Chapter 114

〈 Episode 114 〉 Things That Happened in the Capital

After Asha joined the unit, the Tentacle attacks miraculously stopped. Thanks to this, the Soldiers were able to approach the capital at a rapid pace. However, as the Steel Regiment reached the forest located on the way to the capital, their unexpected good fortune quickly vanished.

“They’re coming again!”

Just because their situation was urgent didn’t mean the Tentacles would show any consideration for the Soldiers. The Soldiers hammered down on the relentlessly attacking Tentacles as always.

“Deal with them surely and quickly!”

“Yes!”

While the Soldiers fought against the Tentacles, Asha flew into the sky and rained down bombardment. As she smashed the Tentacles by slamming huge rocks onto the ground, she saw something cutting through the wave of Tentacles that covered the ground in black.

“What… is that?”

It wasn’t that Asha’s eyesight was bad. It was just that she found it hard to believe that there was someone who could break through the Tentacles alone.

A Knight on a horse clad in heavy Magic Armor was creating a whirlwind as they cut through the Tentacles. Tentacles were pouring in from all directions like crazy, but every time he swung his sword, the attacking Tentacles were caught in the exploding blasts and torn to pieces, scattering in the air.

The Knight was showing what a solo breakthrough, something that only existed in stories, really looked like. Asha, who had unconsciously defined the limits of humans, was momentarily stunned by the sight of a human displaying such power, but she quickly regained her senses and supported him with a support attack.

“Haaah!”

Asha pointed her finger at the Tentacles leaping towards the Knight’s rear, creating a huge wall of fire. The onslaught of Tentacles was cut in half by the fiercely burning flames, and the Tentacles in the rear were unable to attack the Knight.

The Knight glanced at Asha floating in the sky, and as the obstacles disappeared, he charged even more fiercely. He swirled Mana in front of him, literally grinding the Tentacles that were loitering in front of him into small pieces, and then plunged into the Steel Regiment’s formation.

“A Knight?!”

“To break through that…”

The Soldiers, who were stunned by the unbelievable feat performed by the Knight before their eyes, quickly made room for the Knight as he approached on horseback, welcoming him. The Knight, stained with Tentacle flesh and Body fluid, approached the Regimental Commander while still on horseback.

The Knight approached the Regimental Commander, took off his visor, and asked a question. The Count, who was puzzled by the high-pitched voice, was even more surprised when the person who took off the visor turned out to be a woman with sharp features.

“Who are you?”

“I am Count Avenue, the Regimental Commander of the Steel Regiment. Are you perhaps a survivor who escaped from the capital?”

“Hah… I guess ‘escaped’ would be the right word. I am Viscount Obert, the Vice-Captain of the Royal Knights. Or, if you are Count Avenue, are you one of the former King’s faction?”

The Regimental Commander frowned slightly at her words, which were mixed with a faint sense of rejection.

“Judging by you saying that, I suppose the Vice-Captain is of the current King’s faction. Well, it would be more ridiculous if the Vice-Captain of the Royal Knights wasn’t of the current King’s faction. Anyway, it’s not important whether we are of the current King’s faction or the former King’s faction right now.”

Viscount Obert nodded at the Regimental Commander’s words.

“That’s right. The conflicts up until now have become meaningless… And currently, His Majesty’s safety is uncertain.”

The Count’s face hardened at her words.

“Are you saying that His Majesty is missing?”

“His Majesty did not escape from the Royal Castle and held out until the very end.”

The Count’s complexion darkened even further upon hearing the Viscount’s words. Just ten years ago, his reckless words had almost split the kingdom in two, but in times of national crisis like this, a clear leader was absolutely necessary.

“Hmm… It’s something I used to wish for, but it’s truly regrettable that something like this has happened. It seems that quite a few things have happened while we were coming here, so can you quickly explain them to me?”

The Viscount nodded.

“Since the situation is urgent, I will explain quickly.”

Seeing the Soldiers fighting effortlessly without her, she began to tell the Count about what had happened in the capital.

Around the time when a village near the kingdom’s border was being covered in Tentacles, the capital was already aware of the Tentacle attacks. Although the Tentacles mostly enjoyed surprise attacks, there were some who managed to escape. Some of the survivors took refuge in the capital, and the capital defense forces immediately went into a state of emergency in response to the unprecedented situation.

The current King of Artua Kingdom was Phillip Artua, the former King’s younger brother. This man, who was Maximilian’s uncle, had cleverly driven the Prince out and seized the throne after the former King’s death.

Many of the kingdom’s nobles fiercely protested against the unprecedented tyranny, but Phillip was competent, regardless of his morality. He divided and alienated the nobles of the former King’s faction, gathered and united the nobles who followed him, and solidified his military power. In just three years after ascending the throne, he had completely suppressed the resistance of the opposition, with the exception of a very few, such as Count Avenue.

The reason why the capital defense forces reacted so quickly to the unprecedented situation of the Tentacle attacks was because the nobles of the former King’s faction had repeatedly led their private soldiers to attack the capital. And before long, an endless wave of Tentacles surged into the capital.

At first, the capital forces were able to relatively easily block the Tentacles’ unrealistic numbers. Only two days after the battle began, the capital defense forces succeeded in discovering that the Tentacles’ weakness was fire. They installed huge, unquenchable torches created by mages all over the outer walls to limit the invasion routes, and also created Magical Barrier in the underground of the walls to prevent Tunnel invasions.

There were quite a few refugees who had flocked in from various places, but there was enough food in the capital, and the defense forces thought that they would be able to block the Tentacles without much difficulty.

The anomaly occurred on the 13th day of fighting the Tentacles.

“What, why are those bastards crawling out there!”

“Ugh, block them! They’re breaking through the spires!”

Unlike before, the Tentacles, covered in sticky Body fluid all over their bodies, were able to withstand the flames. The Tentacles, which had squeezed through the Magic flames, smashed the Mana circuits, destroyed the torches, and instantly collapsed two of the spires on the northern wall.

After that, it was a series of desperate battles. The Soldiers desperately resisted in the face of the terrifying Heteromorph monsters that covered the walls and swarmed in. In order to capture the capital, the Tentacles jumped onto the walls in various twisted forms.

The Soldiers, who were facing an overwhelming number head-on, quickly disappeared. The end of the Soldiers, who were surrounded by Tentacles even on top of the walls, was miserable. The kingdom’s citizens of the capital also joined in and fought alongside them, but they could not overcome the endlessly swarming Tentacles, and eventually, the capital was finally captured one day before Asha arrived.

“So that’s what happened…”

The Count, who had heard about the King’s last stand at the Royal Castle with a suicide squad, was speechless. Viscount Obert continued to speak to him, who was silent.

“Currently, I am leading the remaining refugees and Soldiers and have evacuated to the west of the capital. I couldn’t break through the encirclement with them, so I came here alone.”

The Count’s face lit up at the good news that came amidst the grim news.

“There were those who escaped! What is the scale?”

“There are about 10,000 refugees and 2,700 Soldiers. It was a battlefield where it was difficult to tell the front from the back, so I don’t know how many Soldiers remained in the capital…”

“We need to join them now and move in the direction of rescuing as many of those who remain in the capital as possible. Can you help us until then?”

She nodded at the Count’s suggestion.

“I will join you.”

Asha, who had turned the swarming Tentacles into ashes, slowly descended to the ground from the air. Viscount Obert approached her as she made her wings disappear and stepped on the ground.

“Thank you for your help earlier. You’re wearing quite… a unique outfit?”

“Ah…? Ahh!”

Sometimes Asha would forget what she looked like because of the warm heat coming from her Bikini Armor. The Viscount, who was looking at her with an amused look as she quickly took out a robe and covered her naked body, had a look of suspicion in her eyes.

“Perhaps, is your name Asha?”

“Yes? How do you know my name…”

Asha was flustered when her name was mentioned by a stranger. The Viscount, whose face hardened at the sight of Asha, said to her.

“Please come with me for a moment. There’s something I need to tell you.”

“U-Uhm… Yes.”

Asha didn’t know what was going on, but she left the unit for a while with the Knight she had seen earlier. The Soldiers, who had just witnessed the Knight’s terrifying power, saw the person accompanying Asha and stepped aside without saying a word.

Asha, who had come to a place a little away from the unit, was horrified when the woman in front of her suddenly pointed her sword at her and drew her own sword to block it.

“What are you doing?!”

“Hmph, I thought you were just a mage, but your sword wasn’t just for show. What is your relationship with Zack? Don’t tell me you don’t even know that name.”

“Zack… Zack?”

Zack was the name of her subordinate who had rescued Asha, who had been treated like an object and brutally violated in the army, and escaped with her. Her eyes trembled as if an earthquake had struck when the name of the person who had been suddenly killed by an Elf at the end of their escape came up.

“Was it half a year ago… I received a letter that my brother sent. It had a lot of things written about a person named Asha, who was his superior… Neither I nor my brother knew that it would become his last will.”

“Ah…”

As the nightmare of the past resurfaced, the tip of the sword that Asha was pointing trembled violently like her heart. Viscount Obert did not miss that moment and intertwined her sword with Asha’s like a snake, immediately knocking Asha’s sword far away.

“That’s right… You were the Asha that my brother was talking about. Tell me, what happened to my brother there?”

She was speaking calmly, but her eyes were burning as if she would tear Asha in front of her to pieces right away. Asha closed her eyes tightly as the image of his corpse with a gaping hole in his chest resurfaced.

“Who are you…? Are you Zack’s younger sister?”

“My name is Geraldine Obert. I am Zack Obert’s younger sister and Claude and Valerie’s daughter.”

Asha’s legs trembled with shock and guilt as she met the blood relative of the person who had rescued her and sacrificed himself.

‘If this person kills me…’

Without a sword now, Asha had no confidence that she could stop her if she tried to kill her, after showing such terrifying power earlier. And if the person in front of her was Zack’s younger sister, then she was the one who deserved to take Asha’s life.

Once she acknowledged the truth, Asha’s heart calmed down. Even if Asha died here right now, Lucia would be summoned to the waiting room with her. Asha began to calmly explain to Zack’s blood relative what had happened in the meantime…