Chapter 126 – Has the Revenge Been Fulfilled?
Karl moved swiftly, tracking Lochter’s trail.
The forest was stained with red in many places—traces of fierce battle. Among them, Lochter’s tracks stood out the most, indicating that his injuries were more severe than initially thought.
The real problem was that the trail was still fresh and visible. Karl let out a groan as he glanced up at the sky.
“Damn it, the rain stopped.”
“The hunters seem to be following Lord Lochter’s trail as well.”
It appeared that the remaining hunters hadn’t given up on the chase yet.
Despite the explosion that had taken out more than half of the hunters when the assassins carrying the bombs (Boom) had detonated along with Crux’s death, the surviving hunters still pursued Lochter with burning greed in their eyes.
“The lure of one million gold is really sothing, isn’t it?”
“Of course. Honestly, if I hadn’t gotten involved with Lochter, I might’ve considered joining this bounty hunt myself.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“More hunters will gather because of the explosion. We need to hurry.”
Elton nodded in agreent.
The explosion had been loud enough to shake the forest. It was bound to draw attention, aning even more hunters would co, following the trail.
“Here, take this.”
“What’s this?”
“We need to divert attention. You’ll have to do so hard work.”
What Karl handed to Elton was a whistle.
He had seen Crux use the sa whistle to summon hunters earlier.
It should be enough to draw attention away for a while.
Elton took the whistle, nodded once, and disappeared into the opposite direction of the forest.
Not long after—
Piiiiiiiiiiiiiii—!
A sharp whistle sound echoed loudly through the forest from all directions.
While Elton distracted any new hunters by drawing their attention, Karl hastened his pursuit of Lochter’s trail.
His speed increased drastically, and he noticed sothing—his body felt unusually light.
With each step he took, the acceleration beca faster than expected.
It was the exhilaration of having ascended to four stars.
‘Good. That’s a relief.’
Alongside the heightened sense of elation ca a deep sense of relief.
The hellish experiences they had endured in the experintal prison had driven their rapid awakening.
Within just half a year, Elton had reached four stars, while the rest of their group had ascended to three stars. Karl, however, had remained stagnant for years, and that had filled him with unease.
He had always blad his lack of progress on his missing arm, believing that its absence was hindering his growth.
But in truth, it had only been an excuse.
Ultimately, it had been a matter of mindset.
Now that he had resolved his inner conflicts, new possibilities were beginning to surface in his mind.
‘I might even be able to relearn the techniques I had given up on.’
Karl reached for a dagger at his waist, turning it over in his hand.
It was smaller and lighter than a standard dagger, closer to a stiletto.
After losing his arm, Karl had realized the limitations of his growth and focused all his efforts on developing new techniques.
Since close combat was no longer a viable option for him, he had chosen long-range techniques instead.
He specialized in throwing daggers, a skill that could be used even with only one arm.
By channeling energy into his remaining arm, he had trained extensively in dagger-throwing. Now, having reached four stars, he could compensate for the lack of power he had previously faced.
Checking the row of daggers neatly strapped around his waist, Karl ntally reviewed his techniques.
Suddenly, urgent voices could be heard from a nearby direction.
“...It’s Lochter!”
“What?! What are those?! Get rid of them quickly!”
“Push them back! We outnumber them by far!”
It was the hunters’ shouts.
Sensing nothing unusual from the direction of the voices, Karl imdiately leapt toward the source of the sound.
Bursting through the thick forest, he caught sight of a group of hunters huddled together, encircling their prey.
There were slightly more than fifty of them.
Three mbers of Karl’s group, whom he had dispatched earlier, were fending off the hunters to protect Lochter.
Without hesitation, Karl drew a dagger from his waist and began throwing it.
His skill, honed over years, allowed the dagger to fly exactly along the trajectory he envisioned in his mind.
Thuk!
“Gugh!”
“Wha-what’s going on?! Where—ugh!”
In one breath, Karl threw five daggers, each finding its mark perfectly. Five hunters clutched their throats and collapsed in succession.
It was sharp, swift, and silent.
Drawing another dagger, Karl shouted loudly.
“Reinforcents from Hunt have arrived!”
The sudden ambush, coupled with Karl’s declaration of ‘reinforcents,’ threw the hunters into disarray.
Taking advantage of the confusion, Karl’s group launched a fierce counterattack, driving back the hunters.
Each mber of the group was a three-star combatant.
Though so hunters tried to rally and resist, they were quickly taken down by daggers flying from behind.
In re monts, the hunters’ formation collapsed, and they began fleeing in terror.
When Karl’s group tried to pursue them, Karl raised his hand to stop them.
“Don’t chase them. Call for the others instead—quickly!”
Karl’s group currently consisted of ten mbers in total.
As three of them split off in different directions to call for reinforcents, Karl approached Lochter.
Leaning against a tree trunk for support, Lochter was barely standing. His condition was far worse than expected.
Having endured an exhausting escape and fought off what was essentially a suicide squad of hunters numbering in the hundreds, even a five-star knight had his limits. Lochter looked like he could collapse at any mont, yet he stubbornly clung to consciousness.
“...You ca?”
“If you have the energy to talk, lie down.”
“I’ll receive treatnt standing.”
When Lochter turned and revealed his back, Karl let out a sigh.
Several bolts were embedded deep in Lochter’s back.
As Karl pulled one out, he imdiately noticed sothing strange. A dark, ominous aura emanated from the bolt. Even after applying a potion, the bleeding didn’t stop easily.
“Damn it… it’s a curse from the shamans.”
“No wonder the bleeding won’t stop.”
“You must be feeling dizzy. Are you alright?”
“I’m fine.”
Aside from the wounds on his back, Lochter’s entire body was covered in minor cuts. From injuries inflicted by the bombs (Boom) to those caused by the hunters, his body was in terrible shape.
While none of the injuries were fatal, the sheer number of them was the issue. The pain must have been excruciating, yet Lochter’s expression remained indifferent.
“...Do you not feel pain?”
“I’ve just grown used to it.”
Karl had always known Lochter was a tough individual, but seeing it in person made him realize just how extraordinary Lochter’s fortitude was.
Without saying anything further, Karl poured all the potions he had onto Lochter’s wounds and focused on treating him.
A brief silence settled between them.
It was Lochter who eventually broke the silence.
“Has the revenge… been fulfilled?”
“Thanks to you.”
“How does it feel?”
“I don’t know…”
Karl didn’t bother explaining his hollow feelings to Lochter.
It was sothing one could only understand after carrying out their own revenge.
Still, there was one thing Karl could say for certain.
“It’s a difficult feeling to describe. But… I do feel like I can finally start noticing things I’d previously ignored.”
“Things you ignored? What do you an?”
“Have you looked at the sky recently? It’s like that. Things that were always there but forgotten. Now I can see them.”
Lochter lifted his head slightly to look at the sky.
The dark clouds had cleared, revealing a bright, blue sky.
Perhaps due to the potion’s effect, Lochter’s expression appeared lighter than before.
“I don’t understand what you an.”
“Maybe you will, once you’ve fulfilled your own revenge.”
“Is that so? Then it’s your turn now. I trust you’ll keep your promise.”
Karl nodded firmly.
The grueling days of escape that began downstream of the Korun River.
No matter how much they erased or manipulated their tracks, the group’s location continued to be exposed. Sensing sothing was off, Karl disguised himself as a hunter and began investigating the area.
That’s when he discovered that Lochter’s whereabouts were being tracked in real ti.
From that mont, Karl’s group changed their strategy. They split up and moved separately from Lochter, providing indirect support for his escape.
In the midst of this effort, Karl heard the sound of a whistle—and at the end of that sound, he found his target of vengeance, Crux.
[“I’ll draw their attention. Promise —if you achieve your revenge, you’ll help .”]
It was the deal Lochter had proposed to Karl. Foolishly, Karl had upheld that promise to the very end.
“I vowed to serve the one who helped achieve my revenge. The others agreed as well. We’ll follow you as our lord…”
“No. That won’t be necessary.”
Lochter firmly shook his head.
“I’ve told you already. I don’t need a lord or loyalty. I’ve shed enough blood and tears in the na of loyalty—let be the only one who carries that burden.”
“……”
“Support is enough.”
Faced with Lochter’s unwavering gaze, Karl chuckled quietly and nodded.
‘Who could break that stubbornness?’ he thought.
Once Lochter had recovered sowhat, he began rummaging through the scattered weapons on the ground, looking for sothing usable.
Ordinary swords couldn’t withstand the power of an aura sword for long.
As he repeated this action, Karl clicked his tongue in exasperation.
“Seriously, why’d you break that fine sword of yours?”
“I couldn’t use the sword of the family I sought revenge against, could I?”
“And now, thanks to that, you’re going through hell like this.”
“It doesn’t matter. Also, why did you use the na Hunt? I clearly told you I had nothing to do with Hunt.”
“When enemies hear that reinforcents are coming, they tend to act more cautiously. It works in our favor during an escape. Rumors or not, in this situation, we need to make use of every advantage we can get.”
“I don’t like it.”
“Lochter.”
“……?”
“Thank you for refusing to be my lord. Otherwise, I might have died first, suffocating from frustration.”
“What do you an by that?”
“It ans—just shut up and follow .”
A man driven more by conviction than practicality.
He seed like the type who would die early.
But Karl also knew that if soone like Lochter managed to survive to the end, he would beco a figure of trendous influence.
That was what Karl was betting on.
‘He’s different.’
The man who had driven him to move toward Blyer—
Arthur Clayton.
That cunning bastard. Unlike Lochter, Arthur seed like the kind of guy who would live until he was old and decrepit, and sohow, still end up doing sothing big. He was soone Karl needed to catch at all costs, and he was curious about his whereabouts.
Since Arthur had promised to leave specific markings at every location he visited, Karl figured they would cross paths sooner or later.
Arthur didn’t strike him as the type to die easily.
“Can you move right away?”
“Anyti.”
“Follow .”
Karl began running toward the dense forest.
Elton was buying ti with the whistle, but that could only last so long.
He felt a gradually tightening sensation in his chest.
Since ascending to four stars, his danger detection senses had beco even sharper.
It was as if his awareness had beco more refined.
Before the pressure could grow worse, he headed toward the location where he had arranged to et with the others.
Looking back, he saw that Lochter was keeping up, but his movents seed noticeably slower than before.
His fatigue had likely reached its limit. That was a concern.
The encirclent remained intact, and the ominous sense of danger hadn’t disappeared.
When they reached a large boulder, they found the rest of the group waiting there.
Elton had not yet arrived, but they received word that he was on his way.
In the anti, Karl began contemplating.
‘Where should we go next?’
He had co this far by following his instincts and survival sense.
But now, he had to decide on a destination. Since Lochter’s location kept getting exposed, staying within Blyer’s territory would be a foolish move.
They needed to head sowhere their pursuers wouldn’t dare follow.
‘Beneta or Etor.’
These were the only two forces within Tobaron capable of keeping Blyer in check.
However, Karl hadn’t made a decision yet.
Whichever place they went, it was likely that the inhabitants would favor Blyer over them. Initially, he had considered Beneta, thinking of Hunt’s reputation.
[“Lochter Felice, the sword who operates as Hunt’s field commander.”]
But Lochter had dismissed it as nonsense, expressing distrust toward Beneta and suspecting ulterior motives.
As for Etor, Karl felt uneasy about heading there.
It gave him the distinct feeling of walking straight into a deathtrap.
Of all the places his senses warned him about, Etor was the one he was most reluctant to enter.
In the end, they needed to move toward a place where they might find allies who could assist Lochter.
“Wait. Hold on.”
Suddenly, a mory of sothing Lochter had said surfaced in Karl’s mind.
“Do you have any way to contact that person? Or do you know where they might be staying?”
“That person? Who are you talking about?”
“The one who tipped you off about the traitor who tried to kill you in the mine.”
“I heard they were one of the ‘Fingers’ trained by the forr lord.”
“Fingers?”
“They were called the Shadows of Blyer. Kal had them all purged.”
“That guy is still alive, isn’t he?”
“I’m not sure. I didn’t know who they were at the ti.”
The knight, Ephelroa.
He was one of Kal’s spies who had been planted as Lochter’s close confidant. If Lochter hadn’t learned about him in ti, it would have ended disastrously. As a result, Lochter had a favorable opinion of the mysterious ‘Finger’ who had warned him.
“You said you heard their na, right?”
“I did.”
“What’s the na?”
“……”
“What’s taking so long? Why are you hesitating?”
“It doesn’t feel right to casually ntion the na of soone who saved my life…”
“Cut the crap! This isn’t the ti to be thinking about that!”
“It’s important to .”
“We need allies. If this person is one of the ‘Fingers,’ I might know them. Hurry up and say it. It’ll help us plan our next move.”
“I doubt you’ll know them. I hadn’t heard of them before either…”
“Do you see Elton over there? Hurry up and say it!”
Just then, Elton erged from the bushes, covered in blood. He appeared to have been injured while drawing attention away from Lochter.
Groaning as he treated his wounds, Elton’s disheveled appearance prompted Karl to glare at Lochter with sharp eyes. Reluctantly, Lochter sighed deeply and opened his mouth.
Seeing people sacrifice themselves for him made it difficult to remain stubborn.
“Arthur Clayton.”
“…What?”
“Arthur Clayton. That’s the na of the ‘Finger’ who told about the traitor, Ephelroa.”
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