Chapter 132
Chapter 132
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 132
Chapter Title: 42. Dragon Slayer (2)
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The Royal Knight Order arrived at the scene.
"What in the world..."
"What on earth happened here?"
Knights with nerves of steel, who wouldn't flinch even if a blade touched their throats, now had faces drained of color.
It wasn't as if they'd witnessed the battle unfolding before their eyes—they'd only seen the aftermath left behind. And yet, that alone was enough to unsettle the kingdom's finest knights.
Normally, their captain would bellow at them by now.
Snap out of it. Regain your composure.
But the commander of the Royal Knight Order said nothing.
He merely scowled deeply, surveying the site over and over.
It wasn't strange at all.
He was a Quad Chain knight, one of the rare few in the kingdom—a Silver Lion. A powerhouse who had reached a higher realm than anyone else present.
That was precisely why he was shaken more than anyone.
While his subordinates were merely overwhelmed by the bizarre spectacle before them, he felt a sliver of fear.
[It looks as if a dragon swept through here.]
The report from the subordinate who had first arrived at the scene flashed through his mind.
He had planned to reprimand the man harshly for spouting such absurd nonsense in what should have been an objective account.
But now, he couldn't even do that.
The entire ground was torn asunder, with a massive straight scar running through the center.
It was exactly what it would look like if a dragon had barreled across the earth on its belly.
The commander drew his sword. He gathered aura blade at its tip. He amassed it, and amassed it further, until he could hold no more.
Then, with the aura blade at its peak, he slashed at the ground.
Boom!
A deafening roar erupted as dust billowed up.
"C-Captain!"
His subordinates cried out in shock at his sudden action.
Ignoring them, he stood with a stony face, waiting for the dust to settle.
Finally, the dust cleared. The mark of his all-out strike came into view.
"Hmph."
A groan escaped him involuntarily.
He had already anticipated it, but the revealed sight was even more dismal.
A single full-force slash had depleted more than half his mana. His hand gripping the sword was torn, blood dripping down.
And yet, it barely showed.
A faint additional trace had merely been added atop the massive scar in the earth.
If he had to liken it, it was as if a mere serpent had thrashed about on the path left by a dragon's passage.
The kingdom's greatest Silver Lion had poured his all into it and achieved only that much.
He couldn't even fathom how much power it would take to leave a scar like that.
He wanted to deny it.
To claim the scar before him wasn't made by human hands, but by nature—a typhoon or something equivalent.
He wanted to believe that.
But he couldn't.
The instincts of a perfected knight told him otherwise.
That was no natural mark. It was the trace of a slash.
He sank into quiet thought.
Four rings couldn't even imitate it. Would adding one more make it possible?
He didn't know.
It was a realm he had never experienced. He could only speculate vaguely.
If that scar truly was made by human hands—and if, by some chance, the missing 1st Prince was the one who left it—
Then the kingdom would have birthed its first Penta-rank knight.
"No way..."
As someone who had once instructed him in swordsmanship and acted as his mentor, he couldn't imagine the 1st Prince creating such a scene.
It was on an entirely different level from the incompetent prince amassing mana in his heart to reach Sword Master.
And that meant a third entity had created this impossible spectacle.
For a being with such monstrous power to reach the capital's doorstep undetected felt like a blade at his throat.
It wasn't the time to disperse forces outside the palace. If that entity targeted the king, they'd be defenseless.
"We pursue no further."
Sheathing his sword, the Royal Knight Order commander issued the order to withdraw in a voice firmer than ever before.
**
They had dispatched a knight order including a Silver Lion to inspect the site, but there were no gains.
Only even grimmer news.
A minimum Penta-rank knight had intervened, and if the 1st Prince had been the target, survival was unlikely.
If the reporter hadn't been his trusted Silver Lion, the king would have made him pay dearly for so lightly wagering on royal blood.
Still, anger had flared, and the king raged at the Royal Knight Order commander.
Go out and search again immediately.
But he couldn't send the Royal Knight Order out again.
The commander had just argued the need to bolster palace defenses, citing the possibility the fiend still lurked nearby.
They were in the midst of summoning Silver Lions from across the kingdom.
He couldn't disperse the palace's forces.
Besides, the Royal Knights were superb knights but poor trackers.
It was far more efficient to deploy a hundred soldiers than ten zealous knights to comb the area thoroughly.
The king mobilized part of the central army and the capital guard for a large-scale search.
Among them were Ballerhard's rangers, skilled in scouting and detection.
"Damn it! Damn it! He never stays still for a moment!"
Ranger Yorden spat curses as he led the way out of the capital. The prince's knights followed behind.
And at last, they reached the site.
An unimaginable trace of a colossal battle—even for a ranger who had witnessed a warlord's fury up close, the sight across the plain was enough to leave him dumbfounded.
"Goddamn it! Goddamn it! If anything's gone wrong, just you wait!"
Yorden hurled expletives.
If he was truly dead, he'd find him, revive him, and curse him out properly.
Blasphemous and irreverent words, but no one blamed the ranger.
They felt the same.
The prince was always reckless, but this time he'd gone too far. Why face such a formidable foe alone without telling anyone? If he'd considered the fallout of his disappearance, he never would have.
"Have you served His Highness so long yet still not grasped his temperament?"
Shiorin Kirguyen spoke. He had volunteered for the search party.
"I hear the Silver Lion who inspected the site confirmed a minimum Penta-rank knight was involved. Do you think you could face such a foe?"
"It's not about whether we can or can't!"
Shiorin clicked his tongue at Kals Yulihi's sharp retort.
"True. That's just who you are. Loyal knights who would throw away your lives like grass for His Highness, no matter the opponent. That's why he didn't tell you."
"What do you..."
"When Winter Castle fell, I heard His Highness shed bloody tears because so many knights volunteered to protect his unconscious form and threw away their lives."
They weren't foolish enough to fail to understand Shiorin's words.
So they fell speechless.
Their resolve crumbled at the realization that the prince they must protect had vanished alone to shield them.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
Even the strait-laced Kals Yulihi, who had never cursed in his life, spat obscenities repeatedly. The other knights vented their frustration too.
It was fury directed at themselves.
Because they were inadequate, because they were weak, the prince had headed into peril alone.
Rage and self-loathing made the world seem to collapse.
Watching them, Shiorin hardened his expression.
This might earn him his daughter's deep resentment.
But he had no regrets. His daughter was at a crucial juncture now.
She had to refrain from exerting energy until the newly forged ring solidified, keeping body and mind pure. Considering how the empire had overworked her, making her fourth ring unstable, it was right not to tell her about the prince.
She'd be devastated anyway.
Perhaps enough to ruin the fourth ring she'd barely forged.
"Wait."
Then the ranger raised a single finger.
"Everyone, shut up. You're all too distracted."
At his irritable command, they all fell silent. If anyone among them could find the prince's whereabouts, it was the ranger.
And now, he was acting as if he'd noticed something.
Sniff. Sniff.
Sniffing the air and groping the ground with his hands, the ranger headed somewhere.
Suddenly, he jerked his head up.
And bolted off.
The knights followed immediately.
They pursued the trail for a long while, until night had fallen so deep that continuing the search was impossible.
The ranger stopped and examined the ground.
"Hmph."
He had paused several times midway, groping the earth, finding traces, and resuming the path.
The knights thought he'd start moving again this time too.
"What the goddamn fuuuuck!"
But the ranger didn't move. He collapsed, pounding the ground and wailing.
"I won't give up. I won't lose it."
Then he crawled like a madman.
A desperate struggle to find the trail.
"I can do it. Yorden. I can do it. Yorden. Damn it. I can!"
The knights watched the ranger with grim faces.
Hoping his frantic efforts wouldn't end in vain despair.
Then, a woman who had been lagging behind stepped forward abruptly.
It was Adelia Bayern.
"Lady Adelia, step back. You might damage the clues..."
Whoosh!
Fearing she'd interfere with the ranger's work, Kals tried to stop her—but withdrew his hand at the chilling aura.
A golden trajectory lingered vividly where his hand had been moments ago.
Kals's eyes shifted.
He saw the slender woman's back.
Gripping a sword from which golden runes dripped continuously, she advanced.
Kals raised a hand to halt the knights about to step forward.
It had been but an instant, but he had seen Adelia Bayern's eyes.
Beyond the vacant pupils, as if her soul had fled, two different lights flickered.
The fragile woman who had wept and snotted while searching for her master was gone.
All that remained was a fierce woman with eyes dried to grains of sand from endless tears.
Touch her, and she'd explode.
He had witnessed women driven mad by frenzy rampaging several times. In those moments, her usual gentle, frail demeanor vanished, replaced by a being that moved solely for blood.
Only the prince could control her then. And now, the prince wasn't here.
This wasn't a battlefield, yet her mania had flared because of that very prince.
Kals drew his sword and watched Adelia Bayern silently. If she threatened the ranger, he'd cut her down immediately.
The ranger from Ballerhard was their only hope now.
But the feared incident didn't occur.
Passing the ranger crawling after traces, she suddenly halted and crouched.
She grabbed a handful of dirt and brought it close to her face.
At a glance, it seemed she was inspecting it; at another, sniffing it.
After this inexplicable act for a long time, she abruptly flung the dirt away.
Thud.
Kicking off the ground, the woman dashed off somewhere.
As if she'd discovered something.
The ranger and knights chased after her desperately. How far did they go?
The wasteland was filled with piles of large and small rocks.
The woman stopped before one.
A heap of relatively large boulders stacked atop one another.
Big enough to hide a person.
The woman tossed her sword aside and grunted, trying to push the rock.
Kals and the knights rushed to help her.
Thud.
A boulder fell.
Thud.
Another rolled far away.
The grave-like rock pile was dismantled.
And beneath it, someone's back appeared.
A back torn and shredded to rags, bright red with blood, dotted with fragments of green cloth like stains.
"Ah!"
Kals shoved the rocks away with trembling hands.
Soon, the rocks were fully cleared, revealing a blood-soaked figure.
Covered in a ragged green cloak, clutching something.
It was someone they all knew well—the leader of the mute elf swordsmen.
Crunch.
Adelia Bayern roughly tore away the rag-like elf.
Then, what lay beneath came into view.
The one they had desperately sought.
Drenched in blood, breathing faintly as if it might stop any moment—yet even in that state, gripping his sword tightly—the 1st Prince was there.
"Y-Your Highness!"
Adelia Bayern clutched her cheeks and screamed.
The knights rushed in and lifted the prince.
Drip. Drip.
Blood poured down.
The prince hung limp, unmoving.
The ranger fired a signal flare from his pouch into the sky.
Whoosh! Boom!
With a loud noise, fireworks bloomed in the dark night sky.
Flap. Flap.
Wingbeats sounded from somewhere.
Toot!
The ranger pulled a horn from his bosom and blew it relentlessly.
And soon, a massive wyvern appeared.
"Huh?"
The wyvern's rider's eyes widened at the sight of the prince, whose complexion was deathly pale.
"No time to explain! Get His Highness to the palace now!"
As soon as the wyvern landed, Kals loaded the 1st Prince aboard. He bound the elf to the saddle as well. Then he unwrapped his cloak and wrapped it in multiple layers.
Lest his body temperature drop.
"Go!"
"See you at the palace!"
Rider Jin Katrin said that and immediately flew toward the capital.
Swoosh.
A woman dashed after the soaring wyvern. The ranger and knights followed behind.
"H-His Highness!"
By the time they arrived, the 1st Prince had already received emergency treatment.
"His Majesty ordered to bring you in immediately upon arrival."
The Royal Knight guarding the prince's bedchamber stepped aside for them.
They flung open the door and entered the prince's bedroom.
Several people were gathered inside.
The king with a grim face, the queen filled with worry, the 2nd Prince with head bowed.
And in the center, the prince lay on the bed like a corpse, his face utterly bloodless.
Even as his mother stroked his hand, he showed no reaction, covered in white cloth, utterly still.
Seeing this, Kals collapsed to his haunches.
"Y-Your Highness..."
He crawled on all fours toward the bed.
"Your Highness!"
The ranger and knights clustered around the bed, weeping.
"Your Highness! Your Highness!"
Unable to string words together, they kept calling for the prince,
"Ah, shut up."
A faint voice came, so weak it could be missed if ignored.
"Huh? Huh?"
The stunned knights raised their heads.
The bloodless-faced prince moved only his eyes to look at them.
"Y-Your Highness! Are you alright?!"
Kals clung to him with a grotesque expression midway between laughter and tears, shouting.
"Does this look alright to you?"
The knights sighed in relief at the prince's grumpy words even on the brink of death.
Since he could speak, he must be okay. Now that tension eased, they asked for details.
"What in the world happened..."
At that, the prince's lips twitched slightly.
"Breaking off the engagement."