Baang! Til’s giant sword swept over the robed figures. The robed figures resisted, but they failed to block the full force of Til’s swing. Til glared at the robed figures in front of him. Since they had transformed into monsters, there was no trace of their human selves, but it didn’t matter to Til whether they were humans or monsters. The only point that mattered was that those guys were the ones who had involved him in their evil schemes.

‘Because of those guys, I…!” All the suffering he had undergone until now whizzed by, especially the shock he felt when he heard of Walter’s kidnapping and the powerlessness that bound him when he had no choice but to follow what the letter told him to do. The robed figures in front of him were the start of it all.

Baaaaam!

“Kurrrrgh!”

“Ugggh!”

Although the robed figures had dramatically increased their strength and durability through their transformation, they still couldn’t withstand Til’s power. He struck down blows on them like calamity, and the robed figures couldn’t do anything but endure. Yet, they soon reached their limits.

Crack!

“Ecccck!” Til’s giant sword struck one of the robed figure’s necks. Even if the robed figures had increased their life force because of their transformation, they couldn’t survive after a sword pierced their necks. The robed figure collapsed on the spot and stopped moving. Seeing this, the leader’s expression stiffened.

‘Not good.’ From the fight just now, the leader realized ‌they might just end up losing more men by trying to get the Pyramid of Vengeful Souls back. Plus, the leader had just gained important information that Zich had gone around pretending to be them. Even if he got rebuked for losing the Pyramid of Vengeful Souls, he judged that he needed to withdraw. Yet, he soon realized that it was a miscalculation on his part when he assessed that he could escape by simply sacrificing some of his subordinates.

‘To think that they were this strong!’

Til rushed toward them like a giant bear and his subordinates blocked him with all their might. Yet, there wasn’t a single subordinate who could properly block him.

‘We have to scatter and escape.’ However, even this plan wasn’t grounded in much reality. Just a second before, he tried to get one of his subordinates to escape and get the information out that Zich was pretending to be them. In response, Til had pulled out a tree by its roots and flung it at the subordinate. Since he had been too focused on escaping, the subordinate didn’t even have the time to resist and died, crushed underneath the weight of the giant tree. Although a robed figure wouldn’t have normally died from a simple tree, it was a different matter if Til had imbued the tree with his might and thrusted it at an incredible speed. If they all scattered, it was clear that more giant trees would fly at them from behind.

‘If we had more men, it would’ve been fine.’ Then, at least some of them could’ve escaped. Yet, because of their battle with the mercenaries and Til’s ambush, it had significantly impacted their numbers.

‘The problem isn’t just him either.’ The leader glanced at Zich who was in all sense of the word annihilating the mercenaries. Anyone who came within his reach was sliced mercilessly, and like the robed figures, the mercenaries were having trouble running away. Although some attempted to run, sharp mana blades flew their way each time and sliced through their backs. When Zich saw Nick lift the Pyramid of Vengeful Souls, he didn’t even blink. Considering how much time it took for monsters to arrive at a given location, Nick’s actions weren’t the least threatening to him.

‘Such fearsome skills.’ The leader exclaimed his admiration. They were now in danger of becoming annihilated without a single one of them surviving. It was a situation he didn’t think was possible at all. Yet, this was reality. The leader quickly racked his head and tried to think of what more he could do now to escape from this situation.

‘There’s really no other choice but that,’ the leader decided. Then, he yelled, “Join forces with the mercenaries!”

It was a different sort of command from his previous ones that were all about running away. Yet, the robed figures moved according to the leader’s command obediently.

“What the hell are you scheming!” When Nick had asked to collaborate, the leader of the robed figures paid no mind to his suggestion, but now, the leader finally wanted to collaborate? It was only expected that Nick would speak bitterly. However, the leader replied calmly, “Even if we are scheming, are you in the position to refuse?”

“Damn it!” In front of such pressing danger, Nick couldn’t afford to refuse an offer even if it came from someone he didn’t trust at all. “So, what are you exactly scheming! Is it something that would help us?”

“If everything goes according to plan.” The leader gave his command and made his subordinates surround Nick. It seemed as if they were trying to protect Nick with their formation.

“We will block all the attacks coming your way with our lives on the line, so you use the Pyramid of Vengeful Souls!”

“Is that all you could think of? Didn’t you see me threaten that guy repeatedly already!” The threats hadn’t worked at all.

“That’s because you called the monsters to come here!” The leader yelled.

“But where else could they go?” Nick wondered.

“Move them to Pialu!” The leader commanded.

Both Zich and Til stopped moving. It worked. A faint smile appeared on the leader’s lips.

“Your companions are all in the city. Even if there are strong people there, the number of monsters gathered in the Denest Mountain Range isn’t something that a single city can handle. If they are ambushed by monsters, it’s obvious that those inside the city would be all annihilated.”

As Zich’s and Til’s attacks stopped, the mercenaries were able to take a breather and they all looked at the leader with hopeful eyes. It seemed like the leader’s blackmailing had worked.

“Of course, your companions could run away, but from what I’ve heard, they are quite the heroic bunch. Would they just run away and leave the civilians in danger?”

Zich replied, “There’s no way they would do that.” Til didn’t reply either, but his cold gaze was enough of a reply.

“Then, wouldn’t it be better to quickly return to Pialu? Since there’s still some time until the monsters come down and ambush Pialu, the best decision is to get as many people to escape.” Of course, even if they did this, they might not be able to get them out in time. “However, if you still don’t want to let us go, then one of you two can return to the city to warn the others.” It didn’t matter to the leader if one of them stayed behind; if there was only one person, they could escape by sacrificing a couple of people.

“It’ll be better to decide as fast as possible if you want one more person in Pialu to live.” Then, the leader looked toward Nick and said, “Quickly activate the Pyramid! That’s the only way for us to live!” If the monsters rush towards Pialu, their plan would completely be shattered. The leader had received a special message from Glen before he headed off to meet Nick, so he didn’t hesitate.

‘He told me to wipe out Pialu if there’s a sign that the plan would go amiss.’ Glen especially hated that there was a strong possibility that Zich might end up as a hero. The reason why they had moved before the set time was because Zich said that he had a solution to the monsters ambushing Pialu. Moreover, judging by the situation, Zich was definitely on the brink of achieving a feat that would earn him the praise of everyone in the city since he would be getting rid of Nick and the robed figures.

‘It’s better to use the monsters and wipe out Pialu rather than that turning out to be true.’ Then, Zich’s achievement would disappear since he wasn’t able to stop the monster ambushes. Moreover, if Zich and Til quickly returned to Pialu to evacuate the citizens of Pialu, this would give them sufficient time to escape.

Nick took out the Pyramid of Vengeful Souls. An ominous aura flowed out from it, and Nick gulped. It was not difficult to send out an order to the monsters to ambush Pialu. Since he was very far from the army of monsters, he couldn’t send out a complicated order, but he could at least order them to attack in a specific direction. However, as soon as Nick gave such an order, Pialu would turn into hell. He wondered how many citizens of Pialu would be able to survive. Even Nick began to feel the burden of a large number of lives on his shoulder.

“What are you doing? If you can’t do it, give it to me. I’ll do it.” Although the leader said this, Nick faltered. However, his face soon became firm, and he tightly clutched the Pyramid of Vengeful Souls.

Zich asked, “Are you going to accept his suggestion?” In a way, he made it sound as if this whole situation wasn’t related to him at all. In another way, he sounded like he was acting indifferent while suppressing his anger.

“Is there any other way for us to live?”

“Yeah, if you think about it, that’s true.” Zich nodded. Considering that they were holding the whole city hostage, he was way too calm. Nick and the leader became slightly anxious; did Zich have another plan in mind?

However, the leader firmly pushed that thought away. “It’s a bluff. There’s nothing that these guys can do now.” Then, he encouraged Nick and said, “The reward that we promised will go directly to you, and we’ll also definitely find Ellie for you. You know about our information network, right? Those guys will be too busy evacuating people in Pialu, and it’ll be impossible for them to do anything while we look for Ellie. If we’re lucky, they might kick the bucket as well.”

As expected of a leader of the robed figures—the leader was quite a smooth-talker, and his words were enough to give Nick a push to harden his resolve.

Zich noticed Nick’s resolve, and he mocked him. “Mr. Nick, are you going to feed Pialu to the monsters? Have you fallen that low?”

“You guys are the ones who caused this!”

“What do you mean we’re the ones who caused this? All we did was work hard to protect the city. We should be getting compliments and not be held responsible for this situation. This whole situation in Pialu all happened from start to finish because of your selfish and greedy crimes. Can you not push the responsibility onto me?”

Nick didn’t reply and raised the Pyramid of Vengeful Souls in the air.

“…Are you really planning to do it, Nick?” Til had been staying quiet so far, but he finally spoke up. “Many people in Pialu will die. Can you endure such a big sin? I don’t know what these guys promised you, but think about whether it’s worth more than the lives of the people in Pialu!” Til’s voice, which had been calm in the beginning, grew louder by the end as if he was spitting blood. Regardless of Nick’s betrayal, it hurt Til’s heart to see how low Nick had fallen since they had known each other for a long time. He hoped that Nick would realize this and repent for his sins. However, his expectations ended up as false delusions.

“A small sacrifice is necessary for a greater cause.”

Til shut his eyes; he didn’t have the confidence to look at Nick anymore. He shifted his gaze away from Nick and closed his mouth as he decided to leave everything up to Zich.

“Yes, I completely agree. A small sacrifice is necessary for a greater cause.” Even though the situation was extremely dire, Zich supported Nick’s statement instead. Everyone was confused, but Zich did not stop siding with Nick. “You’re saying that you have a more important reason to continue than all the lives of people in Pialu, right? You should have said that in the beginning. If I knew that, I wouldn’t have tortured you like this.”

Nick, the leader, the mercenaries, and robed figures, were all flabbergasted by Zich’s words.

“Then, you should quickly use the Pyramid of Vengeful Souls. If there is such a lofty reason, I’m sure the citizens of Pialu would all easily accept their deaths.”