The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 507

It would have been a severe injury, one that would threaten the life of an ordinary person.

However, Zekt was unharmed despite being pierced by the Black Steel Arrow. His body no longer functioned according to human physiology; it was merely a bizarre, shapeless mass of flesh molded into a human form, a mere imitation.

“Ha! Impressive!”

Zekt was genuinely impressed by the coordinated attack of Azadin and the Messenger Clan.

To think that they could manipulate arrows even within the Nether realm, anticipating that he would open another subspace in that short moment.

“Shut up and die!”

“You hideous monster!”

Led by Indim, the three members of the Firebird, Windflower, and Moonflower, along with the three from Aragasa, simultaneously fired the Black Steel Arrows they had been saving.

A mountain of insects beneath Zekt surged upwards, intercepting the Black Steel Arrows.

The Messenger Clan’s Black Steel Arrows, cutting through everything in their path, relentlessly bored into Zekt, but the insects, like a torrent in a valley, surged and diminished the arrows’ destructive power.

“That bastard!”

The Messenger Clan and the three from Aragasa were enraged as their expensive Black Steel Arrows were swept away with little effect.

However, their compatibility was poor.

The Messenger Clan’s attacks, which primarily relied on colorless magic based on physical force, were very effective at killing skilled humans or single living beings.

The Firebird, Windflower, and Moonflower were masters of assassination magic. Combined with Aragasa’s innate talent as archers, this assassination magic had earned them the infamous title of Kingslayers.

However, a shapeless being like Zekt, who had no vital points, was not a good match for the Messenger Clan’s techniques.

“Indim! Aliya! Bring in reinforcements! Celestial Fire, Arangian Guard, and Jibek would be good!”

Azadin, realizing that Zekt’s characteristics did not match the Messenger Clan’s strengths, ordered the Celestial Fire and Jibek, who used white magic, and the Arangian Guard, who used red magic, to be brought in as reinforcements.

“Ah…”

The Messenger Clan and the three from Aragasa were people who had never been told that their abilities were lacking in their entire lives.

So, Azadin’s reliance on others besides them came as quite a shock.

However, even they could see that their techniques were not well-suited to Zekt in his current state.

“Are you sure?! What if something happens while we’re gone…?”

“It’s fine!”

Azadin leaped and landed on the mountain of insects.

He had stepped into the area that Zekt had warned him not to cross.

Insects poured out from the ground, trying to engulf Azadin in a torrent.

Numerous insects died from the cold of Azadin’s Fimbulvetr [a magical sword that emits extreme cold] and various attacks, including the Black Steel Arrows, but the insects quickly devoured the corpses of their own kind, continuing to breed and recover their numbers even at this moment.

Standing on top of this massive swarm of monsters, Azadin drew his Seramite longsword. Golden flames rose from the blade, burning the approaching insects.

Azadin then plunged the burning sword into the ground beneath his feet.

The Seramite longsword became like molten iron in a boiling furnace, piercing through the insects and continuing to burn them.

The surrounding insects were unable to approach Azadin, fixated on devouring the corpses of their burning kin.

In the meantime, Azadin solidified a part of the Seramite longsword beneath his feet, using it as a foothold. It had melted and solidified into a net-like structure, resembling a metal sponge.

The charred remains of the insects and the Seramite, now a metal sponge, became a precarious foothold floating on the sea of insects.

Zekt smiled as he watched this.

“Are you alright, Your Majesty? If you use that sword to make a foothold, you’ll have to face me barehanded.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not empty-handed.”

Azadin grabbed the Azure Executioner [a magical sword] and held Wendigo’s dagger in his other hand.

“The others are just getting in the way. I’ll clear them out.”

No sooner had Zekt finished speaking than the halo of dimensional rifts above his head began to crackle and emit lightning.

Before they knew it, Nether minions appeared around them, forming a wall of flesh that separated Zekt and the Messenger Clan.

Azadin had ordered the Messenger Clan to retreat and bring reinforcements, but Zekt did not trust them.

They might launch another surprise attack on Zekt with their arrows at any moment.

He did not want to be disturbed in his one-on-one duel with Azadin.

“Now then, Your Majesty. Will you teach me a thing or two?”

“I don’t know if I have anything to teach you. Perhaps it’s I who should be learning?”

“In that case, the tuition will be quite expensive.”

Zekt’s figure seemed to blur, and in the next moment, he was already in Azadin’s arms, launching a thrust.

Azadin deflected the blade with the Azure Executioner, but Zekt grabbed the middle of the blade with his hand and switched to half-swording [a sword fighting technique], pushing Azadin away as if he were sliding a bolt.

The moment the distance between Azadin and Zekt widened, Zekt retreated and launched a series of strikes at his head and wrists.

Azadin blocked all of those strikes with the Azure Executioner and Wendigo’s dagger, but taking advantage of the gap created by his hands being brought together to block, Zekt unleashed a ‘Zone-How,’ a long diagonal slash aimed at his neck and collarbone.

Azadin evaded this attack as well. He had created distance by using a switching step, pulling his front foot back.

However, Zekt had already moved out of Azadin’s angle and was standing far away, his blade pointed at Azadin, blocking any future charge.

If Azadin had jumped in to grab Zekt as he retreated, he would have been caught by Zekt’s sword and severely injured.

To unleash a series of orthodox swordsmanship attacks that allowed no room for carelessness, and then to disengage so quickly.

It was a selfish exchange of attacks.

Although Azadin was not hit, if this kind of exchange continued, Azadin would be defeated.

“It seems my interest is waning since you don’t have a sword.”

Azadin’s weapons were all short. Of course, there were techniques to deflect an opponent’s attacks and close the distance even with short weapons.

However, for a skilled swordsman like Zekt, the difference in weapon range was an absolute difference; a single span of reach was like a thick wall that could block even a siege cannon.

Azadin was newly impressed by Zekt’s swordsmanship.

“With such skill, and with a lineage and status that everyone looks up to, did you have to go this far? If you had just changed your mind a little, things wouldn’t have gotten this bad, would they?”

Azadin lamented Zekt’s talent, his skill.

“If I were to consider my personal preferences, I respect Your Majesty. You have become the guardian of humanity by uniting the Eight Great Kingdoms despite being reviled as a soulless blasphemer. If I didn’t admire a hero like you, I wouldn’t be in my right mind.”

Zekt offered praise for Azadin’s achievements. It was not a sarcastic remark, but a sincere compliment.

“And that is precisely why I cannot tolerate Your Majesty’s existence.”

“You really are twisted.”

This time, Azadin kicked off the ground.

The ashes of the insects scattered, and Azadin’s figure disappeared.

Firebird, Windflower, Moonflower’s Twilight, a secret technique of colorless magic that instantly penetrates short distances.

However, Zekt swung his sword at the location where Azadin would appear. It seemed like a large swing, but it was a controlled movement that did not leave his body, a dense swordsmanship that controlled space by swinging and aiming.

Azadin activated Kazas Haze [a magic technique] again to change direction and target Zekt, but Zekt, without even looking, swung his sword behind him, pulling the sword towards his body as he rotated.

A stance of a reverse cut after turning around. It was a simple action, but it was a controlled and clean movement that could be performed even on the edge of a cliff.

-Clang!

The moment Azadin’s Azure Executioner and Zekt’s sword collided, a thrust shot in. Azadin had no choice but to deflect the attack with Wendigo’s dagger and retreat.

Because Zekt’s sword was longer, Azadin was at a disadvantage in close combat.

“You seem to have become stronger than before.”

“I gained enlightenment in the process of defeating Lord Astader. Or perhaps it is because the wisdom of the Nether is flowing into me.”

Zekt being here meant that Lord Astader had been killed, but hearing it directly made him uneasy.

He knew that Lord Astader had been diligently working on his rehabilitation to be of help to Azadin.

“Did you kill Lord Astader?”

“Yes. It was a truly magnificent end. I was injured by him to the point that I couldn’t go out to greet His Majesty because I was recovering. If Lord Astader had not become such a great knight, I could have met Your Majesty sooner.”

From the way he spoke, it was clear that he had struggled quite a bit in his fight with Lord Astader.

“Did he… overcome his alcoholism?”

“Of course. Even after learning that you were not his son, he quit drinking for your sake and overwhelmed me with power beyond his prime. He paid his respects to Your Majesty’s father.”

“Respect?”

“Yes. Lord Astader was a king who ruined his life by falling for the Messenger Clan’s honey trap. And the woman who set that trap was your father’s lover, wasn’t she?”

“Yes. You know about that too.”

Originally, this was a story of the Messenger Clan and was not known to others, but it seems that it became known as Azadin became emperor and the Messenger Clan rose to the stage of military, political, and social affairs.

“Lord Astader was ashamed. He confessed that he had lived in self-reproach and regret, ruining his body with alcohol, hoping that his tarnished honor and the lover who had abandoned him would return. But Your Majesty’s father, Duke Acre, stole a copy of the Divine King’s Scripture for the sake of the woman who had to abandon her personal fidelity for the sake of the clan’s future. By confessing that fact, Lord Astader broke free from the shackles of shame and regret that had bound him.”

“So, Lord Astader even quit drinking.”

It was a miracle for an alcoholic to quit drinking.

Lord Astader had done it, and the driving force was his respect and reverence for Azadin and Acre…

“Knowing all of that, did you frustrate his repentance and end his life? You were quite close to Lord Astader, if not friends?”

“Yes. And that’s not all. I will destroy the desire of all people to live, the desire of Your Majesty to save this Hybris continent and all the people of the continent. To be able to handle the emperor blessed by the wishes of all people and the three archangels with my own hands, and to defile the most precious desire that should be treated with the utmost respect. I feel a sense of joy that I may have lived for this day.”

If it were not for this situation, he would have thought it was a joke.

However, Zekt was serious.

He was genuinely feeling a sense of mission and happiness in crushing the hopes of others and destroying them.