Fairy Tail: I Don't Want to Be the Guild Master-Chapter 204: Is it true? I don’t believe it

"This doesn't make any sense... This is totally unreasonable!"

Watching his summons being picked off one by one, Rhodes felt more and more that something was off.

If the enemy was truly strong enough to wipe out monsters this easily, how had the hunters from the village even survived?

"Maybe 'it' reached some condition that made it stronger than before," Erza said, clad in her Heaven's Wheel Armor.

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Just now, she had unleashed a barrage of flying swords. Both of them had heard the sound of metal clashing, but the enemy's assault didn't even slow down. The attack must have been blocked.

"Take over, Murk Wolf form," Rhodes said, switching to a summon better suited for detection in the thick fog.

He and Erza slowly retreated again. The two remaining Scuttle Crabs and two Raptors also pulled back to form a defensive line in front of them.

The Murk Wolves had already been wiped out because they could track the enemy's movements.

Now, Rhodes himself had become the most vulnerable target.

"Did you find anything?" Erza asked.

"There's a faint scent of rust... and blood, but very faint... Left side!" Rhodes alerted.

Sixteen of Erza's Heaven's Wheel swords fired at once, and a shadowy figure within the fog swung its blade, knocking away several swords. Three still pierced its chest and shoulders.

But it didn't fall. Instead, it continued its charge.

"Heaven's Wheel, Pentagram Sword!" Erza cried.

She slashed her twin blades through the air, drawing a five-pointed star of intersecting sword arcs.

The humanoid shadow was struck by the slash, and armor pieces clattered to the ground as it collapsed backward.

This time, Rhodes clearly caught the strong scent of blood. "Looks like there was a real person inside after all."

"It felt human when I struck it," Erza said calmly. "This should be the target of our mission. We'll take both the person and the sword back."

Erza stepped forward, but suddenly raised her swords defensively.

The man who had just fallen sprang to his feet again. The scattered pieces of armor floated back and reassembled onto him piece by piece.

He rushed Erza again.

Erza crossed her swords and slashed, their figures blurring past each other in a sharp clash.

Two of Erza's Heaven's Wheel swords were cut cleanly in half, and even the steel wings on her back were sliced apart.

"Requip! Black Wing Armor!" Erza switched armors in a flash. Black wings flared behind her as she shot forward like a shadow.

"Moon Flash!" she shouted.

Her blade sliced through the enemy's chest, splitting his breastplate diagonally. Blood sprayed from the wound as he stumbled.

But before he even hit the ground, the breastplate shards flew back to him.

"Murk Wolf!" Rhodes called.

A dark, shadowy wolf spirit shot forward, biting onto the cursed sword the armored man was holding.

Rhodes remembered that their true mission target was this sword, not the man himself.

The screech of metal grinding against teeth rang out, sharp and uncomfortable.

The armored man struggled to pull the sword back, but the Wolf clamped down tightly.

Erza moved in, slashing at the man's wrist.

There was a sharp crack. His gauntlet shattered and the cursed sword was yanked away along with it, clenched firmly in the jaws of the wolf.

Without the sword, the armored figure collapsed onto one knee, visibly weakened.

But before they could breathe a sigh of relief, the ground began to tremble slightly.

From the mist, skeletal hands clawed up from the earth. One after another, skeletons dragged themselves free.

Then another. And another.

In mere seconds, the entire battlefield was filled with skeletal warriors, rising eerily from the ground.

The sight was terrifying.

Rhodes hesitated to touch the cursed sword directly, fearing he might become contaminated by its magic.

But the skeletal soldiers surged toward them.

Crack! Crack!

The Scuttle Crabs snapped their massive pincers, smashing skeletons apart easily. But broken bones quickly reassembled themselves, pulling back together as if nothing had happened.

"Great, it's a self-repairing army," Rhodes muttered.

He briefly considered summoning the Void grub to eat them all.

Before he could act, Erza gripped her sword with both hands and struck down fiercely, targeting the cursed sword lying on the ground.

Clang!

Sparks flew, and a deep crack split the earth beneath the blade. But the rusted sword itself only showed a faint scratch.

It was like hitting an indestructible artifact.

And as if that attack had triggered something, the skeletons went berserk, lunging at Rhodes and Erza with wild frenzy.

Erza's eyes narrowed in understanding. "The sword's definitely the key."

"Takeover, Raptor!" Rhodes transformed.

Wings of crimson energy burst from his back. He grabbed Erza by the shoulders with two massive bird talons and lifted her into the sky.

"Feather Storm!"

A flurry of razor-sharp feathers rained down, each one piercing straight through the skulls of the skeleton soldiers, halting their advance.

"Requip, Giant Armor! Spear of Purging Evil!" Erza shouted.

Rhodes nodded and released her.

Erza twisted her body midair, stretching into a perfect arc, and hurled the spear down with all her strength.

"Evil Purging Spear!"

The spear turned into a streak of brilliant light, tearing through the air with a force that ordinary people could hardly imagine, striking the center of the rusted sword lying on the ground.

A blinding white light exploded outward, and from the sword, a dark purple, ominous aura tried to rise, but it was immediately swallowed by the intense radiance.

The cursed sword shattered into countless fragments.

Boom!

The Spear of Purging Evil unleashed a massive shockwave, a blinding wave of white light sweeping across the battlefield. The blast force scattered the thick mist and blasted away the nearby skeleton soldiers, leaving them powerless.

The armored man was hurled backward by the impact. His helmet flew off, and the pieces of his armor clattered to the ground.

This time, the armor pieces did not float back to him.

Lying there was a young man—or what seemed to be a young man.

It was hard to tell his exact age. His skin was deathly pale, his face sunken and dry, and his limbs shriveled like a mummy.

Yet strangely enough, when wounded earlier, he had still bled.

No new skeletons rose from the ground, and the dense fog that had blanketed the battlefield slowly began to disperse.

Remaining alert, Rhodes and Erza cautiously approached the fallen figure.

Erza knelt down and pressed two fingers to his neck. "He's human. He's still alive."

Rhodes stretched out his hand and traced a rune in the air.

"Solid script: WATER."

Clear, shimmering water formed from his magic, sprinkling gently onto the young man's face.

Slowly, the young man stirred, his dry lips parting as he coughed weakly.

"Cough... cough... Where... where am I?"

His voice was feeble, each word an effort.

Erza, her tone firm but not harsh, asked,

"We should be asking you. Who are you? And why were you attacking people near here?"

The young man's eyes slowly cleared. After a moment's thought, he whispered, "Mansi. That's my name."

Rhodes blinked. "Mansi? That sounds familiar."

The young man managed a weak laugh. "I'm a descendant of General Eri Mansi."

"Eri Mansi?" Erza echoed, frowning. "The war criminal who slaughtered innocents during the battle two hundred years ago...?"

She recalled the story the village chief had told them—the ruthless general who had been consumed by bloodlust and betrayal.

"So you came here looking for your ancestor's relics," Erza continued, "hoping to claim his power?"

"Yes... and no," he said, a bitter smile tugging at his dry lips.

"Two hundred years ago, my ancestor's crimes caused a rebellion. His actions led to the defeat of the Seven Kingdoms' forces. Afterward, he was branded a war criminal by three countries, and our entire family was ostracized and oppressed ever since."

His voice shook, but he pressed on.

"I didn't want our family to live under that shadow anymore. I wanted to find the sword, the one that corrupted him, and destroy it. To make a public apology before the royal palace, to plead for a normal life for our descendants."

He paused, trembling slightly.

"But I never expected... after all my efforts to find it, I'd immediately fall under its influence. The sword forced me to seek out my ancestor's broken armor... it made me crave bloodshed."

His expression twisted with shame.

"A few days ago, someone wandered in. I tried to fight the sword's will, but... I still ended up hurting them. I heard that anyone wounded by this sword would be cursed. I don't know how they are now..."

Rhodes listened quietly, then straightened up and said bluntly, "I don't believe you."

...

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