Chapter 47 : The Revelation & The Ambush (Part 4)

[The Ashura, Styx].

One of the Four Generals under The Demon Lord's command. A demon who boasted on his strength and survivability, who also surpassed every common sense in the world.

He had six arms just like its title [The Ashura], his body was that of a steel and his strength is said to have been on par with the Demon Lord. Not only that, his body contained something unimaginable.

An [Anti-Magic].

A power that could neutralize any kinds of magic and mana at the same time. He had other nicknames such as the [Mage Killer] since almost every magic couldn't even leave a scratch on him.

There's no day where a city wasn't being destroyed by him and his army, but that terrible days were over the moment he met [The Hero] along with his companions.

[The Hero] who wielded his holy power which came from the God itself, cannot be neutralized with the [Anti-Magic] and with the help of [The Sword Saint, Rowan] whose powers surpassed the limits of a human [Swordsman], cut off one of his arms.

At long last, Styx died when [The Hero] dealt the final using his power which destroyed his entire body with its light.

However...

The arm that was cut off by Rowan had gone missing.

No one knew where did it go. Did it get destroyed by the Hero's power along with his body? Or it's still roaming around, away from people's eyes.

******

'I can't believe I would see such a thing in front of my eyes.' Iris looked up at the arm in disbelief.

The gigantic arm's skin was red and has some sort of tattoo around it. It gave off this dark energy and there's so many wires, cables and tubes plugged into it which is dripping out dark blue blood.

'Just like the legend...that demon has a red skin...so this must be real.'

'Hmmmm...from the book I read...this demon supposed to be destroyed completely by The Hero, but the story that Sensei told seem vague...he said after the demon was destroyed they werr about to search for that one misssing arm

'But they couldn't find it...so they must have thought that it was destroyed by the Hero along with its main body....

But if my perspective was right...a Demon with the power that can neutralize any kind of magic and mana is something that someone wanted to hold onto, so from that point the only conclusion I had...either it got destoryed or...

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Someone else stole it.'

Iris thought while observing the gigantic arm that was stuck on the wall right in front of her.

She slowly turned her head to look at all the connected wires around the room.

"I see...so this is what they have been doing...such a nasty thing." Iris commented with a disgusted look on her face.

"Ojou-sama, allow me to destroy this thing."

"No."

"But–"

"That's not what I meant...with your current strength...I don't think you would be able to leave a scracth on this thing...you don't have a powerful aura that surpasses the limits of a human like Rowan or even the Holy power which [The Hero] and [The Saintess] has."

Harson looked disheartened after hearing her answer.

Iris blue eyes glowed a bit, '[Appraisal].'

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[??????????]

Grade: ?????

Type: ?????

■■■■■■■■■■■■■

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'Is it because my level is still low?' Iris clicked her tongue seeing how she couldn't read the thing in front of her.

'I can destroy it with my Light magic...but I don't need unnecessary attention from Harson.' Iris glanced at her companion who was still sulking at her comment earlier.

Iris glanced her eyes a bit more on the other side as she found where these cables were connected to.

"Harson, follow me." She said as she followed the cables and tubes.

At the end of the cables, she noticed that they were all connected to a big chemical flask standing right before them.

The flask was filled with its blood, not only that, it was also mixed with the other chemical tube on the other side which created a small but continuous drip which were contained inside a bottle that was much smaller in size.

"This is...the poison?" Iris narrowed her brows as she stared at the small bottle which contained a purple liquid.

With her [Magic Eyes], she could sense a nasty looking mana and other things mixed in there.

"Ojou-sama, look at this." Harson called for her attention as he found a notebook next to these chemical equipments.

Iris took it from him and opened the book to read it.

She kept flipping the page, skimming through the contents until she suddenly stopped after seeing something important.

"I see...now I get it."

"What is it, Ojou-sama?"

"Now I know...why do they need those liquor for."

"Those liquor? You mean [Valhalla]?"

Iris nodded, "From this notebook...it is explained why do they need it...first things first, these blue blood that came from that thing has a strong anti-magic properties that can negate magic and cause [Mana Disruption]."

"[Mana Disruption]? Isn't that the rarest illness that can only be caught by someone with a [Mage] job?"

Iris nodded, "[Mana Disruption], it's one of the most dangerous illness that can cause incredible pain from losing control of the mana inside of their body. Not only that, their energy would be drained bit by bit...and they would die a slow, painful death."

"Oh my god...that's terrible!"

"But my mother is a strong [Mage] under the guidance of the Witch herself...so she should be able to control her mana and circulate them properly."

"Then shouldn't it be fine even if she got the poison?"

"No...the second part is they mixed it together with other kind of poison for it to blend in, but of course the anti-magic poison can be traced by my mother when she felt those symptoms and treat it immediately...and with her magic, she can also neutralize the other poison." Iris explained,

"But....what if there's some substance that could hide this blood and stayed in her body for so long without no one ever noticing it."

Harson looked confused of course but somehow he managed to understand some of it, "So...[Valhalla] has what they're looking for? An effect that could hide the poison?"

Iris nodded, "[Valhalla] is a drink that could send you into heaven, the drink that gave you nothing but happiness and no pain...but could kill you by draining your strength bit by bit..."

"And [Mana Disruption] is an illness that need to be treated early before it gets worse." Iris continued, "By combining these...she won't feel any pain the moment [Mana Disruption] started to do their job without her noticing. She will lose her strength and the mana in her body would be destroyed slowly and eventually...after a few years, she will die."

Harson was stunned into silence after hearing her explanations, but it makes sense now.

"Wha–....what a horrible plan."

"But thankfully...this poison is still not finished yet, so we better take this book as evidence before we destroy this place."

"As you command, Ojou-sama."

Iris sighed and put the book into her [Inventory]. 'I guess that's it...but I couldn't find the room that man mentioned...where do they keep those people they experimented on? is it on the other place?'

Iris wondered while looking around the room once again. She could tell that this is just the lab used to produce this poison but they could only see notes and those chemical equipments in here.

Until her eyes landed upon a certain bookshelf that is.

Iris didn't put much thought about it at first but when she saw there were some cables connected through behind that bookshelf, she narrowed her brows suspiciously as she took a good look at it.

'This is...'

"Harson!" Iris quickly pointed her finger to that bookshelf, "Cut open that bookshelf!"

"Yes, Ojou-sama!" In the blink of an eye, Harson pulled his sword out of its sheath and swung the blade towards it.

*SWINGGGG*

*CRACK*

And just like that, he destroyed that bookshelf into pieces.

Both of them widened their eyes after founding a secret passage hidden behind that bookshelf. Not only that, they could also see the cable and wires was still connected further inside it.

"Just as I thought." Iris huffed while scanning her eyes at the secret passage.

"Ojou-sama...this is..."

"Yeah...it seems this is the passage which would lead us to the place that man mentioned before...where they experimented on those people they kidnapped." Iris could feel a nasty aura coming from inside of the passage, the same one from the arm they saw before.

She was about to enter it but Harson stopped her.

"Ojou-sama."

"What is it?"

"Can you let me lead the way for you?" Harson spoke while looking straight into her eyes, from his looks she could tell that he was concerned about her because she looked abnormally calm in such a situation.

Iris sighed. "Fine, I allow you to lead the way."

Harson's face lit up at that and smiled at her, "Thank you, Ojou-sama!"

Iris thought it before and tried to brushed it off but now, she can't help but imagine, that Harson is actually....

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Looked so much like a dog.

*WOOF* *WOOF*

******

*TAP*

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*TAP*

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*TAP*

Iris and Harson walked into the secret passage, with Harson leading the way by using the lamp to brighten their way.

"It's so dark in here." Harson commented.

"Yeah...it seems they kept things dark so no one would know about this." Iris replied.

As they goes down the flight of stairs, they soon reached the bottom. There was long hallway decorated with torches on its wall, providing them some source of light to make their way further inside.

They continued to walk forwards to it, still wondering where this would lead them to until finally...they arrived.

Both of them widened their eyes when they looked at the new area they found themselves in.

They were surrounded by numerous large tubes made out of steel with some unknown machinery attached to them and there's more of those cables and wires which connected to them.

Harson never seen this thing before. To him, it looks like an ancient mechanism. Meanwhile, Iris was baffled. This is as close as she could get to a futuristic scifi movie setting she saw all the time back then, before she got transferred into this world.

'What the hell is this...An experiment machine? In this fantasy world?!' Iris couldn't help but gawked at the things around her.

They started to make their way inside and looked around.

"Ojou-sama...this is."

"I'm sorry Harson...even I don't know what these things are." Iris replied as she stopped to look at one of the tube which had a small window on it.

When she tried to take a closer look....

*BANG* *BANG*

She jerked herself away in surprise when a loud knock came out from that tube

"Ojou-sama!" Harson quickly covered Iris right behind him.

"Harson, look!" Iris pointed out her finger towards that small window and from that small gap, they could see...

A human being.

"I-is there someone?!!–P-please help us!" A middle aged man who looked like skin and bones from a glance, called them for help and then...

*BANG*

*BANG*

*BANG*

"Help!!"

"Mommy where are you...!!"

"Please save us!!!"

The cries of their help filled the whole room, making a cacophony of disturbing and desperate noises.

[Notice!]

[Skill "The Villainess" have been activated]

A notice notified her when the cries almost overwhelmed her, forcing her to be calm again.

"How many people did they kidnapped..." Harson spoke with a hint of anger.

Iris thought the same too, but she brushed it off and tried to focus "...we need to save them first."

Iris took a deep breath and stood at the tube in front of her. "Mister, do you know how to open this?"

"Y-yeah there should be a switch...i-if I remember it looks like a box with yellow and black line and...and a red round circle on it!"

"Harson." Iris commanded him.

Harson quickly looked around and found the box he mentioned, sticking on the wall right beside where they came in.

"Ojou-sama! I found it!" Harson confirmed.

"Do it!" Iris ordered.

And then...

*BANG*

*RING* *RING* *RING*

Suddenly an alarm blared throughout the room after he pushed the button, followed by a flashing red light.

*KSSSHHHHHHHHH*

All the tubes around her began to open and created some sort of gas. Everyone who were kept in there were released and came tumbling out of the tubes.

Iris looked at the opened tube in front of her and the man who asked for help before came out and fell down to his knees as if he doesn't have any strength left on his body.

"Are you oka–huh?!" When Iris about to approach the man, she could see something strange happenend to him.

He looked disfigured, his face looked like its melting, his arms has some sort of bump like bubbles while is body was filled with stiches and what caught her eyes the most was the multiple syringe marks which she saw on his back.

Iris also noticed that there were multiple cables inside of that tube that seems connected with the syringe marks on his back and the others who share similar fate with the man before her. Disfigured and covered with stitches.

As Harson came back to his master's side and saw these people, he couldn't help but feel pity and anger towards whoever had done this to them.

Iris felt the same, but she needed to focus at what's ahead of her.

******

After some time, Harson and Iris finally finished gathering all these people.

Harson focused on tending to them while Iris contacted Matilda and the others using a magic scroll which allowed her to use [Telepathy] for a moment.

*RING* *RING*

'Master...this is me.' Iris spoke.

'Ahhh, Iris? are you alright?'

'Yeah, I am fine we found some evidence here.'

'I see, well I guess you're more lucky than I am.'

'What's in the other side?' Iris asked.

'Nothing much, but we kinda apprehended some criminals who seems to be working in this place.'

'Is it the [Blood Rose]?'

'Hmm? Seems like you've met one of them there.'

'Mhm, I shall explain everything to you but I also want Sensei to hear about this out too.'

'Okay, I shall connect our [Telepathy] with that old man.'

*RING*

'Hmm? Matilda? What is it?' Rowan spoke after he's finally connected with their [Telepathy].

'How is your situation?' Matilda asked.

'My situation? Uhhhh....–'

*BOOM*

A loud explosion can be heard in the background through their telepathy.

'What was that noise?!' Matilda asked.

'We are raiding the whole place seperately like you told and it seems in this location they have [Mage] on their side.'

'I see, I think I don't have to worry about it.'

'Hahaha! Don't worry okay! And so? What is the problem for you to call me?'

'Iris is here.' she spoke, 'She have something to say...so we should listen to her first.'

'Hmmm?? Iris Ojou-sama?'

'Yes, Sensei it is me.'

'Ohhh! I'm glad you're safe! How is the situation?!' Rowan sounded really happy to hear Iris' voice.

But Iris didn't answer right away, '....I don't know how I should explain."

Matilda and Rowan was caught off guard when they heard the sudden change of her tone.

'Tell us what happen.' Rowan asked.

Slowly, Iris took a deep breath and explained to them from the start when they met one of the [Blood Rose]'s henchmen.

The story got progressively worse, starting from knowing about their horrible plan to the Welford's family and the use of [Valhalla] for the special poison to kill the Duchess.

Not to mention founding the existence of the Demon Lord remnants, which is the Arm of The Demon General, [The Ashura, Styx].

After that, she spoke about the what they had done to the people she found.

******

Matilda was rendered speechless with her explanation and finding out about such a terrible situation, '....I see.'

'How many people are there?' Rowan asked a bit impatiently as he couldn't contain his anger any longer.

Right now, Iris was standing inside of a room...where the failure of the experiment gathered.

A man, age 40 disposed, [Failure].

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A woman, age 20 disposed, [Failure].

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A man, age 50s disposed, [Failure].

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Finally...a little girl, age 6 years old, [Failure].

Their bodies which were laid on the table with their tags on it...was beyond recognition. It was very disgusting how their body was made into something horrible like that. If it wasn't for her skill, she would never recover from such a sight.

Iris could only stand and stared at these people who died, starting from the elderly to a child who are 2 years younger than her.

[Notice!]

[Skill "The Villainess" have been activated]

Her skill forced her to be calm again, picking up on her fear and panic which were quickly swelling up inside of her.

And such vulnerable emotions were replaced by anger that couldn't be contained anymore.

'30 people were saved...but 40 people died due to the experiment.'

'.....'

Silence.

Neither of them could say something after she reported the situation.

However, Rowan and Matilda shared similar thoughts. A little girl who's nor even 10 years old, managed to be this calm in front of those corpses.

'You did a great job.' Rowan could only complimented her for her efforts to be this calm and collected, not letting any of it affecting her mentally.

'Thank you for reporting to us...right now, both of you should go back safely.' Matilda spoke.

'Understood.' Iris nodded and finally, the [Telepathy] was cut off.

******

In the other location, where was Rowan standing in front of a fort....

A mage stopped his soldier from advancing further using their magic.

One of the soldier approached him and reported. "Sir! We are sorry! We couldn't manage to break through their barrier and rapid fire of magic!"

"I see...it seems this place has something to hide too and just as important as Iris'..." He murmurred

"Y-yes sir, it seems to me too.'

"Then what are you waiting for?"

"Huh?"

*THUNK*

Rowan suddenly walked forwards through the fort without anyone protecting him while pulling out his giant sword that was hanging on his back.

"S-sir where are you–"

*SWOOSH* *SWOOSH*

When he was walking...a rain of fireballs rapidly coming down from above him.

Rowan got on his position and suddenly....

"HMMMM!!!"

He swung his sword in straight horizontal line....

*SWOOSH*

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*CRACK* *SHATTERS*

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*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

Everyone looked on in awe at his show of incredible technique. With just a single swing of his sword, he managed to shatter those barrier and wall into pieces and slashed through the magic aimed at him.

"A [Swordmaster]?! With such a high level?!" One of the mage was astonished and overcame with fear at the man's strength tthat was ble to destroy their defense.

"Tsk....is that all?" Rowan clicked his tongue and raised his hand to command his soldier to charge into the fort while looking up at those mages who froze in their spot from fear after locking eyes with the old man.

"W-why are you doing this?!" The mages shouted.

"Hmfh...you dare to ask me? without knowing what you have done? Then let me tell you all clearly this time...."

******

At the same time...on the other location.

*BOOM*

*CRACKKK*

*BOOM*

"Ackkk!!!"

"W-what happen?!"

Inside of yet another fort, above the building they were rained down with thunderstorm and tornadoes.

Safe to say that they destroyed the barrier and everything that got hit by the thunder.

The guards came out to see who was responsible to create such chaos. It didn't take them long to find two women flying in the sky.

An old lady in a witch's attire and a silver haired maid in an armor.

Matilda and Silvi. Together, they casted this magic.

"[Combined Magic: Chaos Tempest]!"

*CRACK* *CRACK*

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*BOOM* *BOOM*

The thunder struck them down...

Some of them survived but they couldn't manage to understand why this is happening to them.

"W-why such a [High Mage] like her would do such things to us...what did we do wrong!" One of them shouted in fear.

Hoewer, the women's face was filled with anger....

"You dare to ask why we are doing this? Fufufuf~ how foolish...I shall tell you what have you all done." Matilda spoke.

In that moment the guards and the mage who stand guard in different locations, facing off with Rowan and Matilda respectively...were reminded of that legend...

The legend of a Sword Saint who could cut a single mountain with one swing and a Witch who could cast a powerful magic that goes beyond human comprehension.

The legend who were once accompanied [The Hero] in his journey to subjugate the Demon Lord in the past.

Their names rang inside their heads like an alarm bell.

[The Sword Saint, Rowan Threston]

[The Witch, Matilda Threston].

"I shall praise you all for having so much guts to show something horrible to my student...now I shall...–" Rowan spoke.

"...let you all fall into despair...for messing with my precious disciple...." Matilda spoke angrily "and now, I will....–"

"–destroy you all into pieces!"

"–pulverize you all into a dust~"

The two legends spoke simultaneously, instilling fear towards them all with their words....

******

In the meantime...something's lurking in underground below where Iris stood...

Together with Iris...they will soon...face another hurdles.

*GRRRRRR*

To be continue....

*Iris' current status*

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[STATUS]

NAME: Iris Mei Welford/ Hanamachii Yomi

JOB : Magic Swordsman

TITLE : [The Other Worlder]; [The Villainess]; [Quick Learner]; [Magic Master]; [Sword Master]

[Level: 27]

[HP: 4020/4020]

[MP: 1200/1200]

[FATIGUE: 0]

EXP: 0/9000

STATUS POINT : 0

______

STRENGTH : 77(+15)

AGILITY : 77

VITALITY : 77

INTELLIGENCE : 115(+15)

SENSE : 59(+15)

SKILL

Magic Mastery Lv5; Sword Mastery Lv5; Super Growth LvMax; Darkness Magic Lv5, Light Magic Lv4; Magic Eyes Lv4; The Villainess LvMax; Etiquette Lv6; Knitting Lv4; Cooking Lv4

Status Appraisal Lv4

Foresight Lv4

Restraint Lv5

Intimidate Lv4

Shadow Movement Lv5

Shadow Blade Lv5

Heal Lv5

Holy Light Lv3

Sword Dance Lv5

Vital Strike Lv5

Omni-Slash Lv6

Dark Pulse Lv3

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[The Moonlight Rapier]

Grade: Epic

Type: Rapier

STRENGTH: +80

Durability: 100%

A rapier that was created using the core from an unknown beast that roamed the night. Under the moonlight, it will let out a mysterious power no one can ever imagine and due to the creator's strong will and vision, it created a new form of power that could control and stabilize the dark energy using the power of the moonlight.

Skill:

[Dance of the Moonlight]

A skill that allows its user to let out the hidden power of the unknown beast that could be controlled and stabilized, the user will gain +50% overall status and additionally, it granted the user the [Purify] power.

Duration : 30 min.

[Purify]

Due to the moonlight energy coursing through the blade, it could neutralize any kind of negative status effect towards everything it touches and it add extra damage against [Dark Energy] type of being.

[The Blacksmith Will]

Duration : 2 min.

Cooldown : 60 sec.

The creator imprinted his will into this rapier, giving the wielder a strength to pave their way through hurdles and challenges. Overall status increased by 20%.

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