Chapter 245

The high nobles of Solletarass indulged in wealth and glory to the extent that they had nothing left to hold onto.

With few exceptions like Cariosa, their territorial wars stemmed more from a desire to protect something than from greed to seize something.

Let’s say a war broke out over a mine.

It wasn’t so much that they coveted the treasures of the mine, but rather the feeling of, ‘What if that guy consumes the mine and grows stronger, then attacks me? I must prevent him from gaining it.’

Those who have much to lose tend to become brutal.

They must set an example.

Lady Trentia, who shouted of honor, would fight like a demon once battle commenced.

It was Lady Trentia who first taught Rudi the art of dagger fighting.

That doesn’t mean that she is like a demon; it’s just that it is common.

To put it simply, winning was more important for the Empire’s wars, even at the cost of some prestige, and fierce battles ensued.

If there was a strong knight on the opposing side, it was natural to swarm in groups or even form a beheading unit targeting just that one person.

In contrast, nobles of other countries genuinely fought over the mine itself.

However, nobles could not openly say they were fighting for money, so honor, prestige, and etiquette naturally became important on the battlefield.

There were numerous kingdoms where it was a taboo among nobles to target each other’s heads.

One-on-one duels on the battlefield were sacred, and real clerics would sometimes participate.

In fact, when Lady Trentia was fighting Ensis, no one intervened or surrounded her.

My intervention would likely have been interpreted as a sort of exchange or as a black knight, thus somewhat permissible.

In other words.

The moment I was struck by Ensis’s palm, when Lady Trentia and Sererassie joined in, it was an act so cowardly that it wouldn’t even warrant a scolding by their standards.

Having received help from those two to stab and kill Ensis was also an act so low that it would not even elicit a curse by their standards.

* * *

Far across the meadow, Philius’s expression was quite something to behold.

“Va, Valenciaunos. Father? Father?”

Honestly, I thought I could kill Ensis with a fragment resonance.

No matter how much of a Sword Master he was, I didn’t think he could endure the inner collapse while weakened by corruption.

“Y, you despicable, bandit bastard!”

Philius rushed out with bloodshot eyes.

“I’ll rip you apart!”

“Hang that bastard on a pike!”

“I’ll eat you alive!”

“You will beg for death!”

“I’ll send your limbs to the capital!”

“Avenging Your Highness Ensis!”

Dozens of swordsmen and hundreds of elite soldiers followed behind him.

“Whoaah!”

The sight of a thousand human bodies charging toward me against the backdrop of the rugged mountains was unrealistically grand.

“Wait!”

“Calm… ugh!”

“Sir! We’re losing control!”

I caught a glimpse of the startled officer knights and escort knights.

I immediately intended to gather Lady Trentia and flee.

Click. She raised her helmet’s visor and shook her head.

“Leave me behind. Your Highness.”

Lady Trentia, who looked as though she could collapse at any moment, lifted her broken extra-large sword again.

“I will buy time.”

I stood beside her with a bitter smile.

“Do you really think so?”

Lady Trentia shook her head.

I briefly glanced at the mountain rising behind us.

Sererassie and Marcus must be up there.

They would be watching this situation; if I could hold on for just a while longer, they would send a wyvern or come flying down like lightning.

“Lady. We’ll withdraw toward the mountains while fighting until we can. Let’s ensure we have the strength to climb. If Sister Sererassie’s casting is delayed, we might really die.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

I stared at the soldiers surging like a tidal wave.

“Kill them! Kill them!”

Strangely enough, I felt not much fear.

After swallowing Az, something had indeed changed.

“There’s a lot of chatter for intruders.”

I felt my body strengthening.

Even though I barely launched with just my palm in a near-dead state, I merely got slightly hurt by the Aura Blade.

Magic generally benefits from facing multiple weaker opponents rather than one strong one.

It’s also easier to spread fire rather than increase its temperature.

And my flames were already capable of dealing effective blows against a Sword Master.

Now, I felt I could draw out that power a bit more without collapsing.

I summoned the power of Yongchan freely.

“Hahaha!”

Thud!

A barbaric sense of omnipotence coursed through my veins, and unprecedentedly large horns sprouted from my temples.

* * *

Lady Trentia saw Valenciaunos’s vertical pupils turn red with bloodlust.

Mana gathered around the gigantic dragon’s horns, suffused with a golden aura.

Extended fangs peeked from his slightly parted red lips.

‘Is his condition not bad?’

That was as far as the mutation went.

His hands did not become translucent, his body did not develop scales, nor did membrane-like wings sprout.

This meant that Valenciaunos had clearly taken clear control over the dragon heart and spirits.

A satisfied smile crept across his lips.

In the next moment, a spark that had flared up somewhere danced in the wind.

Crackle, crackle!

The sparks ignited into flames, and the flames soared to become a wall of fire.

“……Your Highness.”

Lady Trentia looked up at the “Flame Wave,” over 20 meters tall and more than 300 meters long, blocking their path.

At this level, even top-tier battle mages would need to borrow the power of elixirs and cast for quite some time.

The word overwhelming was the only thought that came to mind.

“Go.”

Valenciaunos commanded in a clear voice.

Whoosh!

The gigantic wall of flames swept through the basin like a tidal wave.

The soldiers in the back were blinded by rage and shouted.

“Advance!”

“Kill them!”

The soldiers in the front turned pale and shouted in horror.

“Retreat!”

“Run away!”

Of course, among the front soldiers, many were swept up by boiling rage and dashed toward the wall of fire, while the swordsmen who fled were few.

“Haah!”

“Hyah!”

All kinds of martial sect masteries exploded against the flame wave.

Swoosh!

Fwoosh!

Blue, red, white, and yellow flashes cut through the flame wave, creating paths for the swordsmen.

Whoosh!

A swordsman at the level of a Sword Expert, swinging his sword with all his might, managed to break through the wall of fire.

“What the hell?”

“Did we survive?”

They soon trembled, realizing that the remaining comrades were countable.

The wall of fire did its job meticulously, regardless of whether it left small wounds on their bodies.

“……!”

“……! …….”

“……! ……! …….”

From behind, now even screams could no longer be heard.

There were no people dancing in pain amidst the flames.

Even the clerics rushing in to find the injured wore stunned expressions.

The basin’s plains were steeped in crimson and soupy blood, steam from the boiling stones rose, and not even bones remained.

A massive void appeared on the battlefield.

Valenciaunos, with golden eyes shining, beckoned to the surviving swordsmen.

“Return.”

He wasn’t one to relish killing.

“Hasn’t quite enough blood been shed?”

For them, it was equivalent to a perfect provocation.

“……!”

Top-tier swordsmen stomped the ground, and a twisted smile appeared on Valenciaunos’s lips as over a dozen fireballs erupted in the air.

Whoosh!

Sword Expert swordsmen bore grins tinged with malice.

‘Did he underestimate us?’

‘How dare he insult the lord!’

‘Regret it at the moment your head drops!’

None among them were fit to be hit by the slowly flying fireball.

But the moment the upper bodies of androgynous boys and girls began to emerge from the fireball, their faces turned pale.

“Spirits?”

“Kaaaarrr!”

Swoosh!

Swoosh!

The fireballs randomly altered their trajectories mid-air and dove into the swordsmen.

The swordsmen let out incongruous screams and swung their swords at the boy, spreading his arms wide.

“Ahhhhh!”

Shnk!

The Mana Blade, burning with flames, sliced through the boy’s body, yet he merely rejoined and enveloped the swordsman in flame.

“Kaaaarrr!”

Boom!

Flames erupted everywhere.

Valenciaunos watched the spirits with a pleased smile.

‘This is manageable. My body is fine. At least the collapse seems to have ended.’

It had been a technique he had thought of from the moment he received the spirit essence, but he had avoided using it until now, fearing he would become too much like a spirit.

He began to slowly retreat toward the mountains, along with Lady Trentia.

Now only one swordsman rushed toward him.

“You! You wicked bastard!”

The swordsman overcame both the wave of flames and the tempest of spirits and stood before Valenciaunos.

He had brown hair and a kind-faced handsome appearance; he was an exceptional heir to a renowned martial sect who had mastered the technique to cut spirit bodies.

Yet he was not in peak condition either.

Burnt odors wafted from his hair, and his clothing was burnt and ripped here and there.

Valenciaunos looked down at him with an arrogant gaze befitting the number one bandit of the capital.

“Call me Your Grace. You insignificant worm.”

He never had a weak impression, but after regaining the stability of his body, he seemed even more robust.

The cutaway edges of his uniform revealed abs like steel fibers.

“Go to hell!”

The swordsman raised his weapon with a flourish.

Swoosh!

A flashing strike split Valenciaunos’s shoulder.

Lady Trentia gasped and stepped forward with her extra-large sword.

“Your Highness!”

If it was the Valenciaunos she knew, it was certainly an attack he could block or evade.

Valenciaunos murmured with a still relaxed voice, as if he had indeed blocked or dodged.

“I need to test this out at least once. There’s only one opponent left tainted with bloodlust, and it’s not normal for you to be right beside me.”

The brown-eyed swordsman’s eyes filled with terror.

From the split shoulder of the Duke, not a single drop of blood flowed.

Valenciaunos whispered incomprehensible words.

“It’s great that this combines with spiritization. I just replace any hit area with crystals at the moment of impact.”

Yellow crystals glowing from inside the gash grew, and as it seemed to heal the wound, only taut, pristine muscles remained.

Even while terrified, the swordsman raised his weapon again.

Amidst the white fog of his mind, he recalled his teacher’s lesson that such a bizarre ability would be difficult to apply simultaneously in two places.

“This time, for sure-!”

Thud!

“You shall die.”

Valenciaunos pierced the swordsman’s heart with Black Tear.

It was a classic thrust, lowering his posture while deeply penetrating.

‘Kicked up and snatched from mid-air to stab the heart. Was that the extent?’

Though it wasn’t a technique, even Lady Trentia saw it as a clean and efficient movement.

Valenciaunos grumbled as he pulled the sword from the swordsman’s body.

“I’ve been too frustrated until now. Do you know how it feels to have so many skills but be unable to use them because you’re holding back? It felt like fighting with a sword made of pottery.”

He let out a low sigh as he burned the swordsman’s corpse.

“Why did you run over here, just standing there? What do I tell Doroysen? I need to catch the Chief Court Mage, but it feels like I just killed the king and the crown prince. Oh, is the prince still alive?”

“Your Highness.”

“Right. Lady Trentia. Is there still a chance for me to negotiate with Philius again?”

Without hesitation, Trentia shook her head.

“Do you have any conscience? What could you possibly discuss with a bandit who killed his father?”

“Indeed, isn’t it?”

Trentia suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.

Though she had heard those words often from Valenciaunos, this time felt slightly different.

The Bandit Duke murmured coolly.

“Then, there really is no choice this time.”

* * *

Philius was raging like a madman, and after receiving a couple of blows from the knights, he collapsed.

“Your Highness! You can’t defeat that monster alone!”

“Don’t even think about charging ahead alone! Now, you must lead us!”

“M-me?”

“Aren’t you the heir to this country?”

“I don’t even understand this situation! Still, Your Highness is Your Highness!”

The officer knights desperately held onto the soldiers, managing to keep more than two thousand out of three thousand in their positions.

The soldiers trembled, watching hundreds of comrades burned to ashes with not a bone remaining.

Meanwhile, Doroysen’s officer knights felt inwardly relieved upon seeing the fear etched on the faces of the soldiers.

‘A volumetric assault in the thousands means little against a magus of that caliber.’

‘If we’re to catch him, it should be our knights supported by the magicians.’

‘At least we won’t have to witness the horror of them all charging recklessly.’

They began issuing orders, pushing the soldiers further back, and urged the dazed Crown Prince Philius.

“Your Highness!”

“Valenciaunos is approaching!”

“Focus!”

Philius’s black eyes regained focus for a moment.

‘Father. Father….’

The father who seemed like the entire world, the Sword King Ensis, was revealed to have been an infiltrator all along, killed by a cowardly ambush.

Many outstanding swordsmen had perished without inflicting a single injury and turned to ashes, the Bandit Duke raised a wall of fire with a mere gesture, and his lover’s fate was unknown.

His mind turned completely blank, devoid of any feelings.

But what was certain was this.

“Your Highness!”

“I’m listening. Right, first, position the magicians in the rear and have them prepare water magic under the soldiers’ protection. Don’t threaten, just be prepared. And get the royal banner and the white flag ready. I’m going to send a messenger.”

“W-what sort of messenger at this distance—?”

“He’s probably all tense as well. He knows very well the gap between mere swordsmen and knights. At least we must let him know we are willing to dialogue. Don’t you think it’s important to instill a sense of stability through procedures even at times like these?”

“!”

“I also want the magicians I’ve brought to be positioned with Your Father’s magicians. Call the administrative officer to prepare a document. That gluttonous bastard will likely have demands to make.”

“How do you trust him to—!”

“If the Bandit Duke were just going to refuse to negotiate, it would be the Holy Emperor standing before us instead!”

“!”

“And have Master Ezra brought here. If he tries to flee, lock him up. That bastard who was also your father’s personal physician didn’t even know your father was being infiltrated. If he didn’t know, he is incompetent; if he did… no need to say more.”

“Yes, yes.”

“Send a messenger to the rear to prepare for an all-out assault. I even want to consider the possibility things may not go well. And if I die, the crown should go to my brother who was dethroned, not my sibling. He’s been crowned long enough to do it properly.”

“…….”

“Why is there no response? Was there a problem with my orders?”

“N-no, Your Highness.”

As the dazed knights began screaming like madmen, the focus returned to Philius’s eyes.

The aged expression that made him seem twenty years older grew youthful once more.

He muttered as he watched the messenger dash away.

“Father. I’m inheriting the throne. Yes. Ultimately, I haven’t become a Sword Master while my father was alive. Unlike my accomplished father, this inadequate son has nothing to cut away, so I’ll try to negotiate somehow.”