Revenge of the Iron-Blooded Sword Hound TL

Chapter 3 Hell Hound (3)

Newborn Vikir, Vikir van Baskerville.

He was now lying on the outskirts of the darkened communal nursery.

There wasn't much he could do with the body of a child who couldn't even properly support himself.

He could only suckle the wet nurse's milk and carefully reconsider the situations before his regression.

At 8 years old, he first felt mana. It was a talent that would be considered genius in the outside world, but within the Baskerville family, it was just average.

At 15, he accumulated mana at the 1st circle level. He could faintly raise an aura on his sword.

At 20, he began to be deployed in actual combat. He was mainly assigned missions such as assassination, espionage, and suppression of barbarians.

At 25, perhaps because he lived twice as fiercely as others? He acquired sword skills that even the collateral branches of the Baskerville family couldn't reach in their thirties.

At 29, the limits of growth for an illegitimate child were clear. The legitimate direct descendants, who seemed to fall behind for a moment, began to overtake him rapidly as they gained practical experience, and soon disappeared far ahead, out of sight.

At 30, gates to the demon realm opened, and numerous demon races began to invade.

At 35, he endured the Age of Destruction with his bare body, gained a lot of practical experience, and killed more monsters than anyone else.

At 39, they won the war. It was a precious victory for the Empire and the human alliance.

At 40, a lifetime of loyal service as a hound. But the Baskerville family did not repay that loyalty. What he received in return was a false accusation of colluding with the demon race, and the blade of the guillotine.

Grind-

A renewed hatred for Hugo Baskerville wells up.

When Vikir gritted his teeth, the wet nurse was startled and removed him from her embrace.

"Oh my, young master sometimes grinds his teeth like this."

She laid Vikir in the cradle and got up.

Her shift was over, so it was time to change with another wet nurse.

But.

Swish-

The wet nurse, who should have left through the door, looked around and then went to the opposite bed.

"Here, young masters. Have some milk."

The wet nurse began to feed some of the children she had nursed earlier separately.

The children of the Baskerville family are raised communally in one room.

This is to raise all children equally.

But what mother would treat her own child and a child from a different mother the same?

Some mothers would remember the characteristics of the child they gave birth to and ask the wet nurse to nurse them for a longer time.

Of course, for Vikir, who didn't know who his mother was, it was difficult to expect such a request, so he had no choice but to give up all expectations.

At least until he could grow enough to get food by himself, he wouldn't be able to do much quickly.

...Right then.

Something rather unexpected happened.

The wet nurse, after looking around, approached Vikir's cradle again.

"Oh my. Madam, really. What is this that she told me to put in young master Vikir's cradle."

Madam? There aren't many who would be called Madam in this family.

And there's even less reason for such a person to request something to be brought to him.

The wet nurse took out a rather large box from her bosom, and she herself seemed unsure of what was inside.

Clatter-

The wet nurse placed the box in Vikir's cradle and tilted her head a few times.

Then she left the nursery with quick steps.

"..."

Vikir quietly looked at the box beside him.

Did he have such a memory before his regression? Not particularly.

He struggled to raise his head and looked outside the cradle.

Vikir's cradle, quite far from the other cradles.

The feeling wasn't good.

And ominous premonitions always come true.

Creak- Crackle-

Eventually, something poked its head out of the box.

A gift for a newborn child.

Snakes.

Two snakes with black triangular heads were showing their thick bodies out of the box.

Bloody Mamba.

A venomous snake also called the Seven-Step Death because it's said you die before taking seven steps if bitten.

It's a rare species that's hard to find in the outside world.

Vikir half-opened his mouth in disbelief.

Who would have released these snakes here?

It seems the wet nurse left without knowing what she had released.

After being dumbfounded for a moment, Vikir soon grasped the situation.

'Come to think of it, babies in the nursery often died mysteriously.'

Children who were exceptionally capable and extraordinary from birth often died young.

Until now, it had been a different world from his own, and he had only thought it was accidental death, assassination by enemies, or just bad luck.

But now the situation doesn't look good at all.

The black hand targeting the nursery was clearly reaching out from within the family.

Hiss-

The two Bloody Mambas approach him.

Their bright red mouths with gleaming fangs already seemed to be covered in blood.

It's a situation where all the children in this nursery could be wiped out if things go wrong.

If that happens, it would be an unprecedented catastrophe in the history of the Baskerville family.

'...Well, that's not so bad either.'

He has no attachment to the family whatsoever.

But if the beginning of that destruction starts with him, that's a problem.

Vikir reached out his hand.

He had killed countless monsters while going through the Age of Destruction.

He had dealt with countless reptilian monsters, including those in the shape of snakes, and of course, knew their weaknesses well.

It was enough even with a newborn's body.

...Grab!

Vikir reached out both hands and grabbed one venomous snake each.

The spot he grabbed was precisely around the nape of the neck, where the snake's teeth couldn't reach.

Rather, the snakes, caught off guard by the preemptive attack, struggled in confusion.

They tried to stab their enemy by raising their pointed scales, but it was futile as Vikir's body was already hardened by the protection of the Styx River.

While teeth might have worked, scales couldn't even cause a scratch.

At the same time, Vikir utilized the mana throughout his body.

The mana pool, which had been empty since birth, was now quite filled.

It was the result of drinking the water of the Styx River to his limit.

...Flash!

His two fists began to emit a sparkling light.

A level that the babies gathered in this nursery would only be able to reach after 8 years.

Vikir achieved this before he was even 8 months old.

Tss tss tss tss tss...

The bodies of the two venomous snakes stiffen.

It's the law of the wild for the body to become sluggish when encountering a superior predator.

The two venomous snakes, perhaps feeling unprecedented fear from the milk-scented infant before them, stiffened with their scales raised.

Eventually, Vikir's mana-infused hands violently twisted the necks of the two venomous snakes.

...Crack!

While the skin and the flesh beneath remained intact, the bones supporting them broke.

The two venomous snakes each opened their mouths wide.

Their eyeballs bulged out due to the pressure, and their tongues were stuck out long.

The two snakes with broken necks trembled for a moment, then died, releasing their excrement.

Deadly venom dripped from the tips of their fully exposed fangs.

* * *

The next day.

The screams of the first wet nurse to arrive for work brought all the guardian knights in the family to the communal nursery.

In Vikir's two hands, smiling brightly, were two venomous snakes with broken necks.

The guardian knights were so surprised their eyes nearly popped out when they saw that these were the infamous Bloody Mambas from the "Red and Black" mountains.

Although the snakes had their fangs removed, the discovery of such monsters in the nursery was still a terrible disaster.

This news reached Hugo, who was in the main castle, within minutes, and he rushed straight to the nursery castle.

Afterwards, all the wet nurses who were on night duty were tortured and executed, and truly strict guard duty was established in the nursery.

The culprit who released the snakes was never found.

But only one person.

"..."

One young hound, unable to speak, saw through all the truth.

The legendary infant who, since birth, had traversed the Cradle of Sword Pricks in the shortest time, submerged in the Styx River for the longest time, and if that wasn't enough, strangled two venomous snakes to death in the cradle.

Vikir van Baskerville.

He quietly waits in his cradle for the time to come.

The moment to repay the debt, the time for revenge.

...

And eight years have passed since then.