The Return of the Talented Monopolist is Special

Raulder steeled his nerves in front of Janes, who was screaming wildly.

‘For sure, something’s been off with this guy. Suddenly his aggression has increased, and now his combat abilities have skyrocketed. It’s like… he’s on some kind of drug.’

But.

‘I haven’t been idle all this time. I’ve received Eugene’s guidance, and I’ve done everything I can on my own.’

Raulder had trained in not only his skills but also in the techniques of the Eight Thousand Martial Arts, and the Ocho Form of the Eight Thousand Spirit Blade.

He thought back to the time when he had been unfairly beaten by his seniors.

‘If I were stronger, that wouldn’t have happened. Eugene wouldn’t have had to step in and get involved in such a big fight.’

Raulder briefly glanced at Eugene, who was observing the fight from the side.

Though younger than Raulder, Eugene was far more mature and experienced.

That was Eugene.

‘I want to be like you. No, I want to surpass you with a spear.’

With that one thought, Raulder pushed through his training period in Penzel by any means necessary.

He endured Emacs’ scolding and never let go of his spear, practicing every night.

As a result, his skills had improved dramatically.

“I’ll kill you, Raulder…”

Even against the strangely powerful Janes, Raulder raised his head proudly and confronted him.

Janes unleashed a barrage of attacks, emitting a fierce energy.

Raulder, with a firm gaze, locked eyes with Janes.

***

Eugene looked down at his fingers, feeling a vibration from his ring.

‘Huh…? No way.’

Just as Eugene’s mouth opened in surprise, there was a crack!

Raulder’s spear, which had blocked Janes’ sword strike head-on, broke in two.

Normally, the duel would have stopped here.

But.

Janes, almost as if possessed, was intent on killing Raulder, swinging his weaponless body to strike Raulder’s face with his wooden sword.

Eugene instantly recognized that this attack was beyond what could be blocked.

Of course, Raulder wasn’t just going to sit idly by.

Fueled by adrenaline, Raulder also lost his reason, his eyes glowing fiercely as he raised the broken spear with one hand.

If things continued like this, one of them was bound to die or be seriously injured.

Eugene quickly made a decision.

This fight ends here.

Whoosh!

Janes’ wooden sword was heading toward Raulder’s head, while Raulder’s spear was aimed at Janes’ liver.

Eugene rushed between them.

In that fleeting moment, Raulder’s Eight Thousand Spirit Spear’s first strike exploded.

Bam!

Raulder’s spear, gaining rotational force and full weight, struck Janes’ liver directly.

“Gack…!”

Janes’ pupils contracted, and he collapsed to the floor, foaming at the mouth.

However, the wooden sword that had been headed for Raulder’s head was still on course.

It was an attack Raulder couldn’t defend against, so Eugene stepped in and forcefully knocked the wooden sword away.

Although there wasn’t a trace of aura in Eugene’s defense, it was more than enough to block Janes’ strike.

Bang!

The sound of Janes’s sword clashing with Eugene’s sword rang out loudly.

The robust body forged through Eugene’s training didn’t falter.

However, Eugene couldn’t help but be surprised by the sharp pain in his wrist.

‘He’s gotten this strong in such a short time? It’s different from just watching him…’

Eugene couldn’t help but be impressed by this brief moment—the growth of Raulder and Janes’ strength.

The training hall, now in disarray, was filled with the stunned gazes of other trainees.

“Wh-what was that… just now…?”

“I don’t know… but it was incredibly fast…!”

They had seen Raulder training diligently with his spear, but it was the first time they had seen him unleash the Eight Thousand Spirit Spear, which left them in awe.

“Huff, huff, huff.”

Raulder, realizing the situation had ended, panted heavily.

He felt proud of landing his technique cleanly, but there was a tinge of regret in his expression for knocking down his friend.

While everyone’s attention was on Raulder, Eugene approached the unconscious Janes.

The blow to his liver must have caused immense pain.

If things had gone wrong, his liver could have ruptured.

“Hey, take it easy.”

“Phew, phew… Did I… do well…?”

“Let’s wait and see.”

Just as Eugene was checking Janes’ condition by feeling his pulse, he suddenly heard a voice in his head.

Blood… blood is needed. Blood filled with a deeper grudge… I need blood…

Eugene was startled by the eerie whisper.

As he furrowed his brows in shock, he suddenly began to hallucinate.

Whoosh!

The scene of an orc village appeared before him, one that had been occupied by soldiers of the Ancient Empire.

The orcs were all tied up with ropes, helpless.

Among them, a towering orc chieftain was kneeling, bound in ropes.

Eugene’s gaze then turned toward the entrance of the village. A powerful presence approached.

It was the tyrant.

As the tyrant appeared, the soldiers of the Ancient Empire lowered their heads in respect.

The tyrant spoke.

Begin.

Understood.

With those words, the soldiers of the Ancient Empire began to slit the throats of every orc in front of the chieftain, one by one.

Regardless of age or gender, every orc’s head fell to the ground.

It was horrific and brutal.

When the last orc’s life was taken, blood and tears flowed from the chieftain’s eyes.

Each life that was taken from the orcs made the chieftain swallow bitter sobs.

It’s all over, Tyrant.

Only then did the Tyrant step forward and draw the sword from the knight standing beside him.

And then.

Swish!

With a single slash, he decapitated the orc chieftain, who had been crying in fury and sorrow over the death of his entire family.

Even a final gasp seemed a luxury for the orc chieftain.

His head fell to the ground without even a chance to close his eyes.

His eyes were bloodshot as if all the blood vessels had burst.

In contrast, the Tyrant approached the orc chieftain’s corpse with a satisfied expression and reached out.

He was about to use his unique technique, Greed.

At that very moment.

Whoosh—

The hallucination broke, and Eugene’s vision returned to Janes.

‘…Is this similar to the Mad Demon?’

The reason why Eugene was seeing the Tyrant’s memories at this moment was undoubtedly related to the ring on his left hand and Janes’s condition.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Eugene realized the situation had worsened.

‘His pulse is way too erratic. He’s on the brink of death.’

Janes’ condition had become critical.

The reason for this was not solely Raulder’s attack.

‘The ring is vibrating, so something bad must have entered Janes’ body.’

And.

‘The side effects must have manifested alongside the trauma. The abnormalities in his pulse and the ring’s vibrations are linked… It must be related to the blood soaked in lingering resentment.’

Eugene instinctively sensed it.

‘No wonder the ring is pushing for Greed. It’s urging Janes to use it.’

First of all, Greed was a dangerous technique. It had been intended for use on the orc chieftain’s corpse after all.

So, if Greed were to be used, Eugene would need to control it very carefully to extract only the negative energy.

Could he do it?

Though uncertain, the situation was dire.

“Grrr… Grrr…”

Janes, foaming at the mouth, was slowly dying.

If it was a choice between using Greed and dying here from his heart-stopping, using Greed seemed like the better option.

If Greed made Janes’ symptoms worse, Eugene planned to stop immediately.

With that resolve, Eugene focused on the ring and began to cast Greed.

‘Devour.’

As Eugene concentrated on the ring, an invisible force began to draw something from Janes’ body through his hand.

It was filled with the energy of lingering resentment.

Voices of evil spirits, never before heard, echoed in Eugene’s head.

Kill! Kill! Kill!

The curses and hatred ringing in his mind were like poison, pressing down on Eugene.

Had it not been for the mental barrier he obtained from reaching Mookwang Level 2, this heavy energy might have caused him to faint already.

The sticky sensation in Janes’ blood, felt through Eugene’s enhanced senses, was overwhelming.

He desperately focused his mind.

If any other unknown energy were to enter, he would stop the cast immediately.

But that wasn’t the case.

“Cough…!”

Janes let out a rough breath and opened his eyes.

Though he still didn’t seem entirely conscious, his eyes were clearer than before, likely because Eugene had absorbed the lingering resentment with Greed.

“Phew, are you okay…?”

Despite Janes’ dazed state, Eugene slapped his cheek and asked.

In a faint voice, Janes spoke to Eugene.

“Father…”

“What? What did you say?”

“Father… save my little brother…”

Had he squeezed out the last of his strength? Janes uttered those words and then closed his eyes again.

Fortunately, his pulse was normal, and his breathing had returned to normal. It seemed he had fallen into a deep sleep.

At that moment, Eugene felt a strange sensation.

Swish…

He felt the seal on the aura in his left hand loosen slightly after absorbing Janes’ negative energy.

‘What’s this? It feels like a crack has formed in the dam that was sealing my left hand.’

It seemed that blood magic and Janes’ negative energy were connected, and as a result, the aura seal had been affected.

This gave Eugene a new clue.

‘Only Jade knows the secret of the ring. And the aura seal is a punishment Jade placed on me. So…’

It felt like he was catching a glimpse of Jade’s deeper intentions.

Taking a deep breath, Eugene wiped the cold sweat from his brow.

Creek!

“Take your hands off of Janes, Eugene Rober.”

Suddenly, a man appeared through the door, shouting at Eugene with a wary expression.

Eugene tilted his head as he noticed the emblem on the man’s left chest.

He was a member of the White Tiger Order led by Sirius.

What was a member of the White Tiger Order doing here?

Eugene slowly removed his hand from Janes and stood up.

“What brings a White Tiger Order member to a trainee’s sparring area? Where is this boy’s bodyguard?”

“I told you to take your hands off.”

“If I had taken my hands off, he would be dead by now. At least know what you’re talking about before you speak. I asked why the bodyguard hadn’t come and you came here instead.”

Normally, a bodyguard should have accompanied Janes and Eins.

However, the fact that a White Tiger Order member had come personally during the trainee’s training time indicated something was off.

Especially since the mischievous Eins brothers had always been fairly respectful toward their bodyguards, it was even more suspicious.

It didn’t seem like their relationship had soured, nor that they had replaced their bodyguard.

When Eugene didn’t step back, the White Tiger Order member silently approached Janes and lifted him.

“What are you doing…?”

“We’ll talk later. You impudent little brat.”

Without another word, he carried Janes away.

“What the…?”

“What happened, Eugene?”

As the children voiced their questions one after another, Eugene quietly dealt with the situation.

The scene just now, with the fight involving Raulder, had overlapped with the past of the infamous Eins brothers, who were known as human slaughterers in the future.

The sight of them losing their reason and seeking to commit mass slaughter seemed eerily familiar.

Even after coming to Penzel, Eugene had felt uneasy when observing the Eins brothers.

Despite their notorious past, their behavior hadn’t been overly outrageous; they were just a bit mischievous and liked to show off their muscles.

But thinking back to the recent fight, Eugene now understood the truth behind their past.

The Eins brothers were clearly under some sort of influence. The energy within them was abnormal.

Perhaps.

‘Could Sirius have given them something without me knowing?’

The brothers only ever ate protein supplements or snacks, so the only person Eugene suspected of being involved was their father, Sirius.

If that were the case…

The foreign substances in their blood, the voices filled with resentment, and the signs of madness.

‘The Eins brothers… they’re being abused.’

Eugene faintly deduced this fact.

And.

‘I’ll make sure to hit Uncle Sirius where it hurts.’

It was an opportunity to expose the Eins brothers and deal a sharp blow to Sirius.

Meanwhile, the children didn’t realize that Eugene had absorbed Janes’ negative energy and only looked at him with confused expressions.

“I need some rest. Whew.”

Eugene waved his hand and stood up.

His body felt particularly stiff.

At the same time, a subtle smile appeared on Eugene’s lips.

‘Just like how the Tyrant absorbed the energy of others, I absorbed the energy of the Eins brothers. I wonder how many birds I can catch with one stone.’

***

That night.

In Penzel, there was a place where people could enjoy a little drinking and music.

This was a space mostly visited by bodyguards and attendants.

Under the gentle light of lanterns, the floor made of well-maintained wood gave the place a cozy atmosphere.

A few bodyguards were sitting in the shadows of the dim tavern, sipping from their cups.

Gold Sword and Eugene entered the space.

“Hahaha! Young master, have you finally discovered the joys of alcohol?”

“I’m not drinking.”

“Ah, yes, yes, everyone says that at first. But you’ll see, once you start, it’ll go down smoothly. There’s a reason alcohol is called a drink.”

“Alright, just keep your mouth shut if you don’t want me to start agreeing with you.”

“The best drinker in the mercenary world, Gold Sword, teaching you how to drink—it’ll be a story to tell for ages! You won’t even need snacks tonight!”

“Ugh! Just…”

Ignoring the loud Gold Sword, Eugene’s gaze shifted between the shadows.

A burly knight with a thick brown beard, who looked to be in a deep, brooding state over some heartbreak, was sitting alone.

Eugene was all too familiar with that face. He had seen it every morning for months.

‘I found him. The Eins brothers’ bodyguard.’