Even Adar is left somewhat at a loss for words. The idea that this demon is somehow a librarian sounds ridiculous. Of course, on the other hand, it is Nero who is saying it.
If the necromancer suddenly declared that he personally knew the demon and that the demon owed him money, Adar would probably believe him. It is just that with all those muscles and the axe... well, it clashes with the idea of a librarian, even one from the underworld.
Which results in him being unable to stop himself from asking in confusion, “Librarian!!??”
Nero abandons his one confused expression and looks at Adar, shaking his head. Meanwhile, the demon takes a step toward Nero and lets out another roar.
“Grumpy, where does that look like a librarian to you?”
“Seriously, with a weapon that size. What kind of idea is that!?” criticizes the bastard who had just basically said the same thing himself.
Nero raises a hand, pointing at the creature, and speaks calmly. “Fortunately! That thing is one of the guards of the underworld library, not one of the librarians.”
“Believe me, nobody would confuse anything with one of those tentacle hands and ram horns bastards,” Nero says those words while trembling slightly, as if recollecting a terrible memory.
The demon, for its part, growls, but this time at the Priestess.
Considering what appears to be Nero’s knowledge, the natural question comes to him.
“What do you mean by a guard?”
Nero gives the demon a long look as it nearly reaches the edge of the circle, continuously growling.
“Three, maybe four fireballs at most,” is Nero’s answer.
The idea leaves his mouth dry. Beside him, Taren tugs at his robe. Looking into the child’s tense eyes, he has to suppress the shiver running down his spine.
Three or four fireballs!!!
With someone else, this would probably mean something reasonably simple: an opponent that was easy to defeat, or at least manageable. But considering Nero is talking about his fireballs, a spell meant to be used to devastate masses of warriors, that evaluation changes.
This room, or cave, which had seemed large before, now feels very small. Because now the question is how many fireballs this place can take before everyone inside is dead. And unfortunately, the number that comes to his mind is less than four.
Even Nero might not come out of a fight like that unharmed.
With effort, he tries to reassure the children.
“You see? It’s something simple!”
The children, in turn, divide their attention between the dangerous demon and the two skeletons, which finish their fight with the remaining two henchmen, who end up on the ground. Surely the poor children do not know which one is worse.
“How dare you!?” Clarice’s voice rings out, drawing everyone’s attention to her.
Even the demon turns toward her and moves in her direction, causing her to fall silent. It suddenly stops at the edge of the circle, while the symbols making it up briefly glow a vivid red.
An “Ohhh!!” of surprise escapes Nero as he watches the scene.
Before turning toward the bodies the Priestess had killed and letting out another “Ohhh,” this one calmer, as if things were beginning to make sense to him.
At that moment, the skeletons suddenly disappear. The duration of their summoning had clearly ended. Something Adar has seen several times before, and therefore it is not a surprise. Although he would have preferred them to remain in this situation. Fortunately, Nero can certainly summon more.
What is almost normal to him causes movement and murmurs among the children as they try to understand what is happening. Some even begin thanking the gods, probably seeing the disappearance of one of the dangers they face.
The demon lets out its loudest roar yet, straight at the Priestess. This causes her to raise her bleeding hand from the wound she had made in her arm, toward the creature. And while staggering slightly, she declares in confusion:
“My Lord!!!”
At that, Nero lets out a third “Ohhh!!” This time, there is no doubt that the necromancer has understood something. And that seems to have made him happy. He turns and begins walking toward the cage where Adar and the children are.
“Well, well. This works... It’s for the best,” he comments aloud.
This causes the Priestess to shout:
“Necromancer, how dare you minimize the great Centesimus Vicesimus Sextus!”
And this makes Nero stop mid-step and turn toward them, almost shocked. He even shakes his head in disbelief.
“Necromancer!!”
“Where did you get necromancer from!?” The irritation is almost tangible.
Adar has to put his hands over his face. Because, of course, Nero had to start complaining about something this irrelevant. And in the end, he will almost certainly confirm that he really is a necromancer.
“I know I’m usually a little picky about this...”
Which makes Adar silently comment to himself: “Ohhh, really!!”
“But you literally just summoned a demon...” Nero’s voice rises in volume as he resumes walking.
“How the hell do you not know the difference between necromancy and summoning!?”
He continues walking but takes the opportunity to gesture around the cave.
“Where did you see bodies rising here? Or even the remains of bodies destroyed by necromancy? No!!!”
“I know you had to use blood magic... which means you’re not particularly capable...”
His tone sounds almost generous, as if her failure is almost understandable... but only almost.
The woman can only let out a mad: “What!!!”
And despite her obvious blood loss, her face turns red with anger.
“But even so, My God!! The skeletons were summoned!! It's a summoning spell!!” the frustrated necromancer finishes, completely ignoring her.
“Really?!” asks the innocent voice of one of the children.
Adar is reminded of the other witnesses. Looking at their hopeful expressions, it is clear that they like that their savior is not a terrifying necromancer.
And so, he realizes that the bastard, in his need to always be precise, has just justified the skeletons. It is merely a summoning. A terrifying one, sure. Which, is a very good reason why they wouldn't reveal it. But either way, the skeletons aren't a demonstration of necromancy.
And best of all, it is an explanation that, once they leave here, Adar thinks they can make people believe. They will just have to be extra careful about the undead mule.
But in the end, this can still be salvageable.
So he calmly lies:
“Yes, of course it’s just a summoning.”
And it is not even truly a lie, only a little incomplete.
With that, he turns back toward the approaching necromancer, swearing to himself that if Nero opens his big mouth and reveals that he is a necromancer, he will not need to be rescued from this cage. Because Adar will break out of it just to strangle him.
Another roar from the creature snaps him back to reality and makes Nero, who is almost at the cage, raise a hand as he asks out of nowhere.
“Just out of curiosity. Why children?”
He turns toward the woman and adds. “You know, for this sacrifice?”
Adar fixes his gaze on the woman as well, also wanting to know the answer to that. She, in turn, is focused on the creature in front of her, which seems to gesture toward the ground as if it wants something. But even so, she slowly answers him.
“Children with all their potential for life are the best blood sacrifices.” Her answer sounds like something she has repeated many times before. As if she says it without even thinking.
“Idiot!!” Nero’s sarcastic voice echoes. “Thinking about it, the fact that you can’t distinguish necromancy from summoning is perfectly understandable.”
“After all, we are talking about someone who uses blood magic without even understanding what the hell she is doing,” he finishes, returning to his approach toward the cage.
“What?” she lets out an irritated cry, turning all her attention toward the necromancer who had just insulted her.
“I said you don’t know anything about blood magic...” he replies almost aggressively.
“Blood magic takes magic from someone’s life. For that, you need someone to have a lot of life...” and, almost reaching Adar’s side, he turns toward the woman again.
“Life, not its future potential... Life in the present.” While talking, he gestures around with his hands.
“Therefore, the weak and the sick. Just like small children. They are literally the worst candidates to use for this crap!”
“No, that cannot be. It contradicts the teachings of the cult...” she tries to argue.
But for some reason, she drops to her knees, as if she no longer has the strength to continue.
And Adar comments silently in his mind.
“Idiot, do you really think you can win an argument about magic with him?”
“Lucky Lock,” he hears Nero whisper the name of the spell while holding the lock that closes the cage. that magically opens.
This draws Adar’s attention to Nero’s face. There, he can see the necromancer’s cold eyes looking at the children around him. Then he looks over and indicates the cave entrance with a movement of his head.
He wants Adar to take the children out of here.
And from, the almost imperceptible tension he conveys to him, it means that he wants it to be quick.
Adar simply nods, while the chain holding them inside this cage falls to the ground with a loud clang. The children let out cries of joy, realizing their freedom is near.
Meanwhile, the demon begins making even more noise. This time, besides roaring, it starts stomping one foot against the ground.
Clarice asks him, sounding helpless:
“What is happening, my Lord?”
Nero turns toward her and begins walking in her direction.
“Well, I understand!”
“Imagine that some idiot tears you away from your world one day...” As he walks toward her, both she and the creature focus on him.
Adar, meanwhile, turns toward the children, who are also absorbed by the scene.
“Get ready.” for his words to snap them out of it.
“You arrive in this unknown place where nobody understands what you are saying...” Nero’s voice echoes, sounding understanding and almost melancholic.
But by this point, Adar knows better than to stand around listening to him. Nero wants him to take the children away, and quickly. Therefore, he must be worried about something.
Probably the demon, which, for some mysterious reason, still has not acted.
The only reason he can imagine for that would be if the demon itself had recognized the necromancer’s abilities.
“But Mister Adar...” Taren begins, pointing at Nero’s back.
“Don’t worry about him. He can take care of himself...” he tries to reassure them.
“Only for the summoning to be so incompetent that they left him trapped inside the summoning circle,” Nero declares with amusement, causing even Adar to look back at him again.
While the monster stares intensely at the necromancer and the Priestess tries to stand again, letting out a:
“What?”
“Yes, you still haven’t realized that this poor guy hasn’t left the circle. What did you think... that he likes being there for some reason?”
This explains why Nero has been so relaxed in the face of the monster. Not that he is very concerned right now with what the necromancer is thinking. At this moment, even with his aching body, he grabs one of the smaller, and therefore slower, children. Fortunately, some of the older ones copy him. This should allow them to run faster.
Because either he is very wrong, or Nero is revealing this for some reason.
“But how? What did I do wrong?” the woman asks, probably not really knowing who she is asking.
“Oh, do you want a list? Because it’s a rather long one. And it starts with you deciding to use blood magic,” Nero continues in a critical tone. “There’s a stupid idea!”
The necromancer stops his advance some distance away from the circle. Far enough that if he launches a fireball, he would not be caught in its flames. Which tells Adar that this is the moment.
Opening the door of the cage, he whispers to the children:
“Let’s go.”
And slowly, so as not to attract attention, which is currently focused on the talking necromancer, they begin to leave.
“But if you’re talking about what happened now!” Nero continues, with the sound of the demon growing louder.
For a moment, Adar tenses, thinking that their escape has caught the creature’s attention. But fortunately, it seems completely focused on the woman, who looks weaker and weaker and begins to lie down on the ground.
“There are basically two things...”
The sight before him does not distract him from what he wants to say.
“One: since you shouldn’t have had enough magic, you foolishly decided to use your own blood to fuel the ritual.”
“Two: you never finished it.”
His seriousness makes Adar look back toward the necromancer.
“That’s what it has been trying to tell you...” Nero comments, pointing with his hand at the demon, which finally falls silent.
“For you to complete the ritual and free him.” At those words, his gaze returns to her.
And Adar shouts to the children:
“Run!!”
They pass him, doing exactly that. Only a few hesitate, and he has to give them a slight push.
“Something that I obviously won’t let you do. The moment you start giving your command, you will die with a fireball.”
His voice is calm, serious, and absolute.
“Why...” begins her weak, fading voice, which Adar struggles to hear. But because of his injuries, he cannot run quickly, so he is still close enough to understand what she says.
“Why didn't I finish you off right away, or why did I tell you?”
Nero’s question does not seem to receive an answer, and by this point, Adar has his back turned toward them and can no longer see them.
Even so, he can imagine Nero shrugging when he speaks again.
“Since you didn’t finish the spell, your life is what is sustaining it... Which means you’re dying!”
“When that happens, the ritual fails. The only problem would be if you remembered to give our friend here his final command.”
The comment is answered by a growl of the creature.
He lets out a sigh and continues calmly:
“So why bother? When I can simply win by waiting a little while.”
And with that, Adar, with the last of the children, passes through the doorway and leaves the place.
No longer able to hear them speak. The only sound that reaches him is a sad laughter. That he suspects comes from Clarice.
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