The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 439

Having barely recovered from his sickbed, he had marched all the way here. Everyone could see that Azadin was pushing himself too hard. However, there was no alternative to Azadin’s plan. If they couldn’t deal with Lord Triodana here and now, Azadin’s forces would be utterly destroyed. “Now then, Pimbul Horde. I need your cooperation as well.” “Are you asking us to shed our blood for your plan, ignoring our own?” The wights, including Dahlia, protested. They were agitated by the smell of Azadin’s blood, which they had seen him spill. Beneath the beautiful elven skin, immortal beasts were raging. The fact that they weren’t attacking Azadin immediately was a testament to their considerable patience. However, Azadin smiled at them. “Lord Sok must have told you to help me, right? Then you have no choice.” “…….” If Lord Sok were here, he could have made a decision based on Azadin’s actions. However, these wights, Lord Sok’s subordinates, could only follow his orders faithfully. Even if Azadin interfered with their work, or even slapped them, they would still have to obey Lord Sok’s commands. ********* Though the Pimbulvert [a period of time when the weather is mild] had briefly subsided due to summer, it was still only about the weather of a normal spring. At Fireglyph, the gateway to the Chadra Plateau, sleet was now falling. Triodana, the head of the Order of Wisdom and the new Knight of Wisdom, looked up at the sky where the sleet was falling. Above the sleet clouds, the shadow of a great being could be seen. Every time the great being, who had given the entire Order of Wisdom, including Triodana, the strength to live through the end times, gestured, the sleet gained power. When the rain clouds created in the Netherstorm rained on the Chadra Plateau, the blood soaked the land, making it fertile. The fertile soil of the Chadra Plateau was the power of the Nether’s messengers. Triodana had now reclaimed the Chadra Plateau and once again subjugated it to the gods of the Nether. “Lord Triodana, the scouts have detected suspicious movements.” A Northern Aragasa informant, who had once been a double agent spying on Triodana, knelt before him. His eyes were replaced with grotesque pus that dripped down, and his entire body was covered in blisters, turning him into a hideous monster. He was reporting to Triodana. Triodana listened to his subordinate’s report and asked, “What kind of movements?” “The escapees from the Pimbul Horde are abandoning the undead binding ritual and moving.” “They abandoned the binding ritual? Smart. Too smart to be suspicious. That’s not something the undead would do.” The soulless wraiths were not very effective against the Nether’s forces. This was because the black magic of necromancy was close to the chaotic magic of the Nether. It seemed they had planned to fight the corrupted Celestials with soulless wraiths, but it was a foolish idea. “However, according to the scout, a funeral ceremony was held.” “A funeral ceremony?” Triodana smiled wryly at those words. “King Azadin is here.” Triodana was also an inspector of the Order of Wisdom, investigating Azadin. That’s how he knew. In this world, the only being who could release the souls of the corpses in the Pimbul Horde’s possession without binding them to the earth, and furthermore, the only human who would hold funerals for corpses in this harsh, freezing era, in a world where sleet falls in midsummer, was Azadin. “It’s ridiculous. The one called a soulless blasphemer is our most powerful enemy. Even my father, who grandly declared he would unify the spirituality of humanity and spread his children all over the world, has fallen.” “………” “It’s pointless to say this to you. King Azadin must be here, so increase the vigilance and send out more search parties.” “We are short on manpower. How can we increase vigilance and scouting at the same time?” There were not many conscious individuals in the Order of Wisdom that Triodana had brought. Most of those who had come into contact with the great being had gone mad the moment they became the Nether’s vassals, becoming living pain receptors who moved according to the commands of their superiors. They continued to have nightmares in this world, remaining asleep within their bodies, while their bodies moved according to orders and engaged in combat. Therefore, Triodana’s side lacked personnel to carry out active missions. With so few personnel, they could not simultaneously conduct internal surveillance and external scouting. “We are drawing troops from Saint Mallory. As soon as their reinforcements arrive, we will increase the vigilance. And as soon as we capture human children, we will perform the ritual at Fireglyph.” “We are short on angelic blood and casters. And we are short on children to use for the Celestial Reincarnation Ritual. When Fireglyph fell, Prince Kalintz prioritized the escape of the babies.” Young babies were needed to create new bodies for the Celestial Reincarnation Ritual. However, most of those children had escaped when Fireglyph fell. “Ah, Kalintz, you say.” Triodana smiled at hearing the name of his kin after a long time. He couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that Prince Kalintz, who had been a simpleton, had shown heroic actions by rescuing the people, even though he had been corrupted by the power of the Nether. As a member of the same family, he was proud of his kin for protecting the people and upholding chivalry. However, at the same time, he was even more committed to the evil scheme of sacrificing young babies. “If we have to, we’ll have to contact those Telvarin slave traders. In this day and age, there are so many people willing to sell their children for a sack of barley.” Triodana said that and headed to the docks. At the riverside loading facilities connecting Fireglyph and Saint Mallory, ships were being prepared to transport Fireglyph’s food supplies. If they took the grains gathered at Fireglyph out, they could buy a huge number of young babies, just as Triodana had said. If they performed the Celestial Reincarnation Ritual using those young babies and angelic blood… That was Triodana’s plan to solve the manpower shortage. Even though they had seen the end of the Celestials created through such corrupt rituals, turning into terrible monsters, they were still planning to continue defiling the angelic image and desecrating angelic blood to produce corrupted Celestials. As Triodana was lost in thought, formulating various plans, he heard the sound of water from the river. A sailor had thrown an anchor into the water to stop the ship from drifting with the current. Triodana’s attention briefly turned there, and then, as he retreated back into his thoughts… -Thwack! A black steel arrow had pierced through Triodana’s back and into his chest. Triodana’s body staggered from the terrible blow that had pierced his lung. Despite wearing plate armor, the arrow easily pierced through the armor as if it were paper, and began to fill Triodana’s lungs with blood. “Ugh… Ughaa?” The sailors were bewildered. Someone who had been clinging to the bottom of their ship had jumped out the moment the anchor was thrown and had fired an arrow in a surprise attack. “Kuh! You…” Triodana, with his chest pierced, recognized his attacker and tried to draw his sword, but a second arrow struck his pelvis. The plate armor skirt was easily pierced, and the arrow shattered his pelvic bone and femur. “Black Steel Arrow?!” The blister-covered Aragasa recognized the arrow and was shocked. These two arrows were already fatal wounds. However, the assassin, thinking that Triodana would not die so easily, jumped between the ships and rushed towards Triodana as if flying. ‘I have to stop him!’ The blister-covered Aragasa, to protect Triodana, rushed out with his sword and short sickle to block the attacker’s path. The opponent was a member of the Messenger Clan, and a very skilled one at that, but he had been hiding under the cold water, so his condition would not be normal. His body temperature would be low, and he would be short of breath. But the moment he thought that, the assassin stepped on his shoulder and lightly jumped over him. ‘I’ve been had… He’s incredibly skilled?’ “No way…” Triodana swung his blood-stained ceramite longsword [a type of sword made of ceramic] to block the attacker, but he could not move properly due to the black steel arrows embedded in his body. -Thwack! Instead, the assassin cut off Triodana’s head with a single blow. “You bastard!” The Northern Aragasa fired an arrow. However, the assassin picked up Triodana’s body, used it as a shield to deflect the arrow, and pulled out the black steel arrows embedded in his body, putting them back into his quiver. Many who were watching were speechless. ‘Is he recycling them because they’re valuable?’ ‘That assassin!’ Usually, assassins who carry out such daring assassinations do not expect to survive. However, this assassin calmly retrieved the black steel arrows from Triodana’s body and whistled. Suddenly, a pale blue ghost goat appeared. He rode it, broke through the members of the Order of Wisdom who were still in shock, and escaped as if showing off. He had cut off the head of the Knight of Wisdom, Lord Triodana, and even retrieved the arrows before escaping. For those who had been attacked, it was truly a shocking event. In the blink of an eye, their leader’s head had been severed, and they had all watched it happen like fools… “Chase him!” “Stop him!” Everyone shouted, but the assassin was already riding the ghost goat, jumping between the ships, crossing the river, and running to the other side. Those who had mounted horses were blocked by the river. “Celestials! You can fly, can’t you?!” The priests demanded that the corrupted holy knights of the Order of Wisdom, the Celestials, fly into the sky and chase the assassin. However, while they were taking off, the assassin was running further away. He was running for his life, and it was questionable whether the ghost goat he was riding would ever get tired, since it was undead. ‘Ah, we’ve lost him…’ ‘We’re done for.’ Their leader had been assassinated right before their eyes, and they had even lost the will to chase him. However, at that moment, a voice that sounded like a gurgling cough groaned from behind them. “That’s King Azadin! You must capture him!” Lord Triodana’s voice restored their will to chase. Surprisingly, the decapitated Lord Triodana had picked up his head and reattached it to his neck. “The king himself is assassinating! That rootless blasphemer!” Triodana’s eyes flashed with anger. “I will lead! Everyone, follow me!” Triodana spread his blood-stained wings and flew into the sky, chasing Azadin with the Celestials. He had survived even after being pierced through the lungs and pelvis and having his head cut off, and he was chasing after them with his blood-stained ceramite longsword.