Chapter 20 : Chapter 20
Chapter 20: The Lion's Roar
With every step Gregory took forward, the earth beneath his feet released a groan of unbearable strain.
The Lionheart plate armor that symbolized his family's honor was now riddled with countless wounds.
Innumerable deep cuts exposing bone covered his aged body, yet what flowed from them was not blood, but Battle Energy as viscous and burning as magma—golden and searing.
The Battle Energy cauterized his wounds, producing hissing sounds, using self-mutilation to forcibly seal his blood vessels and prevent the final ebb of his life force.
His left arm was severed cleanly at the shoulder, the stump blackened and charred.
In his remaining right hand, he gripped half a broken greatsword, using it as a crutch to support his body that seemed ready to collapse at any moment.
He resembled an ancient mountain on the verge of crumbling—heavy, aged, yet still radiating suffocating pressure.
“He… how could he break free from the Silence Trap so quickly! That was an ancient array!”
One black-clad rider's voice overflowed with world-shattering despair.
“Everyone, armor-piercing crossbows!”
Ashes reacted with extreme speed. After the initial shock, he immediately released a hoarse roar.
“He's burning his life force! Focus fire! Kill him!”
The surviving riders snapped awake from their stupor, frantically retrieving specialized military heavy crossbows.
These weapons capable of piercing castle gate steel plates now seemed absurd in the trembling hands of their wielders.
However, Gregory—who should have been at death's door—the moment he heard those words “that girl's already been taken away,” the entire world seemed to freeze.
He slowly raised his head.
On that aged face covered in blood and wrinkles, a flash of extreme bewilderment appeared first.
Then, in those already clouded eyes, without any warning, an indescribable brilliant light erupted!
That light, mixed with wild joy, relief, and infinite gratitude, even overshadowed the burning Battle Energy on his body!
“Ha… haha…”
A hoarse laugh rolled from his parched throat, initially weak, then growing louder and louder, finally transforming into a maniacal laughter that echoed through the valley.
“HAHAHAHAHAHA—!”
In that laughter was the relief of casting off a tremendous burden, the joy of surviving calamity, and even more, a wild mockery hurled at fate itself!
Taken away…
Taken away!
Not fallen into the hands of these sewer rats!
That's good…
That's so good!
Gregory roared inwardly.
Whoever it is!
Whether a mercenary acting on righteous impulse or an ambitious schemer with ulterior motives—it doesn't matter anymore!
As long as it's not them, as long as she hasn't fallen into the hands of the mastermind who orchestrated everything, it means the young miss still has a thread of hope!
Anneliya, my young miss, you're still alive!
He seemed to see again that little girl with golden twin tails, standing on tiptoes, placing a dew-covered wildflower in the gap of his cold helmet, speaking in a childish voice.
“Grandpa Gregory, this is the Southern Border's bravest flower, for the bravest Knight!”
And he, Gregory Sebastian, guardian Knight of the Sebastian family—the last thing he needed to do in this life was to transform that thread of hope into an unquestionable, absolute… clear path!
“So that's how it is…”
He thrust his broken sword against the ground and slowly straightened his body.
That hunched spine, in this moment, rose inch by inch, standing straighter and more unyielding than the Blackspine Mountains behind him!
He didn't look at the enemies before him, but turned his head toward the mountain forest where Caesar had disappeared.
He faced that darkness and, in a voice only he could hear, hoarse yet solemn, whispered.
“Whoever you are… thank you…”
The next second, he whipped his head back around, those eyes burning with golden flames locking onto the black-clad riders before him.
All traces of laughter vanished from his face.
Only killing intent capable of freezing souls remained, along with an old man's final protection of the girl he had watched grow up.
“Sebastian family motto, Article Seven.”
His voice wasn't loud, yet it struck each rider's heart like a ten-thousand-pound hammer.
“When the Lion roars, the territory shall be defended;”
He slowly raised the half-broken sword in his hand, its tip pointing straight at the heavens.
“The Lionheart never retreats, even unto death!”
“Scum.”
He bared his teeth, revealing a mouthful of blood-stained fangs—a ferocious smile.
“Want to pass through my land and hunt down my young miss?”
“Have you asked this old bag of bones first!”
In an instant, the golden Battle Energy erupting from all his wounds was no longer just burning—it exploded outward like a volcano that had accumulated pressure for ten thousand years, like a bursting galaxy!
His entire being transformed into a rising golden sun!
He was pushing his Battle Energy core—refined to the peak of Earth Knight—along with flesh, bone, and indomitable soul, into the most thorough, most savage ultimate overload!
He would turn himself into this valley's… tombstone!
“He's going to self-destruct! Madman!!”
Ashes, who had remained calm as ice until now, finally released the first—and last—scream of his life filled with shock and terror.
That voice became shrill and twisted from extreme fear.
A peak Earth Knight powerhouse, in the final sublimation of his life, using everything as fuel—such power was enough to level everything within several miles!
“Retreat! Retreat now!!”
He violently wheeled his horse around, using all his strength to whip its hindquarters, his left hand's dagger unhesitatingly stabbing into the horse's belly. The intense pain made the warhorse release a wail and charge desperately toward the valley exit.
But it was too late.
Time in this moment seemed to freeze.
The world lost all sound.
The riders' terrified screams, the horses' desperate whinnies, the howling wind… everything, everything vanished in an instant.
In its place came a whiteness that devoured all, enough to make even gods pale with shock.
A soundless flash of light, with Gregory at its center, exploded outward.
……
More than ten miles away, somewhere along a ridge in the Blackspine Mountains.
Caesar, racing through the terrain while holding the young woman in his arms, felt the earth beneath his feet violently jump, as if slapped hard by an invisible giant hand.
Immediately after, a savage shockwave wrapped in rolling airwaves and shrieks came howling from behind him.
Caesar grunted, his entire body sent stumbling by the tremendous force. His legs forcibly dug half a foot into the earth before he barely managed to steady himself.
He instinctively held the soft, warm body in his arms and the wolf cub in his clothes even tighter.
He whipped his head around.
Then he witnessed the most harrowing, most tragic scene he had ever seen in his life.
A golden “sun” rose from the horizon's edge.
It used the most brutal, domineering method to tear open a massive gash in the overcast sky, dyeing the entire world in a layer of brilliant yet tragic gold.