Ch.126Chapter 126: The Fierce Battle at Year’s End (1)

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Thump, thump

Lillian Siz’s footsteps toward the north gate of the fortress—virtually a direct route from Night Haven to the Dragon Claw Mountains—began as a walk.

Tap, tap, tap

As her steps continued, her walk gradually transformed into a run.

The acceleration of her footsteps gained momentum with each stride.

Despite the fierce snowstorm having subsided, her gait, unaffected by the still-raging winds, was conspicuous from any angle.

Fortunately for her, however…

Perhaps it was that no one was there to stop her behavior, which anyone would call reckless and impulsive.

“…”

But even without anyone to restrain her.

The complicated emotions tangled in Lillian Siz’s mind as she ran toward the north gate with a hardened expression were far from being resolved.

Was her fiancé, Karl Ranos, truly abducted by those tainted with magic beyond the mountains?

Was it right for her to move so impulsively like this?

And even if she left the fortress with such conviction, how would she get there?

Such thoughts echoed in Lillian Siz’s mind as she continued her fierce strides.

Negative emotions, characterized by hesitation and doubt, tried to instill uncertainty in her desperate steps to find her beloved.

Just as those dark, negative emotions swirling in her mind were about to halt her steps.

-Huff…!! Huff…!! Found you.

In Lillian Siz’s mind, a memory from a rainy day surfaced.

It was a memory of a boy who had searched for her when she, young and inexperienced, had sprained her ankle after acting rashly due to emotional turmoil she couldn’t properly manage.

Despite not being related by blood.

Despite her not having properly shared any warmth with him.

-Thank goodness.

The image of that boy who had desperately searched for her, smiling warmly with relief upon finding her, saying those words.

As her memory continued, the image of the boy with the warm smile transformed.

Eventually changing into the face of her most beloved fiancé.

The moment that image was etched in her mind.

Slap-!!

Lillian Siz, maintaining her pace, raised both hands and lightly slapped her cheeks.

It was an almost ritualistic act to dispel the momentary negative thoughts in her mind while simultaneously using the memory of the warmest moment in her heart as fuel to burn.

As her hands slid down from her cheeks, light returned to her previously shadowed expression, and from her lips:

“When Karl was searching for me, did he have such complicated thoughts?”

She was recalling the situation when the person she loved had reached out to her during her most difficult moment, while simultaneously questioning herself.

Though it was a question with a predetermined answer.

“Of course not, so I should do as Karl did.”

It was at that moment that Lillian Siz’s briefly hesitant footsteps accelerated once more.

With her quickened pace and…

Thanks to the chaotic atmosphere throughout the fortress, preparing for an imminent crisis.

Lillian Siz’s sprint, unhindered by anyone, gradually came to a halt.

“…The north gate.”

Because she had reached her destination, the first checkpoint.

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Among the four gates that pierced the walls of Night Haven, built to keep in check the demons residing beyond the Dragon Claw Mountains who could threaten the Empire’s safety at any time.

If asked which gate had the best defensive measures in place.

Anyone familiar with this fortress would, without exception, point to the north gate.

It’s obvious, really.

Why?

Because just beyond this north gate, the Dragon Claw Mountains—considered the greatest magical boundary in the central continent—stand imposingly in view.

One might question why so much manpower and resources are invested in a gate that merely faces a mountain range.

But what lies beyond those mountains is something even a three-year-old child of the Empire would know, so it’s assumed no one would ask such a foolish question.

Anyway, upon reaching her destination and first checkpoint, Lillian Siz immediately.

Swoosh

Raised her arms to cross them.

“Hoo…”

And let out a deep sigh.

If someone knew what she was about to do.

They might think she was intimidated by the imposing fortress walls blocking her path.

But no.

“…Let’s test it.”

To be clear, Lillian Siz isn’t sighing now because she’s intimidated by the imposing gate of the fortress.

It’s just…

“…Let me catch my breath before jumping over.”

She was merely preparing her breathing technique to enhance her physical abilities to the extreme in order to leap over the fortress walls blocking her path.

Flabeo.

The miraculous breathing technique, considered one of the Empire’s finest alongside Fricasa.

“Hoooo…”

As a soft sigh escaped from Lillian Siz.

Starting from the space around her, which was dyed in pure white snow.

Golden light began to seep in.

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Certainly.

Lillian Siz had planned that once the fighting spirit gathered through her breathing technique reached a certain level.

She would leap over the fortress wall without hesitation and dash straight toward the mountains.

To search for her precious fiancé’s whereabouts.

That was until just now.

While she was carefully focusing on her breathing technique for full power release, the dark, sticky energy surging from beyond the north gate and…

-No, when did these creatures get this close?

-Did these bastards hide here waiting for the snow to stop?

-Gather all personnel from the other gates here. Quickly, bring Lord Nighthart or the vice-commander. Hurry!

Had it not been for the clearly panicked voices of the guards stationed at the gate.

“…Heavenly Ascension.”

Lillian Siz, who had intended to climb over the wall, wouldn’t have urgently summoned her holy sword now.

No matter how desperate and heartbreaking her situation was.

She hadn’t forgotten her duty to the extent that she would ignore the magic-tainted beings invading the fortress.

Woong-!!

The holy sword, responding to her call, appeared cutting through the air, creating a resonant sound that overpowered even the biting cold wind, revealing its presence before Lillian Siz.

“Before I go…”

Lillian Siz, speaking softly, extended her right arm forward to grasp the sword.

As her right hand gripped the holy sword.

The golden energy emanating from her body merged with the sword’s energy, creating a pillar of light so massive that it extended beyond her surroundings.

It was visible even from outside the fortress.

“Let’s clear out all the nuisances first.”

Seeing the pillar of light rise, Lillian Siz resolved to first eliminate the intruders approaching the fortress with ferocious speed.

The Dragon Claw Mountains she was headed to.

It would be more convenient for her solo mission if she could eliminate some of the magical boundary beings she would inevitably face there.

Having organized her thoughts, Lillian Siz, with the Flabeo breathing technique perfectly completed and fighting spirit brimming throughout her body, lightly gathered her energy.

“Karl. I’ll be there after I take care of this.”

Muttering an apologetic whisper to her fiancé, she leaped onto the north gate’s wall.

It wasn’t to jump over the wall.

It was a movement to quickly deal with the uninvited guests trying to infiltrate the fortress before anyone else.

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Meanwhile, outside the fortress, just before Lillian Siz summoned her holy sword and began to draw out its full power.

In a place where the winter’s chill was so severe that “frigid” would be an understatement.

“That damn Adorator woman… Achoo!”

A man with pale skin was cursing his long-time colleague and superior, a quasi-deity, when he sneezed, unable to withstand the cold.

“Nothing’s as ridiculous as a vampire catching a cold, but it seems that’s about to become reality. Well, in this weather, it’s understandable.”

From the mouth of the man whose aristocratic demeanor was naturally crumpled by the sneeze, a voice mixed with both humor and anger continuously emerged.

Whooosh

There was no audience to hear his mutterings, and the intensely cold wind prevented his words from traveling far.

-….

-….

However, the ground of the desolate wasteland, which seemed empty except for him, showed dozens of unnaturally shaped shadows that seemed to ripple in response to his words.

What could be on the ground of the wasteland?

It was a scene that would evoke both unease and curiosity in any ordinary person.

“Achoo!”

As the man sneezed once more, the protruding fangs in his open mouth cast a presence, and the movement of the shadows, formed without any physical objects, completely ceased.

“Haa… This weather is a bit too harsh, even for me.”

The man, covering his nose with the back of his right hand to calm his irritated respiratory system from the excessively cold wind, then used that same hand to stroke his jet-black hair, which contrasted well with the pure white snow that had settled on it.

“By the way, when will this ever stop?”

He was looking resentfully at the sky where snow, though gradually subsiding, was still falling.

His characteristically pale skin, combined with his snow-covered black hair, evoked an aesthetic that could be described as decadent.

Pale Sanguin.

The official third-in-command of the Obsidian Palace and…

The vampire lord, who prided himself on inheriting noble blood and being responsible for the undead legion he led, was now full of complaints about his superior who had given him an order beyond common sense.

“Telling me to attack the fortress as soon as the snow stops, saying it will definitely stop before the year ends. Really, I’m speechless.”

As the handsome face of Sanguin, with its aristocratic air, frowned.

Crunch

The sound of grinding teeth echoed from his mouth, unable to contain his anger.

“She probably pushed this task onto me knowing I couldn’t refuse. How pathetic.”

While he was venting his frustration about his superior’s unreasonable orders, waiting for the snow to stop, it was only momentary.

“But what can I do? I have to endure this anger until I bring that child back.”

Hoo

After letting his rising anger flow away through the cold wind, Sanguin’s gaze turned from the sky to the direction of the fortress he intended to invade.

His expression, which had been furrowed with complaints, changed to something closer to concern.

Why would the third-in-command of the magical boundary, who prided himself on fearing nothing, wear such an expression?

Was it because he feared one of the few beings he was afraid of—his workplace superior’s nagging?

Or was he worried about facing the most troublesome eternal enemy related to this fortress invasion?

It was neither.

Even though he had been subjected to excessive harassment from Adorator, including being a target for venting, that concern had ended during the Great Holy War period.

And the remarkable enemy he had faced a few days ago would certainly not be present during the fortress invasion due to the intervention of a great figure cooperating with them.

The cause of his changed expression was embedded in the soliloquy he had uttered before his frown turned to concern.

The greatest source of Sanguin’s worry was a young girl who had somehow flowed into the iron fortress built by humans and seemed to be living there precariously, hiding her power.

Although she was not a pure-blood like himself, but a mixed-blood with another race’s blood.

For him, who considered anyone with the blood of the proud vampire clan as his people, that girl in the fortress right now…

Was someone he needed to focus on rescuing, separate from the order he had received from Adorator to attack the iron fortress built by humans.

“No matter how well she’s treated there, considering the destiny of blood that will eventually awaken fully, it would be much better for that child to be with me, Sanguin, than there.”

After organizing the matter related to the mixed-blood vampire girl who would be in the fortress as he invaded Night Haven, Sanguin turned his gaze back to the sky where snow was falling, not the fortress.

“It’s finally stopping.”

Seeing the white snow, which had been falling for over ten days due to the act of a human hero who had cut the sky with a single sword, gradually subsiding, Sanguin said:

“Adorator is occasionally useful after all.”

A statement that would have earned him an immediate accusation of blasphemy and a slap if said to her face. After this dangerous remark, Sanguin raised his right hand.

“The target is the iron fortress built by humans.”

After setting the target for those kneeling respectfully behind him, waiting for his command.

He lowered his right arm, which had been raised high, pointing it toward the direction of the fortress.

“Go!”

He commanded them to head toward the target.

“As commanded!!”

With this brief response and a unified movement toward the fortress.

Until he saw the shadows moving toward the fortress under his command.

Sanguin wasn’t confident about conquering the fortress.

But he had no doubt that these assassins cloaked in shadows, whom he commanded with a gesture, would inflict significant damage on the fortress.

“…Huh?”

As he watched a pillar of light made of golden flashes rise, completely dispelling the darkness gradually settling over the fortress.

“How can that little blood lump of a holy swordswoman already do something like this?”

Recognizing who was causing this, his confidence turned to doubt.

It was the moment that marked the beginning of what would later be recorded in numerous history books as the “Year-End Battle,” the most magnificent battle since the construction of Night Haven, initiated by the mobilization of the Shadow Legion under Pale Sanguin’s command and…

The response of Lillian Siz Proxian, who detected this and maximized the output of her holy sword, Lumen.