“Watson, it appears that my actions are not gentlemanly enough; as a man, I can’t be considered considerate. You are right; I should go after you and let your brothers go.”
Moriarty nodded as if he was serious when he heard Watson’s words. His rat claw pushed Zeke and the other two forward before he abruptly retracted them halfway through. He grabbed harder with a grimace.
“Do you think I will say that? Idiot, I am here to take revenge on you, not play games like a duel with you. I am going to kill your brothers in front of you. What can you do about it?”
“Then I can only kill you.”
Watson’s expression was as heavy as water as he raised his right hand.
“Watson, I know that you’ve mastered a spell to fuse your enemies; even platinum-tier elites won’t be able to escape from you. But are you sure that you are faster than me? If you dare to make a move, I will crush your brothers to their deaths. Do you want to compete with me?”
Moriarty exerted force with his claws again; it caused Zeke and the other two to contort their faces in pain. However, it was only pain; they were not afraid. Zeke even shouted, “Watson, don’t listen to him. We are not afraid to die. Kill the rat that does not know the immensity of heaven and earth. Show him Blackmoon Castle’s power.”
“Shut up!”
After scolding him, Moriarty widened his eyes. His body emitted a terrifying aura that was unique to platinum-tier magical beasts. The pressure made Zeke and the other two unable to open their mouths as blood dripped down from the corners of their lips. They were not powerful enough; it was as if they were easily trampled clay compared to a platinum-tier magical beast.
“It’s not just this; I have a backup plan for every corner of the border. Let me show you.”
After stopping Zeke and the other two, Moriarty raised his other claw and waved it in the air. A few colorful colors gathered in the air and formed a magic curtain that broadcast the scene.
The scenes in the curtain were divided into neat squares that broadcast different settings.
The four scenes at the top were Monte Town, Torch Town, Fairy Town, and Vermillion Town. Countless goldbiter rats lurked outside each town, either hiding underground or in tree holes. They were looking around with their scarlet eyes as their throats squeaked with hunger.
The other places reflected in the images were some large manors or villages on the border. There were also a large number of goldbiter rats hidden in the woods around those places. The bones of magical beasts and a few human corpses could be vaguely seen under the feet of those rats.
Everyone there, including Sylvan, had changed their expression when they saw those scenes.
As the border count, Sylvan recognized the scenes Moriarty had shown them; those were the most densely populated places on the border. Furthermore, he was sure that they were genuine.
“Before I came here, I had already spread the goldbiter rats across the entire border. Those rats are under my control. If you kill me, they will follow their instinct and rush into the village or town to devour everything. They will eat all the people there, and the border will be a ruin! I have already used the goldbiter rats to attack Torch Town. Their defense system could not even withstand the large wave of rats, not to mention that all the mayors are here. Those towns will be even weaker.” Moriarty’s tone could not hide his pride.
The goldbiter rats shared a single consciousness; he could see all the images that the goldbiter rats saw and presented them. If they killed him, everyone else would be buried with him at the border. No one would make that decision. Sylvan would not do it; he would even stop Watson.
When he thought of Sylvan, his tone became even more conceited. “The reason I was able to accomplish that feat was all because of your help, Sylvan! You’ve told the mayors to come here, and they thought they were smart enough to bring their most elite guards with them. I might have been in more trouble if they hadn’t done that. You’re really my good junior brother.”
“Moriarty, seeing you like this really hurts my heart! I remember that you weren’t a bastard who would threaten the lives of innocent people in the past. How did you suddenly become so cruel?”
Antonio scanned through the images, and his expression darkened when he heard Moriarty’s words.
As his former disciple, he knew Moriarty very well.
Moriarty was born in the Royal City. His parents were members of the kingdom’s knights. They had died in a battle for the throne of a few princes when Moriarty was young. As they were members of the ruling monarch, the king sent someone to give Moriarty a large sum of money after their deaths. However, he did not live a happy life in the Royal City. People bullied him because he did not have parents.
Antonio first met Moriarty in a tavern in the Royal City. At that time, Moriarty was a servant at the tavern. A few hooligans had beat him up because he refused to give them his pocket watch. Antonio recognized the photo of the woman in it—she was one of the guards who had died protecting King Landhar III.
Antonio had also participated in the fight for the throne back then. His instructions had led to King Landhar III’s victory. Out of kindness, he adopted Antonio and took him as a disciple.
Moriarty had always been very respectful and had shown extraordinary talent. He learned everything at once and often hid in his room to study magic and biology. Many of his novel insights were praised by the kingdom’s great mage. At the same time, he also told Moriarty about his parents. When he heard that his parents were heroes who had sacrificed their lives for the kingdom to help the king ascend the throne, Moriarty’s eyes lit up every time.
The face of the little boy who had worked hard in the past had overlapped with the image of the ugly rat in front of him. Antonio sighed. Was it Moriarty’s mission to destroy the Demoness’ Church?
He did not know. He only knew that Moriarty had disappeared after he had supposedly died during that mission. He had become like that when he reappeared. Perhaps someone had done something to Moriarty during that process.
“Master, don’t you know why I became like this?”
Moriarty let out a piercing laugh.
In the past, he respected Antonio and treated him like his only family member. Perhaps it was because he had lost his parents when he was very young, but his feelings for Antonio were like a child’s feelings for a father. That feeling lasted until the moment he died.
Ten years ago, he was famous in the kingdom as Antonio’s first disciple and was arranged to slaughter the Demoness’ Church. In that battle, he was severely injured by several of the church’s high-ranking members. He should have died there, but in the end, he met a man—the most remarkable man in the kingdom.
Moriarty still remembered the scene when the kingdom’s ruler saw him.
At that time, he was lying on the ground, almost at his last breath, like a wisp of dust. He raised his head with difficulty to look at the man. He could not see the man’s face in the backlight, but he could see his tall body and a pair of leather boots that were not stained with dust.
“How pathetic! This is the standard of the astrologer’s first disciple. People said that you have outstanding talent, especially your unique understanding of magic, which might help to push my kingdom to a new height. However, it seems like you are just like your parents—you are a fool!”
“Shut up! Don’t insult my parents!”
Moriarty’s first reaction to the man’s words was anger. The death of his parents had always been a soft spot in his heart. His fury helped him to stand up to see the man’s eyes. Those were a pair of emotionless eyes—golden pupils that could see through a person’s heart with a single glance.
The moment he saw those eyes, Moriarty did not know why he had shrunk back.
The man continued to say, “I did not slander your parents. I will not slander anyone. On the contrary, I respect every living being in the kingdom because you, including the kingdom, are my property. Who would be dissatisfied with their own property? Unfortunately, there will inevitably be differences as well. I will make an assessment based on the value of each of you. Both you and your parents are of the lowest value. That is all to it.”
The man’s voice was very calm, but it contained an unquestionable tone.
It was very difficult for kind people to survive in that world. On the contrary, evil people could live for a very long time. The worse they were, the longer they would live.
“I sent your parents to carry out an assassination mission. Oh, I almost forgot to say, at that time, I was not even the king yet. My brothers and I had to fight for the throne. And, in order to win, I had to do everything I could. Your parents were in charge of the assassination. However, their hearts softened during the execution. My brother escaped, so I took your parents’ lives.”
He continued to say, “I did give them a chance. I gave them each a sword. If they could kill me, then they could live. However, they chose to kill themselves! If they could only kill my brother, or even me, they would not be in this situation. However, they were not cruel enough, so I had to kill them.”
“It doesn’t seem like you know about this story. But Antonio knew this. Did he not tell you? That’s right; he is also very soft-hearted. I guess he took you as his disciple because he felt sorry for you. To not make you feel sad, Antonio must have gone to great lengths to praise you. Let me guess what he said.”
“I guess he would say that your parents are heroes who died for their kingdom. How ridiculous! They could only live in this world because other people pitied them. They would rather hurt themselves than hurt others. Don’t you think they are useless fools?”
