Ch.91Chapter 91 – The 12 Heroes (3)

Before anyone could stop their childish prank, the two heroes kicked off the ground and disappeared into the distance. Raymond stood with his mouth agape in astonishment.

“Those immature bastards! Let’s hurry after them!”

The group hastily gathered their belongings and followed the two who had gone ahead. Swirling sand obscured the figures of the two troublemakers as they ventured deeper between the narrow ravines.

“Don’t worry. I’ll go after them first.”

“I’ll come with you. The rest of you can follow at your own pace.”

Gord and Sabah, who carried relatively light loads, volunteered as guardians and ran ahead to find the pair. Bruce shook his head in disapproval.

“Those troublemakers. We should break their ankles with a hammer to keep them from running wild.”

“Well, Gord and Sabah went after them… so there shouldn’t be a problem. Whether you call them foolish or pure, they’re innocent kids who’ll listen if Gord scares them a bit.”

The group walked leisurely through the ravine to conserve their strength and mana. Though the sandstone cliffs on either side should have blocked the fierce wind, powerful gusts of sand still obscured their vision, and the fluctuating magical energy in the wind limited their senses. Their legs sank uncomfortably knee-deep into the sand with each step.

“Damn it, can’t you just use magic? One blast of your wind magic could clear all the sand in the area.”

“Are you crazy? Want to advertise our presence to the Four Heavenly Kings? Why not just teleport directly into their territory while we’re at it?”

“Shit, I was just saying… ack!”

Raymond, who had been grumbling complaints, suddenly cried out in surprise.

“What’s wrong?”

“No… something caught my ankle.”

Raymond struggled to pull his leg out from the sand where it was submerged up to his knee. But something seemed to be gripping it tightly, preventing him from freeing himself.

At that moment, Longino felt an ominous sensation. A chilling feeling, like insects crawling up his spine. And his intuition was rarely wrong.

“Wait, Raymond! Don’t move!”

“Argh, why won’t it come loose! Something’s pulling—”

*Swoosh*

In an instant, Raymond’s figure was suddenly sucked beneath the sand.

“—?! Raymond-!!!”

Sophia, horrified at seeing her friend suddenly pulled into the sand, frantically began digging through it. She felt something hard touch her fingertips. Thinking it might be Raymond, she tossed aside her precious staff and desperately clawed at the sand.

Then she was able to identify what it was. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Raymond, but the entity that had dragged him beneath the sand.

“Ah, a demon-!”

*Thwack!*

A scorpion burst out from beneath the sand. It wasn’t an ordinary scorpion. Its body was as large as a horse’s torso, and its tail was longer and thicker than a decent-sized anaconda. Moreover, it wasn’t just enormous. Like a centaur, a human upper body was attached where the head should have been. This grotesque scorpion demon was using its pincers to pierce the skull of the former archmage and suck his blood.

“Huh? R-Raymond.”

A pitiful end.

“You- you bas-!”

Seeing the miserable death of her companion who had been chatting just a minute ago, Sophia, also from the magic tower, drew up her magical power. But as excited people tend to lose awareness of their surroundings, she was instantly killed by a scorpion tail that shot up from beneath her feet while she was still gathering her power.

“Damn it! Everyone gather around! There’s more than one enemy! More of them are hiding in the sand!”

In an instant, the party had lost both of its mages.

The surviving members cautiously watched their footing as they hurriedly gathered around Longino and Orthesia. Soon, a celestial barrier formed by Orthesia enveloped the group. Within this safe space, they could observe their attackers.

“…How many are there?”

As the barrier expanded and pushed away the sand, bizarre creatures that had been hiding beneath were revealed. Snakes, foxes, scorpions, centipedes… demons resembling ordinary wildlife found in ecosystems densely covered the ground.

Their numbers continued to grow. Attracted by the tempting scent of human blood, wild demons gathered from the top of the ravine, between rock crevices, and from holes in the cliff walls.

Hundreds? Thousands? The distinction in numbers became meaningless. With the sand that had concealed the lurking insect feast blown away, the desert contained no trace of its ochre color—only black writhing masses existed. And countless red pupils floating in that dark sea glared ferociously at the humans within the barrier.

“…This vast desert, this entire terrain, was on top of a demon’s maw?”

With an expression of disbelief, Longino expanded his spiritual perception. Though he could clearly see the demon army before his eyes, his senses detected nothing but the turbid magical energy fluctuating in the atmosphere throughout the area.

“Damn it, what kind of ambush is this?! Sabah scouted ahead and assured us this route was safe!”

Kyle exclaimed in shock, tightening his grip on his sword. If he didn’t, his blade would tremble terribly, reflecting his state of mind.

Even Orthesia, who always boosted the party’s courage with hopeful words, maintained silence this time. Longino, who never lost his composure, showed signs of agitation at this unprecedented situation.

“…My Lord.”

Longino firmly gripped his mace and quickly assessed the group. Who was present now? Kyle, Orthesia, Iscariot, Bruce, and himself. Five in total. Those who had gone ahead were Hurik, Raika, Sabah, and Gord. The deceased were Raymond and Sophia. And Orion, whose whereabouts were unknown.

It was the worst-case scenario. The mages capable of wide-area attacks were all dead, and the only backline fighters left were Iscariot the dark mage and Orthesia the priestess. Moreover, Bruce was support, not combat personnel. He could pull his weight, but just barely. In the current situation that demanded one person to fight like a hundred, he was more of a burden…

However, Longino was worried about something else.

Were their companions who went ahead still alive? Longino shook off the ominous thought. Hurik was a valiant warrior, and Raika was a genius martial artist. Sabah was a skilled assassin without question. And Gord, the mystical scholar, was also a capable sorcerer.

‘But can those four handle this number?’

He couldn’t answer with certainty. That uncertainty made Longino anxious. They needed to find and regroup with their scattered companions. But in this state, being targeted by thousands of demons? Impossible…

Someone needed to buy time.

And Kyle reached the same conclusion as Longino. Before Longino could speak, Kyle shouted first.

“Go, Longino! I will hold them off!”

“What! Why you?”

Longino was startled. Was Kyle saying he would sacrifice himself?

“You’re the Emperor! The ruler of the Empire! Talk sense!”

“The one ruling the Empire now is not Kyle Leonhardt but Nicholas Leonhardt.”

“Exactly! Then for Nicholas’s sake, you shouldn’t do this! I’ll stay behind. How could the Emperor, practically a symbol of humanity, sacrifice himself in a place like this?”

Longino had intended to stay behind himself. Since Orthesia and Bruce weren’t combat personnel, they wouldn’t last long. It was a rational decision for him to remain, as he could regenerate with holy power and was suitable for fighting demons.

‘Of course, handling this many alone… would certainly cost me my life.’

Nevertheless, Longino was prepared to sacrifice himself for his friend, for his lover… and for his father. Sacrifice was a virtue of an ideal holy knight…

But it seemed he wasn’t the only one prepared to die. Kyle drew his sword. A zweihander decorated with a roaring lion’s head. The sword he had received from the previous emperor during his coronation, with the words, “Protect your people with this sword.”

A deep blue aura of determination covered the blade.

“Why should the Emperor stay behind? You ask the obvious.”

“Wait! Stop!”

Kyle slashed at Orthesia’s barrier with his sword aura. A narrow gap, just large enough for a grown man to pass through, formed. As soon as Kyle crossed through the breach, it closed behind him as the barrier repaired itself.

“It’s a holy knight’s role to save humanity from demons, and a king’s role to protect his people from danger! Don’t you still have much to do?”

“No!”

Longino pounded on the barrier, but the shield that blocked physical force wouldn’t yield to his fists. Kyle remained stubborn to the end. Without looking back at the voices trying to stop him, the Lion King roared.

“For humanity-!!!”

The knight, armed with only a sword, kicked off the ground to face the demonic horde.

‘No! Even a Sword Master can’t handle that many alone…!’

Watching him charge toward thousands of demons, Longino urgently commanded Iscariot.

“Iscariot! Support him! With your necromancy, you can somewhat overcome the numerical disadvantage!”

I need to find the others who went ahead with Orthesia and Bruce, but you should at least help Kyle so he has some chance of survival… Yes, when it gets dangerous, you can teleport away with him, or if that’s not possible, at least escape and rejoin us… Longino rambled as he pleaded with Iscariot.

“Damn it, Iscariot! Hurry!”

But even in this urgent situation, Iscariot maintained a detached attitude.

He silently drew up magical energy.

Demon remains buried underground rose and reassembled. Muscles wove together, bones connected… at the necromancer’s gesture, dozens of undead rose from death. Despite being unfamiliar corpse types with unfamiliar anatomies, the genius necromancer made no mistakes.

As the magical energy gathering in Iscariot’s hands grew, paradoxically, Longino the holy knight felt hope.

And it didn’t take long for that hope to turn to despair.

*Squelch!*

The sound of flesh being torn.

“Ah… Longino…”

“-!”

A horrific sound of flesh being crushed and torn. It came from behind, along with his lover’s groan.

“Orthesia!”

Orthesia, her beautiful face contorted in pain, collapsed forward. Longino’s eyes widened in shock. A sharp bone fragment that had pierced through her abdomen was staining her white priestly robes red.

Before Longino could grasp the situation, someone grabbed him tightly from behind. Reflexively, he turned his head to see who it was.

“Bruce? Why?”

It was the dwarf blacksmith Bruce. But he looked different from usual. His skin was corpse-pale, his hands strangely pallid, and his clothes were red and sticky.

By the time Longino’s gaze traced the liquid soaking the clothes up to the bone fragment embedded in the dwarf’s forehead, a monotone voice was heard.

“Corpse Explosion.”

And there was light.

***

Beeeeeep— A ringing in his ears. His head throbbed as if it would split open. His entire body stung as if on fire. Longino desperately channeled his holy power. Having crossed countless battle lines, Longino could move his holy power to heal his body even unconsciously.

As regeneration continued, his blackened vision gradually brightened. His recovering eyes revealed the state of his body. His armor, having taken a direct hit from a powerful explosion at close range, was shattered to pieces, and his skin was scorched all over.

Suppressing the pain that came all at once as his nerves recovered, Longino struggled to move his head to assess the situation. Through his blurry, unfocused vision, he could make out the silhouette of a knight.

“K-Kyle… *cough*!”

Longino groaned. The air passing through his scorched lungs stung unbearably. He could only blink his eyes with difficulty as he watched the scene unfold.

“Iscariot…! Why are you doing this?!”

Kyle cried out. He was restrained by undead gripping his limbs, unable to move, glaring at the culprit behind this disaster with bloodshot eyes. As if to embody the saying that looks could kill, his eyes emitted a fierce killing intent, completely devoid of his usual gentle demeanor.

“Iscariot…?”

Writhing on the ground, Longino murmured. Iscariot? Why, now, that name—

“So noisy… Should I tear your mouth to make you shut up?”

A voice, familiar yet now so alien, spoke. A hand emerging from beneath the black robe grabbed Kyle’s cheek and ripped it off. With his cheek flesh torn away, exposing muscle and gums, Kyle could only struggle futilely, denied even the chance to resist.

The dark mage’s actions didn’t stop there. Finally, a long, needle-like bone that appeared from thin air pierced the emperor’s heart. After a few convulsions, the mighty Lion King’s body went limp in mid-air.

“Huh?”

For a moment, Longino’s brain refused to understand.

Undead, bone fragments, corpse explosion.

As his neurons connected, Longino began to understand everything he didn’t want to comprehend.

Fallen Orthesia, shattered Bruce, limp Kyle,

“You—”

And,

Standing unharmed amidst countless demons,

Calmly causing this disaster as if nothing were wrong,

“ISCARIOT-!!!!!!”

He felt something snap in his mind.