chapter_0045

45 – Attack of the Bloodline

45 – Attack of the Bloodline

The first to sense the anomaly was Azel, who was guarding outside.

Azel, who was guarding outside the banquet hall with the guards of the Shilla family, couldn’t help but be surprised by the heavy energy that suddenly enveloped her.

‘What is this! This heavy energy…’

Thanks to her Blessing, Azel had never experienced debuff attacks like curses or status ailments before.

The barrier, imbued with a curse so powerful that it surpassed Azel’s Blessing, made her feel a debuff state for the first time in her life.

Her limbs felt heavy, and her chest felt stuffy as if she had indigestion. The other knights and soldiers around her seemed to be suffering from similar debuffs.

“What’s wrong… I suddenly feel a tightness in my chest.”

“You too? Me too.”

Just as everyone was sensing that something unusual was happening,

a sound came from outside the mansion.

“Monsters!”

“Goblins are attacking!!”

Dong-! Dong-! Dong-!

The soldiers on the walls were bewildered.

Suddenly, goblins with reddened eyes were rushing towards the castle from the forest like madmen.

Monsters did live in the forest around Shilla Castle, but it was the first time they had swarmed in such a way. The soldiers hurriedly climbed onto the castle walls and began to respond by shooting arrows at the goblins.

Whoosh-! Whoosh-! Whoosh-!

“Fire!!! Don’t let the goblins climb the walls!!”

Most of the soldiers in the castle went up to the walls to respond to the goblin attack.

And while watching this, Azel felt a strange sensation.

Just a goblin attack causing this unpleasant feeling?

No matter how she thought about it, she felt uneasy.

“…Could it be!”

As she thought that, one of the worst possibilities flashed through Azel’s mind.

What if those goblins were a trap to divert the attention of the soldiers inside the castle?

And what if the goal of those creating this situation was Lord Zelas?

“Lord Zelas!!”

With that thought, Azel immediately ran towards the banquet hall.

While running along the path leading to the banquet hall…

Whoosh-! Whoosh-!

Clang-!!

“Ugh! Who are you!”

Suddenly, daggers flew from the darkness.

Azel, who quickly drew her sword and deflected the daggers, shouted, and about ten masked assassins appeared from the darkness.

“You guys are!”

Azel saw their black masks and remembered the story Lana had told her about the Blood Clan assassins who had tried to assassinate Lord Zelas before.

Could it be that those guys are trying to assassinate Lord Zelas again!?

As an uneasy premonition flashed through her mind, the ten assassins in front of her drew their daggers.

Azel thought it was an emergency and tried to break through them by using her Blessing from the start.

“Moonlight that guides me, Goddess that leads me.”

It was night time.

It was the time when her Blessing was at its strongest, and she was about to use her Blessing, .

But the power of the moon gathering on her sword scattered.

Whooo- Pewoo…

“My Blessing… isn’t activating!?”

While Azel was panicking at the scattering of the moonlight power that was enveloping her sword, the masked men began to attack her.

Whoosh-! Whoosh-! Tatak-!

“You bastards!!”

The masked men attacked her from all directions.

They knew she was strong.

But seeing her panicking because she couldn’t use her Blessing, they thought they could easily defeat her and realized they had made a huge mistake.

“Don’t underestimate the Golden Knights!”

Shu-! Shu-! Shuk-!!

In this vast empire, there were not a few people with great Blessings.

But among those ‘Blessed Ones,’ the only ones who could enter the ‘Golden Knights’ were those who were strong even without Blessings.

With a swift sword like the wind, Azel instantly knocked down three masked men.

With their deaths, the remaining seven masked men all drew their daggers and began to form a formation around her.

Although she had killed three, her Blessing still wouldn’t activate, her body was heavy, and the enemies were skilled.

Azel was sweating cold for the first time in her life.

At that time, Lana and Ain, who were guarding the front of the banquet hall, also felt the strange phenomenon.

Their bodies became heavy, and after hearing the commotion outside, a chilling cold began to circulate in the banquet hall.

“Lana…”

“Yes, Ain.”

Pashat-!!

No sooner had she finished speaking than two masked men jumped out of the shadows towards them and swung their daggers.

It was a perfect surprise attack that happened in an instant, but they were not where the daggers were swung, only their discarded maid skirts remained.

Clang-!

“…!”

The masked men looked up at the sound from above, and there were Lana and Ain, who had taken off their maid skirts and transformed into battle mode.

Lana pulled out her dagger hidden on her thigh, and

Ain combined the modular spear hidden in her skirt and was already holding a long spear.

Thwack-! Whoosh-! Thwack-!

“Cough!”

“Kugh!”

As it was, one of the two masked men was skewered by Ain’s falling spear, and the other was pierced through the forehead by the dagger Lana threw and died on the spot.

Lana and Ain succeeded in defeating the two members of the Blood Clan, but they couldn’t let their guard down.

That’s because four masked men had appeared in front of them.

“Sister.”

“Yeah, let’s take care of them quickly and go protect Master.”

At Ain’s signal, the two charged towards the four masked men.

Although they didn’t rely heavily on Magic or Blessings, the debuff effect of the barrier still made their bodies heavy.

They also started a difficult fight.

While everyone in the banquet hall was panicking about how to deal with this situation,

it came suddenly.

Suddenly, a chill ran down their spines, the sound of bells rang outside, and an unpleasant shadow was seen entering the banquet hall.

“Lord Zelas…”

“Yes… It seems some vulgar intruder who doesn’t know elegance has come.”

A masked man appeared from the shadow that had entered the banquet hall.

That was definitely the mask of the Blood Clan assassin who had attacked me before.

Are these crazy bastards sending them again!?

What did I do wrong!

No, were they sent to Lord Zelas instead of me?

While thinking that, Lord Zelas stepped forward and said.

“Lord Calix, please step back. I will take care of this as the head of the family.”

Lord Zelas stepped forward coolly and said.

Lord Zelas was a Magician slightly inferior to Sharen.

Is this finally the time to see his skills!

I stepped back with anticipation, and Zelas chanted.

“Lamina Unda (Water Blade Magic)”

Magical Power gathered at Zelas’s fingertips.

The Magical Power became a blade of water and flew towards the Blood Clan… but it couldn’t and disappeared like a bubble.

Zelas panicked and chanted once again.

“La! Lamina Unda (Water Blade Magic)!!”

Zelas tried to use Magic somehow.

But as expected, the Magic disappeared like a bubble.

“Wh-What is this! Magic isn’t working!”

Zelas was genuinely starting to panic, and although the black mask’s face couldn’t be seen, it was clearly mocking Zelas as it approached him.

“W-Wait a minute!!”

“…!”

The masked man drew his dagger.

At this rate, Zelas was going to become Ze/las.

What to do!! What to do!

While panicking and looking around, my eyes caught sight of the bow and arrows decorated on the wall of the banquet hall.

“…Die!”

“No!!”

At the moment the masked man swung his dagger, Zelas was prepared for his death this time.

At that moment, an arrow of salvation flew from behind him.

Twang-! Thwack-!

“Kugh!!”

The arrow that flew past Zelas’s head pierced the masked man’s neck.

When Zelas turned around, there was Calix, who had shot the arrow hanging in the banquet hall.

Zelas was once again sincerely grateful to Calix.

“Th-Thank you!! Lord Calix!”

“Save your thanks for later. Securing everyone’s safety is important right now!”

After saving Zelas, I immediately headed to the room where Selenia and her maid were.

If they were sensing Magical Power to find their target, then the most dangerous person in this castle was ‘Princess Selenia.’

I hurriedly entered the room, and as expected, there was already a masked man inside, confronting Selenia.

“Selenia, are you safe!”

“Of course, I’m fine! Have you forgotten who I am?”

She was confident.

She had reason to be.

In the World Archive, her grade was SSR Magician, and among the characters with power, she was the best Magician in the Imperial Family with top-tier Magic abilities.

But that’s why she was in danger now.

She chanted confidently like Zelas.

“Hasta Lucis (Spear of Light Magic)”

White light gathered in her hand and became a spear.

And at the moment it was about to be fired at the masked man, it turned to dust and disappeared like Zelas’s.

“…Huh? What is this?”

When her Magic didn’t work, she repeated the chant just like Zelas.

“Hasta Lucis! Hasta Lucis!! Hasta Lucis!!!”

No matter how many times she repeated it, the Magic didn’t work, and her expression gradually turned pale, and the masked man approached her.

“…!”

“Selenia! It’s dangerous!!”

The masked man charged with his dagger to deal with her, and her maid, Lumiel, shouted and ran to protect her.

But it was a little late, and if left like this, the Princess would become Prin/cess like Zelas, so I grabbed the bowstring once again.

Squeak-! Twang-! Thwack-!

“Kuaagh!!”

Unlike before, I accurately hit the masked man’s temple with the arrow.

The masked man seemed to have died instantly, and I approached Selenia.

She looked at me with a dazed expression and said.

I reached out my hand to her, who had fallen.

“Th-Thank you, Calix…”

“I’ll listen to your thanks later. Let’s move to a safe place for now, Selenia.”

And so, I moved to find a safe place with Zelas, Selenia, and Selenia’s maid, Lumiel.

It should have been a very reassuring party with two SSR-grade Magicians, but… it felt like I had two burdens attached to me.

Author’s Words (Author’s Afterword)

Those two are SSR-grade.

It’s true.

⚆ᴥ⚆