Chapter 294 – RESCUE (1)
A correction: The Imperial Family weren’t actually detained in the Imperial Palace, and that was just MTL messing with me again.
Terms used in this chapter:
Woldo – A Korean pole weapon used by the Hwarang Warriors. Woldo literally means ‘Moon Blade.’
The Imperial Family was currently confined in a small temple located outside the imperial capital.
The royal family members were not dragged out of the Imperial Palace located at the center of the imperial capital and imprisoned.
In the first place, the purpose of moving them was to bring the Imperial Family in the temple back to the Imperial Palace.
The exact situation was this.
“His Imperial Majesty the Emperor and Her Imperial Majesty the Empress Dowager saw through Chancellor Ivan.”
In other words, they realized that the Chancellor was planning a coup d’état and withdrew from the palace in advance.
However, their escape was ultimately unsuccessful due to the immediate pursuit of the Chancellor, so the Imperial Family was temporarily imprisoned at a nearby temple.
The reason why they were not returned to the Imperial Palace was because the fight with the Royal Knights who protected the Imperial Family was fiercer than expected, causing various problems.
‘In short, he wants to take control of the situation.’
Doing this kind of work meant that the Chancellor had not yet completely taken over the empire.
If the empire had truly been under his complete control, there was no need to proceed with this situation now.
‘He can just get rid of the emperor.’
Anyway, it wasn’t bad news for them.
If the Chancellor had yet to fully control the empire, it was highly likely that he would focus on internal suppression rather than immediately starting a war with the kingdom.
‘But based on their actions so far, they’re trying to suppress everything through violence.’
They covered the eyes of the Guardians of the Holy Cross by disabling the Guardians’ communication network, and issued a border blockade to hide from the kingdom’s gaze.
And in that created gap, the Chancellor would gather the forces of the empire into one by stamping out the other forces that did not ally with him.
It was a very hasty move, but that did not mean he had considered a civil war.
The purpose of the Chancellor, or rather, the demon followers was to bring about the Great Tribulation into the entire continent.
A civil war in the empire was not enough.
Since war had to take place between the empire and the kingdom, the strategy the Chancellor would likely take was to a.s.sa.s.sinate by mobilizing powerful people including high-ranking demonic humans, or tempt his opponents by using immortality as bait rather than directly moving the army to stamp them out.
‘Anyway, securing the Imperial Family would disrupt the Chancellor’s plans.’
The empire would enter into a state of civil war if the emperor exposed the Chancellor’s treason at a public event and made a declaration to suppress the Chancellor.
‘Nevertheless, securing the emperor rather than eliminating him means that the Chancellor does not have enough power to overthrow the pro-Imperial Family faction at once.’
Moreover, the empire had a third power, the capitalist elves.
The Chancellor had taken control of the imperial capital but still had a lot of things to do before he could do what he wanted.
[In short, we just need to save the emperor.]
Jude had a bitter smile at Cordelia’s brief summary and looked again at Leon who continued speaking.
“We’ll carry it out tonight at 8 pm. We’ll attack them when they pa.s.s this point.”
It was the perfect route for a surprise attack.
In other words, it was a route that the other party would have expected too.
But in the first place, this operation was a situation where they knew it was a trap, so they had nothing more to discuss.
So Leon swallowed hard and looked at Jude and Cordelia before saying.
“Is this really… our plan?”
The rescue plan was centered on Jude and Cordelia.
If someone else had said it, he would have bluntly said that it was impossible, but the situation was different if it was Jude and Cordelia.
Nevertheless, it was so incomprehensible that he couldn’t help but ask again.
Are you sure?
Really?
This is possible?
“It’s possible.”
“Do not worry.”
As Jude and Cordelia both answered, Leon looked at Lucas and Kajsa who were sitting next to each other, and the two nodded immediately.
“It’s definitely possible.”
“It’s possible. We can completely do it.”
Leon had asked because he had yet to work with them.
He narrowed his brows when Kajsa casually answered, but soon nodded his head.
Because it was an unavoidable fight anyway.
He just had to believe.
He just had to trust them, run, and see for himself.
“Let’s begin the operation.”
***
Jay Karniak.
He was one of the Twelve Sword Masters that the empire was proud of, and he slightly pulled the reins of the white horse he was riding on to slow it down.
Because the time had now come.
‘I can smell it.’
The smell of a fight.
The smell of his enemies who were aiming for them.
A descendant of a fallen n.o.ble family, Jay Karniak had a rough life.
Because he had lived as a n.o.ble for less than a decade of his early life.
Twenty years since then. He lived as a mercenary who traveled from one place to another, and mercenaries were sometimes synonymous with murderers, rapists, and robbers in the empire or the kingdom.
Three years after he became a Sword Master.
He finally regained both the territory and t.i.tle he had lost, but did not like the Imperial Family.
The reason of his family’s downfall in the first place was because the Imperial Family abandoned Count Karniak in a political strife.
Therefore, he was closer to the Chancellor than the Imperial Family, and he was still working for the Chancellor.
“Get ready.”
Sir Jay spoke in a low voice, and the men he had been working with for many years spread out a silent hand signal throughout the ranks.
‘Royal Knights. I commend you for the courage to stick your heads into a battle that you’re bound to lose.’
He sneered before holding his breath and focusing.
Sword Masters were superhumans, and their cognitive range was incomparable to that of an ordinary person.
He could sense it.
Those who were hiding nearby.
Their number.
The smell of their nervousness as they swallowed their saliva.
Sir Jay liked to fight.
No matter how many times he repeated it, he found it fun to defeat the enemy in front of him with overwhelming power and trample the weak.
It would be soon.
The only Sword Master belonging to the Royal Knights was the Absolute Knight, Galahad.
In the Royal Knights that they had already beat once, there was no enemy who could surpa.s.s him, a Sword Master.
A fight that only ended in his win.
An easy fight in which all he had to do was to trample the weak without risking his life.
That kind of fight was something that Sir Jay, who had lived as a mercenary, liked. So he caught his breath. He suppressed his joy and spurred his horse again.
The moon was bright.
The wind blew.
The gra.s.shoppers loudly cried.
And now.
Right at this moment!
“For His Imperial Majesty the Emperor!”
Voices came from the left and right.
The main road.
The hill on the left and the bushes on the right.
Sir Jay chuckled. With a happy feeling, he shouted.
“They’re here! Get in line!”
Being right made him feel good.
The soldiers who had already antic.i.p.ated the attack reacted immediately.
The Imperial Knights, who were escorting the windowless black carriage which the Imperial Family rode on, drew their swords at the same time, and the wizards also prepared for battle.
Although there were fewer than a hundred soldiers, it was truly spectacular to see sixty well-armed soldiers prepare for battle at once.
Sir Jay looked ahead.
He pulled out the two-handed sword he had used for a long time, and awaited the Royal Knights and their subordinates to come running towards his group.
But they didn’t come.
Or to be exact, they just stood still in the bushes and hill, and didn’t run.
What?
What are they doing?
Are they not even shooting arrows?
And it was at that moment.
The ground shook.
Lightly at first.
But right after they felt that it was abnormal, the shaking became rough and strong.
“W-what the-?!”
“Earthquake?!”
The screams of the soldiers didn’t last. Because the ground violently split and opened, swallowing up the soldiers.
“AAAAAH!”
“E-EARTHQUAKE!”
It was no ordinary magic. It was impossible to carry out such magic without any signs or hints unless one was the so-called Archwizard.
Rumble!
Rumble!
The ground shook and broke. The rank of soldiers collapsed at once, and the wizards were so shocked that they didn’t even lift their wands. Or rather, most of them fell down and were busy rolling on the ground.
“H-hold on! It won’t last long!”
At the time when one of the wizards desperately cried out.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Roars erupted from everywhere and gray smoke began to cover the surroundings. The soldiers who were already in chaos from the earthquake then screamed and struggled.
“Wizards!”
When Sir Jay shouted in a hurry, the wizards who fell to the ground chanted their spells.
After all, they were all battle wizards, so they immediately figured out what to do even in the midst of confusion.
They tried to cast a blast of wind to remove the smoke.
The earthquake continued, but this was the aftermath of shaking the ground with magic. It was clear that the earthquake would soon stop.
So if the wind blew and the smoke was cleared–
“”
At that moment, a beautiful voice resounded.
Silence ruled the battlefield.
The wizards could not hear their own spells, and the magic that was suddenly cut off was unfinished and scattered.
“C-crazy?!”
One of the battle wizards exclaimed in surprise.
Because the spell was cast on the entire battlefield and not to an individual.
Was that even possible for a human to do?
The wizard was correct.
It was impossible for humans.
And it was impossible for the angel Cordelia.
What mattered was the range of the effect.
The wizard had a.s.sumed that it was on the entire battlefield, but the actual range was not very wide.
It would have been possible to use their magic spells again if they had just rolled 3 meters to the side.
The screams and coughing of the soldiers were proof of that.
But it was chaotic.
No matter how powerful they were as a battle wizard, they could not make a proper judgment because of the aftermath of their magic spells being interrupted.
And the Royal Knights dug into that gap.
“For His Imperial Majesty the Emperor!”
The Royal Knights and their squires on the hills and bushes attacked the convoy while wearing gas masks.
Although there were more than twice the number of Imperial Knights, the smoke screen helped them.
The Imperial Knights couldn’t see properly and also found it hard to breathe, so they couldn’t deal with the Royal Knights immediately.
“Guard the carriage!”
Sir Jay’s roar erupted.
It wasn’t just a shout as it was Chivalry, the so-called magic of the knights.
Its power was so strong that the smoke screen between Sir Jay and the carriage was entirely dispersed, and the confused soldiers and wizards also came to their senses.
“Stop them!”
“Wizards!”
The soldiers began to move.
The wizards also activated several magic tools while casting their magic spells.
They needed to blow away the smoke and prevent the carriage from being damaged. After all, their goal was to secure the Imperial Family, so if their enemies couldn’t break the carriage, they wouldn’t be able to take the Imperial Family with them either!
Their decision was correct.
It was truly reasonable.
And because of that, it did not escape from Jude’s calculations.
“T-the carriage!”
The carriage covered by various defensive magic was floating high in the air. A giant hand made of a green force was lifting the carriage.
“S-summoning magic?”
“No! It’s telekinesis!”
While the wizards were arguing, the lifted carriage pa.s.sed above the heads of the wizards.
“UOOOOH!”
At that moment.
Sir Jay kicked the horse and flew up. He covered his two-handed sword with a blue aura and cut off the giant arm that was lifting the carriage.
Shwaaaaak!
The Aura Blade’s energy dissipated the telekinesis.
Therefore, the carriage fell to the ground but the defensive magic protected it. Sir Jay rolled over the ground and hurriedly ran towards the carriage.
“For His Imperial Majesty the Emperor!”
Leon shouted and drew his sword. But instead of rushing to Sir Jay, he charged at the wizards who wanted to unleash their magic and the Imperial Knights who were guarding them. Lucas and Kajsa also did the same.
So Sir Jay unconsciously laughed. He raised his sword with a blue aura in order to punish the three who dared to turn their backs on him.
And just before he swung it!
Baaang!
Sir Jay quickly turned around and struck the ground with his sword.
It was a failure. He did not originally aim at the ground.
There was a young man in front of him.
The moment he faced the young man whose nose and mouth were covered by a mask and had black energy around his arms, Sir Jay could tell.
His intuition that had saved his life for the past twenty years was screaming.
Strong.
That man was stronger than Sir Jay himself.
A beast.
A monster.
It felt like he was facing a wild beast instead of a human.
So Sir Jay fiercely smiled. Instead of kneeling down and surrendering to an opponent stronger than him, he shouted.
“Caesar!”
Baaang!
Right after he screamed, one of the carriage doors was broken and a figure came out.
A lion beastkin.
One of the Twelve Sword Masters of the empire!
Caesar wielded a gigantic sword and stood behind the young man as though he was in harmony with Sir Jay. But that wasn’t all.
The person hiding in the advance squad that had pa.s.sed by and deliberately ignored the ambush had now turned and ran.
Just like Caesar, she was a beastkin.
A female wolf beastkin.
She was one of the Twelve Sword Masters, but she actually used a Woldo that was closer to a spear rather than a sword.
Polar Wind Matrina positioned herself in the young man’s side, forming a triangle with the other two Sword Masters.
“You’re caught in a trap!”
Joy spread across Sir Jay’s face.
They were the ones escorting the Imperial Family.
The Chancellor was not a fool, so he a.s.signed a lot of resources into this task.
Perhaps their enemies came in despite knowing that it was a trap.
But they probably didn’t know that their side was prepared to this extent.
Three Sword Masters.
Not one or two, but three superhumans.
Sir Jay was a mercenary.
He had abandoned his pride a long time ago in the first place.
He thought that it would be nice if he could crush the opponent in front of him, whether they surrendered or not.
So he laughed.
He laughed at the young man and the Royal Knights who fell into the trap.
But his laugh didn’t last long.
Because he found it very strange.
The situation would disturb anyone.
But the young man in front of him didn’t act like that.
Rather, the young man looked at Sir Jay with his green eyes that burned intensely like flames, and said with a smile.
“Oh, that’s right.”
As expected.
It’s the emperor, so it’s normal to have three Sword Masters after all.
Do you have a Sword Saint though?
Confusion spread across Sir Jay’s face.
Caesar and Matrina also stepped back in surprise.
The reason why they did that.
[Show them, my successor.]
How strong you have become from your battle against an Ancient Dragon.
How powerful you are now.
“With my sixth door, I’ll pound you into rice cakes.”
[My successor, you can only open up to the sixth door, right?]
Jude didn’t answer Valencia’s sharp remark.
He released the power of the sixth door to the fullest.