Ch. 24
Chapter 24: The Rift Connecting to Hell
Prince Adam's attempt to help had not dealt even a single point of damage—and on top of that, it had wasted the Knight's Battle Axe that Li Kainan had bought for 2 gold coins and had barely used twice.
Most critically of all, the Witch Carabosse had taken notice of this easy target!
She had no means of dealing with Li Kainan. After all, even though Carabosse could wield the formidable power of Hell, her magical energy was not inexhaustible—sooner or later, it would be depleted entirely.
What's more, faced with Li Kainan's relentless assault, Carabosse still had to tread carefully; one moment of carelessness and his sword would run her through.
Li Kainan, by contrast, had not even broken a sweat since the battle began. His stamina and endurance were truly terrifying.
Carabosse was no fool. The thought of retreating had already taken root in her mind.
Kill Prince Adam first, then get out—and figure out how to deal with this knight later!
With that resolved, Carabosse wasted no more time. She raised her Magic Wand and redirected her attack toward Prince Adam.
Li Kainan caught the shift in Carabosse's movements. He snapped backward to Prince Adam's side, slashed apart the spell she had cast, and planted himself squarely in the way.
Unable to handle Li Kainan, and unable to kill Prince Adam, Carabosse finally lost all hold on her temper.
Rage consumed her entirely. Abandoning all pretense of poise and elegance, she shrieked hysterically:
"Damn knight—I'll make you pay for this!"
The Black Robe on Carabosse's body billowed without any wind as she began chanting—a hellish incantation with warped syllables, hoarse and grating, that sent a bone-deep chill crawling through anyone who heard it.
After the curse had been lifted, the weather around the castle had already returned to normal.
But now, as Carabosse's hellish incantation rang out, the skies near the castle shifted once more.
Dark clouds surged and churned. A sinister wind howled and screamed. Before everyone's eyes, the sky was forcibly stained to an ink-black darkness—as though something utterly terrifying and evil was on the verge of being born from within it!
……
At that very moment, in the small town not far from the castle, a crowd of townsfolk had gathered in the town square, watching the spectacle.
Gaston—hailed as the "bravest young man" in town—along with all his lackeys, had been strung up on the lampposts at the center of the square as punishment for harassing Branny.
Everyone in town was connected by blood or marriage, yet not a soul dared step forward to cut them down.
The fully armed, magnificently armored, impressively formidable company of knights had only departed a short while ago—who could say whether they might suddenly turn back?
In the great noble's absence, Gaston had harbored designs on his maidservant.
It was fortunate that the girl called Branny was so kind-hearted; otherwise, every last one of them would have been hanged on the spot by those Retainer Knights on charges of coveting a noble's property!
Being strung up and suffering a little was already getting off lucky……
And it was right at this moment that the townsfolk, too, noticed the sudden change in the weather.
The sky, which had been clear and bright just moments before, was now blanketed in dark clouds as a sinister wind shrieked and howled.
A cold, oppressive chill made everyone shudder almost by pure instinct.
This was not the kind of temperature drop that came with a change in weather—this was the dread and unease carved into the very bones of humanity, manifesting as a visceral sensation!
As ordinary people, the townsfolk had no way of understanding this. They simply followed a subconscious urge born of inexplicable fear, and wanted nothing more than to flee back into their own homes.
As for Gaston and his lackeys, dangling from the lampposts—staring at the roiling dark clouds as though something incomprehensibly wicked and terrifying was about to emerge—a primal fear rose unbidden in their hearts.
The next instant, a jagged rift tore open directly in the sky above.
This was no trick of the clouds gathering—it was a genuine crack that split open from thin air!
A ghastly, sickly green light seeped out from the rift, accompanied by a suffocating stench laced with the reek of sulfur, and the piercing, shrill wails of anguished screaming.
From beyond the rift there emanated a crushing, overwhelming presence—terrifying and profoundly evil—like a great stone pressed against every chest, robbing everyone of breath!
Gaston and his lackeys were scared out of their wits on the spot. They thrashed desperately on the lampposts, screaming, wailing, and begging.
But the townsfolk who had witnessed this with their own eyes were equally terrified to the core.
The evil, terrifying weight of that crushing presence was more than enough to drown out the reason and emotions of the vast majority of ordinary humans beneath the tide of primal fear and the desperate will to survive.
The crowd fled in a near-mindless panic, leaving only Gaston and the others strung up on the lampposts—unable to break free, forced to face this great terror head-on……
……
And at that same moment, the thunderous clatter of hooves against the ground rang out like rolling thunder along the road leading from the town to the castle.
The Retainer Knights—clad in their magnificently gilded armor, tall and imposing—were escorting a carriage hastily requisitioned from the town, riding hard toward the castle under the guidance of Belle's father Maurice.
As Carabosse began casting her spell at the castle, the very first to sense the shift in the heavens and earth was Branny, who was riding along inside the carriage.
She was only a fledgling Witch who had just taken her first steps into the Transcendent Plane—yet the heightened perception of a Transcendent Individual told her instantly that something was terribly wrong!
Branny pushed open the carriage door and looked up toward the castle ahead.
At that very instant, the rift connecting to some unknown space split open in the sky, and the sinister, oppressive aura of evil came pouring out.
The horse that had been hastily conscripted from the town to pull the carriage neighed in terror incessantly, fighting with everything it had to bolt backward.
Maurice, who was driving the carriage, struggled desperately to calm the animal—but the trembling in his hands and legs brought on by primal fear robbed him of the strength to do it.
Just as it looked as though the runaway horse would overturn the carriage, a nearby Retainer Knight spurred his mount forward in time, drew his sword, and severed the harness—releasing the panicked horse.
Maurice climbed down from the carriage with unsteady steps and stumbled to the ground. He looked at the Retainer Knights and their warhorses surrounding him—utterly unaffected—and said with a slight stammer:
"Miss Branny, gentlemen—I'm sorry, I… I… I don't know what just happened."
The lead Retainer Knight shook his head and said in a low, steady voice:
"It has nothing to do with you!"
The Retainer Knights were unaffected, and their warhorses had not been spooked—that was entirely because they all originated from the system.
The horse bolting had nothing to do with Maurice to begin with.
And to be fair, Maurice was just an ordinary person—the fact that he had managed to keep his wits about him while staring directly into this great evil terror already put him far above the average man……
At this moment, Branny spoke up urgently from beside him:
"Someone has used magic to open a rift connecting to Hell…… Lord Kainan is in danger!"
The moment those words landed, the expressions of the Retainer Knights tightened at once.
As their reward from the system, this company of Retainer Knights had already sworn oaths of loyalty to Li Kainan—they were willing to lay down their lives for him at any moment!
Seeing that Li Kainan was in danger, the Retainer Knights gave no thought whatsoever to whatever great terror lay ahead. They made their choice immediately and rode forward to reinforce him……