I Didn't Plan on Blowing Up the Inn….
From the terrace on the second floor of the inn, Cael leisurely observed the situation unfolding below. His eyebrow twitched faintly. Ella, Weger, and Roben were pushing themselves to their limits amid the thick fog, achieving remarkable growth.
Then something alien snagged on Cael's keen senses. It was deploying around the inn at rapid speed, encircling the building like a noose.
Cael's gaze shifted toward the dark forest beyond the inn. Hmm, that smells like gunpowder. And it's clumped full of foreign mana.
Explosives.
Cael clicked his tongue. In the martial world, gunpowder had been the imperial family's exclusive domain. Even the boldest unorthodox sects or demonic cults avoided smuggling and detonating large quantities—it was a straight path to annihilation, touching the emperor's reverse scale. Naturally, Cael hadn't anticipated that a third-rate back-alley crime outfit in this world would stockpile enough explosives to blow the entire building sky-high.
What a lawless dump. Bandits rolling with that kind of dangerous crap.
The blast itself posed no threat to Cael. With chaos qi forming his protective aura, he was confident even dozens of barrels wouldn't singe his clothes.
But the three fighting desperately downstairs were different.
Cael rose slowly from his seat. Pity, but training ends here for today.
His form melted into the air from the terrace like mist.
In the first-floor lobby, Roben gasped for breath as he barely slashed the throat of an assassin lunging from behind. His stamina was hitting rock bottom, but his eyes burned sharper than ever.
Weger and Ella, drenched in sweat and enemies' blood, hacked through foes relentlessly.
Then Cael's calm voice echoed in their ears. "Well done, all of you. Playtime's over."
With a whisper of wind, Cael emerged from the fog and seized their napes in an instant.
"Wha—huh!? Young master!?"
Before they could comprehend, the three floated into the air, clutched like rags in Cael's grip. He hurled them toward the inn's back wall.
One extended kick from Cael shattered the thick outer wall like dry reeds, punching a massive hole.
Cael led his subordinates through the breach, flashing outside in a blink.
They hadn't even covered ten paces from the building.
BOOOOM—!!!
A roar that devoured the world flashed across the night sky. Dozens of mana bombs strapped to the inn's pillars detonated in unison.
A colossal storm erupted, splintering the wooden structure to bits. Crimson flames soared skyward.
The hundred assassins trapped inside vanished in ashes without a scream.
Roben, Weger, and Ella tumbled across the ground amid the searing heat and shockwave, coughing violently.
"Cough, cough! Wh-what the hell…!"
Through acrid smoke, they staggered up to see the inn's wreckage burning pathetically.
If their young master had been even a second slower pulling them out, they'd have been charred meat in that inferno.
Cael brushed dust from his clothes and gazed indifferently at the blaze. "Hmm… I didn't plan on blowing up the inn…."
His subordinates tilted their heads at the odd remark.
From the forest out front, silhouetted against red flames, a gleeful group emerged.
Hugo, Legnum's boss, flanked by Experts. Behind them, dozens of surviving operatives brandished weapons triumphantly.
"Kahahahaha!! See that? No matter the duke's heir or fancy knights—before explosives, everyone's equal ash!"
Hugo bellowed at the pyre, no remorse for dooming his own hundred men.
A lackey bowed, chiming in. "Brilliant call, boss! Traps or not, we blew the whole place. Those rats inside didn't stand a chance. Just collect the final payment now!"
But the other grunts looked uneasy, realizing they could be expendable too.
Then—
"Tsk tsk. The inn's all torched. How do you plan to compensate?"
"……!?"
The three Experts froze in unison.
Stepping casually over burning debris on the inn's side, a pristine young man in spotless attire strolled out. Three others and a dog followed.
Hugo's eyes bulged. "I-impossible! Survived that blast!?"
"No presence leaving the building—when the hell…!"
Horror and confusion painted the Experts' faces. But they snapped to, drawing weapons and summoning aura.
Hugo gripped his greatsword tighter, gnashing teeth. "Don't panic! Lucky escape or not, it's just one guy! We've got three Sword Experts and over fifty men! Finish him here!"
Blue aura blazed fiercely from the trio, shoving back the heat with overwhelming menace.
As Weger and Roben tensed to raise weapons, Cael raised a hand to halt them.
"Not your opponents yet."
"So we just chill?" Weger asked.
Cael's eyes coldly swept the Experts, lingering on the rightmost dual-wielder.
"You think so?"
The moment his low mutter ended—
Swish—
Cael's form vanished from Hugo and the others' sight like heat haze.
"H-he's gone…!"
The dual-wielder Expert spun in panic.
Cold breath grazed his ear. "Looking where?"
"Eek!"
He instinctively erupted aura for a barrier. But chaos qi on Cael's handblade shredded the feeble aura like paper.
Slice— A soft, crisp friction.
"Huh…?"
The dual-wielder felt his vision tilt oddly. Not his view—his right arm, severed clean from the shoulder, spun in the air.
An Expert's aura-guarded flesh sliced like tofu by bare hand.
"Aaaaaargh!!!"
Torturous pain hit a beat late. He thrashed, spraying blood.
Cael lightly kicked his chest, flinging the writhing man like trash toward Weger, Ella, and Roben.
Thud—!
His subordinates gaped at the rolling, one-armed Expert.
Cael commanded indifferently over his shoulder. "Cut off one arm, disrupted his aura flow. Half an Expert bleeding out. Still an Expert, so it'll be fun. Enjoy."
Absurdity dawned in Weger and Roben's eyes. Arm or no, an Expert demanded life-or-death effort.
"No way! Young master, this is too much!!"
"Not to your taste? Want a fresh one instead?"
Realizing he meant it, Weger charged first. "No!! We'll take this one!! Oliver!!"
"Woof woof!!"
With Oliver, anything was possible. Cael didn't stop the dog joining in.
He smirked at the sight.
Meanwhile, Hugo's face drained pale watching.
One move. No presence. Severed and tossed an Expert peer like nothing.
This monster defied reason.
"Y-you demon bastard… What the hell are you!?"
Hugo shrieked, trembling hands clutching his greatsword. His fifty-odd men cowered, retreating instead of advancing.
Cael dusted his hands and advanced slowly toward Hugo and the remaining Experts.
"Demon? Guess you've never seen a real one. Be grateful—I'm handling you personally."
Chaos qi's ferocious aura began rising from Cael.
Hugo recoiled in shock. Wh-what's that energy!?
An Expert himself, he sensed it wasn't normal aura.
Terror-stricken, he bellowed at his men. "Ch-charge!! Kill him!! Kill!!"
Loyalty or fear—who knew. The troops behind surged at Cael.
"Just one guy!! Kill him!!"