CHAPTER 146: CHAPTER 146: WEEKS LATER

Chapter 146 – Weeks later

The cell suddenly became silent.

The trembling boy nodded like a headless chicken, "y-yes... I want freedom. I want it." He nodded again and again, agreeing with Zaki without a shred of hesitation.

Not surprising.

The gloomy man with heavy bags under his eyes just stared at Zaki with a bored expression, as if all this was nothing but a bother. Still, he decided to respond,

"Create freedom...? If you do, please tell me. I wouldn’t mind joining the fun." His voice was so slow it was almost irritating to hear.

The elf girl stiffened as she felt the weight of the men’s gazes on her. She was visibly stressed, but she steeled herself, clenching her fists tightly, looking as if she were about to deliver something profound and soul-stirring with all her might...

"Me too!" she blurted out after all that preparation. A faint red flush crept up her cheeks, showing just how embarrassed she was.

That left only the bulky, middle-aged man, who looked at Zaki and the rest as if staring at—

"Fools. You’re all fools." He cut in, deciding they weren’t worth his time.

"If you don’t want freedom... then does it mean you’re fine being here?" Zaki asked, not understanding the way this man’s mind worked.

The man shook his head.

"I never said that. I said freedom is just a myth. It doesn’t exist."

"But..." his voice lowered,

"Accepting and choosing the kind of leech you want... that might be something worth it." He finished, staring up at the bleak ceiling with a shadow of melancholy.

Zaki and the others listened, but their expressions were filled with confusion.

Freedom is a myth...?

They didn’t understand.

And the middle-aged man didn’t expect them to. He simply went quiet again.

"...Will you be with us or against us?" Zaki pressed, hoping with all his heart this man wouldn’t become an enemy.

"If you’re worried I’ll snitch on you, I won’t," he said, then fell silent once more.

Zaki was skeptical, but he didn’t have much choice other than to believe him—while staying wary.

He turned back to the three others and forced an awkward smile.

"My name is Zaki. Nice to meet you."

He took the first step. He took the initiative.

"I-I’m Tristan," the trembling boy said.

"Saul," the gloomy man murmured, his head buried deep in his arms as if he wanted to go back to sleep.

"...Maryam." The elf’s voice was low and shy.

Then Zaki turned toward the middle-aged man.

"Azad..."

"My name is Azad," he repeated, smiling softly.

Zaki nodded.

"Let’s do our best," he said, trying to motivate them—but their reactions were lukewarm at best.

At that moment, his thoughts drifted to Kaden.

What would you do if you were in my place?

He couldn’t help but wonder...

What would the Child of Blood do here?

...

Days passed. Then weeks.

It had been almost two weeks since Kaden started traveling, and he hadn’t expected it to be this difficult.

The sun hung relentlessly overhead, blinding and scorching, making him feel a heat he’d never thought possible. Even with his passive fire resistance, he couldn’t help but wonder how it would feel without it.

In truth, he didn’t want to know.

The days had been both calm and chaotic. Kaden encountered countless beasts along the way, killing them with brutal efficiency.

He was honing his battle instincts and skills, sharpening them with every fight—while also refining his survival skills. Sleeping in the wilderness meant threats of every kind, and he’d learned to rest with one eye open, keeping his body ready to move at any moment.

It hadn’t been easy. But after multiple ambushes by weaker beasts while asleep—and almost being killed inadvertently—he adapted.

He didn’t mind dying in normal circumstances. But dying to some weak, ordinary beast? That he loathed.

Still, that was nothing compared to the one thing that had truly been gnawing at him.

He hadn’t met a single master-ranked beast in all this time.

The thought alone was maddening. Weeks without seeing even one?

"Since when is my luck this bad?" Kaden muttered, wondering if Lady Luck had abandoned him.

The moment he wanted them, was the moment they vanished.

He sighed heavily, then stopped, his gaze fixed ahead. His lips twitched.

"Another forest..." he muttered, already tired of seeing them.

But this forest was different.

Its trees and grass were black, and an unsettling scent drifted through the air.

A smell—small enough few would notice—touched Kaden’s nose.

It was the sweet yet bitter scent of death.

Finally.

He’d found it.

This forest was where the death-affinity beast was hiding.

Kaden inhaled deeply, calming his heart.

’No need to stress. My goal is simple—be killed by the grandmaster-ranked beast and obtain the power of death.’

’If I find any master-ranked beast, I’ll kill it too for their core.’

A simple plan.

And the worst that could happen... was death.

’And Death is my companion,’ he thought, fully relaxed now.

He stepped into the forest—and instantly felt a shift in the air.

The scent grew thicker, putrid and sickly sweet, like billions of corpses had rotted here over centuries, seeping into the earth itself.

Above, the familiar yellow sun of Darklore was gone, replaced by a black orb casting a strange shadowed light over the forest.

Something in him recoiled at the sight of it. That orb... it was wrong.

’Was I too hasty coming here?’ he wondered. But he shook his head, adjusting his grip on himself, and kept walking.

He pushed his perception to its limit, wanting no surprises.

Small beasts appeared along the way, each one black-furred or black-eyed, their presence unsettling. But none dared approach. They scattered the moment they felt the crushing gap in power.

Nearly an hour later, guided by his map, Kaden suddenly stopped as he frowned slightly, sensing something wrong.

White threads had wound around him without warning, binding him completely.

His frown deepened. ’I didn’t sense them?’

How?

The thought was cut short as he felt an overwhelming presence above.

He raised his head.

A spider—massive, deep black, its sleek carapace glistening under the dark light. Its body alone spanned five feet, its legs reaching over twenty-one, long and sharp enough to rip through armored steel.

It moved with slow precision, weaving threads around it in a mesmerizing pattern.

The pressure it emitted was undeniably master-ranked. But there was something else—something darker—that made Kaden’s heartbeat quicken as his gaze locked with its intelligent black eyes.

It was horrifying.

Then he noticed what lay behind it.

Dozens—no, hundreds—of pale, pulsing cocoons, each one shifting faintly as if something alive stirred within.

’Death... what is this?’

Death was silent for a long moment. When it finally spoke, its voice was low and taut.

[Host... run.]

Instantly, threads erupted around him like a tidal wave, wrapping his body in a suffocating cocoon.

His eyes widened in shock and dread.

No fucking way...

—End of Chapter 146—