569
Chapter 569
BOOM! BOOM!
A massive explosion occurred, causing water pillars to shoot up.
The intelligence unit members quickly dealt with the demon beasts and came back up to the ground after moving upstream through the waterway.
They had infiltrated Jupiter Castle through its sewage treatment facility.
The intelligence unit members removed their diving suits and moved in perfect coordination while checking for any guard forces in the area.
Watching them move expertly without separate orders, Dmitri gaped with an incredulous expression.
'What kind of organization did the Knight of Salvation create?'
Boris detected a magical signal from behind the sewage treatment plant and attempted secure communication through a crystal ball.
He nodded after hearing the signal from the crystal ball.
Then he communicated his intentions to all members at once through Telepathy .
-Infiltration orders approved from above. Move to your positions.
The members scattered to various locations at his command.
Boris watched the members move and called for Dmitri.
"Where is Castro?"
Dmitri gathered his thoughts and replied while looking at Boris.
"He's probably holed up in his office right now. The secret weapon failed and so did the charge, so staying locked up in the castle is his best option now."
Boris nodded at Dmitri's words.
"Good. Team one including Zion and Adol will follow me. Serena and Aaron will guard this place and secure our retreat path."
Dmitri, who was watching the situation, asked Boris.
"Should I follow too?"
Boris shook his head at those words.
"We haven't built up that level of trust yet, so we'll consider it after this mission is over."
With those words, Boris nodded to Serena.
Serena, who had the ability to manipulate metal, immediately understood his meaning and created metal handcuffs on Dmitri's arms.
Dmitri's eyes widened in surprise for a moment, but soon he sat down in a corner as if used to being treated as a prisoner and said:
"I hope you complete the mission well. My life depends on it after all. You should be careful since Castro and the dark mages stole some of Emperor Nero's legacy from Rome. You never know what crazy weapon might pop out."
Boris nodded at Dmitri's words and gave a short command to his members.
"Let's move."
* * *
BANG!
Castro clutched his head and slammed the desk in his office.
Broken bottles of alcohol were scattered everywhere around him.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
Castro, who had lost his reason, wildly threw the items on his desk with bloodshot eyes.
He took rough breaths and slumped back into his chair.
"Those damn allied forces..."
Even after bringing out Emperor Nero's secret weapon to pressure the allied forces, it ended without inflicting any significant damage.
Additionally, the Red Knight and the Dracula Knights had disappeared somewhere without a trace.
The mercenary corps and army standard-bearers he had sent out in his loss of reason were blocked by firmly constructed defensive walls and suffered casualties from counterattacks before they could properly charge.
He picked up another bottle of alcohol in front with an obviously anxious expression.
He roughly opened the bottle and downed it in one go, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Huff, huff."
Just as he was trying to force his unresponsive brain to figure out what to do, a dark mage like a wax doll appeared behind Castro.
He approached Castro and said:
"The mood inside the castle isn't good. The Breaker mercenary captain is demanding a meeting with the corps commander as complaints are erupting among the mercenaries."
On top of that, rumors were circulating that Castro had used dark mages to cast spells on the mercenaries to turn them into berserkers.
At this rate, the mercenaries might start an internal rebellion.
Castro slammed the table and shouted:
"How dare those lowly bastards?! The mercenary captain wants to meet with me, the corps commander? Ha! They should just do their jobs properly for the money they received. Those base creatures..."
Castro raised a fierce aura with eyes dripping with killing intent.
He looked like he might go out and cut off the mercenary captain's head right away.
But even Castro in his loss of reason knew that doing such a thing would cause Jupiter Castle to crumble from within.
Looking at Castro, the dark mage said:
"I have something to tell you, Corps Commander."
At the dark mage's words, Castro took a deep breath and slowly raised his head.
"What do you have to tell me?"
"There is one way to completely turn this situation around instantly."
Castro's eyes lit up at the dark mage's words.
He jumped up from his seat and approached the dark mage while shouting:
"A way to turn it around instantly?! What is it?!"
The dark mage looked at Castro and said:
"I discovered there is a sealed forbidden mystery among Emperor Nero's legacy that was moved to Jupiter Castle."
Castro's pupils widened at the dark mage's words.
"A forbidden mystery, what is it?!"
"I don't know exactly. But if the mad emperor sealed it away, it must be something lethally dangerous."
Castro's eyebrows twitched at the dark mage's words.
He sat back in his chair and rubbed his temples, lost in thought.
Then he turned his head toward the dark mage.
"If we don't even know what's inside, we won't know if we can control it either."
"If we release it into the allied forces' camp, we won't need to control it."
Castro's eyes widened slightly at the dark mage's words, then he slowly nodded.
Besides, there weren't really any other options at this point.
The dissatisfied mercenary corps weighed on his mind too much to just hole up here and wait for the allied forces to collapse.
It wouldn't be difficult to have the knights behead the mercenary captain, but then who knew what the enraged mercenary corps would do. They might set fire to the castle and flee outside through wide open gates, or even defect to the allied forces.
He pressed his temples hard, then said to the dark mage:
"Fine. Whatever this forbidden mystery is. Let's use it to strike the allied forces from behind."
Having made his decision, Castro went down to Jupiter Castle's basement with the dark mage.
The castle's underground storage held various supplies as well as Emperor Nero's legacies brought from the Imperial Palace in Rome.
In particular, many artifacts among the emperor's legacy were related to the black magic he was obsessed with, but most were just stored away since their uses were unknown.
Castro descended to the underground storage and headed with the dark mage to the specially prepared area containing Emperor Nero's legacy at the very back.
Other dark mages were already investigating the artifacts inside.
The wax-faced dark mage entered with Castro and gestured to the others.
The dark mages then had grotesque giants carry something and bring it before Castro.
THUD!
What was placed before Castro was a considerably large black chest.
The surface was engraved with unfamiliar patterns that gave off an inexplicable eeriness.
Looking at the black chest placed before him, Castro said:
"So this is the forbidden mystery the emperor left behind."
He slowly reached his hand toward the chest.
Then the dark mage grabbed Castro's wrist with an ice-cold hand.
He shook his head and said:
"There's no need to get close to a mystery whose true nature we don't know."
Only then did Castro startle and step back.
Though they didn't know what was inside, it could be an important key to changing the tide of this battlefield. The power contained within must be tremendous. He had almost been swept up in that power.
Calming his startled heart, he said to the dark mage:
"How do you plan to get this to the allied forces?"
"We'll pretend to send an envoy and load the box along with them into the allied forces' camp. When the mystery inside awakens within their barrier, great chaos will ensue. That's when we can lead the corps in a full-scale attack."
Castro nodded at the dark mage's words.
If things went according to plan, they could sufficiently shake up the allied forces' camp.
'If we succeed, we can turn the mercenary corps' attention to them too. We can quell the internal complaints.'
Castro said to the dark mage:
"I'll prepare an envoy. Let's proceed as quickly as possible since we don't have time. Bring up the chest."
The dark mages had the grotesque giants lift the chest again.
Castro climbed up the basement stairs with the dark mages.
That's when it happened.
SWISH! SWISH!
The solid stairs suddenly turned to sand, and their ankles sank below.
"What is this?"
The dark mages sensed something was wrong and tried to raise magical power.
But at that moment their magical flow was disrupted and the spells they prepared didn't form properly.
"KEUUGH!"
Just as they were flustered by the unexpected situation, a sword imbued with aura shot out from the shadows and stabbed a dark mage in the back.
SLASH!
The one who instantly took down the dark mage was none other than the magic swordsman Luther Gemben.
Luther Gemben, who was known as the Mage Slayer in his previous life, was Boris's secret weapon.
Luther swung his aura-filled sword with one hand while using the other to control magical power and neutralize the dark mages' magic.
The dark mages were caught off guard by the sudden situation and couldn't respond properly, and watching this, the wax-skinned dark mage suddenly opened his mouth wide.
KAAAAH!
Black insects poured out of his mouth.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
The black insects rushed at Luther, and at that moment Zion appeared from the darkness and put up a barrier with telekinesis.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
The insects were blocked by Zion’s barrier and couldn't move, and Zion adjusted the barrier to gather all the swarming insects in one place as if wrapping them in a blanket.
Then he closed the shield, wrapping the bugs as if encasing them in a transparent ball.
Inside, the bugs were going crazy trying to escape, but they couldn't break through Zion’s psychic force.
When Zion clenched his hand, the ball suddenly shrank, crushing the bugs.
THUDUDUDUD!
The completely pulverized bugs fell to the floor.
While Zion was blocking the bugs, Luther leaped forward and instantly cut the throats of the dark mages in the rear.
Despite his unimpressive appearance, he was demonstrating his terrifying skill.
SWOOOSH!
The dark mages couldn't even properly counter his Seven-Step Magic Mirror Breaking Flow Technique and died with their necks severed.
Castro, who was behind them, panicked and shouted to the dark mage with waxy skin beside him.
"Hurry! Hurry and stop them!"
But because of Luther's Seven-Step Magic Mirror Breaking Flow Technique, the flow of magic was disrupted, making it difficult even for an Apostle-level mage like him to properly cast spells.
Eventually, the dark mage took out a dagger from his pocket and cut his palm.
Black blood dripped down, pooling on the floor.
And after a moment, the blood pool created by the dark mage rippled, and something slithered out from inside.
Something that looked like a black snake or tentacle moved smoothly and climbed up the bodies of the monsters holding the crates.
Then it entered their ear canals, its long body slipping right in.
Soon, strange reactions occurred in the two monsters holding the crates.
GRRRRRRRR!
The monsters' bodies swelled greatly as their skin color began changing to dark gray.
KRAAAAAAAH!
Suddenly howling, the monsters threw down the crates they were holding and rushed toward Luther, who was attacking the dark mage.
Adol tried to trap them by turning the floor into sand, but before he could, the monsters kicked off the floor with terrifying speed and launched themselves up the stairs.
KRAAAAAAAH!
A fist loaded with momentum and muscle power tried to crush Luther.
At that moment, Zion behind him unleashed his psychic power toward the monsters.
KEEEEEING!
Zion succeeded in stopping the monsters' movement with his supernatural power, but it was only for a very brief moment before the monsters forcibly tore through the psychic force with physical strength.
KWADUDUDUDUK!
Luther immediately retreated, but the monsters, freed from the psychic power, couldn't overcome their momentum and swung their fists toward the floor.
KWAKWAKWAKWABOOM!
As the staircase itself collapsed, the monsters couldn't control their own strength and tumbled down.
When they tried to get up again, dozens of hands made of sand rose up, grabbing their limbs and dragging them into a sand pit.
KRAAAAK!
The monsters tried to shake themselves free of the sand pit, but they couldn't escape easily.
While avoiding the monsters, Luther's Seven-Step Magic Mirror Breaking Flow Technique stopped, allowing the dark mages to finally use magic, but most of the mages had already been killed during that brief time.
Castro, watching from below, gritted his molars.
'Damn it. Somehow I need to get out of here alone...'
But then it happened.
"Move and you die."
Someone was already holding a dagger to Castro's throat.
Boris had seized his back, taking advantage of the confusion.