Black Hearted Mage

Chapter 339 Killing a Few Ascetics

The Rose Castle finally returned to its peaceful night, the eerie chants that once lingered in the backyard completely vanished. The three once-unruly old men had calmed down considerably. When they looked at Caesars, their cloudy eyes, besides the usual calculation, now held a new, barely concealed awe. And when their gazes passed over the puppy napping by the fireplace, their pupils would involuntarily shrink, and their wrinkled hands would tremble slightly.

"Mr. Marquis, the letter to Her Highness the Saint has been prepared according to your request. Please review it!"

In a small study covered with a crimson velvet tablecloth, the former Patriarch of the church, Patriarch Depero, hunched over, presented a piece of parchment shimmering with a faint magical glow. This old man, once a powerful figure in the Saint Laurent Church, now held the humble demeanor of a courtier newly appointed to the throne. The flickering flames of the fireplace cast shifting shadows on his age-spotted face, illuminating the complex expression in his eyes.

Caesars took the letter, his slender fingers gently stroking the delicate wax emblem on the parchment. He reviewed it word by word, his dark eyes flashing a cold light under the light.

"I won't be leaving Rose Castle anytime soon." He finally folded the letter and put it into his interspatial ring, the gemstone on the ring flashing a faint blue light. "Wait two years before heading to the Saint Laurent Empire."

The night breeze outside the window carried the scent of roses across the castle's spire. Caesars turned and gazed at the map of his territory hanging on the wall. He knew clearly that his current strength was too low to face Sandro with ease. When the monster meat in his storage ring ran out, and his cultivation resources were exhausted, that would be the best time for him to leave this territory. Until then, Rose Castle would be his ideal training ground.

Kaisas's cultivation resources weren't just magic crystals; he also needed soul energy, which allowed him to absorb magic faster during meditation. To obtain soul energy, he had to kill people, and on the other side of the Emerald River was the Bitterwater Farm, where he could harvest souls at any time.

Time flies, and the years fly by.

Six years had passed in the blink of an eye. During this time, little Ludwig had come back, and Emily had gone back and forth. The gold mine in the territory was still being mined. The shallow veins had been mined out, and now they were digging deeper veins.

Kaisas still has some training resources, but the high-level monster meat has run out. The fat puppy now weighs more than 100 pounds, and its appetite has also increased a lot.

Caesars pushed open the creaking attic door and came to the castle garden. The afternoon sun made him squint. He walked slowly along the cobblestone path. When he passed through the ivy-covered archway, the scene before him made him stop.

In the center of the garden, the dark red puppy was strolling proudly. Wearing a crimson vest, it stood on its hind legs, its front paws waving like human hands, like a noble lord patrolling its territory. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled shadows on its glossy fur.

"Damn dog, where did you get your clothes?"

Caesars' voice was tinged with amusement as he walked toward the vine-covered awning in the center of the rose garden. Six ancient rose bushes, their main branches intertwined and twisted, as thick as a strong man's arms, weaving a natural dome overhead. He casually broke off a thin branch growing sideways, and the unique rose fragrance stained his fingertips.

The puppy heard the call and immediately came running on its hind legs, nimbly jumped onto the stone chair, and even leaned on the back of the chair like a human, the gold buttons on its chest gleaming in the sun.

"The clothes were made for you by the head maid, right? The material looks familiar to me!" Caesars narrowed his eyes.

The puppy suddenly opened its mouth, revealing its snow-white fangs, and pointed one of its front paws in the direction of the castle. Caesars looked in the direction it was pointing and found that the dark red velvet curtains on the castle windows had been replaced with brand new dark green satin.

"Your clothes are made of old curtains!" Caesars suddenly realized and couldn't help laughing, "No wonder it looks familiar to me!" The puppy shook its head proudly, and the hem of its vest swayed gently with its movements, emitting the unique luster of silk in the breeze.

"You damn dog, how much monster meat do you have?"

Caesars stretched out his white palm and scratched the puppy's furry ears with his fingers, causing the small triangular ears to tremble.

The puppy shook its chubby body at the words, its stubby tail sweeping a semicircle across the stone floor. It tilted its head, considering for a moment, before extending its stubby front paws toward Caesars like a human hand. The movement was so natural that even the delicate pink pads of its flesh revealed a few tiny scars from hunting.

"Looks like we should go to the Southern Continent. This time we'll try to hunt the Earth Dragon. I think we can kill it!"

The puppy suddenly opened its mouth, revealing its sharp white teeth.

"Ouch?!" The puppy's mouth suddenly opened to an exaggerated degree, exposing its pink gums and fangs to the air, as if its jaw had been dislocated. Its chubby body bounced up as if it had been electrocuted, and its short tail stiffened like a stick. In its hazy memory, the monster's claws were several times larger than its entire body, and its claws were stained with the fragments of flesh from unknown prey.

The scarlet eyes blinked, and the puppy looked at Caesars with suspicion. It suddenly stood up, and its front paws desperately made exaggerated arcs.

"Try, and if you can't kill it, run." Caesars pulled out a yellowed sheepskin map from his leather armor and pointed to the blood-stained route on it. "I'll lead the Earth Dragon around the volcano, and you go steal the eggs. Anyway, you're running so fast that even the Wind Blade Leopard can't catch up!"

The puppy finally closed its mouth, two puffs of white air emanating from its wet black nose. It proudly lifted its head, its short paws thumping against its chest with a muffled thumping sound. Then, it deftly executed a stealing gesture—both its front paws curled into a ball. This complex set of body language clearly indicated: stealing eggs was its specialty.

"You idiot! Did you learn that chest-beating gesture from those drunk guards at the door?"

Caesars grabbed the puppy's furry ears and pointed at its muddy front paws. "You're not learning the good stuff, you're just imitating the vulgar tricks of the cheap taverns!"

The 120-pound puppy stood upright like a human, its scarlet eyes blinking in the morning light. Suddenly, it raised its front paws and pointed at the castle wall - there was a guard yawning there, with silver coins won from gambling last night stuck in the gap of his armor.

"You damn dog! The southern continent is full of flowing magma and fire-breathing monsters. Your silk vest will be burned!"

The puppy exhaled two puffs of triumphant white air from its nostrils, its round belly trembling in the morning breeze. It pawed at its storage ring like a child showing off a new toy, and there was a clang. It was a small piece of crimson salamander leather, its edges jagged as if gnawed, tied with two strips of faded cloth.

"Gods!" Caesars picked up the leather that smelled of sulfur. "You bit your sleeping pad like this? This is your apron!?"

The puppy suddenly threw itself onto the leather and rolled around madly, its hard scales rubbing against the bluestone floor, sending sparks flying. Caesars put his hand to his forehead and sighed, "Once we get to Stonewall City... I'll have a leatherworker tan it!" He dragged the dog out by its tail. This foolish dog, who even dared to drink lava, needed a fireproof apron because...

"Oh my god..." Kaisas squatted down and rubbed the dog's head, his voice suddenly softening, "You fat dog, are you going to be the most fashionable gentleman in the southern continent?"

The sunlight shone on the dark red fat dog. The somewhat obese figure was holding its head high and chest out, with a big belly, like a real aristocrat in a formal dress.

The southern bank of the Emerald River was shrouded in a hazy morning mist, and the fields east of Bitterwater Farm were covered with glistening dewdrops. The early autumn morning breeze, with a hint of coolness, brushed against the mottled stone walls of the retreat.

Some ascetics in faded linen robes had already knelt before the statues, their calloused hands clenched tightly, their cracked lips constantly opening and closing, uttering devout prayers, while others curled up in their coarse blankets, clinging to their last dreams in the chill of the autumn morning.

Caesars approached quietly on the dew-soaked grass, his puppy's ears perked up in alarm. This monastery, considered a sacred place by the ascetics, was actually just a crude, round stone tower. Constructed from uncarved boulders, it stood less than fifty meters tall, yet boasted a staggering thirty-meter diameter, appearing incredibly solid and heavy.

The three lower floors of the stone tower were filled with small, honeycomb-like chambers, home to ordinary ascetics. The top floor housed their deity and served as the venue for daily morning prayers. Caesar's gaze fell on the more spacious chambers below—these were the so-called "Gilded Ones." These ascetics, attempting to participate in the selection of the Pope under the guise of asceticism, were precisely the target of his quest. As for the mindless fanatics, he decided to let them go for now. After all, the Soul Gem's capacity was limited. The souls of these ascetics far surpassed those of a Paladin, and he didn't need to hunt too many Gilded Ones to fill the gem.

The ashram has no guards or servants, and one must provide all their own food and drink. If a "Gilded One" wishes to leave the ashram, they must first contact the outside world using a magical communication stone.

Passing through the low, narrow arched stone door, the sound of snoring came from the dark passage. The heavy snoring echoed between the stone walls, forming a strange harmony.

"Listen, you idiot! These guys are snoring just as loud as you are." Caesars lowered his voice and gently tapped the puppy's head with his finger. "We need to be quick and not alert the others."

He pressed himself against the cold stone wall, silently approaching the first stone chamber. The monastery's living quarters were extremely simple, lacking even a wooden door. Hanging over the doorway was a tattered animal hide or coarsely woven linen curtain. Caesars held his breath, his fingertips lifting a corner of the animal hide curtain. In the dim light filtering through the stone window, he could see a figure wrapped in coarse cloth, curled up on the ground, soundly asleep.

Almost instantly, Caesar's lips moved silently, and a gray-green voice curse and another gray curse of weakness simultaneously fell upon the sleeping Gilded One. Without even a grunt, the man's body collapsed limply. Caesar darted forward, grasping the man's head with precise hands and twisting it sharply—"Crack!" The crisp sound of cervical vertebrae breaking was particularly clear in the silent stone chamber. A wisp of milky white soul drifted from the corpse and was quickly absorbed by the Soul Gem. The whole process took only a few breaths.

The fat puppy straightened its body, patted its chest with its front paws solemnly, and there was a smug light in its scarlet eyes - it was clearly saying: It can also do this clean and neat way of killing.

Caesars's lips curled slightly, and he gracefully gestured "please." The puppy immediately understood and tiptoed to the adjacent stone chamber, like a seasoned assassin. With its paw, it gently parted the linen curtain, peered inside with a sly look, and then deftly slipped inside.

A series of muffled "crunching" sounds soon emanated from the stone chamber, sounding particularly harsh in the dark passage. Caesars frowned—the noises were a bit too loud, like bones being snapped. He quickly slipped back into the stone chamber, fearing the puppy's bloody smell would alert the others.

However, the sight before him brought a slight sigh of relief. The Gilded Man's corpse was indeed bloodless, but its entire body was twisted in an extremely bizarre manner—its limbs and torso twisted together like a pretzel, its vertebrae protruding, as if forcibly twisted into a spiral by some invisible force. The puppy squatted beside it, tilting its head to admire its "masterpiece," its tail wagging proudly.

Kaisas could only give a thumbs up, as he couldn't do that. After the soul energy was drained by the gem, the corpse's storage ring was removed and the corpse was stuffed back in.

"Just break your neck, damn dog! Don't twist it into noodles! Your head is almost falling off!"

The bulging puppy nodded its head hurriedly, grinning, and took small steps toward the next stone chamber. The Gilded One inside had awakened from his coma and was now hunched over against the mottled stone wall, his cloudy eyes staring blankly at the ground, his wrinkled face filled with vicissitudes and confusion.

As two fat dogs, walking upright on their hind legs, slyly entered the stone chamber, the elderly "Gilded One" slowly raised his head. The moment their eyes met, time seemed to freeze—the fat dogs' figures reflected in the old man's cloudy pupils, while the old man's withered face was reflected in the puppies' scarlet eyes. Man and dog were stunned on the spot.

Standing at the door, Caesars smacked his lips impatiently, then suddenly raised his leg and kicked the fat dog hard on the butt: "You idiot dog, what are you dawdling about for? Hurry up!"

This kick made the puppy completely lose its balance, and its round body pounced towards the old man like a meat bomb.

There was nowhere to hide in the cramped stone chamber. The puppy's enormous head crashed into the Gilded One's chest. With a horrifying snap, the old man's sternum instantly collapsed into a terrifying crater. His bulging eyes held a look of disbelief, while dark red blood foamed from the corners of his mouth. He collapsed to the ground like a rag doll.