Chapter 69
Chapter 69
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: Dagger Maid (3)
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Argentia Empire Imperial Palace, West Gate Defense Line.
-Crunch!
“Form up properly! It's just a bunch of lake serpents!”
“Ah, but there are still too many of them! We need to retreat and call for reinforcements...!”
-Kwachik!
“The moment we retreat from here, the entire palace will be reduced to rubble! Grit your teeth and hold the line!”
The squad of imperial palace guards, made up of just over a dozen men, maintained perfect formation even in this dire situation, relentlessly hacking at the crawling horde of lake serpents.
The monsters, each as thick as a grown man's leg, pressed relentlessly against the west gate defenses, seemingly without end.
-Thud!
“Aaaagh!!”
“Damn it...! These cursed monsters just keep coming endlessly!”
Lake serpents weren't particularly strong monsters on an individual basis.
They might be a handful for an ordinary person to deal with, but everyone here was part of the elite imperial palace guard.
As a unit composed of soldiers with exceptional individual skills even among regular troops, they could handle lake serpents without much trouble.
“Agh... M-my... arm...”
“Huff... huff... huff...”
However, when those serpents numbered not just ten or twenty but kept pouring in endlessly, even palace guards had no choice but to tire.
The soldiers, slashing at the monsters surging from the darkness like massive waves, began voicing their painful fatigue after just thirty minutes.
“......”
-Slash!
...And yet, amid all this, there was one person silently dispatching monsters without showing a hint of exhaustion.
Ethan Richard Blackwood.
The scion of the Blackwood Family, conscripted by Orion for palace defense, swung his blade at lake serpents wordlessly, without a trace of weariness in his voice.
The longsword emblazoned with the Blackwood Family's twin-headed eagle emblem was just now flying toward another monster's neck.
‘...This much is still manageable.’
-Slash!
‘Compared to the training Father put me through, this is nothing...!’
Of course, even he had been swinging his sword for over thirty minutes, so fatigue was building in his body.
But he simply refrained from showing it, focusing quietly on killing monsters and defending the west gate.
Ethan fully understood that as a noble heir, merely appearing unflagging would boost the morale of the other guards.
“Even the young master of the Blackwood Family swings his sword without tiring! You palace guards aren't going to drop first, are you?!”
“““No, sir!!”””
“Kill them all! Hold until the end! Imagine the people inside the palace are your wives and children—defend with your lives!!”
“Aaaargh!!”
...Yes, he couldn't afford to falter here.
As that guard knight said, they had to stake their lives to protect those inside the palace.
Because right now, inside the palace was his personal maid—and his partner for tonight—Lilith.
‘I shouldn't have brought her along.’
He regretted why he'd dragged her here, letting her be humiliated by the August Family lady and pulling her into this danger.
He bitterly resented the version of himself from a few days ago who decided to bring Lilith to Princess Seraphin's masked ball.
It was all because of his petty desire to dance with her as partners that he'd put Lilith in peril.
So, at the very least, he had to hold out until the end to keep her safe.
If he failed to stop these monsters and they breached the palace, hurting her in the process, he'd never forgive himself.
‘At least she didn't insist on joining the fight this time. Small mercies.’
A year ago, recalling Lilith's ferocious display during the Blackwood territory defense, Ethan had been anxious she might charge into this palace defense op too.
Thankfully, his worries seemed to reach the heavens, as she stayed put this time, letting him breathe a sigh of relief.
They'd split up—Orion and Agnes on the north and east gates, himself on the west—to block the monster incursion.
But no matter how many he cut down, the horde didn't thin, and Ethan was starting to sense something off.
‘We expected the north gate to have the most, but... this is way too many...’
If even here was like this, how many were assaulting the north gate?
Even if he held here with everything he had, if the north gate fell, it would all be for naught.
Such nagging thoughts briefly crossed Ethan's mind, but realizing they were pointless, he refocused on slashing the monster before him.
-Slash!
“...Hah.”
-Slash!
Simply praying that Orion and Agnes were holding strong on their fronts.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The monster horde began pouring into the palace interior as the south gate—the main hall entrance—breached.
The moment over a dozen snake-like monsters slithered into the shelter, the hall descended into pandemonium.
-Crunch!
“Gaaah!!”
A noble's son somewhere screaming as a thigh-thick lake serpent bit his leg.
-Ssssh!
“Kyaaah!! S-save me! Kyaaaaah!!”
A noble lady shrieking and running about, trying to shake off a serpent crawling into her dress.
“This damn...!”
-Crunch!
‘Keeeek...!’
And even the palace guards desperately killing monsters to thin their numbers amid the chaos.
It took no time at all for the scene—filled with all sorts of people and a matching number of monsters—to turn into utter hell.
“Riji, stay right there and don't move.”
“...Y-yes?!"
“If you dart off somewhere, I might not be able to protect you.”
“......”
The August lady responded to my words with mere silence, whether she understood or not.
Maybe terror made even replying impossible. It wasn't crucial to get a verbal answer anyway, so I let it slide.
What mattered to me was solely killing the lake serpents charging straight at us. Nothing else.
Lake serpents were level 4 monsters.
One might say there's no need to tremble at a mere level 4, but to the noble heirs here, even that wasn't easy pickings.
No matter their magical education, bodies that hadn't grown through experience had limits in bridging level gaps.
Besides, conditions weren't set for one-on-one fights; with two or three lunging at once, level 1-2 fledgling mages couldn't handle them properly.
I couldn't save every single noble heir. Everyone had to protect themselves.
“Back-to-back! Just block the ones coming from your side!”
Indeed, some noble heirs had already paired up or formed lines, fending off serpents with swords or spells.
Rushing around the shelter to save nobles who couldn't even manage that would only endanger the Riji I was supposed to protect.
For the girl who'd handed me this silver longsword, I'd do my utmost within my means, swinging my blade diligently.
‘Shaaak!’
“Kyaaah!”
-Crunch!
I slammed my silver longsword down on the head of a lake serpent lunging at me and Riji, smashing it into the floor.
The monster, skull pierced, twitched a couple times on the ground before going limp.
I hadn't expected even my dagger damage boost skill to one-shot it.
Seems this silver longsword from the August lady was better than it looked.
“M-miss...? A-are you... alright...?”
“Yeah. Nice sword.”
“N-no... I didn't mean the sword...”
-Crunch!
“H-heek?!”
This time, I crushed a serpent diving straight at me—not Riji—with the silver longsword.
The second one promptly keeled over, head pierced and dead instantly.
“...Not the sword? What then?”
“N-nothing! It's nothing!”
“......?”
What's with her since earlier?
Anyway, unlike before, she was obediently following orders, making it easier to swing my sword.
“Kyaaah! Get off! Get off me!!”
If Riji had panicked like that noble lady stripping and fleeing, protecting her while fighting would've been impossible.
By chance, we'd cornered ourselves between two walls—an ideal spot for defense—making it easy to swing against the monsters.
All we had to do was hold out as long as possible until Seraphin and Agnes sorted things out.
This monster wave would likely end with Seraphin and Agnes teaming up to kill the ‘boss monster’ at the west gate.
‘Lake serpents swarming like this means the boss is probably a ‘King Serpent.’’
At that level, the two of them could handle it easily.
Agnes's full-power Gigantic Fireball plus Seraphin's full-moon-enhanced moon magic had more than enough punch to take down one King Serpent.
-Kwachik!
‘Keeeek!’
As I pondered this and killed the third lake serpent charging us, loud impact sounds and successive monster shrieks erupted from the south gate exit.
-Crack! Crunch! Smash!
‘Kee...!’
‘Kweek!’
...This familiar sound effect—don't tell me.
The kicking impacts I'd heard somewhere before sparked uneasy imaginings in my head.
Because in my memory of Luminor Academy, only one character mainly attacked with kicks.
The thought that the one arriving at the south gate might be someone who absolutely shouldn't be here now crept in.
With those anxious visions rising, I turned toward the south entrance where the sounds came from. There, a blonde shadow emerged, shattering monster heads with a dozen consecutive kicks.
“...Huh?”
“P-Princess Seraphin...?”
She still wore her mask covering her eyes, but no one here could mistake her for anyone else.
All eyes snapped to the Moonshadow Princess's sudden appearance.
I too reflexively glanced at her approach, dispatching several serpents per second—but for a slightly different reason than the others.
‘Why the hell is she here right now?’
It was the moment I witnessed firsthand how the story was veering far from the original.