You're About to Die

"Mm, this is a game from my hometown. Even eighty-year-old grandpas say it's good."

"Wait. I'll play this with you first."

Ahab tilted his head back, showing every bit of his sinister, cunning, and shameless nature.

"Don't call me 'you.' Call me big sister."

As she spoke, Lola slid down from the big rock with a slick little "shoop."

"Okay, big sister."

"Big sister, before we start, can I whisper a few words first? Set the mood a little?"

As he spoke, Ahab walked around behind Lola.

Then he gently brushed both hands over Lola's neck.

Lola enjoyed it immensely.

Back then, she, too, had joined the Wizard Academy with a bellyful of ambition.

But in the end, because her aptitude was poor, she ran into walls everywhere.

One careless mistake, and she ended up owing a lot of money.

Later, she was even taken notice of by some great figure, and her days became worse than death.

And then Lola turned dark.

Using that great figure's influence and resources, she quickly rose to Second-Rank Apprentice.

She even founded a lending organization of her own, specifically lending money to freshmen.

No special reason. If I got drenched in the rain back then, how could you lot possibly be spared?

On top of that, Lola had developed a habit of dragging apprentices who owed money into the little woods.

Men and women alike.

Watching stubborn, naive, hot-blooded freshmen lower their proud heads before her...

For Lola, it was as if she had invited her past self to a banquet. The satisfaction was beyond words!

Just look at this Ahab Gul in front of her, for example.

With aptitude that poor, he had still managed to become a group leader. He had to have something special about him.

But now, didn't he still have to obediently flirt with her? His pride was shattered all over the ground.

Lola thoroughly enjoyed that feeling.

At the same time, she also felt Ahab's touch making her neck tingle.

And Ahab had even leaned his mouth close to her ear.

Mm, what would this little guy say next to coax her into a good mood?

It really made one look forward to it.

Then Lola heard Ahab say meaningfully beside her ear:

"Do you have any unfulfilled wishes?"

Wishes? What kind of weird question was that?

Oh, since he couldn't resist, he was starting to enjoy it—and even playing the one on top himself?

Lola said, intoxicated:

"Big sister doesn't have any wishes right now."

"...None?"

Ahab's tone shifted, full of regret.

"You're about to die."

Lola: ???

In an instant, Lola felt the tingling itch on her neck magnify by more than ten times.

And she could already feel something flowing down her neck.

It was very thick, like pus!

"I've been ambushed! What's going on!"

A vicious cold glint flashed through Lola's eyes.

She had kindly played along with him for a bit, and he really thought she was some delicate little girl?

I have plenty of strength and tricks!

Lola drove her mana, and the witchcraft model in her sea of consciousness lit up instantly.

She was going to use Pneumatic Art at the Second-Rank Apprentice level!

This witchcraft had already been improved by that great figure, and its power was anything but ordinary.

For a Third-Rank Apprentice like Ahab, taking a hit would send him flying dozens of meters back on the spot.

And while he was still in midair, his internal organs would be shaken to pieces!

Ahab took a step back and smoothly grabbed that Blue Steel Brick.

At the same time, his left eye blinked in a "wink."

His pitch-black pupil instantly turned silver-white.

"See Through!"

The cyclones surging up around Lola were tainted by the descending great power of The Void.

The astonishing cyclone waves entered a half-transparent, voided state and did absolutely nothing.

There might not have been a hundred new apprentices trained by Lola, but there were at least eighty.

Her vicious reputation had long since spread. What elemental affinity she had, what powerful witchcraft she possessed—Ahab had already found it all out.

He had also prepared four uses of "See Through" for Lola long ago!

While Lola's witchcraft had been voided and she had no time to cast again—

Ahab kicked off the ground with both legs, driving his elbow with his waist, his arm with his elbow—

And smashed the critical point of the Blue Steel Brick in his hand viciously toward the back of Lola's head.

Clang!

After the blow landed, the brick in Ahab's hand rang out crisply.

Lola only felt the world spin around her, nausea surging unbearably.

Her legs went weak, and she could no longer remain standing.

This was the reaction of a concussion!

"Don't get cocky! Watch this move of mine!"

Lola was sprawled on the ground, yet she still turned back with a vicious glare.

The early spring breeze in the little woods instantly grew fierce.

Ahab gave a "wink," and Lola's witchcraft was seen through.

"What are you babbling about? Eat my brick."

Ahab raised the Blue Steel Brick high above his head and smashed it down hard.

After this brick landed, even Lola, whose body had been refined, began bleeding from the back of her head.

"I still have a trump card!"

Lola gritted her teeth and cast another witchcraft spell.

At the same time, she reached into her clothes, doing something unknown.

In that instant, a faint hallucination seemed to appear before Ahab's eyes.

Poor aptitude, running into walls everywhere, being valued by some great figure, all kinds of torment worse than death...

All sorts of illusions felt as if he were there himself, as though they were Lola's past experiences.

The hallucination lasted less than a second before shattering before Ahab's eyes.

Lola, who was on the ground, seemed to have suffered a heavy blow. Her whole body convulsed, and she began foaming at the mouth.

Who knew what she had seen just now.

Ahab had not even used See Through; the witchcraft she had released had failed on its own.

Ahab ignored the strange episode from a moment ago. The critical point of the Blue Steel Brick struck the back of Lola's head for the third time.

And every time, it was the exact same spot!

"Wa-wait! Wait a second, please..."

This time, Lola seemed truly frightened.

Ahab ignored Lola's pleas for mercy and used the "critical point" to smash the back of her head again.

Clang!

The back of Lola's head was drenched in blood.

What Ahab looked down on most were capable people who "lost their integrity at the end."

In the past, Lola, you lent at usurious rates and trapped so many apprentices. How many people begged you for mercy?

You ignored them, and your heart did not soften because they pleaded. That made you a remarkable person.

You weren't softhearted, and you could stay firm in your goal.

You were a remarkable person whom I, Ahab Gul, admired.

But now that you yourself were in danger, why were you begging for mercy?

To arrive in high spirits, leave fully satisfied, and burn your life to the very end—what regrets could there be?

When others begged you for mercy, you ignored them. So why are you begging now?

People only showed what they really were when they were about to die.

Qin Shi Huang deluded himself with dreams of immortality. Emperor Gaozu of Han faced it with open-minded ease.

What a pity. You, Lola, are not someone I, Ahab Gul, could ever respect.

Clang!

Lola still wanted to make one last stand, but Ahab used See Through again.

Then followed up with a heavy blow!

And as Ahab brought the brick down, the wound on Lola's neck kept gushing yellow pus.

The pus constantly corroded her skin and flesh, revealing ghastly white bone beneath.

This was the effect of Corpse Dissolving Powder!

As long as it came into contact with flesh and blood, it could turn them into pus.

Then it corroded the entire body, dissolving it completely.