Chapter 80
"Hold on! Don't die! The Knight of Salvation is with us! It's Sir Karl Reitz Meyer!"
Verpin, with momentary wit, shouted Karl's name at the top of his lungs.
Hope instantly surged in the minds of the people who had been accepting despair.
Simultaneously, a gust of wind blew around Karl's body, sending the poisonous mist flying into the sky.
Karl, enveloped in golden Aura, blowing away the poisonous mist while swiftly dispatching the assassins, truly looked like a knight straight out of a legend.
"Sir Karl is with us!"
"We will win!"
The mercenaries who had fallen into despair all roared, boosting their morale, and even the fleeing mercenaries all picked up their weapons and charged towards the exposed assassins.
The mercenaries began to strike down the assassins, wielding their anger along with their courage.
After a fierce battle, there were no more assassins moving around alive.
However, among the numerous corpses littering the ground were not only assassins but also many of those who had been laughing, talking, and sharing food together just moments before.
They had clearly survived and won, yet their faces were utterly grim.
"...Schteiner...."
Verpin, with a sorrowful expression, knelt beside his cherished subordinate with staggering steps, despite his own severe injuries.
He was the first one who had drawn his sword and shouted to protect Verpin.
Karl could also clearly see that the dead mercenary was a loyal man.
He could fully imagine how Verpin felt, having lost a subordinate who was like an extension of himself.
"...."
Verpin stood up and scanned the surroundings.
There were many who had lived lives unrelated to the sword.
This was because victims included many such as stall owners and tavern employees.
Eudeudeuk. (Sound of grinding teeth)
Verpin's face, which had maintained a smiling countenance throughout until now, contorted.
His eyes, too, glistened with killing intent.
"What kind of madman... dares to do this in Ulstein...!"
Since no assassins survived, he couldn't ask, but there weren't many places capable of mass-producing assassins on this scale, so the pool of suspects was limited.
The assassins naturally left no traces behind.
"...I must go see the Master."
"It seems better to get treatment before moving."
"...There isn't enough time for that. It's urgent. Since they're capable of committing such a bold act within Ulstein, we don't know what they might do next."
"Therefore, wouldn't it be better to move more calmly?"
"Whether the Master is safe either...."
"You call yourself his disciple, yet you don't seem to know your Master properly."
At Karl's words, Verpin's expression definitely returned slightly, unlike before.
Assassins like these, whether there were a hundred or a thousand, couldn't do anything to Bahamut.
Of course, one hand might struggle against ten, but Bahamut had many skilled followers around him.
"Still, I think I need to move right now rather than get treatment. As quickly as possible."
Watching him speak with a resolute gaze, Karl nodded his head.
"If Sir Karl hadn't been here, I probably would have been dead long ago. I will repay the kindness I received this time, no matter what."
Karl simply nodded his head in response.
Since things had come to this anyway, Karl intended to follow Verpin.
He had to resolve the quest anyway.
"You don't have to help any further. I have already received kindness beyond measure."
"I'm doing this because I want to, so don't worry about it."
Though the words were somewhat unaffectionate, the content was nonetheless that he would accompany him.
Verpin, needing every available hand right now, didn't refuse further and began moving towards the Guild headquarters where Bahamut resided.
Despite bleeding all over, Verpin mounted his horse.
Karl let out a deep sigh, took out a potion, and poured it onto his body.
"...Thank you!"
Karl, mounted on his horse, rode alongside Verpin towards the Mercenary Guild headquarters.
"If we inform the Master, he will surely take appropriate measures."
An almost blind trust lay beneath his words.
It was a well-founded belief in one of the strongest individuals on the entire continent.
However, Karl felt uneasy about this whole situation.
Unless those guys were idiots, would they really have started this without considering the Mercenary King?
It likely meant they were sufficiently confident.
As proof, hadn't Verpin, a Master-level swordsman, faced a near-death crisis?
Had they truly failed to consider the variable of Karl's appearance, another Master-level knight?
Various thoughts complicated his mind.
As they rode, they soon neared the Mercenary Guild headquarters.
***
Bahamut, the Mercenary King who had birthed countless legends and redefined what it meant to be a mercenary, was bleeding from all over his body.
Among all places, the one bleeding the most was none other than his mouth.
"Keol-leok...!" (Sound of coughing up blood)
Each time he coughed up blood from his mouth, clumps of black and red blood poured out.
"Piti... ful... fool...."
"Are you still looking down on me even as you die, Master?"
"How can I not... rebuke... a foolish... disciple... who kicks away... opportunity... with his own hands. Keol-leok...!"
The Mercenary King's complexion was pale as he forced himself to speak.
"You've ingested such a potent poison, yet you hold on for so long. It's time to go now. I will take care of things afterward."
The Mercenary King, having drunk a large amount of Taipan's poison—known for ending the lives of numerous strong individuals, mentioned multiple times even in history books—had still managed to sever the necks of 10 Superiors and 30 high-level Expert swordsmen.
Around him lay the corpses of mercenaries loyal to Kavar.
It was unknown if he was dead, but the second disciple, Seonil, also lay collapsed on the floor, unable to move.
"All of this will be framed as the doing of your last disciple, Verpin, Master."
"You bastard!"
"Look at this, the Master thinking of the third disciple even as he dies. Master, you never cared about someone like me from the start."
At Kavar's cold voice, the Mercenary King's eyes filled not with anger, but with pity.
"Let's wrap things up soon. There will be disruptions to the next plan."
"...Let us do so."
A man neatly dressed in armor, accompanied by numerous knights, appeared beside Kavar, having arrived at some unknown point.
"Keol-leok...! Kavar... Mercenaries cannot last long by secretly siding with one powerful figure. How long do you think that Baltimo fellow will help you? How pathetic."
The Mercenary King Bahamut raised his greatsword, gathering his last strength to stand up.
But that was all.
He couldn't do anything more and was trembling.
"...Finish it."
Baltimo's knights charged towards Bahamut, while Kavar and Baltimo turned their bodies away.
It wasn't just any poison, but Taipan's poison.
The Mercenary King couldn't survive anyway.
The moment the two turned away and the knights approached Bahamut, the greatsword fell.
Kwaaang!
An ear-splitting explosion echoed in all directions.
Marquis Baltimo and Kavar, who were turning away, instinctively turned back to look towards where the Mercenary King was.
"So this is the difference with the Top 10 of the Continent...."
Marquis Baltimo marveled, seeing dozens of his precious knights lose their lives.
"...."
Kavar, who had turned away, unwilling to witness his master's death with his own eyes, ended up looking at his master whose breath had ceased.
"Why didn't you... just trust me a little...."
Kavar, blaming his master until the very end, turned away.
The aura of a living person could no longer be felt from his master.
***
"...Something's strange."
They could feel it the moment they arrived.
Sensing something was wrong, Verpin and Karl urgently entered the main building.
Corpses littered the surroundings.
All belonged to mercenaries.
Verpin, filled with anxiety, reached Bahamut's office.
And there stood Bahamut, bleeding from all over, yet standing with his greatsword planted in the ground.
Without breath or pulse, he certainly looked dead.
Just then, the Mercenary King's eyes snapped open.
"Master...!"
Karl quickly approached Bahamut, took out a potion, and poured it into his mouth.
If the Pope hadn't stuffed his pockets full of potions, several people would have died.
"Keol-leok...!"
Despite it being a potion provided by none other than the Pope, it seemed unlikely the Mercenary King would live.
Severe wounds riddled his entire body, and more serious than anything was the poisoning symptom, severe enough to be visible.
The man's body appeared bluish.
"Master...!"
"Verpin... is that you...."
"What happened! Why, Master!?"
"Kavar...!"
Blood spurted from his mouth once again.
The Mercenary King was clearly dying, but his eyes alone revived vividly.
The final radiance before death, known as Hwegwangbanjo(To damage what was corrected and to help what was wrong).
"Where is Sir Karl?"
"I am here."
As if he couldn't even see what was in front of him, the Mercenary King called for Karl.
And he began speaking rapidly into Karl's ear.
It was the essence of the swordsmanship the Mercenary King had mastered throughout his life.
He ceaselessly unraveled his enlightenment on swordsmanship, and finally, told Karl of a specific location.
Having finished speaking to Karl, Bahamut's head turned towards Verpin.
Verpin met his master's eyes.
"Verpin."
"Yes, Master!"
Tears streamed down his eyes.
The master who had cared for and loved him, an orphan of war, was not just a master but a parent to him.
"I will leave you no burden...."
With those final words, the hero who had dominated an era died anticlimactically.
Until the very end, the master did not tell his disciple to become the Mercenary King.
At his parent's final words telling him to follow the path he wished to take, Verpin shed hot tears from both eyes.
At that moment, presences began to be felt from afar.
"We must move. Enemies are converging around us."
Karl grabbed Verpin by the scruff of his neck and quickly mounted him onto a horse.
'Anne is at the tavern. She must have already noticed the situation.'
Trying to shake off their pursuit was already a lost cause.
It was better to request rescue.
Anne should be able to secure a safe house at least.
Karl finished his calculations in his head and spurred his horse.
'I'll have to leave Silver with Anne for the time being.'
The moment the two spurred their horses and exited the headquarters, bolt arrows flew in from all directions.
Karl and Verpin, deflecting the bolts by extending their swords, dashed towards the entrance.
[Karl Meyer Style. Form 1. Whirlpool]
The moment Karl's sword swung, Aura filled the front, becoming like a raging wind that swept away all the enemies blocking the path.
In an instant, a storm of blood raged everywhere, but not a single drop of blood touched Karl, enveloped by the wind spirit.
Dudududu. (Sound of galloping horses)
Two horses galloped swiftly through the Ulstein capital.
And behind them, men and horses began to converge.
"They must be Marquis Baltimo's subordinates... If Brother Kavar is already attempting to seize control inside the castle, we must get outside the castle."
Just as Verpin said, staying in Ulstein Castle meant only death.
'How on earth did those bastards kill the Mercenary King.'
The Bahamut Karl had seen was not someone who would die easily.
How could they possibly kill a strong man capable of making even Karl flinch?
There were several corpses around, and the signs of poisoning were clearly visible, but the Bahamut Karl had seen was not someone who would die from just that.
There had to be some other terrifying element that led to Bahamut's death.
"I don't know what trick they pulled, but it makes no sense for the Master to go like that."
Verpin was thinking similarly to Karl.
This didn't make sense.
"For now, let's get out of here and think."
The enemies had already established an encirclement to capture the two.