Chapter 56: The Purpose of Zerato Part 2

It was time to catch Zerato.

It felt like we had descended quite a few floors.

“Where are we now?”

“We’ve probably reached the 4th floor.”

If we’re on the 4th floor, something should be appearing soon.

Whether it’s a mid-boss, or maybe even Zerato himself.

“Then it’s about time something shows up.”

We’ve already taken down quite a few mobs.

So it should be time for something more serious to show up.

“Hmm?”

At some point, the number of skeleton suicide bombers noticeably decreased.

The skeletons were also wearing armor that was falling apart.

It felt like the calm before the storm.

Even the self-repairing teddy bears from Syria had been fully fixed by now.

That meant the skeletons’ combat power had dropped.

Creeeak

Some skeletons even collapsed while running.

“Olivia, something seems off with them.”

It seems like Croix isn’t very sharp.

For a family of mages, this is disappointing. Tsk tsk. That’s why their incantations are so long.

“There’s nothing strange about it. They’re just running out of strength.”

“Does a dungeon run out of power too?”

“Well, artificially created places do. You can think of it like a rechargeable mana stone.”

That’s just how dungeons work.

“Ah, so the mana’s running low, and that’s why the monsters are getting weaker.”

“And there’s probably one last big attack coming.”

Zerato always leaves one final, powerful blow.

And then he runs.

“Saint! Mana is leaking out from the last stair on the 4th floor! We can’t hold them off!”

The kind of magical onslaught that would make even those who’ve learned mana management through 24-hour Syria pulls shudder.

Yes. Like that.

It’s probably going to be another cost-effective skeleton series.

If they’re releasing that much mana, there can’t be many monsters capable of it.

‘Skeleton knights? Skeleton giants? Ancient liches?’

There are a lot of possibilities.

“What’s that, is that a skeleton knight?”

A student shouted.

Indeed, amidst the mana, a skeleton in heavy armor was riding a skeleton horse.

Its head was ablaze with green flames.

At night, it would be a terrifying sight—this was the reason why the royal army would crumble when attacked by surprise.

Not only does it corrupt the surrounding enemies with mana, but it also kills them with its spear and sword in between.

‘How could anyone endure that?’

“A skeleton knight like that? That’s formidable. The students’ necks will be severed.”

‘A skeleton knight, huh?’ It seems that it was the right choice for me to come here.

A skeleton knight is a powerful enemy, even capable of taking down the Rivelt knights.

It’s classified as at least a high-level monster.

Maybe Zerato is starting to get desperate.

Or maybe this is just a reckless rampage.

One thing is clear.

The end is near.

***

I can come up with a few theories.

First, Zerato probably got impatient with how long the Atlerina students are holding out, so he sent out skeleton knights.

Second, if the dungeon core has gone out of control, Zerato might not be able to control it with his mana anymore.

Either way, Zerato’s done for.

“Looks like Zerato is done for.”

“Yeah.”

It’s surprising that he made it this far with the broken mana circuits.

Of course, he’s been sending out nothing but skeletons and suicide bombers in droves.

The previous Zerato was much more diverse in how he handled his monsters.

But the Zerato now is nothing but that—just skeletons for cost efficiency.

Of course, he’s used hundreds of them, so at least he’s been working hard in his own way.

‘But what does that matter?’

In the end, he’s just a fool.

“Zerato, that idiot, just saw us as a saint and a mage.”

“He was overconfident.”

It’s not just overconfidence.

Maybe Clanis tried to sacrifice Zerato.

Using some destruction tactics to create chaos in the empire.

Then, the Four Heavenly Kings would bring about disasters from the outside.

“That’s why Noah keeps defeating them. They got arrogant after Noah disappeared and couldn’t gauge the enemy’s strength because of their vanity.”

The only thing they could hope for now is to land even a slight blow on Atlerina.

It’s a good idea, though.

However, Noah had already prepared countermeasures for this, and with Noah and Olivia’s remnants—me, they didn’t expect this.

“Saint! It’s a skeleton knight! My magic doesn’t work!”

“No! It’s coming this way!”

The students screamed in terror as they saw the skeleton knight’s breath of death closing in on them.

There were about a dozen of them.

The skeleton knights are large monsters, and their strength is such that even the Rivelt cavalry wouldn’t dare to face them, which makes this a dangerous situation.

Zerato had probably been waiting for something like this.

For the Empire’s soldiers to scream and writhe in agony.

“But, see? He’s an idiot.”

“If he had faced Noah a few times, he should’ve known not to underestimate the students of Atlerina.”

“Exactly.”

I carefully extended my hand toward the direction the skeleton knights were charging from.

Then I gripped it tightly.

Crack!

The skeleton knights shattered into pieces, falling to the ground along with their skeletal horses.

Like Zerato’s dreams and hopes.

“Another loss.”

The shattered skeleton knights creaked and seemed like they were about to move again, so I set them ablaze.

Whooosh!

“Truly the Saint of Atlerina, huh?”

“To destroy them even before they could get close!”

They don’t seem worth discussing any further.

‘Don’t they usually recognize it as magic? Can’t these kids even use telekinesis? Or at least, don’t they know about it?’

Adran knew about it.

I thought only the Kingdom wouldn’t know, but the Empire is a large country, so it should be normal for them to know about it.

“Syria, it seems these kids don’t even know telekinesis.”

“Ah. Yes.”

“Then why is that?”

“It’s nothing. I just need to repair the teddy bear.”

So now, the only thing left is Zerato on the 5th floor.

***

Looking at the undead army being mercilessly destroyed through the crystal, Zerato’s face contorted with rage.

“What the hell… What is going on?!”

What’s happening?

How is it that he’s being pushed back by those little kids from Atlerina, who haven’t even bled yet?

The skeletons he sent were no ordinary skeletons.

They were skeletons that had been enhanced with plenty of mana.

Anyone who comes below the 3rd floor would usually die from mana poisoning.

‘How are they doing this?

No matter how many times he thought about it, he couldn’t understand it.

No, now’s not the time to be thinking about that.

Especially with that Saint being so dangerous.

The Saint blocks the skeleton suicide bombers’ attacks with her barrier.

Then, a sudden thought occurred to him.

“What if I turn that woman into a demon?”

There are records of demon lords who corrupted powerful saints with mana stones and led them to victory in the war against humanity in the past.

‘What if he used the skeleton knights to capture her?’

Yes. This is the final move.

He had known for a long time that the Empire’s faith had rotted away.

It seemed that they made a Saint out of a woman with strong divine power from Atlerina, and it seemed she even learned the barrier magic, but she was originally a villain from Ashtar.

Even the succubus was probably a lie.

If he manipulated her emotions, he could corrupt her and make her swear loyalty to him.

If someone with that much divine power were corrupted and turned into a witch spewing mana, the tide of the battle could turn.

Determined to capture the Saint, Zerato sent out his skeleton knights.

In an instant, Atlerina’s student formation fell apart.

At this rate, he could easily break through and capture only the Saint.

That’s what he thought at first.

Crack!

Until the moment the skeleton knights, who had been approaching the Saint, were crushed all at once.

“Huh?”

Zerato furrowed his brow at what had just happened.

He knew what that was.

It was definitely telekinesis, the same ability Noah used.

Noah had always used abilities that didn’t fall under the category of magic and still called them magic.

No, this can’t be.

Noah was already dead.

If Noah, the one who killed the Demon Lord, were alive, the Royal Army’s Berta Fortress wouldn’t have fallen so miserably.

If Noah were alive, he would’ve saved Berta Fortress.

High-level mages often cast spells that turn their bodies to dust after death to prevent their corpses from being misused.

Noah probably died with the Demon Lord and turned to dust.

‘No. Noah is dead. He can’t be alive.’

Thump. Thump. Thump.

But Zerato’s heart was beating faster than ever.

‘How many times had Noah interrupted him?’

‘How many times had he been beaten?’

If Noah really wanted to, he could’ve killed Zerato instantly, but he played with him.

Zerato knew this.

Instinctively, he knew.

That damn Saint wasn’t a Saint—she was Noah.

She wasn’t a villain from Ashtar; she was Noah.

Gulp.

An instinctive fear began to overwhelm him.

Even if she appeared to be from Ashtar, inside, she was Noah.

His instincts told him not to fight her.

He would never come out of it unscathed.

And she was already descending to the 5th floor from the 4th.

It was dangerous.

He had black mages under his command, ‘but could they really handle her?’

Gulp.

“Ha. Hahaha. Hahaha.”

Yeah, not yet. He couldn’t die here.

Let her come.

He would jam a mana stone full of mana into his chest.

Whether she’s Noah or from Ashtar didn’t matter.

There was no need to be scared.

He might have lost his composure, but there were dozens of elite black mages here.

He was confident he could push forward, but could they really deal with her?

***

After a closer look, he realized that the Saint wasn’t Noah.

If it had been Noah, she would’ve sent the students away.

No matter how strong she was, Noah hated baggage.

This Saint was actually leading the ones whose mana had run out down here.

He had been scared for nothing.

Even so, this Saint had dared to toy with him.

She had to pay for that.

The black mages around him were originally from the Empire.

If she’s really a Saint, he couldn’t just kill them.

“Heh heh heh. Heh heh heh. Yeah. This will work.”

While the Saint was rampaging, he could kill them all with dark magic and escape.

Afterward, whether the Saint fell into corruption or self-destructed, it didn’t matter.

“Everyone, we’re targeting the Saint from now on.”

Zerato said to the black mages, who stood like wooden puppets.

“Yes.”

“We’ll be at the 5th floor soon. The others have probably run out of mana by now. Focus on the Saint and the mage next to her.”

“Understood.”

Zerato pulled out a mana stone from the dungeon core.

It was a fragment of the Demon Lord’s power that his master, Clanis, had given him.

Though it was precious, Zerato had been using it for summoning monsters.

But if he used it on the Saint, that wouldn’t be a bad choice either.

This mana stone had been altered by his master using the mana of the Demon Lord whenever the opportunity arose.

If the Saint fell to corruption, he would be able to manipulate her however he pleased.