Ch.228Chapter 228: Fog and Flames (2)

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Briefly slapping my forehead with my right palm in frustration.

“Suspicious fellow. Reveal your affiliation and identity!”

I couldn’t afford to waste time with the Moon Emperor’s guard who was demanding my identification in a rather sharp voice, as her beloved weapon at my nape could be aimed at my neck at any moment.

I raised both arms to shoulder height, trying to show I had no hostile intentions and clear up the misunderstanding, but—

Shaaaa—!!

I had to stop all my attempts at clearing up the misunderstanding when I heard that bewitching sound filling the surroundings, a sound that could numb one’s reason just by hearing it.

I could sense the twisted energy of the blood-red mist I had dispersed with flames earlier returning to this place.

Rather than hesitating before a sword that couldn’t even scratch the neck of my armor even with a deliberate strike, saving the people who would be caught in that blood-red mist took priority.

Of my two arms that were halfway raised to shoulder height, I directed my right arm toward my nape, knocking away the guard’s sword that was in its path.

“…Ah!”

To the guard who was startled by how easily her sword was deflected:

“Get out of the way. I need to unleash something much hotter than before.”

I advised her to move aside since I needed to increase the intensity of the flames I had used to evaporate the mist earlier.

“Ah, that voice is from Solarium…”

I could hear the guard’s voice softening considerably, having recognized me despite her initial wariness when she first saw me in the Crimson Dragon Armor.

During my stay, I had spoken so rarely while guarding the princess that those moments could be counted on one hand, yet she remembered my voice and identified me.

I was impressed—this level of awareness was indeed befitting of a warrior who guards the Empire’s emperor.

I deeply wanted to express my gratitude to the guard for saving me from wasting time clearing up misunderstandings, but—

[It’s coming. Get ready.]

As Fafnir urgently informed me that the crimson particles forming the blood-red mist were approaching in a dense formation, there was no time for such luxuries.

Taking advantage of the adequate distance created as the guard obediently heeded my words and stepped back, I immediately circulated the fighting energy throughout my body.

“Huup!!”

As Pricasa’s breathing technique—which creates countless miracles by taking in mana floating in nature, refining it, and infusing it into the body as fighting energy—reached its peak, I expelled the boiling energy through my mouth.

Whoosh-!!

Starting from both shoulders, scarlet flames engulfed the entire Crimson Dragon Armor I was wearing.

Though the flames themselves were much smaller than when I first burned away this blood-red mist, their color was so vivid and brilliant that they made the previous flames look like a mere campfire in comparison.

As soon as I saw these bright scarlet flames rise, I lightly swung my right arm from left to right.

It was a simple arm movement, even more basic than swinging a practice sword without a sharpened edge at a training dummy—a motion that might even appear careless to some.

Yet, responding to my right arm’s movement, the flames that had risen from the Crimson Dragon Armor gathered completely around my right arm and flew with it.

Whoosh-!!

Becoming a firestorm that incinerated the greedy blood-red mist that was approaching with the momentum to devour everything.

The crimson particles of the blood-red mist, which had been approaching with enough force to distort all senses possessed by living beings, vanished without a trace.

And what filled that space was…

Whoosh-!

The sound of scarlet flames that remained after burning away all the approaching mist, flickering in the air, and—

“Oh…”

The voice of the guard uttering a brief exclamation of admiration after seeing me eliminate the mist.

Thus, I was able to prevent the blood-red mist—condensed malice of a demon god that could erase an entire city beyond Hyunseong without a trace if not eliminated in time—from spreading further.

There was still the problem that I couldn’t block the source of the mist itself.

However, it was certain that after feeding it such purifying flames, it would take considerable time for the mist to reactivate.

“Phew…”

Exhaling a sigh of relief at having extinguished the urgent threat, I assessed the situation around me.

Things I hadn’t properly noticed since arriving here, having focused solely on the blood-red mist, began to catch my eye one by one.

I could see personnel moving busily, orderly escorting members of the Imperial Guard who were in poor condition after being severely affected by the blood-red mist’s sensory-distorting assault.

Following that, I could see Princess Lukius in her male disguise and her shadow Wibel, who had been in a guest room relatively close to where the mist had appeared, making their way here through the crowd.

The princess flinched slightly upon seeing me in armor with scarlet flames rising, but—

When I quickly removed my helmet and showed my respect, the princess, recognizing me, said:

“Lord Cal, can you explain what has happened? What is that mist, and where is His Majesty the Moon Emperor who was with me until just now?”

In response to her question, delivered with a masculine tone despite her voice not matching her male disguise:

“…”

I silently exchanged glances with Wibel who accompanied her, seeking understanding for a private conversation, then approached the princess.

“It’s a sensitive matter that I hesitate to speak of carelessly, but in my view, that mist appears to be related to the demon god of the North, the Empire’s archenemy.”

I quietly conveyed this sensitive information so that only the two of us could hear.

The princess’s expression changed subtly upon hearing the words “demon god,” but only momentarily.

Quickly composing herself, she said:

“If that’s true, then we’re facing an extremely troubling situation.”

She was already grasping the gravity of the current situation.

As I was about to think that the Empire’s future looked bright, seeing the princess calmly accepting such difficult information and formulating countermeasures in her mind—

“And His Majesty is currently trapped inside that mist, unable to come out.”

I watched as the Moon Emperor’s guard answered the princess’s second question before I could.

Having heard the guard desperately calling for the Moon Emperor, Wei Taiping, when she spotted the blood-red mist from the window of the lodging, I already knew how the situation was unfolding.

So I wasn’t particularly surprised by what she said.

Though it was undeniably shocking news—

“…What…”

I didn’t feel the need to make a scene in front of the person who would be most shocked to hear that her friend in private and ally in public, an emperor, was trapped in the center of an unholy mist arising from the twisted divinity of a demon god.

The princess, who had shown only momentary agitation at my suggestion that the blood-red mist might involve the twisted divinity of a demon god, tilted slightly as soon as my words ended.

“Your Highness…!!”

Eventually, Wibel, who was guarding the princess, hurriedly caught her body with both hands as she was about to collapse, clearly showing how great a shock Princess Lukius had received.

In any other situation, the princess losing consciousness from shock would be far from good, but—

“…She seems to have been shocked by the situation. Lord Cal, while it’s not ideal to leave you alone in this situation, taking the princess to safety is my duty as her shadow. I’ll withdraw for now.”

After saying this, Wibel disappeared with the princess, and watching their retreating figures gave me a strange sense of relief.

It was undoubtedly a feeling that came from seeing someone who could become a liability if not properly protected—someone who could become a risk factor at any time in a situation facing fragments of twisted divinity—retreat to a safe place.

Following the hasty departure of the princess and Wibel, I could also see the sound of Imperial Guard reinforcements hurriedly approaching to fill the void left by the withdrawn guards.

To those unaware, the gathering of well-trained elite forces prepared for emergencies within the imperial palace might seem reassuring, but—

If too many people crowded into a small space and were exposed to that blood-red mist, there was no telling what unexpected situations might arise.

So, still without my Crimson Dragon Armor helmet on, I turned my head toward where the Moon Emperor’s guard stood.

“Can you control the personnel trying to enter this area?”

I asked this question respectfully to the guard who, like me, was looking tensely at the spot where the blood-red mist had gathered but not yet dissipated.

Judging from how she commanded a significant number of Imperial Guards with a single order, I thought she would be able to control the approaching forces as well.

“I can, but… why?”

As expected, the guard confirmed that she could easily control the approaching forces and asked me why I was requesting this.

It was somewhat awkward.

While I could provide plenty of reasons if asked—

It wasn’t easy to explain information about that mist based on knowledge gained before my regression, knowledge she hadn’t experienced in the current timeline.

While I had freely shared this with Princess Lukius, who needed to know it eventually—

There was some psychological resistance to revealing such things to someone from the Eastern Continent who would have no experience with the demon god’s remnants unless they crossed into the Central Continent before my regression.

But now was not the time to waste precious moments on such considerations.

“As you saw earlier, contact with that mist distorts all senses. If you’re confident in using fighting energy, you can block it by surrounding your body with it, but even that’s only temporary. This blood-red mist is vicious—it feeds on human fighting energy to grow stronger.”

After saying this much in one breath, I paused briefly to catch my breath.

“Now you should understand what I’m trying to say. I don’t know how strong the approaching personnel are, but at best, they’ll just end up feeding that mist.”

I provided the minimum necessary information about the mist while explaining why the troops needed to be withdrawn.

It was somewhat flimsy since I omitted the crucial element that it was an unholy mist born from the twisted divinity of a demon god, but—

Perhaps thanks to her brief experience with the mist’s viciousness, everything proceeded smoothly once I gave my reasons.

When she heard my explanation that blocking with fighting energy was merely buying time, the guard showed signs of skepticism despite her covered face.

But when she heard that the mist absorbed fighting energy itself as nourishment, she couldn’t hide her surprise.

“Understood. It seems you know a lot about this mist, so I should follow the advice of someone knowledgeable.”

With these words, the guard accepted my request and raised the sword in her right hand toward the troops urgently rushing toward us from afar.

“Halt!! Don’t come any closer, wait where you are.”

I could see her giving the order to stop without providing any reason.

I had doubts about whether the numerous elite troops, whose individual skills were not far behind the Royal Knights who protected Solarium’s imperial palace, would obey the words of a guard whose face was hidden behind a mask.

But when the many Imperial Guard soldiers who had been moving with hurried steps suddenly stopped and followed her command, my doubts melted away like ice in boiling water.

For Imperial Guards to follow the orders of a masked guard so readily—

Just from this, she didn’t seem like an ordinary guard. What could her true identity be?

If I had time, I would have liked to form some theories about her identity, but—

“So. What should we do now?”

At present, I could barely meet the gaze of the guard who was asking me what to do next, having left the Imperial Guard forces who followed her command behind.

“Soon, two knight guards like me will be coming this way.”

“Should I stop them from coming here too?”

“No, if those two arrive, please tell them to enter the same way I’m about to enter that mist shortly.”

I began preparing to buy time until the arrival of the two people who could help minimize the damage from the blood-red mist.

Putting the Crimson Dragon Armor helmet I was holding back on my head—

Whoosh-!!

I diligently maintained the flow of fighting energy that could dispel that blood-red mist without any harm, raising the scarlet flames once more.