Salvation Through Delusion C83

Chapter 83

“Lord Zab.”

Dorgo called his name again, more sharply this time, and only then did Zab’s lips part—just barely.

“The power of the Divine Beast is gone.”

“…What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said.”

Zab turned toward him, trembling so violently that his words quivered.

“I can’t feel it anymore. The Divine Beast’s power—completely gone! It’s gone!”

His bloodshot eyes bulged with panic, but Dorgo simply turned to examine the shimmering shield.

“That’s impossible. The barrier is functioning properly. The Divine Beast couldn’t have escaped.”

“Then why has my power vanished?!”

“Are you certain?”

Zab clutched his chest, gasping.

“It’s completely gone…! If I still had even a drop of power, do you think I’d have stood humiliated in front of everyone like that?!”

His hands trembled uncontrollably as he wheezed for breath.

“If the barrier is still intact, then how did the Divine Beast disappear?! How did it get out?!”

“It didn’t. It can’t get out.”

“Then what? Did it—like Koon’s Divine Beast—simply cease to exist—”

Zab froze mid-sentence, realization dawning like ice.

If it truly had perished… His hands began to shake harder.

“Open the shield. Quickly—open it now—”

“My lord, are you suggesting the Divine Beast has perished?”

“Just open it and check! See if the Beast is still there—”

“I asked if it’s gone!”

Dorgo suddenly grabbed Zab’s shoulders and shouted. Zab stared at him in disbelief, but Dorgo ignored the look and pressed on, voice rising.

“The only one who can truly know if the Divine Beast has perished is its contractor. Has it died?”

“You—you dare speak to me like that—argh!”

Zab’s voice broke into a scream. Dorgo’s hand was still on his shoulder, and where he grasped, Zab’s clothes smoldered to ash, the flesh beneath blackening and curling away.

Zab collapsed to his knees with a strangled sound, unable to fight back even as one of his shoulders burned to ruin. Dorgo’s eyes gleamed.

“So, it’s true. You really can’t use the Beast’s power anymore.”

“D-Dorgo… you—agh!”

Zab’s voice turned into another shriek as Dorgo’s hand slid upward to seize his head.

The Duke’s once-proud blue hair crackled and turned black, the very scalp beneath burning away. Zab’s screams filled the chamber while Dorgo threw back his head and laughed.

“Ha! Hahahaha!”

His laughter echoed off the stone walls, bright with ecstasy.

“At last—the Divine Beast is dead!”

When you’ve fought monsters long enough, you grow used to disappointment.

Not that it’s entirely a bad thing—once you’ve learned to meet failure with calm, you stop wallowing and start thinking. You try again.

If you can just get past the temptation to give up midway, you can always find another way.

That’s probably how I’ve survived so long in this war against monsters.

Even now, watching our plan crumble before my eyes, I wasn’t angry. My mind was already racing.

We’d assumed Zab, stripped of power, would force Dorgo to lift the shield for him—but we’d been wrong.

Completely wrong.

Instead of obeying, Dorgo attacked him the moment he realized Zab’s weakness.

“Did… did he just kill the Duke of Borhumi…?”

Haas whispered, swallowing hard. His shock was understandable—even we hadn’t expected this.

Solongo once told me how deeply the people of Tubain revered their Divine Beasts. For someone like Dorgo to celebrate its death—it defied belief.

We were watching everything from the hidden tunnel we’d blasted open earlier. Haas, for all his dramatics, was an exceptionally skilled mage, and he carried a collection of useful artifacts. One of them, a concealment device, kept us unseen while allowing us to hear Dorgo’s every word.

“Zab, this is all thanks to you,” Dorgo declared, voice trembling with delight. “Now that the Beast’s power is gone, the sealed gate can finally be opened! Borhumi’s land will become the cradle of the holy monster’s descent!”

It sounded like the kind of line a villain would shout in a cheap play—but none of us were laughing.

The sealed gate.

My mind immediately jumped to the lake—its dried basin, its carpet of blood.

Blood that monsters craved.

So the lake was never just a symbol—it was a summoning ground.

There must’ve been a rift below it once, a passage from which those creatures emerged. I was still piecing it together when a dull thud drew my gaze back.

Dorgo had shoved Zab’s head aside, letting the man’s body crumple limply to the floor. His face was caked in blood, features unrecognizable, and his chest no longer moved.

A pathetic, meaningless death—but one I had no time to mourn.

Dorgo lifted a hand and traced a magic circle in the air. Whatever he was preparing, it wasn’t to release the Divine Beast’s seal—he was facing away from it.

If he wasn’t here for the shield, then… Damn it—he’s planning to leave!

I took an involuntary step forward. We can’t let him escape.

Tyroc must have reached the same conclusion, because the moment we lunged toward him, a portal opened at Dorgo’s feet. He turned his head slightly, as if sensing us.

“Koon Tyroc?” he murmured, eyebrows lifting in mild surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“You don’t need to know.”

Tyroc’s lips curved in a thin, dangerous smile as he raised his sword. I tightened my grip on my club beside him.

My priority wasn’t Dorgo—it was the shield. If we didn’t remove it, the Divine Beast would remain trapped—or worse, corrupted.

Still, I needed Dorgo distracted.

“Your Grace,” I said quickly, feigning urgency, “I’ve located the first black stone embedded in the seal. We need to destroy it first—to confirm whether the Beast has truly perished!”

Tyroc looked at me in brief confusion, but Dorgo’s head snapped toward the direction I’d indicated. Perfect.

‘Mo,’ I ordered silently. Mark that location. Exact coordinates.

But when Dorgo turned back, his eyes blazed with realization. The glassy gleam in them sharpened with fury.

“You dare try such a petty trick?”

He lifted his hand toward me. A glowing circle flared beneath my feet—and the ground gave way.

Before I could react, Tyroc seized my waist and leapt backward, carrying me with him. The black pit at my feet erupted, spewing dark smoke like a living thing that surged toward us.

“Haas! Block it!”

Tyroc’s command was nearly drowned out by the thunderous sound that followed.

BOOM!

A deafening blast ripped through the corridor. Haas was flung backward, rolling across the floor with a strangled groan.

“Ugh…”

He’d managed to block part of the attack but clearly at great cost.

Dorgo, on the other hand, had barely lifted a finger.

If Haas was one of Tyroc’s strongest mages, and Dorgo could overwhelm him so effortlessly… just how powerful was this man?

He raised his hand again, and this time, the magic circle blooming beneath his feet was far larger.

“That smug bastard…” I hissed.

I tore free from Tyroc’s grasp, snatched a loose stone from the fallen wall, and hurled it into the air. Then I swung my club with all my might.

Mo instantly calculated the arc, marking a glowing line toward the target.

Crack!

The stone soared perfectly along its path and struck Dorgo square in the head—only to shatter against an invisible barrier.

The ambush failed, but not without gain—it forced him to stop casting. Tyroc seized the moment, lunging forward.

Even drained from earlier battles, lightning flared once more along his blade, roaring like a storm.

KR-RAAAASH!

His strike shattered part of the ceiling above Dorgo, raining debris down. But when the dust cleared, the man was gone. In his place, a fading portal shimmered.

“Coward,” I spat, but the word caught in my throat.

Because as the light died, Tyroc collapsed to one knee—then both.

A wet cough tore from his chest, dark blood splattering the stone.

This time, he wasn’t just exhausted. He was breaking.