The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 55

The building was suspicious to anyone with a discerning eye. Even if the Relief Knights claimed it was no longer in use, the fact that it had become a haven for were rats suggested a definite connection.

Considering the dire situation in Salasmar, every building was precious. Even if it wasn’t raining, they could provide shelter from the wind and dew for the vulnerable refugees, serve as makeshift kitchens for those in need, and offer sickbeds for the ill.

In such circumstances, there was no reason to leave a building idle… All signs pointed to the presence of Kurt cultists within the Relief Knights.

“Let’s raid it,” Azadin said, his voice tinged with genuine regret.

*********

Beside the riverbank, the Relief Knights’ wooden building appeared dilapidated on the outside, but it was originally a converted wine warehouse with a vast storage area dug into the ground and reinforced walls.

A young man approached the entrance of the wooden building, tapping the ground with his staff.

“You can’t come in here.”

“This place is managed by our Relief Knights. It’s dangerous inside.”

As the young man neared the entrance, men wearing surcoats bearing the Relief Knights’ emblem emerged to stop him. Initially, they were overly tense, but surprisingly, the young man was blind. A large scar split both his eyes horizontally across his face.

“Ah…”

“It seems you’re not well.”

The Relief Knights’ paladins relaxed after confirming his blindness.

“What brings you here?”

“Actually, someone from the old waterway area asked me to deliver this.”

The young man said, taking out an object and handing it to the paladins. It was a Mezeri symbol [a symbol of a dark god] etched onto human skin. A gruesome claw mark made with human blood and needles.

“They said they’d give me food if I brought someone to help, so I brought it…”

The young man waited, subtly expecting a reward. The Relief Knights’ paladins looked perplexed.

“This… from the old waterway?”

“Yes. There was a fence, so I couldn’t go inside, but someone inside called me and asked me to deliver this, saying they’d give a reward if I brought it here. They said there was a lot to clean up inside and they were looking for people to help.”

“Is that all? Did they tell you any kind of code?”

“A code? Hmm, I think I heard something, but I can’t quite remember.”

“……”

The Relief Knights’ paladins exchanged glances.

“Please wait a moment. Ah, how many people did they say they needed?”

“They said at least ten people should come.”

“At least ten? That many?”

“Yes.”

They opened the entrance to the wooden building.

“But we don’t have that many relief supplies right now…”

“If you don’t mind, would you like to come inside? Please wait while we get the supplies.”

A sinister expression appeared on the faces of the Relief Knights’ paladins as they spoke.

“Huh? Ah, inside?”

“Yes. If you wait inside for a moment, we’ll get some relief supplies.”

“Okay, I understand.”

The blind young man carefully followed the Relief Knights’ guidance, tapping the floor with his staff as he walked inside.

Inside the abandoned building, there were many people.

“What? We said not to let anyone in. It’s daytime.”

“Ah, this guy is blind. Besides… he said he came because he was asked to from the underground waterway.”

“To distribute relief supplies.”

“Yeah. Special relief supplies. Hehehe.”

A Relief Knight said, making mocking gestures behind the blind young man.

“Ah, relief supplies. Relief supplies, you say?”

“We’ll have fresh meat soon anyway. Hehe.”

They were mocking the blind young man. The blind young man, tapping his staff as he entered, looked around, seemingly frightened.

The building entrance was like a hall, and people were standing on the second-floor railing, so from the blind man’s perspective, he would hear voices from all directions.

“Th-there are quite a few people. Are they from the Relief Knights?”

“Ah, yes. They are our collaborators.”

“But I also hear groaning… Are there injured people?”

“Yes, we are the Relief Knights, after all. Healing the injured and sick is our mission, isn’t it?”

They said, laughing. Those inside were definitely not injured or sick. It was then.

“Wait a minute.”

One of the people sitting on the second-floor railing stood up.

“Ah, Mr. Keven.”

“Hey, you guys brought that guy. Turn his face this way.”

“Yes?”

“He looks like someone I know.”

“……”

The blind young man was flustered and gripped his staff.

“Yeah, you. Hmm, by any chance… are you Azadin?”

“Ah!”

At that moment, the Relief Knight who had brought the blind young man tried to draw his sword. But the blind young man was faster. He immediately struck the paladin’s head with his staff, ducked, and drew the paladin’s sword.

“You!”

“Azadin!”

*********

The blind young man’s true identity was Azadin, disguised as a pilgrim. When he was disguised, people tended to be careless. So, Azadin planned to lure out the enemies by pretending not to know, using the Mezeri symbol he had obtained after defeating the were rats, and then defeat them one by one.

Send ten were rats to the underground waterway.

By delivering such a message and dividing the enemies, it would be possible to defeat them individually. But who would have thought that a member of the messenger clan would be among them!

“Hey! Get out of the way!”

At that moment, Keven jumped down and landed on the first floor.

“You’ve grown a lot, Azadin! I heard you became a messenger, but I never thought you’d come here.”

“And you’ve become a Mezeri cultist? A disgrace to the clan.”

“Hmph. What did the Emperor ever do for us except put a curse of servitude on us? Thanks to Mezeri’s blessing, I’m completely free from that curse. Now I can rape as much as I want, and eat as much as I want!”

Keven grinned, extended claws from both hands, and stood in front of Azadin.

“Do you remember when we were kids? When you crawled under my crotch? Hey! Everyone’s watching! I’ll take care of this guy!”

From the way Keven was talking, it seemed he held a fairly high status among them.

Indeed, Keven, though not a messenger or a servant, was someone who had received systematic education and training during the messenger selection process. He was definitely a more skilled fighter than those who would later become swordsmen.

“So? You betrayed the clan because you wanted to rape and eat as much as you wanted? Your desires are so one-dimensional. You’re pathetic.”

“Shut up, Azadin!”

Keven attacked, swinging his claws. Azadin swung the sword he had taken from the paladin in response. But Keven easily blocked the sword by catching it between his claws.

“Pathetic! You call yourself a messenger with that level of skill!”

And he tried to twist and take the sword. But it didn’t budge.

“Huh?!”

Keven was momentarily flustered. He had always possessed immense strength compared to the Hybrids [a race of human-animal hybrids]. Moreover, his strength had increased even more after becoming a were rat. How could it be useless against Azadin, whom he used to play with as a child?

Azadin grabbed Keven’s wrist.

-‘Hwajopungwol Cheongilsong Kazas Heseo!’ [a martial arts technique]

Azadin’s body dove under Keven, and he threw him powerfully.

Originally, Cheongilsong was a magic that reversed the opponent and made them fall to the ground, but Kazas Heseo directly slams them into the ground with a throw. The problem is that this throw is incredibly fast and powerful, and…

-Crack!

Because it uses the opponent’s arm as a lever by grabbing and crossing it, the crossed arm breaks at that moment. Keven flew into the air with his weapon and was slammed into the ground.

Startled, Keven turned his body and tried to break his fall by stomping on the ground, but Azadin’s throw had an incredible angular velocity, and the angle changed, so one of his feet, the side of it, landed first.

-Snap!

Keven’s ankle broke instantly.

“Kyak!”

A powerful throw that broke both the arm and ankle at the same time! This was Azadin’s Hwajopungwol, Cheongilsong.

“You bastard! What kind of Cheongilsong is that?”

Keven tried to counterattack Azadin by swinging his claws, but Azadin’s sword was firmly entangled with the claws, making it impossible to use his hands.

“One more time?”

Azadin unleashed ‘Cheongilsong’ of ‘Kazas Heseo’ again. Keven, with his leg broken, couldn’t even pretend to break his fall this time and was slammed straight down.

“Kyak!”

Keven was on the ground, but he couldn’t get up carelessly. Azadin had thrown him down while restraining his claws with his sword, and now he was pressing the sword against his neck.

“Damn it! What are you doing! Are you just watching?! Take care of this guy!”

Keven threw away his claws, which were twisted and useless from the clash with Azadin, and retreated from the attack. Immediately, other paladins and onlookers rushed in.

Their eyes glowing with red madness, they attacked Azadin. Some of them had already transformed into were rats and were lunging at Azadin.

“Come on!”

Azadin swung his sword horizontally, instantly beheading the first one who charged at him.

-Crack!

The were rat’s head flew off, and the blade shattered into pieces. Even when beheading someone tied to a rack, the blade often broke, so it was natural that it would break after cutting a lively creature in one blow.

“……”

“Kiek!”

However, the effect of that one blow was certain. Even were rats didn’t want to die. Seeing Azadin behead one in a single strike, they couldn’t approach carelessly and had no choice but to hesitate.

“Hey! That bastard’s weapon is cracked! It’s okay! Attack!”

Keven encouraged the were rats, but they were still focused on the fact that the sword was still holding its shape. However, it was clear that it wouldn’t withstand the next blow and would break.

The situation was that Azadin’s sword was cracked. Moreover, Azadin hadn’t used his sword-stealing technique because he was acting as a blind pilgrim. In other words, he had no additional weapons. He had no weapons other than the one he had taken from the were rat disguised as a paladin. But even if it was a cracked iron sword, the were rats didn’t want to take it with their own bodies.

‘Even if they have regenerative abilities…’

‘If their heads are cut off, it will only increase the pain…’

‘That guy’s swordsmanship is no joke, is it?’

The swordsmanship Azadin had shown a moment ago was truly divine. His lightning-fast sword strikes had surpassed the were rat’s reflexes and severed their neck bones. Seeing the body of the beheaded were rat twitching and gradually cooling down further dampened their enthusiasm.

In this situation, they want us to jump in just because the weapon is cracked?

Absolutely not.