Becoming a Hunter in a Dark Fantasy - Chapter 99
Only Noblemtl
Episode 99: The Royal Family of Batevil (2)
‘What on earth is going on?’
The eyes of one of the Deficio assassins shook violently.
Right now, something unbelievable was happening before his eyes!
“hmm?”
In less than a minute, by a single man… …the entire Depicio Umbra Special Forces unit present was annihilated!
“Now… … are you the last one?”
The blond boy looked at the assassin who was standing there speechless.
He walked along a path soaked in the blood of his compatriots, as if death itself was slowly approaching.
‘reaper.’
That must have been a messenger of death.
“Ahhhhhhh-!!”
At that moment, the assassin felt something like a thrill. A fear of death that he had never felt before!
“This monster-!!!”
The slumped assassin screamed, squeezing the last sound out of his parched throat.
It was because he was overcome with anxiety as if he had to say something.
“Everyone said the same thing at the last moment. Really… … .”
The sole surviving assassin met his eyes with blue eyes that were colder than the deep sea.
‘Ah, it’s the end.’
At the same time, a final thought crossed my mind.
“I told you it’s cliché.”
─Crunch!
Just a moment ago, an unidentified intruder suddenly appeared. A boy with blond hair that shone brightly even in the dark night.
An assassin standing guard on the walls of the castle of Battevil discovered this.
“Executive! There is an intruder at the gate!”
The subordinate who discovered this immediately reported it to the executive in charge of directing the assassins.
“… … How could an outside invader have entered? The entrance to the castle would have been blocked by the Renion Road.”
The Deficio assassins had no idea that part of the Renion Road had been destroyed by Elwin.
The distance was so great that no noise could be heard, and no one had even considered the possibility that the man capable of cutting the Renion Road made of Adamas would pass by at this very moment.
This is because they did not know that the Emperor’s special hunter was properly involved in this final journey for the cause.
“Shall we check it out?”
“No, that’s fine. There are more important things to do right now.”
Now, Depicio is just a short distance away from realizing the wish he has long cherished in his heart.
He could not tolerate even a single factor that could interfere with his compatriots who were infiltrating the Bateville castle and searching for ‘targets to kill’.
“I don’t know how the author got here… … .”
The commander gave orders to his subordinates with a cold, sly smile.
“You can’t leave the witness alive. Kill him. Exterminate him without a trace!”
“Your name-!”
The Depicchio assassins’ response was calm. They quietly drew out their different weapons and prostrated themselves.
Without any communication or signal between them, the assassins suddenly jumped over the wall one by one and fired at their targets.
They were falling at a fast pace in a stable posture, and then they suddenly disappeared as if they were blending into the dark background.
As if they themselves were shadows.
All of the Deficio members gathered here were Umbra Clan members.
A clan of assassins where everyone, from children to the elderly, learns the art of assassination.
Even now, it is night. Due to their nature of dealing with shadows, the power and stealth of their clan are multiplied in the darkness.
‘It’s your bad luck that you came here on your own two feet.’
Sling-!
The assassin who reached first took advantage of the thick darkness and pulled out a single-edged sword with a crescent-shaped blade.
The blade raised just above the target’s head glowed sharply.
‘It’s the end.’
Everyone there expected the boy’s torso to be split in half and he would die.
But the result was just the opposite.
Puhwaaaaak-!
The fountain of blood burst out loudly. It wasn’t the boy, but his comrade… … !
At the same time, the new form of the assassins who were about to rush in also collapsed without realizing it.
The assassins’ eyes grew wide as they saw their comrades die miserably with their upper and lower bodies separated.
Clang!
The sound of the sword hitting the floor was unusually loud in the quiet space.
‘Who is it?’
That was the common thought of the assassins present.
At the same time, another thing they remembered was.
‘Strong… … !!!’
The assassins didn’t even catch the boy’s movements.
Just as my dead comrades were about to lower their weapons, I suddenly saw their bodies split apart and fall down.
“Hmm. Aren’t you going to attack me?”
The boy spoke to them, but they could not say anything in response. They were not in the right frame of mind to do so.
Cold sweat ran down the backs of the assassins. They had long ago suppressed their emotions, but the small remnants that remained seemed to be warning them.
“If you’re an assassin like Deficio, you probably won’t be discouraged by the deaths of a few of your comrades.”
─That boy is dangerous!
‘Perhaps… …even more than the leader they respect!’
The officer swallowed. He knew it because he had lived his whole life as an assassin.
The moment someone is killed, even the most skilled assassin’s murderous intent is revealed.
‘But the author… … !’
The boy still looks clean. He slaughtered dozens of his compatriots in an instant without any murderous intent or even a hint of life.
‘Are we not worth killing by the author’s own hands? Or are we strong enough to control our lives without me even noticing?’
… … Do they really see us as fellow human beings?
Creepy-!
As I thought about it, goosebumps ran through my whole body. My intuition was telling me that something was wrong, but there was no way I could escape now.
He asked with barely a sound.
“… … You know about us?”
“Of course. How could you come here without knowing?”
“… … I see. I guess there’s no need to say anything else.”
The boy said with a grin.
“We can all jump in together.”
As kindly as throwing food to a pack of stray dogs.
“… … I won’t refuse.”
But even a handful of mercy from the strong was a golden opportunity for the weak.
‘Your carelessness will bring us victory!’
The officer gave orders to his compatriots with just a glance, intending to launch a coordinated attack in which they were most confident.
The assassins moved in an orderly manner according to orders, as if they were connected as one.
The assassins, each forming a giant hammer out of their shadows, attacked their enemies with all their might.
Phaaaat!
But at that moment, an explosive magical power burst out from the tip of the boy’s sword that was swung like lightning.
The flash of light that swallowed the shadows in an instant increased in size and consumed the bodies of the assassins.
‘ah.’
I thought I could win if I gave it my all, but I was completely wrong. The opponent was a monster that I couldn’t even hold back for a few seconds no matter how hard I tried.
‘O Old Man of the Mountains… … .’
With his entire body oxidized by the massive flash of light, the officer finally thought.
Perhaps the long-awaited cause we have longed for will be lost in vain.
“With this, I’ve cleaned out all the little guys who were acting as sentries.”
After dealing with all the assassins around the castle gate, Elwin looked inside the Bateville castle.
There were a considerable number of presences there as well. I still don’t know if they were enemies or allies.
“If it’s Depicio, we should sort it out as quickly as possible.”
There were people in this castle of Batavil who absolutely had to be saved.
“I hope you are safe.”
Elwin’s new form, holding the sword tightly, shot like a ray of light toward the inside of the castle.
* * *
The Sphero members suddenly increased their speed to follow Elwin, who was running like crazy. However, Elwin, who had been running so fast, was nowhere to be seen.
The three arrived at the castle of Batavil a long time later.
“… … ?!”
The sight of the castle of Batavil that I finally saw was truly horrific.
“Ugh! Are there no survivors?”
“… … That’s serious.”
“Oh, no. No life signs… … .”
The city gates were covered in bright red blood. Corpses were strewn about like pieces of meat in the market.
Guards, sentries, maids and servants… …all were dead, regardless of status or position.
“It’s Depicio again.”
In the meantime, the corpses of the black-clad Suin tribe were occasionally seen, although their numbers were significantly smaller.
“Could it be that ominous feeling from earlier… … .”
Sercia bit her lip hard enough to draw blood, clutching the hem of her robe.
‘Don’t dismiss the ominous feeling you had at first as a mistake, but tell Lord Elwin. If you had come even a little earlier… … the situation might have been different.’
It seemed like it was her fault for not noticing.
The sight of blood everywhere always reminded Sercia of that terrible experience.
It seems as if someone with a young voice is whispering in the passing breeze.
─Sercia, it’s because of you. Because of you, everyone died… … !!!
“Miss, wake up.”
“Sercia.”
“… … !!”
But then, two hands came up onto Sercia’s shoulders.
Gale and Calix happened to be talking to each other and frowned without realizing it.
The meaning of ‘Why this guy… ‘ was clearly revealed in their intersecting gazes, but they had no time to argue in this serious situation.
“It’s not because of you. There is another culprit who committed such a horrible massacre, so why do you feel guilty?”
“It’s not your fault. Don’t blame yourself.”
From what I’ve seen so far, she tends to bite her lips hard and self-harm when things don’t go her way.
And, contrary to his appearance, his heart was not as firm as it seemed.
Gale, who would be sad to be told that he was second to none in terms of perceptiveness, and Calix, who surprisingly had a very emotional side, easily noticed this.
“… … .”
Sercia, who had been quietly listening to their clumsy words of comfort, soon slapped herself hard on the cheek.
The two men were startled by the loud sound of the knock. Were they shocked enough to hurt themselves even louder?
“… … Thank you. Thanks to you, I came to my senses.”
And with that, Sercia calmly crossed over the blood-soaked gate.
She looked back as she was about to enter the palace.
“What are you doing? Aren’t you coming? I have to go after Elwin.”
“Huh? Oh, oh, right.”
“… … I’ll go.”
Although they were puzzled by the sudden change in attitude, the two followed Sercia without saying much.
She thought absentmindedly. Having a colleague was probably a better thing than she thought.
“First, let’s do a search. There might be someone alive there.”
They wandered through the castle, which was covered in blood and corpses.
The castle of Battevil, which must have been beautifully constructed, was completely enveloped in a soggy silence.
“… … All survivors are annihilated.”
The search for survivors was futile. Their group was the only sign of life within the castle.
Even the war horses, hunting dogs, and even the chickens and pigs raised as livestock were all slaughtered.
“… … Judging by the fact that the blood hasn’t yet coagulated and the condition of the bodies, it probably wasn’t that long ago that this massacre took place. Maybe two or three hours ago?”
This was lamented by Sersia, the evil one.
“Killing someone so cruelly… … This is probably Deficio’s doing too?”
“It’s bad. Even in wars between countries that are hostile to each other, there is no massacre like this.”
Gale also wrinkled his nose and muttered quietly. As a mercenary who had once roamed the battlefield, he knew.
That the current disaster at the Bateville Royal Palace is highly unusual.
“In my experience, most of these cases are one thing: hate crimes.”
When you are the target of intense hatred, such cruel and cruel tragedies often occur.
But why would Decipio harbor hostility toward the House of Batevils?
What if the royal family of Batavia hates them instead?
“Anyway, it seems like it’ll be difficult for us to recover the body right now, so let’s start by finding the little guy.”
But even in this vast castle, the blond hair that would have been immediately noticeable was somehow nowhere to be seen.
“Where the hell is this little brat? I told you to go ahead and talk.”
Gail grumbled.
“Could you be in an area we haven’t explored yet?”
“I’ve already been to the castle gate, garden, annex, training hall, kitchen, main building, banquet hall….”
“Hmm? I feel like I’ve been to every place there is to see?”
The three people were in trouble.
Then suddenly Sercia shouted loudly.
“Ah! There’s a place I haven’t been to yet!”
“where?”
Sercia’s lavender eyes sparkled intelligently.
“This is the audience room!”