Chapter 79
Three hours.
That was all the time they had to save Geru.
They had to act fast, but there was one big problem.
How could they possibly find a monster that moved deep underground?
“I’ll send out soldiers across the territory,” said Ludwig. “We’ll search the areas where the earthquakes happened!”
But Richmond shook his head.
“That would take too long. And even if there was an earthquake, there’s no guarantee the monster stayed in that spot.”
The monster moved underground however it pleased, never in a straight path.
“Then what do we do?”
An idea suddenly flashed through Ariella’s mind.
‘…Maybe this could work.’
She shouted, “Richmond!”
Everyone turned toward her.
“When you modified Geru’s body, you put a magic stone inside him, right?”
It was the massive magic stone Richmond had once kept for himself but offered up for the sake of the Demon King’s Domain.
“That’s right,” Richmond nodded. “Because of that stone, his summoning time increased dramatically, and his body became far stronger.”
Ariella already understood its purpose—she had felt the steady, powerful magic radiating from Geru’s body every time she saw him.
“If his body hasn’t collapsed yet, that magic stone should still be working, right?”
“It will function normally for at least the three hours I mentioned. Ah, I see what you’re thinking…”
“Yes.” Ariella’s expression hardened with determination.
“I’ll find the Dead Eater.”
Once they had a plan, everyone moved quickly.
Not long after, they stood in front of Cecile’s atelier.
The enormous hole left behind by the Dead Eater was still there—silent and gaping.
Cecile stood before it, utterly stunned.
‘What if… that was the last time I ever saw him?’
Her cold, harsh expression from earlier was gone. Her mind was flooded with thoughts crashing like waves.
They said if an undead dies again, there’s no way to bring them back. And if his body melted completely, there’d be no hope at all.
‘I thought I didn’t care anymore…’
She had told herself she’d just ignore him and live her life.
And yet…
‘Now he’s gone again, just like that. And the last thing I did… was scold him and try to drive him away.’
Cecile had been so cold to him, but with her father’s second death looming, a storm of emotion surged uncontrollably in her heart.
‘If I’d known, I would’ve listened… What was it he was trying to say before the monster swallowed him?’
Beside her, Ariella stared into the hole.
Her golden eyes glimmered strangely.
She had been training her abilities relentlessly since coming to the Demon Realm. Perhaps because of her contract with the Demon King, her growth was astonishing.
Recently, every time she used her powers, something new happened—like the golden light now glowing in her once-dark eyes.
‘Stay calm. I can do this.’
She layered her golden hue over her black pupils.
‘I can’t just try to sense everything at once. There’s a lot of magic flowing through this land now.’
The golden dragon’s blessing had changed the soil, enriching the territory with magic.
Ariella needed to find something that didn’t belong here.
She couldn’t just let herself get swept away by the flow—she had to pinpoint one unique thread.
Woooong…
Though there was no wind, her hair began to sway.
“Um…” Cecile whispered, looking uneasy. “What’s Ariella doing right now?”
“Just wait,” Richmond said calmly. “You’re about to witness something impressive.”
Ariella extended her senses further.
‘This is my first time trying to sense deep underground.’
It was completely different from sensing above ground. She had to push her awareness through layers of soil and rock.
The tunnels the Dead Eater had left behind were mostly collapsed.
‘A bit further…!’
Her senses reached farther than they had even when she tracked Bephar months ago.
She felt her progress slow. She was nearing her limit.
‘No… I can push past this.’
She rejected the thought of limits, shoving her awareness deeper.
‘Instead of spreading my senses wide, I’ll focus them into one line.’
Her awareness narrowed to a single thread. She followed the faint magic pulse radiating from the magic stone inside Geru’s body.
She traced his path through the earth.
And finally…
“…!”
Huff!
Ariella let out a sharp breath.
The awareness she had stretched far away snapped back into her body, and the golden light faded from her eyes.
Her heart pounded hard in her chest.
It felt as if a piece of her soul, which had been wandering far outside her body, had just returned.
“Ariella?” Ludwig asked, sensing something had changed.
Ariella raised an arm and pointed firmly in one direction.
“That way! Now!”
They moved again, racing toward the location Ariella had sensed.
It was farmland, several kilometers from Cecile’s atelier.
The farmers confirmed there had been an earthquake there earlier.
“Evacuate the villagers,” Ludwig ordered, leading them away from the field.
“Soldiers, form a perimeter and stay back!”
He positioned them outside the battlefield, following Richmond’s advice. The monster was too dangerous for normal troops to help much.
“This is the spot,” Ariella said firmly. “Geru is right beneath us.”
The magic stone’s pulse was strong and steady.
She could clearly picture his silhouette in her mind—his head and limbs still attached, his body intact.
Richmond nodded. “So he’s only partially burned by stomach acid. His internal organs are safe. For now.”
Richmond chanted a Message spell, a magic that carried his voice over great distances.
“Geru! We’re here to save you! If you hear me, move your body, even just a little!”
Immediately, Ariella sensed movement deep underground.
“His right arm just twitched!” she cried.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
“He’s conscious!”
“Then we have to hurry!” Cecile’s voice trembled with urgency.
“But how do we bring him out?”
All eyes turned to Richmond.
“To lure the Dead Eater to the surface, we have to cause it extreme pain,” he explained.
“Pain?” Ludwig frowned. “Won’t it just burrow deeper if we hurt it?”
Richmond shook his head.
“That creature’s body is huge, but its intelligence is low. When it feels sudden pain, it assumes the pressure of soil and rock is crushing it, so it instinctively tries to escape to an open space. It will come up.”
He also explained how hunters normally dealt with Dead Eaters.
“Typically, we bury jars of poison deep underground and detonate them.”
But the group immediately opposed the idea.
“We don’t have time to dig,” Ludwig said.
“And this is farmland!” Ariella added. “We can’t risk ruining it. Even with the dragon’s blessing, poison might make it barren forever!”
Digging a hole and refilling it would take time, but poisoning the deep soil could permanently destroy the land.
They all struggled to find another plan.
‘Wait a minute…’
Ariella’s mind sparked with another idea.
“Cecile.”
“Yes?”
“Enchantments can’t be cast on living creatures, right?”
Cecile blinked. “Huh? That’s right… Spells that strengthen living things are classified separately as blessings or curses. Enchantments are only for non-living objects.”
“Richmond.”
“Yes?”
“Undead don’t have life energy, correct? Their bodies are just… things?”
“Undead are corpses that move with willpower, but yes, they lack life force. By enchantment standards, they’d count as objects.”
He paused mid-explanation, realization dawning.
“Wait… You don’t mean—”
Ariella’s eyes lit up.
“That’s right. If undead are objects… then we can enchant them!”
