novelraw Chapter 210 : The Imperial Army Falling into Ruin (2)
Chapter 210 : The Imperial Army Falling into Ruin (2)
Chapter 210: The Imperial Army Falling into Ruin (2)
Fwoooosh!
Pitch-black flames of Aura blazed fiercely around the swords of the captain-class knights.
The imperial soldiers who were cut down by those swords screamed.
“There’s nowhere to run!”
“Spare me!”
It was as if people had been locked inside a massive war tiger’s cage.
Each time a pitch-black trajectory was drawn, knights and soldiers fell.
The soldiers driven into one side desperately hammered at the wall with swords and spears to break through, but it was useless.
“No need for miners here.”
True Martial Art Sword Form Slashing Bow
Unable to bear the excessively brutal sight, Raion opened a hole in one side of the wall.
Rumbleee!
“It broke through! Get out!”
“Let’s get out quickly!”
“Get out! Hurry!”
Like a swarm of ants, the soldiers poured out through the breached hole like a receding tide.
The captain-class knights, their pitch-black killing intent flashing in their eyes, moved swiftly in pursuit.
Shraaaaaak!
The moment they clung on like hunting dogs, white lightning pierced down in front of them and shot forward at terrifying speed.
Pajijijijik!
“Kuaaaagh!”
“Aaaagh!”
The knights infected with MAGUS screamed as they were electrocuted.
In that opening, the trajectory of a sword swept rapidly across them.
Slash—! Puahaaak!
As the bodies of the madness-filled knights split apart here and there, pitch-black energy burst forth.
The remaining knights turned their target toward Raion.
“Good. Come at me, all of you.”
Shuaaaak! Pak!
From a distance, Negis also vaulted over the wall and fired arrows.
With even suppression added, Raion’s attacks swept across an even wider area.
In an instant, the heads of the remaining knights fell to the ground.
Raion shook off the small amount of blood clinging to his blade.
“Is it almost over now?”
On the monster side as well, it seemed to be getting cleaned up thanks to Grapheos.
The surroundings were sealed off by ‘Concrete Wall’.
Unable to cross the walls, the imperial army wandered in confusion searching for an exit.
“Caldein, draw their attention a bit.”
“Yes, sir.”
Caldein Flavan, who had come to Raion’s side before anyone noticed, drew a spell formula, muttered an incantation, and fired a ‘Flare’ spell into the sky.
Boom—!
With a massive explosion, flames scattered across the sky.
Only then did the panicking imperial soldiers calm down slightly.
Pajijijijik!
Next was Raion. He loaded his sword with the Aura of White Lightning Flash and launched a slashing strike into empty space.
Kwaaang!
One side of the ‘Concrete Wall’ shattered, drawing everyone’s gaze.
“Your commander has surrendered!”
His Aura-infused voice rang out thunderously.
Those who had not yet heard the news began to murmur.
Among them, the knight Caesar, who had shouted for surrender, darkened in expression.
“If you wish to keep fighting, I’ll deal with you. That is, if you can endure it…….”
Raion formed a massive chunk of concrete in midair.
It did not stop growing, and as it continued to expand, a dark shadow fell over the heads of the imperial soldiers.
“…….”
“If you do not surrender, I’ll drop this as it is.”
Hearing Raion’s heavily resonating voice, the faces of the imperial soldiers stiffened.
There was nowhere to run or hide.
If that boulder fell, they would meet death as they were.
Naturally, there was only one answer.
Clank, clank.
The weapons held in the hands of the imperial soldiers fell to the ground.
‘It ended more easily than I thought.’
It was almost absurd.
Of course, this was thanks to Raion possessing magic capable of isolating an enormous amount of mana and troops.
At that moment, Patrick approached from behind.
“What shall we do with them.”
Nearly ten thousand soldiers had been killed at the hands of the MAGUS-infected knights.
Less than twenty thousand remained.
Even so, it was still an overwhelming number.
The immediate problem was that even if they accepted the surrender of that many troops, there was too much work to do to take them as prisoners.
In the first place, in a situation where they were marching on the imperial capital, prisoners were useless.
“Letting them go feels wrong too…….”
“Even if we release them, they will only return to the Empire.”
“In that case, they’ll become enemies again. Then perhaps……, kill them?”
Raion slowly swept his gaze over the imperial soldiers with eyes filled with killing intent.
Though it was from a distance, a few who thought they had made eye contact hurriedly lowered their heads.
“If you so command, I will carry it out.”
At Patrick’s extremely serious demeanor, the expressions of Jade, Calsios, and the others standing nearby grew heavy.
Since it was wartime, they did not want to take Raion’s decision lightly.
However, contrary to their thoughts, Raion was being slightly playful.
“Enough. Do we really need to build a mountain of corpses here?”
With the ten thousand already dead, a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood was more than possible.
At Raion’s reply, Patrick smiled faintly.
“I thought you would say that.”
“I was testing you. You knew I wouldn’t do something like that.”
“I merely trust and follow the master’s decision.”
“Don’t tease me.”
After saying that, Raion leapt down from atop the ‘Concrete Wall’ and landed on the ground.
At that moment, inside the enclosed walls, the surrendered imperial soldiers retreated with faces filled with fear, as if they were facing something monstrous.
A human who did not seem human.
Some even thought Raion was a dragon that appeared only in legends.
It was because of his omnipotent magic and swordsmanship that transcended all limits.
But in a situation where he could not openly ask, he merely trembled all over.
“Come out, the one who shouted that he would surrender earlier.”
At Raion’s call, everyone flinched in surprise even though they were not the person concerned.
No one moved easily.
After a brief moment, the knight Caesar, who had been standing slightly back, lowered his trembling gaze and stepped forward.
“I, it was me.”
“That’s right. I have something to ask.”
Raion strode forward toward him.
At that moment, Caesar and the imperial soldiers standing behind him recoiled in alarm and hurriedly stepped backward.
“……It’s not like I’m carrying some plague.”
“Th, then, um, could you p, please just say it th, there?”
Caesar still could not even lift his head.
Seeing that 모습, a sigh escaped Raion on its own.
“What kind of situation is the Empire in right now?”
“What do you mean by that……?”
“No matter how I think about it, the surrender was far too easy. This must have been a war you were prepared for from the start. Isn’t it because there’s something you’re uneasy about?”
“…….”
Had he hit the mark?
Faced with that question, Caesar could not open his mouth right away.
No matter what he said, it would amount to insulting his lord, the Emperor.
At that, Raion spoke first.
“Didn’t the Emperor seem strange? Or perhaps the Empire’s situation has been going in a strange direction.”
“…….”
“What if the Empire and many territories across the continent have already been laid waste by the Empire’s own hands? What if demonic nature took root on the shoulders of an Emperor who should have borne the new divinity?”
At that moment, Caesar’s shoulders twitched. The Emperor’s gaze he had seen just before marching to war came back to him.
It was like the darkness of an abyss.
It had felt as though, once drawn into it, one would never be able to escape.
“What…, do you know?”
“That the Emperor received the blessing of the Demon King rather than the blessing of the Goddess, perhaps?”
“Th, the Demon King?!”
“The king of the Demon Realm. The Demon Race. You already know about them, don’t you? Don’t you recognize the names Zelphinia and Kamio? Decarsen Falkahn and Malphas, Gremory!”
The two beings Raion had annihilated had been leading the imperial army.
At those names, Caesar’s expression grew even more shocked.
“You mean Priest Zelphinia and Marquis Kamio? And the others as well……!”
Caesar had been acquainted with them.
They were figures who had suddenly appeared and become imperial nobles.
Naturally, the backlash from the existing nobility had been immense. Then, from one day onward, the nobles who opposed them committed suicide or were purged for treason, and everything was swiftly cleaned up.
It was impossible not to know whose hand was behind it.
And just moments ago, those nobles had fought Raion—two were annihilated, and one fled.
Of course, Caesar had been on the ground and had not seen the spectacle that unfolded in the sky.
“So they even disguised themselves as priests? Well, they must have been priests of darkness.”
Raion felt utterly dumbfounded.
At that explanation, Caesar could finally be certain of the origin of the fear he had felt.
“The Empire’s situation right now is beyond control.”
“What kind of situation is it?”
“……Hell. To the point where waging war would be better…….”
“Be more specific.”
“In the imperial capital, incidents where people tear other people apart are happening frequently! And on top of that, the Imperial Palace is turning a blind eye to it!”
Naturally, Raion’s brow furrowed.
Just from seeing MAGUS implanted into humans and driving them mad, he could already imagine what kind of scenes those would be.
“Fine, I get that. Then what do you intend to do now? If I let you go, will you return to the Empire?”
Loading Aura into his voice so that it made the air resound, Raion asked.
The imperial soldiers stirred.
Even if they returned to the Empire after surrendering to the enemy, no one knew whether they could preserve their lives.
“We have no choice but to return.”
“With the current Emperor, it doesn’t seem like you’d receive a warm welcome.”
“Our families are in the capital. How could we even think of fleeing and leaving them behind!”
At Caesar’s shout, the surrounding soldiers nodded in agreement.
“If we attack the capital, wouldn’t your families all be as good as dead? Surely you don’t expect us to spare the people there?”
At that moment, Caesar’s complexion turned pale.
At first, he had not known the destination of those unidentified knights, the Holy Emperor of the Bachenan Holy Kingdom, the priests, and the holy knights.
If Raion’s words were true, then that destination was clearly the imperial capital.
“With just this number, you intend to attack the Empire?”
“Why not. I already made you surrender, didn’t I?”
Out of thirty thousand troops, twenty thousand remained. On top of that, they were the Empire’s elite forces.
It was no different from having gone alone to stop a force large enough to topple an entire kingdom.
“…….”
“I am Raion Canel, Crown Prince of the Canel Kingdom. From this point on, I will bring down the Empire. Will you join me?”
“You’re telling us to become traitors?”
“I promise that I will never harm the citizens of the Empire. My targets are only the Demon Race.”
Caesar still harbored doubts about the very existence of the Demon Race.
But when he thought about the current state of the Empire, it was not entirely implausible.
“Will you truly not harm the imperial citizens? And if you break that promise, what then?!”
“……Did it look like I was asking?”
It was immediately clear who held the upper hand.
Even now, the massive boulder Raion had created was floating above their heads.
If it were to fall at any moment, they would all be as good as dead.
“I only hope…… that you will keep that promise.”
“I’ll try to keep it as much as possible.”
“Then what are we supposed to do now? Do we turn back and march on the Empire together with you?”
At that question, Raion shook his head.