# Chapter 74
While Chepel had intended to have Levi confront Ion Verdit’s army again soon, the other side’s movements were unexpectedly swift.
“Was there no blond enemy commander, or perhaps a leader with long red tassels on his helmet?”
“No, there were no such reports…”
The young baron’s answer made Chepel even more puzzled.
He had thought Ion Verdit would be directly commanding a small army when he heard about the dozens of soldiers, but that didn’t seem to be the case. If Ion had come personally, they couldn’t have missed such a conspicuous figure.
‘Something’s off.’
The behavior of the Immortal Army when they faced Levi at Iron Fortress was truly bewildering. Not only did they refrain from attacking, but they even hesitated to lay hands on him. Even while so many of their comrades were dying.
The Immortal Army valued Ion Verdit’s orders far more than their own lives or those of their comrades. They would passively endure attacks because their lord wished for Levi to remain untouched.
Yet now, dozens of Immortal soldiers—nearly a hundred—were suddenly charging toward Levi’s location without their lord. The message would have gone to Ion Verdit, so he must have sent the army.
But why wasn’t he himself among them? Chepel had expected Ion Verdit to lead the charge since Levi was the opponent.
With no time to ponder this at length, Chepel immediately ordered the young baron:
“Gather all soldiers from the estate and transfer their command to me.”
“Understood!”
The young baron, whose nature was far from combative, accepted the proposal immediately.
Until then, Chepel had believed these Immortal soldiers would die helplessly at Levi’s hands. After all, they couldn’t properly lay a finger on Levi due to their lord’s orders.
Contrary to expectations, however, the Immortal soldiers who arrived this time were all radiating fierce killing intent. Only when Chepel realized that this intent was directed not at himself or the Caron Empire soldiers, but at Levi, did he finally understand that his fundamental assumption had been wrong.
“Ugh…”
A short groan escaped through Levi’s teeth.
After barely blocking a sword aimed at his head with his dagger, Levi quickly spun around and slashed his opponent’s throat. The dagger, still warm with the blood of his previous victim, left a deep wound on the enemy’s neck, from which blood instantly gushed forth.
“Aagh—!”
“Uwaagh!”
Terrified screams echoed from all directions.
The soldiers of this region, who had focused solely on commercial development while being protected by surrounding territories, had only ever subdued petty thieves and troublemakers. Facing enemies who wouldn’t die no matter what was absolutely terrifying to them.
No matter where they cut, the enemy wouldn’t die; even if they struck their heads with blunt weapons, they would only fall for a moment before rising again with composed faces to counterattack. Meanwhile, their own numbers were gradually dwindling.
Yet there wasn’t a complete lack of hope.
Only Levi’s attacks had any real effect on the enemies, and he had already taken down about thirty of them. At this rate, it seemed possible that Levi could defeat them all.
Chepel, who was commanding the disorganized allied troops while supporting Levi, frowned as he observed the Immortal Army.
‘They’re targeting Count Aden obsessively.’
When they first drew their swords against Levi, Chepel had thought they might be planning to capture him after engaging him briefly. But seeing their merciless attacks aimed at vital spots, he realized that wasn’t the case.
They showed a terrifying determination not to capture, but to kill him by any means necessary.
‘Was this Ion Verdit’s doing? No, he wouldn’t have issued such an order.’
Knowing how much Ion cared for Levi, Chepel suspected that this action by dozens of Immortal soldiers—nearly a hundred—couldn’t possibly have been ordered by Ion. Emperor Raziel had said that Levi dying once more would bring tremendous despair to Ion.
Perhaps these soldiers were acting independently, without Ion’s orders.
‘Is it because our troops died helplessly without being able to counterattack? Or are they those who couldn’t bear to see their lord being manipulated?’
Either way, they clearly viewed Levi as the root of evil. They were probably attacking Levi with the mindset of slicing their own throats to present to their lord.
The Immortal soldiers pressed and drove Levi, as if other soldiers weren’t even worth their attention. Though many Immortal soldiers were falling, Levi’s body was also accumulating numerous wounds.
Chepel noticed the dark energy beginning to settle on Levi’s face and pressed his lips tightly shut.
He would never tell Levi about his suspicions regarding this situation. If Levi believed all of this was “Ion Verdit’s doing,” that was enough.
As Chepel suspected, Levi thought the Immortal soldiers were trying to kill him on Ion’s orders. He had heard that they couldn’t even raise their swords against him at Iron Fortress because of Ion’s orders, and that the reason was to persuade him to join their side.
Because the power of the Black Hand was a hindrance, they would rather have him as an ally.
But it seemed they had given up now. Looking at how desperately they were trying to kill him.
‘Ion Verdit is really… trying to kill me first in order to kill Raziel.’
Since he was the only one who could kill Ion’s Immortal soldiers, Ion must think that eliminating Levi would make things go smoothly.
Something welled up inside him. Another unfamiliar emotion was swirling unpleasantly within. The wounds being carved into his body with killing intent felt like blade strikes from Ion himself. Perhaps that’s why they hurt more.
“Levi is misunderstanding. Me killing Levi—that’s absurd.”
Ion’s words, tactlessly surfacing in Levi’s mind, carved an indescribable wound even deeper into his heart.
‘Lies.’
He felt foolish for having wavered before Ion, even if just for a moment. To think that person was now so determined to kill him.
New flesh quickly grew over his wounds during the fight. By then, wounds had appeared elsewhere, only to heal again, and the cycle repeated. Meanwhile, his black palm, which he kept cutting to smear with his own blood, didn’t even have a chance to heal.
The moment he plunged his dagger into an Immortal soldier’s neck, the man made gurgling sounds through his blood-filled throat and embraced Levi tightly. Sensing his impending death, the soldier wanted to leave a fatal wound on Levi before he went.
Recognizing their dying comrade’s intent, another Immortal soldier rushed in to cut Levi’s throat. Tightly embraced, Levi spun his body so that the attacker’s blade caught his comrade’s neck instead of Levi’s.
With a brief scream from the Immortal soldier embracing Levi, the enemy’s blade became coated with thick blood. Freed from the weakened grip of the dying soldier, Levi immediately lunged at the one who had swung the sword at him. Ignoring the slash to his side, he drove in deeply and cut and stabbed the man’s throat with his dagger, instantly dulling the once-lively eyes of the Immortal soldier.
After bringing down yet another Immortal soldier, Levi continued killing others while ignoring the stinging pain in his side. Though the cut seemed deep and quite painful, he paid no attention to it, knowing it would gradually heal if left alone.
But even after defeating the fifth Immortal soldier, the wound on his side hadn’t healed. Rather, the flow of blood seemed to worsen, as if the wound had deteriorated. Additionally, there was an unpleasant sensation as if something was gnawing at the area around the wound.
Levi wasn’t the only one who found this strange.
“That wound on his side isn’t stopping bleeding at all.”
An Immortal soldier surveying the battle whispered quietly to another. He had witnessed the entire process of Levi getting wounded.
The other Immortal soldier who heard this also narrowed his eyes as he watched the blood dripping from Levi with each movement.
“His other wounds seem to heal quickly, but that particular area is definitely strange.”
“Hmm…”
The man, adjusting his grip on his sword, whispered to his comrade. Soon, both of them cut their hands and smeared their blood on the blades of their longswords, then rushed toward Levi with those swords raised.
Just as Levi had taken down an Immortal soldier, he quickly evaded the two swords rushing at him and thrust his dagger forward, managing to pierce one man’s throat. Meanwhile, the other attacker’s sword slashed his arm. It was a dangerous moment—had he not twisted his body nimbly, his entire arm might have been severed.
Levi, cutting his hand again to smear his blood on his already blood-soaked dagger, frowned at the pain in his arm. The strange discomfort he felt in his side was now also present in his arm.
While the wound on his side was deep enough to explain the persistent bleeding, the arm wound was so shallow it was almost just a graze. Nevertheless, it wasn’t healing; blood continued to flow endlessly from the site.
Seeing this, the Immortal soldier who had attacked him earlier smiled unpleasantly, as if he had discovered something.
