The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 233

The Night of the Soulless Blasphemer – Episode 234 (234/514)

#234. Bishop Akenar 1

“So, which way is Coxhall? Does anyone know?”

“Um…”

Camilla shrugged.

“I’m from Coxhall, but I’ve been stuck in the carriage the whole time, so I don’t really know.”

“Sis, I know the way.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah. Coxhall, where it smells like the sea. It’s this way.”

“…Absolutely not.”

Camilla waved her hand above her head to indicate a hard no.

“Last time you said you knew the way, we ended up climbing several weird mountain peaks! Going in a straight line doesn’t mean you know the way!”

It seemed like they couldn’t rely on Kuntachi for directions.

“I’m not from here either. I’m from Chitai.”

The blood mage Bernard also shook his head, saying that.

In the end, by process of elimination, the only one who knew the way to Coxhall was the scribe, MacDougall.

‘That guy openly dislikes me.’

Azadin smiled and extended his hand to MacDougall.

“Are you alright, Sir MacDougall?”

Squire wasn’t yet in a position to be called ‘Sir,’ but Azadin deliberately called him that.

“Of course, I will guide the way. But you should go to the rear and get rid of that hideous undead thing. We need to be considerate of the people on the road, don’t we? And don’t bring disgrace to our knight order by being friendly with a necromancer.”

“That jerk is at it again.”

Camilla, angered, tried to step forward, but Azadin stopped her.

“No, he’s right. We shouldn’t startle travelers on the road.”

“Who would be out at this hour? Smugglers or bandits, probably.”

Camilla was annoyed, but she backed down when Azadin restrained her.

“We need to leave quickly. If we waste time, the enemies will be even more prepared to catch us.”

Azadin said that and touched his waist.

Originally, the Moonhorn Bow should have been there, but Azadin didn’t have a bow right now. It had been damaged by seawater when they were shipwrecked.

The fact that the bow broke and the fragments scattered when they fought the Northern Aragasas was a trap to deceive them, but it was also true that the bow had reached the end of its lifespan.

‘Pushing it with long-range shots was a big factor too.’

His pride battle with Zan, the Aragasas decurion, had pushed him to make excessive long-range shots, which put a lot of strain on the bow.

It was just a bow, but for Azadin, an Aragasas, not having a bow felt like being naked.

Azadin glanced at Zan, and Zan shook his head while touching his own Moonhorn Bow.

“I’m not giving you my bow. I only have one too.”

“Tch.”

“They’ll attack again anyway, so you can just take one then.”

Zan predicted an attack.

“See? There’s so much information we can get just by keeping him around…”

Azadin said to Camilla, as if for Zan to hear.

Just then, Bernard, who was walking in the lead, pointed to the sky.

“Wait. Look over there.”

“Huh?”

“The sky is on fire.”

“…Ah.”

Indeed, the sky in the distance was glowing red, and black smoke was rising. A nearby village was being attacked.

“Hmm. People are in danger. Even if it’s not the Northern Aragasas, those guys were working with lizardmen, hobgoblins, and Mezeri apostles. The Mezeri apostles are hungry for human flesh, and the lizardmen are obsessed with rituals of extracting human hearts.”

Azadin, seeing this, got on the ghost ram.

“I’ll go ahead and check the situation. Follow me.”

“Wait a minute! It could be a trap! Even if it’s not, we’re in a dire situation ourselves, so why are you sticking your head into a place where conflict is certain? If something happens to Lady Izmilla, all our efforts so far will be for naught!”

MacDougall objected.

“Isn’t it the mission of a rescue knight to save those in need of rescue?”

“What right do you have to talk about the mission of the rescue knight order? I’m saying this for the future of the knight order.”

“I have more right to speak about the mission of the rescue knight than you think.”

“What?!”

Azadin had been knighted by Sir Planck of Wisdom.

Sir Planck was one of only three Knights of Virtue in the rescue knight order. He was at the very top of the rescue knight order.

Since he had knighted Azadin, Azadin had more than enough right to speak about the mission of the rescue knight, wouldn’t he?

‘Well, it was a knighting after death, so it’s legally ambiguous, and I’m the only witness.’

However, since childhood, Azadin had read and internalized the legends and scriptures of the rescue knight order more faithfully than any other knight.

Even now, having lost all his stars [a reference to his rank or status], the object of his longing remained in Azadin’s heart. There was not a single lie in the beliefs of the rescue knight order.

“Ah, whatever, I’ll go ahead, so follow me.”

Azadin left those words and made the ghost ram run.

The ghost ram sped off at a terrifying speed, and Azadin’s figure disappeared into the distance in an instant.

*********

Lizardmen were originally a civilized tribe that had established their own country and lived there. As a vassal state of the Naga Empire, they were part of the Kurt Pantheon [a collection of gods], and in the past, they were civilized and intelligent beings who studied all kinds of magic.

However, in the war with the Yaegas gods, their god, Akunkal, who ate hearts, lost his body and was banished from the mortal realm.

As their god was banished and their protection disappeared, the intelligence of the lizardmen also began to deteriorate.

Sorcerers who could use magic appeared only rarely, and most were born as bloodthirsty beasts.

Naturally, their country also perished.

The lizardmen swore to take revenge on the Yaegas gods and scattered in tribes, but when they gathered and gained strength, they were often seized by a religious desire to offer sacrifices to their god.

The lizardmen hired by Cohen Lionheart of the Northern Empire were also like that.

Hired as mercenaries, they had attacked the pilgrimage under strict military discipline. However, after attacking the pilgrimage and failing to capture Izmilla, the pilgrimage knight who was their target, the command waited for orders from above and stayed here for a while.

As time passed, the lizardmen could not contain their religious passion and attacked a civilian village to obtain hearts.

The place attacked by the lizardmen was a farm village near Coxhall.

There was a vigilante group in the village to stop bandits, and night watchmen hired by nearby local lords and knights patrolled, but they were like paper dolls in the face of the lizardmen’s superior combat abilities.

The vigilante group was annihilated in an instant, and the village began to burn.

The lizardmen captured the villagers and built a makeshift altar in the middle of the village square by piling up the village’s furniture. They wrote Akunkal’s name on the altar with the blood of the victims and offered prayers.

“Oh, Akunkal! We offer you fresh hearts, please return once more!”

“Your warrior walks the path of the warrior! We will glorify the name of Akunkal and fill your belly with the hearts of countless enemies!”

The lizardman priests and warriors shouted in cheers in front of the altar and dragged the farmers to the altar. A farmer, already on the verge of death from the lizardman’s rough claws, was thrown onto the altar.

The farmer’s face had already been marked by the lizardman’s claws, and one of his eyes was gone. As he was thrown onto the altar made of broken furniture, the wooden thorns tore his skin.

The lizardman chieftain spread his arms wide to make his large body look even bigger.

A huge membrane connecting his arms and torso spread out, and the feathers that grew behind the membrane shone in various colors, reflecting the light of the burning farm.

The lizardman swung the huge hook-shaped sword, the khopesh [a curved Egyptian sword], in his hand and struck the farmer’s neck.

-Thud!

Blood splattered, and a heavy mass of flesh fell.

“Kwahhh!”

But it was the lizardman who screamed.

A longsword was stuck in the ground. Someone had thrown the longsword and cut off the lizardman’s arm.

“Good heavens…”

The one who had thrown the blade was a figure riding a large ghost ram. Azadin, upon arriving at the village, had quickly thrown a throwing sword and cut off the lizardman’s arm.

“What in the world are you doing? You lot.”

“Krrr.”

The lizardman warrior, enraged, picked up his arm that had fallen on the ground. Then, he tried to attach it to the wound?

It didn’t seem like it would stick, but when the lizardman shaman chanted a spell, surprisingly, light shone from the wound, and the severed arm reattached.

“Wow.”

Azadin had already seen the regeneration of the Nagas, but the lizardmen’s regeneration, where a severed arm immediately reattached, was even more impressive. He could feel a truly powerful green magical force from them.

“They won’t be easy.”

Azadin jumped off the ghost ram and landed.

“That guy…”

“Kill him!”

The lizardmen, wielding their khopeshes, roared and charged at Azadin.

The lizardmen’s charge, with their feathers bristling in anger, was powerful enough to make one’s legs tremble just by looking at it. But Azadin easily broke through them.

-Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon, Twilight!

Real magic, not Kazas Hessa [a type of magic], was activated.

Azadin’s figure disappeared and reappeared behind the lizardmen. The surprised lizardman tried to counter Azadin behind him by swinging his khopesh, but Azadin grabbed the lizardman’s arm.

Using the lizardman’s strength against him, Azadin threw the opponent, who seemed even heavier than himself, and snatched the khopesh from his hand.

-Thud!

The heads of the lizardmen who had attacked Azadin were cut off, and feathers scattered.

The lizardmen continued their relentless attacks, regardless of their fallen comrades, but Azadin skillfully parried their attacks with a nonchalant attitude, absorbing their onslaught with his amazing swordsmanship.

Like a reed letting the fierce wind pass by, he deflected their attacks and counterattacked. When he was about to be surrounded, he used the magic of Flower, Bird, Wind, and Moon to change his position.

Azadin picked up the ceramite longsword he had thrown earlier from the ground and wielded it along with the khopesh, cutting down the approaching lizardmen with dual swords.

It was like a scene from an old tale.

A hero, who had rushed to save people in a moment of crisis, was defeating the enemies one by one with his amazing swordsmanship.

The villagers, who had been on the verge of death at the hands of the lizardmen just moments before, were moved by the sight.

But then, Azadin suddenly stopped his sword and made a strange expression.

It was hard to tell his expression because his face was covered by a mask, but he seemed like something wasn’t going as planned.

“Ah!”

“Please!”

The villagers watching this felt their hearts sink.

Was he tired? Or was there something wrong with the weapons he was using?

Whatever it was, if that man fell, all the villagers were doomed.

Just as they were all cheering for Azadin with one heart and mind, it happened.