C462. Fragment (1)

At Alon Palatio’s request, Karsem showed him the ability he had obtained without hesitation. He showed it, but…

“…Is this it?”

“Uh… yes… it looks a little poor, right?”

Karsem smiled awkwardly.

And indeed, just as he said himself.

Karsem’s ability didn’t seem like anything extraordinary.

The only new thing that had entered Alon’s sight was an arm that had sprouted on his back.

Yes, there wasn’t a better phrase to describe Karsem’s ability than that.

Karsem activated his ability.

And on his back grew a slightly translucent arm, of normal size.

That was all.

Alon, staring blankly at the arm, asked cautiously:

“……Does it perhaps have an additional ability?”

“I am investigating, but for now I’m not sure if it possesses anything else…”

Karsem was dragging out the words, but Alon easily grasped what he meant.

Just as he was about to thank him for showing his ability anyway—

“Your Majesty, if you don’t mind… could I observe it a little closer?”

Penia, who was next to Alon, took an unexpected step forward.

“Huh? That’s fine.”

Although showing some doubt, Karsem showed her the arm again.

Penia examined it for a while, checking it and applying a small amount of mana while investigating.

“Thank you.”

Finally, as if she had finished, she bowed her head in thanks. Karsem also stopped using the ability.

“Thank you for accepting something that might be uncomfortable.”

“No, not at all! If you ask me, brother, I can show it to you as many times as you want… Although, as you see, it has nothing special.”

After exchanging a few more words with a Karsem who smiled embarrassedly—

“Well… I should go now.”

“I’ve taken up too much of your time.”

“It’s nothing, brother. If you need anything within my reach, tell me whenever you want. I would like to pay my debt at least on occasions like this!”

Leaving those words, “even if it’s something like this, I want to return the favor!”, he left the room.

The atmosphere, previously noisy, calmed down.

Alon remembered Penia’s action and turned to her.

“Penia.”

“Yes?”

“Did you find something?”

Penia thought for a moment, as if choosing her words, and replied:

“It’s not that I found something… but the mana emanating from that arm was a little suspicious.”

“What do you mean?”

“Hmm… rather than suspicious, I would say strange. How to say it? You saw the mana flow too, right?”

Alon nodded.

“Didn’t it seem weird to you?”

“…Was it?”

Alon recalled the mana flowing from Karsem’s arm.

“Certainly… it was a little different from common mana.”

In principle, when mana comes out to the exterior, if it isn’t refined into some form, it tends to disperse quickly and naturally into the air.

But the mana flowing from Karsem’s arm—

“Hmm. Now that I think about it, it didn’t seem to disperse naturally.”

“Yes, exactly.”

It didn’t disperse, but floated for a good while before dissipating.

A behavior completely different from normal mana.

“And can something be deduced from that?”

Penia hesitated for a moment at Alon’s question.

“This is just my impression but…”

And she immediately shared her thoughts.

Alon was listening with interest when—

“Hm? What are you two doing?”

Evan opened the door and entered.

“Where are you coming from?”

“I just met with the Information Guild. Since we had asked them to investigate the exact location of the fragment on the way to this place.”

“Ah.”

“I thought that, if we were going to move early tomorrow, it would be good to have some information in advance… So I met with them…”

“Didn’t you get information?”

Evan nodded at Alon’s question.

“They confirmed that the fragment fell near Colony, but they couldn’t get anything else.”

“…So we will have to search for it ourselves.”

“I suppose so.”

Evan frowned, already anticipating headaches, and Alon reflected for a moment.

“Isn’t there some method to find a fragment?”

“A method to find it? Hmm~”

Searching for a fragment of unknown size in this enormous and vast desert was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Even so, Alon asked just in case.

“Well… apparently there is a method…”

“But?”

“I don’t know if we can use it.”

“Why not?”

“It’s a story they heard from a Divine Blood, they say.”

“……Divine Blood?”

“Yes. It seems there are Divine Bloods who exchange information with them.”

“……Is that safe?”

“Well… I suppose so.”

Seeing Evan shrug, Alon nodded.

After all, the one running the Information Guild was Nangwon. He wouldn’t do something strange.

“And what does that method say?”

Once decided, Alon listened to Evan’s explanation.

“They say that Divine Bloods can naturally know the location of the fragments.”

“……The Divine Bloods?”

“Yes.”

“We don’t know how they do it, but according to the Information Guild, that is so.”

Alon was left a bit confused.

Although he didn’t consider himself one, technically he was also a new type, a Divine Blood.

But unfortunately, he felt absolutely nothing regarding the location of the fragment.

“Hmm…”

While he was thinking—

“Ah.”

Penia let out a small sound, as if she had remembered something.

“Did you think of something?”

“I don’t know if it’s a good idea, but… the important thing is that Divine Bloods can locate fragments, right?”

“Exactly.”

“Then…”

Penia looked sideways at Blackie.

Evan, confused, also directed his gaze to Blackie.

Alon, as if understanding it all at once, let out an “Oh” and looked at the little one.

[…Kyu?]

Blackie, who was lying down peacefully, tilted his head.

The next day—

“Master!”

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yes!”

Alon and his group, together with Seolrang, were heading to the bandits’ hideout.

“Ahh… We barely left Colony and it’s already infernally hot.”

Evan was scrunching up his face as if he were going to die, and Penia let out a groan.

[Kyuu~]

Blackie let himself fall limply again.

Confirming the state of the three, Alon looked at Seolrang, who maintained the same smile as always.

“What’s wrong, Master?”

With a smile and her tail wagging happily, Seolrang observed him.

Feeling the honest warmth in her gaze, Alon spoke:

“And since then, how have you been?”

“Huh?”

“Since the reconstruction of Colony began. I haven’t asked you how you’ve been doing.”

Seolrang tilted her head and murmured “hmm” as if thinking. Her tail kept wagging.

But only for a moment.

“Hmm~ I’ve been normal!”

“Normal?”

“Yes! We rebuilt buildings, eliminated some annoying creatures near Colony, hmm~ I think nothing else.”

The energetic voice as always.

Alon stared at her and said:

“I see.”

“And how have you been, Master?”

She returned the question.

They conversed like that for a good while.

“I can’t stand it anymore.”

Penia took out the magic stone again and cast an ice spell, cooling the inside of the carriage. Alon, feeling the change, asked Seolrang:

“So, how long until we reach the hideout?”

“Hmm~ Not much. According to what I checked last time… we’re almost there.”

A little more time passed.

The sun, which had risen early, was already falling.

Penia, who only had two magic stones left, put them away for emergencies when—

“It’s here.”

They arrived at the huge entrance of a cave embedded in a rocky mountain in the middle of the sand.

“Is this it?”

“Yes! The energy emanating from those bandits resembled what came out of this cave.”

Nodding strongly, Seolrang said “I’ll go first!” and she walked into the cave.

The group followed her.

The cave was dark.

A place without human intervention.

Even so, Alon felt a kind of disquieting intuition and advanced without lowering his guard.

“……It is longer than I expected.”

After tens of minutes, Evan muttered that.

“But I think we are already close to the end.”

They headed toward the light at the end of the cave.

And just as they exited—

“Eyadiya.”

Alon felt something strange.

A very unpleasant, annoying sensation.

And the instant they came out—

Szzzt!

Alon felt it.

That chilling mana he had already experienced several times.

He looked up and what he saw was a disturbing landscape.

First: a huge crater formed in the middle of the rocky mountain.

And inside the crater, thousands of corpses scattered everywhere.

In the center, several black pieces stuck in the ground, emanating a strange energy.

And on those black fragments—

“……Divine Blood.”

There were two Divine Bloods.

[……As expected, it is a fragment of the Divine Blood who ascended to the celestial throne. Just with the remains, it is capable of draining humans. Impressive.]

[I think so too.]

[It seems to possess enough power to contribute to the birth of Him.]

The Divine Bloods, oblivious to the arrival of Alon’s group, chatted placidly while twisting, with a simple gesture, the last humans who had pounced on them.

Their appearance was strange.

And it was no wonder.

“…Black armor?”

Both wore the same black armor.

And just as Alon recognized it—

[Hmm~]

[What is this? Humans?]

The Divine Bloods realized the group’s presence. They turned their dark armor to look at them.

Alon frowned behind his neutral expression.

…This is dangerous.

He had fought Divine Bloods before, even faced a second-level one. But fighting one wasn’t the same as fighting two at the same time.

But what made Alon feel the most danger was Penia and Evan.

They had nowhere to escape.

If they ran toward the cave, it might collapse with the start of combat.

Only one option remained: stop them and protect the others.

Although he counted on Seolrang, having to protect others was always a huge limitation.

…Maybe I should use the Laws, although they are still in the experimental phase.

When Alon was preparing—

“I’ll be right back, Master.”

Seolrang, who had remained silent, took a step forward.

“Wait, Seolrang. If you don’t understand their abilities, you could be counterattacked—”

Alon tried to stop her instinctively.

He knew she was strong enough to fight against a Divine Blood.

But the most dangerous thing about them was their absurd abilities.

“If it’s for that, it’s fine, Master.”

With a confident smile, Seolrang declared:

“Before they can use their abilities—”

—I will kill them.

And she disappeared. As if she had never been there.

In that instant—

Chis!

A small golden spark crossed Alon’s vision.

In the middle of the sky tinged by the sunset, a golden lightning bolt appeared.

The next thing he saw was:

A golden flash.

A huge hole going through the torso of a Divine Blood.

And then—

KBOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

A roar so terrifying it made skin crawl.