Chapter 136
Waven Castle was filled with the wreckage of collapsed buildings.
It was completely different from before, when everyone had been sweating, shouting, and hauling construction materials around.
There was no hammering from the forge.
No booming voice from Melk yelling that he'd explained how to do it a hundred times already.
No heavy breathing from the knights or Seong Hosu as they trained.
There was nothing.
Only a bleak silence filled with the howling snowstorm.
Step. Step.
The road leading toward the Grand Duke's estate was covered with signs of slaughter.
Blood stained the snow.
And the trail led straight back toward the rear gate.
"W-What is this...?"
The vice commander, the knights following Wayne, and Kasim stared at the horrifying scene in disbelief.
Wayne's expression turned cold.
He ground his teeth and looked up.
Countless iron spikes had been driven into the wall beside the rear gate.
Hanging from them were twisted pieces of soldiers' mutilated bodies.
Heads had been cut apart and reshaped so the mouths stretched into grotesque smiles.
Arms.
Legs.
Various body parts had been nailed to the wall.
Drip. Drip.
Blood fell onto the snow below.
Every severed surface was rough.
As if the bodies had been cut apart with dull, blunt blades.
[Come to the Grand Duke's estate.]
[We'll be waiting.]
The message had been written on the wall using the blood of the dead.
Everyone struggled to suppress their rage.
"These fucking bastards...!!"
"How..."
"How could anyone do something this cruel without hesitation...?"
They had desecrated the corpses of the soldiers they'd killed.
While everyone else grieved and vented their fury...
Wayne silently stared at one particular body.
"..."
He remembered the faces of every soldier under his command.
Their little habits.
Their families.
Even trivial details about their lives.
The corpse Wayne was looking at belonged to Kaison.
His wife was due to give birth soon.
Not long ago, Kaison had proudly bragged to Wayne about the child that would soon be born.
And he wasn't the only one.
Kai.
Geliger.
Bellian.
Countless men had died with even their honor trampled beneath the enemy's cruelty.
The vice commander approached Wayne, barely controlling his anger.
"Commander."
"We need to hurry to the Grand Duke's estate before there are more casualties."
"We can't let the civilians there die too."
"...He's right."
"The barrier His Grace placed around the estate shouldn't be easy to break."
"But judging from this blood..."
"It looks like they kept a few people alive and dragged them away as examples."
In other words...
They might use the captives as hostages to force the people inside the barrier to come out.
But charging in blindly was dangerous.
They still didn't know how strong the enemy Players were.
They needed caution.
Wayne finally spoke.
"...You stay here and recover the bodies."
The vice commander hesitated.
"Then the Grand Duke's estate..."
His shoulders flinched.
He trailed off.
It was the first time any of them had seen Wayne this angry.
His rage was like a tsunami.
Quiet on the surface.
But vast enough to swallow everything.
Wayne turned away.
"I'll go to the Grand Duke's estate alone."
Meanwhile...
The giant golem was still preparing something.
No matter how much Lee Hyein's Meteor, the Mana cannons, and every other attack struck it...
It didn't move.
If anything...
It only continued absorbing more life force from the monsters around it.
Suhyeok stared at the golem's visibly swollen body.
The energy it's absorbed is no longer spreading through the body.
It's gathering around the flower bud.
Concentrating that much power into a single point could only mean one thing.
It was preparing a single overwhelming attack.
[Trait Plunder is available for this target.]
[Trait - Corrupted Wood Flower]
Plant Energy Absorption (B)
Release (B)
[Trait - Plant Energy Absorption (B)]
Absorbs and stores the energy of plants.
Stored energy enhances the body, regeneration, and attack power.
While absorbing, incoming damage is absorbed as well.
On paper...
It was nothing impressive.
But since there seemed to be no limit to how much plant energy it could absorb...
The ability performed far beyond its B Rank.
Ordinary attacks couldn't harm it.
And the strength it was accumulating was beyond imagination.
It was probably preparing an attack on a scale incomparable to the first one.
And even if Suhyeok wanted to use Borrowing and simply cut it apart...
That wasn't so simple.
If he used Borrowing now...
Seong-a would no longer be available as full combat power for the rest of this battle.
And it would reveal Seong-a, his asymmetric trump card, to Lee Baekho.
So Seong-a had to remain hidden.
A last resort in case something unexpected happened.
[Hmm.]
[Are you planning to just stand there like this?]
[Things may become dangerous if you keep waiting.]
Shaka's mocking voice rang out.
He wasn't wrong.
Suhyeok looked around.
Lee Hyein and the magic soldiers were visibly exhausted.
Smoke rose from the Mana cannon barrels, glowing red from heat.
They had all reached their limits.
[And this isn't the only place you should be worried about.]
[The Players on the other side have already reached the Grand Duke's estate.]
[They'll probably try to drag the people inside out somehow.]
[Don't you think?]
Shaka circled Suhyeok with a troubled expression.
[I may speak like this...]
[But it would be troublesome for me if you lost here.]
[So please come up with a solution quickly, Mr. Lee Suhyeok.]
Suhyeok didn't even look at him.
He studied the battlefield again.
Then opened the hand wearing the Ring of the Great Spirit.
[Summoning Neph, Spirit King of Sleep.]
[Neph glances sleepily at the Contractor.]
Neph.
How much power would it take to put all of them to sleep?
Especially that golem standing alone over there.
[Neph yawns and says even the Contractor would not be able to endure that amount.]
[Neph asks if you can find another solution because it sounds annoying.]
To stop the golem now...
Suhyeok had to stop its absorption.
And at the moment...
Only Suhyeok himself had a way to do that.
But instinctively...
He knew what would happen if Neph put all those enemies to sleep.
His body would collapse.
The power of a Spirit King...
Especially Neph's power...
Consumed Rank rather than Mana.
Even though my Rank has increased...
Putting that endless number of enemies to sleep would require an enormous amount.
He hadn't forgotten the feeling from before.
As though pieces of his soul were being torn out in chunks.
This time would be worse.
Much worse.
Then...
RUMMMMMBLE.
The energy flowing into the giant flower bud suddenly stopped.
The bud slowly began opening.
"U-Ugh..."
"Bleurgh...!!"
Lee Hyein suddenly dropped to the ground and vomited.
