Chapter 234 - Will We Make It Back Alive?

Outside the inner castle, after Gokma made Ferda disappear, he too vanished without a trace. All three of Ferda's escorts had effectively failed.

There had been nothing they could do. When magic was involved, all they could do was take the blow for him, but this had been so overwhelming that they hadn't even had time for that. They had fallen victim to something they could never have stopped. That was how they had to think of it.

But Luri couldn't.

'I failed.'

She had joined this operation with one purpose: to bring Ferda home safely. Her job was to ensure that he and Valdrova could smile and talk again without Valdrova ever suspecting a thing. But that had come undone all too easily.

'Am I... incapable of protecting anyone on my own?'

A wave of self-loathing washed over her, soon becoming a mire that threatened to swallow her.

"Don't blame yourself," Zed said beside her. "I'm certain he'll be all right."

"I'm not blaming myself."

Luri glared at Zed and Arwen as though they had overstepped.

"I wasn't the only one who failed, yet you both seem remarkably relaxed."

"I'm troubled too. So is Sir Concillus here."

"Don't call me Sir Concillus... No, let's focus on rescuing Regent Ferda first."

Ferda had been taken away by an invitation spell, but none of them believed he was dead. He was the sort of man who could enter a dragon's jaws time and again and still come back out. At the very least, he wouldn't die so pointlessly that they had no time to save him.

"He said he was inviting him into the castle, so he must be inside. That means we'll have to go in too."

"We don't know what he might do, so we must find him as quickly as possible."

Luri stiffened her wings and continued.

"I'll go ahead and find Master Ferda. We may be too late if I match your pace."

"Those eyeballs will be in there... Will you be all right?"

Having experienced them himself, Arwen couldn't help feeling afraid right now. Luri's experience had been longer ago, but the sensation remained as vivid as if it had happened yesterday. It was a nightmare she never wanted to relive.

"It doesn't matter."

Already trapped in a nightmare, she found even that fear meaningless.

Realizing how frantic she was, Arwen tried once more to persuade her.

"I think it would be best if we stayed together and searched for Lord Ferda—"

WHOOSH!

Luri shot forward like an arrow and hurtled into the inner castle. Zed and Arwen stared blankly after her for a while before one of them spoke.

"Let's get moving too. Relatively slowly."

They entered the inner castle at a full sprint, yet felt like tortoises beside a hare. No sooner had they entered than silence settled around them.

It shouldn't have been silent. The coalition and imperial armies had already poured into the inner castle. Where had all those people gone?

"If we set foot in here..."

"Something's going to happen. Guaranteed."

The mage who should have supported them had already been abducted, and their strongest fighter had charged into the inner castle on her own. These were hardly ideal conditions for two knights to venture inside. But Arwen's heart held the spirit of chivalry. He couldn't turn back.

"Well, shall we do what we can?"

Zed took a deep breath and opened his eyes wide. A strange red light began to shine in them, and the wavering space scattered as his gaze fell upon it. The endless expanse before Arwen's eyes reverted to an ordinary castle interior.

'So this is how frightening the Red-Eye Clan is.'

Arwen had only recently learned Zed's secret. Until Zed revealed that he belonged to the Red-Eye Clan, Arwen had thought he was merely a layabout with nimble fingers. No, he hadn't believed him even when he revealed it.

'Who would believe him when he starts with that nonsense about sleeping with a swordmaster, then announces he's from the Red-Eye Clan?'

This was Zed's fault. There had to be a limit to how far out of nowhere a man could come.

"This doesn't look good," Zed said as he revealed their path.

"What doesn't?"

"I'm killing off the magic as hard as I can, and all I can manage is clearing the path ahead. So this is what entering a Dark Mage's domain feels like?"

Despite his cold sweat, a smile settled on his face.

"If we get the direction right, we might even rescue His Excellency first."

"That's good to hear."

Yet something felt wrong. Could things really go this smoothly in a place like this? As if to prove those worries well-founded, something went wrong.

RUMBLE!

The floor, solid only moments before beneath their feet, collapsed around Arwen and Zed. The instant Zed felt the downward pull beneath his soles, he leaped clear.

"Agh!"

"Arwen?!"

But Arwen, heavier and less agile, couldn't escape. He fell through the floor.

THUD!

It was a drop of about one story, and Arwen was still visible below.

"Goddamn it..."

Adrenaline surged through him. Arwen sprang to his feet and gripped his sword. Ominous breathing came from the thick darkness before him. Demonic creatures.

GRRR!

GRR!

There weren't just one or two. He could hear more than thirty breathing. Worse, the collapsed floor was returning to its original position. Its collapse had been one of the castle's traps.

Watching his only escape close, Arwen saw Lyudmila's face in his mind. He didn't need to ponder why. He had sensed his own death.

"Zed!" Arwen shouted, caught in the mire of death. "Find Regent Ferda!"

At his shout, the shadows closing around him lunged. Arwen wondered how many of them he could take with him.

SKREE!

Three hurled themselves at him at once. He was a battle-hardened knight of the far east. He concentrated all his aura along his blade's edge, shaping it into an edge sharp enough to cut through steel.

SLASH!

He managed to cut down two, but couldn't protect his exposed back. Yet the agonizing pain he expected never came. Something had descended through the hole and pierced the creature's head.

Arwen turned. Zed stood there. Meeting Arwen's incredulous gaze, he shrugged.

"Well, here we are."

Arwen sighed, but despite that sigh, hope rose in his face.

"Just don't die."

"Hah. Worry about yourself."

Arwen tightened his grip on his longsword, and Zed adjusted his grip on his dagger. With their vision clear, they could see more. Their estimate of thirty had been wrong. There were easily more than twice that many.

They wondered: would they really make it out of here alive?

* * *

Meanwhile, the coalition forces had entered through the inner castle's west gate as soon as the barrier fell. King Heodret had, of course, been the first inside. He faced each threat first, more than fulfilling his role at the vanguard.

But that didn't last long. When he noticed the silence behind him and turned, the other kingdoms' armies following him had vanished entirely. This couldn't simply be an attempt to screw Heodret over; none of the troops meant to follow were anywhere in sight. The mage's domain had silently swallowed them.

"Mage, how is your survey coming?"

"Well, I still... It's difficult to determine the actual layout."

The mage moving behind Heodret floundered. The adjutant beside him scowled.

"What's so difficult that you're taking this long?"

"I'm sorry. I want to resolve this quickly too, but it isn't as simple as..."

King Heodret glared at the adjutant berating the mage on his behalf.

"Are you a mage?"

"Pardon?"

"I asked if you're a mage."

"O-of course not."

"Then shut your fucking mouth. Unless you want your tongue cut out."

The mage surveying their surroundings was a specialist with experience as an adventurer. King Heodret had brought him as a precaution, certain that the enemy would try something inside the inner castle. In a situation even such an expert couldn't resolve, they needed to rely on him all the more.

At the same time, Heodret understood his adjutant's feelings. They could see nothing ahead and had no way back, while monsters might spring out at any moment from anywhere. Worse, whenever someone died, their corpse could spawn a powerful undead monster. Impatience was inevitable.

"Just tell me what you've learned so far. Are we actually moving?"

"Yes. We are certainly walking through some sort of space. However, it may be a space interwoven with complex distortion magic."

"How do we escape a place like that?"

"Our only options are to destroy the magic item sustaining the spell or kill the caster."

"Can we do either of those now?"

"If the caster has enough mana to expand it to this size... we're very likely to die first."

"Honest, aren't you?"

King Heodret let out a breath, sounding intrigued.

"We can come in as we please, but we can't leave. There was a reason they let us inside so readily. So the king of Heinkel had a plan?"

What should he do, then? As he briefly considered that question, the scouting mage flinched in the midst of his concentration.

"Something is approaching."

"Those demonic bastards never tire of coming."

"Well... they aren't demonic creatures! They seem to be people!"

Even if they were people, something still felt off. King Heodret gave an order.

"Stay on guard for now."

A short while later, someone came into his view. Recognizing the figure, he lowered his sword and approached.

"A veteran of a hundred battles, here on the battlefield. Sir Ruster."

Oldin Ruster. His scar-covered face suited his nickname: the Veteran of a Hundred Battles.

"So we meet here, King Heodret."

"Indeed. Are you lost too?"

"It would seem so, considering I've found you first instead."

Count Ruster thought for a moment before speaking again.

"Have you seen the Second Prince, by any chance?"

"The Second Prince? Ureas? Why ask me? Someone from the Empire should know better."

"I heard an imperial soldier last saw Ureas in this direction. We followed that lead and found you."

"Your soldier must have been mistaken. Unreliable intelligence is worse than none at all. Tsk."

"Or perhaps we're going in circles around this area. Thank you, in any case."

"No need for thanks. We're going in circles just the same, aren't we?"

King Heodret smiled and held out a hand to Count Ruster.

"What do you say? Joining us might be a sound decision."

It was a casual offer of cooperation. But Count Ruster looked down at his hand and replied,

"There's no need to make an offer you don't mean. We've been operating independently even within the imperial army, and I prefer it that way. More importantly, don't you have your own business to attend to, King Heodret?"

"Of course. I'll take that as a polite refusal."

"Then, if you'll excuse me."

Count Ruster turned his troops around and headed elsewhere. King Heodret watched him go, then spoke.

"One thing, Sir Ruster."

"Yes?"

Count Ruster stopped.

"Since when have you cared so much for the Second Prince? When I first met you, I thought it wouldn't be surprising if you killed him at any moment."

"..."

"Was I mistaken?"

Count Ruster stared silently at King Heodret. The personal guard leveled their swords. As veterans, they immediately recognized the killing intent radiating from him.

He spoke.

"A soldier's duty is to devote himself to his country."

King Heodret's relaxed expression broadened into a grin.

"Well, it's none of my business. I do hope you find him."

"Thank you."

Ruster once again led his men away. His silhouette disappeared into the darkness, and as the rest vanished one by one, a deathly silence fell once more.

"This damned darkness seems to be the problem."

King Heodret changed the subject.

"No other choice, then. We'll have to use it."

"Here, Your Majesty?"

His men reacted to the mention of it.

"Didn't His Holiness the Pope insist that you use it only in the decisive battle?"

"He meant that was when it would be most effective. Had he anticipated a situation like this, he'd have told us to use it immediately."

"If we don't use it at the decisive moment, someone else might take that magic from us."

"That doesn't mean we should act like idiots who can't tell shit from piss."

Heodret chuckled and took something from his pocket.

It was a golden box, about the size of a necklace case, with a religious order's emblem engraved in its center. The design unmistakably depicted a dragon, and only one group officially worshipped a dragon: the Aspect of Faith and Light, the Golden Dragon Odograsado.

Heodret opened the box to look at its contents. Golden light spilled out the moment he lifted the lid, bright enough to restore color to everything around them.

The light came from a scale. It bore Odograsado's blessing. He held a sacred relic that not even Odograsado's pope could use.

"Truth be told, I've been dying to see just how incredible this power is."

King Heodret clenched the scale in his fist. At that instant, golden light erupted.