Chapter 85:
"You're welcome!" Asta grinned brightly, his usual loud and energetic self, while Banaza's hesitant voice cut through the atmosphere.
"I can still feel it... my magic is being blocked by that strange residue in the air. This magic circle won't activate," Vanessa murmured as she lay sprawled across the dusty ground, poking the poorly drawn circle with her pinky. Sure enough, there was no reaction—it was clearly hastily carved and lacked structure. Even without the suppression field, it likely wouldn't have activated correctly.
"Oh? I totally forgot!" Asta laughed sheepishly as he put down a very annoyed Noelle.
"Hmph! Idiot Asta!" Noelle huffed, giving him a weak punch on the shoulder before striding toward Vanessa. She instinctively stuck closer to the witch, knowing her Thread Magic provided the best defense under uncertain conditions.
"We're getting close... I can feel it! My brother—his mana... it's faint, but still alive!" Nivier's voice suddenly rose in a mixture of shock and relief. Though usually composed, her noble facade cracked as the emotional weight hit her.
"Then we don't have time to waste!" Asta's usual playful tone was replaced with seriousness. They pushed ahead—only to find the road littered with corpses.
"This is horrible..." Noelle gasped, shielding her nose from the stench. It was the first time she had seen so many bodies—the ground was painted red, and flies buzzed thick in the air.
"There must be thousands of them... This wasn't just a skirmish. This was a massacre." Vanessa's tone grew solemn. "And if they were trying to seize a stronghold like Windcliff Village, a place naturally fortified by terrain..."
"It would've been a disaster," Noelle murmured, her eyes scanning the silent devastation.
Asta paused, his brows furrowing. "What a waste... If I'd been here, I could've earned at least 100,000 points," he muttered, half-joking—but his grip on the Demon Slayer Sword tightened.
Suddenly, panicked screams echoed from a nearby path.
"Run! The Headless Soldiers—they're coming again!"
"Mom, save me! This place is cursed! We need to find Chris!"
"My head! Where's my head?!"
"They fell... into a sinkhole. But the area's crawling with relic cockroaches—we couldn't even get close!"
"I swear, when I get out of here, I'm burning that village to the ground! I'll kill them all!"
The group pressed forward and soon stumbled upon a ragtag group of surviving bandits—covered in blood and visibly terrified.
"I thought we'd question them, but now I think they've told us enough," Asta said grimly.
There were eight mages in total. Asta's eyes gleamed red—his Ki reading them all at once. With blinding speed, he vanished from sight.
"One." His blade cleaved through the first bandit's neck.
"Two. Three." More fell in a blur of steel and anti-magic.
"Wait! Don't kill us! We have intel!" one bandit shrieked, throwing himself on his knees.
"We escaped the black maggots... then hit a magic-null zone... and then the poisonous bees... We lost hundreds! But that wasn't the worst part! The Headless Soldiers—they're real! They're relics from the ancient battlefield, and they destroy anything alive! But... but I know a way to escape! Please! I swear I—"
Asta didn't hesitate. "You'll atone for your sins the same way you earned them." The Demon Slayer Sword struck once more, clean and merciless.
Ding!
You have defeated 8 First-Class Low-Rank Mages. Reward: 2400 Points.
"Not bad," Asta said with a shrug.
Vanessa turned to Nivier, her tone gentler. "They said your brother's in the cave. Can you still sense him?"
"Yes… his mana is weak, but it's him! But what do we do about the cockroaches guarding the entrance?" Nivier asked, her voice tight with panic.
"Cockroaches fear fire. I got this." Asta inhaled deeply and released a blazing Fireball Spell, enhanced through sheer force of will despite his lack of magic.
The flames sent a wave of chittering insects scattering. Some were caught in the blast and burned instantly.
Ding!
You have slain 59 Ancient Relic Cockroaches. Reward: 5900 Points.
"Everything here really is worth points…" Asta grinned as he leapt back into action, cutting down cockroaches with wild, relentless fury.
Noelle joined him immediately, casting precise, controlled Water Bombs that knocked out clusters of them. Vanessa's threads spread like a web, protecting Nivier and slicing through any that tried to flank them.
Ding!
You have slain 680 Ancient Relic Cockroaches. Reward: 68,000 Points.
"They're finally retreating..." Asta said as he swept the last of the cockroach bodies away using a whirlwind from his Demon-Dweller Sword. With the path clear, they stepped inside.
"It's so dark..." Noelle shivered, sticking closer to Asta. "This reminds me too much of the Shadow Palace…"
"There won't be any lighting runes here," Vanessa explained. "This place is no man-made dungeon. These ruins were born in the middle of magical warfare—pure destruction magic. There's almost nothing left from the old civilizations."
Noelle grimaced. "So, not even treasure?"
"Just relic curses and death," Vanessa replied grimly.
"There's someone up ahead," Asta said suddenly, his Sharingan-like focus piercing the dark.
"Is it my brother?!" Nivier cried out.
Asta nodded. "And... the bandit leader too. He spotted us."
"Well, well… Someone actually came for this useless brat?" the leader sneered. A fiery glow lit up his hand, revealing his twisted smirk as he hoisted Chris's battered body into view. "Which Magic Knight squad are you from? Golden Dawn? Hah, no… they'd never accept a dirty job like this…"
His eyes locked on the cloak slung over Asta's shoulder. "Black Bulls… of course. The bottom-feeders."
"Let's make a deal," the bandit leader said with a crooked grin. "I give you this half-dead trash... you let me go. Sounds fair, right?"
"Brother!!" Nivier gasped, tears springing to her eyes. Chris was barely conscious, his armor cracked, his body covered in grime and dried blood.
Asta stepped forward, sword raised, voice cold.
"No deals with scum."
****
"Ni...Nivier? Why are you here? How did you find this place?"
Chris's voice trembled as he raised his head, blood trickling from his temple. His body was battered, but his eyes—normally calm—were filled with panic. She was the only family he had left. His precious little sister.
"Well, well…" sneered the bandit leader, yanking Chris by the collar and dragging him forward toward the prisoners. "So this little dove is important to you? Good. Then if you don't want her to die screaming, you'd better tell me how to get out of here."
The brute flashed a cruel grin, throwing a glance at the girls from the Black Bull's support squad. Vanessa, unconscious but still alive, and Noelle, breathing heavily with a busted mana skin. Nivier trembled, clearly hiding her fear behind defiance. She wasn't yet a full-fledged Magic Knight, but her Silver Eagle blood was unmistakable.
"Hmph. A noble, are you?" the bandit muttered with a twisted grin, leering. "So many fine girls in this backwater... Who knew we'd find treasure in the slums of the Forsaken Realm?"
Chris winced, trying to smile through the pain. "If you lay one finger on her, you'll die before dawn. I'll make sure of it," he whispered, looking at Nebra. "Don't cry… okay?"
His consciousness started to slip. And in the haze, memories came flooding back—memories sharpened by death's approach.
****
Flashback
"Brother, why do the children always throw stones at me? Why do they call us... traitors?"
Chris, just a teenager then, gritted his teeth as he wiped the mud off Nivier's face. "Because our parents left behind a cursed name. But I'll change that. I'll become a Magic Knight, and people will look at us differently."
He had once believed that helping the village would bring redemption. When there was a landslide, he cleared the debris with his bare hands. If a villager's roof caved in, he repaired it without being asked. He hunted wild mana beasts, creatures that even experienced mages feared—but it was never enough.
He grew older and stronger, but the villagers only whispered louder behind his back.
"Fake hero."
"Son of traitors."