Let the Scum Run Wild
The highest peak of the Zamari Mountain Range hung beneath a sky that looked as if a crimson moon had been hooked upon it. More than thirty people lay groaning where the Drake had built its nest.
"Urgh…"
"P-please, save me."
"Ghhk…"
"P-please!"
Black holes had been punched through their bodies, yet strangely, not a drop of blood flowed out. The holes only kept widening, laying bare veins stained black, and the flesh around them began to pulp like rotting fruit.
The Black Water Lord looked down on them with a gaze as cold as if he were regarding insects, then descended from the peak.
"Izgel."
"Yes."
At the Black Water Lord's call, a petite blonde woman stepped forward and prostrated herself.
"Are the preparations complete?"
"They are. The Drake will return to its nest before sunrise."
A black orb rose above Izgel's palm. She gazed into it, and her eyes grew still.
"And the Black Ghosts?"
"I've posted them on perimeter watch so they won't be a burden to you, Floor Master. They'll move the moment the Drake returns."
"Well done."
The Black Water Lord nodded indifferently. He moved to the stone mountain on the right so the Drake would not see him, and killed his presence.
"My lord."
Izgel hid herself behind a boulder beside him and called out in a low voice.
"What is it?"
"This operation would have been more than enough with just us. Why did you personally make the journey?"
"……"
The Black Water Lord looked at Izgel without answering.
"Mm…"
Izgel bit her lip as if she had felt terror in those pitch-black eyes.
"It was the Vice Tower Master's order."
"The V-Vice Tower Master…"
"The Drake that nested here is a special specimen possessing cold energy. If we feed it the dark mana accumulated in the sacrifices, it could even reach the level of a sacred beast."
The Black Water Lord answered without emotion, looking up at the peak.
"A sacred beast…"
Izgel followed his gaze upward and clenched her fist. This is an opportunity. The fact that the Black Water Lord had spoken at such length meant he trusted her. She wanted to make an impression on a man who received orders directly from the Vice Tower Master.
"L-leave capturing the Drake to me. I won't disappoint you."
"Izgel."
"Yes."
At his call, Izgel lifted her head. But the answer she had hoped for did not come.
"Your job is to amplify the dark mana in the sacrifices and summon the Drake. That is all."
"Ah…"
"Know your place, and watch that mouth of yours."
"I-I'm sorry!"
Izgel bowed her head, her chin trembling. A chilling gaze seemed to pierce down through her skull; she could not even twitch.
"……"
But the Black Water Lord had already lost interest in her. Just as when he had first arrived, he quietly gazed up at the peak alone.
Opposite the stone mountain where the Black Tower's fiends were hiding, five peaks jutted into the sky.
Loctan lay prone between those peaks, frowning. What the hell? Why had the Black Tower bastards come here?
He had been able to reach the mountain range quickly by piggybacking on His teleportation magic, but the first thing he had seen was the Black Tower's fiends dragging ordinary people up to the summit. If he had arrived a little earlier or a little later, he might have been discovered — but the Black Tower bastards had been too busy injecting dark mana into the people's bodies and amplifying it to catch his presence.
Are they after the Drake too?
Judging by the situation, the Black Tower did not even know Raon was coming here. They simply wanted to feed the people they had stuffed with dark energy to the Drake.
Loctan looked at the stone mountain where the Black Tower fiends were hiding and let a cold smile slip. This works out perfectly.
Given the personality of Raon Zieghart, the one they called the Frost-Flower Sword Hero, there was no way he would stand by after seeing this scene. He would definitely clash with the Black Tower — a chance to pick his nose without lifting a finger.
No. Wait.
It would be a waste to just let him die. It was not once or twice that Raon Zieghart had soured the Family Head's mood. Sending that irritating bastard off comfortably would leave a bad taste in his mouth.
A faint hiss of energy unfurled as Loctan chuckled and raised a finger. Gray energy and green energy bloomed over his index and middle fingers. When it comes to pain, nothing beats this.
The gray was mineral poison; the green was concentrated plant poison. I'll let you dance yourself to death.
It was already powerful used as-is, but if he harmonized the two toxins, it would complete Ghost-Blood Dance — a poison that made you thrash like you were possessed by a ghost until you died. It was not an easy poison to handle, but if he spread it while Raon and the Black Tower were fighting, he was confident he could poison them all.
A low, viscous thrum gathered around his fingers. While Loctan was carefully combining the Ghost-Blood Dance, the captain of the Poison Men approached from the side.
"Lord Loctan."
"What?"
"Shouldn't we report that the Black Tower has arrived?"
He pointed toward where the Black Tower was hiding and smacked his lips briefly.
"No need."
Loctan slowly shook his head.
"But…"
"I know having 'report' drilled into your skulls makes you uncomfortable, but you don't have to today."
He gestured behind him and chuckled.
"The Family Head already sent informants separately."
Loctan completed the Ghost-Blood Dance and wore a chilling smile.
"I-I'm sorry."
The captain bowed his head and stepped back.
"Don't worry about that crap. Are the preparations done?"
"Yes."
The captain nodded.
"The moment you give the order, we can change the wind direction and spread the poison."
"Good. Tell them to stand by."
Loctan tapped the back of his hand with the fingers wreathed in Ghost-Blood Dance and grinned.
"Until our dancer arrives."
"Yes. That's it. First, wrap yourself in wrath."
Wrath's voice rang faintly in his ear.
"Not aura. Wielding wrath is the true way to use the Sense of Frost Flowers."
Raon nodded and opened his senses as far as they would go. The wrath that surged up from the depths of his soul spread to the very tips of his perception — a sensation as if his skin had multiplied beyond counting. Just as Wrath had said, the fuel for the Sense of Frost Flowers was not aura. It was wrath.
"Don't stop there."
Wrath's wrath seeped into him. It was not the emotion of trying to seize his body like before, but a helping hand that opened his senses even wider.
"While wrapped in wrath, spread yourself through nature. The feeling of becoming one with it."
Imprinting Wrath's advice in his mind, Raon scattered mana blended with wrath. It was the same sensation as blooming flowers of flame upon the world with Flower Spirit. Fine, minute mana melted with wrath unfurled across the entire world.
It felt as if a blindfold wrapping his soul had been torn away, and his vision — no, the range of every sense — shattered its limits and expanded without end.
A stench like a sewer rose from the rocky mountain on the right. The space where the Black Tower's fiends were hiding. That one?
Among them, one was radiating a particularly vile energy — that had to be the Black Water Lord, one of the Black Tower's Floor Masters. After mapping the presence of the Black Water Lord, a mage with considerable power, and thirty Black Ghosts, Raon shifted his perception to the left.
From atop a sheer mountain peak, he felt about forty presences. The Shadows Derus had sent. So they came after all.
Arriving even faster than he had, they must have used teleportation magic. As he was picking out the Shadows' presences one by one, a massive, familiar toxic energy registered. Don't tell me — Loctan?
There were not many perverts who walked around radiating a poison this nauseating. It was definitely Loctan, the poison master who had taught the Shadows their toxic arts. Meeting another piece of trash.
Loctan had once, under the pretext of testing a new poison, unleashed a poison dance that turned an entire village into a toxic wasteland — not just his target. He had also, claiming it was poison training, fed snake venom to Raon and the children and left them until they were on the brink of death.
The ones with him are no different.
The Poison Men who followed Loctan used Human Poison obtained after killing people. To have accumulated that much Human Poison meant they had slaughtered people who had nothing to do with their missions, just like Loctan. Given that slimy temperament, they were clearly pleasure killers too.
Perfect. He had been wanting to deal with them.
He knew why Derus Robert had sent Loctan. Ordinary assassins would not work, so the plan was to poison him to death. But it won't work on me.
Not only did he understand Loctan's poisons, he had poison resistance and the Ring of Fire. He could chew up and swallow trash like that. Thanks for underestimating me. Derus would lose another of his confidants today.
Finally, Raon focused his senses on the highest point of the Zamari Mountain Range — the tallest peak where the Drake had nested. About thirty-five…
There were fewer people on the peak than the agent had told him. To summon the Drake, I suppose. The Black Tower's fiends had probably killed people atop the nest and scattered their blood to call the Drake faster. They're in bad shape.
The people were poisoned with dark mana, radiating a vicious demonic energy from their entire bodies.
"If they stay like that, they'll all be dead before tomorrow morning."
I figured. As Wrath said, they did not have much time left.
"For the sake of This King's dessert time, they absolutely must not die!"
Raon smiled faintly. Whether it was for dessert time or anything else, he was grateful that Wrath was trying to save people. Don't worry. Dorian's arrived.
A tiny presence registered behind the peak the people had climbed. A presence he would not have felt without Wrath's help — it was Dorian, plastered against the rock. Now it's my turn.
Raon exhaled lightly, reduced the Sense of Frost Flowers, and focused on the Sensory Veil of Frost Flowers.
The wrath that had seeped into his soul wrapped his entire body, achieving oneness with the world. He buried his presence in the flowing wind and the scent of earth.
"Still not enough."
Wrath wagged a finger, declaring it insufficient.
"Feel nature deeply. Don't imagine breathing through your nose — imagine your lungs themselves breathing."
He raised wrath himself and demonstrated. The plump, cotton-candy-like Wrath soaked into the flow of the world until he was momentarily invisible.
Got it.
Raon grasped Wrath's flow through the Ring of Fire and wound it around his own body exactly as it was. Unlike the Sense of Frost Flowers, which felt as if his body were spreading in all directions, this felt as if the world were seeping into his flesh.
His presence, which had been as small as a pebble, sank to the level of a grain of sand.
"That's a bit better."
Wrath nodded as if it were not bad.
"But if you get closer than a certain distance, you'll be detected."
I know. If he was not detected, that would actually be a problem. The Black Tower bastards needed to catch his presence and move.
Raon calmed his mind and moved to the right. Stepping the Grand Harmony Three Steps, he moved as smoothly as flowing water and stood behind the Black Ghost standing watch at the farthest edge.
He pierced the Black Ghost's heart with the Requiem Sword and covered its mouth. The thing died without even knowing what had hit it.
"Wh-what. Why so cleanly…"
I told you. I'm good at assassination.
He moved immediately to the side and slit the second Black Ghost's throat. It too sank into darkness without even a tiny groan. Raon circled the outer perimeter beyond the Black Water Lord's senses, eliminating the Black Ghosts one by one.
After taking out five Black Ghosts, he went inside. If I assassinate in here, I'll be caught.
If he moved quietly, maybe not. But if he assassinated inside this perimeter, he would be caught by the Black Water Lord's senses. And that was the core of this plan.
Raon went inside and punched through the heart of the nearest man in a black robe.
He had taken a life without even a tiny sound, yet from inside the stone mountain, a murderous energy so savage it raised goosebumps surged up. Dark mana raised by the Black Water Lord. That's it!
He stepped the fastest Grand Harmony Two Steps and sprinted toward the opposite mountain peak. He raised the Cultivation of Ten Thousand Flames in a thin thread and shot it forward. The heat, spreading as faintly as perfume, became a single line connecting the stone mountain where the Black Tower was to the peak where the Poison Men were hiding.
Now it's your turn, Black Water Lord.
Raon did not climb the peak. He slipped away to a hill he had scouted in the middle and smiled faintly. Go wild to your hearts' content, you pieces of trash.
"Izgel."
Inside the stone mountain, the Black Water Lord called the woman who appeared to be a mage.
"Yes."
"Summon the Black Ghosts."
"Right now…"
"Hurry."
"Y-yes, sir!"
The woman called Izgel summoned the Black Ghosts, but only about twenty-four appeared.
"Wh-what in the world…"
"An assassin."
The Black Water Lord narrowed his eyes at the opposite peak, where a faint fragrance of mana was spreading.
"Cast a scan in that direction."
"Y-yes."
When Izgel used Scan, the flow of mana unfurled. The end of the red energy pointed toward several mountain peaks to the west.
"I-it's connected over there. And…"
"They're there."
"Yes. About forty people hiding their presence!"
"Insects dare…"
The Black Water Lord ground his teeth and stamped the ground. Darkness blazed in his wake, spreading black wings.
"Follow the Floor Master!"
Izgel and the Black Ghosts raced after the Black Water Lord toward the clustered peaks.
"Wh-what the hell!"
Loctan gaped at the Black Water Lord and the Black Tower fiends charging toward him.
"Why are those bastards coming this way!"
A faint heat had registered nearby, and then suddenly those guys had started charging like they had gone berserk. He had no idea what was going on.
"I-it seems we've been discovered."
The captains approached and swallowed dryly.
"Discovered? Why!"
"We don't really…"
They shook their heads, saying they did not know the reason either.
"Son of a bitch!"
Loctan spat a curse and stood up. Looking at the Black Water Lord, it was clear their position had been found.
"Move the wind. We'll take those bastards out first."
The Black Tower, true to their use of dark mana, were viciously persistent. Even if they ran, they would be chased to the end, so they had to kill them all while the terrain was in their favor.
Loctan raised his hand. The Ghost-Blood Dance he had just combined surged up as a transparent haze. No choice. It was poison prepared to kill Raon, but there was no time. He would have to use this to stop them.
Following the wind the captains raised, the Ghost-Blood Dance flowed. The colorless, odorless poison riding the wind spread across the entire Black Tower group.
Just before the Ghost-Blood Dance fell over the Tower operatives' heads, the Black Water Lord, charging at the very front, raised his hand. From his grip, a massive black claw that seemed to reach the sky surged up.
With that declaration, the claw of darkness he brought down split the entire peak.
"Goddamn it!"