Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 554

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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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Black smoke erupted simultaneously with a dull, thunderous sound that reverberated through the cavern.

Boom! Crash!
The two bodies slammed hard against the wall.

“Ugh! Why did Wind suddenly—what, what is this!”

Cotton gasped at the sudden assault, her eyes widening as she tried to look toward Kale Heniatus.
Her gaze was fixed on the black smoke billowing above the platform.
It was thick and spreading rapidly enough to engulf the entire surroundings in an instant.

“Damn.”

And the other person who had crashed against the wall—I glared at Gersei beyond the Black Door.

“Almost fell for it.”

Still, I kept my eyes fixed on the black smoke.
That black smoke was surely the method by which sustenance had been provided.

“It can’t escape the platform.”

The black smoke merely swirled above the platform, unable to flow beyond its boundaries.
Cotton approached the platform and tapped at the empty air.

Tap, tap.
“It seems like a transparent barrier formed between above and below the platform at the same moment the black smoke rose.”

She circled around the platform, nodding to herself.

“That makes sense—this way, Gersei could provide sustenance while he and his Loyal Subordinates escaped safely.”
“But if it’s like this, stealing the statue seems impossible, doesn’t it?”

I rose to my feet and moved toward the platform below, standing beside Cotton.

That sight remained hidden from Gersei beyond the Black Door.
Yet Gersei clicked his tongue as if he could see the situation unfolding. More blood streamed from the corner of his mouth than from Erhafen’s.
“How unfortunate. It seems I’ll have to push myself harder.”
“Hehehehe.”

He shifted his gaze toward the sound of laughter.
Bud was laughing.

“Does it sting your pride that you failed to feed me?”

Gersei’s lips curved upward.

“But thanks to that, you couldn’t steal or destroy the statue either.”
“…What are you talking about?”

As Bud’s brow furrowed—ignorant of the black smoke and transparent barrier—Gersei turned his head back with a smile.

“Welcome.”

Erhafen’s pupils sank low.
In the distance, the White Star was approaching.

While Gersei greeted the White Star, he spoke directly into Bud’s mind.

-This won’t work. We need to flee.

Bud nodded silently in agreement.
Then, the White Star’s voice reached their ears.

“Quite the commotion on the festival’s first day.”

Erhafen seized upon those words.

“You’re the one creating the disturbance, aren’t you?”
“Hahahaha, is that so? Well, regardless, I should crush you first and stop Kale Heniatus before he steals anything.”

Whoooosh—
A crimson blade materialized in the White Star’s hand, rising with tremendous force.

“I will break through the wall.”

Gersei gripped his fan and charged toward the golden barrier.
Tap!
He pushed off the ground lightly, launching himself into the air, and brought his fan-wielding hand down in a sweeping arc.
The fan made contact with the golden wall.

That was the moment.

Boom—!

The fan trembled violently.

“Ugh!”

Gersei staggered and landed on the ground.
The massive cave shook.

“What is this!”

The tremor originated from beyond the Black Door.
A sudden realization flashed through Gersei’s mind.
Based on Kale Heniatus’s track record thus far.

“Could he be using Ancient Powers to the limit to break through—!”

He might have pushed the Ancient Powers to their absolute maximum.
Could the barrier withstand it?
Or was he intent on collapsing the entire cave?

“Priest!”

At that moment, White Star’s sharp voice rang out.

“Can’t you sense the power properly!”

Power?
Gersei looked back at the Black Door.
The Black Door had cracked open slightly, but not wide enough to reveal everything beyond it.

However, I could feel the aura seeping through the door.

“…Could it be—”
“That ‘could it be’ seems to be the real thing.”

At White Star’s words, Gersei’s complexion turned ashen.

“How, how is the noble power manifesting now—”

The collapse of the grand scheme was not the issue.
The noble power had reacted to Kale Heniatus.

‘Why? It should be impossible for that to react to Kale Heniatus?’

Gersei’s mind went blank.
Not only was the grand scheme falling apart, but everything was beginning to unravel.

“I’ll go first.”

White Star, looking as though his soul had left his body in shock, passed the dazed Gersei and swung his sword toward the golden wall.
His face was contorted.

‘I never imagined that power would react to Kale Heniatus!’

Urgency etched itself across his previously composed features.
Thus, his hands were filled with full power.

Crack.
The wall split apart with ease.

“Cough!”

Erhafen coughed up blood and staggered backward.
Since he had already been preparing to flee, fortunately the destruction of the wall caused him no injury.
Yet he had to spin around, eyes wide open.

‘What kind of tremendous power is this—!’

A colossal force pressed against my back.

“Damn it!”

In that instant, White Star’s furious cry echoed through the space.
Before Erhafen’s eyes, the Black Door and the wall exploded in a violent cascade.

Boom!
“Ugh!”

Cotton was sent flying backward, her body curled inward from the impact.

“Oh no!”

Bud caught Cotton as she tumbled through the air, his reflexes sharp despite his shock.

“What happened?!”
“The wall—the wall shattered, and there was a strange power—a terrifying power—”

Bud pressed Cotton for answers, but he noticed her entire body trembling as she barely managed to speak the words.
He quickly turned his gaze toward where the Black Door had vanished.

Bud’s mouth fell open involuntarily.

“…What is that?”

He stumbled backward instinctively.
Goosebumps erupted across his entire body.
It was a primal, instinctive reaction.

“Kale!”

At that moment, he saw Erhafen stagger forward and break into a desperate sprint.
He had never seen Erhafen move with such urgency before.

“Damn it! This can’t be!”

And then White Star rushed past Erhafen, surging forward with desperate haste.
Fury and panic were etched plainly across his face.

‘Ah!’

Only then did Bud find Kale Heniatus. Cotton had managed to leap out, but Kale Heniatus had not.
He fought against the inexplicable terror rising from within his body and gazed at that place once more.

And there was Kale Heniatus.
No—Kale Heniatus was crouched directly before that terrifying, dreadful object.

“…What is this?”

Kale Heniatus’s eyes widened as he remained crouched.
The shockwave from the explosion moments before hadn’t sent him flying, but he’d stumbled and fallen into a crouch.
He lowered his head.

‘Why is this happening?’

My body trembled uncontrollably.
The pressure bearing down on me was incomparable to when I’d faced that unranked monster that had slaughtered all my teammates.

I lifted my head.
Before my eyes stood the source of my terror.

A black hand.
A massive hand—so enormous it reached the cavern ceiling.

What was happening?

‘What suddenly occurred?’

I recalled my actions from moments before.

‘I merely approached the platform?’

After the black smoke and transparent barrier had formed, I had simply moved toward where Cotton stood observing it.

But then the black smoke within the transparent barrier vanished, and suddenly this colossal black hand erupted from the platform.
The transparent barrier shattered helplessly under its force and disappeared.

And now Kale Heniatus faced that black hand.
Eight statues?
They didn’t even register in my mind.
It struck me as odd that they remained intact despite the massive explosion—unbroken, unmarred—yet I had no time to examine them closely.

Thump. Thump. Thump.
My heart thundered as if it would burst from my chest, and goosebumps erupted across my entire body.

Screeeech—
With that grotesque sound, the black hand began to move.
Its palm halted before me.

-You have awakened me from my slumber.

What?
Before I could even process the meaning of those words—

“Kale! Dodge!”

With Erhafen’s cry, a voice presumed to belong to the black hand flooded my mind.

-Here too, I find one bearing the hand of divinity, one who has escaped fate.

With that eerie utterance, the colossal black hand stretched forth and engulfed me.
In an instant, I plummeted into darkness.

* * *

Bang, bang bang!
At the violent pounding on the door, Rak of the Wolf Tribe furrowed his brow in confusion.
The Tiger Tribe warriors standing guard outside would never pound so recklessly.

“What’s going on?”

Rak hesitated—should he open the door, or should he summon the other adults gathered in the War Room?
In that moment, a voice called out from beyond the door.

“Please open the door!”

Huh?
A familiar voice.
If it were this person, the Tiger Tribe warriors would have surely cleared the path immediately.
Rak flung the door open with a mixture of joy and relief.

“Kaige!”
“Huff. Gasp. Huff.”

Kaige stood outside the door, breathing heavily.

“It’s been a while!”

Rak greeted her warmly, but Kaige didn’t return the greeting and rushed urgently into the Black Castle.

“What’s wrong—”

Rak started to ask in surprise, but when he saw what was in Kaige’s hand, his mouth went rigid.

“Wait, no— who is this?”

Rak’s gaze fell upon the figure being dragged in by the nape of the neck, gripped firmly in Kaige’s hand.

“It’s been a long time.”

The bewildered figure, unsure what to do, was Saint Jack.

“I was suddenly dragged here without understanding why—”
“Dragon!”

Saint Jack offered an awkward greeting with his gentle face, but his words were drowned out by Kaige’s loud voice.
Kaige opened her mouth, looking at Rak.

“Where’s the Dragon! The Dragon!”
“What?”
“A Dragon capable of long-distance teleportation! Or Rosalind! No, it has to be the Dragon, the Dragon!”
“What do you—”
“Young Master Kale has lost contact!”
“What?”

When Kale Heniatus suddenly mentioned something, Rak found himself flustered without quite knowing why. Meanwhile, Kaige glanced urgently around her surroundings and headed toward the staircase.
Rak followed in her wake, and Kaige opened her mouth to speak.

“You know about the Oath of Death, don’t you?”

As if Rak, who was following along in confusion, didn’t even exist, Kaige continued to scan her surroundings while speaking. She appeared to be searching for someone.
It was as though she were looking for a particular person.

“Kale Heniatus and I made an Oath of Death together. At that time, there’s an energy that coils around each of our hands. It’s a power that lets us know whether the other person has kept or broken the oath.”

That strange energy which seeps into both bodies when the Oath of Death is made.

“But that connection has been severed.”
“Is that truly so!”

Saint Jack, who had been dragged along without understanding anything, looked at her in surprise.
However, Kaige did not answer his question and continued speaking.

“There’s another person who must be sensing it right now too. That something is wrong.”

Creak.
At that moment, the sound of a door opening came from the 2nd Layer.
Rak shifted his gaze.
Choi Han was emerging from the War Room with a subtle expression on his face.

‘But he said he had a lot of work to do?’

Choi Han, who had said he was attending to important matters, had come out alone with a serious expression despite not having finished his work.

“Ah, Kaige!”

And upon seeing Kaige, his expression brightened considerably. It was the look of someone who had just found the person who could answer the question troubling him.
Choi Han descended the staircase and approached her.

“Kaige, when did you arrive? Actually, I made an Oath of Death with Kale Heniatus before, and—”
“The energy that entered your body during the oath has disappeared, hasn’t it?”

Choi Han paused and looked at her.
Kaige released the tension in her hand that had been gripping the nape of Saint Jack’s neck and opened her mouth to speak.

“Those who have sworn the Oath of Death can sense whether the oath has been upheld or broken through the energy that entered their bodies at the moment of the oath.”

When the oath is broken, destruction descends.
In other words, death is delivered, and the energy that seeped in during the contract informs the other party of this.

“However, there are cases where that energy itself disappears. This means the Oath of Death has been severed.”

Kaige approached Choi Han slowly.
Her voice blanketed the staircase.

“The Oath of Death is severed in only one circumstance.”

Her expression hardened.

“When the oath becomes meaningless.”

There was only one circumstance in which the Oath of Death became meaningless.

“When the other party is dead.”

All expression drained from Choi Han’s face.

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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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