Ch.85Chapter 85: Eradicating the Criminal Organization (5)

Lisa’s words make the rest of her friends show intrigued expressions.

“Opportunity… you say?”

“Yes, opportunity. An unparalleled chance to either gather information or wipe out a criminal organization.”

But Victor couldn’t understand what Lisa meant.

“What opportunity? Hasn’t Brother Valt’s rampage actually made it harder for us to move around?”

Lisa continues speaking while wiggling her index finger.

“That’s only looking at one side of it. We’re almost certain they’re connected to the ‘Shadow Society,’ right?”

“That’s true.”

“Then think about it. They’re desperate enough to do things they normally wouldn’t. The five major criminal organizations joining forces and controlling information? Doesn’t that seem suspicious?”

Robin was the quickest to respond to Lisa’s words.

“You mean… the five organizations also have something they need to hide from the Shadow Society?”

Lisa snaps her fingers and points at Robin.

“Yes! That’s it! Right now, Valt is acting like an elite agent of the Shadow Society! And he’s punishing criminal organizations that are hiding something!”

It was an absurd story, but somehow her companions felt like they could piece together a plausible picture if they tried.

“So you’re saying we should pretend to be from the Shadow Society and extract information from them?”

“Yeah, what do you think? Is there a better way to get information? Besides, look at Valt’s power—those guys must be in complete disarray right now! I bet they’re trembling, wondering if we’ll be next!”

***

At the same time Lisa was making her far-fetched deductions…

The leaders of the remaining four major organizations, excluding the head of the Buddha organization which had suffered near-annihilation, gathered urgently.

They met at a safe house belonging to the Shadow Reapers, supposedly the most secretive assassination group.

All of them were powerful individuals of at least Level 7. Among them were certainly some who had reached Level 8 Master status.

Carlson, the hot-tempered leader of Venom, slams his fist on the table.

Though he controlled his strength, as the table didn’t break.

“Damn it! What the hell is going on? Those snake bastards weren’t supposed to know!”

In response to Carlson’s fuming, Sven, the leader of Thorn Swamp who had been standing with his arms crossed, speaks up.

With his sharp features and facial scars, he exuded an extraordinary presence.

“Calm down. They absolutely don’t know. Or rather, they can’t know. How could they know something even I don’t fully understand?”

The leader of Santar, Santar himself, couldn’t remain silent either.

“Is there a damn traitor? Is that what’s happening?!”

Sickle, the leader of Shadow Reapers who had remained the most composed, slowly opened his mouth with an eerie tone.

He was normally an extremely taciturn person, so the fact that he was speaking now indicated how serious the situation was.

“The Society… has caught the scent… That’s the most reasonable conclusion.”

“Fuck! How?! We went through all that trouble to divert those artifacts!”

The reason for their anxiety:

It was the concealment of artifacts.

A group known only as the “Society,” whose scale was unknown but who were collecting artifacts at an alarming rate, had approached the five major organizations and ordered them to gather all artifacts circulating in the black market.

Naturally, all five organizations refused, but after being defeated by a single individual and experiencing the fear of death, they had no choice but to lend their power to the Society.

Interestingly, the five organizations also referred to them as the “Shadow Society,” similar to Lisa, meaning an organization hidden behind shadows.

“We shouldn’t underestimate the Shadow Society’s abilities… They might be using the power of other artifacts.”

At Sickle’s words, the other three leaders sigh.

“Damn it… They say only one person attacked Buddha. It couldn’t be that guy from before, could it?”

Carlson seemed to shudder at the memory of nearly losing his life.

An impossible physique with impossible strength. Though wearing a mask that concealed his face, the Society’s executive was that powerful.

“We can’t know. But according to our scouts, he has a massive build and uses tremendous magic.”

Hearing this, Carlson lets out a sound close to a scream of shock.

“It’s him! That aura could truly be called magic! Damn it! Why him of all people!”

To these leaders of what had now become the four major organizations thrown into confusion, Sickle quietly offers a statement.

“We must… decide. Fight. Run. Or beg for our lives.”

“What about Buddha?”

When Sven narrows his eyes at Sickle, Sickle simply shakes his head.

“Damn it, one of the five major organizations falls like this? To a single person? This is a warning. We don’t have time.”

Valt’s frontal assault in the middle of the night had brought all the leaders of the five major organizations together in one place and instilled fear in them.

***

Shortly before the leaders’ meeting at the Shadow Reapers’ safe house.

Lisa was using her armlet to communicate with her friends.

“See! I was right, wasn’t I? The leaders must be gathering now and planning to escape!”

Lisa had arranged for her companions to share information if they spotted anyone urgently moving from each organization’s headquarters.

Surprisingly, Lisa’s prediction was correct.

Due to the urgency of the situation, the leaders of the five major organizations didn’t notice someone watching them carefully from a distance, which was fully detected by Valt’s companions.

“There can’t be that many powerful individuals in criminal organizations. Those who left their headquarters must be the leaders of the five organizations.”

Victor asks Lisa:

“So what are we going to do now?”

Lisa looks at her companions with gleaming eyes.

“What would you prefer?”

Solphin smiles, raising the corners of his mouth as if finding it amusing.

“Kihahaha, why ask? Chaos, of course!”

Lisa asks Solphin:

“You can avoid getting hurt, right? Only you and Robin stay here. Don’t take unnecessary risks, just keep them occupied. Meanwhile, I’ll try to meet up with Valt and the others.”

Victor bristles at Lisa’s words.

“What about me! Why am I excluded?!”

Victor, already itching for action, tries to protest against Lisa, thinking he can’t miss this opportunity, but it doesn’t work.

“I think Robin can better support Solphin, don’t you? You need to protect me!”

“Haah… really… I should learn some ranged skills since I’m so dirty and underhanded.”

In the end, Victor couldn’t argue and followed Lisa.

“Be careful!”

At Lisa’s words, Solphin just laughs.

“Who are you talking to? You be careful, kiddo!”

Nodding, Lisa calls out to Victor.

“Let’s go, Victor! We need to get to Valt!”

***

At that moment, Valt was “kindly” overwhelming his opponent without killing him, bombarding him with questions.

THWACK!

“KUHURK!!”

CRASH! BANG!

RUMBLE—

The Butcher flies into a building wall from Valt’s magic.

As debris falls, the Butcher spits out a mouthful of blood.

Valt merely watches and speaks in an emotionless tone.

“Do you think I don’t know what you’re hiding?”

Despite the vague statement, the Butcher starts laughing through his bloody coughs.

“Kuk, kukkuk. Are you also from the Shadow Society? Damn it, how many of these monsters are they raising?”

From the Butcher’s answer, Valt gains quite valuable information.

‘Hmm… so there is a connection. He’s mistaking me for a member of the Shadow Society.’

“But you don’t seem to know everything! Fine! I’ll tell you! But I want my life guaranteed in return!”

Hearing the Butcher’s words, Valt thinks he might hear an interesting story.

Just then, his armlet rings.

‘Lisa has come up with some scheme. Hoo, the enemy leaders’ positions have been identified too… This is getting interesting.’

After roughly understanding the situation through Lisa’s message, Valt says to the Butcher:

“You’ve been abandoned. You’re useless. Die.”

As Valt gathers magical power in his thick right arm, the panicked Butcher shouts:

“Wh-what?! Th-that can’t be! Everyone has one piece of the secret! Without me, they can’t find the artifacts!”

Learning that what they were hiding was artifacts, Valt coldly stares at the Butcher as if he already knew.

“Everyone except you has already gathered at the safe house. Trying to bargain with that information will only waste time. I prefer not to do troublesome things. Farewell. Well, one less won’t matter.”

Just as Valt’s arm, filled with magical power, is about to swing—

“Im-Imperial Armory!!”

Pause—

Valt’s arm stops mid-air at the unexpected, absurd words.

“What?”

“O-our artifacts are hidden in one of the many armories of the Imperial Palace! But you need all our information to know which one! It’s a kind of code! If even one piece is wrong, those items immediately become imperial property. From our perspective, it’s a method with no complications and easy to divert!”

Valt’s brow furrows at the criminal organization’s audacity—he had thought they might have hidden it somewhere secret, but the imperial armory?

“You have an accomplice in the Imperial Palace? Someone with access to the armory?”

The Butcher frantically nods at Valt’s intimidating presence.

“Y-y-yes!! There are people who love money everywhere!”

‘It’s rotten. Peace has lasted too long. Is the Empire decaying from within?’

While the Shadow Society’s actions were elusive by nature, Valt was displeased to learn that nobles were involved with such criminal organizations.

“You’ll be held accountable for those words.”

“O-of course!!”

Valt activates a binding spell combining various magics to restrain the Butcher.

“Urgh! Why, why are you doing this now?!”

Valt manipulates his armlet while speaking to the Butcher:

“I can verify if what you’re saying is true by asking your friends.”

He knows the locations of the other four as well.

Valt decides that since things have come to this, he might as well finish everything today.