"My lord! According to the map, the place indicated is on the edge bordering that forest!
According to our information, that is the forest of Brokilon, ruled by the dryads. They are hostile to all humans and will attack us if we approach.
What should we do my lord? Retreat?"
"Retreat? After coming this far? No kidding!
I think you should at least give me some face as prince of a kingdom."
The prince did not listen to what his soldier said and instead ordered his group to form a protective circle around him as they approached the forest.
As they reached a certain point, suddenly an arrow was shot from somewhere in the forest and stuck in the ground in front of the horses.
The horses neighed in fright as their owners tried to calm them down.
The prince removed his helmet and raised his voice.
"I am the second prince of Kerack! I am not here with evil intentions! I'm just here to retrieve a lost object of my family!"
The prince pulled out the scroll and unfolded it so that the contents could be seen.
"I only ask that you allow me to collect what is rightfully mine and I will leave! I can even deliver a portion to you if you will allow me..."
Before the prince had finished speaking, a small imperceptible space crack opened between the branches of a bush and a poisonous arrow shot out of it at lightning speed, piercing the prince's forehead."
An overwhelming silence fell over the place for a second before the prince's guards went berserk.
Some charged at the dryads hiding in the bushes while some retreated to inform the kingdom of the news.
The group of dryads who were assigned to patrol the area were all nervous and unsure of how to act.
"Who was the shooter?"
"I don't know! It wasn't me!"
"What do we do now?"
"That was a prince!"
"Calm down!"
The leader of the group shouted to her sisters and warned them sternly.
"First we must kill all those guards so the news doesn't spread. We must leave none of them alive!"
The dryads pulled themselves together and drew their arrows as they tried to shoot down the prince's crazed guards.
A few guards managed to get close enough to some of the dryads to inflict a killing blow on them but were quickly shot down by the rest of the dryads.
Of the retreating guards only two remained, who happened to be Viltz and the prince's right hand man.
"Sir Roan! Go ahead! I'll have your back! You must get this news to his majesty so he can avenge us! We are all counting on you!"
Viltz let out a lot of expletives that seemed to move the other knight, who urged his horse to run faster as Viltz took up position with his horse behind the man, covering his retreat.
"Knight Mickel... I will never forget your noble sacrifice...Nor that of my brothers..."
Knight Roan's face hardened as he rode on without looking back.
An arrow struck Viltz's back while two more stuck in his horse.
The horse collapsed on top of Viltz, who opened a portal at full speed, exchanging with the original Mickel knight, leaving behind an Oscar-worthy performance.
"Well, now that we have laid the groundwork for conflict, I must further fan the flames of hatred for Brokilon.
Hmmmm... I shouldn't do something like the previous plan as it would become too obvious that someone is behind the conflict."
After thinking about it for a long while, Viltz couldn't come up with anything better so he decided to simply deploy his most influential servant, Ortolan.
Sitting at his desk, Viltz looked at the old man standing in front of him and explained his next plan.
"Your task is simple, you will take this data to the brotherhood and explain to them that you have been sneaking around with a group of sorcerers to create a new potion to enhance both physical and magical abilities.
You will explain how you came up with the idea after seeing a witcher in action.
You will tell them that you came up with the brilliant idea of using the creation procedures of a witcher combined with some of your theories and the recipe of the youth potion with the addition of the mystical water found in that forest.
You will say that it is a very promising project and that if you get the Brokilon water, your research could advance by leaps and bounds.
In short, you have to convince them to join the conflict and give them an incentive to fight the dryads."
Finishing speaking, Viltz dismissed Ortolan, who gave a deep bow before leaving.
In truth, Viltz need not have tried so hard since the sorcerers of the brotherhood, like any mage, would immediately be attracted to Brokilon's water and want to study it.
A mage's curiosity was something that could not be underestimated after all.
"Well, if Ortolan does well, not only the sorcerers of the brotherhood but also the kings they work for will join this conflict."
As he opened a portal to Castle Stygga to return to his room, suddenly a ball of blue light appeared in front of him in the middle of the space tunnel.
Before he could react, the ball of blue light penetrated his forehead.
The portal in the room spat Viltz onto the bed before closing.
Unable to resist, his eyes closed as he went into a deep sleep.
"Eh? Where am I?"
Viltz opened his eyes and looked around.
He saw a very familiar room that he wished he would never see again in his life.
It was the same room he was hospitalized in before his death.
The furniture, the television with a program in the background, the various machines connected to his body.
He had no doubt, this was his old hospital room.
When he tried to move his body, the only thing he could move were his eyes.
"Was it all...a dream?"
Viltz suddenly didn't know how to react.
"No! It's impossible! So many years of experiences and memories! It's impossible that they are all a mere illusion!"
Viltz roared in his mind.
Suddenly, he heard the door open.
"Eh?"
Suddenly, Viltz noticed something strange about his own situation.
"Aren't I not supposed to be able to see or hear? I remember perfectly every second of those moments when all around me was that silent darkness...I remember that terror."
A nurse approached Viltz with a mysterious smile as she carried a case in her hands.
"Young master Noah! I'm here!"
The nurse positioned herself at an angle where the security camera that was positioned in the corner could not capture her face before the smile on her face faded, turning to one of contempt.
"Heh! I can't believe I have to spend my time taking care of a piece of dead meat like you."
The nurse looked at Viltz with disgust before turning back to her earlier smile.
Turning slightly so that her face was exposed from the camera, the nurse pulled a syringe from the case and stuck it into a small vial with a red liquid, sucking all the liquid into the syringe.
"Fortunately for me, today will be the last day I have to take care of a waste like you."
The nurse tapped the syringe lightly with her fingers as she smiled even wider.
"Even though it's useless for me to tell you since you can't hear me and you'll be dead in a moment anyway, still let me share the news with you.
Your brother, Mr. Mark, has officially become the new lord and owner of all the Evans family properties.
Your father had an unfortunate incident during his flight to Dubai and you, his second son, died because your nurse gave you the wrong medication."
The nurse stuck the needle into the vein in his arm as she laughed softly.
"Once I finish this little job, Mr. Mark will hand me 100 million, with that I can live a whole life of luxury and I won't have to work as a sad nurse anymore."
"Sigh...I guess this is where I die....
Noah...it's been years since I've been called by my real name."
Le nurse slowly squeezed the syringe, letting the liquid inside slowly penetrate Viltz's veins.
"Oh, I almost forgot. Mr. Mark sends his regards."
"That scum!"
An overwhelming rage overwhelmed Viltz's soul but currently he could do nothing.
Suddenly,his whole body began to convulse before his soul left his body.
His soul was a blue sphere invisible to ordinary mortals.
"Strange, I don't remember this part."
Viltz pulled himself together and analyzed the situation.
He watched as his soul left his body before slowly rising into the sky.
A halo with rainbow lights surrounded his body as it lifted him higher and higher in the sky following a path of golden light leading somewhere.
Curious, Viltz tried to feel what this halo was but could not.
Looking at the path of golden light penetrating the clouds, Viltz suddenly thought of something.
"Will that be the sky, or the beyond?"
Suddenly, as Viltz found himself absorbed in his own thoughts, an apocalyptic scene cut through his thoughts.
Suddenly, gigantic spider web-like cracks appeared at a point in the sky.
Not only Viltz's soul, everyone who could witness that area of the sky was dumbfounded by that crack.
With the sound of shattering crystals, the cracks began to spread across the planet's surface at great speed.
"What the hell is that?"
Viltz watched as the cracks covered the entire sky in sight.
Suddenly, just as his body was about to reach the end of the golden light pillar's path, a crack broke through the pillar, appearing over Viltz's head.
A terrifying suction force sucked out his soul with the multicolored halo still surrounding his body.
The last thing Viltz saw was how the earth, which until a few seconds ago was in perfect condition, exploded into pieces.
Viltz's soul appeared in a kind of wormhole through which it traveled at full speed.
Looking at the multicolored halo surrounding him, Viltz realized that his light was gradually losing brightness.
"This halo... is it protecting my soul from this place?"
Viltz didn't know how long he was traveling through the wormhole, he didn't know if it had been minutes, days or even years.
His soul kept traveling until suddenly, it was sucked through a small crack in a corner.
Viltz suddenly appeared in outer space, with many planets surrounding his body.
The halo around him, which had shrunk greatly, let out a humming sound before his soul began to descend towards the planet beneath his feet.
In a few seconds, he appeared above a city he knew very well, it was the city of Lan Exeter.
The halo let out one last humming sound, moving his soul until he arrived in front of a woman, reaching into her belly.
Inside the woman's womb, there was a body and soul that were just developing. The halo caused Viltz's soul to touch that soul, merging with it, before dispersing into motes of multicolored light.
"Is...is this how I reincarnated? Does that mean the Earth is destroyed?"
Viltz didn't know what to think.
Suddenly, the scene in front of his eyes changed. He was no longer in his mother's womb but in the middle of a street.
This was the marketplace of the city of Ban Ard.
She suddenly realized that she still could not control her body.
Deciding to observe for the moment, Viltz watched his body move on its own as he explored the various street stalls in the market.
Suddenly, someone called out to him.
"Hey kid! Want to buy a real magical relic?"
Viltz's eyes contracted as he turned around and saw who the other party was.
The man had eyes with vertical pupils, slightly tapered ears, and a shaved head.
This was Gaunter O'Dimm, the mirror merchant and a demon of high rank.
"No thanks!"
Viltz's lips moved of their own accord, rejecting this guy.
"Are you sure? It's something I just got with a lot of effort. You know the legendary unicorns?"
Gaunter O'Dimm smiled slyly as he pulled a broken horn from his backpack.
"That's the one! The horn I stole from Igor!"
Viltz's eyes widened like saucers but before he could think, the scene changed again.
Different scenes flashed through his mind at high speed.
He saw how he killed Dagon again.
He saw how his plans against the dryads went off without a hitch, managing to take over the entire main tree that produced Brokilon's water.
Suddenly, the scenes stopped at a specific event, allowing him to experience it personally.