Chapter 676

The impregnable capital of Dane, Edricksa.

The citizens of the capital, who had been enjoying peaceful days without even hearing the news of Ka`har’s invasion of Dane, trembled in shock and terror.

“Good heavens, what is that…?”

“The royal palace…!”

The inner fortress of Edricksa, towering high on the hill, screamed and shook.

After the comet engulfed in flames crashed down, followed by the crimson beam stretching across the sky, now a storm blowing sideways. A disaster of a different dimension from the magic they had seen before was engulfing the royal palace, shattering it into pieces.

– Rumble!

The ground shook. Part of the hill beneath the royal palace collapsed like a landslide, scattering a deafening noise. The torrent of debris, pouring down like a tidal wave, crushed the buildings below the hill.

A wave of mass that wooden buildings couldn’t withstand for even a moment. Some of the defenders rushing towards the royal palace were swept away by the collapsing buildings, screaming as they were torn apart.

“Monsters! Monsters have appeared!”

“Run away!”

The entire capital fell into chaos. The citizens, who had believed death would never come to them, lost their senses in the face of terror and ran in the opposite direction of the royal palace.

“Fall back! Fall back, I say!”

“Damn it, we can’t advance like this…!”

The streets were filled with a sea of people.

The Edricksa defenders tried to calm the citizens and break through to the royal palace, but like trying to stop a tidal wave with a wooden fence, their voices couldn’t stop the panicked citizens of Edricksa.

It wasn’t as if the defenders of Edricksa could cut down the citizens with their spears and swords, and even if they swung their swords to cut down the front of the crowd, they would just be trampled and crushed by those following behind.

“Ahhh! My arm, my arm!”

“Rebels! These bastards, they must be rebels!”

“Kill them!”

There were even citizens who misunderstood the defenders swinging their swords as hidden rebels and beat them to death.

The defenders wouldn’t swing their swords at the citizens.

Those guys swung their swords at us.

Therefore, those guys are not defenders but rebels.

It was an absurd leap of logic, but the panicked citizens, already incapable of rational judgment, didn’t question their actions for a moment.

Blood stained the walls of the alley.

The defenders had to do their best to avoid being killed by the citizens rather than advancing towards the royal palace.

“Damn it…! Knights, jump onto the rooftops of the houses! Use the rooftops as stepping stones to advance! Defenders, hold your positions! Wait for the citizens to clear out and then follow!”

In that regard, the knights were better off than the soldiers. They weren’t the kind to be wounded even if attacked by the frenzied citizens, and they could leap across rooftops to avoid the crowded streets and rush towards the royal palace.

—-

From a distance, Hrapun watched the commotion and sighed.

“Is that woman here to assassinate or to invade? To me, it seems like the latter.”

Whether she misunderstood the order to fly into the royal palace as an order to smash it, or she was just unstable from the start, wrapping herself in flames like a comet.

Now, it seemed like she intended to flatten the entire inner fortress, creating phenomena akin to natural disasters and plunging the entire city into a cauldron of shock and terror.

Thanks to that, the Edricksa defenders couldn’t enter the royal palace, but even if that was the plan, it was a ridiculously absurd method.

“…Maybe for Ka`har, those two words meant the same thing.”

Frigg felt similarly. Such chaos was something even she hadn’t anticipated.

They say that where the Empire’s Greatest Sword draws his sword, only ruins and debris remain, and indeed, the rumors were true.

‘She said she would bring down the walls of the royal palace after killing Ragnar to signal the timing of the assault… but by then, there won’t be any walls left.’

The storm that wiped out part of the royal palace didn’t seem like the “signal” Ha-shal-leur had mentioned. Unlike the ignorant commoners, she had an idea of what that storm was.

The Spear of War. The Authority of Bølberg she had seen many times before. But the power and scale were on a completely different level from what she remembered.

“Was Ragnar that strong? Even the Golden Seilon, the strongest paladin of the Holy Kingdom, wasn’t that powerful.”

“Did I know he would be like that? I have no idea what scheme he had to hide such power.”

“Whatever his scheme was, it’s clear his intentions weren’t benevolent.”

Hrapun, Frigg, and Knut, standing beside her, frowned as they watched the inner fortress roaring with noise.

Knights who had surpassed the realm of masters and entered the new realm of “heroes.” A power equal to, if not greater than theirs, was swirling.

Facing that spectacle, Knut felt anger.

Why had he never used such power before?

With that power, he could have protected countless citizens from Ka`har’s plunder, and he could have subjugated the frequent monster appearances without suffering troop losses.

‘Did he think King Hestein would restrain him? No, that doesn’t make sense. If he had such ambitions, there were plenty of opportunities.’

If Ragnar Lokan had intended to kill Hestein and his children to seize the throne, King Hestein would have been assassinated long ago. Hestein had trusted Ragnar completely.

Only one answer came to Knut’s mind.

That man, Ragnar Lokan, was just lazy. Great power comes with great responsibility. The moment he revealed his power, he would be forced to rush around protecting the citizens.

That’s why Knut was angry.

Even Ai-shan Gi-or Ha-shal-leur, who was close to a lunatic mass murderer, had been accepted by the Empire and was tirelessly fighting to protect the Empire’s people.

Yet, a member of Dane’s royal family, lazy in his duty to protect Dane’s people, had hidden his power.

That was evidence that Ragnar considered Dane’s people no better than insects.

‘Ragnar…!’

Just like when he faced Ha-shal-leur a year ago, Knut glared at the collapsing royal palace with indescribable anger.

Hrapun and Frigg’s gazes were also fixed on the royal palace, so no one noticed, but Knut’s body, trembling with anger, was enveloped in a grayish haze.

======[ Ha-shal-leur ]======

In the hypersensory state where time seemed to slow, I glared at the nine streams of storm approaching me.

The swirling flow of the air currents, the destructive power within the storm, felt vividly tangible.

Feeling both a chilling sense of crisis and a thrilling excitement, I unleashed the hero’s power within my transcendent body without reserve.

– Crack!

The ground, crushed by the force, cracked in concentric circles. The steel covering my body creaked and groaned. A force far beyond human comprehension. Even the atmosphere trembled and wailed.

The first battle against a strong opponent since my fierce fight with Or-han. I had already grown stronger since then.

“Kyaaaah!”

Transforming the heat filling my chest into a roar, I swung my sword.

A sword strike tearing through the air.

The Spear of War colliding with the blade shattered into pieces.

One.

A crimson vortex wrapped around my left hand, which had let go of the hilt.

Aiming for the center of the second storm, I thrust my fingertips and unleashed the icy blade of killing intent.

The vortex of Life Force Technique shredded the Spear of War.

Two.

Kicking off the ground, I leaped.

– Kwaaaang!

Like being hit directly by a battleship’s main gun, the ground beneath my feet vanished, and my body shot upward.

Two streams of storm, having lost their target, swept through the debris and dissipated uselessly.

Four.

The twelve tentacles controlled by Hersela, like twelve spears, slammed into the Spear of War chasing me.

The whirlwind of Divine Light and the spear of Life Force Technique collided and canceled each other out. Blood-red fragments scattered in all directions.

Five.

Four storms remained.

Biting the hilt of Durandal to fix it, I stretched out both arms towards the Spear of War surging from both sides.

[ ᚲ ] [ ᚺ ]

“Kenaz, Hagalaz-!”

A fierce line of fire, like Dragon’s Breath, flew towards the storm, burning and destroying it, while the Spear of War approaching from the left roared and shattered.

Two ahead.

Spitting Up-hwa behind me, I charged towards the storm.

The longsword I gripped again shone like the blue sky.

“Is this all you’ve got-!”

A blue arc cut through the atmosphere. Once, and again. Endlessly.

The overlapping vacuum blades became a massive shell and shot out. Like a giant’s fist striking the ground.

The Spear of War colliding with the invisible shell of force broke like a toothpick and exploded.

The aftermath of the exploded force swept through the surroundings, scattering thunderous power.

“You’re breaking everything?! Are you even human?!”

Ragnar shouted fiercely, as if in disbelief, and hastily dodged.

The next moment, the shell of destruction that shattered the Spear of War crushed a corner of the royal palace.