After Carvette left the plaza, a thousand soldiers surrounded Yoon-seok. However, despite their clear numerical advantage, their expressions were full of reluctance.
‘They said that they were fighting against a masked person… why is no one here?’
If bodies were lying around, he would’ve thought so. However, no bodies could be found, and hundreds of people disappeared as if they had evaporated into thin air. How baffling.
“…Who are you! What happened to the people here?”
The royal knight of Panthenium dispatched after receiving a request for back-up yelled. He used to be a mercenary, but after becoming a challenger, he was recognized for his skills and received a knighthood. Yoon-seok stared at him.
“They are dead.”
Yoon-seok didn’t have to tell him that, but now that he’d answered a question, it was his turn.
“Where should I go to meet the Duke Carpaine?”
The location of the Duke Carpaine. This was also the reason why Yoon-seok waited for them instead of leaving. However, instead of answering, the knight asked back.
“Why are you looking for him? Do you mean to destroy him…!”
“If he’s worthy, he’ll be safe. So, what’s your answer?”
“Throw down your sword and surrender.”
Yoon-seok couldn’t help but feel miserable. He asked where Duke Carpaine was, but why did he ask him to abandon his weapon and surrender?
Clang!
When the royal knight drew his sword, the soldiers pointed their weapons at Yoon-seok. Feeling the condensed magic toward the rear, it seemed like they had already prepared large-scale magic. Yoon-seok felt genuinely sorry for them.
“If you answered my question, I would have spared you another second.”
“Catch him!”
With the knight’s shout, the condensed magic exploded. However, Yoon-seok didn’t even know what kind of magic it was. This was because the caster’s head was sliced off even before the magic could take shape.
Slash-
There was a commotion among the soldiers.
“Accomplice! His accomplice is hiding nearby!”
Although Yoon-seok didn’t have an accomplice… well, he didn’t know it would be a valid doubt for them. Yoon-seok made no move to clarify as his distance from the wizard was well over 300m, and all he held was a sword.
“Be careful of invisible enemies!”
The soldiers stood wary of something other than Yoon-seok. It was a little funny to watch as they didn’t even know that everyone here was already within the distance of his blade. Knowing that wouldn’t change anything, though, so they didn’t have to know.
「1,128 people in total are registered on the list.」
「Would you like to appoint the cause of death?」
After registering them to the list, Yoon-seok pondered a moment. b Demonify}, b Commander Call}, or one of his others. He preferred death by explosion, but he didn’t have to go that far. One slash was enough.
「A total of 1,128 deaths have been appointed as beheading.」
「The date and time of death is 1 second later.」
“C-captain. A strange message appeared…!”
Confusion filled the soldiers’ eyes when they were notified of their death. There was no time to run away, however.
Slash-!
The moment Yoon-seok moved his sword, a wind blew through the plaza. Although he cut through the air, the distance didn’t matter; and although he sliced forward, the direction was meaningless. Heavenly Sword second technique, Traverse.
The heads of the soldiers surrounding him were sent rolling all as one.
「You killed civilians of a different dimension.」
「Acquired 11,270 APs in total.」
「1,127 subjects registered on the list have been murdered.」
「The date and time of deathmatch exactly.」
From acquiring points due to the Pioneer effect, Asura’s increasing stats messages appeared continuously. While removing the phrases appearing before him, Yoon-seok looked straight ahead. There was only one survivor left, the royal knight who kindly answered two of his questions and drew his sword first without any reason.
Yoon-seok brought up the question he asked earlier again.
“Where should I go to meet Duke Carpaine?”
“…”
The knight did not answer; he was just standing blankly. His eyes were blurred as if he thought he was having a terrible nightmare. Fortunately, the way to wake him up from that illusion was simple.
Slash-!
“Ah, arghhhhh!”
The knight screamed and collapsed when both his arms were sliced away. He struggled to stand quickly, but sadly, he had no arms to push off the ground.
Yoon-seok slowly approached him.
“H-help…”
“Where should I go to meet Duke Carpaine?”
“The palace! When you go to the palace….”
Finally, he got the answer he wanted. However, the knight kept babbling.
“P-please… I have a family…!”
Press.
Yoon-seok stepped on the knight’s neck. He had a family? He hadn’t asked and wasn’t curious.
[Good: 151]
[Evil: 478,719]
Yoon-seok looked down at him coldly. With a boot against his throat, he couldn’t even plead as he looked up at Yoon-seok desperately. Was family so precious to this man? If so, he didn’t have to worry.
“Don’t worry. If your family grieves over your death, you’ll see each other soon.”
Crack-!
“Let’s go.”
Turning away, Yoon-seok headed to the center of the city. Happy that his stats improved after a long time, Asura was smiling in his pocket.
“Someone appeared and stole the slaves?”
“Yes. Not only that but all the knights and soldiers sent to stop them were wiped out.”
Duke Carpaine swallowed. As the only country where slaves were legal, the people who came to Geronian to implement justice were more common than expected. Well, most of them faced brutal deaths or ended their miserable lives by becoming slaves…
“…Who was the leader?”
“It was Sir Urenta.”
As a royal knight, that meant the opponent wasn’t a normal wanderer. It was good to take advantage of the Tower’s emergence as an opportunity to become one of the powerful people of the kingdom. Still, disturbing things like the previous meeting kept happening.
“Tsk, tsk. Go ahead and triple the number of guards and order them to send a squad of knights to search the city thoroughly. Although you won’t catch someone who’s already run away.”
Duke Carpaine clicked his tongue and shook his hand for them to leave. But the subordinate who came to report remained silent.
“…I have something to tell you.”
“What is it? I’m busy, so hurry.”
“According to the deceased’s memories at the scene read by the necromancer, that person was looking for you.”
“His goal was not the slaves but me?”
“Yes, so first of all, we should move to a safer place….”
Duke Carpaine frowned. Maybe it was because he’d been having nightmares since he came back from the meeting. It was nothing new, but he felt iffy that someone was looking for him.
“What’s his description?”
“He wore a mask and carried two swords.”
“Two swords…?”
“Yes. And his magic rank was unknown, but hundreds of people couldn’t move under his black energy…”
“What! Why are you only telling me this now?”
Duke Carpaine shook. Two swords and black magic overwhelmed everyone. Wasn’t it the one that kept appearing in his dreams since the meeting?
“W-why is he…?”
“Do you know him?”
What happened in the meeting was classified as top secret, and only high-ranking officials knew. It wasn’t yet clear if the person he met at the meeting and this person were the same, but Duke Carpaine grew desperate.
“Where, where is he now?”
“…He’s alone with His Highness in the grand hall.”
“We’ll head there, so hurry up and finish the preparations.”
He had no idea why that crazy guy was looking for him, but… he had to run away to a safe place.
‘Interesting.’
Yoon-seok, who broke into the palace as if he were going for a walk under the moonlit night, smiled. There was no largescale field effect like the Empire’s palace or the church, but…
A monster was crouching above.
‘Is he a high ranker?’
The energy was so well hidden that most wouldn’t notice, but Yoon-seok wasn’t deceived. There was only one person in the royal palace, but he was comparable to Aren, whom he’d met at the imperial palace, or perhaps more than that.
‘I think they’ve already noticed.’
The moment Yoon-seok stepped into the palace, the magic secretly scattered throughout the halls encircled him. Someone lurking deep in the royal palace asked, how dare you step into my territory, and who are you? It was both a search and a warning.
However, Yoon-seok had no intention of turning around.
Thud, thud.
Rather than searching for Duke Carpaine in the royal palace, Yoon-seok slowly stepped toward the presence he detected at the center. He was curious about who exuded this presence.
As the distance gradually narrowed, the energy coiling around his body turned aggressive, and it reached its peak when only one door was between them.
“You’re here.”
As he stood in front of the door, a voice came through. At the same time, even though no one touched the door, it opened. There were three people in the vast hall: two humans and one mythical creature.
Yoon-seok smiled at the bizarre combination. The mythical creature sat arrogantly on the throne, and a middle-aged man wearing a crown politely put his hands together in front of him.
‘Excellent.’
A glint crossed Yoon-seok’s eyes. He thought he would handle this side first and look for his target slowly, but the person he was looking for was here.
“Duke Carpaine? Is this the person you saw at the meeting?
“…Yes. That’s right. You’re wearing the same ring as then.”
“Yeah, I knew it. A guy like you is rare.”
In response to Duke Carpaine’s answer, the demon who was sitting on the throne stood. At the same time, the magic they had been suppressing exploded. Of course, Yoon-seok wasn’t pushed back.
Whooooosh-!
Two types of similar yet different magic met in the middle and began to compete. At the same time, out of habit, Yoon-seok analyzed his opponent.
‘First of all, I’m certain he’s a mythical creature….’
Though he’d never seen his type before, looking at the two big horns, at a glance, they might be a demon, but they had a tail and wings. Their appearance was similar to Yoon-seok’s b Demonify} state. Perhaps they didn’t use a weapon, as they were also bare-handed.
The mythical creature spoke.
“Predator… I have always wanted to meet you, but we ended up meeting like this.”
“…You know me?”
“Because you’re famous among admins.”
Famous among admins? He didn’t know anything about this, so he would just move on, but he found a contradiction.
“Admins aren’t able to talk about other challengers thoughtlessly, though?”
Admins couldn’t spit out any information about other challengers so that normal challengers couldn’t gain such information.
The mythical creature licked his lips at Yoon-seok’s question.
“Who knows. Did your admin say so?”
“…You’re trying a useless trick.”
“It’s boring if you’re so serious.”
The creature quickly accepted that it wasn’t meant to be a big deal in the first place. Then, he smiled as if he was having fun.
“But you seemed quite surprised at first? Don’t you trust your admin?”
Yoon-seok was silent. What he was doing now was similar to what Yoon-seok often did, to shake the other person with words and use it to dig up information little by little.
“It’s inevitable that you can’t trust them. How can we trust them? They failed once anyway. All they think about is how to use us.”
It didn’t matter what the admins were thinking. Yoon-seok took a step forward, pushing the magic he cast through the hall. He didn’t intend to be swayed by useless words anymore.
“You talk a lot. Are you afraid of me?”
“No way.”
At the creature’s response, Yoon-seok smiled as if it was the answer he wanted. That was enough chit-chatting; it was time to start. When Yoon-seok drew his sword, the creature laughed arrogantly.
“Someone like you can’t beat me.”
Yoon-seok nodded. Everyone had at least one plan before being hit.
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