Chapter 144: Awakening [ XXIV ]

The three instructors were busy arguing among themselves when the culprit suddenly began screaming in fear, trying to break free from the chains that bound him.They all turned to look at him simultaneously, confusion evident on their faces. What's wrong with him?

"Please, kill me immediately! I don't want him to kill me!" the culprit cried out loud.

His eyes had turned red, and his face was pale with fear.

The instructors would have dismissed his reactions as an act, but judging by everything they'd witnessed—it wasn't an act!

"Who are you talking about?"

"Tell us, immediately!"

They asked him seriously.

But he didn't respond and kept screaming for them to kill him.

At this point, even the instructor who had urged the others to kill him earlier didn't know what to do.

What could be so scary for one to seek his own death? These questions appeared in their minds.

One of them went closer to the screaming culprit and held his neck, halting his frantic movements for a few seconds.

"Answer us correctly: Who is this person you're talking about? Did he send you to kill our students?" he asked.

However, even with his serious question, the culprit still didn't respond and kept crying and pleading for death.

"Okay, let us make a deal here. Tell us who this person is and your relationship with him, and we will let you go without any sort of punishment. Is that okay?" the instructor asked.

The other instructors stood beside him and observed the reaction of the culprit silently. With such a deal, they were certain he would speak up.

"No, do not let me leave this place alive. Kill me already, please. I killed your students, I ended the future of those innocent students because of my ignorance. I deserve to die for it, do not show me any sort of mercy, please!"

This time, the instructors were even more confused about the matter.

They tried to speak with him for a few minutes.

The three of them left the room after he didn't reply.

"No, please don't leave me here! Don't, please don't!"

As they stepped out, the cries of the culprit became more frantic. But none of them returned, at this point, they had taken his excessive drama as some sort of mental issue and nothing to be taken seriously.

Now left alone in the room, the culprit suddenly quieted down and began looking around from time to time with fear in his eyes, while his heart kept praying for some supernatural intervention to end his misery.

Just then, the air in the room suddenly became erratic.

The wooden door started shaking vigorously as though something was trying to break in.

The dim glowing crystal in the room started flickering as well, adding more mystery to the scene.

The culprit's eyes were wide open as he watched all this take place, he knew just what was happening.

Before he could even cry out for help, he felt a touch on his shoulder, and his body froze at once.

He tilted his head back slowly, and it landed on the jet-black robe of the mysterious figure behind him.

"Remember our deal?" the cold voice of the figure standing beside him reached his ear.

"Please, please, it wasn't my fault. He was gone before I could even point him out. Just give me another chance, and I'll make everything right. If you don't, you can kill me and my entire family!"

At this moment, he was so scared that he unknowingly offered his family.

"Your family? Who told you they are still alive?" the mysterious figure chuckled menacingly.

Hearing that, the eyes of the culprit widened even more.

"When I said you'd have the most horrifying death, I wasn't speaking of your death alone, stupid. The moment you struck a deal with me, the life of your family always goes with it. They either blossom or perish. It's the latter in your case."

The culprit was frozen in place as he heard everything.

At this point, he felt like life was no longer worth it.

The only people he had been living for were now dead.

He imagined the faces of his family in his head.

The mysterious figure behind him chuckled and strolled in front of him.

The dim glowing crystal in the room illuminated his handsome visage and luscious, long white hair that fluttered vibrantly in the air—it was none other than Alister!

Alister observed the traumatized expression of the culprit in front of him with a calm and evil smile on his face.

"To be honest, I already knew you would fail from the very beginning," Alister laughed.

The culprit looked up with a shocked and questioning expression on his face, as if asking, "What?"

"My main purpose in using you was to act as a scapegoat so the school would stop their search for the real killers. The mission of capturing that other fellow was simply to send a message to him that he is not safe, and you did a good job sending that message. Haha," Alister continued, laughing sinisterly.

He went on about how everything unfolded according to the scenes he had predicted in his head.

The culprit became even more traumatized the more he listened.

"You planned on killing me right from the beginning?" the culprit asked with a horrified expression on his face.

He still recalled the promise of this dark fellow standing in front of him.

He had promised he would come save him right before execution, but now it seemed all of it was a lie.

"Yes, I planned on letting you die even if you completed the mission successfully. I would've spared the life of your family if you had succeeded and made them stinking rich in your absence to fulfill my part of the bargain."

Every word Alister said afterward tormented the culprit even more.

In the beginning, he thought his meeting with this person would bring success and joy to his family. He never got his name, but he called him the dark-robed angel because he took him for an angel.

But now he realized his fate—he had made a deal with the devil!

All deals with the devil are always fated to cause destruction and death.

Alister observed the pale expression of the culprit for a few seconds before bringing out a scorpion-like insect from his spatial ring. The insect was jet black in color, but it had red stripes that made it threatening.

Seeing the evil-looking insect, the culprit's eyes widened even more, and he began screaming for help once again.

Alister wasn't bothered with the screams. He wasn't foolish at all, the moment he stepped into this room, he had cast a noise-canceling spell in it, making it impossible for those outside to hear the screams of his target.

"Please... don't kill me with that!" the culprit pleaded.

He had heard of the soul-flesh-eating insect—a devilish creature that eats out a cultivator from the inside. Death by it is one of the most painful and traumatizing in the world.

Alister wasn't bothered by his frantic pleading.

He got closer, grabbed his neck, and dropped the insect into his mouth.

The insect began moving immediately and crawled through his throat into his body.

Following that, sounds of flesh getting torn apart echoed in the room.

The cries of the culprit followed.

Alister enjoyed the scene for a few seconds before disappearing.

Instantly, the noise-canceling spell wore off, and the instructors nearby heard the commotion.

They all rushed into the room at once but were greeted with the most horrifying scene.

---

Rowan returned to the village.

On his way back, he found and quickly hunted down two robust antelopes, carrying them on his shoulder back to the village.

As he reached the border, the soldiers rushed toward him, amazed by the huge antelopes on his shoulder but more concerned about how he had left the village without them noticing.

"How did you get out without us seeing?" one of the soldiers asked, eyes wide with surprise.

Rowan quickly concocted a believable lie to explain his situation before handing the massive antelopes to them to take care of.

Afterward, he walked into the village.

He passed through the farms, and the farmers greeted him.

There weren't as many people on the farm as there usually were, probably because there was not much work to do.

"Not much work today," he thought.

Liara and two of the farm heads were there. Liara approached Rowan and gave some reports before reminding him of his promise to bring livestock to the village.

"Don't forget about the livestock you promised," she said with a gentle smile. seaʀᴄh thё NôvelFire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

"I haven't forgotten," Rowan assured her.

He then left and went to the village square, where the soldiers could be seen training their various techniques.

The pure martial group had boxing matches to test their new skills.

The archers fired arrows at targets, enhancing their aim.

Most swordsmen continued swinging their swords in patterns of their individual skills, while others clashed against one another.

The scene was sharp and productive; Rowan couldn't help but enjoy it for a few minutes before leaving to meet Riela, who should be teaching her apprentice by this time.

Today was the day Rowan would distribute the sewing machines to them.

He could've done it earlier but he had to wait since Riela was mostly busy with magic than teaching in the last few days.

However, when he got there, he was greeted with an entirely different scene that made his eyes and mouth open wide in shock.

...

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