Chapter 61 : Chapter 61
Chapter 61. Kokoro Fortress That Refused to Open Its Gates, The Shadow Guards Appear
“BOOM…”
A deep blue magic sphere suddenly exploded behind the crowd. The shockwave instantly flung two family members who had no time to react into the air, and their screams tore through the night sky.
Immediately afterward, fireballs and ice spikes rained down like a dense storm. The battle cries of the Kadiya Legion surged out of the darkness behind them. It was obvious that the pursuers had caught up.
“Faster. The city gate is just ahead.”
William suddenly turned his head. When he saw the flickering magic lights in the distance closing in like ghostly flames, he quickly waved his hand and urged everyone forward.
The survivors staggered toward the gates of Kokoro Fortress. The heavy oak gates were tightly shut. The walls above were pitch black—there was not even a single light, as if the fortress had long since become a dead city abandoned by the living.
“I am William, the Fourth Prince of the Kroll Kingdom. Open the gate!”
William shouted toward the battlements while revealing the royal emblem at his waist. The emblem gleamed with silver light beneath the moon.
“Behind me are the people of the kingdom. The Kadiya pursuers are right behind us. Open the gate!”
There was no response from the walls. Only the mournful wind passed through the arrow slits.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Arrows whistled through the air. Several soldiers collapsed instantly.
Tos and the remaining knights immediately raised their shields and formed a defensive circle, protecting William and the family members in the center. The clashing of metal and the explosions of magic intertwined, drawing ever closer.
“Your Highness, they refuse to open the gate.”
A fireball grazed Tos’s armor, leaving a scorched black mark.
“We must leave. Staying here means certain death.”
But William seemed not to hear him. He stared fixedly at the tightly shut gate, his eyes bloodshot.
He could not understand why a fortress belonging to the Kroll Kingdom would ignore the royal family’s cry for help.
Could it be that this place had also already…
“Your Highness!”
Seeing the Kadiya soldiers already within a hundred meters—close enough to clearly see the wolf-head emblem on their armor—Tos could no longer worry about protocol. He suddenly bent down, lifted William around the waist, and dashed toward the barren slope to the side.
“Slave knights, hold the line!”
“Yes!”
Several badly wounded slave knights responded in unison. Gripping their bloodstained swords, they turned and launched a countercharge against the pursuers, forming the final line of defense with their bodies.
The family members cried and followed after Tos. When someone fell, they were immediately pulled back to their feet by those behind them.
William struggled in Tos’s arms, but Tos held him even tighter. Looking back, William saw the slave knights like sparks thrown into a sea of fire, instantly swallowed by the overwhelming tide of Kadiya soldiers.
The gate remained shut, like a cold and indifferent face watching their desperate escape.
“Kokoro Fortress…”
William’s voice was hoarse. The last thread of hope in his heart slowly sank into darkness along with that closed gate.
Carrying William on his back, Tos ran wildly across the barren slope with the remaining dozen Palace Knights. Loose stones rolled constantly beneath their feet. The Kadiya soldiers clung to them like a disease in the bones, quickly splitting their forces and moving ahead to form a human wall that blocked their path.
“Kill them!” the leading Kadiya officer shouted, pointing his sword directly at Tos.
William watched as the knights beside him fell one after another. Blood stained the frozen earth crimson. His teeth ground together, and a terrifying ferocity burst from his eyes.
“Kokoro Fortress! If I do not die today, every single one of you—including your entire clans—will pay for refusing to save us! I, William Kroll, swear it here!”
He tapped Tos on the shoulder, his voice as cold as ice.
“Tos. Let them hold the rear. We go.”
The last thirteen Palace Knights immediately turned and charged toward the pursuers, using their lives to buy time.
Tos no longer hesitated. Brilliant golden Dou Qi erupted from his body. His speed suddenly surged as he shot toward the forest to the side like an arrow released from its bow.
“Trying to run?”
A cold laugh sounded from ahead. Two equally dazzling bursts of golden Dou Qi suddenly rose.
One came from a heavily armored Kadiya Gold Knight. The other astonishingly belonged to a Barbarian Shaman draped in beast skins and holding a bone staff.
“Hehehe… The legion commander predicted long ago that a prince would surely have a Gold Knight protecting him.”
The Barbarian Shaman cackled strangely as the skull atop his bone staff emitted a faint green glow.
“Seems he overestimated you. There’s only one.”
The Kadiya Gold Knight charged first. His sword, wrapped in fierce Dou Qi, slashed straight toward Tos’s face.
Tos was forced to stop. With a swift motion, he pushed William behind him and raised his sword to block. The two blades collided, sending sparks flying into the air.
Meanwhile, the Barbarian Shaman circled around the battlefield. He pointed his bone staff at William, a greedy smile spreading across his face.
“Little treasure, come back with me… I will take very good care of you, Your Highness. Hehehe.”
Just as his withered fingers were about to touch William, a cold sword flash appeared like moonlight materializing out of thin air—so fast that its trajectory could not even be seen.
Slash.
The Barbarian Shaman’s laughter stopped abruptly.
He covered his neck in confusion as blood poured through his fingers. The green light in his eyes quickly faded. With a dull thud, he collapsed to the ground, completely lifeless.
The fierce battle between Tos and the Kadiya Gold Knight abruptly paused.
A slender figure slowly emerged from the empty ground beside William.
She wore a tight black combat outfit. The last drop of blood dripped from the sword in her hand. A mask covered most of her face, revealing only a pair of calm eyes as deep as an ancient well. Those eyes stared coldly at the Kadiya Gold Knight.
“A… Sky Knight?” The Kadiya knight’s pupils shrank sharply, and the hand gripping his sword trembled slightly.
He had never expected that such a powerful expert would appear in what seemed to be a hopeless situation.
A flash of shock crossed Tos’s eyes, quickly followed by overwhelming joy.
He looked at the figure, then at William, and whispered, “Your Highness… a Shadow Guard?”
William gazed at the suddenly appearing Shadow Guard. The tension in his body eased slightly.
After killing the Barbarian Shaman, the Shadow Guard moved again. Her figure flickered and appeared before the Kadiya Gold Knight like a ghost.
Her knight’s sword rotated lightly in her hand, drawing an almost invisible silver arc.
The still-stunned Gold Knight clutched his throat. The light in his eyes quickly faded as he collapsed stiffly onto the ground, blood spreading across the frozen earth.
After eliminating the threat, the Shadow Guard did not linger even for a moment. Her figure flickered once more and disappeared into William’s shadow.
She ignored the tragic scene nearby where the Kadiya soldiers were slaughtering the family members and the remaining soldiers. She neither intervened nor showed the slightest emotion.
Her existence was solely to protect William.
Just as the cries of the family members were about to be completely drowned out by the massacre, a thunderous dragon’s roar suddenly echoed from the sky.
Seven or eight giant dragons burst through the clouds. Their massive wings blotted out the moonlight. Then streams of blazing dragon breath descended like fire from heaven, pouring down upon the Kadiya soldiers.
“AHHH—!”
Screams rose one after another as the Kadiya soldiers were instantly engulfed in flames. Their formation collapsed in chaos.
Only then did they notice in horror that both the Gold Knight and the shaman had already fallen in pools of blood. Without command, their army completely disintegrated.
Some soldiers looked up at the dragons circling in the sky. Forgetting the pursuit entirely, they screamed and fled—only to be caught by dragon breath and turned into charred corpses.
Yet the barbarians seemed to have gone mad. Even in the face of dragon fire, they did not retreat. Roaring wildly, they continued to rush toward the unarmed family members, hacking with bone blades and tearing with claws in a frenzy of slaughter.
“ROAR!”
One of the dragons let out a furious roar. Its dragon breath precisely covered the area where the barbarians had gathered.
When the flames faded, only charred remains lay on the ground. Not a single sound remained.
Moments later, the battle completely fell silent.
The Dragon Riders circled overhead for a while longer. Only after confirming there were no survivors did they slowly descend.
The leading Dragon Rider dismounted and walked quickly to William.
“Are you William Kroll, the Fourth Prince of the Kroll Kingdom? Are you unharmed?”
William looked at the battlefield filled with wreckage. The corpses of family members and surviving soldiers were mixed with those of Kadiya soldiers and barbarians. The air was thick with the smell of scorched flesh and blood.
He remained silent, offering no answer to the Dragon Rider’s question. Instead, he looked toward the fallen slave knights and Palace Knights lying on the ground, his eyes filled with emotions too complicated to read.
Tos helped him stand up and said softly, “Your Highness, we are safe now.”
William slowly nodded. Yet his gaze once again drifted toward the tightly shut gate of Kokoro Fortress, where silence still reigned.
He clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white, then turned to the Dragon Rider in front of him.
“This Dragon Rider… could you help me slaughter the Kokoro Fortress before us?”