Ch.267Dragon (4)

The sound of weapons being drawn in unison echoes through the air. It should have been chaotic, but since they were drawn almost simultaneously, what was heard wasn’t noise but rather a harmonious sound that pleased the ear.

The sound of an orderly army following commands. That sight. Llewellyn enjoyed the visual and auditory satisfaction while shouldering the star cluster.

Though it was a blade that could split and tear through space, Llewellyn wasn’t cut by this sword. Perhaps because it had completely assimilated with him.

With the sword resting on his shoulder, Llewellyn stepped forward one step at a time, examining the army.

There were two types of people at what could be called the frontline.

Blood Knights and Heresy Inquisitors. Among them, particularly those with excellent battle records and numerous achievements.

Llewellyn examined them closely as he stepped forward.

Among them, the Blood Knights were the most noticeable.

‘They all look the same.’

Although their faces and physiques might differ, the armor they wore was completely identical in appearance.

It was the armor that Lorian once wore, and that Llewellyn had stolen and used well for a while until it was eventually damaged.

‘If I had known I would ally with Mother, I wouldn’t have destroyed it.’

There was no use feeling regret now. Llewellyn observed their armor and the blood within that took the same shape as the armor.

Their armor could be described as a kind of enhancement suit that might appear in a superhero movie.

Armor propelled by blood, operated and enhanced by blood.

It was a type of benefit Llewellyn couldn’t enjoy, but he had experienced something similar before.

Lorian’s source manifestation was exactly like that.

And that wasn’t all. Llewellyn had already been briefed.

Blood Knights weren’t simply combat units of the blood clan.

They were those who could use the source, and who had honed their martial skills to become armor and strength for the Father who would someday arrive.

Since being able to use unique skills was a prerequisite, they were all level 20 powerhouses according to Llewellyn’s knowledge.

These level 20 Blood Knights filled the frontline. Considering that there were still Blood Knights in reserve at their base, it was an impressive force.

Despite such impressive strength, they didn’t let their guard down. Rather, they quietly drew their swords and gripped them.

Llewellyn silently observed the Blood Knights who loyally responded to commands.

All of them were on par with Lorian. It felt like having hundreds of Lorians. Llewellyn recalled this fact as he opened his mouth.

“The operation will not change from the existing plan. I’ll leave it to your discretion.”

Llewellyn’s tactical and strategic plans weren’t particularly outstanding, and since there were already plans made by experts, there was nothing for him to modify.

“The enemy is coming. Today, at this place, you must become knights, not Blood Knights.”

Silence without a single response. The sound of gravel kicked up by the blowing wind tapping against armor rings out, and Llewellyn looked at the Blood Knights who all held their longswords in the same posture.

“We shall do as commanded.”

The Blood Knight at the very front spoke. A voice that was androgynous yet reliable. Llewellyn trusted him, even though he knew neither his face nor name.

That’s the kind of existence Blood Knights were. Llewellyn turned his gaze to the Heresy Inquisitors.

“I have no special orders for you all. Just, please continue as you have been.”

Gazes directed silently. A diverse group contrasting with the Blood Knights, each carrying different weapons.

But befitting those who had fought for people for a long time, they silently nodded, adjusted their grips on their weapons, or checked their conditions instead of responding verbally.

It gave the impression that they were ready to fight at any moment. With a balanced distribution of conventional and unexpected elements, Llewellyn felt reassured and stepped back.

“What’s the plan?”

“Observe the battlefield while maintaining a distance that allows us to join the Black Knights and intervene in the battle at any time. That palisade on the hill over there should be suitable.”

Lorian asked, and Llewellyn answered.

“This is the best force of the Pantheon after all, so we can’t waste it. Even if stamina is infinite, time is finite.”

“If there’s a dragon among the enemies, that would be the right approach.”

Lorian, who called it a dragon rather than a necromancer.

As she said, it had become something that was ambiguous to call a necromancer anymore.

Given that it had been resurrected through unknown means, there was no thought that it could be easily defeated.

So they would maintain a distance that allowed them to respond at any time. Llewellyn explained this, and Lorian, with her hand on the hilt of her beheading sword, said:

“Then the source…”

Lorian seemed hesitant. She trembled her pupils for a moment, then sighed.

“I’ll conserve it. Is that okay?”

“Yes. If necessary, I can use you as a messenger and have any Blood Knight use source manifestation.”

The source of Blood Knights exists solely for ‘Father.’ Llewellyn knew this fact.

So, theoretically, it wouldn’t make a difference who used it besides Lorian.

In fact, since even the Court Swan could use unique skills, that seemed like the most powerful option to consider.

It was a card to play only if the situation wasn’t favorable.

Llewellyn didn’t notice Lorian’s uncomfortable reaction, and thus didn’t consider the possibility that something might be growing within her womb.

Instead, he focused on his sister’s words.

“Sejin, what about me?”

“Sister, match my pace. Like a missile that can be fired at any time.”

“A missile shouldn’t return, so is it okay if I don’t come back?”

“Of course not. But if the battle situation isn’t good, I’d like you to use Star’s Death at the designated place.”

“Alright. I’ll do as Sejin wishes.”

Lucilla, smiling brightly and speaking lightly. Llewellyn finally looked at the giant standing behind him.

A being whose curves suggested she was female, but that was all.

She, who looked like a bipedal lizard, faced Llewellyn with eyes revealing complex emotions.

“I don’t intend to take orders from you.”

“That’s fine, because I don’t intend to give you any.”

The Dragon King twitched her eyebrow. Perhaps because there wasn’t even an attempt to persuade her.

But Llewellyn genuinely felt that way.

“I’m not someone skilled in strategy or tactics. There are others who are good at that, and I don’t want to overturn what they’ve carefully planned.”

Because they’re more competent than me. The casual words sounded excessively low in self-esteem for the last god to say, but it was actually the opposite.

It was a statement that could only come from someone who didn’t dislike himself and knew his own capabilities well.

With high self-esteem, Llewellyn was grateful that there were areas he wasn’t proficient in, and that others could complement those areas.

“Even if that weren’t the case, I still wouldn’t intend to give orders.”

“What?”

“Dragon King, you’re someone who needs to move entirely according to your own will to be helpful.”

The Dragon King hesitated, and Llewellyn’s gray pupils scattered a soft light.

Dragon Dropping and Dragon Killing.

Those two techniques that Llewellyn had mastered were stolen in a way that might have greatly influenced Llewellyn’s miracle.

So Llewellyn vaguely knew the Dragon King’s life and the emotions that emerged from her trajectory.

“You’re planning to kill the dragon anyway.”

The Dragon King didn’t answer. But silence didn’t necessarily mean denial.

Llewellyn smiled, sensing the gratitude she didn’t express.

“That’s what I want to ask of you.”

The Dragon King, hearing those words, slowly clenched her fist.

From far away, a massive presence was approaching.

The gradually approaching presence wasn’t alone. It was accompanied by a procession that felt innumerable, almost infinite.

And soon, it began to appear in Llewellyn’s sight.

Countless corpses charging through the shadows of the forest.

They were diverse corpses.

There were human corpses as well as animal carcasses. Most of them didn’t care about the degree of decay or damage.

Those with only heads left rolled endlessly with some unknown propulsion, and those who had lost their lower bodies barely jumped and walked with the front legs or hands attached to their upper bodies.

Those split left and right were approaching with movements strangely reminiscent of worms or snakes.

Insects swarmed in groups, and small animals like rats approached with a hideous appearance like a literal plague, with their tails entangled, narrowing the distance.

It gave the illusion that death itself was surging forward. Even the bravest warrior would hesitate at the massive presence that could be felt.

Despite not being visible yet, everyone at the frontline of the Pantheon realized that something was approaching.

And that what was crawling out from under that shadow and charging now was just scraps.

But even those scraps carried enough power to easily kill people. The Heresy Inquisitors stiffened with subtle tension while desperately relaxing their shoulders, and adjusted their grip on various weapons ranging from crossbows, bows, and slings to primitive matchlock guns.

It’s coming.

A big battle is coming.

By the time the Heresy Inquisitors lowered their visors and adjusted their shields or weapons to see the dead charging in a straight line out of the forest shadows.

Step, step, step!

The Blood Knights, clad in blood-red armor from head to toe, took three steps forward in perfect unison, maintaining their rows and columns.

At the very front of the frontline. A protruding point that could be called the vanguard.

They raised sharp spears as if to skewer beasts, making themselves the tips of the spears.

They moved simultaneously like shadows, gripping their weapons. The Blood Knights at the very front all held polearms resembling axes or halberds.

In their other hands, they concentrated blood, and the concentrated blood added an even thicker blood barrier over their already solid armor.

That was the nature of their armor. Like skilled knights who twist their bodies and deflect weapons with their armor by shifting the point of impact.

They wore their armor and moved the blood filling the inside to actively deflect, break, and nullify enemy attacks.

They held out their right hands, hardened into crystals, as shields in front of them. The pole axes in their left hands were planted into the ground with the ends of the handles.

A defensive yet protruding posture befitting the boundary. The Blood Knights in the second row behind them moved in unison.

With disciplined movements, they drew longswords from their waists and placed them on the axes planted by the front-line Blood Knights.

The blades resting on the flat parts between the curved edges were all ordinary one-and-a-half-handed swords, but those who wielded them were unique.

They aimed at the approaching monsters with their sword techniques.

Their blood-red eyes were calm without a single emotion, and their snow-white hair fluttered inside armor filled with blood.

They had no hesitation, caution, worry, or fear. Only orders and duties to fulfill.

“Fire.”

A low voice was heard.

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!

An irritating sound like a swarm of bees echoed.

In Llewellyn’s eyes, observing from a good vantage point in the back, a familiar phenomenon occurred.

Droplets of blood shot along the sword techniques lacerated the enemy. The surging blood felt like a bullet curtain.

The corpses approaching the Blood Knights in a chaotic formation burst apart. They were pierced, shattered, crushed, and collapsed.

A volley that rendered movement impossible, regardless of regenerative abilities or the absence of death.

It reminded Llewellyn of the blood mage he had seen in the past.

The blood mage Edilum, who had been killed by the red beast Hertol.

It was the basic blood magic he used, Blood Bullet.

The most basic of basics that all blood clan members could use. Yet when such fundamentals bloomed spectacularly, the enemy formation collapsed.

And that wasn’t all.

Along with the blood bullets they fired in unison, the Blood Knights gripped the weapons they had planted in the ground.

“Everyone, draw swords.”

With the low voice echoing, the Blood Knights and the dead became entangled.