I Picked Up the Abandoned Hero

53 – 53. The Witch of Embers

“Enough of the pun… So, I don’t care what happens, but my hero wants Grandma Clen to destroy the kingdom. No.”

Alfred walked slowly across the sky and blocked his way.

What stood in the way was a huge scorpion.

A monster bigger in size than the castle of the demon king, of course.

In addition, just by getting close to it, all living things die, and even if they are inanimate, their bodies corrode and melt away is a disaster in itself.

“I don’t want to lose weight for nothing, but just go there, then we won’t have to sweat each other, right?”

[Do you dare to forgive me humans even after seeing that?]

Clen said that even though the lights were off, she still smoked the manor.

If it was a place that was greatly related to the Demon King’s army, or a place where demons were stationed, you could understand it by making concessions a hundred times.

But that wasn’t the case here.

This territory is just a place where the demons have necessities for life and luxury, and an economic hub is also very important, but it has a lower priority than military facilities.

Nevertheless, humans chose this land.

Even civilian children have been seriously injured or killed by that choice, so Clen will make you pay the price accordingly.

“You dare, by what authority?”

In the giant scorpion, Clen’s old self appears.

A beautiful woman Arsel first saw, but her red eyes contained anger and hatred.

“Still, since I was asked to do so, shouldn’t I use my strength as much as I can?”

“Is it just because of that?”

“Yeah, just because of that.”

As soon as he finishes talking, Alfred sneaks away from him.

Flash!

Shortly after that, tremendous wind pressure and high-temperature heat hit the location where Alfred was standing.

Despite its gigantic size, it is incredibly fast to wield a claw the size of a small castle.

Furthermore, the scorpion’s claws, which were merely used to catch or tear prey, became sharp blades that cut through enemies at the molecular level.

“If only the number of dead people is counted, they are similar now, so if you want a fair deal, you should stop here, right?”

Alfred, who had dodged the blade, pointed to the ground.

The ground was littered with human corpses that left no traces of the soldiers fleeing from the previous blow.

They range from hundreds to thousands.

Rather, if only the number of deaths was counted, there were more of them here.

“It is self-employed. It would be even more so if he had not dared to set foot in the territory of the demons and even armed himself.”

But Clen thoroughly trampled on even the remaining traces.

“In terms of individual circumstances, most of them were forced to come because of orders from their superiors, even if they didn’t want to come.”

“Foolish, in the end, that too is just my own choice. There were many other options that caused a negative situation, such as deserting.”

He also said that it was only his own choice after all.

Not knowing how precious his life was, he dared to thrust a spear into his territory.

“It’s a problem because Grandma Clen doesn’t know all about human society. If she did that, not only would she be wanted, but there would be a red line in her life, and she wouldn’t even be able to receive a military pension, so even her family would suffer.”

At Clen’s answer, Alfred let out a deep sigh.

“Should I say that honor depends on life…”

He said that he came here because he had something as important as his life.

“Is that honor more important than your own life?”

“I don’t know because I’m not human, but since I came here, maybe it was at least as important as my life?”

“Sophistry, then you kept your honor at the cost of your life. Wouldn’t it be okay if I died?”

But, as Clen said, it was nothing but sophistry.

After all, from the moment he wore a military uniform and held a spear knife, he was determined to lose his life at any time.

It was the same with dying here.

“That’s right, sophistry. I don’t care if humans die in the first place. It just wasted time.”

“Wait time, you say?”

Is that why?

Alfred smiled broadly and put his palms together.

“I need some time to soak something as big as Grandma Clen, but cutting the ground there made things a lot easier.”

“I can’t believe you-“

Alfred finally separated his palms.

Damn it-!!

At the same time, the ground Clen is stepping on cracks wide, and even a giant scorpion over 100m falls through a crack.

A hole in the bottomless pit.

That suddenly came out of Clen’s feet.

“Come cool down thousands of meters underground. Even her mother threw me into the basement like this sometimes.”

“Kuh…!”

Clen’s shape faded and soon disappeared.

Since it was only an illusion created by mana, it is bound to disappear as if it were natural that the main body, the scorpion, would move away.

It was such a huge scorpion, but an even bigger hole was formed and it crashed into it.

Afterwards, Alfred smiled and headed to the place where Arcel was waiting.

“Alfred… What the hell happened? Suddenly she disappeared-“

From Arcel’s point of view, it seemed as if the giant scorpion had suddenly disappeared.

It was so far away, and the cutting of the ground was minimal, so it’s not surprising.

“No big deal, it just seemed like the heat was running out, so I threw her into the cool basement to cool off her head for a bit. Oh, it will get hot if you go too deep, but whatever.”

“What the hell is that?!”

“To put it simply, I buried it in the ground.”

“Builed, buried…? Could it be that they were buried alive?”

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“Yes.”

Alfred nodded brightly.

In a word, it means buried in the ground.

Precisely, it was dropped into the endless underground, but in the end, there was no big difference from burying it.

“Originally, it would be a tool, but I don’t really want to bury it forever, so it will take some time to get out of that giant. Don’t worry, I’ll go pick it up myself in about a week.”

“It’s hard to even imagine.”

Alfred said that if he poured that amount of concrete there, it would cause severe environmental pollution.

Rather, Arcel is curious about how he made the hole for the giant scorpion.

Clen was said to be the biggest monster Arcel had ever seen, and he was simply incomparable to any other monster in terms of weight.

“Grandma Clen, who has changed like that, becomes very hard, but on the contrary, she can’t fly.

“…How do you know that?”

By the way, what is the voice coming from behind?

“Alfred! Look behind you!”

At the moment, Arcel’s complexion turns blue and he shouts to turn around urgently.

“Suddenly, why is that? It looks like an old woman in a white dress will be standing behind me, just like in a scary old story.”

Alfred tried to ignore Arcel’s words.

“In the last 100 years, no one has shown it.”

“Yeah, she heard from her mother, Grandma Clen says that although her movements are quick, she eventually gets too heavy to fly… Huh?”

But for some reason she kept hearing Clen’s voice, and once she turned her head, she knew why.

“What is it, is it really there?”

There was some dirt on the back, but Klen stood there as if it were natural.

As Alfred said, Clen, who changed into that form, couldn’t even fly in the sky, and she couldn’t cope with falling off a cliff.

However, in that case, she would have to return to her usual form for a while and get out of the hole.

No matter how deep the hole is, if you can eventually fly, it won’t be a big obstacle.

Arsel sighed deeply as he touched his forehead.

“…I see, I forgot who your mother was for a while. Certainly, if it’s an ash witch, she’s seen it before.”

“Isn’t that an early symptom of dementia? So, she usually stops drinking and reads books-“

Kwajik!

“Alfred!”

Alfred flew off before he could finish his words.

Clen grabbed Alfred by the throat and tossed her outside with all his might, before she chased after him.

Arsel hurriedly ran to the ledge, but the two of them were already as far apart as before.

Kooung-!!

Soon, Clen transformed into the scorpion monster again, grabbing Alfred and crushing him with tongs.

Alfred, pinned to the floor, stretches lightly with his lower body crushed.

“…The spine is gone, the ribs are gone, the intestines are completely jerky. It hurts, but I like it because it’s the same.”

Alfred had no choice but to divide his body into two and put them back together, but he is very confused when the method he thought of did not work.

Clen changed into such a completely invincible body, so I made her plan to drop her deep and deep underground, but she lost her meaning because she transforms very easily and quickly.

She also doesn’t seem to have any particular wear and tear on her, even though she transforms several times.

“That mysterious body always disgusts me. What is your true identity? Your mother didn’t have that kind of power either.”

Of course, Clen was also dumbfounded.

What kind of case is it to take off only the upper body and regenerate it even though the lower body is deliberately pressed so that it cannot escape?

“This is the inheritance from the father. You must have this kind of regenerative power to marry your mother. Otherwise, you would have already become Dolsing on the day you got married?”

“You met each other and gave birth to something strange.”

“Shouldn’t Cllen and her grandmother meet each other?”

Kwaaak!

[Looking at the old courtesans and warriors, I will warn you one last time, go away. Otherwise, I won’t look at you anymore.]

Clen grabbed Alfred by the collar and writhed.

Until now, she hadn’t had the mindset to kill as an enemy, but she was warning that it would be different from now on.

“That really worries me. I don’t think it’s going to be difficult to talk to Clen’s grandmother…”

Alfred struggles as he brushes off the dirt from his body.

“Didn’t you really have to pour concrete? I prefer to shoot only up to the waist rather than pouring.”

[Anyway, you can’t stop me with your strength. No, even the hero is like that, and even the demon king is dead, none of those alive can stop me.]

As Clen said, even if Alfred uses magic, there will be no attack that will work.

It should be splendid and cool, but it can’t give you effective hits.

For this reason, even if he tried using the method of blocking his path using his huge size, it was meaningless to Clen, who in the end repeatedly changed to grow bigger and smaller.

“That’s right, even the demon king is behind, and among the demons, Granny Clen must be the strongest in name and reality.”

[If you want to stop me, call the demon king or the warrior who defeated the demon king. Or you can bring your mother, the witch of ash.]

“You know that all but one are dead, right? Especially that her mother died a long time ago, isn’t she really dementia?”

[So you’re saying that there’s no point even if you stop me! Not just you, but everyone in existence! Why can’t you understand that?!]

Clen talks to Alfred, and eventually her patience runs out and she yells at her.

“…Ah, come to think of it, there was such a way.”

Ominously, though, Alfred claps and nods as if he’s realized something.

I don’t know if it’s someone else, but Alfred’s like that, I have a bad feeling.

What the hell did he find?

“Grandma Clen, do you know what magic I specialize in?”

[What bullsh*t…]

Alfred took out of his pocket an old book and a small glass bottle of white powder.

“I’m a genius, so I can use any magic perfectly, but there is only one magic I prefer.”

Open the cap of the glass bottle and scatter the white powder into the air.

The powder smelled familiar to Clen.

The smell of eternal fire she never wanted to smell again.

[…No way! You bastard, are you doing something sane right now!]

“Maybe because I am a loner by nature, this magic is second only to flight magic. Anyway, it makes me forget the loneliness.”

The old book that Alfred took out emits a strange black light.

Characters written in the language of the ancient demons are formed in the air.

Death does not go to sleep forever, and death annihilates even death in the eternity of time.

That was the interpretation of the ancient text.

“Among those who have already died, I said that the only one who can stop Grandma Clen is the Demon King or my mother, right?”

Alfred grinned and gave a sinister grin.

[This crazy bastard…!]

Belatedly aware of the seriousness of the situation, Clen tries to stop it, but Alfred avoids it lightly.

Whether Clen was intentionally attacking in a transformed state or chasing after the transformation was released, both of them chant spells at an ambiguous height to attack.

“That’s why I called, necromancy is my specialty.”

[No matter how much you are, do you really intend to commit such immorality!]

“And what I originally did is immoral.”

The white powder scattered in the air gathers in one place.

The magic power from the old book colors the white powder, and the colored powder takes the form of a girl.

A pink-haired girl in a white robe.

Looking at the girl, Clen remembered her past.

How can I forget the scenery at that time?

It’s already a long time ago, but I can still remember it vividly.

A snow of pure white fire that fell from the sky.

A witch of the end who will leave only ashes in the world.

It appeared before my eyes once again.

[It’s not like you don’t know what will happen if you summon the already dead witch to her world! In addition to that, she summoned only the unconscious soul imperfectly with necromancy…!]

“I will destroy the kingdom of Hermod in place of Granny Clen. Well, it’s not just the kingdom of Hermod that will perish.”

Alfred made a model of a small planet in his hand, then set it on fire with a match and reduced it to ashes.

Only ashes remained on her hand.

I don’t need to explain what that alludes to.

[Do you really think you can handle the later work!]

“That’s why I leave it to Grandma Clen to take care of it, you know what happens if you leave it alone? Grandma Clen has seen it firsthand.”

[You did it even though you knew?!]

Clen couldn’t contain her astonishment.

“I should have finished it when I said that, then I will prepare to evacuate to another world with the dragon.”

Immediately after that, I hurriedly do everything possible to attack the girl.

The two huge blades that split the earth did their best to destroy only the girl.

“I will cheer for you from behind, so Granny Clen works hard to protect the world!”

[You crazy son of a b*tch!]

Boom…!

However, even the blade that split the earth could not shatter the magic circle created by the girl’s gesture.

Alfred looked at the sight and was a bit worried that he would be scolded by Arcel.

“Anyway, I stopped Granny Clen who asked for it.”

Evacuating before it’s too late is the right choice, rather than worrying unnecessarily.

Alfred immediately headed to where Arcel was.

Left alone, Clen watched Alfred run away, ignoring her dignity and spitting out every curse she knew.

[I thought I would never see that witch again.]

And she lamented belatedly.

“…Ah.”

So the witch opens her eyes.

Although he was incompletely resurrected through necromancy, his power was less than before, but it became more dangerous because there was no reason to control his power.

Clen resented her past self for not killing Alfred earlier.

I should have known that he was like a harbinger of the end, but I didn’t know that he would bring about the end in this way.