Ch.1234I Guess I Have No Choice but to Kill You After All.

“Only two attendants? Isn’t that… dangerous?”

“I share the same concern. If they’re planning ‘something,’ honestly, just two people won’t be enough…”

When I mentioned my scheduled one-on-one meeting with Caliburn, all my companions expressed their worries. They feared it might turn into a funeral arrangement rather than an alliance discussion.

But I didn’t see it that way.

“Well… I don’t think there will be any major problems. They need this alliance more urgently than I do.”

If they didn’t need our strength, they wouldn’t have mobilized their subordinates to find me in the first place. And if they wanted me dead, they would have just conducted reconnaissance rather than arranging a meeting.

The most dangerous ambush is one from an unknown enemy.

If they had intended to be hostile from the beginning, it would have been more advantageous for them to hide their identity, observe us, and then strike at a decisive moment.

But the werebeasts didn’t do that—they contacted me directly. Believe it or not, they even roughly disclosed their military strength.

That shows how urgently they need this alliance. So it’s reasonable to assume they won’t bare their fangs at our first meeting.

“Besides, they’re probably just as suspicious of us. Since we chose the meeting location, they might think we’ve set up an ambush—something along those lines.”

“Doesn’t that make it even more dangerous? If they suspect an ambush, they’ll naturally bring additional forces to counter it…”

Jahan asked with a tone that suggested he was deeply concerned for my safety.

His worry was that if they were wary of our ambush, they would naturally bring enough forces to overcome it, and once they confirmed there was no ambush, those forces could turn against us.

It was a reasonable and logical inference.

“It’s the opposite. If that happened, we’d immediately be at war—which would be catastrophic for both sides, especially for them.”

Though his answer was incorrect.

“So they’ll bring only the minimum necessary forces. People they can sacrifice as bait or abandon without regret if they need to flee quickly.”

“Is that so…?”

Jahan tilted his head with a doubtful expression.

“But that only applies if their true purpose is an alliance. What if the alliance proposal itself is a trap to lure you?”

Ophelia van Sigmillus offered a sharper observation in Jahan’s place.

She pointed out that if Caliburn had lied about the proposal just to kill me, then my assumption that he would avoid war would collapse.

Of course, I had considered everything.

“That’s true… but I chose this meeting place precisely with such risks in mind. In such open terrain, I would certainly notice if several demigod-level powerhouses approached.”

The meeting place I had chosen was a wide-open plain with no obstacles around.

Even if Caliburn brought ten demigods to attack, I could easily escape the moment I sensed their presence.

“Moreover, it’s close to our new base, so if we retreat there, we could even launch a counterattack.”

In other words, my life wouldn’t be in danger no matter how the situation unfolded.

“There are still concerns, but… well, I understand for now.”

“If that’s what you say, Haschal…”

After convincing those worried about my safety with these few words of persuasion, I headed to the meeting place with just two attendants as agreed.

I chose Ophelia and Nigel as my attendants—the optimal selection considering both the meeting and potential escape.

If the werebeast’s purpose was truly to form an alliance, I could negotiate with advice from the intelligent Ophelia. And if it was a trap, those who could fly would escape better than those confined to the ground.

Nigel’s flight ability wasn’t pure flight—he flew by grabbing or stepping on weapons he suspended in the air, which made it somewhat unstable…

But flight is flight. Compared to others who could be completely surrounded on the ground, he had an overwhelming advantage for escape.

Actually, Turankai could do something similar by floating rocks in the air, but he had other duties and his flight speed was a bit slow.

That’s why I chose Nigel. If I had brought Turankai, he might just slow me down in the worst-case scenario.

—-

In a remote plain in the central-eastern part of Naraka.

In the middle of a barren field with nothing but soil and weeds, a small stone building stood alone.

A simple building with only a ceiling, floor, pillars, a central stone table, and six chairs. A hastily constructed meeting hall made with the help of rock monkeys.

There, I faced Caliburn, the Black Dog and ruler of the werebeast forces of Naraka.

“Pleased to meet you. Winter Slayer, Were Eater… your old titles were quite impressive. I hope your dietary habits haven’t remained the same?”

He was a werebeast who looked like a giant bipedal Doberman wearing human clothes. As soon as he saw me, he wrinkled his snout and immediately threw out a mocking remark.

What’s this guy’s problem?

Seeing that he brought only two weak werebeasts as promised, he probably didn’t come to kill me… is he just naturally unpleasant?

“Well… eating only delicious things started affecting my health. One should eat a balanced diet. Still, I do miss that special taste occasionally.”

“Ha, just as I’ve heard.”

Since this wasn’t a place for fighting, I just returned his mockery and took my seat. Seeing me act so nonchalantly, he too sat down with a snort.

Following us, Nigel and Ophelia, who had been discreetly gathering power while looking back and forth between me and Caliburn with perplexed expressions, also took their seats, as did the two werebeasts.

“Now then, let’s begin our discussion. On equal terms… that is.”

As everyone sat down, Caliburn opened his mouth as if he had been waiting. He stared at me with a gaze that mixed interest, caution, suspicion, and hostility.

[ Equal? What nonsense. This stray dog doesn’t know his place. ]

Hersella scoffed in my mind, mocking him as if his gaze was truly distasteful.

But from my perspective, her mockery was even more amusing.

‘Well, you’re not wrong… but isn’t he stronger than you?’

Caliburn’s power, judging by his aura alone, was top-tier among the demigods I had faced so far.

Though he was still weaker than me, he wasn’t someone that Hersella, whose growth had stopped before reaching the realm of demigods, could look down upon.

[ …What nonsense. Being face to face with an imbecile must have made you foolish as well. How could I possibly lose to such a mongrel? ]

She would probably lose ten times out of ten.

Of course, I didn’t say that. Judging by her reaction to having her pride scratched, she would probably throw a fit in my mind if I spoke honestly.

[ …Why aren’t you answering! Answer me at once! ]

Despite my great consideration, instead of being grateful, Hersella suddenly became angry at my silence.

Since ignoring her would make her so noisy that it would interfere with the discussion, I had no choice but to sigh and appease her pride somewhat.

‘Yes, yes. You would win. A fight isn’t just about raw strength.’

With some luck, she might win once… maybe?

Let’s just leave it at that. Winning once out of a hundred fights is still winning, after all.

—-

Anyway, the discussion and negotiation about the specific terms of the alliance began.

I thought it would be difficult because of the black dog’s deliberately prickly attitude from the start, but surprisingly, the discussion itself went smoothly.

Like me, he seemed to dislike troublesome matters and preferred to gloss over things rather than establish complex and strict regulations.

Of course, this similarity didn’t thin the walls of my heart.

If anything, they grew thicker—because of the titles he had mockingly mentioned when we first met.

Were Eater, Winter Slayer.

Those titles were evidence of my achievements in suppressing the slave rebellion instigated by werebeasts who had infiltrated the island of Extrashafel, and in stopping the invasion of Faelrun by the former Werebeast King Rurik.

These were titles that werebeasts born in the depths of Naraka, who had been buried underground for at least hundreds of years, shouldn’t know.

The fact that this black dog mentioned them meant that he had already gathered quite detailed information about surface events and situations.

Who could have told him?

He doesn’t seem friendly with the demon forces, so it couldn’t be Feyus, and Garmerlic is also hostile to him, not to mention that he probably wouldn’t know my titles.

There was only one possibility left. Only the werebeasts of Baryachrus, who experienced those events firsthand and would never forget these titles that had now grown stale on the surface.

The Oleg faction had left for the eastern side of the wall and settled there, so the culprits were probably the remnants who stayed in the north, opposing Oleg’s rule.

…Why does that matter, you ask? Aren’t titles irrelevant at this point, regardless of what I’m called?

That’s true. But the issue isn’t the titles themselves. The problem is that this black dog knows my titles, which only the Baryachrus remnants would remember.

This means that the Baryachrus remnants have joined or been absorbed into the Naraka werebeast group.

In other words, these werebeasts have a passage connected to the surface—one that even ordinary werebeasts can freely pass through.

While Caliburn himself might not be able to set foot on the surface due to the constraints of Heaven’s Wall, it means his subordinate werebeasts could march to the surface right now.

‘…These creatures are more dangerous than I thought.’

That’s why my vigilance had to intensify.

Even excluding Caliburn, his subordinate forces represented a military power incomparable to Rurik’s great invasion.

Although the Empire and the North have also developed since then, if such forces suddenly invaded, massive casualties would be unavoidable.

‘I’ll have to kill them after all.’

So while outwardly discussing mutual defense treaties, I inwardly reaffirmed my determination to deplete their forces as quickly as possible and then exterminate them.

These weren’t future enemies that would become a calamity if left alone—they were a serious threat that could become a calamity for the surface as early as tomorrow.