# Chapter 76
The frantic soldiers seemed to have adapted to Chepel’s orders, as they all charged toward the Immortal soldiers with battle cries. While some still trembled with fear, enough soldiers had rushed forward at the charge command to momentarily shield Levi from view.
Levi’s hesitation lasted only a moment.
Contemplating Chepel’s intention and his final words, Levi bolted away, taking advantage of the gap created by the sudden charge that disrupted the enemy formation, and found an escape route to flee alone.
“Ignore the soldiers! That black monster first…! Ack!”
The moment an Immortal soldier who spotted Levi’s swift escape shouted loudly, his head was severed. Chepel, as skilled with a sword as he was with a bow, instantly cut through two Immortal soldiers’ heads and pushed through their ranks.
Those who tried to chase after Levi, who had disappeared into the shadows, were the first to fall to Chepel’s blade. Not long after, the Immortal soldiers rose again unharmed and pressed Chepel with their swords, channeling their intense anger.
The mansion’s soldiers, despite their mediocre skills, adequately served as shields and obstacles, hindering the Immortal soldiers who were pursuing Levi. In exchange, most of them quickly became corpses strewn across the ground.
All that remained were a few soldiers and the unhelpful young baron.
Chepel took a deep breath, sensing his strength reaching its limit from fighting the Immortal soldiers.
Levi must have instinctively known as well. That not everyone could escape this place.
At most, one person. And that person had to be skilled enough to be fleet-footed and capable of concealing their presence.
Whether it was Levi or Chepel, one skilled fighter needed to hold off the Immortal soldiers so the other could escape. Chepel naturally thought he should be the shield, for the sake of his lord.
‘I’ve done my job, rekindling his hostility toward Ion Verdit.’
His assigned duties were to guard Levi, assist him, and continuously instill animosity toward Ion Verdit.
‘I didn’t expect my mission to end this way, though…’
With a bitter smile, Chepel deflected a sword aimed at him and split his opponent’s head. Taking a deep breath as he watched the Immortal soldier fall backward, Chepel soon noticed dust clouds rising in the distance. Observing the countless mounted soldiers, he gripped his sword firmly.
A man in white armor at the front of the silver-armored cavalry was sending a fierce, chilling gaze from inside his helmet.
❖ ❖ ❖
Red blood dripped with each step as he ran, soaking into the dirt. It was a place so dense with trees as the Black Forest, with rugged mountains and almost no paths for humans or animals—a route most would never choose for escape.
But this posed no restriction for Levi. Though he didn’t remember his time in the Black Forest, his body naturally adapted to the mountains and ran forward without hesitation.
“Ugh…”
Levi’s swift pace suddenly faltered. He frowned deeply as he pressed his hand firmly against his side. Sticky blood flowed out through the torn leather clothing, between the fingers pressing the wound, pooling on the ground.
Levi staggered momentarily from the pain in his side and leaned against a tree. He swallowed his ragged breath while focusing on his condition.
The minor wounds had already healed. But the deep cuts and areas struck by swords smeared with “their blood” still stung severely.
‘They won’t heal.’
Simple deep sword wounds would have healed by the time he reached the place Chepel mentioned. The problem was that the areas cut by swords containing their blood still gave him a strange sensation and severe pain. The bleeding wouldn’t stop either.
‘But I won’t die from this…’
Even with the continuous bleeding, he wouldn’t die because he wasn’t human. He just had to endure this bizarre sensation and pain until the wounds healed.
After confirming there was no presence around him, Levi began moving his legs again. With the vague thought that his wounds would probably heal while resting briefly at the castle Chepel mentioned, he hoped only that Chepel would return safely.
Along with that, unpleasant feelings toward Ion surged within him.
Clear anger, and contempt.
Levi didn’t have many things that could be called emotions. But after meeting Ion Verdit, his emotions began to branch out into various strands, becoming as intricate as a human’s.
He didn’t know that this had been happening since 15 years ago. Only the black core lodged in his body like a heart was pulsating violently, as if calling out to Ion.
❖ ❖ ❖
“Kup!”
Chepel, who had fallen with a short groan, immediately tried to rise by pushing against the ground. He flinched and stopped when he saw the sharp blade pointed at his neck in the blink of an eye.
“Where is Levi?”
Each syllable became a fierce noose wrapping around Chepel. If any soldiers had still been alive, they would have screamed and trembled at that voice alone, but since they had all become corpses, it was eerily quiet. This made it clear who the man with golden eyes shining from within the white helmet was asking.
“Who knows.”
Chepel looked up at the owner of the sword aimed at his neck, directly facing the tremendous pressure that seemed to crush his entire body. The golden eyes shining from within the helmet showed displeasure.
“I heard you helped Levi escape.”
“That’s true, but I don’t know where he went.”
“…”
Ion, who had fallen silent, moved his sword that had been pointed at Chepel’s neck. Then he mercilessly thrust it into Chepel’s shoulder.
“Ugh—!”
With his sword and bow both broken and his body covered in wounds, Chepel could do nothing but be ruthlessly pierced by Ion’s sword. The sound of breaking bone was particularly chilling.
Yet he didn’t fall ungracefully with his back against the ground. Chepel, supporting his upper body by barely pushing against the floor with his arm, gasped for breath while glancing around.
‘Am I the only survivor?’
When Ion arrived at the baron’s mansion, he attacked without hesitation, forcing Chepel to cross swords with him more than with the Immortal soldiers. Already exhausted from the Immortal soldiers’ offensive, what initially seemed like an even fight quickly turned against Chepel. Meanwhile, the Immortal soldiers had beheaded the mansion’s soldiers and their master, leaving Chepel alone.
On the other hand, the Immortal soldiers who had initially ambushed the baron’s mansion hadn’t decreased in number at all since Levi’s departure. It was natural since they had immortal bodies, but seeing them so unscathed was disheartening.
Chepel expected that Ion wouldn’t kill him. As a close aide to the Caron Empire’s emperor and, unlike the young baron whose corpse lay sprawled nearby, he could be useful as a bargaining chip, so taking him prisoner would be appropriate. Perhaps, as another of Ion Verdit’s notorious traits suggested, he might even be subjected to cruel torture, denied even the freedom to die.
‘I’ll have to bite the “poison pill” when Ion Verdit is absent during my transport.’
Raziel knew Ion Verdit’s abilities as well as he understood Levi’s black hand. Unless the heart had completely stopped, not even Ion Verdit, called the Holy One, could revive him.
‘I’ll choose honorable suicide rather than becoming a prisoner and bargaining chip.’
He had known such a day might come. So from the day he left the imperial palace with Levi until now, he had kept a poison pill deep inside his mouth.
Whether enduring brutal torture to extract information or becoming a bargaining chip that would burden his lord—either was absolutely undesirable for Chepel.
As if to interrupt his thoughts, Ion’s sword lodged in his shoulder suddenly twisted. The sharp blade rotated, creating a deeper wound in the shoulder, from which blood poured profusely.
“Uugh—!”
Biting his lower lip so hard it nearly split, Chepel suppressed a loud groan and startled at the golden eyes of Ion that came close to his face.
“Levi couldn’t possibly know the roads around here. At the very least, you must have given him some direction.”
“Ugh… I said… I don’t know…”
Chepel, gasping for breath, raised one corner of his mouth sarcastically.
“Why don’t you… send your capable subordinates… everywhere, huh… Perhaps… where there’s a subordinate… you can’t reach… that’s where he might be… Ugh…”
Ion’s eyes narrowed within the white helmet.
“That won’t be necessary.”
Ion’s sword was abruptly pulled from Chepel’s shoulder. The pain was so intense that Chepel almost let out a brief scream.
When he raised his eyes, Chepel felt a pain in his neck far worse than in his shoulder. Something hot like lava burst and flowed down from his neck, and his mouth, which had been swallowing his groans, could no longer hold anything back as he coughed up blood.
Each time he made choking sounds like someone who had forgotten how to breathe, it felt as if fireballs were exploding in his throat and mouth. With that, his heartbeat became frenzied before gradually slowing, as if cooling down.
The moment Ion’s sword withdrew from his neck, Chepel felt his strengthless body collapse helplessly.
