Return of the Max-Level Lord

Chapter 187: The Changed Past (2)

Clang! Clang!

Raion Canel took out several swords, bows, and staves from the warehouse (倉庫).

Those who received them immediately aimed them at the enemy.

“Master, do we just wipe them all out?”

“Doesn’t look like you’re scared?”

The opponents were knights of the Dior Empire.

If they fought them, they would become enemies of the Empire.

“First, protect the people and sweep them away. Figure out the situation after that.”

The order was given.

The armed Patrick, Jade, Negis, and Caldein immediately took their stances.

Patrick’s daggers and Jade’s longsword swept through the knights in a fierce exchange.

However, they did not suffer major wounds and quickly got back up.

In the meantime, Caldein deployed a ‘Wind Wall’ toward the door the nobles had fled through, blocking it off.

“Kraaaaaah!”

The knights who had lost their reason chased after the nobles, only to be blocked by the defensive magic and let out feral screams.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

‘Does the manifestation of something called MAGUS even increase the body’s durability?’

Raion immediately swung the sword he had drawn.

It carried aura equivalent to that of a beginner Swordmaster.

Swoosh—! Clang!

Even beginner-level aura could cleave through rock or iron swords.

Yet that aura had been blocked, meaning the energy emanating from the Dior knights was far from ordinary.

“This time…!”

With that mutter, Raion’s aura grew denser.

The trajectory of the aura, now bluer than before, swept across the Dior knights.

Swoooosh! Clang! Slash!

Long gashes settled across various parts of their bodies.

Despite suffering serious injuries, the knights continued to thrash about, still having lost all reason.

“Kraaaaaaah!”

“Kraaagh!”

It seemed that this thing called MAGUS had turned people into monsters.

While Caldein held them back with magic, Raion increased the output of his aura even further.

Soon, the blue aura gradually turned white.

At the same time, beam-like thin lines of light severed the necks and torsos of the struggling knights.

Slash—!

That was how the banquet hall was cleared.

But that was not the end. The situation outside was no different from inside.

“Save people!”

“Someone, please help us!”

The knights and soldiers of the Dior Empire who had come as envoys emitted dark crimson energy and attacked civilians.

Because of that, various parts of the Royal Capital fell into utter chaos.

“Let’s deal with this situation first. It looks like only attacks equivalent to at least an intermediate Swordmaster will work, so we’ll need to put in some real effort.”

The dark crimson energy was that tough.

At that, Jade, Negis, and Caldein nodded and moved out.

“Raion!”

“Your Majesty, are you unharmed?”

“In a situation like this, who cares about ‘Your Majesty’! I’m fine. More importantly, do you know what’s going on? Why are those Dior Empire bastards like that?”

Deborah had thought only Marquis Digargo had gone mad. But then even the other knights went berserk and tried to kill people.

They had even hidden weapons and entered the banquet hall, so it did not seem impossible that this had been planned from the start.

Taking all that into account, it was hard to understand the situation as a whole.

“Someone must have made up their mind to do this.”

“Made up their mind to what? To die along with everyone?”

They had come to another kingdom and openly started slaughtering people.

To anyone, it looked no different from suicide.

“For now, please focus on stabilizing the situation.”

“You’re saying we should kill all of the Empire’s envoys?”

“We already have. And without killing them, we won’t be able to stop them.”

Because of the dark crimson energy, unless one used at least intermediate-level aura, it was difficult to even leave a scratch on their bodies.

If they could not stop them, the Royal Capital itself could be put in danger.

“…It can’t be helped. Help out some more.”

“I’m already helping.”

Outside, Jade and Negis were dealing with the soldiers of the Dior delegation.

At the same time, Caldein and the others protected the civilians.

The delegations of the Danas Federation and the Bachenan Holy Kingdom were the same.

Thanks to skilled individuals being gathered, the situation was brought under control quickly.

With Turklan, Holy Knight Commander Larsen Heights, and Rick Sero taking the lead, they were able to resolve it swiftly.

“Why on earth did they end up like that?”

Deborah approached the pile of corpses stacked in front of the eastern gate of the Royal Capital to take a closer look.

On the surface, there were hardly any visible changes. The dark crimson aura that had poured out while it was alive had also completely vanished.

“Being in a state that can’t even be cut unless it’s aura at least at an intermediate Sword Master level…….”

At that question, Marianne stepped forward from the gathered delegation of the Bachenan Holy Kingdom.

“It seems divine power was effective as well.”

Thanks to that, the damage on the Bachenan Holy Kingdom’s side was minimal.

At the same time, Deborah was able to realize one thing from those circumstances.

“Wasn’t being weak to divine power something that only the Demonic Race was supposed to be?”

That was because she knew about the being Raion had fought in front of the Mineta royal palace.

However, the delegation from the Dior Empire was not of the Demonic Race.

At this, Marianne and the others from the Bachenan Holy Kingdom also wore troubled expressions.

“I think we should first send people to the Holy Kingdom to report the current situation and have it investigated.”

“Do you think anything will come of it?”

“I’m not certain.”

Since a revelation regarding the Demonic Race had descended before, all they could do was place their hopes in that.

Then Marianne’s gaze turned toward Raion.

“Thanks to you, many people were able to survive. The goddess’s grace will always protect Your Highness.”

At the banquet hall, Raion had stepped forward first and stopped the rampaging delegation.

If he hadn’t, a storm of blood would have swept through the banquet hall as well.

“They were suspicious. And the reason they changed so strangely seems to be because of something called MAGUS.”

“MAGUS? How do you know about that, Your Highness?”

At first, Raion had hesitated over whether he should speak or not before bringing it up.

But now, this wasn’t something that could be resolved by thinking only of himself.

Cooperation with the Holy Kingdom, which might know more about divine power and the Demonic Race, was also necessary.

“It was a phenomenon I saw in an old book. In the continental common language, it would be called ‘arcane parasitism.’”

It was information he had been told through a Tip.

Since he couldn’t explain it 그대로, he wrapped it up with appropriate words.

“Arcane parasitism…… Helion, have you ever heard of this?”

The high priest who had come with this delegation had already been thinking even before receiving Marianne’s question.

However, a sense of helplessness could be felt just from his expression.

“Not at all. There isn’t much known about that existence either. If we want to find out in detail, it might be faster to inform His Holiness of this situation and ask for advice.”

When it came to matters related to the Demonic Race, not a single thing could be overlooked.

Because it might be a hint connected to the revelation and to stopping the end of the continent.

“His Holiness might know about it? Is that really so?”

At Raion’s question, Marianne exchanged glances with Helion before speaking.

“In fact, there was a revelation that descended upon His Holiness.”

“High Priestess Marianne!”

“I will take responsibility. I am convinced that Prince Raion Canel is a person connected to the revelation! And isn’t the situation dangerous?”

As she said that, Marianne took out a small box from within her robes.

The box, which had been tightly locked, opened far too easily once divine power was infused into it.

Inside was a note made of parchment, folded twice.

“This is the content of the revelation. Please check it yourself.”

“Is it really all right for me to see this?”

A revelation was the voice of the goddess that descended upon His Holiness.

Naturally, it was impossible for an ordinary person to know its contents.

At most, only someone at the level of a high priest could be allowed to know.

With that, Raion unfolded the piece of parchment. Two sheets were overlapped.

[Pitch-black darkness shall descend like a sun that never sets……. The Incarnation of Lightning shall return at the end of a long journey and sweep it away!]

[The sun that set within pitch-black darkness…… the one who lived there shall return.]

Raion’s eyes widened as he confirmed the contents.

The Incarnation of Lightning, return at the end of a long journey, the sun that set in darkness, shall return…….

There was no need to think about it in a complicated way.

Because there was no way he wouldn’t understand what those sentences meant.

‘This is referring to me……!’

Perhaps because of the expression on Raion’s face as he looked at the parchment,

Marianne and Helion seemed to grasp something.

“Are you all right?”

“Ah…… I’m fine. But has a revelation like this ever descended before?”

“As far as I know, revelations concerning the Demonic Race descended a very long time ago. I believe this is the first time there has been one about salvation like this.”

Currently, the Bachenan Holy Kingdom was searching for a savior.

To put it more simply, a hero who would defeat the Demon King……?

Understanding that situation, Raion felt slightly dumbfounded.

‘A Demon King and a hero in the world I lived in…….’

Raion thought of Lewis, a former mercenary comrade from before he died in his second life.

A foreign friend who liked Korean-style fantasy. Not only had he lived in the world that friend dreamed of, but he might even end up facing a real Demon King.

“Does the Bachenan Holy Kingdom have more 자료 regarding the Demon King?”

“That is something only His Holiness can see, so we don’t know the details either.”

“Then I suppose I’ll have to go there in person.”

Raion himself didn’t know exactly what kind of existence the Demon King was.

However, thinking about the Demonic Race that had been called a count of the demon realm, which he had experienced firsthand, it wasn’t something that could be judged lightly.

As Raion thought about various things, there was also a part that worried him.

“If this situation was something the Empire aimed for…… it feels like we’d be completely stuck.”

Deborah, who seemed to have been thinking the same thing, nodded.

“Right. We ended up killing all the delegations that came to the kingdom. If we had at least captured them and learned the cause, it’d be different, but this basically just gave the Empire a pretext to attack our kingdom.”

“And if the Empire is trying to make use of this thing called MAGUS…… it seems we’ll need to prepare countermeasures for that as well.”

‘MAGUS,’ which referred to arcane parasitism. It was like a seed that turned one into a state similar to the awakening of the Demonic Race.

If it was an ability used by the Demon King, then the scale of it was also a problem.

Wooooong! Wooooong! Wooooong!

At that moment, I felt a vibration coming from my warehouse space.

When I opened the space to check, it was a Post, a communication arcane tool.

Since it wouldn’t be good to show it to the others, I moved aside briefly and received it.

Regina’s figure appeared on the small screen.

―Master, this is Regina.

“What’s going on?”

―There was a small incident in the kingdom. I contacted you to report it.

“An incident?”

I had instructed them not to report unless it was something they couldn’t handle on their own.

If they contacted me through a Post anyway, it definitely wasn’t something minor.

―Seven days ago, a delegation from the Dior Empire visited the Canel royal palace.

At Regina’s words, I couldn’t help but be shocked at the same time.