Chapter 261
Chapter 261
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 261
Chapter Title: 73. Blossoming in Turbulent Times (7)
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Among the forces charging from all directions—east, west, south, and north—the first to catch my eye were those coming from the east. They were the first to arrive.
The dust clouds raised by the others still hung far across the plains, but they alone had nearly reached the fortress.
And among them, the knight at the forefront had broken from the formation alone and was already right in front of me.
Tang.
Without slowing the horse's gallop, the knight kicked off the stirrup and leaped into the air.
Boom. Crunch.
After the heavy landing thud unique to a knight clad in full plate armor came the screech of iron boots scraping the ground.
From the billowing cloud of dirt, the knight raised the visor of her helmet.
A face caked in dust from racing across the wasteland, black eyes sparkling like starlight.
It was Arwen.
Arwen gave a small bow as our eyes met.
There were no lengthy greetings of reunion, no explanations for arriving far earlier than expected. Not even a word about the standoff between me and the elves before the fortress.
She simply stood by my side and quietly raised her aura.
How strange.
Just one more sword added. With Arwen lending her strength, the monstrous Sigryn wouldn't become any easier to handle.
The moment I felt her presence, my mind eased.
My previously sharp-only aura softened noticeably, and my nervously pounding heart steadied to the point where it was visible.
It felt like we were finally complete.
Gripping my main sword tightly, I looked at Sigryn.
Unconsciously, I frowned.
Sigryn was gazing at me with clear eyes.
The mad gleam blooming at the corners of her eyes made my hair stand on end.
"Your Highness is one of the few I've seen with such incredible retainers."
She turned her head.
There at the end were my knights: Ilai, Adelia, Kals, the numerous knights and rangers standing behind me, and Vincent.
"The Lord of Winter Castle, right? That old knight back then, and these people too."
Her gaze, sweeping over them, settled ahead of Arwen.
"And her too."
Licking her pomegranate-red lips, she turned back to me.
The ominous gleam flickering deep in her pupils began to overflow outward.
"Such a brilliantly shining soul."
Vitality filled Sigryn's previously vacant, soulless face.
"You don't mean..."
"She's probably the brightest star among Your Highness's stars."
Her eyes curved like a drawn crescent.
The nape of my neck stiffened. My hot heart cooled in an instant.
"Sigryn!"
When I snapped to, I was already shouting fiercely and moving.
I gripped my sword with force. Lightning gathered at the tip as I stepped forward.
My eyes tracked Arwen.
A green shadow sprang out right in front of her.
A silver trajectory surged upward.
Without a moment's hesitation, I swung my sword down at the space between Arwen and the green shadow.
Before my sword's arc was complete, I reached out with my other hand.
The heavy feel of metal touched my fingertips.
No time to think. Instinctively, I yanked the metal lump—Arwen—toward me.
Pulled into my embrace, she twisted her body and thrust her sword through the gap under my arm.
Boom! Boom!
Two deafening explosions tore at my ears.
In my haste, I hadn't fully drawn my energy, and facing the monstrous elder high elf's strikes head-on turned my insides.
With my blurry vision, I raised my head to track Sigryn.
Dust filled the air everywhere.
With my sight already hazy, the rising dust left only Arwen, leaning against me, visible.
I checked her pale face.
Her right hand's iron gauntlet had burst open at the palms. Her hands were drenched in blood. From wrist to shoulder, the iron armor was crushed flat, useless.
Frowning deeply, she hacked up a mouthful of blood.
"Arw..."
"Your Highness."
With a pale but steadfast face as always, she called to me.
"The enemy hasn't retreated yet."
"What?"
"Let me go now."
Before I could reply, Arwen shoved me away with force.
She staggered once but stood straight as usual, tossing aside the torn gauntlet and ripping off the now-useless wrist, elbow, and shoulder guards.
The already rag-like armor pieces clattered to the ground.
Bloody bare skin was revealed.
Hideous wounds that made anyone grimace on sight, but she paid them no mind.
As if she felt no pain, she simply raised her sword.
But there was a small stain on the sword's tip.
Barely noticeable if ignored—a few drops, but definitely blood.
Before I could realize whose blood it was, she stomped fiercely and launched herself.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Beyond the unsettled dust, a fierce battle already raged.
Through the hazy view, pale sword gleams and golden flashes twinkled.
It was Ilai's and Adelia's auras.
Soon joined by Arwen's sword light and aura.
Ssssh.
Overhead came the sound of rangers' crossbow bolts ripping the sky.
I stepped forward belatedly to join the fight.
Or tried to.
But I couldn't budge a single step.
Far from drawing mana, all I could manage was forcing strength into my buckling knees.
In that instant, I realized it.
That Sigryn had toyed with me from the start.
Targeting Arwen and deliberately showing me killing intent so I could block the fatal strike—it was merely a ploy to neutralize me easily.
What she truly desired was for me to remain a mere spectator.
Standing there dumbly, watching my beloved ones die, finally crumbling—that had to be the finale of this play she'd schemed over years.
It was how a twisted elder high elf savored her feast, the tragic end met by countless heroes born before.
I gritted my teeth and drew my energy.
But my current power wasn't enough to dispel the energy a millennium-old elder high elf had deliberately infiltrated.
Panting roughly, I stimulated my frozen mana heart.
My eyes watched a sudden sharp wind sweep away the dust clouds, finally baring the battlefield's face.
Ilai endlessly chanting his verse while slashing down.
Adelia, cloaked in brilliant sword ki, smashing downward.
Arwen joining late, unleashing a meteor-shower spectacle.
Fierce strikes that would shred ordinary foes in seconds.
But Sigryn was no ordinary being.
Born a hero of the mistletoe clan with heroic stature, she'd lived ages and become a monstrous existence transcending even that.
Before this monster—whose power even a dragon slayer who'd felled a true dragon four centuries ago couldn't guarantee victory—the silver lions' strikes scattered far too easily.
Ilai rolled across the ground. Adelia spat blood and flew back. Arwen turned blood-soaked in an instant.
But none retreated.
Ilai sprang up from the dirt and charged Sigryn. Adelia hurtled back in. Blood-drenched Arwen battered Sigryn with strikes.
They must have already sensed it.
How overwhelmingly strong Sigryn was, how their lifelong-honed swords could crumble futilely before her transcendent power.
They felt it bone-deep.
Yet their momentum hadn't dulled a whit since the battle began. Betting lives on every step, staking lifetimes on every advance—their figures seemed less desperate, more majestic.
Veteran rangers led by Yorden aided them.
Sssak.
Amid the ceaseless silver lions and Sigryn's chaos, the rangers targeted only her with astonishing precision, loosing bolts.
None of their bolts touched Sigryn's body, but it was enough to annoy her.
Even she, who'd lived far beyond transcendence, wasn't immune to arrows.
The northern knights weren't idle either.
They relentlessly hammered the sentinels' phalanx.
Former royal knights like Gerwein grouped in twos or threes, slowly toppling sentinels one by one.
Thud thud thud thud.
Right then, the kingdom's knight orders and army charging the fortress burst onto the field.
"Clear out! You'll get swept up!"
Without hesitation, they slammed into the sentinels' phalanx at full gallop.
Boom!
With a heavy crash, sentinels' bodies flew every which way.
The knight orders plunged through the shattered formation.
"Don't let a single one escape alive!"
At the fore were old knights with sword auras brimming along their blades.
Thus, the kingdom's knights utterly massacred the sentinels.
And the wicked elf's play reached its climax.
"It's never boring to watch."
A chilling voice wormed into my ear.
"Humans burning their lives to conquer despair—that's the grandest, most beautiful spectacle."
The agonized death-cries raining from all sides cut off sharp. The ceaseless weapon clashes halted abrupt.
On the stilled battlefield, all eyes turned as if by pact to one spot.
Sigryn stood at its center.
"But sadly, my taste runs to humans shattering amid vain hopes, not those who overcome hardship."
She who'd shed the mask of kindly fairy, eyes dry as desert sands.
"Like right now."
Whoosh!
A monstrous aura erupted from her body.
"Resonate your rings to resist!"
"Draw your energy to shield yourselves!"
Northern knights battle-tested against the Warlord and Branburt count family knights cried out urgently in chorus.
But Sigryn dwarfed the Warlord; before her unveiled presence, the resonance of near-novice ring knights was pathetic, ephemeral.
The aura of this millennium-lived monster, greedily clawing to greater heights, sufficed to rend souls lacking stature or karma.
Soldiers clutched throats and collapsed. Rangers gritting teeth bled from eyes, nose, ears, mouths.
Knights shuddered, groaning through bloodshot eyes.
Endure longer here, and soldiers would perish outright; tough rangers suffer soul-trauma into idiocy; knights' rings and mana hearts shatter into cripples.
And the same across the kingdom.
I gauged Sigryn's power.
Finally, I could peer into it, roughly.
"Half my lifespan wouldn't even scratch it."
I muttered despondently.
My mind tangled.
I closed my eyes quietly.
Countless thoughts swirled in my head. As many emotions bloomed and withered in my chest.
But reopening my eyes, only faint regret and faint guilt lingered.
"Vincent."
I called to Vincent atop the walls.
Even desperately resisting Sigryn's aura, he somehow heard and turned to me.
"Arwen. Adelia."
"Kals, Yorden, and..."
I named my cherished ones in turn.
I etched their faces one by one.
My knights meeting my gaze bulged their eyes.
Looking at them, I
"Thanks to you, I dreamed a pleasant dream."
simply smiled.
Probably the brightest smile I'd ever worn in life.
I turned my body.
"Y-Your Highness!"
Hearing Arwen's and Adelia's screams from behind,
Stab.
I plunged my sword into my chest.
My main blade, my other half. Straight for my heart.