Ch.91Chapter 91: Eradicating the Criminal Organization (11)

“Nngh…!”

Blood gushed from Riemann’s waist, which had split open about a hand’s width, soaking the dry ground.

“Ku, kuhak!”

Seeing the obviously deep wound, Valt and his companions urgently called for Arias as they rushed toward Riemann.

“Arias!! We need treatment! Quickly!”

“Y-yes, I understand!”

But it was Valt who moved faster than anyone else.

Whoosh-

Valt’s massive frame charged instantly at Sicle, who was standing with his back to Riemann.

“Hup!”

Sicle was not in a normal state.

With Riemann’s sword, Sicle had now lost one arm.

From Sicle’s perspective, he had just lost an arm to a greenhorn who had barely reached the 8th floor.

In terms of injury severity, Sicle’s was worse than Riemann’s, but Riemann had already expended a great deal of mental energy and was now at his limit. Sicle, fueled by rage, couldn’t even feel the pain and was about to lunge at Riemann with his remaining arm.

Valt quickly assessed the situation and moved swiftly to block Sicle.

‘I need an attack focused on a single point.’

In a situation where he didn’t know the extent of Riemann’s injuries, using an area attack might kill Riemann by his own hand.

A thin spear made of blood-colored metal quickly formed above Valt’s hand and extended outward faster than anything else as it left his grasp.

Thwack-

Normally, Sicle wouldn’t have fallen victim to such an attack, but having lost an arm to Riemann and blinded by rage, he ended up sacrificing his right chest to Valt’s thrown spear magic that flew at the speed of sound.

Pwuaaark!

Thwang!

Struck by Valt’s spear, Sicle was sent flying into a building wall and buried under the debris.

Boom-

Boom boom boom-

“Gyaaaaargh!!”

If it had been a smooth-shaped javelin, it would have pierced through Sicle, but Valt had deliberately shaped the spear into a wide trident to separate Sicle from Riemann.

If the spear had simply penetrated him, there was a possibility that Sicle could have used his last remaining strength to kill Riemann.

That’s the kind of being a Master was.

Valt’s prediction hit the mark precisely, and despite being struck by Valt’s spear, Sicle stood there clearing away the building debris, looking like a blood-soaked demon.

Just then, Valt arrived at Riemann’s side carrying Arias, entrusted Riemann’s wounds to Arias, and approached Sicle himself.

“Impressive. A vitality like that of our race.”

As Valt couldn’t help but admire Sicle’s vitality, which was comparable to the Barbarians, known for their tenacious life force.

“Kuk kuk kuk… To mere scum like you… If it weren’t for that damned Dark Society…”

“Feeling bitter?”

Was it the final flash before death?

Sicle, who could die at any moment, spoke to Valt with blazing eyes.

“Bitter? I was planning to take over the Dark Society eventually… How frustrating!”

“This might sound strange, but I’ll avenge you if you hand over information about the Dark Society.”

At Valt’s words, Sicle began to cackle madly.

“Kekekekekek!! Kuhahaha! You know nothing. How deeply they’ve infiltrated and how vast their organization is.”

“That’s why I’m asking, isn’t it?”

At Valt’s remarkably straightforward response, Sicle’s expression hardened as if deflated, and he began to speak.

“You’re no fun. Not even scared. I don’t know much either. But I can tell you one thing.”

Valt focused intently on Sicle’s words, not taking his eyes off him in case he tried to escape.

But Sicle relaxed his body and began to speak as if he had given up on everything.

“The Empire.”

“The Empire?”

“Yes, the Empire is involved. I don’t know the details, but the Society’s leader must be someone high up. No, judging by their actions, I’d believe it if you told me it was the Emperor himself.”

“Nonsense. It’s definitely not the Emperor.”

Valt and Sicle’s conversation was taking place at some distance. Sicle had been sent flying quite far after being hit by Valt’s spear.

It was fortunate that Princess Ellias hadn’t heard this conversation; if she had, she would have beheaded him on the spot.

“Are you the Emperor himself? Who knows? The Emperor is a man of many secrets. Is the idea that humans can live happily with all other races something a sane person would say?”

Though Valt didn’t know it, there were indeed many suspicious points.

These are called the Four Organizations, the real powers of the underworld that dominate the imperial capital’s criminal world.

It’s actually strange that Valt and his companions were able to capture the leaders of such organizations so easily.

Elusive movements. Criminal organization members that keep appearing endlessly even after eliminating a branch.

The imperial guards would always come up empty-handed even when raiding places rumored to be headquarters.

But today was different.

It felt as if someone had gathered all the leaders of the Four Organizations to be captured.

Valt felt a sense of déjà vu, but in the current situation where he knew nothing, he decided to postpone his concerns, thinking there was no need to jump to conclusions.

“So I should understand that someone from the Empire with strong power is the leader of the Dark Society. That narrows down the candidates.”

This was something Valt had been thinking about for a while. But now that he had heard it directly from an enemy ally, it was worth investigating.

“Kuk, you think it’s just one or two?”

“Hmm…”

There was merit to his words. In a situation where a criminal organization was being lent the imperial palace’s treasure vault to collect artifacts, it was impossible to know how many people in the palace the Dark Society had recruited.

Valt couldn’t help but sigh at the growing shadow of the Dark Society.

“I’ll be watching happily from hell. You’ll all end up killing each other, stealing, fighting again, killing, and stealing—that’s the only life you can live.”

As the effect of his final flash seemed to be wearing off, Sicle left those words and rapidly began to lose strength.

“That’s life. Just like war.”

Sicle, now almost at his last breath, left one final remark to Valt’s words before breathing his last.

“K…kuk… Then dying isn’t so bad… Now I can… finally rest…”

Swish-

Thud-

As Sicle collapsed, Ellias, who had the most interest in the case, quickly ran to Valt, but by then Sicle had already breathed his last.

“Huff, huff. Why are you so fast!? What happened? Is he dead?”

“Yes, he just died.”

“What did he say!? What did he tell you?”

Valt explained the whole story to Ellias, carefully omitting the part about the Emperor possibly being involved.

“Ugh… The Dark Society! To think such a thing has wedged itself into the cracks of the Empire! This cannot be tolerated! I must tell Father immediately!!”

To the excited Ellias, Valt cautiously suggested:

“It would be better to just send a report to the Emperor. Don’t move directly yourself.”

Ellias tilted her head and looked at Valt.

“You could be in danger. If the Dark Society has infiltrated deep into the Empire, your existence, knowing this, would be quite troublesome for them. Besides, if you go around mentioning it directly, you’d just be stirring up a hornet’s nest. Wouldn’t it be better to be a bit more cautious?”

Blinking her eyes and momentarily speechless, Ellias finally gathered her thoughts and began to consider Valt’s words.

“That’s true, but… if someone in the Empire could touch me…”

“I’m just saying we should be careful because I’m worried. Careful.”

“W-worried!?”

“Yes, worried. Is there something wrong with that?”

With a reddened face, Ellias turned her head and headed toward where the other friends were.

“N-no! I wonder if Professor Riemann is alright!?”

Ellias walked away with large strides.

Valt moved toward Solphin and Irene, where the battle was almost over.

“Huk! Huuk! Huk! Kyahaha! I! Won!”

“Kuk… kuluk… kuuuuu…”

Fortunately, Solphin had won by simply beating his opponent without killing him.

Although the opponent had burns all over and looked seriously injured, it didn’t seem life-threatening.

“Good job, Solphin. You’re strong as always. Let’s restrain him and take him with us.”

“Hehe, of course! So, are you thinking about marrying me now?”

Valt chuckled and silently headed toward Irene.

Irene had also kept her opponent alive.

However, since her weapon was a sword, the opponent was missing his left arm and had numerous cuts, large and small.

But Irene didn’t have a single wound. She looked a bit tired, but she had completely dominated her mid-7th floor opponent.

“Amazing, you’ve gotten much stronger, Irene.”

Pleased by Valt’s praise, Irene smiled broadly and proudly exclaimed:

“O-of course! If I just build a bit more muscle, I could beat a truckload of guys like this!”

Now a devotee of muscles, Irene was growing stronger by truly exploding her talent as her body strengthened.

‘She might be worth fighting now.’

“You should also prepare to escort that guy without letting him die. It’s all over now.”

In the dawn of a somewhat noisy day.

It was the moment when Valt and his friends succeeded in eradicating the criminal organization.

***

Elishia directly contacted the Imperial Capital Guard to gather forces to clean up the situation, and thanks to Professor Marshel who had moved in advance, forces were quickly dispatched.

Now all that remained was to leave the cleanup to them and return. Ellias said she would handle the statements about the incident, so everyone else could just go back.

Twitch-

The body of Professor Riemann, whom Valt was carrying on his back, twitched and moved. He seemed to have regained consciousness.

Riemann asked Valt in a very small voice:

“Hey, how long have I been like this?”

“About 10 minutes, sir.”

“Let me impose on you until we reach the academy. I can’t get up right now. If I do, they’ll just bombard me with questions.”

Valt chuckled and slowly walked toward the academy, carrying Riemann, who had played a major role today.

“As you wish.”