Chapter 91: Victory
Ernst Cage’s *Magic Overview* mentioned that once a Low-level Mage was approached by a Warrior of the same Level, they would be in extreme danger.
Daniels was a Level 3 Mage, and the Magic he had mastered was limited. The gap between him and a true Combat Mage was immense.
For one, he hadn’t even mastered any control-type Magic used to delay an opponent.
Therefore, when a battle-hardened Advanced Warrior like Raymond stood before him, his fate was sealed.
And just like that, when Daniels attempted to use Magic, Raymond closed the distance in a single bound and interrupted him.
Then, the Warrior landed a vicious kick, sending Daniels flying into the wall.
"The Baron ordered me to spare your life."
Raymond walked forward, broke the man’s limbs, then took a rope from his waist, bound him tightly, and hung him from the city wall.
"Everyone from the Holy Hand Association, listen up! I have captured your leader alive! If you don’t want to die, get on the ground and surrender immediately!"
Empowered by his Fighting Qi, Raymond’s voice echoed in all directions.
The members of the Holy Hand Association all turned to look at the city wall, just in time to see their leader hanging there.
They froze. Fear and confusion spread through their hearts.
Soon, they remembered: their leader and Vice Leader had been captured, Uleir was dead, and Simone had betrayed them.
The Holy Hand Association... was finished.
The wealth and land Daniels had promised them before the battle were all gone.
CLANG~
A sword fell to the ground as someone prostrated themselves in fear.
Then a second, a third...
Soon, a vast expanse of them were on the ground.
If anyone was still standing, it was probably only the three-meter-tall Demon Servant.
At that moment, Duane and Hardy were locked in a struggle with the Demon Servant.
Although this Demon Servant was a Level 3 Demon Beast, its enormous size granted it immense Strength.
Every time it swung its axe, the air howled, and when the blade struck the ground, the massive impact shattered the earth.
However, its weakness was also very obvious—it was clumsy.
Or perhaps not clumsy, but rather its agility didn’t match its Level.
Relying on his Master Level Spirit Swordsmanship and a strategy of avoiding its direct attacks, Duane easily tied up the opponent, leaving numerous wounds on its body.
It was unclear whether its summoning time was up or if it had lost Daniels’s continued control.
The Demon Servant suddenly threw its head back and roared, then dissipated into specks of green light.
Soon, the siege, marked by mutual betrayals, drew to a close.
On the battlefield now, only Bard was still struggling to hold on.
But he was no match for Kaelon to begin with, and now that Kaelon had broken through to a new level and was filled with unvented rage, he was unleashing it all on his opponent.
Bard, on the other hand, saw that the Holy Hand Association was finished, its Vice Leader captured, and his most trusted subordinate, Hardy, had led a betrayal against him.
He knew that after this battle, the Broken Wave Gang was also finished.
They had all been played by this young Baron.
Bard took a direct hit and, ignoring the blood streaming from his body, charged madly toward Duane, trying to kill him.
But just then, Simone’s figure appeared, blocking Duane’s path.
At the same time, Kaelon was right behind him.
Attacked from both sides, Bard suffered even heavier injuries than in their last duel.
"Accept your fate!"
Kaelon pressed his cold longsword against the man’s neck.
Duane’s heart was still pounding. The intense killing intent from an Earth Tier Warrior charging at him had left him deeply unsettled, and he couldn’t calm down.
Fortunately, everything had ended smoothly.
"Kaelon, cripple him and tie him up!"
Bard no longer had the courage he’d shown in his desperate struggle; panic flickered in his eyes.
"Baron, I am willing to submit to you! From now on, I will have no other allegiances. Please..."
Duane said slowly, "That’s right. I did consider having you submit and work for me."
His tone shifted. "However, the moment you voluntarily asked Daniels for the Sauce Meat Fruit, you were already on my kill list."
"W-why?" The fear in his eyes intensified.
"It shows that, like Daniels, you don’t think anything is wrong with eating people. Do you think I would feel safe employing someone so utterly devoid of a moral baseline?"
Bard’s eyes widened. "But I only ate it once! Just once!"
"For something like this, once is more than enough to prove the point."
Duane looked at Kaelon. "Cripple him. Don’t give him any chance to escape."
Imprisoning an Earth Tier Warrior was a huge pain. One moment of carelessness could lead to disaster, so it was better to cripple him beforehand.
"No! You can’t do this to me!"
Bard shrieked, "Baron, didn’t your own subordinate eat the Sauce Meat Fruit too? Right, Kaelon? If it weren’t for the Sauce Meat Fruit, you’d probably still be a Human Tier Warrior. Am I wrong?"
He looked at Duane with a sneer. "What’s this? You sounded so high and mighty just now. Have you gone soft now that it’s one of your own men?"
"You!"
Kaelon’s face went pale. He hadn’t expected someone to slander him for eating the Sauce Meat Fruit so soon.
And sure enough, the faces of Michele and the other Guards who overheard also changed.
Disbelief filled every one of their eyes.
Kaelon looked at the disbelieving gazes of the Guards around him, and for a moment, his composure shattered. He didn’t know how to refute the accusation.
He could only turn to the Baron with an innocent and pleading gaze.
Duane gave a cold laugh. "You asked for it voluntarily. Kaelon and Benur, on the other hand, were tricked into eating it by Daniels and Kalina. Do you think that’s the same thing?"
He withdrew his gaze. "Don’t waste your breath on his kind. Cripple him."
As he spoke, Duane turned around. "Simone, everything is fine here. Go and do what you need to do!"
"Yes, sir!"
Simone didn’t linger. He ran into the fortress at top speed and slipped into the basement.
Just then, Bard’s heart-wrenching screams came from behind him. Kaelon had broken his limbs, making it impossible for him to even stand.
"Jack, John, come with me and take a look inside. The rest of you, clean up the battlefield. If anyone from the Broken Wave Gang or the Holy Hand Association resists or tries to flee, kill them on the spot."
Duane looked up at Daniels, who was hanging on the city wall. "Raymond, bring him along too."
As the Baron and his men disappeared into the fortress basement, the only sounds on the chaotic battlefield were the cheers of his men and the Militia as they cleaned up and tied up the prisoners.
The miserable states of Bard and Daniels, along with Duane’s cold commands, made everyone realize that the Baron truly held the power of life and death over them all.
Even the Guards who had been with Duane all this time were seeing such a ruthless side of the Baron for the first time.
After all, on a normal day, the Baron was, frankly, almost excessively good to them.
From Duane’s perspective, he did indeed want to leave as many people alive on Black Forest Island as possible.
But some people had to be killed.
Take Bard, for example. His strength was indeed impressive, but he had requested and eaten the Sauce Meat Fruit without any psychological barrier.
Duane had reason to believe that if Bard ever learned how to make the Sauce Meat Fruit, he would most likely try to produce it himself.
A leopard can’t change its spots.
Moreover, if Duane were to let even someone like this go, let alone entrust them with important responsibilities, what would everyone else think?
Would they start to think that as long as they were strong enough, as long as they were important enough, they could do whatever they wanted—that even cannibalism was acceptable?
That was a future Duane refused to see.
He did not want his territory to become a paradise for demons.
Therefore, Bard had to die.
As for Gaius, Kubatu, and the others, he would use Simone’s report, combined with the interrogations of Daniels, Kalina, and their associates, to determine which of them—or who else on Black Forest Island—had eaten the Sauce Meat Fruit.
In short, anyone who ate it willingly would be killed. No exceptions.