Chapter 386: Prelude to Annihilation (2)

“This is our first meeting, I presume.”

In the small barracks just outside the capital, Karyl regarded the elderly man as he lounged back in a worn-out chair. He was thin and short—far from the physique one might expect from a master of hand-to-hand combat.

To anyone else, he could easily be mistaken for a harmless old man from some quiet village.

“Feel free to speak casually. After all, you’ve essentially become the king of this continent, right?” the old man said leisurely, not bothering to rise from his reclined position.

What an odd guy,

Karyl thought to himself.

The man sitting in that chair was none other than Valvont, the King of Martial Arts.

Of the five great Sword Masters from his previous life, Valvont was the most enigmatic. Like the Spear King, he kept out of continental affairs. But unlike the Spear King, who had essentially retired, Valvont had never truly revealed himself. In fact, this was the first time Karyl had laid eyes on him.

All I knew of him was that he was present at Tramel, the ancient ruins holding the Blood Cave, during this period.

Knowing this, Karyl had sent Suan, who was familiar with Valvont, to that location. Of course, he never could have imagined that it would lead to such an unexpected encounter.

“You, too, may speak comfortably, King of Martial Arts. Was it you who saved the two of them?” Karyl inquired, careful not to reveal the full extent of his curiosity.

“Would I go so far as to say I saved them? Well... there wasn’t much to save. They were lying unconscious in the Blood Cave, so I simply let the Fonein carry them downstread,” Valvont explained, scratching his throat as he spoke. “And, well, I’m parched...”

“You old geezer. You’re still fond of your drink, I see. Unfortunately, the empire’s liquor reserves are mostly ruined, so I hope this will satisfy you.”

At that moment, a large tankard flew toward Valvont.

Swoosh

—

He caught it with utmost precision, not spilling one drop.

“Hmm. This is fine liquor. I didn’t expect to see you here as well, but it’s good to see you.”

“Mercenaries go wherever money is,” came the response.

“Haha... So the Guidance Mercenary Gang would sell out for mere coin? What a joke. Seriously, anyone would laugh at that. Well, not that I’m complaining. I mean, I got a nice little gift out of it.” Valvont chuckled as he turned to look at Gordon Fabian.

Though their physiques were starkly different, both men radiated the same intimidating aura, the same undeniable strength.

“Now, don’t misunderstand me about sending them down the Fonein. The poison needed to be neutralized by letting water flush it out. It was the only option I had for transporting them here. I’m not a sorcerer with water-based magic.”

“Poison...? They were poisoned? Just what happened in the Blood Cave?” Karyl asked urgently.

“Take a look at their necks,” Valvont advised.

𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

***

“I don’t know how to solve this either.”

Karyl let out a low sigh at Allen’s response. Before him lay Suan Hazer and Israphil, looking as though they were merely asleep. Although their bodies bore no wounds, their faces were deathly pale, as though they had died long before arriving here.

“This is so strange... Physically, they’re completely fine. Usually, in cases like this, it’s due to a magical seal... But it doesn’t seem like their mana flow is being disturbed either,” Nain Darhon observed. He was almost as pale as those two, his expression filled with disbelief.

[So they’re physically fine, and their mana is normal, and yet they’re not waking up... This almost feels like the seal from the Thousand-Year Ice Cave,] Ramine murmured as he looked at the two of them.

“Seal...?”

[He’s not entirely wrong. A seal also confines the mind through external force. But... who in this world truly possesses such an ability?]

“Doesn’t matter who. How do we break this seal?” Karyl demanded, urgency clear in his voice.

[Well... She might be more knowledgeable on this. When it comes to seals, you can’t can’t forget about one of the Two Powers. Right, Rasis?]

Sssssssss...

As soon as Ramine finished speaking, a small orb of light emerged on Karyl’s shoulder.

[It’s a mental seal, which is a rare spell, but not impossible to cast in the human realm.]

Tat!

With those words, the orb of light scattered, and a humanoid figure bathed in radiant light materialized in front of Karyl.

[Just as the power of Spirit Language lingers, these mental sealing techniques often manifest as curses. But this... This is certainly different from your regular dark magic.]

“Then what is it?”

[Ramine, I assume you summoned me to identify who is responsible for this. It seems you’ve picked up a few cheap tricks from hanging around humans.]

Rasis pointed to the blue veins protruding from the left side of Suan’s neck. The color was so strikingly unnatural that it resembled a tattoo. Israphil’s neck looked the same.

“This is...”

Karyl narrowed his eyes as an uneasy memory resurfaced in his mind.

“So this is what the King of Martial Arts referred to. But I’ve never seen poison quite like this. Some types of poison cause the veins to turn blue, but those are usually lethal toxins.”

Dushala, who was rather knowledgeable about poisons, examined their necks closely.

“This is a Blue Scar...” Karyl muttered after looking closely at Suan’s neck.

“Oh? So you recognize it?” Allen asked.

“More or less...” Karyl’s expression hardened. “These are wounds inflicted by demons. The King of Martial Arts wasn’t wrong to call it poison... Demons wield weapons imbued with toxins completely foreign to this world.”

[Indeed.] Rasis nodded in agreement.

Having battled demons in his previous life, Karyl was familiar with such afflictions.

[So we can safely assume that demons have indeed emerged in this world.]

Karyl’s expression stiffened at Rasis’s words.

“Didn’t Valvont say he found them exactly ten days ago? Someone affected by the Blue Scar will die within fifteen days, as the poison spreads through the bloodstream. Am I wrong?”

[No, you’re correct. The Blue Scar is a mark left by Goldavion, one of the Four Demon Knights.]

“Are you saying they’ve appeared on the continent?”

“There’s no way...”

“How is this even possible...?”

Rasis’s revelation left Karyl silent, while the others glanced at one another in confusion.

“There’s no need for panic. Whether or not demons are present, the critical issue is that Suan and Israphil only have five days left.”

Just what happened there...? I screwed up...

Karyl bit his lip.

Suan, one of his most trusted subordinates, and Israphil, a former comrade of the Ten of the Oracle, returning to him in such a state—unconscious and poisoned—felt like the greatest crisis Karyl was facing ever since his return.

“So, do you know how to break the seal?”

[Hmm... The only way to break the seal here would be to capture and kill the demon who wounded them.]

“Breaking the seal

here

? Are you saying there’s another place where we can break it?”

[Yes. Although this is the work of a demon, it occurred in the human realm, so by sending them in a different realm, the effect of the poison would cease, or rather, it would be halted. It would slow down the spread of the Blue Scar, giving us time to save them.]

“Another realm?”

[As you know, this world is not all there is. There’s the Demon Realm, the celestial realm of the Nephilim, the infernal realm below all, and the spiritual realm where we once dwelled.]

Rasis looked at Karyl intently.

[If we relocate them to any realm other than the one of the demons, it would at least stop the poison from spreading. Besides, you know how to open the Soul Spring, don’t you?]

Karyl nodded. By using the Soul Spring he had discovered in the Gnome Kingdom and the essence he had found in the Ghost Castle, he could indeed open a door to the Spirit Realm. Moreover, now that he had fully absorbed the Two Powers, he was brimming with spirit power, meeting all the conditions for entering the Spirit Realm.

“But that alone won’t solve the problem.”

[Hmm?]

“Healing them isn’t the root solution,” Karyl said, gazing at the two lying before him. “Letting demons roam this world unchecked? I won’t tolerate such filth in the world I’m building.”

Thump...

Karyl’s resolute words made his followers’ hearts race. Even though they had just won the fierce war with the empire, he was already forging the path ahead, not resting one moment.

Some leaders would drive their subordinates relentlessly, risking burnout, but Karyl’s people understood that he was leading the charge himself, pushing himself harder than anyone.

Instead of exhaustion, they felt exhilaration, envisioning the future he was building as they stared at his back.

“It was said that the Soul Spring of the elves can also open the gate to the Demon Realm.”

“You don’t mean...”

“Even if we annihilate the demons that have emerged on the continent, knowing they have a pathway into our world means we would still be leaving a potential threat behind us. After hunting down that demon, I will open the gates to both the Demon Realm and the Spirit Realm.”

The others couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief at his audacious plan.

“Restoring the Spirit Realm while erasing the demons beyond the demon gate with the power of the Soul Spring.”

“...!”

“To open the gate to the Demon Realm, we’ll need three artifacts. We already possess one of them, so we’ll need to find the other two.”

Hearing that, Kay Rothschild looked at him with a slightly tense expression.

One of the three artifacts he mentioned was the Necklace of Revelation they had found in the Gnome Kingdom—the very gem embedded in the heart of the doll housing Zarka Hochi’s soul.

“Don’t worry. I won’t sacrifice a comrade just to achieve my goal. I’ll find a solution before it comes to that,” Karyl reassured, as though reading her mind. “First, we should focus on the closest target.”

He looked out the window.

Although noon was close, a dense mist lingered in the distance somewhere close to the city walls. He was gazing at the Dragon Bone Tomb, the ruins he had passed through with Randol during their escape from the capital.

“A dungeon raid? Hah, it’s been a while.”

“I’m excited.”

“We’ll make preparations immediately.”

Without a hint of hesitation or questioning what might lay in there, everyone got on board.

“But who will you send to investigate the Blood Cave? If demons are indeed involved in this, we should proceed with caution... Perhaps Aidan, as you previously mentioned?” Dushala asked warily.

“No. I’ll go there myself.”

“...What?” Her eyes widened.

“The dungeon should only take half a day, am I right?”