The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 436

The Kings’ Achievements (4)

It wasn’t difficult for Azadin’s group to find their way. This place was practically Azadin’s territory, and since his army had built the roads, the terrain and surroundings were as familiar as the back of his hand.

The problem was that Triodana’s Wisdom Order had destroyed the mountain path connecting the Chadra Plateau and Naisandokar, and had deployed their forces there.

Azadin was furious that they had destroyed the mountain path, which had been painstakingly constructed with the help of hippogriffs [mythical creatures with the body of a horse and the wings and head of an eagle] and dwarven artisans.

However, the moment he faced the enemy, Azadin forgot even his anger.

“It’s not the time to lament over wasted efforts.”

When they reached the bottom of the cliff, they saw Celestial beings with dark red wings flying in the sky.

From the ground, they looked like small dots, but Azadin, with his keen eyes as a member of the Messenger Clan, and with Ara’el’s voice amplified in the air, could see them in great detail, and their appearance was grotesque.

The Celestials of the Celestial Fire, including Karna and Ismilla, could not fly on their own despite having wings.

They could glide quite well, but their wings were not strong enough to lift a human body wearing armor.

However, the red-winged Celestials of the Wisdom Order were freely flying in the sky, monitoring the surroundings, and their forms were bizarrely mutated.

When they first appeared in the world, they were indeed stained with a dark red ominous color, but they were still like beautiful angels.

But perhaps due to the passage of time, they had mutated and no longer looked human.

Their necks and limbs had become elongated, and their wings had grown larger, making them utterly grotesque.

Instead of feathers, small tentacles were intertwined, acting as feathers.

Yet, because traces of their human forms remained here and there, it was even more horrifying and repulsive.

“No wonder the Fireglyphs were easily defeated… they can fly freely in the sky.”

Ismail also frowned as he observed the corrupted Celestials of the Wisdom Order flying in the sky.

“What should we do? Should we fight the guys guarding that mountain path and force our way through?”

“No, the terrain is too unfavorable. Let’s try the secret passage first.”

“Secret passage?”

“There’s a path we made separately when we built the mountain path. It’s for use in case the mountain path is destroyed.”

Azadin said this and led the group.

Soon, the group found a gap in the cliff.

It was a place where horses could not possibly climb, and even mountain goats would risk falling if they tried. There were sparse iron stakes hammered into the steep cliff gap.

It was not a path that ordinary soldiers could use, but it was a path that the Messenger Clan could easily climb.

The Wisdom Order, perhaps not knowing that this was an infiltration route created by Azadin, had left it unguarded.

Azadin and the Messenger Clan’s special forces released their horses and climbed the cliff along the path.

“Whew, it’s good that we climbed up, but what do we do now?”

Moving around the Chadra Plateau was not easy.

The Southeast Rock Fortress and Fireglyph were quite far apart.

Even if the Messenger Clan was fast on their feet, it would take too much time to travel on foot.

“Let’s look for horses. There must be horses at the Southeast Rock Fortress since the enemies are there, right?”

Saying that, Azadin’s group approached the Southeast Rock Fortress while hiding as much as possible, but the closer they got, the more the stench stung their noses.

And the scene in front of the fortress, revealed between the rocks and the forest, was a truly miserable and chaotic scene.

“Ugh…”

“Damn bastards.”

Seraph and Indim cursed.

The Southeast Rock Fortress was a gateway to Naisandokar, so naturally, many laborers, warehouse keepers, and merchants were stationed there.

It was a place that had been a minor drug smuggling route but had transformed into a large trading post and flourished under Azadin’s rule… but now, it was a horrific sea of corpses.

Corpses were piled up like mountains, and blood-colored slimes were scattered all over them, spreading a terrible smell of human flesh melting into the mountains.

Corrupted Celestials roamed the sky, and on the ground were human corpses, and the horrific corpse slimes that fed on them, and towers of bones made from the bones extracted from the slimes.

It was truly a manifestation of hell.

They used to be considered part of the Rescue Knights, the Wisdom Order, but now, anyone could see that they had become horrific cultists, monsters that were no longer human.

“What should we do?”

Originally, they were going to climb the cliff with their bare hands and use the pulleys in this village to pull up the horses below, or steal horses to go to Fireglyph.

However, the horrific scene left even Indim and Seraph, who had experienced many battles, dumbfounded.

Only Azadin remained calm.

‘The king said earlier that he wished others could see what he saw. Is this what he meant?’

Ismail realized that Azadin had foreseen this scene a long time ago.

If someone had seen this scene in advance… they would agree that all humans who could communicate should unite to fight against the evil that could not be reasoned with.

It was not the time to oppose and hinder Azadin just because he was a member of the Messenger Clan.

“Find the corpses of horses.”

Instead of stealing horses, Azadin ordered them to find the corpses of horses.

There were also horse corpses among the piles of corpses.

When the Messenger Clan subordinates carefully pulled out the horse corpses that were buried in the slime pits, Azadin used necromancy to make the horses move in an undead state.

“Whoa. Is this okay?”

“The ride probably won’t be very comfortable.”

Riding on top of a rotting corpse was not a good thing, but there was no other choice.

The Messenger Clan members wove ropes and skillfully made harnesses, put them on the horse corpses, and then put their feet on the rope stirrups next to them, riding the horses while hanging onto the corpses.

Fortunately, they were able to secure as many horse corpses as they needed without being detected by the enemy, so Azadin’s group headed straight across the Chadra Plateau towards Fireglyph.

“Damn it.”

Azadin looked at the devastated farms of the Chadra Plateau.

There were signs of massacres all around.

The Chadra Plateau, which Azadin had worked hard to cultivate, was once a place full of prosperity, but now, towers made of bones, the traces of massacres, were placed everywhere.

“Even though the situation is like this, the royals are more focused on ousting the Messenger Clan king than fighting against evil.”

“In the end, they’d rather become servants of the Nether than be ruled by the Messenger Clan. Those things.”

“But honestly, I don’t think assassinating Triodana will solve the problem.”

“And frankly, I doubt he’ll die even if we stab him with a black steel arrow.”

The Messenger Clan subordinates expressed their bewilderment.

If Triodana was at least human, they could just shoot him with a black steel arrow, kill him, and run away.

But was the current Triodana someone who would die from a single black steel arrow?

Everyone felt that anxiety.

However, instead of answering, Azadin touched the hilt of his holy sword, Aurelia Dawn.

Even though it was in its scabbard, the blade was burning, and hot air was emanating from it.

*********

The Chadra Plateau was the world’s greatest granary, but it also served as a place of exile under the Rescue Knights.

Because it was a place of exile, many criminals flocked there. The lives there were not very good compared to being in a granary, as the energetic and violent criminals oppressed and suppressed the ordinary farmers.

It was Azadin who wiped that out in one fell swoop.

He quickly unified the Chadra Plateau, drafted the violent ones as soldiers, and then transformed it into a production base solely for production.

As many people escaped from the hands of violent thugs, productivity increased dramatically, and the quality of life also improved.

It became part of a legitimate trade network rather than a place of exile, and various daily necessities and more were traded, further improving the quality of life.

It was painful because of the cold when Pimbulbert came, but they were able to sell the grain they had accumulated at a good price.

But then, the Wisdom Order suddenly appeared and, with the power of angels flying in the sky, quickly captured Fireglyph and began to plunder the area.

At first, the village leaders tried to negotiate, but they soon realized they were wrong.

The members of the Wisdom Order were surprisingly no longer in human form.

The Celestials flying in the sky had elongated limbs and grotesque appearances, and the priests on the ground were no different.

They looked like humans when they wore masks on their faces and pressed down their robes, but when they walked, they put their hands on the ground and walked on all fours.

Then, it became clear that they had long limbs like some kind of huntsman spider.

And they ate humans.

They drilled holes in the heads of the village leaders who approached for negotiations, sucked out their brain fluid, piled up the corpses like mountains, and then melted them with slime.

The terrified residents fled belatedly, but there were not many places to escape in this rugged Chadra Plateau.

Some fled to the territory of Lord Sok, while others took refuge in the grasslands or swamps.

Most of those who could not escape were killed.

*********

“Hmm.”

Azadin’s group, avoiding the enemy’s observation, approached Fireglyph and clicked their tongues at the horrific scenes they saw.

They were killing civilians who didn’t need to be killed, and carts and wagons pulled by people and livestock were continuously carrying food to Fireglyph.

It was natural since their goal was to plunder the Chadra Plateau, the world’s greatest granary, but the people pulling the carts and wagons looked extremely exhausted.

If they were overworked to that extent, the people who pulled the carts would also be killed.

“Just in case, Your Majesty, our goal is the assassination of Lord Triodana.”

Ismail warned in advance. If Azadin intervened because he felt sorry for the civilians being abused, Azadin’s location could be exposed.

There was no reason to reveal their location when they had come to assassinate him. Whether people were sacrificed or not, they had to move while hiding as much as possible.

“I know that well. It is an act of evil to ruin things here because of compassion.”

Azadin said this and deployed Ara’el’s voice forward.

However, perhaps because of the magical storms around them, contact with Ara’el’s voice was cut off.

“Hmm?”

But then, a group of cavalry was seen rushing towards Azadin’s group.

“Have we been discovered?”

“No. Wait a moment.”

Azadin stopped everyone.

“That’s the Pimbul Horde.”

The undead knights, Lord Sok’s subordinates, were rushing straight towards Azadin’s group.