Chapter 75: After He Fell Asleep (3)

“Retreat.”

His decision was almost immediate. The moment the lower-ranked priest heard that order, he immediately drew out his magical power.

Hwaak-!

However, unlike normal magic power, his was a dirty magic power that would remind one of muddy water. He then proceeded to start the spell manifestation and was about to continue the chant, but…

“You…”

Crunch-!

Fizzle-!

The magic power he mustered was immediately cut off—no, it would be more appropriate to describe it as ‘swallowed’.

“…Dare to use magic in front of me? That isn’t funny, even as a joke.”

Magic power absorption. It wasn’t just a simple ability to absorb magic power, but rather an ability to absorb everything that possessed vitality and make it its own. This was the second mystical ability that [Lancelot] had, ‘Absorption’, in addition to its first, ‘Flame’.

Since ancient times, mystical abilities had always been considered to be something that could overturn common sense on top of something bestowed upon those who wished to follow the fate of a king or the path of a hero. In other words, it was a ‘miracle’ that gods bestowed upon humans. It wasn’t an exaggeration to call someone who possessed a mystical ability as a ‘chosen one’, even if they only had one and not more.

And the Demon Sword was an anomaly even among those who had mystical abilities. After all, it possessed a grand total of five mystical abilities.

Indeed, it had three more mystical abilities that were comparable to, or maybe even more powerful than its mystical flame and mystical absorption. There was a reason why people of old assessed it as a sword that could destroy a whole country on its own.

Burn-!

The flames instantly enveloped the priests, and it seemed like they would be burned to ashes at any moment. Not to mention that the sword’s absorption was draining both their stamina and life force at once.

If the one trapped there was someone who was just a little weaker than the two priests, they would instantly perish the moment they came into contact with these two mystical abilities. That was the extent of how monstrous the Demon Sword’s power was, and in extension, how monstrous the duke was since he was able to control these abilities so freely like that.

Knowing the nature of the Demon Sword, if the duke was even slightly weaker than it, it would just devour him completely instead of obediently following his command like that—just like what happened to all of its previous wielder.

“Hmm, on second thought, it wouldn’t be fun if we were to just run away from this place. Let us do something big in return.”

“You don’t need to say it out loud, Captain, I’m already on it! Hahaha!”

Now, if he was any normal mage, he would’ve been scared out of his wits in this situation. It was only natural, after all, a mage’s arrogance and pride stemmed from their magic power, and that same magic power was effectively being sealed by the duke currently.

However, the mage priest didn’t seem to be scared at all. Instead, he let out a bright smile.

It was as if he was happy by this outcome, as he finally got the chance to test on something.

…The priest’s spell was different from a normal spell, as it sounded as if he was asking for someone’s favor, or rather, it was as if he was ‘wishing’ for it rather than asking for it.

And the moment he finished uttering his wishes…

Crunch-!

Crunch-!

Something terrifying pierced through the outer wall of the building and revealed itself.

“Summoning magic?!”

“How dare you—! In front of our lord—!”

I know that summoning magic is different from normal magic, but—! How could his summoned beasts still appear in a space where the Demon Sword is still active—?!

Ridiculous—!

Unlike his subordinates, the duke didn’t seem flustered. Although, his eyes grew as big as lanterns when he gradually confirmed the identities of the summoned beasts.

“You—! Just what kind of existence did you make a contract with?”

“Hahaha, it seems like the Demon Sword is unable to absorb this particular power, huh? Nice, nice, that’s quite a good piece of information that I got.”

Seeing the outcome, the mage laughed raucously. Even though the spider web-like burns kept spreading across his face and an unbearable pain spread through his body, he was glad that he had found a way to threaten the duke.

“You…”

With that, for the first time during their encounter, the duke defined them as a threat. It wasn’t just because they were people who clearly hated those in power, and that they could bring even bigger trouble later on through their plan to destroy the kingdom, but because he suspected that they had made a contract with a ‘being from hell’.

These crazy lunatics… They mortgaged their souls to those beings?

It seems like the resentment they have is much deeper than I expected.

The duke had to admit that the depth of their resentment was indeed on a whole different level than normal.

Was it resentment towards the kingdom?

Or the whole world entirely?

While he didn’t know which it was, what he knew was…

I have to kill them now.

He couldn’t just leave such dangerous guys alone.

The duke decided that there was no need to satisfy his curiosity towards their resentment. After all, debating with them on the matter of right or wrong would only end in vain. And so, he decided to just focus on what he needed to do.

“No need to capture them alive anymore. Kill them.”

Whoosh-!

The moment the duke gave his order, the shadows rushed straight towards the priests without hesitation.

Meanwhile on the opposite side, against those powerful men…

The Hungry Ghost, a chimera made of ‘materials’ such as monsters and humans, collided with the shadows.

…By the time the kingdom’s soldiers arrived, half of the city had been destroyed.

Thud-! Thud-!

“…”

Fortunately, there were no casualties from the whole fiasco, but no one was thankful about it. On the contrary, all the soldiers’ faces went pale, as their bodies trembled because of fear.

No one would blame them for it, though, after all…

“Unfortunately, one of them got away. I will make sure that Galahad compensates for all the damaged property.”

Seventeen buildings and a whole forest were completely burned down. As if that wasn’t shocking enough, all this damage was brought by a single duke and his fifty knights.

Moreover, the duke who had created this absurd spectacle was wearing a dissatisfied expression.

“Lake, how much did we lose in that fight?”

“I’m sorry, My Lord.”

“What did I ask you? Why are you apologizing?”

“…”

The shadows felt miserable. They didn’t even dare showing their faces to their lord who was worrying about them.

“…This is just an empty shell. What an interesting bunch of people these guys are.”

“…”

As for the mage they finally managed to capture after blowing up pretty much half of the city… His body was still intact, and his heart was still beating, but his eyes were completely lifeless. It was as if, even though they had caught the body, the essence that made the body could be classified as a person had disappeared.

“An interesting bunch indeed…”

Duke Blake’s quiet muttering wasn’t only filled with anger, but also gloom.

Despite his status as a duke, there were still many things he did not know.

“Maybe I’d only be able to know everything if I were to become a king. That proposition seems a little tempting now.”

At that moment, he recalled the words a certain arrogant young lion had whispered to him.

Thud-! Thud-!

“Huuuu… Huuuu…!”

Away from the duke, a certain man could be found, panting while grabbing his own arm. When he was running away from his chaser, his arm was torn off by a blow coming from a knight called Lake. Fortunately, he managed to stop the bleeding, but even he didn’t know how much longer he’d last.

After all, the knight’s blow wasn’t the only problem he had to deal with. The flames of the Demon Sword were still digging into every corner of his body, and the moment it reached his heart, he’d just die right there and then.

As expected, he’s strong. Aside from the three superhumans, the kingdom also has two monsters with that kind of strength… Indeed, they are a terrible adversary…

The man barely managed to escape thanks to the sacrifice of his subordinates. In order to not put that sacrifice to waste, he continued to advance even as he experienced the unbearable pain that riddled his body.

Giving up wasn’t an option for him.

However…

“It’s over. Time for you to get off the stage, Andrea Laurent.”

Fate was a cruel mistress. The moment he heard those words, the high priest, Andrea Laurent, diverted his bloodshot eyes towards the black-haired man that appeared out of nowhere.

“…”

“Forty years ago, the temple trained countless warriors to fight against the kingdom. The previous king found out about the temple’s ambition and promptly crushed it. Then, I heard a story about how the survivors of that event are still living like parasites. Never did I expect that those foolish ingrates would once again plot to overthrow the kingdom.”

Not only his name, but even his affiliation and hidden history were coming out of the man’s mouth.

How did he know?!

“Did you really think that the duke is the only person who has been looking for you, your pest? Did you really think you could just spread the ‘plague’ you disguised as ‘faith’ in the land of the north without us knowing about it? Such arrogance. Did you think that us, people of the north, are pushovers?!”

Grrr-!

As the man growled in anger, the ground shook, as if a large beast had just roared.

That was when Andrea Laurent realized…

The northerners who had lost their ‘faith’ had snitched on them.

“…This is why we should never use those with weak faith—!”

“I disagree. Their faith is by no means weak. We only obtained this information after torturing them for almost five hundred days. Calling it terrible would be underselling it. Just how deep did your brainwashing go?”

The man trembled as he said so. He remembered how great the damage that the North had suffered because of these bugs.

Although the damage wasn’t apparent on the outside, it was because they were like chronic illness, hidden deep inside the body.

That was how bad the doctrine—no, the ideology and thought had spread. Their brainwashing method especially, was horribly bad. Even now, the north still hadn’t completely eliminated all of their remnants.

This was why the man had taken action on his own. The moment he received information about them, he made his move to find them and take care of them for their roots.

“Give up and answer me. Where is the base of the [Blood Cross]? As long as you do, I promise I’ll give you a quick death.”

“…Amazing. You even managed to find out about our ‘name’.”

The moment their organization’s name came out from the man’s mouth, Andrea Laurent’s expression turned gloomy. He realized that their existence had truly been uncovered.

He went silent for a good while, no one there knew what he was thinking about, except for himself.

Then, all of a sudden, he…

Offered a chilling prayer, holding a cross—no, an inverted cross in his hand. A prayer that couldn’t be found in any Bible.

“You damn fanatics.”

The man, Magnus Julian de Lionel, shook his head, expressing his disgust. He had heard their doctrines so many times, but their lunacy still could make him shiver. However, since he knew the purpose behind their doctrine, he found himself sympathizing with them a little.

And this was exactly why if their ideology were to spread and infiltrate the citizens of the kingdom, the law—no, the kingdom itself would definitely be destroyed from within.

Which meant, he had to stop this.

Before it could spread any further than this.

“Maximus.”

“Will it be okay to not capture him?”

“Capturing him will be meaningless anyway.”

“Understood.”

Maximus, the Great Knight of the North who boasted a huge physique stood before him. Since this place was too narrow for the Black King to run wild, he decided that he—who was relatively small—should step forward.

“Your rank in the Blood Templar is a leader of a thousand-man, right? I hope you will show me the power that matches that position.”

Even though Maximus knew that the man in front of him was an unforgivable sinner, he still gave him a chance to fight him fairly. He did it so the man would have no regrets in his human’s life.

However…

Drip-!

Blood flowed from Andrea’s eyes, nose, mouth, and ears as he threw away the ‘opportunity’ Maximus had given him to die as a human.

Drip-! Drip-!

Andrea Laurent’s body began to melt down. The blood melted his flesh and bones, erasing them from the world. But in exchange, it gave him ‘power’. A different kind of power that would enable Andrea Laurent to subdue a great noble’s private knight order as a whole.

However…

“…How foolish!”

His decision to become a monster without a semblance of reason in exchange for power was simply a foolish one. It was no different from an insult towards life itself.

[Gurle, gurgle…]

How could he choose to become a bloody lump instead of fighting me?!

Maximus was furious.

Why didn’t he choose to die as a human?! And instead chose to dumb as something like that?!

“If you resented the world so much, you should have rebelled against it more.”

It shouldn’t be like this!

[…Gurgle.]

“…”

Kwaang-!

Maximus threw away his usual cheerful demeanor, showing a fierce demeanor instead, and grabbed his weapon—a massive battle axe.

Whoooooosh-!

He freely handled the axe that was significantly larger than most battle axes, as if it was a normal bat, showcasing his strength. Then, he turned towards the pitiful lump of blood that was trying to pounce at him and…

“Heup!”

Struck it with all his might.

…After a certain knight fell asleep due to exhaustion, the following night up until dawn was full of people cleaning up after the incident.

People said that particular night was unusually noisy.

And all the noise didn’t disappear for a very long time.