His head felt numb, and he couldn’t feel anything.
It was as if his heart had become a blank page.
There was only one thought occupying his mind.
‘I have to go see Ruby….’
To meet Ruby, he had to cross the border, and to cross the border, he needed the real Kersund’s help.
Clyde went to the tavern where he first met the bearded man.
As he entered the tavern, he felt the gazes of the people inside all directed at him.
There was a loud crash as a glass fell and shattered.
“Wh-what’s that?”
Ignoring the scream-like cries from nearby, Clyde walked straight towards the bartender.
“Where’s Kersund?”
“Uh, yes?”
“I’m looking for Kersund. Where is he?”
The bartender backed away, looking terrified. His eyes were rolling from side to side.
“Answer me, where is he?”
“He’s a demon!”
At that moment, one of the customers shouted.
“He’s a demon! Call the guards!”
With a loud thud, tables and chairs were knocked over, and the customers inside began to flee.
“…Ah.”
Right. He wasn’t wearing the necklace, so his eye color had returned to normal.
Clyde belatedly tried to put the necklace back around his neck, but since the chain was broken, it didn’t work as he had hoped.
At that moment, perhaps thinking it was an opportunity, the bartender leapt over the bar and ran straight for the door.
“Wait.”
Clyde reached out his hand towards the bartender’s back, and a deep crimson aura extended, coiling around the bartender’s neck.
“Kuck…!”
The bartender floated in the air, clutching his throat.
“I asked you, where is Kersund? If you don’t answer, things won’t end well.”
The bartender struggled violently, as if he were a condemned prisoner hanging from the gallows.
“Krk, ku, kukuk, gasp…!”
Clyde raised an eyebrow.
“What did you say? I don’t understand.”
“Ah, ugh…!”
Then, there was a cracking sound coming from the bartender’s neck. At the same time, his struggles ceased, and his limbs slumped downward.
“…….”
Clyde stared at the bartender with narrowed eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
No sound came from the bartender anymore.
‘Is he… dead?’
Clyde shifted his gaze to his own hand. His hand was covered in blood and surrounded by a fog-like black aura.
‘Did I do this?’
He didn’t intend to kill him. He only wanted to ask where Kersund was.
It was because he needed to meet Ruby, and to do that, he had to cross the border with Kersund’s help.
At that moment, the tavern door burst open, and a group of soldiers rushed in.
“It’s a real demon!”
“Attack!”
The soldiers all drew their swords at once.
The burly soldier at the front charged straight towards Clyde. Clyde just stood there, staring blankly at him.
Soon, the soldier’s sword pierced Clyde’s chest.
Blood from his heart gushed out and from his mouth.
“Kill him!”
One by one, the soldiers’ swords impaled Clyde’s body.
Covered in blood, Clyde slowly looked at the soldiers surrounding him.
Their faces turned pale.
“The neck! Aim for the neck! Otherwise, he’ll keep regenerating!”
A man who seemed to be the captain shouted from behind. Then, the soldier who first attacked Clyde withdrew the sword from his chest.
The soldier brandished the sword towards Clyde’s neck.
The motion of the sword flying in an arc seemed to slow down, as if time had suddenly decelerated.
‘Am I going to die….’
That thought flashed through his empty mind.
No, he can’t die. If he died, he wouldn’t be able to see Ruby. They had promised to meet again back then.
Clyde’s pupils turned completely red, even the whites. And from his body, the same crimson aura as before surged like waves.
“What, argh!”
“Aaahhhh!”
The aura emanating from Clyde’s body transformed into multiple sharp blades in an instant, piercing through the soldiers’ bodies, tearing them apart, and reducing them to pieces.
To Clyde, it all seemed to unfold in slow motion, like events rising from the depths of deep water.
Clyde watched in a daze as the aura, which had spread out like giant claws, finally tore the last remaining guard captain.
‘Ah, so this is what happened earlier….’
It all happened in a matter of mere seconds. In just a few seconds, all the soldiers attacking Clyde lost their lives.
Clyde pulled out each of the swords embedded in his body. The wounds rapidly regenerated, leaving no trace and disappearing cleanly.
A strange feeling overcame him.
“Killing people is this easy, huh?”
He found it puzzling why he had been so desperate to hide and survive until now.
If he had this power before, he wouldn’t have been caught by that man with his mother.
He wouldn’t have needed to flee beyond the empire and part with Ruby.
‘Ah, yes. Ruby….’
He had to meet Ruby. And for that, he needed to find Kersund.
But the bartender was dead now. The customers who were at the tavern had all fled.
Clyde’s face, which had momentarily looked troubled, gradually relaxed.
“No, I don’t need any help now, do I?”
He had this ‘power’ now.
An unprecedented sense of omnipotence flows through his entire body.
Whoever stood in his way, he could just kill them. Anyone hindering him from meeting Ruby, he could… yes, even that man who had captured him.
Clyde left the tavern with a faint smile.
Once outside, he noticed that the town was in a strange kind of commotion.
In the distance, a procession of torches could be seen extending far into the night.
The residents were fleeing in droves outside the village.
“Kaaak!”
A woman spotted Clyde and let out a shrill scream. When Clyde turned to look at her, the woman fell to the ground, still screaming hysterically.
“S-s-save me….”
She clutched her head and trembled violently.
Clyde glanced at her indifferently, then turned his head away.
As he walked towards the village’s exit, he noticed several other residents screamed upon seeing him or frantically ran away and stumbled.
However, some people realized that Clyde didn’t seem to have any intention of harming them, so they stopped fleeing. Instead, they made way for him, watching him with bated breath.
After a while, when Clyde reached the village entrance, he spotted dozens of soldiers aiming their bows at him.
“Fire!”
In an instant, a rain of arrows was shot towards him.
It didn’t matter if they hit him or not. Arrows couldn’t render him powerless, and even if they hit, he would quickly regenerate.
But it was a bit bothersome.
Clyde reached his hand forward, and the crimson aura spread thin and wide, forming a protective shield around his body.
The arrows bounced off the shield and fell around Clyde like raindrops.
“Charge!”
The archers scattered, and soldiers with spears lined up and charged together.
Clyde moved his arm in a straight line from right to left.
The aura that made up the shield transformed into massive blades, slicing through the bodies of the charging soldiers, cutting them in half.
Upper and lower halves of bodies rolled on the ground, splattering blood everywhere.
In disbelief, the commander stared wide-eyed, unable to utter a word.
“Huh… fall back, fall back!”
He shouted a beat too late. The soldiers all at once turned their backs and started to run away.
Clyde continued to walk with an indifferent expression.
He had no intention of chasing after those who were running away. His sole purpose was to cross the border, after all.
But that was a mistake. He should have captured and killed every single one of them without leaving anyone alive.
The problem was that he didn’t realize the survivors would come back with even more reinforcements.
A few hours later, as dawn approached, Clyde found himself surrounded by thousands of soldiers at the border.
* * * * *
(Ruby’s POV)
Unknowingly, I swallowed hard.
My throat had gone completely dry.
“…So, what happened next?”
I asked in a cracked voice.
“What did you do? Did you… kill all those people too?”
“Kill them?”
Clyde responded with an enigmatic voice.
