The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 352

Battles raged across the road to Coxhall.

The main combatants were vampires and cultist mutants, the minions of the Blood God Ashajit, and the Bri, goblins, and ogres fighting against them.

The monster races that followed the Kurt Pantheon had joined the fight against the vampires.

Normally, they were the last creatures anyone would want to see, but watching them fight the vampires and Nether’s minions made me want to cheer them on.

“The Bri are fighting well? They were useless against humans, but I guess there’s such a thing as compatibility.”

Azadin was impressed as he watched the Bri put up a good fight against the vampires and Nether mutants.

“The Bri are strong and agile. Their weakness is the lack of metal weapons, but they are dangerous opponents unless you’re facing them with a heavily armored knight order. Ordinary peasant soldiers would just be slaughtered.”

Edir was taken aback by Azadin’s dismissive view of the Bri. Since there were no Bri in the eastern Corasar region that Azadin governed, this was the first time Azadin had faced them since arriving in this knightly territory.

“Is that so? Well, I’ll be. I feel like cheering them on.”

“What are you talking about? Those things are still disgusting. If Bri, goblins, or ogres capture humans, they’re just as terrible as the Nether’s creatures.”

The followers of the Kurt Pantheon were just as terrible, capturing humans alive, torturing them, and turning them into ornaments.

Whether it was the Nether’s creatures or the Kurt Pantheon, both were cruel to humans, and watching them fight amidst the falling snow made it feel like witnessing the end of the human world.

“It’s a blessing if monsters fight each other and reduce their numbers. I don’t want to interfere with their fight, so let’s avoid them as much as possible. But if we go this way…”

“Yes. We’ll be arriving at Coxhall soon…”

“I see.”

Azadin frowned as he looked at the surrounding wilderness. It was the same wilderness where Azadin had met the Death Knight, Sir Planck.

It had felt desolate back then, but now, with the start of Fimbulwinter [a legendary, harsh winter] and the minions of the Blood God Ashajit roaming around, it had turned into a terrible hell.

Winds blowing from the sea and mountains met in the wilderness, forming tornadoes.

It was no joke; getting caught in one would be life-threatening. If you were caught in a whirlwind of dirt, small stones, sand, dry grass, and snow, you would be frozen and thrown into the sky.

And all sorts of debris thrown by the tornadoes rained down from the sky, threatening those who passed through the wilderness.

Azadin dodged the fragments of the tornadoes and sent Arahael’s voice into the sky.

It seemed that magic was imbued in the wind, as the vision provided by Arahael’s voice was also disrupted.

However, amidst the chaos, the silhouette of Coxhall could be seen in the distance.

The port city of Coxhall was completely destroyed.

As the vampire Hendrick had said, Bishop Akenar of Coxhall was not in Coxhall and must have been kidnapped by the vampires.

“Are you going to Coxhall? If you’re looking for Bishop Akenar, I don’t think we need to go there.”

“We’ve come this far, so let’s take a look. We might find something else in Coxhall. Besides, we need to resupply.”

Azadin pointed to his empty backpack. There was still food for people, but the horse feed was running out.

*********

As Edir traveled with Azadin, his mood was improving to some extent.

Originally an absolute follower of Darhan Zadek, he could not tolerate Azadin, a member of the Heraldic Clan, gaining a good reputation among people now that Darhan Zadek was dead at the hands of the Heraldic Clan.

‘What kind of bastard dares to be a member of the Heraldic Clan and be so successful? I need to see his sorry state with my own eyes.’

That was the real reason he had approached Azadin.

However, after actually being by Azadin’s side and observing him, he was not only handsome and skilled in martial arts, but also thoughtful and fair-minded.

Even as a follower of Darhan Zadek, he couldn’t help but acknowledge that Azadin was a remarkable man.

‘Well, that’s why he managed to become a Count despite being a member of the Heraldic Clan. Or maybe…’

He might even be someone who could become king.

That thought briefly flashed through Edir’s mind and then disappeared.

‘No, that’s not it.’

No matter what, it was hard to imagine Azadin taking the throne. No, imagining it felt like a disaster.

‘When a righteous person sits on the throne, the light of kingship protects the world.’

The teachings of the Royal Church might be…

‘No, that’s too much.’

Edir frowned as he looked at the destroyed gate of Coxhall.

The stone walls of Coxhall’s gate were destroyed, and people were impaled on the city’s doorposts. Their corpses were half-eaten, with their entrails spilling out.

It was a gruesome sight.

But what was even more gruesome was the feeling of becoming numb to such horrific sights.

A blizzard was blowing in from the sea.

As autumn deepened, the cold also deepened, and now the snow no longer melted.

“That’s strange.”

Azadin frowned as he had Arahael’s voice scout Coxhall.

“What is it?”

“It’s like a forward base? There are warehouses, and they’ve demolished the buildings in the center of the town to build a barricade on the sea. But there’s no sign of people.”

From what Azadin saw, Coxhall had been requisitioned by a considerable number of troops. They had torn down existing buildings to create facilities necessary for combat and garrisoning, but there were no people to be seen.

“No sign of people?”

“Yes. It’s empty…”

“What? Who are you?”

At that moment, a figure standing on the doorpost of the gate spotted Azadin’s group and revealed himself.

Dwarves were holding firearms and looking at them from the broken gate.

“…….”

[I told you, the sensitivity is reduced after Fimbulwinter started.]

Arahael’s voice made an excuse.

The dwarves inside the building were small, making it difficult to detect them even with Arahael’s voice.

The situation was not good.

Blunderbusses and matchlocks had absolute power and accuracy at a distance of about 15 yards, which was exactly the distance they were at now.

Even if Azadin’s group were elite veterans, encountering matchlock shooters at this distance was not good.

But then, the dwarves began to clear their throats.

“Ahem. Excuse me. Are you Griselda’s daughter?”

Fortunately, the dwarves recognized Nicelda as Griselda’s daughter.

Judging by their attitude towards Nicelda and the dried blood on the dwarves’ beards, these guys were also vampires.

“…May we enter?”

“Of course. You’re welcome. If you’re Griselda’s daughter.”

The dwarf vampires welcomed Nicelda, unable to hide their greed. But the one who seemed to be the commander stopped them.

“Wait a minute! You idiots. You’re just drunk on blood and pleasure!”

The dwarf commander stopped Azadin’s group from entering and asked.

“First, I know you’re Griselda’s daughter. But who are these guys with you? They don’t look like blood relatives? And one of them is a paladin of the Royal Church?”

“They are charmed prisoners.”

When Nicelda answered, the dwarf commander clicked his tongue.

“Prisoners from the Arangi Kingdom? Why did you capture so many?”

“To suck small amounts of warm blood. And don’t you know? What do Griselda’s daughters enjoy? Can they satisfy their hunger with just one or two human men?”

“Ah, I see. Yes. Hehehe.”

The dwarf commander, who had been on high alert for a moment, also imagined what Nicelda’s words meant and gave a sinister laugh.

“Okay. Come in! I want to hear about the situation on the Arangi Kingdom front!”

The dwarf vampires led Azadin’s group through the gate without any suspicion.

*********

Once inside the broken ruins, there were no longer any angles for matchlock fire.

At that moment, Azadin signaled to his group and quickly moved himself.

First, he struck the neck of the closest dwarf vampire with the Azure Executioner. At the same time, he used Grimslaw’s mace to create a stake and pierced the heart of the vampire behind him.

“What?!”

“Ha, it’s a trap!”

The dwarf vampires tried to resist, but Nicelda attacked the dwarf vampires, and Bernard cast a spell to create blood spiders that attached themselves to the vampires.

Zebek also swung his sword, cutting off the limbs of the dwarf vampires and immobilizing them.

“Damn it! You bastards!”

However, the dwarf commander, who had been a dwarf sorcerer even before becoming a vampire, used a shadow step spell to move about 10 yards in an instant and escape.

“Intruders! Intruders! Alarm! Sound the alarm…”

But at that moment, an arrow pierced the dwarf commander’s head.

“Huh?!”

Azadin was surprised as he raised his bow towards the dwarf commander.

It wasn’t his arrow.

-Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon, Yellow Crane!

Magic exploded from the arrow, shattering the dwarf commander’s head like a watermelon hit by a rock.

And that wasn’t the end of it. Another arrow flew towards Nicelda.

“Stop!”

Azadin intercepted the incoming arrow in mid-air.

“She’s on our side. Don’t attack her!”

“Is that so? I thought she was just another vampire.”

The one who had launched the arrow attack revealed herself. It was a member of the Heraldic Clan who had been hiding in the ruins of the demolished building.

A young woman with a crescent moon bow slung behind her back and a bowstring on her finger emerged with an elegant posture. Her movements were so smooth that it was as if a mollusk had moved and been shaped into a human form.

“Zenith?”

“A member of the Heraldic Clan?!”

Edir was startled by the appearance of the Heraldic Clan member and tried to draw his sword, but Zebek stopped him.

“It’s been a while, Azadin. I’ve heard a lot about your reputation. I heard you recently became the Margrave of Naisandokar?”

Zenith, a former member of the 24 Heralds and the younger sister of Dimia of the Flowers, who was Arahael’s subordinate in the past.

She politely greeted Azadin and smiled at Azadin’s companions.

“You are the incarnation of our master, Arahael. I was told to treat you as if you were Arahael. As my master’s younger brother, I offer you the respect you deserve. Count Azadin.”

“Who said to treat me as if I were Arahael?”

When Zenith silently pointed in one direction, the building collapsed, and vampires could be seen fleeing from it.

But red rays of light pierced the backs of the vampires.

“Kuh?!”

Crimson butterflies began to bloom and rise from the vampires’ bodies.

“Oh, blood magic…”

Bernard was amazed as he recognized the magic.

It was a considerable level of blood magic. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to make blood butterflies bloom from the vampires’ bodies.

The butterflies tore apart the vampires’ bodies like cocoons and flew away.

“That’s my sister. She happens to be here with me.”