blueteamnovel 253 - Beneath Baeksung Palace (3)
253 - Beneath Baeksung Palace (3)
253 - Beneath Baeksung Palace (3)
TL/Editor: raei
Status: ongoing
Illustrations: none
Join the discord! Here
At the main gate of Agnes Imperial Palace.
"Ugh..."
A woman was slowly approaching the gate.
It was Serkia, one of the Five Great Demon Generals known as the Half-Demon General.
She had disappeared after receiving critical wounds from Zion months ago, and now she had finally resurfaced.
"Kuh... must... get inside."
Serkia's condition looked far from good.
Her steps were unsteady as if she couldn't maintain balance, and her skin was slowly peeling off.
Dark red blood flowed between the peeling skin, her eyes were clouded, and drool dripped from her mouth.
Neither her mind nor body appeared to be in proper condition.
"Halt! This is the imperial palace! You cannot enter further!"
Just as Serkia reached the main gate, the gate knights blocked her path.
WHOOSH!
Her arm grotesquely swelled and swung at a speed invisible to the eye, taking off all the knights' heads.
The knights behind them stared blankly at this unexpected scene before-
"I-intruder!!"
They finally began charging at Serkia.
But the result was the same.
CRUNCH!
Just like before, the Half-Demon General's arm split into multiple parts and swept through them, severing all the knights' upper bodies.
After instantly slaughtering the gate guards, Serkia staggered slowly into the palace grounds.
"Ugh... the King... is calling me."
DRIP DRIP
Dark red demonic energy flowed from behind her, gradually spreading and staining the palace grounds.
---
Had the entire battlefield frozen?
The silence was so complete not even breathing could be heard.
What broke that silence was-
SNORT!
A massive black horse.
The horse approached Zion's side and lowered itself as if inviting him to mount - it was his trusted steed from when he was the Eternal Emperor.
More intelligent than most humans, it had been the first to understand Zion's intentions and approached.
Without hesitation, Zion mounted the black horse and shot toward the enemy forces.
Then-
"...Yes, His Majesty was always like this."
Ian, who had been staring blankly at Zion's back, smiled slightly and spurred his own horse.
That back that always led the way through impossible situations and ultimately guided them to victory.
It was that back that had made Ian decide to follow him.
And now too, the emperor's unwavering back charging toward the enemy center was compelling all forces including Ian to follow.
"I'll cast defensive spells, so charge as close together as possible."
Like the experienced warrior she was, Lizwell immediately began casting various spells on the entire unit including Zion.
Then-
BOOM!
With a terrifying collision, Zion's forces began breaking through the encirclement at incredible speed.
"S-stop them!"
One of the allied forces' leaders in the rear rose from his seat and shouted urgently.
"The encirclement absolutely cannot be broken!"
Though the instant banishment of the Spirit King they had proudly summoned was shocking, preventing the encirclement from breaking was more urgent now.
This opportunity had been gained at the cost of countless sacrifices and massive forces.
Perhaps their final chance.
Therefore, they had to take the enemy's head even if it meant sacrificing every soldier here.
But the expressions of the shouting leaders soon turned strange.
"What is this..."
The enemies weren't heading outward but straight for their center.
"S-stop them!"
Ligreto, the Fifth Leaf of the Fairy Forest, let out the same cry as before but with different meaning.
"They absolutely cannot reach here! Tighten the encirclement and unleash all firepower!"
An even more urgent cry than before.
Of course, they knew.
Compared to them, the enemy's forces were practically nonexistent, making this charge utterly reckless.
Though they had just banished the Spirit King of Earth, that alone wasn't nearly enough.
Beside her, Ian Ascalon barely blocked the incoming attacks while struggling with his sword Gram.
This phenomenon wasn't limited to those two - knights' horses tripped over nothing on flat ground, and blind enemy arrows somehow slipped through gaps in defense magic to pierce mages' heads.
But each time-
SLASH!
Darkness burst from Zion's swung sword, cutting something invisible in the air and returning his subordinates to normal.
Causality Denial.
Zion's sword strikes imbued with the power of denial cut through his subordinates' twisted causality from the destiny of defeat.
This highest-level denial normally required eight stars to use, but he could manage two or three times within a limited range.
'Something is different.'
Ian Ascalon thought this as he watched Zion's back with intense eyes.
Of course, he knew.
That his lord was special and exceptional beyond anyone else's reach.
But now his lord seemed to have reached an even more distant level beyond that.
At least, that's how Ian felt.
Along with infinite reassurance.
Though they were breaking through tens of thousands of enemies with just hundreds, Ian felt this reassurance simply because he was with Zion.
'Your Majesty, please don't go too far ahead. How can I support you then?'
As he quietly smiled while internally muttering this while looking at his lord's seemingly vast back-
"What... what in the world is this situation!"
A cry of shock burst from Ligreto, the Fifth Leaf, as he watched the emperor and his forces approach.
His eyes trembled ceaselessly.
And every leader there had the same eyes as Ligreto.
"How can they with those numbers..."
The Beast Sea's great general muttered in disbelief.
Though they knew this Aurellion possessed inhuman power, they hadn't imagined anything like this.
SCREECH!
Every time that pitch-black sword made of darkness itself swung, allied forces fell without resistance.
Conversely, none of their attacks could touch him.
It was like a dark god's knight straight from myth delivering divine punishment to mortals.
Truly a scene where difference in numbers became meaningless.
"N-no... this can't be possible."
One of the leaders shook his head as if denying the reality before him, his voice filled with despair.
"Damn it! We must stop them! Stop them no matter what! Summon all remaining Spirit Kings here!"
Ligreto shouted frantically watching Zion and his forces approach.
The remaining highest-level spirit mages gathered all their mana and began a joint summoning spell.
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!
Three Spirit Kings manifested simultaneously.
The world warped from the pressure flowing from the summoned Spirit Kings.
Then the Beast Sea's highest-level shamans began drawing transcendent techniques of extreme killing.
Massive-scale attacks targeting only one person, Zion, rather than his army or country.
'End it in one strike.'
Watching the Spirit Kings' authority and transcendent techniques approaching him with that thought, Zion gripped Eclaxia tightly.
Due to the few Causality Denials he had just used, he had only one chance to swing his sword at full power.
Though the number of Spirit Kings had tripled and the scale of attacks had grown incomparably larger, Zion's eyes remained completely steady and calm.
There was no need to actually face those Spirit Kings - he just had to send them back like before.
SCREECH!
The Light-Extinguishing Sword vibrated wildly as it absorbed surrounding light, rapidly plunging the battlefield into darkness.
SNORT!
As if anticipating the scene about to unfold, the black horse began pawing the ground more vigorously.
As the world grew darker, Eclaxia shone brighter and brighter as it absorbed light.
-What an ominous power!
-This is not power permitted to mortals!
The Spirit Kings charged faster toward Zion, sensing fear from this abnormal phenomenon.
Finally, in a world of complete darkness where only Eclaxia shone-
Severance of Connections
Zion's sword slowly cut downward and-
THUD!
Cut all connections and bonds existing in this recreated world.
---!!!
At that moment-
[Trial complete.]
[The trial's master requests a meeting.]
[Do you accept?]
The emotionless artificial spirit's voice rang in Zion's ears.