Episode 243 – The Dagger of the Dead
The blood-soaked place where Lochter’s party and Dorneth’s group had departed was now still.
From the pile of corpses—among them Harkman—a faint movent stirred.
A figure shoved the bodies aside and staggered to its feet.
Crushed crimson armor.
An enemy knight.
Though there was a gaping hole in his chest and his neck bent at a grotesque angle, he showed no signs of pain, his eyes slowly shifting as he began to move.
Scanning his surroundings, the enemy knight fixed his gaze on the direction Lochter’s group had gone and began following their trail.
The closer he got to the outside, the faster he moved. Soon, he was sprinting at full speed, and before long, he reached the outer scenery.
The sky above Beneta, ravaged by Kal’s forces, was darkened in every direction.
The streets, castle walls, and buildings were littered with collapsed ruins, bloodstains, and strewn corpses.
The enemy knight picked a tall building, climbed onto its roof, and crouched down, watching.
The desolate reflection of the ruined castle walls mirrored in his vacant eyes.
Those crumbled ramparts—where Beneta’s remaining army was currently gathered.
After a while, the knight tilted his head and collapsed powerlessly.
***
Inside a rattling carriage.
The black-haired youth Kal clutched his mouth, then suddenly vomited a mouthful of dark, red-black blood.
“Kuhh—!”
“L-Lord! Are you all right?!”
As Kal swayed, Rengua rushed over, but Kal’s gesture held him back.
The floor of the jolting carriage was already soaked in his blood.
“I’ve already lost one unit.”
When the first knight was destroyed, the amount of blood he vomited had already exceeded a lethal dose.
He should’ve stopped the binding and started treatnt right away, yet Kal did not stop controlling the remaining enemy knight.
The one attached to Harkman’s group.
What had happened to that knight was obvious from Kal’s current state.
His entire body was covered in slashes and tears.
‘If this is the toll from indirect body transfer, then the sensation must be...’
The pain must have been magnified imnsely due to the shamanic enhancent of the knight’s sensory perception.
A normal person would’ve had their mind destroyed from such agony, but Kal continued the life-risking operation.
Rengua hesitated, debating whether to forcibly sever the link before Kal beca completely incapacitated.
Hoo—
Letting out a long breath, Kal wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and opened his tightly shut eyes.
The black hue in his pupils slowly cleared, returning to a dry, lifeless gaze.
The sensory sharing with the enemy knight had ended.
Rengua cautiously handed him a potion to dull the pain and asked,
“Are you all right?”
“Not at all.”
Frowning, Kal downed the potion in one gulp.
The two knights he had shared senses with—One had his head blown off, the other had his chest pierced and neck broken.
He had experienced death twice in a short span of ti.
A horrifying pain.
But perhaps because he had already died once—
“If this kind of pain is death, then it’s nothing special.”
He felt like he could endure more if necessary—especially if he gained as much from it as he had this ti.
The carriage continued to rattle.
It was still in motion.
“How far are we?”
“We’ll rejoin the main force shortly.”
Nodding, Kal leaned back in his seat and gently closed his eyes, then slowly began to speak, recalling the intel he had just acquired.
“Harkman is dead.”
“Harkman? I didn’t think Dorneth could defeat him.”
“It wasn’t Dorneth who killed him. It was Hunt.”
He began recalling each of the Hunt mbers who had co to the lord’s castle as reinforcents.
The pain that tore through his heightened senses had been awful, but Kal endured to the end.
From amidst the pile of corpses, he had opened his eyes wide and absorbed all the intel on Hunt’s operatives.
Lochter Felice.
Karl Bastain.
And the Specters.
He had morized each one’s combat style and picked up their conversations to grasp the situation.
And then—
“Arthur.”
A new na ca from their mouths.
This was the reason Kal had refused to cut the link, despite Rengua’s desperate pleas.
The na “Arthur” had been ntioned multiple tis—by Karl, Lochter, and Dorneth.
Moreover—
‘He’s deeply trusted.’
Among them, Arthur was soone with imnse influence.
At a glance, it seed like Hunt and Dorneth were acting separately, but in truth, their movents were tightly coordinated under Arthur’s command.
‘It’s him.’
Kal clenched his fist tightly. Though he appeared tense, he was grinning with his teeth bared.
His chest trembled. He felt exhilarated.
The one who had scattered ash across his smooth path after regression—Every twisted turn in his plan seed to have that man lurking at the end.
“I’ve finally found you, you damned bastard.”
He was sure of it.
If “Arthur” was truly his real na, then there were plenty of ways to deal with him.
He could lay a curse using black shamanism, or sell the information for an enormous sum on the black market.
Other thods for eliminating him flooded into his mind, but Kal shook his head to clear his thoughts.
‘Not yet. That cos later.’
Most of the cards he’d prepared had been used up in this battle.
He was in a precarious position now. First, he needed to secure his safety.
He had prepared three contingency plans for this operation.
The first: kidnapping Sharbadin and Nella.
If successful, he could push Dorneth to his death and bring about Beneta’s collapse.
But with Hunt’s intervention, that plan was completely ruined.
Since Hunt had reinforced the castle, Ordor Forest would now be vulnerable.
If Demtor could crush the forest, he might continue with the first plan—but the witches weren’t there.
“They didn’t co to Beneta?”
Lily and Natasha.
Those two witches were key forces that could heavily sway the balance in the forest.
He had confird they accompanied them up to Elletor Fortress, but they weren’t here.
That must an they were sent back to the forest.
If, because of those two, Demtor failed to breach the forest, Kal could be isolated in Tobaron.
Blyer and Etor would no longer be reliable strongholds.
‘You can’t trust mages anyway...’
He now had to move forward with the second contingency plan.
“I’m going to be busy.”
Abandon Tobaron.
Leave behind the stronghold he’d built. He had to take at least two things with him—and one of them, the research journal, was already secured.
Now only one remained.
“Before today ends, I must retrieve the Dagger of the Dead.”
“What about the main force…”
“Send them in before nightfall.”
He had assessed the broken castle wall through the enemy knight’s eyes.
The ten thousand cavalry he led had been annihilated, and Wiley likely died near the wall, unable to flee.
“This alone won’t be enough.”
Kal intended to sacrifice all his remaining foundation to fuel the Dagger of the Dead.
He had already gathered troops from all regions except Beneta.
Dozens of noble family knight orders, cavalry units, and soldiers remained.
The 5-star knight Wiley and the 10,000 cavalry beca sacrifices for the dagger, but Kal was not satisfied.
More. More. More...!
He needed more souls.
Only then could he establish his base in that place—The city of the worst criminals, the land of black stars, Pri Root.
Dudududu—
As he finished sorting his thoughts, a mounted unit rode up to the carriage.
Seeing Rengua’s face, they hurried to stop and dismounted, bowing toward the carriage.
The blue-shouldered Royal Guard of Kal.
“The Lord.”
These were the commanders who led the main force.
Kal’s carriage had arrived at the core.
He did not exit.
He couldn’t, due to his injuries.
Instead, he opened the window to greet them, summoned the knights who had returned from the castle, and ordered the Royal Guard to bring the lords.
Soon, the lords arrived on horseback from the main force.
Each one knelt before Kal.
Back at Etor Fortress, he had held banquets daily, using Marks of Enchantnt to conduct near-complete brainwashing.
Once the lords were entranced, moving their household forces was simple.
What he needed was morale.
Beneta’s resistance was ferocious and showed no signs of yielding.
They needed a motivation to push forward.
“Bring the chests.”
The knights placed boxes filled with gold coins before Kal.
They were from the secret vault of the Black Rose.
Though small, there were many—enough to easily surpass hundreds of thousands of gold.
With a chin gesture from Kal, Rengua began chanting over the boxes.
A sticky aura flowed into them.
Pure—a black shamanic technique that amplifies a single emotion—was infused into the gold.
Kal instilled greed into the coins.
“Distribute it to the soldiers.”
“Pardon?”
“Let them know there’s even more gold beyond Beneta.”
The Royal Guard bowed and withdrew with the chests.
A mont later, the main force—still and silent—exploded into chaos.
The clinking of coins echoed across the land.
The Royal Guard began throwing gold into the crowd of soldiers.
“Whoever grabs it first owns it!”
“Uwaaahhh!”
The soldiers roared with cheers.
The cries of the Royal Guard tossing gold were the sa and repeated:
“Beyond Beneta, the one who takes it first becos its master!”
“Take it all! Claim it!”
“And then die.”
Kal, leaning in the carriage, muttered softly as he shut the window.
Beside him, Rengua stood, awaiting orders.
“There is no retreat. We attack until Beneta falls.”
“Should I relay that to the lords?”
“Send the lords away. Then recall the Royal Guard. We’re leaving this place.”
Rengua bowed and rose.
From this command, he now fully understood—The day Wailing Hill burned and Blyer was ravaged—Since then, Kal had planned to abandon Tobaron.
“I’ll need soone to retrieve the dagger.”
“Didn’t we leave soone nearby?”
“He’s a contingency for the worst-case scenario. He’s not yet ready to move.”
“Well, now is that worst-case scenario.”
“…I’ll awaken him, then.”
Lyon Martrein.
The Lord had excluded him from the operation because he could not afford to lose him in the larger picture.
Though his body was incomplete to use the power of the heart, he had been left behind to protect the shamanic formation.
Now, as ordered, he would use Lyon to recover the Dagger of the Dead.
“There are no witches, so it should be fine?”
There were no witches in Beneta capable of sensing the soul aura sealed within the dagger.
If they moved Lyon cautiously and avoided combat, extraction might succeed.
And even if discovered, he wouldn’t be taken down so easily.
In fact, it was more likely the enemy would die.
Lyon’s power was unstable—but that made it even more formidable.
Wuuuuuung—
Rengua’s staff began glowing red.
Sowhere deep within Beneta, a new monster opened its eyes.
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