Stars spilled across the night sky like diamonds on a black carpet. Shining the brightest among them, the moon overlooked the world beneath it.
In the serene forest, the trees danced as gusts of winds blew by.
Besides one such tree, someone carelessly stepped on a twig lying on the ground.
However, nary a sound was made, so the men unflinchingly continued on their path.
As they got closer and closer, the temperature gradually dropped. They were confused about the reason behind it, but they were capable enough of deducing that magic was involved.
Soon enough, they came across the true cause behind the change in temperature.
"…" The man walking in front stared at the huge ice column impaling the ground.
The ice column was radiating such a strong cold aura that it was even affecting the surroundings, hence the chill around them.
"How terrible…" The other man grimaced as he looked at the bits and pieces of flesh strewn around, the owners clearly having been smashed to death by the ice column.
"What do you think now?" The man in front looked back. "Was this really not worth my attention?"
"…My deepest apologies, Sir Eckart," the other man could only look down in shame.
With a slight shake of his head, Sir Eckart looked around at the scene of absolute carnage.
As a matter of fact, the ice column- correction, the ice spear in front of him was not the only one around.
Around him was a forest of ice spears of varying sizes, stuck in the ground at varying angles. Some were straight, while some were practically lying on the ground. But they all had one thing in common.
Adorning this white jungle of death were the crimson marks left behind by the corpses of former living beings.
Every ice spear, no matter its size, had killed someone. The normal sized ones had impaled the hearts, the smaller ones had ganged up on the warriors to take their lives, while the huge ones had smashed several of them to death.
"Which Guild was it, again?" Sir Eckart asked.
"T-the New Dawn Guild, sir," the assistant hastily replied.
"Ah, Azell's guild," Sir Eckart couldn't help but sigh. "Tristan really chose a troublesome opponent this time around."
After all, this was the Guild which had an Ancient Vampire, a Dragon and the Ultimate Weapon as its members.
"He was under orders to retrieve Lecia, no matter the cost."
"Those senile fools… just when will they learn?"
"…"
"…" Sir Eckart covertly glanced back at his assistant's silence. "Let's go, now."
"Yes, sir."
Together, they made their way towards the warehouse where Tristan had supposedly kept Lecia.
Just before the now destroyed door, they saw two headless corpses. Judging by the blood and flesh around them, it seemed they were hit with something that burst their heads.
Sir Eckart made a mental note of that.
They stepped inside what remained of the door, and as they had expected, it was full of corpses. Unlike the ones outside, however, these guys' bodies were riddled with large holes.
The ground around these bodies was also wet. Had they been killed using water magic? fr eewebn ovel.com
Unlike the corpses outside, the 'work' here was too clean. At the very least, two people had invaded this facility.
Making sure not to step on the corpses, he made his way forward. The assistant quietly followed. freew ebnovel.com
As they kept walking, they came across some more corpses. Some of the bodies had holes while others had their heads exploded.
Interestingly, accompanying each headless body was a hole in the wall on the right.
"Whatever it is that killed them, it came from the outside," the assistant said after inspecting those holes.
"I see," Sir Eckart nodded.
It would seem that the one blasting those heads was a long-range magic user. Perhaps it was the ice spear user, providing covering fire using small ice spears that could instantly kill someone.
However, there were no ice spears around, and as evident from the white forest outside, these ice spears didn't melt even after killing their mark, so his theory was still up for debate.
From there on, they moved on to the next floor and found similar scenes; lifeless corpses with their heads exploded or organs destroyed.
This went on until the topmost floor, where Tristan's last fort, the final hall, was.
Bypassing the dead bodies of the top class warriors lying on the floor, they opened the doors and entered, only to stop right in their tracks.
The assistant's eyes shook fiercely at the sight in front of him, while Sir Eckart's narrowed.
"It would seem we have underestimated the New Dawn Guild," on Sir Eckart's deadpan face, finally a bemused smile arose.
The complete massacre of their men was already out of their expectations- the New Dawn Guild was known as a pacifist, after all- but what he held in his sight was beyond his wildest dreams.
"…" The assistant clenched his fists as his gaze kept alternating between the table and the sick display behind it.
Yes, in the middle of the usual ensemble of corpses stood a table, crudely made by combining ice spears.
Atop the table, a feast had been laid out.
Disgustingly enough, the aroma from this feast stimulated their appetites; if they didn't know any better, they might just have helped themselves to this meal.
Alas, they knew better, for behind the table was the ingredient, or what was left of HIM, anyway.
Why, the ingredient was Tristan.
Different from the rest, Tristan's body had been cleanly, vertically cut into 7 sections, and each of these sections had been preserved into a block of ice.
These blocks had been placed adjacent to each other in their rightful places, as if to form a complete yet incomplete picture of Tristan.
Several organs were missing from this 'presentation', however. And as food connoisseurs, they knew that the dishes on the table used organs as their main ingredients.
It wasn't that difficult to put two and two together.
"What kind of twisted bastard would do something like this…" The assistant muttered to himself.
"He's an amazing chef, that I'm sure of," Sir Eckart replied as he picked up the postcard from the table.
Engraved on this letter were the words, 'Please enjoy this meal'.
Simple, yet effective.
"Sickening."
"Yet ingenious," Sir Eckart said as he put the letter in his pocket.
"Eh?"
"Can you not see it?" He raised his eyebrows.
"See what, sir?"
"This here," he pointed to the dishes and the sectioned Tristan, "is a warning to stay away from them, yet simultaneously a declaration of war."
"H-how can it be both?"
"A level-headed person will take this exhibition as a warning; a warning by the perpetrator that if we continue to stand in his way, he will stop at absolutely nothing to take us out. And it IS an effective threat. No sane man would want to meddle with someone who 'cooks' a fellow human."
"Hmm," the assistant nodded.
"However, a hot-headed person will take this as a declaration of war. He will fly in rage at this utter disrespect and decide to take out the culprit once and for all, which is exactly what the latter wants."
"He wants us to take him out?"
"No, he wants us to come at him with our full force. That way, he can take us all out in one fell swoop."
"Is this man really that strong?"
"At the very least, he believes he is," Sir Eckart turned to the hallway they had just come from. "Besides, he's not alone. He has the entire New Dawn Guild behind him."
"Oh…" the assistant nodded. "Then… what are we going to do?"
Sir Eckart's eyes narrowed ever so slightly at the term 'we'.
"For now, we'll wait and watch."
"What about Lecia?"
"We still need Lecia, of course. But her position on the… priority list has dropped down considerably."
"Really? Why?"
"That's not something you need to know right now."
"Oh," the assistant's eyes drooped.
"…If it makes you feel better, I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to."
"Why is that?" His eyes widened.
"I can't reveal that either."
"M-my apologies."
"Do not worry," Sir Eckart waved his hand as he turned back to his assistant. "Look around for clues. Collect anything you find, no matter how small and insignificant it may seem."
"Understood, sir."
"You have one hour, after which we will erase all traces."
"On it, sir!" The assistant left with that.
After he left, Sir Eckart turned to the table. The food on it was still steaming hot, the aroma tantalising.
He picked up the knife and fork, cut a small portion from the smoked kidneys and took a bite.
"Mm, exquisite," he smiled as he went for a second bite.
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