Chapter 464 - The Demon Abel (1/2)

Chapter 464: The Demon Abel

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“Idiot! Madman! Butcher!”

Anthony walked towards the Heaven’s Thorn in large strides. As he was using a magical prosthesis, his gait was unsteady. Walking a bit too quickly, he stumbled and quickly used the Magician’s Hand to realign his body and prevent himself from falling to the ground.

The Magicians behind him all followed Anthony without a word. Most of their faces were grave, while those of the younger Magicians seemed disapproving towards him, as if not in agreement with what Anthony had to say.

Once Anthony regained his balance, he continued striding on, and in no time, finally reached the Heaven’s Thorn. Upon entering the Mage Tower, he then seated himself on the first floor of the great hall. He heaved a sigh at nobody in particular, and then fell silent for a long while, sitting there like a statue.

He loathed the fact that just when the kingdom was finally able to settle down, he had to deal with a self-righteous tyrant with such a huge following. Not to mention, he was completely powerless to do anything about it.

While Anthony fumed, a gentle voice spoke to him, “Is there something wrong, Dean?”

“What else is there? It’s the madman, Abel… Wait, you’re… Link, why are you here?” Anthony stopped short, sensing that something was not right. He lifted his head again to take a better look at the face to whom the voice had belonged, and sure enough, it was one of his former apprentices, Link, who was standing beside Herrera.

These two were the pride of East Cove Magic Academy. Herrera was already a Level-8 Magician, whose magic now rivaled even his, while Link’s magical abilities had already reached the Legendary level. Upon seeing them, Anthony was able to relax a bit.

“Sit, do sit, don’t just stand there,” he said to both of them.

Link and Herrera both sat down, and then Link asked, “Were you referring to Duke Abel of Orida Fortress?”

Anthony’s face fell as soon as he heard his name. He nodded. “I don’t know any other Abel. Do you know what he did?”

Link and Herrera glanced at each other and then waited for an answer from the old man.

Breathing in deeply, the wrinkles on Anthony’s face deepened even more. His voice was considerably muted when he spoke, “Abel had sent 5000 Warriors to keep things under control in the northern town of Garrason, the source of the outbreak as you all probably know by now. The situation escalated, with the infected now scattered beyond the town borders. Our plan was to quarantine the infected, then attempt to look for a cure using samples collected from them, but Abel had deemed them unclean and had all the infected eliminated on the spot. There are at least 30,000 people in Garrason Town, and while almost half of them had shown symptoms of the disease, the rest of them were still sane, and Abel had them all wiped out. He even set fire to the town and razed everything to the ground. In the end, no more than 800 people had survived the madness of this butcher!”

When he finished speaking, Herrera asked softly, “Advisor, is the epidemic under control then?”

“Yes, for now, there seem to be no new cases of infection, which was probably the only good thing to come from this nightmare. But my blood still runs cold just thinking about what Abel did. He’s completely addicted to slaughter, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget the bloodlust in his eyes. Did you know? He not only ordered his men to conduct the extermination of the infection, he too had joined in the act himself. I saw with my own eyes how he cleaved a crying girl in two with his sword. There were also many other Magicians who had participated in this monstrous act. At that moment, I thought they had all turned into demons!”

Anthony was nearing 70 years old, and both Link and Herrera took great pride in being his juniors. The old man had bottled up all this frustration in himself, and once an outlet presented itself, he just could not stop himself from venting it out.

From his account, Link understood the present state of Garrason Town.

Garrason Town was 100 miles north of Orida Fortress, and so it naturally fell within Duke Abel’s jurisdiction to deal with the outbreak there in whatever way he deemed fit.

Throughout all this, Duke Abel had fulfilled only his duties, but his actions had been way too excessive. Though Anthony did not agree with such radical measures, some of the other Magicians who had joined in the slaughter alongside the duke viewed the whole affair as a necessary evil to cleanse the region of the disease.

The fact there were Magicians who saw nothing wrong with what Duke Abel ordered them to do had sent a chill down Anthony’s spine.

After listening to all this, Link and Herrera could not help but shiver at the thought of Duke Abel’s ruthlessness and the delight he apparently took in indiscriminate manslaughter, despite the fact that his actions might have yielded results. Still, as both of them had not been on the scene, they couldn’t judge the duke solely based on Anthony’s account of the whole thing.

Herrera could only console the old man at this point. “It’s all in the past now, advisor. Everything will be alright.”

Anthony let out a long sigh and held his head in despair. “To have my people, never once fallen to the Dark Army, fall instead under the butcher knife of my own kin… oh, the shame!”

Seeing their own advisor in complete shambles, Herrera shot a glance at Link, hinting at him to come up with something.

Link began to speak when Anthony suddenly raised his head and looked straight at him. “Link, Abel’s growing more insane by the minute. What’s worse is that he’s doing all this in the name of justice and under the guise of exterminating demons.”

Link knew what Anthony had meant. He wanted Link to intervene in this. Making eye contact with the wizened dean, Link spoke, “How about this, I’ll go to the North for a bit and see what’s wrong with Duke Abel.”

Though Anthony had spoken disapprovingly of the duke, he did stop the spread of the disease, and his actions were still in line with army regulations.

The army was not exactly filled with doctors to begin with; they simply did what they did best—brutally murder everyone on sight in an attempt to nip the outbreak in the bud. What Abel did was cruel beyond belief, but from his standpoint, he may not consider his actions to be out of line.