The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 504

Dahlia quickly spurred her wyvern to charge towards Zekt, grabbing the javelin from her saddle.

This javelin was designed to be used one-handed from the wyvern’s saddle and could also be thrown if needed.

Her arm transformed, becoming elongated.

Her Wight arm, grotesquely altered to maximize throwing power, was imbued with terrifying strength.

However, as Zekt raised his hand, a gust of wind disrupted the wyvern’s flight.

‘I can’t get the right angle to throw!’

Caught up in the thrill of battle, Dahlia struggled to turn the wyvern.

Meanwhile, other wyvern riders and wraiths flew towards Zekt, but as Zekt’s back muscles rotated, something glared out from the gap.

The wyverns and wraiths caught in that gaze were instantly crushed.

Like crumpling paper dolls into balls, those who approached Zekt were crushed and compressed.

And the mountain of insects Zekt was riding slowly raised its arm.

‘No! It’s fast.’

It looked slow on the surface, but that was only because the mountain of insects was so huge; in reality, it was an unavoidable angle.

Dahlia, already caught in the wind, couldn’t dodge.

-Thwack!

The mountain of insects struck Dahlia’s wyvern with its fist.

The wyvern was shattered. Or rather, it was like it had crashed to the ground while flying at full speed.

The fist of the insect mountain was so massive that it was more like a fall than an impact.

But Dahlia was alive.

Just before the wyvern collided, she had cut the tether connecting her to the saddle, leaped off the wyvern, and rode the gust of wind, narrowly avoiding the mountain of insects’ fist.

And in that state, she threw her javelin from mid-air. The javelin, launched with her elongated arm, was imbued with a powerful curse, aimed at Zekt.

“You are quite an excellent knight.”

Zekt praised Dahlia for her quick thinking in the face of danger, looking at her.

Through the torn dimensional halo, the being beyond met Dahlia’s eyes.

-Crack!

Dahlia’s body was sucked inward.

-Crackle!

In an instant, her body was crushed and turned into pieces of flesh.

And the mountain of insects reached out and picked up her body, the compressed pieces of flesh.

Numerous insects dragged her flesh into themselves.

*********

“Da, Dahlia!”

Sedrin bit her lip as she watched Dahlia get buried by the attack of the suddenly appearing insect-like monster.

Not only Dahlia, but other Wights and Undead were also swept away by the mountain of insects that Zekt had brought.

Thus, her entire bloodline, the bloodline that had fallen into Wights, was dead.

Surely, freeing her bloodline had been her lifelong wish, but the moment it was achieved, Sedrin felt only anger.

“Calm down! Sedrin!”

“Your Majesty!”

Sedrin felt Azadin’s hand calming her and realized that she was outside the ramparts.

Outside the ice fortress’s ramparts, the battle between the Nether minions, who were bypassing the Pimbul Horde, and the separate vampire unit continued.

Jibek, Ismail, Midiam, and Niselda were helping the vampires fight off the enemies climbing up to the fortress, but every time lightning struck, the number of enemies increased.

“There are too many! What do we do?”

“First, let’s deal with them like this!”

Azadin pointed his sword at the monster Zekt was riding, the mountain of insects.

Suddenly, a white whirlwind descended from the sky, striking the mountain of insects.

To be precise, it removed the protection of the cold. There was no need to protect the enemies with the power of miracles.

And this cold attack was definitely effective against the Nether minions who had materialized in physical form.

It was especially effective against the mountain of insects.

The insects forming the outer shell froze and began to crumble instantly.

The inside was still okay due to the bio-heat generated by being clustered together, but the chill of Pimbulbert continued to attack the mountain of insects.

It wasn’t that Azadin had used cold magic. He had simply withdrawn the Emperor’s power that protected this area, blocking Zekt’s forces from parasitizing his protection.

As soon as Azadin withdrew the Emperor’s protection, the cold air currents flowing fiercely from above plunged down, instantly sweeping away the Nether forces.

“Well, well. Just because I tried to hitch a ride on your protection, you cut it off so mercilessly.”

Zekt, unable to watch any longer, cast a spell, and the cold air currents pouring from the sky stopped.

Zekt had begun to place his own protection here, instead of Azadin’s.

And that wasn’t all.

-Whoosh!

The body of a giant ape-like giant among the Nether monsters began to burn.

The monster screamed in pain and writhed, but the flames did not go out.

That monster wasn’t the only one.

Flames engulfed the bodies of the monsters near the ice fortress, causing them to writhe in agony.

The monsters, driven mad by the fire, charged towards the fortress, unable to bear the pain.

“Everyone, look away! You’ll go blind if you look here!”

A halo of light appeared above Azadin’s head. From that halo, huge wings of light unfolded, and dazzling light gathered at the tips of the wings.

And in an instant, the gathered light shot out as a beam.

The beam sliced through the waists of the monsters charging towards the ice fortress.

And after the beam passed through the frozen sky…

-Rumble!

The waists of the burning monsters were cleanly severed, splitting them in two.

The monsters, still burning, fell around, engulfing other Nether minions.

“Good heavens!”

Even Azadin’s companions were shocked by the sight.

A god-like power that bisected monsters in a single blow. But the price was clearly visible to everyone.

Blood flowed from Azadin’s nose and eyes.

Azadin’s leather armor was stained with blood. Blood was falling on the ground, not just from his nose and eyes, but from other parts of his body as well.

“Impressive. Chosen one. That power, it is undoubtedly the power of a miracle worker. But how about this?”

The halo above Zekt’s head expanded rapidly, becoming a huge dimensional rift.

Lightning erupted from the rift, striking the sky, plunging the world into darkness, and revealing more monsters.

The monsters that Azadin had just cut down with the beam of light were quickly replenished.

Not only that, but the Nether minions increased even more, and the Pimbul Horde, having lost their commander, were pushed back and were in danger of being annihilated in an instant.

“Zekt!”

Jibek, enraged, called out Zekt’s name.

“Why are you doing this! You are one who has received the grace of Yaegas!”

Jibek shouted at the top of his lungs, but his voice was just a human voice. It was impossible for it to reach Zekt, who was performing miracles in the distance.

But Zekt’s voice answered.

“Ah. Is that Sir Jibek? Do not seek reason. The world is absurdity and suffering itself. Only that is the truth.”

Zekt’s voice was calm, unlike the person who had committed such terrible acts.

That grated on Jibek’s nerves.

“If you hadn’t done this, things would have been fine! You are someone who has received the benefits of Yaegas more than anyone else! If you wanted to, you could save so many people, but instead, you are using that power to harm people!”

“Yes. Even though I unwillingly left home, I am royalty, and I am a much more privileged being than the common people. Not to mention compared to His Majesty the Emperor, who is from an untouchable background.”

“……”

“But that is why it is absurd. This world is full of absurdity and malice, so I am the one who truly loves this world, and the Emperor and you are the ones who oppose the world.”

Zekt said with a smile.

Sir Astader had said that Zekt loved nothing.

But Zekt was enjoying the most fulfilling moment.

Yes. His life so far seemed to be for this very moment.

It was so fulfilling and joyful.

If he had to give that feeling a name, what else would be more fitting than love?

“You’re insane!”

Jibek was furious, but Zekt set another giant monster on fire and sent it charging.

“Everyone, step back. It’s dangerous.”

“Your Majesty!?”

“Close your eyes!”

Azadin once again unfolded wings of light from his halo, swinging them left and right, emitting beams of light.

The monsters were split in two and fell, and the Nether minions that were approaching exploded.

It was a terrifying power of miracles that seemed capable of evaporating even mountains, but it once again broke Azadin’s body.

Thanks to the magic of recovery, the wounds on his body healed immediately, but Azadin staggered, unable to bear the pain.

“Isn’t it absurd? The great Emperor is wielding the power of miracles to carry the world alone, and yet his struggle can be so easily neutralized!”

With Zekt’s cry, lightning struck again, and the Nether minions were replenished.

The ice wall created by Sir Sok crumbled, and the Nether minions advanced towards the stairs.

Azadin had withdrawn his protection, but Zekt was taking its place, and the temperature was gradually rising due to the burning corpses of giant monsters around them.

In the indescribable smell of burning monster flesh, fur, and fat, the twisted beings of another world crawled up the ice stairs, approaching.

“Tch.”

“Your Majesty!”

The Pimbul Horde’s forces had also melted away. All that remained were the vampires that Azadin had set aside as a separate unit, but they too were injured while fighting against the encroaching Nether minions.

“I want to drink blood.”

The fountain where Ashajit’s blood flowed was destroyed, and the blood flowed in the wrong direction.

The vampires had the characteristic of increased recovery when they drank blood, but with the ice fortress collapsing, they were unable to take advantage of that characteristic.

The vampire spires had already been taken over by the Nether minions, and they were now swarming towards the main spire.

“Blood, you say?”

From the collapsed vampire spire, and from behind Azadin, from a still safe place, blood flew towards the vampires.

“What!?”

-Vitality!

A powerful blood magic invigorated the bodies of everyone who was exhausted.

“I apologize for being late.”

And those belonging to the Van Dyke Company suddenly appeared in the fortress with alchemists.

Behind them, black thorn vines formed an arch, and from within, alchemists, company members, and Jacomo and Bernard walked out.

“Shade Hag’s magic?”

“Ah, it’s the Abbess’s help.”

Azadin revealed that the Abbess of the Mercy Order was assisting with magic.

[Abbess! Are you ready?]

Azadin asked the Abbess in the Emperor’s voice.

[Yes! I’m about to send the next reinforcements, but there’s no space nearby. As Your Majesty knows, it’s magic that parasitizes Your Majesty’s heralds.]

Using the heralds who conveyed the Emperor’s voice, the Abbess was able to create a gateway connecting the Emperor and the heralds.

The reason Azadin was able to appear in this ice fortress was because Azadin had created a gateway with Ismail as the starting point with the help of the Abbess.

“There’s no space, you say. Then I’ll make some right away.”

Azadin looked around.