Chapter 3: Kyle Ragnar(2)
The sll of blood wafted from the empty Inner Castle.
It was so thick it felt as though the nose’s sense of sll would be paralyzed.
At Kyle’s low voice, Seros lowered his head.
“Everyone will be subdued.”
“There is no need to subdue them. Kill them.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Even if they subdued those who looked like assassins, there would be nothing to gain in the end.
No matter how vicious the torture, they were the kind who would choose to die with their mouths shut.
That was a fact already proven through countless experiences.
Kyle looked toward the Inner Castle and muttered in a low voice.
“After monster hunting, now human hunting. Things are getting interesting as soon as I co back.”
It seed he had done well to return.
If he had not returned now, the Ragnar Family would have eventually collapsed.
They would have even lost the land, ravaged and turned into ruins by monsters, to the one who hired assassins.
Returning before it was too late had been a godsend.
But then.
“Keuk keuk keuk…… impressive, Pramo. Did you deceive
all this ti by keeping yourself humble? But what will you do? I prepared at least one escape route for myself.”
Modello began to sneer and spat out a aningful remark toward Pramo.
Because of that, Kyle stopped the troops for a mont and looked at Pramo.
Pramo, his eyes narrowed, was glaring at Modello.
“What do you an by that?”
“By now, you should be educating that woman nad Gamora whom you cherish like your life. Since she’s top-grade rchandise, she’ll beco a valuable item that can cut more than half of the debt owed to the Sinoah rchant Guild.”
A strong body that had climbed up from Exford, and the fact that she was a beauty itself made her an attractive product.
At those words, Pramo frowned, and Modello continued, lifting one corner of his mouth.
“The Ragnar Territory is finished anyway. You may have succeeded in defending the Lord’s Castle, but how do you plan to stop those creatures that constantly invade from the Monster Mountain Range? A poor territory without money, that is.”
“Thank you for your concern, but I will handle that problem myself. Lord Pan, cut off that man’s head. He is soone with no more value to exploit.”
Pramo believed his wife would be safe.
When the Elders’ Council insisted they would take charge of evacuating the territory’s people, Pramo had also sent ahead a card he had long prepared, attaching it to Elise.
So he could cut down Modello without worry.
‘No, I must do so. Only then will this territory and family be set right. That is what I must do.’
Revealing resolute eyes, Pramo nodded toward Pan.
Srrrng—
Confirming Pramo’s firm resolve, Pan drew his sword and approached Modello.
Modello looked at Pramo with a flustered expression.
‘Damn it! This Pramo bastard……!’
Because he was a Head of the Family acknowledged by no one, he had not worried much.
Yet to think he would co out this hard, to the point of trying to kill him.
Modello muttered to himself in a low voice.
“……It can’t be helped.”
Stepping back, Modello grinned.
He was angry, but rather, it had turned out well.
After all, the reason he had not evacuated with the other elders was to prepare for any unforeseen variables.
“Co out. As promised, I will hand this territory over to the Sinoah rchant Guild.”
In exchange for reducing the debts he had borrowed so far and receiving a great deal of wealth, Modello had promised to hand over the entire territory to the Sinoah rchant Guild.
It was for his old age, and to make a new start with that wealth.
It did not have to be the Ragnar Territory.
He would simply buy a small territory and live proudly as a lord.
Dreaming of that day, Modello shouted toward Pramo.
“Pramo! Your ga of playing Head of the Family ends now!”
Taking Modello’s shout as a signal, the assassins hiding throughout the Inner Castle began to move.
And Kyle, who had been watching those movents, naturally swung the sword in his hand.
“No matter how much you erase other slls and traces, there is one thing you can never erase—the sll of blood.”
In an instant, a Blade burst forth from the sword and flew toward empty space.
Seogak—
A chilling sound of flesh being cut rang out.
Soon after, one man in a black mask collapsed on the spot without even letting out a scream.
“Tenacious bastards. Are they not planning to crawl out?”
Though he spoke as if annoyed, there was no change in his gaze or expression.
Kyle knew the habits of assassins better than anyone.
That even if a comrade died, the mission ca first—he had learned that firsthand over fifteen years spent in foreign lands.
He had encountered assassins that many tis, and there were things he had learned from them.
It was also a principle he had taught his mbers countless tis while waging war.
“Leave no future trouble.”
At Kyle’s calm words, those standing behind him shot forward like arrows.
Catching the rats that had sneaked into the territory was nothing to them.
Amid the chaos as everyone panicked from the sudden battle, Kyle approached Modello and thrust his sword.
With eyes wide open, Modello looked up into Kyle’s eyes, and then, before he could even scream, his head was severed.
Kyle sheathed his sword again and looked back toward where the mbers were.
Seros was emitting a black Blade, cutting down the assassins the mont they revealed themselves.
Leaving the fight against the assassins to Seros, Kyle moved forward.
“Brother!”
He ignored Pramo’s shout coming from behind.
Now that he knew through Modello’s words that Pramo had married, he could not allow her to be sold away.
‘I will definitely save her.’
Protecting the happiness of his younger brother, who must have endured hardship while holding the territory together, was the first thing Kyle had to do.
Kyle headed straight toward the snow mountain beside the territory.
“So, does that an we only need to finish things now?”
Three elders who had given up fighting at the Lord’s Castle and arrived at the shelter built in the mountains together with the territory’s people gathered.
The elders who had affection for the territory had all died in the final battle together with Rai Ragnar, the Previous Head of the Family.
Those who had newly beco elders had joined hands with Elder Modello and were busy looking after their own interests.
One elder standing at the entrance of the shelter revealed a sinister gaze.
“Before that, we agreed to educate that impudent bitch, didn’t we?”
“If we make her obedient before Elder Modello arrives, he’ll like it.”
A woman staying with them to protect the territory’s people.
What they were referring to was Pramo’s wife, the family’s Gamo.
Each elder wore a lecherous expression as they looked toward the group of knights following the Elders’ Council.
“Bring that woman here. And as scheduled, hand over the territory’s people to the Slave rchant Guild.”
An elder clenched his fist tightly as he issued orders to the soldiers.
If they could seize control of the Ragnar Territory, he would be able to beco a castellan ruling over part of the territory rather than remaining a re elder.
At the elder’s command, the gazes of the soldiers and knights changed.
The group of knights nodded at the elder’s words and led the soldiers toward the cave entrance.
At that mont, a man leaning against the dark cave wall uncrossed his arms.
“Isn’t this going too far. You elders, that is.”
The armored man naturally drew his sword.
He was the card Pramo had prepared to protect Elise.
The knights who were suddenly blocked scowled, and one of them shouted at the man.
“You gladly accepted the provisions the elder handed out, so why are you acting like this now? Didn’t you clearly promise us that you would join us?”
At that shout, the man standing at the entrance lifted the corner of his mouth.
“I only pretended to follow along because I needed solid evidence. You idiots.”
Seeing the knight blocking the cave, one elder shook his head and spoke.
“So you bare your fangs at the very end, Vice-Commander.”
“I can’t leave those who deny Ragnar alive.”
At the man’s calm reply, the elder gave orders to the knights and soldiers.
“Kill him at once and retrieve the territory’s people and the woman.”
Not only the knights, but even the soldiers each drew their weapons.
Seeing them about to launch an attack, the man muttered inwardly.
‘I have to hold them at the entrance. The mont I get surrounded by soldiers, it could beco hard to endure.’
Rather than defeating the enemy, he had been entrusted with the critical mission of protecting the territory’s people and Gamo inside the cave.
He could not act emotionally.
‘Hoo…… I just need to keep my head straight.’
The size of the cave entrance was only wide enough for a single adult to barely pass through.
It had been deliberately built this way to protect the territory’s people who might take refuge there in an ergency.
It was designed so the entrance could be blocked more easily, and that granted a major advantage.
The knights charged forward with battle cries, but using the advantage of the narrow entrance, Akun forcefully brought his sword down on the one rushing at the front.
Clang—!
Brilliant white Aura split the knight’s sword in half.
At the sa ti, the knight, overpowered, was sent flying far away.
Regaining his stance, Akun swung his sword at the next knight who charged in.
The horizontally swung blade passed through, slicing halfway through the knight’s neck.
“Ghk!”
Clutching his neck, the knight dropped to his knees and slamd his face into the ground.
Fighting the knights was not difficult, but as ti passed, it gradually beca exhausting.
After rendering ten knights combat-incapable by using the narrow terrain, Akun exhaled rough breaths.
“Vice-Commander.”
At that mont, Akun turned his head at the clear voice suddenly coming from the dark cave.
“……Lady Gamo, why did you co out?”
“The sll of blood was overwhelming.”
A woman who had walked out from deeper inside the cave tied her long hair with a ribbon and stood beside Akun.
She too was a swordsman who had learned swordsmanship systematically.
She was also a skilled expert who had reached the Exford level despite being a woman.
Pramo’s wife, and the lady of the territory.
Elise Ragnar raised her sword.
Seeing that, Akun looked at her with worried eyes.
“It is dangerous.”
“I judged that they weren’t enemies you could handle alone, Vice-Commander.”
With Elise’s support, the tide of battle gradually tilted.
As the knights fell, one of the elders, growing anxious, shouted into the air.
“Wouldn’t it be better to finish this quickly? Step forward at once!”
At that shout, the assassins who had been hiding around the cave revealed themselves.
However, they did not appear because of the elders’ request, but because an intense presence was rapidly approaching the cave.
The assassins fixed their gazes above the cave entrance and swallowed dry saliva.
Before long, Kyle dropped down from the sky.
One of the assassins, seeing Kyle land steadily, spoke in a voice thick with tension.
“……Who are you?”
There was no way he could fail to recognize it.
The thick sll of blood.
A far denser stench than even theirs, who had killed and massacred countless humans.
Yet, Kyle felt different from them.
“You don’t need to know.”
“Be careful! He’s no ordinary expert.”
Reading Kyle’s ominous aura, the assassins moved cautiously.
Even as the assassins closed in, Kyle’s gaze was fixed on the elders.
“You only ever choose to do garbage-like things.”
Perhaps emboldened by the appearance of the assassins, the elders sneered at Kyle’s words.
“Who are you? Well, you’re going to die soon anyway, so there’s no need to care. Keuk.”
Kyle let out a small laugh at the elder’s mockery.
Taking his eyes off the elders, Kyle looked at the assassins slowly tightening the circle around him.
Forty to one.
By all appearances, the situation seed unfavorable for Kyle, but he moved first.
Kyle dashed forward so fast he was nearly invisible and swung his sword in a curved arc.
A Blade briefly revealed itself along the sword edge, then sliced through an assassin’s neck and vanished again.
“Form a defensive line! Stop advancing and cluster together!”
At Kyle’s attacks, which moved at an incomprehensible speed, the man who appeared to be the assassins’ leader shouted loudly.
Yet even as they clustered, assassins were losing their lives without understanding why.
‘It’s as if it isn’t the movent of an assassin!’
At the skill of cutting throats while evading all presence and slipping past the assassins’ senses, the man was horrified.
On top of that, the Aura that flashed intermittently was far from ordinary.
Out of forty, five were taken down in an instant.
Eventually, the assassins gathered into one place, maintaining their formation and guarding their surroundings.
Soon, Kyle reappeared and approached them with an expressionless face.
A brightly shining white Blade shimred, gathered along the sword edge.
“M, Master!”
Absolute beings who had reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship—only ten of them existed even in the Tylers Empire.
No matter how strong they were or how many numbers they had, they could not defeat a Master.
Only now did they understand why Kyle had been so confident.
Monts later, the Blade manifested on the sword edge was released toward the assassins clustered in one place.
‘This is bad! Was this what he was aiming for?’
To herd them into one spot and finish them in a single blow—the assassins’ leader bit his lip hard.
But it was already too late for regret.
The ferociously flying Blade cut down five assassins who were gathered together.
At the sight of the assassins collapsing while bleeding out, their leader finally gave the order.
“Scatter! Abandon the Ragnar Territory.”
Reviews
All reviews (0)