Chapter 70. The Crimson Fragment (1)
Following Locke, Verden headed toward Gluttony's stronghold. And behind them, Theon trailed after.
Even if he wanted to run, there was a magic circle engraved on his clothes, and the chances of slipping away from the two of them were close to zero, so he had no choice.
They minimized rest and pushed their speed to the maximum.
What greeted them at their destination was an ancient structure. Judging from its architectural style, it seemed to be some kind of ruin from the past, and at its entrance stood figures shrouded entirely in black robes, unmoving.
"As expected, this must be the right place. Should we take them out one by one?"
Verden to the left, Locke to the right.
The two moved at the same time. Verden's merciless magic blew an enemy's head clean off, while Locke snapped another's neck from the front.
Flicking his hand after tossing the corpse aside, Locke muttered,
"Not bad for disposable underlings. Well, since you helped Lady Leira with her trial, I guess this much is expected. Anyway, the guards don't seem like much. Should we just storm in quickly?"
"As you please."
"Good. Then I'll take the lead. I'm definitely faster than you."
Locke stepped forward boldly.
He certainly seemed confident in his skills, but for some reason it felt like he was underestimating Verden.
'Well, not that it matters.'
Whatever he thought, it wasn't worth interfering.
With that thought, Verden followed behind Locke.
They officially entered the ruins.
Moving swiftly, Locke struck the back of an enemy's neck before he could even react. What followed was a deadly barrage—elbows, knees, and kicks.
The vital points destroyed in an instant, the enemies never rose again.
'An intriguing technique. I'm almost curious who he learned it from.'
Bare hands, without even a pair of gauntlets.
Not a single opponent withstood more than two strikes from the explosive power that erupted at his fingertips.
One opponent swung his sword in haste, but Locke smacked the blade aside with his palm, then struck the chest and released his aura. The man's breastbone shattered completely, his internal organs crushed into pulp.
Verden had seen knights who infused their swordsmanship with aura, but never had he seen a technique that destroyed the enemy from within.
Crack!
With a sharp roundhouse, Locke shattered another foe's torso and came to a halt.
Before them lay a staircase descending deeper underground. Unlike before, something unpleasant could be felt from below—enough that even Verden instinctively furrowed his brows.
Flexing his hands, Locke said,
"Seems like this is the real place. Ready?"
Verden nodded, then turned his gaze toward Theon.
The silent pressure that he would die if he tried anything foolish made Theon break into a cold sweat as he nodded frantically.
Once the three of them had prepared themselves, they set their feet upon the stairs, heading toward the heart of the stronghold.
"This is…"
And they were confronted with a horrifying sight they had not expected.
***
Corpses, corpses, corpses.
Bodies, their skin shriveled black like mummies, filled the place. No trace of life could be felt, only death and agony lingered in the air.
Locke grimaced as he looked around.
"This is bad…"
They all knew well of the atrocities Gluttony had committed.
Using people as experimental subjects, and with the delusion of evolving humanity through devouring, intending to eradicate the old race of mankind—how many countless victims had been created in the process.
But this was a first.
Hundreds of humans, abnormal species, beasts, and magical beasts shriveled into husks, piled up like trash.
Locke prodded one with his finger. It sank in without resistance, brittle bones crumbling within, as if the body had been dried out for decades.
"What the hell were they doing here? Hey, Gluttony brat, do you really not know?"
"I-I don't! I've seen them use people for experiments, but never like this…"
Even Theon, who had been with Gluttony since childhood, was shaken.
He couldn't understand why they would go to such lengths, risking exposure, to abduct so many humans. Nor why the corpses were dried out like this.
Verden, quietly observing, stepped closer to one of the bodies.
'A necklace…'
A pendant shaped like a bird's footprint.
On the dead man's fingernails were scratch marks, likely from a goblin's claws judging by their form.
It was the corpse of Niles, the man the village children had been searching for.
Verden gazed down at Nile's face.
Judging by the state of the body, he had clearly died alive. His grotesquely shriveled expression was filled with helplessness, pain, hatred, and rage.
Emotions Verden knew better than anyone.
A powerless death, futile hope.
Surely this man perished in torment, clinging to such emotions until the end. If Verden had failed or abandoned Defying the Heavens, he might have met the same end.
'Disgusting.'
Crack.
He retrieved Nile's necklace and stored it in his spatial bag.
Continuing his search, he found a long groove beneath the mound of corpses.
Inside, dried blood was caked, the trail stretching on toward somewhere. Verden followed it silently.
"Hey! Wait up!"
Locke and Theon hurried after him.
The torchlight illuminated the darkness of the ruins. The stench of blood grew heavier, rot and decay assaulting their senses, until at last they came upon a vast cavern at the end of the corridor.
A stairway leading down.
And at its center, a massive stone coffin.
Verden followed the groove, which was connected to the stone coffin.
Just as he was about to step forward, his consciousness turned upward, and at that moment, someone descended before the coffin.
A mage with bright yellow eyes, his nose and mouth wrapped in bandages.
"An uninvited guest from the Ark has come. Hound Locke."
"Who the hell are you calling a hound? Monster."
Locke retorted bluntly.
The mage spoke in a cold voice.
"Not a monster, but a new humanity. Yet your Ark distorts that truth. No matter. The cause has begun, and change has been accelerated. I do not know how you discovered this place, but you are already too late. And the outcome has already been decided."
From the shadows, Gluttony's members appeared.
Among them were the transplantees, four in total including the mage. Locke stood with a calm air, seemingly relaxed, but in truth, he was looking at the situation with seriousness.
'Never thought there would be four transplantees. Alone, this would be dangerous.'
Locke had no particular expectations for Verden.
Even if they were both candidates of the Ark, not many were exceptionally strong, and to Locke, this gray-haired mage was nothing more than a hanger-on who happened to help with Leira's trial.
Locke clenched his fist.
The mage tilted his head sideways and let out a low laugh.
"Kuhuhu. So the dog who has hunted down so many of our kind values his life after all. I don't know who the two beside you are, but unfortunate for them. They will suffer a fate worse than death. Still, there is no need to fear. Your life force, I will ensure it is used entirely, for our 'Gluttony'."
Gluttony's members began to move.
Taking a deep breath, Locke stepped forward, readying himself.
"I'll block the front, you take the rear—huh?"
Verden walked forward, passing Locke.
Spinning his staff lightly as if loosening his body, Verden spoke to Locke.
"I'll handle this."
"What? What do you mean—"
Fwoooosh!
A vast amount of magic power erupted from Verden's body. The density was overwhelming. The materialized mana began to affect reality, cracks forming in the floor beneath his feet and along the surrounding structures.
The mage narrowed his eyes at the ominous flow of mana.
'A candidate of the Ark? I've never heard of anyone with such an appearance.'
Judging by the mana alone, he seemed to slightly surpass him.
The mage, who had seven transplanted hearts within himself, felt a wave of displeasure at someone possessing even greater magic power than him, but quickly suppressed it.
Mana was only mana, and as long as it came down to strength, he could overwhelm it.
Thud. The mage slammed his staff onto the ground.
Then, watching Verden approach him step by step, he spoke.
"Leave only the head and the heart."
The battle began.
The transplantees and Gluttony's members charged at Verden all at once. Heavy blows and powerful magic flew across, the shockwaves collapsing the surroundings.
Locke tried to rush in to help, but he could not.
In the eerily silent center, surrounded by corpses and blood, Theon froze stiff with terror, while Locke muttered vacantly,
"…Huh?"
***
The transplantees held special status within Gluttony.
Having survived the low-success-rate transplant surgeries, they had taken a step closer to the new humanity. Few in number, they carried out important missions and possessed strength befitting their role.
And here were four such beings.
Moreover, they had a record of killing Ark candidates from other nations. For that reason, they never doubted their own power.
Until now.
Thud. The mage fell to his knees.
The arm that once held the staff was nothing but ash, and a stone shard embedded in his abdomen bled ceaselessly.
He looked around.
The giant who had transplanted an ogre's muscles. The woman who had transplanted the vocal cords of a Roar Wolf. The man who wielded an impossible swordsmanship with four arms.
All three, apart from himself, lay sprawled on the floor or buried under debris. Their bodies utterly destroyed, beyond any recovery.
The other members of Gluttony had been struck by fierce lightning, their corpses unrecoverable.
"H-how…"
The opponent was, like him, an upper 4th-tier mage.
Even if his mana reserves were slightly lacking, they were still equals, so with superior numbers, there should have been no reason to lose.
Yet the result was annihilation.
He could not comprehend it.
The mage lifted his head.
Chillingly clear blue eyes were gazing upon him.
Verden brushed the dust off his robe.
Some of the cloth had been damaged by spells he had not fully dodged, and the Mahbat's Leather he wore beneath bore a few scratches.
'Weaker than that monster who came seeking the Salamander's Heart, but strong nonetheless.'
Still, for such a confined space, ending it like this was a satisfactory result.
Verden stepped closer.
The jewel on his staff flickered with mana's light. His gaze met the mage's, who knelt before him.
Eyes filled with pure, unrelenting disgust.
Feeling that icy dread for the first time, the mage muttered faintly,
"For Glutto—"
Splat!
The staff struck his head, erasing it without a trace. His life force dwindled, and the many heartbeats that had throbbed quietly all faded into silence.
Verden shook the blood from his staff.
In any case, with Gluttony's fragment within him, it was said no meaningful information could be extracted from his mouth, so there was no regret.
He checked his surroundings once more.
Though Locke and Theon stared at him blankly, it was nothing to worry about. Confirming that every Gluttony member in this place had been wiped out, he suppressed his mana.
'Now then…'
The stone coffin at the center.
The groove Verden had followed led here. With telekinesis, he lifted the coffin's lid and peered inside.
Contrary to his expectations, the interior remained pristine.
And at its center, three fragments, crimson like blood, lay side by side.