WDEDLF-Chapter 131

Boom-!

 

The loud noise of the building collapsing continued.

 

The humans around the noble meeting hall were moved to a safe place by Rabes, but as the fight became intense, humans came running out screaming from all directions.

 

Malek, who noticed that Rabes was trying to protect the humans, deliberately attacked the humans to create an opening.

 

However, with his current magical power, he could never defeat Rabes.

 

[Stop using those petty tricks, old man.] 

 

Rabes easily neutralized the fireball fired by Malek while moving away five or six humans who were almost crushed to death by the collapsing wall.

 

Then he swung his tail and struck Malek.

 

The same tail that, when touched by Elaine, would lie flat like a blade of grass in the wind—never leaving even a scratch on her hand—was now sharp enough to tear through Malek’s thick dragon skin.

 

–Crash!

 

Malek was thrown to the other side, barely avoiding the shockwave fired by Rabes.

 

But when fireballs, freezing spells, and destruction curses followed in succession, he had no choice but to roll and scramble away.

 

Realizing that he could no longer wait for the ‘decisive moment’ to seal Rabes as planned, Malek had to abandon his original strategy. 

 

If things continued that way, he would be destroyed before he could seal Rabes.

 

[Elaine.] 

 

[What…?] 

 

As Elaine’s name came out of Malek’s mouth, Rabes stopped swinging his magic again.

 

Malek took advantage of the gap and smiled, pretending to be relaxed.

 

[I will disappear from this place today, but that human woman who is your contractor will also die today.] 

 

[No, Elaine won’t die. My subordinates are on their way to retrieve her. The villa in the southern Poinstera Forest, right?] 

 

[How did you know that?] 

 

[That villa was wrapped in a ridiculously strong barrier. But unfortunately for you, I’m very good at it.]

 

Rabes laughed at Malek, but Malek just giggled as if he found it funny.

 

[You must have figured it out by ignorantly expanding your magic power. That must be why you couldn’t come to find Elaine right away, right?] 

 

[I’ll admit, your ridiculous efforts to hide her made it a bit tricky. But by now, my subordinates should have already helped her escape. That’s why I can focus on beating you up without worry.]

 

[Oh? Impressive. But… do you really think I wouldn’t have planned for that?] 

 

Malek floated a small red ball above his forelegs.

 

Then, Rabes’ face slowly hardened.

 

Enjoying the change, Malek taunted him.

 

[In fact, I planted something exactly like this inside Elaine’s body. It’s my blood condensed. It can explode with just a simple spell.] 

 

[what?] 

 

Rabes’s eyes widened.

 

[Elaine’s small body was thrown in all directions!] 

 

As he spread his four toes in all directions as if to express an explosion, Rabes’s whole body froze.

 

Malek grinned as he felt the tide of the fight turn.

 

[It only takes one spell to do that. Lafre—] 

 

[Stop it!] 

 

‘Lafredis’, a remote detonation spell.

 

Rabes knew that spell.

 

[Hmm. If you try to block my attacks, I might get annoyed and finish the spell.] 

 

Malek swung his tail wildly, striking Rabes just as Rabes had done earlier.

 

Rabes couldn’t block it and just rolled around on the floor.

 

[Why don’t you try blocking? What’s the big deal about one human dying?] 

 

Malek chuckled and attacked in the same order as Rabes had attacked earlier: fireball, ice magic, and destruction magic.

 

–Bug!

 

[Ahahaha! You’re really funny. A dragon with such great strength, yet you’re struggling because of a mere human.] 

 

Malek laughed as he kicked Rabes in the stomach.

 

[Ugh!] 

 

[Seeing you act like this reminds me of your old contractor. You got betrayed by one and yet you’re still clinging to another. But you know what? That human was also incredibly innocent.] 

 

Rabes opened his eyes at the mention of Lancer.

 

[You…what did you do to Lancer!] 

 

[What did I do? I tricked him into sealing you, of course. That idiot thought it was just another spell.] 

 

Malek snickered as he swung his magic like a blade at Rabes.

 

[Hahaha! You know what he begged me for?] 

 

[Ugh…!] 

 

[He said he loved you. That he wanted to live as long as you, even if it meant spending eternity as your servant. Can you believe it?!] 

 

Malek continued to attack Rabes, laughing maniacally.

 

Even as his wings were torn and his body bled, he could not hide his surprised expression because what Malek had just said was even more shocking.

 

[So I taught him a sealing magic spell, saying it was a spell to live as long as you. I told him to recite the spell right away without giving him a chance to speak to you.] 

 

[Kwaaak!] 

 

Lightning struck Rabes’s body.

 

Even as he showered Rabes with flashing lightning, Malek gleefully recounted the past.

 

[An old man lusting after a younger man’s beauty, desperate for eternal life—if you’d seen it, you’d have lost your appetite.] 

 

[No! Lancers wouldn’t—!] 

 

[Oh, by the way, what kind of magic did you use on him at the end? Because of that, Lancer disappeared and the magic core inside his body was lost. What a shame.] 

 

With each word, Malek kicked Rabes again

 

[Well, it doesn’t matter. The magic core I couldn’t get then, I have now. Do you know what this means?] 

 

Finally, as Rabes lay too weak to stand, Malek revealed the truth.

 

[That means… you’ll be sealed today. But first—let’s keep this beating going.] 

 

His voice echoed sweetly through the ruins.

 

* * * 

 

“Elaine! Where are you, Elaine!”

 

While the mercenaries were fiercely fighting the knights guarding the villa, Lark ran into the villa and looked around anxiously to find Elaine.

 

But the inside of the villa was strange.

 

The first floor had only a staircase leading up—no furniture, no decorations. It was almost as if the structure itself was forcing him to go to the second floor.

 

Lark swallowed dry saliva and hurried up to the second floor.

 

The short hallway held three doors. The melted wax of extinguished candles clung to the wall-mounted sconces, their presence making the silence even eerier.

 

Unlike the bare first floor, the second floor was lavishly decorated—but it felt inexplicably sinister.

 

‘This is not the time to think about it!’

 

Lark turned the handle of the nearest door with all his might.

 

But the doorknob was firmly locked and would not budge no matter how hard he turned it.

 

The second door and the third door were the same.

 

None of the three doors opened, but that made Lark more confident.

 

‘Elaine is here!’

 

He shook the doorknob like a madman and pounded on the door, shouting Elaine’s name.

 

But even when he put his ear to the door, it was quiet outside.

 

‘No way… Is she… dead?! No! She can’t be!’

 

Lark wiped his sweaty forehead and leaned his back against the pillar between the doors.

 

He was certain Elaine was in there, but the fact that he couldn’t get inside was making him anxious.

 

‘What should I do? Should I call the mercenaries and tell them to break down the door?’

 

But the mercenaries were also busy blocking the knights outside.

 

Though only a few seconds had passed, it felt like dozens of minutes. 

 

Feeling restless, Lark paced back and forth along the hallway before his gaze suddenly landed on a wall-mounted candlestick.

 

Now that he thinks about it, it was a bit strange.

 

The second floor had more luxurious carpets and wallpaper compared to the first, but it was still completely devoid of decorations—except for that one candlestick.

 

Lark slowly approached the candlestick, examined it, and then extended his hand.

 

The first candle he held didn’t budge at all, like a doorknob.

 

The dust that had settled on the candlestick just clung unpleasantly to his hands.

 

Shaking off the dust, Lark grabbed the second candlestick.

 

‘This is it…!’ 

 

The thought struck him instantly. There was no dust on that one.

 

Carefully, he gripped the candlestick and pulled.

 

–Click!

 

A sound echoed through the hallway, as if the locks on the three doors had just been released.

 

Fearing the door might lock itself again, Lark immediately grabbed the handle and turned it.

 

The doorknob, which had not moved at all before, turned smoothly with a click.

 

“Elai—!”

 

The moment he was about to call Elaine’s name, the door broke open with a loud bang.

 

Very unnaturally, the door shattered, sending debris flying only into the room, not into the hallway.

 

And when Lark, who had been covering his face with his arm to protect himself, raised his head, Elaine, whom he had been looking for so desperately, was standing with a calm expression on her face beyond the broken door.

 

“Elaine!”

 

Lark rushed towards Elaine and grabbed her arm.

 

“We have to go! We need to get out of here quickly!”

 

However, Elaine looked down at the arm Lark was holding for a moment, then raised her head and rejected Lark.

 

* * *