Chapter 103 Boiling Blood
Chapter 103 Boiling Blood
“Yeah… this is the place,” Reika muttered under her breath, eyes sweeping the clearing.
The once-barren, worm-infested ground was no longer lifeless. Fresh grass spread across the earth, and at the far edge yawned a massive cave mouth—dark, jagged, and breathing in time with the forest’s unnatural rhythm.
Yumi frowned, bow in hand.
“Do you think there might still be worms down there?”
Iryoku glanced around, his expression steady.
“I don’t think so. I don’t feel anything, and the ground looks full of life again.”
Reika nodded, arms crossed.
“Besides, there are animals and small fauna around this time—unlike before.”
Alessandra scanned the treeline, then looked back at him.
“Are your friends nearby, Iryoku?”
He gave a small nod.
“We can use this place as a secret hiding spot.” Without hesitation, he stepped into the cave. “I’ll do a quick check.” In a flash of lightning speed, he vanished inside.
Moments later, he returned, shaking his head.
“Nothing living in there. Let’s leave the carriage here and go meet your in-laws.”
His gaze fixed on Yumi, Reika, and Alessandra. The three of them traded questioning glances, confusion clear on their faces.
They pressed forward on foot, steady through the forest. Agnes lagged behind, hesitant, but the girls gently pulled her along.
Then, something shifted. The air itself felt wrong. Iryoku raised his head—dark smoke rose into the sky, and the acrid stench of fire burned their nostrils.
Without a word, he broke into a sprint. The girls followed, drawing their weapons as they ran.
Iryoku leapt upward, vanishing into the treetops. He landed on a high branch, eyes sweeping the scene below.
The old, run-down town was gone. In its place: flames, ruin, and screams that pierced the crackle of burning wood—cries of pain, terror, despair.
His gaze locked onto a charred tree, its trunk hollowed and branches stripped bare. A knight stood perched upon one of those branches, hoisting a limp body—an old man.
Iryoku’s eyes widened.
Walter.
Bloodied. Lifeless. Strung up like some grotesque ornament.
Then his eyes followed the branches further. More bodies. Townsfolk he recognized—men, women, even children—slaughtered and displayed like trophies.
Iryoku’s blood roared in his ears. His vision narrowed. He couldn’t stand it any longer.
With a roar, he launched himself forward, arpoon in hand. The white cord hissed behind it as the dagger shot straight into the back of the knight who had just impaled Walter.
“FUCKERS!” Iryoku bellowed.
The blade pierced through plate armor, burying itself deep. In one violent yank, Iryoku reeled the weapon back midair.
The knights below looked up just in time to see it—
a shadowy figure pulling their companion into the sky.
And then— wet, ripping sounds.
Blood exploded in a crimson rain. The knight’s shredded remains fell in chunks, scattering across the ground with a sickening splatter.
The warriors below dropped the bound villagers they had been dragging and quickly formed a tight circle, weapons raised. Arrows were drawn, spells began to glow at their staves. They stood in the clearing with their flanks open, ensuring no one could approach unseen.
Then, a figure landed softly just meters away.
Iryoku.
His eyes scanned the scene—bodies piled at the foot of the dead tree, others bound. He couldn’t tell if they were alive. He searched desperately for Maggie and Mark, but from this distance he couldn’t make them out.
His body trembled with pure rage as his gaze locked on the warriors, each one bearing the insignia of the death tree.
A scarred brute stepped forward, sword leveled at Iryoku.
“You worthless maggot! Finally, you show yourself.” His lips curled into a sneer. “I knew it. The disappearance of our knights around this place wasn’t coincidence after all. Hahaha!”
Iryoku’s eyes snapped wide, and with a roar he hurled his arpoon with all his might.
Shweeeep!
But these warriors were no common rabble. In an instant, the scarred brute coated his body in Leben. His men followed, glowing auras flaring as they reinforced themselves. The brute raised his blade, catching Iryoku’s dagger head-on. The impact sent him skidding backward several meters, boots grinding into the dirt.
At the same time, the archers and magicians loosed their assault. Arrows screamed through the air, and spells lit the clearing in a barrage of fire and lightning.
Iryoku vanished from sight—
and his arpoon, still tethered to its glowing white rope, twisted violently in midair. The blade shifted direction on its own, slashing into the ranks of the warriors before snapping back toward its master.
He reappeared atop the burning roof of a nearby house, glaring down at them with pure hate.
Below, two magicians lay bleeding, cut down by the arpoon’s wild strike. The others had managed to block or deflect it, though the impact left them shaken, their formation wavering.
Iryoku kept staring at them from the rooftop. I won’t make the same mistake twice, his mind raced.
He stood unmoving, lips curling into a cruel smile.
“So, you’re here because of that fat pig, huh? Hahaha!” His laughter boomed across the clearing. “You know, that pathetic count squealed so funny. Such a weak little man… when I crushed his manhood, he kept crying like a child.” Iryoku sneered, deliberately mocking them.
The warriors roared in fury.
“Bastard! You’ll die here!”
The formation shifted. Archers loosed glowing arrows while magicians chanted in unison, weaving a massive spell. Warriors cloaked in Leben readied to charge, their auras flaring.
Above the mages, a colossal arrow of compressed wind took shape, while barriers of gale force rose at their flanks and rear, shielding them. The arrow pulsed with destructive power, aimed straight at Iryoku. Still, he didn’t move—his glare stayed fixed on them.
Then—
Fweeeeee!
A streaking shadow tore through the wind barriers, scattering and devouring the currents. The great bird shot skyward in a blur of vortex winds.
CRASH!
A molten sphere plummeted into the heart of their ranks, followed instantly by a spear of blinding light. The ground erupted—steel and flesh shredded in the same instant.
“AGHHHH!” Screams echoed as molten fire splattered across the knights. Armor hissed and warped, bodies blistering beneath the heat.
The scarred brute and two others barely escaped the blast, Leben hardening around their bodies. One staggered, his arm scorched and hanging useless.
Before they could regroup, a crushing presence descended from above. One warrior lashed out in desperation, but his blade clashed against a glowing mace—shattering his Leben barrier. His body collapsed into the dirt with a sickening crunch.
Alessandra stood where he fell, shield raised, fury blazing in her eyes. The two remaining knights struck at her together. Their combined force crashed against her shield, sparks flaring—yet she stood unmoving, power flooding through her frame.
A blur dashed behind them. In a single motion, one of the warriors’ heads flew free, blood spraying the air.
The scarred leader’s eyes widened. Realizing the battle was lost, he bolted, Leben flaring as he poured everything into his retreat.
But the air cracked—
Whip!
The arpoon lashed out, slicing through his arm.
“AGHHHH!” he screamed, but still he pushed forward, desperate.
BOOM!
A small explosion blasted against his back, flinging him to the ground. He rolled frantically, clawing for balance—
—but a glowing white rope lashed around him, snapping tight and pinning him into the dirt.
CRUSH!
“Ahhhh—!” The knight howled as his arms and legs were mangled, blood spraying across the ground.
Iryoku stepped into view, eyes sharp and merciless. Alessandra stood beside him, her cannon’s barrel still faintly glowing.
Yet the knight didn’t beg. He laughed through the pain, spitting blood.
“Stupid bastard… when the Death Tree finds you and your whores, you’ll wish you were never born! Word’s already spread—your faces, your crimes! You and your sluts are to be cut down on sight. Steel and fire will answer for everything you’ve done… and every ally you cling to will share your fate!”
CRUSH!
“AGHHHHH!” His scream ripped through the place as his body was constricted again, bones snapping like twigs.
Iryoku lifted him effortlessly with the glowing rope, then flung the man into the smoldering wreckage of a burning house.
“Gahhh—aghhhhhh!” The burly warrior shrieked as the flames devoured him, until his cries died into silence. His body collapsed, charred and unrecognizable.
“AGNES!” Iryoku’s voice cut like ice.
At the edge of the forest, Agnes froze, paralyzed by the sight of corpses strewn across the clearing. The moment she heard her name from his lips, her blood ran cold. He was looking directly at her.
She turned toward him, trembling. His eyes burned with fury.
“Get to work. Search for survivors. Heal them—before I come over there and fucking kill you myself!”
Agnes flinched and stumbled into action. She immediately summoned Aqua, her spirit, and a cool mist began spilling from the familiar’s form, drifting across the mutilated bodies still bound on the ground.
From above, Yumi leapt from a tree, racing toward the captives. Alessandra and Reika moved in as well.
Iryoku stayed back, fuming, scanning the battlefield with a predator’s glare—ready to kill again if anything so much as twitched among the corpses.
“Someone is alive!” Agnes’s strained voice snapped his attention.
He rushed to her side. On the ground lay a young man with brown hair—arms and legs battered, face bloodied, but still breathing.
“Mark!” Iryoku knelt, lifting his head. “Brother… resist.”
Mark’s eyes fluttered open weakly, struggling to focus on Iryoku’s face. “In… the house…” he rasped, before slipping into unconsciousness.
“Shit.”
Iryoku rushed toward Walter’s house. Flames engulfed the building, smoke billowing from the roof. The door hung open, fire crawling hungrily across the walls inside. He dashed in, eyes scanning desperately. I can feel her… she’s close—but where?
His gaze dropped to the wooden floorboards. Instinct took over. He slashed down with his dagger, ripping through the planks—exposing a cramped space beneath the house.
There she was.
A young woman with black hair lay unconscious, her face pale as smoke curled around her still body.
“Maggie…”
Without hesitation, Iryoku scooped her into his arms and burst back through the flames, carrying her into the open air. He sprinted toward the others, the girl held tight against his chest.