“Ugh…”

He had just woken up, and the pain he felt in his body was unbearable. He felt as if the troll itself had stomped on him several times with its full weight.

His vision was blurred as he tried to focus his eyes. Unfortunately, only faint light entered his eyes, as there were no other sources of light.

‘Is it nighttime?’ Thinking that since the fight was probably over and he was still alive, it meant he had to be in his bed or the infirmary inside the mayor’s mansion that belonged to Perus.

However, when Caleb wanted to move his arms, he only felt the sharp pain and clanking of the chains.

That made his hazy mind instantly wake up with clarity.

When his eyes finally started to focus, he noticed, despite the darkness, that he was in a place he had never been before. It almost looked like some cellar.

Just then, he heard the sounds of feet hitting the floor slowly as someone was walking towards him.

He wanted to raise his head but realized it was strapped to the bed he was lying on and couldn’t move at all.

“Hey! Who are you?” He asked loudly as he felt his heartbeat pounding. Thoughts of playing dead passed through his mind, but he was aware that the man had come to him because of his groaning, so there was no way he could make a surprise attack.

In fact, Caleb felt he couldn’t even make a normal attack. He felt weakened, and pain was coursing through his body. Not to mention, he was strapped to the ‘bed’ with chains.

“Good morning, Mr. Caleb. Or rather, good afternoon. I am just a small and unimportant person with some questions for Mr. Caleb.” Illyan spoke at that moment as he came eye to eye with Caleb and stared down at him.

“You… We don’t know each other, right? There should be no grudges. Are you sure you want to offend so many people? Because once I go missing, they will definitely look for me.” Caleb spoke hoarsely but with forced calmness as his eyes looked around for any opportunity to run or fight back.

“It is nothing personal, Mr. Caleb. Let’s just say you were unlucky. And I am already aware that Aziro and the mayor's people are looking for you. There is no need to try to intimidate me. For now, let me just check your state. I need you to be in top shape…”

After saying that, Illyan reached his hand towards Caleb’s arm to check his pulse. Then it seemed he was focusing on something.

However, after a little time had passed, Illyan felt sudden pricking pain in his heart as he coughed up blood which flowed through his mouth.

Caleb stared at it with calm but cold eyes as if knowing what had happened.

“Heh, so this is the famous Venom Flow, huh? It seems like it doesn’t have anything to do with venom but rather the ability to inject the flow into the enemy through contact and then destroy the body from within.”

Caleb felt that victory was at his grasp for a moment, but then his expression changed. What Caleb didn’t expect was for Illyan to just chuckle at the wound on his heart as he wiped the blood off his mouth with his sleeve.

“While I don’t think it is a technique solely unique to your father, as this is the logical next step in the application of the flow, he is still excellent at learning it on his own.” Illyan muttered to himself with excitement on his face as he felt the flow wreaking havoc in his body.

“You… Who are you?!” Caleb asked the same question he had after he woke up, but this time his voice trembled as fear spread through his body. He didn’t fear fighting a strong enemy, but he feared something he couldn’t fathom.

He felt that his flow had managed to make a large incision on the target’s heart, so how does he still smile so nonchalantly?

Did he pretend? No, there was no way. The blood would pump through the incision to create an even bigger wound, making him bleed out in seconds. But the man was unfazed.

Realizing this, Caleb’s scalp was tingling.

Hearing his screams, Illyan woke up from his reverie.

‘I shouldn’t waste time like this.’ He looked back at Caleb, who was scared, but it was clear to Illyan that he hadn’t given up on escaping.

Given an opportunity, just like when Illyan tried to check his pulse, the man would strike just like a viper. Of course, Illyan did it on purpose as he wanted to feel the flow firsthand.

The alien feeling in his body gave him the picture of what the flow really was.

Now, he just had to get the technique out of Caleb’s mouth.

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“I believe I already answered this question of yours, Mr. Caleb. Well then… We made our greetings, it is time for business. You see, I am not interested in creating a similar technique out of nothing, so I would appreciate it if you could just tell me how it works.”

Illyan said as he played with something in his hand. Caleb didn’t see it, but the dread he felt made him realize that he would probably not pull through this without a scratch.

“Hah, so that was your goal? And here I thought you were trying to oppose Aziro or something. Looks like you are a weakling who even needs this kind of technique…” Caleb mocked Illyan.

However, Illyan just smiled back.

“Maybe. Maybe not. Right now, however, my strength isn’t important at all as we have some hearty conversation in front of us.”

Illyan lifted the knife he had been holding the entire time, which allowed Caleb to see it finally.

“You won’t get anything out of me.” Caleb just turned his eyes away.

“There is certainly some chance of that since this is the first time I will be doing this. But it will be fun too.” Illyan said as he slashed through the clothes to see his chest properly.

“Ugh, do your worst.” But Caleb still didn’t show any weakness.

“Hmm… Where to start?” Illyan pondered as he lightly moved the knife across Caleb’s body. He shivered at the sensation of cold iron touching his body while his anticipation of pain made him tense and nervous.

Then, pricking pain assaulted him. He yelped, but then he noticed that it was just a small incision.

Looking down at his chest, he saw a small scratch as the knife’s edge was painted in red. It was basically nothing to a knight like himself.

However, his anticipation caused his body to be even more sensitive than normal.

Meanwhile, Illyan was deeply concentrating and thinking about how to begin.

He didn’t want to mutilate him too much, as he had to do something with him later on. At the same time, he felt that the man would not choose to concede so easily.

Illyan thought about what kind of pain was extremely uncomfortable while also not doing any extreme damage. After thinking for a while, he suddenly smiled and then turned around and left the room.

This made Caleb bewildered and, at the same time, relieved as his tense muscles finally relaxed.

But just as he did so, Illyan returned with a bowl with something white inside it.

He put it on the table and then turned to Caleb.

“I am curious, Mr. Caleb. Do you know how the salt feels in the wounds?”

When he heard that, he felt as if he was looking at a monster.

“N-no. Why?” Caleb asked as he stared at the bowl.

However, while he wasn’t looking, pain assaulted the fingers of his arms.

“Agh!” He thrashed around, but the chains were holding him down. The more he struggled, the more the chains bruised his arms and legs as his bones creaked.

Illyan decided to start with the nails. He heard that it was a great way to make someone feel pain while also not hurting them.

However, to tell the truth, his motive was deeper than that.

He needed to learn how to do it efficiently with as little mess as possible.

This was because he realized that simply using a whetstone on his own nails took too much time. He decided that it would be easier to just cut these nails at their root.

He avoided doing that all the time because of instinctive dislike towards self-harm and pain. But in truth, this was just like a little scratch to him.

So Illyan trained.

At first, he made a lot of mess with blood as he accidentally stabbed the tip of the knife deeply into the finger, touching even its bones.

This made Caleb yell hysterically and made him thrash even more, causing Illyan to be even more inaccurate.

“Hu hu, you should stop struggling. It would make it less painful, I swear.”

“Ah… ah… aghgh!”

The more he fought back, the more pain it brought to him. And the more pain he suffered, the more he struggled.

This cycle made Illyan absorbed in the act as he played around.

At some point, he took out all of the nails and stared at the mutilated arms and legs.

Caleb was gritting his teeth as some tears were rolling down his eyes.

But just as the pain numbed a little, Illyan took a pinch of salt in his hand.

Caleb’s eyes widened.

“N-no-Arghg?!”

Then Illyan started to literally massage the salt into the wound. It was slow and deliberate, causing the sharp and burning pain inside the already irritated wound.

“Aaagh! Please s-stop! I will tell you! I will! So please!” Caleb finally yielded as

the pain surpassed a certain threshold.

After all, he wasn’t his father who was feared by the people of the town. He was his son who was born into the prosperity his father brought him. He wasn’t used to pain that much.

Of course, he didn’t plan to play along either. He just wanted the pain away for now.

But unfortunately, that didn’t happen.

“Ugh?! Hey! I said stop! P-please!”

But Illyan didn’t listen as he continued. He felt as if the man’s screams were a harmony while his finger massaging the wounds was him playing an instrument. For a moment, he got lost in the feeling.

The feeling of power over his helpless captive. The feeling of ecstasy to cause harm and not be the one at the receiving end.

His eyes turned empty as a hint of insanity flashed inside them.

Caleb saw this but couldn’t say anything as he was already frothing from his mouth. The pain was too much for him.

Just then, sharp pain attacked Illyan’s mind as he heard a whisper.

“Don’t forget what you kidnapped him for.” A feminine voice resounded in his mind, waking him from his reverie.

Illyan stopped what he was doing and then looked at his hands tainted with blood and salt before looking at the writhing man.

He didn’t feel sympathy. He also didn’t feel regret for doing what he was doing.

But the realization that the man could die at this point was alarming.

‘I am still inexperienced…’

Thinking so, he muttered loudly.

“Thanks, Zephyr.”

No one answered him back, but he was sure she heard him. She was his alter ego after all.

Caleb, who couldn’t even think straight anymore, heard how Illyan was talking to himself and was cursing his luck. The man was mad and was probably causing him harm for fun. Who knows what would happen to him if he even lied to him.

“I will talk! Please!”

When Illyan heard this, he turned his attention to Caleb and smiled once again.

But to Caleb, the smile was one of the scariest things he had ever seen.

“Please talk. And tell me everything about the techniques. Every tip and any trick you have learned. The same about the aura level you reached. Also, tell me everything you know about the forces in the town.”

He sat down in the chair he had brought before and waited for Caleb to start talking. If he lied, he would notice thanks to his acute hearing that would detect the anomaly in the man’s beating heart.

If that happened, he would continue the torture and wouldn’t stop even if the man pleaded again. He would wait until he reached the man’s breaking point and only then would he let him go, only to continue once the pain receded…