"You're not dead yet, idiot! This place is about to collapse. Pick up that enemy leader's corpse over there. We're getting out."
Noah smacked Guy on the head, clearing his mind a little, though the effect was limited.
Still half-dazed, Guy hoisted Venegu's corpse onto his shoulder and followed Noah, Kurome, and the others as they fled toward the outside.
"Follow me."
Using the memories he had obtained from the tomb guards, Noah led them to an emergency escape passage.
Ordinary tomb guards did not know that the Elder's death would trigger the royal tomb's self-destruction and collapse, but from childhood, they were all made extremely familiar with the three emergency escape routes.
Only, this passage had never been used before.
Judging from the current situation, Noah guessed that this escape route had been built by the tomb guards to preserve their descendants.
...
Elsewhere, the moment Gozuki realized the royal tomb was beginning to collapse, he immediately gave the order to retreat.
Everyone inside the tomb unleashed their full physical potential without holding anything back, fleeing toward the outside as fast as they could.
The few tomb guards who knew why the royal tomb was collapsing were all wearing looks of utter horror.
Because the invincible Elder they believed in had been defeated!
In the end, the previous generation's Elder, an aged tomb guard, already understood what had happened.
This generation's Elder had been even stronger than him.
And yet, even so, he had still been killed by the tomb robbers.
But then again, perhaps that was only natural.
After all, the tomb robbers this time were far too powerful.
Far too powerful!
"Haa..."
He exhaled a breath, the cold gnawing away at his will.
Around him stood dozens, perhaps over a hundred warriors of the tomb guard clan, but every last one of them had been turned into frozen statues.
The ice-sealed figures still retained their struggling, roaring poses.
It might not have been the most appropriate way to describe them, but they looked disturbingly lifelike.
He was the last one left.
Facing the demon-like enemy before him, his heart held nothing but endless despair.
Thud.
The final enemy collapsed as well.
Esdeath looked at the cavern she had sealed in ice and the great number of tomb guards frozen within it.
Although she had not enjoyed herself to the fullest, she had at least stretched her body a little, so this small bit of entertainment was not entirely wasted.
The royal tomb had become ruins.
Only then did everyone realize something.
Beneath the royal tomb was a bottomless abyss of unknown depth.
A distant darkness so deep that even sound seemed unable to reach it.
Standing at the edge of the abyss, Noah could not help but marvel.
"How many years would it take, and how much manpower would be needed to complete something like this? It's almost unimaginable."
It would probably take at least ten generations, perhaps even thousands.
And perhaps those people had been born beneath this very abyss, living their entire lives as slaves.
Like frogs trapped at the bottom of a well.
For them, the sky had only been that small patch above their heads.
That was the entirety of the world they could comprehend.
The ancient king of Putra.
That man should not have been praised as some great figure. He should have been remembered as a demon whose name deserved to rot through history.
The true nature of this abyss was a dead man's monument, built upon a number of lives no one could possibly count.
"It gives me chills."
With this, the Empire's plan to seize the treasures inside the royal tomb was basically ruined.
It would already be incredibly difficult to salvage countless gold and silver treasures from this bottomless abyss, and on top of that, those treasures were now buried beneath the ruins of the collapsed royal tomb.
Excavating them would require an unknown amount of manpower and resources.
For the Empire, it simply would not be worth the cost.
The survivors spent some time regrouping, and Noah immediately noticed the heavy mood hanging over both Gozuki and Bill.
It was understandable.
The Empire's order had been to plunder the gold, silver, and treasures inside the ancient Putra king's tomb.
For that purpose, they had not hesitated to send in both the reconnaissance unit and the enhancement unit in a coordinated assault, and both had suffered devastating losses.
The reconnaissance unit had been wiped out.
Of the four enhancement squads deployed, only Kurome, Gin, and the mostly useless Remus remained.
It was no exaggeration to say the entire force had been nearly destroyed.
Even after paying such a heavy price, compared with the countless treasures inside the royal tomb, the sacrifices might have been considered acceptable.
But now, the treasure was gone, and the dead would never return.
They had lost so many pieces and gained nothing.
This could no longer be brushed aside with a simple excuse.
Not only was there no merit to claim, they would most likely face severe punishment as well.
How could their mood possibly be good?
"This is... the enemy leader's corpse?" Gozuki asked in confusion as he looked at Venegu's body, which Guy had thrown onto the ground.
At that moment, Noah walked over.
He crouched down and examined the corpse's condition.
Although Venegu was already dead, his transformed state remained, and the Nubis traits on his body had not disappeared.
A dead sample was not as good as a living one, but it still had to be kept as fresh as possible.
Since the power of the secret art had not vanished, it still held research value.
If no one else had been watching, Noah would have used Weaver to freeze Venegu's corpse himself.
But doing that here would expose part of his abilities.
Fortunately, there was someone else present who could control ice.
He walked over to Esdeath.
The moment Esdeath saw him wearing a mask, she asked in confusion, "Why are you wearing that?"
"I did some work with Gozuki before. It's classified, so I need to hide my identity a little. For now, just call me Lamur."
"Got it."
"I have something I'd like your help with."
"Oh?"
Esdeath's eyes lit up.
"Well, that's rare. I never thought I'd hear you ask me for help. Go on, then."
The arrogant Ice Queen smiled with clear amusement, looking rather pleased.
Noah pointed at Venegu's corpse.
"Can you freeze that for me? I plan to bring it back to the Imperial Capital."
Esdeath followed his finger and saw that it was an enemy corpse.
She nodded slightly, though there was some confusion on her face.
"I can, but may I ask why?"
"Nothing much. I'm interested in his abilities."
"What can you learn from a corpse?"
"I don't know yet. There should be something to gain." Noah's tone was plain.
There was no expectation in it, nor any wild speculation.
He was simply stating the truth.
Esdeath lost interest after hearing that and walked over to Venegu's body, activating her ability to seal him inside a pillar of ice.
With her power, the ice pillar was as hard as steel and would not be easily destroyed.
If left alone without external interference, it would take at least several days for ordinary weather to melt it.
"Thanks. I'll call you when we're ready to go back."
Hearing that, Esdeath raised an eyebrow.
What did that mean?
From the sound of it, had he originally planned to leave her behind and fly back by himself?
...
As the highest-ranking officer present, Esdeath should have taken over command of the area, but she had no interest in Gozuki and Bill's mission, so she simply returned to the tent to rest.
Once Esdeath left, Guy finally had the nerve to approach Noah.
"Mr. Lamur, thank you so much. I honestly thought I was dead! I even vaguely saw Green's shadow waving in front of me."
He rubbed his eight-pack stomach in amazement.
"Man, that was incredible."
"There really was a huge hole in my stomach back then, but now there isn't even a mark left. What exactly did you do to me?"
Guy had always understood killing people very well.
That was why he knew the wound he had taken back then had absolutely been fatal.
His intestines and organs had been a complete mess.
Even the greatest doctor in the world should not have been able to save him.
And yet now, everything had returned to normal, almost as if time itself had been rewound.
That was why he asked what Noah had done to him, rather than asking how he had been healed.
This phenomenon had already gone far beyond his understanding of medicine.
It could only be called a miracle.
Meanwhile, the moment Akame saw the sister she had not met for eight years, she threw herself onto the girl and hugged her tightly.
"Kurome!"
"Sis!"
The touching reunion between the sisters also made Akame's companions happy for them.
Tsukushi and Pony looked at the two sisters with sincere joy.
Guy had not gotten the answer he wanted before Gozuki called him back.
Gozuki looked at the group before him, which had not lost anyone this time, and even he failed to notice the breath of relief that passed through his own heart.
After all, their opponent this time had not been weak.
On top of that, they had been fighting in enemy territory, so casualties would not have been strange at all.
Fortunately...
"You all came back alive. Not bad. The mission may have failed, but you survived. That means you've become stronger. I'm glad for you."
"Father..."
"Uu..."
Gozuki's words moved several of the boys and girls terribly.
Until Bill walked over with a dark expression.
"Hey, Kurome. Get over here!" He shouted sharply.
But Kurome was in Akame's arms and did not immediately obey the order.
Seeing this, Bill's expression instantly darkened.
He had always hated disobedient pieces the most!
Perhaps because she had finally met the sister she could only ever see in her dreams, Kurome had exposed the soft, fragile side deep inside her heart.
She curled up in Akame's embrace, not daring to look at Bill's terrifying expression.
"Sis..."
Suddenly, her face twisted in pain, and she clutched her own throat as if she were suffering horribly.
'Oh no.'
'Withdrawal symptoms.'
'Had the medicine's effects worn off?'
Kurome felt as though her heart was about to leap out through her ears, and even breathing became painfully difficult.
Seeing her like this, Bill showed a smug expression.
That's right.
Not a single piece from the enhancement unit could ever escape him, because their dependence on the drug meant they were destined to be unable to betray him!