Chapter 162
Chapter: 162
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 162
>Chapter Title: Storm (3)
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>Tap, tap, tap.
Logan raced across the main palace garden, pursuing the assassin's presence.
Fierce rain lashed at him head-on without mercy, battering his body, but it posed no hindrance to Logan, who had already half-materialized his aura like a protective veil.
He swiftly closed the distance with the assassin, cutting through the pitch-black darkness where he couldn't see an inch ahead.
As he moved away from the main palace, the headache and ringing in his ears that had tormented him miraculously faded, and his mind began to function normally again.
Only now did he have the leisure to calmly assess the situation. The fact that his condition improved so rapidly once he was at a distance confirmed that the source of this bizarre incident was undoubtedly that office.
—The rifts opening in the imperial palace are a frequent occurrence. It's just that this time it was so sudden that His Majesty didn't even have time to retreat to the prayer room.
That was what Katrina had said.
Did that mean the Holy Emperor experienced something like this every time he entered the prayer room? How had he never noticed until now?
He had thought it arrogant for the Holy Emperor to dismiss his guards and spend the night alone in such an isolated place.
But of course, anyone who got close to him would struggle to stay sane. Even Katrina, the Holy Emperor's sturdiest shield, had been in that state—what good would a few knights do in properly protecting him?
Just what was this rift?
What exactly did it do to so thoroughly disrupt a person's senses and ultimately drive them to lose consciousness?
While Logan sorted through his thoughts, the assassin was heading toward the greenhouse. It seemed he planned to pass through the second east gate.
But the two were already nearly within arm's reach.
'Got you.'
The moment Logan caught up almost within striking range of his sword.
Swoosh!
Sensing the danger, the assassin spun around and hurled a dagger.
Clang! Clang!
Logan casually deflected the incoming blades and thought.
'Just a feint? No killing intent—he's just trying to escape.'
For him to sense Logan's superior reach compared to ordinary knights, he was no slouch.
Moreover, judging by the aura infused in the dagger, the assassin had accurately gauged the level of power Logan publicly displayed.
If Logan had needed to hide his true strength as usual, the pursuit would have been much harder. He couldn't help but wonder who this opponent was.
Swoosh.
The moment he threw the dagger, the assassin's presence nearly vanished completely. He had deployed aura concealment to the maximum extent possible.
But no matter how skilled an assassin, Logan couldn't miss the unnatural flow of that aura.
Slink.
Logan synchronized his body with the surrounding aura. A ability that could make him the ultimate assassin if he so chose—the aura synchronization of a Decaron Knight.
The insights from his past life never faded, allowing Logan to freely control his aura activation since birth.
Thus, he had lived projecting only a moderate level of aura activation that seemed appropriate to others. Otherwise, his inexplicably high aura in childhood would have raised suspicions.
Reborn with an exceptionally high aura affinity and the luxury of an environment dedicated to training.
Thanks to that, Logan had long since reached the 10th circle of aura and the realm of a Decaron Knight in this life.
Having concealed his presence and overtaken the assassin in a leap, Logan released his aura synchronization right in front of him.
“……!”
The assassin recoiled in shock and hastily drew his shortsword. Then, in a fluster, he swung it at Logan with full aura infusion!
But Logan's reaction was faster.
Cling!
The Henesis longsword, drawn back in a parrying hook to its fullest, instantly knocked the assassin's sword far away. The assassin stumbled, momentarily losing his balance without his weapon.
Swoosh.
Logan didn't miss the opening as Arjuna surged toward his throat.
The assassin reflexively raised his arm to block, but Arjuna cleverly exploited the gap, its blade now pressing against the underside of his jaw.
“…….”
“Reveal your identity. Who sent you into the imperial palace?”
Logan asked, flicking the assassin's mask up to his nose with the flat of his blade.
If the opponent harbored no killing intent toward him, Logan had no intention of taking his life recklessly. He would simply identify him and hand him over to the Imperial Guard unharmed.
Of course, having shown hostility in the imperial palace, he might already be a dead man walking.
The assassin hesitated for a moment. Realizing there was no escape no matter how he racked his brain, he eventually pulled down his mask willingly.
It was a pitch-black night amid raging storm winds, but—flash!—a timely bolt of lightning illuminated the assassin's face clearly.
And.
“……!”
Logan widened his eyes upon recognizing the face. It was far too familiar.
The face of someone he thought he'd never see again.
In disbelief at the impossible sight, Logan unwittingly opened his mouth.
“…Benicio?”
Ah.
If this was a dream, it was a truly horrific nightmare.
* * *
Amid excruciating dizziness, Seongjin finally pried his eyes open and cautiously surveyed his surroundings.
'What the hell is this…?'
He was floating aimlessly in an unidentified space.
The area around him seemed filled with shattered mirrors or glass shards, creating a kaleidoscopic chaos of overlapping images.
A lightning-streaked black sky, a dense forest. Occasional glimpses of the office's exterior. And stars and nebulae shining as if about to pour down.
'Am I… my soul pulled out again?'
Feeling almost no gravity, he recalled his recent near-death experience.
But upon closer inspection, he was still in his formal attire, fully embodying Mores. Since he could clearly feel his solid, physical body, it didn't seem like only his soul had been ejected.
However, whether he had brought his entire body here was ambiguous. Among the intermittently overlapping views of the office, he distinctly saw his own body collapsed under the sofa.
It felt bizarre, as if he existed simultaneously in the office and here.
What kind of freaky phenomenon was this?
'Hey, Demon King?'
He called for the one who could best explain this state, but there was no response.
Yet the Demon King's presence in his mind hadn't vanished. He could clearly sense the soul panicking and flailing about in confusion.
He was probably making a huge fuss in his head. Something was just off, like a mismatched frequency, preventing Seongjin from receiving the thoughts properly, as if he were a broken radio.
Rumble.
Whether due to the storm visible in the scenery or some other cause, the entire space intermittently shuddered with impacts. It didn't seem like a place to linger long.
'Anyway, that guy must be somewhere here, right? I need to find him and get out fast…'
But then, something wondrous happened.
The moment he thought of the Holy Emperor, the view before him warped violently, and the distant images rushed toward him all at once.
Seongjin had experienced something similar before—when he was sucked into the Bantara Moss larva's channel and shot straight to the dimensional boundary.
Back then, he thought he was simply flying somewhere faster than light.
'It wasn't me moving fast…!'
Instead, the spaces surrounding him were crumpling wildly, shoving his body far beyond.
In the near-death state, he hadn't perceived it properly, but now he could strangely discern how the scenery distorted to propel him forward rapidly.
How far had he flown like that?
Boom!
The intermittent vibrations grew increasingly intense and frequent. Each shake now sent shockwaves that nearly shattered the surrounding space. Something ominous was clearly happening here.
And shortly after.
Seongjin spotted a small figure confronting what seemed like enormous shadowy masses.
White robes fluttering in the wind, and a golden coronet shining above his head.
Without thinking, Seongjin called out to him at full force.
[Father!]
What emerged wasn't sound, but something akin to a thought wave. The Holy Emperor turned, eyes wide in surprise.
[You…!]
Boom!
The world shook once more. His vision spun wildly, and in an instant, Seongjin's body was whisked far from the shadows.
Before he knew it, the Holy Emperor had approached and was shaking his shoulders vigorously.
[Why are you here, my son!]
Seongjin blinked.
Huh? He could hear the Holy Emperor's voice clearly, but it wasn't 'sound' like usual.
It was as if an entire sentence slammed into his head at once, the first and last syllables hitting simultaneously.
[What is this place that you're so alarmed?]
[This is the Rift. A human body cannot endure here for long.]
Again, 'This is' and 'for long' struck his mind simultaneously.
It was like his sense of time was…
Suddenly, the Holy Emperor flinched and turned around.
Then.
Boom!
The impact shook his body mercilessly, blurring his vision chaotically.
When he came to, Seongjin found himself dangling by the scruff of his neck as the Holy Emperor flew them somewhere.
'…!'
Despite the tremendous speed, fortunately, his neck wasn't choked. With his gaze naturally turned backward, he finally got a clear visual on the enemies pursuing them.
There were two monsters.
One was a massive black beast with six legs and three tails. It resembled a dog or a wolf, but whether it had a physical form or was mere shadow was impossible to tell. Its body absorbed all light, offering no sense of volume.
The other had an even stranger appearance.
It was densely covered top to bottom with protrusions, like a plant with twisting roots and stems, or an anemone bristling with tentacles.
Ah, and some tentacle tips bore glowing green orbs—maybe a mutant jellyfish.
'But they feel kinda familiar…'
Seongjin appraised them leisurely while dangling.
The malevolent gazes stabbing at him relentlessly. The monsters' stares resembled the repulsive ones from the high-ranking demon kings he'd felt at the dimensional boundary.
Only the pressure was far more tolerable than before.
[Slipping through space like that.]
The black beast, Greed, growled at Seongjin.
[Yeah. Who'd have thought a kid would interfere with our space. But that face—why's it so familiar?]
The dark greenish tentacle monster, Propagation, responded quizzically, waving a bundle of root-like appendages upward like tilting its head. Though it had no discernible head, the gesture was unmistakable.
Greed sneered.
[Of course it is. Have you forgotten preparing him yourself?]
[Oh, right? Now that you mention it, my apostle said something like that once.]
Propagation scratched other tentacles awkwardly with a clump, then its scattered glowing orbs lit up in unison.
[Whatever, does it matter? We just need to eliminate the king, right? Let's take care of them both here—it's a hassle otherwise!]
The proximity allowed fragments of their thoughts to reach Seongjin sporadically.
'Did I just become a burden by showing up?'
Should he ask to be knocked out and sent back now? But before that, if he could at least land a solid hit on one…
As he fiddled with his marbles, gauging the distance, he felt the Holy Emperor glance at him.
[You're scheming something pointless again.]
This time too, the words flooded his mind simultaneously without delay, but Seongjin was growing accustomed to this form of communication.
[Am I in the way after all?]
[…]
The Holy Emperor fell silent briefly, then shook his head.
[No, your timing was perfect. Without you, the lack of causality would have cost us much time.]
Causality?
[The side effect of the Incarnation Festival. I must bestow blessings on many, inevitably expending causality lavishly. That's why they targeted today.]
Hm. He didn't fully grasp it.
Dangling and pondering for a moment, Seongjin suddenly recalled something amusing.
Causality—didn't it require some condition, like with Captain Bruno?
[Father. I have a request!]
He felt the Holy Emperor glance at him.
[A request.]
[Yes.]
Then, Seongjin shouted confidently.
[Please give those freaks a thrashing—or better yet, wipe them out entirely!]
Suddenly, a subtle attractive force enveloped both Seongjin and the Holy Emperor.
And.
[…]
The Holy Emperor didn't reply, but from the conveyed atmosphere alone, Seongjin knew he was smiling.