Chapter 91: Spirit''s Territory (3)


    TL/Editor: Rungir


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    Inside the dining hall of the Lord''s castle.


    There, the Lord and his family were seated.


    "That Kiral. Seems she made her move early, huh? Simply by seeing beauty and good looks, she loses his senses,"mented the Lady of the manor as she looked towards the door, which only moments ago Elysis and the other mercenaries had exited.


    But no, it wasn''t really the Lady. It was Raksitia, disguised as the Lady and also one of the top operatives involved in this mission to obtain the Sacred Blood.


    "Ugh, no strength and yet such arge appetite. Next mission, we should proceed without that one," remarked Geron, disguised as the Lord''s son.


    She has her uses in her own way. Be patient," Kezarus, the lead strategist of the operation, who was also donning the Lord''s disguise, replied in a hushed tone. His eyes, which had been morepassionate when talking to the mercenaries earlier, now gleamed coldly.


    ''This mission is crucial.''


    It was a instruction from his direct superior, the King of Sinners, one of the high demons.


    The instruction: to obtain the Sacred Blood present here and deliver it to the demonic forces. Kezarus could only guess that it was rted to the ''Fallen Heavens'' operation that the demons were nning.


    ''Although the mission began earlier than expected...''


    Then,


    "When is Kiraling back? What''s taking her so long?" asked Raksitia.


    "She must be savoring his meal slowly. Commander, when do we begin? Shouldn’t we start making our move soon?" Geron added.


    "I had hoped to start when Kiral returns... But it seems we can''t wait," Kezarus pondered for a moment, tapping the dining table with his finger before decisively dering, "Begin the hunt now. Apart from the priestess, everyone else can be killed."


    Normally, every human intruding this territory was to be killed. However, the priestess was valuable. They had discovered the secret location of the angel''s blood within the castle, but a special ritual was required to obtain it.


    The ritual was impossible for them to perform; only someone with ties to angels or at the very least possessed immense holy power could do it.


    "But do you really think a wandering priestess would suffice? We probably need at least a bishop," Raksitia pointed out.


    "We''ll try regardless. Even if we have to drain every drop of blood from her," Kezarus dered, slowly rising from his seat.


    At that moment, the entire Lord''s castle began to quiver.


    ---


    Raei Trantions


    ---


    "Why won''t they believe me..."


    After leaving the restaurant, Elysis walked disheartenedly towards her assigned guest room, murmuring to herself. She recalled the other members who had gone ahead to explore the garden of Yeongjuseong.


    -"I didn''t sense anything out of the ordinary. And Elly, it doesn''t seem right to speak that way about the Lord and his family who weed us."


    -"What? Mixing up fork and knife? It happens. Sometimes I even confuse my left hand with my right, defending with a de when I should be using a shield."


    Elysis had fervently insisted that something was off right after they left the restaurant, but her concerns fell on deaf ears. To make matters worse, Rat and Ember even seemed to have grown fond of the hospitable Lord.


    Under normal circumstances, she would have felt the same. But not this time. Her sense of unease was growing by the minute.


    She had always trusted her instincts.


    -"Elly, you are more special than anyone in this world."


    Her mother''s words echoed in her ears. Elysis took pride in her exceptional abilities, especially in one specific area – detecting malevolent entities, such as spirits and anomalies that acted against divine will. She had almost forgotten about this innate talent since she had never needed to use it. But now, that sense was incessantly ringing rm bells in her mind.


    ''I need to convince them again.''


    Feeling it was perilous to stay any longer, Elysis turned towards where herpanions were. But then, she wondered aloud,


    "Why is there no one around?"


    Just moments ago, attendants could be seen at intervals in the corridor. Now, there wasn’t a single one in sight. In fact, she couldn''t sense any human presence at all. As questions clouded her mind, a voice pierced the silence.


    "There are people here."


    The voice of a woman emanated from the side. Elysis quickly turned her head in the direction of the voice, only to see a portrait of a woman with closed eyes hanging on the wall.


    "It can''t be..."


    Elysis whispered, a hint of realization in her voice. Just as she did,


    "Over here."


    The woman in the portrait spoke again, simultaneously opening her eyes and mouth. Inside her eyes and mouth were countless human faces, all contorted in silent screams.


    "Ah!"


    Elysis shrieked in horror and stepped back. It was then that she noticed the title of the painting: "Abyss."


    In that moment, all the figures in the corridor''s portraits turned their eerie gazes upon Elysis, giving her wicked smiles.


    "What...what is this?"


    She stumbled backward in sheer terror. She had felt a sense of life from the paintings, but she had never imagined they woulde to life.


    Soon after,


    With maniacalughter, the figures that had beenughing inside their frames began to emerge from their paintings one by one.


    "The hunting orders havee in. Secure the priest and kill the rest."


    A group of death dealers rapidly paced the corridor.


    Now, tantly releasing magic around them.


    Since the kill order was issued, there was no more need for secrecy.


    "Hehe, I heard two of them went to the garden... Do we all need to go? Should I quickly take care of it alone?"


    A death dealer, with freckles resembling that of a pce maid, grinned wickedly, thirst evident in his eyes.


    Dahal, wearing the mask of a pce servant and leading the group, chuckled.


    "Don''t talk nonsense. You think I don''t know you want to take them all for yourself? We distribute equally. Got it?"


    "Hehehe, don’t get so mad. Admit it, you''d like to have it all to yourself too. It''s almost instinctual."


    "Instincts or not, if you dare go solo likest time, I’ll make sure you’re the first one dead."


    "Fine, fine."


    The freckled death dealer, cating Dahal, waved his hands dismissively.


    But Dahal, as he resumed his stride, felt something was off and quickly nced back.


    "Why does it feel like our numbers have diminished?"


    "What are you talking about?"


    "Literally. A few are missing."


    Initially, seven death dealers followed, but now, including him, there were only six.


    "Hehe, did those guys sneak off thinking like I did?"


    "No, I would''ve sensed...”


    Then, suddenly,


    Crack!


    A sound of something shattering echoed.


    "…!"


    Dahal quickly turned his head towards the direction of the noise, but the death dealer who stood there moments ago had vanished.


    "It''s an enemy! Be on guard and widen your senses!"


    Still leading his group, Dahal''s instincts were sharp. He quickly assessed the situation, making a swift decision.


    On hismand, the death dealers closed ranks, eyes darting around cautiously.


    ‘What''s happening? Was there an enemy inside the pce?’


    No, he had never heard of any new enemies breaching the territory, let alone the pce. Only prey resided here.


    This made the current situation all the more baffling for the death dealers.


    ‘Still, with our defenses up, the enemy wouldn’t dare…’


    But before Dahal could evenplete his thought,


    Another eerie noise, and one more death dealer disappeared.


    Even while being on high alert, there are always minor blind spots.


    The attack seemed to have begun from such a blind spot, catching them off guard, rendering them unable to react.


    "What... What''s happening?"


    "Where''s iting from...!"


    The remaining death dealers began to panic.


    Several of their members were already lost.


    Despite being on high alert, not only could they not see the enemy, they couldn''t even discern how the attacks were being executed.


    From that moment on, the suspicions that had arisen among them began to turn into a growing fear.


    It was because they realized that they too could die without knowing anything.


    "Hehe! Calm down. At best, he''s just a specialist in ambushes. If we catch him just once…"


    As the maidservant, who donned the robe to calm themotion, was about to speak, a sudden event interrupted her.


    Her head vanished.


    To be precise, it was as though it had been swallowed by something.


    A maw formed of shadows.


    Chomp! Chomp!


    The sinister ck beast, just by its presence, instilled a sense of dread, and it chewed and swallowed her head.


    With a thud, the now headless body of the maidservant fell to the ground, marking the beginning of an even greater terror.


    "W-what on earth is that?!"


    The growing fear inside the others amplified at an rming rate.


    By their nature, these beings clung more desperately to lifepared to other creatures. Their instinct was to survive as long as possible, feasting on as many human souls as they could. Thus, when faced with a threat to their lives, they were easily shaken.


    "Arghh...!"


    In mere moments, the corridor was filled with chaos as the creatures started moving in disarray.


    And then,


    sh, sh, sh!


    A brutal ughtermenced.


    From the epassing shadows of the hallway, the ck beasts leaped out indiscriminately, snapping up the scattering creatures one by one.


    "This can''t be...!"


    Watching as their numbers rapidly dwindled, one creature, Dahal, spat out a voice mixed with horror and confusion.


    A hunt.


    It was truly unbelievable, but they were now the hunted.


    ''From the start, by not revealing its true form, it incited fear. Mercilessly killing the one who tried to pacify us amplified that fear even further.''


    Perhaps revealing the beast’s form was a calcted move from the very beginning.


    The meticulousness of it all sent shivers down his spine.


    ''It''s already toote to regain control.''


    This situation was utterly unfamiliar. They were always the hunters, never the hunted.


    This unfamiliarity might have been why they were so ill-prepared for it.


    "Ah! Save me, please, ahhhh!"


    The numbers of the creatures continued to dwindle amidst the chaos.


    And then, for a moment, the screams abruptly stopped.


    Only Dahal remained.


    Before him,


    Swoosh-


    The same shadow that had consumed the others appeared.


    From within the shadow emerged a man.


    "You...!"


    In that moment, Dahal''s eyes widened in recognition.


    The man in front of him was one of the four neers to the castle today, someone who should have already fallen prey to Kiral.


    Dahal couldn''t understand why that man was here. Had he known about them all along and infiltrated their ranks, hiding his power?


    ''If so, how could he possibly know? And what happened to Lord Kiral...?''


    "You seem lost in thought."


    The man, Zion, interrupted Dahal''s contemtion with a soft, cutting voice.


    "Death would render you useless anyway."


    "You damned brat!"


    Dahal''s fury ignited at those words, as he rapidly lunged towards Zion with malicious intent.


    From his entire body, a formidable and malevolent aura began to emanate.


    At a nce, it might have seemed like Zion had rashly provoked Dahal, but his mind was colder and more calcted than ever.


    ''All of the others were ambushed and killed. That means a direct confrontation might be his weakness.''


    Moreover, the fact that he carelessly revealed himself indicated that he believed he was thest one standing and had becent.


    Dahal nned to exploit that overconfidence thoroughly.


    ''I''ll pour in all my power from the get-go and aim for a single, decisive blow!''


    A dark energy, almost like a shroud, began to form and concentrate in his right hand.


    Along with this, his aura explosively intensified.


    Throughout this, Zion remained rooted to his spot, unmoving.


    "Prepare to be shattered!"


    Spurred by Zion''sck of reaction, Dahal finally unleashed the strike he had been preparing.


    Or at least, he tried to.


    Suddenly, without any warning, a thin line appeared across Dahal''s neck.


    Following this line, his head separated from his torso and plummeted to the ground.


    ''How did this...''


    As his decapitated body iled, and his vision slowly lowered, thest thing Dahal saw was Zion, looking back at him without any trace of emotion.


    "Quite useless."


    Zion murmured, dispersing the darkness still assuming a beast-like form around him.


    The maneuver he had used to obliterate the enemies earlier was one of his favored hunting techniques.


    Adding to it, he had adapted one of the techniques from the ck Star, based on the blood magic previously used by Liushina, and the result was quite effective.


    He felt it would be a technique he''d frequently utilize in the future.


    ''Now, it''s time to find the location of the Sacred Blood...''


    Zion mused, looking down the connected corridor.


    Although he had spread the ck Star to map out the entire structure of the castle, there was no location that seemed to hide the Sacred Blood.


    Or more precisely, he hadn''t discovered it yet.


    ''It''d be inefficient and time-consuming to search manually.''


    The only solution, then, was clear.


    ''I''ll make theme to me and reveal it.''


    Recalling the conversation of the creatures he had overheard earlier, Zion didn''t need to seek out Elysis first.


    The dark spirit trap he had set before entering the castle would suffice.


    Moreover, he believed he could leverage it.


    However,


    ''I should deal with these creatures first.''


    With that thought, Zion reached out towards the wall beside him.


    With a roaring sound, the ck Star energy erupted from his fingertips,pletely engulfing his arm.


    "Khyahahaha!"


    With a massive explosion and a loudughter, the entire wall crumbled, revealing a de imbued with a terrifying aura, hurtling straight towards Zion.


    A strike so intense that it stood unmatched to the adversaries he confronted just moments ago.


    The very instant such a surge of morale''s de met with Zion''s hand,


    The entire hallways of the Lordship Castle began to quiver and fracture.


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