Chapter 163: Vengeance

Yam looked at Atork with an indifferent expression.

“Betrayal?” His voice was extremely cold, carrying a strong sense of alienation. “When you killed Giggs, did you not consider what would happen if I ever found out?”

Atork showed almost no hesitation. A look of deep confusion quickly appeared on his face. “I killed Giggs? What are you talking about!?”

“At the Red Soil Territory, I initially looked down on Giggs, but later, because of your words, I had several deep conversations with him. I gradually understood why you trusted him so much. I truly regarded him as a close friend. And yet, you think I killed Giggs?”

“Was it someone from the Kasein Family who told you something?”

“You’d rather believe someone from the Kasein Family than believe me? Are you insane? They handed over Baron Ster to Count Shuvaric as a bargaining chip!”

“Yam Soderbell! Why are you still so foolish!”

“Look at the Red Eagle Territory now. How many Bloodline Families are left?”

“The Billy Family of the Gem Territory only has Anna left. Her son will never be able to inherit the Gem Territory. In fact, even her son’s children will not carry the Billy name, because the Kasein Family will never let the Gem Territory remain outside their control.”

“Look further. The Antares Family of the Red Soil Territory, and the Tinsk Family who once ruled the Red River Territory—have you forgotten their fates?”

“Now it’s our Senels Family. Who do you think is next?”

“The Weist Family of the Forest Territory? The Bole Family of the White Mountain Territory? Or maybe your Soderbell Family?”

“The Kasein Family has gone mad! And you actually believed those lunatics?”

Yam said nothing. He just silently watched the countless changes that flashed across Atork’s face in an instant—confusion, disbelief, anger, sorrow, grief. And finally, a look of utter despair, as though there was no greater sorrow than a heart that has died. A bitter, miserable smile appeared on his face.

“Yam, I don’t know what the Kasein Family told you, nor do I know if you truly want to kill me or if you’re being forced. But none of that matters anymore. …But I truly considered you my closest friend, just as I once considered Giggs Bole my friend. So my final piece of advice to you is this: when you go back, immediately take your wife and children and leave the Red Eagle Territory.”

“The Kasein Family really won’t let you go.”

Atork had been using the time he spoke to slowly approach Yam.

By the time he finished speaking, he was less than ten meters away from Yam.

He slowly closed his eyes, then raised both hands and said softly, “Come, give me the final strike. To die at the hands of a friend—I have no regrets. Please allow me to close my eyes. It’s not because I’m afraid, but because I don’t want to see the face of the friend who will kill me.”

“Alright.” Yam, who had remained silent, finally spoke at this moment.

He took a step forward.

The heavy sound of his footsteps had just fallen.

But he immediately swung his sword, slashing through the air multiple times.

With each swing of the sword, flames ignited in the air.

And as these flaming sword auras appeared in mid-air, a strong mist surged forth.

The spreading mist quickly obscured Yam’s vision.

A series of hurried footsteps suddenly rang out!

But these footsteps were not approaching—they were rapidly retreating.

Yet Yam’s expression remained calm. Instead, he quickly retreated to distance himself from the spreading mist and slashed several flaming sword auras into it.

In the next moment, several glints of cold light appeared from within the mist—several feather-like ice crystals shot out, slicing through the air!

Yam quickly swung his sword.

The scorching flame auras burst forth again with the swing of his longsword, precisely intercepting the ice crystals. Once more, they exploded into a cloud of mist in mid-air—the intense heat generated a large amount of steam upon contact with the cold, not only obscuring vision but also bringing searing temperatures. Even Yam found it difficult to remain long within such scorching steam.

At that moment, Yam immediately understood Atork’s combat strategy: he was using the steam to mask his movements and force Yam out of the area.

Yam knew that over the past two years, he was not the only one who had been striving to grow. Akar, Monica, Atork—they had all been advancing. Among Bloodline Users of their age group, most had reached the Third Tier. In fact, Atork and Monica were already making efforts to break into the Fourth Tier. Since they were not burdened with combat or trivial matters, they had more time to refine and stimulate their Bloodline Concentration, resulting in rapid progress.

Atork’s Third-Tier Bloodline was the Cold Crow, an ice-attribute Magical Beast commonly found in the Bayor Territory. There were over five different advancement paths for its Fourth-Tier evolution, but the Senels Family had chosen the Snowy Owl path, which significantly enhanced the ice attribute’s effects and power.

For example, the Senels Family’s Third-Tier ice-attribute Cold Crow and the Bole Family’s Third-Tier ice-attribute Ice Ape both condensed and launched Ice Spikes to attack enemies. However, the Cold Crow emphasized more on the penetrative nature of the Ice Spikes, resulting in spikes as thin as feathers; whereas the Ice Ape focused on impact area, so its condensed Ice Spikes were shaped more like cones.

But the Senels Family’s Second-Tier Bloodline was the Ice Snake, which, compared to the Bole Family’s Second-Tier Cold Monkey, produced Ice Spikes that were stronger and more intensely cold. This was why, when they clashed with Yam’s flames, they created a vast amount of scalding steam.

In such an environment, unlike Yam, who could not regulate temperature, Atork could utilize the cold-heat difference to avoid scalding himself, allowing him to hide within the mist. However, the drawback was that he too could not clearly see Yam’s exact location.

Still, Atork was focused solely on escaping, so whether or not he could see Yam was no longer his priority.

“Didn’t you say you wanted me to kill you? Why hide in this mist now?” Yam taunted.

But he was soon met with a flurry of thin, feather-like Ice Spikes.

Atork gave no reply, but his intentions were already clear: everything he had said earlier was a lie. He was simply trying to delay Yam and get close. However, he did not expect Yam to remain so alert, immediately launching a counterattack the moment Atork raised his hands and fired the Ice Spikes, successfully shattering them all.

Seeing that Atork had no intention of engaging in direct combat and continued to hide within the mist while launching Ice Spikes to provoke counterattacks and generate more steam, Yam finally lost all patience.

“Atork, I already gave you a warrior’s death… But clearly, you have no intention of dying like one.”

More feathered Ice Spikes flew toward him.

Yam swiftly dodged them.

This time, he didn’t linger or wait. Flames rapidly ignited around him—his Third-Tier Bloodline, Flame Tiger, hadn’t mutated his bloodline ability, but it had significantly enhanced the effect of Flame Stream. Moreover, upon advancing to the Third Tier, he had a sudden realization about the specific function of this bloodline ability, as well as the evolution path used by the Bourbon Family in the past.

The Bloodline Advancement of the Raging Flame Lion began with the First-Tier Fire-Tailed Rat, whose awakened bloodline ability was certainly Fire Control. This ability, combined with the Flame Affinity effect that always awakened with the Third-Tier Flame Tiger, enabled the Flame Stream of the Second-Tier Flame Demon Hound to become highly malleable: not only could it form flaming longswords, but also flaming armor, and even flaming longbows.

In other words, once they reached the Third Tier, even if members of the Bourbon Family’s direct line lost their weapons, they could still fight valiantly, for their ability allowed them to shape weapons and armor at will.

However, Yam didn’t know any of this before. He hadn’t progressed through the ranks starting from the First Tier. So even though he had awakened the Flame Tiger and gained the Flame Affinity, all it did was ensure that the Flame Stream wouldn’t burn him when it enveloped his body.

The intense heat still existed, but the flames protected him from being scorched.

With such a commotion, there was no way he could remain hidden in the mist. Naturally, Atork immediately discovered him.

But just like Yam, Atork had to create a special zone to cool down the area around him to avoid being burned by the high-temperature steam. So when he saw Yam, Yam also saw him.

Without any words, the two charged at each other again.

The bloodline abilities of the Senels Family were inherently ill-suited for close combat. But unlike most bloodline families, the Senels Family trained hard to overcome this weakness. Thus, Atork’s swordsmanship was not weak.

After launching several Ice Spikes at Yam, he immediately rushed forward with his sword.

Over ten feather-like Ice Spikes tore through the air, flying straight at Yam.

Yam once again slashed down the unavoidable Ice Spikes with his sword—a burst of steam erupted, and thick mist engulfed his vision. But before his view was fully blocked, Yam had already memorized Atork’s position. His longsword thrust forward without hesitation toward that memorized location, and his body didn’t move an inch.

“Pssh—”

The sound of a blade piercing flesh faintly rang out.

Yam felt a sharp sting in his chest—that was the pain from Atork’s sword piercing his body. But what caused Yam more agony than the sword wound was the cold erosion from the Ice Spikes that had pierced his body. He had blocked all fatal shots, but chose to ignore the ones that weren’t lethal, allowing them to pass through him.

At the same time, Yam quickly released his grip on the sword in his right hand.

From the feedback he felt earlier, he knew Atork had also been pierced by his sword.

His left hand shot forward, grabbing Atork’s clothes and pulling him close. His right hand reached to his waist and drew a dagger, aiming it toward Atork’s heart.

But—

When he saw Atork’s expression, Yam suddenly grinned. “I won.”

“You… you’re insane!”

Atork was pulled in front of Yam, and he also saw where his longsword had pierced Yam’s body: the blade had gone straight through his sternum, passing through like the Ice Spikes, but it had failed to penetrate Yam’s heart as he had intended.

“This was a game of calculation.” Yam released the short dagger from his right hand, then gripped the hilt of his longsword again. With a forceful twist, he shattered Atork’s heart. “I gambled that you would dodge, though I didn’t know if you’d go left or right. So I stabbed toward the right, assuming most people tend to dodge in that direction. …And I also gambled that you’d be ‘smart’ enough to assume I’d dodge too.”

A pained expression appeared on Atork’s face.

He knew Yam was right. He had assumed that, in such a deadly standoff, Yam would definitely dodge—toward the right, just as he did. So he had aimed slightly to the right with his sword. But he never expected Yam to not dodge at all. His blade failed to strike Yam’s heart. Instead, it now looked as if he had deliberately impaled himself on Yam’s sword due to his own evasive move.

“Why…”

Atork could not understand. “Clearly, cooperating with our Senels Family would’ve been the best choice. Why…”

“Because you already betrayed the Bourbon Family once, and you even killed Giggs. Now, you’re trying to betray the Kasein Family again,” Yam said in a low voice, speaking slowly. “That’s why I don’t trust you. I don’t trust your Senels Family. …Especially because you knew my family was a descendant of the Bourbon Family, and you never told me. So, we were never going to work together.”

Atork’s eyes widened.

He seemed like he still wanted to say something.

Perhaps to defend himself.

Or perhaps something else.

But Yam had no intention of listening anymore.

He gently released his hand and gave Atork a shove, then followed through with his right hand to pull the sword free.

Gritting his teeth, he mustered the last of his strength and slashed at Atork’s neck, decapitating him.

As he looked at Atork’s headless corpse, a hint of regret flashed through Yam’s eyes.

But after executing Atork, Yam finally could no longer hold himself up and fell to his knees.

Perhaps due to having used Nirvana multiple times, Yam had developed a strong resistance to the dizziness from blood loss, so he did not lose consciousness. Still, he dared not pull the longsword from his chest, and after catching his breath slightly, he staggered forward holding Atork’s head, walking out of the still-dissipating mist.

He knew Marquis Visen hadn’t yet opened the Bourbon Secret Vault, so he wouldn’t allow Yam to die now—he would definitely have someone protecting him. And that was why Yam hadn’t dared to bring the Demonic Sword with him. If anything went wrong, the consequences would be dire.

As Yam walked out of the mist, he indeed saw a figure who had clearly been waiting nearby for some time.

That person was the healer, Eric!

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