Chapter 285
Chapter 285
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 285
Chapter Title: Chapter 6-4. Blue Spear Knight
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Iris's cold gaze turned toward Organ. Her obsidian-like shimmering pupils were beautiful enough to admire, but the look in her eyes seemed to say how she would kill him, sending chills down the spine of anyone who met them.
She looked ready to appear from behind at any moment and slice his throat with the scythe in her hand. His throat itched for no reason. He felt an unpleasant urge to reach up and check if it was still attached. Yet his opponent simply held her ground, showing no sign of attacking first like before.
The reason was obvious. She was just trying to protect the Saintess safely. But with eyes that promised to kill him somehow if he approached, he couldn't easily close the distance. The standoff dragged on for a moment. Her flawless stance made it impossible to attack rashly, but since she was guarding something, a gap was bound to open eventually.
"......"
Organ gave a small smile and summoned the starfish spear he had thrown earlier, which had been flung far away and embedded in the ground.
Clank!
He caught the starfish spear materializing in midair with his gauntleted hand as it fell. Its heavy weight seeped into him, pushing away the fear and tension in his heart and bringing calm.
Whoosh!
He lifted the hefty spear and swung it down forcefully at a diagonal angle. A fierce wind rose, scattering the ash piled on the ground. Then Organ glanced at Calyxthes beside him.
"Make killing the Saintess our top priority."
"Sounds good."
With those short words exchanged, she charged at Iris first. Organ and the surviving Blue Spear Knight Konrad followed suit. Iris furrowed her brow at the enemies rushing from three directions and glanced at Arhil standing behind her.
'You're in the way.'
It was her honest thought. She could handle three one-on-one fights, but with all three attacking at once, protecting Arhil was impossible. If her skill overwhelmingly outmatched theirs, it might not be, but unlike the two she had killed first, Calyxthes and Organ charging head-on didn't look easy. Not just from their outward aura, but she suspected the shields and weapons they carried were fragments of Perlnirn, like her own twentieth fragment, Ginnungagap.
...Not suspected—certain.
Iris corrected herself. She had met Calyxthes before and knew he was the supreme commander of the Empire's Blue Spear Knights. His nineteenth fragment, Moonlight, was quite famous. She knew well that the cube trapping a certain area was one of Moonlight's techniques.
And though its exact nature was unknown, the elongated conical lance with beautiful engravings was also a fragment, as stated. She clearly remembered her saying, 'This is my fragment, the power of the starfish spear.'
Two fragment users.
Protecting Arhil against them was no easy task, no matter how strong she was. And it wasn't just Arhil who could die—it put her in danger too.
'Should I run?'
She could escape plenty well. Alone.
As the Queen of the Shadow Kingdom, she couldn't die in a place like this. But her instincts told her she couldn't just flee like this, making her hesitate. She didn't know the exact reason. She just felt she'd regret it forever if she abandoned Arhil here and ran.
Logically, abandoning Arhil and fleeing made sense. She had grown a bit fond of her, but not enough to trust her with her life or value her enough to risk her own to protect her. So what was this feeling of regret? If she stood her ground here, protected her, and somehow held out, would this nagging sense of regret disappear?
Why?
Why?
Pondering the question, she soon thought of Juda. He had claimed to have the power of prophecy and come all the way to the Shadow Kingdom's palace-like Veil of Light in the border city of Aitram to find his fated one. She couldn't tell if he was lying or not, but her curiosity had been piqued by what he showed during that short stay at the Veil of Light, leading her to follow him here.
Juda was close to the ideal type she had longed for over the years. His younger-than-expected age was a flaw, but not a big deal. Everything else but his age appealed to her. Especially when she pretended she couldn't speak and wrote notes, how he matched her by writing back—it had truly touched her heart.
Could she meet a man like that again?
Iris thought many things in that short time. She reached a conclusion just as quickly. The last conversation she'd had with Juda was to entrust Arhil to her.
...She had no choice but to do what she could.
Thinking herself foolish, Iris parted her tightly shut lips and spoke.
"Run."
"?"
"Ignore whatever happens around you."
"W-Where to?"
"The labyrinth entrance."
It was the way with the highest chance of survival in this situation. If Arhil entered the labyrinth entrance and Iris guarded it, they'd be safe from thrown spears and could block enemy attacks. But after being forcibly teleported there, she'd kept her distance worrying about monsters bursting out, so the labyrinth was quite far. Running at full speed would take 20-30 seconds.
Arhil nodded at Iris's words.
She knew well that staying here, where all she could do was basic self-defense, meant she couldn't fight properly against spirit sword owners. She bolted immediately. Without confirming her swift departure kicking off the ground, Iris slipped behind her through Organ's shadow—the one charging with his conical spear dragging on the ground.
Ssssh!
She melted into the shadow like liquid, vanishing from sight.
"!"
Organ, seeing her disappear in the blink of an eye, immediately ducked his upper body forward as if falling.
Shiiiing!
A sharp sound came from right above. As soon as he lowered his head, the scythe whistled past.
"As expected!"
He'd anticipated her appearing from behind. Unless it was a complete surprise, he could prepare if he expected it somewhat. Organ thrust his left foot forward, stomping the ground hard to regain balance on his tilting body, then swung the lance gripped in one hand backward in a wide arc.
Clang!
The scythe handle clashed with the spear, ringing out clearly. The hazy, heat-shimmer-like scythe handle didn't dent or bend from the powerful impact. Iris recoiled as if pushed back, spinning lightly in midair before landing softly on the ground. Her long ponytail bound with string whipped wildly.
"Haat!"
With a shout from behind, Calyxthes thrust his spear. Iris swung her scythe handle to deflect it, but continuous thrusts from different directions forced her to keep defending without retreating.
Clang clang clang!
Sparks flew from the intense exchange. Organ joined the attack on Iris, and meanwhile, Blue Spear Knight Konrad—who had stood idly watching—seemed to know exactly what to do and hurled his spear at Arhil running toward the labyrinth entrance.
"......"
Even while facing Calyxthes and Organ, Iris didn't miss it. Dodging their crossing thrusts from both sides with agile movements, she fully summoned her twentieth fragment, Ginnungagap. The scythe, hidden in a misty haze within black distortions, revealed its true form.
Immediately, thick darkness swirled around, and sharp zigzagging lines shot out, stabbing at Organ and Calyxthes. The darkness shattered like dissolving upon hitting Calyxthes's shield, and Organ deflected it with his gauntlet wrapped in holy power. As they defended, Iris's strike slashed in. Organ blocked with his spear, Calyxthes with his shield. Though they blocked, the force pushed them back, and in that gap, Iris slipped through the shadows to Arhil's back again.
Seeing her vanish before their eyes, Calyxthes charged again, while Organ paused, gazing at the half-broken giant spear lying on the ground before raising the starfish spear high. The giant spear, assembled from countless metal shards, swiftly disassembled by the fragment's power, soared into the air and swarmed toward the elevated starfish spear like a flock of bees.
The starfish spear greedily absorbed the iron flakes. It looked like it was devouring them. The more iron it absorbed, the heavier the spear grew. His holding arm trembled. In just 1-2 seconds, having absorbed all those flakes, Organ gripped the starfish spear and followed Calyxthes.
Iris emerged behind Arhil and turned at the presence she felt.
"Don't look back. Keep running."
Leaving those words, she batted away an incoming spear, then eyed Organ and Calyxthes. They closed in at a speed incomparable to Arhil's run. But in that short time, she could kill Blue Spear Knight Konrad. Melting into the shadows, she moved to Konrad's back.
That was the mistake.
She should have stayed behind Arhil to ensure she reached the labyrinth. Targeting Konrad to make it easier on the other two was the error.
Seeing her move behind Konrad, Calyxthes slammed his spear into the ground with all his might, releasing mana. Not the fragment's power, but his pure technique [Earth Strike] activated. Mana sliced through the ground like a shark's fin cutting the sea and shot forward. She, just emerging from the shadow to swing her scythe at Konrad, startled, had no choice but to leap back.
Meanwhile, the Blue Spear Knights who had been watching Arhil run toward the labyrinth entrance hurled their spears at their vice-commander's order. The entrance was close now. But Arhil couldn't enter.
Suddenly, with popping sounds like a shower, spears stabbed into the ground before the entrance, forming a wall. Startled and halting at the sight, Arhil turned as Organ pounced. Seeing Organ close the vast distance in an instant and thrust her spear, Arhil thought it was over—then Iris emerged from her shadow once more, blocking Organ.
Clang!
'Heavy?'
Fortunately, the spear veered off, but sensing the power behind it was different from before, Iris was startled. Organ's attack failed, but she showed no regret. Instead, she grinned wickedly.
"What a pity."
Her helmet hid the smile, but as Iris raised her scythe handle to block the sweeping spear that had glanced off, the whipping force
wasn't what she expected. The immense power forcibly lifted her body.
"!"
In an instant, she was flung away. Rolling a couple times over the ashy ground, covered in dust, she rose—only to see Organ standing still and thrusting her spear at Arhil.
Splat!
Arhil's slender body was impaled on the spear and hoisted up.
"Ah...!"
Though she saw the spear coming, unable to do anything, Arhil let out a small groan at the massive pain in her abdomen. Her blue eyes shook.
Then the spear piercing Arhil swung, hurling her to the ground. Red blood and organs splattered over the black earth. Consciousness faded in an instant. Arhil felt her voice wouldn't come out properly. She weakly turned her head toward the labyrinth entrance, but the wall of spears blocked the view.
'Juda...'
Mouthing words that wouldn't emerge, she shed tears, and soon the focus left her eyes.
========== Author's Note ==========
1) Now Juda has no choice but to die.
2) Being in the top 5 of tube despite my lacking skills is putting insane pressure on me... As expected, hovering around 20th is way more comfortable mentally, but being in the top 10 means I feel compelled to update daily even during exam period...
3) Oh, and someone pointed out that Ludmilla appears as the twenty-first fragment in the work settings—sorry about that. I mistakenly set it as twenty-second. I tried to swap the fragment orders.....but revisions are impossible right now due to half-complete chapters, so I'll switch the twenty-first and twenty-second fragments later. My apologies.