The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 217

“Araelle, you say? She escaped.”

Hatir was dumbfounded by Sion Etar’s words.

“Escaped? Even with so many people there?”

“Yes. Though she was severely injured, so it’s unlikely she’ll survive. But she truly lived up to her reputation.”

“Lived up to her reputation?”

“Half of the Council of Elders died by her hand.”

“Or did you kill them in the chaos?”

Azadin interjected between Sion Etar and Hatir’s conversation.

“You seem quite relaxed for someone who took an arrow, Azadin?”

Sion Etar threw a dagger at Azadin.

Azadin, whose arms were already broken, couldn’t dodge, but Grimslaw’s club danced and deflected the incoming dagger.

“Hmm? A Nether artifact? Ugh.”

Sion Etar, who was approaching to kill Azadin, frowned at the dark energy coiling around his ankles. The dark energy flowing from Aldis’s body was spread across the ground like a mist. Contact with it sent shivers down his spine.

“Good heavens. Aldis… is dead.”

Sion Etar frowned as he confirmed Aldis’s condition.

“Aldis is dead, half of the Council of Elders are dead, and countless members of their clans are dead. Shouldn’t someone take responsibility for this series of events? Our father?”

Sion Etar’s eyes blazed. The murderous intent in his gaze towards Hatir made it clear who Sion thought was responsible.

‘That insolent brat!’

Hatir was enraged by Sion Etar’s audacity, who was now revealing his true colors now that Hatir was weakened, but with his two trusted confidants and weapons, Kazas and Aldis, gone, he had no way to resist.

“You foolish boy! Azadin has already made a move for the throne. This is not the time! Besides, the current Aldis is…”

“Yes. I understand perfectly. Thank you for your concern, but… I’ll take care of things from here on out.”

At Sion’s gesture, the servants beside him raised their bows. But they all trembled as they looked at Hatir.

In their eyes, Hatir was the son of a god and the core of Aragasa. The blood of Hatir flowed in the Etar clan, so the leader Hatir was like a living ancestral god.

“These foolish children.”

Sion Etar clicked his tongue as he saw the servants hesitating. But he also didn’t take action himself.

After passing the buck to each other, the gaze finally settled on Ismail, the youngest of the servants.

“You do it.”

“Isn’t it your fault for not properly attending to the young lady?”

Everyone started to pass the responsibility to Ismail.

“Haa.”

Ismail sighed. Then, he drew his bow and shot an arrow at Hatir.

“What!”

Hatir tried to deflect the arrow, but the arrow fired by Ismail pierced through Hatir’s palm and into his neck.

“Kuh!”

Hatir’s body fell backward. The leader of Aragasa, the son of the emperor, the man called a living god, began to crawl on the floor in a miserable state.

Ismail, expressionless, took out another arrow and drew his bow. He intended to completely cut off Hatir’s breath.

But then, Aldis opened her eyes.

“Huh?!”

-Crack!

Black dark energy erupted like a storm, centered around Aldis. The low-lying poisonous mist swept away the approaching Aragasa, and Azadin and Hatir were also swept away by the poison.

“Kuh!”

Azadin fell to the ground and looked at the throne.

Pure white light flickered within the throne, but its power was too weak. The darkness was so strong and thick, while the light was so faint that it seemed like it would go out at any moment.

‘Is this the end?’

Azadin felt sorry as he looked at the quartz throne that couldn’t exert much power.

[So, it ends like this.]

Then, the Emperor’s voice was heard.

“…The Emperor’s voice?”

[I wanted to watch you a little longer, but it can’t be helped, Azadin.]

“What….”

[I release the contract of service. Last herald, Azadin.]

With those words, a gold-plated key fell in front of Azadin. Azadin tried to pick up the key, but he didn’t have the strength to do so.

[Oh dear, can’t even pick it up?]

As the Emperor’s voice said that, the key that had fallen to the floor floated up on its own and entered Azadin’s chest.

“What is this?”

[It’s a key that can open all of the Emperor’s treasure vaults. Open it when the true era of Jupiter comes, not now. The power to save people and the world will be inside. Well then. I’ll leave the rest to you!]

The Emperor’s voice said that and was sucked into the throne of Butuma. The artificial spirit created by the magic of the Yaegas gods burned its own existence, adding white magic to the throne.

-Wooooo!

A dazzling light, incomparable to before, the light of the king’s authority, burst out from the throne and began to repel the surrounding darkness.

The Emperor’s voice in Araelle’s grimoire, the two working in synergy, emitted the light of the king’s authority that chased away the Nether beings that had been summoned.

-Gwoooaaar!

The giant shadows of the giants wandering outside, the messengers of the Nether, became blurry. The forms of the Nether giants that were materializing disappeared, and the world was trying to recover again.

‘Su, success? The Emperor’s voice sacrificed himself?’

The Emperor’s voice was an artificial spirit created by Emperor Yaeslat by replicating his personality. It was an entity that had the qualifications to be the master of the throne.

However, since it was a spirit and not a human, him sitting on the throne meant the extinction of his own existence. The Emperor’s voice had taken the risk of his own extinction.

However….

“Ahahahahaha! Amazing, Aragasa!”

Aldis, or rather, the messenger of death who had taken over her body, burst into a maniacal laugh.

As she raised her hand, the power of the Nether, which was being pushed away by the light of the king’s authority emanating from the throne, began to gather towards her. An immense power, incomparable to before, emanated from her.

Paradoxically, while the rest of Butuma was being purified by the light of the king’s authority, the light of the king’s authority was not reaching the area under the throne, the closest place to the throne.

The dark energy hands emanating from Aldis’s shadow grabbed Hatir’s fallen body.

“Kuh!”

Blood spurted from Hatir’s nose and mouth. As the shadow of the dark messenger picked up Hatir and pierced his temple with a finger, Hatir’s eyes spun around, and saliva mixed with blood foamed from his mouth.

The messenger of death, not only had taken over Aldis’s body, but was now also aiming for Hatir’s body.

“Hiiik!”

Seeing that, the other Aragasa were shocked and fired arrows, but as Aldis swung her cloak, a black wind rose and knocked down all the arrows.

Not only that.

“Kuaaak!”

“My, my flesh is rotting!”

Those who were hit by the dark energy wind screamed and tumbled. Those who were close to Aldis died, and those who were far away fell with severe injuries.

Even Sion Etar was surprised and hid behind a corpse, barely managing to avoid the attack.

‘Damn it. Everyone here is going to die! I have to escape… but….’

Azadin felt a wave of drowsiness wash over him.

He had lost too much blood. His energy was depleted.

‘The Emperor’s voice purified the throne, so the Nether messengers are just making their last stand. The world… will be fine.’

Thinking that, Azadin found it hard to find a reason to exert any more strength.

His star had already fallen.

And even the Emperor’s voice, who had given him his mission, was now gone. Of course, he didn’t just disappear, he did a really great job at the end.

‘Huh, what? So, is it okay to die now?’

Azadin closed his eyes as sleepiness washed over him.

*********

Midiam was a direct descendant of the Etar clan’s leader, not the eldest daughter, but still an important figure.

However, it was also true that she had betrayed her clan by siding with Azadin. Ismail had deliberately knocked Midiam down and surrendered to the Etar clan in order to save her.

But now, as the messengers of the Nether were wielding their power, Ismail attacked and knocked down those who were holding Midiam and untied the ropes that were binding her.

“Ismail!”

“We have to escape, Midiam!”

“You, you bastard!”

The servants of the Etar clan were shocked to see Ismail releasing Midiam, whom he had captured.

They all knew because they had been trained. That Ismail had faked his surrender to protect Midiam’s life.

But to think that he would even kill the Etar servants he had shared meals with since childhood to release Midiam!

“You young brat!”

A giant servant, with a short sword in each hand, launched a thrust. A dazzling attack flew towards Ismail.

Ismail held his sword vertically, accurately dividing the dazzling attacks to the left and right based on his sword, and moved to the right, deflecting all the attacks.

“You!”

The one who was lured by Ismail’s defense moved his body and was hit by the dark energy wind that Aldis was emitting.

“Kuh!”

His arm rotted away in an instant, and his skin and muscles separated and dangled.

“Thank you.”

Ismail sneered and stabbed the giant’s chest with his sword, using his body to block the dark energy wind, and then took his weapon and threw it to Midiam.

“Here! We have to escape quickly!”

“Wait! Ismail! Azadin!”

“We can’t save him with our current abilities! He’s too big!”

Ismail was cold. If it was just Midiam and Ismail, they could somehow escape. But Azadin was too big and injured, unable to even support his own body.

Saving him was impossible. At least, not with Ismail or Midiam unharmed!

“Please!”

But even knowing that, Midiam was trying to save Azadin.

“Are you telling me to die for the man you love while looking at me?!”

Ismail’s loyalty to Midiam was entirely due to love. But for the woman he loved to love another man and expect him to sacrifice himself for that man.

From Ismail’s point of view, it was a truly frustrating situation.

But….

Ismail grabbed his head and yelled ‘Aaaah!’ then ran to Azadin and picked up the fallen Azadin.

He was heavy.

Ismail had been trained as a member of the clan, but the difference in physique was too great for him to lift with pure physical strength alone.

Ismail used the Flower, Bird, Wind, and Moon technique [a martial arts technique] to circulate magic power through his body to increase his strength, then hoisted Azadin onto his back.

While Ismail was carrying Azadin, Midiam stood in front of him with her sword, protecting him.

Thanks to Midiam’s status as a member of the Etar clan and the evil aura of the rampaging messenger of death Aldis, everyone had retreated, securing an escape route.

“Go! Ismail!”

“…Midiam!”

Ismail bit his lower lip as he saw Midiam, who was trying to stay behind to secure the escape route.

“It’s okay. I’m a member of the Etar clan. Surely they won’t kill me?”

“……”

No, they will kill her.

Sion Etar’s plan was to remove Hatir and become the leader himself. From that perspective, if he let Midiam, who had betrayed the clan twice, live, he would lose face.

This time, he would definitely kill Midiam.

“Thank you. Ismail. For going along with my stubbornness.”

“……”

Ismail was speechless at Midiam’s words as she smiled faintly.

“We’re both fools….”