Book 8 Chapter 14
Episode 188
Island 3, where the training facility is located.
As soon as they arrived at the pier on the boat prepared by the Trickster Slayer, Balencidis had to raise an eyebrow in bewilderment.
“What on earth is this mess?”
It wasn’t even a problem that he had unconsciously spoken his true thoughts.
Was it the effect of some natural disaster?
A place that was once a port village had completely fallen into ruin. The ground was cracked, and abandoned houses were shattered and scorched…
There were many places where the strata had shifted, and a giant lake had even formed in the middle of the village.
“There was an earthquake once, you see. The island’s access was cut off because of these problems. You don’t need to worry about it.”
The Trickster Slayer, riding in a palanquin carried by child soldiers, explained it that way, but the Slime Slayer’s words were different.
“It was four years ago. A man from this village of Atoosen once swam all the way to <Karsiko>.”
“That far?”
“He was lucky enough to meet witches there and apparently told them the reality of the island… but this is the result. The Dragon Slayer devastated the entire village as a 'punishment'.”
The Dragon Slayer was an individual whose level of power was completely different from that of other Slayers.
Balencidis had seen him once five years ago when he escorted Thuraina to a Black Church council… In terms of sheer presence of power, he was probably more than Thuraina.
Anyway, to be able to completely transform such a vast landscape…
“They never forgive traitors. This is meant to be an example.”
“Then what about your village?”
Though her expression was hidden by a veil, Kora’s voice was filled with deep sorrow.
“They’re probably dead by now. Or dying. Still, I… I couldn’t stand by and ignore this any longer.”
Knowing full well what kind of lives Milia and sister Milea lived for us.
“……”
Master-rank Slayers, leading their subordinates, were stationed all along the island’s pathways. The security was ironclad.
They stared strangely at these peculiar visitors. It was quite rare for visitors to come to the island.
“What’s all this racket about?”
Around that time, a noisy commotion stopped their procession, and soon a butcher with a rusty, twisted knife dragged a young girl forward.
“This brat tried to run away, saying she couldn’t kill her cat.”
The girl clutched the cat in her arms and pleaded desperately.
“I, I can’t kill it. Please, please spare me just this once.”
The Trickster Slayer then let out an exasperated sigh.
“Why can’t you kill it? What’s so hard about killing just one of those?”
When Slayer training begins, each trainee is given a cat.
With the words: “It is your companion in suffering, so take good care of it!”
And when they enter their second year, they are ordered to cut open their cats’ bellies and take out their hearts.
“This one hasn’t learned obedience yet. Hey, drag her to the slaughterhouse and dismember her limbs about five times. By then, she’ll be crying and begging to kill the cat with her own hands.”
“Of course, milord.”
As Balencidis looked meaningfully at the butcher dragging the girl away, the Trickster Slayer smiled politely and shook his head.
“It’s nothing serious. We’re not even killing her! We’re just helping her to be reborn as a great mercenary.”
“By dismembering her?”
“There’s no sensation that corrects a person as quickly as pain. And she’ll regenerate anyway, so there’s nothing to worry about. Come, let’s go.”
Just as they were about to enter the forest along the gravel path, someone walked out from the entrance.
“Duhr-Morris, Trickster Slayer. Generalissimo!”
A chill. Instinctive fear sent shivers down Balencidis’s spine. A tremor echoed in his heart.
‘Oh dear…’
An enormous presence, as if grasping not the body, but the very soul.
A powerful image formed in his mind.
In the fading darkness, even the sense of distance blurred, golden dragon eyes suddenly blazing open…
‘This is it.’
His hands trembled uncontrollably. Kora couldn’t even breathe.
‘The man once called the greatest sword of humanity.’
For the man who emerged from the forest, his silken robe woven with gold thread flowing long, was none other than the Dragon Slayer.
“Huh, what are those?”
“That, that, that.”
The Beast Slayer perched on his shoulder opened its eyes wide, then swooped down onto Kora’s head.
Pipi flew up in front of it, blocking its movement.
The two sun parakeets stared intently at each other in the air, then quickly spread their fiery wings wide and began their pre-emptive strike (?).
“Oh, look at this. Beasl, are you happy to meet one of your own kind?”
“Fake, fake, fake.”
“Shut up, shut up, shut up.”
Just then, as the Trickster Slayer waddled out of the palanquin and tried to whisper something, he waved his hand dismissively.
“Enough. I hate it when a man whispers sweet nothings in my ear.”
“Hmm…”
“Let anyone do as they please. In the end, I’ll take care of everything myself.”
The Dragon Slayer passed by Balencidis and Kora, giving a slight smirk.
He couldn’t turn to look at him. He couldn’t even move until the man disappeared from his sight.
An overwhelming presence, beyond description, as if it had broken his limbs…
“Beasl, stop playing and come here.”
“Come, come, come.”
Only after Pipi, having finished its skirmish with its kin, settled back on Kora’s shoulder, did Balencidis finally gasp for breath.
‘Did he not recognize me?’
Or did he pretend not to know, knowing full well?
That can’t be.
Because there’s no reason for it.
But what if he did? What if he was planning something big?
* * *
To the left of the Tershi Archipelago, the densely clustered islands around Rinkleland were lush with tangerine, olive, and lemon trees.
Originally, it was a fresh land where nature and man-made structures harmonized, but now there were an excessive number of trees.
If you looked closely, you would realize that these were not native trees of this land.
They were *seobancho* (暑斑草 - Summer Spotted Grass), which grew in the demon realm far to the south and were used to extract narcotic ingredients.
Those who harvested the drugs were mostly elderly, and even the "young" ones seemed to be in their 40s.
“Oh, dear, this village is still full of old people’s stench.”
All the residents were forcibly made to kneel in front of the village hall. Outlaws armed with spears and knives menacingly surrounded them.
The tall woman looking down at these pitiful people wore a black conical hat and a witch’s robe, and with her left hand, she spun two steel balls, creating an unpleasant metallic sound.
She was Spiela, the Witch Slayer, second-in-command of the Slayers.
“You know why I’m here, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do.”
A sturdy-built old man with a bushy beard replied. His face was covered in bruises, likely from resisting.
He was Dos, the village chief of Logitello.
“You’ve come to vent your anger again, I suppose. You scum of humanity are always like that.”
An outlaw stepped forward and punched Dos squarely in the solar plexus.
Dos crumpled, coughing up blood, and the residents gasped as Spiela chuckled.
“Scum of humanity? Where else would you find an organization as honest in keeping promises as us? If it weren’t for that Milia bitch, you useless old farts would have all been dead long ago. Just like Atoosen village.”
“Don’t you dare speak that child’s name with your filthy mouth!”
“What a spectacle. What’s so great about that goblin wench? Anyway, she’s she and this is this. Hey, Fish Slayer old man. Do you know what I hate most in the world?”
The high-pitched screech of the steel balls suddenly stopped, and Dos’s body was seized by an unseen force, rising into the air.
It was telekinesis.
The telekinesis was so powerful that an invisible handprint deeply indented Dos’s neck, pulling his face right in front of Spiela’s eyes.
“That is breaking the trust between people.”
“What, what are you talking about…!”
“Didn’t you know? Your granddaughter, that Slime bitch. She betrayed our trust and ran away. So this is collective responsibility.”
The telekinesis lifted Dos high into the air then slammed him onto the ground, splattering blood everywhere. The villagers wailed.
“At such a crucial time when our plans are ripening, it gets really troublesome if things like this keep happening.”
The telekinesis lifted Dos from the ground again, then smashed his face first into a pillar of the village hall.
“To prevent other Slayers from having second thoughts, I’ll make an example of you and kill you more painfully than anyone else.”
As fragments of broken teeth mixed with blood rolled on the ground, one of the female residents finally couldn’t bear it and screamed.
“Stop, please stop… That’s enough, you’ve done enough…!”
She was a woman with a visibly sickly complexion, and quite young, appearing to be in her late 30s. She coughed painfully between her words.
“Enough? That’s laughable.”
Spiela snorted.
“Stay still. Because of my promise with that Milia bitch, I won’t lay a hand on you first, but if you threaten us, that’s a different story.”
Then, with unfocused eyes, she presented Dos, still bleeding, to the residents.
“In that case, I’ll kill you all just like him, in self-defense.”
“……!”
“So, how does it feel, Fish Slayer? Dying because of your granddaughter’s mistake, that is. Go ahead and voice your grievances. I’ll grant you that much as a dying wish.”
His voice was barely a wheeze, as if his lungs were punctured, yet at that moment, Dos was smiling.
“That child did the right thing… unlike you lot… because she’s a diligent and good child… What grievances? If she were here, I would have praised her…”
“Oh, really? Did I not inflict enough pain? This old man must be crazy, still pretending to be tough?”
Then a Master Slayer with a mouse-like face spoke.
“How about pulling out all his teeth, one by one, Captain? Or his fingernails.”
“Oh, that’s a really good idea, but no. I don’t want to stay here any longer. These old people’s bad breath is too awful for me to bear.”
“Hahahaha! You’re absolutely right!”
“Instead, I’ll tear his limbs off and kill him. Come on, scream your heart out like a pig in a slaughterhouse.”
The telekinesis began pulling the village chief’s limbs in different directions.
The speed was quite slow, to maximize the pain, but at that moment, Dos did not beg for his life or utter cries of pain.
Instead, he merely whispered a short curse.
“Someday… the gods… will send you… to the hell you deserve…”
Then Spiela and the outlaws briefly widened their eyes and looked at each other, then immediately started laughing, clutching their stomachs and slapping each other’s backs.
“Hell? Heeell?”
“That old man still believes such nonsense, even after seeing us!”
“There’s no heaven or hell! When you die, it all ends there!”
As the rogues cackled, Spiela snorted.
“Hey, blockhead old man. Who exactly would judge us? The City Witch Association is under my command. Even the Papal Inquisition is our friend, you know?”
The moment creaking sounds finally began to emanate from Dos’s joints.
“Do, Dos!”
“No, no…!”
The moment the residents screamed and one by one turned their heads.
“You wicked bastards, stop it!”
The moment a few of them jumped up to resist.
“Then I shall be your judge.”
Along with that voice, a fragment of power received from a true dragon, which burned its own body to illuminate the lowest depths of this world, was unleashed.
The flames of judgment, which incinerated all darkness on this land without compromise, engulfed the dark entities revived by the power of the old abyss.
In the fiery tempest, the ruffians who were instantly reduced to ashes didn’t even have time to scream.
“Chief Dos…!”
At the same time, Dos, who had nearly had his limbs torn off, tumbled onto the ground, and several residents rushed to him.
It was an attack so powerful that even Spiela herself had to redirect all her power to a defensive barrier.
Only Spiela and two Master-rank Slayers under her command survived; the other twenty subordinates all became unreturnable guests.
“……?”
Unconsciously, everyone’s gaze turned to where the dragon’s flames had erupted.
“Who are you?”
As heat haze shimmered over the blackened, scorched ground, a young man walked out from its center and slightly lifted his conical hat.
“I am a Dragon on a business trip from Hell.”
“I am Archidat!”
From behind him, something cute and adorable swung a fist!
‘A black witch’s robe… a priestess? No, not even a psalm, let alone an incantation scroll.’
Rain Ludwig examined Spiela’s attire for a mere 0.7 seconds!
As Spiela extended her hand, hundreds of pebbles scattered on the gravel path simultaneously lifted and surged forward like arrows!
Hwa-reuk, but a barrier of flame instantly dissolved these pebbles!
“Huh?”
Spiela, puzzled by its power!
This time, three civilian houses twisted and crumpled under telekinesis, then splintered into countless bricks, planks, and nails, charging forward!
But the barrier, which obliterated even this in an instant, suddenly transformed into three pillars of fire and rushed towards Spiela… but.
“No, no. You’re underestimating me, aren’t you?”
As Spiela extended her left hand, they were caught by the telekinesis released from it and halted in mid-air.
What incredible telekinesis!
Seeing telekinesis that controlled even natural phenomena for the first time, Rain Ludwig involuntarily raised an eyebrow.
‘She uses telekinesis as a 4-star spell?’
Bell Quirias was briefly explaining the secret of that power. Of course, being a high-level spell, interference was impossible.
“It looks like your main attribute is fire, but there are always ways to deal with people like you!”
The civilian houses on both sides of Spiela collapsed as if struck by an invisible hammer.
Dust exploded upwards, and from within it, debris from the collapse poured out.
From wood splinters to hinges, household utensils… Was it the same attack as before, then? No, it wasn’t!
“Do you know why telekinesis is strong?”
People were stuck among the debris. Innocent villagers.
“Because it’s versatile. I can even use this kind of attack method!”
What an outrageous tactic!
It was obvious that if the flame barrier wasn’t removed, those poor residents would instantly turn into charcoal alongside the projectiles.
Rain clicked his tongue briefly, then finally dispersed the barrier protecting him!
“Hahahaha! It’s over!”
Pababababak, large and small projectiles rained down from all directions!
Would Rain Ludwig be minced into pieces, as Spiela intended? If he had been alone in this place, perhaps he would have been.
“Archi Punch.”
The sound of a dull crack spreading through the earth, followed by a powerful shockwave that stopped the projectiles in mid-air.
As the force of the reverse wind blew all sorts of projectiles backward, Rain dashed forward!
The Handsome Slayer, who had blocked his path, was engulfed in flames, emitting white smoke!
“Gaaah!”
The Chief Slayer, who had rushed in from the side, was impaled through the solar plexus by a staff, then collapsed, spitting blood.
“Gaaah!”
Then the staff, having dislodged the Chief Slayer, thrust itself towards the Witch Slayer’s eyes.
But an invisible wall, a telekinetic barrier, blocked this attack!
Spiela gave a wicked sneer.
“Alright, I understand how excellent your skills are. In that case, shall I get serious as well?”
Spiela’s eyes flashed.
At that moment, a swirling torrent of telekinesis, and everything in the vicinity became Spiela’s weapon.
“The gravel on the ground? Seawater? Or corpses? Humans? Swords? Spears? Trees? They’re all my power!”
Spiela snapped her fingers.
The gravel field twitched for a moment, then the next moment, those pebbles poured down as thousands of arrows.
Tudadadadada─────!
Immediately, a red barrier enveloped Rain, but before that, a few pebbles pierced Rain’s thigh and entered his body.
“Kuk…!”
Then the next moment, the barrier expanded, transformed into fiery tentacles, and furiously extended to cover Spiela.
Magical transmutation…?
Her surprise was momentary; Spiela, who immediately caught the flames with an invisible force, let out a loud laugh.
“You idiot! Don’t you still understand? Such attacks are useless against me!”
Spiela’s telekinesis was at an extreme level.
It wasn’t just focused on offense like ordinary telekinesis; it had reached a level where it could block all of an opponent’s attacks.
That’s why she was called this during her lifetime: the Telekinetic Lord (念動卿).
“It’s not an attack, though?”
At that moment, Spiela’s vision was dyed pure white. The tentacles had exploded with a thunderous roar that sounded like eardrums tearing.
‘Was he planning to block my vision from the start? Or was it situational judgment?’
A white surge of power that made it impossible to see anything for an instant, as if her optic nerves were completely burned out.
Dangerous.
This is very dangerous.
Spiela immediately lifted her body high into the air with telekinesis. Immediately after, a fiery explosion engulfed the ground where she had just been standing.
‘If I take any more time, I’ll really die… What the hell is that guy?’
Spiela’s eyes flashed blue… and plunged all the villagers watching this battle into despair.
Padeudeuk, all the civilian houses in Logitello village were uprooted from their foundations and soared into the sky!
Not only that, but Oodeudeuk, even the olive trees that densely covered the sea cliffs!
And Kwajijik, several large rocks forming the cliff screamed as they were torn away!
Seawater and gravel, everything that could be lifted from the area, soared up to fill the horizon, then the next moment, plunged towards Rain!
“Rising into the sky was your downfall.”
At that moment, above Rain’s palm, the magic circle crackling with transcendent electricity shattered.
Firefield Defense Hole (火場防穴).
With a deafening roar that tore the sky apart, a vortex of scorching wind engulfed the area.
“Second lightning.”
Pillars of fire erupted and scorching winds raged… In front of that absolute blaze, all the projectiles unleashed by telekinesis turned to charcoal.
“Third lightning.”
The second and third lightning bolts were caught and held in mid-air by telekinesis at the very moment they tried to strike Spiela. A master!
But Spiela gasped roughly. Blood flowed from her eyes and nose.
No matter how much of a telekinetic master she was, suppressing such immense power required her to brace for a corresponding backlash.
“What now? You still have four more shots.”
It is said that the most painful way to die is by fire. Burning at the stake (火刑).
The fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh…!
Spiela miraculously blocked up to six lightning bolts, but eventually let out a piercing scream of unbearable pain.
“Kuaaaaaaah────!”
Spiela, slammed into the ground, writhed in agony from being burned alive and screamed.
“You bastard… do you think you’ll be safe… after touching me…?”
She thrashed wildly, trying to somehow alleviate the flames with telekinesis, but it was a futile struggle.
“The Dragon, the Dragon Slayer will find you… and kill you in the most painful way possible in this world, ha, ha, hahahahahaha…!”
Spiela’s laughter, maddened by pain, stopped as her legs, upper body, arms, and finally her head turned to ash.
Rain Ludwig stepped on the pile of ash with his foot and replied.
“Oh, yeah, tell him to come quickly. To me, the Dragon Slayer Slayer.”