Chapter 74
Chapter 74
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: Their Rhythm
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BOOOOM!
Amid the explosion that erupted inside the carriage compartment.
Lakradion, who had sliced through the soldier, landed on the floor.
At that instant, a shadow sword flew at her, grazing her hair and severing a few strands.
"Hup!"
With a sharp intake of breath, Lakradion thrust her sword forward, cleaving the Shadow Armed Princess.
But the Shadow Armed Princess remained unscathed despite being cut by the blade.
She wouldn't vanish unless she took a certain amount of damage.
Clang!
Unlike the Shadow Armed Princess, who could withstand Lakradion's attacks with her body, Lakradion couldn't simply dodge hers.
"La-Lakradion."
"Focus on healing."
Because behind her were Soldric, the vice-captain of Pendal Road's unit on the brink of death, and the white mage Olivia desperately trying to heal him.
If Lakradion dodged too widely, Olivia and Soldric would be hit.
So she was blocking all of the Shadow Armed Princess's attacks as best she could.
As a result, wounds were gradually accumulating on Lakradion's body.
The Shadow Armed Princess was certainly far inferior to the original, but even so, she was roughly on par with Lakradion.
'If this is just a shadow, what must the real one be like.'
Lakradion swallowed hard, thinking of Krash facing off against the Armed Princess herself.
She was worried about him, but right now, all she could do was trust him.
"Lakradion! Th-there!"
At that moment, another Shadow Armed Princess appeared from the rattling open door.
Judging by the blood on her sword, someone must have fallen to her.
The real problem was that there were now two Shadow Armed Princesses.
"Leave me... and go."
"Vice-captain!"
Olivia cried out in shock, but he forced the words out amid his gushing blood.
"It's all... all my fault. If I hadn't... interfered with you from the start, this wouldn't have... happened."
Soldric bit his lip, blaming himself for putting his teammates in danger.
If he hadn't sabotaged Lakradion and Krash, and they'd reached the 8th floor, at least the team wouldn't have been scattered and picked off like this.
"Save the other... team members first, not me. They don't know... only Ibling and I did."
The first one killed by the Armed Princess was the knight Ibling, and only Vice-Captain Soldric had plotted with him in secret against Lakradion and Krash.
The rest knew nothing.
Not even Captain Pendal.
So at the very least, he hoped Olivia and Lakradion could escape and save even one more teammate.
"Vice-captain, stop talking! The bleeding's getting worse!"
"...Please. I can't even face the captain... as I am."
Knowing this, Lakradion sighed as Soldric wallowed in guilt.
"We'll talk later."
Those words meant she had no intention of abandoning him.
"Wh-what?!"
"Do you think Pendal wouldn't know about something that happened in his own team?"
Soldric's face stiffened.
"He may not have wanted it, but Pendal agreed. For Pendal Road's sake."
Pendal had seemed to act on impulse, but he'd long been pondering and researching his own ways to defeat Nakcheon.
He just couldn't bring himself to challenge Nakcheon again alongside Lakradion.
He hadn't been standing still.
Lakradion had realized that upon observing Pendal Road.
Pendal Road itself was Pendal's desperate struggle to overcome Nakcheon.
"So I'm just honoring Pendal's request."
His plea to save his team members.
Thud!
But as the saying goes, bad things come in threes.
With the shattered door, yet another Shadow Armed Princess appeared.
That made three in total.
It was the worst possible situation for Lakradion, who was barely handling even one.
"La-Lakradion!"
Olivia was on the verge of tears now.
She sensed death approaching.
"It's fine."
But Lakradion didn't retreat an inch, calmly raising her sword.
"I made a promise."
The promise with Krash.
He'd asked her to look after Pendal Road.
Even though they'd pointed their swords at him, he forgave them and wanted her to protect them.
It was a request from the man facing the Armed Princess head-on.
She couldn't back down against mere shadow copies.
Whoosh!
At that instant, all three Shadow Armed Princesses lunged simultaneously.
One with a sword, another with an axe, the last with a spear.
They didn't have the Armed Princess's full arsenal of weapons, but each one they wielded was lethally dangerous.
Clang, clang!
As the metallic clashes echoed, wounds bloomed across Lakradion's body.
Blood sprayed into the air.
Lakradion's sword gleamed with an Aura Blade as she swung it resolutely.
Proving why it was called the Light of the Demonic Palace.
The radiant light pouring from her blade unleashed its power more fiercely than ever.
Slash!
Finally, one swing severed a Shadow Armed Princess's head.
But the price was steep.
A follow-up sword sliced into her side and embedded itself.
"Kuh!"
Swallowing a groan, she yanked her sword back and smashed it down on the head of the Shadow Armed Princess that had stabbed her.
The Shadow Armed Princess released the sword in her side and swiftly retreated.
Instead, she conjured a new shadow sword in her hand.
Drip, drip—
As blood trickled down, Lakradion caught her breath.
The Shadow Armed Princess wielding the two-handed axe had finally collapsed from accumulated damage.
Two remained.
But Lakradion's wounds were already nearing their limit.
Thud!
At that moment, the spear-wielding Shadow Princess charged straight at her.
Lakradion couldn't dodge the spear.
Because it was aimed at Olivia behind her.
"Ugh!"
Forcing a clash of strength to block the spear, the sword-wielding Shadow Armed Princess swung at her neck.
Death flashed briefly in her eyes.
Clang!
The colliding sound rang out as the shadow sword was blocked by a jade-green blade.
The moment Lakradion realized whose sword it was and widened her eyes, there stood Pendal.
"Took me a while."
A scar lingered on his neck from forcefully healing with a potion, but Pendal gripped Okcheon and took position beside Lakradion.
"Captain!"
Olivia cried out to Pendal as he steadied his breath and aimed Okcheon.
"...Pendal, the other two."
There had been five Shadow Armed Princesses total.
So she asked, and Pendal channeled lightning through Lioner atop Okcheon.
"My group and I took down one. We're chasing the other since it vanished. Jorsia, our scout, is dead though."
Pendal muttered in anger over the death of Jorsia, their scout.
"Simple enough then."
"Yeah. Crush these two, track down the last one, and then only the monster herself remains."
Lakradion and Pendal's eyes met.
And in that instant, the two leaped at the Shadow Armed Princesses without hesitation.
The two shadows swung their spear and sword the moment they attacked.
Clang!
Instantly, the carriage filled with the sounds of clashing blades and weapons slicing air.
The Shadow Armed Princesses were strong.
They were extensions of the same person, after all.
Their movements and thoughts synchronized perfectly, making their coordination near flawless.
Pendal and Lakradion, on the other hand, were different people.
They'd once been comrades, but hadn't trained together or even spent time as allies in recent years.
Yet for some reason.
The shadows were the ones being pushed back.
Pendal and Lakradion's rhythm was clearly off.
But that discord kept creating variables.
The moment Lakradion parried an incoming attack, Pendal's perfectly timed lightning strike hit the Shadow Armed Princess by chance.
Such subtle variables piled up, steadily wearing down the shadows.
Ridiculous as it was, this was how they'd always been.
The most mismatched pair created the most unpredictable combos.
Everyone who'd seen them at the Demonic Palace said as much.
"Pendal!"
"Got it!"
Noticing the shadows faltering as damage accumulated, Lakradion called out to Pendal.
He dropped low to the floor and began channeling Lioner over Okcheon.
Sensing his ultimate technique charging, the Shadow Armed Princesses targeted Pendal.
But Lakradion displayed brilliant swordsmanship, blocking both spear and sword with her glowing Aura.
Offense and defense as one.
A realm only Lakradion, who valued fundamentals above all, could achieve—perfect unity of attack and guard.
The instant Olivia gasped in admiration at the sight.
Sparks of electricity erupted violently from Pendal's body.
Crackle!
And as the brief spark streaked by.
Pendal's form blurred amid scattering sparks, thrusting Okcheon's blade forward.
Thunder Wolf Sword Draw
The lightning wolf tore through both Shadow Armed Princesses' heads simultaneously.
It was the strike that had once been blocked by the real Armed Princess.
But against her shadows, it landed decisively, bringing them crumbling down.
The moment Lakradion and Pendal were certain of victory.
The collapsing Shadow Armed Princesses' arms wrapped around Lakradion's like bindings.
"Ugh?!"
Caught off guard by the ambush even in defeat, Lakradion let out a startled sound.
Then she spotted the door creaking open in her view.
Standing before it was the Shadow Armed Princess Pendal said had vanished.
She held a massive, hollow pillar-like object and pulled something on it.
Click! Whoosh!
Gears meshed inside, followed by the sound of igniting fire.
Sensing danger, Lakradion tried to pull away, but the crumbling shadows clung even tighter.
With her strength nearly spent, their death grip made escape impossible.
In that time, flames gathered at the mouth of the other shadow's pillar.
Lakradion's eyes shook violently.
I'm going to die.
Really dying here?
Without even challenging Nakcheon, without saying those words to Krash.
Just like this?
It'd be a lie to say there were no regrets.
The regret that only now surfaced drove her near madness.
If she was to die so pointlessly, she should've at least swung her sword at Nakcheon.
As bitter emotion filled her eyes.
Suddenly, a figure shoved in front of her.
A man's back, gray hair fluttering.
Lakradion's eyes widened upon seeing his shadowed back in the glow of the gathering fire.
"Pendal?!"
"Damn it, not my style."
With those words, swallowing a brief resigned laugh, the flames engulfed the carriage interior.