After Raon launched the White Dragon into the sky—

Whoooosh—

Cale watched the wind.

East, west, south, north.

Wind was rushing in from every direction.

Three from the east!

One at five o’clock!

Three from the northwest!

One at seven o’clock!

Three from the southeast!

And even after that, the wind elementals kept pouring in with more information.

Flap, flap.

The hem of Cale’s clothes fluttered in the wind.

“So a lot of them gathered.”

Sui Khan.

To catch a single Team Leader—

“About twenty of them have spread out—”

And quite a few of them were now moving toward Cale.

And among them—

“One is the Team Leader, and one must be the captain.”

One man he needed to save, and one man he needed to hit back.

“The five o’clock and seven o’clock descriptions.”

While all the others were moving in teams of three, only two were moving alone.

Of those two, one had to be Team Leader Lee Soo Hyuk, and the other had to be the captain of this search party.

Even if the Team Leader is hurt, even if he’s still in a young body, ordinary fighters still won’t be enough to catch him. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

That meant the captain must have ordered the others to search for Sui Khan in groups of three.

And he’s moving alone himself.

The implication was obvious.

“That means he’s strong enough to at least hold back an injured Sui Khan.”

Cale started walking slowly.

If the Team Leader got hurt, the reason is obvious.

Even if there were two holy knights around Choi Jung Soo’s level, Sui Khan’s skill at trailing someone secretly should not have been so poor that they could detect him.

So if he had been found—

he must’ve lost control because he got angry.

Team Leader Lee Soo Hyuk had obviously seen something infuriating by his own standards, something so absurd he lost his composure for a moment and let killing intent show.

Or else he had made some other sign of his presence.

That was why the enemy had discovered him, and why he was now wounded and being pursued.

That was always how it went.

Team Leader Lee Soo Hyuk had always caused a lot of trouble.

A man who looked cold, a man who looked like he found everything tiresome, yet inside, he was the one carrying the biggest fire of all.

That’s why no one could ever really replace Lee Soo Hyuk.

Cale—Kim Rok Soo—had tried to follow in Lee Soo Hyuk’s footsteps, but he could never become someone like him.

All he had gained was an ugly nickname: stubborn bastard.

No one had ever regarded him as a heroic figure the way they had Lee Soo Hyuk.

Not that I ever wanted that anyway.

Cale looked up at the sky.

The sunset was fading, the heavens darkening into indigo.

“It’s been a while.”

It had been a long time since he had to clean up after Lee Soo Hyuk.

If I have to fill in for Choi Jung Soo too, I’ll have to move a little.

Since Choi Jung Soo was not here, Cale would have to cover that part himself this time.

“No.”

Now he had more companions than just Choi Jung Soo.

Far too many people to help him clean up after others.

A faint laugh escaped Cale.

Whoooosh—

Then he listened again to the wind blowing in.

The one at five o’clock is young!

The one at seven o’clock is middle-aged!

Step.

His feet turned toward seven o’clock.

Everyone should arrive within ten minutes!

Listening to the wind elemental’s voice, he said:

“On, Hong. I’m counting on you.”

He heard no reply from On and Hong.

No cries, not even the sound of their departing footsteps.

The two children had grown again while Cale was not looking.

A crooked smile tugged at Cale’s lips.

“Definitely different.”

Things really were very different from the past.

Thinking again that he was living the life of Cale Henituse now, Cale turned his gaze to the side.

A forest steeped in darkness.

Nothing could be seen between the shadows.

“Clopeh. You know what to do, right?”

“Yes, Young Master Cale.”

Clopeh’s answer came from within it.

Emerging from the shadows, Clopeh dipped his head slightly, then vanished again.

Perhaps because he had dyed his hair black with magic, his figure hardly seemed distinct from the darkness.

Clopeh Sekka, who had once revealed himself openly and wanted to become a legend as a guardian knight—

now had no reluctance at all about moving in secret and staying hidden. If anything, he welcomed it.

“......”

Cale watched Clopeh recede for a moment, then resumed walking.

His face had gone cold.

As Kim Rok Soo, and as Cale too—

he had always hated seeing his companions get hurt.

Then Raon’s voice rang out.

-Human, are we smashing everything?

Cale paused.

-Hehe. Human, I’m joking! I know this isn’t the time for smashing everything!

Just as Raon answered playfully—

“We do need to smash some things.”

Cale replied in an indifferent tone.

-Oh!

Raon sounded startled.

Cale, regardless, kept walking at an easy, unhurried pace.

Would it make any sense for Wanderers under the Three Emperors to rush or hide just because they were on their way to greet a few holy knights?

He grinned.

The corner of Cale’s mouth twisted sharply upward.

*****

“Captain.”

Satun, the high-ranking holy knight leading the search party, met up with three subordinates.

“Are you moving because you saw the signal?”

“Yes.”

A day and a half.

For that long, in this forest, the high-ranking holy knight Satun had been pursuing a single intruder.

Whoooosh—

He raised his head into the wind and inhaled.

“There’s still no smell of blood.”

He was dressed in a way that did not suit the title of holy knight at all. He looked more like a ranger than a knight.

Wearing leather armor, he swept his gaze around.

“They’re all moving this way.”

When he listened carefully, the forest was noisy.

Those who had been spread out stealthily throughout the woods chasing the intruder were all converging at once toward the signal flare. No matter how careful they tried to be, that much movement could not stay hidden.

“Sir Pol. Take two men and return to headquarters.”

“Should I report the situation as it stands?”

“Yes.”

He inhaled again.

“There’s no smell of blood, but...”

For some reason—

“I feel like I’m going to smell blood very soon.”

At Satun’s words, Pol and the two holy knights beside him stiffened.

Satun.

Among the holy knights of the Order of the God of Chaos, he possessed an unusual ability. By nature, he had an exceptional sense for the smell of blood.

That was why his nickname was the Blood Tracker.

The captain has already smelled the intruder’s blood once. As long as that man remains in the forest, the captain will find him in the end.

Pol bowed his head and spoke.

“Then the three of us will return to headquarters.”

“Good. Headquarters must have seen the signal flare too, so they’ll send more men.”

Pol hesitated.

“...Do you really think more men are necessary, Captain?”

“We still haven’t caught a single intruder after all this time. However wide this forest may be, it is not that wide.”

An intruder they had failed to catch even after dispatching around twenty holy knights.

He had smelled that intruder’s blood several times, but still had not caught him.

Satun was a cautious man.

“The great plan is right in front of us. Headquarters knows very well how troublesome it would be if an intruder slipped into the city at a time like this. And now it seems the intruder’s companions have arrived as well, so of course there should be reinforcements.”

“Mm.”

Pol could not answer.

Because the holy knights were already extremely busy preparing for the great plan. The fact that twenty men had been sent in the first place already showed how urgent the situation was, and he doubted additional reinforcements would be easy.

“If not, go to Sir Trill.”

“!”

Pol flinched.

“He was the one who wounded the intruder. If it’s him, he’ll move.”

Trill.

A man who had gone beyond the level of a high-ranking holy knight and reached the level above it. If Satun was one of the three strongest among the high-ranking holy knights, then Trill was one of the three at the very top—a man Satun could never defeat even if he spent his whole life trying.

“...Yes. Understood.”

Seeing cautious Captain Satun mention Sir Trill, Pol finally grasped how serious the matter was.

He hurried.

“I’ll go at once.”

“Yes. Before any more variables emerge—”

Satun stopped speaking.

Whoooosh—

The wind blew.

Satun raised his face into it.

Then he smelled it.

“...This is bad.”

The smell was strange.

It was not the smell of the forest.

Something strange was riding the wind.

From the east?

No.

From the west?

No.

Not north. Not south either.

It’s all of them!

The smell was pouring in from all four directions.

Satun knew that this strange sense of smell of his worked like a kind of intuition.

Danger.

He used that scent to detect danger.

He was good at catching the smell of blood when he pursued someone, but this kind of smell—

“It’s not just one or two of them—”

The intruder’s companions had not entered this forest in ones or twos.

He felt danger coming from every side.

Gooseflesh rose all over his body.

More and more—

as the smell seemed to spread across the entire forest, he felt a massive danger approaching.

A danger utterly silent and terribly discreet.

What was it?

Sir Satun immediately ordered Pol:

“Get to headquarters now!”

“Yes, sir!”

Pol realized how grave the situation was and hurried his men along.

They were bewildered by what was happening.

Because the forest itself was far too calm.

But Pol knew Captain Satun’s ability, and so he rushed.

Because he knew danger was about to come.

And at that same moment—

in the forest on the opposite side from where Satun stood—

“Hm?”

Of a group of three holy knights moving quickly together, the one leading the squad came to a halt.

“Stop.”

He raised a hand to stop the others and stared ahead.

From the darkness of the forest, someone slowly walked out.

Whoever it was, he emerged with outrageous ease and confidence.

“Who goes there!”

The black-haired man paid no heed to the squad leader’s shout and kept walking forward at his leisure.

Shiiing.

His sword hung loosely downward in his hand.

“So you’re the first sacrifice.”

The moment the black-haired man, Clopeh Sekka, said that with a smile—

“!”

“!!”

“......!”

All three felt a chill crawl over them.

Clopeh Sekka had learned from the Heavenly Demon and Choi Han, and now he could use an energy formed from dead mana.

It was not aura.

But it was similar to aura.

A power like the shadow of light.

The bearing of a swordsman who wielded that power.

The moment his killing intent swallowed the area—

“...Mist...!”

Mist began to pour in behind the black-haired man.

Like a tide trying to swallow the forest.

But it was not violent like a real wave.

Silently, stealthily.

Yet as swiftly as any wave, the advancing mist rushed to engulf them.

“Run!”

The squad leader made the call instantly, but the mist was faster than they were.

The holy knight who had turned at once and bolted forward at the squad leader’s shout pitched face-first to the ground.

“Urgh...!”

It was a paralytic poison.

“...Ah...!”

And then drowsiness came.

Not peaceful sleep, but sleep that arrived in that horrifying place flooded with mist, the kind of sleep that called up darkness and death.

“......!”

“Ugh—!”

“N-no—!”

As the three holy knights lay collapsed on the ground, resisting the paralysis and the sleep with everything they had—

step, step.

The black-haired swordsman passed them slowly.

He smirked.

The squad leader could see the man looking down at him with a smile.

He looked at the squad leader as if he were nothing more than a stone on the ground, then walked on.

“Ugh—”

In the end, the squad leader could not endure and shut his eyes.

Darkness came flooding in.

Drowsiness swallowed him whole.

No matter how desperately he fought, his eyes would not open.

But he had not fallen fully asleep yet.

Though his eyes were shut, though he could not see, he could still hear.

A low voice reached him.

“How dare you betray us—”

The black-haired swordsman’s tone was cold beyond cold, full of contempt.

That was the last thing the squad leader heard before he finally fell asleep.

I will remember this—

And survive. And tell everyone.

He lost consciousness clinging desperately to that vow.

But he did not know.

“......”

Clopeh was staring fixedly at the squad leader, now completely unconscious.

Rustle.

Then he heard a deliberately made sound.

In the darkness—

the clear silver eyes of a cat.

And behind them, the back of a red cat.

Clopeh nodded once and moved on.

Poison mist was spreading through the whole forest.

Step. Step.

Unlike Clopeh, who walked loudly on purpose, the poison mist spread through the entire forest in silence and secrecy, just like On and Hong.

“......”

The corner of Clopeh’s mouth rose.

Pretending to be a subordinate of the Three Emperors—

it was quite an entertaining little game.

*****

And the mist spread slowest toward seven o’clock.

“Sir Pol, hurry!”

Satun’s whole body prickled at the thickening scent—or rather, the growing warning of danger.

That was why he kept throwing orders at Sir Pol while swiftly turning his body, about to dash toward the place where the signal flare had been fired.

Hummm—

Gray energy, the divine power of the God of Chaos, clung to the tip of his foot.

He heard Sir Pol leaving, and opened his mouth to shout one last thing.

“I’ll find the source of the scent—”

But he stopped.

“!”

In the darkness—

he ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) saw someone walking slowly toward him.

What is this?

He had smelled nothing.

He had sensed no danger warning.

Why?

He had failed to notice the man approaching through the smell blanketing the forest.

That makes no sense unless he’s just an ordinary person!

Satun could not detect that sort of warning scent from someone who posed absolutely no danger to him.

Ah, that weak—

The moment he saw the approaching figure more clearly, Satun realized why he had failed to sense him at first—because of that thin, almost frail build—

“Mm!”

But then his whole body began trembling beyond his control.

“Urgh!”

Because he had to clutch his nose.

A black-haired man.

The shadows of the forest obscured the color of his eyes, making them look only dark.

The instant that man fixed his gaze on Satun—

“Khk!”

Satun smelled an overwhelming reek of blood.

At the same time, his whole body shook violently.

Drip.

Blood ran from his nose.

He could hardly smell anything at all anymore.

I’ve only felt this from a highest-ranking holy knight—!

And even then, only when facing the leader of the holy knights of the Order of the God of Chaos.

No.

Was this worse than that?

Because—

I can’t smell anything else at all.

It felt as if the blood-reek alone might suffocate him.

As if his very sense of smell were about to disappear.

“Ugh, ah—”

“Uuugh—”

Behind him, he heard three of his subordinates collapse or groan.

Leaving aside the smell, this absolute presence alone was enough to cover the whole body in gooseflesh.

It’s different.

It called to mind the power of the God of Chaos, yet it was different.

Truly different.

And yet absolute. And terrifying.

Step, step.

The man who had walked out at ease asked Sir Satun:

“Why did you betray us?”

He was not asking Satun’s identity.

He was not asking about the intruder.

Nothing like that.

He simply asked why Satun had betrayed them.

What?

As Satun failed to understand—

Whoooosh—

a sound somewhat different from wind reached him.

...Water?

The sound of waves.

The moment Satun realized that—

-So I just have to make the arrows into snakes, right?

Yeah. Not dragons. Snakes.

Cale gave the Water that Devours the Sky an offhand answer as he recalled what Choi Jung Gun had told him.

You want to know what kind of power the third Emperor has?

A Wanderer, the third strongest among the hunters of the Five Colored Blood family.

Cale had wanted to know his power.

Because the Wanderers’ individualities, similar to Ancient Powers, were both an object of curiosity for him and something he absolutely needed to understand.

Hmm. That power is—

Choi Jung Gun had answered him.

Water dragon.

That was what it was.

And then he added:

One of his subordinates uses a snake too. A water snake.

A grin spread across Cale’s lips.

Whoooosh—

A pair of water snakes rose, coiling up behind Cale’s back.

Two water snakes.

“Betrayal means death.”

At Cale’s command, they shot toward Satun.

-Human, I think we’re fooling them perfectly!

Raon’s thrilled voice went in one ear and out the other.

And at that same moment—

“Huff. Huff.”

Sui Khan was finally breathing easily.

He was no longer running flat out.

“Haha—! Even the kids came too.”

Because he could see the mist covering the forest.

Blanketing the woods precisely while excluding the direction he himself was taking toward the place where the signal flare had been fired.

The mist spreading through the forest let him breathe easily for the first time in a while.

He could not hold back his smile.

And Cale too—

“Water snake... the Three Emperors......!”

—looked at Sir Satun, who had recognized his identity at once.

Then he smirked.

Raon cackled too, delighted.

-Hehe! He fell for it!