Chapter 34 - Companionship

Chapter 34 - Companionship

SPLOSH, SPLOSH.

The jungle terrain.

Lilien and the Imperial Guard Knights slowly surveyed their surroundings, treading on the wet ground.

'Where are they?'

Lilien swallowed dryly, her expression tense.

A formidable five hundred.

Even if Lilien was weaker than Lexter, she had brought as many as five hundred knights.

The elite knights protecting the Empress had come to this place in such numbers.

'I just need to find them, just find them...'

Her heart was pounding.

She was more anxious about pulling so many troops away from Empress Tia than about Lexter being in danger.

'I must complete the mission and return quickly.'

Currently, there were no reliable allies. The great powers targeting Iser and the crazed members of the Hero's Party were constantly creating new threats.

It wouldn't be surprising if Tia herself came under direct attack at any moment.

"Captain, if it takes too long, we might have to turn back."

Her adjutant said to Lilien with a worried expression.

"No matter His Majesty's order, too many elite troops have left their posts. If this is an enemy's trap..."

"Shh!"

Lilien placed her index finger on her lips. The adjutant stopped mid-sentence and instinctively closed his mouth.

'Found them.'

Lilien directed her gaze beyond the trees. Faintly, human figures could be seen.

THUD!

The adjutant also confirmed the sight and raised his fist.

At once, the knights following behind all halted.

CLANK.

In the suddenly quiet scene, where even breathing was hushed, only the faint clatter of the knights' armor as they slightly shifted their bodies could be heard.

'Attire suited for swamps, specialists in palace combat rather than open field battles...'

Even though they were elites, facing savages with knights whose purpose of establishment was different was a burden.

She could have told them to take off their armor, but what they wore was all blessed by the Holy State Alliance.

It was ironic in this situation, but for the knights, that fact was a kind of comfort.

At least the comfort that they wouldn't easily fall to the enemy's spear point.

Even if it was branded by an alliance of those who were now their enemies, if it protected their lives, it couldn't be easily discarded.

THUD!

Lilien raised her sword.

And without a word, as she brought her sword down, the knights charged forward in unison.

♧

The Hero was humanity's savior.

And at the same time, he was also the mediator.

"Hah, hah, hahahaha!"

Gagaro.

The Yapheon general scoffed at Lexter, the staggering Iser Knights Commander.

"Look, Lexter!"

He cried out, spreading his arms.

"Your defeat is set!"

His words were true.

The Imperial Knights were on the defensive.

Having lost their horses in the swampy terrain, the knights were pushed back by the savage soldiers who were accustomed to rough ground.

The unexpected ambush in such a place was largely to blame, but it was now on the verge of being dismissed as a loser's excuse.

'How... absurd.'

If they had fought with sufficient preparation, this wouldn't have happened.

'It's largely my fault for not foreseeing this.'

He should have wondered if there was a hidden agenda when Kratia willingly sent them back.

'No, wait.'

Even so, one couldn't foresee everything.

Lexter merely offered a bitter smile.

"What's so funny, Lexter?"

Gagaro said, raising his twin axes.

"Because you and your subordinates are down to less than a hundred?"

"If the Hero had been here,"

Lexter sneered.

"Wretches like you wouldn't be running wild like this."

He maintained the world's balance.

Whether through power, honor, or mission.

Lexter longed for the time when everything was mediated under Clay's name.

"Of course..."

Lexter regripped his Aura-infused sword, gritting his teeth.

"I have no intention of whining in front of the enemy."

"Haha, even if it's a last-ditch bluf—"

That was when it happened.

CLANK, CLANK, CLANK, CLANK.

Suddenly, the sound of armor, not worn by the savages, began to be heard from behind.

"!"

SLASH! CRACK!

"Gah!"

"Cough?!"

"Am-Ambush... Gah!"

Lilien and the Imperial Guard Knights quickly pushed in, surrounding Gagaro's soldiers.

"What?!"

Gagaro, suddenly surrounded by Iser Knights on both sides, twisted his expression.

"Where are you looking, Gagaro?"

CLANG!

Gagaro was already exhausted from the continuous fighting.

Lexter knew that.

CRUNCH! CLANG!

In the chaotic melee, Lexter continued to swing his sword at Gagaro, advancing.

Gagaro, flustered, swung his twin axes but slowly retreated.

It was amusing to see Gagaro frantically rolling his eyes to grasp the battle situation, but that was the moment for opportunity.

-He'll step back, then cross and thrust his axes.

A past conversation.

Clay's words to Lexter when Lexter joked that he didn't know how to win against the savages who fought endlessly.

-He'll target the easier spot to hit, the torso, which has the largest surface area.

He had told him that among the savages who used twin axes, this was the action they displayed ninety percent of the time when flustered.

-I'm only telling the Captain. How to win.

Even that was for balance.

Recalling Clay's smiling face, Lexter extended his arm upwards and stretched it out.

An attack targeting the opponent's head, leaving the torso open.

"Gah!"

Just as Gagaro was stepping back and crossing his twin axes to aim at Lexter's abdomen, the long sword pierced his neck.

"C-Cough?"

His face showed a lack of understanding of what had just happened.

Lexter also stood frozen.

-The Captain's swordsmanship has high accuracy.

A counter tailored to that.

It was information given specifically for Lexter, who used a long-bladed sword.

Of course, he hadn't told him to kill him.

THUD.

Gagaro knelt, his hands still holding the twin axes hanging limp.

Still with an uncomprehending look on his face.

"Hah, ah."

Daring, no, recklessness.

It was a battle that could only be won with that.

CLENCH.

But he ended it.

With a method gained through the phantom of the mediator.

"Let's go."

Pulling his sword from Gagaro with force, Lexter moved forward for the post-victory battle.

♧

"Was he that strong?"

Barungenia.

After Clay went underground with Rin and Golche, Kardine stood beside Beatrice, who was sitting at a tea table, passing the time waiting.

"Was he that strong?"

Beatrice chuckled at his idle question.

"Indeed, you never directly fought him during his Hero days."

Kardine was merely the Demon King's shadow blade.

He wasn't meant to be used on the front lines, so there was no occasion to send him into direct combat with the Hero.

"He was strong. Truly."

Even the Demon King, who was called the epitome of all evil in the world, could not surpass the Hero's prestige.

Clay was an unknown entity.

Despite being merely an orphan from a rural village, his ability to procure Holy Power effortlessly surpassed high priests, and his character was so unyielding that he wouldn't fall for enchantment.

With a body seemingly created to be a Hero, he wielded his sword without trembling on the battlefield.

Each of his trajectories was so sharp and keen that it made demons feel like clumps of mud.

Anything that blocked his path was mercilessly cut down.

The demons feared him, envied him, and sometimes even admired him more than the Demon King.

"I wish you could see him once."

Though the atmosphere would be different from back then.

"A power that is more accurately called authority than mere strength."

Kardine swallowed dryly, watching Beatrice smile sweetly.

'Authority, huh.'

She had never spoken such words, even after witnessing the Demon King's power that drove opponents to despair.

At least, not to his knowledge.

'I have no idea how ignorant I've been.'

Living as the Demon King's shadow, his job was to manage the refuge he would enter when he walked the final crossroads.

He wasn't unaware of the Hero's reputation, but the fact that he had never personally experienced it left him disheartened.

'Since I'll have to guard his side from now on, it would have been better to know more.'

Being ignorant made him rude, and not trusting made him harbor suspicions.

Only after a direct clash of swords did he realize that Clay was not an ordinary human.

But that alone was not enough to command the Demon King's army.

The majesty Beatrice had just described was, ultimately, what was needed.

"I hope so."

In the end, that was all he could say, but coincidentally, it didn't take long to confirm Clay's leadership.

THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP!

Suddenly, a sound like a large stone stomping down the corridor echoed, and a gargoyle burst through the door and entered.

"Oh Pitch-Black One's Proxy!"

"Hmm?"

Beatrice, who was about to bring her teacup to her lips again, turned her head as Goet, the gargoyle leader who had just appeared, cried out frantically.

"Trouble! What we feared has happened!"

What they feared.

Without even waiting for an explanation, Beatrice rose from her seat.

"Is it outside the door?"

"Yes."

"Numbers?"

"One. But the number isn't what's important."

At his words, Beatrice tilted her head.

"Then?"

"The Pitch-Black One's weapon is here."

For a moment, silence descended upon the space.

"Weapon?"

Kardine's eyes widened as he looked at Beatrice.

She even set the teacup she was holding down on the table.

"It seems our tea time is over."

She sighed and started walking.

"Let's go. We can't keep a searching fellow waiting too long."

♧

Barungenia.

In the desolate open space in front of the castle, numerous gargoyles were murmuring.

I heard it was broken.

It has returned.

The Pitch-Black One's malevolent spirit...

Before them lay a sword.

A demonic sword with a black blade.

The Demon King's most powerful weapon and the banner that raised the morale of the Demon King's army.

Clutching the sword, which hung downwards, was none other than a black human figure extending from the blade itself.

Its long hair fluttering, only its uniquely colored red eyes stared straight ahead.

-Where is my master?

Its master no longer existed here.

The Pitch-Black One...

Has passed away.

The gargoyles murmured with tense expressions.

There is no one who can wield you now.

-Kyaaaaaaaah!

Suddenly, red light streamed from its eyes like tears.

CRACK!

In that brief moment, a crack in the blade was visible.

Indeed.

It had come here, having mended itself after being broken.

-Kyaaaaaaah!

Despair.

It was screaming, gripped by overwhelming frustration.

The only one who could wield it, which was nothing short of a curse, was the one who stood at the apex of all magic in the world.

Losing him meant that there was no one left in the world who could truly see its original form.

BOOM!

It suddenly stopped screaming and slammed the blade into the ground.

ROOAAR!

Numerous gargoyles standing above it were sent flying with the debris of the shattered ground.

-Give him back.

It shrieked.

-Give him back!

"You've come at a time when patience is needed."

At the sound of that voice, it turned its head.

"Do not worry. You are not the only one who needs companionship in life."

Beatrice.

She spoke to it, revealing her fangs.

"After all, Clay will need something other than a holy sword."