Chapter 141
Chapter 141
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 141
Chapter Title: The Betrayal Strikes
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[Chapter 140 - Scheduled Betrayal]
Naturally, the process of activating this transfer gate was far from simple.
Several mages pored over their books, adjusting and manipulating various settings based on distance and position.
Arsen watched the spectacle with his arms crossed, recalling his previous conversation with Latis.
‘Once the gate opens, one representative will enter first to confirm whether Knight Arsen is there.’
‘And then?’
‘They’ll make some excuse, like they came ahead to check for any dangers, before sending in the follow-up group. Of course, the follow-up will consist of knights and the mages controlling them.’
They planned to stage a small-scale coup just before crossing the gate to seize control of all the knights, and they’d laid some groundwork to prevent that.
He’d asked for understanding, explaining that trying to stop it in advance would spark a civil war and ruin the entire plan.
As he pondered this, someone called out to him.
“Knight Arsen! We’re connected!”
Marun gestured with the communication orb in hand.
As Arsen approached, the orb was already active.
When Arsen curtly announced his arrival, an unfamiliar voice emanated from within.
A grating voice, like rusted metal scraping, clearly belonging to an elderly man.
[Greetings, Knight Arsen. I am Elder Uman. Elder Latis had urgent business, so I’m handling the contact in his place.]
Latis had described him as a representative of the hardliners.
Sure enough, even in words feigning goodwill, a faint hostility seeped through his tone. From this, Arsen could infer the man wasn’t much of an actor.
Arsen replied in a polite voice.
“Pleased to meet you, Elder Uman. What happened to Elder Latis?”
[He’s... not feeling well. Running a high fever.]
“I see. I hope he recovers soon. We’ll meet shortly, so I may have to pay him a sick visit.”
[He’d be delighted if you did.]
To those in the know, it was banter that didn’t elicit a smile.
Their demeanor was so clumsy that even without Latis’s separate advice to Arsen, anyone would sense something suspicious.
To the point where he had to suppress the urge to call them out on it.
‘Why on earth, at this exact moment, does a man who was fine yesterday suddenly fall ill?’
Then again, how many plans in the world were executed flawlessly? All the schemes of the world tended to unfold in sloppy ways within sloppy plans.
Earth’s history was full of examples—like those fools who failed to confirm-kill the enemy leader during a coup and had to do it twice, yet still succeeded.
[Now, we need to discuss the technical details for linking the transfer gate, so please hand the orb to your subordinate.]
“Understood.”
Arsen obediently passed the orb to the space mage in charge of spatial magic, giving Anun a subtle nod.
The possibility was low, but if the man tried to pass on something suspicious like the plan leaking, he’d instructed Anun to snap his neck immediately.
With Anun right beside him, the space specialist mage Drew engaged in a calm discussion with the counterpart on the other side about spatial coordination. His acting was quite convincing.
Once confirmed, Arsen stepped before the assembled knights and soldiers.
Clearing his throat, he asked loudly,
“Is everyone ready?”
“Yes, we’re ready!”
Their responses dripped with killing intent, faces twisted in open hostility.
Seeing this, Arsen shook his head.
“Try making your expressions a bit gentler. Gentler.”
The knights and soldiers forced smiles, which looked utterly grotesque.
Arsen shook his head again.
“Just... keep neutral expressions at least.”
“We’re sorry...”
“In any case, do not attack until they show clear hostile intent. Even if it looks like I’m in danger. Understood?”
“Yes!”
* * *
The transfer gate no longer resembled a mirror. If anything, it was closer to a whirlpool.
The solid mirror had turned into something between liquid and gas, swirling endlessly and disorienting the eye.
“Is it ready?”
“Yes. In a moment... it’s fully connected now.”
Nodding at the mage’s words, they calmly formed ranks. A semicircle enclosing the gate.
At a glance, they appeared unarmed and orderly, as if observing proper etiquette.
But weapons and shields were within arm’s reach, and their mindset was perfectly armed for immediate combat.
‘No need to be that tense.’
If things went according to Arsen’s plan, this fight would end more easily than expected.
It would be incredibly straightforward if the enemy believed they had full control, and even if they’d prepared one extra countermeasure, it would only make it slightly less simple.
As he thought this, the gate began humming.
Suddenly, light surged, and something like glowing liquid flowed out, rising and taking shape.
When the light faded, a single mage stood there.
“Whoa...”
For a brief moment, the mystical sight made everyone forget the enemy and gasp in awe.
Even in this world full of bizarre phenomena, seeing a person appear from a distant place—perhaps months away even on a mount—was exceedingly rare.
“Lord Daru.”
Marun bowed his head.
The first arrival, mage Daru, nodded back with a slightly flustered expression.
He then turned to Arsen.
“Long time no see, Marun. And this must be...?”
“Pleased to meet you. I’m Arsen.”
“Oh...”
Daru bowed as if impressed and shook hands, but Arsen read the tension in his eyes.
The man subtly scanned the surroundings. The knights’ and soldiers’ positions, Arsen’s location.
The soldiers and knights stood in a neat semicircle around the gate, with only Arsen ahead to greet Daru.
For kidnappers, it was an ideal setup, and sure enough, a faint smile crept onto Daru’s face.
Though the knights and soldiers struggled to hide their hostility, it seemed to go unnoticed.
Or rather, it would be hard to find it suspicious.
Mages were accustomed to baseless hostility and contempt from commoners, after all.
To someone exposed to enmity since birth, such emotions were hardly novel.
“But where are the others?”
“They’ll arrive soon. I came first to check if there were any issues with transferring the relic...”
“I see.”
Arsen smiled warmly, masterfully playing the trusting fool.
Whether it worked was unclear, but the man’s satisfied expression suggested it had landed well.
Of course, the true result would reveal itself shortly.
“Then, I’ll signal the others that it’s safe to come.”
With that, mage Daru placed his hand on the gate.
His body glowed white again, melting away into the gate.
Only then did Arsen declare softly—but loud enough for all to hear.
“Everyone, stay sharp. The real ones are coming now.”
* * *
“How was it?”
“They seem completely trusting. The successor was standing alone at the front. Unarmed, no mount. If the combat puppets charge in and smack him a few times, he’ll be out cold before he knows it.”
Elder Uman grinned at Daru’s report, a smile of confidence that things would go smoothly.
Surprisingly, the number of mages beside him was small.
Just fifteen.
This was because fewer Starbelly mages followed their cause than expected.
Without seizing control devices through tricks and coercion to gain superiority over the knights, the coup itself might have failed.
‘Tamed dogs.’
To trust knights after being abused by them—it was a spineless mindset he couldn’t comprehend.
Latis and the other two elders, along with dissenting mages, were currently confined.
Elder Berg controlled a combat puppet to supervise them and prevent any tricks.
They hadn’t killed or seriously injured them. They were all mages, great comrades despite differing views. Such acts were unthinkable unless the other side struck first.
Of course, lowly non-mage servants were exceptions.
A few from the servant class attending mages had died, but that didn’t register as sacrifice in Uman’s mind.
“Is everyone ready?”
“Yes, perfectly!”
Including Uman himself, twelve mages each controlled one combat puppet.
It was possible for one to handle multiple, but one per person was most efficient.
“Recap the plan.”
“After entering, target the blond knight with purple eyes. Surround and restrain him with the combat puppets immediately. Then two combine power to immobilize him, while the remaining nine join the strike team to suppress them and seize control.”
“Good. Perfect.”
Excluding Arsen, their forces were just three knights, ten soldiers, and one mage.
Even accounting for two—or three if he was stronger than expected—to subdue Arsen, nine puppets left an overwhelming advantage.
“Great. Succeed here, and we take full control of this plan. Advance!”
* * *
The gate rippled once more, and dozens of glowing liquid blobs flowed out, taking shape.
Half were quite large. Specifically, about the size of a knight mounted on a Jin.
As they fully formed in an instant, Arsen finally witnessed a knight under ‘control device’ domination.
At a glance, they looked like ordinary knights. Full armor hid everything, including their heads.
But it wasn’t hard to guess they wore circlets inside their helmets, like the one Arsen had once used.
In the center of the formation, the most protected position, stood an elderly man with a bushy beard.
A man whose sharp eyes suggested a strong personality, but his form was far from pristine.
One eye was deeply sunken and festering, his face somewhat collapsed from long neglect.
His right arm was missing entirely, and deep scars and burns etched his face like torture marks.
Clearly, a life far from smooth.
No sooner had they appeared than the knights began edging forward, subtly encircling Arsen.
Unfazed, Arsen calmly addressed the man he assumed was Elder Uman.
“Are you Elder Uman?”
As instructed to the strike team, to prove friendliness to the end, Arsen maintained courtesy throughout.
Elder Uman bellowed coldly in response.
“Seize him!”
Simultaneously, the twelve knights charged at Arsen.
Twelve knights mounted on ancient relic armor and weapons—even Arsen couldn’t handle them unarmed and unmounted.
If he fought, that is.
[Eli!]
At the signal through his earring, vines exploded from beneath Arsen’s feet, lifting his body.
The charging knights halted in confusion as Arsen vanished, staring blankly at the sky. From this, Arsen gauged their combat intelligence wasn’t that high.
‘Basic combat is automated, but specific situations require separate mage control... as expected.’
It was worth testing the info from Barklan.
Considering mages’ reflexes were far inferior to knights’, it was a favorable condition.
No time for further thought—the knights began slicing the vine’s base.
Before it collapsed, Arsen kicked off powerfully toward his allies’ formation.
Leaping from a vine nearly six meters high, he soared dozens of meters to land in his camp.
There waited the Black Lion and all his gear.
Swiftly mounting the Jin and linking nerves, Arsen bellowed.
“Blow it open!”
Several soldiers smashed the lids off prepared water barrels.
Darkness erupted from within.
Moments before descending here, the shadow monkeys captured from above had been ceaselessly spewing their darkness.