Chapter 272 : Chapter 272
Chapter 272 : The Knight Who Protects the Weak
"You didn't come late on purpose, did you?"
"Seeing how you are joking, it seems you still have strength to spare."
As if I did. I struck down a ghoul that came leaping through the air and asked.
"How's the situation underground? Don't tell me more of them are swarming out from here?"
"Tristan's demonic beasts are pouring out in their entirety."
Without realizing it, I gulped. Kuhn formed a hand seal and spoke nonchalantly.
"But please rest assured, as they are not all regenerating entities."
That meant there was an end. Eventually.
……As if I could rest assured.
In any case, I didn't even have the luxury to reply. Still, the arrival of the Solari priests and Kuhn was a massive help.
Fighting in a trance, before we knew it, we had gathered in a formation where we backed each other up.
"Brother Bihen! How about we retreat for now?!"
"Y-Yes! There's no end to them no matter how many we kill!"
"At this rate, we'll all die a dog's death! We should retreat for now and face them with the Imperial Capital's regular army—!"
I intentionally raised my voice even louder.
"No! If we back down here, it's over!"
Did Zisair want to become the god of a world where demonic beasts and humans coexist?
If we can't stop them here, this wave of calamity will helplessly sweep into the civilian homes. I can't just sit back and watch the innocent people get slaughtered.
Above all else.......
I want to protect Adeline's kingdom.
With her era having just begun, this swarm of demonic beasts appears in the world? People will surely try to brand her as the Queen of Calamity or the Blood Monarch, as if they've been waiting for this very moment.
'I can't let her shoulder that infamy.'
I clenched my teeth tightly.
'Even if my body shatters.'
I narrowed my eyes. I stared at the King of Embers visible in the distance. I had been so distracted by Batz that I had forgotten—that bastard was ultimately the leader of this legion.
Change of plans.
"Kuhn! Clear a path! I'll strike him down in one go!"
She didn't even ask back. Kuhn immediately stood in front of me and scattered a multitude of talismans into the air. Then, with a few waves of her hand, a bright yellow flame extended in a straight line, cleaving the battlefield.
KIIIING—!
After shifting the Heavenly Demon to my left hand, I gripped the Blood Lion with my right.
Tap—!
I threw myself onto the trajectory cleaved by the flames.
The demonic beasts attempting to charge in and stop me were sliced apart one by one by the Whip Sword Roxy wielded.
Trusting my comrades, I focused entirely.
'One-strike kill!'
In an instant, I reached right in front of the King of Embers. Without hesitation, I thrust the Blood Lion into a gap in his armor.
CLANG—!
‘……!’
My eyes snapped wide open. The recoil traveling up my wrist felt incredibly foreign.
While my mind, tempered by long experience, anticipated the sensation of piercing flesh, what met the tip of my blade was the feeling of solid steel.
In the brief moment I gasped in shock at the bizarre resistance—
SLASH—!
My back throbbed with a burning pain. I barely managed to twist my body to avoid my vitals, but it was a fairly fatal wound.
Batz was twisting the corners of his mouth. He planted his foot down hard, as if to deliver the final blow.
"Your indulgence ends here—"
He couldn't finish his sentence.
Three human figures appeared, surrounding him from three sides.
Both of us couldn't help but be surprised by the belated realization. It was to the extent that even the two of us had missed their approach.
"How dare you target the Cult Leader's back!"
"To cowardly aim for his rear!"
"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth! You bastard!"
Ellen, Tiaro, McRay.
The blade, axe blade, and staff thrust out by the three rascals slammed down simultaneously from three different directions.
CLANG—!
A violent clashing sound rang out. Batz's complexion warped in an instant. He hurriedly swung his sword to deflect the three rascals' coordinated strike, then kicked off the ground, leaping far away from us.
"Cult Leader!"
Ellen quickly approached. There were no pleasantries. He held out a silk cloth bundle he had been harboring.
It was as he dropped to one knee.
"The sword of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, the Sword of Light!"
Before leaving Pretoria, I had entrusted the legacy of Partizan and Hugin to Gaff.
I slowly peeled back the silk cloth.
Reborn as a pair of swords, Urvasi—no, the divine artifact that would now be called the Sword of Light—spewed forth a brilliant radiance, pushing back the surrounding darkness.
Should I call it a sword-sense?
A tremor ran through me in an instant. It felt as if the Sword of Light was whispering.
That only I could cut with it.
SLASH—!
The moment I gripped the swords, I spun my body and swung. The strike, laden with centrifugal force, sliced the warhorse ridden by the King of Embers cleanly into two halves in a single blow.
[Aaaaaah!]
The King of Embers shrieked as he crashed into the ground. As soon as the bastard fell, demonic beasts rushed in relentlessly. At the same time, pitch-black projectiles exploded nearby, shaking the earth.
Along with the trio, I backed away to a distance to avoid the shockwave.
Right then.
A battle cry echoed from afar.
"Fight to your heart's content, you damn bastards!"
The thugs of Brakenport were rushing forward in a tight pack. Compared to the Shadow Legion, their numbers were a mere handful.
Yet, their sheer momentum was already overwhelming the massive army.
"We are—!"
Alkabang, standing at the forefront, raised his voice.
"The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult!"
"Ohhhhhh—!"
The roar shook heaven and earth. The rascals, equipped with crude armaments, literally became a colossal wave and crashed head-on into the demonic beast legion.
Above such a battlefield, a shadow suddenly fell.
I raised my head.
Human-faced bats the size of humans. Every time Grimlok's homunculus swarm glided low, mysterious objects rained down rapidly from beneath their feet.
BOOM—! BOOM! CRASH—! BOOM!
They were magic tools akin to thunderclap bombs. Along with the explosions, all sorts of debris splattered everywhere.
Just as the Human-faced Bats in the sky were ravaging and tearing apart the rear of the Shadow Legion—
BOOM—!
This time, it was from the left and right.
Steel dolls clad in silver armor landed. The red eyes flashing through the gaps in their helmets were clearly visible even from afar.
'Legion.'
The shouting grew louder once more. It didn't belong to the priests, the thugs, or the homunculi.
It was the flags of the riders rushing to both flanks of the legion alongside Legion.
'The Red Rose and the White Rose.......'
They were people who weren't part of my plan.
'Springeus and Windermere.'
In particular, the person at the vanguard of Springeus defied my expectations even more.
"Keep this clearly in mind! The true knights of the Sharon Faction do not owe debts!"
A deep blue cape stirred the very center of the demonic beast swarm like a storm. All alone, it was literally a single-rider charge.
It was truly a miracle wrought by The Way of Medicine.
'Noser!'
In terms of objective numbers, we were still at a major disadvantage. However, war isn't a matter of simple arithmetic decided solely by mass.
'The tide of victory has turned.'
The tables had turned. With the intervention of allies appearing at the perfect time and place, the Shadow Legion's formation crumbled helplessly. The demonic beasts, having lost their chain of command, were nothing more than a disorganized rabble.
'I'll end this now.'
I struck down the rushing demonic beasts with a single stroke as I searched for the enemy's leader, the King of Embers.
Before I knew it, my vision blurred white. It was the fog of the battlefield, a condensation of mixed blood and breath.
'……Has it been a while?'
Even after crossing over a lifetime, I can't forget it. No, rather, it's sickeningly familiar.
The screams and rupturing sounds echoing from all directions, the friction of iron grinding against iron. Even the metallic stench of blood and the scent of damp earth.
When walking inside a shroud riddled with all kinds of malice like this…… I used to be overcome by the feeling that I wasn't myself.
A nameless, ordinary soldier meant to be used up and discarded as a mere spare part of the battlefield.
But it's different now.
I'm no longer a fragment to be consumed; I wholly exist here.
For whom I must fight, and what I must stake my life on—
Now, I know.
SLASH—!
Beyond the spurting streams of blood, Batz came into view. The bastard turned around upon spotting me as well. His haggard complexion resembled mine, as if I were looking into a mirror.
Like that, the two of us for a brief moment.......
We silently stared at the wretched marks engraved upon each other's bodies and blades.
"I told you, did I not? That my blade lies at the end of the path you walk."
Batz raised his sword and aimed it at the space between my brows. A languid smile formed on his blood-drenched face.
"Put an end to this with your blood."
Suddenly, the sounds around me drifted away. All the noises of the battlefield became muffled as if trapped inside a vacuum, leaving only my rough breathing echoing in their place.
Thump, thump.
As if I had become the sole living entity in this horrific hellscape.
"I will not walk the path of Asura."
I've finally found it.
The path I must walk.
"Ultimate Path of the Transcendent Demon."
Transcending my past self, becoming a demon myself to reach the ultimate peak, the path I must walk has finally opened.
We lunged toward each other at the same time.
SWOOSH—!
The flash-like trajectory drawn by the twin swords of the Sword of Light sliced through the fog and penetrated deeply into Batz's chest.
Thud.
A faint sound came from behind my back. With that as the turning point, all kinds of reality-shaking noises of the world came rushing back.
In the end, the one left standing was me.
CRASH—!
A thunderous roar from one side caused my head to snap around. Beyond the thick fog, I could see a spot where the demonic beasts were abnormally densely packed. Black silhouettes were piled layer upon layer in that specific area alone.
"Over here!"
"The leader is inside there!"
"Attack simultaneously and break through!"
"Push forward—!"
Thugs, priests, and knights were shouting all mixed together, regardless of their respective affiliations.
The demonic beasts clung tightly to each other, enduring as if to protect something on the inside.
Step.
Readjusting my grip on my sword, I took a step toward the wall of demonic beasts.
KIIIING—!
A single horizontal trajectory sliced through the flesh wall built by the demonic beasts in one go.
The surrounding warriors paused momentarily in surprise, but soon let out battle cries and boldly plunged inside.
I leisurely walked in along the path they had flung open.
And finally—
[Ugh, heuuuuk……! Hic, waaaaaah!]
I came face-to-face with him.
“…….”
[I-I've c-come to my senses……! Bihen Benkou! I'm scared! Save me! I'll do whatever you tell me to do, I promise, really……! Believe me—!]
He collapsed all alone inside. He looked just like a soldier who had been thrown from his horse after its head was severed, floundering with his legs trapped beneath his mount's carcass.
Body and Horse as One.
When the warhorse was sliced into two halves by the Sword of Light's strike earlier, the bastard's legs had essentially been cut off along with it.
[Haaah! Haeeep……! W-Why am I out of breath? Huh? It's strange, it's weird, Bihen Benkou……!]
“…….”
[Please, d-don't just look at me like that, help me…….]
He hadn't even managed to take off the helmet that looked as though it had been forced onto his head. His partially revealed face was a mess of blood, tears, and snot, making it hard to even recognize his features.
[A-A horse! I shall give my kingdom to whoever gives me a horse……!]
Before long, people swarmed around. Solari priests, knights from Springeus and Windermere, and even believers of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
They formed a circle and surrounded him.
With trembling eyes, Lucian met the countless gazes looking down at him.
[Don't just stare at me like that! Answer me! Please! Pleaaaase…….]
The only thing that returned to him was silence. Soon, the noise of the battlefield gradually quieted down as well.
In the bizarre stillness, only Lucian's sobbing echoed.
[Wuuu, ugh, hic……!]
It wasn't the end of Philinus II, nor was it the demise of the King of Embers.
The sight of him wailing as if he were about to lose his breath was, without a doubt, the crying of a lost child.
[I-I…… just wanted to do well. I just wanted to be praised. By Father. Even just once…….]
Lucian dragged his severed lower body, clawing at the muddy ground. Bloody tears streamed down his wretchedly contorted face.
[He told me to take Adeline, if nothing else. That was the only command Father left for me. Originally, he didn't even treat me like a human being. He looked at me like a bug…… and always said I was a bastard who should never have been born. That's why I did it. If I did well at that one thing, he would…….]
Being born with a disabled body and killing his own mother in the process…… was by no means his fault.
Seemingly abandoned by the person he should have relied on the most upon coming into the world, the rascal ultimately became a monster.
“…….”
Suddenly, my past life overlapped with him. I, too, was a nameless soldier who had wandered the path of Asura while resenting my father.
I lived wandering, considering the pursuit of nothing but the ultimate realm as my life's sole objective and solace.
'If I hadn't faced my father's true feelings in this life.'
If so, wouldn't I also be crying right now, clinging to someone's pant legs like that?
[I just missed a warm touch.]
Lucian's breathing faded. Neither a grandiose ambition nor madness, the final struggle of a young soul that merely craved warmth was subsiding.
[……That's all.]
I decided not to execute him.
Because that wasn't something a swordsman harboring chivalry would do.
I turned around.
All of a sudden, a breath of refreshing wind brushed past. Following that wind, I raised my head and looked up at the sky.
The fog of the battlefield was finally clearing.
I closed my eyes.
The era of violence draws to a close.