Mystic Overlord: Reading Gives Strength
Chapter 29: Do I Look Like It?

Chapter 29: Chapter 29: Do I Look Like It?

The underground chamber was silent and vast.

Only the fire torch Ronald had planted earlier was flickering on the spot, casting unsteady, warm yellow light on the five corpses, stretching their shadows into various shapes on the ground.

Pitter-patter—

Pitter-patter—

The sound coming from the entrance grew clearer and steadily approached the chamber.

Listening to the echoing noises, Ronald felt something was amiss.

If it were a human coming down, the footsteps of alternating feet would have subtle differences and a sense of rhythm.

But the sound now coming from the chamber stairs.

Was a series of loud thuds!

It was as if someone continued to perform standing long jumps down the staircase, hopping down like a rabbit!

What was descending?

Gripping the deformed dagger in his hand, Ronald had even prepared himself to pounce and fight for his life against the enemy.

After dispersing the black fog, he still couldn’t escape a straightforward, direct fight!

Finally—

The sound reached the entrance of the chamber.

And Ronald, who was watching the entrance, went from initial tension to gradually becoming astonished.

Right before his eyes—

A figure, whose clothes were drenched in blood, one foot and one arm dragging, leaped down from the steps, and in his blood-soaked hand, he held two heads with eyes still wide open in death.

"..."

"Yo, Ronald, you’re still alive?"

Staring at the bewildered Ronald, the middle-aged peddler lifted his tattered cuff to wipe his face, then flashed a ’what a coincidence’ smile.

"I thought you were dead like Thomson."

"..."

Pitter-patter—

The one who hopped into the chamber.

Was none other than Nade, who had previously claimed ’I’m going to slaughter all the "seeds",’ then bravely entered the mansion’s second floor alone!

The two heads that the ’peddler’ was holding belonged to the crazed ’mother’ and the lying ’father’ from before. The three still bleeding bullet holes in the ’mother’s’ face guaranteed that Ronald was not mistaken.

In other words—

Nade had killed these two people!

However, judging by the looks of it, he had definitely been through an extremely fierce fight.

Not to mention an arm and leg completely dragging along, his clothes, now nearly in tatters, also testified to the severity of the battle he had endured.

Snap—

After eyeing Ronald up and down and somehow confirming something, Nade simply sat down on the ground, tossing aside the heads he had been holding.

Leaning his back against the chamber wall, he finally let out a sigh of relief:

"That was a close call."

"Just now, I was thinking that since the ’seeds’ in the villa hadn’t been completely killed, I might be done for with my current condition."

"But in the blink of an eye, all the black fog outside surged this way. Coming down to see, aside from the corpses lying on the ground, it turned out to be you still standing."

"If I had known this would happen, why would I have bothered carrying two heads?"

"..."

After expressing his relief, Nade paused for a moment before continuing with a complicated tone:

"Ronald..."

"What exactly did you do down here?"

"The mutations outside have now completely dissipated."

"Do you realize what that means?"

"..."

Watching Nade’s tone turn serious, Ronald stood still, not moving an inch closer to the man.

Taking a careful look at his comrade, whom he hadn’t seen for long, he cautiously began to speak:

"You answer me a question first."

"When we separated earlier, you..."

Nade interrupted before Ronald could finish asking:

"I gave you a dagger, the one you’re holding in your hand."

"That’s right!"

"Wasn’t there also a potion and an amulet?"

"Hit me in the thigh, jumping around on one leg is just unbearable!"

"..."

Seeing that Nade’s response was precise, Ronald didn’t bother to question how this ’merchant’ had taken down the two monsters above.

As he walked past the other, he immediately retrieved the metal particle containing the potion.

"Where should I inject it?"

Nade began to explain:

"A bit close to the leg artery, let me point it out..."

"Hiss—"

Before Nade could finish, Ronald pressed down right toward his groin.

As the injection needle pierced into the flesh and the cold liquid filled his body, Nade couldn’t help but express his disbelief:

"Huh?"

"I certainly haven’t heard that the nobility of Gried knows so precisely about human blood vessels!"

"..."

Ronald glanced at Nade gritting his teeth and taking sharp breaths, and shot back:

"Funny, I haven’t heard of it either."

"Nor have I heard of any merchant who can take down such frightening creatures in a two-against-one fight."

"..."

With their half-joking remarks, they pointed out the suspicious nature of each other’s identities, and then silence fell upon the basement.

After a long while—

Once he felt his leg was unimpeded, Nade suddenly spoke up:

"To tell the truth, you really scared me when you first came down here."

"In my mind, you were supposed to end up just like Thomson, I even thought I was seeing things due to a minor concussion from the fight."

Sitting on the ground next to Nade, Ronald pointed at the severed head that had been cast aside:

"To be honest, I also didn’t expect you to survive."

"I saw firsthand how formidable ’that woman’ was before."

"..."

"Hey, Ronald."

"What is it?"

"Where exactly did the black fog go, what stopped the world’s corruption?"

Suddenly, Nade asked a crucial question.

As someone who had grown up in harsh conditions, he was well aware of the significance.

Whether for himself or for the entire mystical world.

He had to find out what happened at Black Mountain today!

"..."

Ronald examined Nade’s eyes closely.

As he asked the question, his companion’s steel blue pupils were exceptionally clear and earnest, brooking no interference.

"Did you see that Red Robe?"

"When I got down here, that corpse held a black-covered Magic Book in its hands, the black fog was absorbed by it."

Nade looked in the direction explained, and indeed, the Red Robe’s corpse appeared as though it was clutching something.

But now, the corpse’s hands were empty.

Frowning, Nade continued to ask:

"Where’s the book?"

Facing his companion’s inquiry, Ronald candidly opened up his coat, which was clearly devoid of any miscellaneous items:

"Do I look like I carry a Magic Book?"

Snap—

In an instant, with a speed Ronald couldn’t possibly react to, Nade pulled out Ronald Adler’s diary from his chest.

Subsequently, the merchant subconsciously read it aloud:

"Sir Ronald Adler’s diary..."

"’Any low-born daring to peep within shall have their soul wracked by endless flames’?"

"..."

Two pairs of embarrassed eyes met—

The air in the basement, thickened.