Chapter 461
Episode 131: Those with Good Intuition, Those Without (5)
“But that voice—it’s not Bubar’s.”
It lacked Bubar’s trademark oily, clogged tone that felt suffocating and petty, nor did it carry his usual irritable edge.
Instead, it was a clear, yet anger-lowered female voice.
“And it wasn’t Margiela’s voice either. Then who could it be?”
Someone else from Kinzel? Or perhaps Amela?
Just as the question formed, a massive, murky orb began gathering inside Bubar’s open mouth.
Despite the sudden formation of Bubar’s colossal figure and his breath, the members of the great faction remained unfazed, calmly raising their protective shields. These elite warriors were immune even to certain mental attacks, so they maintained composure even in unfamiliar situations.
A deep rumble—
Bubar’s breath expanded rapidly, producing an intense noise as if it might explode at any moment.
Even a rough estimate suggested an overwhelming force was about to be unleashed.
Just before the breath burst forth, the great faction’s shields flashed brightly. The first to be struck was the area where the Runcandel forces were positioned.
“Haaaah!”
A man standing at the forefront of the Runcandel line let out a thunderous shout.
His yell seemed to slice the breath in two before it could even echo—though in reality, it was his sword that had struck down.
Unusually for Runcandel, he wielded both sword and shield as his main weapons, and every time he shouted, an immense energy radiated from him.
“So Vugo Runcandel has arrived.”
Vugo Runcandel, the fourth son of Siron and the family’s sixth-ranked warrior. Behind him, guardian knights and two execution knights held their shields up.
“I thought Joshua would come himself. Does he have other matters to attend to?”
Since Amela was one of the few remaining major neutral forces, Jin had expected the top-ranking warriors of the family to show up.
Someone ranked between first and fourth—one of the upper echelons.
Vugo was no weakling, but given the gravity of the situation, the enemies surely sent someone matching Runcandel’s top ranks.
Turning his gaze toward the Ziphl faction, Jin realized they too had no high-ranking warriors present.
“Midor Elner…?”
His face was the first to be identified. Because the breath that had struck Runcandel’s forces bent sharply toward Ziphl, the others were obscured, but no one of higher rank seemed to be there.
Midor was the illegitimate son of Kelliak Ziphl, the man who had come to save Myuron Ziphl during the Colon native massacre. Jin owed him a debt.
Back then, Kelliak’s power, “Spatial Explosion,” had nearly wiped them out on Colon.
The memory made Jin grit his teeth reflexively.
Though it had been a tough ordeal, Midor ultimately helped Jin by revealing that Kelliak could “divide” space.
Jin also surveyed Kinzel and the Imperial forces.
Aside from the giant Bubar, none of the Kinzel executives Jin knew were visible.
The Imperial forces all concealed their faces, but seemed composed solely of special task forces and the royal guard.
Even if Hailan hadn’t participated recently due to terrorism and political pressure, the heads of the empire’s top families or their equivalents should have been here—but only rank-and-file soldiers had arrived.
Of course, the members of each faction currently on Gaipa Archipelago were formidable figures anywhere in the world.
Still, for the four great powers to send only these representatives to a place where serious rivalries were unfolding felt insufficient.
“Hey, kid. Didn’t you say you’d need my backing?”
Murakan spoke.
Bubar’s breath had just struck Kinzel and was now heading toward the Imperial side, but Murakan scoffed at the sight.
“Hah. What is this, some kind of spinning toy? I’ve never seen breath expelled so weakly. And it’s funny how it gets weaker every time it hits something. Anyway, it seems like only those who don’t need my backing are here. Unlucky, but honestly, you’re doing better than those guys.”
“They’re not even worthy of being compared to my lord.”
“You started out glaring like a snake’s eye, but you’ve got some skill at flattery too.”
“Thank you, Murakan. But I think… the people who were supposed to be here are probably gathered somewhere else.”
Rata’s words made Jin nod.
He had come to the same conclusion.
“There’s something bigger than Amela going on—something I don’t know about…!”
Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense for only people like Vugo to be gathered here.
What could be so important that they’d risk giving up Amela? Nothing came to mind immediately.
He felt as if he’d been hit hard on the back of the head.
“Huh? You’re saying the ones who should be here are gathered somewhere else?”
“There’s something more important than Amela. For now, we can only guess what it is.”
“So we’ve been played, huh? Before we even start anything here on Gaipa Archipelago?”
“That’s not necessarily true.”
“Why not?”
“Since lower-ranked competitors have come, we can finish here quickly and move to where they are.”
“Only if no one else has claimed what’s more important than Amela by then.”
“That’s a matter of luck. But lately, luck’s been on our side, hasn’t it?”
When Bubar unleashed his first breath and now as he prepared another, his massive form moved sluggishly.
Yet, each faction struggled to respond quickly to his actions.
They couldn’t mount a proper counterattack. The warriors fired sword energy in place, and the mages cast ranged spells, but most were weak compared to their usual level.
It seemed something was interfering, preventing them from performing at full strength. Among them, exceptional figures like Vugo and the execution knights protected those who faltered.
The factions hadn’t even recognized Murakan and his group hovering in the sky yet.
The clash of murky energy, breath, and shields stirred up a furious dust cloud, and the skilled fighters were fully occupied defending their protectors.
“My lord, except for a few, everyone’s moving as if intoxicated by some neurotoxin.”
“That spreading black energy is definitely the cause. Like those on the island we saw earlier, anyone below seven stars is completely driven mad.”
Rata and Pei reported.
“Sir Rata, you still think it’s not poison or a hallucinogen?”
“Yes, my lord. Earlier, I judged by the absence of any lingering effect, but judging by the scale and color, if it were poison, it would have a distinct smell. Poisons with this hue are very limited.”
Murakan circled the black energy, lowering his flight altitude.
Since Jin’s group hadn’t been exposed to the other factions yet, it was best to stay hidden as long as possible.
But as they neared the murky energy radiating from giant Bubar, something began to change in the Prochi siblings.
“Ugh!”
“My lord…!”
Rata and Pei suddenly clutched their heads, even releasing their grip on Murakan’s back scales, groaning in pain.
Though they had protective shields ready for just such an emergency, it seemed useless.
“Sir Rata!? Pei?”
Jin caught the two as they nearly collapsed.
Only seconds had passed since approaching the murky energy, but the Prochi siblings’ faces had turned deathly pale, sweat pouring down like rain.
“Snap out of it!”
“Hey, hey! What’s wrong with you all of a sudden?”
“Murakan! Get us out of this murk… ah!”
Whoosh! Ssshk!
Something sharp grazed Jin’s coat collar.
Reacting quickly, Jin dodged, but the collar was slightly cut. It had been a claw aimed at his neck.
Pei’s claw.
Jin’s wide eyes caught the change in Pei’s skin color.
Her skin had shifted to a hue similar to the murky energy surrounding giant Bubar.
Then, with one last desperate shake of her head, Pei tried to say, This is not my will. After that, she completely lost control.
“Kyaaah!”
As Pei attacked again, Jin threw a punch to knock her out.
He felt the jaw shift under his blow, but Pei seemed unfazed and kept attacking.
Beside her, Rata trembled, bent over, unable to hold onto Murakan’s scales.
He was fighting with all his might to resist the murky energy corrupting his mind. Since Rata’s resistance was stronger than Pei’s, he held out a bit longer.
But he looked fragile, like a thread about to snap.
“Ugh… my, my lord…!”
“Sir Rata!”
“Something’s… in my head!”
At that moment, Murakan ascended, breaking free from the murk.
Simultaneously, Rata and Pei’s eyes and skin returned to normal, but the siblings still gasped for breath, shaken.
What is that murky energy? Why does it only affect Sir Rata and Pei? It completely ignored their shields.
As the Prochi siblings said, it wasn’t poison—their internal antidotes had no effect.
Yet the murk acted almost like a poison or an incredibly potent drug or hallucinogen.
Even the major powers were struggling against the miasma; it wasn’t reacting exclusively to the Prochi siblings. The best warriors from each faction weren’t completely free from its influence either.
In fact, on the Gaipa Archipelago, only Jin and Murakan remained unaffected by the miasma.
“It affects everyone in the world, but it can’t harm me or Murakan.”
A single word flashed through his mind.
“A curse!”
It was exactly that.
The miasma enveloping the entire island was the energy of a curse. That was why only Jin, the contractor of Solderet and the Black Dragon, and Murakan remained untouched.
“If I evacuate Sir Lata and Fey, and move alone, I have the greatest advantage among all the factions. In this situation.”
Just as he was about to suggest flying to another island with Murakan—
“Ugh, what the hell! All of a sudden?”
Suddenly, tendrils of miasma shot out from Bubarr like tentacles. Murakan easily dodged them, but the Lata siblings, as if possessed, leapt straight into the miasma.
Then, the tendrils extended and transformed into a cradle-like shape, enveloping the siblings and pulling them inward.