Chapter 323
Episode 99: The Villa Assault (Part 2)
The forest was dense and deep. There wasn’t a single proper path, and monsters roamed freely in this abandoned wilderness.
Very few people in the world could build and maintain a villa in such a place. Joshua had stationed his personal knights and hunting dogs here.
A low growl echoed somewhere in the distance.
Unnamed monsters were making quiet, mournful sounds.
But they dared not approach Jin recklessly—his aura, that of the Meiwang clan, was terrifying to them.
“A secret villa and Joshua’s childhood, huh.”
If Luna hadn’t told him, even the Chilsakjo’s intelligence network wouldn’t have been able to locate this place.
In a way, this villa was hidden in a spot only someone who grew up alongside Joshua—his own blood—could ever find.
“When Joshua was a teenager, on days when he was harshly scolded by me, he’d come here to train. It was a forest crawling with monsters. I think he chose it because he wanted to imitate his father’s training in the Black Sea.”
Luna had shared this story along with the villa’s location.
The people of the Ekan Kingdom called this place the Abandoned Forest, the Dark Forest, or the Abyssal Forest—names given to dangerous, useless woods found in every region.
Nearby villages had vanished after monster attacks, and the kingdom lacked the power to clear the forest.
Young Joshua believed this was the perfect place to train.
He thought his father would be proud. Just as his father trained alone in the Black Sea, Joshua hoped that by enduring solitary training in this forest, he would one day earn recognition.
Only once did Siron speak to Joshua about this forest.
“You’re doing well. But you won’t catch up to your sister like that.”
Siron rarely praised his children fully.
So if he gave both praise and criticism without a hint of mockery, it was closer to genuine praise.
But at that time, even while respecting his father and following his example, Joshua couldn’t bear being compared to Luna.
In frustration, he led a faction of cadets to set fire to the villa.
After that day, the villa vanished from the records of Runkandel, and Joshua never returned to the Ekan Kingdom.
About ten years passed, and for some reason, Joshua came back and rebuilt the exact same villa he had made as a boy.
“Maybe it was because of his complicated feelings toward his father, or perhaps he just realized he liked the forest after all, or maybe his inferiority complex faded. I don’t know the reason, but it seems he’s using it as a very important place now.”
As Jin recalled Luna’s story, he sensed movement and turned his head. Through the thick, dark trees, he spotted masked figures.
Kashimir, Alisa, Kuzan, and Yulian—they had just arrived in the forest and were now seeking Jin.
“We erased all traces left by the prince,” Kuzan said politely, bowing his head. As promised, the group had carefully removed any signs that Jin could use to track them.
“Good work.”
Three knights and ten hunting dogs.
According to Luna’s information, that was roughly the number of people stationed inside the villa.
“You can kill all the hunting dogs, but try to spare the knights if possible. If they can’t be subdued, then shoot to kill. Especially Kuzan and Yulian—they might encounter old comrades who recognize their abilities, so adjust your tactics accordingly.”
The reason Jin wanted to spare the knights was that before they became Joshua’s loyal followers, they had sworn allegiance to Runkandel.
He wanted to avoid killing the family’s knights as much as possible. In other words, he wanted to give them a chance.
Before the full-scale war with Joshua began, there was still an opportunity for defection or surrender.
Wise knights who made the right choice would be welcomed.
“Understood.”
Jin, Kashimir, and Alisa had brought weapons different from their usual ones. Alisa had even swapped her gauntlets for a pair of daggers.
Jin shifted his gaze to Yulian.
Usually extremely introverted, Yulian always looked frightened whenever Joshua’s name came up. But today, he seemed even more tense than usual.
“Yulian.”
“…Yes?”
“He’s definitely here.”
At those words, Yulian pressed his lips tightly shut. Jin lightly tapped his shoulder and continued.
“Let’s move in.”
Jin and his companions began moving swiftly along the forest path.
Except for Yulian, no one seemed particularly nervous. Three knights and ten hunting dogs were a force they could handle easily—unless they were facing executioner-level knights.
The tall trees were thick and dark, but it was still broad daylight. As they neared the villa, the trees thinned, revealing a flat clearing with the villa standing alone.
Sunlight poured over the log cabin in the middle of the forest. It was a picturesque scene, but the building looked far too small to house thirteen people.
Joshua had originally built it for himself, and since it was restored exactly as it was, the scale was very modest—more of a cabin than a villa.
The group quietly approached the entrance.
Inside, two of Joshua’s hunting dogs were present. They were gambling among themselves and only noticed the group’s presence when they were right at the door.
But by then, it was already too late.
Shk, shk!
Kuzan’s poison darts pierced both their necks through the gaps in the door.
As the dogs collapsed onto the table, Kuzan skillfully retrieved the darts and then sliced the wounds to erase any trace.
Aside from those two, no one else was inside the villa. The three knights and the remaining eight hunting dogs were nowhere to be seen.
They were underground.
Since the aboveground building was small, finding the passage to the basement wasn’t difficult—if you knew it existed.
Creak!
Alisa opened a hidden door in the floor and checked for traps. Since the residents came and went frequently, there were no special traps near the entrance.
Descending, they entered a pitch-black corridor. Without hesitation, they lit the magic lamps hanging from the waists of the two dead hunting dogs.
Unlike the small cabin above, the basement was clearly much larger.
“Let’s not split up, Sir Kashimir. We have no idea about the layout inside.”
“Understood, Prince Jin.”
They walked for about ten minutes underground without encountering a single enemy.
During that time, they realized the basement was structured like a prison. Behind iron bars were cells stained with blood, all empty for now.
The bloodstains belonged to both humans and dragons. The cells that once held dragons had rotten scales scattered on the floor, making it easy to tell.
Yulian couldn’t hide his unease.
The reason the group decided to assault the villa was because Yulian’s guardian dragon was imprisoned here.
“The traces of dragons being held here must belong to the guardian dragons of Joshua’s contractors.”
There were quite a few of them.
That raised a question: how could just thirteen humans guard so many dragons?
“That’s impossible. There must be some other device or method.”
The first thing that came to Jin’s mind was the Demon God Stone. It was the only thing he knew that could terrify or control dragons.
But he doubted Joshua had one.
As they passed down the corridor, a figure suddenly appeared.
He didn’t look like a knight or a hunting dog. His back was severely hunched, barely reaching Jin’s waist. He was cloaked in a dark robe and carried a staff.
A man Luna hadn’t mentioned.
Or was he even human?
None of the group, including Jin, could sense any aura from him.
[What is this? Were more materials supposed to arrive today?]
The man spoke in a low, gloomy voice.
Just as Kuzan was about to subdue him with a poison dart, Jin raised his hand to stop him.
He noticed the man’s pale eyes were unfocused, staring into empty space.
“He’s blind. Otherwise, he wouldn’t react like that to those suspicious masks. But who is he?”
The others realized this a moment later.
[How many came?]
“Five.”
[That’s barely a handful. You can’t do anything with that. Just leave them inside and go back.]
“I’ve been wondering—what are these materials for?”
Jin stepped forward and asked, but the man shook his head.
[Tsk, Sir Joshua really slipped up this time. Letting someone ask questions like that inside…]
Snap!
He struck the floor with his staff.
Suddenly, ominous purple magic circles spread across the floor, ceiling, and walls.
Instinctively, Jin and his companions recognized it as ancient dark magic.
Which meant even Jin had no idea what effects it might have.
In that brief moment, many thoughts raced through Jin’s mind.
Should he kill this man outright? Or would it be better to defend against the unknown magic, subdue him, and extract information?
He was tempted by the latter, but the risk to his comrades was too great.
Ssssh!
Jin dashed forward like lightning, plunging his sword into the man’s neck. He judged that merely cutting off limbs might not stop the magic.
[Gah!]
The man flinched sharply, then collapsed forward. Not even a second had passed since the magic circle had activated.
“Sir Gong, are you alright?”
“I couldn’t identify the spell, so I killed him. It might have been trying to summon something from hell, just like Muron did.”
Jin pulled back the hood of the fallen man as the violet magic circle flickered and faded away.
The sight was grotesque. His face was so mangled that his nose and mouth were indistinguishable, and his body looked like a mass of flesh crudely forced together.
It seemed he was already weakened before Jin finished him off.
“Well done. Hah… what on earth is this guy… a mage? No, he doesn’t even feel human.”
“He’s definitely not human. Looks like a demon. Back when I was in the special forces, we were trained to recognize how weakened demons appear like this.”
Alisa added her explanation in response to Kashimir’s question.
Jin rifled through the man’s robe, checking his belongings. Strange, tattered papers and bone fragments—unclear whether from animals or humans—spilled out from the inner pockets.
Thud, roll…
Then, a black orb dropped to the ground.
“S-Sir Gong, that’s…!”
Kashimir stared in horror at the orb.
It looked almost identical to an object Jin and the others were very familiar with, made from the exact same material.
‘A spirit energy orb…!?’
A recording device from Solderet.
The orb that had fallen from the man’s robe was precisely that.