Chapter 81: Purification (2)

“Also… the way you move in battle. Your absolute exploitation of your opponent’s weaknesses. I heard you led your team against the Ember Hunter using that approach.”

He smiled wider.

“That leads me to believe it might be a mental blessing… or perhaps a visual one that functions through your eyes.”

Asterion’s smile broadened.

“That’s three. And counting Legendary Weapons Master… that makes four.”

Yet he still didn’t stop.

“And then there’s something else,” Asterion continued calmly. “You said Mathius was a boss of Saint rank.”

He gestured toward the dark katana beside him.

“But this katana… this is not the kind of weapon that would come from a Saint. At the very least, it’s something that would come from a King.”

His gaze returned to Ethan.

“So you lied for some reason. And my intuition tells me that reason involves a fifth blessing… perhaps something related to your level. What do you think?”

Silence filled the hall.

Ethan found himself stunned by how accurately the old man had read him—as though he were an open book.

It reminded him that the man sitting before him wasn’t just a drunken old elder.

He was a knight regarded as the strongest in the entire kingdom.

Without realizing it, Ethan took several large gulps of the wine between them.

Asterion burst out laughing.

“You know, boy… drinking that much is a very clear sign that you’re rattled. Did my guesses hit the mark that badly?”

Apparently, even placing that bottle between them had been deliberate.

Ethan sighed in resignation.

“I won’t deny the first half of what you said,” he admitted. “But I won’t answer the second half.”

“So you chose silence because you know lying would be pointless.”

Asterion nodded approvingly before taking a drink himself.

Lately, the old man had grown rather fond of Ethan.

Perhaps those extraordinary abilities were part of the reason—though he still remained somewhat cautious of him.

“Is that all you wanted to ask?” Ethan said.

“Almost,” Asterion replied. “There’s only one question left.”

Apparently, there was still one more thing.

And Asterion asked it without hesitation.

“Tell me… have you ever met one of them?”

He paused briefly.

“You know… the Night Lords.”

The question came out of nowhere.

But Ethan answered smoothly.

“I’d be dead if I had.”

“I wonder about that,” Asterion replied calmly. “After all… you’re cursed by one of them, aren’t you?”

He was referring to the Blood Eclipse Curse, the worst type of curse.

“I don’t know why I was cursed,” Ethan said. “I suppose I’m just unlucky.”

Asterion studied him quietly for a moment before closing his eyes.

“Whether it was intentional… or merely bad luck… your fate is now tied to the Night Lords.”

He took a slow drink.

“You’d do well to prepare yourself.”

“I know that much at least.”

“Good.”

Asterion leaned back casually.

“In that case, I won’t ask about your prior knowledge of the Legacy Dungeon. I think it would be rather rude of me—considering the wonderful gift you gave me.”

He waved his hand dismissively.

“I’ve said everything I wanted to say. Now you may ask whatever you want… and I’ll answer if I feel like it.”

Those final words made it clear to Ethan that Asterion also reserved the right to refuse answering.

’I won’t be able to ask about his daughter, then…’

Ethan thought for a moment before deciding to ask about something more important.

“Then tell me this,” he said.

“Do you know anything about Old Ashvarn?”

The moment those words left his mouth—

Asterion’s expression changed completely.

“Where did you hear that name?”

He answered a question with another question.

“I heard it from some elders… and a few old people.”

It wasn’t entirely a lie.

After all, Mathius could certainly be considered an old man.

Asterion stared at him for a moment, suspicion clear in his eyes, but eventually he sighed and chose not to press further.

“Old Ashvarn…” the Uncrowned Emperor said slowly.

“It dates back to a time hundreds of years before either you or I were born.”

He continued, recounting what little he knew.

“Even I don’t know much about it. I have no idea where it disappeared to… or where it exists now.”

“But I do know the tragedy behind it.”

Those last words immediately captured Ethan’s attention.

At last—

a clue about the ancient city buried beneath the earth.

“What tragedy are you talking about?”

The Uncrowned Emperor took a moment before answering. His expression had grown completely serious now.

“Have you ever heard of the Purification?”

He introduced a new term.

“Purification?”

Asterion nodded and began explaining what he knew.

“Hundreds of years ago, it is said that the flames of Lord Vassel, which protect us from the curse, began to weaken.”

“And with them, the bonfires around the city weakened as well.”

This was a story from an entirely different era of hunters.

“As a result… the curse flooded Ashvarn.”

He paused briefly.

“But only half of it.”

“One half remained protected by Lord Vassel.”

“The other half… the less fortunate half… was consumed by the horrors of the curse.”

Even though the Heart could endure the curse far better than ordinary humans, some of the elders had already been deeply saturated by it.

When the curse intensified—

they transformed into monsters almost instantly.

And that was the beginning of the disaster.

“The spread of the curse led to a terrible tragedy,” Asterion continued.

“Children and elders alike… the old and the young…”

“They turned into monsters every single day.”

“Every day, more of them appeared… until the curse nearly reached the other half of Ashvarn as well.”

“The hunters fought fiercely to hold the monsters back.”

“But some of the strongest elders had already transformed… becoming unstoppable beasts.”

As he spoke, Asterion’s crimson eyes glowed faintly.

“If all the Heart were to become monsters…”

“That would be the end of the entire kingdom.”

“And that,” he said quietly, “was what finally drove the ruling Ardyn family into panic.”

His expression darkened as he continued.

“They sent thousands of knights.”

“They surrounded Ashvarn completely.”

“And their orders consisted of only three words.”

He looked straight at Ethan.

“Burn them all.”

Ethan’s eyes slowly widened.

Because what Asterion was describing was nothing less than total annihilation.

Half of Ashvarn was set ablaze.

Burned completely—along with everything inside it.

The monsters burned.

The houses burned.

The buildings.

The bridges.

Everything.

The flames spread so widely that it took seven full days and nights before they finally died out.

“The Purification managed to halt the spread of the curse,” Asterion said.

“And most of the monsters were destroyed.”

He paused, anger surfacing in his voice.

“But…”

“There were still survivors.”

“Members of the Heart who had not turned into monsters in the burned half of Ashvarn.”

“And there were many of them.”

“They reported this to the Ardyn family.”

“But the Ardyn did not care.”

“They ordered the extermination to continue anyway.”

In those flames of so-called purification—

it wasn’t only monsters that burned.

Humans burned as well.

“It is a black stain on our history,” Asterion said grimly.

“It is said that the burned half eventually disappeared along with the curse itself.”

“The bodies vanished.”

“The evidence of the Burning vanished with it.”

“And that city…”

He finished quietly.

“came to be known as Old Ashvarn.”

“The city that was erased from history.”

Asterion looked at Ethan after finishing his story.

“That’s all I know.”

“It’s just an old tale.”

“A story that reminds us how filthy the Ardyn family truly is…”

“And how filthy the world we live in really is.”

That—

was the story of the Purification.

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