novelAlta Chapter 493: He said he would personally lay the groundwork.
Chapter 493: He said he would personally lay the groundwork.
Bright red blood stained the luxurious carpeted floor. A heavy silence fell within the Crown Prince’s quarters.For a moment, Jereon didn’t quite understand what had happened.
“…”
Cantares’s face, contorted in agony, appeared right before his eyes. The Crown Prince held Jereon’s shoulder with one hand, and with the other, he blocked the blade that had just been pointed at Jereon’s neck.
Bright red blood was gushing out of his deeply cut flesh.
And the priest whose artery had been severed was making a gurgling sound behind Jereon’s back.
“Ugh… Ugh…”
He couldn’t understand what was happening. It seemed it was the same for the knights and the priest of the Chernion Cult.
Gritting his teeth against the pain, Cantares shouted sharply.
“You idiot, what are you doing? Run away!”
“…!”
Only then did Jereon realize what he had to do. With a groan, Jereon spun around and kicked the priest hard in the jaw.
The priest, who had been standing there blankly, staggered back from the surprise attack.
Without missing the gap, Jereon snatched Cantares and pulled him towards him.
“Khan!”
The two tumbled to the floor together. The priest, suddenly regaining consciousness, grabbed his dangling neck and raised his head again. But by then, Diana had already drawn her sword.
As her sword flashed, the priest’s head was severed from his torso. The headless body began to thrash, but even that was completely subdued by a few strikes from Diana.
“Your Highness!”
Leaving behind the cascading spurts of flesh, Diana hurried to Jereon and Cantares. Cantares was clutching the wound on his hand, wincing in pain.
“Damn, this hurts like hell…”
“Your Highness, are you alright? Please show me your wound!”
Diana, who was desperately trying to support him, discovered a sparkling necklace around Cantares’ neck.
It was an artifact with a particularly prominent bright red jewel, the ‘Unquenchable Heart’.
Only then did Diana understand why Cantares had been able to subdue his enemy, if only for a moment.
The Crown Prince gambled his life with Jereon as bait.
As if to prove her guess correct, Cantares’ wounds instantly disappeared, emitting a faint light.
Cantares had once again unleashed his Unquenchable Heart.
Only then did Cantares relax and slump back down.
“Fuck, damn… Jen, are you okay?”
Cantares, pale and exhausted, faced Jereon with a face drenched in cold sweat. But the aide still couldn’t answer.
Jereon was still looking at him with a dazed expression.
“…I’m sorry. I never intended to gamble with your life.”
Cantares had expected that the priest would not strike with a fatal blow against him.
Because it seemed like they wanted to capture him alive.
So he considered it a gamble worth taking. He would sustain some wounds, yes, but with the Unquenchable Heart, he could counterattack.
No matter how much damage was inflicted, he knew it would mean little to an enemy with a ghoul’s body.
So, creating a brief gap was enough. He could then extract Jereon.
The target of the bastard’s blade was none other than Jereon’s neck.
The instant Jereon’s neck was pierced, Cantares urgently activated the Unquenchable Heart.
The Unquenchable Heart may heal wounds, but it could not bring the dead back to life.
If he had been just a little bit late, something irreversible could have happened.
It was that very fact that sent chills down Cantares’ spine.
“It was dangerous, Your Highness.”
Although Diana scolded him harshly, Cantares’ gaze remained fixed on Jereon.
Because it wasn’t him who almost died, but Jereon.
After a long time, Jereon moved his lips.
“You, your hand…”
“What?”
Cantares blinked, stunned by the broken words that escaped Jereon’s mouth. Jereon repeated himself as if he were malfunctioning.
“Khan, you. Your hand…”
Trembling, the aide reached out and pulled Cantares’ wounded hand toward him.
His face seemed moments away from tears, but Jereon somehow forced his expression under control and bowed his head deeply.
“…Your Highness.”
A chillingly cold voice cut through the air.
Cantares instinctively flinched. Even Diana felt a shiver for a moment.
Raising his head, Jereon glared at Cantares with eyes dripping with frost.
“Jen?”
“It would have been far better for me to die than to harm Your Highness’ precious body.”
Cantares, who had been looking dazed for a moment, spoke with a start.
“Hey, what are you talking about? How could I possibly…?”
“You idiot!”
But Cantares’ voice was drowned out by the shout that followed.
“It was entirely my fault!”
The knights watching were left speechless at Jereon’s anger, which rarely ever occurred.
Clenching his fists tightly, Jereon glared at Cantares.
“It was my misjudgment that caused this. Why did you take the risk? What would have happened if something had gone wrong?”
“The one who could’ve been hurt wasn’t me, it was you!”
At this point, Cantares also began to feel a little annoyed.
“I only got a scratch, you’re the one who almost died!”
“Khan, you really…!”
Just as Jereon was about to erupt again, Diana stepped in between them.
“This is not the time for this.”
Diana politely separated the two with her hand and changed the subject.
“First, please leave. The palace is dangerous. I understand you both are carrying the artifacts Sir Arendt prepared.”
“…”
The two glared at each other with angry eyes. But Diana’s words seemed to have had an effect, and they didn’t continue their argument.
Finally, Jereon sighed deeply and took the artifact out of his pocket.
“…Let’s finish this conversation after we’ve escaped.”
“Understood.”
Cantares also took out the artifact with a dissatisfied face.
“Sir Diana, please take care of the scene.”
“Don’t worry. I will definitely protect the Empire.”
Diana stepped back and bowed politely. Cantares and Jereon simultaneously activated their artifacts.
“Oh. Just so you know, let me tell you in advance.”
Just before the two left, Diana, who had been watching them blankly, spoke.
“I will relay everything I saw today to Sir Arendt. From the aide being taken hostage due to hesitation, to His Highness taking such a dangerous action.”
“Huh?”
“What?”
For a moment, Jereon and Cantares both let out a dumbfounded noise. But that was only for a moment.
A pure white light burst out, and soon the two people disappeared completely.
Seeing the empty space, Diana chuckled quietly to herself.
‘I know this isn’t really the time… but somehow, a part of my heart became happy.’
Just thinking about the shocked faces she had just glimpsed gave her the strength to endure the harsh battlefield.
With each violent exchange, Roger’s sense of discomfort intensified. Finally, when he clashed head-on with the Holy Sword once more, Roger finally realized that one of his arms had gone numb.
‘What?’
But there was no time to ponder.
As the two swords clashed once again…
An ominous sound rang through his ears. His arm muscles, unable to withstand the intense force, ruptured.
“Damn it…!”
Roger gritted his teeth and intensified the Blessing of Karma.
A sudden wall of flames suddenly appeared, sending Laius reeling back. Roger, not missing the opportunity, leaped forward, putting distance between them.
When he finally looked at his own body, Roger’s expression couldn’t help but stiffen.
At some point, a layer of frost began to form on one of his shoulders and arms.
The frost, born from the penetrating wound, had clung to his blood and was slowly draining his body temperature.
One arm was nearly necrotic from frostbite.
It was only natural that the muscles, stiffened by the cold, could not withstand Laius’ power.
“The Frosty Touch…!”
A low sound slipped from his lips.
The final attack of the dying apprentice knight began to reveal its presence.
Because his sense of pain had dulled, he hadn’t noticed it until now. But he wasn’t given time to think long. Roger reflexively raised his sword as the sudden onslaught of attacks struck.
The Holy Sword and the the fiery blade collided head-on, causing a large explosion.
Beyond the flickering flames, piercing blue eyes glimmered as if the very chill of the northern wind and snow had been captured within them.
“Huh…!”
Unconsciously, Roger stepped back. Laius continued the momentum and unleashed a fierce barrage of attacks.
Roger tried to suppress the power of the Frosty Touch with flames, but there was no way to do anything since the source was within his own body.
Unless he could cut off his entire upper body, he would surely be slowly consumed by the frost.
Even if he were to kill Laius like this, it was a foregone conclusion that his entire body would freeze to death.
‘Death is not scary.’
But he had to at least take either Laius or Arendt with him as a companion.
Only then would his death have meaning.
Forcing his arm to move, Roger pushed Laius back and created a wide gap between them. Yet Laus did not let him go.
Closing in quickly, Laius swung his sword in a wide arc.
Roger’s necrotic arm was severed with a chilling sound.
The massive arm Jin had created fell ungainly to the ground. The severed arm was soon covered in pure white frost, crumbling to dust with a crack.
“I think I misspoke earlier.”
Roger couldn’t bring himself to respond to Laius’ cold words.
The fact that Roger hasn’t died yet was purely thanks to the ‘Blessing of Karma’.
His death was predetermined from the moment he allowed Arendt to strike.
Laius raised his sword again.
“It seems I’m not the one killing you.”
A pure white light was imbued on the Holy Sword.
The one who would kill Roger was neither a hero nor anyone noble, but a filthy heretic, an insolent apprentice knight.
Although Laius did not speak it aloud, Roger naturally realized it. The thought of it brought an unbearable rage to Roger’s mind.
“How dare you…”
His sword, gripped tightly, flared with a fierce flame once again. The black divine power began to surge madly, but it was impossible to hold onto his sanity once it began to crumble.
“You dare!”
With a roar of fury, Roger charged at Laius, his entire body wreathed in flames.
He intended to use even his own blazing spirit to perish alongside Laius.
Laius willingly met his attacks head-on.
At the same time that Roger’s sword pierced his shoulder, Laius swung the Holy Sword with his other arm.
The flames that had been swirling in all directions suddenly lost their power and scattered.
“…Gasp, huff.”
Laius breathed heavily.
He could feel the unpleasant smell of blood and a familiar chill right in front of his nose.
He barely raised his gaze and saw Roger, whose heart had been pierced by the Holy Sword.
His face, always hidden behind the mask, was now horribly distorted. Laius mercilessly pulled his sword out.
Roger’s body shook violently, and cold blood splattered on his face.
Black blood poured out beneath the night sky. Roger, staggering but forcing himself to maintain his balance, raised his gaze and looked at Laius.
“Even in death, I will….”
But before he could even finish uttering that curse-laden sentence…
Roger was devoured by the pure white frost and died.