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Chapter 103

Kane’s eyes shifted from joy to rage.

As he looked at Harald, memories of the past resurfaced.

"How should I kill you?"

Kane’s grip tightened.

"Ugh…"

Harald\'s face turned red, and a vein popped on his forehead.

He struggled to free himself from Kane\'s grasp, but it was futile. The more he resisted, the more the pain intensified.

"I’ve got a good idea."

Kane released Harald, but instead, a streak of purple mist seeped into Harald’s heart.

The purple mist also penetrated the hearts of the members of the Red Spear Knights.

"Ugh!"

"Gah!"

They groaned in unison.

Kane smiled at this and promptly severed the threads of mana that connected them.

"Gasp!"

"Argh!"

Blood spurted from their mouths. Some of the lower-ranking knights even fainted.

Kane then addressed them.

"I wonder if you’ll manage to leave this place with your mana destroyed."

He chose to spare the Red Spear Knights but rendered them completely incapable of using mana. This place was a high 4th-level hidden territory. Without mana, survival was impossible.

Although Kane hadn’t killed them with his own hands, it was no different from sentencing them to death.

"Ugh… just kill me!" Harald shouted, enduring the pain.

"Are you frustrated?"

In response to Kane’s question, Harald replied,

"If I ever get another chance, I will definitely kill you."

"That’s what I once said. But you won’t get the same opportunity as I did."

The BloodSky Blade was drawn and then sheathed once more.

A flash of light sliced through the air, cutting Harald’s throat.

Thud.

His head fell to the ground.

Kane, having lost interest turned away, Camilla and Blata followed him.

Kane vanished from the sight of the Red Spear Knights.

As they tried to regain their composure, skeletons and liches began to rise from the ground.

"Ugh…"

"R-Run!"

The once-brave Red Spear Knights were no longer there; only cowards without mana remained. Their eyes were filled with nothing but fear.

The skeletons soon overwhelmed them.

"Aaaah!"

The screams that echoed across the void wasteland soon faded into silence.

* * *

Having escaped from the Void Wasteland, Kane and Camilla continued on.

Blata, eyeing the situation cautiously, finally spoke up.

“Kane, do you have a grudge against them?”

“Many.”

“Did they do something bad enough for you to hold a grudge?”

“You could say that.”

“Is that why you killed them like that?”

“Was it too cruel?”

“If it were me, I would have ripped out their tongues, gouged out their eyes, and cut off their fingers one by one to make them suffer... Kane, you’re too kind.”

Kane chuckled. Blata was exaggerating his gestures to lighten the mood, but there was a surprising sensitivity behind the act. For someone who usually only acted foolish, he had his moments.

‘I wonder what Dirk’s expression will be like.’

Dirk had lost his entire ‘right arm’, not just a part of it. One of the reasons Dirk had always been so brazen was the Red Spear Knights. But now that Harald was dead, how would Dirk react?

‘He’ll probably make a big fuss, won’t he?’

Knowing Dirk’s personality, he’d turn the royal palace upside down. He would immediately try to send an investigative team. Kane could already picture Dirk’s reaction in his mind.

‘He’s also lost the Fire Star, so he’ll likely overextend himself to make up for it.’

Dirk’s mission was to overthrow the Fresia Empire. His job was to incite the nobles to rebel and start a civil war.

‘I need to anticipate their moves. And soon, another one of the Executioners will make a move.’

[TL/N: Executioners, they are also called Seats of Judgements. Prolly the guy training Dirk is one of them.]

One of the Seven Seats of Judgment had been killed. This was something they hadn’t anticipated at all. Moreover, Marquis Tegelo was dead, his lands reduced to ruins. Even the spies planted within the Empire had been eradicated. Everything Hatzfeld had entrusted to him was in shambles.

One of the Executioners was bound to make a move.

‘I have to kill the Executioner this time.’

Though Kane had borrowed the Crown Prince Isaac’s hand to deal with the Seventh Seat of Judgment before, now he could handle them alone.

‘I’m curious to see what form the Executioner will take this time.’

The Executioners appeared in various forms, assuming multiple identities. This time, too, they would approach under one of these disguises. Although Kane had a hunch about one possible form, it was just a guess. He couldn’t be certain yet.

“Kane, are we going back home now?”

“There’s somewhere we need to stop by first.”

“Where? I’m hungry…”

“It’s a place you’ll like.”

“Really? Where is it?”

Blata’s eyes sparkled with excitement.

“Flovin Village.”

Hearing Kane’s words, Camilla was startled.

“That’s in Hatzfeld’s territory!”

“It’s on the outskirts, far from the border, so Hatzfeld doesn’t pay much attention to it.”

“No, it’s too dangerous!”

Camilla tried to dissuade him.

Hatzfeld was an incredibly powerful kingdom, far stronger than Tegelo. While the Fresia Empire was in decline, the Hatzfeld Kingdom was rapidly growing. In terms of military power, Hatzfeld had long surpassed the Empire.

“Even the Guardian Lord wouldn’t recklessly enter Hatzfeld’s territory.”

“He didn’t go because he chose not to. There’s no place a Guardian Lord can’t enter.”

“Well, that may be true, but… Either way, Your Highness shouldn’t go.”

“It doesn’t matter what you say.”

“Do you really have to go?”

"I have business there."

"You’re not planning to turn it into a wasteland like Tegelo, are you?"

"Do I look like an idiot?"

"Your Highness is unpredictable, that’s why I’m asking."

"Hehe, Kane’s personality is a bit strange."

Even Blata chimed in. Kane’s eyebrow twitched for a moment, prompting Blata to leap into Camilla’s arms.

"Promise me you won’t cause any trouble."

"I have no intention of doing so."

"Really? You swear?"

"I promise."

Despite Kane’s reassurance, Camilla couldn’t shake her unease. Entering enemy territory was a grave mistake, one that could trigger a war just by setting foot on their land. But what could she do? Her master was so resolute. She couldn’t let him go alone, so she had no choice but to follow.

"Because of Your Highness, I won’t live long," Camilla sighed.

Kane smiled at her complaint, seeing the worry and concern for her master that lay beneath it. He muttered softly to her,

"You’ll live longer than I will."

* * *

Beneath the Sian Mountains in the north of Rehinar, there was a small village.

"I never expected to find a village in a place like this," Camilla said, surprised.

Kane nodded in agreement.

"Neither did I"

As Kane began to enter the eerie village, Blata wrinkled his nose and covered it.

"Kane, this place smells weird!"

"Can you sense the malice here?"

"Ugh, it’s worse than the smell of those guys who play with fire."

‘Those guys who play with fire’ referred to the Red Dragon Legion.

"Can you purify this energy?"

"Um…"

Blata hesitated. Normally, he would have confidently claimed he could handle it, but now he seemed a bit unsure.

"You still can’t do it?"

"The thing is… I’m not sure what will happen if I try to absorb this energy."

Blata could devour bloodlust, demonic energy, and malice without discrimination, but only in amounts he could digest. He never took more than he could handle. The fact that he hesitated here meant that the malice pervading this village was potent enough to give him pause.

"If even you, a ferocious species, can’t neutralize this energy, then sealing it might be the only option."

This was no ordinary village. It was where the Elixir of Oblivion was being produced. Most of the villagers were involved in its creation, a fact even Hatzfeld was unaware of. Those who orchestrated this were members of the Sun Clan. Hatzfeld believed they were conquering the continent, but they were merely puppets of the infamous Meyer Family. When they discovered this truth, it was too late—they were doomed.

"No, wait! I’ll give it a try!"

"This is just the village entrance, where the malice is still weak. Are you sure you want to try?"

"I’m the mighty, mightiest guardian of the demons! Do you think I’ll lose to something like this?"

Blata spoke with confidence, but in truth, he was a bit scared.

At some point, Blata’s character had settled into that of a coward. While there were times when he displayed the ferocious nature of his kind, most of the time, he was just a boastful, scaredy-cat.

“If you change your mind after we go in, just let me know.”

“Humph, I’m… the great guardian of the demons, Vladimir Bu…”

His words grew longer the more frightened he became. Kane shook his head and continued walking inside.

The village was completely deserted. There wasn’t a single sign of life.

“Your Highness, the sun is out, but the air is so cold…”

“It’s the energy of Oblivion.”

The malice here carried a negative attribute. That’s why the air was so cold.

As they moved further into the village, they came upon a shrine nestled beneath a steep cliff. Villagers were gathered in front of it, carefully opening flasks and capturing the energy from the air. These weren’t ordinary flasks—they were magical containers, specially crafted to draw in the malice from the air, which caught Kane’s attention.

“It’s not the first time I’ve seen this, but it’s still fascinating.”

Those flasks were custom-made by the Meyer Family, designed to attract only the power of Oblivion.

“Ugh, that smell!”

Blata grumbled in annoyance. The energy of Oblivion was the opposite of the blood energy he thrived on, so it was only natural for him to despise it.

“First, we need to stop their work.”

Kane began walking forward. The villagers, sensing his presence, turned around in shock.

“Wh-who are you?”

“How did you get here?”

“Did you come from the heavens?”

At the mention of "heavens," Kane couldn’t help but chuckle.

‘So, you\'ve been calling yourselves beings of the heavens, Huh Disgusting Meyer Family?’

“I’m not from the place you’re thinking of.”

“Th-then, where are you from?”

“I’m here to rescue you from this place.”

“W-what?”

Kane turned his head and looked at the emaciated man lying on the altar.

“Ugh…”

The man was writhing in pain as the power of Oblivion continued to be extracted from his body. The villagers were carefully capturing this energy in their magical flasks.

“Don’t you want to save Karl Agzent, village chief?” Kane directed his question to an elderly man, who was the grandfather of Karl Agzent and the village chief. The old man had sacrificed his grandson to save the lives of the villagers.

“When all that energy is drained, your grandson will die. You’ve noticed how weak he’s become, haven’t you?”

Kane had heard this story from Dirk, who had boasted about it when Karl later became renowned as the Mercenary King, the Immortal.