Chapter 132: This Sacrifice Is Mine
Karl and Elton made their way forward, weaving through the tightly packed crowd of hunters. For so reason, veteran-looking hunters were gathering others from all directions and herding them into a wide clearing in the forest.
The sight of hunters streaming in was noticeable in real-ti.
What was peculiar was that before being allowed to enter the clearing, each person received ten gold coins.
Another shout echoed through the area.
“If you want gold coins, gather here!”
“When Lord Blyer succeeds in the hunt, more gold will be distributed to those who arrive on ti! Latecors won’t get a single coin!”
Listening in on the chatter as they brushed past the hunters, Karl noticed that a rumor was circulating—that anyone who stayed here and waited would receive a generous amount of gold.
Whereas Karl had scattered the hunter groups by spreading a rumor about reinforcents joining the hunt, these people were doing the opposite—using gold to draw back the scattered hunters.
‘What kind of sche is this?’
Success in the hunt?
Weren’t they currently in the middle of hunting their target?
Wasn’t he being chased relentlessly just monts ago?
No matter how he looked at it, this situation didn’t seem related to the ongoing target hunt.
It was clear that this place had been created for a different purpose.
“The rumor is true! Lord Blyer himself confird it!”
Kal Blazer.
That butcher was handing out gold coins without expecting any return.
As soon as the gathered hunters each received ten gold coins, those who had been skeptical began to cheer and willingly follow orders.
Ten gold coins.
For hunters, that was a considerable sum.
All around the clearing, groups of hunters gathered in clusters, laughing and counting their coins. So were even praising Lord Blyer, thankful for receiving a reward in exchange for lending their help.
Karl stood silently for a mont, scanning the crowd before fixing his gaze on the golden coins resting in his palm.
Golden coins gleaming before his eyes.
For so reason, he felt uneasy.
“Throw them away.”
“…What?”
“Throw away all the gold coins you received.”
In a whisper, he instructed Elton to discreetly discard the coins.
Behind Lord Blyer were shamans. Even simple gold coins could beco deadly tools if those sorcerers had tampered with them.
There were no visible signs of the blood-cloaked sorcerers nearby, so it might have been pure suspicion. But it didn’t hurt to be cautious.
Reluctantly, Elton secretly buried the coins in the dirt, a regretful look on his face. He doubted anyone else would be willing to discard their coins.
No, anyone who did would surely be mocked as a lunatic.
‘We’ll have to find the right ti to slip away…’
As Karl glanced around, he noticed that the hunters weren’t being forced to stay. That explained why they could remain gathered in such a lively, relaxed manner.
Thanks to the rapidly growing crowd, which now numbered in the hundreds, the clearing was filling up quickly.
Once again, Karl felt firsthand how formidable the allure of one million gold coins could be.
Even weaklings with no real skill had gathered here in droves.
Karl and Elton walked slowly through the crowded space, carefully watching for an opening to slip away.
“They’re here.”
“I know.”
From the forest where he had previously erged, the hunting dog unit appeared.
Among them, Karl spotted the shaman doll Elton had described earlier.
Had their decision to move even a little later been delayed, they would have been caught.
But that relief didn’t last long. Behind the hunting dog unit, a hundred more well-ard hunters arrived.
As soon as they started spreading out, tension soared.
If they charged into the clearing all at once, it would only be a matter of ti before Karl and Elton were discovered.
But then—
“…Huh?”
Rather than approaching Karl’s direction, the hunters began to fan out into the forest surrounding the clearing.
What was going on?
Didn’t they already know his location?
To create more distance between himself and the hunting dog unit, Karl slowly began moving toward the opposite side of the clearing.
“Shit, I’m trapped.”
If he tried to leave now, he might get caught. But staying here seed just as dangerous, as it felt like only a matter of ti before they were found.
Still, Karl figured that as long as they could shake off those hunters, things wouldn’t get any worse.
Just those hunters…
But that was Karl’s fatal misunderstanding.
The mont they reached the opposite end of the clearing, the dense forest ahead stirred violently, and a group erged from within.
There were only thirty of them.
However, as soon as they appeared, the atmosphere in the clearing grew deathly quiet.
Cloaks dyed in blood red fluttered ominously.
Underfoot, they stood atop ten Van Dyke puppets.
Karl instinctively flinched and stepped back.
Though they were few in number, the pressure they exuded was far greater than the hundred hunters across from them.
Shamans.
About twenty of them.
He felt as though his veins had frozen solid. His clenched fists trembled slightly.
It was as if he were a rabbit, cornered by a pack of wolves.
Karl retreated slowly, step by step.
At that mont, his eyes t those of a man leading the shamans.
A man with a sharp, sinister face.
As soon as the man’s gaze twisted into a mocking sneer, Karl clenched his lips tightly, unable to move.
An overwhelming sense of pressure weighed down on him.
Was this it? Was this where it ended?
As he braced himself for death, the man’s mouth opened in a low, mocking tone.
“Handing out gold coins… no wonder even la cripples co crawling. Then again, it’s probably the only ti a loser like you would ever get to hold gold.”
“……?”
After sneering at Karl, the man turned his gaze elsewhere.
The shamans did the sa.
Despite standing right in front of them, neither the man nor the sorcerers paid him any further attention, instead pointing and discussing sothing amongst themselves.
Why?
Still stunned, Karl was only brought back to reality when Elton quietly called out to him, urging him to back away.
“They didn’t recognize ?”
These were the sa people who had been relentlessly tracking him.
Even though they supposedly didn’t know his appearance, how could they fail to recognize him when he was right in front of them?
‘Could it be… they can only detect my general direction?’
Though Karl was an experienced fighter, this was a first for him, and he struggled to form a clear conclusion. At that mont, Elton whispered gravely.
“It’s the twins.”
“The twins…?”
“The man we just encountered. He’s likely one of the twins.”
Looking in the direction Elton pointed, Karl noticed identical n standing at both the front and rear.
Everything about them, from their facial features and aura to their clothing, was identical.
It was Jack and Howell, the infamous twin brothers.
Karl had heard rumors about them before, but this was his first ti seeing them in person.
After a mont’s thought, Karl pointed at the man standing near the sorcerers.
“That one’s the older brother, Jack.”
“How can you tell?”
“When I saw him, I couldn’t even think about running. It ans he’s overwhelmingly strong.”
“But isn’t Jack supposed to be a 4-star?”
“No, he’s 5-star. Definitely. If he were 4-star, I wouldn’t feel this kind of pressure. He feels completely different from his younger brother.”
Karl quickly scanned his surroundings, carefully observing the hunters who had been tracking him.
Shortly after, he shared his thoughts with Elton.
“They can’t fully identify . They can only detect my general location.”
“Then we should be safe for the ti being, right?”
“I wouldn’t bet on it.”
Karl’s eyes remained locked on the shamans. Without them, they might have had a chance to buy so ti.
But with these dangerous individuals present, things were bound to take a turn for the worse—and soon.
With a short sigh, Karl straightened Elton’s posture and t his gaze firmly.
“Leave this place right now.”
“…What?”
“This place is about to be locked down. If you don’t leave now, you won’t get another chance.”
“Then we should go together.”
“I can’t. They’ve already pinpointed my location. We decided this when we split into teams—one of us would have to stay behind and sacrifice themselves.”
Karl’s grip tightened on Elton’s shoulders. He knew Elton was stubborn, so he had to be forceful.
“This is an order, Elton.”
After a mont of silence, Elton reluctantly nodded and extended his hand.
When Karl reached out to shake it, Elton abruptly slapped his hand away and said,
“Give the signal whistle.”
“What? Didn’t you hear what I just said?”
“Elton.”
“The day you saved from being devoured by that giant sli in the experintal prison, I told you, didn’t I?”
[Next ti, the sacrifice will be mine.]
Seeing Elton’s determined eyes, Karl let out a bitter laugh.
“Damn it. We’ve got another Lochter Felice here.”
“Well, that guy was pretty stubborn too.”
“And so are you, you stubborn bastard. Too bad your skills aren’t on par with his.”
“Just give the whistle.”
Realizing that no amount of arguing would change his mind, Karl pulled the whistle from his pocket and threw it at Elton. Without another word, Elton pocketed the whistle, gave Karl one last glance, and quietly disappeared into the forest.
Karl knew exactly why Elton had taken the whistle.
That knowledge made his expression all the more somber.
“You idiot. It’s a pointless death.”
Karl looked up at the sky.
If only it would rain and wash away all traces, he wouldn’t have asked for more.
Yet, the sky remained overcast, as if mocking him.
After staring at the sky for a mont, Karl closed his eyes briefly, then reopened them and began walking slowly.
He went to where they had discarded the gold coins, dug into the ground, and grabbed a handful of coins with so difficulty.
“This is why having one arm is such a pain.”
Muttering quietly, Karl gripped the gold coins tightly and headed toward the shamans, where the twin brothers, Jack and Howell, were standing.
He walked forward, carefully keeping the coins visible in his hand.
‘I’m not one to sit and die quietly.’
The risk detector.
Walking the fine line of danger, Karl approached the brothers. At that mont, as their conversation ca to a halt, Karl pretended to clumsily drop a coin.
As he scrambled awkwardly to pick it up, the rest of the coins slipped from his hand, a few rolling to the feet of the twins.
“S-sorry about that. As you can see, my hand…”
On all fours, Karl slowly picked up the scattered coins.
Howell placed a foot on one of the fallen coins and looked down at Karl with a sneer.
“Lucky for you. If it weren’t for the master’s orders, you’d have lost your other arm too.”
“Leave him. Don’t touch the coins. Didn’t you hear what the master said?”
“I know, but why the hell are we gathering these crippled fools and nobodies?”
“The master wants to be prepared. There’s information that reinforcents for the hunt might show up.”
“Reinforcents for the hunt? That rumor was true?”
“Who knows. The shamans will handle things here. All we need to do is focus on Lochter.”
“What about the rat hiding among us?”
“They’ll be caught soon. Just like the master said, once the periter is locked down and groups are dispersed, finding them will be easy.”
“Well, with more than twenty shamans, it won’t take long.”
“They said they can extract mories from anyone within a group of thirty or fewer, so one of them will crack soon enough.”
“Then we’ll get Lochter’s information soon, and that’ll be the end of things here.”
“Yeah, but I’ve got unfinished business.”
“That shaman?”
Recalling sothing Jack had ntioned earlier, Howell shot an interested glance at a petite shaman standing at the end of the group.
The shaman’s face was obscured by a robe, making it hard to determine their gender, but Jack had claid it was a woman.
And not just any woman.
“How do you know?”
“I heard her voice. So I tried sothing earlier for fun.”
Jack gave a sly grin and wiggled his fingers. A gust of wind suddenly blew around the shaman he had pointed at, causing her robe to flutter wildly. However, the hood didn’t co off.
“Clever girl. She noticed. I got it last ti, though.”
“She’s that pretty?”
“Unreal. Once you see her, no other woman will catch your eye.”
“If you’re saying that, she must be sothing. Think you can pull it off?”
“It’ll be tough here, but I’ll find a chance. When have we ever failed when we worked together?”
“Heh heh.”
Ignoring the twin brothers’ lecherous gazes, the shaman quietly adjusted her robe.
When the small dog-shaped doll hanging from her shoulder quivered, the shaman whispered softly.
“Should I just destroy everything, Keros?”
“Grr…”
“You think so too? But there are too many, right? I’m holding back because of you. Got it?”
It was a voice like the ringing of a bell—a beautifully resonant voice.
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