episode_0047

The expeditionary force had retreated, but not all of the Imperial Army headed solely for Mulipen.

They had no choice but to leave the remaining half of the Imperial Army in Numenlora, but with the need to suppress the coup, there wasn’t enough time to recover Mulipen alone. Thus, the Imperial Army split into three branches for their operations.

The city of Mirjam, belonging to the Impurity Ducal House.

The city of Adhara, belonging to the Belium Ducal House.

And finally, Mulipen, the city of Duke Oleg’s House.

Aludra, the city of the Angelus Ducal House, where the prophets’ second residence was located, had already fallen, and with the prophets’ precognition rendered useless, it held no strategic value, so the expeditionary force did not go there.

Wezen, the city of the Basilica Ducal House, was guarded by monsters holding the title of former emperors, the two rulers of the Truth Arbitrator Guild, the greatest guild on the continent. The expeditionary force believed it would be impossible for Gram to capture the city in a short time, so they did not proceed there either.

Thus, the expeditionary force prioritized Mirjam, Adhara, and Mulipen. These three cities were their immediate targets.

The reason the expeditionary force did not head for the capital was the judgment that recovery would be impossible with the fragmented Imperial Army’s strength, unlike the Shahlnu Empire’s army before the Great Expansion.

In any case, the Imperial Army, currently split in half, was once again divided into thirds.

This meant their overall strength had been significantly reduced, and the power of skilled knights, who were pillars of the Empire including the heroes, had also been split in many directions.

Nevertheless, Mulipen, the city of Duke Oleg’s House, whose duke had reached the Master realm, had the highest strategic value compared to other cities, and thus the largest number of heroes and troops were dispatched there.

In other words, a little less than half of the retreating Imperial Army’s strength was concentrated in Mulipen.

Everyone was brimming with confidence.

Even if they were the largest of the shadowy forces, they were merely entities that couldn’t even attempt to raise their heads under the crushing justice of the Empire.

The shadowy forces had always been suppressed by the Empire’s justice, crushed as easily as twisting a child’s wrist, and annihilated. So, they believed their victory would be assured this time as well.

However, neither the Imperial Army nor the heroes knew.

That they hadn’t been defeated because they were weak.

And that the shadowy forces they had been vanquishing until now, and Gram, were entities of a completely different dimension.

They hadn’t known it until now, but with this war, the Imperial Army and the heroes alike were painfully realizing that fact.

“Uwaaah!”

*Crash!*

As Maugrius unleashed a sword strike, dozens of undead simultaneously turned to dust and vanished.

It was already the dozens of times.

He had been pouring all his strength into his sword strikes, sweeping away every enemy in sight.

Even though the number of undead soldiers he had killed alone probably reached hundreds, Re’s army relentlessly pushed the Imperial Army, trampling over fallen corpses as if their numbers were endless.

“Sir Danoa! There’s no end!”

“I know, you idiot!”

*Thud!*

Danoa, who had shattered a Death Knight’s spirit, was sweating profusely.

He had been using the Fairy Kingdom’s uniquely fast sword art, defeating about a dozen Death Knights, but not only regular undead soldiers but also Death Knights were pouring in like a flood.

“Damn it.”

Despite feeling the horrific sensation as if he was witnessing the armies of death from the past, Danoa desperately realized why Mulipen, guarded by Duke Oleg, had fallen so quickly.

Their numbers were insanely vast.

The sheer number was so immense that it was hard to believe they were merely a part of the shadowy forces that had been suppressed by the Empire’s justice, making him wonder if they were facing an army of death rather than Gram.

Even though they had brought the largest contingent of the retreating Imperial Army, the elite of the elite, they were consistently being pushed back in terms of overall strength.

‘They’re not just mindlessly pushing forward.’

His gaze turned to the Corpse Emperor in the distance.

Re’s army moved according to the command of the emperor, who wore clothes made of splendid silk, carried a royal scepter, and held a single sword.

‘Those things, unlike undead, are pushing us very strategically.’

Their pre-arranged defensive formation had long since been shattered, and they quickly realized that we had no mages to intercept siege weapons, so they brought them in and were devastating us.

Of course, since the Imperial Army currently fighting were the Empire’s top elites, they wouldn’t lose this war, but it was clear that even if they won, they would suffer damage beyond imagination.

“Damn it, when we still have to reclaim the capital…”

This state is unacceptable.

Even if they win, if their strength is depleted like this, reclaiming the capital will be impossible.

Thinking that far, Danoa clenched his teeth and called out to Kara.

“Lady Kara! We must first eliminate the siege weapons! Can you possibly attack them from here?”

No sooner had Danoa spoken than Kara, who had already been thinking the same thing, was preparing to unleash a sword strike.

And.

*Whoosh—*

The crimson aura gathered on her sword blade.

*CRASH!*

It surged towards their siege weapons in an instant, beginning to pulverize everything in its path.

It was a long distance, but seeing the speed of her sword strike, a Sword Master, he inwardly cheered with joy.

‘Done!’

However.

*Clang!*

It was soon blocked by the sword strike of a black knight who suddenly appeared.

“No…”

Seeing that, Danoa wore a despondent expression.

“……”

Kara gazed at a black knight beyond the dust cloud.

Having blocked her sword strike, which had reached the Master level, she gripped her sword tightly with a tense expression, staring at ‘her’.

*Clink. Clink.*

Piercing through the dust cloud, a black-haired woman in thick full plate armor revealed herself.

“……”

Should one call it a noble appearance?

Her appearance was reminiscent of a noble lady raised like a hothouse flower, yet her uniquely fierce red eyes and a long horizontal scar indicated she was a knight who had traversed countless battlefields.

Watching her long black hair flutter, Kara asked with hostility.

“Are you Gram as well?”

“……”

“…Yes.”

She hadn’t expected to have a conversation anyway.

*Shing!*

It would be a hundred, no, a thousand times better to kill or capture her and question her, rather than idly ask questions in the middle of a fierce battle.

The two, gripping their sharply honed swords and staring at each other, charged at one another as if by a pre-arranged signal.

*Clang!!!*

Kara, using her aura, and El Cid, parrying her strike with her bare sword, both frowned.

‘Strong.’

Shahlnu Stellarum.

They said she was a hero of this era.

She had thought that no matter how strong she was, she couldn’t compare to the heroes she had faced during the Golden Age.

Yet, despite her youth, she truly seemed to be a hero who had reached the Master realm, as the weight of her sword felt the heaviest she had encountered since her seal was broken, with only one exception.

‘I was planning to just deal with her moderately until His Highness was done with his business.’

Given who her opponent was, she felt her life would be in danger if she faced her carelessly.

*Whoosh—*

She manifested a black aura.

A destructive power derived from disaster, an aura that was both an aura and not an aura.

“……!”

With a destructive power unique and beyond the common understanding of aura, El Cid’s sword explosively pushed back Kara’s sword.

*CRASH!!!!*

Her raw strength combined with the unique destructive power of the black aura, and Kara, unable to withstand the force for a moment, was sent flying far away.

‘Pushed back?’

But despite landing an effective hit, El Cid instead wore a perplexed expression.

Although she had launched a momentary counterattack and landed a blow, it wasn’t a strike that someone at Kara’s Master level couldn’t parry.

*Thud— Rumble—*

After flying a considerable distance and briefly rolling on the ground, Kara, supporting herself with her sword, stood up and looked at El Cid.

“You…”

She wore a look of confusion.

“That power, what is its true nature?”

‘Why is she acting like that?’

As Kara’s expression, which had been so cold moments ago, began to fill with what could only be described as serious confusion, El Cid’s own expression naturally shifted to bewilderment.

Consequently, though she had no intention of exchanging even a single word at first, she found herself opening her mouth and asking Kara.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m asking what that power’s true nature is.”

‘What is its true nature, she asks.’

Faced with such an unexpected question delivered with a serious expression in the middle of combat, El Cid fell into thought.

‘Could it be that this woman, despite bearing the title of a hero, doesn’t even know what the disasters of the previous era were?’

Even if the prophets had thoroughly hidden the existence of past disasters, someone of a hero’s standing surely couldn’t be ignorant of them, could they?

‘But she truly seems to not know what this power is.’

However, to say she couldn’t possibly not know, then why was her expression so utterly filled with confusion? That couldn’t be explained.

‘…I don’t know why the prophets didn’t inform that hero about the existence of black aura.’

*Shing!*

There was no reason to tell an enemy like her.

Holding her sword ready, El Cid began preparing to unleash a distant sword attack.

*Whoosh…*

But then.

*Bang!*

“!!!!!!”

With incredible leg strength, Kara closed the distance, thrusting her sword towards El Cid’s side just before she could launch her attack.

*Clatter clatter clatter!*

With instantaneous reflexes, she blocked the sword aimed at her side, but Kara, as if unwilling to give her a moment’s rest, unleashed a barrage of consecutive strikes at a speed incomparable to Danoa’s rapid swordplay.

“Ugh…”

She tried to block it somehow, but she was gradually being pushed back by force.

No matter that she was an Executor of Gram, El Cid was the Sixth Executor.

Had a long time passed since her seal was broken, it might be different, but she had only been released a few years ago after being sealed for a millennium, so she hadn’t fully recovered her strength.

In contrast, Kara had inherited the power of the Hero of Verdure, who was protected by the World Tree, and was a genius among geniuses, quickly reaching the Master realm with her unique talent for wielding aura.

Her power, having already inherited the position of Vice-Captain in the Shahlnu Stellarum Knights, was at its peak even at this very moment, unlike El Cid, whose strength had waned compared to her past.

Kara, unleashing dozens of consecutive strikes per second, glared at the increasingly pushed-back El Cid, who was struggling to block her attacks, and asked again.

“That black aura, what is its true nature?”

Before, it was confusion, but this time, the question was mixed with both confusion and anger.

She was a woman who had traversed countless battlefields and even forgotten the fear of death, but upon hearing those words, cold sweat involuntarily ran down her spine.

‘What kind of Fear…’

Fear.

Fear. Named after a dragon’s fear, it was the unique oppressive presence a knight exuded when imbuing a vast amount of aura with killing intent.

As that oppressive presence began to press down on El Cid’s shoulders, she started to be pushed back even faster.

*CRASH!*

“Ack…!”

She ultimately fell backward, becoming completely defenseless.

*Shing.*

Seeing the sword pointed at her throat, her gaze went upwards.

“……”

She lifted her head and looked up, seeing Kara’s face, her mouth tightly shut, still etched with confusion.

“I’ll ask one last time.”

“……”

“That black aura, what exactly is its true nature?”

“……”

“Is it perhaps related to Gram? Or is it a power extracted from someone?”

‘Extracted from someone, she says.’

What does she mean, gaining power by extracting something from someone?

‘Surely, she doesn’t know that one can use black aura by inheriting power from a lord possessing ‘darkness’?’

But if that were the case, she seemed to be unaware of black aura.

While she was briefly lost in thought, Kara placed the sword against her throat, giving a final warning.

“This is your final warning. If you don’t answer again, I will sever your neck this time.”

“…Th—”

*Whoosh—*

*CRASH—*

“Aargh…!”

Something of immense mass flew through the air and landed like a meteor between the two women.

The sudden shockwave sent the lighter Kara flying from her spot, and a cloud of dust rose, obscuring El Cid’s figure.

But though she couldn’t see, Kara clearly heard what she called out while looking at the massive object.

“Your Highness…”

‘Your Highness?’

As she briefly wondered about that word, the thick swirling dust that obscured her vision cleared.

*Creak. Creak—*

Making strange creaking sounds, the figure of a knight clad in golden armor, rising to its feet, came into view.

A colossal physique, so immense that even Kara, possessing the body of a High Elf and taller than an average woman, had to look up considerably to see its full height.

She stared blankly at the knight, captivated by the oppressive presence, as if looking at a small giant.

“……”

*Shing—*

The knight in golden armor drew the grayish-white sword from its waist and began to swing it towards her.