Ch.229228. Can We Make It Back Alive?

# 228. Will I Make It Back Alive?

A leader to guide all those people.

The person who has held that position until now and must still maintain it.

The Emperor of the Kainis Empire, Reinhardt Macael.

However, his current state was beyond words.

Like a broken man, he had shut himself in his room, refusing to come out.

He was still staring at the photograph prominently placed on his desk… the same one he had been looking at for almost a week.

All while denying what had happened.

“It can’t be true… What I saw was just a trick, she must still be alive… Right, darling?”

No one answered his words.

Yet he paid no mind to the silence.

“Earlier, you were just resting because you were tired, right? That blood was just from the enemy… right?”

Still, the Empress in the photograph offered him no response.

In that moment, the Emperor realized.

He gripped the frame tightly.

After staring at it for a long while, he let out a deep sigh.

“I should have stayed with her… Why didn’t I…?”

He finally acknowledged the truth.

Still, there seemed to be some meaning to the week he had spent like this.

The Emperor looked at the always-smiling Empress in the photograph and thought.

‘War or whatever… I should have just stayed with her…’

That was his regret.

Letting her go until the very end, not being by her side at that moment, failing to protect her…

He regretted everything.

What good was being Emperor or the strongest man in the Empire… when he was just half a man who couldn’t protect the one he loved.

In this situation, everything felt pointless.

And he couldn’t do anything.

‘What could a loser like me possibly do…’

How could someone who couldn’t protect even a single person protect this city, this country, this world?

He had been too arrogant until now.

It wasn’t just that he failed to protect her.

He had also lost to that bastard, and miserably at that…

“Truly… I’m so pathetic it leaves me speechless.”

He looked at his hand.

Though wrapped tightly in bandages, inside was a grotesque hand split in two.

How could he wield such a hand?

He was lucky just to be alive.

“In that case…”

Just as he was about to utter those pathetically hopeless words, a voice came from behind the door.

The voice was infinitely calm.

“Please don’t say such things. We are hoping Your Majesty will stand on the battlefield.”

Hearing that voice made him angry.

Of course, it wasn’t his fault.

He had done more than he could have been expected to do, and that was commendable.

But he had witnessed the Empress’s final moments and had been there.

Surely he could have prevented it… surely…

“Do you think you have the right to stand before me…?”

“That’s why I’m not coming in.”

“How insolent… for a special operative who failed to complete his mission?”

It wasn’t official, just a special operative in name only.

But still, a special operative was a special operative.

Of course, he paid no mind to those words and spoke what he needed to say.

And those words struck the Emperor harder than expected.

“Would you rather be a king who abandons his country?”

Those words flew like Bael’s weapon and struck the Emperor.

And they delivered an even greater shock.

“A-Abandoned my country…? Me?”

“Isn’t that what you’re trying to do?”

“This is just…”

“Don’t bring up such talk if you have no intention of coming out.”

His aggressive attitude.

He was always like that, but this time it felt like he was crossing a line.

“There are boundaries that must be respected.”

“We don’t have time to respect such boundaries now, Your Majesty needs to decide quickly.”

For some reason, he summoned his sword.

Then he thrust that sword through the door.

The Emperor stared at the blade that had pierced through his door.

“What are you…”

“Will you continue like this?”

“…”

“I understand, but would Her Majesty the Empress approve of this? I don’t think so.”

“Shut up..!”

When the word “Empress” was mentioned, he raised his voice.

“What do you know to speak like that?!”

After that outburst, Albert responded with a calm voice that contrasted with his.

“I know plenty, probably much better than Your Majesty.”

“You… have lived without losing anything, haven’t you? Don’t speak as if you know everything!”

“I may not know, but there is one thing I know for certain.”

He emanated a terrifying aura as if telling him to speak no more.

But Albert wasn’t intimidated at all.

He ignored that aura, those words.

“If Your Majesty continues like this, this country will fall. Your Majesty will die, and so will I.”

“I told you to shut up!”

“If you’re fine with your daughter dying too, then keep being stubborn.”

Those words pierced his ears properly.

The Emperor’s body trembled, wavered, if only for a brief moment.

Albert’s mouth didn’t stop there.

“In the world without you, Ellie didn’t exist either. Just remember that.”

“…”

“Don’t you want to avoid having the same experience? I feel the same.”

Those words moved him.

Little by little, they made him step forward.

But he was still just standing in front of the door.

“…”

Albert scolded him, who still showed no intention of coming out.

And with quite a disrespectful tone at that.

“Stay like that if you want, you fail to realize you’re still useful despite everything.”

Albert pulled out the sword that had been stuck in the door.

Then he continued.

“From now on, don’t call yourself Emperor. I’ve never had such a pathetic lord before.”

***

“This time they’re quite spread out.”

It seemed they had learned their lesson this time.

Since the Empire kept stalling with shield bearers and continuously reducing their forces with magic and snipers, this time they had completely spread out their forces.

Still, as expected, most personnel were concentrated at the West Gate, closest to the Babylon Kingdom and the center of this war.

In fact, looking at the whole, they were spread out, but looking at parts, they were still clustered in one place.

“By the way, when is he coming?”

Lilith swallowed dryly as she looked at the scene unfolding before her eyes.

The absurd number of monsters and the demons, beastmen, and beast-folk filling every corner left her speechless.

“At this rate, won’t the barrier just break?”

Lilith said this while looking at the barrier that was under attack even at this moment.

And Albert, who had arrived at some point, infused mana into the barrier and spoke.

“It should still hold for about 4 hours, right?”

Unless someone like Lilith exploited the small gaps in the barrier to destroy it from within, it would hold quite well.

As he was saying this and looking at the enemy forces, something caught his eye.

An enormous amount of magical power began to concentrate in one place.

“That’s a different story.”

“We should block that, right?”

She was right.

At that level, we had to block it even if it meant taking a risk.

Of course, I was the only one who could block it.

‘But the risk is way too high?’

To block it, I would have to go out there.

Otherwise, the Abyss would break through the barrier.

But I couldn’t just leave it alone like last time.

I let out a hollow laugh as I looked at the many powerful individuals gathered here.

“Anyone want to come with me?”

“Shouldn’t we go quickly?”

“I don’t want to.”

“You’re all really… selfish, aren’t you?”

I gave up and turned around again.

The magical power was still gathering slowly but surely.

So I moved forward.

Even if it was a bit dangerous, it was the right decision, so that’s what I did.

“A… a human!”

Those who had been busy hitting the barrier and spotted me clung to me like minnows that had found prey.

I sliced through those minnows like cutting sashimi.

-Slash! Slash!!-

But these fish weren’t just one or two.

Hundreds, thousands of monsters and soldiers clung to me.

-Slash! Boom!!-

Not only their weapons but also arrows and magic flew at me.

At this point, it seemed like I hadn’t come to block Bael’s magic but had just started fighting earlier than others.

Fortunately, she and Lilith followed me.

“There are quite a lot, aren’t there?”

“Yeah… they really came prepared.”

An astronomical number, easily exceeding a million just in monsters alone.

The crowd created by that number was truly complex.

The metaphor was literally true—I couldn’t see the end.

Endless waves of monsters were crashing in.

In that situation, I launched the Abyss toward him, or more precisely, in his direction, as he was calmly gathering magical power.

-Gooooo!!-

Since the Abyss had grown quite large recently, I could use it freely like this.

Besides, it was quite obedient lately.

The Abyss flew swiftly, devouring everything in its path.

“Aaaaargh!!”

“Wh-what is that thing…”

“My arm..! My arm…!”

The Abyss devoured someone’s arm, someone’s leg, someone’s life.

Thus, it moved forward, consuming everything that stood in its way.

-Gooooo!!-

The excited Abyss increased its speed even more.

It seemed like it would go to the ends of the earth.

But even such an Abyss eventually stopped before reaching Bael.

-Goo…?-

The Abyss encountered a being it couldn’t devour, one larger than itself.

His name was Solomon.

Seeing that being appear before me, I could only sigh.

“Really… will I make it back alive?”