The Swordmaster Who Returned After 1,000 Years

Chapter 95

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]

Chapter 95

As soon as the banquet at the royal palace ended, Kaylen rode his drake straight to Mount Melzrek.

The lodge was completely silent, with not even a caretaker in sight.

‘Is it because this place belonged to Black Skull?’

“Stay here.”

[Ugh… Can I sleep inside?]

“Sure. I won’t ride you on the way back.”

Today had indeed been a grueling march.

Giving the groaning drake some time to rest, Kaylen followed the memories of Black Skull.

‘It was the fourth room on the left of the first floor of the lodge.’

Creaaak.

As he opened the lodge door, the interior was unexpectedly spotless, without a speck of dust.

Click.

The fourth room's door was a solid iron door, completely locked...

Shhk-

With a single swing of Kaylen’s sword, the door was sliced clean in half.

No, it wasn’t just the door—

The entire fourth room, from floor to ceiling, was split in two.

“This is it.”

Kaylen followed the revealed gap in the floor and descended the staircase leading underground.

The underground atmosphere was the complete opposite of the clean surface above.

The dark and eerie space was filled with sinister dark mana, and the walls and floors were densely embedded with skulls.

As Kaylen passed through,

Clack. Clack.

The skulls embedded in the walls clattered their jaws together.

-Intruder detected.

-Eliminate.

With those words, the skulls lodged in the walls and floor began rising one by one.

“Tsk.”

Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Kaylen swung his sword.

He advanced, cutting down every undead that remained in the corridor, until he finally reached his target.

“This is it.”

A door made of black bones.

It was Black Skull's storage room and research lab.

Soon, Kaylen was met with a gruesome sight.

A vast underground chamber, where heaps of bones and decayed flesh were piled up like mountains.

Several grotesque creatures roamed freely within.

A creature with a human body and a dog's head.

Another with the body of a giant spider and a human head.

Most of them were hybrids, combining a human with an animal.

Among them, the ones with human heads trembled as they gazed around in confusion.

‘Chimeras… Did they go out of control after Black Skull's death?’

Beings created by fusing multiple creatures together.

A thousand years ago, during the era of the Empire, chimera experiments had been one of the most common practices among dark mages.

‘There was no information about them in the memories.’

Kaylen bit his lip as he looked at the chimeras that had already collapsed lifeless on the floor.

I should have come sooner if I knew there were chimeras here.

Woof! Woof woof!

Aaaahhh!

The barking of dogs and human screams overlapped.

As the chaotic scene before him descended further into madness, Kaylen drew his sword.

“Rather than live in this hell… I shall grant you a peaceful end.”

Once transformed into a chimera, there was no returning to their original bodies…

Without the dark mage's control, the chimeras wouldn’t survive for long.

Even a thousand years ago, attempts were made to save those who had been turned into chimeras, but every experiment ultimately ended in failure.

For those who became chimeras, death was the only salvation.

“May your next life be peaceful.”

Swish.

As Kaylen extended his sword, a brilliant white light emanated.

Sizzle—

A pure white line traced across the chimeras’ necks.

In an instant, white flames engulfed their bodies.

Before they could even feel pain, they crumbled to ash and vanished.

Walking through the fading white flames, Kaylen sliced through the door to the next room.

Unlike the previous slaughterhouse, the revealed space was calm.

There were no corpses or bones.

Instead, it resembled a library, with shelves densely packed with books.

‘Most of these books are written in Infernal.’

Since they belonged to Black Skull Cesar, they were likely dark magic tomes.

Kaylen was about to burn them all at once but hesitated.

‘There might be something related to the Combine Suit in here.’

The function to merge mana suits was something unheard of in the human realm.

However, among these dark magic books, there might be records related to it.

‘I should take them with me.’

Kaylen stored the books within the demonic relic.

After clearing out the library, only two rooms remained.

“Hoo…”

One of them was a storage room filled with mana stones.

A vast chamber stacked high with mana stones, just as he had seen in Black Skull Cesar’s memories.

‘No more worries about mana stones now.’

Swish. Swish.

After sweeping them all into storage,

The next room was Cesar's office.

Several books and documents were neatly arranged on the desk and shelves.

The books were written in Infernal, but the documents contained both Infernal and the continental language.

‘I should check these.’

He packed the books and skimmed through the documents.

Among them, he took some written in Infernal and read those in the human language.

‘Most of it is about chimera experiments.’

The documents described which combinations of humans and beasts yielded the best results.

As soon as Kaylen saw such documents, he burned them without hesitation.

Countless sheets of paper floated into the air and burned away.

“It’s all just experimental records.”

As the flames continued to consume everything, the papers in the office quickly began to dwindle.

Is there anything useful?

As Kaylen floated another stack of documents into the air, his eyes caught something.

‘This is...’

The contents were completely different from everything he had burned so far.

***

The next day.

King Kaitan jolted awake from his bed.

His head throbbed from the excessive drinking, but his mind was restless.

‘T-That man... Why did he ask for the Melzrek Lodge?’

There was a rule passed down only to the kings of the Bormian Kingdom regarding that place.

— Do not enter. Do not concern yourself with it.

In the past, Kaitan had never understood why such a policy existed for such a small lodge.

But now, he was starting to get a vague idea.

‘As per my ancestor's instructions, I’ve sent a considerable amount of supplies there…’

Black Skull Cesar.

Information about him was a top-secret known only to the king.

The rule passed down through generations was to neither aid nor obstruct Black Skull—only to observe from a distance.

However, in order to save Diether Hart, Kaitan had sought Cesar's help, and in return, he had to offer countless tributes.

People and sacrifices. Beasts and mana stones.

‘Everything sent there disappeared without a trace...’

To Kaitan, the Melzrek Lodge was no different from an altar.

But why had Sword Master Stein requested that land?

‘Ugh. I drank too much yesterday…’

Had he not been so intoxicated, he wouldn’t have rashly agreed to hand it over so easily.

Dragging his heavy body out of bed, Kaitan immediately summoned his royal guards.

“We're going to Melzrek Lodge.”

No matter what, the Sword Master wouldn’t have gone there right away.

With that thought, Kaitan decided to inspect the lodge one last time before relinquishing it.

‘I must ensure that no evidence linking me or my ancestors is found…’

Stein's power surpassed even the Sword Masters recorded in history.

Didn’t he burn down the massive Combine Suit and eradicate even the ancestor who had seized control of the palace from the shadows?

Kaitan feared that power.

If that sword were ever turned against him… could he stop it?

‘Impossible.’

Kaitan glanced at his royal guards.

The strongest knights in the kingdom. The finest masters, forming an elite unit.

However…

Even if all of them attacked at once, they wouldn’t stand a chance against the Sword Master.

A force beyond control.

Kaitan found him more burdensome than even the ancestors who had operated in the shadows of the royal family.

At least Black Skull Cesar had the goal of elevating the Bormian lineage into demonic beings.

Ultimately, he assisted the royal family rather than opposing them.

‘I tried to tie him to the royal family in any way I could, but he rejected everything…’

The enigmatic Sword Master had refused every offer and only asked for the Melzrek Lodge.

A place so neglected that hardly anyone even remembered its existence.

Surely… there must be a reason behind it.

"Hurry, let's go!"

Urging the others, Kaitan boarded the carriage and arrived at Melzrek Lodge.

And then...

"Your Majesty. T-This place..."

"There are undead here."

"But... all the undead have ceased moving, and there are traces of aura..."

"It seems that Sir Stein has already been here."

The royal guards, investigating the underground chamber, were in awe.

"He slashed through space with a single sword."

"Look at those countless skeletons, all cut down at once. Hundreds of them felled with a single strike."

Kaitan furrowed his brows.

He found their admiration unpleasant.

‘Stein... He definitely knew about this place beforehand.’

How did he know?

Could it have been when he went off riding a drake under the pretense of eliminating Black Skull?

With a restless expression, Kaitan pressed forward deeper into the underground chamber.

"Ugh..."

"This is horrifying."

Though most of the chamber had been cleansed by Kaylen, the remaining bones and flesh made the men grimace.

It wasn’t hard to imagine what had transpired in this underground space.

Beyond this chamber...

"There’s nothing here."

"Only empty bookshelves remain. The entire space has been cleared out."

"Is that so?"

They had already taken everything.

What exactly had been here?

Kaitan couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling creeping over him.

"Let’s return..."

He had gone to the trouble of making a personal trip early in the morning, only to return empty-handed.

All he learned was that Sword Master Stein had been there before him.

With a heavy heart, Kaitan returned to the palace.

‘It's already night...’

Despite leaving early in the morning, by the time he returned, the sun had completely set.

Kaitan, who rarely left the palace, felt utterly exhausted.

"Chamberlain, I will drink alone tonight."

"Understood, Your Majesty."

On any other day, he would have indulged in a grand drinking session.

But tonight, his mind was too troubled to share drinks with others.

"Ugh..."

With a gloomy expression, Kaitan downed his drink.

The sudden appearance of the Sword Master made the alcohol taste bitter.

‘Because of that Sword Master, everything is in shambles. Even Diether Hart... he died because of him.’

First Prince Diether Hart.

Yesterday, he had ruthlessly shattered his bones.

But in truth, Diether was the child he cherished most.

With the saintess and the Sword Master watching, he couldn’t openly defend his son, who had succumbed to demonic corruption.

Seeing his son’s remains disappear shattered his heart.

Still...

He couldn’t allow Violet to retrieve the bones of her demon-worshipping brother.

With the saintess watching keenly, he couldn’t afford to leave any room for accusations.

The Saintess of Sanctuary.

She looked young, but she was a terrifying woman who had lived for a thousand years.

"Diether Hart..."

Muttering his son's name, Kaitan drank until he passed out.

And the next morning...

‘W-What is this...!’

A dagger was lodged in his pillow.

Along with it, a piece of paper.

Kaitan's eyes widened in shock.

The handwriting was unmistakable.

[Send 100 slaves, and 100 chickens, cows, dogs, and sheep each.]

There was no doubt.

It was...

A report he had sent to Cesar.

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]