Chapter 114
Chapter 114
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 114
Chapter Title: The Mad Prince's Intrusion
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Boom! Boom! KABOOM!!
"Hit them! Hit them!! Just hit them back!!"
"For Carpe!!"
"Kill all those wobbly skewer-wielding bastards!!"
"Waaaaah!!"
Clang! Thud!!
"Urk...!"
Allen, shoved back by an Imperial spearman, slammed into a pillar inside the castle and barely managed to stand.
'Strong.'
He had been clashing with what seemed to be a captain-level spear knight, but the man was stronger and more seasoned than expected.
"Damn...!! Brans!?"
As he tried to rise from the pile of fallen bodies, he spotted Brans's face among those slumped near the pillar.
No way—had he already lost his life amid the chaos of war!?
Grind!
"Revenge will be ours."
Just as he gripped his sword anew.
Someone whispered.
"He's still alive, sir."
Brans cracked open one eye and murmured.
"!!"
Startled that the man he thought dead could speak, Allen nearly took a hit from the enemy captain's spear.
"You're alive?"
"Yes. Please don't talk to me."
"No...."
He was thrilled at first, relieved, but then a bit annoyed.
Now that he looked, Brans's face was just smeared with blood—no real wounds.
He must have been playing dead the whole time.
"Where are you looking!!"
Boom!
Allen barely dodged the spear and stepped forward, thrusting his sword.
A gleam of triumph lit the enemy captain's face.
Shit—he tried to pull back, but it was too late.
A surge of holy power emanated from the spear, followed by a burst of light.
"My eyes...!"
The blinding flash stole Allen's vision, and in the pitch darkness, he felt the enemy's spear slicing through the air toward him.
"You've lost even that one eye—perfect sight for you! Die!!"
Tears of blood streamed from Allen's eyes as he closed them and steadied his mind.
Was this death?
'No way.'
He had already lost one eye long ago.
No need to panic now just because the remaining one couldn't see.
'Don't panic. Don't waver! Do you want to die like back then, Allen!!'
The time he lost his eye in the North.
Many comrades had rushed in to save him—and never returned.
Protecting him.
Allen had writhed in agony from losing one eye, forced to watch his comrades die with the other.
He had imagined this scenario before.
Stay calm!
He told himself that, but Allen felt death closing in.
'I can feel it?'
Death? No, it was the wind.
The flow of wind against his cheek, his hand.
His entire body.
As if guided by someone, Allen twisted his body sharply to the left.
Whoosh-!!
His side tore open.
Pain twisted his face, but he had dodged it.
"No, how!"
Allen seized the moment.
He clamped the spear shaft against his side and yanked hard.
"Where do you think you're—!!"
But the enemy didn't just take it. He resisted Allen's pull and raised a leg to shake him off.
"Take this! Die!!"
"What...!"
Brans, who had been playing dead, sprang up and plunged a dagger into the spear knight's side.
Stab!!
"Urk! You damn—!"
Feeling the spear shaft vibrate from the enemy's movement, Allen swung his sword.
Slash!
"Gaaah! My—my arm!!"
Allen severed the flailing arm, then thrust again.
Stab!
He felt the sensation of slicing flesh and snapping bone through his blade.
"Urk... kuh."
Thud.
As the knight collapsed in a clatter of armor, Brans rushed over, stabbed him a few more times to confirm the kill, then sighed in relief.
"Huff, huff...."
"Are you alright, sir? This one's completely dead!"
"I-I'm fine. If not for you, Brans, I'd be dead too."
Allen wiped the bloody tears from his eyes and pried them open, grimacing.
His vision gradually returned.
He saw Brans's hand and grabbed it.
He had sunk to the ground without realizing.
"Where is His Highness?"
Brans helped him up and asked, but Allen shook his head.
"I don't know. He said he was going to the queen—probably to the audience chamber."
"Then no need to worry too mu—"
It was then.
The soldiers locked in fierce combat inside the castle all froze for a moment.
Before the stunned Allen could react, Brans tackled him sideways.
Right then.
—Roooaaar!!
KABOOM!
A four-legged monster that had smashed through the castle gates roared.
"Ma-mad prince! The mad prince is here! Uwaaaah!"
It charged on all fours, swinging its sword like a beast, tearing apart everything in sight.
Everyone fled in terror, clearing a path, and it headed straight for the top of the castle, slicing down anything in its way.
Boom! KABOOM! RUMBLE!!
Carpe's mad prince vanished in an instant.
In the mad prince's frenzy, hundreds from both armies fell in moments, friend and foe alike.
"He wasn't human...."
"He even had a tail—what the hell is that?"
"Who knows...."
But the direction it charged was none other than the king's audience chamber.
Where Kallias was.
"I hope Sir Kallias is alright."
"No need to worry about him, sir. Let's worry about us first."
The war wasn't over yet.
And besides.
"His Highness is strong."
* * *
Whirl, snap.
The Returning Spear retrieved his spear shaft and sighed. Irritation clouded his face, once full of anticipation.
"Hey, Victor. Can't you fight for real already? The queen's gonna die anyway."
"That will never happen."
The Returning Spear scratched the back of his head.
A sign of frustration.
"We're gonna kill the queen and turn her into a symbolic spear. The prince too, of course. Orders were to bring back the fall of Carpe, the queen, and the mad prince's flesh."
"......"
"You know that too."
"I'm the kingdom's guardian sword. I can't stray from my path."
"Who said stray? I'm telling you to fight me properly. You frustrating bastard."
The Returning Spear slung his spear over his shoulder and glanced around.
He could faintly see the queen in the distance.
"The archbishop is almost done."
"Carpe is not weak."
The wastrel of House Jervan, was it?
Victor had shed a great burden thanks to the sudden intruding swordsman's exploits.
His goal was solely to protect the queen.
Holding off the Empire's master before him was enough.
But the Empire's beasts didn't end there.
"Right, but look—your precious Carpe-spawned son is coming to kill you all."
"......!"
"The archbishop handed that sword to the prince from the start, right? Heard he went berserk even before the grand plan kicked off. Drag this out, and we'll all die miserably."
So.
Fight properly.
KABOOM-!
"!!"
A colossal slash.
Part of the sanctuary tore apart under the attack.
Even guardian sword Victor winced at the resounding destructive power of the slash.
"Whew~ That's a madman's cut. That's Carpe's famous Mad Dragon Prince? The queen's knight is done for."
The Returning Spear touched his forehead with his hand, his lips twitching.
But soon his brow furrowed.
"What? He dodged it."
The knight guarding the queen was unscathed.
He looked dazed from the sudden attack, but he was breathing, limbs intact.
Even for a master, that beastly slash was hard to evade.
Dodging it...
'Trouble. No wonder the archbishop lost.'
Now he couldn't provoke Victor.
As he pondered helping the Mad Dragon Prince.
"Banner?"
The queen's knight suddenly pulled out a massive banner from somewhere.
An ominous holy power.
The knight slammed the banner—bearing Valterus's symbol—into the ground.
Crack!
At that moment.
"This aura...!"
"Sanctuary...!"
A sanctuary aura suddenly spread.
Whoooosh-!!
Sand and dust billowed from the queen's knight like a storm.
When they opened their eyes.
Groooan-!
"Ugh!"
"Hmm!"
An immense pressure pinned the area, making movement nearly impossible.
* * *
When the mad prince burst in, Kallias acted swiftly.
"Guh...!"
He drove his sword into the kneeling Alhamtra's throat. The man, drained of all power, couldn't resist.
【Empire's Spy】
◆ Kill the Empire's spy and save the kingdom from the path to ruin.
◆ Spies killed: 18/18
<Reward>: 「Lord's Banner」
[Acquired Lord's Banner.]
As the quest completed, the shaft's texture filled his empty hand.
He gripped the banner pole, infused it with holy power, and slammed it into the ground.
Crack!
Time was critical.
The thing was a beast beyond reason.
No different from a dragon.
"Damn it."
Had dodging the sword strike marked him?
The mad prince now saw him fully as enemy. It would hack at him with that sword until he died.
The sword in its hand was less than a foot wide but quite long.
A claymore form, its blade etched with dragon-scale patterns, as if aflame.
Long ago.
The Mad Dragon that attacked Carpe.
A sword forged from Baramut.
The Mad Dragon Sword Baramut.
"Brother!!"
I stopped the approaching queen with an outstretched hand.
"It's my brother! I can stop him. Even in that state, my voice at least...!"
"Not now."
The one who captured the Mad Dragon.
Becomes the Mad Dragon.
The prince, coveting that precedent, became the Mad Dragon.
Yet he never forgot his sister's voice; bloodlust eased it.
'Not now.'
The Mad Dragon's madness overflowed, laced with thick demonic energy.
It was in a berserk state.
The queen's voice wouldn't reach.
Even with the archbishop dead, the queen was fated to die by her brother's hand.
I had to stop it.
"Grand Duke Cloy is eroded by demonic energy right now. Combined with the Mad Dragon's madness, he's in full rampage."
"Then...!"
"If the guardian sword or other masters came, maybe."
But there was no way now.
The guardian sword was busy with the Returning Spear; the other masters tied up with the Empire's spears.
"Hoo...."
The Mad Dragon Prince's power was master-level.
Far beyond what he could handle.
The Empire's invasion should have come years later, but everything accelerated—no helping it.
Sword Pilgrim was designed with high difficulty.
Simple reason.
Swords are the most popular.
If it were the Empire or a duchy instead of Carpe, no such hardship. But what could he do.
It wasn't up to him; it had already happened.
Crack.
Kallias slammed the Lord's Banner into the ground and drew his sword.
Tyrant's Sword - Karakto.
A pity, but this was the cost to face the Mad Dragon.
Thud-!
The Tyrant's Sword pulsed.
Sand rippled outward like waves with each beat.
Whoooosh-!!
A storm raged.
Kallias's eyes turned silver, his hair rising strand by strand.
"Kneel. This is my sanctuary."
Groooan-!!
KABOOOOOM!!
Suddenly, the area darkened as if swallowed, a powerful gravity field unfolding.
"Grk!"
It was no mere flinch.
Sanctuary from the Lord's Banner.
Tyrant's Sword - Karakto.
A gravity befitting the true Tyrant.
Kallias advanced slowly, Tyrant's Sword in hand.
Impossibly light steps.
But only for him.
In the sanctuary he unleashed.
All would kneel.
Even near-master level made no difference.
'Time is short.'
Cracks already marred the Tyrant's Sword.
Forcing up his spirit rank via the Lord's Banner.
The sword's destruction was inevitable.
So before then.
'End it.'
Kallias pulled out Spirit Stones and a reverse scale.
Two Spirit Stones.
One reverse scale.
And a magic core, clutched in one hand.
Crack!
With the sound, the Spirit Stones and magic core shattered; the reverse scale morphed into a small orb.
Without hesitation, Kallias swallowed it and raised his sword.
"Be crushed."
Groooaaaan!
Thud!!
The Mad Dragon's knees buckled.