Chapter 126
Chapter 126
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 126
Chapter Title: Venting on the Wrong Target
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'Hang in there just a little longer, everyone!'
Irene was guarding the princess and prince from the rearmost position.
She had tearfully sent off three squad members who fell victim to blind spears.
Now, only seven Royal Sky Knights remained.
Even if it meant all of them dying, they had to safely escort the princess and prince to Neruman.
'Whew!'
Fortunately, the attacking Sky Knights weren't from the same territory, so their coordination faltered, and she broke through the gap with the wyvern's characteristic speed.
This happened several times.
In the distance, the mountains extending from the Rual Mountains came into view.
But the final hurdle arrived.
Not from the flank, but a wide formation spread out directly ahead: a group of wyverns.
Formed into squadrons of about a dozen each, their total numbered over a hundred.
'T-The Eastern Defense Legion!'
Elite Sky Knights from the Empire's Eastern Defense Legion regular wing unit were deployed, bearing their legion banners.
There was no way to bypass them.
The number of wyverns chasing from behind was no less formidable.
Sky Knights from various territories crossed borders as if in a loyalty contest.
'Is this the end...?'
If it were just her, she would try to escape even if it meant pushing herself to the limit, but as a guardian knight, she had to protect the princess and prince, who were complete amateurs in combat.
Moreover, the prince's wyvern looked utterly exhausted, its wingbeats growing labored.
It was impossible.
No matter that Countess Irene was a genius in flight and a veteran Sky Knight with a string of illustrious victories, she couldn't defy the rule of three-to-one odds in squadron combat.
'If only we can get past this point...'
Even as she thought this, the distance to the Eastern Legion's wyverns steadily closed.
Flap, flap flap.
She pulled on the wyvern's reins and surged to the front.
ScreeEEEE.
Rosero, sensing Irene's intent, moved up alongside her.
She nodded to the wyvern mid-flight.
'Thank you, Sir Rosero.'
It might wound his pride, but her longtime comrade, Baron Rosero, steadfastly held position as her squad mate despite her being a woman.
Irene nodded back and gave the signal, which might be their last.
Swipe.
The heavy feel of the Blessed Spear in her hand.
KIIIOOOO!
At that moment, a transparent eagle appeared before Countess Irene.
It was the wind spirit, Shuriel.
'Russel...'
The Sky Knight trainee who had once shared a room with Kair.
He had recently been officially assigned to the Kirphone Aerial Wing.
His exceptional spirit arts had earned him Sky Knight status faster than his peers.
ScreeEEEE.
And that wasn't all.
Excluding the princess and prince, every Sky Knight urged their wyverns forward as if in competition.
The Bazran Empire's Royal Sky Knights, who knew no fear of death.
Their black capes over the air plates and the red mufflers symbolizing Sky Knights fluttered wildly in the wind, as if to tear.
'Thank you!'
The sticky camaraderie tasted only in moments of peril.
Feeling her eyes moisten, Irene channeled mana into her spear.
The distance to the Empire's Eastern Legion Sky Knights, now enemies, was a mere three kilometers.
In a few breaths, spears would fly toward each other.
'Kair... I won't get to see you.'
In this crisis of life and death, the face of one man came to mind last.
The only man she had ever felt as a woman, despite forsaking her life as one for her family's revival: Kair.
Whenever he crossed her mind, she had denied her longing to see him.
There was a significant age gap between her and Kair, and she feared the empire would clash with his grand dreams someday, so she strove not to lose her composure as an imperial knight.
But now, that was all for naught.
Raising her spear, Irene smiled within her helmet.
Kair, playful yet harboring a steely resolve deep in his eyes.
'Goodbye...'
Unable to voice her wish to see him, Irene bid her final farewell.
KIIIOOOO!
Flap flap flap.
CAAACK!
Shuriel, having flown ahead first, was already wounding the wings of the lead Eastern Legion wyverns.
A momentary gap appeared.
"Taaah!"
With a mighty shout, Irene launched her spear.
Shiiiing through the air.
The refreshing trajectory of the spear slicing space.
She could see the imperial Sky Knights—now foes—raising their spears.
Not one or two, but dozens of spears glimmered with mana, dyeing the sky.
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
'Father... forgive me.'
She had done her utmost, but the outcome was unavoidable.
Surviving even a few days like this had been a miracle.
And now, the end was in sight.
'Thank you, knights of the imperial family... I will never forget you.'
Aidis shed tears she had held back, watching the sturdy forms of her Royal Sky Knights flying ahead and hurling their Blessed Spears with vigor.
Amateur though she was in battle, she fully grasped the overwhelming disparity in forces she faced.
'You've grown so much, little brother.'
She had thought him a child forever, yet Razsion had matured, following her wordlessly through these grueling days of flight.
Even now, he flew straight ahead, eyes fixed forward beside his sister.
He maintained a dignified poise, unafraid of the hail of Blessed Spears soon to pour down.
'Father, I shall see you soon.'
She harbored no regrets.
This was all heaven's will.
True to her imperial princess blood, Aidis accepted death calmly.
'Kair...'
Save for the lingering sorrow of never again seeing the bright smile of that one vibrant person in her mind...
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
"Uwaaa! Those bastards!'
He had diligently searched for the guests.
Crossing the Rual Mountains and spreading out wide with the beastkin, he had finally found the princess and the little prince.
'If not for those idiot bastards!'
As soon as they crossed the border, some no-name wyvern squadron rolled in from who-knows-where.
A piddling seven-wyvern squad from some backwater territory.
Like a sparrow unable to pass a millstone, or a just-paid salaryman unable to ignore a karaoke joint with hostesses waiting, his wyvern-hunting instincts kicked in.
Unable to simply ignore the fearless challengers, he took a quick break to toy with them.
The outcome was decided in the blink of an eye, but gathering the wyverns and their complimentary riders cost him some time.
Then, as he patted his belly and took to the skies to resume his mission, he spotted wyverns in the distance just entering aerial combat.
Even from afar, the glossy black wyverns gleamed darkly.
Spears were launching, and now the opposing wyverns were within range, mana sparkling into their spears.
But the problem: even at best speed, the distance was too great.
If he couldn't fly like a beam of light, the guests would be massacred—a fact even he could predict.
Too late for regrets, but no solution.
'Ah!'
Yet in crisis, a flash of inspiration.
'Jin, summon!'
He summoned the advanced wind spirit, Jin.
Having contracted with the supreme spirit Silphiria, he could summon advanced spirits without a contract.
Fwaaah!
The wind giant emerged through a dimensional gate at his call.
Five times the size of a human, the advanced wind spirit floated before the flying him, gazing with eyes rippling like wind.
'I beg you! Go block them! Stop every single Blessed Spear being launched there right now! Hold until I arrive!'
He shouted at the top of his lungs to Jin.
Unlike mid-level spirits, advanced ones could think and express will.
Nod.
Jin nodded its transparent head at the end of the plea.
Fwaaah!
It vanished like light in an instant.
"Hurk!"
At that moment, the overflowing mana—once like an inexhaustible ironclad—sucked out of his mana hole in a rush.
'Whoa, insane!'
Now he understood why advanced spiritists were rare on the continent.
The mana cost for summoning an advanced spirit dwarfed that of mid-level ones.
And it dropped exponentially with distance.
'F-Fly! Bebeto! Faster!'
He ordered Bebeto, already panting at full throttle, to go even faster.
Bebeto might have no regrets, but he—a pure bachelor—had zero desire to wander the nine heavens as a bachelor ghost chasing virgin ghosts.
KABOOOM.
And then, thunderous explosions from the distant battlefield.
"Gah!"
Jin's rampage overwhelmed his mana hole.
A burnt smell erupted from his mouth with a scream.
'Fuck... those bastards! They're all dead!'
And a seething rage twisted in his chest toward them.
His vision flipped.
These worthless foes making him suffer like this.
Today, they had truly met their match.
Another side of him—vicious beyond endurance, razor-sharp—burst forth, ready to unleash on the world.
TO BE CONTINUED