The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 72

Snake Temple 4

From the Count’s perspective, the Naga sorcerers were practically his lovers, so seeing them attacked was infuriating. He couldn’t hold back and approached Azadin, causing the arrows Midiam had just shot to fall from his body.

“Thanks!”

Azadin picked up the arrows from the floor.

“Shaaaa!”

“Kyaaak!”

Mummy soldiers blocked the Naga sorcerers with their bodies, protecting them from Azadin’s arrows. However, Azadin charged at a nearby mummy, kicked off its shoulder, and jumped into the air, firing arrows again.

“Kyaa….”

The sorcerer’s condition was not good.

“You!”

Enraged, the Count couldn’t hold back and charged with his weapon, but Azadin dodged among the mummy soldiers. The Count swung his weapon without caring if they were in the way.

-Thwack!

Mummy soldiers were smashed to pieces and sent flying. However, Azadin had already escaped to another side. The enraged Count moved, but the large Naga moving in the underground waterway kept getting the mummy soldiers in the way.

“You’re destroying the mummy soldiers I worked so hard to make!”

“You dare!”

The Count charged in anger. However, Azadin used the mummy soldiers to avoid his charge and kept dodging around.

The Count tried hard to corner Azadin, but Azadin avoided it and shouted to Midiam.

“Midiam! Can you lower a lot of rope?”

“Yes!”

“Good, I’m going!”

Azadin put his bow on his body and ran towards the statue. The enraged Count tried to swing his sword, but hesitated because of the Naga statue. If he attacked like this, he would end up breaking the statue.

“Just as I thought!”

Azadin stepped on the Naga statue and leaped.

-Whoosh!

At that moment, the bronze torch the Count was holding flew through the air. The Count had thrown the torch he was holding, aiming for the moment Azadin leaped. However, Azadin pretended to leap with all his might, then ducked his body to avoid the torch.

“I knew you’d attack on the first leap!”

Azadin taunted the Count and jumped up, grabbing the rope Midiam was lowering.

“Ugh! A-Are you okay?”

“Can you pull up the rope?”

“Ismail is above… but he says it’s hard!”

Ismail was screaming and holding onto the well pulley, but the speed of pulling up was too slow.

“Hey! Ismail! Just fix the rope!”

“Huh?!”

Midiam was surprised to hear that. At that moment, the Count cast a spell to catch Azadin. Blood turned into spears and flew towards Azadin.

“Hup!”

Azadin grabbed the rope in mid-air and swung his body like a large pendulum, dodging the attack.

“Not a chance!”

-Thwack!

One of the blood spears hit Azadin!

“Ah! Azadin!”

Midiam, who was holding the rope a little higher than Azadin, was shocked, but… Azadin was fine, holding the rope and showing something in his right hand.

“This is very sturdy. I like it!”

It was the head of a halberd. He had grabbed the halberd head that the guard captain of the eastern post town used, like a tonfa [a type of baton], and deflected the blood spear that had flown at him.

“You!”

The Count was furious and leaped, swinging his greatsword. At that moment, Azadin used the pendulum motion to approach the wall and began running up the wall while holding the rope.

By running up the wall in a spiral, he had avoided the Count’s charging attack.

“Kyak!”

At the same time as the Count’s attack missed, the Count’s huge body got stuck between the statue and the wall.

-Crack!

The statue was crushed by the Count’s body.

“As expected of a descendant of the Yaegas gods. Even as a Naga, you can’t submit to the Kurt gods! That mindset is amazing! To break the statue of the Cobra Queen!”

Azadin mocked as he ran up the rope and finally escaped to the Great Bath of Blood.

*********

“Ugh!”

Midiam hurriedly climbed up the rope and sighed.

“Huff… A-Are you okay, Azadin?”

“Yeah. Thanks to you. Thank you. If you hadn’t come, it would have been a disaster.”

“It seems like a disaster has already happened.”

Ismail pointed to the Count, who was starting to climb up from below.

“Let’s run away quickly!”

“Y-Yeah!”

As the Count dragged his huge body and forced his way up the wall, cracks began to appear on the floor of the Great Bath of Blood.

Azadin and Midiam went back the way they came, passed through the dissection room for making mummies, and arrived at the first floor of the annex of the back garden. There, corpses with blades attached to their hands and feet moved like puppets on strings, blocking Azadin’s group.

“What is this?”

Undead marionettes, created from the idea of using the corpses’ muscles as a power source to move the blades on their hands and feet, threatened Azadin’s group.

“What’s this now?”

“They weren’t here when we came in… The Count’s palace is full of monsters.”

Midiam felt uneasy that enemies who weren’t there when they came in were blocking their escape route. There was a sorcerer controlling the corpses in the dark.

He began to manipulate his magic from a place where Azadin’s group couldn’t see him, moving the marionettes of the corpses. The marionettes approached, rotating as if they were dancing, and their momentum was ominous. However, Azadin responded calmly.

“Do you have any arrows left?”

“Here.”

Ismail took out arrows from his quiver and gave them to Azadin. Azadin had told Midiam and Ismail to bring a lot of arrows, and they had faithfully followed his instructions.

In addition to the quiver, they had also brought bundles of arrows in their backpacks, so they had plenty of arrows. Azadin took the arrows and, guided by his vision, shot at the sorcerer emitting black magic.

-Swish!

The arrow that flew through the light obstacles made of boards struck the sorcerer who was moving the marionettes.

“Kyak! H-How did you find me! I completely erased my presence?”

The opponent screamed and transformed from a human into a Naga, but…

-Swish, swish, swish!

Azadin shot more arrows, completely blowing off the head of the Naga who was transforming. When the sorcerer died, the marionettes made of corpses fell to the floor.

“Nagas are tough. I had to stick this many arrows in them. Then those Naga sorcerers might not be dead?”

Azadin wondered if he should go back and kill those sorcerers now. But that was an extremely dangerous thing to do.

Even if Azadin had a cause to go back to save the refugees, it would not be respectful to Midiam and Ismail, who had come to save him.

‘I can’t recklessly throw away the life I was given thanks to these kids.’

There must be more Nagas who have learned the magic to awaken mummy soldiers, so it’s right to retreat here.

“Let’s go!”

“Ah, it seemed like you were very grateful to me just now. Sigh, I can’t help it. You’ve fallen for me like my other admirers.”

“…What are you talking about?”

Azadin left the annex of the back garden with Midiam, who was talking nonsense.

*********

When Azadin came outside, the mummy soldiers who were wandering outside found them and approached. And…

-Rumble!

The roof of the annex of the back garden collapsed, and the Count, a Naga whose upper body alone was the size of an ogre, appeared.

“Herald Clan!”

The enraged Count swung his greatsword and charged at Azadin. Azadin jumped over the fountain in the back garden to avoid the Count’s attack, but…

-Crash!

The fountain, made of terracotta pottery with tiles attached, was very weak and could not withstand the Count’s single blow, and it broke.

-Swish!

Azadin rolled and shot an arrow, but the Count once again deployed a magic shield and detonated the arrow.

“It’s useless! To interfere with my ambition!”

“Then it’s not useless.”

“What?”

“It’s not useless from the point of view that your ambition is being interfered with.”

“No, I mean your arrow attack… Ah, never mind! I’m going to tear you into a thousand pieces and kill you!”

The enraged Count charged again. Azadin raised his left hand to Ismail and Midiam and shouted.

“Aim for the right eye!”

And he also threw a few arrows into the sky and prepared for rapid fire.

Midiam and Ismail understood Azadin’s intention and took out arrows and began shooting at the Count’s left eye. They would give a specific signal and aim for the opposite target of what was said. It was a signal used among the Herald Clan, and they had been trained in it since childhood.

Azadin, Midiam, and Ismail had never agreed on such a signal, but they aimed for the Count’s left eye with improvisation alone. Azadin also unleashed a rapid fire towards the left eye.

“Th-This…”

In the dark night, even if it was the eye of a Naga as big as an ogre, it was a target the size of a bean when considering the distance. However, Midiam and Ismail’s arrows flew very accurately, and Azadin’s rapid fire was also extremely precise.

However, when the Count opened his mouth, venom spewed out from his fangs like a fountain, pushing away the arrows.

“Ah!”

“Dodge!”

Azadin dodged the venom and retreated again.

Mummy soldiers rushed in, but Azadin grabbed them, took their swords, and threw their bodies towards the venom that the Count was spewing.

“Ugh! Damn it!”

Black magic penetrated Azadin’s hand. Just by touching the mummy, the curse of weakening penetrated his body.

Fortunately, he was able to dodge and block all of the Count’s venom. Moreover, although it was almost like an axe, Azadin was also able to get his hands on a barbaric iron sword.

“Krrrrrr!”

The Count, who had blocked the arrows by spraying venom, clicked his tongue. Midiam and Ismail’s arrows were helplessly deflected by his venom spray, but Azadin’s arrows did not lose their power and flew, hitting the area around his eye.

Because he had shot so precisely, even though it was deflected by the venom spray, it hit the area around his eyelid and pierced through the scales. Since the venom-soaked arrow hit the area around his eye and pierced his body, the venom entered his body.

Snakes are not immune to their own venom. Most creatures that use hemotoxins [toxins that destroy red blood cells] are bound to be harmed if their own venom penetrates their blood vessels. Of course, the Count’s body was so huge that he wouldn’t die from the amount of venom on the arrow, but…

His vision was becoming blurry. The hemotoxin was spreading through the blood vessels around the eye that had been hit by the poisoned arrow, impairing the function of his eye. Perhaps if the poison spread completely, he would definitely lose his left vision.

“Damn it! You sly bastard! You’re very talented!”

The Count was honestly impressed by Azadin. Seeing him infiltrate and fight this far, his stamina must be no joke, but he always dodged his attacks and effectively poured out annoying attacks, even if they weren’t powerful, to torment him.

Is it really true that this guy, to protect the refugees, is giving up his chance to escape and risking his own life to fight?

‘It’s ridiculous. A soulless blasphemer, a god-slayer, is a paragon of chivalry!’

A herald who is willing to risk death for the sake of powerless people, even if they are not of his own race, for their safety!

The other heralds the Count had broken, Harad and Kevna, were not like that. In other words, the Count was now unlucky enough to meet a rare, faithful herald among the Herald Clan and was having his ambition thwarted.