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Chapter : 62
The Lone Slaughterer
Benjamin stepped forward and drove his sword in deep. As the blade twisted, crrk—the basilisk’s neck was severed. Benjamin twisted the blade again and pulled it free.
“Have you found the heart of the nest?”
“It’s deeper inside.”
Roskella pointed toward a passage blocked by vines.
“That way.”
“So it chose to nest in a shithole like this.”
When Benjamin sliced open the vine-choked passage with his sword, a sinister wail spread across the suppression line. At the sound, the pack of basilisks stirred.
This was their reverse scale—the monster nest itself.
Kreeek.
Kreeeek.
A dying basilisk twisted its body and tore into the flesh of a low-ranking mercenary.
“Damn it!”
I’m going to die. I’m really going to die!
A heavy boot flew in. Mud splashed as the mercenary rolled away in a panic. Fedlin severed the basilisk’s neck, kicked the corpse aside with his boot, and grabbed the mercenary who had nearly died, roaring at him.
“If you’re going to die, go drown face-first in dishwater! If you’re just going to stuff some bastard’s belly, you’d better ask me to kill you instead!”
Mercenaries who lived with their lives on the line spoke roughly.
“If you’re going to die, die with honor!”
The suppression unit drew their blades and cut through basilisk necks.
Benjamin shook the blood from his sword and called to Roskella.
“You clean up the area here. I’ll handle the inner nest.”
“I’ll guard your side.”
“If I have to protect your life while swinging my sword, we won’t finish the suppression in time. When I attack the monster nest, the hatchlings will swarm to defend it. Guard the route outside with the mercenaries—don’t let even a rat get through.”
“We’ll seal it off completely from the outside.”
Declaring he would subdue the monster nest, the Emperor vanished.
Soon, Fedlin approached and asked,
“Did he go alone?”
“Yes. He always does.”
“He always does, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worrying.”
Fedlin let out a quiet sigh.
“Her Majesty worries at his side, saying he walks alone.”
“……”
“He walks alone again.”
After Benjamin left—
The mercenaries drew their swords and shouted fiercely.
“Don’t let a single rat pass behind His Majesty!”
“Cut them down and hold the passage!”
“The clan that defiled the taboo sets foot on this land to restore the Empire’s order—raise your blades and punish them!”
Basilisks bared venomous fangs and spewed toxic breath.
“Split their bodies and comfort the souls of the fallen mercenaries! The harbor lies below. These are the spirits who gave their lives to protect Poputa. Raise your blades so their deaths are not in vain!”
The mercenaries’ suppression grew ever more savage.
How did he come to shoulder such a burden on those shoulders?
Fedlin split a basilisk’s body and slung his greatsword over his shoulder.
“The one who stands alone walks alone.”
The Emperor broke through the monster nest.
The nest lashed out with thorny vines to block the intruder.
The Emperor silently swung his blade, cutting the vines away.
The hand gripping the hilt was firm.
The sword’s tip opened the Emperor’s path.
This overwhelming superiority was why the Emperor personally took to the suppression lines.
“That blade stops them.”
The Emperor’s steps themselves halted the enemy.
‘Slaughterer’ would have suited him better.
How many monsters had died on that merciless blade?
Carrying the heavy scent of blood, he had become a butcher of the battlefield.
It hadn’t been so from the beginning.
His childhood had been quiet.
But as the Emperor fought monsters, his swordsmanship changed—direct, destructive, tailored to suppression itself, as if it had melted into the front lines.
When he came of age, those traits were amplified.
They later helped him seize imperial authority.
With a sword in hand, he truly was a slaughterer.
The blade grew ever sharper and more destructive; his swordsmanship ever more lethal.
Boom!
A thunderous roar echoed from within.
There was no need to exchange words.
One doesn’t converse with monsters, after all.
“……”
Benjamin wreathed his sword in aura and brought it down. The basilisk coiled and encircled the intruder.
The basilisk nest was already collapsing; the creature intended to kill the intruder and use him as nourishment for its young.
It was sinister.
The nest was buried in fog, and the poison it exhaled mixed with the mist.
Benjamin wrapped cloth over his nose and mouth against the thick air.
Because of the poison, he had to shield his body with aura even to breathe.
As Benjamin swung his sword, the creature hissed and tightened its coils. From torn wounds, hardened blood clung.
“So even you find me hard to kill.”
Wiping sweat from his brow, Benjamin muttered. The most efficient way to kill a coiled basilisk was to sever its head—but it reared its body so high it was dizzying.
It’s tall.
The coiled basilisk flashed its venomous fangs, ready to kill the intruder.
By the law of the jungle, the alpha was wary of anything beyond its strength.
Kaaak!
Benjamin tore off the creature’s tail.
He knew that every time its tail was severed, it would lower its body to attack.
Hammering at its scales with his blade, the nest suppression was nearly complete.
The blade sank deep into its torso. The scale-stripped basilisk writhed, and its nest collapsed.
“……”
Without a word, Benjamin severed its neck.
The body buckled and twisted, falling into the nest.
With its torso broken, finishing the basilisk was simple.
Thud—its head was cut off.
As Benjamin laid the blade sideways, blood flowed out.
Touching his cheek, he felt a sting—debris from the fight had scraped his skin.
He ran a languid hand over his cheek.
It irritated him.
Every sort of discomfort mingled and grated on his nerves.
His outer garment was soaked and muddy from the suppression. He ruffled his short hair.
“It bothers me, even so.”
Crunch! A boot stomped down on the nest’s vines. Roskella approached, cutting the vines with the hand gripping her hilt.
“At this point, I thought the nest suppression would be finished.”
“……”
“Are you injured again?”
“Just scratched.”
“Of all places, your face. Be careful—such a nasty scar could form.”
With his cheek injured, it was awkward to hide it with his clothes.
“Are you listening?”
Benjamin silently traced the scratch on his cheek. Grit from the dirt made his skin rough.
“The poison is still thick.”
“The stench is foul.”
“I’ll escort you outside for now.”
Benjamin strode down from the monster nest. His outer garment, emblazoned with the imperial crest, was soaked in monster blood.
“Has it grown dark again?”
He had left the imperial city late at night—yet night had fallen again.
“Identification of the unidentified corpse is complete.”
“Cause of death?”
“They were sacrificed to black magic. Using their own body as an offering… they manifested black magic to detonate the area. This victim was the vessel that contained the spell.”
“So it was that clan’s doing.”
“And the monsters as well. Their ferocity grows by the day.”
“A worshiper of theirs has awakened. Among that clan, there was one who handled monsters.”
As Benjamin descended, the mercenaries waiting on the suppression line were finishing off the remaining monsters.
“How about civilian damage?”
“The mercenary unit held the passage until their last man. There were no attacks on the residential areas or the harbor.”
Benjamin twisted and drove his blade downward.
Crunch!
Behind him, crrk—a monster’s neck bone snapped. A crow with slit eyes grinned. Charred black by poison, it cackled and flapped its wings. Benjamin grabbed it by the neck.
“For a scout, you’re pitiful at hiding your presence.”
The crow opened its beak. He hadn’t survived the suppression lines this long to fall for such cheap tricks.
As Benjamin drove the blade deep and twisted, the creature offered its own body as a sacrifice to activate its spell.
Boom!
Benjamin wrapped aura around his hand.
“Such an obvious ploy.”
His skin was scorched black.
His eyes sank low and cold.
Charlophe lit a lamp. The light flickered in the imperial library. Cut off from the outside world, it stood guarded.
“Ancient Monsters.”
Books of ancient covenants filled the shelves.
Because the grimoires were forbidden from being taken out and outsiders were barred, only court librarians and the imperial family could enter.
The quiet of old paper settled over the room.
Charlophe traced the shelves with her fingertips.
Orcs that formed tribes, wyverns with bat wings—
An illustrated tome of ancient monsters once handled by the Black Clan sat on one shelf.
My eyes ache.
Charlophe gently closed her eyes.
“Your Majesty.”
A presence came from outside.
“It’s Katarina.”
“……”
“Are you inside?”
Night had already fallen.
After the Emperor and suppression force departed, Charlophe had remained in the imperial library.
“It’s grown dark. People outside are worried.”
“So much time has passed already.”
A librarian nearby voiced concern.
Charlophe draped the shawl she had set aside back over her shoulders.
“Please take care, Your Majesty.”
When she stepped outside, a small sigh was heard.
“Thankfully, it’s not too late.”
“I didn’t realize it had grown this dark.”
Katarina, who stood beside her, asked,
“What’s wrong with your neck?”
“Perhaps from sitting in the same position too long. It feels stiff.”
Charlophe massaged her sore neck. Outside, darkness had deepened.
“My vision being obscured is quite bothersome.”
“The clouds have been thick since the afternoon.”
Her view sank into darkness.
In her bedchamber, Charlophe removed her shawl and felt along her shoulder.
Her gaze touched the dark void.
Outside, leaves rustled noisily—perhaps the wind.
—Sssek, sssek.
Pushing the windowpane with her fingertips, she opened a gap.
“My crossbow.”
Katarina, standing guard nearby, approached.
“The crossbow?”
“The one I used in the old hunting tournament. Was it entrusted to you?”
“If you mean the crossbow that fires bullets instead of arrows, I’ve been keeping it. You ordered me to carry it on my person when you entrusted it to me, remember?”
Katarina handed over the crossbow—small enough to fit in one hand.
Charlophe accepted it.
“I thought you’d forgotten.”
“……I hadn’t realized I needed it until now.”
Katarina turned her body toward the outside.
The scrape on her cheek—this was killing intent.
Something—what was that?
It was close. And still drawing nearer.
“Damn it! A monster!”
Katarina sensed the anomaly as well.
Half-drawing her sword, she perched on the windowsill.
The stench of death was thick.
It was the rotting smell of beast flesh corrupted by monstrosity.
“I’ll cover you. Please fall back!”
Her fingertips tingled.
She narrowed her eyes.
As she felt along her wrist, the tendons ached dully.
The skin of her grip was red; when she clenched hard, blue veins bulged.
The skin will peel.
She didn’t know why those words came to mind.
Her chest burned as if the flesh itself ached.
Strength drained from her wrist.
Kraaaak.
A crow perched outside the window.
Buried in dim darkness, only its eyes gleamed.
It split its beak.
[That bastard will die soon. I told them to tear his hide apart while he’s still alive.]
