Chapter 113
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 113
When they stepped into the control room, a member of the Special Task Force was already channeling mana into the terminal.
Sensing their presence, the soldier turned. The manager, acting on habit, closed the control room door behind them.
Click.
“……?”
In that instant, the manager felt something impossibly fast slice across his neck. The soldier’s eyes widened in shock as he stared at him.
“Oh!”
The soldier, who had been standing ramrod straight, suddenly seemed to tilt. Why are you doing that? the manager tried to ask, but the words never reached his own ears.
Thud.
How strange. Why is the world tilting?
With that final thought, the light faded from his eyes, and he collapsed to the floor.
The manager of the Magic Dome died without so much as a gurgle, his throat slit before he even knew he was dying.
Blood fountained from his neck, spraying the ceiling.
Peter, having just killed a well-trained Special Task Force officer—not some mere civilian—in the blink of an eye, spun toward the soldier at the mana terminal.
“……!”
Stunned for a split second by the unimaginable sight, the soldier moved. He lunged for the emergency bell like a bolt of lightning, but Peter had already anticipated his move. Just before the soldier’s hand reached its target, Peter snatched him by the throat.
“Ack!”
It was Peter's specialty: throw an opponent into a panic, then strike before they could recover.
He swung his knife at the panicked soldier, his grip still tight on the man's throat. The attack was so precise it seemed pre-planned, leaving the soldier utterly defenseless. Like his superior, he went limp without a single scream.
Peter meticulously checked that both men were dead. After confirming the room was otherwise empty, he stretched his arms wide.
“No one else is here.”
It was then that a chill ran down the Countess’s spine. Until that moment, she had been blinded by revenge.
“Thanks to you, this was rather easy.”
She had come here believing he was a representative of the King of Luxen, but his entire demeanor had shifted. Strolling casually through the thick stench of blood, he pulled off his blood-soaked gloves and tossed them onto a corpse. Then, slipping a cigarette between his lips, he smirked.
“We'll be heading down soon. If you have any last words for the Grand Duke, now's the time.”
Looking utterly hollow, the Countess replied a beat too late.
“…What?”
Peter pointed toward the ceiling with his cigarette. “I said, if you have anything to say, say it now,” he whispered. “He'll hear you better from up there, don't you think?”
The Countess’s hands began to tremble violently, and Peter’s grin widened. Overwhelmed by primal terror, she glanced around for help, only for her eyes to fall on the carnage once more.
Two horribly mutilated corpses were sprawled on the floor. A gag rose in her throat.
“Ugh, cough…”
Peter gave her a pitying look before placing his hand on the mana terminal. As he channeled his mana, the cannons, which had briefly fallen silent, began to fire again. With the Magic Dome operating normally, no one came to knock on the control room door.
Time passed, and the sun began to set.
As Peter watched the horizon, a thin trail of white smoke caught his eye. The corners of his mouth curled into a smile.
“The wolf has entered the trap.”
Muttering softly, Peter took his hand off the mana terminal. Then, without hesitation, he smashed it to pieces.
“With this broken, it will be a massive blow to the King of Pelfe. Tonight, chaos will erupt near the capital.”
“……”
“Surely you aren't getting scared now, are you?”
“…N-no.”
“Then, my lady, stop trembling. What if people get the wrong idea?”
Peter nudged the Countess's shoulder. Pushing the terrified elderly woman ahead of him, he opened the control room door. After shutting it tightly behind them, he led the way quickly down the stairs. The Magic Dome's Special Task Force members, completely unaware of the slaughter that had occurred inside, bowed to her.
“Safe travels, Countess.”
The Countess practically fled into the carriage. Her burning desire for revenge against her son’s killer had long since been extinguished. The man claiming to be sent by the King of Luxen exuded a suffocating, toxic malice.
Cowering like a mouse before a cat, she asked with a tremor in her voice, “A-are we heading straight to Luxen?”
Peter, who was pulling on a pair of sturdy leather gloves, let out a smirk. He leisurely produced a thick cord and tugged it a few times, testing its strength. Terrified, the Countess raised her voice.
“I am asking if we are going to Luxen! Tell me, what did the King of Luxen say?!”
“Where do you think you're going?”
“What?”
Peter wrapped the cord around each of his hands once and murmured grimly, “You're going to join your dead son.”
“……!”
“Didn't you come here prepared for that?”
When he lifted his head, he looked like a demon incarnate.
“A-ah! H-help me!”
The moment her fears became reality, the Countess tried to fling open the carriage door and escape. But Peter effortlessly grabbed the old woman and wrapped the cord around her neck.
“When you meet your son, tell him I said thanks.”
Peter grinned widely at the dying woman.
The carriage rolled on through the crimson sunset as if nothing had happened. Only when twilight began to fall did it finally come to a smooth halt.
Peter’s subordinates were waiting. Stepping down from the carriage, he cracked his neck from side to side, stretched, and gestured toward the interior.
“Hang her up somewhere suitable.”
While his subordinates dragged the limp body of Countess Ilya from the carriage, Peter quietly closed his eyes.
He could feel the flow of the fundamental power that composed the world. To one who saw the world through that flow, neither darkness nor barriers were an obstacle.
“The Magic Dome's light has turned red!” his subordinate whispered.
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the presence of the earthworms began to stir.
“That’s it,” Peter murmured. “You feel it too, don't you? Your wretched natural enemy, the Magic Dome, has vanished. Come on up.”
The Rock Forest didn't just exist on the surface. While weathering shaped the world above, erosion carved out the world below. Beneath the ground lay cavernous systems of bizarre rock formations that rivaled the landscape above.
The earthworms, which lived both above and below ground, had been trapped beneath the earth since the Magic Dome’s construction. The moment it ceased to function, the creatures would swarm to the surface. And since it was currently their spawning season, they would blanket the ground in an instant.
Peter smiled as he stared into the distance. Sure enough, moving as swiftly as the encroaching twilight, a dark mass of earthworms swarmed forth, having sensed their enemy was gone.
Peter walked down into the pitch-black underground.
If the underground had been the den of demonic beasts, the surface would now become their breeding ground. The Marquis and his party had ventured too deep to turn back.
Therefore, the Marquis would make the wisest choice.
“How much gunpowder did we bring?” Peter asked.
“Don't worry. We have plenty.”
Little did the Marquis know that his wise choice would lead him straight to hell.
* * *
Strange.
Seo-ah wiped her sweaty palms on her skirt for the umpteenth time.
They were passing through a rocky mountain range so unique she wondered if such a place could even exist. It wasn't just that rocks were scattered about; here, the earth and stone were fused as one. But the terrain wasn't the only oddity. A force so powerful it made her hands and feet tingle flowed beneath the ground like a river.
Moreover, like insects huddled beneath straw, something was moving deep underground.
As the sun finally set, darkness crept in as rapidly as storm clouds, blanketing the mountains.
“Are you feeling unwell?”
Seo-ah, who had been nervously rubbing her hands, froze at the unexpected voice.
Pressed flat against the carriage wall, she had been staring outside when she accidentally locked eyes with Oscar, who was watching her from the opposite seat. But this time, before she could look away, he lowered his gaze back to the documents in his hands.
“If you're feeling sick, you should open a window.”
Since he was no longer looking at her, Seo-ah’s gaze lingered on him for a moment.
She felt she should tell him about the bizarre anomaly she was sensing. But not only was it difficult to explain a mere sensation, she also didn't dare speak to Oscar while he was focused on his work.
He was clearly a busy man. He hadn't rested for a single moment during the journey, constantly reviewing documents, signing them, and occasionally conversing with Simon. He didn't seem to have a second to spare for the scenery outside.
Oscar stared silently at the papers, pen in hand. Perhaps it was a troubling matter, as his eyes remained fixed on one spot. Fearing that even a reply might disturb him, Seo-ah answered in a quiet voice.
“…No, I'm fine.”
“Do you want something to eat? Or some water?”
Abel spoke to her, his voice just as low as hers. Turning toward the sound, Seo-ah almost clicked her tongue.
“……”
He was pressed tightly against the opposite wall. Squeezing his large, muscular frame as far to the side as possible, he looked utterly pitiful.
Seo-ah couldn't help but glance at the long legs blocking the space between her and Abel.
A pair of polished black leather shoes rested halfway across the opposite seat. The thought that taking up an entire bench when there was barely any room was a bit much vanished like smoke before Oscar’s sheer presence.