Chapter 213
Chapter 213
-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 213
>Chapter Title: The 31st Horse Overturns the Game Board
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
Death.
To those without faith, it was a value that approached solely emphasizing its chill.
Bren, the chief knight of the Beregeon Knights, was now endlessly savoring that value called death.
A bizarre sensation like a blade had slipped under his tongue.
‘I’m… I’m gonna die.’
He predicted that if he showed even the slightest suspicious behavior here, or spoke in a dubious tone, he would definitely die.
That prediction was based on rational grounds he had gathered quite some time ago.
It was when he had stopped by the Adelrin Court Research Institute after finishing the cartel subjugation.
- So, you’re saying it’s not broken?
- Yes, not at all. What made you think the measuring device was malfunctioning in the first place, Sir Bren?
- Isn’t it obvious? Do you think it makes sense for a transferee to have combat power over 100 million? Transferees are basically like newborns born on the same day. So, if a guy with a thick black beard shows up among kids who’ve just started toddling, it’s natural to think something’s off!
The guy who had pushed through the toddling kids with a thick black beard was Kang Seol.
The researcher tilted his head and said,
- The equipment is fine. The measuring device is functioning normally and collected the data perfectly.
- That means…
- If there was anything strange, it wouldn’t be the measuring device’s problem, but that precocious kid with the thick black beard, right?
- …What I’m saying is, is a combat power over 100 million even possible?
- Was he ridiculously weak?
- No, he was strong.
- How strong?
At that question, Bren briefly recalled Kang Seol’s image bouncing around the city energetically.
- A little… no, a lot?
- Pardon?
- He was strong. It was the first time I’d seen a transferee that strong. But I can’t believe it’s really 100 million combat power…
- Haha! I’ve explained it clearly, but you still don’t believe me. There’s nothing I can do.
- …No, I was wrong. I admit such a transferee really exists.
The researcher grinned.
- All discoveries start by shattering preconceptions. This must be one of them.
- Then… what should I, Bren, do if I encounter such a transferee again?
- Didn’t you say you fought alongside him? What’s there to worry about…
- I mean, if I end up facing him as an enemy.
- Sir Bren, do you know the legend about shooting stars?
Bren snorted.
- The one where if you make a wish on a shooting star, it comes true? Why bring that up now? Are you treating me like a child?
- When you meet him, just think of it as seeing a shooting star.
- …Why?
- Because if it falls on your head, you die. It’s a meteor, after all. And you have to make a wish too.
- …A wish?
The researcher scratched his head and replied,
- If you desperately wish to be spared, wouldn’t he grant it?
In that sense, Bren’s current situation was completely tangled.
‘That guy! I can tell!’
He hadn’t seen him clearly, but that dark energy somehow felt familiar.
‘Why of all places did that guy come to me!’
Black energy wafting up from the intruder.
The image of the cartel’s face shattered by that energy kept flickering in Bren’s vision.
A saying from his mother when he was young came to mind as death loomed.
- Bren, no matter what, your life is the most valuable thing. Honor and faith come second?
- Madam, what do you mean! Bren will follow his father and—
- Got it? Don’t make the mistake of throwing your life away like fools.
It was the words Bren’s late mother, Charlotte, had left for her son.
Suddenly recalling his mother’s words, Bren’s chest burned.
‘I have to live! Surviving is what makes you strong!’
In that instant, Bren desperately wracked his brain for wisdom.
He had to somehow prevent this man’s rash actions.
“Sir Bren? Did you notice anything suspicious?”
“Ah! N-No…”
“It must’ve been a mountain beast.”
“That’s right, haha…”
Kang Seol’s right arm, still wafting black energy.
‘Damn! Isn’t this enough?’
If no one was around, Bren would have begged for his life outright.
But with eyes watching everywhere now, he took another approach.
“Hey… doesn’t it feel like our sector’s guards are too densely packed?”
“Pardon?”
Sss…
Kang Seol’s black energy subsided a bit.
‘This is it!’
Calming his pounding heart, Bren walked toward his men.
“Our assigned sector isn’t that wide, and this is overly inefficient, isn’t it?”
“With the knight orders mobilized en masse, it’s unavoidable. Weren’t you the most enthusiastic, Sir Bren?”
“No, I wasn’t! I never was!”
“…Pardon?”
“Ahem… Would an intruder be foolish enough to come here? To the depths where there are more guards than trees.”
“True, they’d probably flee in fright at this setup.”
“Exactly! That’s why I, Bren, am worried about our men’s stamina drain.”
“We’re fine.”
“You’re not!”
Bren ranted passionately.
“Not just for future missions, but this way of executing duties is completely impractical. In a situation where enemies could strike anytime, wearing down your subordinates’ stamina isn’t what a fine commander does. I, Bren, aspire to be a fine commander, so from now on, we’ll split patrols into three shifts. The rest will rest at the outpost we set up above.”
“S-Sir Bren…”
“Three shifts…”
“To think you care about us this much… Sniff…”
With teary voices, the knights gazed at Bren with moved eyes.
“Now, gather up so I can divide you into groups.”
“But the patrols…”
“Hey! Are you implying even dividing groups won’t be fair? I said gather everyone! Hurry!”
At Bren’s words, the local patrol forces briefly scattered.
“Then… that…”
Bren glanced toward where Kang Seol had been, confirmed he and his group were gone, and exhaled.
“Phew…”
* * *
[You are now wandering the Bragland Mountains. Amid the constantly shifting patrol movements, which direction will you go?]
1. Toward the ridge visible to the right.
2. Toward the distant cliff.
……
“Huff… huff…”
Moving without a trace required considerable stamina.
Especially without mounts, Chadorph, who had been injured before, and the stamina-weak Princess Liona were soon gasping as if on the verge of collapse.
‘Stopping is the most dangerous.’
Kang Seol kept piercing the tightening security, finding paths.
Right.
“Any news yet?”
“If there was, there’d be chaos by now.”
Right again.
“What an idiotic plan, this too.”
“Orders are orders. Nothing we can do.”
Left this time.
“Isn’t it this way?”
“Doesn’t seem like it today.”
Kang Seol’s judgments had been spot-on so far. But facing the central pass in the mountains’ heart, trouble arose once more.
Coo-coo-rr…
A bird cried out just as Kang Seol passed by.
“Hm?”
A patrolman’s eyes met Kang Seol’s. The patrolman’s pupils dilated unmistakably.
“He—”
Thwack-!
Sss…
Kang Seol chopped the back of the patrolman’s neck with his hand, knocking him out, and carefully lowered his falling body.
Then he shot the bird that had noisily cried right when Kang Seol passed.
Coo-coo-rr…
The bird just stared piercingly at Kang Seol. His heart softened at the sight, and he sighed.
“Sigh…”
The situation was bad.
‘Not helping, just hindering.’
He was starting to resent the innocent creature for no reason.
‘Hm? But this bird…’
It resembled the one he’d met in the Nogurs Mountains.
‘No way it followed me all the way here?’
Coo… guuuk…
And the other birds too.
‘What’s this? This feeling?’
Thump…
The heartbeat he’d felt passing through the smuggling route returned.
Flutter-flutter-crash…
The birds flew off the trees in an instant.
‘…Looks like it wasn’t my imagination.’
Something ominous.
But not something to dwell on deeply here.
Kang Seol soon reached the Bragland central pass, the spot he’d worried about most.
- Better stop.
‘…I felt it too.’
- Mages… Two wavelengths ahead. One suppresses magic power use, the other detects magic outside registered types.
‘Can they use both at once?’
- It’s about sequencing the array properly. But there’s a weakness.
For times like this, no summon was better than Ur.
‘Weakness?’
- Magic relying on such arrays trips over its own feet if the flow’s disrupted even slightly. I’ll alter the array to make their detection magic clash with the suppression magic.
Wide-area jamming.
‘Won’t they notice?’
- They won’t. The magic flow stays the same. They’ll think they’re sending magic properly for a while. Any leaked magic power is mine. But…
Ur said gravely,
- It’s unnatural flow, so if they realize magic manipulation’s involved, intrusion’s almost certain. Don’t get caught if possible. You’ll be in dire straits.
Nod.
[The sealed Ur’s path of magic activates.]
[Interpreting unidentified magic.]
[Interpreting magic…]
[Magic interpretation complete.]
The magic manipulation now proceeded smoothly.
- Done.
Sss…
Kang Seol and his group moved along the pass’s edge, in the darkest spot.
Sss…
One of the mages guarding the pass spoke.
“Hm?”
“What?”
“Nah, false alarm.”
“Good.”
Security was looser than before.
A gap born from overconfidence in their traps.
“No way an intruder fools security this tight.”
“They’re not already inside, are they?”
“Impossible.”
“Well… transferees are packed behind us anyway, so we’re safe.”
“Chaos this morning from those transferee brats throwing tantrums to be on the front lines…”
“Yeah, why demand front-line spots…”
Flutter-flutter-flutter-!
“Wh-What?!”
“Birds?”
Birds flushed from the trees.
The sudden bird reaction made the mages frown.
“Isn’t this magic exposure?”
“No way, we set it not to harm lifeforms.”
“Why are the birds suddenly… Hm?”
“What?”
“…We need to tell Sir Hainkel.”
“What?”
“Now!”
- Caught. Magic took, but… detection sweep soon. Break through.
At Ur’s words, Kang Seol dashed with his group.
Soon, lights flared in all outposts, shouts filling the air.
“Intruders! They’re already here!”
“It’s the princess! Princess Liona’s crossing the mountains!”
“Search! Comb every inch nearby!”
Troops poured out.
Even the front lines they’d passed reacted.
“Pull back the perimeter! Reports say they’re already inside!”
“This area’s breached!”
Kang Seol’s group grew urgent.
“Huff… huff…”
“Princess! Run now!”
“Huuuh…”
“Urgh… urgh…”
Flare spells lit up behind, searching for them.
Fwoooosh…
Bang!
Bang!
“Find them! They’re here somewhere!”
“Knight orders incoming! Just pinpoint locations!”
Behind was trouble, but ahead worse.
“Waaaaah!”
“They’re coming this way!”
“Grab ’em! If we catch ’em here, it’s ours!”
“Handle before knight orders arrive!”
“Can’t see shit! You baggage brats, get out!”
“What?”
Like starving hyenas.
“There! There, I found ’em!”
Someone’s shout.
The spotter was wise—shouting but not advancing.
If he had, Kang Seol might’ve accidentally killed him to silence him.
Kang Seol narrowed his eyes.
“There!”
“Thereeee! Block ahead—no escape!”
Chadorph told Liona,
“Princess! The count and I will hold here! Crow, escort the princess…”
“No. You two can’t change this.”
“Then we just stand by?!”
“Wait… just give me a moment.”
A battlefield-like chaos.
Karuna and Karen were already summoned, covering them.
Surrounding noise cut like tinnitus, voices drifting in.
“Wh-who said…! Leave these to us…”
“Nonsense! …Do it!”
“Argh! What?! Don’t shoot!”
All enslaved by desire.
Hyenas arguing ownership before a lion.
‘This is it.’
The path to find the oath without clashing with transferees ended here.
Now, to advance, take lives.
The world’s good wasn’t straight. Like a child’s crooked lines, they crawled, overlapped. Sometimes, you had to wade through blood.
Was now the moment to choose?
‘Kill them all, path opens. But…’
Many transferees die by his hand.
Right?
Kang Seol wasn’t purely good, nor evil.
Against villains, different. But not thick-skinned enough to slaughter hundreds of ordinary folk.
At least, until now.
No guarantee ahead. Crossing this line, no return.
“Done now.”
Mid-escape, as Kang Seol pondered, Liona spoke. He glanced back while running ahead.
“You all did your best for my lacking self. That’s… enough.”
“Princess!”
“Not yet! Too early to give up!”
Liona smiled at her foolish retainers.
“Not giving up. Just accepting results after best effort.”
“What do you…”
“Those mad ones target only me. So you all…”
Thump…
Kang Seol’s heart raced again.
Noticing his agitation, Ur brought somewhat good news.
- Can temporarily crush spatial magic. Escape in interim shakes mage pursuit.
Kang Seol shook his head.
‘Impossible, knights and transferees everywhere.’
- Then fly skyward or kill all. Want that? If so…
“Fly… skyward…”
Kreeuk… kruruuk…
Kang Seol eyed the birds—the cause of their detection—flying.
Thump… thump…
“Yeah, thought it was illness or something.”
- What?
“I’d rather die!”
“Hurry! Net hasn’t closed—maybe just you all…”
Kang Seol cut off excited, flushed Liona.
“Liona.”
“…Yes?”
“One chance.”
“What? Not now! If not now, even you all…”
“Get on.”
“Wh-What… uh…”
Kang Seol piggybacked Liona, speeding up the group.
“Grab ’em!”
“Almost caught up!”
“Corner ’em!”
“Bullshit! Friendly fire risk! Keep distance!”
As desire-mad ones charged.
Krururuk-!
From birds, clouds, something emerged.
Meteor-like object.
“Wh-What’s that?!”
“…Griffin?”
Absolutely not a griffin.
Unlike griffins. Far larger, sturdier wings first. Bird body, not lion. Crucially, flames flickered near beak.
Fwoosh…
Flames rose from bird’s mouth.
“D-Dodgeeee!”
Kwaaaaa-!
Flame streak across mountains.
Fwoooosh…
Like declaring no crossing the line.
Kang Seol yelled at the approaching bizarre bird.
“Ku-PAAAA! This way!”
Kreeeeeeek!
Thump…
Kang Seol’s heart throbbed because his bond with Kupaa sharpened as it neared.
“It’s you!”
[Ally ‘Corpse Vulture Kupaa’ appears in this adventure.]
[Ally ‘Corpse Vulture Kupaa’ joins as your ally in this adventure.]
Kang Seol’s friend, returned with doubled wings, beak, size since parting.
“Get on Kupaa!”
“I-Is that Kupaa?”
“How…”
Kwaaaaang-!
“Grraaah!”
“Block!”
“Magic!”
Kupaa cleverly kicked up dust to blind eyes.
- Hmph! Not so!
Paaaaang-!
Ur’s prepared wide-area magic seal.
“M-Magic scattering!”
“Shoot! Bows even!”
Fwissssh!
Slaaaash!
Karuna’s black wave slashed trailing projectiles.
“Now!”
Kreeeeeeek!
Kupaa, Kiriga’s true legacy, opened the sky path for Kang Seol.
Whoooosh…
Massive wingbeats kicked up dust. All in a flash.