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Chapter 98
Chapter 98
[Translator - Helga ]
[Proofreader - Lucky]
Chapter 98
Kane didn’t say a word.
He just remained silent.
One by one, he pierced them with his spear.
“D-Don’t come closer!”
“Do you think you’ll get away with this?”
The Red Dragon Legion's shouts didn't faze him.
Thud!
“Ugh!”
The spear went straight through the heart.
Blood gushed out like a fountain from the open wound.
“You fucking madman!”
“Everyone, scatter!”
Even though their ankles were severed, they had mana.
They could just float using their mana.
The Red Dragon Legion simultaneously activated their magic power.
Boom.
Kane’s spear struck the ground.
Their magic was abruptly cut off.
“What’s happening?”
“Why isn’t my mana working?”
“Same here!”
“Damn it. Why is mana acting up at a time like this?”
The Red Dragon Legion didn’t think Kane had cut off their mana.
They believed it was just a side effect of the Elixir of Oblivion.
A temporary issue.
They firmly believed that their mana would return soon.
That belief kept them from falling into despair.
“Once the power of elixir kicks in, you bastard, I’ll tear you apart—”
“You’d better be prepared.”
The Red Dragon Legion member’s gritted their teeth.
They still appeared confident.
Kane then plunged his spear into the ground and crossed his arms.
“Do you think the Elixir of Oblivion will save you? Ha,”
“H-how… how do you know about the elixir?”
When Kane mentioned the Elixir of Oblivion, the Red Dragon Legion visibly panicked. Seeing this, Kane thought to himself:
‘As if I wouldn’t know.’
He knew what the Elixir of Oblivion was, even better than they did.
It was a potion that enhanced one’s power to the point of even making life itself explode.
Dirk had accidentally found it in some cave.
But in reality, it was all a carefully planned setup.
The Elixir of Oblivion was something created by the Meyer Family to control the continent.
They had arranged for Hatzfeld to discover it by “chance.”
“I’ll wait until you show me that grand power of yours. But if it fails to meet my expectations, be prepared to die the most painful way you can imagine.”
The Red Dragon Legion’s mana slowly returned.
So did the power of oblivion.
“I don’t care how you knew. The power is returning now, anyway.”
“Grrr.”
“He’s coming!”
"That bastard is mine, so don’t touch him."
The eyes of the Red Dragon Legion members turned black.
The skin around their eyes followed suit, becoming covered in black veins, like a web of darkness.
Their severed ankles began to regenerate, grotesque bones growing back.
They looked like undead ghouls.
The mana they emitted was overwhelming.
"Dirk, that idiot, still treats his subordinates like disposable tools."
"Enough! I told you that someone like you has no right to speak his name!"
"I’ll rip that filthy mouth of yours apart!"
"Ha, ha, calm down, boys. We’ll just play with him and then kill him together."
With the return of their power, the Red Dragon Legion became even more confident than before.
Kane's half-moon eyes darkened further.
"Just like your master, you’ve got an empty head. Still clueless about your place."
"Heh, let's see how long you can keep acting so cocky."
"Let’s go!"
Whoosh!
The Red Dragon Legion cloaked themselves in flames.
Their specialty was martial magic—a form of close-combat magic.
Although their long-range magic was formidable, the real strength of the Red Dragon Legion lay in their martial magic.
About ten members rushed at Kane.
Fists enveloped in flames.
The air and moisture around them ignited as they aimed to crush Kane.
In that instant!
The water mana within Kane erupted.
A refreshing coolness instantly replaced the heat surrounding him.
No, it was freezing cold.
Countless droplets of water appeared in the air.
"Blood Sword."
In no time, the Bloodsky Blade that had transformed into a spear turned into a sword.
When Kane slashed from left to right with Bloodsky, hundreds of streams of water surged toward the Red Dragon Legion.
Slash! Slash! Slash!
The water blades pierced through their wrists, ankles, thighs, and shoulders simultaneously.
"Ack!"
"Gah!"
Not a single one managed to avoid the streams of water.
The streams immediately froze, suspending the Red Dragon Legion in mid-air.
"Weren't you going to use the power of oblivion to tear me apart? But why do I see insects instead of warriors?"
Kane bared his white teeth as he looked at them.
It was a chilling, almost insane, smile.
Clang!
Kane released his mana.
The frozen water spikes melted and disappeared.
The Red Dragon Legion, suspended in mid-air, fell to the ground, rolling.
"Come at me again. Don’t disappoint me this time. Otherwise, I might really want to tear you apart."
Kane gave the Red Dragon Legion one more chance.
The weaker they were,
the more rage burned in his chest.
‘Why did you die to scum like this?’
‘Why did you lose your precious ones to these idiots?’
The fury inside him continued to rise.
* * *
The faces of the Red Dragon Legion turned pale.
Their eyes were etched with fear.
They were now completely consumed by terror.
“Why! Why aren’t our attacks working?”
“Stop playing around and kill him already!”
“Damn it, just hit him!”
The Red Dragon Legion fought desperately, repeatedly charging at Kane.
But each time, one of their own was torn apart instead.
One of them, caught by Kane, pleaded with a voice trembling with fear.
“P-please, spare me….”
“Why should I? Have you ever spared anyone before?”
“Please….”
Tears streamed down the eyes of the Red Dragon Legion member.
Fear had taken complete control of his mind.
He had given up on resisting, only crying and begging Kane for mercy.
“Hmm, don’t bother. Begging won’t make me spare you.”
Kane mercilessly ripped both shoulders off the man he was holding.
“Aaaahhh!”
The scream echoed like a haunting wail.
With each comrade’s death, the Red Dragon Legion’s fear intensified.
“A-A demon!”
“We have to… we have to escape!”
“We can’t fight him!”
“Somebody do something about that wall!”
But the Red Dragon Legion couldn’t escape.
The blood mana created by the Bloodsky Blade had trapped them within invisible bars.
They tried to break through the blood-formed walls using martial magic, but all they managed to do was grind their fists to pieces.
“Damn it!”
“Please, spare us!”
Behind them was the wall of blood.
In front of them was Kane.
He was slowly closing in on the Red Dragon Legion.
Kane’s hands were drenched in blood, dripping onto the ground with a steady drip, drip.
The sight made it hard for the Red Dragon Legion to breathe.
As time passed, their numbers dwindled.
From eighty,
to fifty,
and eventually, less than twenty remained.
“P-please, spare us!”
“We’ll do anything!”
“Just let us live, please….”
“If… if we destroy our mana hearts, will you let us live?”
The Red Dragon Legion finally realized their situation.
They knelt down and began to grovel at Kane’s feet.
They squeezed out every last tear, every last drop of snot.
Kane’s killing spree paused for a moment.
“Where is Dirk right now?”
At Kane’s question, the Red Dragon Legion hesitated.
They wavered at the mention of their master’s name.
The result was horrific.
Crunch!
Kane snapped the neck of one of the soldiers and tossed the body aside without a second thought. The sound of bones cracking echoed in the air, instilling a deep sense of dread among the remaining members of the Red Dragon Legion. Instead of asking another question, Kane plucked out the eye of the next soldier in line.
‘We’re doomed!’
‘We’re all going to die here….’
‘I don’t want to die like this.’
Ten more of them had already died. Only ten remained. As Kane silently walked toward his next target, one of the surviving soldiers shouted in desperation, “I-I’ll talk!”
Kane finally stopped in his tracks.
“Speak.”
“He went to the ‘Void Wasteland,’ believing treasure was buried there.”
“So, he’s looking for the Firestar.”
[Tl/N: Just like Blood Star (Which kane refined and turned into his sword) contained massive concentration of blood mana, fire star contained fire mana. Star is a special rarest form on mana stones.]
The Void Wasteland was a hidden territory located within the demon forest to the east of Hatzfeld, near the northwestern part of Tegelo on the Empire's map. The Red Dragon Legion was shocked by Kane’s deduction.
‘He guessed the Fire Star just from the Void Wasteland! Does he know where the Fire star is? How is that possible?’
‘He seemed to know something about the Elixir of Oblivion as well….’
‘This is a miscalculation. Hatzfeld has completely missed the threat posed by this monster!’
They knew they had to report this information to Hatzfeld at all costs.
‘We must survive and get back.’
Even if it meant destroying their mana hearts, the rewards for revealing this monster’s identity would be more than worth it. They did their best to deceive Kane.
“Yes, that’s right. The Fire Star is hidden there,” one soldier confirmed.
“But Prince Dirk may have already returned to Hatzfeld by now,” another added.
“Why? Does he have a more important guest than the Fire Star?” Kane asked.
“We only know that a guest from the Lycera Theocracy has arrived.”
The survivors of the Red Dragon Legion began spilling everything they knew, their voices filled with urgency. Kane nodded as he listened.
‘So, the Sun clan is making contact in this way.’
Hatzfeld was unaware of the existence of the Meyer Family, a fact Kane had uncovered when he was still Ray Hatzfeld.
The Sun Clan, Meyer Family had approached Hatzfeld under the guise of the Lycera Theocracy. Although Kane eventually discovered this, it was too late.
‘If I had been a bit faster, I could have killed that bastard Dirk with my own hands. It’s unfortunate, but he slipped away like the rat he is.’
Though he was disappointed to miss Dirk this time, Kane decided to postpone his revenge until the next opportunity. Fortunately, his first target for vengeance was right in front of him, which slightly eased his anger. Had the Red Dragon Legion escaped, he might have been consumed by rage.
‘Back then, Dirk stole the Fire Star from me. I could tolerate that, but I can never forgive him for taking Karl Agzent, the King of the Mercenaries known as the Immortal.’
Karl Agzent was far too much for Dirk to handle. Kane would not allow the Immortal to fall into Dirk’s hands.
His next destination was set: the Void Wasteland.
Kane posed one final question to the Red Dragon Legion.
“What is Ray Hatzfeld doing now?”
“The king ordered him to reflect on his failure to conquer Rehinar.”
Reflect, my ass. Ray Hatzfeld was actually negotiating with the barbarians under orders from the king. Because of this, both the Fire Star and Karl Agzent slipped through his fingers. If it weren’t for this, he would have secured both for himself.
“That’s all the information we have,” one of the survivors stammered.
“Not bad,” Kane replied.
"...So, are you going to spare us now?" The eyes of the Red Dragon Legion were filled with desperate hope.
But Kane didn’t give them the answer they were hoping for.
"When did I ever say I’d let you live?"
"But you— you’re twisting your words!" one of them stammered in fear.
Kane’s crescent-moon eyes remained as cold and unwavering as ever. Without another word, he began to move again.
"That bastard! He tricked us!"
"I never intended to let worms like you live," Kane replied with a chilling calmness.
Without any hesitation, he slaughtered the remaining members of the Red Dragon Legion and then returned to where he came from, leaving nothing but a trail of blood and despair in his wake.
[Translator - Helga ]
[Proofreader - Lucky]