Chapter 318: A Deathmatch [Part 2]

It had been a while since Hagen last felt it.

The feeling of death staring him in the face.

And the thing that annoyed him the most was the fact that this feeling came from the Chieftain of the Darkmane Tribe, whom he had looked down upon for many years.

Troy had never been a threat to him.

In fact, he believed Troy was the weakest among the high-ranking chieftains of the Borderlands.

But after the battle against the Monster King, Hagen no longer held his previous beliefs.

After all, he could see that Troy truly intended to kill him in a deathmatch.

Hagen believed that Troy had made this proposal so that he could "legally" kill him using the Barbarian Law.

Just as Hagen thought about how to handle this, the captain of his private warriors stepped up.

"I will represent my chieftain in this battle!" Cadell declared.

He was one of the strongest warriors of the Grimhowl Tribe. He was similar to Ivan of the Darkmane Tribe, who held a very high position among Hagen’s officers.

"Are you sure?" Hagen asked calmly.

"Yes, My Chieftain!" Cadell answered. "I promise to bring you victory!"

Hagen gave his captain a long, hard look before nodding his head. "Go and bring glory to our tribe, then."

After making the declaration, everyone backed away, giving space for the two warriors to fight.

Troy tossed Osteon toward Malik. "Look after him while I deal with this dog."

The two warriors then faced each other, and soon, Cadell began to introduce himself.

"I am Cadell, son of..."

"I don’t care who you are," Troy interjected. "Your chieftain must really hate you. Do you think you’d be here, waiting to die in my hands, if he truly didn’t want to lose you?"

"The one who will die is you, Troy of the Darkmane Tribe." Cadell scoffed in return. "You might look different now, but that doesn’t mean you have changed."

Troy didn’t answer and simply took out his axe from the storage ring. The moment the weapon appeared in his hands, everyone sensed that this was no ordinary weapon.

Since Leone was already helping Troy, he made sure to go all out.

The great axe that was now in the Lionkin’s hands was forged from the claws of the Monster King, as well as the core of the Guardian Beast of the Darkmane Tribe.

The same Manticore who fought side by side with Troy in the final battle.

Thanks to the high-quality materials used to craft the blade, the final product turned into an Epic Weapon Troy could wield flawlessly.

"The one I want to challenge is Hagen, so I’ll let you step down from this fight," Troy said in a teasing tone. "Concede, and I will allow you to live with your head and honor still intact."

Cadell narrowed his eyes at those words, but he didn’t back down. Instead, he took ‌his sword out of its sheath and took on a fighting stance.

Seeing that his opponent had no intention of backing down, the smile on Troy’s bestial face grew wider.

"Hagen, give us the signal to fight," Troy stated. "That way, everyone will know who sent this man to his death."

"Duel, start!" Hagen declared.

As soon as the signal was given, Cadell started to circle Troy with his blade at the ready.

On the other hand, the Chieftain of the Darkmane Tribe remained standing, not even bothering to move.

He simply stood with his axe resting on his shoulder, feeling completely at ease.

His gaze never left Hagen, completely disregarding Cadell’s insistence.

"You dare not take me seriously?!" Cadell shouted before moving in for the kill.

Six meters...

Five meters...

Four...

Three....

Two...

It happened in an instant.

Without tearing his gaze away from Hagen, Troy swung his axe sideways.

The axe and the sword clashed, followed by gasps of shock from the crowd.

Hagen’s face turned grim the moment he saw the result of that single exchange.

Gundar sighed internally before closing his eyes.

Ragnar’s face turned pale from fright.

Troy’s axe had cut through Cadell’s sword before slicing his body cleanly in half.

Blood spurted out like a fountain, drenching the Lionkin in warm blood.

Troy then raised his hand to wipe the blood that fell on his shoulder before giving it a casual lick.

"At least his blood tastes like that of a true warrior," Troy said with a smile before flicking his axe to remove the blood that had stuck to the blade. "Unlike a certain chieftain who hides behind his men."

When he was done, he returned his weapon to his storage ring before walking toward Hagen.

But just as he was about to walk past him, Troy stopped and whispered something in his ear.

A moment later, he walked away toward Osteon’s family with a predatory smirk on his face.

Hagen subconsciously clenched his fists tightly as he looked at the remains of the captain of his guards.

One strike.

One clean strike was all it took for Troy to kill one of the strongest warriors of this tribe.

If Cadell had not stepped up to take his place, the one who would have died would have been Hagen. And he knew it.

"I hope the next time we face each other on the battlefield, you will fight me like a warrior. Not a coward who hides behind his men’s backs."

Those were the words that Troy had said to him before walking away.

And now, that same man had placed his hands on Osteon’s oldest son, making the latter shudder.

"Well then. What will you choose?" Troy asked. "Get exiled to the Aslan Tribe’s domain or die in my hands? You can also fight me in a duel if you want. I promise to give you a proper burial if you do."

After seeing Troy’s display of power, the young man couldn’t even raise his head to stare at the chieftain’s eyes.

He could only nod meekly in response while his body trembled in fear.

Right now, he was like a sheep being stared at by a lion.

The young man knew any move to challenge Troy’s words would make him die a dog’s death... and none of his tribe members would even step up to defend him. After all, their strengths combined wouldn’t even leave a scratch on the Beastkin.

"I-I’ll do as you say," Brent, Osteon’s oldest son, stuttered. "I’ll go to the Aslan Tribe."

"I like smart people." Troy patted Brent’s shoulder. "At least you’ll get to live another day."

He then turned around to face the members of the Bonegnash Tribe.

"From this day onward, there will be no more Bonegnash Tribe," Troy declared. "Instead, you will all become part of the Darkmane Tribe. Those who don’t want to fall under my rule may follow Brent to the Aslan Tribe."

"C-Can we go to the other tribes instead?" one of the warriors asked. "For example, the Warclaw Tribe?"

"You can," Troy replied without batting an eye. "The only place you can’t go is the Grimhowl Tribe."

"And why can’t we go there?" another warrior asked.

"Did you not see what happened a while ago?" Troy used his finger to point at his back, where the dead body of Cadell was still standing. "Do you want to serve a chieftain who only stared at his loyal man without giving out an order to give him a proper burial? Well, if you want to be treated as a pawn so badly, go ahead.

"However, I advise you all to go to the Aslan Tribe instead. The same tribe that has defeated me. Sure, their chieftain is young, naive, soft-hearted, and far too trusting for his own good.

"He’s the kind of fool who will feed his enemies before feeding himself. However, he is also a chieftain who will never abandon his people. You will be in good hands if you stay by his side. At the very least, he won’t treat you as pawns. Of course, if you doubt my words, you can ask the great shaman about Leone Frontera."

While Troy was speaking to the crowd, Hagen finally moved and crouched down to close Cadell’s eyes, which were staring lifelessly at the sky.

It was then that he made a vow that when the day eventually came, he would personally cut off Troy’s head from his body to avenge his subordinate.

Unfortunately, no one knew what the future held.

Troy also wanted to personally take Hagen’s head as a prize to be added to his collection.

Then again, what Hagen didn’t know was that the warriors of the Grimhowl Tribe weren’t looking at Troy with eyes filled with vengeance.

Instead, they were looking at Cadell’s dead body, thinking this tragedy could have been prevented.

Troy’s earlier words about not being treated as pawns resonated in their hearts.

Perhaps this was the event that had planted a seed in the hearts of the Grimhowl Tribe.

A seed that might one day bloom and cause cracks to form in the Grimhowl Tribe’s hearts and defenses that Hagen had painstakingly built ever since he came to power.