SHNK.
It was a soft sound, like cutting into a ripe lon.
Ignotus had just pulled out the heavy at cleaver—the sa one from the kitchen—from his rucksack while behind Felix and drove it straight into the side of the leader’s neck.
He pushed it in until it was halfway through.
The lead guard’s eyes bulged.
His mouth opened to scream, but only a wet gurgle ca out.
Ignotus imdiately stepped in close, wrapping his left arm around the man’s waist and using his right hand to hold the man’s head up from the back while keeping the knife hidden by his collar.
"Yeah, exactly!"
Ignotus spoke loudly, as if the lead guard had just agreed with him.
"That’s what I was thinking too!"
The lead guard’s knees buckled, no longer stiff, but Ignotus hauled the dead man up, propping him against his own shoulder.
"What do you think, Captain?"
Ignotus asked the gurgling corpse.
"Should they dig deeper? I think deeper."
The three guards, deep in the pit and waist-high in dirt, looked up, wiping sweat from their eyes.
"What are you two talking about?"
"Oh, the captain here was just telling a joke."
Ignotus shook the corpse slightly to make its head bobble.
"Tell them, Cap. It’s a real knee-slapper."
The corpse made a sound:
Hrrrk-gurgle.
An incredible sound.
"See?"
Ignotus laughed, patting the corpse’s back.
"He’s crying with laughter! You guys are hilarious."
Felix was staring with his mouth wide open.
He was sweating so hard it looked like he’d been in a sauna.
’He’s crazy...’
There was nothing he could do but watch the blood soaking into the corpse’s collar and watch Ignotus having a friendly chat with a man whose soul had long since checked out.
’He’s completely insane.’
"Almost done?"
Ignotus called out cheerfully.
"My legs are getting tired standing here."
"Yeah, yeah, hold your horses. We’ll kill you soon enough."
The burned guard grumbled, shoveling the last pile of dirt out.
"Alright. Holes are dug. Get in."
The three guards tossed their shovels aside and climbed out of the graves while reaching for their weapons.
"Alright, leader."
The dumber one chuckled.
"Let’s finish this. I call dibs on his boots."
Ignotus smiled.
"Okay. You can have him."
He shoved the corpse forward.
The body flopped onto the ground, rolling over to reveal the massive knife wound and the pool of blood that had been gathering in its clothes.
The three guards froze, their brains malfunctioning.
"Brother...?"
"Wait, is he...?"
"No... when did...?"
Pure, unfiltered panic hit them.
"BOO!"
Ignotus launched himself at them.
They had to be tired, their muscles burning a little from the digging.
Their leader was dead on the ground as well, so their morale had to be shattered.
Furthermore, the poison had all but left his system at this point, so he was good to go.
This was the perfect ti for Ignotus to utterly destroy them and send them to the afterlife.
He was on the first one—the burned guy—before he could even lift his sword.
"Hup."
The at cleaver, heavy and sowhat dull, didn’t cut cleanly but tore.
It hit the man’s shoulder and crunched through his collarbone, killing him nearly instantly.
"ARGH!"
Ignotus ducked under a clumsy swing from the second guard and drove the heel of his palm into the man’s nose, shattering it.
As the man stumbled back, blinded by tears and pain, Ignotus continued the attack and swept his legs.
The guard fell into the fresh grave.
"Please stay there for a bit."
The third guard, seeing this, turned to run. Dropping his sword, he sprinted for the trees.
"Oh no, you don’t."
Ignotus grabbed a shovel from the ground. Channeling every bit of his ager strength, he spun once and launched it like a javelin.
It didn’t impale the guy—Ignotus was nowhere near that strong—but the heavy tal spade hit the back of the runner’s head with a resounding clang!
The guard face-planted into the dirt and didn’t move.
Ignotus walked over to him and watched as he tried to crawl away.
"Was it you who wanted to wear my teeth as a necklace?"
Ignotus asked, slowly tilting his head.
"P-Please! rcy!"
"...It’s always the sa."
Thwack.
"..."
Ignotus walked to the grave where the second guard was trying to scramble out.
He looked down.
"It burns, doesn’t it?"
Ignotus asked softly, almost pitying him.
"A broken nose is the worst."
"Help !"
The guard scread while Ignotus shook his head.
"I don’t know about helping you, but... you should consider dying quick; it’ll hurt less."
Ignotus casually jumped into the hole.
A few seconds of struggle ca after he did so, a few wet sounds, and then silence.
He then climbed out, dusting off his hands, and walked over to the runner who had been shovel-sniped. After verifying that he was dead, he dragged him back by the ankle.
With that, he dumped all four bodies into the two holes.
"Phew."
Ignotus wiped a smudge of blood from his face and sighed.
He looked genuinely annoyed at the ss around him.
"I really don’t like killing the weak. There’s no sport in it."
He turned to Felix.
The butler stood frozen, clutching the rucksack pretty hard. He kept looking at the bodies, then at Ignotus, looking like he wanted to vomit, cry, and applaud all at the sa ti.
"Spoon."
Felix jumped.
"Y-Yes! Yes, Young Lord!"
Ignotus pointed at the shovels and the graves.
"Fill it back up. They dug the holes; it’s only polite we tuck them in."
"I... imdiately! Right away!"
Felix dropped the rucksack and scrambled for a shovel, digging with the frantic energy of a man who mistakenly realized he was one bad mood away from joining the pile.
Ignotus walked over to a nearby rock and sat down, watching Felix work.
His eyes were unblinking, reflecting the lantern light.
"Hm."
He rested his chin on his hand.
"You know, Felix..."
His voice echoed a little as dirt hit dead faces.
"They say that if you embark on a path of revenge, you should dig two graves."
The sweating Felix paused for a microsecond.
"T-They do say that, sir."
Ignotus’s smile widened a tad.
"One for yourself, and one for your enemy."
He looked at the two graves, currently occupied by four people.
"It seems I misinterpreted that a little."
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