Heh, truly a beast after all.”
Liyakade sneered coldly.
For a true scumbag like Vidar, she naturally wouldn’t leave him any way out.
As for his men, these Dark Guards knew full well how dangerous this poison was, yet they still dumped it into the water source, aiding and abetting without any moral bottom line.
From what Lei Ke Si said, they had done the same to other girls before.
Not only drugging them but also inflicting extreme damage on their bodies.
They were no different from the human traffickers she knew before her transmigration.
Their deaths were not worth regretting.
Liyakade was already starting to think about how to make a scumbag like Vidar die more painfully.
However, when she inhaled that purple smoke earlier, Liyakade discovered another effect of this poison: it numbed the nerves, thereby playing a pain-relieving role.
This was the same as the initial use of the Purple Thunder Rib Grass that Field had explained earlier.
What puzzled Liyakade even more was that the dosage of the Purple Vine Grass she absorbed this time was clearly much higher than the previous accidental drink of water.
Yet this time, she didn’t even feel any emotional fluctuation.
What was going on?
Could it be that the Demon Bloodline had developed resistance to this poison?
In any case, Liyakade was very confused about the effects of this poison.
The origin of this poison was also something she needed to figure out.
This banned substance was actually being used inside the Kingdom, even in places so close to the Kingdom.
Behind it all, there might be some hidden conspiracy.
‘Where did Vidar get these poisons from? Did he pick them from somewhere? Or did he buy them from someone? Confess honestly!’
Liyakade firmly grasped the Dark Guard’s head with one jade-like hand, pressing her fingers into his temples.
On his forehead, several indentations even appeared.
“Lord! This lowly one really doesn’t know anymore. I’m just a mere Dark Guard. How would I have the right to know Lord Vidar’s family secrets? I only know this much. I’ve already told you everything, Lord. Please spare me!”
The Dark Guard quickly begged for mercy from Liyakade.
The pain coming from his head was becoming more and more intense.
If Liyakade used a little more force, his skull would probably be crushed to pieces.
“Heh… fine.”
Liyakade chuckled softly, then released the Dark Guard.
The Dark Guard immediately felt a lightness throughout his body, and even the pressure of Liyakade’s Wind Field was dispelled.
“Lord… you’re letting me go?”
“Mm, go ahead.”
Liyakade nodded, too lazy to waste any more words with the Dark Guard.
“Thank you, Lord, for sparing my life!”
The Dark Guard quickly bowed respectfully to Liyakade, his heart filled only with the secret joy of surviving a disaster.
However, even if Liyakade spared him, he would not and could not just let Liyakade go like this, because Liyakade was of the Demon Race.
If Liyakade was of the Demon Race, the nature of the situation changed completely.
A Demon existing within the Kingdom’s borders—this was a major event.
If he could provide this information to the Kingdom’s high-ranking officials, allowing them to capture this demon, he would get at least one-third of the credit.
Then, countless riches and honors would await him.
Who would still bother being Vidar’s subordinate?
He secretly raised his head and glanced at Liyakade.
He saw that her eyes, without him knowing when, had turned into an enticing peach-red color, making him involuntarily take a few more looks.
“What are you looking at? Get lost now!”
“I’m going!”
Liyakade’s shout snapped the Dark Guard back from his daze.
Only then did he realize how dangerous his actions had been.
The other party had clearly agreed to spare him, yet he not only didn’t run away quickly but also stared at her a couple more times.
If Liyakade suddenly changed her mind, he would be done for.
With that, the Dark Guard quickly turned around, jumped onto a tree, and weaved through the bushes, running towards the direction of the camp.
The Dark Guard, eager to escape, was completely unaware that while he was running away, his other companions, who had been pinned down in place, had already disappeared.
“Wait… where is this exactly? Why haven’t I run out of the forest yet?”
The Dark Guard had been weaving through the woods for a while.
After such a long time, he still hadn’t seen a trace of the camp’s lights, nor had he returned to the main road of the Kingdom.
He was still inside the forest.
He clearly remembered the direction of the camp being this way.
Realizing something was wrong, the Dark Guard jumped down from the tree.
He thought that maybe he was too scared earlier and had run in the wrong direction while escaping.
But at least he had gotten far away from that accursed deity.
Now, all he had to do was find his way slowly.
As long as he got back to the main road, he would eventually be able to find the camp where the caravan was stationed.
Thinking this, the Dark Guard took out a compass from his Storage Ring.
However, the compass was now broken.
Its needle was not spinning.
“You… actually… dare to betray us… ah…”
Suddenly, voices of accusation and wailing, coming from nowhere, echoed in the Dark Guard’s ears.
The Dark Guard couldn’t help but shiver.
He quickly looked around, but there was no movement whatsoever.
He couldn’t find the source of the sound.
What made the Dark Guard’s hair stand on end even more was that this voice sounded incredibly familiar to him.
It sounded like the leader of their Dark Guards, the one whose very manhood had been crushed and stuffed into his mouth—Lei Ke Si.
“Bastard… look over here…”
The voice sounded again.
The Dark Guard was now even more certain.
This voice was Lei Ke Si’s.
But he was clearly over by Liyakade!
And he had already been tortured like that by Liyakade.
Was he still not dead?
“Look at your hand…”
Lei Ke Si’s voice reminded him again.
As the voice came, the Dark Guard suddenly felt that the hand holding the compass had become a little wet and sticky.
He looked down at the compass in his hand, only to find that he was holding Lei Ke Si’s severed head.
“Ahhh!!!”
The Dark Guard, in extreme terror, threw Lei Ke Si’s head away.
As the head was thrown, its eyes were still staring in his direction.
“Thump—”
The head landed on the grass like that.
Lei Ke Si, now just a head, was still muttering incessantly.
“You actually betrayed Lord Vidar and your own brothers… Look at what I’ve become now! Look at what that woman has reduced me to!”
With every roar from the head, blood spurted out in streams.
Hearing the furious roar of Lei Ke Si’s head, the Dark Guard couldn’t help but take two steps back.
Only fear remained in his heart.
He didn’t understand why Lei Ke Si, with only a head left, was still not dead and could still speak.
Had the Demon Race’s interrogation and torture reached such a level?
“Brothers, kill this traitor for me!”
The head roared angrily.
After the head’s shout, the Dark Guard heard a series of rustling sounds behind him.
He turned around to look, and it turned out to be his other companions.
And their appearances were now even more terrifying.
Each and every one of them had had their eyes pierced by Blood Thorns.
Blood was flowing from their pitch-black, hollow eye sockets.
Their bodies were twisting in an eerie way, even more flexible than when they were human.
“Traitor!”
“No, no! Don’t come near me!”
Seeing this hellish scene, the Dark Guard could no longer remain calm.
He leaped upwards, wanting to escape from here.
No matter where he fled, as long as he wasn’t caught by them.
“Why is it only you who survived!”
“It’s because you sold out the others, betrayed your master, that you get to live!”
Just as the Dark Guard was about to jump away, countless Blood Thorns wove into a huge net right in front of him.
The Dark Guard slammed solidly into it.
The thorns pierced his skin, and after he hit them, they pierced through his limbs as well, like a giant spider’s web, trapping him in midair.
From the neck stump of Lei Ke Si’s head, as well as from his eye sockets and ear holes, thorns suddenly extended.
Just like the other dead men, he crawled slowly along the net woven from Blood Thorns, getting closer to the Dark Guard.
“No, no! You’re already dead! You’re already dead!”
“Eat you, and we can come back to life.”
“Chomp—”
With that, Lei Ke Si took a bite, and then the others started tearing into him as well.
The Dark Guard’s agonizing screams echoed in midair.
No matter how much he begged for mercy, the others showed no sign of stopping.
Instead, they ate with even more relish.
The torment, like death by a thousand cuts, caused the Dark Guard to faint several times.
Finally, the Dark Guard couldn’t hold on any longer.
Bleeding profusely, the world before his eyes slowly turned into a patch of darkness.
“Hah!!!”
“Tch… you’re so noisy, you bastard! Why did you suddenly scream like a ghost?”
“Huff… I, I’m not dead!?”
The Dark Guard opened his eyes in terror.
He greedily breathed the air before him, like someone who had just been drowning and recovered.
After catching his breath, he found himself leaning against the very tree where Liyakade had pinned him down earlier.
He quickly felt his body.
His body was perfectly intact.
But the excruciating pain from before had been so real!
What was that?
Why was he back here?
“What do you mean by that?”
Liyakade frowned, seeing the Dark Guard checking his body.
“Do you think I would be interested in your body? You’re overthinking it, aren’t you? I just said I’d let you go. Why did you just faint? Now that you’re awake, get the hell out of here.”
Hearing Liyakade’s words, the Dark Guard finally understood.
So everything just now was a dream.
That made sense.
He looked over at Lei Ke Si, who was lying on the ground not far away, his condition unclear.
His head hadn’t been cut off; he was just lying there quietly.
The other companions… but his other companions were now already pierced through by Blood Thorns, hanging high in the air.
“What are you looking at? Get lost, now! Or are you saying you want to go up there for some air, to cool off?”
“No, no, sir! I’m going right now!”
With that, the Dark Guard left once more.
Liyakade looked at the Dark Guard in front of her, whose eyes had lost their light and become utterly dull, and felt extremely satisfied.
Originally, Liyakade had only planned to use the Purple Mist Vine Grass to make these Dark Guards taste their own medicine, to experience how painful it was for the people they had ruined.
However, Liyakade suddenly discovered that after the Dark Guards inhaled the Purple Mist Vine, the Demon Race’s ability to control lower life forms could actually be used on these Dark Guards.
Moreover, she could control their spirits, creating Illusion Realms in their minds.
From this, Liyakade had a reasonable suspicion about the origin of the Purple Mist Vine Grass.
It was very likely a herb born in the Magic Domain.
After all, this herb had almost no side effects on the Demon Race and could be purified by Light Element.
Moreover, using this thing to control humans was highly probable, closely related to the Demon Race’s schemes.
‘Well, this works out perfectly. These Dark Guards will be used by me now. As for their spirits, these scumbags whose deaths are not worth regretting, they will be forever trapped in the endless cage I have set for them. Forever reincarnating, forever repeating the cycle of death.’