Chapter 215
Chapter 215
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 215
Chapter Title: Captured Apostle
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Chapter 215.
The Aier army had moved far enough out of Seo Woojin’s sight.
“This should be good enough.”
Seo Woojin dusted himself off and stood up.
It seemed like it was about time to head back.
“Oh, right, before that.”
He tapped his forehead as if he’d just remembered something, then teleported somewhere.
The place Seo Woojin arrived at was the ruins where he had hidden Xenonia.
Rumble—
With a swing of his hand, the debris of the building that had buried her was pushed aside.
There, Xenonia lay, still unconscious.
“What should I do with this one?”
It went without saying, but he couldn’t take Xenonia along to the Zarban Plains.
Nor did he want to kill her.
She was the first Apostle he had ever captured alive.
He couldn’t even imagine how much information he could extract from her.
Seo Woojin had already pried some details out of her, but it was clear she held far more.
To obtain that information, he couldn’t kill Xenonia.
“The problem is where to interrogate her…”
Honestly, Seo Woojin had no great talent for extracting information.
Having lived an ordinary life his whole life, he had no knowledge of such techniques.
People who excelled in that were with the secret intelligence agency, Crusiel, or…
Seo Woojin tilted his head as he pondered.
Come to think of it, he didn’t need to get the information himself.
“Just outsource it to the experts.”
Of course, he’d need them to share the intel, but Seo Woojin wasn’t too worried.
If they didn’t share, he could always force it out of them.
“Then I should head back to the Empire first.”
There would be Crusiel agents in this city too.
They were everywhere, after all.
Especially in a city along the Aier army’s route, they wouldn’t fail to station agents.
If he looked, he could find them quickly.
But instead of seeking them out, Seo Woojin decided to go straight to the Empire.
“They wouldn’t be able to handle her.”
Xenonia was in a severe state of injury.
So much so that she couldn’t even maintain her sanity.
Even accounting for those injuries, though, she was still dangerous.
If she regained her senses even for a moment, the Crusiel agents wouldn’t escape death.
No matter how many there were, unless they were Guardian-level powerhouses, they couldn’t stop Xenonia from escaping.
“That’s why I have to take her myself.”
Seo Woojin picked up Xenonia.
Fresh blood still trickled down.
“Is it because of that ‘Blood Clan’ nonsense that the bleeding won’t stop?”
Even though quite some time had passed, the bleeding hadn’t stopped.
Considering the recovery power of beings at the Super-Extreme realm, it was quite slow.
“Well, she’ll be fine.”
She didn’t seem like she’d die right away.
At least until Seo Woojin reached the Empire and handed her over to Crusiel.
“They’ll handle the rest.”
Seo Woojin hoisted Xenonia over his shoulder and floated into the air.
In his Demon King Transformation state, it wouldn’t take long to reach the imperial capital.
He flapped his wings and soared through the sky.
* * *
“…They’re retreating?”
Mardetain furrowed his brow at Bishop Miteon’s report.
“They say the damage from the ‘Black Existence’ is severe.”
“So they decided to withdraw.”
Mardetain let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.
“Was it Shteorn’s order?”
“No. He was relieved of command by the Holy Knights, and someone else has taken the position of supreme commander.”
“It must be Oien.”
Mardetain clicked his tongue at Miteon’s report.
Shteorn was the supreme commander of the Aier army, appointed by Mardetain himself.
Because he was competent?
A genius in strategy and tactics?
No, for none of those reasons.
Shteorn was greedy, incompetent, and only cared about climbing the ranks—a fool.
That’s why Mardetain had placed him in that position.
The 50,000 troops couldn’t inflict any meaningful damage on the Empire anyway, so the goal was to maximize damage to Aier.
Yet this fool couldn’t even accomplish that simple task and had lost his command.
“Yes. Sir Oien has become supreme commander and is leading the troops back to the homeland.”
Mardetain’s head began to ache at the name Oien.
He was one of the strongest knights in the Holy Kingdom.
More importantly, Oien was the one held in the highest esteem by all Holy Knights.
Aier’s greatest knight, with influence so vast that even the Holy King himself couldn’t treat him lightly.
“In the end, that bastard ruins everything.”
There were many opposed to this war.
Most cardinals were, and Oien was no exception.
But the Holy King and the three bishops had unanimously ordered the Empire’s chastisement.
In the end, Oien had no choice but to obey.
Yet somehow, Oien had caused this mess.
“How are preparations for the second expedition force coming along?”
“We’ve conscripted 80,000 troops so far, and Holy Knights from the provinces are arriving steadily.”
A much larger force than what Shteorn had led.
“We originally aimed for 100,000, but…”
At this rate, they couldn’t delay any longer.
“Send out the assembled troops.”
“…Your Highness.”
Miteon cautiously tried to intervene.
“That will surely provoke strong backlash from the neighboring countries.”
The plan had been to dispatch the second wave after the war with the Empire fully erupted.
When the world’s attention was focused on the war, they’d slip in a massive force amid the chaos.
But things had gone awry from the start.
If they pushed forward now, the watching neighboring kingdoms would surely rise up.
But Mardetain seemed utterly unconcerned.
“Do you think those fools can stop the holy war commanded by the Lord God?”
“But…”
“It doesn’t matter. Proceed immediately.”
Miteon swallowed a sigh and bowed at Mardetain’s firm words.
“As you command.”
Satisfied with the response, Mardetain smiled and continued.
“Tell them to absorb Oien’s retreating forces en route. If he refuses and insists on withdrawal…”
A chilling glint flashed in his eyes.
But Miteon, head bowed, didn’t notice.
“Kill him.”
“Your Highness!”
Miteon jerked his head up and shouted belatedly.
“Sir Oien is the most revered knight in Aier! If you execute him, the Holy Knights will surely rebel fiercely!”
Miteon’s reaction was stronger than when asked to dispatch reinforcements.
That showed just how important Oien was.
But Mardetain shook his head.
“My word is the Lord God’s will. To defy it is to be a heretic, rightly so.”
Miteon paled at those words.
Mardetain wasn’t wrong, but the opponent was Oien.
Declaring him a heretic could bring irreversible fallout to Aier.
“Go and relay this. This is his last chance—tell him not to defy the Lord God’s will.”
Miteon bit his lip at Mardetain’s resolute command and replied.
“As you command.”
Harboring unease and doubt, Miteon left the audience chamber.
Alone now, a chuckle escaped Mardetain’s lips.
“Backlash from neighboring countries, huh…”
What Miteon worried about was highly likely to happen.
It wouldn’t end with mere criticism of Aier—they might even raise armies.
Either on the Empire’s orders or to seize the opportunity for gain.
Even a great power like Aier couldn’t withstand a pincer attack from the Empire and other kingdoms.
This kingdom lacked the power to fend them off.
“But it’s fine.”
No, it was perfect.
The disappearance of the nation called the Holy Kingdom was Mardetain’s ultimate goal.
Holy power, antithetical to demonic energy.
Aier’s priests were one of the Demon King’s army’s biggest headaches.
It inflicted severe damage on monsters and demonic beasts, while healing humans.
Even in the previous Descent War, priests had always been obstacles.
That’s why, this time, before the Demon King’s descent.
The Lion and Apostles had devised a plan to wipe out the priests’ lineage.
Mardetain was the result of that plan.
Things had gone slightly off-track at times, but victory was near.
Mardetain cackled, unleashing the laughter he’d been suppressing at the thought of fulfilling his mission.
“You seem pleased.”
It was then.
A voice echoed in the audience chamber where he should have been alone.
“How rude.”
Mardetain stopped laughing, narrowed his eyes, and glared ahead.
“Didn’t I tell you not to appear like this?”
A man stepped out from the shadows.
It was the Lion.
With an expressionless face, he looked at Mardetain and spoke.
“I heard the Sky Tower mission failed.”
Extracting the divine beast’s egg that Mamok held.
“It failed, but thanks to that, we can achieve something greater.”
The ‘Saintess’ died, giving them the minimal justification for war.
“…That’s worth celebrating, but I need that egg.”
He wasn’t joking—the Lion desperately needed it.
For his own secret plan, undisclosed to Mardetain or the other Apostles.
But Mardetain just shrugged.
“If you need it that badly, why don’t you handle it yourself? I’m quite busy right now.”
The Lion sighed at Mardetain’s mocking sneer.
“This isn’t the time to be so relaxed.”
His voice was low and chilling.
“Something else happened, I take it. Handle it yourselves now. As I said, I’m a bit busy—”
“Mardetain.”
The Lion called him with utmost gravity and continued.
“Xenonia has fallen.”
Mardetain’s ever-smiling face hardened.
“Say that again. What?”
His expression was one of utter disbelief.
“I can’t confirm if she’s dead or alive. But she definitely lost, and now her whereabouts are unknown.”
“…Xenonia lost?”
Mardetain didn’t like Xenonia much.
But separately, he acknowledged her abilities.
Among the 13 Apostles, only about two could withstand her greatsword.
Mardetain himself wasn’t confident he could last more than 10 minutes against her.
He couldn’t believe that Xenonia had been defeated by someone.
“Was it the Empire’s Guardians? If the Magic Duke and Sword Sage teamed up, even Xenonia…”
“No. Not them.”
The Lion shook his head and continued with a grim expression.
“The ‘Black Existence.’ He did it alone.”
The Lion’s eyes blazed with intense killing intent as he spoke.