My Disciples Became Scoundrels - Chapter 116

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Stone-Eaters—monsters that devoured gems and mana-infused stones with appetite and indifference.
The Memory Stone Tablets would be a feast for them. To these creatures, the Library was a banquet hall.
—Crunch! Crunch!
They gnawed through the tablets with relentless grinding. There were so many of them. Each Stone-Eater had claimed its own bookshelf.
Some turned toward me, slavering with hunger as they eyed Roende’s collection. One lunged.
—Shriek!
I swung the blade. Its foreleg flew. The creature screamed and tumbled across the floor.
The monsters’ eyes changed. Their horizontal pupils gleamed with malice.
Ordinarily they didn’t attack people—not unless they themselves were threatened.
—Keeeee!
The Stone-Eaters shrieked loud enough to shake the Library’s foundations. A heavy tail whipped toward me. I cut it clean and planted myself before the bed.
The creatures circled, eyes fixed on me. I managed to hold the line, severing legs and tails in measured strokes, but their numbers kept climbing.
They wouldn’t attack Talia directly. But they wanted those tablets she was clutching. In their frenzy, she could easily be crushed to death.
I had to protect both her and the stones.
Lose either one, and the thread leading to the Blood Lord snaps.
I had to buy time until my disciples arrived.
I drove the blade back into its sheath. Then, reversing my grip, I drew it again—holding the flat of the blade, the handle foremost.
—Crack!
I slammed the pommel into the charging creature’s snout. The impact sang through my hands like a hammer strike.
Smash its mouth, and it won’t be eating any tablets.
The pommel and cross-guard were heavy enough that reverse strikes carried real force.
I’ve never cared for fighting with a blade as a bludgeon. But I know how.
—Bang! Crack!
Broken teeth scattered in all directions. I rammed the pommel into one slack-jawed maw and kept smashing at every snout that came within reach.
The Stone-Eaters stumbled backward, blood streaming from their mouths.
But they weren’t dead. As long as they lived, they’d keep coming.
And more were crawling out from deeper within.
If someone had summoned enough to strip the entire Library bare, far more were yet to emerge.
I needed to find whoever had called them here. But I couldn’t leave this post.
As I continued battering at churning snouts and ridged noses—
—Crack!
A sharp shotgun report cracked through the Library. A Stone-Eater’s skull exploded.
Without turning, I knew. My disciples had arrived.
“Master!”
Bella. Gunshots rang out in quick succession, sharp as lightning. A spear flashed through the air and impaled a creature.
—Crack!
“Dammit, if only I could use Instant Movement……!”
Cesare came charging in, griping. I wrenched the spear from the dead creature’s body and tossed it to him.
Cesare caught it and fell in beside me, back to back.
“Master. What’s the situation?”
“Someone summoned the Stone-Eaters. We can’t wake Talia—it’ll destroy her memories. And the tablets can’t be damaged either.”
“So we have to protect everything on shelves marked with Roende’s name?”
“That’s right.”
The volume of tablets was staggering. I had no way to identify which ones were hers, so I’d have to shield them all.
Bella climbed atop one of the central shelves and took up position. She raised the Shotgun and shouted.
“Cesare! Handle the right flank! I’ll cover the rest!”
“Now you call me that? Fine, trust big brother!”
The thickest wave came from the right. But creatures pressed in from all other directions too.
Bella, whose coverage was the broadest, cycled through reload and sustained fire with mechanical precision.
Left, below, above. Stone-Eaters’ heads burst before they could swallow a single tablet.
Bella’s eyes burned hot. Hundreds of times, thousands—her hands moved along the gun without hesitation.
Blood sprayed from all sides. Cesare wheeled about, spear flashing, and bellowed.
“Gai, you bastard—is this the time to lounge on a couch?!”
Gai sat cross-legged on the sofa, watching the carnage with leisurely indifference.
“I’m tired today. Not in the mood for Necromancy.”
“You asshole……!”
Cesare looked ready to throttle him, but the surge of Stone-Eaters demanded his immediate attention.
I crushed another creature’s jaw and glanced around. I’d begun to map the pattern of emergence.
Most came from the right, but they were actually being drawn from the left—where there were no tablets to eat, so they turned back.
At that moment, voices called out from far away.
“Protect the tablets! We cannot afford further losses!”
The librarians came rushing in. Reinforcements had arrived.
They hurriedly erected a barrier and began using magical tools to lure away the Stone-Eaters.
This gave us breathing room. I was about to entrust them with our rear and dash left when—
“Gasp, cough…?”
One of the librarians staggered. The magical tool he’d been holding slipped from his grasp, and he stood frozen, unable to retrieve it.
He collapsed a moment later. The other librarians began dropping to the ground as well, all wearing expressions of bewilderment.
I glanced upward. Something shimmering fluttered through the air.
“Poison Butterflies! Fall back this way!”
Every time the Poison Butterflies’ wings beat, powder rained down. Those touched by it crumpled one by one.
Stone-Eaters for the tablets, Poison Butterflies for the people. A two-pronged assault.
—Bang, crack!
Bella’s bullets tore downward in a straight line. Several butterflies shredded and fell at once. But their numbers were overwhelming.
The librarians near the barrier narrowly escaped poisoning. They dragged their fallen comrades toward us, sprinting hard.
I drove back the charging Stone-Eaters with broad swings, holding my ground against them. One of the poisoned librarians struggled to speak through the paralysis.
“The tablets… we must protect the tablets….”
Gai let out a soft chuckle and rolled back the poisoned man’s eyes.
“My, such professional devotion. Don’t worry—it’s not a lethal poison. You just can’t move while the paralysis holds.”
Meanwhile, the Poison Butterflies began drifting toward us. I struck at the charging Stone-Eaters and shouted.
“Erect the barrier from the Roende family’s bookshelf to that wall! I’ll clear everything in between.”
First, I had to stop the butterfly powder. The librarians hesitated, then raised the barrier.
But their faces remained dark. They whispered among themselves.
“We need to protect the other shelves too. We can’t just stay here waiting!”
“If one person maintains the barrier while the rest patrol and block the creatures—”
These librarians wouldn’t abandon the rest of Roende’s collection just to defend one shelf. The Stone-Eaters kept coming.
Bella was covering all approaches, but her ammunition wasn’t infinite. I watched the direction the creatures poured in from and spoke.
“I’ll hunt down whoever summoned these creatures. Just hold the barrier for ten minutes.”
“But the Poison Butterflies are swarming everywhere—how will you get through?”
At the librarian’s question, I looked at Gai. Our eyes met. Despite the chaos, his expression remained composed.
“Surely you’re not asking me to go alone? How much labor do you intend to squeeze from me?”
“I’m going with you. You won’t be alone.”
There was a countermeasure for Paralysis Poison. A method only Gai could employ.
“Can you make Convulsion Poison?”
“I could, but…?”
“Feed me the Convulsion Poison. It should counteract the Paralysis Poison to some degree.”
Convulsion Poison continuously stimulated the muscles. Used in the right dose, it became an antidote to paralysis.
Gai looked at me as if I were presenting him with an amusing spectacle.
“That method exists, certainly. Though you’ll be in considerable pain. Truly considerable.”
“If it works, that’s enough. Give it to me now.”
I bolted from behind the barrier. Powder from the Poison Butterflies glittered as it settled on my eyelids.
The moment the dust touched my skin, my entire body went rigid. My forward momentum died.
The effect was vicious. My body buckled, my vision dropping.
I could hear Bella and Cesare shouting from a distance. I barely stayed upright by leaning on my blade.
Then someone approached and seized my neck from behind.
It was Gai. He was irritated again—whether at being dragged into this or for some other reason.
He yanked off his glove with his teeth and bit down hard on his own hand. A mocking tone and the reek of blood accompanied the gesture.
“You should offer a toast, teacher.”
Blood with an odd purple tint dripped and fell. The moment those drops flowed into my mouth—
“Gasp, gah—!”
Pain seized me, and my body began to convulse. Paralysis and convulsion warred inside me. It felt as if my entire frame were burning.
Damnably painful. Yet my fingers began to move. Strength returned to my legs.
Gai watched me with obvious amusement.
“You’re handling it well? Admirable. And what about those two?”
Cesare was at a loss. His feet were bound with blocking the Stone-Eaters, but his gaze fixed only on me.
Bella was the same. She kicked at the empty cartridge casings piled at her feet and shouted.
“Gai! Come give me the Convulsion Poison too!”
“You as well? I’m quite popular today.”
The moment Gai moved to step away, I grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
“Don’t give it to them.”
Better that a broken body like mine consume this poison. I shouted toward my disciples.
“The two of you stay behind and guard the tablet! We need to divide our strength.”
Bella seemed about to protest, but in the end she nodded. She was a rational child, after all.
“Keep watching right, Gai! Hold on until Master arrives!”
“Ha, damn it… He needs to get here soon!”
I dragged my throbbing body upright. Treading over the corpses of monsters, I turned left.
“Gai, follow me. Every time I fall, feed me poison.”
“Yes, sir. Shall we? Have you decided on a toast?”
“To Balanus.”
He let out a hollow laugh.
“You certainly do compose toasts well, Master.”
I ran past the corpses of dead Stone-Eaters. Their numbers were dwindling. Far ahead, I glimpsed a figure.
The librarian. A Summoning Circle was drawn on the floor, and monsters were crawling out of it in waves.
The librarian himself stood shielded by a Barrier, evading the creatures’ attacks. So there truly was a traitor within.
It was then that the librarian spotted us as well. He seized a book in panic—something that appeared to be a Grimoire tore free from his grasp.
―Boom!
The ground beneath my feet trembled. No—it wasn’t just the stone floor.
The walls and ceiling shook as well. As if alive, as if they were a living creature.
Massive tiles heaved and shifted, warping the landscape around us. I had to reach the traitor before the terrain changed entirely.
The moment I pushed off the ground to close the distance—
“Ugh…!”
My legs refused to obey. Glittering dust fell across the bridge of my nose.
Above my head, the ceiling was thick with butterflies—Poison Butterflies clinging to it like insects drawn to light.
From beneath them, powder rained down like snow, like ash. The Convulsion Poison was insufficient. As my body stiffened, a stone wall suddenly surged upward.
―Thud, thud, thud!
Gai seized my shoulder and pulled me frantically. Thanks to him, I avoided being crushed against the rock wall.
But in moments, we were boxed in on all sides. Poison Butterflies, and Gai, and me.
The poison powder cascaded down from that distant ceiling. As the toxin filled the sealed space, my body stiffened rapidly.
Even my sword hand had lost its strength. Just a little more—just a little more of my power to return, and—
It was then that Gai gripped my jaw, holding me firm. His grip was surprisingly strong. I met his violet eyes.
“Master, have you decided on a second toast?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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