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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: Aenin
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"Tch!"
*Thud!*
Dar, who had been aiming his bow at the entrance of the dwarf village, clicked his tongue and roughly lowered his weapon.
An unbearable irritation was etched on his face as he stared at the village.
"What the hell are these bastards doing!"
According to the plan, they should have set fire to the area around the village, forcing the dwarves, Yuren, and those paladins to rush out. But far from setting fires, not a single one of the wolves had shown up.
"I told them to start immediately!"
Seething with anger, Dar tore his gaze from the village and looked behind him. His eyes began to glow with a ghastly blue light as he peered into the darkness.
"What… Why can't I see a single one?"
The Kovis archery Dar had mastered included a special ability that allowed him to discern objects even at night. But even with this ability, he couldn't see a single wolf.
"What in the world is…"
Flustered by the wolves' absence, Dar looked even farther, and his eyes caught sight of a masked man dressed in black, running as if his life depended on it.
"Where is that bastard going?"
The wolf was heading down the mountain, in the opposite direction of the dwarf village. As if being chased, the wolf kept looking back as he ran.
"Huh?"
Something glinted on the running wolf's head, and he collapsed with a slump. A moment later, a person appeared where the wolf had fallen.
Though it was a considerable distance and the middle of a dark night, Dar recognized the person standing before the wolf in an instant.
"Yuren Lox…"
Dar spat out Yuren's name, his voice seething like molten lava.
"How is that bastard over there!"
Dar now understood why the wolves hadn't appeared. Yuren had been hunting the very hunters who had come to hunt him.
"Grrr…"
Dar muffled his footsteps, cautiously approaching Yuren's position. When Yuren entered his range, he nocked an arrow on his bowstring, channeling all his fury into it.
*Vwooom.*
An ominous purple aura began to envelop Dar's arrow. It was the Shattering Arrow, the fastest and most powerful shot in Kovis archery.
"Die!"
Gritting his teeth hard enough to break them, Dar released the taut bowstring.
*Fwang!*
**
"That makes twenty. I've caught them all."
Since I had taken out the leader who was giving the orders first, catching the flustered wolves was as easy as pie.
"Now, only Dar is left…"
*Swoooosh!*
My widely cast senses picked up something hurtling madly toward the top of my head.
I didn't even need to think about what it was.
Dar's arrow.
I might have been startled if the arrow had flown when I was unprepared, but I already knew Dar was here.
*Piiing!*
When the arrow arrived, I bent my back so far I nearly fell over, dodging it. It was a technique often seen in martial arts stories, known as the Iron Plate Bridge.
*Craaaash!*
Dar's arrow, which had grazed a few strands of my hair, slammed into the ground behind me, creating a huge crater.
It looked less like an arrow strike and more like a cannonball had exploded.
"He's worthy of being called the Shattering Archer. It would've been bad if I'd tried to block that."
Since Dar had been knocked out by a Jamo-hwan to the forehead, I figured he would definitely aim for my head, and just as I'd expected, the arrow had flown right toward the center of my face.
*Fwang!*
Another arrow flew from Dar. But his arrows were no longer a threat.
*Craaaaaash!*
Without needing to use the Iron Plate Bridge again, I dodged his arrow with a single step and shot forward.
"Location pinpointed."
Dar should have fled the moment he missed his first shot. Aiming at me again was no different from performing a ritual begging me to kill him.
*Vweee!*
I alternated between enhancing my eyes and ears with Onslon's Watchtower, pinpointing his location as I moved.
*Fwaaang!*
But I didn't even need the Watchtower. Thanks to the purple arrows Dar kept firing as he fled, his position was constantly on display.
"He's circling the area."
Instead of retreating straight back, he was circling the dwarf village, firing arrows at me.
It seemed he planned to take the dwarves hostage if things got dangerous.
"Then I'd better end this quickly."
*Boom!*
I stomped the ground with the Little Dragon's Step, kicking up earth. With the refreshing sound of wind being pierced, I instantly closed the distance until Dar's expression was visible.
"Eek! You bastard!"
*Fwaaang!*
Even in his panic, Dar fired an arrow imbued with purple aura, but I dodged it with a simple tilt of my head.
*Craaaaaash!*
Hearing the sound of a boulder shattering behind me, I charged forward even faster.
"Thanks for the help."
If Dar had fled silently without shooting arrows, he would have been difficult to track. But since he kept firing, I was easily able to close in to the range of my own projectiles.
"Dar! Remember this?"
I held up a steel bead between my fingers for Dar to see. It was the Jamo-hwan that had put him in this state.
Dar seemed to recognize the bead, as I could see his lips trembling.
*Fwaaang!*
Smiling faintly, I threw the Jamo-hwan. Dar rolled on the ground, dodging the two child beads and the mother bead. But.
*Thwip!*
"Kuaaargh!"
He couldn't dodge the third projectile, a Baekyeongseok dagger, which I had thrown calculating his movements.
Appearing like a ghost from nowhere, the Baekyeongseok dagger lodged itself in Dar's left thigh.
"Incredible."
The Baekyeongseok dagger, which I had thrown as an experiment, blended into its surroundings so well that even I had trouble spotting it.
Moreover, it made almost no sound as it flew, making it seem impossible for anyone to dodge unless they knew it was coming.
"Eek!"
Dar pulled out the dagger and tried to flee again, but in less than ten seconds, he stopped and fell to his knees.
"Aargh! My, my eyes!"
With trembling hands, Dar began to frantically rub his eyes.
"Uwaaaah!"
"Dar, been a while, hasn't it?"
Listening to Dar's screams, I slowly walked over and stood before him.
"What, what did you do to my eyes! Why can't I see!"
Dar screamed at the sky, his eyes unfocused and not looking at me.
"Because you've been poisoned."
"P-Poison? You cheap bastard!"
"Cheap? What bullshit. You're the one who ambushed me with a bow, you crazy bastard."
*Thwack!*
"Keoheok!"
I sent a fist flying into Dar's mouth as he spouted nonsense.
There were two poisons on the Baekyeongseok dagger. The one from the Blind Mouse that causes loss of sight, and the Danjangdok, which inflicts the pain of having one's organs severed.
"Huh? Kuaaaaaargh!"
"It's starting."
The Danjangdok must have started to take effect, as Dar began screaming, clawing at his own stomach as if to rip it open.
"W-What is this now? Keoheok!"
"That's my poison, too."
"Yu-Yuren!"
Dar shrieked my name, grinding his teeth as if they would shatter.
"Is Beil doing well?"
"Huk!"
Dar's face turned white as a sheet, as if he never imagined the name Beil would come from my lips.
His entire body trembling, Dar stared with his sightless eyes in the direction my voice had come from.
"W-What are you talking about?"
"Beil sent you to get back the tooth I took, didn't he?"
"H-How…"
"What is Beil planning to do with the tooth?"
"Th-That is…"
Dar didn't answer, only letting out groans of pain.
He wasn't trying to protect a secret; he simply didn't know Beil's intentions.
"Of course you wouldn't know. Beil doesn't trust his own subordinates."
My words must have hit the mark, as Dar's face grew even paler. In my novel, Beil never revealed his secrets to his underlings.
"Are you part of Sephiroth, too?"
I whispered quietly into Dar's ear.
"Se-Sephi? What's that?"
"Hmm."
That wasn't the reaction of someone lying.
Seeing as he didn't know Sephiroth, Dar was indeed nothing more than an expendable pawn for Beil, no different from the wolves.
"I had a feeling, but I see now. Don't worry, though. I have no hobby for torture. I'll send you on your way."
I deliberately raised my voice loud enough for the surrounding forest to hear, then lifted my dagger and aimed it at Dar's head.
"Keuk…"
"That's far enough!"
Just as I was about to bring the dagger down, a handsome, well-dressed young boy who seemed out of place here emerged from the bushes to my right.
At most, the boy looked to be around fifteen, but the clothes he wore were the attire of an adult nobleman.
"That trash's role isn't over yet. Hehehe."
The boy sneered at the whimpering Dar on the ground and spoke in an innocent voice.
A sinister energy that made one's stomach churn was laced within the boy's laughter.
"I was wondering how to handle things because of those paladins, but for you to draw Yuren out like this… Well done, trash."
"Wh-Who are you!"
"Trash that's about to die doesn't need to know. Hehehe."
Contrary to his cute appearance and voice, the words coming from the boy's mouth were utterly chilling.
Within the boy's pitch-black pupils, a red vortex seemed to be swirling.
*Ah, so it's this guy.*
I recognized who this boy—no, this *thing*—was in an instant.
I had actually known someone was in the bushes, which was why I had deliberately raised my voice when I was about to kill Dar, but an unexpected person had popped out.
[Name: Aenin Arathus]
[Traits: Bewitchment Lv3, Hypnosis Lv3, Infiltration Lv3, Spirit Stow]
[Favorability: 0 (Neutral)]
[Current Mood: Contemplating how to make you commit suicide.]
This guy was a villain belonging to Sephiroth, possessing the ability to control others' minds—one of the filthiest of them all.
He was the one who had cast a bewitchment on Pomera and corrupted him.
"Hehehe!"
*Chime!*
[Laktor's Steel Rampart blocks the bewitchment attempting to invade your mind.]
A clear bell-like sound rang out, and a message appeared before my eyes.
Aenin had been pretending to talk to Dar while using his laughter to cast a bewitchment on me, but his spell was blocked by the Steel Rampart, having no effect on me whatsoever.
"Who are you?"
Pretending to know nothing, I asked Aenin in a dazed voice, as if I had fallen under his spell.
"Heeheehee. I am to be your master from now on."
Unaware that his bewitchment had failed, Aenin took another step toward me.
"Master…?"
"Simpler than I thought. Looks like it took hold well."
Aenin nodded his head, a cold smile on his face.
"Shall we begin?"
As Aenin muttered something, a gloomy gray light began to flash on my and Dar's foreheads.
I watched it happen, pretending to be unaffected. Seeing me remain still, Aenin's smile deepened.
*Chime!*
[Laktor's Steel Rampart blocks the Spirit Stow that attempted to invade your mind.]
Spirit Stow was an ability that controlled another's mind, but it had no effect on me, dissipating like dust.
"Ah…"
Unlike me, on whom the Spirit Stow had no effect, Dar, who had been screaming just moments ago, now wore a blank expression and fell silent.
"Ugh…"
I relaxed the muscles in my eyes like Dar, staring blankly ahead. Since Aenin didn't see messages like I did, I thought I could trick him into believing I was under his control.
I was exploiting his unwavering faith in his Spirit Stow.
"As expected, guys who only use their bodies are simple and easy to deal with. Hehehe!"
*Crunch.*
Thinking I too had fallen under his mind control, Aenin grinned and took a lollipop from his pocket, biting into it.
"Come closer."
Matching Dar's gait, I stood before Aenin with a vacant expression.
"Should I first send them to the dwarves to get the tooth, then make them fight and kill each other in the capital? Or should I have them cause some trouble and then commit suicide? It's a tough choice. Hehehe!"
"You're full of it!"
"Huh?"
*Craaack!*
"Kuaaargh!"
As Aenin, who had been sneering while looking back and forth between me and Dar, brought the lollipop to his mouth, I rammed my fist into his mouth, knocking out all his teeth.
"Gyaaaaak!"
With a chunk of his teeth gone, Aenin screamed, blood pouring from his mouth.
"H-How! It clearly worked!"
Aenin stumbled backward in terror, his entire body trembling.
"Worked on what!"
"Y-You bastard! Kaira…"
At Aenin's incantation, the gray light flashed over my head again. But.
*Chime!*
[Laktor's Steel Rampart blocks the Spirit Stow that attempted to invade your mind.]
"Sorry, but that doesn't work on me."
"Huk!"
*Thwack!*
"Keok!"
I kicked Aenin in the stomach as he tried to run. Though he had the appearance of a child, this creep was already over fifty years old.
There was no need to hesitate in hitting him.
*Smack!*
"Kaak!"
As Aenin bent over from the blow to his stomach, I delivered an uppercut to his chin, sending him flying.
"How on earth did you… Spirit…"
"Instead of worrying about how I blocked your Spirit Stow, don't you think you should be more concerned about your own future?"
"Ugh! W-What are you doing!"
I forced his mouth open and poured two types of poison inside.
"You heard me when I was hiding earlier, right? I said I don't have a hobby for torture, but I'm a man who gets things done when necessary."
"Uweok!"
Aenin tried to retch, but the poison had already seeped into his body.
"Aenin Arathus of Sephiroth. You're fifty-five now, aren't you?"
"You, just who are you…"
"You're going to have to tell me everything you know."