Kuung!

An ominous vibration shook the entire building.

Arthur raised his head reflexively.

“What?”

It wasn’t a mistake.

Kuuung!

The same vibration rang out again and the lit chandelier swayed and made a sound.

It wasn’t because of the golem.

Boom, boom.

It was right above Helen and Benjamin’s heads as they confronted the golem.

Crack.

Only when they heard the sound of something breaking did the two raise their heads.

“Uh?”

“Damn it, avoid it!”

Arthur flew forward without even having time to sheathe his sword, grabbed the collars of the two knights, and threw them to the other side. Before Helen and Benjamin could even recover from the shock, the entire ceiling collapsed.

All sorts of debris and rocks poured out of the gaping hole.

Only after a while, when the dust had cleared, did they discover two figures sitting among the fallen rubble.

“The apprentice knight…”

“Arendt!”

As Benjamin exclaimed, Arthur suddenly came to his senses and ran towards the wreckage, but then stopped.

Arendt groaned as he stood up from the shattered and broken pieces of the ceiling. His body was intact, but his eyes glaring at Vincent were as cold as sharpened ice knives.

“That guy is crazy.”

Blood gushed out from between his irritated lips.

Vincent wasn’t in good shape either.

As Vincent chuckled and pushed the debris away, he got up only to find that one of his arms was completely frozen.

In addition, it looked unsightly, covered in dust and large and small scratches from having just burst through the ceiling.

“It seems like I failed to buy time. What should I do?”

A young, hoarse voice murmured.

There was no time for anyone else to intervene. As if that one word was some kind of signal, Arendt readjusted his grip on his sword and kicked the ground aggressively.

Unlike before, this movement was clearly hasty.

Chae-ae-aeng!

The black sword that flew straight at him was, of course, blocked without a hitch.

“Hahahaha! Where did you hide today’s guests?”

Vincent burst into laughter, spun around, and dashed into the mansion at high speed.

“Stop him!”

At Laius’ shout, Arthur, Benjamin, and Helen immediately tried to chase after him, but the golem they had not yet destroyed blocked their way.

“Shit!”

Crunch!

Arthur’s sword cut the golem’s thick body in two. Meanwhile, Arendt, who had run forward, chased after Vincent.

“Hey! What are you going to do if you go alone?”

Arthur swore, but Arendt didn’t look back.

Vincent’s moves were quite predictable.

If the civilians who had taken refuge in one place were taken hostage, it would be the end.

“You guys take care of this!”

It was Laius’ who grabbed Arthur’s shoulder, which seemed ready to follow them at any moment.

Before he knew it, the captain was flying towards where Arendt had disappeared.

Vincent chuckled and ran down the hallway.

There was only one place where people could evacuate from the golems running wild inside and out.

“Ha ha ha ha ha!”

A ghostly laughter echoed through the hallways that had become a battlefield.

It’s his victory. He guessed that they thought about this situation, but the result won’t change anyway.

Through the half-open door, he could see the terrified nobles. He glanced behind him and saw a young knight desperately pursuing him.

It was so pleasurable to see the anxious expression on his pretty face, which used to only be arrogant.

Kwaaang!

A piercing scream erupted as the door was kicked open and he barged inside.

Vincent activated the artifact towards the victims.

“Those who oppose me will only meet with destruction!”

But that was the end of it.

The artifact remained silent. Nothing unusual happened.

The terrified people looked at each other in wonder.

At that time.

Ka.

With a small sound, the small beads on the woman’s headdress turned to dust.

“Uh?”

That wasn’t the only one.

The beads that had been placed on the brooches of gentlemen and on the hair ornaments and necklaces of women were scattered one by one to dust.

Arendt walked leisurely into the living room as if his previous haste had been a lie.

Vincent, frozen stiffly in place, barely managed to turn his head to look at Arendt.

That moment.

Ugh.

A handful of black blood burst out from the mouth beneath the mask.

His magic power was completely reversed.

“Idiot.”

“You, you…”

Vincent vomited blood and made a rough, rasping sound at Arendt’s short, thoughtless taunt.

But that didn’t last long. In the end, he collapsed on the spot, fell to his knees, and crumpled.

Arendt limped closer.

“I told you clearly.”

Blood also began to flow out from between the eye sockets of the mask. Arendt coldly blurted out to his enemy, who had already lost consciousness:

“You’re the only one who’s going to die.”

And in the next moment…

Crunch.

His cold sword cut off Vincent’s neck in one stroke.

“…”

Bam.

Vincent’s body fell limply to the floor like a doll with its strings cut off.

There was silence.

Only the sound of Arendt’s slow breathing mixed with the rich scent of blood filled the air.

Arendt, who was looking down at Vincent who had grown cold, lost the strength in his hands and dropped his sword.

Ugh.

As he spat out the blood that was rising to the tip of his throat, a handful of blood poured out onto the front of his uniform.

“Ha… I almost died.”

He didn’t even have the strength to move a single hand, so he just sat down on the floor. He didn’t have the luxury of caring about whether people were talking or not.

“Are you okay?”

“…No, I’m not okay.”

Arendt grumbled without raising his head at the familiar voice that came urgently from the door.

Laius approached with brisk strides and grabbed Arendt’s shoulder.

“Where are you hurt?”

“A lot of places. They’re torn, stabbed, cut, and messed up, so don’t touch them. They hurt.”

Arendt responded annoyedly and slapped Laius’ hand away.

His reaction was as cold as usual.

Only then did Laius let out a short sigh, relieved for a moment.

His gaze, filled with confusion, turned toward the slumped apprentice knight.

‘This guy is…’

Everyone in this mansion was being played by Arendt. He could tell that just by looking at Vincent, who lost his life without even knowing the reason, even though Arendt was not a person who could deal with him alone.

But Laius couldn’t question the guy who was already worn out from fighting and ask him for details.

In the end, the captain shook his head.

“…I’ll clean up and come back, so rest for now. Lord Neumann, I’ll leave this place to you. Leave the body here and don’t touch it.”

“Yes? Yes, I understand!”

As Neumann nodded, the servants quickly moved and covered the body with a piece of cloth they had torn from somewhere.

Arendt, who had been quietly watching the scene, slowly let out a suppressed sigh.

With a thud, his head, exhausted, fell to his knees.

‘Succeeded.’

He completely excluded Vincent from this fucking stage.

The knights, who were stronger than normal humans, would take care of a few golems, and he didn’t care about the nobles who were upset at seeing people die in front of them.

“Lord Arendt, are you okay? I’ll call a healer right away.”

“It’s okay.”

Arendt waved his hand toward Neumann, who was asking him with concern. Neumann, who realized what he meant, bent down and came closer to Arendt.

“First, take that jewel called the heart that we mentioned earlier. We’ll go get it.”

“…!”

“Don’t talk to me anymore. I don’t have the strength to respond.”

With that, Arendt dragged himself towards the wall, leaned back against it, and closed his eyes tightly.

As expected, it was an extremely self-willed attitude, even though he had accomplished the enormous task of cutting down all the culprits with his own hands.

Neumann smiled slightly.

He told him not to talk, but he had to say it now.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

Of course, there was no answer.

He thought he’d just close his eyes for a moment, but he actually fell asleep. When he opened his eyes after a while in a dazed state, there was a blanket covering him up to his shoulders.

“Oh my, I’m so sore.”

It seemed that Vincent’s body had already been moved somewhere.

As he sat up awkwardly, he heard Laius’ voice right next to him.

“Are you awake?”

“Wow, Captain. This is surprising. Why are you here?”

“Things are starting to settle down. We should prepare to return.”

Laius calmly explained to the startled Arendt.

In the meantime, Arendt, who was still half-asleep and blinked his eyes several times, asked blankly.

“What about that damn jewel?”

“Kendrick took it. Those who wanted to buy it also gave up easily.”

That makes sense.

After going through all that, no one would want to own a jewel that was said to bring misfortune.

“And… Baron Cromwell was found on the third floor. As soon as he came to, he asked me to thank you.”

“Oh, that’s right. I left him there. I forgot about that.”

When Arendt nodded as if he had heard it well, Laius spoke calmly.

“You shouldn’t talk like that after knocking someone out.”

“So what? If it weren’t for me, he would have died.”

It was a perfectly correct statement, but it was not something that he wanted to praise at all.

Laius just changed the subject.

“The body was to be transported to the palace, but before that, I conducted an examination.”

Laius took out a bead a little smaller than his fist and showed it to Arendt.

The originally green stone bead had lost its color after being stained with blood. It was obvious what it was without even having to think about it.

“I found it while searching his body. There was a prosthetic eye hidden behind the mask. It seems to be an artifact he had.”

“But why are you giving this to me?”

Laius replied blandly.

“It’s my personal opinion.”

“Well, if that’s what you say.”

As Arendt reached out, Laius’ hand, which looked like it would hand over the artifact at any moment, withdrew.

“Instead, I wish you would explain the whole story about what happened today.”

“…”

The gaze that had been fixed on the artifact slightly rose and turned to Laius. Laius looked at the slightly irritated golden eyes.

After a while, a reply came back with a completely displeased expression.

“Oh, really? Are you proposing a deal without giving me an order?”

“Because I know you don’t listen to orders.”

It was a very accurate judgment.

Only after he nodded and grumbled did Laius hand over the artifact.

“Did anyone else see it?”

“No.”

“That’s good.”

Arendt, who had been rolling the artifact in his hand for a moment, concentrated his magical power and used it on the artifact. The Eyes of the Ruler instantly turned into a pure white block of ice.

And a moment later… with a crack, the artifact crumbled.

Arendt spilled the powder on the floor and stomped on it with his foot as if venting his anger.

“I guess you could say it was destroyed in a fight.”

While other artifacts were just as dangerous, this one in particular should not be allowed to remain in the world. Its ability to control living humans was just too vicious.

Laius, who had been silent for a moment, opened his mouth.

“…Is this the end?”

Arendt nodded nonchalantly.

“Yes, it’s finished.”

He still had a sullen face, but he looked much lighter.

There was a lot to ask and a lot to hear.

But now that the words “it’s over” came out of that guy’s mouth, he guessed that he could take a breather.

Only then was Laius able to release some of the tension in his shoulders.