I Became a Veteran Who Has to Stir Up Trouble to Survive - Chapter 97

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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[097] Reckoning in Blood
Fwooooosh—!
Sharp arrows and spear tips rained down from all directions.
Each projectile carried lethal force behind it.
But the moment they struck the armor woven from divine power, they crumbled into straw and dust, scattering to the ground.
“The armor forged from Evil God Diogenes’s divine power nullifies all attacks!”
“What—what is this…? The arrows aren’t working!! What in the hells is that—!”
“Divine power! What god’s blessing does he have?!!”
The soldiers grew restless watching Doran charge forward unscathed despite the concentrated barrage.
But Doran didn’t slow his pace, indifferent to their panic.
When five soldiers at the front rushed him with drawn blades, I used my momentum to shoulder-check them, deflecting their strikes.
Thud—! I drove my elbow into one man’s abdomen, then slashed his calf with my blade.
As Knights pressed in from the flank, I grabbed the falling soldier and hurled him at them.
With a dull crash, soldiers scattered, and I seized a spear shaft, impaling them all in one thrust.
“Eliminated five Knights in a single strike! Level increased!”
“Ugh… what kind of monster is this!!”
“Don’t panic! Surround him! Overwhelm him with numbers!”
The encirclement tightened.
Blades and spears probed from every direction, seeking gaps.
But I didn’t hesitate, countering with overwhelming stats.
I seized a rushing spear shaft with my bare hand and snapped it, then kicked out, breaking the wrist of a sword-wielder.
I lowered my body to slip past a blade strike, weaving through the tangled Knights, and without a moment’s hesitation, I severed the throats of those who approached.
This was a massive battlefield. Thanks to their grand terror campaign, my stats were overflowing.
“The Knights are panicking! The emotions absorbed through [Chaos] have exceeded a certain threshold—all movement around you now appears in slow motion!”
‘…I see everything.’
As if viewing from above, the entire battlefield unfolded before my eyes.
Where each blade came from.
The angle of each spear thrust.
Who would fall first.
I saw it all.
As I carved through enemies toward the center, massive warriors simultaneously brought their clubs crashing down—but.
“Activated Diogenes’s authority, ‘Curse of Decay’!”
“All enemy equipment within a 20-meter radius degrades into refuse!”
The weapons and armor of the enemies simultaneously transformed into rotted leaves and scrap metal, scattering in the wind.
I severed the throats of the disarmed warriors and slipped calmly from the encirclement, when the chilling incantations of Mages reached my ears.
As tremendous magical power gathered enough to shake the very air, I calmly extended my hand and triggered the curse.
“Activated Diogenes’s second authority, ‘Curse of Deprivation’!”
“All Mages in the vicinity are drained of mana! The gathered mana has nowhere to go—magical runaway occurs!”
“People suffer from hunger and thirst hallucinations! Combat will collapses catastrophically!”
Explosions erupted across the battlefield from magical runaway, and screams filled the air.
I wove through the helplessly collapsing soldiers, reaping their lives with each passing moment.
Each time the enemy’s resolve shattered and despair took hold, the [Chaos] skill surged with exponential power.
‘True to form for Evil Gods—the synergy is absolutely exquisite.’
“Diogenes beams with satisfaction and offers you his applause!”
“To witness a mortal blessed with divine authority slaughtering heretics—for a god, there is no greater entertainment!”
“However, your mastery of the power remains crude! Diogenes advises you to wield your abilities far more proactively!”
The Beggar God, reveling from a distance, entered my field of vision, but I paid him no mind and focused entirely on sweeping away the enemies before me.
Yet just as I had thinned the soldiers’ ranks considerably, a shaft of light tore through the darkness and came hurtling down.
An arrow arriving from an unexpected trajectory.
Crack!
Without even turning, I caught the incoming arrow mid-flight.
Having thwarted the ambush, I slowly rolled the arrow between my fingers and spoke.
“The same arrow that pierced Karen’s throat.”
My voice was low and measured.
Neither rage nor passion colored my words.
Had someone who knew me well witnessed this moment, they would have felt a chill run down their spine.
As I lifted my gaze, silhouettes cloaked in black mantles became visible atop the Annex Building’s roof, bathed in the pale moonlight.
‘Found them.’
I murmured softly, reversing my grip on the arrow.
“Now, I’ll return the favor.”
Whoosh.
In an instant, I materialized behind the assassin through shadow leap and drove the arrow deep into his throat.
The assassin collapsed silently, blood pouring from his neck.
“Watch out! He has a movement skill!”
The assassins swiftly created distance and drew their blades.
The fact that they only hesitated briefly despite witnessing what just transpired spoke volumes—these were well-trained operatives.
I slowly surveyed the assassins, searching for a sense of familiarity that nagged at me.
‘Mercenaries perhaps…? There’s something oddly familiar about them.’
What was certain: they were undoubtedly Evil Spirits.
An alien aura emanated from them.
An instinct I had honed through frequent encounters with Transmigrators of late.
They all wore enchanted armor beneath their cloaks through which flowed bizarre mana, and their weapons were items that couldn’t be obtained through ordinary means.
Some were equipped with multiple pieces from the Ephemeral Artifact series, and though the darkness obscured much, black hair protruded from beneath one hood.
Even with explosively enhanced stats, these were opponents one could not afford to underestimate.
But now, I was their worst possible adversary.
“The Beggar God’s authority has rendered the enemy’s equipment utterly useless!”
“The ‘Roaring Thunder Spear’, the ‘Boots of Swiftness’, and the ‘Bow of Concealment’ have permanently lost their function and degraded into mere junk!”
“Diogenes is most pleased! The power’s efficacy has been greatly amplified!”
A divine authority that defies all logic!
The power of an Evil God—something that leaves one bewildered by its sheer irrationality upon first encounter.
Crack—!
I surged through the enemy ranks like lightning, shattering the vanguard’s skull.
Each flash of my longsword sent limbs scattering, while the enchanted armor silently crumbled to dust and scattered downward.
Nothing could stand against me as I moved, driven by cold, razor-sharp fury.
This was not combat for survival—it was slaughter born of vengeance.
“Damn it…!”
The Reincarnators quickly abandoned the fight and fled as the tide turned against them.
Just as I was about to sever the throat of one who hadn’t escaped in time, he cried out desperately.
“Gah, gah…! Wait, stop! You’re a Reincarnator too, aren’t you?!”
“….”
“Damn it… we came from the same Earth! I only accepted this contract for the pay! If you spare me now, I’ll give you everything I own…!”
The man proposed a bargain, but I merely stared at him with indifferent eyes.
I wasn’t naive enough to believe the dying man’s desperate lies.
Hesitate to kill someone just because they’re from the same world?
I’d abandoned such weak thinking long ago.
“Any last words?”
As I pressed the blade against his throat, the man’s bloodshot eyes spewed curses.
“Gah… don’t think this ends here!! My comrades will come for revenge someday! You’ll be hunted by other Reincarnators and regret today for the rest of your life!”
“Good. That works for me.”
“What…?”
“When you reach the afterlife, tell the other Evil Spirits. Touch me or my allies, and you die.”
I drove the blade straight through his neck.
After silencing the man, I finished off the remaining troops scattered through the garden and made my way into the mansion.
‘They’ve prepared traps here too….’
I walked deeper along the corridor, shrouded in darkness and silence.
With each slow step forward, Knights rushed at me from around corners, from atop staircases, from beyond doorways—but none could match me.
My five senses, enhanced by [Chaos], rendered their ambushes meaningless, and against armor forged from divine power, even the sharpest blades lost their edge.
As I walked through the blood-soaked mansion, Diogenes, who had been trailing behind me, muttered.
“No wonder you’re a follower of Antagon’s Rune—you’re truly merciless. At this rate, I can’t tell who the villain is.”
“They’re traitors regardless.”
“A compliment. If you survive another century or two, you might become an Evil God like me. Remarkable talent.”
I didn’t respond and climbed the staircase.
I was certain the Count was hiding somewhere in this place.
My mental radar had been screaming since I received the Beggar God’s blessing.
｢The authority of Diogenes dwelling within your body automatically tracks nearby wealthy individuals!｣
｢Those with greater fortunes take priority as targets!｣
Arriving at the deserted Count’s Office in the corridor’s center, I opened the secret door hidden beneath the carpet and descended the staircase.
At the end of the long descent, as I reached the underground level, I sensed a presence beyond the door.
‘The source of all these incidents lies ahead.’
I gripped my sword hilt firmly, braced for an ambush, and pushed the door open.
And I had no choice but to stop in my tracks.
“…Count Valter?”
Count Valter was there.
But he was not as I had expected.
The Count sat alone in the middle of the basement.
Both his feet were bound tightly with heavy iron chains.
The Count merely stared into empty space with unfocused eyes, smiling vacantly.
‘Is this a double?’
Yet the Beggar God’s power clearly confirmed that the person before me was Count Valter.
Thunk—!
When I brought my blade down on the back of his hand, blood seeped out.
But the Count showed no sign of reacting to the pain.
His pupils trembled slightly, yet his gaze remained fixed on the void.
‘This is no act.’
I slowly rose to my feet, looking down at the Count.
Upon closer inspection, I could see a violet pattern spreading like capillaries across the whites of his eyes.
A mark that could not be created by mere drugs or simple hypnosis.
｢[Antagon’s Rune] has detected residual traces of heterogeneous divine power!｣
｢The target’s consciousness is being controlled by external divine power!｣
‘Divine power?’
So some religious order was involved in this incident after all.
I had suspected that Count Valter’s House was not the entirety of this assassination plot against the King, but….
I turned to look behind me.
Documents lay scattered haphazardly across a table on one side of the basement.
Orders issued in the name of some organization, seemingly directed at the Count.
They contained demands to provide the family’s wealth and military forces, along with coldly written consequences for refusal.
And in the final item, the Count’s disposal after mission completion was written in a single word.
‘Disposal.’
I had reduced his mansion to rubble, eliminated all his private soldiers, sworn vengeance, and descended to this place.
Had the Count been nothing but a disposable pawn from the start?
I pocketed the documents as evidence, my lips pressed firmly together.
But when I quietly glanced to the side, Diogenes’s expression as he looked down at the Count was unsettling.
“…Do you perhaps know which religious order’s divine power brainwashed this Count?”
“I do.”
“Could you tell me?”
“…Not now.”
Diogenes hesitated and evasively avoided answering, then abruptly left the room.
Following his retreating figure with my gaze, I slowly surveyed the silent basement.
There had been many things—from pursuing the kidnapped Belmont to now—but….
“…So I’ve managed to prevent the assassination plot against the King with this.”
With the Kairon Trading Company’s supply depot and Count Valter’s private soldiers swept away, they’ve suffered considerable losses in fighting strength.
Even if I haven’t completely eradicated the rebel forces lurking within the Kingdom, they’ll remain quiet for some time.
To this extent, my revenge has reached a proper conclusion.
But—.
‘Tsk….’
I clicked my tongue and kicked the Count, who showed no signs of regaining his senses.
The fact that he too was merely a cog in some vast conspiracy left a bitter taste in my mouth.
‘An Unknown Cult that manipulates the Count’s Family like puppets, no less….’
Just who are these people?
The priests assassinated in the coastal city of Liberta, and perhaps somewhere beyond my knowledge, great changes are unfolding in Belheim.
“This… I really need to investigate this.”
Diogenes doesn’t seem inclined to speak easily, so perhaps I’ll need the help of someone well-versed in religious matters.
I dragged the Count out of the Basement.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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