Chapter 392: Mercenaries’ Choice

Chapter 392: Chapter 392: Mercenaries’ Choice

Chapter 392: Mercenaries’ Choice

"No... no, no, no! Please!" Veydris shrieked, the heat of the crimson-gold flame began to burn his flesh even before it touched him. "Let me go! I beg you, Rhain! I’ll do anything! NO!"

He thrashed wildly beneath Rhain’s heavy boot, tears and snot mixing with the blood on his face.

"No! Please! I don’t want to die! NO!"

Rhain looked down at the begging man, his dark grey eyes completely devoid of a single shred of mercy.

"You should have thought of that before you pierced my heart," Rhain stated, his voice devoid of all human emotion.

With a merciless flick of his wrist, Rhain released the crimson-gold flame directly onto Veydris’s body.

"GAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"

An inhumane, blood-curdling scream of unimaginable agony ripped across the desolate zone.

The flames didn’t instantly reduce him to ashes; instead, they slowly boiled his blood, burned his flesh, melted his bones, and even consumed his soul.

Veydris thrashed and clawed at the scorched earth, screaming so loudly his vocal cords began to tear.

Standing dozens of feet away, Lyra, Karsten, and the mercenaries watched the horrific scene unfold.

Their faces were deathly pale, and their bodies trembled uncontrollably.

Even Lyra, who prided herself on her being merciless, felt a profound fear grip her heart as the agonizing screams echoed continuously.

The screaming did not stop quickly.

The horrific, tortured screams rang out continuously for several minutes, echoing through the empty wasteland.

Cough! Cough!

A weak, pained sound came from the distant rocky ridges.

At some point during the torturous screams, the 8th-level Commander had woken up from his unconscious state.

He opened his eyes, groaning in pain from his shattered arm.

But the moment he saw the pulverized corpses of his men, and witnessed Veydris being agonizingly incinerated by a flames, his mind completely broke.

’Monster... he is a monster!’ the Commander screamed in his mind.

He instantly lost all of his commanding presence.

Ignoring the pain, the Commander scrambled to his feet and desperately prepared to flee into the sky.

Rhain slowly turned his head, his dark grey eyes locking onto the fleeing figure.

Rhain didn’t bother chasing, simply raising his palm toward the dark sky.

Buzz—!

The blinding crimson-gold fire gathered at the center of his palm, rapidly compressing and blooming into an exquisitely beautiful, yet destructive fire lotus.

"Go."

With a casual flick of his wrist, the crimson-gold fire lotus shot through the air.

It tore across the desolate wasteland with a speed that defied the laws of space, tracking the fleeing 8th-level Domain Master flawlessly.

The Commander looked back over his shoulder, his pupils shrinking to pinpoints as the radiant lotus illuminated his terrified face.

"NO—!"

BOOM—!!!

The crimson-gold fire lotus struck him squarely in the back.

A cataclysmic explosion of Saint-Grade fire swallowed the Commander whole in mid-air.

There was no struggle.

The destructive might of the Nirvana Flame instantly incinerated the 8th-level Domain Master into a cloud of drifting ash in the wind.

Rhain slowly lowered his hand, his dark robes fluttering gently in the residual heat wave.

Five late-stage Domain Masters.

All of them were dead within a few minutes.

Only drifting ash and the stench of burnt flesh remained.

Rhain slowly turned his head. His dark grey eyes swept over Karsten and the four surviving mercenaries, who were trembling like leaves in a winter storm.

"You will not reveal a single word of what happened in this basin," Rhain stated coldly. "Nor will you breathe a syllable about what I did to these men. Is that understood?"

Karsten swallowed hard, his scarred face deathly pale. "Y-Yes, Lord Rhain. We would never dare. But... if I may ask, who were these men?"

"Royal assassins," Lyra interjected.

The words dropped like a heavy boulder.

Karsten and the mercenaries staggered backward, their eyes widening in pure horror.

"Royal assassins?!" one of the mercenaries squeaked, "But... isn’t Lord Rhain a disciple of the Stormveil Academy? Why would the Royal Court send elite late-stage Domain Master assassins after a mere disciple?!"

Lyra couldn’t help but chuckle. It was a cold, arrogant sound.

"The identity of a Stormveil Academy disciple is merely the most humble title he holds," Lyra tilted her head to look at Rhain, "He has many identities, but the most notorious of them all? He is the man who committed regicide."

’Ugh. Did she really have to say that?’ Rhain gazed at her with a helpless look.

But the damage was already done.

The mercenaries froze.

Their brains, functioning with remarkable speed for men practically dead on their feet, processed the significance of that horrific truth.

Regicide.

Killing someone from the direct, main bloodline of the Royal Family.

"R-Regicide...?" Karsten stammered, "My God... who... who did he kill?"

"FUCK!"

The mercenaries couldn’t help but swear out loud.

They scrambled backward as if hit by a physical blow, falling onto their asses on the ground.

They stared at Rhain with a look of mind-numbing horror.

"T-The Crown Prince?!" Karsten stammered, his teeth chattering so violently he could barely form the words. "Is... is Crown Prince Lucius already dead?!"

Rhain, who had been listening to their exchange in silence, simply shook his head.

"Unfortunately, Lucius is still alive," Rhain replied, a chilling light flashing deep within his pupils. "The man I killed was merely his clone."

Karsten and the mercenaries let out a massive, shuddering exhale.

They patted their chests, feeling a momentary wave of intense relief wash over them.

A clone... thank the gods, it was only a clone!

But before they could even calm their racing hearts, Rhain’s cold voice echoed again.

"But it won’t be long until he dies for real."

"DAMN IT!"

The mercenaries cursed again, clutching their chests as if their hearts might explode the very next second.

They looked at Rhain as if they were looking at an irredeemable lunatic.

He wasn’t satisfied after attempting to kill the Crown Prince of the Solathane Dynasty once! He actually wanted to do it again!

Following a man with this level of madness was a guaranteed, one-way ticket to the executioner’s block!

Seeing their utterly despairing expressions, Rhain let out an amused chuckle.

"You don’t have to worry," Rhain said, "We will go our separate ways from here on out. No one in the outside world will ever know that we are connected, so you will not have to face the wrath of the Royal Court because of me."

With a flick of his wrist, a blinding flash of spatial light illuminated the dim wasteland.

A spatial ring materialized in Rhain’s palm. He casually tossed it toward Karsten.

Karsten hastily caught it with trembling hands.

"Inside that ring are the corpses of the one thousand Domain Master beasts we slaughtered in the trial realm," Rhain explained calmly. "I am giving them to you. Keep them. I do not lack money."

He looked at Karsten, his gaze turning sharp suddenly. "But don’t dare to forget my warning. Keep your mouths shut."

Karsten clutched the spatial ring tightly, nodding his head repeatedly like a chicken pecking at grain.

"W-We understand, Lord Rhain! We will never dare to speak a single word! Even if they pull our tongues out, we will take this secret to our graves!"

Rhain gave a faint nod of approval and turned his back, preparing to leave.

Karsten stood frozen, looking down at the spatial ring in his hands.

His vast mercenary experience instantly calculated the astronomical fortune contained within.

One thousand Domain Master beast corpses... the wealth this single ring held could easily feed him, his men, and their entire generations for centuries!

They would never need to step foot into the Sunless Umbral Basin again. They would never have to take another life-and-death mission for the rest of their lives.

Karsten slowly turned his head, looking at his four surviving brothers.

He saw the exact same realization in their eyes.

But beneath that realization, there was also a determined glint.

Karsten took a deep breath, his scarred face hardening with a grim resolve.

"Lord Rhain! Please, wait!"

Rhain paused, turning his head slightly.

To Rhain and Lyra’s complete surprise, Karsten stepped forward and firmly held the spatial ring out, returning it.

"What is the meaning of this?" Rhain asked, a trace of confusion flashing in his dark grey eyes.

We want to join you," Karsten declared, his voice completely stripped of its previous terror.

Rhain raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised. "You know exactly who I am, and who I intend to kill. And yet, you still wish to follow me?"

Karsten nodded firmly, dropping to one knee on the ground. The four mercenaries immediately followed, kneeling behind their leader.

"We are fully aware, Lord Rhain," Karsten spoke, his voice filled with profound gratitude. "But we also know that we are only drawing breath today because of you. In the trial realm, you could have easily abandoned us when the meteors fell. You could have left us to die when that Level 8 Domain Master eagle attacked. But you didn’t. You fought a beast that could have killed you, just to save our worthless lives."

Karsten looked up, his eyes burning with loyalty.

"We have been with you long enough to understand that following a Master like you is far more valuable than any mountain of Aetherium Crystals. We want to serve you."

Rhain looked at the kneeling men in silence.

"I appreciate your loyalty," Rhain stated pragmatically. "But the battles I will fight in the future will be against existences that you cannot even fathom. With your current strength, you will only be cannon fodder."

Karsten did not back down. Instead, a proud smirk brushed past his scarred lips.

"We are not as useless as you might think, Lord Rhain," Karsten revealed. "The old Senior rewarded each of us with an Emperor-Grade cultivation technique."

Rhain and Lyra were visibly astonished.

Emperor-Grade cultivation techniques!

In the entire Solathane Dynasty, such techniques were exclusively hoarded by the Imperial Families.

Possessing a technique of that caliber meant that the foundational limits of these five ordinary mercenaries had been completely shattered!

Even if their innate talent was lacking, the sheer profoundness of an Emperor-Grade technique guaranteed that they would reach the middle or late stages of the Domain Master Realm.

And with enough resources, they even had a minuscule chance of touching the legendary Monarch Realm!

Their entire fate had been completely rewritten by the old remnant soul.

They were now bound to become some of the top most powerful figures in the dynasty!

Five future late-stage Domain Masters.

If Rhain nurtured them properly with his flawless pills, their growth speed would be terrifying.

It was an investment that would yield an astronomical return.

"I will accept you," Rhain declared, his voice taking on the commanding tone of an overlord. "But on one condition. You must swear a Heavenly Vow of loyalty to me right here, right now."

Karsten and the mercenaries didn’t hesitate for a single second.

They immediately raised three fingers toward the gloomy sky.

"We swear by the Heavens! From this day forth, our lives, our souls, and our loyalty belong to Lord Rhain! Should we ever harbor a single thought of betrayal, may the Heavenly Tribulation strike our souls into eternal nothingness!"

BOOM!

The invisible shackles of the world’s laws descended, binding indelibly into the spiritual seas of the five men.

Rhain gave a satisfied nod.

With a flick of his wrist, a blinding flash of spatial light illuminated the desolate edge of the basin.

THUD!

The sleek, black-iron skiff provided by the Stormveil Academy materialized.

"Get on board, we should leave now."