My Students Regret It After I Retired

46 – Belin, The Dark Shadows, The Heavenly Society, Their Secrets

Rengos whistled, and a loud sound echoed throughout the cave. Instinctively, Leos knew. That just now was a signal to call his allies. But it didn’t matter. Since this place was sealed on all sides, there was nowhere to escape, and likewise, not enough space for them to swarm him all at once.

Ventaze, Lieutenant Plunderer Guild. Leos didn’t know much about them, but one thing he was certain of was their connection to the Heavenly Society and that they were utter garbage. He’d end up dealing with the likes of these b*stards eventually. Best to take them out when he could. With that single thought in mind, Leos charged at the enemies.

“Legs! Go for his legs!”

Rengos immediately recognized that his opponent was no ordinary fighter and tried to exploit their numerical advantage to limit Leos’ mobility, and hold him until reinforcements arrived.

‘If we just stall for time, we’ll win. There’s a lot of us, and this b*stard is alone.’

But it didn’t take long for him to realize that his judgment was wrong. Leos lowered his stance, twirling his chainsword subtly as he whispered.

“You’re supposed to be fighting like your lives depend on it, not testing the waters.”

-Thwack!

As Leos’ chainsword lashed out, one of them fell to the ground. Leos charged at his location, and with a short mace, smashed the heads of two men who were trying to rush him.

-CRACK!

-CRACK!

Each strike landed with a brutal sound, like rocks shattering. I could feel it even from a distance. A hit would mean death. Even a graze would be a fatal wound. That’s why Rengos and his crew’s movements were growing sluggish.

They’d been fluid and agile when they thought they had the advantage, but now, with the crushing weight of their own mortality, they were doing stupid things, retreating a step at a time, widening the distance they should’ve been closing. Leos wasn’t about to let those mistakes slide.

This time, Leos kicked up the axe from a corpse, snatching it from the ground before throwing it immediately.

– *Shhwick!*

The axe buried itself in the heart of the man at the very front.

“I’ll start by killing whoever’s in front.”

These were raiders, a band with no concept of loyalty. To survive, they started subtly inching back, one by one, until some outright bolted. But Leos had the exit blocked, and no matter how far back they went, they’d just hit the inner walls of the cave room.

The moment their alliance crumbled, when they all realized they had even lost the will to fight, all trust vanished. Without faith in their comrades, the fight devolved from a group brawl to a series of individual skirmishes. And from then on, it was nothing but a one-sided massacre by Leos.

– *Thud*

The last man standing fell, and the floor was littered with lifeless hunks of meat. Leos, now facing Rengos, looked at him and asked,

“How do you feel now?”

“Spare me…”

“The guys you killed probably begged you to be spared too, didn’t they?”

“I…I was a fool. I’ll never…never do anything like this again…please…please…”

“Answer the question. How do you feel now?”

“…Scared. Terrified. I want to live. That’s all I can think…”

– *Swish!*

Leos’ chain-sword shot towards the man, and just before it pierced him, Leos whispered,

“That’s how the guys you killed felt.”

– *Splatter*

– *Chalkpak*

Leos slowly walked across the floor slick with sweat and blood, and one by one, those within the secret underground space began to grasp the situation and swarm forward.

“What the… what the hell kind of dogshit is this…”

A man who had entered through the doorway contorted his face as he saw the corpses. Leos looked at them and spoke.

“How many of you are here?”

“Die, you b*stard!”

One of the raiders swung his sword, but Leos dodged the blow and with a horizontal swing of his mace, sent him flying.

– *Kwang!*

With a seemingly careless attack, one man was rendered completely unable to fight. Leos spoke again.

“It doesn’t matter how many there are. I’m going to kill you all anyway.”

*

Leaving the bodies behind, Leos muttered.

“Twenty-one. Spyrel checked the outside, none of them escaped. But no matter how much I search, one of them is missing. Dric. The one I killed said he had a tattoo on his face. None of the ones I’ve killed so far have facial tattoos.”

“…”

Dric, the leader of the mid-tier raider guild Venta, was squeezed into a hidden space, barely daring to breathe as he concealed himself.

‘Shit… what the hell is this. Where did that crazy monster come from.’

At first, he had been about to join the fight himself. It wasn’t as if he lacked confidence in battle. He had killed countless people and had proven himself many times over to become the leader of a mid-tier raider guild. But even such a man was no different from anyone else when faced with death.

“Dric, I know you’re still alive.”

Dric flinched without even realizing it. Even though his location had clearly not been discovered, a tremendous sense of pressure was bearing down on him.

“You think you can survive here? From now, after I finish a few more searches, I’ll bring the spyreil outside in and blow up this entire cave. Then, no matter where you’re hiding, you’ll be trapped and die here. You’re not a moron, so you should realize I’m not lying.”

He didn’t doubt it. In the first place, someone who could single-handedly kill so many people wouldn’t find it strange to have an artifact as high-level as a spyreil.

Drick agonized endlessly. Should he fight now or bet everything on the possibility, however slim, of survival?

“Drick, think carefully. This is your only chance to live. If you kill me, you can survive. Otherwise, you’ll be blown to bits by the spyreil mana bomb.”

“…”

While listening to the story, Drick noticed something odd, and finally emerged from the secret space to face Leos. Drick began grinding his teeth at the fact he’d been played.

After all, from the very beginning, Leos had been staring intently at where Drick was, as if he knew exactly where he was hiding.

“You b*stard. Why did you play me like that when you knew my location from the start?”

“I was curious how pathetic you were. Running around killing people like that, I thought you might have some confidence, but you’re nothing more than a bug.”

“We had no choice, we had to meet the tribute.”

Leos gestured around as he spoke.

“You build such a luxurious space underground, drinking fine wines and eating delicacies, and then brag like it’s a heroic deed, telling stories about killing innocent people, and you’re saying you had no choice because you were threatened?”

“…”

“From now on, I ask the questions, you answer. You don’t have to answer my questions. But each time you don’t, I’ll swing my sword once.”

“…”

“State your name. Are you Drick?”

Drick didn’t speak, but kept his eyes on Leos. No matter how many 21 people he’d killed, Drick was still a guild master of a mid-tier guild. He was at least 3 meters away. Even if the chain sword were thrown, he could deflect it with his own sword. Thinking this, he remained silent, testing the waters, and gripped his sword.

“I guess you don’t understand. You’ll learn once you experience it.”

– *Whoosh!*

As Leos swung his chain sword, Drick drew his sword upward to deflect it. However.

– *Thwack!*

The chainsword clattered to the floor, broken in the middle, and a small dagger lodged itself in his shoulder.

“Guh…”

Drick writhed in pain, staring at his shoulder. He tried to pull the dagger out, but the blade was lined with sharp points, like shark teeth, a cruel weapon that only tore more flesh the more you tried to remove it.

A vile weapon, crafted to inflict maximum pain, designed purely for killing.

“What…the hell are…you… why this weapon…”

Even Drick, with his limited knowledge, understood. This was a weapon wielded by those who went directly to war.

Despite the pain, Drick kept his eyes on Leos. And then, as if struck by a sudden realization, he yelled at Leos.

“Le…Leos. Is your name Leos?”

“…”

Leos stared at the man. It wasn’t strange to have someone know his face and name. But Drick had just spoken a name that he should have left unspoken.

“Three years ago…I know about you being framed by Belin and thrown into prison. I’ll tell you what I know, so just let me live.”

“…”

Leos started walking slowly. His face, which had been normal until now, began to twist and distort.

“Stop spouting nonsense to survive. It’s already something that the knights investigated multiple times, anyone who has seen the reports could easily make that up to get out of this situation.”

“The Shadow Syndicate! It has to do with the Shadow Syndicate.”

“I’ve already revealed that through Interlunar.”

“The…Celestial Assembly!”

Leos stopped in his tracks, turning his gaze to Drick.

“The Celestial Assembly! You won’t know about the Celestial Assembly! Those b*stards! They’re connected to the Shadow Syndicate. The Shadow Syndicate is just a puppet of the Celestial Assembly!”

Seeing Leos’s reaction, Drick’s expression began to ease, and he grinned.

“So, you know about the Celestial Assembly, too? That makes things easier. Step back first. If you try to harm me even a little, I’ll kill myself. Then you’ll never know what you’re so curious about…”

“Die.”

“…?”

Leos tossed a dagger in front of the man, adding,

“It’s pathetic to see someone who wants to live more than anyone trying to bargain with his own life. I’ll give you a chance, stab yourself in the neck with that right now and die.”

“You crazy b*stard…”

The moment Drick’s gaze was drawn to the dagger—

-WHOOSH!

Leos instantly charged forward. Drick swung his sword a few times, but Leos, with a swing of his mace, sent the sword flying, then pressed the broken blade to his throat, speaking.

“Will you talk? Or should I just kill you like this? Say you want to die, and I’ll thrust it right in without another word.”

“…”

Blood began to trickle from Drick’s neck, and the man slowly opened his mouth.

“Spare me. Belin… the Shadow Guard… the Celestial Assembly… I’ll tell you everything I know about them…”