Chapter 78

Chapter 78

‘It’s strange.’

Leonhard frowned.

With every step he took, the rotten flowers were extinguished.

Due to the nature of the wizards, there was no way they would let the environment around the research institute they hid become like this. If so, it was correct to assume that these flowers withered in an instant because of the accident that had just occurred.

As he bent down and took a handful of wilted petals, he could feel the remnants of thick magic.

‘…As expected.’

Leonhard sighed.

Long ago, he remembered hearing about living magic stones from Matthias.

‘Still, I didn’t think it was this common.’

On the contrary, didn’t Matthias say that he was raising a few living magic stones himself? However, since there was no wizard to answer now, Leonhard put aside the trivial question to one side of his head.

After a while, a shabby house caught his eye and he ran straight toward the house. Even though he didn’t feel any magic as he approached the house, he was certain that it was this place.

Leonhard knocked hard on the door.

—Bang.

The door didn’t budge.

‘It ended up like this.’

The next moment, when he took out Rashir and groped for the door with the tip of his sword, he could feel a complex barrier.

—Creak.

Before long, the barrier was broken, and a huge fortress suddenly appeared in front of him. Leonhard slammed the door with his foot.

“…Lord Leonhardt. I don’t think it’s polite to do this.”

As the door slid open and an old man peeked out, he sighed.

“Lute Garcia. Did the cowards on the inside send you out as a scapegoat?”

“No.”

The old man shook his head.

“I have no intention of fighting you. Now, come in.”

Leonhard slowly entered the laboratory.

Dozens of wizards stood in the lobby on the first floor, staring at him expressionlessly. At that moment, the hair all over his body stood on end. Leonhard stared at the floor without even paying attention to the other wizards.

“It’s underground.”

“You noticed right away.”

“Where is the way down?”

“….”

No one answered.

Leonhard glared at Lute Garcia with burning eyes.

“I will ask you one more time. Where is the way down?”

“…There is none.”

“What?”

Lute García struggled to get his words out.

“We are all… locked out together. No one can go down there anymore.”

To Celine, ‘she’d rather die’ was a taboo word because there was nothing more terrible to her than her death.

But now, there was only one thought in her head.

‘…I’d rather die.’

Celine gritted her teeth and put strength into her hand, holding Ringzor. She did all she could.

Stronger, harder, faster…

All the magic power in her body was channeled through Ringzor and poured into this terrible darkness.

Still, her effort was like a glass of water poured over hot sand on a summer day. The only thing that happened was the darkness that tightened her throat even more. In the end, she had to be content with her barely creating a shield that she could hide from herself.

Celine trembled as she crouched her body. One time, she may lose her grip on Ringzor.

‘…Then, I’ll be swallowed up as well.’

If that were the case, she would really have nothing to depend on except for someone from outside to rescue her.

‘Would Leonhard come?’

Celine bit her lip.

It was a stupid idea.

How would he know where she was? It would be better to expect the wizards upstairs to rescue her.

As she closed her eyes tightly, the image of Leonhard in the hotel leaning against the wall and looking at her came to mind.

‘Ah, movement magic…!’

She didn’t understand why this thought came to her now. Celine quickly took out the magic stone that Rose had given her, but nothing happened.

“Ah…”

A moan of pain escaped Celine’s mouth.

As she cooled her heated head for a moment, thinking about it, it was only natural that she couldn’t use movement magic. The only thing she could use now was killing magic using Ringzor as a medium. The protective shield that she now wrapped around herself was also just an application of killing magic.

Celine lowered her head, feeling despair equivalent to the darkness that was stalking her beyond the protective shield.

“What are you talking about?”

Leonhard couldn’t believe his ears.

“There are your colleagues down here…!”

“Lord Leonhard, would you like the entire empire to perish?”

“…You can’t fix it, so you’re going to bury them alive?”

He did not hide his sarcasm.

“Have you tried to save them?”

“….”

Only silence came.

Leonhard did not question them further. Arguing was a waste.

“Celine Hunt. Did she come here? Where is she now? Did she ever come back?”

“….”

Likewise, only silence came. He glared at the wizards who were avoiding each other, feeling like he was going to prey on them.

“I guess you don’t know. So, where is Lute Rose? She is your colleague, so of course, you know.”

“….”

“Tell me right now. It is an order.”

Saying so, he pulled out Rashir.

Although these wizards are numerous, they would not be able to compete with him. He then aimed his Rashir at Lute Garcia’s chest.

“Tell me.”

Lute Garcia let out a bitter sigh.

“Lute Rose went underground… with Lute Celine.”

Leonhard gritted his teeth.

Even though he was not surprised because he had expected it a little while ago, only despair and anger remained in the place where the hope had died down. At the same time, his hand that held Rashir became stronger as he chewed up every word and spat it out.

“Guide me down the basement.”

“It’s closed.”

Lute Garcia repeated the same words like a parrot, and then he added a few words.

“Is it because of the curse? I know it has already been solved.”

Leonhard’s face flushed with anger.

“Guide me if you don’t want to die!”

“Are you trying to kill us?”

A fishy smile appeared on Lute Garcia’s lips.

“I am amazed that you have such guts.”

Instead of answering, Leonhard slammed the floor with his Rashir. The floor cracked into pieces with a loud rupture. Through the gap, she could see the stairs going down to the basement.

“Stop…!”

At the same time as Lute Garcia shouted, dozens of wizards rushed at him at the same time.

Leonhard gritted his teeth.

‘I don’t have time…!’

He didn’t know what happened below, but it wouldn’t be an ordinary accident if it completely withered away the living mana stones.

He thought that Celine might be suffering for every minute and every second he wasted here, that the knuckles that held Rashir turned white. However, the fact that he couldn’t cut down these wizards like monsters made his stomach burn even more.

As Leonhard gritted his teeth, water, fire, light, earth… magic of various attributes covered him.

The wizards poured their magic with all their might until they couldn’t see him properly. Not a single person hesitated or lowered the strength of their magic at the thought of not killing Leonhardt, even by mistake.

All of them had an intuition that if they didn’t take full force, it would be them who would suffer.

After a few minutes.

There were no thoughts left in Leonhard’s head except for one thing, Celine’s safety. He mechanically destroyed the magic flying towards him and clung to the wizards.

“Hiiiickk…!”

A few screamed in astonishment.

Leonhard focused his attention on a few wizards with particularly strong firepower. Immediately a strong wind blew them back.

‘This should have been enough.’

He gasped for breath and made eye contact with each one who was still standing on their two legs. All were no less exhausted than him or had one or two broken limbs from the wind. Seeing that, he slowly turned his back and jumped through the cracks in the floor.

Dozens of eyes pierced his back.

Leonhard ran down the stairs without stopping.

‘Celine, Celine, Celine…’

He tried to ignore the possibility that Celine was dead, which kept popping up in his mind. Celine was in danger down there.

She was the only thing that mattered to him.

Eventually, he reached the end of the underground stairs, and he stopped in front of a huge door.

“….?”

The door was firmly locked with dozens of barriers that apparently had just been created. A cold realization soon overtook him.

This was truly a live burial…

A live burial that did not attempt to save everyone beyond this door.

Leonhard lifted Rashir.

—Chaeng!

—Chaeng!

—Chaeng!

By the time his body was drenched in sweat, all barriers were broken. Contrary to him recklessly breaking the barrier a moment ago, he cautiously placed both hands on the door.

“…Damn it!”

A curse came out of Leonhard’s mouth.

This door was designed so that only wizards belonging to the imperial family could open it, either inside or outside.

He could feel the sharp taste of blood in his mouth.

If everyone except Celine were killed, she would never come out.

Leonhard began to run up his steps with his heart racing with fear. Those cowardly wizards up there… they would never open that door even if it meant dying to him.

He could feel his fingernails digging into his calloused palms.

Leonhard gritted his teeth.

He had to do everything he could.

“…Please open it. I’ll give it my life to take care of what is behind that door.”

Leonhard respectfully bowed his head towards all the wizards gathered upstairs.

“You, too… don’t you have colleagues and friends behind you? Please, anyone is free to do so, so please open it.”

He did not offer any advantage, let alone riches. After all, the wizard belonging to the Imperial Family already had enough wealth and status for them, so the only thing he could rely on was sympathy.

“Lord Leonhard.”

Lute Garcia opened his mouth slowly.

“We do not want you to give your life, so I can’t open it anymore.”

“…What is that behind the door—!”

“Your history.”

As his mouth fell open, Lute García continued to speak with difficulty.

“What’s down there is the core of all the boss monsters you’ve sent to the Imperial Family so far.”

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