77 – Agirem (12)
“Hmm? Who are you?”
The man smirked at Wade, who had suddenly appeared before him.
“Hmm… A face I haven’t seen before… Doesn’t seem to be from the Black Night.”
He began to scrutinize Wade closely, stroking his chin.
“It seems like you and the moon are acquainted.”
Bella’s eyes were wide open, fixed on Wade.
It was a reaction of someone who knew the identity without a doubt.
“…Why, no, how… are you here…?”
Bella, who had been silent all along, finally spoke.
The unmistakable question was evident in her eyes.
Why.
How.
Could he have appeared here?
It didn’t make sense, as she had known.
Was he following someone else?
Why?
And, how?
Bella, who excelled at concealing her presence, was skilled at detecting others’ presence.
Rarely did she fail to notice someone following her.
In fact, since reaching a certain level of skill, it had never happened.
Yet, he appeared here.
Bella couldn’t comprehend the reason.
However, soon, those questions no longer mattered.
The real problem wasn’t that.
“Run away right now…!”
He appeared here, catching the man’s eye.
It was a serious matter.
The man had no intention of letting go of the toy he had just discovered.
Knowing that, Bella could only shout.
With a voice filled with desperation, mixed with half a plea.
However.
“It’s already too late.”
Her shout seemed insignificant.
The man was already walking towards Wade with a smile.
“I get it. Rumors have been swirling lately about Bella having a new man in her life, and it turns out to be you?”
A smile crept onto his face.
“Alright. Very well. It wouldn’t be fun if everything followed the same pattern. A new character spices things up, doesn’t it?”
Both his words and his expression, though seemingly ordinary on the surface, were deeply sinister upon closer inspection.
Bella, like others around her, shuddered at the hidden meaning.
However.
Wade, the one the man’s steps were heading towards, remained calm.
No, he didn’t even spare a glance at the man.
Wade’s eyes were solely fixed on Bella.
“Don’t worry.”
To Bella, whose face was stained with anxiety, Wade calmly said.
“I was wondering when I could repay Miss Bell even just a little kindness, but it seems that day has come sooner than expected.”
Saying so, Wade smiled gently, as she knew him to do.
“Hmm. What’s the meaning behind that?”
At that moment, a sharp voice interjected.
“It sounds like you’re planning something against me?”
Without even looking, the voice belonged to the man.
“Do you want to show off in front of a woman? Tsk. It’s not that I can’t understand that feeling… but how audacious.”
Maintaining his usual casual tone outwardly, his gaze was undoubtedly intense.
It was clear that Wade’s words and demeanor had touched a nerve with the man.
“Let me teach you some manners first.”
The man slowly reached out towards Wade.
Watching this scene, Bella gritted her teeth.
Bella knew Wade possessed exceptional skills.
But if the opponent was that man, such skills meant nothing.
Seeing too clearly how Wade would end up at the man’s hands, Bella tried to force herself up with trembling legs.
Yet, the man’s movements were faster than her actions.
Ultimately, she could do nothing but watch the situation helplessly.
And.
Thud!
Once again. That sound echoed.
However, the unfolding scene was vastly different from what she had anticipated.
Contrary to what she and her dear ones expected, Wade, who should have been mercilessly rolling on the ground as she had thought, was standing unscathed in his place.
And the man, who seemed to have been pushed away, was now looking at Wade from a distance with wide-open eyes.
“…Look at this?”
A smile returned to his face.
“I thought I picked up a pillar guy from somewhere… but I ended up finding quite an interesting one, didn’t I?”
There was clearly a strong sense of interest in the man’s eyes.
Meanwhile, the onlookers were left dumbfounded.
Despite witnessing what happened right before their eyes, no one knew what had transpired.
Except one, Bella.
Bella was the only one here who knew what had happened.
Although she hadn’t seen everything clearly and only caught a glimpse, she still knew what had unfolded.
‘The author… was pushed?’
Pushed.
By the man.
The man who was the King of the Algrem Dark Valley, who had never been defeated in ten years, pushed by a young man who had just come of age.
It was undoubtedly an unprecedented event.
“I wonder if he’s matured just by looking at his face now… This really piques my curiosity.”
However, the smile did not fade from the man’s face, the smile of confidence that he would never be defeated.
Wade, who was observing such a man with a cold gaze, spoke up.
“Your tongue’s quite sharp.”
“What did you say?”
“That spot seems more about tongue play than skill, doesn’t it?”
“…”
At those words, the man’s expression stiffened for the first time.
“I was planning to teach you some manners, but… it seems it won’t work out.”
Thud—
The air around them suddenly became heavy.
“It’s a shame, but it’s fine to modify the script like this. A revenge-driven female lead should make for quite an interesting story.”
As soon as he finished speaking,
The man vanished.
He reappeared right beside Wade.
The speed was so fast that it seemed like he had momentarily teleported.
However, his expression was subtly furrowed.
“It seems you’re all talk.”
Wade’s dry voice flowed.
And in Wade’s hands, a man’s fist was blocking the way.
“…Ha.”
The man let out a short laughter.
Then, the wind began to blow.
The wind that rose around the man quickly turned into a storm strong enough to shake the training ground.
In that fierce momentum, even the assassins who had undergone harsh training to become who they were, sweated coldly.
In the midst of that powerful storm of magic, only one person.
Wade remained calm as ever.
His sunken eyes gazed at the man, then shifted elsewhere.
Bella, who was sitting, looking at him, and the people who had lost consciousness after being hit by the man.
As Wade took in the scene, he finally raised his arm.
And at that moment, the wind, now so powerful that it could be called a storm, suddenly ceased.
Then, the expression completely disappeared from the man’s face.
“…So that’s how it is.”
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As if finally understanding, the man nodded.
“Yeah. Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense.”
After nodding to himself for a while, the man finally lifted his head.
“Yeah, if that’s the case, I’ll have to show my sincerity in my own way.”
With that, he raised his right hand and extended it forward.
Vvvvmm—
And one of the rings on his right hand began to glow and vibrate—
The next moment, a shaft of a spear was gripped in the man’s hand.
***
“R-Run…!”
“Everyone, get out…!”
The members of the Black Night who filled the training ground, officers and soldiers alike, urgently fled the training ground.
But not everyone left the place.
Bella was the only one who didn’t leave the training ground.
She moved her creaking body to gather the unconscious in one place and watched the situation.
Bella knew well why the others had vacated the place.
If they were people who had joined the Dark Guild, they would know what would happen when the man held the spear in his hand.
Ten years ago, after the man took over the Dark Guild.
Since then, he had undoubtedly become the undisputed leader of the Dark Guild, but that didn’t mean his position was free from threats.
In the end, the Dark Guild was a world that revolved around power.
Just as the man had done, there were always those who sought to seize that position through power.
Not to mention it was a position that could shake the wealthy and vast city of Agilrem.
Countless individuals blinded by his shining business card, gold, and power had appeared and challenged the man.
The results of numerous challenges ultimately ended in the victory of the man, but the process was never smooth.
Among them, there were several strong opponents even the man could not ignore.
When facing such opponents, the man would eventually draw his weapon.
The dark-colored spear that shimmered.
And every time he did, the surroundings turned into chaos.
The man holding the spear not only defeated his opponent but also destroyed everything around him.
The reason why those in the training ground fled in a panic.
They knew all too well what would happen if the man wielded the spear in their vicinity.
“Now, let’s play for real.”
Swinging the long dark spear leisurely as if it were an extension of his limbs, the man spoke.
Originally, being armed or not made a significant difference, but for the man, the atmosphere itself was different.
Before lifting the spear, it was a strange atmosphere that one could not decipher, but now, a ferocity that seemed to tear everything in sight apart emanated.
It was not just momentum or magic.
It was also history.
After countless battles, defeating numerous formidable opponents, he finally secured his position.
The history created by the man’s own hands.
That history naturally blended with the momentum and flowed out.
The man had spent most of his time in Agerem for the past ten years, and naturally, Agerem became the stage for his battles.
As a result, the residents of Agerem could witness the man’s skills, his authority, with their own eyes.
As people lost their lives at the hands of the man and the number of witnesses increased.
At some point, people began to address the man with a single title.
The title derived directly from his beloved dark spear.
Even after that, challengers continued, and thus, his reputation grew even more.
And finally, when his fame spread across the continent.
Naturally, another title was added to him.
A prestigious title that all warriors on the continent yearned for.
“Pay the price for disrupting my entertainment.”
Hamell Enderk, the Ten Swords, Dark Spear.
That was his name.