### Chapter: 323
Rabid Dog, Garda
He was just an ordinary guy from a regular family.
A simple man who loved to play with the puppy he grew up with, laughing and enjoying life without any big dreams.
But one day, misfortune struck him.
In Garda’s world, his kind was treated as slaves.
The village where Garda lived was a slave village that had to regularly offer people to the great beings.
Garda was a naive person.
In some ways, he was a bit slow.
So, even though he was past the age for marriage, he eventually lost his value in the slave village.
A slave who can’t have children is considered a useless labor resource.
Eventually, Garda was caught by the villagers and sacrificed to the great beings.
What followed was a nightmare.
The great beings tore apart Garda’s head, played with his brain, and poked at all his nerves.
Then, they read his memories and brought his beloved puppy to combine it with him.
Thus, the combat chimera was born.
It was the Rabid Dog.
The Rabid Dog stood there, dazed, not knowing what he was doing.
Why was he suddenly reminiscing about the past?
“Looks like a cockroach.”
He heard the voice of a great being looking down at him after he lost in the arena.
Unable to bring himself to kill his comrade who had also become a chimera, the Rabid Dog was forced to take a beating instead.
“I need to mess with the brain more. Yes, let’s force some illusion magic in there. That way, he’ll know no fear towards battle. A chimera only needs to have murderous intent.”
The Rabid Dog felt a headache and rubbed his forehead.
Drip—
Blood trickled down his forehead.
Where did this blood come from?
The Rabid Dog had no idea.
The next day, when he faced his chimera comrade in a revenge match, the Rabid Dog tore him apart mercilessly.
“Woof!”
At that moment, the sound of a dog barking echoed.
Did he bark perhaps?
The Rabid Dog checked his mouth.
But strangely, there was no familiar dog snout he typically felt.
The only friend that made him promise he could live if someone loved him.
It was Ir’s snout.
“Woof!”
Another bark sounded.
The Rabid Dog turned his head.
There sat a dog, waiting quietly.
As soon as it noticed the Rabid Dog, its eyes sparkled, and it used its four legs to jump towards him.
“A.”
Tears welled up in the Rabid Dog’s eyes.
That dog was definitely Ir.
“Ir!”
“Woof!”
Ir charged at the Rabid Dog.
The Rabid Dog joyfully embraced Ir, laughing.
The murderous intent that used to torment his mind had somehow vanished.
The Rabid Dog only smiled brightly, holding Ir close.
Tears streamed down his face.
Then he realized one fact.
This was a death montage.
A vision seen right before dying.
‘I’ve lost.’
It was the axe he swung with all his might.
But ultimately, that axe couldn’t reach Kraush’s sword.
However, the Rabid Dog felt calm.
It was actually too late.
He couldn’t bring himself to kill anyone, endlessly harming others without being able to die due to the memory of Ir being transplanted into him.
“Ir, I’m sorry. I was greedy.”
For your sake, the one who died because of me.
He wanted to live just a little longer in this world and clung to life.
Kraush realized he had been outsmarted and bit his lip.
Just as he began to condense the white flames to escape between the hands, he saw Igrit swinging his staff.
The moment he struck the ground with his staff, Kraush felt as if the whitish skin that had changed was being ripped away, with gravity pulling him downward.
At the same time, the hand of smoke above him quickly came down toward Kraush.
Kraush realized what the white mark Igrit left on his body was.
This mark was meant to forcibly draw him toward a predetermined point.
Including his own smoke.
“Time to go.”
Igrit smiled as he saw Kraush being pulled in between the two smoke hands.
Captured.
He felt certain of it.
Blug!
Before his purple elongated claws pierced through his chest.
“Cough?!”
Igrit’s eyes widened as his newly acquired fedora flew into the air.
Black blood gushed out from Igrit’s mouth.
The poison that spread throughout his entire body had rocked him in an instant.
Igrit tremblingly turned to look behind himself.
There stood a middle-aged man with black and purplish hair similar to Haring’s.
He revealed a menacing aura alongside the black-purple poison spilling from his body.
“Finally found these rotten things.”
With the help of the Rabid Dog and Igrit, the one trapped in illusions was none other than the Poison King, Hauran Lagrain.
Once the Rabid Dog was dead, and the illusion over him was lifted, Hauran had entrusted the Fourth Princess Sera Betella to her protection and dashed into the most chaotic location.
And seeing Kraush fighting Igrit, he ambushed from behind.
Igrit realized why he hadn’t detected Hauran earlier.
It was the white flame aura mingling with the smoke.
That white flame had disrupted Igrit’s perception, causing him to focus solely on Kraush without paying attention.
It was purely because Kraush had proven to be a formidable opponent.
Igrit’s gaze met Kraush’s once again.
With the damage he sustained, Kraush barely wore a faint smile through the disintegrating smoke.
‘Could it be from the very beginning...’
Using the white flame was to draw him in but also to hide Hauran, who was approaching.
Thinking he had trapped them, the tables had turned against him.
“The Black Witch...”
Igrit thought this was the worst-case scenario as he attempted to muster the last of his strength.
Blug, blug, blug!
Without any hesitation, Hauran thrust his hand through Igrit’s body multiple times.
Once in the neck, twice in the shoulder, six times in the chest, and even through his legs, Hauran stamped the falling Igrit.
Covered in countless holes thanks to Hauran, Igrit’s body quaked intermittently but no longer moved.
“I won’t let you die.”
Igrit was riddled with holes yet somehow was unable to die.
The poison seeping into his body granted him a forced delay on his death.
“Since I have many tales to share as a cost of attacking Lagrain.”
Hauran spoke ominously with a menacing glint as the head of Lagrain.
With that, Hauran raised his head.
In the distant underground space, he spotted Kraush, barely emerging.
A man favored by the Fourth Princess, even adored by his daughter.
Hauran’s gaze fell upon the torn body of the Rabid Dog nearby.
That pup must have been the one who trapped him in illusions.
Even Hauran had fallen prey to that illusion.
Yet, not only did Kraush bring down such an opponent but even pushed Igrit, whom Hauran regarded as a powerful enemy, to this level.
‘He’s not just stronger.’
Hauran became convinced.
The Ten Heavenly Lords would be replaced sooner rather than later.
All his worries for his daughter weighed heavily on him, and he sighed.
But it wasn’t time to rest yet.
He still had to deal with the World Erosions hidden within the palace and the raging Jeblam.
And there was the matter of settling a deal with the Fourth Princess Sigrid Ephania.
“The Empire is bound to change.”
Due to one girl and one boy.
Thinking of the future Empire that could change, Hauran lifted Igrit.