Chapter 798

The Regressed Mercenary’s Machinations

Release schedule: 3 chapters per week

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Darents hesitantly backed away, glancing around.

Dozens of daggers, not even held in anyone’s hands, were floating in midair, emanating aura blades.

It was a technique that defied common sense. He had never once imagined such a thing could be possible.

‘Wh-What is this? Is it magic?’

To Darents, it was only natural to assume it was a spell taught by a dragon.

Whether it was magic or not didn’t change the fact that it was dangerous.

Because the daggers emitting aura blades had surrounded him from all directions.

It felt as if he were being encircled by dozens of Transcendents.

‘There’s no way out.’

No matter how he looked, he couldn’t find an opening. No matter which direction he moved, he would be struck by a barrage of attacks.

Darents changed his thinking.

That was because he judged that the one he had just tried to kill, Marika, wasn’t a Transcendent.

Having shown a level close to one, there was no longer any reason to keep fighting here.

If he focused solely on escaping, he might just succeed. To create that opening, Darents deliberately spoke up.

“What kind of technique is this? A spell the dragon taught you?”

“A technique I created to kill you.”

“You… created this?”

“Yeah. Because I had to kill all of you by myself.”

“……”

Darents swallowed hard.

She had created a technique like this with such a motive. And such a monstrous technique at that.

Just how gifted was she?

No one had ever suspected Marika possessed such talent. Not even those who had watched her since childhood.

That could only mean her talent had either blossomed after meeting the dragon…

Or that Marika had been hiding her abilities all along.

Marika’s eyes gleamed with a chilling light.

When she raised her hand, the daggers began to release even sharper intent.

“You probably didn’t know this, Darents, but I have memories from when I was a child.”

“……”

“I just pretended not to remember so I could survive. But I tried every day to not forget.”

“…At that age?”

“I did.”

“Is that even possible?”

“It was for me.”

Darents began breathing heavily at Marika’s words. He simply couldn’t believe it.

All assassins were orphans. To carry out their missions properly, they couldn’t be tied to any relationships—that was just how it worked.

But no matter how lawless the times, kidnapping orphans at will wasn’t easy.

After all, once grown, they became a source of labor and wealth to the lord.

And assassins weren’t the only ones who targeted orphans.

Thieves’ guilds, intelligence networks, mercenary corps, slave traders—there were many groups that preferred orphans.

Any organization, when lacking in numbers, inevitably declines. That’s why some, at times, resorted to extreme measures to replenish their ranks.

One such method was to murder the parents and forcibly create young orphans.

Marika had been a child from a slash-and-burn farming village.

The leaders of Crips had secretly massacred the villagers overnight.

Then they abducted the sleeping children and raised them as assassins.

They lied to the children, telling them that bandits had attacked the village and that Crips had rescued them.

At first, they even took care of them with great attention.

Because the children were so young, they quickly forgot their past.

And so, those children grew up as assassins of Crips.

Marika spoke through her tears.

“One day, I woke up in your damned lair. But I never wanted to forget my parents. I forced myself to relive those memories every single day so I wouldn’t lose them.”

“…You were only three years old at the time.”

“Yeah. That’s why you all thought I’d forgotten. But I was just too scared to say anything.”

“…Unbelievable.”

Darents and the other leaders of Crips—had no idea.

They didn’t know that Marika was a once-in-a-generation genius.

With her brilliant mind, she had never stopped doubting Crips’ assassins.

She focused solely on hiding her talent and strength to survive.

And even then, she never gave up on holding onto her memories of her parents—

those brief, happy days when she had been loved.

Later, when she was a bit older, she came to understand the truth.

She learned what became of the orphans they had taken.

“You scum killed people just to create orphans and used them like disposable tools.

All because you feared they’d eventually learn the truth and turn against you.”

“……”

Everything Marika said was true.

Only carefully selected individuals were trained in the elite techniques of the assassins and allowed to become leaders.

They were either orphans who had joined of their own will or at least ones whose families the assassins hadn’t killed directly.

Even when creating orphans through murder, only those individuals participated.

Once Marika learned the full truth, she resolved to annihilate Crips.

“Trash like you shouldn’t be allowed to exist in this world.”

Marika’s fingers moved slightly in the air.

The floating daggers traced arcs of light and began to move in unison.

Swaaah!

Brilliant streaks of light spun in a circle, centered on Darents.

It was a breathtaking sight, like dozens of meteors falling all at once.

Kang! Kang! Kang!

True to his status as a Transcendent, Darents deflected several daggers with superb reflexes.

But every time he blocked one, another would strike from a different direction.

Beams of light rained down on him from all sides—

From above, below, left, and right. Even from beneath his feet.

He no longer had a single moment to catch his breath.

Kagagagagagagang!

The clash of metal rang out, and sparks flew.

As time passed, wounds began to appear all over Darents’ body.

He kept trying to escape, retreating whenever he saw an opening, but the daggers only pressed in closer.

‘There’s no escape.’

The daggers weren’t simply attacking.

The trails of light they left behind intertwined, forming a perfect circular prison.

The moment one entered it—

There was no way out.

“Ah…”

Before he knew it, Darents’ vision was filled with a blinding brilliance, like an aurora of blades.

Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-KWANG!

The daggers surged like a storm.

One dagger would twist an opening, and another would drive through it.

They stabbed from above, slashed from the sides, and pierced from below.

The torrent of aura blades shredded his flesh and sliced through bone.

Blood and light mingled in the air, bursting forth.

Darents’ resistance slowed.

His body staggered with each dagger that passed through.

And just when his resistance was on the verge of becoming meaningless—

Thunk.

The movement of the daggers stopped.

Soaked in blood, Darents wavered and looked at Marika.

“You… how did you…”

In his eyes were terror and despair, disbelief and shock, regret, and rage—all swirling together.

Marika slowly extended her hand forward and spoke.

“You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this day.”

“Ghhh…”

“I couldn’t even cry. I was scared you’d notice even a single tear track.”

“Gghhhkk…”

“You’ll never understand those hellish days.”

“W-Wait… Wait a moment…”

“Today… all of you disappear.”

“Spare me… Please… Spare me…”

“Rot in hell, you bastard.”

As she finished speaking, Marika clenched her fist in the air.

KWAANG!

With an explosive burst of light, dozens of daggers crossed paths simultaneously and pierced through Darents’ body.

His form froze in place.

His face was now frozen in absolute terror.

And moments later—

Thud.

Darents’ body shattered into dozens of pieces and crumbled powerlessly.

Marika looked down at the corpse and let out a deep sigh.

With that one breath, it felt as though something that had long weighed heavily on her chest had finally lifted.

“…Thank goodness.”

It had been a difficult time.

She had lived every day in fear of being found out that she still remembered her parents.

Even then, she never stopped working to improve her skills.

The enemy she had to face was far too massive, but she never gave up.

She even tried to use the Pope’s orders to wipe them out.

That plan may have failed—

But Marika smiled.

Because that failure had led to something far better.

“…Truly, thank goodness.”

Marika repeated those words over and over again.

She truly was glad she had joined Julien’s Mercenary Corps.

Had she not, she would never have been able to exact her revenge like this with her own hands.

She had been lucky. She was grateful for that miraculous encounter.

With a noticeably lighter expression, Marika raised her daggers.

The daggers she unleashed scattered in all directions, targeting the hidden assassins of Crips.

Today, Crips would vanish from this world.

Sssk! Sssk! Sssk!

Marika moved swiftly, hunting down and killing the assassins of Crips.

At the same time, she cut down the Imperial knights who got in her way.

With another Transcendent joining the battle, the Imperial forces collapsed even faster.

Chaos spread further as an assassin who couldn’t even be seen clearly ran amok.

As she moved across the battlefield, Marika soon passed by where Ghislain was.

Brushing past him, she murmured quietly,

“…Thank you.”

She meant it with all her heart.

If not for him, she wouldn’t have been able to complete her revenge with her own power.

Ghislain slung his spear over his shoulder and smirked.

“No need to mention it.”

He knew. Even without him, Marika would have made it happen.

All he had done was help her reach that moment a little sooner.

Though Marika herself didn’t seem to realize that.

Ghislain glanced around. At some point, the Imperial army—despite their numbers—had taken a defensive posture.

It wasn’t because someone had ordered them to.

It was pure instinct—everyone trying to survive.

No matter how loudly the commanders barked from the rear, the Imperial soldiers no longer charged in aggressively.

“Guess it’s time to wrap this up.”

Ghislain repositioned his spear.

Julien’s Mercenary Corps was exhausted. There was no benefit in dragging out the fight.

Dududududududu!

The horses began to charge again. Ghislain shouted loudly toward the Imperial forces.

“Move!”

At his shout, the Imperial soldiers backed off and opened a path.

It was like prey instinctively shrinking away at the predator’s roar.

Ghislain’s target was the commanders, mages, and priests who had stayed safely in the rear.

The rear commanders screamed in a panic.

“S-Stop him! Quickly, stop him!”

But no one moved.

They were too busy trying to dodge the weapons flying through the air.

Dududududududu!

The knights guarding the far rear stepped forward with grim expressions.

They were knights who understood honor thus, they did not flee.

Ghislain twisted his lips into a smirk and muttered,

“A good stance.”

Mana gathered at the tip of his spear, extending into a long streak of blue light.

“But not a wise decision.”

KWAANG!

When Ghislain swung his spear, the head of the first knight to charge was severed instantly.

As the spraying blood drew a crimson arc in the sky, his spear had already thrust toward the second knight.

Puh-uhng!

The tip of the spear shattered a knight’s shield and pierced through his chest.

The third knight’s helmeted head was smashed to pieces.

KWAANG! KWAANG! KWAANG!

Ghislain’s movements were like lightning swirling within a storm.

With every swing of his spear, the knights fell, unable to mount any defense.

Only the sound of short breaths, heavy armor being crushed, and bodies collapsing filled the air.

In an instant, a massive hole had been torn into the knights’ formation.

The Imperial commanders, mages, and priests in the rear were now completely exposed, without a single barrier to protect them.

In a panic, the mages redirected all their mana toward shielding themselves.

The priests did the same.

And then, a hell unlike any seen before unfolded on the battlefield.

KWA-AAAAAAANG!

Nakturah’s 8th-Circle magic erupted across the field.

Ereneth’s spirits rampaged once more, laying waste to the Imperial army.

A mage or spirit-wielder left undisturbed on the battlefield was a terror in itself.

Even the mercenaries fighting alongside them had to halt their advance in the face of such destruction.

“Aaaargh!”

“What the hell are the mages doing?!”

“Stop those spells! Block the magic!”

Cries of despair and blame echoed from every corner of the Imperial army.

And yet, the Imperial mages and priests made no response.

No—it wasn’t that they didn’t respond. They couldn’t.

Because standing before them now—

Ghislain—was more terrifying than anything else.

A few knights charged at him again, but they too were skewered and killed without even swinging their weapons properly.

Ghislain slowly extended his spear and spoke.

“Who’s the highest-ranking commander left?”

All eyes turned to one place.

A middle-aged man, now the focus of everyone’s gaze, raised his hand with a terrified expression.

“V-Viscount Horento…”

“There are still thousands of soldiers left. Are you going to keep fighting?”

“……”

“You have three seconds. Choose. One, two…”

“I surrender!”

At Viscount Horento’s words, Ghislain lowered his spear and said,

“Mages, cast amplification spells. Let him make the declaration.”

The mages obeyed without resistance.

Soon, the voices of Horento and the other commanders echoed across the battlefield.

“Surrender! The Imperial army surrenders!”

“We have been defeated!”

“Further fighting is meaningless! Surrender now!”

At the same time, the movements of Julien’s Mercenary Corps ceased.

The remaining Imperial knights and soldiers immediately dropped their weapons and fell to the ground the moment the order was given.

Granted, Nakturah did pretend not to hear and cast one more spell—

But it was blocked by one of Ereneth’s spirits.

Ghislain looked over the surrendered Imperial soldiers with a satisfied expression.

“I like it.”

Not because they surrendered.

But because—even with all their Transcendents gone and the battle clearly lost—

They hadn’t surrendered until the order was given.

Though some had flinched and hesitated, intimidated by Ghislain’s might,

None had fled the battlefield or discarded their weapons completely.

They were indeed a force trained to face the Demonic Abyss.

Dismounting his horse, Ghislain gestured to Viscount Horento.

“Come closer. I have some questions.”

Viscount Horento dismounted and timidly approached Ghislain.

Then, without warning, Ghislain drew a luxurious hand axe from behind his waist and said,

“From now on, you’d better get real good at understanding my mood. Got it?”

Still confused, Viscount Horento nodded instinctively.