Chapter 157: Chapter 157

“Fire! Fire!”

“It’s the Purifying Flames! Call a priest!”

“It’s hot! Please put out the fire, aaagh!”

Until just moments ago, the Palace of the Moon had been completely tranquil, but now it became even more chaotic than a daytime market.

Attendants, servants, and maids who rushed out in their sleep screamed in panic and ran everywhere.

Thanks to this, guards who rushed out from their quarters could not easily join up with their comrades or bring the situation under control.

Captain Jelo of the Royal Guard, who was staying in the detached palace, glared fiercely as he sprinted toward the king’s residence.

“What on earth is happening…?”

The Purifying Flames were a secret art of the ancient Old Faith.

A substance imbued with the miracle powers of ‘healing,’ ’empowerment,’ and ‘purification’ into flammable material, causing the flames to constantly regenerate themselves, burn hotter, and purify everything nearby.

Even within the Kingdom of Ajun, producing and managing it was permitted only to the highest-ranking nobles participating in holy wars.

‘Could it be treason? Whose doing is this? Duke Ramis? Marquis Asif? Or Viscount Viengross?’

After briefly considering all kinds of candidates in his head, he realized that no matter how rebellious someone was, they would never use the Purifying Flames.

Because even if they ousted the royal family that way, the Holy See would never side with traitors who dared to use holy power for rebellion.

In Ajun, a nation of the most devout Old Faith believers, that was tantamount to political suicide.

As he wondered whose doing it could possibly be, absurd words reached his ears.

“The green-eyed demon has invaded!”

“It’s an attack by the Pendian bastards!”

“He is targeting His Majesty the King, so all guards head to the throne room!”

Pendia?

Jelo wore a dazed expression for a moment at the unexpected identity of the attacker.

Of course, he also knew that Prince Meleo, the heir of Ajun, had recently broken off his engagement with the Pendian princess and insulted them.

Therefore, Ajun had heightened its alert status along the border touching Libert as well as toward the Demonic Realm just in case, preparing for an invasion from Pendia.

If those bastards had moved even a small force into those two regions, there was no way it would have gone unnoticed.

Before he even had time to wonder what kind of nonsense this was, an Altoan youth with glowing green eyes abruptly appeared before Jelo.

Though meeting for the first time, the appearance he had heard about until his ears hurt caused a mutter to slip from his mouth involuntarily.

“Shan Barendil…!”

Judging by the chainmail and the blood staining the bluish-gray longsword he held, the number of people he had cut down on his way here was by no means small.

The way he approached silently was not that of a knight, but of an assassin.

At this, the giant knight glared fiercely and shouted.

“Could it be that a knight came in the middle of the night to assassinate His Majesty the King? You despicable Altoan bastard!”

Before his accusation even finished, the enemy before his eyes rushed toward him.

Jelo grimaced at the bizarre sight of him repeatedly disappearing and reappearing in sync with the flickering fire shadows.

However, he too was a skilled fighter known as the Mad Bull of Ajun.

The momentum as he ran forward with a thunderous roar while thrusting his shield forward was fierce enough to push back even a troll.

“Long live His Majesty the King!”

The moment the fiercely thrust shield cleaved through empty air, Jelo swung the mace in his right hand backward, relying on instincts honed by countless battles.

Star Crusher.

A sacred relic crafted from a meteorite that fell in the distant past, True Silver obtained in the True Silver War, and the blended remains of a distinguished priest.

The moment it fiercely cleaved through the wind and struck something, Jelo became certain of victory.

Because Star Crusher possessed the ability to convert Fighting Spirit into shockwaves.

Since he had swung with nearly all his strength, the target should be sent flying dozens of meters.

At this level, no matter how powerful a knight might be, they would at least be incapacitated, and with high probability, dead.

‘What?’

However, such thoughts vanished in an instant due to the sensation felt in his hands.

It was neither the sensation of hitting something hard like stone or iron, nor something fragile like a human body.

The recoil, as if hitting something absurdly tough and elastic, pained his grip as though it were tearing apart.

“Ugh…”

As Jelo let out a groan, he felt something tightening suffocatingly inside him.

A sensation of something cold burrowing into his body, starting from his right armpit…

Only then did he realize that the opponent, while blocking the attack, had precisely pierced the armpit exposed by his swinging of the mace.

As Jelo fell limply with his heart pierced, a voice reached his ears.

“Impressive. With skill like this, you’d easily rank among the top three in Ajun.”

Even though the opponent was a cursed Altoan, the feeling of being acknowledged by a powerful warrior was not bad.

Jelo died with a faint smile on his lips without realizing it.

*

Shan lifted the mace of the knight he had just killed and swung it lightly.

Although he did not know that the man’s identity was the Captain of the Royal Guard, he was a formidable warrior even by Pendian standards, and judging by his possession of such an item, his status did not seem low.

In particular, his final counterattack, aimed precisely at the approach from behind, had been quite sharp.

If not for the ‘Wall of Silence,’ Shan would have had to step back instead of blocking and counterattacking simultaneously to strike him down.

‘It would be better to use this for now.’

Against knights or guards armed with holy relics, plate armor made of rare metals, or chainmail, A Thousand Shapes’ attack power was somewhat lacking.

Of course, he could just pierce vital spots precisely as he had done earlier, but that took its own effort.

Stowing away A Thousand Shapes, Shan took up the mace and entered the king’s residence.

After kicking open a few empty rooms, he encountered a locked door; when he swung the mace, with a loud thud, the furniture inside and the attendants bracing against it tumbled down noisily.

“A-Ah…”

“Please spare me!”

“I’ll kill you, demon!”

A few young attendants bowed their heads in terror, but one older attendant lunged with a small knife.

Of course, a single downward blow of the mace crushed his skull and popped out his eyeballs as he sprawled onto the floor.

Shan looked down at those kneeling and asked.

“The king.”

Seeing that they did not seem to understand after he asked once, he smashed one of their heads and killed him, and only then did an answer come.

“H-He fled! Through the secret passage!”

“He’s quick on his feet. Do you know where it is?”

“That is…”

Fearing he might be hiding it, Shan crushed his leg, but judging by how he shook his head while screaming that he didn’t know, he truly seemed not to know.

Then again, it didn’t seem likely they would inform mere attendants.

It would have been better if he had killed the king while he was at it to induce even more certainty of chaos.

Shan clicked his tongue, feeling it was unfortunate but unavoidable.

After all, unless one were a fool, when chaos of this magnitude erupted, their first thought would be to escape.

He just had not expected that the king of the Ajun people, who despised flight as an act of cowardice, would do so.

After shattering the last remaining Purifying Flames, Shan stepped outside the residence and realized that the guards had already surrounded the building.

At a glance, their number was well over two hundred.

Moreover, there were not just ordinary soldiers, but also several knights clad in plate armor.

Having killed around thirty to forty people on his way here, it seemed almost all of them had gathered, except for those blocked by the Purifying Flames or guarding other royals.

At this level, the rescue team should be able to carry out their mission safely.

Even if their equipment was a bit sparse, they were all skilled knights.

In that case, all that remained was for Shan himself to draw as much attention as possible before escaping.

‘They’re swarming everywhere; I’d love to hit them with a dose of Purifying Flames.’

Unfortunately, he had used up what he had carried just a moment ago to burn down the king’s residence.

Either way, there was a limit to the amount he could carry while crossing the Blade Mountain Range.

The guards who saw Shan aimed their weapons and shouted.

“You are surrounded, Altoan! Surrender right now!”

“Wait a minute, that mace that bastard is holding… it’s the Captain’s mace!”

“What!?”

Fury welled on the faces of the guards upon seeing the mace Shan was holding.

Burning down the royal palace alone made him an irreconcilable enemy, but judging by their intense anger, the mace’s owner seemed to have enjoyed decent popularity.

Shan taunted them while lightly flicking the mace he held.

“Go ahead and try to make me surrender.”

“Kill him!”

Along with someone’s shout, over a dozen arrows flew in.

Befitting guards, not a single shot strayed wildly, completely covering the space where he currently stood as well as any spot he might dodge to.

At this, Shan immediately transformed the Wall of Silence into a large shield, covering his upper body as he dodged to the side.

With the sound of arrows deflecting, guards armed with spears, swords, axes, and bludgeons charged forward roaring.

“Kill him!”

Thud! As he infused the mace with Fighting Spirit and struck, five or six men at the lead tumbled backward simultaneously.

The ability to generate shockwaves proved more useful than expected.

If it merely increased impact power like the flail Roden possessed, it would have been difficult to attack multiple foes with such a short mace.

Shan, penetrating straight into enemy lines, pushed forward the Wall of Silence in his left hand to secure a safe space while blowing away enemies left and right with the mace in his right hand.

Whenever stamina was consumed in the process, the Blessing of Vitality replenished it.

Each time he struck a body, the soldiers’ chainmail tore away or the knights’ plate armor caved in.

Blood and brain matter flowed together from heads crushed along with helmets, and when hit in the face, teeth poured out like grains of wheat.

Those whose internal organs were damaged by the shockwave alone vomited blood profusely and collapsed.

Before an enemy exerting power like a natural disaster with the body of a mere human, Ajun’s guards flinched.

Whenever light and shadow intersected beneath the flickering white flames, sinister green eyes glared at them.

It was truly an appearance like the incarnation of a demon from the Demonic Realm.

“Do not retreat!”

“The Goddess is watching us!”

“Will you retreat before an Altoan!”

Faltering only briefly at that fierce momentum, the royal knights and guards of Ajun, instead of backing down, shrieked furiously and foamed at the mouth.

Possessing eyes bordering on madness, they recklessly thrust their bodies forward to strike Shan with a blade by any means necessary.

It was the result of combining the mindset of warriors trained to the extreme, loyalty to the royal family, and faith as devout Goddess believers.

Even in the rush, they had apparently received a priest’s blessing, as their strength and speed were superior to those of ordinary humans.

‘Damn.’

With heaps of flesh weighing hundreds of kilograms combined pressing in one after another, no matter what, he could not parry them all.

Shan repeatedly stepped backward or blocked off blind spots using areas burning with Purifying Flames, creating space as he smashed enemy heads again and again.

The neatly arranged garden of the Palace of the Moon became stained and besmirched with blood, flesh, and brain matter.

Had he killed roughly a hundred and several dozen by now?

Seeing enemies continuously reinforced from all over and attacking, Shan clicked his tongue without realizing it.

He had thought they would lose heart and flee by now, but no matter how many he killed, they kept surging like insects rather than humans.

Moreover, perhaps as time ticked on, even the guards from outside the palace grounds looked ready to join in.

‘I should fall back.’

If there were dozens of allies helping him nearby or if he were at least wearing proper plate armor, it might be different, but continuing to fight clad only in chainmail and leather armor was burdensome.

Already, several spots lightly grazed by attacks from knights imbued with Fighting Spirit throbbed.

Parrying attacks flying toward his head or exposed vitals took considerable effort, and fighting for long would disrupt his movements due to mental fatigue apart from physical stamina.

If a vital spot were struck due to bad luck while this continued, it would not end at mere inconvenience.

Having promised not to overexert himself and having bought enough time anyway, Shan mustered his Fighting Spirit to push away five or six men simultaneously, created an opening, and sprinted straight west.

“He’s fleeing!”

“Catch him!”

The Royal Guard quickly pursued Shan’s retreat, but unfortunately, there was a vast difference in running speed.

In particular, royal knights wearing plate armor could by no means keep up.

“Ack!”

“Wait…”

“No!”

In the process of fleeing, Shan struck down and killed oncoming guards and priests frantically invoking miracles to extinguish the Purifying Flames without hesitation.

Along the way, he also killed several people presumed to be royalty, though he could not tell exactly who they were.

*

After fleeing from the guards and running for a few minutes,

Shan arrived at the stable attached to the main palace gate as planned.

“H-Heeek!”

The loyal stablehand was out in the stable even as the palace burned, perhaps to prevent the horses from burning to death.

Shan pointed the bloody mace at him and spoke.

“Bring out the best horse here.”

“U-Understood!”

Surprisingly, there were two Horais warhorses in the stable.

Having never heard that the Ajun royal family had recently received Horais warhorses, it was likely that one of the royal knights had received them through personal connections or stored plundered ones here.

This was a rather pleasant miscalculation.

“Come here.”

The Horais warhorses attempted to resist, unhappy that Shan, who was not their master, tried to ride them without warning, but when he gave them a light flick on the forehead, they immediately bowed their heads.

More than anything, the terrifying intimidation radiating from Shan’s body played a major role.

After hurriedly saddling up and mounting, Shan tied a rope to the reins of the other one and led it out.

And right before leaving, he cut down and killed all the other horses in the stable using A Thousand Shapes.

It had the immediate effect of thwarting pursuit, and since horses kept in such a place would be fine-bred warhorses, it would make them quite bitter.

All of these actions took place in just a few dozen seconds, so the guards who had barely caught up glared fiercely upon seeing Shan.

“T-That bastard!”

“Stablehand! Stop him right now!”

As the stablehand wore an aggrieved expression as if asking how he could possibly stop him, Shan gave a light snort and kicked the horse’s flank.

Receiving the signal, the two warhorses ran swiftly, instantly widening the gap that had narrowed.

“Cowardly bastard!”

“Do you flee without knowing honor?!”

As he rode hard while enjoying the voices receding far into the distance, the wide-open palace gate came into view.

At the news that a fire had broken out in the palace, guards outside were carrying buckets filled with water while equipped with weapons.

“Huh?”

“T-That…”

In their brief shock at seeing the glowing eyes of the man atop the horse, before anyone could issue an order to close the gate, Shan broke through between them in an instant.

Only then did cool night air tickle his face instead of the air sweltering from the Purifying Flames, cooling his flushed skin.

“What is that?!”

“A fire broke out in the royal palace…”

The downtown of Tizal, which originally should have been silent, was bustled with people trickling out.

It was because the commotion, light, and burning smell originating from the palace had awakened the populace.

Furthermore, not long after the commotion started, fires broke out in various parts of Tizal City as well.

This was the second plan; members of the Grey Cloak had secretly set fires here and there to make escape easier should their infiltration be exposed.

For them as mages, minor tricks like secretly setting fires without touching things directly were not particularly difficult.

“Watch out!”

“Ugh!”

People who had stepped out into the street retreated to the sides in terror at the sight of Shan riding a horse at full speed through the middle of the city.

Those who were slow or slow-witted were struck by the horses’ hooves, wailing as their legs were crushed or heads cracked open.

The final obstacle blocking Shan as he galloped down the main avenue was the West Gate of Tizal Castle.

However, unfortunately, unlike usual, there were no guards guarding this gate right now.

It was because they had all rushed off to extinguish fires or support the palace.

Instead of striving to open the massive main gate, Shan smashed the small side door next to it with his mace and rode straight out while leading the two horses.

*

“…Report the damage situation.”

Early in the morning, Meleo, the heir to the Ajun royal family, grimaced as he commanded.

Because he had evacuated here and there in the burning palace throughout the previous night, soot still stained his face.

Not only that, but the nobles lined up before him were equally wretched in appearance.

Last night’s raid was truly a blow dealt in a state where no one could have even dared to imagine it.

There were several who still failed to properly grasp the situation.

“As for the Royal Guard, 131 died and 55 were injured. The Guard Captain is dead, and out of the fifteen knights deployed at the palace at the time, eight of them…”

Everyone’s face darkened at the listed casualties.

The troops stationed in the palace were naturally under direct royal command or belonged to nobles close to them.

Losing them would naturally lead to a weakening of control over local nobles.

Added to that was the fact that the number of priests who lost their lives while fighting the fire, as well as the number of royals who suffered untimely deaths, was by no means small.

Above all, the greatest casualty was the death of their king, Edes II.

In effect, the pride of the kingdom had collapsed.

“His Majesty the King evacuated through the secret passage, but during the flight, the passage collapsed and the Purifying Flames poured in, causing…”

The head attendant, who should have assisted the king most closely, spoke while shedding tears.

Beside him lay a charred black corpse.

An absurdly shabby ending for the end of a man who once led an army of thousands as the King of Ajun.

Prince Meleo (now King Meleo who inherited the throne) bit his lip and spoke.

“So, where is the bastard who committed all this?”

What was truly unbelievable was that damage of this magnitude had been inflicted by just one person.

Because the enemy witnessed by those in the palace at the time was only one person: that monster Altoan.

“After stealing and riding a Horais warhorse, he fled to the west, and there has been no news. Currently, a cavalry unit has been dispatched in pursuit.”

“Catch him no matter what. Never let that bastard escape from the land of Ajun!”

Meleo shouted while glaring with bloodshot eyes.

The reason he raged was not because his father died, but because an enormous flaw had been carved into the kingdom he inherited.

“Speaking of which, if the Pendian bastards broke in, what happened to Cassia?”

“Well, because the entire underground dungeon burned down…”

He explained that because several burned corpses were tangled together, it was difficult to verify identities.

Though there was a corpse in the room where Cassia was imprisoned, whether it was her could not be known.

Meleo narrowed his eyes like a snake as he spoke.

“Those bastards who came because they were angry over the divorce wouldn’t have burned her to death. Surely the one in there is a body double. Pursuing that Altoan bastard is one thing, but find that woman and bring her back. Since they seem to like fire, I’ll have to repay her in a similar manner.”

In the young king’s voice as he spoke of burning to death the woman who was once his wife, there was not a shred of hesitation.

At that cruelty, the nobles trembled even as they expressed obedience.