Chapter 392

Raon scratched his neck while watching the zombies and the skeletons fall like autumn leaves to the Light Wind squad’s swords.

‘This is a bit strange.’

The undead monsters were characterized by their powerful regeneration and weak defense.

Zombies and skeletons were the lowest-ranked undead, and their defenses were pretty much inexistent. However, those zombies seemed to have bodies surpassing a warrior’s durability.

“Sir Prica.”

Prica came up next to Raon upon hearing the call.

“Wh-what’s the matter?”

Prica was terrified by the violent wave of aura from the Light Wind squad and came up to him with trembling shoulders.

“Those zombies and skeletons seem sturdier than normal. Do you know anything about this?”

“Ehh…”

Prica’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Bu-but they are destroying them in a single strike. How could you tell…?”

His chin trembled as he pointed at the Light Wind squad slaying the zombies and the skeletons effortlessly.

“Because there’s a difference.”

Ordinary zombies and skeletons should’ve shattered into pieces just from the aura wave of the Light Wind squad.

The undead they were facing were multiple times sturdier than a normal undead.

“You are right, vice squad leader.”

Prica nodded while looking at the zombies.

“Their bodies became sturdier after the water level started to rise in the swamp. There were multiple occasions where they didn’t die from getting hit in their head with an arrow even though it’s supposed to be their weak spot.”

“And did you still not scout the area despite the situation?”

“Lady Wendy naturally reported it to the head of house, but he said that there was no reason to be afraid of some zombies and ordered us to fire two arrows if one wasn’t enough.”

“Two arrows…”

Raon laughed bitterly. His evaluation of Weegen lowered even further than the day before.

“What about the leader of the rangers? Why didn’t he take any measures?”

“Si-Sir Baneder is the one who hates scouting the most.”

“And he still managed to remain as the leader.”

“About that…”

Raon twisted his lips while looking at Prica, who was speechless.

Tsk.

Wrath also wrinkled his nose at the ridiculous situation.

They all stink like trash, just like the swamp they are in.

‘Indeed. They can’t even be recycled at this point.’

There were plenty of hints about the abnormality.

The water level and the number of monsters had increased, and the undead became sturdier than before.

Even one of the three occurrences deserved an immediate investigation, but Weegen must’ve ignored it because he was too lazy and believed that nothing bad was going to happen.

‘I can imagine it.’

He could imagine Wendy begging for an investigation, and the jelly belly head of house ignoring her along with the other executives to enjoy their banquets.

The King of Essence can also see it perfectly.

Wrath clicked his tongue while putting his hand on his forehead.

Something similar happened in Devildom before. Those morons caused trouble and the damage went straight to the people like always.

He gestured to cut his head, saying that they didn’t deserve to be spared.

‘Yes. That issue is even more compelling than the swamp.’

Raon decided that he would make sure to eliminate Weegen and the executives for the sake of the people in House Arianne regardless of his mission.

“How long are you planning to take to kill the zombies?”

Raon advanced by pushing the land with his left foot. He pierced through the fog filling the swamp and wielded his right hand like a blade. A storm was created as a result of his arm stretching in a flash.

Whaam!

The swamp caved in—to the point where the bottom could be seen—and the soaring mud became a reversed waterfall.

Rumble!

By the time the mud fell back on the ground, none of the zombies and skeletons were still standing.

Raon turned around. He stared at Arianne Castle, of which he could only see the shape, with a deadly gaze.

“I’m looking forward to it.”

‘I wonder what kind of excuse you pigs are going to give to maintain your position.’

* * *

The third team leader of House Arianne’s rangers, Prica, grasped his temple while running through the swamp in front of the group.

‘What should I do?’

The leader of the rangers, Baneder, came to see him when he was resting after guiding Raon and the Light Wind squad to the lord’s manor the day before.

Since he didn’t exactly like Baneder, he was going to leave after saying that he was too tired, but Baneder grabbed his shoulder.

“Prica, you should be rising higher by now.”

He had asked whether he was interested in becoming the leader of the rangers since he has been the third team leader for long enough.

Prica couldn’t keep walking. The leader of the rangers was one of the executives of the house, and he could obtain everything including money, position, and honor.

“You only need to do a simple task to gain such a great reward. You just need to slightly alter the location of the investigation.”

Baneder smiled gently and spread the map.

He told him about a direction towards the right instead of the Swamp of Death to make them go to a completely different location.

“Don’t worry. The change in direction from this location will be extremely small. He won’t notice.”

He smiled, saying that Raon couldn’t know the direction of the swamp even if he was a Master.

“If you make them visit this place, you will attain my position within a year.”

Prica asked what was going to happen if something dangerous was occurring in the swamp, and Baneder responded that they just needed to send the Amber Blade division after the Light Wind squad returned to deal with it.

“Our lives take priority. If the Light Wind squad finds out about this, Zieghart will become aware. Even the rangers won’t come out of this unscathed, let alone the executives.”

The stick came to him after the carrot. Prica bit his lip because he wasn’t exactly clean himself either.

“I’ll notify Wellis about this, so I’ll be looking forward to a wise decision.”

Baneder left after saying that. Refusing the offer for the sake of Wendy, who’d helped him a lot, was the right thing to do… but he couldn’t say anything.

“Hey, team leader.”

Wellis came up next to him while Prica was biting his lip and contemplating the matter. He spoke to him in the ranger’s secret language.

“When are you doing it?”

Wellis anxiously rolled his eyes and made a hand signal that implied that they needed to change their direction to go further away.

“Haa…”

Prica closed his eyes, remembering the conversation he’d had with Wendy at daybreak.

“I leave it to you for what’s going to happen tomorrow. Our house won’t be able to escape from this swamp forever if we miss this opportunity.”

She didn’t give any carrots or sticks, unlike Baneder. She was simply making a request, one human being towards another human.

‘Wendy Arianne… She’s the most foolish woman that I know.’

Even though Wendy was entitled to the most comfortable life, she chose the most difficult path.

While the other ladies wore jeweled bracelets on their arms, she wore sandbags instead, and while the ladies were holding parasols, she wielded a sword to run under the sunlight.

Because she was a warrior who earnestly wanted to change the house with her body and soul, he was attracted to her words even without a carrot, and he felt the pain even without a stick.

‘That damn woman…’

He wasn’t feeling any affection or pity towards her. It was Wendy’s life that he’d been witnessing ever since his childhood that was stopping him from following Baneder’s suggestion.

“Team leader!”

Prica returned to his senses and opened his eyes upon hearing another shout from Wellis.

“It will be too late to change the direction after we pass this point.”

“I’m sorry, but…”

Prica smiled while looking forward with an honest gaze.

“We will continue this way.”

“What? What do you mean…?”

“This is our last chance to change the house.”

“Argh! Do you believe you won’t be harmed after doing this just because you are a team leader?”

Wellis glared at him, saying that Prica also had stepped on the mud.

“Did Baneder tell you to threaten me like that?”

“That’s…”

“It’s okay. I have no intention of pretending that I’m clean.”

Prica nodded while looking at Raon, running behind them.

“I’m also going to pay for my sins. I don’t want to do anything that tightens my heart anymore.”

“Team leader!”

Wellis called out to him, but he didn’t even look back. He increased his speed instead and ran through the swamp. 

* * * 

One day had passed since they had entered the Swamp of Death.

Because the Light Wind squad quickly destroyed the hundreds of undead, they would soon reach their destination: the end of the swamp.

Raon smiled faintly while looking at Prica’s back. His burning spirit could be felt from the sprint.

‘This house isn’t completely ruined.’

He was already aware that Prica was plotting something.

He waited without questioning him because Wendy had asked to believe in him, and Prica managed to make up his mind. There was no more hesitation in his footsteps.

‘Was the leader of the rangers the mastermind?’

Since Prica and Wellis were both rangers, Raon could guess that the one who gave them the orders was the leader of the rangers, Baneder.

‘It was probably the direction.’

Since the Swamp of Death was a vast place, a small change in direction would make it so that he was unable to reach their destination.

Baneder must've been trying to lead them to the outskirts instead of the center to show them that nothing was happening.

‘It wouldn’t have worked though.’

Since Raon had the Ring of Fire and the Perception of the Snow Flower, the fog and the swamp in the area were meaningless to him.

If Prica had decided to alter the direction, he would’ve become a target for elimination after they returned.

Raon turned his head to look back.

‘They don’t have any issues either.’

Even though the Light Wind members had been fighting and running all day long, none of them looked tired.

Instead, they seemed to be venting their stress by destroying the undead monsters.

‘Yua and Yulius are also doing a good job.’

Those two were sweating a lot but still managed to run while gritting their teeth to avoid falling behind. They were laudable children.

‘I’ll make a special training schedule for you after we return.’

Bu-but that’s not a reward. It’s a punishment!

‘It is a reward. I’m giving them an opportunity to grow even faster.’

That’s your opinion! Pineapple Girl doesn't want a life like that!

Wrath ground his teeth, saying that he wanted to try opening Raon’s head.

‘Then I’ll ask them late—’

When Raon was turning his head back, a powerful pressure appeared from the front.

Whir.

The energy of death was on a whole different level from before. It must’ve been a high-ranking undead monster, incomparable to zombies and skeletons.

‘So there was such a powerful monster here.’

He could only laugh. Its existence alone was enough excuse to mess up the jelly belly of House Arianne.

“Light Wind squad.”

Raon smiled faintly and raised his hand.

“We have an enemy ahead of us. Get rid of it as fast as possible.”

“Yes!”

The Light Wind squad responded in unison, dashing ahead of the rangers.

Kieeh!

They ran for around ten minutes, and a corpse came running towards them from behind the tree on their left side. It looked similar to a zombie, but it was moving at least four times as fast.

A skeleton with turbid gray bones was walking towards them from the opposite side while holding a sword and shield in its hands.

“Uhh…”

“A-a ghoul!”

“A skeleton warrior!”

Ghouls and skeleton warriors were sturdier and faster than zombies and skeletons.

They were also poisonous. Underestimating them and treating them as zombies could be dangerous.

Cring!

The Light Wind squad kicked the swamp even harder. The aura blades shining in various colors were unleashed from their swords toward the ghouls and the skeleton warriors.

Whaam!

The surface of the swamp cracked like a spider web, and the ghouls and the skeleton warriors were cut into dozens of pieces before sinking beneath the swamp.

“They keep coming!”

“Focus!”

Burren and Martha started to charge towards the ghouls and skeleton warriors as a huge horse appeared from the bush on the right.

Kieeeigh!

Its dark body was at least twice as big as an ordinary horse, and a huge man clad in red armor was riding it.

However, he was holding the head that was supposed to be on his neck with his left arm, and his right hand was holding a huge axe that was as big as an adult man.

“Dullahan!”

Burren increased his aura to the maximum upon finding the dullahan.

“I’ll slay that head!”

Martha violently kicked the ground and dashed ahead of everyone else.

“Isn’t your head heavy?”

Runaan raised her sword above her while looking at the head the dullahan was holding.

The team leaders advanced before the others and attacked him with their swords. The three lines of aura blades combined like a constellation, and the dullahan swung the axe from his right hand.

Claang!

The energy of death spread from the axe and perfectly blocked Burren, Martha, and Runaan’s aura blades.

Whoosh!

The dullahan wasn’t satisfied with playing defense and slashed his axe upwards. The dark power of death was unleashed towards the three’s necks.

Thud!

Runaan went ahead and unleashed her frozen aura. The coldness spread around as smoothly as flowing water and engulfed the power of death before freezing it up.

“Haap!”

Burren dashed from behind Runaan to slash it down like lightning. The barren wind of his blade pierced through the dullahan’s deadly energy and severed his armor.

Grr!

Crimson light radiated from the eyes in the dullahan’s left hand. He spurred his horse on, intending to crush Burren with it.

Rumble!

When hooves clad in the energy of death were about to trample Burren, Martha charged towards it. She unleashed all of her remaining Titan’s aura and slashed down with her sword, which she was holding with both of her hands.

Creak!

The dullahan raised the handle of his axe to slash upwards toward Martha’s attack.

Whaam!

The clash between powers created a violent explosion at the center of the swamp, and the dullahan and the three team leaders were pushed back to their respective sides.

Raon licked his lips while looking at the dullahan’s armor, which was cracked and torn apart.

‘This makes it clear now. The undead in this location have a powerful energy of death.’

He couldn’t say as much before because the zombies and skeletons were too weak, but the dullahan made it clear.

Even though the dullahan’s physical strength and defense were extremely high for an undead, the amount of damage it took from Burren, Runaan, and Martha’s combined attack couldn’t be explained otherwise.

The undead in that location were clad in a lot more energy of death than the average undead.

“He’s too sturdy!”

“I can’t find a good spot to attack because he doesn’t have a head!”

Burren and Martha bit their lips while stepping back from dullahan.

“Start with the horse’s head.”

Runaan unleashed a large amount of coldness while glaring at the horse that the dullahan was riding.

Grrr!

Even though the dullahan’s armor was crushed and he had lost his bones and flesh at different parts of his body, he unleashed even more energy of death than in the beginning.

“Why are there so many of them?!”

“Wasn’t this supposed to be an easy task?”

“Shut up and kill them for now!”

Because the team leaders were occupied with the dullahan, the other Light Wind members were unable to advance due to the sheer number of ghouls and skeleton warriors.

Raon was quietly watching the battlefield when Mark Goetten came towards him.

“Vice squad leader, I’m also going to fight.”

“No.”

Mark Goetten was about to draw his saber but Raon shook his head.

“They can do it.”

It was true that the undead were powerful, but they weren’t strong enough to call it impossible for the Light Wind squad to defeat them.

“Light Wind squad.”

Raon inhaled a little before using aura in his voice.

“Did I go too easy on you during your training?”

The Light Wind squad’s hands flinched at the same time upon hearing that cold voice.

“There are still so many of them even though I ordered you to quickly deal with them. I’ll need to come up with a new training method.”

As soon as he said those words, a powerful madness started to emerge from their shoulders.

“N-no! Anything but that!”

Dorian thrust his sword while screaming, and the wall of skeleton warriors in front of him crumbled at once.

“Ch-charge!”

“Uaaaah!”

“Kill them all!”

The Light Wind squad started to tear the ghouls and skeleton warriors apart with their eyes blazing with slaughter.

The way the undead were easily defeated by a single strike of the swordsmen made it look like they were dealing with zombies instead of ghouls.

“Dieeee!”

Yellow aura burst from Martha’s sword and destroyed the dullahan’s shoulder entirely.

“I don’t want a new training method!”

Burren sniffled and stabbed the horse’s body. A small storm occurred from his blade to pierce into the dark body of the horse.

“I wanna sleep.”

Runaan extended her Snow Flower. Silver flowers spread from the silver blade to surround the dullahan’s body.

Whaap!

The shards of coldness were like a different type of Flame Spirit and managed to freeze the dullahan’s body before it regained its balance.

Claang!

Burren, Runaan, and Martha dashed at the same time, aiming to mercilessly destroy the frozen body of the dullahan.

Rumble!

The three team leaders and the Light Wind squad tore all the undead into pieces before they turned around.

“Gasp!”

“Th-they killed the ghouls and the skeleton warriors so easily…”

“The dullahan was torn to pieces!”

“I know that they were powerful, but this is unexpected…”

The rangers swallowed nervously while looking at the Light Wind squad that managed to easily defeat the undead clad in a powerful aura of death.

Raon leisurely nodded while looking at the Light Wind squad.

“See? You can do it if you try. Why were you wasting your time?”

The madness in the Light Wind squad’s eyes intensified even further upon hearing that.

“Ugh…”

“That damn bastard!”

“He didn’t do anything the whole time…”

“It’s my fault for being weak, damn it.”

Their fists trembled because they couldn’t even talk back.

“Sir Prica.”

Raon shook his hand at Prica, who was watching them with his jaw dropped from next to him.

“It’s almost over. Let’s quickly finish this off.”

“Un-understood.”

The rangers took the lead once again and guided Raon and the Light Wind squad. The fog was getting thicker and thicker, but no more monsters appeared.

Three pillars came into view from afar, signaling the end of the swamp, before they encountered a single zombie after the dullahan.

“Was the dullahan the last monster here?”

“It looks like it.”

“It was fortunately an easy mission.”

Everyone was getting careless, and they were about to smile when Raon raised his hand.

“Stop.”

The Light Wind squad and the rangers stopped walking upon hearing his order.

“Raon?”

“What’s the problem now?”

Raon smiled while pointing under the pillar.

“The master of the swamp is surfacing.”

As soon as he made that declaration, the swamp under the pillar started to boil. The yellow-green mud turned dark and a white skull started to emerge.

Whir!

The white skull was clad in dark red armor and crimson flames were bursting from its empty eye sockets.

Rumble!

Because its energy wave was on a whole different level from the undead they’d encountered up to that point, even the Light Wind squad’s breath caught.

“Gasp!”

“A-a death knight?”

“Why is such a monster in this place…?”

The powerful aura of death emerging from the dark knight made the rangers step back with trembling chins.

The death knight, also called the knight of death, was glaring at the Light Wind squad with blazing eyes showing signs of intelligence.

“Kuh…”

“Is this the death knight?”

“There’s really all sorts of things here…”

With the three team leaders starting it off, the Light Wind squad released their pressure to resist the death knight’s aura wave.

Raon rolled his lips into a smile while looking at the death knight and the Light Wind squad.

“A perfect target for practice has arrived.”

The Light Wind squad’s shoulders trembled even more violently than when they first saw the death knight upon hearing his cold voice.

Are you sure you should be saying that in this situation…?

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Writing Ant, 글개미]

[Translator – Kyangi]

[Proofreader – Harley]