Chapter 117
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 117
First things first.
He set up the explosives to kill Oscar, arranging them one by one with meticulous care.
"Set them at regular intervals. Make sure if one goes off, it triggers a chain reaction."
"Yes, sir."
Peter watched his men install the charges, then looked around the tunnel.
"Good. Perfect."
Even the location was ideal.
Peter was confident he knew Oscar inside and out. Before the night was over, he would be holding Oscar's mangled remains.
But just as success was within his grasp, that confidence began to crack.
He pressed himself flat against the wall, tracking the Wolves' movements, and tilted his head in confusion.
"...?"
It felt as though someone was on the other side of the wall.
That's impossible.
There was no way. Who on earth would press their ear to a wall? Only someone with an ability similar to his would do so instinctively, and as far as he knew, none of the Wolves possessed such a power.
It was probably just an earthworm that hadn't managed to escape yet.
And yet, those bastards—who should have been running for their lives, completely oblivious—kept stopping. An inexplicable irritation began to gnaw at him. Fortunately, they started running again, drawing closer and closer to the death he had laid out for them.
"Just a little more… come on, closer…" Peter muttered desperately, focusing all his senses.
The explosives wouldn't detonate at the push of a button. The fire on the fuse needed time to reach the powder. His men stood by, watching him, ready to light the fuses at his signal.
They had to detonate at the perfect moment to wipe out all the Wolves in a single blow.
"A little more, just a little more…"
Peter's eyes gleamed.
Now.
He signaled his men, and the fuses were lit.
Hiding in a spot safe from the blast, Peter focused his senses beyond the wall once more. But as he swept the area, his eyes widened slightly, then began to contort in disbelief.
"Why… Why?!"
The Wolves, who had been running eagerly toward their graves, had stopped again.
"Go! Keep going!"
Peter's eyes darted wildly as he clenched his fists. What on earth was holding them back? What kind of rat was ruining his perfect plan?!
With the trap right before them, the Wolves refused to budge.
Peter slammed his fist against the wall and screamed at his men.
"Put it out! Put out the fuses, quickly!"
But all he received in return were the panicked, helpless looks of his subordinates. The fire had already reached the explosives. Cursing, Peter lunged forward to extinguish the fuse himself, but he could only gnash his teeth as the spark vanished into the charge.
He threw himself into a rocky crevice, covering his head as he braced for the blast.
Boom!
The first charge detonated, triggering a chain reaction.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Even with his ears covered, a sharp ringing pierced his brain. Yet Peter kept his eyes wide open.
If the Goddess of Fortune had truly smiled upon him, Oscar would be caught in that blast. That bastard had to be dead.
Damn it, that was all he could hope for now.
In the pitch-black darkness, Peter held his breath and listened.
A heavy silence weighed down the tunnel, as if everyone was holding their breath. Amidst the quiet, only the loud clatter of rolling debris echoed, until finally, a desperate cry broke the silence.
"…Your Excellency!"
At the tragic-sounding call, Peter unconsciously clenched his fists.
Did it work? Is he dead?
But the words that followed shattered his hopes to pieces.
"His Excellency is safe!"
"The rear is secure!"
"…Where is Seo-ah? Why isn't she here?"
"Your Excellency!"
The chaos that erupted among the Wolves was palpable. No matter how highly trained these human weapons were, an explosion inside a sealed tunnel was something they had likely never experienced.
What silenced their confusion was a low, cold command.
"The rats beyond the wall."
The murmuring Wolves fell silent instantly.
"Kill them."
"…"
"Leave not a single one alive."
Oscar's firm voice carried more weight than the explosion that had just rocked the tunnel.
He could feel the Wolves, briefly thrown into disarray, rallying around Oscar. Their chaotic movements ceased, and the pack began to move with absolute precision, even in the darkness.
Some of the Wolves began climbing over the collapsed section of the wall.
Watching this, the veins on the back of Peter's neck bulged.
The Wolves crossing the ruined wall were no ordinary beasts. They were the elite of Reinhardt's Combat Teams—specifically, Combat Team 1. Peter hid in his crevice, holding his breath.
It was then.
"What do we do?"
One of his subordinates, who had seen Peter hide, rushed over and clung to him as if he were a lifeline.
"W-What are we going to do?!"
The idiot desperately grabbed and shook his clothes. Peter gnashed his teeth and, without hesitation, plunged a dagger into the man's throat.
"Gurgle…"
Even as his body convulsed, the subordinate did not let go. Peter violently pried the man's fingers off and shoved him away mercilessly.
Meanwhile, his other men were searching for him in a panic.
"W-Where is he?"
Peter watched them scramble in confusion but gave no orders. Instead, he took the opportunity to slip into an even better hiding spot.
Of course he did.
The moment he made a sound, those monsters would notice him.
If he got caught, it was over.
The furious Wolves lunged at his men. His subordinates couldn't even last a few exchanges.
"Ugh!"
One after another, their throats were slit in a single blow. Those who fled in terror had their spines severed by thrown daggers.
The enraged Combat Team 1 carried out a one-sided slaughter.
Throughout it all, Peter didn't make a sound. Fortunately, the darkness and the terrain shielded him.
In the blood-scented darkness, Peter stared beyond the collapsed wall.
Just then, the Wolves lit lanterns. The area ruined by the explosion was brightly illuminated. Debris from the collapsed wall lay piled in a messy heap.
Oscar, whom he had desperately hoped was dead, was perfectly fine. The frustratingly lucky bastard didn't have so much as a single scratch on him.
His perfect plan, which had felt as though the Goddess of Fortune herself was smiling upon him, had been shattered with only a few steps and a few seconds left.
The thing that had kept slowing the pack down.
An unknown presence had undoubtedly slipped in among the Wolves.
Who the hell is it? Peter's eyes scanned the group, then froze.
"Your Excellency, let us do it!"
"Your Excellency!"
The man Peter thought had discarded all human emotion the moment his mother abandoned him—the cold-blooded monster who wouldn’t bat an eye if his own loyal Wolves died—was digging through the rubble with his bare hands.
As if searching for signs of life, he personally cleared away stones and dug through the debris before moving to search another spot.
The faint light revealed his face.
The thoughts crowding Peter's mind suddenly went blank. In that empty space, the expression on Oscar von Reinhardt's face was deeply engraved.
"…"
The Young Marquis’s expression was as sharp and cold as his icy eyes. Even while everyone else scrambled in panic, he stood alone, aloof and majestic like a god of war.
With that same aloof demeanor, he began digging through the rubble in another spot.
He lifted a large stone and cast it aside, then cleared away the smaller rocks, over and over. The Wolves anxiously tried to stop him. Even as they begged to do it themselves, the inhuman Young Marquis didn't reply, continuing to clear the debris with his own hands.
What is he looking for? Did he lose something important? Whatever it is, could anything buried under there have survived?
Just then, the Marquis stood up and took a deep breath. He stared blankly at the ruined site for a moment, then suddenly roared.
"Han Seo-ah!"
"…!"
The unfamiliar name washed over Peter like a tidal wave.
Han Seo-ah.
The name was like a daenggi. Unfamiliar, yet something that anyone who had seen it even once could never forget.
It was definitely a Danguk-style name. More precisely, among the people of that country, the names of those from noble families were all structured like that, regardless of age or gender. Only the written characters differed; the naming convention was the same.
The surname was Han, and the given name was Seo-ah.
The syllable 'Han' felt like a sudden stab just below his heart.
It was inevitable that Hong-heon came to mind. With his long beard and the fluttering hem of his blue dopo, he was a man like a tiger ruling over a dense mountain forest.
Sweat pooled in Peter's palms.
It seemed the name of the mysterious woman said to be by the Marquis's side was 'Han Seo-ah.'
Han Hong-heon and Han Seo-ah.
A woman with the exact same surname as that man was at the side of the Marquis of Reinhardt?
Could this be a coincidence?
Peter's eyes shook.
The unexpected presence that had infiltrated the Wolves, the one that kept slowing the pack down.
Could that presence be…
"Han Seo-ah!"
The moment the roar-like call echoed through the tunnel once more, a possibility he had never even considered flashed through his mind.
* * *
Boom!
The wall shattered from the explosion. The immense pressure tore through a barrier nearly impossible for human strength to destroy, turning everything nearby into ruins.
Even before his senses fully returned, Simon’s first instinct was to check on Oscar's safety.
"…Is His Excellency alright?!"
Fortunately, he was safe.
The only man Simon von Bernheim acknowledged stood firm and unshaken, even amidst the blast that sent everyone else reeling.
Seeing that steadfast back, Simon's briefly scattered wits returned to him.