NOVEL NEXT Chapter 60: Dunhilt
Chapter 60: Dunhilt
“You, you damn bastard! Where did you go?!”
The large Orc shouted, his voice echoing through the vast hall.
The Orcs following him overturned chairs and smashed tables, creating a commotion as they searched the surroundings, but the one they were looking for was nowhere to be seen.
“If you don’t bring him right now……! I’ll, I’ll eat you guys first!”
“Ku, Kuek……! Understood……!”
As the Orcs scattered like lightning in all directions, the dwarf Goblin, who had been crouching on the beam, slowly poked his head out.
The large Orc leader, snorting, strutted out of the hall with a swaggering gait.
The dwarf Goblin, as if he had forgotten to even breathe, carefully observed his surroundings and then, with his awkward limbs, climbed down the pillar.
“Hee, Heek……!”
He limped and moved his body swiftly. However, with his congenitally deformed legs, no matter how fast he moved, it was difficult to exceed the walking speed of an ordinary person.
“Huff…… Huff……”
“There, there he is!”
An Orc spotted the dwarf Goblin running across the hallway and shouted in a thick voice, and soon five or six Orcs gathered.
“Kehehe, where do you think you’re going!”
“You bastard! Hand over the key!”
“No, let’s tear off his arms…… no, legs first! The key will probably get stuck in his throat as we eat!”
“You, you’ll be ripped in half by the leader if you touch him carelessly!”
The Orcs surrounded the dwarf Goblin, each shouting their own thing. The terrified creature looked around frantically, but there was nowhere to escape.
“Hey, hand it over quickly!”
Thwack!
One of the Orcs raised his dirty, smelly foot and kicked the dwarf Goblin.
“Kiek!”
The dwarf Goblin tumbled, spitting out blood and a scream.
“Kehehe, th, this feels good to hit!”
“Yeah! I’ve always hated the sight of him! Acting all high and mighty just because he’s a little smart…… huh?”
One of the Orcs surrounding the dwarf Goblin suddenly twisted his body. Soon, his body contorted violently as if caught in a whirlwind.
Crack! Snap!
The sound of bones breaking rang out in succession, and then the Orc’s body went limp and fell to the floor.
“Tch! What, what was that?”
From the end of the hallway, someone small, cloaked in a black robe, slowly walked in.
“……What? A human? ……Food!”
“Kuhehe!”
The Orcs, forgetting what kind of carnage they had just witnessed, all rushed towards the man in the black robe.
Crack! Snap! Crackle!
The sounds of bones breaking and crushing followed in succession.
The excited Orcs, charging forward, all collapsed to the floor before they could take a few steps, their entire bodies broken.
Meanwhile, the gait of the man in the black robe did not change in the slightest.
“……Get up.”
The dwarf Goblin, groaning in pain, opened his blurry eyes at the man’s voice, filled with a heavy authority.
“……Kiek…… Who…… God……?”
Soon, the Goblin’s eyes fell upon the Grey Flame emblem drawn on the man’s robe.
“Flame……? Heek!”
The dwarf Goblin jumped up in surprise, knelt on the floor, and bowed his head.
“Le, Le, Legion Commander! I, I pay my respects……!”
The man in the black robe, the Legion Commander of the monsters, stared at him silently and then spoke again.
“……What is your name?”
“I, I, I am Pl, Pltook!”
“Pltook? A strange name…… What do you do?”
“I, I just…… I was just running errands under Ty, Tyrel-nim…… A, a humble servant!”
Hearing Pltook’s words, the man glanced around and asked again.
“Then, where is Tyrel? Why is the castle in this state?”
“Th, that is……!”
Pltook stuck out his tongue and moistened his lips before continuing.
“2, 29 days ago…… After leading Teano-nim and the elite troops through the, the portal…… Th, there has been no news yet……!”
“……Useless fools……”
Pltook cowered at the Legion Commander’s enraged reply. But there was no other way. Running away would be pointless anyway.
“……Do you know anything else?”
Pltook trembled at the Legion Commander’s cold question. The moment he ran out of things to say, he would be dead.
Fortunately, he knew a lot. Enough to keep himself alive for a while.
“Th, th, that is……! Th, there is a prisoner in the dungeon! I, I am in charge of managing him……!”
“A prisoner from where?”
“A hu, human…… from the world beyond the portal……! He, he knows a lot……”
“……Lead the way.”
“Yes!”
Pltook sprang to his feet. A sharp pain shot through his body, as if his bones had been broken when he was kicked by the Orc.
But he gritted his teeth and moved forward without showing any sign of pain.
Having endured pain since childhood due to his deformed body, it wasn’t that difficult for Pltook.
He led the Legion Commander to the dungeon as quickly as he could.
Of course, along the way, Orcs, Trolls, and other monsters blinded by hunger blocked his path.
But with a single glance from the Legion Commander, they all collapsed onto the floor, their bodies shattered.
Seeing the monsters that threatened him turn into cold corpses in an instant, Pltook felt a strange sense of exhilaration.
“He, here it is. He, he is here.”
“Open it.”
Pltook rummaged through his pockets and pulled out a heavy bunch of keys. It was the one thing he had managed to keep safe throughout this chaos, as he was in charge of managing the dungeon and interrogating the prisoner.
Clank!
Creeeeeeak!
With a sharp metallic sound, the massive iron door slowly opened.
In one corner of the massive prison, made of solid stone, lay a human figure, his limbs bound by chains.
“Ji, Jim? Ar, are you dead……?”
Pltook approached the prisoner, speaking in broken English.
“……You’ve learned their language……?”
The Legion Commander, following behind him, asked, sounding surprised.
Pltook struggled to lift the limp body of the prisoner and answered respectfully.
“With all due respect, I, I have a knack for languages…… A, a meager skill I acquired while in, interrogating.”
“……You’re quite useful.”
Pltook inwardly cheered at the Legion Commander’s assessment. This would slightly increase his chances of surviving this place.
“……Lift him up.”
“But, but that is…… He, he’s too weak…… He, he can’t seem to speak……”
Pltook said as he struggled to prop up the prisoner’s limp body, but the Legion Commander stepped forward, seemingly unconcerned.
“……Words are unnecessary.”
The Legion Commander pulled out a pale hand from within his robe. It was an ordinary human hand with pale skin.
He gently placed his hand on the prisoner’s head. Immediately, magic surged, and a red glow flashed.
“Gah……!”
The prisoner, who had been unconscious until now, opened his eyes wide and convulsed his limbs.
“Hee, Heek……!”
Pltook recoiled in horror at the sight.
Even though Pltook had let go, the prisoner’s head seemed to be stuck to the Legion Commander’s hand, and he continued to tremble without collapsing.
“……Hmm……”
A low groan escaped from within the black robe. And the red glow grew even brighter.
Fwoosh!
Blood erupted from the ears of the prisoner, held in the Legion Commander’s grasp.
That wasn’t all. Blood started to ooze from his eyes, nose, mouth, even the pores all over his body.
“Hee, Hick……! Th, this is……!”
The magic the Legion Commander was using was the ‘Brain Storm’ that Pltook had only heard rumors about.
A magic that forcibly extracts all information from the target’s brain.
It was considered one of the most advanced mental magics, and it was known that there was no way to hide information from it.
It was truly the perfect interrogation method, transcending race, language, and thought patterns.
Of course, there was the minor drawback that the brain of the target would turn into mush and melt.
But such a drawback meant nothing to the Legion Commander.
Pltook inwardly bid farewell to the prisoner who was dying, bleeding from his entire body.
Born with a deformed body, Pltook, who was gifted with an innate memory and linguistic ability, considered the prisoner to be his only friend.
He had learned a lot from the prisoners while interrogating them under Tyrel’s orders, and he had even shown them a little mercy.
Of course, the mercy he could offer was nothing more than a sip of dirty water and a piece of rotten meat.
Thud!
A moment later, the prisoner, covered in blood, collapsed onto the floor. Now, instead of blood, melted brain matter was flowing from his ears and nose.
“……Hmm……”
The Legion Commander, standing still for a moment, groaning, finally uttered a word.
“……Jin…… As expected…… You were alive……!”
Pltook simply bowed his head, not understanding the Legion Commander’s words.
“……You said your name was Pltook, didn’t you……?”
After a while, the Legion Commander spoke again in a low voice.
“Ye, Yes. Legion Commander. Plea, please give me your orders!”
“……Follow me. There’s something you need to do.”
“I, I will obey your command!”
Pltook replied faithfully, feeling relieved to be alive.
***
Dunhilt, which once held a serene countryside landscape, had now become a dark elf territory, transformed into a grim sight.
Pltook and the Legion Commander emerged from the open gates of Dunhilt Castle, grotesquely decorated with red and black tree branches and rawhide.
Pltook walked diligently, but the Legion Commander’s pace wasn’t that fast either. He seemed lost in thought, occasionally tilting his head.
“Stop for a moment.”
The Legion Commander stopped walking after they had moved a certain distance from Dunhilt Castle. Pltook inwardly sighed with relief and placed his aching feet on the ground.
“Do, do you have any orders……?”
“No. Promises must be kept.”
The Legion Commander turned around and continued in a low voice.
“……Since I promised to annihilate your clan if you failed to carry out my orders……”
The Legion Commander revealed his pale hand once again. Intricate magic patterns glowed red along his arm, illuminating the air.
Brrrrrr-!
The ground trembled, and the heavens and earth shook.
Rumble!
The monsters remaining in Dunhilt Castle, the corpses, all sorts of debris began to rise into the air.
“Gr, Gravity Reversal……!”
Pltook cried out, unable to believe his eyes.
The gravity of the entire Dunhilt Castle, which they had just escaped from, was being reversed in the opposite direction. Soil and dust poured into the air, and the water from the well flowed backward and surged towards the sky.
Stones from the collapsed walls soared into the sky, and trees began to be uprooted.
For Pltook, witnessing Gravity Reversal magic, a high-level magic, being cast over such a wide area was a spectacle he had never seen before.
But that wasn’t the end.
The Legion Commander grabbed the hilt at his waist with his other hand.
As magic was infused into the hilt, decorated with red wood and gold, a crimson flame erupted from its tip.
“To, Tongue of Hell……!”
The hot flames extending from the hilt stretched out, taking the form of a whip.
The legendary weapon wielded by the Legion Commander had revealed itself.
Soon, the whip made of flames drew a complex arc in the air, extending and curling. Its shape resembled… a magic pattern.
“……Du, Dual Casting……?”
Pltook was about to faint.
It was understandable, as he was witnessing the Legion Commander’s Dual Casting, which he had only heard of in legends, with his own eyes.
‘Dual Casting,’ where a single mage uses the same magic repeatedly to amplify its effects.
It was the ultimate magic technique utilizing the ‘Tongue of Hell,’ which could freely transform its shape to create another magic pattern.
Crackle!
As the Gravity Reversal magic was dual-casted, its power tripled.
Now, not only the creatures and objects within Dunhilt Castle, but the castle itself and the ground beneath it were collapsing upwards into the sky.
Kaboom!
The walls crumbled, and massive boulders soared into the sky. The ground shattered, and soil, trees, stones, gravel, groundwater, and mineral veins erupted.
And all of them soared high into the sky.
“……Move.”
The Legion Commander’s voice reached Pltook’s ears, who was lost in a daze.
He had already stopped casting the magic and had turned his back on the spectacle of the castle rising into the sky.
“Ye, Ye, Yes!”
Pltook hurriedly turned around in a fluster.
***
A short while later, Dunhilt Castle and everything inside it, which had soared into the sky, crashed back down to the ground.
The impact created a massive crater that engulfed the entire village surrounding the castle, and dust and dirt billowed hundreds of meters into the air.
The aftermath of the crash caused an earthquake that could be felt even in other territories near Dunhilt, and all living creatures within a radius of several kilometers died, spitting blood from the shockwaves generated by the impact.
However, Pltook, who was walking with the Legion Commander, was unharmed.