Chapter 180
Chapter 180
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 180
Chapter Title: Ascent to Heaven (2)
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Unfortunately, some of the relics equipped by the dead knight couldn't be recovered and used. They had tracking spells on them.
At least the weapons, two accessories, and Jin had no such tracking spells, so they could be taken as spoils of war.
This elegant Jin, resembling a feline, particularly a leopard, became Ahnun's share.
The previous Jin he had been riding was handed over to one of the Starwhirl mages.
After a simple distribution, Arsen was the first to decide to split the group.
The young mages who couldn't serve as combat power, the elderly too old to keep up, and a few combat dolls to escort them.
He instructed them to take the luggage they had brought and go back down the way they came, hiding there.
Since they hadn't been climbing the mountain for long, it shouldn't be too hard to go down and hide now.
"If things go well, please contact us via the communication orb."
"Understood. Good luck, Sir Arsen. May you achieve what you set out to do."
"Thank you."
After the farewells, two Starwhirl elders led the young and old down the mountain.
"Will they be safe?"
"We can only hope so."
In the heart of the kingdom, avoiding attention for a short while might be possible, but surviving long-term or escaping would be difficult.
If Arsen couldn't find the library, if he couldn't discover a groundbreaking escape method, their lives were as good as forfeit.
With a heavier heart, Arsen ordered the prisoner to be brought forward.
"Nice to meet you, friend."
This interrogation was assigned to Rino. Rino was accustomed to dirty work and had a fierce look about him.
After laying out the severed arms as interrogation material, Rino began barking threats.
"You don't want to live the rest of your life without arms, right?"
"Y-Yes? No... I mean, no! I don't need arms, just spare my life!"
Interpreting those words as a threat to kill him, the soldier frantically shook his head and shouted.
Those burning with loyalty, daring you to kill them if you dare—such people only existed in movies. Humans were fragile creatures, vulnerable to pain and fear like this. At least most of them were.
Rino began persuading the soldier. With a cruel smile, in a tone truly like a devil's coaxing.
"Good, you're cooperative. Very positive. I like that attitude. First, here's an advance payment. To build trust, we'll take the loss on our side. Understand?"
"Ad... advance payment? What..."
At that moment, Arsen, watching from behind, signaled Eloise.
[Eli.]
[Yeah.]
Eloise approached and extended her hand. Even then, the soldier let out a squeak and flinched.
But with the murderous glares from the knights around him, he didn't dare do more.
Moments later, after the light of healing passed, the soldier stared at his reattached arm in disbelief.
"My arm..."
"We'll reattach the other one too if you do a good job. Of course, we won't just reattach it and then kill you like some savage. No need to kill a small fry like you."
At the promise that if he behaved, they'd reattach his severed arms and let him live, the soldier nodded frantically.
He seemed to have forgotten that these were the very people who cut off his arms in the first place, and that he wouldn't have been in mortal danger if he hadn't been kidnapped.
He was ready to do anything they asked.
Rino exchanged glances with Arsen before barking an order at the soldier.
"First, point out a path we can take without being detected. And explain the guard system here while you're at it."
* * *
Soon after, they began advancing under the prisoner's guidance.
The prisoner rode with one knight on a Jin, holding a strange tray-like relic in his reattached hand.
It was an item that revealed the locations of nearby traps.
"Th-there's a trap ahead. We have to go around it."
"Again? Damn it, they've littered the place with them."
Bazkal grumbled at having to detour again.
And it wasn't just grumbling—this detour meant climbing a slope over 70 degrees steep.
Even on a Jin or mount, it wasn't easy.
Thus, the path up the mountain was a continuous ordeal.
According to the prisoner, there were about thirty outposts on the mountain, with around sixty knights deployed.
There were soldiers too, but naturally, guarding this vast mountain with those numbers was impossible, so they had sealed off paths outside the outposts' patrol ranges with traps.
The fortunate part was that, thanks to the prisoner, they could bypass these traps more easily. With help from the one who set them, there was no risk of stepping into one now.
If they had climbed while triggering traps, they would have been surrounded by the mountain's guarding knights before even reaching the midway point.
The increasingly treacherous and steep path proved that sending off the young and old had been the right choice.
There were easier paths to climb, but they were mostly rigged with traps and outposts. Avoiding those naturally led them to the rugged routes.
[The ones we sent down really couldn't have made it up here.]
[Yeah. I didn't realize it was this rough either.]
Arsen and Eloise chatted briefly via earrings.
Ten knights including Arsen, nine ordinary warriors including Starwhirl servants, ten combat dolls, and twenty-seven mages.
All riding Jins and mounts, they were an elite force that secured both combat power and mobility.
Thanks to this composition, even winding through the rugged paths, their overall speed was fast.
"It's getting cold."
Elder Latis said as he pulled his robe tighter.
As he said, their breath was starting to show.
This rapid climate change was partly because they were ascending the mountain at speeds incomparable to ordinary Earth hikers.
'People climbing Everest would faint if they saw this.'
To Earth's hikers, Arsen's group's "hike" would look like a game character's.
When faced with unclimbable cliffs, they used spells to create bridges on the spot or footholds and stairs for the mounts.
The mages' help greatly boosted their marching speed.
"Th-this should get us to the summit soon."
"No issues?"
The soldier grew even more tense at Arsen's direct question from the back, where he'd just been spectating.
It was probably because he'd seen Rino, his handler, act like a servant before his master.
"W-well, before Sir Belte died, he reported it, so they're probably mustering. They might have even sent reinforcements..."
"Reinforcements?"
"Yes. Near the summit, at the highest outpost, there's a teleportation gate. A teleportation gate is..."
"No, never mind."
Arsen cut off the prisoner's explanation of the gate and pressed his throbbing head.
At that moment, Ahnun at the front urgently swung his spear.
A metallic clang rang out, and a bisected arrow fell.
"Enemies!"
With Ahnun's shout, a voice echoed from far away—like a hunter calling upon finding prey.
"Found them! Sector 5-7-2! Requesting support! Enemy count over sixty! Includes over twenty knights and twenty mages each!"
There was no doubt this call reached all the kingdom's knights posted across the mountain.
They had climbed quickly with luck and help, but now was truly the time to fight. Arsen gripped the nares blade in one hand and the drill spear in the other.
As if knowing they could make noise now, the spear trembled eagerly.
Moments later, a roar emanated from the spear.
"Attack!"
* * *
"Intruders, how many?"
"Number unknown. Probably not a large force, but..."
"And His Majesty? Have you informed him?"
"His Majesty the King hasn't been informed yet. His condition has worsened lately..."
"Haa."
The one sighing was a young man in his early to mid-twenties.
The prince had a noble, aristocratic look utterly unlike his bandit-like father.
Though he had failed to awaken as a knight, he was firmly supported in court for his superior administrative skills compared to his father.
At least the chief chamberlain kneeling before him thought so.
"Is it the side effects of that medicine?"
"We believe so."
The prince gritted his teeth.
Giant King Nardok, in his youth, waged a massive war to found the kingdom—turning nine neighboring territories against him.
In that war, he displayed transcendent martial prowess, overwhelming dozens of knights single-handedly, conquering the south and becoming king. But it came at a great cost.
It was the result of heavily using a drug left by mages from Starwhirl, who had been secretly passing through his territory when he was still a lord and were exterminated for it.
"How much stock of that 'Dragon's Heart' is left?"
"I don't know. His Majesty doesn't entrust its management to anyone..."
The drug the king used was called 'Dragon's Heart'—a magical narcotic that dramatically boosted physical abilities, eliminating pain and fear temporarily.
As a magical drug, its effects were outstanding, but so were the side effects: horrific phantom pains, personality changes, and declines in stamina and cognition.
Thus, the current Giant King was far more brutal and frail than anyone who remembered his younger days could imagine.
Of course, his raw strength still overwhelmed other knights, and the drug restored his peak power.
The problem was that it was running low.
That's why his still-young son had to act as regent.
"Damn it, if only we'd found that library!"
"All the royal court's retainers are doing their utmost, Your Highness."
"I know. It's just frustrating."
After learning of the library's existence, they had thrown everything into searching for it— all because of that drug.
If the king were still hale, he wouldn't have wasted the kingdom's budget and administration on such an unverified tale.
But the kingdom still needed its king.
"If only Father could hold on longer."
The prince genuinely worried for his father's health.
Less than twenty years since the kingdom's founding, their rule wasn't yet solid.
Without a powerful knight successor, the king's death would fracture the realm.
"Anyway, if there are intruders, we should send appropriate support. His Majesty ordered the teleportation gate moved closer, right?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"Assemble about ten knights and dispatch them. The capital's security will suffer a bit for a while..."
Then, someone knocked on the door.
It was quite forceful for knocking on the room where the prince regent ruled.
"Who is it?"
Before he could add "How rude," the door opened.
It was one of the civil officials—a record-keeper in charge of communications.
He was so hurried that sweat beaded on his forehead despite the chill.
"Y-Your Highness! Enemies! Intruders...!"
"What? In the heart of the palace? A rebellion?"
At the prince's incredulous reply, the record-keeper realized his haste had made him incoherent, gathered himself, and continued.
"Intruders have appeared on the Sacred Mountain His Majesty ordered guarded!"
"I've heard. Did you rush here just to relay that again?"
The prince responded dismissively, but his face hardened at the next words. The news was too dire.
"The enemy is a large force including over twenty knights and twenty mages each, and we've already lost nearly ten of our knights! Suspect a great knight among them!"
Silence filled the office for a moment.
Seconds later, the prince spoke in a voice heavy with fury.
"You mean a force like that infiltrated the heart of our kingdom undetected? Are all the border guards blind?"
"Th-that's..."
To those unaware of the underground passages, it was utterly inexplicable.
Not two or three, not even ten—a force of over forty had slipped into the kingdom's core unnoticed?
"Send a messenger to His Majesty's bedchamber immediately and prepare the medicine! Assemble all royal knights... no, all royal knights reachable by the teleportation gate!"