novelraw Chapter 214 : Chapter 214
Chapter 214 : Chapter 214
Chapter 214: Subjugation Battle (14)
“……?”
“No!”
“Harang! What is this!”
The subjugation team members who saw the subjugation leader Durand Berhaigen’s surprise attack showed shocked reactions. Especially the former Godoks who had spent a long time with him. In Gael’s case, as soon as he finished speaking, he drew up aura with all his might and leaped to save Harang.
However, his action was immediately blocked.
Because first-class demon inquisitors including Juberroa Schmitz blocked the front.
Seeing this, Gael roared in great anger.
“What the hell is this? Could it be that you were in league with the Red Magician from the start? Was all this a trap?”
“No! Absolutely not! Do you see the Holy Kingdom’s paladins as such trash?”
As if absolutely not, Juberroa Schmitz immediately refuted Gael’s words.
While sweating profusely under the opponent’s glare that seemed ready to kill, he struggled to spill out everything inside.
“Don’t you see? That one’s, Harang’s state right now? That’s a demon. A demon descended into this world borrowing a human body!”
“A demon? What nonsense....”
“Then explain! Is it possible for a human to manifest black aura?”
“…….”
“You can’t say it’s possible. You’ve never heard of it in your life.”
Juberroa Schmitz sneered, and the provoked Gael tried to refute immediately.
Isn’t it a tremendous leap in logic to treat someone as a demon just for manifesting black aura?
If you intend to frame with the reason that it just looks ominous, do it after this subjugation is over, through proper procedures, with clear reasons everyone can accept.
However, during that thought, the opponent struck first. Astonishing words poured from Juberroa Schmitz’s mouth.
“Do you know about the Ancient Assassin from 300 years ago?”
“What?”
“From your reaction, you seem to know. As you know, after the great war with the orc tribe, he assassinated numerous paladins and priests.”
“So? What does that have to do with now....”
“The color of the aura the Ancient Assassin used was black... meaning that devilish guy was the owner of the Black Sword!”
“……!”
Exclamation marks simultaneously appeared in the minds of the former Godoks including Gael.
Inevitably so.
They knew. Why Calamity had raised the Godoks. Why did they try to raise Godoks even while crumbling the organization?
It was to inherit the advancement of the ‘Ancient Assassin.’
Of course, until now, they thought just becoming strong would mean inheriting his place, but now it seemed not. There was a clear proof: being the ‘owner of the Black Sword.’
‘Damn! Then the reason they react like that makes sense. Because the Ancient Assassin caused as much damage to the Holy Kingdom as the great demons that appeared in the past....’
Since Calamity was living in the shadows of the continent due to that grudge, the situation where the Holy Kingdom ambushed Harang was sufficiently explainable.
They... perceived Harang as a danger to the world even greater than the Red Magician.
“Damn it, get out of the way!”
Of course, that didn’t mean he could leave Harang like that.
Whether he was a demon or not didn’t matter.
Whether he was the being Calamity wanted or not also didn’t matter.
Harang was Harang. And Harang had long become an irreplaceable existence for Gael.
Having thought this far, Gael charged toward the demon inquisitors swinging his sword, and Hagio and Zeb followed suit.
‘Damn! I knew this would happen!’
Juberroa Schmitz furrowed his brow.
If the story related to the Ancient Assassin had spread widely among the people, they might have understood what he was saying and backed off, but convincing the subjugation team members with short words in such an urgent situation was near impossible.
Wooooong, he, blessed by the highest priest, stood at the front and blocked Gael’s attack.
Kwaaaaaang-!
“Kuheuk!”
Despite the highest blessing, the power difference was clear enough to elicit a rough groan, but he didn’t retreat. The other demon inquisitors beside him, and the surviving regular subjugation team members, drew swords against Gael’s group. It was to buy time somehow until the subjugation leader dealt with the heavily injured Harang, so those including Gael couldn’t help but be anxious.
However, there was a fact everyone had forgotten.
The reason they all gathered was to subjugate the Red Magician.
That alone was the centripetal force uniting these different people, and the only means to control the unruly Acanthus.
But as the battle seemed to shift targets from the almost caught Red Magician to Harang, flames ignited in the eyes of Acanthus members including Sword Master Heitz.
They shouted in rage.
“What bullshit!”
“Deal with the Red Magician first!”
“This isn’t the time. We have to move!”
“The Red Magician is trying to cast magic!”
“This....”
Belatedly noticed, the Red Magician clicked his tongue and glanced around.
It was regrettable that his scheme was exposed earlier than expected, but the situation had improved much compared to before.
His magic was almost complete.
He took a deep breath and finally concentrated to draw out his soul from his body.
Woooooooong-!
Of course, Heitz wouldn’t just watch.
With a hot shout, he launched an aura projectile. A sharp light like a blue crescent moon flew at lightning speed and hit the Red Magician, exploding his body. It was a grotesquely gruesome scene.
However, the Red Magician’s soul, escaped from the body by a hair’s breadth, vanished into the darkness, and seeing that, Heitz, Konjinyu, and other Acanthus members chased after it in fury.
“We absolutely can’t miss him!”
“Damn it, we can’t miss this chance!”
“Follow! Hurry and chase!”
“Uh, uhh....”
“Hmm....”
In that chaos, Duke Muel and the wandering knight Rough Schroeder wore troubled expressions.
They couldn’t figure out how to act at all.
Because they had never heard anything about the Ancient Assassin.
‘Is some political matter involved?’
‘Or... is Harang really a demon? He seems rampaging, but doesn’t look like it....’
A truly baffling situation.
In the end, they could only awkwardly observe the atmosphere without moving either way.
In that chaos, Durand Berhaigen was struggling to execute Harang.
Whoosh!
Booooong-!
Whoosh!
‘...Not easy.’
The subjugation leader furrowed his brow.
Inevitably so. Despite just having a tremendous bloody battle with the Red Magician, despite suffering a penetrating wound from back to abdomen, Harang still had strength left. Enough to handle attacks from himself, who was upper-tier among Masters.
Of course, he was gradually seizing the advantage, but it was truly astonishing power.
Thus, he had to kill him now.
To avoid repeating the nightmare of 300 years ago, he had to somehow behead the guy now.
‘In this era, there is no Sir Paern Rudeman!’
If there were a hero like the owner of the white sword, the owner of the Holy Sword, Paern Rudeman, he wouldn’t be this afraid of the Black Sword’s appearance.
However, expecting such in this era was difficult. Thinking of the Holy Kingdom’s upper echelons steeped in worldly corruption, the probability of such a pure and noble figure emerging was 0%.
So now.
Somehow now, deal with the owner of the Black Sword!
With that mindset, Durand Berhaigen vigorously thrust his sword.
Kaaang-!
‘Yes!’
Having sent the opponent’s sword flying far away, he smiled with joy.
Now it was one step.
To deal with that completely disarmed demon, he just needed to advance one more step. The subjugation leader took a deep breath and calmly narrowed the distance with the opponent while maintaining a composed expression, and thus Harang seemed destined to become a cold corpse without anyone’s help.
But.
Such a thing didn’t happen.
The Village’s General Manager, who had been killing his presence and observing the situation until now.
He quickly appeared, hoisted Harang on his back, and fled somewhere.
Whoosh-
“No, what!”
Durand Berhaigen roared in anger.
Of course, he wouldn’t end with just shouting. He realized the suddenly appeared opponent was formidable, but still, carrying baggage and missing one arm made him just a cripple. Judging he could sufficiently defeat him, the subjugation leader drew up aura with all his might to shoot forward quickly.
Boom-!
“……?”
However, then.
An unbelievable thing happened.
A sword flying from who knows where cleanly pierced his throat.
‘This, what on earth....’
Who on earth.
Who among those here threw a sword at a speed he couldn’t sense?
Subjugation leader Durand Berhaigen, with an expression of utter incomprehension, departed the world with eyes wide open.
Seeing that, the first-class demon inquisitor Juberroa Schmitz screamed.
“Nooooo!”
“Hmm.”
“Hmm....”
“We should calm the situation first, shouldn’t we?”
“That seems right.”
Seeing signs of the situation escalating further, Duke Muel and Rough Schroeder united.
Though they didn’t know who assassinated the subjugation leader, with Harang, the Red Magician, and the one-armed old man gone, fighting among the subjugation team wasn’t good.
Of course, since emotions between them were so heated, sorting the situation wasn’t easy, but with two Masters forcefully pushing, they somehow created a lull.
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
Thus, the Red Magician subjugation team avoided further wounds.
Among the people wearing dazed expressions, the Godoks including Gael thought about Harang and the Village’s General Manager.
‘What exactly does Calamity want to do with Harang?’
***
At that time.
The Red Magician, who successfully transferred to a spare body in the secret hideout, sighed in relief.
It was a great fortune.
His heart ached due to the collapse of the body with lofty realms accumulated, but he decided to find meaning in surviving. Mana could be reaccumulated. With knowledge and know-how, recovery would be quick.
“No, rather, it turned out well. Since it came to this, let’s transfer to a more excellent body.”
The Red Magician’s gaze turned to one place.
The body lying neatly on the experiment table in the secret hideout.
It was none other than the deep-sleeping Godok rank 2, Maya.
Originally meant for research material, well-treated and restored, but with the situation like this, no need to spare it. He judged it better to recover half the realm through rest and training, then transfer immediately.
However, when the Red Magician, having finished his thoughts, briefly turned his gaze from the experiment table.
Stab-
“……?”
Maya, who had stealthily risen from her spot, pierced the Red Magician’s throat with her hand blade.
“Ke... ge ge...!”
In the end, the Red Magician, Greg Pellegrino, became a cold corpse without even leaving a proper last word.
Maya, who had been silently watching his lonely end, gathered her clothes and, grabbing a suitable sword from the secret hideout, muttered lowly.
“Harang...!”
***
Several days passed from then.
Far from the Red Magician’s hideout, Harang finally regained consciousness.
Perhaps expensive potions were poured generously, as despite the severe injury, he could move to some extent.
Raising his upper body, he looked at the being smiling faintly before him and said.
“......Could you be the Lord of Calamity?”