Ch.221220. Starting Point (6)

# 220. The Starting Point (6)

I wished he would never come.

Because that person shouldn’t have been left alone.

Still, seeing the defensive barrier surrounding me and Agareus blocked by it was admittedly reassuring.

Thanks to that, Agareus’s sword ultimately became crippled.

‘I just need to end this quickly…’

With that thought in mind, I swung my sword at the figure before me.

I thrust my blade into various parts of his body, starting with his arms and legs.

-Slash! Slash!! Stab!-

Of course, he tried to escape.

But the ice walls and light barriers that kept appearing.

Because of them, he was in a situation where he could neither attack me nor escape from here.

Still, he didn’t give up.

“You think you can stop me with these pathetic barriers..!!”

With a thunderous shout, he began breaking down the walls blocking his path one by one.

Even as my sword stabbed and slashed him.

He continued swinging his fists forward while bleeding and bruising.

He didn’t give up.

It would be easier if he did.

To be honest, it seemed like a situation where simply accepting death would be much better.

Yet he refused to give up.

The result was astonishing.

-Crack! Boom!!-

Those walls shattered spectacularly, and Agareus, with his battered body, finally ran toward the path that had opened up.

Then he firmly grabbed the wrist of Phenex, who was still unable to find his way.

“Huh..? Sir..?”

“Hey..! You really…”

Agareus understood his feelings.

He understood because he too had once loved someone and missed them.

But the current situation was not one where they could be swayed by such personal matters.

“We don’t have time for this now, follow me quickly..”

He kept his words brief.

Then he left this place, taking Phenex, his only remaining subordinate, with him.

I couldn’t do anything as they departed.

There were many reasons, but the biggest was my physical condition.

Agareus wasn’t the only one in serious physical condition.

“That’s fortunate, you did well. To achieve this much against the military forces…”

Andres’s soft voice.

He was healing me with his divine power.

My wounds closed and my flesh became visible again.

It was clearly helpful to me.

Without him, it would have been difficult to reach this point.

If things had gone wrong, I might have lost.

Still, I couldn’t view Andres’s choice favorably.

“But… why did you come?”

“I came because I thought this might happen.”

“So you didn’t trust us?”

“It’s not a matter of trust or not. This was a fight you couldn’t win from the beginning.”

That was true.

But we weren’t unaware of that fact.

“Regardless, senior, you have your own duties.”

“If I hadn’t come, you might have died.”

“Even so.”

I looked into his eyes.

Then I spoke with an intensely serious voice.

“Please go back even now, it’s not too late.”

“No, and I need to know where she is to go.”

“What…?”

When I reacted as if he was talking nonsense, he explained.

“Her Majesty the Empress has evacuated to a location known only to herself and His Majesty the Emperor.”

“And?”

“So I don’t know where.”

I couldn’t just stand by in this frustratingly impossible situation.

So I rose from the blood-stained floor.

And once again took up my sword.

“Then I’ll go.”

I didn’t have confidence in my ability to change his mind about losing the Empress.

So I moved forward.

I didn’t know where the Empress might be.

Still…

“She must be somewhere…”

With that thought in one corner of my mind, I headed toward the imperial palace.

Trusting the uneasy feeling that filled my head.

***

Luna, Reina, and a small number of others.

Those who had become famous for being members of the party she had established were now arriving behind the enemy’s main force after circling around the battlefield.

However, their job wasn’t to attack the main force from behind.

That would come a little later.

“So when is he coming?”

Chris asked, looking in one direction.

The one who answered wasn’t human like them.

“He’ll be here soon.”

“But why are you here? Wouldn’t it be better for you to join the main force?”

“Exactly, we should be sufficient on our own.”

Familiar reactions.

Hearing and seeing these responses, Lilith chuckled and said:

“You guys are quite arrogant, huh? Being confident and being arrogant are different things.”

But he wasn’t being arrogant.

He was confident.

He quickly assessed the opponent’s level and showed composure when that level was lower than his own, but he never showed such leisure in battles against those stronger than himself.

Lilith pointed to the Babylon Kingdom’s reinforcements that had finally come into view and said:

“You’re going to have a hard time from now on. Oh, and just so you know, if things get urgent, I’ll abandon you and run away anytime.”

“What…? If things get urgent?”

“Yeah, the situation is pretty bad right now… Just follow me.”

With those words, he climbed down from the tree he had been perched on.

Then he boldly appeared before the reinforcements.

They were startled by their superior’s sudden appearance.

“L-Lord Lilith…? So you were alive after all..!”

“Of course, who do you think I am? Did you think I was going to die?”

“O-Of course not! But… who are those children behind you? They don’t seem to be demons…”

The reinforcement soldiers noticed their presence.

Lilith looked at those soldiers and spoke in a shamelessly cold voice:

“I’m curious, if these guys fought you, who would win?”

“What…?”

“But you seem like you’d be in the way.”

The level of the stronger ones becoming visible seemed impossible for them to handle directly.

So Lilith raised his sword.

Then he slashed through the air with it.

-Slash! Slash!-

He clearly cut through empty air.

It should have been a pointless action that would normally produce no result.

But whether it was because Lilith did it, or because the sword was filled with magical power.

A slash made of magical energy appeared from that sword.

And that slash flew at a terrifying speed, beheading them in one stroke.

-Slash!!-

Those who witnessed their comrades’ deaths before their eyes.

Among them, the one who had been conversing with Lilith until just now seemed the most shocked.

He asked Lilith with a trembling voice:

“W-What… are you doing?!”

“And you’re also bothering me.”

Lilith’s sword moved as smoothly and quickly as waves on a beach.

And that wave became a tsunami that struck his neck.

-Slash!!-

They were clearly strong.

They were strong enough that those watching from behind Lilith would have had to prepare for numerous wounds just to barely defeat them.

But Lilith killed them in a mere 5 seconds.

And with the definitive and difficult method of beheading them.

“Now things should be more manageable. If it gets too much, I’ll just run away anytime.”

With those words, Lilith turned around.

Then, facing forward.

That is, in the direction where the main forces of each country would be engaged in battle, he said as he moved forward:

“I’ll go ahead, good work. See you next time?”

Chris tried to stop Lilith who was suddenly trying to disappear.

“What…? W-Wait…”

But those words didn’t reach Lilith.

He had already gone so far that he was out of sight.

Then, as if they had been waiting for this moment, the reinforcements launched attacks at them.

They cast spells, shot arrows, and swung weapons.

Of course, they did the same in return.

Raycle, who immediately activated both of his unique skills, jumped into the midst of the reinforcement troops.

Then he swung his sharp fists at the enemies positioned all around.

-Thud!! Swoosh!! Clang!-

Of course, the enemies didn’t go down easily.

They concentrated their attacks on Raycle, who was moving so challengingly.

Numerous attacks flew toward him.

But fortunately, those attacks didn’t reach him.

Raycle, taking the lives of enemies one by one, said:

“Yes, that’s more like it.”

Briton, who was covering for his dangerous actions, was panting.

“Do you think you’re Albern or something…?”

“Shut up and hold your shield properly, we’re going to get hit by that.”

-Whoosh!! Boom!-

Suddenly appearing spells engulfed the battlefield.

Spells that burned and exploded the ground and reinforcement troops, the owners of those spells were naturally their comrades.

Those women, wearing quite effective robes and firing spells indiscriminately, couldn’t be touched by the reinforcement troops.

They could only get hit by, block, or flee from the spells flying from afar.

“But what if… we run out of mana?”

“Just drink a potion, what else?”

“You be quiet and focus on healing.”

Since they were confident even in close combat, they weren’t particularly worried.

They just kept firing spells without considering their mana reserves.

Whether that was good or not, it didn’t seem bad.

And there was a reason for pushing themselves this hard.

“We need to finish quickly and go.”

That was their reason.