Chapter 105

I covered my face, overwhelmed with shame. After venting our anger, Damala and I had both calmed down. I buried my face in Mel's arms, completely too ashamed to face anyone. Damala, on the other hand, was doing well. She howled and summoned a large group of skeletons, then snapped each bone with a cracking sound, and a corpse quietly had its fill of pleasure.

But... I really didn't lose control on purpose! Those warlocks really did infiltrate deeper into the ruins beneath Radiant Fortress —the upside-down mage tower my teacher left behind—and they stole something...

Those warlocks whose brains were vaporized by the fireball stole my teacher's staff!

Damala told me that the staff was my teacher's beloved possession when he traveled the world, never leaving his side. After his death, the staff was used to represent him, placed at the bottom of the mage tower to deter the demons in the cage. The staff still retained my teacher's spiritual power and Magic Power, so the demons have been sleeping peacefully. If all the spiritual power remaining there were to dissipate, and the demons woke up to find that my teacher had been dead for thousands of years, they might suddenly rebel...

Good heavens, I can't entrust the safety of the entire continent to some random whim in a demon's mind! Everyone knows that the mental state of Abyss creatures is even more unstable than that of warlocks. Who knows if they'll suddenly have some wild ideas when they wake up and want to take over the Prime Material Plane for fun...

In my panic, I disregarded the roof and hurriedly summoned Damala back to my side. I was prepared to explain the situation to Goliath; after all, my teacher was the leader of the Shadow Moon Temple six thousand years ago, and in a critical moment, it might be necessary to inform the Shadow Moon Temple in the north. However...

Everyone was stunned once again, including myself.

Space was torn apart, and Damala returned.

The great lich walked towards me and then knelt on one knee—an ancient custom. We modern people don't kneel so easily, but Damala maintained this ancient warrior's demeanor. After spending a few days with her, I no longer felt uncomfortable or blushed at this gesture. However... as she knelt before me, a large group of corpses behind her lined up neatly and knelt down in unison with a thud!

Their movements were incredibly synchronized and crisp!

Oh my god!

What's going on?!

Damala, why did you go out and bring back an army of undead?! How terrifying! I really don't want to be the leader of evil forces, but who among you has ever seen a banner of justice surrounded by corpses?!

The corpses had shrunken skin, looking as if they had been dead for many years and had been dried out by the wind. Their deaths were gruesome; they didn't even need to be dragged out—just the scare alone would probably make many people afraid of the dead scream. But I noticed something strange at first glance: the equipment on the corpses was very new and modern, and many of them even had mechanical prosthetics...

--Isn't this the corpse of a cyborg?

"Reporting to my master, Damala's innate ability upon advancing to lich is 'Legion Commander's Command.' All the corpses around Damala automatically become my warriors, provided your mental power can control them," Damala calmly explained. "I simply feel that we need some manpower to retrieve Master Hailianna's relics."

Hmm, I see. So Damala's military skills are really high. If it were me, I would just be a fool and charge in alone.

Mel stood behind me with a smile, holding my hand and writing in my palm. Of course, I knew what he was going to write without even trying—it would definitely be something like "Xipei, you're amazing." I was already very used to Mel's occasional compliments.

I guessed wrong; Mel wrote --

"Reporter"

Ah?

I turned around in shock, only to find myself once again surrounded by the world's fastest creatures—the sky was filled with reporters wearing hover jetpacks! And in the distance, the police lights of a sheriff's vehicle were flashing...

"Ladies and gentlemen! The 'Flame of Fury,' who has been silent for many years, is right behind me..."

"Xipei, bravely face yourself. I know you've always been afraid of your identity being discovered, but now you know that no one will fear you because you're a dark mage, because you are such an excellent and kind dark mage. You also don't need to feel inferior about your dark childhood, because even when you were controlled by cultists, you didn't become an accomplice. On the contrary, you should be proud that you saved so many children, ensuring they never had to spend their childhood in dark dungeons like you."

As she spoke, Mel gently kissed my ear. "Relax, don't be nervous. You're so wonderful, I'm so proud of you. Let them just watch as such a wonderful Xipei can't get close, because Xipei is mine! I love you so much, Xipei!"

He put his arm around my waist, and his explicit and inappropriate words made me blush completely—sigh, I really can't do anything with Mel; I guess he'll never change his habit of confessing his feelings indiscriminately, regardless of time, place, or occasion...

However, I suppressed my shyness and replied, "... But those reporters were so exaggerated! It made me so embarrassed. Of course, I love you, Mel."

Mel happily rubbed his face against mine, and I could feel his cheeks were just as warm as mine. We both seemed to enjoy each other's warmth. I saw Mel smile at me, and the curve of his lips was truly beautiful. I needed to use a willpower no less than when I was concentrating on casting a spell to control myself from kissing him—in broad daylight!

"Xipei, what they said isn't wrong? It's all true, you're just that amazing!" Mel replied seriously.

Ugh... Mel, why are you exaggerating too? That's not the truth at all! What nonsense did you listen to that reporter?

"... Look! The undead are bowing down to him! Oh, my God of Light... No, no, I'm sorry, I called the wrong name. I should have proclaimed the name of the Lord of Darkness! Praise be to the darkness! The handsome mage behind me, his elegance is unparalleled, he is truly—"

A sudden, intense sense of crisis washed over me, and my whole body began to tremble. Sure enough, I heard the reporter shout in a highly dramatic voice:

"--A Legend of Our Time--The 'Master of the Undead'!"

My vision went black again...

I wonder if my teacher, Hailianna, would be so angry he'd rise from the dead if he knew he had an apprentice with such a chuunibyou (delusional) nickname six thousand years later...

Chapter 105

I was so startled that my hand trembled. When I came to my senses, I had already gotten myself back into the mage tower, and I was lying on the bed wrapped in a blanket, with a pillow over my head.

I...

"Xipei?"

I threw off the covers and pounced on Mel, accidentally knocking him over. We rolled around on the bed, and then... then I blushed so much I couldn't look up at Mel.

"Xipei, you look especially cute when you blush..."

I turned away from him.

... Being scared home by a reporter is one thing, but to be so frightened that I hid under the covers—what kind of behavior is this! Back in the day, when I had a life-or-death duel with my second teacher, even when he locked onto me with a curse, I dared to face him head-on... I think that compared to my cringeworthy nickname, if my teacher Hailianna saw me behave this way, she would be so angry that she would rise from the dead, beat me to death, become an undead creature, and then train me over and over again so that I would never do such a shameful thing again, before finally sending me to my rest.

But... that nickname really made me so embarrassed that every hair on my body felt like it was going to fly off!

Mel chuckled in my ear, and I felt like my ears were smoking.

I cautiously raised my head, peeking out with one eye to look at Mel. I discovered he was lying next to me, holding a cell phone and chuckling incessantly.

He noticed my gaze, and before I could hide again, he shoved his phone in front of me, saying, "Look! Lots of people online are commenting that we're a perfect match, even our nicknames are couple-themed!"

Ah?

"Mel, you've already installed internet for Taric?" I asked, somewhat surprised. "When? I had no idea?"