I’ll kill Yujin and break Yuria’s brainwashing.”
Kyle charged at me. And then, he was kicked by Yuria and flew backward, rolling on the ground. Yuria looked at the unconscious Kyle emotionlessly before turning her gaze to Baron Glbett.
“I can feel the power of a demon in your voice. Did you bewitch him with demonic power?”
“Bewitch? What a terrible insult. I was merely giving appropriate advice as Kyle’s military advisor!”
“Your voice is truly disgusting. First, I’ll deal with…”
Yuria couldn’t finish her sentence and quickly swung her dagger. A plum blossom that was flying toward her shattered with a clang.
“Yuria… If you keep interfering, I’ll defeat you and kill Yujin. That would be the best course of action.”
Kyle’s skin turned purple. His eyes turned red. No matter how you looked at it, he was closer to a demon than a warrior.
‘Demonic possession…? Kyle has fallen into demonic possession?’
Purple plum blossoms bloomed around Kyle.
The plum blossoms, made of aura, rotated and scattered their petals. Yuria blocked each plum blossom with her dagger and shadows. The scent of the plum blossoms was terrible.
“Yuria! I will! I’ll kill Yujin and save you!!”
Yuria was expressionless. Her dagger shattered Kyle’s sword, which was drawing plum blossoms. Shadow chains grabbed Kyle’s legs, and small throwing knives from Yuria’s hand pierced Kyle’s shoulder and arm. Kyle lost his balance and collapsed. Yuria stepped on Kyle’s head. Bang! Kyle fainted.
Yuria left the unconscious Kyle behind and ran toward Baron Glbett. Baron Glbett, terrified, turned to run away, but he was caught before he could even go 10 meters.
