Chapter 55: The Seven Monarch

Elias heavily lifted his head a little at the sound of the explosion and the voices of strangers.

’Damn it! Are those reinforcements for the enemy?’

With great effort, Elias began to rise while clutching his chest.

He swayed a little, but forced himself to stand upright.

As the billowing dust began to clear, seven people could be seen standing there, chatting casually.

The moment he saw them, Elias’s eyes went wide, and he quickly took out his ten Grade B mana stones.

It wasn’t only Elias who sensed it. Evelyn, Elysia, Vladir, and the White Dreadclaw must have felt the same thing as Elias, that those seven people,

"They’re on a whole different level," Evelyn muttered, her face full of disbelief and worry.

Even though the seven weren’t releasing their energy, she could tell they were extremely strong. Even stronger than Vladir and the White Dreadclaw.

’No. Even those two are still far below them.’

Even if the "MC" were in his prime condition, he still wouldn’t be a match for these people.

"Who... are you?"

Elias slowly walked toward Evelyn and Elysia, then stood right in front of them. If these people were after Evelyn and Elysia, it would be a disaster. Even with his Magic Talismans forming a barrier, a single attack would shatter every layer of it.

One of them then glanced at Elias, and in an instant he was already standing beside Elias without Elias noticing.

’W-what?...’

"Hmm?" The man looked Elias over from head to toe while stroking his chin.

"Master. Is he the one you meant?"

’What’s this? Why is he suddenly talking to himself?’

Elias tilted his head slightly, sweat dripping down his cheek, as the man who looked like a knight suddenly started talking to himself.

"What? Why do I have to make sure he doesn’t die?

"No, no! You always make me work extra.

"W-what? Tch! I regret that I keep delivering good results. There are others, you know. Why does it have to be me..."

While the man kept grumbling to himself, Elias, just in case, started channeling all the mana inside the mana stones into himself. Then he sent out mana threads that slipped in and connected to Evelyn and Elysia behind him.

The plan was that if this man suddenly attacked, Elias would immediately shove the two girls away using a mana blast.

But it seemed that plan had failed.

"What are you doing, kid?"

While he was focused on the mana threads and the man beside him, a beautiful woman in rather revealing clothes was suddenly standing behind him.

Elias was startled. He wanted to move, but because of the pressure she gave off, he couldn’t move or speak.

Her slender fingers began to trace Elias’s jaw, then slowly slid down to his neck. Elias gulped, cold sweat pouring down his face.

*Gulp...

The woman glanced back at Evelyn and Elysia, who were glaring sharply at her, their white and black auras already overflowing.

At first she didn’t notice, but as she turned back to Elias and was about to lick his ear, Evelyn and Elysia’s energy surged even more, and their killing intent stabbed straight into the woman’s body.

The woman smiled at the two of them right away.

"So cute~" Then she walked closer to the barrier, "Looks like the guy behind me is really counting on you two."

Then the woman raised one hand forward, and with just her index finger, all the barriers covering Evelyn and Elysia shattered at once.

*Crack!

"I won’t do anything to your little man. But what if I ’try him out’ just a little?"

Evelyn then raised her sword, her gaze still sharp.

"Sure. But you have to taste my sword first."

Elysia immediately gathered all her energy into her sword.

"If you so much as touch his skin, I’ll cut off your fingers one by one, slowly."

Seeing the attitude of Evelyn and Elysia in front of her made the woman’s face flush slightly. A wide smile spread across her face, one hand touching her cheek.

"You two are so adorable~!"

The woman instantly moved behind the two girls without them noticing. Then, quickly, her hands slipped in and squeezed one of each of their "hills."

*Squeeze...

"W-what are you doing?!"

"Let go! You weird woman!"

The faces of Evelyn and Elysia, which had been so serious with energy overflowing from their bodies, instantly changed, and their faces turned red right then.

"You take such good care of them. You two really love that little man, don’t you?"

"T-that’s..." Evelyn jolted slightly, then didn’t dare continue and just covered her mouth, her cheeks still red.

"H-huh?! What are you saying? As if I’d take care of ’these’ for him! I-I only do it because a woman should have big assets!" Even though Elysia said that, her face was the reddest, even redder than Evelyn’s.

"Really? Then I’ll just take this little man for myself~"

Suddenly white and black energy burst out of both of them. They openly released extremely strong killing intent at the woman.

*Zzzzt...

But the woman didn’t react at all and instead tightened her grip.

"Calm down~"

"Kyaa~!" Evelyn and Elysia screamed. Their energy dimmed again and their faces turned red all the way to their ears.

"I’m just kidding. I won’t take him from you~"

The woman let go, then walked over to Elias.

"Hey, you."

Elias flinched when the woman called him.

"Y-yes?"

"Did you hear everything?"

"No! I swear I didn’t hear anything! Including the ear-pleasing screams of Lady Evelyn and Lady Elysia!"

’He heard everything...’ The man beside Elias only gave a wry smile when he heard Elias’s words.

"Hmm... Good! Don’t listen to women’s chatter. If you had, I was going to castrate you..."

Elias’s hair stood on end. He reflexively covered his lower half, sweat pouring down his face.

The man beside Elias let out a long sigh before speaking.

"Stop teasing them, Umbra."

The woman immediately turned her face away from the man with an annoyed snort.

"Hmph! You’re always like this, Nox."

"Nox is right, you should stop teasing him." A woman with wolf ears said as she approached Elias.

"Iron Wolf Fangs?"

"Wow~ sharp eyes. Yes, that’s right. I’m an Iron Wolf Fangs who has evolved. My name is Venatrix."

"W-what? Evolved?"

Then Venatrix pointed at the man beside Elias.

"This is Nox, and that crazy woman is Umbra."

"Who are you calling crazy, you damn dog?"

"Anyway, don’t mind her. The handsome guy with the cloth over his eyes is Mors. The guy holding his stomach is Vorax. The big guy is Ferrum.

"And last, the shy, timid-looking girl is Vesper."

Umbra cut in on Venatrix by shoving her aside.

"Enough yapping. Look, you’ve worn him out. He’s gasping for air, and his face is really pale."

"W-what? Is that true? I’m sorry!"

Elias could only give a slight wry smile as Venatrix suddenly bowed her body.

’I’m just exhausted...’

"So, who are you?" Evelyn said as she approached Elias, who was standing on shaking legs.

"I won’t care even if you introduce yourselves like a bunch of transfer students. If you’re enemies, we won’t hold back." Elysia said, about to draw her sword.

Even though Elysia said that, she understood perfectly well that she was nothing compared to these seven. They were all truly extraordinary, and she felt like she was facing a thick, towering wall.

"Don’t be so tense. We won’t do anything to you." Nox said, scratching his head,

"We came here on our Master’s orders." he continued.

"Master?" Evelyn tilted her head slightly while holding up the limp Elias.

"Well... Later. For now, let us do our job first."

Nox’s eyes turned toward Vladir, who was far from them.

Because of that gaze, Vladir reflexively wrapped his body in red energy and gripped his sword tight.

’W-what the hell is that guy? Why is he staring at me?’

Nox’s gaze then settled on Vladir’s skin, which had turned slightly blue, the flow of his blood visibly gone black.

Then he looked at the White Dreadclaw and saw the same symptoms.

"I don’t know what to say, but... You’re really something, Elias."

Elias lifted his head when his name was called and looked at Nox.

"You fought two opponents far stronger than you. You don’t even have any special talent, yet you managed to inflict serious wounds on them and even poison them. Well, even if you had to lose your left arm and nearly died... But really, you’re amazing.

"You overcame the gap in strength with your cleverness."

Nox then walked over to Elias and clapped his shoulder firmly.

"Must have been hard."

Elias was stunned for a moment when Nox said that, his eyes trembling a little before he tried to smile.

"Very." He hadn’t intended to give up in the fight, but he had been willing to die and had even said he didn’t mind dying.

’I don’t know who was in my head. But thanks to that, I remembered that I still have a family.’

Seeing Elias’s smile, Nox gave a small snort and smiled. Then he turned to face Vladir.

"Leave him to us."

"...b-but..."

"With the condition your body’s in now, you won’t survive another few attacks."

Umbra and the others walked over to Elias. After stopping near him, Umbra spoke again, this time relaying something Nox had said earlier.

"Besides, it looks like that guy still has an ace up his sleeve."

"...What?"

Elias immediately turned his gaze to Vladir. As if confirming Umbra’s words, red energy suddenly exploded from the man’s body.

*BOOM!

A tremendous wave of energy swept through the surroundings, making the air vibrate and the ground beneath his feet shake violently.

"What the hell is actually going on?" Elias said, his eyes still fixed on Vladir.

"...h-he’s transforming into a demon."

"Demon?"

Elias then looked at the girl named Vesper. Just as Venatrix had said before, this girl did look timid and shy.

"...Normally... humans can’t use demon power. But... if you... eat a demon’s heart... you can obtain demon power, but you’ll also turn into a demon.

"Most people would say it’s worth the result. But in reality, it isn’t."

’...I’ve never heard of humans turning into demons before.’

"Why?"

"Because..." Evelyn continued, her gaze also fixed on Vladir, "someone who has turned into a demon stays a demon forever, and will start to lose their sanity because of a demon’s nature."

Then suddenly, red energy exploded from Vladir’s body and swept through the area behind him. The rows of Blackwood Forest trees were destroyed and vanished, swallowed by the blast.

*BOOOOM!

But behind that destruction, hundreds of demon-like figures began to appear. They filled the area that had been packed with trees before, red energy wrapped around their bodies.

"This is bad! He’s become a ranked demon." Elysia said, her brow furrowed with worry.

’What now? I don’t know about that!’

"It doesn’t matter. Even if it’s a Duke-ranked demon." Nox then drew his sword, and a dark purple light spread in every direction.

*Shing!

"We, The Seven Monarch, can destroy them down to their very cells."

* * *