Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 382: On the distorted stage

!The group’s footsteps halted at the heavy noise coming from above. Llewellyn, who was leading the way, urged them forward.

“There’s no time. Keep moving.”

“Yes, yes, Prince. I understand.”

Victor nodded hurriedly and looked back at his family.

“Just try a little harder. And watch your step.”

“It’s damp and hard to walk… Mother, Aunt, are you both alright?”

Louis looked back at the Queen and the Consort. They both nodded.

“Don’t worry about us, Prince. We’re keeping up just fine.”

Louis looked slightly worried at the Queen’s words.

Victor was holding little Rieta’s hand tightly.

“Be careful not to fall.”

“Yes, brother.”

Llewellyn glanced at the group and then hurried on. Duke Middleton, who was following from behind, also began walking while keeping a close eye on the rear.

They were now moving through the old underground waterways of the palace.

The ground beneath their feet was slick with stagnant water and mud, and the air was murky.

However, it was undeniable that this route was the safest.

Because it was a passage that had been neglected for a long time, no one knew of its existence.

“By the way, Mister Llewellyn, how did you know there was a path like this?”

At Rieta’s cautious question, Llewellyn grinned and replied playfully.

“There is nothing an explorer does not know, Princess. I happened to discover this while searching for an escape route.”

“Wow…”

There was pure admiration in the princess’ eyes. But that was a lie.

Because it was none other than Salem and his spirits who discovered this passage.

Those following behind did not notice, but traces left by Salem’s spirits were engraved on the walls and ceiling in certain sections.

Llewellyn’s mission was to follow the traces and keep Victor safe.

“You mustn’t lose sight of me. It would be troublesome if you got lost here.”

Llewellyn warned, holding up his torch to light the way.

In the midst of all this, the sound of cold blades clashing could be heard overhead. A fierce battle had already broken out above.

“…Do you think he’ll be alright?”

Victor asked cautiously.

The royal family still did not know that Arendt was in the palace.

Although he was too busy worrying about it to bring up the subject, Llewellyn could easily tell that he was worried about Arendt.

“Well, he’ll be okay. Probably.”

Llewellyn answered vaguely. He was such a monster that there was no need to worry about him too much.

But one thing that concerned him was…

‘That guy looked pretty uncomfortable…’

For the sake of Captain Edgar, who would be with him, he hoped Arendt would act appropriately.

Laius de Winfried gazed into the darkness with calm eyes. His gaze fell upon a small barn across the empty street.

“Everyone, get ready.”

“Yes!”

At Laius’ command, the knights drew their swords one by one.

An ominous flow of magic was felt in the shabby barn. Something was stirring within the barn, like a baby bird struggling just before it hatched.

Laius quietly reached for his sword. The Holy Sword imbued with Luce’s power patiently awaited his touch.

‘Three, two…’’

.

As soon as Laius finished the countdown, a concentrated magical power exploded from the small barn.

In an instant, the surroundings became as bright as day.

The moment the knights realized this fact…

A huge explosion swept through the surrounding area.

“Ugh!”

A violent storm devastated the surrounding area, sending debris flying in all directions.

While the other knights reflexively ducked, Laius stood upright, keeping his eyes fixed steadily on the point of the explosion.

Before long, the barn had collapsed without a trace, and in its place was a blood-red summoning circle.

And then Laius discovered a being crouching in the middle of the red light that dyed the deep darkness.

“…”

A giant resembling a shadow cast by twilight.

Although it had the same form as the homunculus that first appeared, it was not difficult to tell that it was a slightly different being.

Unlike the one whose torso was fixed to the ground and unable to move, the giant had fully developed limbs and was curled up like a newborn baby.

The moment it opened its eyes and became active, everything nearby would be destroyed in an instant.

“Grrrr…”

“Growl…”

The first to move were the ghouls surrounding the homunculus like its guards.

The wolf-like ghouls let out a bubbling sound from their rotting throats. Their bright red eyes began to turn towards the knights one by one.

!

Laius drew his sword. The Holy Sword shimmered with a radiant white light, infused with divine power. Instead of issuing multiple commands, Laius only uttered one.

“Don’t get hurt.”

“Yes!”

Though it now felt like a distant memory, there was a time when he enjoyed sipping a cup of coffee while reading a book.

The nameless actor, who once found small moments of rest flipping through books or scrolling in a sparsely furnished studio apartment, had just slain his third enemy.

‘I don’t think I had a particularly aggressive personality.’

But now, playing the role of Arendt, it seemed that walking among deadly blades wasn’t so bad after all.

At least in the moments of battle, he could focus solely on sweeping away the enemies before him.

However, that did not mean that he would neglect his duties as ‘Arendt’.

!

The enemy, whose neck was cleanly cut off, fell to the ground.

“I thought they’d be scraps, but they’re even more pathetic than I imagined.”

Arendt grumbled in annoyance, shaking off the clumps of blood clinging to his sword.

“What good is having numbers if they’re useless?”

Even as he spoke, a soldier clad in the armor of the Lucain Kingdom was rushing towards him.

“Die!”

However, Arendt easily dodged the soldier’s deadly strike by stepping back just slightly, causing the attack to fizzle out harmlessly.

!

Arendt turned and easily cut open the enemy’s heart. The soldier, gagging on his own blood, collapsed with a heavy thud.

“How on earth did you train them? It makes no sense that they’re no match for an apprentice knight!”

“…”

“Oh, right. I suppose I should have expected as much, seeing that nearly half of them have betrayed us.”

Edgar could offer no excuse in response to the rude voice flying at him.

Because, when examined closely, the accusations weren’t entirely unfounded.

‘What a crazy guy.’

Even while cutting down the endless waves of enemies, hearing such nonsense made him feel anything but amused.

Edgar, having just slain a soldier charging at Arendt, spoke as politely as he could, but with biting sincerity.

“I’m so glad Sir Arendt isn’t my subordinate.”

“Exactly. Having such an outstanding subordinate can be quite troublesome. In that sense, my seniors and Captain Laius are somewhat unfortunate.”

“You’re driving me crazy.”

“Thank you for the compliment. I hear that a lot.”

“…”

Edgar realized that the more he talked, the more he would lose.

Having given up on everything, he silently focused on cutting down the enemies before him.

The same was true for the other knights around him.

‘The knights seem pretty useful.’

Thanks to this, Arendt got a brief moment to take a step back and check his surroundings.

Fortunately, none of the defectors were members of the Royal Knights.

Unfortunately, however, the common soldiers and guards seemed to be quite contaminated.

‘What on earth happened…’

Arendt’s brows furrowed slightly.

There were far more enemies than expected.

Clearly, the Lucain Kingdom did not let its guard down against the Evil Cult.

However, the fact that so many turncoats emerged must have meant that there was some kind of incident that could have been a trigger.

“…!”

But he didn’t have much time to think about anything else. A guard approached him from behind and stabbed his spear straight at him.

But the attack aimed at him merely cut through the air.

“No matter how much I think about it, it’s still strange.”

Muttering to himself, Arendt swung his sword with a smooth movement.

!

The guard, whose head was cleanly decapitated, fell down without being able to scream.

“The royal family did not commit tyranny. Why is this chaos happening all of a sudden? If they were dissatisfied, they should have risen up sooner.”

It also bothered him that most of them weren’t even brainwashed.

!

Arendt easily dodged the sword flying right over his head and activated the Frosty Touch.

A cold chill enveloped the sword.

“…!”

The enemy who noticed the cool air reflexively took a step back.

But his hand holding the sword was already frozen white.

“What, what the—!”

“What else? It means you’re dead.”

Arendt, speaking plainly, left him alone and stepped forward to face another enemy.

“Ahhhhh! What the! Aah!”

Behind him, he heard the screams of the enemy slowly freezing. It was strangely jarring, but Arendt just ignored it.

Because the enemies were relentlessly closing in from all sides.

“Sir Arendt, don’t go too far alone! The enemies are after you, it’s too dangerous!”

“Please don’t order me around. Isn’t it fortunate that I’m not your subordinate?”

Edgar shouted, but Arendt paid no attention to him and charged into the middle of the enemy lines.

Since it was not easy to tell who was friend and foe, it was necessary for him to play the role of bait properly.

With each step he took, pure white ice flowers bloomed on the battlefield.

Clutching their gradually freezing body, they screamed and thrashed, but Arendt never looked back.

‘It really bothers me.’

They’d go quiet soon enough anyway, so even if they were still alive for the moment, it didn’t really matter…

Still, something didn’t sit right with him.

‘Ah.’

Arendt soon realized the reason.

There were usually people a few steps behind who neatly finished off the ones freezing to death.

But today, with no one to handle the cleanup, his back felt strangely exposed.

“Tsk.”

Arendt drew even more power from the artifact. A white frost settled over the ground where he stood.

“Get rid of that bastard! He’s a monster!”

“A monster? Have you ever seen such a handsome monster?”

While babbling his usual nonsense, Arendt swung his sword sharply at the enemies who were rushing at him at once.

A silvery frost wind swept through, and in an instant, the enemies froze solid, still locked in the very stance they’d attacked in.

.

The frozen surface cracked open, and soon the enemies shattered into pure white shards of ice and scattered into the air.

A white breath rose from Arendt’s lips, unfitting for the season.

Just as he was about to charge towards his enemies again…

An unfamiliar scream erupted from quite a distance away.

“What, what is it? Where did that suddenly come from?”

Arendt paused. A moment later, a mixed cry of joy and sorrow followed.

“Reinforcements! Follow them!”

“We have the blessing of Lord Luce on our side!”

It meant that someone had intervened in the battlefield. Arendt looked up to see where the sound had come from.

And a moment later, a laugh of disbelief escaped his lips.

“Honestly, those people aren’t much better either.”

Amid the chaos of the Lucain Kingdom’s soldiers tangled together, two knights in bright blue uniforms stood out unmistakably.