Chapter 115

Bolvar Patten had remained in Ardell for a long time, wielding the fishing rod rather than the spear.

That was why most of the people there expected his skills to have deteriorated over the ages.

But that was a very big misunderstanding.

He had reached 7th-rank.

This meant he had seen the end of the martial way, and he had experienced the limits of a human.

Just because he didn't polish his spearmanship, that didn't mean his skills had disappeared.

And since attaining 8th-rank was a matter of enlightenment, he had let go of the spear on purpose.

And today…

He who had protected House Ardell for so many years lifted his long-unused spear.

"...Reveal yourselves."

Bovlar Patten spoke in a low voice.

The only thing in the corridor was deep darkness, but from there, five shadows stepped forth.

"What? How did he know?"

"You… Who are you? How did you know we were here?"

"Wait, isn't that Bolvar Patten?"

"Huh? It actually is. We need to kill that guy too anyway."

"It works out, I guess. Looks like this will be quick."

Yeah.

Assassins.

These guys who had sneaked into Ardell were all at least 6th-rank veteran assassins and seemed to be quite adept at hiding their presences.

It wasn't that easy to find experts like these in the Kingdom.

That was why it didn't take long to figure out whether they were hired by foreign powers or not.

"I would ask you why you're here, but that's pretty obvious. Besides, you wouldn't tell me anything like who sent you even if I asked."

"Keke. What are you doing? Everyone here knows how this goes."

Bolvar Patten gripped the spear he was holding.

"Come at me, then."

"Bolvar Patten, nicknamed the Spear Saint. I heard that you were quite out and lively before… but how many decades has it been since then? Let's see whether that skill died out or not."

The five assassins moved in a near-inescapable formation as they charged at Bolvar.

There was one coming from above, below, left, right, and the front.

These assassins, coming in from every side, were like trained hounds.

There was no place to dodge, block, nor escape.

But Bolvar didn't even flinch, and just stared them down.

"You dare do this here?"

His rage burned with the ferocity of the hottest of lavas.

Ten years ago, he had been struck by guilt after not being able to save the lady of the territory he swore to protect, the mother of Ruin Ardell, Meria Ardell.

And this guilt swallowed him even now.

Although he would never be able to redeem himself, if he wanted to alleviate even some of this guilt, he must have his revenge.

Maybe that was why, but the tip of Bolvar's spear carried no mercy.

Wooosh–! Fwoooosh—!

Slice!

For just a moment, flames burst from the tip of his spear as he sliced off the heads of two of the assassins.

Hot blood splattered across Bolvar's face, but that wasn't enough to quell his furor.

"H-huak…!"

One assassin, who had lost his wrist instead of his neck, fell into a state terror and instinctively took a few steps back.

The monster in front of his eyes was beyond his imagination.

"aren't you 7th-rank...? 7th!"

Although it differed person to person, a typical 7th-rank knight could easily face four 6th-rank knights.

But this situation shouldn't have been the same.

Why?

Because they were the Shadowless Company, infamous no matter where you were on the continent.

As they were professionals at fulfilling requests for assassinating high-ranking figures, they had already faced 7th-rank knights multiple times.

They had killed more than ten in the Empire alone.

Wasn't Bolvar Patten an old knight far past his prime?

How was he able to kill two of them with a single strike, and with such ease, too?

There was only one answer.

The assassin's face crumpled with fear.

"You... You were 8th-rank?"

An 8th-rank knight.

A knight who had already exceeded human limits.

Just how could any assassin dare to attack a place protected by an 8th-rank knight?

Just which idiot commissioned them to kill an 8th-rank knight?

The assassins started to reflexly curse.

"Bengrass you bastard! You hid information about the target!"

"We wouldn't have accepted this fucking request even if you doubled, no, tripled the pay!"

One of the assassins blurted out the name of their requester and deeply groaned, and Bolvar nodded, seemingly having understood the situation.

"...Bengrass? Bengrass Kegen? So it's that guy."

"There's nothing I need to hear from you guys now, so die."

Although it wasn't known to the world yet, it had already been quite a while since Bolvar Patten had reached 8th-rank.

It was just that there was no reason to make it known.

Bolvar took another step forward and thrusted his spear.

The whirlwind produced at the tip of his spear quietly raged on, massacring the assassins in complete silence

However...

"Uh- I- Oh- Uh..."

Bolvar kept one assassin alive, the one whose wrist had been cut off.

He had a message to give to Bengrass, the who had planned this whole assassination.

Clench!

Bolvar gripped the assassin's head and said in a low voice,

"Go and tell this to Bengrass Kegen so it's nice and clear."

"Uh... Huah! Uuh—"

"I'll soon pay him a visit myself to repay today's debt."

Nod nod.

The assassin, consumed by fear, nodded as if trying to break his own neck.

As Bolvar went to throw the assassin out of the mansion, he spoke with an expression that could create nothing but terror.

"Do not set foot anywhere even near Ardell ever again."

"Die."

If my hand reached him, he'd explode.

The expression of the old man with their head caught in my hand became weird.

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Bang!

And it exploded, just like that.

"...Huak, haak!"

Blood spurted out of the now-headless body, and as if an old tree was felled, it slumped down to the ground. Seeing this, the other warlocks stepped back in shock.

In that instant, my mind had gone blank.

Kill them.

Just like Destroyer of Worlds Draka did.

Only the thought of destroying them remained in my head.

Without a moment of planning or consideration, I used the skills that I had saved up, and a huge summoning gate the size of Kunkhan formed inside the illusion field.

And from that gate…

"...O-ogre."

The living artifact Kingram walked out, a giant iron axe in each hand.

"What did you call me for?"

"Kill them all."

"Alright."

As he finished speaking, Kingram moved with a speed unbefitting of his large size as he charged toward the magicians.

"Kuuuaaack!"

"Aaaaaack!"

Vwoong—!

The iron axes started to tear the magicians into lifeless chunks of flesh, leaving no room for mercy.

They were cut down one after the other like the leaves in autumn.

From the blades of Kingram's axes flew the heads of many, waiting not a moment for respite.

I also didn't hesitate a single bit, unlike how I acted when facing the Wicked Mage in front of Sky Mountain.

They had touched something they never should have.

Father and Ruina.

That was why they must die.

I felt everything go blank for a moment.

What was being destroyed by my flying fists?

Who was being killed by the spells I used?

I couldn't tell.

The moment I acknowledged it, that someone was dying by my hands…

In the blink of an eye, I had slain another.

A bit later, Straang was the one to stop my seemingly possessed killing of warlocks.

"Stop. You can stop now."

As I looked around, all the warlocks had died in horrific ways.

All but one.

One warlock was alive, practically vomiting blood.

"C-cough! Keke... This… You're an insane bastard. Cough! What's the difference between you and us?"

As I instinctively went to punch that guy in the face, Straang grabbed my arm again.

"Let go."

"It's not time to kill him yet. We need to question him first."

"There's nothing to ask. We can just kill them all and—"

"Why are you like this? It's not like anything happened in Ardell yet. Let's trust in Bolvar Patten. He's much stronger than you think."

"Wake up. If you go insane because of that strength, you'll become like Draka. Don't you know what became of him?"

Draka, the Destroyer of Worlds.

He went insane from his infinite power and destroyed his world.

But… I was different.

"...Ok."

I pushed aside the killing intent making my mind go blank and grabbed the warlock by his neck, lifting him off of the ground.

"Tell me everything you know. Tell me what happened in Ardell."

"C-cough...! Everything I know? Keke… You won't like what you hear, though."

"Speak."

"C-cough...! Have you heard of Shadow Company? It's an elite assassination group made up of veterans 6th-rank or higher. Five assassins have already arrived in Ardell. About now, your father and sister will be gone from this wor— Kuack!"

The reason I was surprised… was because I wasn't the one who killed this warlock.

A black spear had flown in from somewhere and stabbed through the back of this warlock, killing him immediately.

As I looked in the direction the spell came from…

"I came here just in case, but... Tsk. Useless bastards. For these things to be subordinates of Galehill."

In that place stood the mastermind behind everything here.

Josh Galehill.

"You dare touch my father and sister...!"

I didn't hide my hostility toward him.

But he stayed weirdly confident and relaxed.

"Ruin Ardell, this is why it would've been better if you stayed quiet in the Academy. Wouldn't it have been better if you didn't get on our nerves? But you played around too much. You got on my nerves. And so, all Ardells on the continent must die."

"You son of a bitch!"

I tried to charge at Josh, but maybe because I had let down my guard too much, or because the level of a 7th-class magician replicated with artifacts was too great…

Fwoop!

A small and fast arrow flew at me, and I didn't even notice it grazing my shoulder.

Poison Arrow.

This was another black magic spell used by warlocks.

"It'll probably be hard for you to move for the next half a day."

The Poison Arrow started to completely dull my senses.

My walking felt awkward, and strength couldn't be put into my fists.

On top of that, I had already used up Kingram's 10-minute summon time.

Crack.

I grinded my teeth.

I tried to use all my strength to move my body, so much so that it felt like I'd cough up blood, but it didn't go as I wanted.

Damn it.

I wasn't able to do anything with that bastard right in front of me.

"Die, Ruin Ardell."

Purple smoke started to flow out of his palm before collapsing into a spear of darkness, and soon. he flung toward me.

I clenched my eyes shut.

I thought this would be the end, but nothing happened.

As I opened my eyes, I saw in front of me a Mana Barrier so large that one would normally only see it in books, protecting me.

And before me…

"D-Director..."

The last pride of the Kingdom.

Archmage Tirion Ignit.

The Director was glaring at Josh Galehilll, fury in his eyes.

At his unexpected entrance, Josh also muttered in shock,

"...Tirion Ignit? Why is the Director—?"

The Director burned with a rage that I had never before seen on his face, and he lifted his staff.

"Josh Galehill!"

A tremendous storm formed, and the entire capital shook.