The last island of the Seven Archipelagos, still unconquered by Radan, is the territory of the pirate crew “Sea Wolves,” on the sixth island. At the center of this island stands a massive wooden fortress. 

“…So, you’re saying we were attacked?” A man frowned deeply. 

A long vertical scar marked his face, and he wore a prosthetic leg embedded with jewels on his right leg. He was none other than Tertogan, the leader of the Sea Wolves and the man notorious for devastating one of Raksas’s territories, earning the nickname “Destroyer.” 

“Yes, judging from the lack of communication, that seems to be the case.” A male sailor, visibly anxious, glanced around nervously. Tertogan scowled and spoke up. 

“Then, who was it that attacked us?” 

“Pshhh…” 

“It seems to be that bastard, Radan.” 

It was unclear how long Tertogan remained silent after the sailor’s report. 

“Hey.” 

“Yes?” 

“Come here.” 

“Come here… what?” 

“I said, come closer.” 

Tertogan beckoned with his prosthetic hand, and the sailor, though hesitant, slowly approached, clearly uneasy. 

The next moment— 

Splat! 

The sailor’s head burst open, having shown a nervous expression just moments before. Blood splattered, turning the office into chaos. The sailor’s body, now headless, collapsed to the floor with a thud. 

“Damn it!” 

Bang! Crack! Smash! 

But it wasn’t enough for Tertogan. He grabbed the headless corpse by the collar and punched it repeatedly. The head, except for the lower jaw, was crushed, the spot where the heart once was now bore a gaping hole, and the right arm fell off like a broken toy. 

Bam! 

Still not satisfied, he slammed the lifeless body into the ground, stomped on it several times, and then, after panting heavily, sat back down, leaving the grotesquely twisted corpse behind. 

Just then, the tightly closed office door opened, and a man entered. 

“Boss.” 

“Take this body away.” 

The man nodded briefly and, upon gesturing with his head, other sailors started to drag the horribly mangled body out of the room. 

“…How many more do we need?” 

“According to that man, we still need at least 1,500 more.” 

“Tsk, after all the sacrifices we’ve already made, there’s still that much left?” 

“Yep.” 

“No, that’s too late. That bastard Radan will be pushing through any time now…” 

As Tertogan muttered in frustration, the man who had entered, the deputy leader Zelenka, hesitated before speaking. 

“Boss, won’t it be fine anyway? We have those things, so we should be able to win if we fight at sea, right?” 

At Zelenka’s words, Tertogan got up and moved toward the window outside the office. The wooden fortress came into view, and the corpse that had just been killed in Tertogan’s outburst was being devoured—chomp-chomp! crunch!—by grotesque creatures. 

From a distance, their overall form didn’t seem much different from that of a human.

However, their skin was different from that of humans, covered in green scales, and their faces resembled those of sea creatures. Above all, their pupils were purely black, as if painted over, empty and void of any emotion. This suggested that they were fundamentally different from humans, not just in appearance but in essence.

—

Hundreds of mermen clung to a single corpse, like ravenous piranhas, their mouths smeared with dark red blood. Watching this, Tertogan thought:

‘Indeed, they are strong.’

He was well aware of the mermen’s strength. While their effectiveness on land was uncertain, he was confident that, when battles were confined to the sea, the mermen alone could easily fend off Radan’s massive army. 

The real issue, however, was Radan himself—a great pirate who unified the Six Archipelagos and the master of the “White Moon.” 

‘That bastard is a monster.’

Tertogan involuntarily frowned as he recalled a moment from the past.

It was a time when he, along with the pirates of the Six Archipelagos, had launched a war to defeat Radan and split one of the archipelagos among themselves, back when Radan had only captured one island. It was a memory of Radan moving freely underwater, tearing apart blessed captains with his bare hands, and sinking over a dozen ships single-handedly.

‘It’s still not enough.’

Because of this, Tertogan instinctively knew that even with the mermen, this upcoming battle would be insufficient. At the same time, a voice echoed in his mind—one that had come to him unexpectedly when he was awaiting his death at Radan’s hands, offering a way to kill Radan:

‘Do you not wish to gain power?’

The voice belonged to a man who promised the power to not only defeat Radan but to become the ruler of the world.

‘Offer human flesh to the mermen. Continue to sacrifice, gather souls, earn their favor, and you will become a god.’

Tertogan picked up the object that the man had given him—a faintly teal artifact with protruding fangs on all sides. He stared at it intently, and as soon as the mermen finished devouring the corpse, a green light flowed directly into the artifact. 

After a moment of silence, he spoke to Zelenka.

“How many more did you say were needed?”

“At least 1,500,” Zelenka replied.

Hearing this, Tertogan once again recalled the words of the man cloaked in black.

‘Do you not wish to gain power?’

As he considered the man’s words again, Tertogan muttered quietly, “Perhaps there’s a way…” 

He stared silently at the fortress for a while longer.

“A way, indeed…”

Tertogan’s eyes, now looking outward, held a faint trace of madness—a green glimmer of insanity.

***

The Appraiser Alexion is someone Alon would rather avoid meeting unless it involved an artifact. 

First, because Alexion’s twisted personality would inevitably stir up Alon’s killing intent. 

Second, because Alexion funded underground factions in Raksas’ slums, making him a difficult man to meet. 

Thus, Alon had come prepared for the encounter, expecting both difficulty in meeting Alexion and inevitable frustration once they did. 

However…

Clink! Roll-roll-roll…

“S-S-Sorry…!!!”

Alexion, who had been handed Heinkel’s ring and a small sword for appraisal, dropped the “Insignia of the Blind One’s Contract” in his trembling hands, scrambling to pick it up. Alon wore a peculiar expression. Alexion’s appearance matched the illustration from the game, but his behavior was completely different. 

Of course, Alon understood the reason for this change. He discreetly glanced at Radan, who stood watching calmly with an innocent smile. As Alexion, still trembling, struggled to start appraising the artifacts, Alon thought:

– I only brought him here respectfully without doing anything…

Judging by Alexion’s reaction, that hardly seemed to be the case. Alon continued to wear a strange expression until Alexion finally spoke up.

“It’s… it’s done!”

“Already?” 

Alexion, who had appraised the artifacts in less than 10 minutes, surprised Alon, as he knew it normally took at least two hours.

“Yes, yes…!”

Alexion bowed his head repeatedly as he returned the two artifacts to Alon.

‘…It’s real.’

Alon, upon receiving the artifacts, confirmed that the appraisals were indeed complete, as indicated by the now vivid colors of the once dull gray artifacts. Heinkel’s ring had turned from gray to red, and the treasure acquired from the colony’s vault had a deep, clear sheen. 

“You’re fast,” Alon remarked.

“You didn’t just rush through it, did you?”

“N-No! Absolutely not!” 

Alexion’s nervous response to Radan’s question, along with his trembling hands, made Alon feel a bit of pity. 

“…The appraisal is complete.”

“Is that so, brother?”

“Yes, let him go,” Alon said.

At that, Radan nodded and gave a simple order. 

“Hey, take him away.”

The pirates, who had been waiting for this command, quickly entered and started escorting Alexion out.

“Thank you! Thank you so much! Thank you for sparing me!” Alexion exclaimed, tears welling up in his eyes, as if he was escaping from hell itself.

“Brother, are we really done here?” Alon asked.

“…Yes, thanks to this, there’s no need to go to Raksas.”

“That’s a relief, brother,” Radan replied with a laugh. Alon, seated opposite him, asked a question.

“By the way, are you sure you really brought him here politely?”

“Of course. I really did bring him politely. It’s probably just my reputation that scared him.”

‘Maybe he was just overwhelmed by his infamy…’

After pondering Radan’s response for a moment, Alon decided to accept it and asked another question that piqued his curiosity.

“How did you find Alexion in just one day? Considering how well-hidden he must have been, it should have been nearly impossible without dismantling the entire underworld network.”

“Ah, those guys?”

“Yeah. So you did meet them, right?”

“Well, I did meet them, but we didn’t exactly have a conversation…”

“…? If you didn’t talk, how did you find him?”

“……”

“…You did bring Alexion here politely, right?”

“Alexion was brought here politely, brother,” Radan replied with a sly grin after a brief pause. Alon, instinctively understanding how Radan had brought Alexion, felt a chill run down his spine.

‘The Five Great Sins… that’s still not complete, right?’

He resolved to keep a closer eye on Radan.

***

While Alon was reflecting on these thoughts at the archipelago, in the southern estate of the Maon Territory, located in the Duchy of Drua near the southern border with Caliban, events were unfolding. This estate was the headquarters of Pigule, an organization that expanded its influence by trafficking human flesh and drugs, operating from Drua.

Just a short while earlier:

“P-Please spare me…!”

Darte, the leader of Pigule, who had processed thousands of people into drugs without shedding a tear, was now trembling with fear, his eyes filled with terror and tears.

“I was only following orders! Please, have mercy—!”

He struggled desperately to survive.

But—

Crack!

In an instant, his entire body twisted unnaturally, ensnared by purple threads, and blood gushed out as he met his end.

The man who silently watched the corpse collapse to the floor then shifted his gaze to the window, from where the entire estate was visible. Corpses littered the grounds—bodies split in half, some embedded in the estate walls, and others who died with eyes wide open in terror. 

There were bodies everywhere.

Yet the man, who observed the gruesome scene without a hint of emotion, was no ordinary person—he was Deus.

—

“Have you found anything?” Deus asked in an empty room.

Soon, a man appeared from the shadows behind him.

“Hidan.”

At Deus’s call, Hidan bowed slightly.

“As reported earlier, this doesn’t seem to be the headquarters of the directive.”

“The higher-ups?”

“Yuna is gathering information, but the command chain is complex, likely to avoid detection, so it’s taking some time.”

“I see.”

“However, we have identified the nobles who orchestrated this.”

“Who are they?”

“They are nobles from Asteria.”

Deus fell silent for a moment.

“Hidan, you’ve made information gathering very convenient.”

“It’s nothing. Yuna also believes it’s for the Great Moon… as does the entire Blue Moon.”

“I see.”

Deus continued.

“What are the names of these nobles?”

“It seems to include Count Barthez and Count Brielle, along with two others.”

“…?”

“What do you plan to do? In my opinion, eliminating just the two main perpetrators should serve as a warning and prevent further incidents.”

“Kill them all.”

Without a hint of hesitation.

“I am not merciful enough to spare those who tried to harm the Great Moon.”

His eyes gleamed ominously.

“So, kill them all. Leave no one alive.”

He muttered the chilling words in a low tone, eyes filled with madness.

“All for the Great Moon.”

With that, the two figures signaled the end of Pigule’s downfall and vanished. Another organization had been erased from history.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep