Chapter 40: Final Cleansing [3]
"You're Funny!" Eus laughed from ear to ear, holding the spike that had pierced his brain.
"For God's sake..." Panic gripped me, but I couldn't do anything.
All the mana I had accumulated was already exhausted, there was no escape now!
The SS- level mana inside Eus's body all gathered into a small grape-sized orb and suddenly exploded.
I closed my eyes, then remembered something. I might survive!
***
"For God's sake…" Killian looked at the mansion and the surrounding areas being absorbed into a blue vortex, his mouth wide open.
"He's not dead, right?" He could barely utter these words, afraid of this possibility.
He still had unfinished business with Jin, and how would he get down from here alone?
"I'm still here, you idiot!" Jinn smacked the back of Killian's head and sat beside him.
The fight wasn't as easy as he had thought, facing many difficulties against a lower-ranked opponent.
'He was very smart... if it weren't for the bond created between Cassian and me due to the skill, I would be ashes now.'
Jin sighed and closed his eyes to rest.
After using his Legacy skill on Cassian, a sort of bond was created between them, along with some skills.
One of them was
"Speak." Jinn spoke after mentally resting a bit, organizing his thoughts now.
Killian closed his eyes for a second, gathered his thoughts, then began to speak.
***
"This place…" Killian looked at a rather large building from which the cries of puppets continuously emerged. The cries sent shivers down anyone hearing them for the first time.
Jin stared at the facility, unable to help but grind his teeth in anger. Some of his comrades had passed through this facility multiple times before and had suffered greatly here.
Maybe Lyra had screamed in this place long ago… and Elara too. Jin advanced slowly, his intent unknown.
"Jinn! Don't let this place be destroyed, please, I can feel him here!" Killian shouted from afar. Jin paused for a moment at hearing this, then continued walking.
"Alright…" he muttered softly as he approached the guards at the entrance, wasting no time in knocking them unconscious.
He wouldn't kill any of the workers here, as most of them were forced into this. But if he saw any member of this society, he wouldn't hesitate to burn them to ashes…
The alarm sirens blared as Jin entered the place, seeing guards converging around him in various ways.
The commonality between them was that they were all at rank B+. Jinn had heard from Lyra and Elara that puppets were sent to hell the moment they reached rank A. Maybe that was why there were no strong people here.
Since the guards were all puppets, he knocked them out with his words and continued walking simply. Nothing in this place could slow him down… nothing.
Jin passed through feeding and torture rooms, destroying everything, killing society members, and knocking out the puppets. He freed those trapped in narrow coffins, destroyed the sacred fruits in the stockpile, and finally reached the laboratory.
The red lights still illuminated the corridors of the lab, and the loud noises only made old Adam more frightened. He hugged a magical weapon between his hands, pointing it at the door while trembling with anxiety.
He had never trained for combat; all he knew was conducting experiments and scientific studies. He had never fought before, but he was forced to wield a weapon now. His appearance was so pitiful that even Jin couldn't kill him immediately, Jinn who had already killed hundreds.
but of course, pity wasn't the only reason old Adam wasn't killed…
"You are the chief Scientist here, aren't you?" Jinn said as he grabbed old Adam's weapon, destroying it instantly in his hand.
Nothing here could affect an S-rank assassin.
"Y-yes…" As a coward who never knew the concept of courage and honor, old Adam was ready to do anything to save the little life he had left.
"Once the puppets on this floor reach rank A, they are sent to hell and their addiction to the fruit is magically cured." Jin placed his hand on old Adam's shoulder as he spoke, then leaned his head towards him slightly.
"Whatever method you use to do that, I want you to tell me about it immediately."
Hearing Jin's demand, the poor old man's expression darkened, and he couldn't help but tremble even more.
What Jin wanted from him was the key to destroying this society entirely, so what should he do now?
Would he become brave for the first time in his life and sacrifice himself to preserve the society he had worked on for so many years? Would he remain brave and refuse this stranger's threats?
Brave Adam, the name sounded great to him.
"I will give it to you…"
***
A few hours later…
Below…
About two thousand people gathered at the northern barrier of the destroyed city, all waiting for one person.
Most of them were at rank B, and a good number of them had just entered rank A-.
After most of the imposed limits were lifted, 20% of those at rank B+ immediately advanced.
They were all stronger than their level, such a force could only be an elite army in the human domain…
60% of the people here were humans, 30% were goblins, and the rest were dwarves.
This was due to the island's proximity to humans and goblins, and having a few dwarves even here was impressive in itself. Once all these people emerged into the outside world… everything would literally change.
Those at rank B- here could defeat those at rank B+ outside, due to the mechanical arm and enhanced body they had from modification. The same applied to those at rank A-… a force not to be underestimated.
Elara carried Asher's body on his back, his red dry eyes looking at the top of the barrier without any clear emotions.
He didn't even know what to think now.
After regaining the freedom he had longed for, what should he do now? As someone with a complicated family situation, he didn't wish to return to them.
He wanted to stay with the group as friends after getting out and spend time together… Asher, Gilbert, and Lyra died… only Jin was left.
His choice became clear, as someone who had nothing outside.
"We will bury everyone first." He muttered softly, glancing at Asher's body as he spoke, frowning more.
"He's here!" "He's really here!"
His thoughts were interrupted by distant shouts, immediately understanding the reason. Jin appeared from the sky, holding three people in both hands. Elara didn't recognize any of them.
He looked like a prince from a fairy tale, something out of this world. His new appearance helped people to believe in him even more, and also remember his face. Attractive people are more trustable at the end, this is a truth that can not be changed.
"I'm a bit late, sorry about that!" Jinn spoke without much care, he needed more time to gather some mana and completely destroy the puppet facility.
Using all those injections and gathering everyone on the top floor to get them out… It took longer than necessary.
He took a deep breath and exhaled a massive amount of mana near the barrier, which wasn't functioning anyway.
As the owner of the {Crafting} skill, Jinn could create things like spatial portals with almost no effort, all he needed were the coordinates of the locations and enough mana.
The condition was that he needed to understand how spatial portals worked, and fortunately, he did.
He had been in charge of the transportation department for the StarHold family for some time as a spy for Loana and had learned a lot about portals while doing so. He was even the one who transported Cassian to the Mountain of Fog.
People immediately began running into the portals.
The portals were rectangular, painted in bright white, and framed by thick metal. The frames were to keep the portal stable in place for as long as possible; he didn't want it to dissipate while people were passing through.
Sixty percent of his mana was drained just like that, but he didn't care much.
He could recover it later...
When people exited the portals, they found themselves already on the island's shore, with a huge number of empty ships waiting for them. Jin had personally come and placed the ships there earlier; he wanted to prepare everything for them in advance.
The sound of crying and shouting could be heard from the shore that day... accompanied by tears, breakdowns, and the inability to express themselves. Some people struggled to face the sunlight after being deprived of it for so long, but they didn't hate it at all.
Jin saw Elara carrying Asher's body on his back, staring directly at the sun with an empty expression. Among the lively group, only these two remained...
'What a transformation...' Jin sighed and stared at the sun as well.
He had only missed the sun for four months, far less than the others who had endured for years, but he also felt nostalgic for it.
He could understand the crying and shouting...
***
In a distant place... specifically on the upper island where the masters lived... a girl about 18 years old could be seen.
She was asleep in her room, with marks of beating and severe headache on her face.
Her hair was brown, and her eyes were honey-colored, which she revealed when she opened them with a glow of anger.
"Cassian!" She pronounced every letter of his name with rage and got up quickly.
Was it a dream? But she still felt the pain... She opened her room door and wandered through the mansion's corridors, shocked at the absence of any puppets.
She could understand no one being around since it was the time everyone went out, but why were there no puppets? She didn't know what had happened...
She quickly went outside, thinking that someone might be holding an event, perhaps ordering all the puppets to go out.
"Is it another public execution?" Diana laughed lightly while thinking about it and quickened her steps.
"This...!"
She collapsed to her knees when she went out, her eyes wide with disbelief.
"This…! This…! This!"
Her mouth and teeth trembled; she had never seen this scene before.
Her relatives… her brothers… her sisters…
Even her rival...
They were all collapsed on the ground, drenched in their blood, life having left them long ago. Even their bodies were cold now.. She had seen many puppets die in her life, but not people like her.
It was the same appearance, but not the same feeling.
"This can't be... this can't..." Still in disbelief, she began to lose her sanity bit by bit.
"It's a dream... yes, it's a dream..." She kept whispering to herself for minutes until she screamed and cried loudly, tearing at her hair.
In the end, she stopped involuntarily when she saw a golden fruit the size of a grape slide out of one of her brothers' pockets.
For the first time in her life, she felt an irresistible urge towards that fruit - the fruit she had used to manipulate the puppets all her life.
"Am I… have I become a puppet?"