SFRW-Chapter 282

Ch. 282 Sword God From The Ruined World

“…Gurgle!”  

The last resisting mercenary finally collapsed, foaming at the mouth.  

A figure clad in a black robe with a hood pulled low slowly stepped forward.  

He tapped the shoulder of the giant armored knight who had stood like a mountain before the fallen mercenary.  

“Good work, Akada.”  

The one who had ambushed and slaughtered over forty mercenaries with lightning speed was none other than the Death Knight, Akada, the former Orc Warchief.  

And the robed figure was none other than Rahf.  

Rahf muttered a dark incantation in a low voice, harvesting the souls of the dead mercenaries.  

“If you dare steal souls recklessly again, I’ll blow your head off.”  

“Bullshit.”  

Rahf twisted his lips into a smirk, recalling Seo Do-jun’s warning.  

Out of fear, he wouldn’t dare act recklessly in front of him—but how would Seo Do-jun know if he harvested souls in a place like this, far removed?  

From the moment Seo Do-jun ordered him to monitor the Crimson Fox Squad, Rahf had been scheming how to kill mercenaries in this city and steal their souls.  

The key to such operations was secrecy and ensuring no rumors about himself spread.  

Killing mercenaries wasn’t much of a concern in the first place.  

No matter how elite the Crimson Fox Squad was as one of the continent’s Top Ten mercenary groups, they stood no chance against his dark magic and Akada’s power, enhanced by absorbing the essence of a Death Knight.  

The only thing he needed to be cautious about was preparing for Seo Do-jun’s possible return.  

But even that was practically meaningless.  

“If the meeting at the Khetalu Plains is real, given his personality, he won’t come back here.”  

Moreover, based on the intelligence Rahf had gathered himself, he was certain that if Mercenary King Joi was the Administrator, then the leaders of the Top Ten mercenary groups were deeply connected to him.  

In other words—  

“Sooner or later, all who resist will die by his hand.”  

And since Mercenary King Joi and the mercenary captains were subordinates of Barhaut, even if the Top Ten mercenary groups were wiped out, it wouldn’t matter.  

That said, Rahf wasn’t foolish or reckless enough to launch a direct assault on the Crimson Fox Squad’s headquarters.  

If he caused unnecessary chaos and rumors spread, he could face severe consequences just for breaking his promise to Seo Do-jun.  

“Well then, for the sake of perfect evidence…”  

Rahf retrieved over a dozen corpses from his dimensional storage and arranged them to look as if they had killed each other in a fight.  

Not stopping there, he separately stored the bodies of a dozen Crimson Fox Squad members in his dimensional space—to be used as evidence at another scene.  

If rumors spread that the mercenaries had died fighting among themselves, even Seo Do-jun wouldn’t be able to suspect him.  

“Perfect.”  

Having lived as a dark mage for many years, fabricating evidence like this was child’s play for Rahf.  

He sent Akada back into the Death Knight’s dimensional space and left without a trace, leisurely moving to find his next prey.  

***

Rahf was inside a tavern in the city, scouting for another group of mercenaries to target, when—  

BANG!  

The door burst open violently, and a mercenary from the Crimson Fox Squad stumbled in, panting.  

“All Crimson Fox Squad members—return to headquarters immediately!”  

“Komes! What’s the rush? Can’t even have a beer before shouting like that?”  

“The Black Wolf Squad has been annihilated!”  

“…What?”  

The noisy tavern fell silent in an instant.  

The idea that one of the continent’s Top Ten mercenary groups, the Black Wolf Squad, had been wiped out was beyond belief.  

“How much have you been drinking, you bastard?!”  

“HAHAHA! Komes, you crazy bastard! Spout nonsense like that, and you’ll lose your head!”  

“Joke’s gone too far! If this were Teratina (the Black Wolf Squad’s home city), even as an alliance member, you’d lose an arm for that!”  

“Enough with the bad jokes—come drink!”  

The mercenaries in the tavern scoffed, refusing to believe Komes.  

“You idiots! Do I look like I’m joking?! Rumors about the Black Wolf Squad’s annihilation are spreading fast in the alliance! Stop guzzling beer and get back to headquarters now! Vice Captain Body has issued an emergency assembly order!”  

Only after Komes roared at the top of his lungs did the laughing mercenaries finally gape at each other.  

“Still don’t get it?! I said run back to headquarters NOW!”  

With another yell from Komes, the mercenaries scrambled to their feet and rushed out the door.  

As the Crimson Fox Squad members stampeded out, other mercenaries also began standing up one by one, eager to figure out what was happening.  

“The Black Wolf Squad was annihilated?”  

Rahf sipped his beer lightly, wondering if Seo Do-jun’s group might be responsible.  

But knowing Seo Do-jun’s personality, Rahf doubted he would slaughter an entire mercenary group so ruthlessly.  

“Heh. Things are getting interesting.”  

With a smirk, Rahf left payment on the table and slipped quietly out of the tavern.  

***

 Exiting the tavern, Rahf moved cautiously to assess the situation with the Crimson Fox Squad.  

Though the news of the Black Wolf Squad’s annihilation had thrown them into chaos, Vice Captain Body proved competent, quickly mobilizing the disoriented mercenaries to leave the city.  

“They call themselves one of the Top Ten mercenary groups, but they’re practically just an extension of Mercenary King Joi’s forces.”  

As he tailed the Crimson Fox Squad, Rahf realized that the continent’s Top Ten mercenary groups were essentially a single unified force under different names.  

He also learned that the Blue Wolf Mercenary Group, stationed nearby, was moving to rendezvous with the Crimson Fox Squad.  

“As expected, the closest group is mobilizing. Then before they meet…”  

With a sinister grin, Rahf headed straight for the Blue Wolf Group and began an indiscriminate slaughter.  

Despite boasting over six hundred members, the Blue Wolf Group fell miserably before Rahf’s dark magic and Akada’s overwhelming strength.  

Surveying the corpses of the Blue Wolf mercenaries, Rahf harvested their souls and completed another Death Knight’s essence.  

“If I could get the Crimson Fox Squad too, I could create an even more refined essence…”  

Just as he was inspecting his latest creation, Rahf’s expression stiffened, and he hurriedly concealed himself.  

A split second later, a man and a woman dropped from the sky with a thud!  

“…Did he escape?”  

Feltz scanned the area before clicking his tongue in frustration.  

“We’re a step too late.”  

“It’s not Luam.”  

“Obviously. Luam wouldn’t emit such crude energy. Must be one of the dark mages he keeps around.”  

Pio nodded in agreement.  

Though the distance had been great, the overwhelming aura of death had drawn them here in hopes of catching Luam’s trail.  

Assigned to block the Six Seats, they had been tracking their movements—making the missed opportunity all the more frustrating.  

“Should we just head to that Khetalu Plains place instead?”  

Felts thought it would be better to go where the planet’s Administrator, Mercenary King Joi, was likely to be rather than chasing the elusive Six Seats.  

“That might be best.”  

Pio, too, saw no point in wasting more time on fruitless pursuits.  

“Then let’s go.”  

Felts leaped high into the air and vanished, followed swiftly by Pio, who floated up and disappeared like a gust of wind.  

A long while later…  

Rahf tore through space and reappeared.  

“…The Six Seats? It has to be! No other beings could radiate such monstrous power.”  

Using one of his ring’s abilities—spatial concealment—he had barely managed to hide his presence.  

Though the duration was limited to a few hours and movement was impossible, it provided perfect stealth, undetectable even by Transcendents.  

“Khetalu Plains…”  

Rahf stroked his chin thoughtfully at the reappearance of the Six Seats.  

Part of him wanted to report this to Seo Do-jun immediately, but another part wondered if two of them were really worth worrying about.  

“He wouldn’t thank me anyway… Actually, this works out great!”  

With Seo Do-jun distracted by the Six Seats, Rahf could focus on crafting Death Knight essences undisturbed.  

“Heh heh heh! Time to move freely!”  

With a dark grin, Rahf set off again, flying lightly through the air toward the nearest target—the Crimson Fox Squad.  

***

Khetalu Plains  

Over a dozen barracks stood in the area, but the number of presences detected barely exceeded twenty.  

The problem was…  

“…Undead.”  

“You sensed it too, Uncle?”  

Choi Kang-soo, more sensitive than anyone to the opposing energy of undeath, reacted instinctively.  

Shinjo also tensed at the thick dark magic permeating the surroundings.  

‘Just how powerful is this guy to make me, a Transcendent, feel tense?’  

He was inwardly shocked that he could still feel such pressure even after ascending.  

And as if to prove his unease justified, Seo Do-jun warned in an unusually low voice:  

“Worst-case scenario, Mercenary King Joi might be one of the Six Seats. No—given the level of power here, stay sharp.”  

The overwhelming aura reminded him of Vampica and Gettis, putting the entire group on high alert.  

Moreover, there were two other presences that seemed likely candidates for the Six Seats.  

Given the eerie silence of the Khetalu Plains, they were probably allies, not enemies.  

“Did the Six Seats gather here?”  

At Choi Kang-soo’s question, Seo Do-jun nodded slightly.  

“Wow… Just after becoming a Transcendent, we’re already facing a life-or-death battle, huh?”  

Choi Kang-soo tried to lighten the mood with a joke, but Seo Do-jun and Shinjo’s expressions remained grim.  

‘Well, at least there are four of us…’  

Though the enemy has three Transcendents, their side has four. Of course, Choi Kang-soo was only a half-Transcendent, and Shinjo and Gritchek were newly ascended—but the balance of power was surprisingly even.  

The wild card was the undead.  

One of the enemy Transcendents was undoubtedly a master of necromancy, wielding immense dark magic.  

‘I joked about it, but are we really about to fight for our lives?’  

Choi Kang-soo frowned, communicating silently with the Divine Sword.  

‘What do you think? How strong are they?’  

『Stay sharp. These aren’t ordinary foes. Especially… the one controlling undead. Be extra careful.』  

Even the Divine Sword issued a warning.  

‘But since we’re their natural counter, we’ll have an advantage, right?’  

『Maybe. Maybe not.』  

『Normally, yes. But if a Transcendent-level necromancer is involved… his undead might resist holy power to a significant degree.』  

Choi Kang-soo’s face fell at the idea of his holy power being ineffective.  

‘Damn it! The only thing I can rely on is holy power, and now even that’s useless?!’  

Just as the Divine Sword was about to snap back at his crude remark—  

“If you’re here, come in. How long are you going to stand there? Don’t tell me you’re just passing by?”  

A giant of a man, Allekuhi, stepped out of the largest barracks and called out to Seo Do-jun with a relaxed tone.  

“Mercenary King Joi?”  

“Huh? KHAHAHA!”  

Allekuhi burst into laughter as if hearing a great joke, then reached into the barracks and dragged out a slender figure.  

Mercenary King Joi, looking utterly drained, slumped against Allekuhi’s side.  

“This here is Mercenary King Joi. The Administrator you’re looking for. Cute, isn’t she?”  

Allekuhi lifted Joi’s chin, showing her face to Seo Do-jun.  

The fact that the Mercenary King was a woman was surprising, but even more baffling was how casually Allekuhi treated her despite being on the same side.  

Reading Seo Do-jun’s expression, Allekuhi grinned broadly.  

“As you can see, we’re not exactly on good terms. But make no mistake—we are on the same side. So don’t get any funny ideas.”  

He shoved Joi aside and crossed his arms.  

“Now then, let’s see just how strong you really are after killing Vampica and Gettis.”  

GRRRRRR—!  

The ground trembled violently, and thousands of undead monsters emerged—from lowly skeleton soldiers to grotesque, deformed abominations.  

Despite the overwhelming numbers, not a single member of Seo Do-jun’s group showed panic.  

“See? This isn’t even a warm-up for you, is it?”  

With Allekuhi’s taunt, the horde of undead charged at them.