Chapter 82
Chapter 82
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 82
Chapter Title: Anger (3)
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“Pendley—!”
Krain Rzhev shouted at Pendley, who had entered the Rzhev castle gates leading a large group of men like a defeated army.
It wasn't just one unit. A group this large had to be the majority of the mercenary corps that had remained in the Ashar Desert.
“What in the world—!”
Luther, who had rushed over after hearing the news late, was also flustered by their battered state and began to tend to them.
“It was a betrayal. Iscario. That bastard. He was an Imperial spy.”
His voice was hoarse, and blood dripped from his lips every time he spoke.
“An Imperial spy...”
The blow was devastating. The White Mercenary Corps was essential to stand against the Empire.
But now, one of its pillars had collapsed. And to the point of near annihilation.
“The Mercenary Corps… has fallen.”
“What about Batoni? Peri Batoni?!”
“...”
Glen Pendley lowered his head, answering with silence.
When someone lifted the flap of a crudely made wagon, Peri Batoni's unconscious form came into view.
Corroded by demonic energy, his veins bulged black, and he gasped for breath as if it might be his last.
“A priest—! Call for a priest—!”
As Krain Rzhev shouted urgently, soldiers sprinted into the inner castle to find one.
“What is all this? Iscario, an Imperial spy? Then the ones who aren't here...”
“They're dead or injured. We've sent word to all the members out on missions. Told them to come here.”
Krain Rzhev steadied his staggering body.
“What about Mike Hoare?”
“The Commander has been out of contact since he went to the southern mountains. We've left an emergency message.”
This was no time to stand around.
“Move the wounded to the infirmary—! Let them rest. For now, just rest.”
“Kratos. Where is Kratos?”
Glen Pendley recalled the last words Peri Batoni uttered before losing consciousness.
“We have to find Kratos. He's the only hope.”
***
Adson Defector barely managed to remove the gag from his mouth and crawled out of the tent where he'd been confined.
“What in the world...”
When he poked his head outside, the sight of Kratos and Ivan Pons fighting made him instinctively flinch.
He couldn't help but wonder if there was anyone who would dare interfere in their battle.
There was Ivan Pons, who, despite being relentlessly beaten, swung his half-shattered sword without a single scream.
And then there was Kratos, evading the monstrous Ivan Pons's attacks with minimal movements—a shift of his upper body or a simple twist.
In Kratos's charge toward the wall-like Ivan Pons, there was no trace of fear.
If anything, a smile played on Kratos's lips.
“How can he smile like that?”
The Holy Kingdom's soldiers were the same. As if the thought of defeat never crossed their minds, they swung their swords relentlessly at soldiers who outnumbered them several times over.
Umber Team 0, though not by their own choice, had also undertaken missions that no sane person would, putting their lives on the line.
But the people before him were different. He couldn't comprehend them with his common sense.
He desperately tried to sever the ropes binding his wrists on a broken blade stuck in the ground nearby.
The sharp edge cut his hands, and blood dripped down, but such pain was nothing.
His mind was filled with only one thought: what should I do now?
Should he help the Empire here and betray the Holy Kingdom? Or should he find a way to survive?
The mission had already failed. All his teammates were dead, and even if he returned, only death awaited him.
There was no reason for Ludwig Brandt to let him live.
If he asked himself whether helping the Empire now would save his life, the answer was no.
Even if he ran, where could he go? He couldn't blend in anywhere, nor could he hide or flee properly.
The Empire's intelligence network had the entire continent in its grasp.
“Damn it. There's no way out...”
No matter what choice he made, the option of death always loomed at the end.
“Right. If I'm going to die anyway...”
If I'm going to die anyway, I should at least complete one last mission of my own choosing.
He decided where to go. Even if death awaited him at the end.
.
.
.
.
.
“Gyaaaargh—! This can't be! How—! How could you!!! What did you do?!”
His body riddled with wounds, Ivan Pons fired off sword energy wildly as if denying reality, but it only served to claw violently at the innocent ground.
“I told you it wouldn't work.”
*Whoosh—*
Dodging the sword energy, I leaped to his eye level and plunged the crowbar end of my pry bar into his eyeball.
“Kraaaaaah—!”
I hammered the other end, driving it deeper until I could inject my Spiritual Power.
Until his brain turned to mush from the Spiritual Power.
“How, how... Can't. Be. I can't. Die... I can't die... like this...”
His lingering grasp gouged deep into the ground.
Was it that he had so many regrets? Or was it that he had so much unfulfilled greed?
“How? Because you're weaker than me.”
*Thud—*
As he collapsed, raising a cloud of dust, the long, long battle finally came to an end.
“*Pant… pant…*”
Sweat dripped from my chin, and my fingertips trembled. My entire body was covered in wounds.
Though there were no major injuries, blood flowed continuously from the numerous smaller cuts.
And.
“Ah—I'm starving.”
I was ravenously hungry.
Even in death, he didn't revert to his human form. He became a corpse in that giant body.
It probably meant he had absorbed a great deal of the demonic energy of wrath over a long time.
Unlike Victor Braak.
“We never retreat nor stand by in matters related to evil. Is that it?”
The words I heard in the ruins came to mind. I was certain of it. The Heracles Clan's reason for existence was to annihilate evil.
That's why they settled and lived near the Demonic Realm. Because that was the place closest to evil.
But, if that's the case, why did the Heracles Clan invade the Empire during the war?
There was absolutely no reason for them to throw everything away and charge all the way to the capital, fighting to the death.
Unless there was a grave evil in the heart of the Empire.
Had that bastard Emperor been meddling with demonic energy since then? I certainly didn't get that impression. This was something I'd have to reconsider.
Looking back now, there were more than just one or two strange things.
“Waaaaaah—!”
“We won—! We won!”
Belatedly, the cheers of the Holy Kingdom's priests erupted. How could they not be overjoyed? They had defeated a demon of the Seven Deadly Sins.
Even if it wasn't the true main body.
“Really… you really did it!”
At a loss for words, Doug Reinhardt embraced Kratos, and everyone else gathered around them.
They had all felt the fear of death right at their throats. And they had survived that fear. How could they not be happy? They had overcome terror and defeated wrath with their own hands.
“Oh, God. Thank you. Thank you.”
Gleb gasped for breath, relieved. The appearance of a vessel containing wrath itself. Something that should never have happened had occurred.
He had to report this to the Holy Kingdom at once. Hadn't Kratos asked? *Are others besides you crawling out here?*
Ivan Pons couldn't answer. What did that mean?
It meant that at any moment, that thing or a true demon of the Seven Deadly Sins could appear. But for now, the task at hand was the priority.
Just because they'd caught that bastard didn't mean the expedition was over.
“Incinerate the corpse—! Don't leave even a speck of demonic energy behind!”
Everyone was exhausted from the relentless, fierce battle, but the priests and paladins began to incinerate the fallen Imperial soldiers on the ground, using the divine power filling the earth as a medium.
“*Phew—*”
Seeing them working so hard, I couldn't just stand around. I caught my breath and drew up my Spiritual Power.
I couldn't absorb demonic energy mixed with that of the Seven Deadly Sins, but purification was just as important.
“Ooh—! It's a purification ritual—!”
“Let's finish this quickly and get some rest—!”
The priests used their divine power to drive the demonic energy out of the area, and as my Spiritual Power purified what remained, the land began to regain its natural color.
The divine power drawn from the card extended beyond the purified earth, spreading its domain to the still-contaminated areas.
“Now, we advance to the end of the Demonic Realm. So the Empire can never set foot here again. We'll rest today and depart tomorrow.”
There was nothing holding us back anymore. We had to push forward quickly and see the end of the Demonic Realm before the Empire could send reinforcements.
There was no reason to pull out now; doing so would only give the Empire time to re-enter the Demonic Realm.
While Ivan Pons's death was still unknown. We had to seize the momentum.
“The prisoner has escaped.”
As the purification work finished and they were cleaning up the base camp, Niceta approached and reported.
“Let him be. He's gone somewhere. It's not like he can return to the Empire anyway.”
“But...”
“Reclaiming the Demonic Realm is more important than chasing him now. Where can a failure like him go?”
Where could Adson Defector have gone?
Would he still be loyal to the Empire? Would he return to Ludwig Brandt? I didn't think so.
Unless he was an idiot, returning to Ludwig was no different from suicide.
Besides, living in hiding wasn't an option either. If a war broke out, it would be impossible to remain hidden forever until the day he died, due to circumstances beyond his control.
“He's gone somewhere. Somewhere...”
Besides, even if he's fled now, I felt we might see him again someday. If not meet, then at least hear news of him.
“Understood.”
As the cleanup finished and the sun began to set.
“Kratos—!”
Seamus handed me a communication device, his expression grim.
“The Mercenary Corps, the White… the White Mercenary Corps has fallen.”
The tragic news had arrived.
***
“Aah—”
Ludwig Brandt was startled and half-rose when the Emperor, seated on the throne, let out a low groan.
“Your Divinity. What is it?”
“Wrath has vanished. I can no longer feel him.”
“Wrath...!”
The Wrath coming from his god's lips had to be Ivan Pons.
Wasn't Ivan Pons in the Demonic Realm right now, dealing with those Holy Kingdom bastards? And now he's vanished?
If his life had been threatened, the seed of wrath he'd so carefully cultivated would surely have awakened.
“I will look into it at once.”
“We must find another candidate for Wrath.”
“As you command.”
That endlessly languid expression. But no one knew what emotions lay behind the ennui.
“Find out what happened!”
He shouted at the subordinate waiting outside.
“Organize an additional unit and send them to the Demonic Realm as support immediately. Tell them to stall for as much time as possible. Before we send the main army.”
“I'll see to it at once.”
Something had gone terribly wrong. Ivan Pons's death was not part of the plan.
He had thought that no one could kill the man unless they were on the level of Peri Batoni or Mike Hoare.
But he was dead. There had to be a variable somewhere.
Who was it? And why didn't he know about it? A variable of this magnitude should not have escaped his notice.
“*Tsk.* I'd hoped he would be a little more useful before he died. Now that it's come to this, I'll have to seize control of the military as well. It's not like there's anyone who can control them right now anyway.”
But on second thought, perhaps this was for the best. It had laid the groundwork for him to officially take control of the military, in addition to the intelligence bureau.
“And… there was a report that the Demonic Realm is being purified.”
“The demonic energy is being purified? The Demonic Realm's energy? Not Granok's? Didn't you say that mercenary from Granok was under strict surveillance?”
This was the first he was hearing of it.
“The one who purified Granok's demonic energy?”
“According to the knight order's confirmation, it was a member of the Mercenary Corps.”
“Didn't you say only the Holy Kingdom entered the Demonic Realm this time?”
“That's what I heard as well, but...”
Purifying demonic energy wasn't exactly a common occurrence. It was likely the same person.
“...It seems some mole has infested the ranks.”
The information coming up was being manipulated and edited. To think he was only learning of such crucial information now.
“Go back and personally check all the information related to the Demonic Realm incident.”
So secretly and gradually that no one would suspect a thing.
“Find him. Don't kill him. Bring him to me.”
“Understood.”
One corner of his mouth crept up into a slight smile. The fact that someone who would commit such an audacious act still existed was, if anything, refreshing.
“And that mercenary from Granok who supposedly purified the demonic energy. Dig deeper into him. I have a feeling there's something more.”