episode_0028

After Leos was imprisoned, at first his disciples also resented him. It was because of my human disappointment at not being trusted. But that feeling didn’t last long. Because the reason he was angry at his disciples was because they simply did not believe him. Therefore, there was no need to feel revenge. I will just give up and never see you again. It only had a certain amount of emotion. But the empire was different.

‘Imperial Shadow Corps…’

When he killed Feredin he spoke. He said he was a member of the Imperial Shadow Corps and that Belin was also a member of the same group.

‘I didn’t understand why he was doing this to me. Belin had done nothing wrong. However, if you are a member of the Imperial Shadow Corps, things will be different.’

The Imperial Secret Service is happy to do anything for the benefit of the Empire, or more specifically, the Emperor’s interests. Therefore, Leos gave an answer to a long question.

Why did Belin do that? The answer to the reason is the instructions of the Empire’s shadow corps. More specifically, I had no doubt that it was because the empire had ordered it.

I don’t know why he ordered the downfall of someone who was on a roll. But one thing is certain: Belin, a member of the Shadow Order who follows everything the emperor says like a dog, sent himself to the abyss. And the entire imperial institution, starting with the judge, was involved in the process.

Therefore, for Leos, the targets of revenge were not his former students who did not trust him.

‘I still have no intention of taking revenge on my disciples. However, I will not contact you from now on. Like someone I didn’t know from the beginning. But the empire…is not the empire.’

A group that not only took away all honor and wealth, but also sent people who worked like dogs for the empire to the abyss in an instant. The shadowy group or the empire’s affiliated organizations never stopped short of just cutting off their positions. Although they sacrificed their lives for the Empire, the Empire, which leads social murders and pretends not to know what is happening, is disgusting and must receive retribution for it. Leos thought so.

‘But, it’s impossible for me to do it alone.’

Leos knew his own power better than anyone else. It is possible to survive within the Redgate Vortex. And the scum of the empire that come here can also be killed by taking advantage of the geographical advantage. But on the other hand, if you ask whether it is possible to stage a coup and invade the empire directly, the answer is obviously no.

‘More than 90% of the empire’s total troops are guarding the imperial family. ‘If I invade, all those troops will probably come out.’

There was not enough troops to use a chain sword, a high-level artifact, or one or two things like that. Therefore, Leos buried revenge in his heart. Even though he knew that the Empire used Belin to frame him, he had to clear his mind without even knowing the reason.

I had to endure the long three years alone and the public’s gaze on me as a human waste. For a moment, all the disciples he trusted turned their backs on him, and he had to endure the horrible treatment of others who looked at him like insects.

At that time, the man in front of me spoke to Leos.

[You can take revenge on the empire]. He said he would allow him to take revenge not on the disciples who were now irrelevant to Leos, but on the empire that designed and manipulated this idiotic act.

“First, let’s talk about how it goes.”

Leos swung his chain sword and checked his surroundings. There are about 20 people, and no additional troops are stationed nearby. Even when everyone is disarmed.

‘There are no variables. If anyone tries to do anything, they will all be killed immediately.’

In fact, it was a miracle that Leos was even talking like this with people belonging to organizations under the Empire. If they had been armed with swords instead of disarming, they would all have been bombed and killed before they could even hear what they said. And Rakart, the leader of the extermination team, also knew this very well.

“I am Rakart, leader of the Imperial Extermination Group. Worked under the Empire like their dogs. Be honest. I have also worked for the Empire. However, if there is one thing that needs to be made clear, I have not had any involvement in anything related to you, Leo.”

He walked forward little by little.

“ For someone, even if I have a crush on the empire, not as much as you are.

“Why are you talking nonsense? I guess that wasn’t the question.”

“No, it’s not nonsense. This is a very important story. Shouldn’t we properly distinguish between friends and foes? It is true that we are the empire’s stooges, but we were just used like you. Just as you went about clearing gates for the Empire, we also went about slaughtering those the Empire didn’t need. There is a difference between being a monster or a human, but the path is the same. I’m not trying to rationalize. I just wanted to let you know that we are in the same situation as you and that just like you want revenge, we also want revenge. This is my motivation.”

Rakarte came right in front of Leos, raised his head, and spoke.

“Before we talk, if you don’t want to be with me just because I worked for the Empire, then you should just kill me here and now. If I’m going to be used in the same way again, it’s better to just die.”

At the same time, the man spoke towards the back.

“If my head is cut off, you guys run away from here. There is no need to die together.”

“Lacarte!”

Faron tried to rush forward, but Rakarte stopped him.

“Faron, don’t do anything useless. It is a command.”

“…”

Faron gritted his teeth and looked at Leos. When Leos raised the sword, Faron turned pale and immediately put his hand on his waist and tried to guide the sword. However, the chain sword that Leos swung blew away the entire sword and scabbard hanging on his waist.

Then Rakarte blocked the space between Faron and Leos with his body.

“As I said before, if you don’t want to be with us, I hope you’ll be satisfied with just my request.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“Because I want to let you know that we are different from the empire. Unlike those bugs who use all humans like expendables, I truly value my colleagues. Paradoxically, even though I am the leader of an extermination group that has killed countless people, I sincerely think so.”

“Disgusting guys. They say their colleagues are precious to them while they kill others like nothing happened.”

“LEO. Are you the same too?”

Hearing Rakart’s words, Leos fell silent for a moment. LEO is the nickname used by Leos on Interrunner. There, numerous people were certified as murdered.

“We observed you from quite a distance for several days. There were colleagues.”

“Are you trying to threaten me? With this many people, it will take less than a minute to kill them all.”

“Leos. I’m not trying to intimidate you. I mean, I’m just like you. I wanted to say that there was something I had no choice but to do in order to save my colleague. Just like you killed other marauders.”

Leos looked into Rakart’s eyes for a moment and slowly put down his sword. It’s not because I was persuaded. It was simply because, looking at various parts of the company, I thought it was worth using.

First, they were not armed. This was no different from the fact that he knew about my tendencies to some extent. I had no way of knowing what the method was.

Second, do not abandon your colleagues carelessly. Unlike other idiots, even though he is the leader, he is on the front lines and taking risks.

Third, the subordinates try to save their superior, Rakarte, even if it means risking their own lives. If it was a crappy boss, he would just act out of a sense of duty. I didn’t think he would rush in with indignation like the man named Faron who was far away.

And the most important fourth thing.

‘He was observing me. Even without being discovered by me.’

Lacarte said he observed and approached this place. Not only did I know that there were colleagues, but I also knew that the nickname LEO was being used on Interrunner, so this was not a lie but the truth. But it also had a different meaning.

‘I knew my colleagues were there, but I didn’t use that to attack them.’

Lacarte was saying that in a roundabout way.

With this number of people, it was not difficult to divert Leos’ attention and then attack his colleagues. If they were all gathered together like now, Leos would be able to kill them all, but with the premise that Hericia and Bendict must be protected, if they came in groups of five, there was no way to guarantee what the outcome would be once their location was discovered.

‘Of course, if you did something like that, you would all end up dead to me anyway.’

Although Rakarte did not say it directly, Leos recognized all this information in a short moment and came to a conclusion.

‘He’s a useful guy. And, even though they discovered my vulnerability, they did not take advantage of it and instead chose to disarm and then attack directly.’

Lacarte gave up the easy path and chose the cumbersome method that required risking his life. Therefore, Leos also decided to listen to his opinion to some extent.

“I promise not to betray you. But that’s only if you don’t do anything suspicious. I won’t share the same space as you guys. And Spiral will be attached to you at all times, and you will have to go and live outside the safe zone. If there is an incident against the Empire, you will be on the front lines. Even if some people join along the way, you are the ones at the forefront. If I keep that condition, I’ll think about being with you like you said.”

“Would that be enough? As long as it’s that much.”

“…”

As Leos was taken aback by the unexpected reaction, Rakart began to place all the documents in his arms on the ground with a serious expression.

“This is a document that records the ugly things the imperialists were doing. It also includes an official document sent to us.”

When Leos looked at the documents, he couldn’t help but be astonished.

[Red Gate Vortex Isolated Personnel Elimination Plan]

“Is this true?”

“It’s just a plan, it hasn’t been realized yet. The Emperor of the Peren Empire recognized that he could not seal all the Red Gates, and thought about ways to prevent additional Red Gates from being created. One of them was to drop a mana bomb throughout the area and destroy all people, gates, and monsters at once.”

“Even if the bomb is dropped, monsters will continue to be created if the gate is not sealed, right?”

“Just spray it continuously in all areas, once every 24 hours. The emperor thought so. However, of course, this agenda is a plan that has only been produced to be used at the end, if there is no way to do it at the end. Unless the Emperor is out of his mind, there is no way he wouldn’t know that using this method would lead to a large-scale riot. So, it was left out as the last plan.”

“Why are you telling me a plan that is not feasible?”

“Because we’re going to use this.”

Rakarte began scanning the documents, then opened a distance window and began uploading the extermination plan file to Interrunner.

“What are you doing now…”

The document that Rakarte was uploading had changed its title from [Red Gate Vortex Isolated Personnel Extermination Plan] to [Red Gate Vortex Isolated Personnel Extermination Implementation].

Some of the contents were also modified, as if the plan had already been completed and only execution remained.

“This is a document that we manipulated. I told you, I’ll get your revenge the same way.”

“People won’t believe it?”

“It can’t be.”

Rakarte smiled as he looked at the uploaded file.

“People are simpler than you think. We are often swayed by what we see in front of us rather than by reason. As if I was blaming you, who was innocent.”

Leos doubted. I wonder if people will respond with just a document like this.

but.

After about 5 hours passed.

“The Empire! Stop the massacre of innocent people!”

In the Peren Empire, large-scale riots began to occur.