Chapter 103 – 103. The Man Who Finally Met the Main Character.

In most battles between a hero and a warlock, the hero is at a disadvantage.
Unlike a warrior who has to protect someone, a black magician only repeats destruction indiscriminately, so the latter has absolutely no choice but to be advantageous.

“Lucia, Lucia… !”

The warrior’s body is one.
It is impossible to protect all companions.

Every moment comes a situation where you have to make a choice.
Will you take care of your colleagues or save others?

If only personal feelings were put first, even Luke would take care of his colleagues first.
It is only natural that his one and only lover is more important than hundreds of thousands of people who do not even know his face.

But Luke was a warrior.
A hero chosen by the holy sword, a hero who must save people and protect the continent.

He had to make a choice.
Unable to save both, Luke chose thousands of humans.

─ Luke, I’m fine. Because you like that kind of Luke.

Because of this, it often happens that colleagues are kidnapped.

Luke’s party mate, Lucia, who has been active as a fire mage, has been kidnapped by a black mage.
It happened while Luke was dealing with the devil.

It’s a situation where you don’t know what kind of nasty situation you’re going to face.
The more I imagined it, the more I was out of breath.

You can become a victim of demon summoning, which black magicians usually do, or you can extract demonic energy by amplifying negative emotions based on mental brainwashing, or you can skip cumbersome procedures and simply destroy it.

It will be painful.
Can delicate Lucia withstand the warlock’s teasing?

For failing to protect Lucia, a member of his party, Luke resents himself.
He bit his teeth hard enough to bleed out.

If only I was a little stronger…
If you were strong enough to cut down the summoned demons… !

If so, he could have saved Lucia.
While fulfilling his mission as a hero, he would have fulfilled his responsibilities as a man.

“Luke, calm down.”

Then, a man tapped him on the shoulder.
She spoke calmly in a manly, subdued voice.

“Lucia is alive.”

Luke raised his head and looked at him.
He repeated what he had said earlier.

“Lucia is alive.”

Luke wanted to ask him.
How could he be so sure?

He was a man of many secrets.
There are many things that he showed and proved his ability, but he didn’t say anything about himself.
He only knew his name, and he knew nothing about him.

It was also strange that he took Ash, who was a fool, with him.
At the Hero Academy, Ash was called an incorrigible, dumb man who couldn’t speak.
A man who follows Ash so well that it’s strange.

─ I like it. He seems to be unaware of himself.

Lucia’s voice passed by my ears.

─ Look at the eyes of the woman you love, aren’t they beautiful?

Even Ash, who had been beaten so damn, was smiling like a girl his age when he looked at him.
Lucia, who was looking at Ash like that, was also smiling brightly.
It seemed so to Luke.

My heart is cold.
More than when the heart was pierced by a frost giant’s sword.

“Luke, calm down.”

The man said to Luke.

“Lucia is your woman. I can’t save anyone but you.”

There was a subtle power in the man’s voice.
Should I say the power of words?

He had a strong trust in Luke.
It was so severe that even Luke’s parents, now deceased, would think he was overdoing it if they talked to him.

It seemed that he was 100% sure that Luke would cut down the demon lord and that he would overcome such an ordeal with confidence.
He said that he would confidently rescue the kidnapped Lucia, that if it were you, he would be able to rescue it.

Whenever that happens, Luke meets his eyes.
The eyes were sincere.
There was not even a hint of deceit or anxiety.

It’s not that I opened my mouth and spat out words.
It sounded like his voice was in Luke’s ears.

“… I do not get it.”

Luke looked at the man and asked.

“Why can you trust me so much?”

The man, Kang Ah-jin, answered with a smile.

“Contemplation.”

* * *

Kranos comes down.
After dropping the loa like a group, it came this way.

I held the loa’s blade close to her neck.
It was to warn me that I was ready to die at any moment.

Kranos didn’t even care about my posture.
I couldn’t see the expression on his face because he was wearing a black robe, but I didn’t feel like he was particularly interested in me.

Didn’t you come here because you needed my body?
Maybe I got the number wrong.

─ I will ask again. Dude, how do you know me?

The noise in the voice became clearer.
His will was clearly conveyed.

Should I say live?
How you answer will determine where you sleep today, I felt it.

“Is there any reason why I shouldn’t know?”
– Are you provoking me? I’m different from Grape. If you made fun of your tongue…

Chuak, chuak-!
“Quaaaaagh!”
“Aaaaa, Luke! Luke!”

Luke was severely cut.
It was a serious wound, so great that it wouldn’t be strange to die right away.

It happened in an instant.
I dare not resist with my own ability.

Warlock Kranos, Elder of Hell-Chain.
A magician who betrayed humanity in the Pandemonium Erosion 300 years ago.

– Said Grape. To capture the black-haired man from the East Continent alive, he had to be used as a hostage unconditionally, so the better he was, the better it would be.

Are you using me as a hostage?

─ We know. I’m watching you. Ash Greyfield, the power of a half angel.
“Kuh… !”

Invisible
In other words, it means that vision, which accounts for the largest proportion of the five senses, is useless.

I can’t see anything because I can’t see
There is no choice but to be helpless against the intangible energy and power that suddenly penetrates.

He was holding the knife tightly.
In case I missed it, I squeezed it hard even though my palms were bleeding.
But it was my mistake.

“Ouch… !”

An invisible hand grabbed my limbs.
It wasn’t like Roa’s strangling her neck, though.
Because of Kranos’ power, she was unable to move at all.

─ Only your body has value. But not the other bitches.
“Oh, suck… !”
─ I will ask again. If you don’t come up with an answer this time, I’ll kill the other vassals, not the hero.

Karen and Rebecca hug Luke, and Islan hugs Loa.

-You bastard, how do you know me?
“Keuhehe, black!”

Am I a hostage?
A hostage to capture Ash?

‘Looks like the effect will be certain!’

Some might make fun of me for being overly self-conscious.
But what if it’s true?
Other warriors may be squeamish, but Ash will turn on the light in his eyes and run.

My body floats.
I was on eye level with Kranos.

I said while glaring at Kranos.

“I will tell you everything. I’ll tell you, will you let the others go?”
─ Does it still sound like a joke?
“… It’s because I have a secret I don’t want to tell even to my colleagues.”

I was determined to die.
I put my life on the stake.
However, the others were not.

Luke’s party had just met.
Although he knew his personality and values ​​through novels, it was a first meeting for Luke.
I can’t let you die here.

The same goes for both elves.
While mixing flesh with Islan, mixing sweat with Roa, they became close in one way or another.
I didn’t want to put the two of them at risk.

He’s an ugly guy who gets fucked by women on the bed.
I want you to know that I am a guy who does things as a man.

— …

Kranos spewed out his demonic energy.
A black curtain unfolded around us.
Outside noise was completely blocked out.

– Come on, tell me. Neither the Church of the Sun nor the Imperial Intelligence Agency knew about me. He is known as one of Hell-Chain’s executives. But what about your guy?
“Heh, that’s right. You are a human from 300 years ago.”
— … Bloke.

Blue eyes flashed under the black robes.
I turned my head away from his gaze.

‘Eh.’

He couldn’t turn his head, and he closed his eyes tightly.
It was to avoid mental contamination magic.

─ Why doesn’t it work?

A ghastly voice rang in my ears.
Kranos looks flustered.
His black magic, which he prides himself on, doesn’t seem to work for me.

‘I don’t know why, but it’s fortunate.’

Kranos says

— … Tell me I will hear it directly from your mouth.
“I am a prophet.”
─ The Prophet?

Kranos’ eyes shimmered ominously.

– You mean you’re a prophet?
“Yes, the Prophet. I know the future.”
— … I can’t believe it. Are you a saint who receives revelations from the sun god?
“He is an atheist. But he knows the future.”

Kranos does not believe in the existence of the Prophet.
Even if it were me, I would never have believed it.

─ Isn’t that a lie to get out of this situation? To buy time until the hero Ashe comes…
“I ate 300 years old and still can’t believe it. If I am not a prophet, how will I know you?”
-Have you lost your fear?
“… If you know the future, you are not afraid of the present.”

I am not a prophet
The future I know is useless.
Because Ash returned, everything changed.

However, it can be used as a threat right away.

‘I didn’t expect it to be written in this way.’

Agitated Kranos.
Perhaps because he recognized him, Kranos was wary of me.

─If what you say is false, I will kill all the bastards outside. Even the humans in this city use it as a sacrifice.
“…”
─ But.

Kranos is glaring at me.

─ If you’re really a prophet, that’s a different story.

The noisy voice became clearer.
It could be called a human voice now.

─ Prove it. Tell me everything you know

This is Kranos’ voice.

“… Hell-Chain…”

I broke everything I knew.
He mainly talked about the things that Hell-Chain is plotting, things that should have happened at this point, and things that are expected to happen.

— … Grape, that scumbag did something.

After saying that, my body was compressed into a single point.
I felt crushed.

And when I opened my eyes, I was standing in a strange place.
A dark castle, a broken chandelier on the ceiling, and a round table below.
Those in black robes were one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight…

“Hell-Chain.”

As soon as I faced the grim ones, I realized that I had been kidnapped by the Hell-Chain stronghold.