120 episodes
Ethan was perplexed by the unfamiliar face.
“What are you doing?”
“Don’t you remember me? A priest saved me from the swamp of despair before.”
In Ethan’s mind, the presence of the mercenary was very blurry.
At that time, his mind was already saturated with just the fact that Saint and Stella were related.
But Ethan smiled in the masquerade of a benevolent priest.
Now I’m used to doing this.
“Yes, it is. I’m glad you don’t seem to have any major problems.”
“At that time, I was so nervous that I couldn’t even say hello because it bothered me. If it wasn’t for the priest, I would have died. Thank you very much. So it’s small, but I’m going to give it to you.”
The mercenary offered Ethan something.
It was a small bottle of purple liquid.
“What is this?”
“Aren’t people dying in the recent expedition? This is the antidote I bought before I came to the expedition, and I hope it will be of some help to you.”
“Well. If that’s the case, you don’t have to give it to me.”
Ethan looked at the antidote with questionable eyes.
‘Is this the right thing?’
The low-level potions that the mercenaries live in were made only by low-skilled wizards who could not even reach Ethan’s toes.
Ethan couldn’t use such a thing.
However, the mercenary had tears in his eyes as if he had misunderstood.
‘You are also a priest. You know that you bought it with all the money you don’t have, so you’re rejecting it.’
The mercenary, whose eyes lit up with tears, forcibly handed the antidote into Ethan’s hand.
“no! Can’t you give this to a life saver? Please accept it!”
Then he quickly left the place.
Ethan frowned upon receiving the antidote.
‘No, it’s a specification for such a frivolous thing?’
That was then.
“Chief, are you here?”
Jackson, who went out on reconnaissance, returned with the mercenaries.
“Now that the citadel is empty and secure, we will head there from now on! Everyone get ready!”
At those words, sighs of relief were heard everywhere.
When the citadel was empty, it meant that the dark followers had fled.
People were dying from poison, so the atmosphere was very depressed.
Because of this, the sons of the noble family were afraid that a battle would happen.
It was good news for them.
Because it meant there would be no battles.
The expedition, which was holding its breath while hiding, moved in a bustling manner.
I had to hurry to the citadel.
“aah!”
Then, suddenly Easton screamed.
Everyone’s eyes turned to Easton at once.
“What, what?”
“Why are you doing this all of a sudden?”
Easton groaned in pain as he rolled on the floor.
Ethan, who was buried in the crowd, lit up his eyes.
‘Have your seizures finally started?’
Easton’s seizures were designed by Ethan.
So far, all other flies have been dealt with.
All that was left was Easton.
And Ethan intended to stimulate Easton’s survival instincts with poison.
‘What will you do if you arrive at the organization’s hideout in the midst of a death crisis?’
Ethan was going to watch Easton’s choice.
For this, Ethan had been waiting for the moment to find the dark follower’s hideout until now.
Jackson walked through the crowd, checked Easton’s condition, and clicked his tongue.
“The wounded are taken away. After joining the advance squad, I will treat the wounded at the fortress.”
When the order was given, the strongest of the mercenaries put Easton on his shoulders.
Easton struggled in pain, but was quickly subdued.
The mercenary corps quickly launched a new model.
Ethan followed suit.
The time has come to finish the work in the damn swamp.
* * *
“Wow!”
Easton groaned.
It was painful, as if someone had set fire to it.
There was a lot of pain running through my body, and I couldn’t come to my senses.
It was the first time I felt pain, but I knew it right away.
‘This is an addiction phenomenon!’
Like his comrades who had agreed with Easton at the dawn of Graben, he too was on the brink of death.
‘Who the hell is doing this?’
Despite the agony, Easton continued to express his hatred for the perpetrator.
who?
The expedition was dismissed as a common accident that occurred in the southern swamps.
It was concluded that the reason why the sons of noble families died before the mercenaries was due to their unfamiliarity with the swamp area.
But Easton knew it wasn’t an accident.
It was natural.
Who were the ones who were dying one by one?
Even at the dawn of Graben, there were only those who belonged to the Dark Followers.
‘shit! He was perfectly aware of our existence from start to finish!’
Easton burst out in anger.
He paid attention to everything.
There was a white wolf Robert in the expedition, so he didn’t do anything special and was always careful.
But, strangely enough, their identities had already been discovered.
The most suspicious thing was Matilda.
After revealing their identity to Matilda, the members of the gang died one after the other.
‘It’s not that girl. Because he was talking to me when we had our first poisoning. Besides, I was monitoring myself.’
There was a decisive reason to doubt Matilda.
Easton had been closely monitoring Matilda for several days before contacting her.
There were no gaps.
To reveal his identity and trap the expedition, he needed at least one more person to join the operation.
So there was no time left to plan Matilda’s poisoning.
Easton excluded Matilda from the suspects.
‘Do you want me to die like this?’
The shadow of death, which I had never felt before in my life, grew thicker.
But his life was too precious to give up everything like this.
He was born into a famous family on the continent.
He also inherited the talent for swordsmanship, so he could be proud that he had no opponents among his peers.
But how do you die in vain?
I couldn’t even properly wield the sword I’ve been honing all my life, and I’ve only been poisoned?
Read at n̲o̲b̲l̲e̲m̲t̲l̲.̲c̲o̲m̲
Quickly.Easton clenched his teeth.
‘I will never die. never! Who wants me to die like this?!’
Only that thought engulfed Easton’s mind.
Then, someone’s voice was heard.
-Isn’t it possible to live in a hiding place?
It was a faint voice.
But strangely, it felt like the meaning was materializing in Easton’s head.
‘Are you hiding?’
Easton rolled his eyes.
As soon as I opened my eyes, what I saw was not the eerie bushes of the swamp, but the ceiling of the room.
‘okay. You’re inside the citadel.’
It was then that Easton realized he was lying in bed.
When did you arrive here?
It was the voice in my head.
‘That’s good. As long as I go to the hideout, I can live!’
Hope gleamed in Easton’s eyes that were engulfed in despair.
There are many medicinal and magical ingredients in the hideout hidden inside the fortress.
He couldn’t leave his life in the hands of the stupid expedition guys.
“Ugh… … .”
But the thought was interrupted sporadically by the great pain.
I couldn’t think deeply.
– Since it was decided to run away suddenly, you must have been running out of time.
Fortunately, someone’s voice was leading Easton.
-So you couldn’t have escaped or dealt with everything you had in the hideout.
That was correct.
Even with a hard-to-think head, I was convinced that there was no way the members of this place would have cleared up their hideout so quickly and left.
So Easton squeezed his strength and got out of my bed.
I couldn’t die here.
Easton’s mind was only focused on survival.
* * *
Easton leaned forward against the wall of the citadel.
There was a shadow following Easton.
bum bum.
It was Ethan.
But Easton didn’t notice Ethan following, perhaps because of the poison’s pain.
‘The others are busy searching the citadel. That’s good.’
Before searching the citadel, Jackson left the poisoned Easton with Ethan.
– Priest, please take charge of the Eastern Duke. In the meantime, we’ll search this place to see if there’s anything like a cure.
Jackson’s words were perfectly reasonable.
Even a long-time dark follower in the southern swamps would have been troubled by the venom and poison of the swamps.
So the antidote might come out during the search for the citadel.
Ethan looked out the window.
Mercenaries and other expedition members were scattered to check the wide fort.
So it was only Ethan and Easton who were here now.
It was the fountain in the middle of the citadel where Easton, who was shivering, arrived.
‘A fountain?’
Ethan made a puzzled face.
A fountain in a fortress built to hide?
Besides, if it was the place where Easton came to find a hiding place.
‘I have nothing more to say.’
Ethan chuckled.
He narrowed the distance at once and stunned Easton.
‘It was quite useful as a guide.’
In fact, Ethan pretended to heal Easton, speaking magic into Easton’s head.
-Isn’t it possible to live in a hiding place?
-So you couldn’t have escaped or dealt with everything you had in the hideout.
And Easton, lost in his mind, regarded the horse as his only straw and set out in search of shelter.
It was just as Ethan had been aiming for.
Ethan left Easton on the floor and looked at the fountain.
“There must be something there.”
When I searched the stone statue above the fountain, I saw some writing on the lion stone statue in the center.
– Our world will be opened only when the world is stained with blood.
Ethan frowned and frowned.
“Goritabun. Nothing has changed since then, right?”
At first glance, the crests carved on the stone seemed to reveal the aspirations of the Dark Followers.
But Ethan knew the meaning of this sentence very well.
Ethan dragged Easton and threw it into the fountain.
with a splash!
Easton flopped around the fountain like a drunken man who fell into the fountain while he was drunk.
Then something amazing happened.
“… … !”
The water in the fountain was as red as blood.
It was just like the inscriptions engraved on the stone.
The fountain was dyeing red with Easton’s vitality.
A little longer would open the door to the real hideout hidden beneath the fountain.
Ethan looked at him with ease.
However.
“… … .”
“Why are you so quiet?”
Ethan scoured the fountain once more.
Oddly enough, the fountain’s device didn’t activate.
As the phrase says, why doesn’t it open even after hitting the life force, to be more precise, the Eastern?
‘no way?’
Only then did Ethan check Easton’s pulse.
Because he was dying, his pulse was very slow.
“Damn it.”
Ethan clicked his tongue low.
Easton was dying from poison, so the fountain did not absorb enough life force.
Ethan ran into an unexpected problem and was troubled.
That was then.
“Priest Ethan!”
The twins’ voices were heard from afar.
Ethan was taken aback by the thief’s numbness in his feet.
‘No, why do they always show up like this?’
It was really amazing timing.