Ninth Brother, It's Time to Take Your Medicine

Chapter 10 9. Big Bro, Time for Your Medicine

Mortarion was furious.

This was supposed to be a foolproof annihilation, but due to his carelessness, the Alien Lord had escaped using Psychic Power teleportation.

Damn it, Psychic Power teleportation was a rare and profound sorcery. Mortarion hadn't expected that a lord on Barbarus would know it.

Even his foster father, the most powerful sorcerer on Barbarus, couldn't do Psychic Power teleportation, yet this Alien sorcerer could???

But this was his dereliction of duty. He hadn't anticipated the sudden teleport, allowing Lazar, who should have been unable to escape, to slip through his fingers.

Mortarion stood amidst the wreckage of his battle with Lord Razael, angrily trying to recall where the cunning bastard might have teleported to. He realized that the Death Guard rebels down the mountain, who lacked combat experience, might be his target.

Damn it!!!

He cursed inwardly while commanding the rebel forces on the mountain to quickly descend from the main road.

However—a rebel guarding a small path suddenly ran up, telling him that Razael had suddenly teleported to that path.

How was that possible? Why would the cunning Lord Razael teleport to such a place? There was neither a good defensive position there, nor was it very far from Mortarion's location.

What was Razael doing in such a place? Could it be that his sorcery could only manage teleportation of this caliber?

Or had this rebel already been controlled by the Aliens using Psychic Sorcery, deceiving him?

Mortarion looked towards Herrela. He knew her; this little girl was the only one willing to team up with his friend Hades.

Tears almost overflowed her eyes, and the frantic running forced her to breathe heavily. Clearly, her respirator couldn't handle it, and she appeared to have inhaled some toxic gas.

But there was no taint of Psychic Sorcery on her.

Then it seemed likely that it was true.

Mortarion had Typhon continue leading the elite troops down the main road at a rapid pace, while he followed Herrela, sprinting along the small path.

If what Herrela said was true…

Then Hades was likely already…

Mortarion forcefully suppressed the uneasy thought. He should trust his friend.

But he ran faster and faster—

——

——Then they saw Hades leaping through the air, his scythe swinging like a full moon, severing the Alien Lord's ugly head!

What!!!

Mortarion's eyes widened in disbelief.

Blood and the head spun through the air, and the Alien's exploding body gushed blood. Hades landed precisely in the center of that blood fountain, covered head to toe in blood, both his own and the Alien's.

The entire scene on the small path looked like a child's crayon drawing smeared with blood plasma.

Hades stood in the center of the picture, lowering his scythe like an old farmer who had just finished harvesting rice, the blood plasma on the blade clinging like weeds.

Hades realized they were there. He turned his head, offering them a strained smile through his gas mask.

At that moment, the dim light of Barbarus seemed to gather around Hades.

——Then his figure swayed, swayed, and slowly toppled over.

At the same time, that guy's extremely vibrant voice began to wail, "Ughhhhhhhh uhhhhhhhh!!! It hurts!!! Help! I'm gonna die!!! Help meeeeeeeee!!!"

There was absolutely no way this guy was going to die. Not only was he not going to die, but Mortarion would bet that this guy was perfectly fine.

That annoying bastard.

Even so, Mortarion and Herrela quickly ran to Hades' side. He carefully examined Hades' wounds. Aside from a bit of blood loss and severe poisoning, this guy was indeed mostly fine.

——Unlike his usual careless demeanor, Hades' mind was unusually meticulous in battle.

——He defended himself well.

But Hades was still howling like a banshee. Mortarion helplessly dragged the guy off the Alien's corpse and tossed him to Herrela, who was also crying like a floodgate.

That guy's howling instantly turned into soft whimpering.

That annoying bastard.

Mortarion thought again.

Unlike his friend Typhon, Mortarion respected and trusted Typhon, but Hades… Mortarion also trusted him, but this guy's occasional eccentricities really gave Mortarion a headache.

For example, the Death Guard he led believed in fighting and marching in silence, and would never make a sound even when wounded or dying.

But Hades was an anomaly…

Anyway, Hades didn't participate much in large-scale battles and wouldn't disrupt morale, so Mortarion tolerated Hades' occasional fits of madness, just like he tolerated Typhon's harsh words.

Realizing that Hades was not in mortal danger and wouldn't be crippled, Mortarion stopped paying attention to him.

He pulled the dagger he had just thrown out from the corpse.

Then, he circled the Alien Lord's corpse and examined it. Although Mortarion firmly believed that even though Hades was only fourteen years old, his combat power was among the best in the Death Guard.

But that didn't mean he could single-handedly kill a Lord skilled in Psychic Power.

Having fought Lord Razael before, Mortarion knew just how strong the guy's Psychic Sorcery was. Most ordinary people would be lucky to withstand a single blow.

Then he saw it, the stone that had been shattered into two pieces.

He picked it up. The nauseating, evil sorcerous aura that had clung to it was completely gone.

Mortarion remembered the stone well. During the battle with Lord Razael, Razael had used the stone to cast many of his spells.

And he didn't recall the stone showing any signs of damage when Razael fled at the end—even when he had tried to attack it, he had always been repelled by the powerful Warp distortion emanating from it.

He knew that Razael had obtained the stone after sacrificing countless villagers, but Razael himself hadn't contributed his own soul—which meant that the stone wasn't linked to Razael's life or death.

In other words, the stone didn't crack because Razael died.

The stone was shattered by some other attack.

Could Hades be a hidden Psychic Sorcerer?

No, that was impossible. Even a Psychic Sorcerer couldn't do this. If he had used sorcery to attack the stone, it would have left behind an evil aura.

But there was nothing on the stone now, literally nothing. He couldn't sense any aura at all.

Mortarion frowned and pocketed the two cracked pieces of the stone.

Then he carried Hades on his back, had Herrela carry the Alien Lord's head, and together they headed down the mountain to rejoin the rebel army.

The only thing that made him happy was that Hades had passed out from the fight and blood loss, finally shutting his mouth.

Hades was now lying happily in bed, enjoying a meal being fed to him by Herrela...

The girl leaned softly against Hades' side, her long eyelashes fluttering as she gazed tenderly at him, her eyes practically overflowing with affection.

Tiny freckles dotted the bridge of her petite nose, and though her lips were unnaturally pale from the Barbarus toxins, they were still delicate and charming.

Hades swore he could even smell a faint scent of soap, even though soap was frighteningly scarce on Barbarus.

Uh... wait, that expression... was Hades really happy, or was he suffering?

The girl held a bowl of indescribable purple liquid, a thick layer of yellow grease floating on top. As Herrela stirred it with her spoon, chunks of something chopped to pieces floated to the surface.

She scooped up a spoonful of the unidentified substance and gently offered it to Hades. The pungent smell instantly overwhelmed the girl's soapy fragrance.

Hades swore he used all his strength to swallow the rising stomach acid.

He exerted every ounce of control he had, a feat comparable to the determination he had shown when he faced Razael with his blade. Hades forced a smile and looked at Herrela.

Herrela returned his gaze with a shy smile.

"Hades, time to eat~"

Big guy, time for your medicine~

Help meeeeeee!!!!

Hades: I was a powerful archmage in my past life!

And, Mortarion is genuinely good to the Death Guard.

In The Silent King, Mortarion "gently" helped the Death Guard Walker up.

And in a novel I forgot which one it was, Mortarion pulled a Death Guard who was too weak to fight from the enemy's encirclement and placed him in a safe rear position.

Grandfather Nurgle definitely likes that.