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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: An Imperial Command
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Warlock instinctively sensed that the situation was taking an unexpected turn.
Aldebaran.
It wasn't just because the name of the god the Alliance served had suddenly come from the opponent's lips…
‘How on earth…?’
The man had somehow canceled the forbidden spell, which had been on the verge of activation, by precisely manipulating the vast amount of mana he himself had released.
As someone with no small expertise in magic, he could vaguely grasp just how absurd this was.
It was an act that defied common sense, something that even he, the most skilled mage in the Alliance, had never dared to imagine.
‘Does that mean this one man's mana surpasses the combined mana of the dozens of mages gathered to cast a forbidden spell…?’
Warlock, barely managing to collect himself, immediately asked.
“H-H-How do you know that name…?”
To that, Kang-jun replied curtly.
“What a strange twist of fate.”
Then, with a dry laugh, he added.
“To think, of all the places you could have run and hidden, it had to be here…”
Kang-jun felt a heat rising in his chest, as if he had swallowed a handful of hot gravel.
Looking back now, it seemed as if not a single thing had ever gone his way.
His home, Earth, which he had returned to after so much hardship, was no longer the place he remembered.
A few unfamiliar words like 'Awakener,' 'Gate,' and 'monster' had completely changed it.
The world was in turmoil in many ways, but still, his daily life here was quite satisfying.
Wasn't a series of ordinary days the very form of life he had longed for for so long?
So he had decided.
That here, at least, he would blend in with the ordinary people, avoid drawing attention, and quietly watch over his peaceful, normal life.
And yet…
Insignificant beings kept interfering with his resolution, and now, even a ‘lingering tie from the past’ had shown up to provoke him.
It was not welcome.
The vortex of mana swirling around Kang-jun grew even more violent.
For a moment, the robed men, unable to withstand the pressure, were pushed further and further back.
“An imperial command.”
At those words, Crabslie knelt on one knee, bowing his head in reverence…
“Minister of the Chancellery, Shartia von de Crabslie, hear me.”
“Yes, my Lord.”
“It is a rare banquet. Enjoy it to your heart's content.”
Crabslie replied in a deeply solemn tone.
“I shall obey the imperial command…”
As he finished speaking, a reddish glow began to ripple in Crabslie's eyes.
Warlock, who had been anxiously chewing his lower lip, screamed in despair.
“What are you all standing around for?!”
At his words, the dozens of dazed mages finally snapped to their senses and hastily began to form a battle line, but…
Shwaaaaaa-!
In the instant Crabslie's form vanished without a trace, the neck of a mage twisted at a bizarre angle.
Crack-!
The mage, who had died without so much as a final scream, was just beginning to slump forward.
Graaaaab—!
Crabslie grabbed the mage's robe with a large hand, pulled him close, and sank his fangs into the nape of his neck.
And then.
The flesh of the mage with fangs in his neck rapidly shriveled, until he was left a wretched husk reminiscent of a mummy.
“No matter how exquisite the delicacies of Earth may be, I'm afraid they cannot compare to this taste…”
Finishing his words, Crabslie, with a chilling smile, casually wiped the blood smeared around his mouth with the back of his hand.
The mages, their faces pale with fright, were just about to inch backward.
Crabslie's body scattered into a swarm of hundreds of bats, then converged on a single point to regain its original form.
Crunch-!
Crunch-!
Crunch-!
Then, with movements as fluid and graceful as a skilled dancer's, he methodically killed the mages one by one.
The arms and legs of the mages caught in Crabslie's grasp were torn apart as if they were made of paper…
Each time he swung his sharp, pointed nails, their flesh was sliced away in chunks, like soft tofu cut by a keen blade.
“Sweet-.”
Even as he cornered his enemies like a wolf let loose among a flock of sheep, Crabslie…
never forgot to savor the taste and aroma of the blood he had been granted this rare chance to enjoy.
In an instant, Crabslie, now covered head to toe in blood, muttered in a tone tinged with a faint madness.
“A taste so sweet it makes my head spin…”
His voice trailing off, he raised both arms high, and for a moment, the ground rippled like a wave.
Fwsh-sh-sh-sh-sh-!
The wretched corpses of the mages strewn across the floor began to float into the air, defying gravity.
This was because long, sharp, red thorns had suddenly shot up from the floor, impaling their bodies and lifting them high.
“Th-This can't be…”
Overwhelmed by the sight, Warlock didn't even think of resisting and collapsed to the floor in terror.
Crabslie glanced at Warlock, licking his lips as he began to close the distance with brisk steps.
“Oh, the last bite…”
Just then, Warlock suddenly looked at Kang-jun and begged.
“I-I-I-I'll do anything, please, just spare me!”
“Anything?”
“Y-Yes, I'll do absolutely anything you ask, please…”
At those words, Crabslie paused and looked intently at Kang-jun, as if awaiting an order.
He was holding back, considering his lord might have 'interrogation' or 'questioning' in mind.
“That's a shame.”
Kang-jun replied curtly, his tone perfectly calm.
“Because I wish for the world my child will live in to be free of trash like you.”
At those words, Crabslie, who had paused, began to walk toward Warlock once more.
“P-P-Please…”
Kang-jun looked at the man, who was now shuffling backward on the floor, and said.
“Don't resent me too much.”
He continued in an impassive tone.
“This is how a parent's heart works, isn't it? We want to show them only good things, and let them hear only good things…”
Just as Crabslie grabbed him by the collar of his robe and he began to struggle desperately,
“There's no need to feel it's unfair.”
“Please…”
“You're just dying a little sooner.”
He glanced over the mages' corpses displayed behind them, all impaled through the torso, and added nonchalantly.
“I'll find every last one of you, without exception.”
Crabslie then pulled the collar of Warlock's robe tighter and sank his sharp fangs into the man's smooth neck…
“And I'll kill every single one I find.”
Not long after, Warlock's pained struggles ceased, his arms and legs going limp.
Crabslie tossed Warlock to the floor and stood there for a moment, his shoulders heaving as he gasped for breath.
“You did well.”
Kang-jun lightly patted Crabslie's broad back a few times, then suddenly stretched his hand out in front of him…
Swoooooosh—!
Swoooooosh—!
Swoooooosh—!
From the floor of the machine room, what looked like thousands of 'black hands' began to emerge.
The hands grew rapidly, wrapping around the corpses in the room like vines…
Finally, they took the shape of coffins, then sank into the ground, taking all the bodies with them.
“Hmm…”
Letting out a soft hum, Kang-jun fell into deep thought, slowly beginning to sort through his tangled ideas.
Aldebaran was a being far removed from the word 'peace,' so it was necessary to find and eliminate him as quickly as possible.
And the Alliance, which kept acting up with him as their backer, would be better off completely eradicated while he was at it. That would bring him peace of mind…
“It seems I have another order to give.”
As Crabslie once again showed his respects, Kang-jun continued in a placid tone.
“Find their main base and 'Aldebaran's' hiding place as quickly as possible.”
Judging from past experience, capturing and interrogating them would be a waste of time.
They would surely have powerful restrictions placed on them to prevent them from revealing any crucial information.
“I will obey your command.”
Kang-jun started walking toward the machine room's exit first and added quietly.
“Let's head back now.”
“Yes, my Lord.”
“Do you have work today, too?”
“The night shift…”
As the two conversed quietly, they walked down the hallway from the machine room for a short while.
“This guy, he's still passed out here.”
Kang-jun, finding Go Du-yeol lying on the ground and foaming at the mouth, wrinkled his brow slightly and nudged him with the tip of his foot…
“C-Cough…”
Go Du-yeol coughed up a mouthful of thin blood and rolled over several times in agony, stopping in front of the machine room door.
***
Meanwhile.
Go Du-yeol, still lost in a dream, couldn't help but be seized by a great question.
“J-Junior….”
Suddenly, his beloved junior, Gwak Du-pal (?), opened his mouth wide and took a big bite out of a dumbbell—
—and began to chew it with exaggerated noises, as if it were delicious.
“You should try some, senior.”
“H-Hey, Du-pal!”
“My name isn't Gwak Du-pal.”
“W-What are you saying…”
“We never even introduced ourselves.”
“Gwak Du-pal, snap out of it-!”
“Senior, you really don't remember?”
The junior then added with a sneer.
“Why don't you look out the window?”
Feeling a sense of disconnect, Go Du-yeol whipped his head around and looked out the gym window.
“W-What is this….”
For some reason, a 'Tyrannosaurus rex' was walking past the gym window…
in the distance, a volcano was erupting repeatedly, and several 'UFOs' were hovering in the sky.
In that moment, Go Du-yeol knew instinctively.
“Fuck, it was a dream…”
But even after realizing it was all a dream,
“How about a bite, senior?”
his junior was still chewing on the dumbbell…
“Rooooar-!”
outside the window, the Tyrannosaurus was still roaming, and the volcano was still erupting…
“Bleep bloop!”
and the UFOs were still flying in the sky.
Just then.
The entire building began to shake as if in an earthquake…
“Damn it, wake up!”
“What happened?”
“This idiot, all by himself…”
The continuous murmuring helped Go Du-yeol gather his senses, and he groggily opened his tightly shut eyes.
“Ugh.”
Having just woken up, Go Du-yeol spat out the mouthful of blood he was holding. “Ptui-!”
A few teeth, coated in dried blood, tumbled out like kernels of corn…
and the faces of his fellow hunters looking down at him came into view.
Go Du-yeol shot up, pushing his massive torso upright, and asked with impossibly slurred speech.
“Whewe'd Gwak Du-paw go-?”
At that, the Ice Witch, Seol Eun-bin, repeated in confusion, “Gwak Du-pal?” for a moment.
With all his teeth gone, Go Du-yeol struggled to continue with his slurred pronunciation.
“Gwa-Gwaaak, Duu, Paaal…”
Just then, the Divine Spear, Kang Ju-won, asked in an admiring tone.
“Hey, don't tell me you fended off their attack all by yourself?”
“An attwack…?”
“Even among S-rank hunters, the top tiers are clearly different…”
His voice trailing off, Kang Ju-won gestured with his chin toward the 'machine room' behind him.
Go Du-yeol, his face swollen as if he'd been stung by a swarm of hornets, looked into the machine room…
and was horrified to see chunks of flesh and pools of blood scattered across the floor.
'W-W-What is that…?'
Of course, having been unconscious the whole time, he had no idea what had happened.
