Chapter 60 : Chapter 60
Chapter 60 : Elves
The moment the scarlet blood-red orb shattered, countless faint, translucent shadows burst forth, scrambling to escape.
Most of them soared into the depths of the night sky, while only a small handful plummeted straight toward the earth below.
“If a person’s [Good] outweighs their [Evil] in life, they ascend to Heaven; if their [Evil] outweighs their [Good], they fall to Hell… These must be the souls of the people killed by that black-robed man, right?”
Watching the myriad souls streak across the night sky like meteors, Aimiya murmured, a bit lost in thought.
Iphilia stood beside her, faint purple light glimmering in her eyes.
After spotting the figure she’d been searching for among the countless “meteors” in the sky, a slight smile curved her lips.
“Uncle Wei, I avenged your family~ May you all find peace in Heaven… If fate allows, see you in the next life”
“Wishing—the departed rest in peace…”
Iphilia closed her eyes, striking a prayerful pose.
Sure, a demon praying for humans sounded a bit like defying the natural order, but considering Iphilia had already fallen for an angel, this was no big deal.
Wait, what fall for!? At most, I just had a tiny~ bit of fondness for Aimiya! Yup, that’s it!
“By the way, Iphilia-chan, it’s still early, right?”
“Hmm? Let me check… Around eight o’clock, pretty early. What’s up?”
“Hehe, since it’s still so early, how about… you help me with something?”
As she spoke, Aimiya leaned in again, her beautiful golden eyes sparkling with mischief. Seeing her like this, Iphilia suddenly had a bad feeling for some reason.
“W-what do you want?”
“Isn’t it obvious? A dark, windy night, just the two of us here—what do you think… I want?”
Holy crap! She wouldn’t really be that bold, would she?
As Aimiya drew closer, Iphilia’s mind was instantly flooded with indescribable thoughts.
Her cheeks flushed red, and she instinctively backed away like a startled lamb.
“Y-y-you! You’re shameless!!!”
“Oh? I’m shameless? Then tell me, Iphilia-chan, how am I—shameless~?”
“Hmph! I thought you, a grand angel, would at least hold back a bit out here, but you actually want to… to do that kind of thing!!!”
“Hm? What kind of thing is Iphilia-chan talking about? I just wanted you to help me find someone”
“Wh… what!? Find, find someone!?”
Iphilia realized she’d been played by Aimiya again.
And… this wasn’t the first time she’d fallen for this kind of trick…
“Yup~ Think back, Iphilia-chan. Didn’t those big lumps tonight have an extra layer of blood patterns compared to before? Just a single layer of magic patterns drawn in blood allowed those corpse puppets to use some basic magic. That means the blood used for the patterns had to be rich in magical essence! And think again—didn’t the Advent Faction just happen to abduct a high-ranking elf? So I just wanted you to help me search within the barrier’s range for any clues related to that high-ranking elf. Where did your mind go~?”
“B-but… what does that have to do with you saying it’s a dark, windy night with just the two of us!? You deliberately misled me into thinking the wrong thing!!!”
“What’s the next line after ‘a dark, windy night’? It’s ‘perfect for murder and arson’~ I was worried that after the black-robed man was killed, his hidden accomplices might take the chance to move that high-ranking elf. Plus, it’s just the two of us here, so we need to act fast to be safe, right? Pfft ()”
“…”
To be honest, Iphilia thought Aimiya was just spouting nonsense.
Look, she laughed! She couldn’t even hold it together!
“So, our dear Iphilia-chan’s thoughts are a bit impure .As a girl, it’s better to know less about things you shouldn’t.”
『After all, Aimiya knowing about those things was enough.』
“…”
For the first time, Iphilia felt she should’ve left Aimiya to fend for herself back then.
So she turned to leave.
The person she needed to save was already saved, and if she didn’t go now, this girl would definitely get worse.
“Eh? Don’t go, Iphilia-chan! I’m serious, hey! When I was hiding earlier, I found traces of people living in the factory! This place has been abandoned for ages—no one should be living here! Plus, those Corpse Bearers were so huge, and Wangyou City’s a bustling place. Moving that many Corpse Bearers at once would be impossible! So the most likely scenario is that the black-robed man made the Corpse Bearers in this area and used a pre-set teleportation magic array to bring me here without anyone noticing! Most importantly, the blood for the patterns has to be fresh! So that high-ranking elf is probably hidden around here! Hey! Wait, Iphilia-chan!”
Aimiya desperately tried to stop Iphilia, but how could Iphilia fall for her tricks again? She marched forward with a determined look, ignoring Aimiya completely.
Then… the ground beneath her feet suddenly gave way for some reason, and Iphilia plummeted straight into a hollow cavern below.
“Iphilia!?”
Aimiya hadn’t expected the ground to collapse. She rushed to the edge of the hole and used light magic as a makeshift lamp to peer inside.
“Iphilia! Are you okay?”
“I’m fine… Who’s so shameless as to dig such a huge pit underground!?”
Iphilia rubbed her sore little butt, scanning her surroundings.
The cavern should’ve been pitch-black, but with Aimiya acting as a lightbulb above, Iphilia could make out the environment.
Chains, bloodstains… and a cell door? This was a dungeon?
Weird, why build a dungeon under a factory?
Suddenly, Iphilia recalled what Aimiya had just been shouting behind her.
Wait, no way… she didn’t actually guess right, did she?
“…Who…”
Just then, a faint, whispery voice came from behind Iphilia.
She quickly turned to look, spotting a blonde girl lying in the corner of the dungeon, covered in wounds, her breath weak and barely clinging to life.
Her body was filthy with blood, looking utterly pitiful, as if she’d endured endless abuse and torment.
But what stood out most were the girl’s long, pointed ears.
Pointed ears.
An elf!