The 31st Piece Turns the Tables
chapter-177

It was quite a ridiculous situation.

Ur, whom they had worked so hard to seal away, was now the key to helping them return to their homes.

“Wh-what do you…”

“...What do we have to do then?”

The expedition party became agitated.

Seol, Frannan, the few leftover mercenary leaders, Chameli, and Mael stepped forward.

Each of them had earned the right to be called a leader within the expedition party.

Certainly, Seol had less claim to leadership than the others, as his only title was being the disciple of an Aspect Magician. However, considering all he accomplished during this journey, he could easily be ranked near the top.

Regardless, they all stepped forward to converse with Ur to better understand and organize the situation.

Ur scowled for a second before forming a twisted grin.

“Ah… I thought too rashly. Alright! I will help you escape from this hell and see sunlight!”

“Really?”

“S-Seriously?!”

Even though they all believed that Ur wouldn't help them due to his grievances with them, for some reason, he was surprisingly willing.

But in the end… Ur was Ur.

“However… I want to go with you.”

“What?”

“So hurry up and unseal me. Revive me. If you do, I will handsomely reward your loyalty.”

“This bastard…”

“Bwahahahaha! What did this monkey just say?”

“I think he wants us to scratch his back!”

- They’re pretty good at making fun of him LOL

- But… Do you guys even have a plan?

- You aren’t making fun of him for no reason… right?

Ur puffed up his cheeks.

It seemed like an expression an upset monkey would make.

“Y-You nasty… hmph!”

Ur crossed his arms and turned around.

"I'll take that as your rejection of the deal.”

“......”

"I can understand you refusing my proposal if you don’t mind dying here. I doubt all of you are oblivious to your own situation. Becoming heroes? That's fantastic! I'm sure all of you are eager to become heroes,” said Ur.

Ur’s words were like daggers to the hesitant mercenary leaders.

"The heroes who sealed this mighty Ur, a wizard and the root of all powers! However... do you really think anyone will remember your names? I highly doubt they'd even know what happened, let alone be curious! Because that's just how humans are, you self-centered bastards!"

Ur continued further, seemingly satisfied with the tongue-lashing he had just given out.

“All of you will be forgotten here with me! Forever…”

“I-I don’t want that…” shuddered one of the expedition party members.

After hearing that, more continued.

“I-I don’t want to die.”

“I never even thought about dying.”

“Instead of choosing to die, why don’t we talk with Ur more…”

“What would happen if we free Ur?”

“What if we seal him again after we free him…”

“If we free Ur… would there even be a way for people to know we were behind it?”

Eventually, the conversation flowed in a way which it shouldn’t have gone. Ur’s speech had shaken up everyone.

“Could you let us discuss first?” asked Frannan, waving his hand.

“Suit yourself. There is only one conclusion, though.”

The expedition party’s leading members then began their conversation to solve this troublesome issue.

* * *

Translator - goguma

Proofreader - Karane

* * *

“He… made quite an annoying offer.”

"At this rate, he'll have accomplished his goals and backed us into a corner."

“Is there a way for us to use him, without freeing him, to escape?”

“Wouldn’t that be impossible? As Bornuil said, he’s powerless inside Kiki’s body. He left the rest of himself inside of that spirit.”

“Haah…”

The leaders began to grimace and hold their heads.

Then, one person slowly opened their mouth, seemingly resigned to defeat.

“Maybe… Maybe the best thing for the world is for us to be forgotten here with Ur.”

“No! How could you…”

"There's no way that insane demon would earnestly help us. And what do you suppose we do after we unseal him? Don't tell me you plan on fighting him again."

“......”

"Don't forget we already lost to him once. If it wasn't for Snowman, we'd all be dead. He's also more tenacious than a bug. If we free him, it will be a disaster."

The group descended into chaos.

Agreeing to Ur’s proposal would be like turning all of their efforts up to this point into nothing, yet the thought of dying alongside the demon left them equally frustrated.

But, despite all this… Seol hadn’t spoken yet.

“Hm?”

Frannan thought for a long while before asking Seol. He secretly hoped that Seol, the person who sealed Ur, would have some way to overcome this situation.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Ah… I just had a question.”

“What is it?”

“If Ur revives… what body would he be in?”

“What?”

“If we hypothetically must revive him… which form should we choose? His human body or his spirit body?”

Though Frannan didn’t understand why Seol was asking that question, he didn’t ask why.

In the end, he was a transferee. It was almost obvious that he was prioritizing himself over the good of the world.

‘Does he plan to revive him…?’

Frannan would be lying if he said that he wasn’t a bit disappointed.

Even so, he did his best to hide it before responding to Seol.

“Hm… He only has a bit of mana left in his original body. So wouldn’t he want to be revived in the spirit body?”

“Spirit body… the spirit body…”

“I thought you’d have a method or something, but I guess not.”

Chameli then interrupted, with a defeated tone as well.

“No matter how hard I think about it, I can’t possibly accept his offer. We should… in here…”

“...there might be one.”

“What?”

Someone had butted in, interrupting Chameli.

It was Seol.

“There’s just one… one method that I managed to think of.”

Frannan, shocked, quickly asked back.

“What? How?!”

“I… will be making him mine.”

The others then understood what Seol meant.

Seol planned to turn Ur into his shadow summon.

“You must have lost your mind! You can’t even compare him to a demonic spirit like Agony! Even if it’s you—”

“Calm down and listen to what I have to say first,” said Seol.

“I don’t even need to—”

“Frannan.”

“......”

Even Frannan couldn’t say much after seeing Seol’s serious expression.

“Fuu… Fine, tell me.”

Frannan calmly listened to Seol explain his plan. Initially, they wore worried, quizzical expressions. However, as Seol continued and they grasped the intricacies of his plan, their expressions shifted.

“Oh?”

“Wait this… maybe…”

Seol then finished his explanation.

“However, since I’m not sure if this is even possible… I was hoping to hear your opinions.”

“Ha… Haha… Yeah, that could be possible.”

“Frannan?”

“Actually, this is definitely possible. No! This might be our only method.”

Mael nodded.

“It is a law of the world, after all. Even Ur wouldn’t be able to free himself from it. However, there are a few things that we must consider.”

“Consider?”

“Would you be alright, Snowman? To tie him down to you…”

“We have no other methods. And after facing him once, he could definitely be useful to me on my path.”

“What Mael’s trying to say right now is that he’s worried you’ll be tempted by him, right?” said Frannan, jokingly.

As Mael shrugged, Seol shook his lantern.

This caused Agony, sleeping inside of it, to wake up.

[It’s shaking… It’s shaking! Is it another earthquake?]

“It won’t happen,” said Frannan. “However, the odds of him going along with our plan are low. So for that… what do you think about using Bornuil?”

“The Libra?”

“Yeah, since he’s the one who put us through this mess, it's only fair that he gets his hands a bit dirty too.”

After hearing Frannan’s explanation, everyone nodded, finalizing their plan.

The expedition party then called Kiki from afar.

“Hey, Ur!”

“Hm… Have you finally finished talking? Not like you have any other options.”

“We want to talk with Bornuil!”

“What?”

“It’s to properly review your offer!”

“Hm… fine.”

Kiki’s eyes twitched for a moment before a new voice came forth.

“Ohohoho! Were you looking for me?”

“Bornuil…”

Frannan asked Bornuil if it was possible to talk without Ur hearing.

“Do not worry. Ur cannot hear us right now.”

“Then…”

Frannan then explained the plan to Bornuil.

“Oho… I see… Ohohohoho!”

Bornuil’s first reaction was to ask a question back to the expedition party.

“And who came up with this brilliant plan?”

“My disciple,” answered Frannan.

"I gave you such a hard time because you weren’t taking in any disciples, but you managed to do it in the end, Frannan. That's fantastic!"

“Well… it ended up like that. But…”

“Gladly! I will gladly offer up my body to make this plan a success! If this is the only way for all of you to escape safely, I, Bornuil, will do whatever it takes. Furthermore… It is also quite fun to mess with Ur. Ohoho…”

And like that, after finishing all of their preparations, they woke up Ur.

“So, what now?” asked Ur, confidently.

“We’re changing the conditions.”

“The conditions? Fine, I’ll hear them out.”

“We can’t free you.”

“Then it’s pointless.”

“But, we do know of a way to bring you out.”

“How?”

Seol stepped forth.

“For you to become my summon.”

“You must have lost your mind.”

“That’s our only method. We have no way of freeing you from your seal.”

“Hm…”

Ur went pondered.

‘I wouldn't have faced this humiliation if I had just properly gathered my energy... but becoming a summon, hmm... how fun. Well, it wouldn’t be that bad if it’s only for a short while.’

All Ur had to do was kill his summoner after escaping the prison, after all. And he would just have to gather his strength after that.

‘I am the root of wizardry. He dares to try and make me into his summon?’

Ur ground his teeth, fixating on the summoner’s face. He then imagined how it would look when it gradually shifted into a horrified expression.

“Fine! If it’s just that, then…”

“We also have another condition.”

“Quite a lot of them.”

“Bornuil’s soul comes with us as well.”

“What? His soul too?”

“All of us came here to rescue him. That was our objective. If we’re going to revive you, his soul must also come.”

“Hm…”

Ur quickly realized what they were plotting.

‘So they plan to control me through his soul. Those idiots…’

Ur wasn't one to fall for such an obvious trick. But for now... he pretended to have fallen for it.

Furthermore, since Bornuil was unimportant to him, all Ur had to do was kill him once more later.

“Fine!”

“Then abandon that monkey’s body and return to the spirit’s body. We’ll start the ritual immediately.”

Ah ah…

“You aren't lying to me, are you?” asked Ur.

“Our lives are on the line as well. Let’s just focus on the task at hand.”

"Alright, now, you know how this is going to go, right?"

“Death is simply the beginning of a new life. Is there anyone who understands this truth better than I?" said Ur.

Fwoosh…

Smoke streamed from Kiki's nostrils.

It then, like a shimmering haze, slowly floated over to Ur’s spirit body wrapped in chains.

"Grgh... I can't continue like this. Look, I've divided my powers so that even you can summon me. Now, destroy my core."

“Are you unable to even kill yourself when you’re sealed like that?”

“Did Cagon’s bindings seem like a joke to you? You should have recognized my, this great Ur’s, greatness the moment I was able to divide my powers in this sealed state.”

“Okay.”

Seol raised a large rock spear before stabbing Ur with it.

“Khrgh…”

And then…

As they had promised earlier, Chameli took action.

Glooow…

[Chameli used Remembrance.]

[The target is immune to all damage and attacks.]

[The target does not feel pain.]

[The target is unable to use any skills.]

[After a few moments, the target will inevitably die.]

“What? What are you doing…”

Ur suddenly twitched and shook before losing all strength in his body.

“Ohohoho! You’ve succeeded! And I managed to put Ur to sleep as well.”

“We don’t have time, Bornuil! Quickly!”

“Okay!”

Bornuil, after taking over Ur’s body, began speaking rapidly.

"I, Ur, pledge to faithfully serve Snowman until his last breath, cherishing all life. Moreover, I will harbor no ill will towards the expedition party and will never act in any way that could harm them. I, Ur, will veer away from darkness, drawing nearer to the light, and will obey the commands of my master, Snowman, remaining by his side. If I fail to uphold these vows...!"

Ur, no… Bornuil’s eyes began to glow radiantly.

“My existence shall be brought to an end! Ohohohoho!”

Thud…

Ur’s body went limp.

[You have defeated Ur:Shades.]

“Then…”

Seol put his hand forth.

“Serve me!”

Craaaaaaaackle!

Black energies began to run rampant.

Seol had definitely grown immensely.

But even so, that was nearly not enough to take in Ur as his summon.

‘That’s exactly why he divided up his powers, though.’

Ur, except for his core powers, separated everything else from him.

It was solely due to it that the difficulty in summoning him decreased significantly, to a point where even Seol could summon him.

And to think, Ur's plan this entire time was to use that separated power explosively for the expedition party’s escape… the expedition party was fortunate that Ur possessed such immense power.

Craaaackle…

[You have successfully summoned Ur the Sealed’s shadow.]

[Passing on the skills.]

[The summon is extremely high-ranked.]

[You are only able to pass on its core powers, nothing else.]

[Wizardry has been fully passed on.]

[Tuner(Exceptionality) activates.]

[An additional high-rank skill has been passed on.]

[Maverick has been fully passed on.]

Craaaaaaackle!

A small, tiny ghost escaped free from the mountain of chains.

Clatter…

The ghost was in shackles, with a small chain connecting its shackles together.

Ur’s eyes began to flash.

After placing his hand on the dead spirit’s corpse, he then spoke.

“For now… let us leave this place.”

Huuuum…

[Ur the Sealed used Whale’s Breath.]

[Explosively rise to the top.]

“Everyone, prepare yourselves!”

“Expedition party! Stick together!”

A few seconds later, an immense force propelled them upward, shattering through Alcatron's ceilings to ascend even higher.

BAAAAAAAM!

BAAAAAAAAM!

BAAAAAAAAAAAAM!

“Krgh…”

A massive pillar of light illuminated the earth, large enough to be visible from a distance.

Fwoooooosh…

The expedition party had been expelled from the dungeon in an instant.

“W-We’re outside!”

“My eyes…”

“Wait… sunlight? It’s morning?”

“H-Hold on! We’re falling!”

“Don’t let go of my hands!”

[Chameli used Sanctification: Downhill.]

[Greatly reduce fall speed.]

“Hahaha!”

“It was a success!”

“We did it!”

“We made it out safely… hrgh…”

The expedition party relished in their victory before even landing on the ground.

Ur laughed upon seeing it, judging that it was time to proceed with his plan.

“Now, I will… you…”

Land… Land…

Despite everyone landing on the ground, Ur had yet to finish his words.

He paused for a second before opening his mouth once more.

“Why…? Why do I get the feeling that I shouldn’t kill any of you?”

“Well… that’s because Bornuil made a promise with us while you were asleep.”

Bornuil’s voice quickly exited out of Ur’s body.

“Ohohohoho! I made a promise with them because you seemed busy, Ur.”

“A promise like that, I could just… Hold on…”

Ur then looked down at his body.

Seol gave Ur a moment to think, then spoke after seeing his devastated expression.

“A spirit must keep its promise. It’s one of the strongest laws in the world.”

“No… How dare you!”

“You will cease to exist for real if you oppose me now, Ur.”

Ur then began to yell at himself, as if he was a person with a split personality.

“How dare you make a promise like that?!”

“Ohohohoho! Were you completely deceived?”

Agony’s lantern slowly drifted over to Ur, who was also in the air.

Float float…

Agony then spoke to Ur.

[Ahem… You do know that I am your senior, right?]

“...What?”

[You know what I’m talking about. Well… regardless…]

The tiny demonic spirit then began whispering into Ur’s ears.

[Let’s corrupt him together. We can achieve it swiftly if you assist me..]

“.......”

[Want some jerky? I hid some from him, kekeke… What do you think? Your senior is quite evil, isn’t he?]

“No… Not like this…”

Seol left Ur, who appeared to have lost the will to live, alone, and proceeded to inspect the details of his new summon.

He was shocked.

“This is…”