Gulp.
Berkan swallowed hard as he gazed at Yuma’s sword, Balmung, aimed directly at his neck.
He didn’t even have the time to care about the bodies of his fallen kin strewn across the ground.
What mattered now was the overwhelming distrust that had settled over their very race.
Sure, the only direct weapon aimed at his throat was wielded by the God of War, but the warriors of most races present were keeping their own weapons trained on the Lycanthropes from a distance.
Dwarves, Elves, Cat-Folk, Humans.
Every single warrior from each race was brandishing their weapons at the Lycanthropes.
Over a hundred sharp swords and spears surrounded the Lycanthropes.
“…….”
The situation had devolved into a tense standoff, with no one willing to break the silence. Regardless of what Berkan had to say, they weren’t about to let their guards down easily.
With the Demons clearly identified as a potential threat invading the continent…
It was easy to suspect that the Lycanthropes, under the sway of madness, were merely pawns sent by the Demons to infiltrate the Intermediate World.
Berkan turned to his advisor standing beside him.
“Have you figured it out?”
The advisor, who had been in a daze from the sudden turn of events, simply blinked at Berkan’s abrupt question.
With a grim expression on his face, Berkan pressed on.
“I’m asking if you’ve identified the common trait among our kin who just plunged into madness. There aren’t many scenarios where we could end up in such madness.”
Silence reigned in response to Berkan’s question, and it wasn’t his advisor who finally spoke up, but a Lycanthrope standing behind him.
“Lord Berkan.”
German, Kaim, Art…
Lycanthrope Alsen had been carefully dissecting the faces of his fallen comrades just moments before, searching for a commonality.
“…Ten days ago, right after this mission was set, a few warriors gathered to toast. Those who have fallen into madness… were part of that drinking party. Before our race embarks on an important mission, we drink a special liquor called Emptus. It seems someone added poison mixed with the blood of monsters into it.”
Lycanthropes are strong against poison.
Ordinary toxins wouldn’t cause them any harm.
However, poisons mixed with the [Blood of Monsters] could deal fatal damage.
Only Elves inherently possess complete immunity to poisons mixed with [Blood of Monsters].
Humans, Cat-Folk, Dwarves, and so on suffer severe madness or enter a vegetative state.
As seen just now, Lycanthropes fall into chaos, expending all their strength and vitality until they die.
Humans and others may have a chance to expel the poison if they are of Master-level skill and can manipulate mana effectively.
But Lycanthrope blood inherently rejects any attempt to rid itself of poison mixed with [Blood of Monsters], no matter the mastery level.
Thanks to this severe effect, poisons mixed with [Blood of Monsters] had been mentioned a good dozen times in the annals documenting the long history of the Lycanthrope royal family. They had often been used as assassins’ tools against political rivals during the power struggles for the throne.
Royal blood.
Only those born of the Lycanthrope king’s bloodline could overcome [Blood of Monsters].
With a furrowed brow, Berkan, the first son of the Lycanthrope royal family, grimaced.
“…Are you saying you actually drank that vile Emptus?”
“Did you eat it?”
If a regular person, not a mana user, drank it in human form, it was so toxic that just finishing one bottle could lead them to their grave.
It was hard to notice the poison mixed with the monster’s blood entering the body.
Creeeak─
Berkan ground his teeth and racked his brain.
‘It’s a trap.’
This is clearly a trap.
A trap set to kill him right here, right now.
‘Who?’
Who has dug a pit to kill him here?
The answer came to mind faster than expected.
‘Only that bastard.’
The second prince of the Lycanthrope royal family.
Prince Semut.
‘He set this up to kill me.’
A game centered around this [Race Meeting].
Berkan looked at Yuma.
Currently, 11 Lycanthropes had turned into cold corpses. Seven at the expert level and four at the master level.
With such a chaotic situation, the fact that there were only a few injured and no casualties was downright miraculous.
And the man who created that miracle was right in front of him, Yuma.
He had single-handedly taken down four of them in an instant.
If he hadn’t rushed in first, the elf diplomat Ishera would definitely have been dead.
Without a doubt, she would have been torn apart by the master-level Lycanthrope German.
And surely a few more would have died.
If there had been any deaths due to the chaos, they wouldn’t even be in a standoff like this.
Without time to ask questions or argue, they would have plunged straight into war.
And obviously, all the Lycanthropes in this place, including himself, would have been wiped out.
No matter how strong each Lycanthrope was, they were heavily outnumbered.
Berkan slowly opened his mouth.
“Alsen….”
“Yes, Berkan-sama.”
Alsen, his right-hand man, hastily leaned closer to Berkan at his words.
“Bring that whale in the corner over here.”
Alsen’s eyes widened at Berkan’s words. The whale was none other than Prince Semut’s aide.
Yuma lowered his weapon, which he had aimed at Berkan, regarding his actions.
“Understood.”
Without hesitation, Alsen grabbed the whale by the neck and slammed him to the ground.
“Graaaah—! What the hell are you doing!? Alsen!!”
The whale thrashed his body and shouted in rage.
Thrust!
A dagger ruthlessly stabbed into the whale’s side.
“Graaaah!”
The one holding the dagger was none other than Berkan himself.
“Speak the truth, Whale.”
Berkan’s voice was thick with ferocity.
“Did my brother, Semut, push me into the pit for the throne?”
The whale trembled all over from the frightening pain weighing down on him.
“Graaah! Berkan-sama! I… I don’t know anything… But, I did overhear Semut talking with his right-hand man, Bellok, about the Forest of Monsters recently! That’s all I know!”
The Forest of Monsters.
At the mention of those words, all the races narrowed their eyes.
The fact that the Forest of Monsters came out of the whale’s mouth established Alsen’s reasoning as highly credible.
Currently, the only way to obtain the blood of monsters on the continent was through the Forest of Monsters.
The Forest of Monsters was unique.
For a millennium, it had been a nuisance on the continent.
All the monsters that held enough power to wipe out a nation had been dealt with, but the ones with the greatest survival instincts, like the troll-type monster Baim and the bat-type monster Sinete, were still lurking in the Forest of Monsters, keeping the legend alive.
Among the mercenaries wandering the continent, quite a few were surviving on the byproducts of the monsters from the Forest of Monsters.
One of those byproducts was [Monster’s Blood].
Berkan looked into Whale’s eyes.
It didn’t seem like he was lying.
‘Well, if he clearly knows the plan, he must realize that this place could be a death trap, so he wouldn’t come here knowing that.’
A useless card.
Berkan deduced that Whale was being used as a smokescreen to hide the strategy since Semut wouldn’t want to make it obvious that he was trying to silence him.
Swish!
“GRAAAAH!”
Without hesitation, Berkan pulled out the dagger stuck in Whale’s side and turned to the Lycanthropes.
“Gag him and bind him.”
“Understood.”
Berkan’s words were quickly carried out by his subordinates.
Berkan stepped forward again.
Towards Yuma, who held a sword to his neck.
“…I have no dignity.”
With a furrowed brow, Berkan slowly scanned the other races and continued speaking.
“It seems my brother, the second prince Semut, was trying to turn this place into my grave while aiming for the throne. If even one of you dies at the hands of Chaos here, there’s no way you’d let our race leave this place alive.”
Everyone grasped the gist of the story.
Berkan was rather passionately deducing things that were quite audible to all.
The high elf Luine let out a deep sigh.
“Right. I think that should be the case, but… if that Lycanthrope ended up like this due to demonic powers instead of Monster’s Blood, there would have to be some mark of the demon…”
Luine glared at the Lycanthrope that had died in a state of frenzy as if it were trash.
“There is no mark of the demon. I think your deduction is highly likely, if we’re being generous.”
Berkan gritted his teeth against the clearly hostile gazes of Luine and the other elves.
Still, now was a time to endure whatever looks he got and bow his head.
“Right. The fact that you’re leaving us alone like this proves that you’re quite lenient. If there’s a way to prove that our Lycanthropes are unrelated to the demon race, I’d like to do something about that.”
Luine sighed and pulled something from her Spatial Pocket. It was a stone that gleamed with light.
A white stone.
If it was placed upon a target that had even a bit of magical energy flowing through it, it would catch it and shine brilliantly.
Luine held the stone to everyone except for the Lycanthropes that had fallen into a frenzy.
The stone never once gleamed with light.
“Seer Basir, please come forward.”
At Luine’s words, a blind female elf who had her eyes closed walked forward.
“Basir has the ability to read each person’s aura. And when that target lies, you can see the aura shift.”
The small elven girl, Basir, nodded with her silver hair fluttering.
“Just now, did you feel any disturbance in the aura when Berkan spoke or when that Lycanthrope called Whale babbled?”
“Did you ever feel a disturbance in the aura while Rurkan was talking or when that whale Lycanthrope was babbling?”
Bayshir slowly shook his head.
“No.”
The silver-haired elf diplomat, Ishera, gnashed her teeth.
“Lady Luine, we can’t just let them remain a united force. They dared… they dared to bring demons to the holy land! We must bind them and contain them!”
A tense atmosphere once again gripped the holy land at Ishera’s words.
Just then, a presence that had been observing the situation slowly spoke up.
“Enough.”
That presence was none other than Duke Yuma.
The eyes of over two hundred mixed-breed beings all turned to Yuma.
“The Lycanthropes are a strong force. There’s no visible crime, so there’s no need to waste unnecessary time or power.”
Ishera’s jaw dropped open.
“But…!”
Yuma’s words cut off Ishera’s protest.
“You owe me your life, so keep your mouth shut, Elf Ishera.”
Ishera had no words left.
Because it was true.
“It doesn’t matter who leads the alliance; that’s not my concern. However, I will sort out this situation.”
Yuma sheathed his Balmung and sat in a chair.
“Berkan.”
Yuma’s blue eyes met Berkan’s dark brown gaze.
Berkan felt breathless under Yuma’s stare.
Right now, Yuma was exuding an overwhelming presence to all the races in this holy place.
Because of his brief display of power.
“…Speak, God of War.”
“The way to prove your race’s innocence is simple. You must grasp peace for the Lycanthrope Kingdom with your own hands. If what you say is true, then kill your brother, Semut, with your own hands. You should also tidy up your brother’s influence.”
The eyes of all the Lycanthropes widened.
Yuma continued.
“I’ll give you one month.”
Berkan slowly opened his mouth.
“…One month, huh.”
Yuma leaned back in his chair.
“If you fail to kill Semut to prove your race’s innocence within a month, then I will personally lead an army to clean up your race.”
If they couldn’t prove their innocence within a month, he would wipe out the Lycanthrope Kingdom.
At that proclamation, except for Berkan, who was of royal blood, all Lycanthropes trembled in fear.
Berkan glared at Yuma with a face twisted in fury.
In contrast, Yuma maintained his usual bored expression.
Yuma’s calm words spread throughout the conference room.
“Why, do you think I can’t do it?”
Creeeak…!
Berkan’s teeth ground together again. Whether this action stemmed from anger or fear of Yuma, even Berkan himself couldn’t tell.
“…Understood. God of War. I will completely tidy up the kingdom within a month. And I will show you the results. My brother hasn’t fully awakened the royal blood… but on the full moon, there won’t be anything stopping me in the kingdom.”
Yuma nodded slowly.
“I look forward to it, Berkan.”
One single human.
All the powerful members of the Lycanthrope Kingdom were wholly overwhelmed.
And the dwarves, cat-folk, and elves who witnessed the Lycanthrope’s submission in real-time had no choice but to acknowledge it.
The power in this meeting had slipped firmly into the hands of the Astes Empire.
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