Chapter 41 …
“S-so, actually, I met a woman earlier…”
Aselia hurriedly tried to explain. She had momentarily forgotten that the gift Alexis had given her was still in her pocket.
“She gave it to me.”
“Selina?”
“Ah, yeah.”
Aselia found it strange that he remembered that name. Every time it was spoken, her head felt strange. It was a name that brought both a deep longing and a certain sense of disgust.
“I see.”
Calisten felt a twinge of suspicion, but he trusted Aselia because she wasn’t the type to steal. What made him cautious was the way her brows furrowed and she glanced upwards whenever she mentioned Selina, the expression people often make when lying.
Still, he was willing to believe whatever lie she told. He decided not to overthink it.
“This.”
“Huh?”
Calisten handed the necklace he had been holding back to Aselia.
“I think it suits you better.”
“Oh…”
Flustered, Aselia accepted the necklace and froze. Somehow, perhaps out of embarrassment, the sadness she had felt earlier seemed to fade.
“Do you want me to put it on you?”
“…No.”
Aselia felt he was sincere, and she couldn’t argue further.
So, she ended up sharing a room with him.
“Where’s the leader of the Kerno tribe?”
“Who’s there?!”
This place was a rebel encampment at the border. Alexis had discovered the hidden rebel base and came here to investigate.
He figured it would take too long to gather information from behind the scenes, so he decided to confront them directly. In any case, as long as the mission succeeded, the method didn’t matter.
Every time the mission changed, the deputy director urgently summoned Alexis. He always charged in head-on, causing chaos, but he always completed the task.
Politics wasn’t his forte, but when it came to destruction, no one could match him.
Alexis looked at the rising sun without paying attention to the guards and spoke.
“The leader of the Kerno tribe. Don’t know where he is?”
“Do you even know where you are?!”
Two guards, loading and aiming long rifles, seemed familiar with intruders lingering at the door. They were alert but not afraid.
Click.
The two guards aimed at Alexis. Still, he didn’t look at them; he stared at the sunrise.
The rising sun was truly beautiful to him, with clouds shimmering in gold and the warmth spreading accordingly.
“Reminds me of Aselia.”
He recalled her as he watched the sun—her hair color, a little darker than the sun’s glow, yet warm like her presence.
“Step back!”
“Step back immediately, or we’ll fire!”
Alexis waited until the sun was fully risen, then met the guards’ gaze. They shivered at the intensity of his piercing blue eyes, which soon glowed with a reddish tint.
“A-abilities…!”
“Contact the internal base…!”
BANG!
The two guards died instantly. Alexis glanced at the fallen soldiers disdainfully. Their lives had ended with a single punch.
“You weren’t going to tell me anyway, right?”
He said that and slammed his fist into the massive iron door they were guarding.
BANG BANG BANG!
As he struck repeatedly, the iron door buckled each time. With the final powerful blow, it collapsed outward with a loud crash.
“Who’s there?!”
“Freeze!”
“Hands up!”
Behind the broken door were roughly twenty soldiers.
“Where’s the leader of the Kerno tribe?”
“Step back!”
“Ah, so you’re unwilling to talk.”
Alexis casually stretched his neck.
“Report to your superiors immediately… ugh!”
With a BANG!, the soldier who seemed the highest-ranking was struck dead by Alexis’s fist. He flicked the blood off his hand as if killing a bug.
“Guns won’t help. Anyone want to talk now?”
Before he finished speaking,
Ratatatat! Bang! Bang! Bang! Click! Bang!
The soldiers fired at him. A massive blast followed, leaving the area silent and dusty.
Lowering their guns, the surviving soldiers reported,
“The target appears… dead.”
“Who says?”
“Ugh…”
The soldier who had spoken was struck down instantly by Alexis.
“A-a-almost all of you… guns up… ugh!”
“17.”
Alexis killed the soldier attempting to give orders in the same manner.
“Don’t make a sound! Sound… ugh!”
“16.”
As the soldier said, Alexis closed his eyes and focused on hearing. He eliminated his enemies one by one, visualizing the surroundings as if through infrared. He heightened his hearing and smell to the max, detecting guards as he moved.
“Ugh!”
“15.”
“Ahh!”
“14.”
He continued dispatching guards with casual disdain.
“13.”
“Argh!”
“12… 11… 10…”
By the time the dust settled,
“Only one of you left.”
“P-please… don’t…”
The last guard trembled as he looked up at Alexis. Alexis, satisfied with leaving just one alive, reached toward him.
“Where’s the leader of the Kerno tribe?”
BANG!
A bullet flew straight at his head.
“Hahaha…!”
The recoil knocked Alexis’s head back.
“Pfft. How pathetic.”
He didn’t flinch and casually spat. The guard, visibly weakened, muttered,
“I-I c-c… can’t…”
“Talk, or die?”
Seeing the guard’s wet pants, Alexis decided it wasn’t worth bringing him along.
“You can just die.”
Ugh…
Alexis pressed his fingers against the guard’s head and released. The hole left by his finger gushed blood.
“P-please…”
“Too late.”
As Alexis walked deeper into the rebel base, the last guard collapsed.
He finally reached the heart of the rebel camp and stopped.
He scratched his head as he heard a woman’s breath—not like a soldier’s—and children holding their breath.
Alexis valued life lightly. But because of Aselia, he didn’t want to kill the woman. He ignored their presence as he walked, though their sounds were irritating.
If he hadn’t met Aselia, he might have killed both the woman and children.
He disliked women due to the researchers, and the children… just disliked them.
But thinking that Aselia could have a child resembling herself, he didn’t want to kill them.
He knew what it meant to have a family. Killing a woman who could become part of his family and her child didn’t feel right.
“Kill just enough. Too many and it takes forever to burn the bodies.”
He recalled the deputy director’s irritating words.
“When I see women on a mission, I think of you while killing them. Isabella.”
At the start, Alexis had hated Deputy Director Isabella.
“Right. Kill enough of them, and listen to me.”
But after awakening, she treated him well, and the hatred faded quickly. Besides, she needed to help him secure land, titles, and wealth to build a family with Aselia.
“Anyone know where the leader of the Kerno tribe is?”
The previous guards had been the only ones; there were no men nearby.
He didn’t like that. He might need to use the women to find out.
POP!
“AAAAHH!”
“Where are the other rebels…?”
“Ah! Let me go! Please! Ahhh!”
Alexis ambushed a child hiding in a nearby hut, lifting them by the neck. The brown-haired child struggled violently.
“Be quiet.”
“Ah! Ah! Ah! Please! Ahh!”
He clenched his fist to strike, swinging toward the child.
“Ugh…!”
He stopped right in front of the child’s nose.
“Where’s the leader of the Kerno tribe? Or the other rebels?”
Alexis felt a strange relief as the child listened quietly. The child shivered.
“Sniff…”
“What? Not answering me?”
“Waaaaah!”
The child wailed violently. He hesitated, wondering if he really had to hit them.
Then it happened.
“Stop. I am the leader of the Kerno tribe.”
Alexis was shocked, dropping the child in surprise.
“You….”
“What are you doing here….”
“What kind of messed-up situation is this?”
He was stunned to see the Kerno leader’s face was identical to Calisten’s.
