The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 317

Scorched-earth tactics are commonplace in warfare. Burning provisions and destroying supplies to cripple the enemy’s ability to wage war is a shortcut to victory. As a warrior, one must become accustomed to such scorched-earth tactics.

However, that food is not just money. It is the very lives of countless people.

The thought of the Herald Clan and the naga trying to burn it all makes my mouth dry and my throat parched.

But despite my urgency, I couldn’t break through the naga glaive soldiers.

The naga soldiers reached the transport ships and began attacking the soldiers and sailors.

And as if they had been waiting for this, the Herald Clan unleashed a barrage of fire arrows.

However, just as the arrows imbued with the magic of flames were cutting through the air towards the transport ships…

“That’s just too underhanded.”

A flash of blue light, like lightning, streaked through the air, intercepting all the incoming arrows.

“What!?”

The arrows were shot down by eight arrows made of azuresteel [a magically enhanced metal]. These arrows, as if alive, circled in the air, intercepting the arrows heading for the transport ships, before stopping in the air again.

And beneath those arrows, a young man wearing a bird mask appeared.

“A-Azadin?!”

“It’s Azadin of Muan?!”

The Herald Clan members recognized him and whispered among themselves.

“Azadin?!”

Karna and the Celestial Fire were also surprised by Azadin’s appearance.

“Kuh!?”

The Herald Clan fired more fire arrows, but the arrows dancing above Azadin’s head intercepted them all.

All eight of the arrows Azadin was controlling were made of azuresteel, so they could slice through ordinary arrows like tofu, even steel.

They weren’t just intercepting. They were so fast that they sliced the incoming arrows not once, but two or three times.

This meant that even if they fired three times as many arrows, he could still block them.

“Good heavens, that’s!”

“That’s only possible with extreme mastery of the Flower, Bird, Wind, and Moon technique…”

“Garuda?!”

The Herald Clan members were bewildered by the Flower, Bird, Wind, and Moon technique unfolding before their eyes.

Every member of the Herald Clan is born with the Flower, Bird, Wind, and Moon, a magical grimoire for assassination. This colorless grimoire, imprinted on their bloodline by an oath with the Emperor, is specialized for assassination. The Herald Clan became famous for killing even royalty with the power of this grimoire, but… only a very few in the history of the Herald Clan have mastered it to its extreme.

Garuda was proof that he had mastered the Flower, Bird, Wind, and Moon to its extreme.

This technique, known to be usable only by the leader Hatir, Jedaha’s daughter Aldis, and the genius Ara’el, was being displayed by Azadin, who was known as the worst incompetent of the Herald Clan.

Of course, Azadin was able to use Garuda because he inherited it from Ara’el, but those who didn’t know that Azadin had inherited Ara’el’s magic were bound to be shocked.

“You traitor of the clan! What do you think you’re doing?!”

“If you don’t get out of the way right now…”

“If I get out of the way, then what? What are you going to do?”

Azadin asked, and the Herald Clan members were taken aback.

Their gazes naturally turned to someone. Everyone’s eyes naturally turned to the person with the authority to negotiate with Azadin, the highest-ranking person in this place.

A middle-aged female elder was directing their attack. If Azadin had asked that question for the sake of assassination, they shouldn’t have responded so naively. He might have immediately rushed at the elder and killed her.

That’s how much of a shock Azadin was to the Herald Clan.

They were so bewildered that they lost their composure. The unprecedented traitor, Aragas, had been on the Hybris Continent for 450 years, and he was the only successful rebel in that long history.

“I am Mantra Jedaha, Elder. Azadin, it’s not too late. If you return to the clan now…”

“Are you saying you’ll forgive me and take me back? Is that even possible, Elder?”

“………”

Mantra Jedaha was momentarily speechless.

Azadin was the one who killed the leader Hatir and ruined the long-cherished wishes of the Herald Clan. He was the one who committed the most terrible crime imaginable to the Herald Clan.

Even if they needed him right now, how could they possibly forgive him and take him back?

Of course, they had to try to win him over at this moment. But it was too embarrassing to tell such an obvious lie.

“I like that you’re honest! There’s no way you would!”

Azadin said to the elder and laughed.

“And even if you were to forgive me, it’s impossible. Rather, you should be begging me for forgiveness!”

“What?!”

“You’ve gone mad!”

“You’re going to forgive us or not…”

“Of course, I’m the one who decides. I am Azadin, the First Herald of the Emperor. The only Herald left! If not, tell me! Who among you is left as a Herald?!”

Azadin’s shout left everyone speechless.

As he said, there were no Heralds left now.

“You’re a Herald?!”

“Yes! It’s not me, but you who betrayed the oath! You’re in league with the naga, craving the power of the dead, and now you’re trying to starve the people to death!? Where did the pride of killing even the Divine King to uphold justice go? How did you become such trash!?”

“That is…”

“I’ll give you a chance. Come to me! Then I will give you pride and promise you an honorable fight! I will give you the opportunity to protect humanity, uphold virtue, engage in justice, and live with dignity!”

“………”

Azadin’s words shocked all the members of the Herald Clan.

Is he crazy?

The guy who was persecuted by the clan is suddenly using incredible magic, and he’s so confident that he’s going to decide whether to forgive the entire clan or not. He’s even recommending that they betray the clan and surrender to him.

However, when Azadin took off his mask, everyone realized that his eyes were the eyes of Harconia, which the Herald Clan revered.

How could the eyes of Harconia appear in the one called Azadin of Muan?

“If you have the pride of Aragas, you can’t not know which is the truly honorable fight! Those who were proud of punishing corrupt officials as the Emperor’s Heralds are now in league with the naga, burning the food of the starving people!”

“……”

At Azadin’s shout, some of the Herald Clan members gasped.

It was true.

When the Herald Clan was persecuted by others for the crime of killing the Yaegas Divine Royal Family, that was also their pride.

They punished corrupt officials and saved the people under the Emperor’s orders.

But now, they were clearly on the side that was harming the people, so they couldn’t not know that their actions were contradictory.

However…

“Everyone, keep firing arrows. Burn the transport ships.”

Mantra Jedaha, thinking it was pointless to talk to Azadin, gave orders to her subordinates.

The arrows flew towards the transport ships. Even if they had doubts about the clan’s actions, the Herald Clan had a culture of strict hierarchical order. Azadin’s words, no matter how reasonable, were just rhetoric that should not be heeded.

“Is this all you’ve got?”

Azadin deployed Garuda. The blue azuresteel arrows danced in the air, intercepting the incoming arrows.

However, every time the arrows collided, the magic that the Herald Clan had imbued in their arrows began to chip away at the magic of Garuda on Azadin’s arrows.

If they kept attacking, they would eventually break through. At first, they were so mesmerized by the unfolding of Garuda that they were just watching, but no matter how strong someone was, they couldn’t stand against sheer numbers.

“As expected, even if you can use Garuda, all you can do is protect the ships.”

Mantra Jedaha looked at Azadin and smiled wryly.

It was a shame that he had mastered the Flower, Bird, Wind, and Moon to its extreme, but he was still someone they couldn’t let live.

“But aren’t you forgetting something?”

Azadin chuckled and laughed.

“Huh?!”

“Here we go!”

Suddenly, the naga turned and charged.

To be precise, black necromantic energy lashed out like whips, piercing the corpses of the dead naga, raising them and sending them charging forward.

And next to the sailors who were protecting the transport ships from below and working on fire prevention, a knight with a gloomy expression appeared.

“I will join you.”

Sir Jibek swung his sword, cutting down the naga that were targeting the sailors.

“Oh no…”

“We can’t just stand here either!”

“We can’t leave it all to them! Break through the encirclement!”

The Celestial Fire Knights continued to push through the naga glaive soldiers blocking their way, breaking through the encirclement.

In the first place, the Celestial Fire Knights were overwhelmingly superior in terms of raw power.

They had only lost their momentum and were delayed, but the naga had suffered more casualties.

If they didn’t burn the transport ships in the meantime, their strategic goal couldn’t be achieved… and Azadin’s group was hindering that very strategic goal.

The Herald Clan’s plan was precise, but as such, if one thing went wrong, everything else would go wrong. The isolated Celestial Fire Knights began to regain their vigor. Originally, they should have been able to burn the transport ships before they could even react.

“Traitor of the clan! I will kill you!”

“Everyone says that, but why am I still alive?”

“You bastard!”

A bloodthirsty member of the Herald Clan rushed at Azadin. He deployed the Flower, Bird, Wind, and Moon’s Earth Spider, instantly closing the distance, but…

-Clang!

When Azadin swung the Azure Executioner, the weapon he was holding was completely severed.

The azuresteel axe-spear, the Azure Executioner, could break steel weapons like straw just by grazing them.

“…Ugh?!”

The one who had rushed at Azadin was chilled to the bone. There was no sensation in his hand as the steel weapon he was holding was cut. If Azadin had pushed the axe-spear a little further, he would have been cut to pieces.

He suddenly realized that Azadin had spared him.

He was only protecting the transport ships with Garuda because he didn’t want to kill the Herald Clan members. If Azadin had wanted to, something terrible would have happened.

“Everyone, stop!”

Mantra Jedaha realized that there was no point in staying here any longer, as they had failed to achieve their strategic goal.

The Celestial Fire Knights were breaking through the encirclement.

“We’re retreating! Azadin, son of Acre! I will remember that you have committed another great crime against the clan!”

The Herald Clan members began to retreat, gnashing their teeth.

The naga, due to their strict caste system, threw themselves at the Celestial Fire Knights and the undead forces created by Scott, buying time for the Herald Clan to escape.

*********

The Herald Clan failed to achieve their goal and fled, and the naga who were covering their retreat also suffered enormous casualties before retreating.

The Celestial Fire Knights also suffered considerable damage, but only soldiers and attendants died, and none of the Celestials died.

Looking back, there was no real damage. But if Azadin hadn’t stepped in to block the fire arrows, the transport ships and the food they were carrying wouldn’t have been safe.

‘What should I do?’

The commander of the Celestial Fire, Karna, approached the transport ships with a complicated feeling.