The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 21

Azadin scoffed at Midiam’s request.

“If I take you as a retainer, I’d be responsible for what happened here today. Beating up those servants without a second thought. You must know that the Savan family is behind them, right? Or were you trying to pit me against the Savan family?”

“N-no, that’s not it at all.”

Midiam was flustered by Azadin’s interrogation.

“I just couldn’t stand them disrespecting and insulting you so much.”

“Of course, I appreciate that. But if you want that appreciation to last, you shouldn’t become my retainer. If you beat them up as Midiam of Etar, I should be grateful to you, but if you beat them up as my retainer, I’d have to correct your behavior. Maybe even spank you?”

“Ugh, that’s too much. You’re so kind to the people of Hybris, but why not to me?”

“Because you’re not one of them?”

At that moment, Azadin stopped walking. It was the Emperor’s voice that spoke to him.

[A petitioner has appeared. But…]

“Dead? Which direction?”

[West. Ah, just now, their breath has ceased.]

“Damn it.”

Azadin ran towards the west gate. There, a gruesome massacre was already unfolding. Soldiers were being killed, and mutated mercenaries were tearing apart the corpses.

“Krrrk!?”

“Meat?”

The mercenaries, already severely mutated, had four spider legs sprouting from their bodies.

“There were two before.”

“It seems they change more drastically over time.”

Azadin took off his cloak and wrapped it around his arm.

“You guys, prepare the fire.”

Azadin said that and walked forward.

“Krrrk!”

A mercenary, already transformed into a spider monster, lunged at him. But the moment he entered Azadin’s range, Azadin kicked the mercenary’s jaw with lightning speed.

-Thwack!

It was so fast that it looked like a blurry shadow passing by, and the mercenary’s neck snapped as he fell backward. The cervical vertebrae were broken, and the nerves were severed, causing the mercenary’s body to convulse.

However, this attack was a bit much for Azadin as well. He exerted too much power at once, and although the attack was launched and retracted quickly, his body couldn’t handle the aftereffects and wobbled.

Taking advantage of that opening, another spider mercenary flew in.

“Hup!”

Azadin drew the curved sword he had at his waist, swung it, and fell like a spinning top that had run out of power.

-Slash!

The spider mercenary’s arm and spider legs were cut off, spraying blood. As soon as Azadin fell to the ground, he rolled away to avoid the gushing blood and got back up.

He had taken down two mutated mercenaries in an instant, but…

“Kiek!”

“Cough…”

The mercenaries coughed and got up.

The mercenary whose neck was broken had spiders swarming in his neck, seemingly to replace the nervous system, and the mercenary whose arm was cut off also had spiders clinging to the severed end, stopping the bleeding.

Both had suffered injuries that should have been fatal, yet they had survived.

‘It seems like they need to be cut into pieces.’

Azadin glanced at the curved sword he had just swung. The blade was chipped in places.

It was the price for cutting off an arm and two spider legs in one stroke.

“Hmm.”

Azadin reversed the blade again and held the sword in the normal grip.

“Kiek!”

“Krrk!”

The spider mercenaries charged again. They wielded weapons in their hands and swung their spider legs as they rushed forward, but Azadin lowered his stance and moved.

-Blur!

His body blurred, and in an instant, he had passed quickly through the spider mercenaries.

One of the spider mercenaries was cut in half at the waist, and the other was cut in half, but the sword broke and got stuck in his body.

“Damn. It was a good sword… it broke here after all.”

Azadin clicked his tongue, holding the half-broken sword.

The mercenary whose waist was severed writhed and began to crawl on the ground, but the cut was too severe, and he eventually died. However, the mercenary with the sword stuck in his torso ignored the wound and lunged at Azadin.

At that moment, an arrow suddenly flew and hit him.

-Thunderclap!

Sparks of electricity flew, instantly frying the spiders.

“Kieaaak!”

The mercenary thrashed and fell, unable to get up.

“I knew it! If they’re weak against fire, they’d be weak against electricity too! The spiders inside them are small, so…”

Midiam said that, but then felt dizzy and staggered. Ismail, startled, tried to support her, but Azadin was faster.

Azadin put his foot out to support Midiam, preventing her from falling. It was like supporting a rotten door that was about to collapse.

“Be careful. The Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon is a colorless grimoire [a grimoire that doesn’t specialize in any element]. Magic like Thunderclap that generates electricity is too inefficient. Just because it’s in a grimoire doesn’t mean you can use it recklessly. Still, it’s impressive that you can use Thunderclap at your age. You are indeed from Etar. I’m impressed.”

“!”

Midiam shrugged her shoulders at those words.

“Right? There aren’t many people my age who can use Thunderclap. Hehe. With this beauty and talent, I’m a woman with too many sins, even I think so.”

“Rest a bit. It seems like you have a headache from using too much magic.”

Azadin praised Midiam and collected the weapons of the fallen mercenaries.

“Shall we set the spiders on fire then?”

Azadin gathered a few handfuls of hay from the surroundings, scattered them on the corpses, and lit them with a torch. The hay burned quickly, only leaving scorch marks on the corpses, but it was enough to be fatal to the spiders.

“This method of disposal is excellent, but what if many enemies appear at once?”

Ismail asked coldly.

Two is fine. But what about more than that?

Azadin couldn’t use magic, so there was a limit to what he could do with martial arts alone.

Wouldn’t Azadin need retainers who could use magic even more?

“Isn’t it time you accepted us as retainers…”

“We’ll just do what we can. Surely, the clansmen I met in a faraway land wouldn’t ignore me, would they?”

Azadin stubbornly refused to accept them as retainers and picked up the weapons of the fallen mercenaries.

These are also in bad condition. They’re damaged from the mercenaries wielding the monstrous strength they gained from being corrupted by the Kurt god’s spiders.

“An axe or halberd would be better.”

Azadin took the weapons and headed towards the west gate.

*********

The west gate had turned into a scene of carnage. Once they started seeing blood, the mercenaries couldn’t contain their excitement and began to slaughter and crave human flesh.

The more they did, the faster their bodies mutated, and soon, six spider legs were sprouting from their backs.

The mercenary captain and Tarki were watching them.

“Hey, is this okay? You said you were looking for a copy of the Divine King’s Scripture, right? Then shouldn’t it be a bit more…”

Tarki questioned the mercenary captain.

“Hmm. Well, it’s a bit different from what I expected… but it’s going well.”

“Going well?! Look, at this rate, the guy with the Divine King’s Scripture won’t come to this village, will he? It has to look peaceful on the outside for people to come, right?”

“We can just clean up the corpses. We just need to defeat the resistance and clean up.”

The mercenary captain said that and walked past the corpses, suddenly noticing a triangle drawn on the ground.

“What’s this?”

“A triangle on the ground…”

There was blood around the triangle, and a mercenary was tearing apart a dead body. Tarki suddenly muttered in surprise.

“The Demon of Gold Coins?”

“The Demon of Gold Coins, you mean the Emperor’s messenger? The Messenger Clan?”

The mercenary captain tilted his head.

“Come to think of it, it was said that the copy of the Divine King’s Scripture was spread to the world because of the Messenger Clan, right? They must be desperately looking for it. Maybe… the Messenger Clan has it.”

“Are you going to fight the Demon of Gold Coins?”

Tarki asked in panic.

“Of course. Come to think of it, if there’s anyone who could infiltrate our camp and steal our things so cleanly, it would be them. It’s impossible for a common thief.”

The mercenary captain said that and kicked a fellow mercenary who was tearing apart a corpse. The mercenary screamed and tumbled away.

“Let’s see. No gold coins. Did they use them? If they did, that’s good. The messenger will come.”

The mercenary captain said that and laughed.

“If we know when the opponent is coming, we have the advantage. Shall we set a trap?”

But before he could finish his sentence, an arrow flew towards the mercenary captain’s head.

“Oh, my.”

The mercenary captain easily caught the arrow with his hand.

“Interesting. That was too fast, wasn’t it? So they were watching our movements too.”

The mercenary captain threw the arrow away, and another arrow flew towards his face.

“Don’t you know it’s useless even after seeing it?”

The mercenary captain scoffed and grabbed the incoming arrow, but this time it was different. The arrow shaft was slippery. It was covered in oil, making it impossible to stop by just grabbing it.

Moreover, it was stronger than the first arrow. It seemed that the first arrow was intentionally shot weakly to make him lower his guard, and the second arrow was shot properly.

“Ugh?!”

-Thud!

The arrow slipped and hit the mercenary captain’s face accurately. The space between his eyes was shattered, and both eyes lost control. The intraocular muscles, which move the eyeballs to focus, were severed.

At the same time, a man wearing a hawk mask sprinted forward. Startled, Tarki grabbed his sword, but…

‘Huh? But do I really need to protect these guys?’

Seeing Tarki hesitate, the man avoided him and lunged at the mercenary captain.

The sword flashed, aiming for the mercenary captain’s neck.

-Crack!

But it was only the blade that flew. Instead, a spider leg that sprouted from the mercenary captain’s chest pierced the man’s chest.

“Ha, is this the Emperor’s messenger? You’re an interesting one.”

The mercenary captain boasted and moved the spider leg from side to side. He was trying to tear the wound by moving the leg that had pierced his opponent.

But…

-Thud!

The spider leg fell off.

“……”

He clearly thought he had pierced the man’s chest, but the mercenary captain’s spider leg had already been severed in the first clash.

The severed, powerless spider leg was just hanging on the man’s chest, caught on his leather armor.

“You’re an interesting one too, cultist.”

“Damn it.”

The mercenary captain pulled the spider leg out of his body and tried to draw his own sword, but his opponent was faster.

The man wearing the hawk mask reached for the hilt of the sword at the mercenary captain’s waist, drew the sword, and at the same time, threw an uppercut with his other hand.

-Crack!

His jawbone was broken in a single blow, and he lost consciousness. But the mercenary captain immediately regained consciousness. The spiders parasitizing his body had awakened the unconscious body with a spinal reflex.

“A monster!”

The mercenary captain, a clear monster, was rather amazed by the power of this messenger. He gathered all his strength and extended his spider legs.

Two were sent behind him to stab the ground and support his body from falling, and the other two were sent forward to attack the enemy in front of him.

But the enemy in front of him had disappeared.