Chapter 231
Chapter: 231
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 231
>Chapter Title: Defense Battle (4)
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The number of Glacier Trolls registered in the Ice Heart was five in total.
That was why Seongjin had initially thought of taking along about two Ice Beasts. Of course, it had been scrapped due to Masa's strong opposition.
She must have figured out that the more entities under control, the stranger the prince's condition became.
'The one controlling the Glacier Trolls must be closer than I thought!'
Thanks to that, Seongjin now had some leeway. Even as he maneuvered Ice Beast No. 1, he could continue pondering various thoughts.
'Sir Sebastian said it. Old man Vincent and the Wolf Knight Order are fiercely clashing with them inside the base right now.'
That meant the controller was watching the base's internal situation with their own eyes.
No way could they hold out even briefly against the Wolf Knight Order, let alone the Decaron Knights, with sloppy control.
'Then it can't possibly be beyond the ice wall!'
Unlike the canyon fortress lined with sheer cliffs, the Ice Wall Base opened onto vast snowfields ahead.
And a forty-meter-high ice barrier blocked the base. It was impossible to visually monitor the interior from the rear.
'The most suspicious spot is probably the cliffs surrounding the base's backside...'
Did that mean he could be a bit optimistic about the situation? There was Sir Ilma at the Ice Wall Base, and old man Decaron Knight too.
They might even find the culprit before he arrived...
Then the Demon King chimed in from the side with a sly jab.
[Lee Seongjin, you think everyone's like you? Expecting others to meet your standards is too much to ask.]
'Hmm...'
Well, he had recently become acutely aware that his senses had sharpened dramatically. Perhaps even more than during his hunter days.
When had that started? After capturing the demon tree? Or after drinking the potion?
In any case, lately, he often detected Dasha's presence faster than Bruno, the former Decaron Knight captain.
And that heightened sense was fully applied to concealing his own presence too. Thanks to the vastly improved 'Aura Concealment,' he had even snuck out of the base without Bruno noticing not long ago.
Of course, it was a secret from Dasha.
"Your Highness! We're almost at the base!"
At that moment, Orden casually informed Seongjin.
Then, facing forward, he shouted the phrase he'd been repeating nonstop with vigor.
"Don't be startled! This Glacier Troll is an ally! We've come for support!"
Thud thud thud!
They were currently hugging one side of the retreat path, swiftly moving against the flow of retreating troops. They were facing the withdrawing people head-on.
Thanks to that, during the run here, Seongjin had been confronted directly with the raw emotions etched on the soldiers' faces.
The fall of the third ice wall, which they'd thought was a perfect shield. The ensuing waves of intense fear, anxiety, and despair.
It was a distant yet familiar sight to Seongjin.
The expressions he always faced whenever hunters deployed during the early Gate incidents. Expressions he hadn't seen since humanity was nearly wiped out...
'...Is it really this despairing?'
In truth, Seongjin viewed the current situation quite positively.
He'd worried they'd cling desperately until the Ice Wall Base was utterly destroyed, but the command's decision had been quicker than expected.
The troops were mostly intact, and the rear was solidly held by the Wolf Knight Order. So why did everyone look like the world was ending?
"......"
But upon actually arriving at the Ice Wall Base and witnessing the damage firsthand, the story changed.
Mangled corpses that seemed to have plummeted to their deaths. Countless bodies still being trampled messily by Glacier Trolls even now.
Despite the Wolf Knights' desperate efforts, it seemed insufficient to fully block the ice monsters popping up unpredictably throughout the ice-enclosed base.
While troops were bottlenecked on the retreat path, casualties were steadily mounting in real time.
"This is..."
Moreover, just as Seongjin had predicted, a suspicious gaze stared from a nearby cliff. Clearly the mastermind behind this chaos.
Yet old man Decaron Knight was oblivious, too busy chasing the Glacier Trolls fusing and splitting on the ice wall!
Seongjin felt something surge up inside him.
'This shouldn't have gotten this bad!'
The command's decision was quick?
No, not enough. You could have been faster.
"Am I dreaming right now...?"
The old man was even staring at Ice Beast No. 1 in a daze. Before he could even register it, harsh words burst from Seongjin's mouth.
"You frustrating old fool!"
This damn geezer, did he really not notice?
You're a Decaron Knight!
Couldn't you have sensed the danger sooner and pulled the soldiers off the ice wall?
Or found the one controlling all this sooner!
What the hell are you doing standing there like an idiot?
[...That's why I said Decaron Knights aren't omnipotent. You can't force your or your family's standards on others.]
The Demon King grumbled like a sigh, but Seongjin ignored it.
"What are you dawdling for? Catch that bastard right now!"
With that roar, old man Vincent protested with an uncharacteristically deflated expression.
"Even if that's truly a Demonkin, isn't it just one? It's merely scouting this place. If I leave now, the damage will only grow..."
"I'll handle things here, so leave it to me."
"No, how could you..."
But when Seongjin glared fiercely, the old man flinched as if startled by something, then averted his gaze as if it was too hard to meet his eyes.
"...Alright, understood."
Whoosh, thud!
Old man Vincent vanished onto the cliff above in an instant with nimble steps. The volume of his aura and proficiency with Schnischhue were skills Seongjin still couldn't imitate.
"Alright then."
Seongjin gripped the Ice Heart and focused his mind once more.
With the biggest issue resolved, now to tidy up this place.
Rumble.
Ice Beast No. 1 rose in response to Seongjin's will.
The sensation from the Ice Heart felt quite light. Not as unified as before, but focusing on one should yield decent combat power—he felt confident.
"Then, I'll go ahead, Your Highness!"
Orden drew his sword from behind and charged at an enemy Glacier Troll, shouting.
Unleashing his signature variant Banahas Third Form alongside the draw.
Crack!
Part of the ice monster's leg exploded massively, allowing a faltering Wolf Knight to regain his stance.
"Young Archduke!"
"Don't get distracted—focus!"
"...Yes!"
The red-haired Inquisitor began moving too.
"Your Highness. I'll go first too... Gahk!"
"Ah. You rest there, Sir Valery."
He needed proper condition management.
There'd be plenty of occasions to ride Ice Beasts with him for a while.
"A sudden chill...?"
Seongjin glanced at him shivering with a pale face—
Boom—thud! Thud!
And began vigorously maneuvering Ice Beast No. 1. It mercilessly seized the nape of the nearest Glacier Troll.
Splat! Crunch crunch!
As the thing dangled and thrashed in midair, injured Wolf Knights turned in startled surprise.
"Your Highness!?"
"You lot fall back for now."
Sir Ilma, who had glanced over from afar, wore an expression of surging emotion.
She always checked on her junior knights even in battle, but in such a frantic fight, she lacked the capacity to aid them all.
〚Connection to existing Ice Heart forcibly severed. Register new entity?〛
Without even ripping off an arm or punching it a few times, a welcome notification appeared before his eyes.
Yeah. I'll register you, so lie there quietly.
〚Registrable entities: 6/25〛
Ice Beast No. 1 roughly tossed it aside and turned, sprinting toward the ice wall.
Thud thud thud!
It charged at a Glacier Troll trampling the corpses of already-dead soldiers.
Splat! Thud! Crack!
After a few punches, it slammed it to the ground and gleefully stomped it just as the thing had been doing.
Sure enough, a notification soon popped up.
〚Connection to existing Ice Heart forcibly severed. Register new entity?〛
Nah, I don't want this one.
Let's end you right here.
...Crack!
A merciless downward strike on its exposed chest shattered the heart, and the ice monster slumped to the ground. The ice composing its body lost its core and crumbled in a heap.
"What in the world...!"
As everyone in the base marveled, Seongjin began moving Ice Beast No. 1 toward the next target.
How much time passed like that?
As the sporadically appearing Glacier Trolls were dealt with one by one, the Wolf Knight Order could gradually concentrate their forces.
Their suppression gained momentum, and soon most ice monsters moving within the base had lost their hearts and collapsed.
The remaining Glacier Trolls were only those repeatedly fusing and splitting inside the ice wall, and the ones Seongjin had subjugated, including Ice Beast No. 1.
〚Registrable entities: 8/25〛
Three more had been added to the Ice Heart.
Few compared to those Seongjin had personally slain, but he judged no need to spare the ones guilty of mass slaughter.
Controlling even one Ice Beast efficiently would aid the forces more anyway.
"How in the world...?"
With some breathing room in the retreat, suspicious gazes toward Seongjin began surfacing naturally.
Whispers.
"Taming mana beasts? Never heard of such a thing."
"How is Prince Mores controlling Glacier Trolls? Don't tell me it's the devil's..."
One Inquisitor wasn't enough to quell the suspicions.
Well, it was understandable. Just moments ago, these mana beasts had driven them to despair.
No one could easily accept massive ice monsters sitting obediently on the ground at a young prince's command.
"If you have time for useless talk, find one more wounded soldier!"
Sir Ilma barked at the troops then.
"Monsters remain inside the ice wall! Thanks to His Highness, we've caught a brief respite, but they could attack like before anytime!"
Re-attack.
Orden, his aura menacing, piled on toward the paling crowd.
"His Highness is a great benefactor to our Sigismund territory! Any who dare insolence toward a member of the Holy Imperial Family will be strictly punished!"
...Orden was arbitrarily racking up another mental debt, it felt.
Anyway, as Sir Ilma said, they couldn't let their guard down yet.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Intermittent vibrations still echoed from within the ice wall. The effort to weaken it continued.
Occasionally, bits of the ice wall surface crumbled away with a hiss. At this rate, a breach was only a matter of time.
Awoooo.
Growl.
The Lycanthrope unit gathered in the chip-leaf woods had approached right up to the ice wall. About 1,500 strong.
'Old man Vincent still...?'
Seongjin strained his senses fully, but neither the demon nor the old man registered—both too far away.
Perhaps it had fled the moment Seongjin pointed out its location.
'If we can't take it down immediately, there's still a way to find another.'
Seongjin gripped the Ice Heart and fully opened his Spirit Eyes.
Throb—sudden faint pain stung his eyes.
[Don't push it, Lee Seongjin. You've had your Spirit Eyes open since yesterday, barely sleeping? It's too much. Even with the Psyche Crystal's help, what you share is my senses!]
The Demon King, sensing the anomaly, quickly warned him.
'It's fine.'
I'll only do as much as I can.
Replying thus, Seongjin slowly surveyed the now-familiar multicolored world. The world the Demon King saw, yet surely somewhat different from his gaze.
'My Psyche Crystal converts Spirit Eye info into full vision. That's why psychic connections appear as vivid lines to me.'
Indeed, Seongjin spotted slender lines extending from within the ice wall.
Five lines stretching from the snowfields, two toward the canyon—likely from two Ice Hearts.
They'd said the initial assault was thirty strong, so that matched two Ice Hearts' worth.
'Vincent's chasing the canyon side. So then...'
Seongjin confirmed the snowfield lines converging on a small olive-drab shadow.
Too distant for presence detection—undoubtedly the second Glacier Troll controller's aura.
'That one's tied to demons too.'
Black-mixed aura typically meant demonic energy.
[Lee Seongjin.]
'Following that line reveals the Glacier Trolls inside the ice wall—their positions, separations. But I can't just attack blindly; it'd damage the wall too. To prevent collapse, I have to nab the controller?'
[Hey, Lee Seongjin!]
'To catch that one, I'll probably need to go outside the wall. If one falls to Vincent, the other won't rashly approach and will focus on reinforcing Trolls instead.'
Throb throb.
As Seongjin rubbed his worsening temples, calculating—
Swoosh!
Suddenly, his mind felt hollow, and the world snapped back to normal in an instant.
The multicolored snowfield vision vanished, dull sight blocked by the colorless ice wall.
"......?"
...Demon King?
He raised his head quizzically.
[You idiot!]
A venomous, resounding voice slammed straight into his brain.
[What do you mean 'as much as you can'? You're in no state to be fine! Keep this up, and I won't enter your Psyche Crystal again! I won't eat bear jerky! No matter how tasty, I absolutely, absolutely won't go in!]
...Huh?