Chapter 41. A Nightmarish Night. Part 3

Chapter 41. A Nightmarish Night. Part 3

POV: Kreg

What should he do? Kreg did not know the answer. If he did not come up with something immediately, he was finished.

And then what seemed to him like a brilliant idea came to mind.

If they could not defeat this man by force, then they had to do it differently.

He headed toward the villagers.

But almost immediately, he noticed movement. It was strange. All the villagers were supposed to be paralyzed—unable to move.

Yet some of them were moving.

As he came closer, he realized that a girl was giving people something from small vials, one by one.

It seemed… those were health potions.

These villagers had health potions?

When he approached even closer, another one of his men—Maddock—ran out of a nearby house. Panic was written all over his face.

“Kreg, what do we do?” he asked in a trembling voice.

“Shut up. I’m thinking,” Kreg snapped.

He quickly looked around.

“Dorn, Maddock… do you know his family? Or someone close to him? Anyone he talked to?” he asked.

If they were going to take a hostage, it had to be someone important to him. Only then would this plan work.

Kreg looked at Dorn. Dorn shook his head.

Damn it.

Then he turned to Maddock.

“I think he was talking to that red-haired girl,” Maddock said. “He was the first to give her a health potion. And he’s the one who gave her all the potions she’s using now.”

“Grab the red-haired girl,” Kreg ordered.

They were already close, and the villagers had heard their conversation. The girl was quickly surrounded, people trying to protect her.

But what could they do? A few teenagers and a few villagers—unarmed. A couple of strong blows and several threats, and most of them backed away.

But not all of them.

Some still tried to resist. Then his men had to use their swords. An old man and a woman were cut down without hesitation.

“No! Dad! Mom!” the red-haired girl rushed toward the elderly couple.

Beside her stood a boy and a girl—teenagers.

Dorn grabbed the girl and began dragging her away, toward Kreg.

When the red-haired girl was brought to him, he looked at her carefully. Nothing special.

He leaned closer to her face and asked:

“Who is that guy who’s killing my men to you?”

Kreg stared at her, waiting for an answer.

But the red-haired girl did something he did not expect. She spat прямо in his face.

“Damn it!” Kreg exploded with rage.

He struck her across the face with all his strength.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, bitch?” he growled. “Did you think I wouldn’t kill you just because you have some strong acquaintance?”

He smirked.

“As soon as I finish him off, it’ll be your turn.”

The girl spat out thick blood and looked at him.

Her eyes were filled with hatred and bloodlust.

He was used to being looked at with hatred. But usually, when he was this close, there was more fear and despair in his opponent’s eyes.

Not this burning, almost insane hatred.

“Well then… you’ve made me change my mind,” he said. “I won’t just kill you.”

He leaned closer.

“After I kill your friend, I’ll move on to the rest of this village,” he hissed. “I’ll kill every single one of them right in front of your eyes. And then I’ll deal with you.”

He leaned even closer.

“I’ll torture you in ways you can’t even imagine. And when I’m done, you’ll be begging me to kill you.”

He stared at her, expecting to see fear in her eyes.

But his expectations were not met.

The hatred in her eyes did not disappear. Contempt was added to it.

And she began to smile. To grin.

“What, you think your friend will save you?” Kreg sneered.

“A-a-ah!” Dorn suddenly screamed.

Right before Kreg’s eyes, the blade of Dorn’s sword cut the girl’s throat.

No—not just like that. As if the girl herself had moved her neck toward the blade. As if she had consciously accepted death.

With her throat cut, the girl collapsed to the ground.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Kreg shouted at Dorn.

“I—I didn’t—I didn’t mean to! She stabbed me!” Dorn babbled.

He pointed to his side. A small knife was sticking out, and blood was already flowing from the wound.

Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.

Because of that tiny knife, this idiot had killed their only trump card.

Kreg looked at the girl lying on the ground.

Maybe she was still alive?

No. The bleeding was too severe. And there was no life left in her eyes.

Damn it… everything was lost.

He needed to run. Immediately.

“Alright, Dorn, help Maddock. Take one hostage each. Threaten their lives and try to stall that idiot. I’ll be back soon with reinforcements,” Kreg said.

With that, he turned and ran in the opposite direction of the village, away from the man who was methodically killing his people.

Of course, he had no intention of returning with reinforcements.

Both Dorn and Maddock would die—that was obvious.

But it did not matter.

The important thing was that Kreg would survive.

And later, after gathering a new group, he would definitely return and destroy everyone in this village.

So that the fool who dared to oppose them would regret it… and be killed last.

---

POV: Emilia

Emilia stared with hatred at the man who was threatening her and her family.

These were the people who had killed Gilbert—her beloved older brother. Foolish, but kind.

And they had just killed her father and mother.

And now, the only person who could avenge them might be killed—because she was being used as a hostage.

No. Emilia could not allow that.

If Alisar died, the others would die as well. But this way… at least there was a chance that her brother and sister would survive. And that these bandits would be killed—in vengeance for everyone who had died.

She made her decision.

Carefully, Emilia pulled out a small knife and stabbed it into the side of the man holding her. And when he reflexively jerked and accidentally cut her throat, she leaned forward herself—so that she could not be used as a hostage.

It hurt.

But it was nothing compared to everything else.

She fell to the ground. She heard that thug shouting something—irrelevant. He would die anyway.

Gilbert… Dad… Mom…

Your killer will be punished. Your deaths will be avenged.

I’ll be joining you soon…

Her vision slowly faded to black.

---

POV: Alisar

Alright. That was the last one.

I shook my sword, trying to at least partially clear the blood from the blade. Yes… killing them was much easier than killing monsters. These people were weak.

But…

I looked around.

Bodies lay everywhere. Most of them decapitated. Sometimes my strikes had not gone as planned, and I had had to cut bodies in half.

Ugh… the smell was disgusting.

Alright. Time to return to the village. I needed to check whether Emilia needed help. The health potions I gave her were clearly not enough to heal all the villagers.

Yes, I had supplies at home. After checking on Emilia and the others, I needed to go there immediately and retrieve the potions.

And also…

There were still three bandits somewhere in the village.

They needed to be found as well.

As I approached the central square, I immediately understood—something was wrong.

Several people were crying. Loudly.

I saw them.

Two bandits were holding two people, pressing sword blades to their throats.

So… hostages.

Only two?

Where was the third?

When I got close enough, one of them shouted:

“Hey! Drop your weapon and surrender if you want them to live!”

“Alright, alright, I surrender,” I said, throwing my sword to the ground.

I raised my hands. But while pretending to surrender, I kept slowly moving closer.

“And stop right there!” one of them shouted.

Damn it… a couple more steps and it would be twenty meters. Fine. I’ll take a few more steps.

“I said stop!” the bandit screamed at the top of his lungs.

I stopped.

“Alright, alright, calm down. I won’t come any closer,” I said.

Damn it… there were bodies there.

Several people lay on the ground. The smell of blood hung heavy in the air. There was a lot of it, though in the darkness not everything was clearly visible.

Wait…

I heard crying. Two voices.

Those were… Emilia’s brother and sister? Why were they crying so hard?

I looked more closely.

And then I saw one of the bodies.

Hair.

Red hair.

As far as I knew, the only person in this village with red hair was Emilia.

The moment that thought entered my mind, something inside me broke.

No.

No, no, no, no, no.

This was impossible.

This could not be happening.

No… maybe it was someone else?

Maybe I just did not know everyone in this village? Maybe someone else had red hair?

I clung to those thoughts like a last lifeline.

I began to pray to God that it was someone else.

Please… not her.

I took a step toward the body.

“Hey!” one of them shouted. “Don’t come any closer!”

They both started shouting at once. Yelling, threatening, almost panicking.

Damn it, shut up…

And in the next moment, I teleported behind them.

I was lucky—they were standing close to each other.

I grabbed both of them at once… and snapped their necks.

I did not even know I was capable of that.

Their bodies collapsed to the ground before they could harm the hostages.

I walked up to the body.

Please… let it not be Emilia.

I fell to my knees.

No. It was Emilia.

But not the Emilia I was used to. Not the one whose eyes were always full of life and joy.

Now they were empty. Glassy.

No… no…

I have to… I… I can do something.

Yes! Potions. I need potions.

Damn it… I do not have enough mana to create new ones. That means… the house. Now.

I rushed to my house.

At full speed.

Damn it… why am I so slow?

Too slow. I need to be faster. I have to make it.

I reached the house, the door. There was no time—I kicked it in. I grabbed all the potions I had. Everything I had stored.

Second-rank health potions.

I took them and immediately ran back to Emilia.

I rushed to her. Opened one potion and poured it onto the wound. The second—into her mouth.

Why isn’t it working?

Why?!

The third. The fourth. I kept using health potions one after another.

But why were her wounds not healing?

Why?.. Why?..

No… health potions heal everything.

Please… Emilia… wake up. Live, please.

I used the last potion.

But Emilia did not wake up.