Chapter 94 : Chapter 94

Chapter 94 - Wrong Target Setting

The General Construction Department and the Land Development Department are like brothers.

So their buildings were close.

As the collection of buildings was each other's territory.

While their headquarters weren't close enough to touch if one fell over, they were still within walking distance and could be called neighbors.

Recently, they had also handled a big case, so if they found good liquor, they would stroll over leisurely.

But.

“What, what is this.”

Today, the Land Development Department was strange.

It wasn't the usual smell.

That moist smell that can only be smelled from healthy earth.

Even if his mustache grew to block his nostrils, he couldn't mistake that scent.

“What in the world is going on!”

Who could mistake the smell of earth for the smell of blood?

Kwaaang─!!

He kicked down the iron-barred gate of the Land Development Department headquarters in one go.

The smell of blood grew even stronger.

This place, which should be as healthy and full of energy as freshly fertilized soil, was as quiet as a dead rat.

I couldn't understand.

Why on earth. Why on earth this place.

He crossed his short legs like mad and reached the main entrance.

The liquor bottle had long since fallen from his hand.

Kwaaaang─!

He kicked down the main door.

Even though it was an act sufficient to attract attention, no one sent their gaze this way.

“W-what in the world has….”

Not only were there few people to send their gazes.

Those few gazes were merely fixed on the corpses that were scattered in pieces on the floor.

Blankly, like people whose souls had departed.

“H-hey. Felson…!!”

It was the same for the large man kneeling among the corpses.

“Am I dreaming right now…? H-how could something like this happen to a family institution in the Pantheon….”

“…Dred.”

“Y-yes. I’m listening. What in the world happened?”

Felson looked at himself.

It was himself kneeling on the pool of blood, reflected in the pool of blood.

The self he saw like that had a strange expression, neither crying nor angry.

With such a face, he said.

“I answered the Fourth Son’s question with a lie.”

“S-such a thing!”

And if it was a question.

“The destruction of Hojeopgung. Are you saying you reported falsely about what happened when you encountered the Forest Witch?”

Felson let out a hollow laugh.

“I told neither a lie nor the truth. The Fourth Son said that itself was a lie, and he killed my subordinates until my mouth opened.”

“Aah….”

“Twenty-one people. My few seconds of hesitation created these corpses.”

A huge palm swept the floor.

Fragments of human bone, organs, and hair got caught between his fingers.

It was funny that his mouth opened only after a sea of blood was made from 21 people.

“I lied again.”

“…What?”

“I lied again, and that lie came out after I unknowingly weighed it on a scale.”

The Fourth Son and the Fifth Son.

He placed those two on plates and weighed them.

It was an unforgivable sin, and it was also futile.

To think that what he spat out after losing 21 people was another lie.

But it was a mouth that opened after seeing 21 of his subordinates die.

He was enraged, and his mind went blank.

He wanted the young blood relative before him to suffer somehow.

So the truth had no thought of coming out and went even deeper.

The lie that was spoken as truth.

“I said that the Forest Witch seemed to covet the position of a Millesdusk Elder.”

“……”

The Construction General Manager, at a loss for words, slowly shook his head.

“…Why did you have to do that? The Fourth Son was angry at your lie and just took it out on you.”

“It was my way of taking it out too.”

“Haa. You, that’s now─”

“Go out the back door. The Executioner Knights will be here soon. You won’t see anything good if you stay here.”

He pushed his body with his forearm, which was not stained with blood.

“Hurry.”

“…Stay safe.”

“I’m the best land-man in the East, you know. They wouldn’t kill me.”

Felson smiled.

It was like the smile that madmen make just before they become madmen.

The Land General Manager left the place.

And not long after.

An Executioner Knight replaced the empty space.

The knight with the eerie helmet drew his Cursed Sword and aimed its tip.

“Land General Manager Felson. Do not move.”

“I have no intention of moving.”

Then wouldn't he be stabbed by the Cursed Sword and forced to tell the truth?

Anyone whose soul is stabbed by that sword becomes a cripple unless they are of Millesdusk blood.

Even for the Executioner Knight, the Cursed Sword of Confession was a last resort.

Since there was no will to resist, the Executioner Knight also stopped at binding him.

“I heard everything from the Fourth Son. Repeat what you told him.”

That wasn't difficult.

“The Forest Witch intends to become a Millesdusk Elder. Since she is not recognized as a maternal family, she intends to become an Elder, and to have her power recognized, she struck the Mystics.”

“In that process, do you admit to leaking the location of the Mystics’ main residence?”

“She already knew. Asking for the location was her way of testing whether to kill me on the spot or not.”

The questions and answers went back and forth quickly.

The sinner bowed his head.

And under his bowed head, he could still smile.

‘The total number of elders is ten and will never change. But if a strong person like the Forest Witch wants an elder position.’

Millesdusk would have no reason to refuse, and would only have to be wary of the ten elders.

‘The weakest among them will be quickly expelled. That process will be done by the Fourth Son without the elders even having to lift a finger.’

Because that is the fastest way to get the Forest Witch in his sights.

A being who could become a Millesdusk Elder if she set her mind to it, had hidden herself in the East with determination.

Even the Family Head would have a hard time finding her, but if she were to just enter the Pantheon as an elder.

‘The Fourth Son, blinded by revenge, can’t help but welcome it with open arms.’

How could he not be grateful that his prey was jumping right into his mouth?

‘To seize that moment quickly, the Fourth Son will try to kill one of the elders like a madman.’

But would that be an easy task?

Just because he chose to kill the weakest of the Ten Elders, it absolutely did not mean that person was weak.

That weakest person was one of the top 10 strongest in Millesdusk.

‘Fourth Son…. You’re going to vomit some blood.’

The Land General Manager walked to the Execution Department, not erasing his smile.

***

It was dark. It was damp.

So it was gloomy.

The atmosphere of the forest on a moonlit night was never gentle.

The feeling that something would touch my back at any moment.

[The Yin energy is no joke.]

“I know.”

A human capable of demonization and a magic sword.

The two reacted sensitively to the Yin energy and found their way.

As I moved towards the place written in the log, a chill filled me.

The undergrowth became rougher and sharper, setting up its thorns.

“The surrounding environment is already undergoing demonic realm transformation.”

It abandoned its innate gentleness and began to embrace violence, wanting to be hostile and fight anything.

It began to embrace ferocity.

“For now it stops at thorns, but later it will spread to the thickets and even embrace deadly poison.”

[A sample will be needed.]

He gets it instantly.

It's a word thrown out without thought, but it hits the mark.

Sakak─

I cut a thorny plant.

I fed it to the Chairman of the Physicians' Council in the spatial artifact.

For now, I continued to advance.

I kept the Earth Dragon on constant standby along with the Chairman of the Physicians' Council from a moment ago so that I could respond to whatever came out.

“With these two, I can swallow up most things right away.”

[You’re as simple-minded as they are.]

I ignored the chatter and moved on.

It had been a long time since I entered the forbidden area mentioned in the log.

So a building began to appear between the bushes.

A small Dark Moon Grand Castle.

It was the altar.

[It’s not at a level where you can call it grand yet. Why don’t you just break it here? You said the elders are gone.]

The magic sword Enad made a sharp assessment.

It was understandable.

“Not enough sacrifices have been gathered yet. And although a few experiments have been done, he hasn’t even brought out his true skill. It looks weak now.”

But I couldn't break it here.

“This is a justification. A justification that allows the Third Prince to ascend as a hero and sit on the throne.”

[Are you saying there must be destruction before salvation?]

“Destruction is a great fire. But you don’t call a matchstick that you can extinguish at will in your hand a great fire.”

[…You’re a demon too.]

“I’m just a person who doesn’t want to die.”

I went closer to the altar.

I saw the same clusters of curses I had seen before, growing in number.

“I’ll have to change my appearance from now on.”

The altar was slowly beginning to recognize a living being.

Hwarurururuk─

Blood-red flames enveloped my entire body.

The body of the Youngest Son, who had undergone Blood Demonization, levitated a hand's breadth.

The altar was a little bigger than the forest keeper's branch office.

The building that served as the foundation itself seemed to be a log cabin, and remnants remained inside.

Here, where the smell of burning wood and rottenness coexisted.

The Youngest Son went a little deeper inside.

Then the center of the altar came into view.

A circular platform that seemed to be made of stone was placed there.

On its unrefined top surface, a pentagram was engraved within a circle.

It didn't end there.

[Around the platform are goat skulls, monster skulls, and a few human skulls. They’ve really set the mood.]

It wasn't just the mood.

To borrow a Western expression, such cursed objects maintain and also raise Yin energy.

The negative emotions that humans have.

To extract that, there's naturally nothing better than a human, but.

‘This is hard to look at.’

In a corner of the altar’s outer wall.

There was something that had become fixed, with black rocks stuck all over it.

[What is that?]

“It’s a person.”

[…I know that too. That’s not what I asked.]

To add a little more.

“You could also call it an automatic Yin energy generator.”

Enad, seeming to understand now, continued.

[Are they extracting Yin energy by giving that man artificial pain and fear?]

“Yes.”

[Is that also part of the experiment?]

“It’s hard to do big things with just one person. You should see it that way.”

I went closer to the man.

I didn't know who he was, but for some reason, I had someone in mind.

“Hank.”

“…Uh….”

A person instinctively reacts to their own name.

It might be natural since it would be one of the things they have heard the most in their lives.

The man, stuck in the rock, forced his soulless eyes up.

“Ugh, uwaaaah!!”

Gurgle.

He fainted again.

[Did you forget what you look like right now?]

“…Oops.”

The blood-demonized appearance was gruesome.

Even more so for a person who had been buried alive in a pit of demon maggots.

Quickly admitting my mistake.

While he was fainted, I examined Hank’s physical condition.

“Something’s strange.”

The diagnosis came out quickly.

I didn't know the exact name of the disease, but the result was out.

The result was that it was strange.

The man's current name was automatic Yin energy generator.

Its operating method and Hank's internal structure were subtly different.

“Was he baking pottery or something.”

The Youngest Son muttered softly.

“He made a core inside his body.”

The core was Wisdom's knowledge.

But it was in an eastern kingdom's land, an eastern demon's altar.

And in an ordinary easterner who would have no connection to magic, let alone sorcery.

The reason I said this phenomenon was like baking pottery was none other than.

“The core is full of Yin energy.”

[Is it dangerous?]

“It means he has the internal structure of a demon while being a human.”

[It is dangerous.]

Enad immediately came up with a solution.

[It would be better to kill him and give him peace.]

“Then they'll find out someone was here. Rather than that.”

I held up my index finger.

I concentrated my magic at its tip and made flowing blood.

A drop of blood fell into Hank's mouth.

“My magic will circulate through his blood vessels and calm the rampaging Yin energy that couldn't be controlled. The pain will also lessen.”

That wasn't the only advantage.

“Information related to Kian’s experiment, Kian’s plan, will continue to accumulate in my blood inside his body. Since the test subject is Hank.”

[…So you’re going to keep him alive?]

“Yes.”

[You really are a demon.]

I folded my index finger and turned away.

“I wonder. This watchman named Hank also went around catching people who ran into the forest because they were hungry, for a few pennies. There won't be any grudges between fellow demons.”

[Crazy bastard.]

“Let’s go. To see the Ten Elders, the real demons.”

The Blood Demon soared.

But at the Blood Demon's abode.

There was a guest who had arrived at the Dark Moon Grand Castle before the Ten Elders.

The young man who had suddenly targeted one of the elders.

It was the Fourth Son.

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