'Alright, let's name her [Marcille].'
'What a good name...'
————
"Marcille!"
"Ah?!"
Snapping back to reality, the Elf girl cupped her face in her hands, her gaze distant. "A... a flashback?!"
"Are you alright?"
"...Yeah, I'm fine." Marcille blinked. "W-what happened to me?"
"Oh, you just—thud!"
"Ahem!" Chilchuck stomped on Laios's foot, then laughed sheepishly as if trying to cover something up. "It's nothing. Listen, Marcille, don't ask anything and don't think about anything right now. The important thing is resurrecting Falin, understand?"
"Falin... Right! Falin! She's in danger right now!"
Marcille gripped her staff tightly, glanced at the skeleton on the ground and the materials at Ryu's feet, then suddenly gave him a deep bow.
"Thank you, you've been a huge help!"
It felt a bit strange, but that wasn't important—Marcille thought to herself.
Ryu went with the flow and skipped over the little interlude. "No need to be so polite. Time is of the essence, let's start the resurrection ritual right away."
"Okay!"
Marcille composed herself, thought seriously for a moment, and then said to the group with determination, "Ordinary resurrection magic is useless on Falin now, and I'm not skilled in that kind of conventional spell... I'll tell you now, what I research is ancient magic that has long been lost and is forbidden. It's probably the only thing that can save Falin."
"Ancient magic? Isn't that black magic?!"
"Be careful! That's not good stuff."
Chilchuck and Senshi were both shocked—they had certainly been surprised by many things today.
In this world, the ones most skilled in magic are the Elves and goblins (gnomes), but the former are a truly dominant race, with only the dwarves having been able to contend with them for hegemony in the past.
The term "black magic" was defined by the Elves. They were deeply secretive about certain magical research from ancient times, forbidding anyone of any race from delving into it. Anyone discovered would be brought under control (imprisoned).
Marcille was a half-elf who had mingled with the short-lived races since she was young, so her behavior was no different from a human's, but that didn't mean all Elves were easy to talk to.
The Elves in Delicious in Dungeon are not the type who like vegetarian diets, wear revealing clothes, or are universally cringey.
Quite the opposite, they are extremely skilled in combat, are generally racist towards the short-lived races, and show absolutely no mercy!
Marcille had long anticipated their reaction, but she already had enough resolve when she chose black magic, so she simply looked at Laios. "You are Falin's relative... you decide."
"Then I'm counting on you, Marcille."
Without a shred of hesitation, Laios pleaded in a rare, trembling voice: "Bring Falin back!"
"Okay!"
"...There's no other way."
Seeing that things had come to this, Chilchuck was helpless. "There's no escaping it anyway. Is there anything we can do to help?"
"I need to draw the magic circle now. Everyone, thaw the meat, dry it, and then place it inside. Avoid affecting the lines of the circle... Prioritize the mammals: beef, lamb, pork, whale... Pay attention to the portions, don't let any single type be too much."
"Also, the human blood... to be able to find so much fresh human blood at a time like this, Falin's luck is really good."
"Alright!"
"Let's go first... Laios?"
Ryu saw him staring blankly at Falin's skeleton and gave him a nudge. "What are you spacing out for?"
"Oh, no... I was just thinking, after Falin is resurrected, her body will mainly be made of pork, beef, and lamb..."
"Indeed, seeing a relative become like that must be hard to bear—"
"It's just like a dumpling."
"Huh?" Ryu stopped. "What did you say?"
"A uniform mixture of various ingredients, isn't that a dumpling?"
"..."
"But thinking about it carefully, there's also human blood inside... If it really were a dumpling, a filling like that would taste terrible."
"Taste?"
"After all, I have no interest in the taste of humans... Ryu?"
Laios blinked and asked incredulously, "What's wrong?"
"...Nothing."
Ryu took half a step back, his smile unchanged. "Don't overthink it. Let's get to work."
Is this an abnormality in his very "essence"?
Although different in direction from a certain psychiatrist, and with a very different form of expression... Ryu's strenuous imitation of Uncle Mads couldn't even compare to Laios's casual, genuine expression. A great sense of defeat welled up inside him!
————
"Todires, Lifaou, Kirjurona..."
Marcille stood in a small circle on the periphery of the magic circle, her staff planted on the ground, muttering incantations.
Soon, the temperature of the entire space dropped rapidly. The more sensitive Chilchuck immediately hugged his arms, shivering as he looked around. He wasn't sure if it was an illusion, but it felt as if black shadows were flashing about. The gloomy and terrifying atmosphere was hard for the halfling to bear.
It's not going to freeze, is it—Chilchuck subconsciously hugged Ryu's thigh.
Ryu, too, watched this scene seriously, his brows slightly furrowed.
What he could learn from books were all conventional spells. Marcille's black magic was clearly not among them, and at his current level, he couldn't even begin to analyze it... The two systems had a significant gap between them.
Modern magic mobilizes the sprites in the atmosphere to create supernatural phenomena, while ancient black magic can affect more than just the surrounding environment~
"Joto! Luxulayanqiel..."
Marcille's staff was not forged from metal, but woven from extremely precious "tree branches." It possessed life itself and was closely connected to Marcille's state.
Now, its spirally woven body had unraveled, its tail-end spreading out like tree roots across the ground, firmly taking root upon the magic circle.
Mana! A massive amount of mana, absolutely superior to that of any individual, flowed out from an unknown space, rushing along the lines like a torrent!
Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle~
A large amount of flesh and blood dissolved into liquid, churning like magma and submerging Falin's skeleton...
Hum!
Thin veins crawled over the stark white bones, then muscle fibers filled the gaps one by one. Organs rolled out from the bloody water, and the entire skeleton "expanded" at a visible rate. A bloody, indistinct human silhouette emerged!
"Iguras!"
The powerful mana fluctuation turned into a fierce wind that blew through the area. After finishing the chant, Marcille collapsed from exhaustion. Ryu quickly stepped forward to support her shoulders.
"I'm fine... Falin, how is Falin?"
Laios immediately ran over and carefully scooped up a girl from the pool of blood, her body so drenched in it that her original skin color was unrecognizable.
"...Cough!"
The girl suddenly coughed, like a newborn baby.
Seeing this reaction, Laios was overjoyed. He hurriedly patted her on the back, making the girl cough up all the congested blood inside her.
"Falin! Do you remember me? Ah!"
"...Ngh~"
Struggling to open her eyes, the girl's voice was dazed and slow, but she finally recognized the person before her.
"...Lai... os... brother?"
"Ngh!"
It was the first time Ryu had seen this man cry. He hugged Falin tightly, like a drowning person clinging to a life-saving straw.
"It's okay now... thank goodness... Falin, welcome back..."
"Brother..."
Ah, so that's how it is—Ryu had a sudden realization.
This was the difference between Laios and the psychiatrist: this man's connection to humanity had not been completely severed!
He still had a "sister," while the doctor no longer did.
Of course, given his personality, Laios wouldn't cause any harm even if he went completely mad, because he fundamentally disliked humans. After liberating himself, he would only distance himself from human society.
"Your sister just woke up, don't scare her." Ryu took a cloak from his backpack and came over to put it on Falin.
"Laios, there's one more important thing to do for Falin right now."
"...Yeah, you're right, Ryu!"
Laios wiped away his tears and showed a gentle smile to his dazed sister.
"You haven't eaten for days, you must be hungry, right, Falin?"
"No, I was talking about giving her a bath..."
[Destiny Coins +3 (Falin)!]
[Destiny Coins +1 (Laios)!]
"Ugh, whatever, as long as you're happy."
________________________________________
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