Ch.119EP.29 – King Kong and the Hybrid Clash (7)

Boom boom boom boom!

“E-Earthquake!”

“E-Evacuate! Evacuate now!”

The soldiers issued evacuation orders in panic, terrified by the continuous tremors shaking the underground tunnel.

If the tunnel collapsed, they would die along with it.

However.

“I told you to take the prisoners with you, didn’t I?”

“B-But, Your Highness…”

“Not ‘Your Highness,’ call me Lord Aren! I’m on official duty right now!”

“Huk!”

“I will not tolerate disobedience. Take all the prisoners with you.”

“Y-Yes, sir…!”

By Aren Pendragon’s orders, the soldiers had to take care of the prisoners.

“L-Light…!”

“Move forward! Hurry up! If we all die because of you, it’ll be your responsibility!!”

“S-Sorry!”

The prisoners were too busy fleeing to appreciate the sunlight and clouds they hadn’t seen in ages, but there was a sense of joy at being alive that made them welcome this natural disaster.

Normally, even if the tunnel collapsed, those sentenced to life imprisonment wouldn’t be allowed to escape as a matter of principle.

However.

“I’ll say it again, take only those on this ‘list.’ If anyone else tries to mix in, execute them immediately.”

“U-Understood!”

The ‘royal bloodline’ had the power to overturn all such principles.

Having washed away his dirty gray hair to reveal the silver-white hair symbolic of the Pendragon family, Aren’s orders were followed with perfect discipline by the soldiers.

The soldiers, though frightened, had few complaints because they believed his orders were just.

“As expected of royal blood, he’s trying to prevent innocent people from dying.”

“Indeed, the people on the list are practically innocent.”

“They call him the Noble White Lion, and it’s no empty title.”

Among those imprisoned in the tunnel, only those with minor offenses were being rescued—those who had offended nobles or were victims of false accusations.

It was a moment that revealed a nobility worthy of praise.

However, for the one receiving the praise…

“Damn it…”

It was utterly humiliating.

It felt dirty to steal someone else’s reputation.

‘I’m just following orders myself!’

The list obtained by threatening the guild, and the order—no, the threat—to rescue these prisoners…

– Remember, if even one person on the list is missing, that’s one hundred lashes per person.

…It was such an unreasonable threat that he had no choice but to do his best.

He wondered why he, a royal, had to break the law like this, but Aren feared the consequences of voicing such complaints.

Yet.

“Th-Thank you, Sir Knight! Th-Thank you, thank you so much!”

“They told me if I held out for one year, I could see my mother, but I thought I would die without seeing her face. Thank you, Sir Knight…!”

“Th-Thank you for saving us…”

…Damn it!

As these seemingly innocent prisoners thanked him, something welled up in Aren’s chest.

What was this feeling?

“D-Don’t thank me, just hurry up and escape!! You there, you seem to have trouble with your leg, get on my back quickly.”

“I-I might dirty your armor…”

“Don’t make me repeat myself!”

It would be much later that Aren realized he was no longer afraid of the monster, but was genuinely trying to help these people.

“—Still, he’s not a completely rough-edged person.”

“Indeed. Right now, the title ‘White Lion’ truly suits him.”

“He certainly looks both brave and noble like a white lion…”

Slash!

While helping people escape like Aren, Jake and Yord were also tasked with cutting down any “dangerous criminals” trying to escape by blending in with the others.

Some of them knew martial arts, clearly members of the Blood Cross Army.

They must have been trying to betray the Blood Cross Army and escape.

“Men without loyalty.”

“What can you expect from heretics, or rather, such trash.”

Whoosh!

Yord swiftly swung his sword at a prisoner charging toward him.

A horizontal slash executed with wind-like speed and without hesitation.

Snick!

And a perfectly clean finish to end it.

It was swordsmanship of extreme precision.

This was the remarkable skill that made him the top rookie in the Order of the Silver Lion this year.

And not to be outdone, the senior knight…

Whoooosh!!

Thwack!

“I may not be able to deflect swords and arrows like that guy, but I’m still quite tough myself.”

Jake withstood the attacks with his body, showing not a single wound.

Diamond Body.

Before Ihan taught the technique to the cadets, Jake was the first to learn it.

Though treated as an experimental subject, Jake’s learning ability was better than the cadets’, as he was already an excellent knight.

That’s why he could even perform the Diamond Body technique that was thought to be possible only for Ihan.

Therefore…

“Don’t be reborn in your next life; even your breathing is a waste.”

It meant that no heretic could touch him.

Swoosh!

With a clean sword technique, the heads of all who rushed at him were cleanly severed in an instant.

Like cutting crops with a scythe, it was perfectly executed.

This was the skill of a top-tier knight, not something one would expect from a mid-level knight.

Jake exhaled lightly to cool down his sweat.

“Whew, have we dealt with most of them?”

“We seem to have handled most of the heretics, but… the ones we’ve eliminated are probably just a fraction.”

“…That’s true.”

Though Jake and Yord had cut down more than fifty men, there were still hundreds of prisoners remaining.

And all those prisoners…

“Must be in there.”

“…So there’s another passage, just as Senior Ihan said…?”

The behavior of hundreds of prisoners who wouldn’t come out despite the earthquake and explosions…

…They must have something they’re counting on.

“Sigh, just how many traitors are there?”

Now they would find out, whether they wanted to or not.

There was a facility unknown to them in the prison tunnel, and a suspicious force was growing there, parasitically increasing its numbers.

This was no ordinary terrorist organization or heretical group.

Someone was helping them from behind.

And that someone had considerable power…!

“…Let’s focus on resolving the current situation for now. If we get distracted during battle, we’ll be the ones to suffer.”

“…”

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“…Your words just now sounded like Senior Ihan.”

“M-Me?”

Jake seemed greatly shocked.

To think he sounded like that mess of a knight…!

Did that mean he was a mess too?

“N-No, I’m not like that!”

“Oh, but you are, hehe.”

“You little…!”

Looking at his sly junior who was snickering, Jake felt his blood pressure rising.

This guy used to be a diligent model student, why had he changed like this?

‘It’s all because of him.’

Ihan.

A so-called friend who was nothing but a bad influence.

Ever since getting involved with that guy, it seemed like nothing normal ever happened.

“Haah…”

But Jake’s gaze was fixed on the pitch-black tunnel.

Worried about him, who must be fighting somewhere in that darkness.

‘Are you alright?’

He wanted to go help, but he knew he would only get in the way.

That guy performed better when fighting alone.

Still, it didn’t feel good.

Being left to clean up like this made him acutely aware of his own inadequacy.

“Tsk, just this once, I wish I were the Black Lion of the North.”

“The Black Lion of the North? You mean the vice-commander of the Black Iron Lions?”

“You know about him?”

“His achievements are famous throughout the kingdom, not just in the North. The Black Lion Maximus Iron de Lionel, the famous ‘Giant Slayer,’ right?”

Maximus the Giant Slayer.

The brave knight who defeated a frost giant alone.

Even among the young knights representing the southern continent, his achievements and fame were on a different level.

“…I’ve only heard stories, but is he really that strong?”

“I’ve only seen him once myself. And that was by chance. …But.”

“?”

“-He’s strong. Incredibly so.”

“…”

He couldn’t forget.

When he was still training under his father as a knight, they traveled near the northern region.

They encountered knights from the North, and among them…

– Haha, what an excellent knight!

‘He’ was there.

Though still in his teens, his presence, size, and intense aura surpassed even his father, who was an experienced knight.

– Haha!! Pretty sturdy for a white cat. How about it, want to take one of my strikes? I can’t guarantee your survival. Well, if you die, that can’t be helped, that’s what a knight’s battle is all about, uahahahaha!!

He had never seen anyone so strong before.

And his father evaluated him like this:

– The Light of Radiance occasionally, perhaps once every hundred years, bestows excessive blessings upon a single individual. It’s truly a talent born once in a hundred years, a one-in-ten-million talent.

– What about me?

– You might be one in a hundred, haha.

– …

– Anyway, don’t fight someone like him. He’s terrifyingly strong now, but such people continue to grow, endlessly…

Jake had accepted his father’s words.

Indeed, he had no choice but to accept, given that man’s presence and aura.

And he had wondered…

Would he ever meet someone like that again in his life?

…Well.

‘My thinking changed after meeting that guy.’

Someone even more unusual than a monster who had broken through the one-in-ten-million probability.

Someone whose skills were second to none.

If Maximus was what you’d call a genius blessed with talent from heaven, then that guy had gained his power through hardship and trials…

In other words…

‘A hybrid, a chimera?’

Someone who was strangely good at various things.

Hah!

Jake chuckled, thinking it was too harsh to call a person a hybrid, and felt a bit sorry.

‘I’ll buy him a beer later, I guess.’

…After all this is safely over.

Swoosh!!

Jake’s sword once again harvested the neck of a beast wearing human skin.

*

*

*

And the monster born with a one-in-ten-million talent and the hybrid who had gained strange powers through trials…

“So, why are you here?”

“Haha, I was just doing some spy work. But strangely, people kept chasing me, calling me suspicious. I wonder why I was discovered…”

“…I think I know the reason all too well…”

“Hmm?”

Ihan and Maximus.

The two knights were pointing their sword and axe at each other’s throats.

Ready to harvest the other’s neck at any moment.

They maintained their standoff.

And watching them…

“Excuse me, but we’re being buried alive here…”

Boom boom boom!

Derrick pointed at the falling dirt and rocks, desperately pleading for them to stop fighting and escape.

Unfortunately…

“You lower your sword first.”

“Wouldn’t it be better if you lowered your axe first?”

“…”

They showed no intention of yielding, and Derrick thought:

…No matter what world you’re in, the reason men die early is clearly because of that useless pride.