STM 156

Sidro didn’t feel good today. He was exhausted from a long trip, and his carriage even broke down. He asked to stay at the nearby Adeye residence, but it took half a day just to get permission.

“Who am I? Am I not the person who can handle the Eternal Flame, one of the temple’s greatest treasures?” He didn’t have much divine power, but he held a position in the temple because he possessed a unique power that the brazier reacted to.

He was exiled to the edge of the continent because of a very small, trivial mistake. But look, his power was important after all, so they called him back. Yet, how could the Adeye family treat him so poorly?

The annex Adeye provided was quite good, but it looked shabby compared to the main building visible through the window. People said the Adeye family only cared about money, and they definitely looked down on him. The assistant priest sent by the temple fueled Sidro’s anger even more.

“The temple decided to trust Priest Sidro’s ability and entrust the brazier to you first.”

The assistant priest showed the wooden box he carried. The assistant’s hands shook, but Sidro figured the man was just nervous to meet him.

The man wouldn’t steal the brazier just to give it to him, after all. This meant the temple recognized him.

“I’ll deliver the brazier to you in the evening. It’s a precious item, so we must avoid being seen.”

Yes, it was indeed precious. The Adeye family treated him with such contempt without even knowing that. He was such an important person.

Sidro glared at the main building outside and paced back and forth in the room anxiously. The assistant priest appeared long after the sky turned dark.

The long-awaited brazier was in his hands. A moment later, Sidro held the brazier to his chest and walked toward the back of the main building.

“I’ll show my skills to the Adeye family’s head myself.” His angry energy was sucked into the brazier, but he didn’t realize it because he walked so fast. Blue flames rose inside the brazier and began to spin rapidly like a whirlwind.

‎

‎

Thud!

The portal’s entrance opened in mid-air, so Haas tumbled onto the ground as he followed behind me.

“Ugh!”

He tried to stand up, but he sat back down as if he sprained his ankle.

“Haas, wait here.”

I gave him an order as he tried to follow, and then I ran toward the Adeye main building first. Guards rushed at me from nowhere. Fortunately, one of them recognized me.

“Who are you people… Oh? Lord Lu?”

I didn’t have the luxury to stop, so I shouted without even looking at them.

“Search the surroundings thoroughly and keep watch!”

I couldn’t check if they followed the order. I just ran and ran until I was out of breath. People inside the mansion ran out in surprise at my intrusion, perhaps because I arrived so loudly. I gave them the same command.

“Find anyone trying to attack the mansion right now! Search the interior and find anyone suspicious.”

Then I ran toward the stairs leading to the second floor in an instant. Solongo’s familiar voice reached me just as I reached the stairs.

“Lord Lu! What is going on…?”

“Where is Lantuya? Is she fine right now?”

“Lord Lu, please calm down. She took her medicine and is sleeping in her room now. She has frequent fevers, so it isn’t a particularly dangerous situation.”

I still felt like I needed to see Doctor Kim’s state to be relieved. I walked up the stairs and informed Solongo, who followed beside me.

“Hoiga is up to something.”

Solongo’s expression turned serious.

“That damn bastard even went so far as to use Grand Duke Sarne to push me into the Adeye mansion. Was there anything strange at the mansion today?”

“Anything strange… Ah.”

Solongo’s face turned pale as if something caught her attention. She briefly explained the hunting competition and a priest named Sidro in a flustered voice I hadn’t heard before.

“He’s staying here?” The only thing different from usual was the existence of this priest named Sidro. Solongo quickly explained.

“But he’s staying in the annex. It’s quite far from the main building.”

“Even so, if a problem occurs now, it means he’s the only possible cause.”

“I’m sorry. There was no other way. He insisted on using the fact that the brazier’s flame is a symbolic event for the hunting tournament, and the event can’t be held without it.”

Solongo’s words became as fast as my pace. These stairs are damn long. I cursed inwardly and asked without much thought.

“Is the brazier’s flame special?”

“Yes. It’s an item with strong divine power. There’s a legend that this single brazier stopped a swarm of monsters a long time ago. The flames from the brazier burned all the beasts…”

Tap.

Solongo stopped talking and stopped walking at the same time. I looked at her because of the strange feeling, and I stopped walking too. She stared at one spot, and her eyes widened inhorror.

I turned my head toward the east where she looked. A flickering blue light covered the windows of the second floor. I didn’t recognize its identity at first because of the color, but I soon realized it was fire.

A flame, large enough to tower over the building, swept over Adeye like a tsunami.

‎

‎

Tairok attacked without respite. He wandered through the maze of mist for a long time, cutting down people and illusions, and finally reached the black magic’s core.

The core was a person, not a black magic stone, just as he expected. The fog cleared as he reached the center, but it was already dark, and only dim moonlight lit the world.

However, he could recognize the person rooted in the middle of the dried-up Crystal Lake. “Rooted” was a literal description of what he saw.

A hooded woman sat on the ground, and a dark red liquid that looked like blood spread out like roots around her.

Black energy flowed like smoke from the blood that stretched in all directions. Her face was as pale as a corpse, perhaps because she cast dark magic using her own blood.

It seemed like she would die even if no one lifted a finger, but Tairok approached her with his sword. The dark mage raised her eyes at the sound of footsteps. Eyes without a soul, like Dorgo’s, looked at Tairok without emotion.

“How surprising. A mere human broke through this. But it’s too late.”

Tairok could feel the meaning of her words through the ground even if she didn’t explain. He felt the sound and vibration shaking the earth the moment he escaped the fog

Anyone could tell what this meant. However, Tairok raised his sword indifferently as if he didn’t care.

He cut through her body before the dark mage could say anything more.

The fog that filled the lake’s surroundings vanished instantly as soon as the dark mage’s body fell to the ground. However, the blood of many people that already soaked the lake bed summoned the monsters.

Rumble!

The ground cracked like a bomb had exploded, and a monster’s leg emerged. Tairok flicked the blood off his sword and looked around with cold eyes.

Monsters broke through the ground across the entire lake bed. Tairok smirked as he saw the countless monsters.

“Too late? I’m right on time.”

‎

‎

“Matriarch!”

Solongo’s scream felt distant. She was only a few meters away, but the interior was like a battlefield, so that short distance felt like hundreds of meters.

It was because no one could possibly put out that fire that hit the mansion. Unfortunately, Doctor Kim’s room was located at the eastern end, which was the source of the flames.

Flames erupted from the room in an instant before the servants could even do anything. The task of getting Doctor Kim out was delayed because many people tried to put out the fire first.

One person finally managed to carry her out on her back while she was drugged and asleep, but the fire blocked the escape route in seconds.

My body moved as soon as I saw that from a distance. I heard shouts behind me trying to stop me, but I only saw the slumped figure of Doctor Kim.

I didn’t even feel my breath tighten from the smoke or the air grow hot from the heat. I didn’t hear the burning building scream as if it would collapse at any moment.

I only saw Doctor Kim, and I rushed through the smoke.

[Danger of falling objects on the top right.]

A portion of the ceiling fell with a cracking sound as soon as Mo’s warning appeared.

Crash!

I dodged it by a hair’s breadth and stumbled, but I squeezed out my strength and jumped over the obstacles and flames.

I only ran a short distance, but my heart beat so fast it felt like it would explode. However, the state of the servant who protected Doctor Kim with her whole body was even more serious.

“Cough, cough! Lord Lu, please take the matriarch…”

Her back was burnt black because she protected Doctor Kim.

“Just wait a moment. I’ll come back for you soon.”

I promised her and then picked up Doctor Kim. Smoke was the biggest problem when a fire broke out. Doctor Kim was even more vulnerable to smoke because she was asleep from the drugs.

But I had to escape these flames in front of me first. I held Doctor Kim in my arms and jumped over the fire just like the servant did. I felt a pain in my legs, but I didn’t even have time to check. I just ran through the hallway again.

“Lord Lu, be careful!”

Someone screamed, and the rest of the ceiling that already sagged once began to collapse. The wood covered in blue flames looked like it would crush me at any moment, but I managed to avoid it.

It was because I entered survival mode now. I lost my balance for a moment, but I escaped the danger by following the arrows Mo displayed.

I finally reached the western terrace where Solongo was. However, this place where many people gathered wasn’t a safe zone anymore.

“Lord Lu, are you alright?!”

Solongo approached and took Doctor Kim as soon as I placed her on the floor.

“Because of the smoke, cough, we have to go outside, but…”

Solongo’s voice trailed off as she looked outside the terrace. This mansion was now trapped behind a wall of blue flames that stood taller than a person.

The people outside trying to save us and the people inside trying to escape all struggled to put out this fire, but it it was as if it wouldn’t vanish until it burned us all. But someone’s crisis came before that.

“Ah, matriarch!”

Solongo put her ear to Doctor Kim’s chest and started to cry.

“Her breathing is so weak it’s about to stop. Cough, she needs treatment immediately…”

I knelt on the floor and barely breathed from the aftereffects of leaving survival mode, but I turned my head in shock. Her already thin and fragile body slumped and showed no reaction .

I hurried to grab her wrist. A chill ran through my body even before I checked her pulse. The skin I touched was cold.

Why did I come here? I came here to save you.

I gritted my teeth and pulled out the key hanging from my neck. That damn fire won’t go out with normal water?

Then what if I use water that isn’t normal? And in a massive amount like a lake? I gripped the double of the Crystal Lake and called its name.

“Key.”

I said it through grit teeth, but there was still no reaction. Why? Why won’t it work? I felt frustrated and my heart sank.

What on earth do I have to do to use it? I slammed the key onto the floor with all my despair, anger, and desire.

“Fuck, open up!!!!”