Leonidas didn’t look Deacon Bruthers' way. A few weeks ago, he might have really had to take the opinion of this man into consideration. However, now was a different matter entirely.
He had just defeated the family that had been a thorn in the Bruthers family’s side for decades, and he wasn’t in the mood to listen to the man who had failed to accomplish the same thing after so long.
“Anabel.”
“Yes, Lord!”
“There’s a hidden passageway in that direction, seven meters. Clear the debris and open it.”
Leonidas pointed in a direction.
The moment the words fell, the expressions of the two Healers changed wildly. Their fear was suddenly overwhelmed by something else, their limbless bodies writhing on the ground.
“The Rardins have served Violet Waters for countless generations! We’ve been here from the beginning! All we’ve done is slave away for the people!
“How many lives have we saved?! How many people have we brought back from the brink of death?! How—!”
“—Much money did you make squeezing people dry at their greatest time of need?”
Leonidas’ low baritone cut through Averit’s plea.
The movement of debris sounded as Anabel cleared what remained from the ground, revealing a smooth wooden finish. No matter what angle you looked at, there seemed to be nothing there.
However, Leonidas had cast enough Tremor Blessings and swept his Mana Sense through enough places, to know hollow ground when he saw it.
“Smash it,” he said coldly.
Anabel took action without hesitation, her sword blazing to life and her eyes flashing with blue as she swung down, hard.
BANG! CRACK!
Anabel stumbled backward, her sword blade breaking in two and sending a piece spiraling through the air. However, the ground beneath her was untouched and untainted.
Leonidas’ gaze narrowed.
It was no wonder that piece of the ground was so smooth and untouched, it turned out there was actually such powerful protection.
Leonidas snatched out at the air, catching the rogue blade piece in his claws.
Before anyone could react, he took a breath, his aura changing.
Deacon Bruthers’ and the faces of the other Fighters changed. In fact, even Barat, who had mostly stayed expressionless all this while, widened his eyes as his spear shook with bloodlust.
For a moment, it didn’t feel like Leonidas was before them at all. Rather, it was like he had become a striped tiger, majestic in bearing and wild in nature.
‘War God Style: Leaping Tiger.’
Leonidas took a strong step forward and the broken blade in his hand blazed to life.
As though being seared by a hot iron, the blade steamed, a raging blue Mana pooling around it.
Leonidas’ back flexed, his torso corking, all to release it all in a single breath.
The faint roar of a tiger echoed out beneath the howling winds, the broken blade making it to the very location Anabel had struck down upon in the blink of an eye.
Right then, a barrier appeared, dancing with complicated runes. It shimmered with a blue light no less radiant than Leonidas’ own Mana.
However, after a brief clash, the barrier cracked and eventually crumbled into pieces.
At the same time, the broken blade shattered along with it, speeding out into the surroundings.
Leonidas subconsciously took another step forward, entering the range of his Mana Sense and trying to take control of the Mana. But, his expression changed when he felt how sluggish it was.
Reacting quickly, Leonidas abandoned his original plan and conjured Mana Shields from scratch, being barely fast enough to save himself and Anabel from a fate of being riddled with holes.
Leonidas’ gaze flickered.
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That Mana, it fought against his control.
In the spot the barrier had appeared, there was now a gaping opening leading to a wide stone staircase.
“Guard the entrance. Deacon Bruthers, you can come with me to witness this for yourself.”
Deacon Bruthers, who had felt suffocated not only by Leonidas’ disregard, but also the power he had just displayed, was caught off guard by Leonidas’ invite.
It had been a very long time since he was so flustered and aimless. One moment, everything had been in his control, and in the next, he was flung far behind.
He suddenly regretted being so slow to appear. He felt that maybe he had had his guard up against the wrong threat while Leonidas had become a tiger he had raised to maturity.
Still, Deacon Bruthers slowly nodded. He realized that whatever was in the basement below, was likely the evidence Leonidas needed to justify his raid.
The two entered the passageway beneath the screaming of the two Rardin family Healers.
The tunnel illuminated itself with flickering blue flames.
The two men walked in silence. They should have had a lot to talk about, yet neither said a single word.
Soon, they had made it to a spacious underground room. No, it was more accurate to call it a hidden basement floor of the estate as it was more than large enough.
Leonidas simply picked a room and opened the door.
Just like that, piles of Nocturnal Root came into view, many taller than even Leonidas himself.
“This should be all the evidence you need. Send someone to test the water wells of the town and you’ll understand.”
Just as Leonidas had expected, the Rardins had begun to get antsy.
Believing that their original dose of Nocturnal Root hadn’t been enough, they stocked up on more, hoping to end this once and for all.
Deacon Bruthers’ brows shot up.
He didn’t know enough about plants and herbs to recognize these on sight. But, just standing in this room made his eyes feel heavy.
Leonidas quickly closed the door. With any more sniffs, it might be they who ended up dying an early death.
“They targeted the commoners? Why would they do that?”
“Isn’t it obvious to you by now? They’re the pawns of Swallowing Tusk.”
Deacon Bruthers’ pupils constricted. However, by the time he had registered what Leonidas said, the latter had continued along, opening more doors.
Many of these rooms were filled with piles of wealth.
Gold and silver coins, and armories. It sounded nice to have millions of coins, until you realized just how heavy and how much space such a thing required.
As for the armories, when the only way you could counter your greatest rival was with numbers, the Rardin family truly had no choice but to keep large amounts of equipment on hand.
However, what was shocking about these armories was just the sheer number of Level 3 weapons there were. Leonidas felt like he was looking at an Exchange rather than a noble family’s home.
It was likely that when the Rardins finally revealed their true colors, they planned on using these armories to outfit even their weaker Knights and Paladins, all in a final push to overturn the Bruthers family.
In Leonidas’ opinion, though, they were naive. If he was Deacon Ezor, he wouldn’t give up the chance to conquer a Sub-Shrine.
Aside from this vast wealth, there were also several alchemy labs, filled with test tubes and glassware.
These labs were the locations the Rardins used to corner off the potions market. Just from the sheer number of them, it seemed that they had more than just Averit and Oudin working on them.
Potion-making was a Healer Class Profession, but this didn’t mean others couldn’t do it, it just took more effort and more unique methods.
There was also the possibility that the two Rardin Healers had others do the preparatory steps, while they took over during the final leg. Leonidas didn’t know enough about the Profession to conclude one way or another, though.
Finally, Leonidas entered the final room with Deacon Bruthers trailing behind him.
What he saw, though, threatened to send his calm spiraling out of control.
In the center of the room, a glass coffin lay. All sorts of tubes connected to its sides, injecting needles almost invisible to the naked eye into it.
Within the glass coffin a naked woman lay. Age had worn her face, but she still somehow seemed alive.
Every so often, one half of the needles would pump something into her, while the other half would take something away.
Leonidas’ heartbeat sped out of his control, a dense killing aura wafting from him like a condensed steam.
It was his mother.
She lay there as though she just might wake up any moment now. But, he knew that she never would.
Taking heavy steps forward that threatened to shatter the ground, Leonidas walked to a test tube that pumped into his mother, putting a hand on it.
<500 mL of Level 3 Concentrated Nutrition Potion>
<1000 Blessing Units>
Leonidas moved his hand and placed a palm on another.
<500 mL of Level 3 Concentrated Vitality Potion>
<1000 Blessing Units>
Leonidas moved again, his jaw clenching tighter and tighter.
<500 mL of Level 4 Concentrated Healing Potion>
<2000 Blessing Units>
Leonidas slowly walked to the opposing side, placing his hand on the liquids being pumped out of his mother’s body.
<10 mL of Level 7 Concentrated Half-Beast Bloodline>
<6937 Blessing Units>
A usual bloodline was worth 1000 missions of its equivalent rank. However, 10 milliliters was only a tenth of the usual dose of such a thing. That meant this full bloodline was worth almost 70 000 Blessing Units.
Judging by the number of vials, there were just two here. But, off to the side, in a preservation glass case, there were several rows more.
Just at a glance, there were at least 30.
This meant that the Rardins had collected three full bloodline samples from his mother. And, even after she had already died, they refused to let her go.
Leonidas clenched his fists hard, blood dripping out from his palm.
Deacon Bruthers’ gaze flashed with hesitation. But, in the end, he didn’t draw his blade.
Without the Rardins, if he lost Leonidas too, their chances against Swallowing Tusk would plummet to zero.
Leonidas took deep breaths, trying to calm himself.
‘A Level 4 Potion… You can’t exchange for things above your Level unless you’re a Fallen Apostle or Disciple. This means that this potion must have come from Deacon Ezor.
‘This method of forcing a corpse to continue producing blood must have also come from Deacon Ezor. Such a complex method would cost a hefty sum just to learn, let alone implement.’
From what it looked like, they needed to exchange 1500 milliliters of precious potions, for a total of 4000 Blessing Units, just to get 1 milliliter of his mother’s blood. That meant 400 000 Blessing Units had to be spent just to accumulate one dose!
But, was it worth it? Of course it was!