Ch.316Chapter 316 – Palace Assault (5)

Weapons were fired from the red mist that filled the passage.

Blood-formed swords and spears began to rain down like a downpour.

Sia stepped forward to protect the group, swinging her sword to shatter the incoming weapons.

While Sia was deflecting the enemy’s attacks, Gigas quickly pulled Eve and Sera back to safety.

Soon, Sia, seeing that the group had moved beyond the attack range, made one final powerful swing before leaping backward.

“As expected, you’re deflecting them well.”

“This much is easy.”

Sia quietly responded to Serious’s casual remark.

Though it appeared to be an intense exchange, neither of them was sweating.

While Eve was thinking that this assault was merely a probing attack, Sia quietly spoke.

“Last time I told you that fighting us without preparation would get you killed. It seems you’ve prepared thoroughly.”

“Yes. Originally, these were countermeasures for the White Dragon.”

Serious said with a smile.

“Shall we continue?”

Immediately, Serious transformed into red mist.

Once again, blood weapons shot out from the mist filling the passage.

Sia tried to deflect the weapons as before.

The same exchange was about to unfold again.

“Miss Sia!”

“I know.”

While thinking that the enemy wouldn’t use exactly the same tactic twice, blood spears suddenly erupted from the ground.

Of course, Sia, who had already noticed, gracefully avoided the attack and sliced through the spears.

Then, as if in a time-delayed attack, two swords flew toward Sia from the mist.

“You underestimate me!”

Sia swung her sword to cut down the weapons.

But as if possessed by will, the swords suddenly changed trajectory.

Sia quickly adjusted her sword’s path and managed to shoot down one, but the other flew past her toward the group behind.

“Such tricks…!”

Sia tried to intercept the sword she had missed, but other weapons flying from the ground and walls delayed her response.

Meanwhile, the sword that had flown past Sia toward the group suddenly rotated and split into five daggers.

“Sera! Protect yourself with the golem!”

At Eve’s voice, Sera immediately wrapped herself in a golem.

The golem blocked a dagger that would have hit Sera’s shoulder, causing the dagger to disappear.

Gigas destroyed another dagger flying toward him.

The remaining three daggers were heading toward Eve.

“Eve!”

“I’m fine, Sera.”

Eve responded to Sera’s cry while swinging her sword.

As if she knew the trajectory of each dagger, her sword moved precisely.

Without any hesitation, she accurately intercepted each dagger’s path.

“This is… unexpected…”

A slightly resonant voice came from within the mist.

Sia swung her sword toward the mist and shouted.

“You’ve underestimated my companions, Serious!”

As if evading her sword strike, a portion of the blood mist quickly moved sideways.

The blood mist soon transformed back into Serious.

Her clothes were slightly torn, as if grazed by Sia’s sword.

“As expected, you knew that mere physical force wouldn’t cut through mist.”

“How could I not know that?”

Serious nodded, seeing the faint magical energy flowing through Sia’s sword.

Thinking that it would be absurd for her not to know how to fight vampires, Serious smiled lightly.

“But that human… she’s impressive. Honestly, I thought I could at least take an arm or leg.”

Serious spoke thoughtfully.

“That movement wasn’t reacting to what she saw. It was as if she already knew… Perhaps her intuition is extraordinary?”

“I don’t need to give you the right answer.”

Sia said, pointing her sword.

“As I said before, don’t underestimate my companions.”

“Yes. I only gave credit to the White Dragon, but now I see everyone else is remarkable as well.”

Serious opened her fan to cover her mouth.

Then, erasing her smile, she said:

“I should put more effort into entertaining you all.”

Soon, red mist began pouring in from various parts of the passage.

Blood weapons started raining down from the mist, and Sia was seen retreating.

Sera shouted:

“Red mist is coming from other passages too!”

“I’ve spread it throughout this area. This castle is my domain now.”

Serious said, covering her mouth with her fan.

“I knew you would come today or tomorrow, so I prepared in advance.”

With Serious’s words, even more blood weapons flew toward them than before.

Sia performed the remarkable feat of deflecting them all, then pointed her sword at Serious and said:

“Do you think you can kill me with this level of attack?”

“Well, maybe not you, but isn’t it a bit much to fight while protecting the others?”

As Sia clicked her tongue slightly, Serious smiled and said:

“If you continue fighting here, everyone will die.”

This time, it seemed she wasn’t planning to end it with just weapons.

Blood-formed slashes and burning spheres began pouring from the mist.

Sia tried to deflect all the attacks, but it was difficult to counter everything that didn’t directly come her way.

Noticing this, Sera moved her golem to protect the people behind, but the golem gradually began to break down.

“Sia, we need to retreat!”

“That woman needs to be dealt with now!”

At Gigas’s words, Sia gritted her teeth and tried to hold her position.

Eve shouted at Sia:

“But this position is too disadvantageous, Miss Sia! We need to relocate first!”

“There’s no mist in the direction we were heading!”

At Sera’s words, Sia turned her head to check behind them.

Indeed, there was no mist in the direction where the Soul-Consuming Formation had been.

As if inviting them that way.

‘…There must be traps that way too.’

But they needed time to regroup to counter the current onslaught.

As if taunting her, the blood mist that Serious had transformed into brushed past Sia.

Then, moving beyond Eve and Gigas’s attack range, it headed toward the mist-free path ahead.

“…Blatantly provoking us to follow.”

Despite this location being advantageous for Serious, she retreated.

That meant she had an even more favorable location.

Even if Sia had tried to finish her here, she thought that woman would have leisurely moved to another location anyway.

‘I wanted to catch her here.’

She wanted to deal with her before more tricks could be played, but the other side had no such intention.

Concluding that capturing her here was impossible, Sia made her decision.

“Head in the direction we were going! Let’s get out of here!”

“Yes!”

Gigas immediately ran forward, while Eve and Sera moved while being carried by the golem.

After confirming they were moving, Sia made a big leap backward and gently landed on the golem.

“Would you like some water?”

“…Thank you.”

Sera handed a water bottle to Sia, who immediately drank from it.

The water cooled her body, which had become sweaty from deflecting so many attacks.

“Will it be safe ahead?”

“I don’t know yet.”

Sia quietly answered Sera’s question.

“Our opponent is Serious. She will certainly have set traps. Stay alert until the end.”

“Yes.”

As Sera responded, large blades began flying from ahead.

“I’ll block them, you all rest!”

Gigas shouted as he shattered the blades with his arms.

Some fragments flew, but the golem’s arm deflected them.

‘What are you planning, Serious?’

Glancing slightly at the red mist still pursuing from behind, Sia quietly sank into thought.

+

The battle was still raging at the western gate.

Armored knights continued to charge in attempts to recapture the western gate, and Archery shot arrows at them while shouting:

“Don’t retreat! We must hold as long as possible!”

At Archery’s cry, soldiers began shooting arrows.

Knights hit by arrows were either dragged away by their comrades or continued advancing with shields, and Archery thought as he sniped these knights:

‘Indeed, it’s difficult to hold out long with just our forces.’

Currently, not much time had passed since the operation began.

However, the Princess faction’s soldiers were fundamentally fewer in number.

With each engagement, losses accumulated, and this was becoming a significant burden for the numerically disadvantaged Princess faction.

The only hope was that they were supposed to withdraw as soon as the Soul-Consuming Formation was destroyed.

‘How much time has passed?’

Thinking about the time elapsed since the operation began, Archery handed his empty quiver to an adjutant and received a new one.

‘…If we had just walked, we would have reached the tower by now…’

But that was only the time it would take when walking peacefully.

Archery thought that considering enemy resistance, they would have made it halfway at best.

Of course, in reality, they had progressed much deeper, but he didn’t know that yet.

‘I need to work harder.’

That was the only way they could hold out longer.

As Archery was about to encourage his soldiers:

“Lord Archery, new enemy soldiers…!”

“The Royal Guard! The Royal Guard is coming!”

Archery immediately glared at the opponents.

Recognizing faces he had seen before, and counting their numbers, Archery quickly concluded:

‘It’s the unit that moves first when there’s trouble at the palace.’

Archery naturally wouldn’t know, but if Kei were here, he would have casually called them the “five-minute standby unit.”

‘They came later than expected. Was there some problem?’

Archery couldn’t tell whether the command structure inside was that chaotic or if information had simply traveled slowly.

Either way, now was the time to focus on the Royal Guard ahead.

‘I can’t let my guard down.’

As one of the Royal Palace Guard units, they were not weak opponents.

But there was still hope.

‘The main force hasn’t arrived yet.’

Their role was to either resolve issues before the main Royal Guard moved or to buy time.

While their equipment and training were superior, their numbers were still fewer than the main force.

Thinking they could somehow manage, Archery prepared his arrow and shouted:

“You Royal Guards who betrayed the former king, how dare you show your faces here!!”

With those words, Archery fired his arrow.

However, partly because Archery was somewhat tired and partly because the Royal Guard’s equipment was good, his arrow was blocked by a shield.

Of course, the guard who blocked the arrow with his shield was knocked backward, showing that the arrow’s power was by no means weak.

As if recognizing the arrow, one of the Royal Guards shouted:

“That voice, that arrow, it’s Lord Archery!”

“What made you betray the Royal Guard and join the resistance?!”

Some Royal Guards shouted accusations at Archery.

In response, Archery shouted back at full volume:

“Because I couldn’t betray the former king! You money and power-blinded fools wouldn’t understand!”

At Archery’s words, some Royal Guards appeared enraged.

They charged fiercely, as if determined to kill Archery above all else.

Archery immediately prepared his arrow to snipe them.

He would have shot down one or two of them if magic circles hadn’t appeared beneath their feet.

“Ma-magician?!”

“Where! Where is the magician?!”

The Royal Guards who noticed the magic circles shouted, but their voices were soon silenced.

Some were caught in the explosion from the magic circle, disrupting their formation.

As they faltered, Archery accurately shot an arrow into the forehead of one of them while searching for the person who cast the spell.

“Well done, Beatrice!”

Gabriella’s voice was heard.

Though not visible from Archery’s position, it seemed Beatrice was the one who cast the spell.

She probably moved immediately after casting to avoid being sniped, Archery thought as he looked at Princess Gabriella.

He could see bloodied guards standing around her.

There was blood on the sword Gabriella held as well.

‘…I heard she would take the field herself, but…’

Still, she was their leader.

He had tried to have her guarded as much as possible to avoid the worst, but the guards alone weren’t enough.

Though Archery didn’t know, there must have been some dangerous moments.

‘I should have tried harder to dissuade her.’

Having a leader directly on the battlefield wasn’t the best choice.

But Princess Gabriella had strongly insisted.

She couldn’t back down from a fight that was for the people’s sake.

She said she would fight directly to boost morale.

‘I heard she has some martial training.’

That wasn’t a lie, as the princess cut down a knight who approached her before her guards could move.

The movement was very simple, but even to Archery’s eye, it was a fast and powerful sword strike.

The knight who fortunately got close to her couldn’t counter the princess’s sword and quickly fell.

‘We can’t lose.’

Seeing this, Archery shouted loudly:

“The princess herself is fighting! Fight harder! Burn your lives for her, for the people, for the peace of the Firenze Kingdom!”

Perhaps boosted by Archery’s cry, the resistance fighters seemed to fight more fiercely.

Rather than being inspired by Archery’s words or the princess’s actions, they were simply fighting harder at their ally’s call.

Still, it was a fact that the princess was fighting.

Thanks to this, the soldiers’ morale rose even higher.

‘…But if the princess gets hurt, it all becomes meaningless.’

Whether they won or lost, the princess had to survive.

There were things only she could do afterward.

Thinking that he should have the princess retreat at an appropriate time before a dangerous moment came, Archery looked at the princess again.

Believing he wasn’t the only one thinking this, he searched for others who might share his thoughts.

Because of this, and because of his keen archer’s eyes,

he soon noticed something strange.

‘…Where did Domestica go?’

Archery finally realized that the woman who always accompanied the princess was nowhere to be seen.

Domestica usually didn’t leave the princess’s side unless she had to act directly.

Especially in a battlefield like this, she would stick even closer.

She would stay close to use her body as a shield if necessary.

Yet she wasn’t here.

‘…Could it be?’

As one suspicion—that perhaps something had happened contrary to Domestica’s intentions—spread in his mind,

The battlefield suddenly changed dramatically.

“Resistance scum, die…!”

A Royal Guard about to shoot an arrow suddenly stopped.

Soon, a man with indifferent gray eyes stood where the guard had fallen.

Archery immediately recognized who he was.

‘The Dragon Slayer, why…?’

Archery was about to shoot an arrow at the enemy who had massacred his subordinates.

However, when those indifferent eyes looked at him, he felt his blood freeze.

As he thought he would die if he shot now,

The Dragon Slayer turned his back.

Then, after casually slaughtering approaching Royal Guards, he began moving toward the palace and suddenly disappeared.

‘He’s fast?’

Archery barely managed to see what appeared to be the Dragon Slayer climbing onto a building using some unknown method.

While Archery was staring blankly at this sight, urgent reports began to come in.

“Lord Archery! Urgent report! The Emiris Order is coming up from the south!”

“According to scouts, the gate was split in two as if by something, and all the soldiers guarding it were…!”

‘Was it the Dragon Slayer’s doing?’

Archery briefly entertained the foolish thought that he might have split the gate himself and killed everyone.

Thinking that couldn’t possibly be the case, he set aside the thought as reports continued to pour in.

“The Emiris Order has engaged the Royal Guard in battle!”

“Some templars are heading this way!”

‘Now it’s become a three-way battle.’

This could be either good news or bad news.

The palace forces could fight both the Order and the resistance simultaneously, and the Order could also fight both the palace and the resistance.

Meanwhile, the resistance was struggling with just one opponent.

It would be good if the palace and the Order focused only on each other, but if they divided their attention, the resistance would be at a great disadvantage.

The best option now would be to have the resistance forces retreat, but…

‘We can’t do that.’

The operation wasn’t over yet, so they couldn’t retreat.

Gritting his teeth, Archery shouted:

“First, we’ll somehow deal with the templars and Royal Guards here! At the same time, strengthen our defensive line! Some of you follow me…”

“Lord Archery, urgent news!”

At another incoming report, Archery narrowed his eyes.

The new scout shouted:

“A monster has appeared from the palace!”

“Is it a demon?”

“Unknown! But it’s heading this way!”

Thinking that bad reports kept coming one after another, Archery gritted his teeth.

The next moment, the ground shook.

‘What’s that?’

At the tremor, everyone on the battlefield momentarily lowered their bodies.

Archery turned to look for the cause.

Soon, he discovered the monster mentioned in the earlier report.

‘…Three heads.’

A giant hound with three heads was walking toward the battlefield.