The deeper they ventured toward the Gray Mist Barrier device, the lower the visibility within the fog became.
Fortunately, Leon and his group were under the protection of a small Gray Mist Barrier. It repelled the fog, allowing them to avoid fighting mist monsters in such a low-visibility environment.
“Young Master, there is movement ahead!” one of the Falcon warriors guarding the front reported, his expression turning instantly alert.
“Stay within the protection of the small barrier. Wait for them to approach.”
“Yes, sir!”
Soon, over a dozen eerie figures emerged from the thick gray mist. They were mist monsters spawned from Gray Mist Blood that had come into contact with the fog.
Fortunately, not much time had passed, and the current mist monsters were only at the Bronze rank, which was still within a manageable range.
As these mist monsters entered the area covered by the small barrier, the gray mist on their bodies flowed out like a burst pustule being squeezed by brute force, turning into wisps of gray smoke.
Once stripped of the gray mist, the aura of these dozen or so monsters weakened rapidly. They showed expressions of pain, struggling to escape the small barrier’s range and return to the safety of the fog.
But the Falcon warriors naturally gave them no such chance.
Taking advantage of their weakened state, they knew that letting these monsters return to the fog would only make them harder to deal with later.
The Falcon warriors, spears in hand, cautiously formed a battle array to engage the mist monsters.
Baron Sori, who was following behind Leon, saw this and immediately took two steps forward, seemingly wanting to help clear the monsters.
“Stop.”
A voice suddenly barked, halting his movement.
Baron Sori looked at Leon, who had suddenly turned around to stare at him. His lips twitched into a sycophantic smile. “Young Master Leon, I also wanted to help—”
“I told you to stop. Are you deaf? Or has the blood in your brain already been sucked dry by the vampires of the Nightmare Empire?”
Leon’s face was cold. He pointed his priest’s staff at Baron Sori, and a brilliant white Hand of Divine Spells began to manifest.
Baron Sori looked at the forming Hand of Divine Spells and stopped in his tracks.
“Tsk! I’ve been found out?”
The expression on Baron Sori’s face shifted from a sycophantic smile to cold indifference. “How did you guess that we had defected to the Nightmare Empire?”
“Heh,” Leon sneered. “I have Baron Ronan, who was brainwashed by the Black and White Hand, to thank for that.”
“If it weren’t for his sudden sneak attack, which made me realize that even nobles who stand above others can be traitors, I wouldn’t have suspected you nobles who followed us all this way.”
“As for how I guessed you joined the Nightmare Empire... did you forget the vampire we found in the basement of one of your shops a few days ago?”
“Furthermore, I declined your banquet request early on, yet you dared to send a second invitation to my manor.”
“At first, I thought you were just desperate to use the Douglas name to bolster your prestige... but thinking back, you probably already had the intention to strike at me then.”
“So you’ve suspected me for a long time...” Baron Sori tore off his noble robes and drew the rapier from his waist. “As expected of the son of the Imperial Prime Minister, whom the Emperor relies upon. You are indeed clever.”
“However, you said one thing wrong just now.”
Leon looked at Baron Sori and remained silent.
“Standing above others,” Baron Sori said slowly, pointing the blade of his crystal iron rapier at Leon.
The few nobles behind him did the same, drawing their weapons and aiming them at Leon.
“You must be curious why we, as barons, would abandon everything in the Heron Empire to defect to the Nightmare Empire.”
“Because you are greedy,” Leon huffed.
“Greedy?!” Baron Sori looked as if he had been pierced through the heart by that word. His face twisted instantly, and his eyes erupted with a fury and resentment that almost spat fire.
“Absurd! You say we are greedy?”
“Then why don’t you open your eyes and look at that man praised as the Sage King—that total bastard! He is the one who is greedy! He greedily wants to strip away everything we nobles were born with!”
His voice suddenly rose to a near-shriek. “What is this ‘Human Rights Bill’ he’s pushing? It’s nothing but a filthy trick!”
“That bastard dares to take our noble rights and slice them away, bit by bit, until we are at the same level as the common rabble! This is a desecration of blood and glory!”
Baron Sori took a step forward, thrusting his rapier as if the Heron Emperor himself stood before him.
“In the past—back in the old days when people understood the difference between high and low—if a baron like me held a birthday banquet, let alone closing off half a street, I could close three or five, and who would dare say a word? Those commoners were only fit to kneel in the distance, without even the right to look up!”
“But now? Ever since that cursed ‘Human Rights Bill’ was enacted, even the maggots and lowlifes from the slums who work for the Solainem Daily dare to criticize and mock me in the papers!”
“What does he think he is? How dare he discuss the dignity of a noble?”
“And I... a baron with noble blood flowing in my veins! Because of that ridiculous law, I couldn’t even drag him into a dungeon and personally show him what a fate worse than death means! What kind of world is this? It’s utter madness!”
Baron Sori’s chest heaved violently, his eyes filled with mania. “We are nobles! Why should we stand on equal footing with those ants?”
“If this world can’t even distinguish between high and low, what order is there left?!”
However, Baron Sori’s soul-shredding screams failed to move even a hint of emotion on Leon’s face.
“So, that is your reason for betraying Heron. It truly is... naively pathetic.”
Leon sneered with disdain. “You claim the Sage King crushed your noble glory into the dust, so you turned to the Nightmare Empire.”
“But have you considered this: you are nobles in Heron, but once you go to the Nightmare Empire, will you still be nobles? Can you maintain your noble glory and elegance there?”
Baron Sori froze, his facial muscles twitching, but he suddenly burst into a loud laugh. “Hahaha! Do you think I’m as stupid as you? A Vampire Grand Duke of Nightmare has already promised us that as soon as we destroy the Gray Mist Barrier, they will transform us into vampires...”
“Really?” Leon’s tone was calm, yet it carried an undertone that made Baron Sori’s heart turn cold.
“Culture is a barrier. Having lived in a human empire for decades, can you really align yourselves with the culture of those vampires?”
“Besides, even if that Vampire Grand Duke agrees to transform you, think about it... compared to those vampire nobles who were born into it, what would you converted vampires even be?”
Leon’s words were like a heavy clap of thunder, crashing into Baron Sori’s already wavering heart and causing him to be suddenly overwhelmed by fear and rage.
“Shut up!” Baron Sori shrieked, his rapier gleaming coldly as he aimed it at Leon.
“Fine, fine. I’ll shut up.” Leon raised a hand to his lips and made a zipping motion, but then he immediately spoke again as if nothing had happened.
“By the way, do you remember why that leader of the Black and White Hand suddenly started clapping and stepped forward to talk to me after Baron Ronan’s sneak attack failed?”
Baron Sori’s expression stiffened. Then, as if realizing something, he suddenly looked down at his feet—
A deep, dark shadow had spread out like a tide at some point, quietly enveloping several of them.
“Watch out...!”
Before Baron Sori’s warning could even leave his throat, the shadows beneath his feet suddenly erupted and churned like boiling water!
Rate on N.U.
