Chapter 104
Chapter 104
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: The Beast's Submission
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“Urgh…….”
Blyzan knelt obediently before Arthur on both knees.
Arthur lifted his chin with his hand. Brown tears streamed down from the corners of his eyes.
Blood tears, no doubt.
His face showed a mix of terror and joyful relief, as if he had been waiting forever for this moment.
Arthur wore a complicated expression.
“Sorry I’m late.”
“Ugh…….”
Blyzan’s ferocious aura vanished completely, and he collapsed sideways with a thud.
The protruding bones from his fists receded as his massively enlarged body returned to normal.
The gruesome wounds hidden beneath his muscles were now revealed.
“Mm…….”
Arthur pulled a potion made by Aild from his bosom and sprinkled it over him.
But the wounds were so deep that the effect was minimal.
“Khan!”
At Arthur’s call, Khan came running.
Arthur loaded Blyzan onto Khan and headed toward Alteon.
Alteon was staring at the sky, spitting up blood.
Arthur quickly sprinkled the last potion onto the wound on his chest.
The gaping injury slowly began to heal.
Seeing color return to Alteon’s pale face suggested he had passed the worst.
“Millerph is on his way from Norshey Castle, so just hold on a bit longer.”
“Hy, Brother…… how is he……?”
“He’s fine too.”
“Thank you…….”
Alteon squeezed his eyes shut, tears flowing.
The other Horcamun tribesmen around them sighed in relief at Arthur’s words and began to sob.
Arthur instructed them to regroup and return to Norshey Territory.
While they prepared, he mounted Khan and looked around.
In the distance, he spotted Count Antar, Golrba, and the Sten Knight Order watching him.
He locked eyes with Count Antar once before surveying the battlefield.
Among the Horcamun corpses lay bodies in black robes, their limbs torn off as if mauled by monsters—gruesome beyond words.
“Hmm…….”
As Arthur’s gaze deepened while looking at Blyzan, someone shouted.
“My lord!”
Arthur turned his head.
In the distance, a group approached through a cloud of dust.
‘No way?’
It might be the Nanshar Empire’s extermination squad.
Gathering mana in his palm, ready to summon his gun at any moment, he stared piercingly ahead.
Through the darkness, he made out the armor of the leader charging forward.
Red armor!
A gold dragon emblem on the breastplate!
And a skull-shaped helmet.
It was Skevin.
Helm and Keda followed behind.
They must have tracked down Keda’s group and pursued the Nanshar Empire’s trail.
“Good to see you’re safe.”
***
“Faster!”
Arthur urged Khan to run even quicker.
Each time, Khan snorted powerfully in response and charged ahead with vigor.
He had planned to move with the Horcamun tribe, but Blyzan’s condition had worsened dramatically.
So he entrusted them to Skevin and headed for Norshey Castle.
As Blyzan’s face turned as white as a sheet and his breathing grew faint, Arthur’s anxiety mounted.
“Cough!”
Suddenly, Blyzan vomited blood and writhed in pain.
“Damn it!”
Arthur halted Khan and checked Blyzan’s condition.
The bite wounds were festering, refusing to stop bleeding.
“This is maddening.”
Arthur tightly bound the bleeding areas with leather straps and yanked Khan’s mane.
“Hurry!”
At that moment.
Skevin had reorganized the Horcamun tribe and called a staff meeting.
“What should we do?”
Helm spoke first.
“There are too many wounded. But we can’t abandon Shangrni Territory. So how about just the three of us go?”
Keda nodded and added,
“It might sound absurd, but with Sir Helm here, it’s possible. For the Horcamun, it’d be better time-wise and for the wounded to take Shangrni and treat them there than return to Norshey Castle.”
“What if Nanshar’s forces show up while we’re fighting them?”
“We can detect them to a certain distance with spirit magic.”
“To respond immediately, we should move together. Then…….”
A glint appeared in Skevin’s eyes.
Moments later, Skevin, Helm, and Keda set off toward Shangrni Territory.
The Horcamun tribe followed soon after.
Supporting the wounded or carrying them on stretchers, they looked pitiful and ragged—not like knights or warriors, but like territory folk ambushed by bandits.
***
“Quiet today too.”
“Yeah.”
“Hey, what’s that?”
A man on the watchtower gestured urgently for his comrade below to come up quick while scanning the surroundings.
The sentry rushed up and looked where he pointed.
Three men on horseback were charging toward them.
But the lead horse looked oddly off.
“What is it?”
“Their armor’s all different. Mercenaries?”
“Sound the alert.”
The man struck the bell beside him hard.
Dong! Dong! Dong-!
The emergency bell rang, and the castle buzzed with activity.
Count Daban, in his office, rushed to the watchtower with Zack, the knight order captain.
“What’s going on?”
Daban peered toward the territory.
Three knights on horseback halted before the castle.
Then the man in red armor on the massive steed bellowed,
“We bring a message from Count Arthur!”
“Count Arthur? Who’s that?”
Daban tilted his head and glanced at Zack.
Zack looked equally baffled.
“Guess they don’t know him.”
Helm drew the bow from his back and nocked an arrow at the two.
Twang!
The arrow shot forth like lightning.
“My lord!”
Zack swiftly tackled Daban, embracing him as they dove aside.
Boom!
The arrow embedded in the wall.
Zack slowly raised his head to inspect it.
A small flag fluttered from the shaft.
“What?”
Daban peeked out from under his arms covering his head and looked at the arrow.
A gold dragon crest adorned the tiny flag.
‘Gold dragon……!’
Lightning flashed in his mind.
“The Julius Count Family!”
Daban’s eyes widened as he sprang up.
Zack jumped to his feet too, glaring at the mysterious men.
The Phoenix Knight Order traditionally wore deep blue armor. Theirs varied, and the red-armored one’s helmet evoked a skull.
Now he noticed the gold dragon emblem on his breastplate.
So the rumors of him becoming a devil worshipper were true.
“Give the order!”
“Send the knight order out now to deal with them……!”
Daban’s face suddenly hardened.
The man beside the red armor drew his bowstring again. A deep crimson aura rose from it.
“That’s…….”
Daban’s eyes shook violently, and Zack gasped in shock.
“Bow Master!”
There was only one Bow Master in the Oscar Empire!
Helm Del, the guardian deity of the Kandara Count Family.
Now he saw the embedded arrow and crossbow emblem on the man’s armor—symbols of the Kandara Count Family.
“How…….”
Zack was utterly bewildered.
Meanwhile, Daban pondered why a Julius knight and Kandara’s guardian were together, and who the third was.
Devil worshippers all shared black hair!
The two families must have allied.
But the third had dark brown hair.
His unfamiliar armor exuded an extraordinary aura.
Better not to act rashly.
“Let’s hear them out first.”
“Understood.”
Zack shouted toward Skevin.
“Deliver the message!”
Skevin replied immediately.
“Count Arthur wishes Count Daban to join the Julius Count Family!”
“What?”
Daban bellowed, eyes bulging.
“I won’t ally with devil worshippers!”
“It’s the emperor’s frame-up!”
“What? Spouting such nonsense!”
Daban scowled and told Zack,
“Call the archer unit.”
Moments later.
Archers lined the walls.
“All aim!”
The archers drew bows on the three.
As Daban opened his mouth to shout at Skevin again, a group appeared in the distance.
“What’s that now?”
Zack eyed the Horcamun and grimaced.
“They look like territory folk who ran into bandits.”
“Useless lot.”
Daban shook his head disdainfully and yelled at Skevin.
“I give you one minute! Get lost.”
“Not the type to resolve with words.”
As Skevin reached for his sword, Keda stepped forward.
“Leave this to me.”
“……!”
Skevin looked at Keda.
Keda grinned and added,
“No need for top brass on this, right?”
Seeing his confident eyes, Skevin quietly stepped back.
Keda scanned the drawn archers, shifted to Count Daban, and roared,
“The moment you loose those strings, you’ll regret it!”
“Think I’ll cower to empty threats!”
Daban snapped and ordered instantly.
“Fire!”
Twangtwangtwangtwangtwangtwang-!
Countless arrows sliced the sky.
“I warned you.”
Keda’s face hardened as he swept his arms in a circle. Wind stirred around him, forming a small whirlwind before them.
“Great Parsia…… save us from our enemies’ assault!”
He thrust his open palms forward.
Flash!
The whirlwind rose into the sky, growing massive.
The arrows lost momentum in the fierce winds, then whipped back toward the archers like lightning.
Boomboomboomboomboom!
“Gah!”
“Argh!”
The archers were struck by their own arrows and tumbled from the walls.
“Wh-what!”
Daban’s eyes bulged, and Zack paled, stammering.
“A, a spirit……mage…….”
“……!”
The Nanshar Empire flashed in his mind.
That armor resembled Nanshar spirit mages’.
‘No way…….’
They must have sought Nanshar’s aid against the emperor.
The puzzle pieces fit.
Their victory over Yarve Count in the territory war was thanks to Nanshar’s intervention.
Dealing with the Julius Count Family wouldn’t end it.
He had to inform the emperor, but no way came to mind.
“Damn! What now?”
Daban paced anxiously, glancing at Zack.
His face showed no fighting spirit, just despair.
Yet the enemy seemed ready to charge with just three.
A Bow Master, spirit mage, and the black-armored one—all elite.
The power gap was clear.
No battle needed; the outcome was set.
“Goddamn it…….”
Daban dropped his head and weakly ordered Zack.
“Open the gates.”
***
“How is he?”
Arthur gazed gravely at Millerph.
“Hm.”
Millerph dismissed his spell.
Upon arriving at Norshey Castle and finishing Dark’s treatment, Arthur had burst in carrying Blyzan on his back.
He recognized at once that Blyzan’s wounds tied to the Nanshar Empire’s awakening agent.
He threw every method at his disposal into treating him.
Wiping sweat from his brow, he met Arthur’s eyes.
“He’s passed the critical point.”
“Phew-.”
Arthur exhaled in relief.
“But he’s not out of danger.”
“You just said he passed it?”
As Arthur frowned puzzled, Millerph placed a hand on Blyzan’s palm.
“See this.”
Chanting runes, he laid his hand on.
A murky light emerged from Blyzan’s palm.
Like colors muddled together.
“Is this the light of temperament?”
“Exactly. This is the Beastly Temperament.”
“Beastly Temperament?”
“It appeared a century ago, then the lineage was wiped out. Blyzan seems to be their descendant.”
“Why were they exterminated?”
“Their ferocity. Beast Mode grows stronger, but so does the murderous urge. Eventually, it consumes them, turning them into killers.”
“Hmm…….”
Arthur recalled meeting Blyzan.
A little later, and he’d have been devoured by it.
With a heavy expression, Arthur asked,
“Can’t it be stopped?”
“As you know, with Blyzan’s skill plus murderous urge, even a Sword Master would struggle.”
“Hmm…….”
As Arthur’s face hardened, Millerph continued gravely.
“And there’s something you must know. The one who exterminated them was Lord Teheran.”
“What?”
Arthur’s face twisted.
“He offset their Beast Mode with Tyrant’s Temperament and slew them all. From what I’ve seen of Blyzan, he doesn’t know he inherited it or that his family was wiped out. But if he learns…… problems are certain.”
Millerph’s eyes gleamed coldly.
Arthur glanced at Blyzan briefly, then turned away.
“Don’t think nonsense. Save him, no matter what.”