My Disciples Became Scoundrels - Chapter 117

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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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Gai fed me his blood again. I couldn’t even taste it anymore.
Though I’d swallowed quite a bit, my body still refused to obey. He furrowed his brow and pulled his wrist away.
“Still not moving. You need more.”
“If I drink any more, I’ll become a cripple. Besides, my blood’s running low.”
My body still wouldn’t respond properly. If the Poison Butterfly venom would just ease up a little, I could fight.
At least I seemed able to speak now. I forced my stiffening jaw open.
“Gai, with Necromancy—could you control Stone Eater’s corpse?”
“It’s possible, but what are you planning? Even if I summon it, breaking through the enemy’s protective barrier will be difficult.”
“Here—have it eat the stone wall. Make a hole for the Poison Butterfly venom to escape through.”
“Ah, I see. I’ll try to—”
Thud-boom!
Another tremor struck. The walls around us undulated as if the stone itself were digesting prey.
Both sides pressed in alternately. The gap narrowed steadily. The ceiling was descending too. At this rate, we’d be crushed.
The smile vanished from Gai’s face.
“It’s not working fast enough. The distance is too great!”
He began Dual Casting. The ceiling descended faster, and the swarm of butterflies drew closer.
At this pace, I’d collapse soon. I had to do something before I was completely paralyzed.
Screech!
I wedged my sword sideways between the walls. It was a masterwork blade forged by Zike, so it wouldn’t shatter easily.
Both walls trembled and held. They stopped advancing. But they weren’t fully halted.
If the blade slipped free, the walls would crush us flat.
My sword cried out. It shrieked with an ominous sound of cracking as it strained to hold the pressure.
I would have preferred to block with my own body. My limbs, maddeningly, wouldn’t answer.
Without meaning to, I slid down the wall. Breathing became difficult. The stench of the Poison Butterfly made my stomach roil.
“Almost there—stay conscious!”
Gai shouted, but I could barely lift my head. The sound of the ceiling descending filled my ears. I had to hold it back.
Clang!
The sound changed. Something above had caught. I managed to tilt my head and look up.
It was Gai. With his face twisted in fierce concentration, he was holding up the ceiling with his own body.
His arms pressed against the stone above, his legs driving hard against the floor. His arms trembled violently.
“Damn it, this brutal work isn’t supposed to be my job—!”
Something cracked with a terrible sound. Whether it was stone, my blade, or Gai’s bones, I couldn’t tell.
Screech!
Then one wall shattered, and a narrow gap opened. Beyond it, the outside world appeared.
Stone Eater was tearing through the stone wall like a madman. Gai was chanting spells as if possessed, his hands crushed and bleeding from the effort.
A draft formed. Fresh air poured in. The paralysis venom thinned, and pain bloomed across my entire body.
It was a welcome pain. At last, my sluggish body obeyed. I gripped the hilt of my sword.
But I couldn’t simply swing it. The moment I withdrew the blade, both walls would come crashing in. This place couldn’t become our tomb.
Leaving the pain behind, I drew forth Black Mana. There was no space to swing freely, no time to strike with a wide arc.
I concentrated all my magical power at the blade’s tip. One chance. That was all I had been given.
I couldn’t let anything else break.
Shing!
The thrust and the upward cut happened as one. A long vertical line split across the wall.
I seized Gai by the collar and dragged him outside. The stone wall behind us collapsed in an instant.
“Gai!”
He was groaning but alive. His arms appeared to be broken.
Then, in the distance, I saw the traitor. He was fleeing. Rage burned hot in my chest at the sight of his back.
I ran after him, gripping a sword that shook in my trembling hand. Was the venom making my head burn, or was it fury?
Slash!
“Ahhh!”
The traitor’s leg was severed, and he fell thrashing to the ground. I immediately crushed his fingers.
He wouldn’t cast magic again. It was a shame I couldn’t kill him.
I plunged my blade into the Magic Circle still in motion. The brilliant light faded.
No more monsters emerged. Poison Butterflies still lingered, but before my arms could freeze again, I cut through the wall.
Crash!
The wall collapsed, and the Poison Butterfly swarm poured out. Now the disciples should recover as well.
I grabbed the traitor’s head. He shrieked in terror.
“Mercy! Please, spare me! I didn’t know what this was. I was only told to use the Scroll—”
“By whom?”
“I don’t know. I just gave him money. He said to use it when Talias came back. I—” A sob caught in his throat.
The way he blubbered made it clear he had no spine for a Guardian. Not that I planned to let him go anyway.
Thud!
One punch and he was unconscious. How convenient.
I beat him half to death before stopping. After that, I’d drag him out and wring him for information.
Right now I wanted to break every bone in his body one by one, but there were other matters to attend to.
I limped toward Gai. One of his arms hung limp at his side, and his expensive clothes were caked with dirt.
I uncorked a Recovery Potion and trickled it into Gai’s mouth. After a moment, he spoke without opening his eyes.
“I feel like I’ve been taking losses all day, Master.”
“I’ll have a new room made for you. Not a storage closet.”
I figured he’d earned it. Gai exhaled slowly and turned his head.
“Then I should ask for the largest one.”
As we were catching our breath, Bella came running up, urgency flooding her face.
“Master, are you all right? We’ve dealt with all the monsters. Talias and the Memory Stone Tablet are safe.”
Bella seemed to have escaped serious injury, though her fingers were badly scraped.
Gai, sprawled on the ground, looked up at her.
“Sister, I’m hurt too. Won’t you look after me?”
“What on earth happened to you?”
“I threw myself into protecting our Master, body and soul.”
Bella eyed him skeptically. I nodded at her—he was telling the truth.
Only then did her expression soften. She reached out and ruffled his hair roughly.
“Good job.”
“What? You’re praising me?”
“Isn’t that what you asked for?”
“I’m not used to this… You’re not about to hit me, are you?”
While Gai thrashed about dodging Bella, the librarians arrived. I decided to borrow their hands.
“First, please treat this traitor and keep him isolated.”
“Treat him? He looks dead.”
“He’s still breathing.”
Just barely—I’d been careful to leave him clinging to life, no more.
Once I’d handed him off, we made our way back to Talias. The librarians were moving about frantically, gathering the shattered pieces of the Memory Stone Tablet.
Loend’s Bookcase had survived intact. So had Cesare and Talias.
Cesare, who’d been standing guard by the bed, shot to his feet when he saw us.
“Master! Thank the heavens you came back alive… But what’s wrong with Gai? Why does he look like that?”
“He got hurt trying to protect me.”
“…Is that so?”
Cesare’s eyes narrowed as he studied Gai. Gai grinned irritatingly.
“Won’t you praise me too, older brother?”
“Hey, librarian! This fool’s injured—take him and get him fixed up!”
The Recovery Potion I’d given him was only first aid. He needed proper treatment, as did my disciples.
“Go get treatment with Gai, the three of you.”
“But Master, you look like you’re in the most pain.”
“I’ll get mine later. Go on, the three of you. You know how stubborn I am.”
Cesare and Bella looked reluctant, but they left in the end.
I made my way to Talias’s bed. She was sleeping deeply, undisturbed. There shouldn’t be any problems with her memories.
As I waited, she stirred.
“Mm…”
Talias pushed herself up on her elbows. Her eyes were clouded and distant.
“Talias, do you remember anything about the Blood Lord?”
“Vaguely. That Blood Lord you were so desperate to find—I saw him directly, two years ago…”
She pulled out a cigarette and lit it. Someone might have objected, but the busy librarians weren’t paying this way any attention.
“Something about bloodline that reacted to a gem?”
“What kind of gem was it?”
“A gem I’d never seen before. For the past two years, no bloodline has shown that reaction. It must have been taken when the first murders occurred.”
She smoked anxiously.
“I thought it strange that he ordered me to bring it out. Suspicious, really.”
“…Did you keep any records of the examination results?”
“They burned up because of Rockstone.”
There was far less useful information than I’d hoped. The gem itself was gone now, beyond our reach.
What struck me as odd was this: if he’d recovered the gem, why did he keep killing Talias? Why bother?
The Guardians had even bribed the librarian to summon monsters. They were trying to prevent Talias from recovering her memories.
It was excessive for a mere precaution. I studied Loend’s Bookcase for a moment.
“Talias. Does your father’s memory happen to be here as well?”
“Hm? Yes, it is.”
“Please show me that memory. The period from fifteen to twenty years ago.”
The Guardians had been watching us for a long time. They must have discovered the bloodline of my disciples at least fifteen years ago.
Talias is now in her early thirties. There’s no chance she took on such research in her teens.
Then someone else must have analyzed the disciples’ bloodlines.
At my words, Talias gave me an odd look.
“Showing you my father’s memory feels like too much.”
“The people hunting you and the people I’m searching for are the same.”
Talias, who had been drawing on her cigarette, froze.
“They may continue to target you. For your own safety, you must examine your father’s memory.”
“……Sigh.”
White smoke burst into the air with her exhale. She scratched her head as if troubled.
“Fine. What exactly are you looking for?”
“There should be information related to the Blood Lord, the Guardians, and Balanus.”
“Five years of memory, then? All right, give me a moment.”
Talias selected a Memory Stone Tablet bearing an unfamiliar name.
She fell asleep again. And on the third tablet, I finally found the thread.
“You were right. My father overheard someone’s conversation—it was about Balanus.”
Talias looked uneasy. Ash fell as her cigarette burned down.
“There’s a bloodline holder in Balanus. They must be killed before reaching the 6th Circle. That’s what was said.”
Her voice came through the haze of smoke.
“They said once they reach that height, they won’t be killable.”

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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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