The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 358

The upper echelons of the Rescue Knights had issued Azadin an Erantry Quest [a quest given to a knight errant, a knight who travels in search of adventure] with terms he couldn’t refuse, all to torment him.

However, to the Celestials, who had grown up under the clergy and sincerely believed in the Rescue Knights’ scriptures, Azadin appeared as a beacon, righting the forgotten traditions of the Rescue Knights.

This was not a good thing for the Northern Empire. The Northern Empire wielded significant influence over the Celestial Fire Knights and wanted them to be the object of people’s admiration.

But if Azadin were to gain admiration among the Celestial Knights… it would be like feeding the knight order they had worked so hard to build directly to Azadin.

‘Well, from now on, it’ll be filled with our brothers, so that won’t happen. I’m worried about the young Celestials who are like blank slates.’

Trio Dana, while wary of Azadin, outwardly wore a bright smile.

“Oh, Trio Dana, you’re here as well. Do you happen to know the whereabouts of Bishop Coxhall, Akenar?”

“Your patron, you mean? I don’t know. Why are you asking us about her? I thought she was the one who spared no effort in supporting you, Sir Azadin, to become a Rescue Knight. Surely, you wouldn’t be asking us, of all people, about her whereabouts.”

There was an implicit accusation that he should have been the one looking after his patron. But Azadin feigned ignorance and replied,

“I heard the vampires kidnapped her and brought her here. If the Celestial Fire Knights are fighting the vampires here, I thought you might know the enemy’s movements in detail, so I asked just in case.”

‘I heard you guys are struggling here, unable to even break through the vampires. You didn’t even know that the enemies you’re besieging are going in and out to kidnap hostages? If that’s the case, why did you even bother with the siege? Are your eyes just buttonholes?’

That’s how his words could be interpreted.

‘This guy?’

‘This bastard?’

As Azadin and Trio Dana glared at each other, Karna spoke up from the side.

“I haven’t seen it myself, but if that’s true, she’d be inside the Banlung Royal Castle. The Heart of the Mountain, that is.”

The Heart of the Mountain was the royal castle of the Banlung Kingdom, a massive mountain city created by carving into a mountain and converting a mine into a residential area.

The Heart of the Mountain, which had been the stronghold of the Dwarf Kingdom since ancient times, was a truly impregnable fortress.

The reason why the Celestial Fire Knights were stuck here without expanding their front was precisely because of that.

“Ah, I see. Understood. I’ll try to go inside the Heart of the Mountain. May we leave our horses and carriages at your garrison?”

“Yes. If we can put the horses to work while we keep them.”

“Of course. There’s no need for them to just eat fodder and get fat in the stable.”

Azadin willingly entrusted his horses and carriages to them.

*********

Azadin’s group sought permission from Karna, the commander of the Celestial Fire Knights, to pursue their Erantry Quest—that is, to track down Bishop Akenar, who had been kidnapped by vampires—without causing any trouble to the garrison.

Karna readily agreed to Azadin’s proposal, and Azadin was now free to move around as he pleased.

Trio Dana was not pleased with this.

“Hmm… Karna. Wouldn’t it have been better to kick Sir Azadin out? Since we’re in the middle of a military operation, we could have forced him to stay with us on the front lines instead of moving around recklessly.”

“Trio Dana, he’s a Rescue Knight, and he’s popular among the Celestials, so we can’t treat him carelessly. And maybe he can find a breakthrough, right?”

“I’m worried that might actually happen. That guy is known for achieving amazing results.”

Trio Dana frowned.

If Azadin were to achieve results while the Celestial Fire Knights were struggling with their assault, it would damage the prestige of the Celestial Fire Knights, who had been gaining support from the public with their angelic image.

The Celestial Fire Knights were certainly impressive, but Azadin was more so.

This perception could be instilled in the public.

The Celestial Fire Knights, which the Northern Empire had worked so hard to build over the years, could become mere supporting characters for Azadin’s fame.

“Well, before that, we could find Bishop Akenar and tarnish Azadin’s reputation, right? If he fails his Erantry Quest, Azadin’s arrogance, which has been on the rise, will be humbled a bit.”

“But to do that, we have to break through the defenses of the Heart of the Mountain fortress. And after breaking through, who will secure Bishop Akenar… Ah, damn it. Do we really have to use this?”

Trio Dana grumbled and pulled out a bone dagger from his waist. It was a luxurious bone knife, seemingly made from the ground bones of a special beast, and a cold aura was pouring out from the tip of the blade like a waterfall onto the ground.

The Wendigo’s dagger was in Trio Dana’s hand.

*********

“There’s a secret passage.”

Before reaching Banlung, the Heart of the Mountain, Bernard told Azadin.

“There are many secret passages. The Banlung Kingdom, the Heart of the Mountain, is an ancient city that goes back to the days of the Naga Empire. There are a huge number of secret passages and dungeons.”

Niselda also confirmed.

“The problem is that those secret passages are completely under the control of the enemy. They can open and close them whenever they want, and there are bizarre mechanisms installed, so if they seal it from the inside, it becomes an iron wall.”

“Then it’s more like a door than a secret passage. It’s not much different from a city gate in that it won’t open unless they open it from the inside, right?”

“But the difference from a city gate is that it’s less sturdy than a city gate, and once you get inside, you can strike right at the heart of the enemy.”

Bernard and Niselda confidently asserted their Banlung origins.

And…

“No, this is strange.”

“I think it was here.”

Bernard and Niselda were struggling, touching the stone tombstones in the nearby cemetery.

“They must have sealed it.”

“Hah… hah… Oh, I see. Then let’s go to the next place.”

“Yeah. Even though this is the fifth time.”

Azadin wandered around the cemetery and ossuary, hoping that Bernard and Niselda would find a proper secret passage today.

“Um. Count Azadin.”

Jibek called out Azadin’s name.

“Did you notice?”

“Of course.”

While searching for the secret passage, more and more eyes were gathering around Azadin’s group.

The vampires of Banlung had discovered Azadin’s group.

Their surveillance network was spread all over this area, so various detection magic and scouts were something even Azadin couldn’t completely eliminate.

Above all, Arael’s voice and the Seer’s magic were not working properly here.

“Edir.”

Azadin called out to his retainer, Edir.

“Yes?”

“Stay close to Bernard. Jibek, over there…”

Azadin formed his group into a diamond formation, placing Bernard and Edir, the weakest in terms of defense, at the center.

It was a show of force that clearly said, ‘We know you’re watching us.’

*********

The vampires nearby watched Azadin’s group from the snowy crevices of the rocks.

On the gray rocks of Banlung, snow had accumulated in every shadow, and Azadin’s group, not wearing white clothes, was clearly visible.

They were few in number.

No matter how fearsome the rumors surrounding Azadin, the Margrave of Naisandokar, were, what could he possibly do with such a small group?

“Shall we attack?”

“Hmm.”

The vampires’ gazes were fixed on the antique war sword Azadin carried on his back.

“He has the Aurelia Dawn. They say you taste the pain of hell until you die, and it doesn’t even kill you easily, right?”

“Then…”

“Let’s move the cultist mutants, the Ashajit’s thralls.”

“Agreed.”

The vampires, who had been hesitating while watching Azadin’s group, carefully cut their wrists, drew blood, and cast blood magic.

The Ashajit’s thralls, who had been wandering around, began to gather.

Once they had gathered a sufficient number, the vampires ordered them to charge at Azadin’s group.

“Let’s see how they handle this.”

After sending a cultist mutant to take the brunt of the Aurelia Dawn, they would act according to Azadin’s response. They might counterattack by following their magic, but they would deal with that when the time came. The vampire commander had a flintlock pistol tucked into his waist, and the other vampires were also armed with muskets.

Even if someone was skilled in martial arts, gunpowder weapons fired from a suitable distance were hard to deal with. The reason Banlung had repelled the Arangian Kingdom, and why they were now stopping the advance of the Celestial Fire Knights, was precisely because of these gunpowder weapons.

No matter how famous Azadin was, there was no reason to fear him with muskets. Even if he had the Aurelia Dawn, which was a deadly poison to vampires, it wouldn’t matter if they didn’t get hit.

But…

“The blood of the aberrant!”

When Bernard cast blood magic with Ashajit’s eye, arrows of blood shot into the blood vessels of the cultist mutant.

“Rampage!”

Blood surged within the blood vessels, and the cultist mutant collapsed, spraying blood everywhere.

The sight of the giant monster shrinking as it spewed all the blood from its body left those watching in a state of shock.

These were the cultist mutants that even the Celestial Fire Knights had struggled with.

To defeat them so easily?

It ended much more easily than the vampires had expected.

Moreover, Bernard created blood spiders from the blood that had been sprayed out, and then suddenly charged them at the surrounding vampires and cultists.

The vampires, who had tried to test the waters by throwing out a mutant, were unintentionally sucked into the middle of the fight.

“You… you bastards! What do you think we are!”

“We even defeated the Arangian Guard!”

“Don’t underestimate us!”

Although clearly flustered, the vampires gathered their courage, putting on a show of bravado.

The people of the Banlung Kingdom were confident, having defeated the elite soldiers of the Arangian Kingdom, the Arangian Guard.

However, Bernard’s blood magic, with Ashajit’s eye in his possession, was close to limitless power.

Numerous blood-colored spiders and golems were formed from the blood pouring out of his staff.

The blood golems and blood spiders used broken corpses and the surrounding rocks and snowdrifts to harden their relatively soft hands, feet, and claws, and then charged at the vampires.

The sight of the thralls of the Blood God and blood itself clashing was a truly horrific scene of the end times.

“Ah, Bernard.”

Azadin called out to Bernard, who was wildly casting blood magic using Ashajit’s eye.

“What is it? Count Azadin?”

“Don’t kill anyone who might know the secret passage, capture them alive.”

Capturing a vampire alive was a rather unreasonable request, but Bernard, who was using Ashajit’s eye to its full potential, wielded his immense power to attack the vampires.

“If you kill them all because you want to use blood magic one more time, it’ll just make things harder for us.”

“…I will do so.”

Shortly after, Bernard, with a regretful look, brought back a dwarven sorcerer wearing the insignia of a Banlung Kingdom officer.