Chapter 69
Chapter 69
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: Infiltration 2
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Cuek cuek cuek. Ahahaha. What an entertaining fellow. I like you. How about switching masters? I could offer you far better terms than a dead emperor.”
“Hmm. Sorry, but my bond with the emperor is too strong for me to just flip sides like that.”
“Ridiculous. The guild sold you out, and yet...”
“…….”
Azadin flinched in surprise. The fact that the Korasar Merchant Guild was actually run by the Herald Clan was top secret. And yet the count knew about it.
Had Derek leaked it?
“Ah, rest easy. I found out through my own separate means. Right now, I’m the only one who knows the merchant guild is run by Heralds. So even after the guild sold you out, you plan to stay loyal to the organization?”
“Even if I didn’t particularly want to be loyal, I’m not keen on serving under some bastard bathing in fountains of blood.”
“You could gain eternal life. And not just that—power as well. Power, eternal life, wealth, fame... you could have it all. Why pass that up to keep being a Herald, despised by all? Hm?”
“Sorry, but you’re not my type aesthetically.”
Azadin slung the bow with its spent arrows over his torso and drew his sword. Then he took a deep breath, channeling the power of Flower-Bird-Wind-Moon and Kazas Method through his entire body.
A sense of openness spread along his entire spine, as if connected to the cosmos itself, and even in this impure blood bath, tremendous power flowed into Azadin’s body.
“Hoo?”
The count seemed to sense something from Azadin.
“How impertinent. A soulless blasphemer daring to speak that way to the bloodline of a great god.”
As the count glared at Azadin, the two women entwined around his body slid off like snakes and submerged into the blood bath, vanishing.
“Fine by me. I know just how to draw out loyalty from scum like you.”
At that moment, several shadowy figures rose from the blood bath.
“Kee kee kee.”
They were two men wearing hawk masks, their eyes gleaming with blue ghostly light.
“Ugh!?”
The moment Azadin saw the hawk masks, he realized who they were.
‘Damn regional manager! No wonder he never told me what happened to my predecessors—why the hell are you here?’
They were Harad, the former Herald in charge of this region before Azadin, and Kevna, who had handled the neighboring northern area.
Both were said to have died in the line of duty. If they were in the count’s castle, they must have gone missing on missions around here, and the regional manager had kept quiet to avoid taking responsibility.
“This is the key to how I found out the merchant guild is run by the Herald Clan. Their loyalty is absolute—enough to easily spill even clan secrets.”
With that, the count retreated.
“Then I’ll go get dressed and prepare. In the meantime, kill this insolent fool or capture him alive and make him swear loyalty to me. Find out where the New King’s True Scripture copy is, too.”
“Yes!”
The two former Heralds bowed deeply to the count. Then the count vanished beneath the surface of the blood bath.
“…….”
Azadin wanted to pursue the count, but he didn’t know the layout of this blood bath, and the ex-Heralds were blocking his path. He couldn’t afford to act rashly.
“Well, well, who’s this? Isn’t it the famous Azadin? Don’t tell me you’re my successor? Aragas must be really short on talent!”
The two men in hawk masks, their eyes shining with blue ghostly light—Harad and Kevna—drew their Moon Antler Bows.
*********
Moon Antler Bows were originally finicky when wet; their condition deteriorated sharply. Made of composite materials, they packed overwhelming power even in small sizes, but maintenance was tricky. If used in the rain, they absolutely required meticulous care afterward.
So there was no way the bows of those who’d been lying in the blood bath would function properly...
*Shiiik!*
An arrow flew toward Azadin.
‘No way.’
The bows of those sprawled in the blood bath worked fine. Azadin snatched the incoming arrow, but its force was strong enough to make him stagger back.
Azadin had superior physical abilities to other Heralds, but his opponents numbered two. Outnumbered, facing simultaneous arrow barrages, and with slippery blood-slicked arrows, he was in a bind.
“Huh?”
Harad and Kevna were startled when Azadin caught the arrow.
“Caught an arrow at this range? One of ours, even?”
“Did the blood weaken our bows?”
They figured it wasn’t Azadin’s skill but a problem with their bows. Azadin was infamous in the Herald Clan for incompetence; they couldn’t shake that preconception.
‘Works in my favor. Yeah, stay overconfident.’
Azadin gripped the snatched arrow.
Should he nock and fire it? But that would get blood on his bow.
‘Their bows seem fine despite the blood, so maybe it’s okay. Still, cleanup would be a pain.’
Suddenly, blood droplets rose from the bath. Four spheres floated around Azadin.
“Heh heh heh heh.”
From the darkness, four blobs of blood shot streams of blood at him. The high-pressure jets lanced toward him like spears. Azadin spun, dodging the blood orbs and landing.
“Dodged that?”
“Not bad! I heard you were the clan’s biggest idiot!”
Azadin’s predecessor, Harad, stabbed his sword into the blood bath’s surface and charged, slashing upward in a massive arc. A spray of blood erupted toward Azadin.
“Tch!”
He swung his sword to cleave the blood spray, but in that gap, the two ex-Heralds split to his left and right, encircling him. They spat venom from their mouths and hurled daggers.
But Azadin extended his left hand. The arrows the ex-Heralds had fired earlier were wedged between his fingers; he fanned them out like a shield, batting away the daggers and venom.
And then...
*Thwuck!*
An arrow lodged in ex-Herald Harad’s chest.
“Urk?!”
Azadin had thrown it like a dart, without even nocking it, straight into Harad’s chest.
“Idiot.”
Kevna sneered.
“No, that bastard’s throw was way faster than expected.”
Harad, struck by the arrow, made excuses.
‘Too cocky by half?’
Azadin clicked his tongue, eyeing them. Despite the wound, they felt no pain, no functional impairment.
“Undead? Or was the hit too shallow?”
Azadin had thrown the arrow by hand into the Herald’s body, but hand-thrown arrows had limits to their power. It snagged on the leather armor without penetrating deep.
‘Even if it had gone in deep in that situation, not sure it’d do much.’
Azadin sighed, realizing the count had turned them into monsters. Even if they’d mocked and belittled him, they were fellow clansmen. It pained him that they’d become the depraved count’s minions.
“Cuek cuek cuek. How did a moron like you even become a Herald? The empire’s Heralds have hit rock bottom.”
“If the empire’s Heralds have fallen, it’s not because of me—it’s because of you, Harad. Did the count turn you into vampires?”
“We volunteered. Why stay loyal to a dead emperor when we could have eternal life and riches?”
“Besides, Aragas is rotten. It’s lost its original purpose, living only for the Five Great Houses and the Council of Elders now.”
“I won’t deny Aragas is rotten, but that doesn’t mean you latch onto the count. At least as the emperor’s Heralds, Aragas kids look up to you. But what are you now? Snails tossed to scrape moss from the garden pond? Stuck to the bottom of this tub—where’s the glory in that?”
“You bastard!”
Infuriated by Azadin mocking their situation, the ex-Heralds loosed arrows again. But Azadin casually extended his hand, using high strike and wrist bone to smack the arrows aside mid-flight.
Catching them would be slippery from the blood, but deflecting was no issue. As he deflected with high strikes, he flicked his wrist.
*Shiiik...*
The daggers the ex-Heralds had thrown earlier were now in Azadin’s hand; they flew through the air.
“Hoo!”
“Not bad!”
The ex-Heralds dodged Azadin’s counterattack and expressed admiration.
*Blur!*
The ex-Heralds’ forms blurred as they closed in on Azadin.
‘Tch. Kazas Method... can’t use it knee-deep in water.’
Azadin’s Blur involved actual physical movement, unlike the illusory version other Herald clansmen used, so he couldn’t do it in water.
“Haat!”
The ex-Heralds appeared at Azadin’s flanks, unleashing a flurry of attacks. In that instant, Azadin counterattacked as well.
*Thud boom!*
A pillar of water—no, blood—shot up, and the two ex-Heralds were flung onto the surface, tumbling.
“Huh?!”
“W-what the...”
The ex-Heralds panicked at the unexpected turn. They’d thought they had him surrounded for the ambush, but his body felt charged with electricity.
The moment they touched him, terrifying tremors and shocks seeped into their bodies. Seizing the opening, Azadin struck back with fist and sword: he stabbed the one approaching from the right and drove his fist into the torso of the one from the left.
*‘Flower-Bird-Wind-Moon Thundercloud Kazas Method!’*
It was a spell to charge electric mana and discharge it on contact to electrocute foes, but Azadin rolled on the ground, instantly triggering the shock to blast inner force into anyone who touched him. Just that one hit sent both flying in dismay.
“A-ah, looks like we...”
“...got dull after losing the ability to feel pain. To take a loss like this from Azadin, the clan’s fool.”
They denied the reality before their eyes. They knew well Azadin’s weakness and incompetence.
Azadin was clan-famous. They couldn’t accept getting one-shotted by someone notorious for being useless.
“No, the skill gap’s obvious at this point, you pathetic lot. That’s why you’re scraping moss under the count’s tub.”
Azadin couldn’t resist one last jab at Harad and Kevna, still denying reality.
“We appreciate the overconfidence. If you keep denying reality, it makes things easy for me. But even if you lost to the count and became his monsters, weren’t you Heralds the whole clan admired and took pride in? When I tell your families I took you down, I want to say you fought honorably to the end. So come at me with everything you’ve got. Stop denying reality!”
Harad and Kevna flinched at Azadin’s words.
“Azadin.”
“You’re right. Sorry for the rudeness up to now.”
Harad and Kevna, who’d been dazed like fools moments ago, focused their minds.