Chapter 504

Raon didn't miss the faint presence of the assassin controlling the Deathbringer Revenants. He hid himself amid the explosions devastating the ground and observed his movement at an extremely slow pace.

'They aren't fast, but their presence is even smaller than a corpse.'

Derus must've created a new footwork, as the assassin's footwork was even more secretive than the Dark Shadow Steps.

If it weren't for Merlin, he would've had to use the Perception of the Snow Flower to find him.

'I shouldn't chase after him recklessly. He definitely has plenty of experience if he noticed that I wasn't dead.'

The assassin wasn't senselessly running away even though he could've died from Merlin's bombardment.

He was controlling the Deathbringer Revenants to reduce the damage and still maintained his caution towards Raon. Considering how calm he was, he must've been an executive of the shadows who'd carried out lots of murder missions.

Raon could guess that he would knock on the door to the underworld from the Deathbringer Revenants' explosion if he was too hasty.

'Because I'm in the worst condition right now.'

Even if the assassin was only at Master level, picking a head-on fight with them in his condition would've been madness.

It was necessary to stick to the original plan and fight as an assassin.

'I'm confident in my patience.'

Raon withstood the explosions and moved in the same direction as the assassin. The explosions were affecting his body, but he counted on the Black Dragon Coat's defensive ability and remained quiet.

Rumble.

Merlin's magical bombardment subsided, and the scenery covered in a gray cloud of dust was slowly revealed.

The ground was devastated, and six shattered bodies of Deathbringer Revenants could be found.

However, the assassin didn't stop using his footwork. He kept circling around without releasing his concealment technique so that he could react to any situation.

Raon bit his lip tightly.

'My energy center hurts.'

Since the White Shadow Steps consisted of hiding in nature, it had a higher aura consumption than the Dark Shadow Steps.

The pain felt like his insides were boiling because he'd used an unreasonable amount of aura in an internally injured state.

Shh.

The assassin finally stopped his footwork and took cover behind a large tree where the upper part had exploded.

'He finally settled down. However… it isn't the time for it yet.'

Naturally, the assassin's senses were focused behind him, and the Deathbringer Revenants were positioned to his sides and rear for protection. Raon could begin to guess how to approach him.

Raon advanced while wrapping himself in the burning ash and the darkness of the night.

He didn't move to the left nor to the right. He walked towards the trunk where the assassin was hiding from the front.

'Even slower than a turtle.'

The Deathbringer Revenants were going to self-destruct if the small amount of his remaining aura made him hasty. Staying calm was especially important in such a situation.

'Because I can't expect more help from her either.'

Merlin had dropped the magical bombardment for him while fighting against the tenth apostle at the same time.

If he couldn't finish the rest on his own, he didn't deserve to get out alive.

He advanced towards the trunk one step at a time, much like a baby starting to walk for the first time.

His opponent was still focused on detecting the presence behind him, as expected of an assassin. The front was none of their concern since they could clearly see everything there.

Raon reached the tree trunk where the assassin was hiding while using the subsided ash and dark shadows as his foothold, lowering his body.

'This is the important part.'

Even though their aura perception was focused to the rear, they might still manage to counterattack if Raon stabbed them right away. It was necessary to aim for a moment of carelessness.

Raon changed his reversed grip on the Blade of Requiem and stopped breathing.

'It's definitely going to happen soon.'

* * *

Sirith bit the inside of his cheek while hiding his presence.

'Damn it. I was about to kill him. How could this happen?!'

Raon Zieghart was in a bad state, just like he'd seen from above.

The way he managed to escape from the self-destruction of the Deathbringer Revenants was unexpected, but he only had an extremely small amount of aura left in him.

It would've been all over for Raon if he'd just spread the Deathbringer Revenants to find him, yet the sudden magic bombardment from the sky had ruined everything.

'Six of them have died.'

Six Deathbringer Revenants had exploded because of the magic. Four of them were made to self-destruct, and two of them were destroyed to the point of being unusable. That was why he only had twelve of them left.

'No, this is still enough.'

He could guess that Merlin was the caster of that spell.

She must've been warning him to not kill Raon since he was her target, but she was still in the middle of a fight against the tenth apostle. She wouldn't be able to cast another bombardment of that scale.

'I need to kill him as fast as possible.'

The situation had changed. He had to kill Raon as quickly as possible before Merlin cast another spell or someone else came to his rescue.

Sirith spread the twelve Deathbringer Revenants in the area. He positioned them at locations where Raon might be hiding and touched the artifact he was wearing in his left ear.

The artifact's function was to spread his soundless murmur from a location of his choice.

[I know you are alive. With your survival instinct of a leech, you must've even crawled in order to—]

He tried to provoke Raon once again, just like he'd done before the magic bombardment, but Sirith couldn't finish his sentence.

A red dagger had reached his abdomen before he knew it.

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Yellow ghastly energy was sparkling from the blade piercing through his abdomen.

"Cough!"

Sirith was immobilized by the exploding ghastly energy, and the red dagger tore his energy center apart without missing an opportunity.

Rip!

Alongside the shattering sound of his energy center, Sirith fell backwards and shivered violently. His eyes had rolled upwards from the intense pain.

"Kuah!"

Raon, the wielder of the red dagger, rolled his lips into a smile while looking down on Sirith's painful struggle.

"It's finally fair now."

* * *

Raon breathed out a sigh of relief while looking at the Deathbringer Revenants that had stopped moving, like statues.

'It was so close.'

He didn't know how Sirith was ordering the Deathbringer Revenants, but he could at least tell that aura was involved.

Since he had some information to extract from the assassin, he'd attacked his energy center instead of his heart or neck, and it had fortunately gone according to his plan.

"Kuh…"

The assassin's painful groan continued like a stream. The fact that a Shadow who should've been trained in pain resistance was groaning so much implied that his energy center was completely destroyed.

Raon took off the assassin's mask. He was a young, blue-haired man with an average face that gave off the impression of a nice guy.

'Sirith?'

Raon recognized him as the fifth vice team leader from when he used to be the leader of the Shadows in the past. He looked older than back then, but there was no way he'd fail to recognize him since Raon had been in charge of his education.

'Did he rise high enough to control the Deathbringer Revenants? I guess he's always been skilled.'

Just like he was during the fight, Sirith was an excellent assassin with an outstanding concealment technique, and he possessed the ability to understand and cope with any situation.

It wasn't exactly surprising that he would've survived and been promoted to a higher rank.

However, he'd enjoyed mass murder and killing people more cruelly than he needed to, and he must've retained that personality since he was controlling the Deathbringer Revenants.

"Kuh…"

Sirith slowly raised his body once the aura's flow from the destruction of his energy center had subsided. His forehead was drenched in cold sweat from the pain.

'Is he still weak against pain despite being an assassin? That means I have a higher chance of getting information out of him.'

"Y-you bastard…"

Sirith raised his hand, which was covered with engorged veins.

"What are they?"

Raon slapped Sirith's hand away and pointed at the Deathbringer Revenants that had been immobilized behind him while pretending he didn't know anything.

"Y-you won't hear anything from me."

"Is that so?"

Sirith closed his mouth tightly and Raon placed his hand on the left side of his chest.

"Kill me already. Torturing me will be a waste of ti—"

Raon covered Sirith's mouth as he started to ramble and smacked his chest with the technique that could make the rage worm faint. He was used to doing it at that point because of how many times he had to use it.

Smack!

Sirith's body was sent flying into the air before it dropped on the ground.

"Kuh, a pain like this is nothing…"

"I know it's nothing."

Raon slowly nodded.

"That's why I'm starting now."

He mustered all of the aura that was refilled in his energy center and shoved into Sirith's body. He activated the same torture technique he'd used on Cloud with over three times the intensity.

"T-torture is meaningless for—Kuaaah!"

Sirith couldn't even last ten seconds before he started to scream, his body shivering intensely.

Even the pain resistance he'd gained from being raised as an assassin seemed to be ineffective. Veins started to bulge on his neck.

'Of course you can't endure it.'

The torture method he was using made him feel the pain, itchiness, heat, and coldness at the same time.

Since the four sensations amplified each other and gradually became stronger, it wasn't something that a human being could withstand—even with pain resistance.

Both Sirith's silence and life weren't going to last for long.

"Kuha…!"

Raon ignored Sirith as he floundered on the ground and activated the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation and Glacier to quickly recover his aura.

'I just need to leave him alone and he'll confess on his own.'

Sirith was well aware that he was going to die, but he was definitely going to talk before then in order to get a faster and easier death.

"Pl-please stop! I'll tell you everything!"

Not even ten minutes had passed before Sirith started to scream while holding onto Raon's pants.

"What are they?"

Raon lowered his frightening gaze and pointed at the Deathbringer Revenants.

"Th-they are objects called Deathbringer Revenants."

"Deathbringer Revenants?"

Raon asked back while feigning ignorance.

"They are assassin zombies made from warrior corpses."

"You used corpses for them? Are they made by a necromancer?"

"Y-yes. It was developed by the research of a necromancer and a corpse master."

"So that's why they could move in such a natural manner. I can also understand why they have poison in their blood and can explode."

While a necromancer could make the deceased move like a living creature, a corpse master could add poison and explosions to a corpse that moved awkwardly.

It was because the two of them had worked together that monsters like Deathbringer Revenants had come into existence.

Crack.

Raon clenched his fist to the point of bleeding while looking at the Deathbringer Revenants who were idling around because they had no instruction.

'Derus Robert… You evil fiend.'

On top of getting collars around living people's necks, he was even manipulating the deceased. Raon's heart pounded violently from the wrath against his devilish actions.

Derus had already taken off his human mask. He was even more evil than the Five Demons.

"Haa…"

Raon suppressed his boiling anger and glared at Sirith.

"Where are the Deathbringer Revenants made?"

"Hmm…"

Sirith didn't respond. He seemed to be waiting for the rage worm inside his heart to awaken.

"You are making this annoying."

Raon furrowed his brow and resumed the torture that was paused.

"Aaaaah!"

It didn't take a long time before Sirith started to violently shake his trembling chin.

"I-I'll tell you! Capply Village! That's where the factory—Cough!"

He perished while saying factory. The shock of his energy center being destroyed and the torture on top of that seemed to be the cause of his death.

* * *

* * *

Tap! Tap!

The Deathbringer Revenants collapsed to the ground like marionettes with broken strings from their master's death.

'I fortunately got the last bit of information out of him.'

He was glad he could get information about where the Deathbringer Revenants were made.

However, the name of the village he'd mentioned felt strangely familiar.

"Capply?"

'Why does it feel familiar? I've never been there before.'

Raon licked his lips while thinking it was strange when the area below Sirith's mouth started to shake and Merlin's mole poked her head out of it.

"I knew you would manage."

Merlin nodded while smiling.

"Thank you, you saved me."

"I just protected you because you are mine."

She closed her eyes, saying that she didn't need to be thanked.

"Please stop saying such a thing…"

"Ack!"

Merlin was smiling cheerfully but suddenly groaned in pain while grasping her chest.

"Merlin?"

"It's not a big deal. I was just stabbed by a spear."

Merlin shook her hand, saying that she was fine.

"Spear? From the tenth apostle?"

"Yes. This is the second time now. Don't worry about me, my heart is fine."

"Huh…"

Raon could understand why it was the second time. The magic bombardment earlier had come from the direction of Merlin's main body. She must've been stabbed when that happened.

"Are you okay? Can you keep going?"

"What? Are you worried about me?"

Merlin wagged her tail and waist while covering her flushed cheeks.

"I would've let him stab me in a few other places if I'd known you would act like this."

She nodded while murmuring that she was so happy. Her voice was cutting off though, implying that she wasn't in a good situation at all.

"I'll need to focus though. Don't worry about me and escape from this place."

Merlin smiled and her presence disappeared. The mole was suddenly surprised and returned to the tunnel it came from.

'She was stabbed by a spear…'

A spear from an ordinary soldier wouldn't be a big deal, but it was the tenth apostle. Since he was a Grandmaster, she must've been severely injured. Raon was worried about her well-being.

'I'm getting more and more debts to repay.'

He felt like his debt was increasing uncontrollably because he'd been unable to repay any of the favors she gave him as she continuously helped him.

The most painful part was the fact that he had a feeling she wouldn't want anything in return.

"Haa…"

Raon stood up while burning Sirith's corpse with the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation.

'I need to send them off as well.'

He wanted to send the deceased who were humiliated by Derus even after their death to the afterlife, but their corpses were sturdier than Sirith, which required more aura to burn them.

'I don't have the time to recover here.'

While Raon was contemplating what to do, Wrath's energy flowed into him from the ice flower bracelet.

"Is this…?"

Manipulating the deceased is a nasty action.

Wrath poked his head out from the bracelet.

The King of Essence always smashed the skull of anyone audacious enough to do that.

He wagged his tail while returning to the bracelet.

Take care of it quickly since it's annoying.

"You are so gentle."

Raon chuckled and tapped on the bracelet.

Who?! Who are you calling gentle? The King of Essence is the cruelest in Devildom…

'Who else? I'm talking about a certain demon king.'

Raon decided he would buy him an ice cream once they reached Cameloon.

* * *

"You must be out of your mind to be distracted in front of me."

The tenth apostle furrowed his brow while looking at Merlin, who had a hole in her chest.

"Why did you cast a spell in that direction?"

He raised his spear and pointed at the forest where Raon and Sirith were fighting.

"I saw a dirty bug."

Merlin casually shrugged her shoulders as if nothing special had happened. Her hand brushed past her wound, and the hole in her robe was refilled and the blood was removed.

"You are as insane as always."

The astral sphere emerging from the tenth apostle's spear shaft was engulfed in a frightening light.

"Let's finish this quickly. I need to kill you and offer him to the religious leader."

"That's not going to happen."

Merlin bobbed her finger and countless magic circles appeared behind her. Seven different colors radiated from the magic circles' activation.

"He's mine, and I'm not giving him to anyone else."

"You can't win against me in your shabby state."

The tenth apostle thrust his spear with a depressing voice that sounded like it was coming from the depths of hell. The astral sphere burst from the spearhead and rushed at her while tearing the space apart.

"I'm sorry, but…"

Merlin swung her hand downwards vertically, as if orchestrating a musical, and the brilliant light spreading from the magic circles became a sparkling bloody radiance.

"I'm in my prime right now."

With a smile reflected on her mask, a destructive ray emerged from the magic circles that had combined into one.

Whaaam!

* * *

Whap!

Raon finished burning the corpses of the Deathbringer Revenants and Sirith before he turned his head around.

'The sound just now…'

He could hear a tremendous clash of power from afar. Considering the flow of mana he felt, it must've been from the battle between Merlin and the tenth apostle.

'Should I go there? No, I'll only end up as a hindrance.'

His condition had drastically improved thanks to Wrath's energy and the small amount of aura that he'd regenerated, but he couldn't fight against a powerful warrior around his level yet.

Instead of trying to help someone, joining with the Light Wind division to escape as fast as possible was the correct course of action.

'I should go there right now.'

Raon took the direction towards Cameloon and kicked the ground. He reduced his presence as much as possible as he moved just in case other enemies were present.

You coward. The King of Essence has always been confident even when didn't have any energy!

Wrath started to babble as Raon was passing between the trees.

'I'm not you, gentle demon king.'

Ugh! You are lacking guts! You need the confidence that you can overcome all kinds of situations! Don't even bat an eye no matter what happens…

Messages appeared in front of him as he kept rambling.

[You've gained an impossible achievement.]

[All stats have…]

[The trait…]

They seemed to be the rewards for defeating Cloud and Sirith combined.

Argh…

Wrath's chin trembled, and Raon smiled while pointing his finger at his eyelid.

'You just batted your eye.'

Shut up!