Wizard Earl

Chapter 310 Hector (Part 2)

So the knights had no choice but to accept being controlled by others. While the Salok Knights monitored the knights, made sure they took the secret medicine on time, and practiced the knight breathing technique they taught them, they also began to carefully examine the changes in the knights' bodies. However, listening to Hector's account, Connor felt that this was more like recording data for lab rats!

As the knights continued practicing that strange knightly breathing technique and taking the secret elixirs, they felt their strength improving rapidly. However, at the same time, a second and a third victim appeared, just like the first, losing control and dying in ways you could never imagine…

When the knights were reduced from the initial twelve to only six, the Salok Knights took a new action. They performed a ritual on the remaining six, during which two more knights perished, their heads exploding like rotten watermelons.

After the ceremony, the four remaining knights, including Hector and Kovacs, could clearly feel the severe abnormalities in their bodies. Not only were these abnormalities largely suppressed, but their strength had also increased dramatically. Even when facing a great knight whose strength was originally far superior to theirs in a one-on-one battle, they could completely dominate. This made them very happy, thinking that their misfortune was about to end. However, they were far too optimistic. The knights gradually began to find that their behavior, consciousness, and thinking were becoming less human and more like those of wild beasts. Moreover, as time went by, this phenomenon began to become more and more serious.

Regarding the problem faced by the remaining four knights, the Salok Knights offered their solution: a drug called Anti-Magic Powder. After taking this powder, the beast-like effects on their behavior, consciousness, and mind would be greatly alleviated. However, the effects of the Anti-Magic Powder were not permanent, but only temporary. If they did not take the powder for a period of time, not only would the beast-like effects on their behavior, consciousness, and mind continue to develop, but they would also experience a living hell. Only by continuing to take the Anti-Magic Powder could they alleviate these symptoms.

At that moment, the remaining four knights realized what they had become: the "Demonized Knights" that Margaret had just spoken of!

The above is Hector's confession under Connor's torture, detailing how he became a demonized knight. Hector had considered what the secret drug he was forced to take by the Salok Knights was. In his opinion, the drug he took should be related to some kind of beast, but he didn't know much more.

Having become demonized knights and greatly increased in strength, Hector and Kovacs, along with two other demonized knights, did not refrain from considering breaking free from or even seeking revenge against the Salok Knights. However, at this time, a figure appeared within the Salok Knights who made the four demonized knights abandon their thoughts of revenge. Within the Salok Knights, this person was known as Giampaolo. This Mr. Giampaolo gave the four demonized knights a chance—a chance to break free from the control of the Salok Knights.

If these four demonized knights could withstand even one blow from him, they and their families would be freed. Unfortunately, the four demonized knights failed. Even when Mr. Giampaolo appeared before them, the four demonized knights, whose strength had greatly increased and whose confidence was overflowing, did not even have the courage to face Mr. Giampaolo directly, let alone withstand a single blow. From then on, Hector, Kovacs, and the other two demonized knights became the killing tools of the Salok Knights. Whoever the Salok Knights ordered them to kill, they had to kill.

The tools that the Salok Knights use to control their power are comprehensive. Besides the various restrictions placed in their minds and their families, the most important tool is the anti-magic powder. The reason why Connor was attacked by two demonized knights, Hector and Kovac, instead of four demonized knights today is largely due to the anti-magic powder. As mentioned earlier, the anti-magic powder provided by the Salok Knights can temporarily alleviate and suppress the beast-like behavior, thoughts, and consciousness of demonized knights.

The demonized knights had to take anti-magic powder once a month. If they didn't take it, they would suffer a fate worse than death. According to Hector's exact words during Connor's interrogation, if they didn't take the anti-magic powder for a month, they would feel as if countless worms were constantly gnawing at their flesh and bone marrow. The pain was simply unbearable for a human... Connor could never forget the deep fear, despair, and terror in Hector's eyes when he said those words.

Because the anti-magic powder was so terrifying, the other two demonized knights besides Hector and Kovacs, perhaps due to a change of heart after being forced to kill too many people, or simply because they no longer wanted to live such a controlled life, or perhaps for other reasons unknown to others, concluding that these two demonized knights had conspired to obtain the formula for the anti-magic powder, but they failed. Their fate was simple: the Salok Knights refused to provide them with any more anti-magic powder and forbade them from committing suicide. Under the guidance of the Salok Knights, Kovacs and Hector witnessed the horrific final moments of their former comrades who died due to the lack of anti-magic powder…

Having witnessed that horrific scene, Hector and Kovacs never dared to harbor any improper thoughts again. This is why Hector didn't choose to leak the secret before Connor resorted to his methods; in his eyes, the terror of not having anti-magic powder far outweighed death. To prevent his family from being implicated, Hector, after confirming that Connor had temporarily blocked the sensory restrictions in his mind and that the Salok Knights truly wouldn't know what he had said, revealed his most valuable information.

Hector and Kovacs were directly led by a middle-aged man named Pioli from the Salok Knights. They also received the anti-magic powder from Pioli. Pioli would issue them missions at irregular intervals, telling them who to kill. Hector and Kovacs's activities were not limited to Rune; they had left traces of their actions throughout the entire Kaman Empire and even the New World. Three days ago, Pioli informed the two of them that their target this time was Connor Ferguson!

(End of this chapter)