The God of Jesters
Chapter 460 - 7.18.4 Ready to destroy.

Chapter 460: 7.18.4 Ready to destroy.

Should he be happy?

Farhad didn’t know. Because he felt a burning gaze from the figure that descended from the ceiling, a burning gaze that wished to end him as well. But he can’t be so sure early on.

"Mast..." The head spoke, but the Knight of Radiant didn’t give it time to talk. With a slash of his sword, a white flame arced from the sword, hitting the spire of heads, causing them to cry in pain all at once.

"You, come back." When in combat, the more you speak, the more you will be disadvantaged, and this is not the kind of fight you will have the luxury to talk much about. Not when you are not even sure about the strength of your enemy.

Full focus was necessary in such situations, but due to the very goal of his job, Vance urged the distant Farhad. From the state of this place, he had already summarized that things were not as he previously had anticipated, or that the sway of Farhad over these beasts was not as impactful as he thought.

Otherwise, these things would have in no way attacked him. Meaning at this very moment, Farhad was at a disadvantage. A disadvantage that can be exploited perfectly if Vance were to play his cards right.

But was Farhad the kind of person to listen to people?

Well, he was that kind of person, or at least he used to. As for now, he understood one thing clearly. ’That bloodlust, it can’t be hidden behind those flames... I am in danger.’ Why did Vance aim at him?

Farhad can’t say for now, but predicting it won’t be an issue. ’Was I exposed?’ He thought, recalling the night when Ludwig came for a visit. ’At that time, all the people should have been discussing the appearance of the digger ghouls... did he go there?’

Or was it something else?

Well, Farhad can’t say for certain, what he can do is act on his intuition and keep doing what he did.

"You." Vance saw Farhad ignoring him outright as he dodged the tentacles and stabbed into the gestating ghouls inside the meat walls one by one. "You are not even hiding it anymore," Vance said, annihilating an entire group of Master Ranked ghouls that dared to approach him.

"Knight Vance, considering your bloodlust..." Farhad said as he sacrificed his arm to stab another one of the ghouls. "... I don’t see any other option." With each of his attacks, the aura of Farhad rose."

Although he was neither a Knight nor a mage, the overpowering vitality inside his body was going through some kind of transformation.

A transformation that made Vance more desperate as he aimed his sword toward Farhad. "It’s your fault...." Vance blamed Farhad for the choice he made. If Farhad hadn’t turned greedy if he hadn’t been a pawn of Jester, if he hadn’t tried to run away.

If.

There were lots of ifs, but the truth was, Vance was just looking for a justification where he wouldn’t be implicated in the case he did kill Farhad.

And this was the excuse he had been waiting for all this time.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" But then, before the flames of his sword could hit Farhad, the tentacles that had been trying to capture Farhad suddenly intertwined and turned into a giant wall of swords.

"LORD!! HERE!!" Said an entity with a deeply groaning voice, causing the whole cave to tremble under the might of its sound.

"What?" Even Vance, who was taking it all easy at this moment started to show a worried expression.

"A Grade 4?" In simpler terms, a grade four matched the strength of a Grandmaster for the Knights. And Vance can feel it in his bones from the trembling alone. This was not a weak Grand Master.

Thinking of where it was would do him no good, first, he needs to end his target, take back the flames of Samadhi, and then explode this place with his whole might.

As for exploding it beforehand? He can’t afford it, this deep underground, it would become harder for him to find Farhad’s body if the whole thing collapses, so he still had to kill him first.

The first layer of the tentacle wall came down, but a second rose, then a third, then a fourth, followed by tremors that intensified the closer Vance got to Farhad.

"It would seem, even this thing eyes you for something."

Hearing such words, Farhad creased his brows a little. ’Everyone truly wants something from me.’ There were people after his flames, and for the ruler of this ghoul nest, obviously, it was after his talent of copying the abilities of other ghouls.

’No, I won’t be a pawn of that kind.’ And it was these words that made Farhad try harder, abandoning even the security of his head as he started to collect more and more genetic talents that he didn’t even know about.

"More..." He could feel his back burn, a flame much brighter than his own was coming close to him.

"Need more." Along with a beast that seemed to be approaching him at an even faster pace.

"I need strength." And as he punched into the sac of the last ghoul he could fight, a claw broke through the wall, slapping Farhad’s head right off his shoulder, while Farhad’s body crumpled on the floor like a puppet without strings.

"Master Merge!" The beast slowly crawled out of the wall, while multiple tentacles that were attached to his back slowly fell off one by one.

It was a humanoid ghoul. Its size is not much taller than a Farhad.

But the moment it appeared, Vance came to a stop, looking at the beast with fearful eyes. ’This is no normal nest.’

He spoke, turning his eyes toward Farhad, whose body suddenly lit up with red fire, that prevented the ghoul from approaching any further.

And this time, his flames did work. "How?" the ghoul wondered, before turning toward the intruder that had turned destroyed most of his nest. "You." It spoke, turning into a blur and striking Vance before he could approach Farhad.

"Food... good."

*****

"Again that fool." I felt a bit disappointed.

My old friend died the old way, with decapitation.

Seems like fate dictates that he would die by decapitation. Or was it just Karma for all the times he tortured me in that constantly repeating dream?’

However, the scene I received this time was a bit concerning. ’That thing... it was the one that made the move?’ I remember this thing clearly.

The little beast grew alongside the vestige of its king.

’The little one grew bigger, greater in a short time.’

Ghouls are beasts without soul, they are the result of rotten flesh given life through a curse of a far greater being.

A forgotten being that I can’t even fathom, a being on the same level as the gods. Well, at least that’s what I came to understand while looking at the origin of curses.

So in a way, these ghouls can’t be considered living beings to begin with, their bodies are operated by a curse that wishes to consume everything in its path.

But there are always exceptions to this rule, and the one who just killed Farhad is one of those exceptions.

’I had let it go, thinking how it would grow in the future without the crown that was meant for it. Seems like it still found a way.’

Truth be told, I never expected the two to ever meet. But the true owner is back and wishes for its crown back.

’Ho Farhad, don’t die so early. I still have loads of things planned for your future.’

*****

On the other side, while the war below picked up pace. The land above the cave was not only suffering through tremors but also a ghoul stampede that was led by countless digger ghouls rushing out in panic toward the human settlements.

"This, what is going on?" Mage Black Sun the Archmage overlooking the safety of the Barracks wondered, as noticed the oddity the fastest.

This also gave him the chance to warn his companions, making it easier for the camp to stick to the barracks to prepare for the battle.

But that was not all, What worried Mage Black Sun were the tremors.

"There are Grand Master Ranked Beings fighting underground... it’s that ghoul nest."

Mage Black Sun was not surprised by the voice, as he turned and bowed to the leading General of the barracks, General Vera, and then asked. "A Grand Master Ranked? Who is it?"

"The only one that went to the ghoul caverns was Knight Vance Clifford, a Radiant Knight who came to support us. And support he did." General Vera spoke in a worried tone.

From the tremors alone, he can feel the intensity of the battle meaning no one side was at an advantage.

But more than that, what worried General Vera was the fact that there was a being of Grand Master Ranked below them. An enemy that can turn out to be a ghoul.

Which is odd in itself.

"Have you ever heard of a Grade Four Ghoul?" General Vera asked. And Mage Black Sun nodded a bit. "I have heard stories about them, but never seen it. The strongest I have come across have only been at grade 3."

"We consider them pest, weak beings without a hint of spirituality or intelligence... because that’s what they are... they are scavengers of the battlefield that makes it easier for us to deal with the carcass of our enemies... and most of the time, they don’t attack the living unless provoked. So if you think about it, they are good for us."

At those words, Mage Black Sun remained silent.

"Ever wondered why we still do our best to kill them?"

"Is that the reason?"

’Yes... that is the reason. In case Grand Knight Vance loses this battle, I want you to collapse the whole underground passageway... it doesn’t matter if we can kill it, what we need to make sure is that it does crawl out to the surface on our end."