Chapter 302 – JUDE BAYER (1)
“Gasp! Heuk!”
She could hear the sound of gasping behind her back.
It was clearly the empress dowager.
So Kirara didn’t look back. Carrying the emperor on her back was already enough.
No, was it really enough?
Did she have to bear the burden in the first place?
‘Heavy.’
Right after the Moon Crystal was used.
So around 10 minutes ago from now.
At the time when they succeeded in the s.p.a.ce leap from the Red Gate, Sarah was the first to move.
“Kirara! One more time!”
“N-not right now!”
Kirara reflexively exclaimed at Sarah’s insistence. In addition to the limitation that the Moon Crystal could only be used three times a day, there was another limitation, which was that it could not be used continuously.
The so-called cooldown period wasn’t that long. However, since every second and minute was crucial, Sarah chose the next best option.
“We must run away!”
The empress dowager could not immediately answer Sarah’s words as she gasped.
It was the aftereffect she suffered from directly receiving Elio Lombardi’s murderous gaze.
She had desperately squeezed out all her courage to use the
The empress dowager’s face turned white, sweating profusely as she fell down and was unable to get up.
Because her legs had weakened.
“Your Imperial Majesty the Empress Dowager!”
Sarah hurriedly supported the empress dowager and looked at Kirara with eyes that were almost glaring.
“HIIIIIE?!”
“Now is not the time to be surprised! Carry His Imperial Majesty the Emperor on your back!”
Kirara was surprised by Sarah’s command, so she hurriedly carried the emperor on her back.
After many years of living off someone else, it had become Kirara’s habit to unconsciously obey orders given to her.
“Sir Meine.”
“I understand.”
Meine carried on both sides the emperor’s younger siblings who had begun crying.
But the problem was the fact that there was still one younger sibling of the emperor left.
“I-I can walk.”
At that moment, the empress dowager forced herself to stand straight.
She was sweating and gasping in her extreme nervousness, but they had no other way, so Sarah carried the emperor’s youngest sibling, a princess, in one arm and supported the empress with her other arm.
“Let’s go!”
To the place they had agreed upon in case of an emergency.
At Sarah’s urging, Kirara began running and leapt through s.p.a.ce whenever the Moon Crystal’s cooldown time was over.
And now.
Around 10 minutes had pa.s.sed since they escaped from the Red Gate and used the Moon Crystal for the first time.
‘Heavy.’
The distance was quite large now.
But Kirara wasn’t certain if they were safe. Her masters remained in the Red Gate, and she did not know about the other Royal Knights’ situation either.
‘We have to escape.’
The elves of the Red Gate would definitely be chasing after them.
They would surely find them soon.
Because they were elves.
Because they were masters of tracking.
‘Heavy.’
The emperor was not much difference in size from Kirara.
She wanted to throw him off.
She wanted to abandon the heavy and gasping emperor in order to run away faster.
Moreover, the emperor was an important figure. Even if the elves gave up on the empress dowager and the other members of the Imperial Family, it was clear that they would try to only catch the emperor.
In other words, he was the most dangerous person to her.
‘Kirara, you idiot. Get rid of him quickly. And escape. What is more precious than your life? You have to live first. You have to survive no matter what!’
Someone said in her head.
No, it was Kirara’s own thoughts.
I have to escape.
I have to betray.
There’s nothing I will not do to survive.
Survival is the most important thing.
I’ve made a promise.
I’ve promised myself that I’ll survive no matter what.
She felt like her heart was about to burst.
She could see illusions even though her eyes were open.
Thoughts that she could never erase flooded her mind once again.
I have to live. I have to survive. So it can’t be helped. The bad one is not me. So let’s betray them. So let’s escape alone. If I leave the emperor, the elves will just let me go. They’ll just let me go like a stray cat.
So let’s leave him.
So let’s betray them.
So-
‘No! I must not betray them!’
Kirara exclaimed in her mind. She strongly shook her head to forget her thoughts. The voice that had been ringing in her head was also driven out.
‘I won’t betray them.’
I won’t do it this time.
It’s not yet time to betray them.
Yes, not yet.
Not yet.
Not yet, not yet, not yet.
‘No! I don’t want to betray them! I’m not same person back then!’
She recalled Cordelia’s voice. She remembered Cordelia’s hug. She thought of Cordelia’s warmth.
No.
Not this time.
I don’t want to this time.
Are you fine though? It’s dangerous and we’re still close, right?
‘Cordelia may have already died.’
So I shouldn’t follow her.
You saw that too, right? There were many elves in the Red Gate. Among them, there was even Elio Lombardi who was said to be the strongest among the Sword Masters. So that must be it. She must have already died. So… So…
‘Shut up!’
She resisted the voice that kept whispering in her mind.
She strongly resisted it, not knowing if it was her own voice or someone’s whisper to her.
‘Master is a G.o.ddess! A G.o.d!’
So it’s okay.
She’ll be smiling at me again.
I’m sure she’ll hug me again!
Kirara ran as she cried her heart out. She never looked back.
She called Cordelia’s name over and over again.
“This way! You knife ear b*stards!”
Kajsa loudly shouted and swung her chains.
Outside the Red Gate.
Kajsa had crossed the high wall because of Cordelia, and she saw where Kirara and Sarah were headed.
So she moved in a completely different direction. It was to lure the elves.
“Kajsa! Behind!”
As soon as Lucas’ cry reached her ears, Kajsa dodged instead of looking back. She rolled down the ground and evaded the elven knight’s sword that came from her side. She swung her chain afterwards and struck him in the stomach.
“UGH!”
The elven knight bowed from the impact as if he had been hit by a hammer rather than a chain, and Kajsa immediately attacked him. She knocked the elven knight by kicking his leg before stomping on his chest.
Crack!
A terrible sound was heard as the breastplate cracked, but Kajsa did not look away. She kicked the waist of the elven knight who seemed like he would die from breathlessness, and she looked back.
The Red Gate was opening.
The number of elves who jumped down the wall to follow them had reached ten, but more elves came when the gate opened.
Moreover, it wasn’t just the infantry this time. There were several knights riding on Elven Steeds that were famous for being swift horses.
“Run!”
Instead of wasting any more time, Kajsa turned around and began running.
The elves came rushing behind them.
‘He’s not alone.’
Jude thought as he ran while carrying Cordelia on his back.
He recalled the map of the entire Shadow Forest and at the same time, continued his reasoning about the current situation.
‘If this happened because he couldn’t wait to succeed the position…’
That would have been enough.
Vincenzo Lombardi was clearly the leader of the elves, and the foremost contributor in making the imperial elves live and be treated well as they were now, but he was not a benevolent and caring person.
He did not trust others.
Like most self-made men, he put his own experience first rather than the thoughts and opinions of others, and he was convinced that only he could lead the elves.
That was why he never resigned from his position as the Lord President of the Privy Council, or what was considered the king of the imperial elves.
He intended to hold on to his position until the day he died.
This was not practiced by the elves in Forest of Eternity located in the Sälen Kingdom.
Most of the time, they pa.s.sed the throne and retired.
So Jude understood Elio.
It was the same as understanding logically why the Lord Protector turned into a traitor.
‘He was planning to attack us at the Red Gate from the very beginning.’
In front of other elves.
In other words, the elves at the Red Gate agreed with Elio.
The younger generation resisted the older generation.
Instead of protesting over the vested interests of the older generation, they wanted to seek a new path by calling for change and reform.
It was similar wherever people lived.
Jude had seen it several times in his previous life.
‘The probability that all the elves have turned traitors is extremely low.’
Because Vincenzo Lombardi’s eyes blazed in fury at demon followers.
As Kamael had said, the elves remembered their old grudges.
But Elio was young, and the elves who followed him were younger.
‘Lack of information. An information gap.’
How much does Elio Lombardi know?
Perhaps he doesn’t know that the entire House of Lords had been turned into demon followers.
The Chancellor is using the demon followers for a great cause – it’s highly likely that he believes that.
After all, demon followers are deceivers.
‘Elio’s jurisdiction is up to the Orange Gate.’
But it wasn’t after that. The guardian of the Yellow Gate was the head of the Viren family, one of the influential families in the Shadow Forest.
“Jude!”
At Cordelia’s cry, Jude snapped out of his thoughts. He perceived the situation with his wide detection senses.
The elves had caught up.
In terms of mobility, Jude far surpa.s.sed ordinary elves, but they were currently in a forest.
Furthermore, it wasn’t just a forest.
It was the Shadow Forest that the elves had lived in for a thousand years.
Jude quickly made a decision.
‘Let’s fight once!’
That was better than being caught up to.
Jude hurriedly turned around, and Cordelia understood Jude’s intention with that alone. She spread her wings and used Jude’s back as a foothold to jump.
“”
Cordelia’s entire body emitted an intense light, dyeing the surroundings white. And Jude moved at that moment. Shortly after he turned around, just before Cordelia radiated light, he moved along the path he had envisioned in his mind.
Bababababababang!
A series of roars and hitting sounds followed one after another.
Seven elves were blinded by the light and stunned so they fell in succession, and Jude sensed it. He blocked the attack of an existence that was not present at the moment before the light shined.
Bang!
It was a demonic human that had the appearance of a praying mantis.
It had wide shoulders and long arms that almost touched the ground.
The demonic human’s compound eyes glistened. His scythe-like arms relentless swung, and Jude noticed that one of the demonic humans was hiding under the earth due to the ground vibrations.
“Die!”
The elves wildly shouted and ran towards Cordelia.
Jude never looked back. He felt the pouring of various spells that prevented the casting of magic, but he believed in Cordelia.
He held his breath and focused on the person in front of him.
Bababababababang-!
He intercepted the attacks. No matter how fast and strong the attacks were, he could read the flow the two arms created in the end.
He read the rhythm and pattern, and antic.i.p.ated it. He struck accurately and made all the attacks turn into nothing.
A look of confusion spread across the demonic human’s face.
That confusion soon turned into fear, and Jude pushed the demonic human further. He counted numbers in his head.
One, two-
“KIIIIIAAA!”
The demonic human who was under the earth pierced the ground and soared.
A demonic human that was like a larva of a cicada then attacked Jude’s side that was defenseless. At that moment, the mantis demonic human who was in front of Jude swung his scythe towards Jude’s collarbone.
It would hit.
It was at an unavoidable angle and speed.
Therefore, the attacks of the two demonic humans would hit Jude’s side and collarbone!
Claclang!
A sound resounded.
It wasn’t the sound the demonic humans was expecting.
Instead of the sound of cracking bones and flesh, it sounded like two swords colliding.
Blood did not splatter and the demonic humans’ attacks turned into nothing.
No, it wasn’t just a return into nothing.
With his sword-like right hand, Jude cut the head of the demonic human who jumped out of the ground. At that moment, he used his strength to rotate his body and drew closer to the mantis demonic human’s body.
“Kia?!”
The mantis demonic human panicked and swung its scythes again, but it was useless. Jude’s sword-like hand lodged into the man’s heart, and blood spurted out the moment he pulled it out.
“Kaaak! Ack!”
The mantis demonic human stepped back and blinked his compound eyes. He did not fully understood the current situation.
Why?
No, how?
Shwaaaak!
Jude cut the mantis demonic human’s waist with a sharp roundhouse kick instead of giving an answer.
Become one with the sword.
The Black Horn Guild’s desire to turn the user into a sword.
Sword Origin was not simply to be wielded, but was also to strengthen one’s body. A sword that gave new strength to the user’s body. So if he applied the energy of the black dragon, his arms or side would become even stronger.
“Jude! Behind you!”
An urgent shout. And with that shout, Jude understood Cordelia’s situation.
Believing that she was doing well against the elves, he turned his gaze to the side.
[He’s coming.]
It was just as Valencia said.
While Jude fought the demonic humans, Elio Lombardi narrowed the distance.
Jude wanted to retreat after fighting once, but it seemed like that would be impossible.
‘Elio Lombardi.’
He rushed towards Jude.