Da Lang, Time to Take Your Medicine

Mortarion had been furious.

This had originally been a foolproof extermination operation, but because he had underestimated his enemy, that lord had escaped using Psychic teleportation.

Damn it. Psychic teleportation was an obscure and profound form of Witchcraft. Mortarion had never expected a lord on Barbarus to know it.

Even his foster father, the most powerful witch on Barbarus, could not use Psychic teleportation, yet this alien witch could???

But this had been his failure. He had not anticipated that sudden teleportation, allowing Lazar, who should have had no chance of escape, to slip from beneath his blade.

Standing amid the wreckage of his battle with Lord Razael, Mortarion angrily considered where that cunning bastard might have teleported to. He realized that the Death Guard rebels at the foot of the mountain, who lacked much combat experience, might be his target.

Damn it!!!

Cursing inwardly, he commanded the rebels on the mountain and led them swiftly down the main road.

However—a rebel guarding the small path suddenly ran up and told him that Lazar had suddenly teleported onto that path.

How was that possible? Why would the cunning Lord Razael teleport to such a place? There were no good defensive positions there, and it was not particularly far from Mortarion's own location.

What was Lazar doing in a place like that? Could it be that his Witchcraft could only manage teleportation over such a distance?

Or had this rebel already been controlled by the alien's Witchcraft and was deceiving him?

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

Her eyes were nearly overflowing with tears, and her frantic run had left her gasping for breath. Clearly, her respirator could not withstand this, and she seemed to have inhaled some poisonous gas.

But there was no trace of the corrupt aura of Witchcraft on her.

Then it was most likely true.

Mortarion had Typhon continue leading the elite troops in a forced march down the main road, while he himself sprinted down the smaller path alongside Herrela.

If what Herrela said was true...

Then Hades was most likely already...

Mortarion forcibly crushed the anxious thought. He should trust his friend.

Yet he ran faster and faster, faster and faster—

—

—and then they saw Hades leaping through the air, his scythe tracing a full moon as it severed the Alien Lord's ugly head!

What!!!

Mortarion's eyes widened in disbelief.

Blood and the head spun through the air. Blood gushed from the burst-open alien body, and Hades landed precisely in the middle of that fountain of blood. He was covered from head to toe in blood—his own, as well as the alien's.

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

Hades stood at the very center of the picture, lowering his scythe like an old farmer who had just finished harvesting rice, while the blood on its blade resembled weeds stuck to it.

Hades noticed the two of them. He turned his head and gave them a strained smile through his gas mask.

At that moment, Barbarus's faint light seemed to gather all around Hades.

—and then his body swayed and swayed before slowly, leisurely collapsing.

At the same time, that fellow's remarkably vigorous voice began wailing,

"Aaaahhhhh! Aaaahhhhh!!! It hurts so much!!! Help!! I'm going to die!!! Help meeeee!!!"

That guy definitely was not going to die. Not only would he not die, Mortarion would bet that he was completely fine.

What an infuriating bastard.

Though he thought that, Mortarion still ran quickly to Hades's side with Herrela. He carefully examined Hades's wounds. Aside from somewhat excessive blood loss and rather serious poisoning, the fellow truly was not in much danger.

—Unlike the careless impression he usually gave people, Hades was exceptionally meticulous in battle.

—He had defended himself well.

But Hades was still howling like a ghost, so Mortarion helplessly dragged him off the alien's corpse and tossed him to Herrela, who was crying her eyes out nearby.

His ghostly wailing instantly turned into quiet whimpers.

What an infuriating bastard.

Mortarion thought it again.

Unlike his friend Typhon, whom Mortarion respected and trusted, Hades... Mortarion trusted him too, but that fellow's occasional off-the-wall behavior really gave him headaches.

For example, the Death Guard he led believed in fighting and marching in silence. Even if they were wounded or dying, they would never make a sound.

And Hades, this oddball...

In any case, Hades rarely participated in large-scale operations and would not disrupt morale because of it, so Mortarion tacitly allowed his occasional bouts of madness, just as he tolerated Typhon's vicious tongue.

Once he realized Hades faced no danger of death or disability, Mortarion stopped paying attention to him.

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

Then Mortarion circled the Alien Lord's body and inspected it. Though he firmly believed that even at only fourteen, Hades was among the strongest in the Death Guard—

That did not mean he could kill a lord skilled in wielding Psychic Power all by himself.

Having fought Lord Razael, Mortarion knew exactly how powerful that man's Psychic Sorcery was. Other than Mortarion himself, most mortals could barely withstand a single strike.

Then he saw it: the stone that had split in two.

He picked it up. The nauseating, evil aura of a witch had completely vanished from it.

Mortarion remembered this stone clearly. During his battle with Lord Razael, Lazar had cast much of his Witchcraft through it.

And Mortarion did not remember the stone showing any signs of damage when Lazar escaped at the end—even when he had tried to attack it, the powerful Warp distortion upon it had always repelled him.

He knew that Lazar had obtained this stone by sacrificing countless villagers, but Lazar himself had not offered up his own soul—meaning the stone had nothing to do with whether Lazar lived or died.

In other words, Lazar's death had not caused the stone to crack.

The stone had been shattered by another attack.

Could Hades also be a hidden Psychic witch?

No, impossible. Even a Psychic witch could not do this. If he had attacked the stone with Witchcraft, an evil aura would have remained upon it.

But there was nothing on the stone now. Literally nothing; no aura could be sensed at all.

Mortarion frowned and put away the two pieces of the cracked stone.

Then he carried Hades on his back, had Herrela hold the Alien Lord's head, and headed down the mountain to rendezvous with the rebels.

The one thing that comforted him was that Hades had passed out from the battle and blood loss, finally shutting that mouth of his.

Hades was currently lying blissfully in bed, enjoying being fed by Herrela...

The girl's soft body leaned lightly against Hades's side. Her long eyelashes trembled faintly as she gazed at him tenderly, and her eyes were so gentle they practically dripped sweetness.

A few tiny freckles dotted the side of her dainty upturned nose. Though her lips had been turned unnaturally pale by Barbarus's toxic gas, they were still small and delicate.

Hades swore he could even smell the faint scent of soap, despite soap being unbelievably scarce on Barbarus.

.

Uh... wait, that expression... Was Hades really happy rather than suffering?

The girl held a bowl of indescribable purple liquid. A thick layer of yellow grease floated atop the soup, and as Herrela stirred it with her spoon, some mushy chunks floated to the surface.

She scooped up a spoonful of the unidentified substance and gently held it before Hades. Its pungent odor instantly overwhelmed the soapy fragrance around her.

Hades swore he used all his strength just to swallow back the stomach acid rising in his throat.

He exerted every bit of control he had. This took willpower comparable to when he had raised his blade to chop at Lazar. Hades barely forced out a smile and looked at Herrela.

Herrela looked back at him with a shy expression,

"Hades, time to eat~"

Da Lang, time to take your medicine~

Help meeeee!!!

Hades: I was a grand archmage who had completed his cultivation in my previous life.

Also, Mortarion really treated the Death Guard very well.

In "The Silent King," Mortarion "gently" helped the Death Guard Volker to his feet.

And in some novel whose name I forgot, Mortarion yanked a Death Guard who could no longer fight out of an enemy encirclement, then placed him safely in the rear.

Grandfather Nurgle definitely loved this kind of thing.