Chapter 171
Chapter 171
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 171
Chapter Title: Threat from the North 3
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-Thwack!
Donear's blade missed Azadin entirely, while Azadin's kick landed squarely, snapping Donear's ribs and piercing his lungs and liver.
The picture-perfect scene of dodging and counterattacking in one fluid motion left the onlookers in awe.
“Gasp!”
It even squeezed the last air from Donear's punctured lungs.
“Gurgh… impossible.”
Just moments ago, Donear had been drunk on the sense of superiority and omnipotence that came with unleashing violence.
‘I thought this time would be different…’
In the past, Donear had cowered before Azadin's power and the weight of his Herald lineage. So when he grew stronger, he thought he could take him this time—and yet, for some reason, Azadin brimmed with the power of King's Radiance, making him an even worse matchup than before.
Each hit brought excruciating pain, as if his entire body were being burned alive, overwhelming Donear.
“As expected of our boss.”
Scott, meanwhile, lounged with his legs stretched out, content to watch from afar.
“Damn it!”
“Save the chief!”
Donear's men rushed in to rescue him.
The villains morphed into a writhing mass of countless maggots swarming a week-old corpse, lunging at Azadin—but he drew his Aver-steel longsword and swung it one-handed.
A blue sword gleam sliced cleanly through the monsters charging at him.
An ordinary steel blade couldn't have withstood that immense force, but the Aver-steel longsword neatly bisected a monster's arm lengthwise without a scratch.
“What!?”
Azadin then whipped his cape, slamming it against the severed insects' cross-sections before unleashing a palm strike. The thud of heavy war drums echoed as the bugs exploded in unison.
“Argh!”
And that wasn't the end of it.
The bandit struck through the cape staggered, only for white flames to suddenly erupt across his body.
“Gaaah!”
“Whoa, King's Radiance?!”
The King's Radiance charged within Azadin's body was incinerating them.
“……!”
Donear's gang had boasted of their immortality, but this assault was lethal even to them.
The omnipotence and superiority that had dominated them vanished in an instant, replaced by terror and shock.
‘Whew. This power's overflowing.’
Azadin, too, was surprised. His Flower-Bird-Wind-Moon Kazas Hasse had grown overwhelmingly potent.
Thanks to the continuous supply of mana from the replica of the Divine King's Scripture, the already raging inferno of Flower-Bird-Wind-Moon Kazas Hasse had become a torrent capable of devouring anything, surging with tremendous ferocity.
‘Honestly, the stronger it gets, the harder it is to control…’
That was why Azadin preferred encountering enemies and unleashing it freely. If he stayed still, the boiling torrent inside him felt like it would tear him apart.
Kazas Hasse—a technique that amplified the power of multiple grimoires or even an incomplete one like Azadin's—grew harder to rein in the mightier it became.
But to those unaware of his predicament, Azadin was nothing short of the Grim Reaper.
“Uwaaaah!”
Donear's gang lost the will to fight and began fleeing.
Azadin wrapped pages from the replica of the Divine King's Scripture around an arrow and loosed it, striking the fleeing Donear and his men.
“Gaaaah!”
White flames erupted, burning them alive.
The blaze clung like pitch-soaked firebombs. When they reached to yank out the arrows, the white fire leaped to their hands, enveloping them in agony until they died.
“Good thing you came looking. I was uneasy about passing by after letting the scum who killed Sir Brand's family live.”
Azadin approached Donear, who could neither fight back nor flee.
“And you even tried to capture and torture me!”
Shati chimed in. Donear inwardly seethed at her words.
‘That naga! You weren't even properly tortured! Wait, why the hell is this lunatic traveling with a naga? An Imperial Herald?’
But in that instant, lightning flashed before his eyes—Azadin had backhanded him again.
“Keep your eyes wide open. What kind of face is that? For your crimes, I should torture you to death, but I'm in a hurry, so I won't bother.”
“W-wait. L-let's make a deal!”
“Why should I let you live? Even as a human, you devoured flesh and mocked people. Now that you're a monster, there's no reason to spare you.”
“If I die, S-Sir Zect will find out.”
“Aah… is that all? If you want to live, show some real sincerity.”
Azadin wore a helmet to avoid drawing attention, hiding his expression, but his voice dripped with blatant disappointment.
“W-we have loot and supplies we've hidden away.”
“…….”
Donear had blurted it out without thinking, but Azadin froze at the words.
‘Huh? This guy's got something?’
Donear panicked at the unexpected reaction.
“Yeah, hidden away, huh? But your crimes are too heinous to spare you for mere supplies.”
“S-soon, the Kingdom of Bthuma will be attacked. How about that?”
“Where'd you hear that?”
“It was what the ogres we killed just recently said. Kurt god-race followers are planning to raid Bthuma! Oh, right. If you want, I can guide you to where we wiped out that ogre army!”
“Ogres?”
Azadin's heart sank at the word.
He knew the naga empire was coming, but ogres attacking the Kingdom of Bthuma too?
‘I was ready to kill him if he said the naga empire was attacking, but since it was ogres who said it, I need details. Dodged a bullet there.’
If true, the situation was dire.
“Fine. Lead the way.”
Azadin ordered Donear, then drew out the replica of the Divine King's Scripture and gripped the hilt of his Aver-steel longsword, Blue.
He approached Donear's surviving men.
-Swoosh!
A blue sword gleam carved crosses through their torsos, igniting white flames from their bodies.
“!!”
“Urk?!”
“Th-this…”
The white fire consumed them as they collapsed.
“Better to keep just one alive for management.”
“…….”
“These scum were vicious cannibals plaguing the Lantaric Earldom. I've long had orders from the current Count Lantaric, Sir Guillaume Balt, to execute them. This is lawful justice.”
Azadin declared this to the stunned crowd and pointed his sword at Donear.
“Lead on.”
“…….”
Donear inwardly clicked his tongue at Azadin's demeanor.
Now he had ironclad justification. Even if he handed over all the intel and treasure, survival seemed unlikely.
‘But I have no choice. Refuse, and he'll torture me to death right here.’
Clinging to a sliver of hope, Donear guided Azadin.
*********
The local bandits who had come hunting Donear's gang now considered their revenge complete and prepared to bid Azadin farewell.
“Thank you for killing that monster.”
“We've avenged our comrades, so we'll take our leave.”
“We have wounded too.”
Some had been injured fighting Donear's men. Azadin beckoned to Shati.
“Shati. Heal them.”
“Huh? For real?”
She shot back.
Anyone could see they were bandits.
They'd been useful for gauging Donear's gang's strength and traits, but that didn't mean she felt any affection deep enough to heal them.
Her green magic triggered rapid regeneration without catalysts, but it wasn't free for just anyone.
“I plan to hire them.”
“Huh?”
The bandits looked at Azadin in confusion.
“Belated introduction. I'm Daoist Adan of the Azure Banner Order.”
“…….”
Shati's face soured like leftover mushroom stir-fry left out for five days.
‘Daoist Adan of the Azure Banner Order, my ass… She eyed me suspiciously when I took the title, but now she shamelessly uses it when it's convenient.’
“As you see, many seek the Azure Banner Order's teachings, so I need escorts. What do you say?”
“Wh-what's the pay?”
“One silver coin a day, plus healing magic.”
“…….”
One silver coin was entry-level mercenary pay.
They wore breastplates and boasted elite combat skills—doppelsöldner, worth twice a regular soldier's wage.
“Could you raise the pay a bit?”
“We have mouths to feed too, so that's tough. You might be fine now, but untreated, those bugs burrow in and turn you into one of them. Think about the cost of healing magic.”
“…….”
The bandits flinched, eyeing Donear's gang still burning to death.
Infected wounds from fighting them could lead to that? Then healing magic was priceless.
‘As if. My green magic can't even counter nether magic.’
Shati didn't know what face to make at Azadin's bluff.
“Al-right. You're on.”
The bandits accepted the offer.
*********
Shati healed the bandit group's wounds. As expected, no trace of nether infection.
But after traveling with Azadin, she played along with the timely lie, feigning concern.
“You dodged a disaster.”
“Uh… r-really?”
“Yes. A little later, and you'd have rotted alive from the inside out…”
Shati made a tender face and cautiously pointed to the still-burning corpses.
Enraptured by her beauty and chilled by Donear's gang's horrific end, the bandits were utterly smitten. To them, teetering on that same doom, Shati seemed a lifesaving goddess.
‘Doing great.’
Watching from afar, Azadin recovered the used replica of the Divine King's Scripture and prodded Donear ahead.
After two hours, cresting a hill revealed a hillside strewn with countless corpses. Ogres bearing the flag of the King of Fangs lay slaughtered.
“My god…”
The bandit mercenaries and Azure Banner members gaped at the sheer numbers—that massive army. They saw Donear in a new light.