Chapter 318

Chapter 318

Romina’s surprise lasted only a moment before she spoke with a calm expression.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“How long have you been in Neo Seoul?”

“I don’t know what nonsense you’re spouting.”

“Oh, come on. You know very well, don’t you?”

“If you’re going to keep talking nonsense, I’ll be leaving now.”

“You still haven’t answered.”

Zeon stepped lightly in front of her, blocking her path.

Romina’s face hardened.

“I’m disappointed.”

“In what?”

“To think the famous Sandmancer would pick a fight with an ordinary elf. Aren’t you ashamed?”

“You’re not an ordinary elf.”

Zeon chuckled.

In contrast, Romina’s face turned expressionless, as if a mask had been placed over it.

“I never imagined someone from the Five Poisons Clan would have a child with an elf. I imagined even less that the child would have entered Neo Seoul and lived here for a long time.”

“Haa!”

Romina let out a low sigh and lowered her head.

When she lifted her head a moment later, her eyes, expression, and presence had completely changed.

“To think you’d throw ash over rice that was already cooked.”

“Are you admitting you’re one of the Five Poisons Clan?”

“There’s nothing to admit or deny. It’s true that I inherited their bloodline.”

“I thought so.”

“However, there’s something you misunderstand.”

“What is it?”

“I have no interest in the wishes or revenge of the Five Poisons Clan.”

“Really? That’s hard to believe.”

“My mother was captured by the Five Poisons Clan and forced to have me. If you hadn’t destroyed them, I would have wiped them out with my own hands someday.”

“So you used Eli to raise Gu?”

“She was stupid, so she was easy to use. Thanks to that, I could gather and raise Gu without much trouble.”

“Tsk! She acted as if she was so clever all on her own, but she was nothing more than an empty shell.”

Zeon clicked his tongue.

Romina was the one who had told Eli of the Gu’s existence.

It had not been difficult to whisper temptation into Eli’s ear, given that she had always held a desire for stronger power.

Romina had subtly stirred Eli’s authority and ambition while continuing to emphasize the need for Gu, and in the end, Eli had ordered Romina to raise them.

From that point on, everything proceeded so smoothly it was almost absurd.

Borrowing Eli’s name, Romina secured slaves and threw those slaves to the Gu as food.

Countless people died in the process, but Romina felt no pangs of conscience.

Just as her mother had been trampled by the Five Poisons Clan and became pregnant with her, the world belonged entirely to the strong.

What the strong did was not sin.

It was merely the act of ruling.

She was a half-elf.

And one who had inherited the secret art of the Five Poisons Clan.

She was destined to become the ruler of the new Five Poisons Clan.

So even if she used Eli to kill a few people, there was no problem.

She was an existence who was allowed to do that.

Romina said,

“Let me go. Then I’ll forget my grudge.”

“Grudge?”

“In any case, you killed every last member of my clan, didn’t you?”

“Does that matter much? From what I can see, you left the Five Poisons Clan when you were very young and entered Neo Seoul.”

“Regardless of that, they’re still my clan.”

“You’re truly self-serving. You attach whatever words suit you.”

“Stop dodging and answer. What will you do?”

“If you hand over the barrel on your back, I’ll let you go.”

“I can’t do that.”

Romina cut him off flatly.

Zeon’s eyes grew cold.

“The real Gu are inside that, aren’t they? Not the chaff you’ve used so far, but the real Gu.”

“That’s right. The ones I released until now were nothing more than experimental subjects created for the sake of making these. Once I breed these, nothing will be able to stop me.”

“How many people are you planning to kill? To breed those things again, you’ll need a tremendous number of people.”

“Plenty.”

A cold smile bloomed on Romina’s lips.

In truth, the optimal place was Neo Seoul.

It was full of prey.

But if she raised Gu openly in Neo Seoul, City Hall would remove her in the blink of an eye.

That was why she had left Neo Seoul.

People lived in the desert too.

If she found them and threw them to the Gu as food, they would breed on their own.

So time would solve everything.

As long as she got through today safely.

Romina asked once more,

“So you have no intention of letting me go?”

“I told you I do. Just hand over that box.”

Zeon held out his hand.

Romina looked at that hand with an indifferent expression.

“You’ve crossed the line, Zeon!”

“You crossed it first.”

“Don’t regret this. You’re the one who made me go berserk.”

Shing!

The wooden box opened on its own.

Contrary to the expectation that it would be full of Gu, there was nothing inside the box.

All that could be seen was pitch-black darkness.

Zeon recognized the identity of that darkness at once.

“Subspace?”

“Yes! Subspace has been enchanted into it. The children I raised are resting inside. Though it seems they’ve all awakened now.”

Bzzzzzz!

In that instant, countless insects poured out of the subspace with the violent sound of wingbeats.

An army of insects filled the sky in an instant.

Romina proudly said,

“Let me introduce my children. Heavenly Poison Seven-Insect Gu (天毒七蟲蠱). The ultimate Gu created through the secret art of the Five Poisons Clan.”

The Heavenly Poison Seven-Insect Gu flapped their wings violently and circled around Romina.

It looked as if a black storm was swirling around her.

Through long work, she had selected seven Gu.

Each was a monstrous creature that had survived a death struggle against thousands, tens of thousands of insects.

Each possessed unrivaled ability in venom, hardness, ferocity, aggression, stealth, loyalty, and flight.

They were not merely outstanding in their individual abilities. Their combination would display the greatest power when they absorbed one another’s abilities.

She had gathered them all together again and made them devour one another.

The final survivor of that hellish battle was the Heavenly Poison Seven-Insect Gu now circling Romina.

“Hoho! What do you think of the Heavenly Poison Seven-Insect Gu, born from the Five Poisons Clan’s secret art, passed down for over a thousand years? Aren’t they magnificent?”

“They’re impressive.”

“Then you understand what a grave mistake you’ve made, don’t you?”

“How many people did you feed them to raise those monsters?”

“Who knows? I think it was over a thousand, but I didn’t count beyond that. Why, do you feel sympathy for the people who became food? You’ve killed many people too, haven’t you? And someone like you reacts this way over barely a thousand deaths?”

Romina mocked Zeon’s softness.

At that moment, Zeon swept his hair back and said,

“You’re right. I’ve killed many people too. I can’t say not a single innocent person was among them, but most of them were people who deserved to die. Now one more will be added to that.”

“Hoho! You’ve gone properly mad. Everyone reveres you as the Sandmancer, so now you really think you’re something, don’t you? For your reference, these children won’t be ground away by that sand you’re so proud of. They’re the masterpiece of my life.”

“But do you know this? There were others who said exactly the same thing as you.”

“What nonsense is that?”

“They said the same. That they had completed the Heavenly Poison Seven-Insect Gu. That attacks like mine wouldn’t work.”

“Don’t tell me?”

Romina’s expression filled with disbelief.

Ignoring her reaction, Zeon continued speaking.

“Yes. I mean the original owners of the secret art you stole, the Five Poisons Clan. They too were confident they had completed the perfect Heavenly Poison Seven-Insect Gu. But in the end, their clan line was cut off by my hands.”

“You, you defeated the Heavenly Poison Seven-Insect Gu made by the Five Poisons Clan?”

“It was nothing special. Just like those mutant insects you made.”

“Don’t insult my greatest masterpiece.”

“What pisses me off is that far too many people were sacrificed unjustly to create those worthless monsters. A thousand new hopes disappeared. Into the bellies of those insignificant insects......”

“Stop talking nonsense! Aaaaaah!”

When Romina let out a monstrous scream, the Gu charged at Zeon all at once.

Bzzzzzz!

The swarm of Gu flapped their wings violently and rushed at Zeon.

It looked like a gigantic black typhoon surging in.

Because they had been trapped in the subspace, the Gu had been starving for a long time.

Their hunger had reached its peak, making them several times more ferocious than usual.

The swarm of Gu flew in with enough momentum to gnaw even Zeon’s bones.

Whoosh!

In that instant, a sand-laden wind blocked the space before Zeon.

The sand became a vast storm and wrapped around the swarm of Gu.

GRRRRIND—!

The sandstorm rotated violently.

“I told you it’s useless. My children are hard, so they will never be ground down by mere sand like that.”

“I told you. Your clan said the same thing. But the result was the same......”

GRRRRIND—!

In that instant, the sand rotated even more fiercely.

CRACK—!

Sparks flew inside the sand, and the Gu began bursting apart.

Seeing that, Romina’s eyes widened.

“That’s impossible! My children have shells as hard as diamond.”

“My sand grinds down even diamond. So no matter how many bugs like those you gather, it’s useless.”

CRACK-CRACK-CRACK—!

Even in that instant, the sandstorm was grinding away the Gu at terrifying speed.

Nearly half had already turned to powder and vanished.

The surviving ones tried to pierce through the sand and somehow approach Zeon.

Several of them actually came close to reaching him.

CLACK, CLACK!

They clacked their huge teeth together and tried to bite Zeon.

They were grotesque lifeforms created by a half-elf’s dark desires.

If even one of them escaped, they would breed terrifyingly in the desert and devour countless people.

Not a single one could be allowed to escape this place.

“Sand Gehenna (Sand Gehenna).”

A hell of extreme heat made from sand unfolded.

The terrifying heat melted the sand and turned it like lava.

The lava rotated violently and melted the Heavenly Poison Seven-Insect Gu in an instant.

Seeing that, Romina screamed.

“N-No!”

But her cry could not save the Heavenly Poison Seven-Insect Gu.

GRRRRIND—!

The ultra-high-heat sand and lava melted every last Heavenly Poison Seven-Insect Gu without leaving a single one behind.

“How can this be?”

At the unbelievable result, Romina sank to her knees without realizing it.

Unbearable despair pressed down on her shoulders.

“This can’t be happening. Do you know how I raised those children?”

Romina bit her lip.

She was not human, nor was she a perfect elf.

Because she could not fully belong to either world, she had harbored rage.

The result of that rage was the Heavenly Poison Seven-Insect Gu.

She had thought that with the Heavenly Poison Seven-Insect Gu, she would become a perfectly free person and lead a new race. But her wings had been broken.

Because of that cursed Sandmancer.

Her rage turned toward Zeon.

“Aaaaaah! Die!”

Romina let out a monstrous scream and charged at Zeon.

Her eyes were bloodshot as she swung her rapier and rushed forward, a sight dreadful enough to fear seeing in a dream.

But Zeon’s expression as he looked at her was indifferent.

“I’ll send you to the side of those children you cherished so much.”

In that instant, Sand Gehenna, which had melted the countless Heavenly Poison Seven-Insect Gu, engulfed Romina.

In the heat as hot as hellfire, Romina let out a desperate scream.

“Kyaaaaaah!”

With her whole body on fire, Romina thrashed madly.

That sight also looked somewhat like dancing.

But her dance did not last long.

Hissssss!

A moment later, her body disappeared into the lava.

Only after completely erasing Romina from the world did Zeon let out a faint sigh.

“Hoo!”

His mouth tasted bitter.

The world was vast, and there were far too many people who were not in their right minds.

Most of those who had died by Zeon’s hand had been people who were not in their right minds like that.