Chapter 278 – Pitiful Flaman

“Hm?”

Andusia, playing with her miniaturized phone in Alice's bedroom, looked up in confusion when she sensed the fluctuations of powerful dark mana coming from upstairs.
This was the home of the Heavenly King of Fire, so how could such powerful mana fluctuations be appearing here?

The first thought that came to Andusia's mind was that Alice might be experimenting with another taboo.

However, Andusia quickly realized that something was amiss as this dark mana was different from the dark mana Alice usually used.
If she were to describe Alice's dark mana as normal, the dark mana she currently sensed felt like it carried a hint of death.
It didn't feel like mana a living person could unleash.

The average person might have difficulty noticing this difference, but Andusia was a Demon King.
She had developed her spirit and control over mana to an extraordinary extent.
So, she could notice things that the average person couldn't.

Speaking of which, I found the Torres Royal Coin hidden inside one of the previous generation Demon King's taboo books.
I also left the coin in one of those taboo books when I set off on my last expedition. Andusia fell into contemplation while caressing her chin. If every Demon King after me also did the same thing, and since Alice had packed all of their taboo books today, she should have found the Torres Royal Coin as well… I see.
So, that undead called Little Death has come to find her.

Like Alice had assumed, Andusia knew about Little Death's existence.
Only, since she didn't know where Grant, the previous generation's Demon King, would keep the Torres Royal Coin, she didn't bother to mention Little Death's existence to Alice.
However, it would seem that the Demon Kings after her had made it a tradition to keep the Torres Royal Coin in one of their taboo books, and Alice happened to stumble into the coin.

…

Andusia naturally wasn't the only one who noticed the frightening mana fluctuations coming from the mansion's third floor.
Although the others couldn't accurately sense that the mana was of the dark element and carried hints of death, the sheer intensity of the mana fluctuations still attracted many people to the third floor.

Following the origin of the mana fluctuations, Luna, Zauna, Lalu, Heris, Davis, and several other mansion staff hastily barged into the study after arriving on the third floor.
Then, what entered their eyes was the view outside the mansion and a ruined half of the study.

When Flaman, who stood in the remaining half of the study with a frustrated look on his face, saw the crowd that had barged into the room, he grumpily looked at Davis, his close aide, and said:

“Davis! What are you still standing there for? Quickly call someone to fix this room!”

“Understood.”

Although Davis didn't know what had happened here, he could tell that Flaman was in a bad mood.
So, he wisely avoided poking the hornet's nest and simply followed Flaman's orders.
Then, he quickly withdrew from the room, bringing the other servants with him.

Heris didn't have as many reservations as Davis.
After walking up to the edge of the ruined study and looking at the view outside for a moment, she asked, “Dad, where's Alice?”

Heris remembered that her father had brought Alice away to discuss something with her.
Yet, for some reason, this discussion had ended with half of the study disappearing.
Alice was also nowhere in sight.

Of course, Heris didn't think that her father would try to do any harm to Alice.
Or, more specifically, her father couldn't even if he wanted to.
Moreover, her father didn't have any injuries on him.
It didn't seem like he had taken any action against Alice.

“She should be back in a moment.
Don't worry; she should be fine,” Flaman said as he massaged his temples.
He didn't think that the undead he brought back would be a tool used by past Demon Kings.
He also didn't expect this tool to have such a troublesome taming requirement.
Fortunately, Alice and the undead named Little Death had realized they would demolish the mansion if they were to fight here, so they quickly brought their fight to a distant location after their initial exchange.

Meanwhile, as soon as Flaman finished speaking, a frightening thunder came from the distance.
Through the study-turned-balcony, everyone could see that dark clouds had covered the sky outside, and numerous lightning bolts bombarded the distant forest.

A taboo capable of bringing about such a powerful effect was obviously at the level of taboos.
Despite what he just said, Flaman couldn't help but start to worry upon seeing this taboo.
Of course, he didn't think even for a second that Alice or Little Death would be in any life-threatening danger.
After all, one was a Demon King while the other was an undead who could survive even if her body was blown apart.
Rather than those two, what Flaman worried about was his country's forest.

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The rain of lightning bolts had covered nearly the entirety of the distant forest.
Flaman worried that the lightning would cause a huge forest fire or, worse yet, turn the entire forest into charcoal.

The power of taboos was incredibly exaggerated.
Some of the strongest wide-area taboos could turn even an entire city into ruins.
So, Flaman didn't think that it would be strange even if the distant forest would disappear under the might of a wide-area taboo.

“Hopefully, the losses can be minimized…” Flaman muttered, his voice devoid of confidence.

…

Meanwhile, over at the forest, Alice's fight with Little Death started to get a little out of hand.
Alice originally thought Little Death was only at the Four Heavenly Kings' standard.
However, after actually fighting Little Death, she found that the undead girl's combat power far exceeded that, and she had no choice but to resort to stronger attacks.

Fortunately, Flaman's worst fears didn't come to fruition.

The lightning storm Flaman and the others saw just now was the product of “Baptism of Lightning,” a taboo Alice had learned in the March Academy.
The taboo would gather clouds from a large area and create a lightning field when cast.
However, despite how over the top the rain of lightning bolts looked, the lightning bolts weren't descending onto the forest randomly.
Instead, they bombarded the same location under Alice's manipulation.

“You are very strong.
You indeed have a Demon King's strength if you can use taboos so easily,” Little Death, who was at the center of the lightning bombardment, said casually.
Even though the numerous lightning bolts were striking at her one after another, most of them were stopped by the strange lights flashing around her.
Although a few still managed to strike her, she didn't sustain any severe injuries due to the characteristics of the undead.
She could even speak even after being struck by multiple lightning bolts.

“But…if it's only this much, it still isn't enough to prove that you're the Demon King!”

After Little Death finished saying so, the lights around her suddenly exploded, causing the remaining lightning bolts to veer away from her.
Then, she swung her right hand in Alice's direction, sending a dark torrent smashing toward Alice.

It's taboo-level mana, but the way she uses it is extremely crude.

When Alice saw this attack, she quickly understood that even though Little Death had the mana necessary to cast taboos, it didn't seem like the undead girl could control this mana to a precise level.
The other party could only use the most rudimentary method of unleashing this mana.