The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 369

“That’s cruel.”

Jibek clicked his tongue.

“What is?”

“No, I’m talking about what you did to that friend, Ismail, Count. He’s probably rationalizing his actions by enduring pain for Midiam, while also loving her. But…”

Considering your status, threatening to torture Midiam is just a bluff.

Azadin said that coldly.

“Jibek, you were the same, weren’t you? If you pity yourself and confine yourself to rules, you won’t understand your true desires.”

If Ismail rationalized his actions with the messenger clan’s hierarchy and his love for Midiam, Jibek paralyzed himself with the laws of the King’s Church and his worship of the Yaagas gods’ lineage [a pantheon of deities].

“Well, that’s true, but usually, people who fall into such self-contradiction don’t snap out of it just because you tell them the reality. They’ll just hate you for saying something they don’t want to hear.”

“That’s true. Just look at this arrow. This isn’t normal affection, is it?”

Azadin stuck the arrow Ismail had shot at him into the ground.

“But I don’t have time. I don’t have the luxury to soothe his emotions and solve this.”

Azadin moved forward.

“In this case, hmm. Should I capture Sion Etar? No. Then Midiam will really be in danger. If the Etar clan loses power, there will be no one to protect Midiam.”

Azadin knew that Midiam was being held hostage because Sion Etar had seized power in the council, but that was also why she was safe.

If the Etar bloodline lost power within the council, then she would be in real danger.

‘But that’s a really arrogant statement. Even if he’s the man who took down Griselda, we’re just a small group.’

Edir, who had been listening to their conversation, clicked his tongue at Azadin’s arrogant remarks.

‘Thanks to the blood spider that blood mage summoned, we can avoid the enemies, but he’s going to make more enemies here? No, the problem is that everything he says… seems like it’s going to come true.’

Even so, he was surprised to find himself convinced.

“I need to take the throne here. It just so happens that the throne is calling me.”

Azadin said that and held out his hand to Edir.

Edir, like a porter, took out some dried rations from his backpack and was startled.

“The throne is calling you? Are you talking about the Quartz Throne?”

“Yes.”

“……”

‘No, he might just be crazy.’

He thought it was blasphemy, but Edir didn’t say it out loud anymore.

He had given up on understanding Azadin.

*********

The Celestial Fire Knights, as expected, had a reserve unit.

Entering the Heart of the Mountain Fortress, Banreung, was suicide.

So, they used the Wendigo’s minions as bullet shields to absorb the initial gunfire and shelling, and then charged in at a terrifying speed to engage in close combat.

This terrifying speed charge meant that they had to sprint at full speed and then engage in hand-to-hand combat with the enemies every time.

Even if the Celestial Knights were several times stronger than humans, their stamina would be depleted.

Without a reserve unit to rotate troops and allow them to rest sufficiently, it would be impossible to continue the battle.

But… suddenly, Ashajit’s minions were explosively reinforced from the rear.

The reserve unit, which had been resting in the rear, was attacked, and the Celestial Fire Knights were quickly driven to the brink of annihilation from a superior position.

*********

“So, didn’t I tell you?”

The dwarf king, Manawidan, said as if it were nothing.

“I am the true king, and this is the light of my kingship!”

Pale magic, a distorted power, extended from the Quartz Throne toward the world.

It was clearly the power of the blood god Ashajit, but for the dwarves, it was also the power to repel external enemies and protect the kingdom.

“The Celestial Fire are just shoddy fake angels created by that annoying Cohen. If we subdue them and uncover their secrets, the Rescue Knights will also submit to me. It would be fun to have a knight order with angel wings under my command. Imagine, even if they are fake, angels bowing before you!”

It was a truly vile and vulgar statement for the ruler of a kingdom, but his subordinates cheered in unison.

The vampire dwarves had no restraint over their desires, and even if they didn’t, the current situation of the kingdom was dire.

They were holding off the Celestial Fire’s offensive, but in return, blood vessels that had transformed the bodies of the Yaegas gods were clinging to the Quartz Throne, pulsating and spreading as they grew.

The throne room, decorated with granite and marble, had already been covered with blood vessels and muscles, transforming into the inside of a living creature, and the transformation continued to spread.

In this bizarre transformation, no one dared to resist Manawidan.

“Accept it. I am the king, and this is the light of my kingship. When a righteous king sits on the throne, the light of kingship protects the kingdom!”

Manawidan shouted toward the throne.

He was probably shouting at the Yaegas gods who had been transformed into Ashajit’s minions and were now blood vessels clinging to the throne.

But then, it happened.

An arrow flew in with a sound that tore through the wind.

*********

The startled dwarf guards tried to intercept the arrow, but the arrow twisted in the air, quickly slipping through their fingers like a trout escaping from a stream.

Then, it soared into the sky and exploded with electric sparks in the air.

It was a lightning magic that was less efficient than the lightning magic used by dwarven sorcerers.

However, the moment the lightning hit the ground, a chain of explosions occurred.

Magic stones were placed everywhere.

Blood spiders had been moving along the blood vessels on the floor, carrying the magic stones and taking their positions.

The throne hall was covered in blood vessels, so the dwarf guards hadn’t noticed anything suspicious.

-Buzz, crackle!

The magic stones exploded, amplifying the electricity and spreading it in all directions.

The dwarves, swept away by the magic storm of the magic stones, screamed as they were electrocuted.

“Kkyaaaak!”

“Ugh!”

“Y-Your Majesty!”

Watching the dwarves fall, Manawidan glared in the direction the arrow had come from.

“Hmm.”

But this time, an arrow flew from the opposite direction.

The arrow, which had initially flown from the east passage, now came from the west passage, curved toward the throne, and exploded among the guards.

This time, the magic stones set on the floor caused a chain reaction, sweeping away the guards.

“You!”

Manawidan slammed the armrest of the throne, and the blood spiders, which had been reduced to the size of ants, burst out all at once as the impact spread through the ground.

The blood spiders created by blood magic were absorbed directly into Ashajit’s blood vessels.

“Not bad, assassin! Who are you? Celestial Fire… or that soulless blasphemer?”

Manawidan realized who was doing this.

The guardian of Sandokar and the Margrave of Naisandokar [a noble title].

And the person who took Ashajit’s heart from Griselda. There was no other explanation besides Azadin.

“Ah, that’s right. You said you had Ashajit’s heart, didn’t you? You must have used it to avoid our surveillance and get this far. Good. Offer Ashajit’s heart. Then I will give you the countships of Sandokar, Coxhall, and Bissen.”

It was a truly arrogant statement. Even if he was a king, he was asking Azadin, who was already full of hostility, to offer him treasures and join his army.

Moreover, even in this situation, the cards he was offering were Sandokar, which had already asked Azadin for protection, Coxhall, which had been destroyed by vampire and dwarf attacks, and Bissen, which was in a similar situation. It seemed like he had no conscience.

He was offering the cheapest rewards possible, hoping that Azadin would actually offer Ashajit’s heart and surrender.

“I wasn’t going to answer if I could help it, but you really have an annoying personality. I’m starting to pity Griselda for having to serve you as her superior.”

Azadin’s voice echoed through the space. The messenger clan had a technique to project their voices, so it was impossible to pinpoint Azadin’s location from his voice.

“Are you going to keep using such tricks? Then I’ll show you the light of my kingship!”

“The light of kingship? Just now, your guards were helpless…”

However, when Manawidan placed his hand on the throne, pale magic emanated from it.

Suddenly, a small heart appeared from the ground.

The blood vessels on the floor gathered to form the shape of a heart and then spewed out blood like a fountain.

No, it should be called a fountain shaped like a heart.

Clearly, when the blood touched the bodies of the dwarf guards who had been electrocuted and fallen, they recovered and began to rise.

The blood was supplied to the already vampirized dwarves, regenerating their wounds.

“Where is there anything that could be called the light of kingship here? It’s just full of disgusting monsters?”

“Hmph! I protect my people. Isn’t that the very model of a great king?!”

Manawidan was furious at Azadin’s disparaging remarks about his ‘light of kingship.’

It seemed that he genuinely believed what he was saying.

“Is he serious? Was he always like that? Or did the magic of the wish distort his mind? Either way, it would be futile to talk any further…”

“Hmm?”

Suddenly, Azadin stopped speaking.

Manawidan, who had been on edge trying to pinpoint Azadin’s location, suddenly felt a chill.

-Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon, Crescent Moon!

A presence appeared behind Manawidan. As if he had been there from the beginning, not having run from anywhere, the man who stood on his shadow swung his sword without looking back.

-Swoosh!

The antique war sword with a golden blade, Aurelia Dawn, sliced through the vampirized Manawidan’s jaw from below, all the way to the top of his head.

Even for a vampire with regenerative abilities, having half of his head blown off was a fatal wound, especially since the tool was Aurelia Dawn.

The golden dawn that eternally burns vampires.

And above all, the magic of Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon that effortlessly broke through the guard’s encirclement.

It was a perfect technique that showed why the messenger clan was feared as assassins who even killed kings.

But Azadin wasn’t satisfied with that and swung Aurelia Dawn again, completely severing Manawidan’s head.

“You!”

“Your Majesty!”

The startled dwarf guards rushed in.

“Normally, they would have been taken care of by the magic stone storm!”

Azadin aimed his bow at the guards who had been resurrected by Manawidan’s blood heart. And he loaded Aurelia Dawn.

‘What is he doing? Is he crazy?’

‘A war sword with a bow? It must be a hundred times heavier than an arrow?’

To launch a war sword with a bow was nothing short of a madman’s act.

The dwarves here had little experience fighting the messenger clan, so they didn’t understand even when Azadin loaded Aurelia Dawn onto the Crescent Moon Bow.

Even though they had traded with the messenger clan, they didn’t know that they had a throwing sword technique that used bows to launch large swords.

If you don’t know, you have to get hit. It was an immutable truth.