My Slain Dragon Bride

Chapter 234. Can We Make It Out Alive?

Outside the inner castle, after Ferda disappeared at the hands of the Curved Demon, the Curved Demon also vanished without a trace.

The three people assigned as his escorts had all failed, effectively speaking.

There was nothing they could do about it.

When magic was involved, the only thing they could do was take the hit in someone else’s place. But the attack had been so overwhelming that they hadn’t even had time to do that.

They had simply been defeated by something they had no choice but to succumb to.

They had to think of it that way.

But Luri couldn’t.

’I failed.’

There had been only one thing on her mind when she joined this operation.

To get Ferda safely back home.

Her job was to make sure Valdrova didn’t even notice anything had happened and could return to smiling and talking with him.

But that had collapsed so futilely.

’Am I... really incapable of protecting anyone on my own?’

A wave of Self-Loathing came crashing over her.

It soon turned into a swamp, threatening to drag Luri down into it.

"Don’t blame yourself."

Zed, standing beside her, spoke.

"If it’s him, I’m sure he’ll be fine."

"I’m not blaming myself."

Luri glared at Zed and Arwen as though offended.

"I’m sure I’m not the only one who failed, yet the two of you seem awfully relaxed."

"I’m troubled too. Sir Consilus here is no different."

"Don’t call me Sir Consilus... No, for now, let’s focus on rescuing Regent Ferda."

Ferda had been dragged away by a summoning spell.

But no one thought Ferda was dead.

He was the kind of man who could enter a dragon’s maw several times and still come crawling back out.

At the very least, he wasn’t someone who would die pointlessly without even giving them a chance to rescue him.

"You said he was invited to the castle, so he must have gone into the inner castle. If that’s the case, we’ll have to enter the inner castle as well."

"We need to find him as quickly as possible. We don’t know what they’re going to do to him."

Luri continued, spreading her wings stiffly.

"I’m going in first to find Ferda. If I move at your pace, we might be too late."

"There will be those eyeballs inside... Are you sure you can handle it?"

Having already experienced them, Arwen couldn’t help but feel afraid at the moment.

Although Luri had more experience than he did, the sensation was still as vivid to her as what had happened yesterday.

It was a nightmare she never wanted to experience again.

"I don’t care."

While they were already inside a nightmare, even fear itself was meaningless.

Arwen realized how impatient she was and tried once more to persuade her.

"It would be best if we moved together and searched for Ferda—"

Whoosh!

Luri’s body shot forward like an arrow and charged straight into the inner castle.

Zed and Arwen stared blankly after her for a while before saying,

"Let’s move too. Just... relatively slowly."

Even though they were running at full speed, they felt like turtles chasing a rabbit as they entered the inner castle.

The moment they entered, silence settled over the place.

It shouldn’t have been silent.

The Allied Forces and the Imperial Army had already flooded into the inner castle.

So where had all those people gone?

"If we set foot in here..."

"Something is 100% going to happen."

The Mage who could have provided support had already been kidnapped, while their strongest combatant had recklessly entered the inner castle on her own.

It was hardly an ideal situation for two Knights to enter alone.

But Arwen had the heart of a Knight.

He couldn’t retreat.

"Let’s just do whatever we can for now."

Zed took a deep breath and opened his eyes wide.

His pupils began to glow with a strange red light.

The moment the distorted space came into contact with Zed’s eyes, it scattered.

The endless space that had been spread before Arwen’s eyes returned to the ordinary form of the inner castle.

’So this is how frightening the Red-Eyed Clan really is.’

It hadn’t been long since Arwen had learned Zed’s secret.

Until Zed revealed himself as a member of the Red-Eyed Clan, Arwen had simply thought he was a good-for-nothing with nimble hands.

No, he hadn’t even believed him when Zed revealed it.

’Who would believe someone who starts by spouting nonsense about sleeping with a Sword Master and then suddenly reveals that he’s a member of the Red-Eyed Clan?’

That was Zed’s fault.

Even if someone was going to be absurdly unpredictable, there ought to be a limit.

"This is no ordinary place."

Zed spoke as he illuminated their path.

"What do you mean?"

"Even though I’m desperately destroying the magic around us, all I can do is carve out a path for us to walk through. So this is what it feels like to enter a Black Mage’s domain?"

Despite the cold sweat running down his face, a smile remained on his lips.

"If we get our direction right, we might be able to rescue the Regent before anyone else."

"That’s good to hear."

But something felt wrong.

They had entered a place like this. Could things really be going this smoothly?

As if to prove that their worries were not unfounded, something abnormal happened.

Krrrrrrung!!

The floor, which had been solid just moments before they stepped onto it, collapsed directly beneath Arwen and Zed.

The instant Zed felt gravity pulling at the sole of his foot, he leaped away and escaped the affected area.

"Ugh!"

"Arwen!?"

But Arwen was relatively heavier and slower, and he couldn’t escape.

Arwen fell through the opening.

Boom!

The height was only about the height of a single flight of stairs, and he could still see Arwen clearly.

"Damn it..."

His adrenaline surged.

Arwen quickly got back to his feet and gripped his sword.

From the thick darkness spread before him came ominous breathing.

Monsters.

Grrr–!

Grrk!

There weren’t merely one or two.

Judging by their breathing alone, there were more than thirty.

To make matters worse, the floor that had collapsed was beginning to return to its original position.

It had been one of the castle’s traps.

As Arwen watched the only escape route close, Lyudmila’s face flashed through his mind.

He didn’t need to think deeply about why.

He had instinctively sensed his own death.

"Zed!"

Wrapped in the swamp of death, Arwen shouted.

"Find Regent Ferda!"

The shadows closing in around him lunged toward Arwen at the same moment as his shout.

Arwen thought.

How many of these bastards can I take down with me?

Kieeeek!!

Three monsters flew toward Arwen simultaneously.

He was a Knight of the Far East, a veteran of countless battles.

He concentrated all his Aura into the tip of his sword, shaping it into an edge sharp enough to slice through even steel.

Shk!

He somehow cut down two of them, but he couldn’t protect his exposed back.

He expected excruciating pain to follow.

But he felt no impact.

Something had descended from the hole above and pierced straight through the monster’s head.

Arwen turned his head.

Zed was standing there.

When their eyes met, Arwen stared at him in disbelief.

Zed merely shrugged.

"Well, that’s how it turned out."

Arwen let out a sigh.

Unlike the sigh escaping his mouth, hope was rising in his face.

"Just don’t die."

"Ha. Worry about yourself."

Arwen gripped his longsword tightly, while Zed adjusted his grip on his dagger.

Once their field of vision cleared, they could see even more.

The number they had estimated at thirty had been far off.

There were easily more than twice that number.

They thought:

Can we really make it out of here alive?

***

The Allied Nations

The moment the barrier collapsed, they entered the western gate of the inner castle.

As expected, King Hudret was the first to enter.

He was the first to confront the threats and was fulfilling his role as the vanguard admirably.

But that didn’t last long.

When he felt that things had become suspiciously quiet behind him, he turned around.

The armies of the other kingdoms that had been following him had completely disappeared.

It was difficult to believe they had intentionally abandoned Hudret to spite him.

The reinforcements that were supposed to come were nowhere to be seen.

The Mage’s domain had silently swallowed them.

"Mage, how is the reconnaissance going?"

"That’s... We’re still having difficulty properly determining the terrain."

The Mage moving behind Hudret was flustered.

The adjutant beside him frowned.

"What’s so difficult that you’re taking this long?"

"I’m sorry. I want to resolve it quickly too, but this isn’t going as..."

King Hudret glared at the adjutant, who was berating the Mage in his place.

"Are you a Mage?"

"What?"

"I asked if you’re a Mage."

"Of course not."

"Then shut your mouth. Unless you want your tongue cut out."

The Mage investigating the terrain was an expert with experience as an adventurer.

Since it was obvious that something would happen inside the inner castle, King Hudret had brought him along specifically as a countermeasure.

In a situation where even such an expert couldn’t find a way out, they had no choice but to rely on him even more.

At the same time, Hudret could understand the adjutant’s frustration.

Nothing could be seen ahead.

There was no way back behind them.

Monsters could emerge from anywhere at any time.

On top of that, whenever someone died, their corpse could give birth to a powerful Undead monster.

There was no way they wouldn’t become impatient.

"Just tell me roughly what you’ve figured out so far. Are we actually moving?"

"Yes. We are definitely walking through some kind of space. However, it may be an area where multiple distortion spells have been intricately intertwined."

"How do we escape such a place?"

"We have no choice but to destroy the magical device maintaining the spell’s power or kill the caster."

"Can we do either of those things right now?"

"If the owner of the Mana capable of expanding this to such a scale is really behind this... then there’s a high probability we’ll die first."

"You’re honest."

King Hudret spoke with an amused breath.

"Come in whenever you please, but leaving isn’t so easy. There must have been a reason they let us in here so willingly. Did King Heinkel have a plan?"

What should they do?

He was pondering that question when the reconnaissance Mage suddenly flinched and trembled.

"Something is approaching."

"These damn monsters never get tired of coming."

"That’s... It’s not a monster! It seems to be a person!"

Even if it was a person, something about it felt suspicious.

King Hudret gave the order.

"Stay on guard for now."

A short while later, someone entered King Hudret’s field of vision.

Recognizing him, Hudret lowered his sword and stepped forward.

"I see the Veteran Hero on the battlefield, Sir Rooster."

Oldin Rooster.

True to his nickname, the Veteran Hero, the man had a face covered in scars.

"Looks like we’ve run into each other here, King Hudret."

"Indeed. Have you lost your way as well?"

"It seems so. The fact that I found you first after wandering around proves it."

Count Rooster thought for a moment before speaking again.

"Have you perhaps seen the Second Prince?"

"The Second Prince? You mean Ureas? An Imperial should know more about that than I do. Why ask me?"

"I heard that an Imperial soldier last saw Ureas in this direction. I followed that direction and ended up meeting you."

"Looks like that soldier was mistaken. Unreliable information is worse than no information at all. Tsk."

"Or perhaps we’re simply circling this area repeatedly? In any case, thank you."

"No need to thank me. We’re both running around in circles right now, aren’t we?"

King Hudret smiled and extended his hand toward Count Rooster.

"What do you say? It might be a good decision to travel with us from here."

It was a subtle offer of cooperation.

But Count Rooster looked down at the offered hand before saying,

"There’s no need to make an offer you don’t mean. I was already operating as an independent unit within the Imperial Army, and I’m more comfortable that way. More importantly, doesn’t King Hudret have something you need to do as well?"

"Of course. I’ll take it as a polite refusal."

"Then."

Count Rooster turned his troops around and began moving in another direction.

King Hudret watched his back before speaking.

"By the way, Sir Rooster."

"Yes."

Count Rooster stopped walking.

"When did you start caring so much about the Second Prince? When I first met you, I thought it wouldn’t have been strange if you killed the Second Prince at any moment."

"...."

"Was I mistaken?"

Count Rooster stared silently at King Hudret.

The Royal Guard pointed their swords forward.

They were veterans, so they immediately recognized what Count Rooster was emitting.

Killing Intent.

He spoke.

"A soldier’s duty is to devote himself to his country."

King Hudret maintained a relaxed expression before grinning.

"Well, that’s none of my business. I hope you find him."

"Thank you."

Rooster once again led his men away.

His silhouette disappeared into the darkness, and one by one, the rest of his men disappeared as well.

Once again, the place became as silent as a graveyard.

"Looks like this damn darkness is the problem."

King Hudret changed the subject.

"Nothing we can do about it. I suppose I’ll have to use that."

"Here?"

His men reacted to the word that.

"His Holiness the Pope instructed you to use it only when the decisive battle comes, didn’t he?"

"He said it would be most effective if used then. But if he had anticipated a situation like this, he would have told me to use it immediately."

"If we don’t save it for the decisive moment, others might take that magic away from us."

"Would I really use it if we act like fools who can’t even tell shit from piss?"

Hudret chuckled as he reached into his pocket and pulled something out.

It was a golden case about the size of a necklace container, with the emblem of the Church engraved in its center.

There was no mistaking its shape.

It depicted a dragon.

And there was only one organization that officially worshipped dragons.

The Faith and the Aspect of Light.

The Golden Dragon, Orosagrado.

Hudret opened the contents inside.

The moment the case opened, golden light poured out.

The intensity of that light was enough to restore color to everything in the surrounding area.

What produced that light was a scale.

A scale containing the blessing of Orosagrado.

A sacred relic that even the Pope of Orosagrado could not use was now in his hands.

"Honestly, I’ve been dying to see just how incredible this power really is."

King Hudret clenched the scale tightly.

At the same moment, golden light erupted.

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