Chapter 338. Caesar of Belief (7)
The demon that attacked the frontline base looked like a huge reptile with thorns on its back. It was acting strangely, changing the color of its body from moment to moment and rolling its eyes from side to side.
"What kind of demon is this?" William, who had been with the crown prince, was the first to respond to the attack of the demon. He quickly froze the demon"s legs to stop it from moving.
It was a rational and legitimate judgment. Ordinary animals’ mobility was dependent on their legs. However, although it made sense, it wasn’t an accurate judgment. The demon opened its mouth, and a faint force immediately emerged and hit William.
Boom!
"Gasp!"
The blow, which wasn’t just a physical force but also contained dark mana, blew William away with a roar and destroyed the surroundings..
"Keuuuu!"
William protected himself with the skill of a seasoned medusa. However, he couldn’t completely block the blow, because his mana was dispersed to reduce the explosion’s range to prevent damage to the surroundings. Still, thanks to his effort, he was successful at protecting the area from the explosion.
"Emergency call!" William exclaimed, using a signaling spell of the b.u.t.terfly tribe to send a beacon high into the sky. When the nearest b.u.t.terfly tribe member felt the signal, they would repeat it in all directions, attracting all the forces of the b.u.t.terfly tribe.
"d.a.m.n. Where did that monster come from!?" William exclaimed.
Although the signal had been sent, there wasn’t enough time for the b.u.t.terfly tribe people, who were spread throughout the Demon’s Territory, to gather. It wasn’t an opponent ordinary soldiers could deal with, so William had no choice but to deal with it with a small number of elite soldiers. However, the strength he felt from it was similar to or stronger than a great demon.
"William, are you okay?!" b.l.o.o.d.y, who had traveled with the crown prince, ran to William with a sword in hand.
"Hey! If you’re here too, then Zantes…!" William began.
"He"s all grown up now too. And since he’s of the imperial family, the crazy 2nd Army leader is here, so he"ll at least save Zantes somehow,” b.l.o.o.d.y remarked. It wasn’t something that should have come out of the mouth of the head of the imperial army, tasked with protecting the empire and the imperial family.
Nevertheless, William felt strangely convinced. The head of the 2nd Army was a rare knight with strength that could match that of the battle races. He was much more reliable than b.l.o.o.d.y, who wasn’t well suited to protecting anyone.
"I"m just dealing with that monster for Zantes, and of course, for the people,” b.l.o.o.d.y said, pointing his sword at the demon.
William smiled and pointed his magic wand at the demon alongside him, saying, "You"re so persuasive." With that, he shot a huge ice spear into the mouth of the demon.
"Oh! Let"s fight! You look stronger than a great demon, so it"ll be fun!" b.l.o.o.d.y exclaimed.
"Don"t use Dance of the Fireflies this time!" William cautioned.
"I can"t guarantee that!" b.l.o.o.d.y shouted as he rushed toward the demon.
William covered b.l.o.o.d.y with magic and ordered, "Everyone! We’re giving up Valhalla! Retreat to Warrant!"
In response, the soldiers abandoned all their unnecessary luggage and began to hasten their retreat by breaking down the walls. Fortunately, the wood wall that had been burned once was easily broken.
As William began to support b.l.o.o.d.y with his attacks, his whole body was surrounded by divine power, healing his wounds and recovering his vitality.
"I"ll help too,” Hillis said, having come from the direction of the medical corps. She smiled and began to sing in a beautiful voice. Despite the critical situation, her hymns sounded very reverent and beautiful. Notes containing divine power spread in all directions, suppressing the dark mana of the demon and blessing the allied forces.
Flam said admiringly, "As expected, priests are amazing."
Arwen shook her head and corrected him.
-It"s not that priests are amazing, but that Unni is amazing.
Hillis weakened the black mana, which was at the level of a great demon, with her own divine power. Simultaneously, she strengthened the paladins as they rushed to deal with it. It wouldn’t be an easy feat to do so even if thousands of ordinary people worked together.
Arwen took a magic wand out of her pocket s.p.a.ce and asked a question.
-Oppa, what are you going to do?
Even if Flam didn"t help deal with the demon, Arwen would understand. She knew that the empire was like a sworn enemy to him. In addition, for a demon on this level, Flam would have to risk his life and show all of his strength.
In response, Flam touched his sword handle and said, "I"m going to fight. But that"s if the ordinary people are put in danger." He saw a group wearing brilliantly s.h.i.+ning armor in the distance. To him, knights and soldiers weren’t ordinary people.
Arwen respected Flam"s choice.
-I feel rea.s.sured just by that. I"m going to fight. I hate the thought of being powerless anymore.
Arwen flew up into the air, forming a hand seal instead of an incantation.
On the other hand, the imperial knights were guarding Zantes in the center of the military camp. They cried, "Your Highness! Hurry and take refuge!"
Zantes shook his head and replied, "I"m fine! Keep the civilians safe first and retreat!"
"Your Highness?!" the knights exclaimed.
"I"ll leave after all the civilians have taken refuge!" Zantes shouted. The reason he said that was because he thought the knights would otherwise focus on protecting him and not the pioneers.
Unlike Warrant, Valhalla was still cla.s.sified as part of the Demon’s Territory because demons roamed these lands. If they only thought of retreating now and did a poor job of escorting the pioneers, the pioneers wouldn’t be safely evacuated.
"Please agree to our request, Your Highness!" the knights insisted.
In response, Zantes remained firm and commanded, "This is an order! 2nd Army, help General b.l.o.o.d.y and General William rather than guarding me, so that civilians have time to take refuge!"
Despite his order, the soldiers remained frozen in place. He sincerely shouted angrily, "Didn"t the Valhalla soldiers say to evacuate with the injured and the civilians?! Are you daring to ignore my order!?” It was only then, in response to Zantes’s anger, that the soldiers began to evacuate the injured and the pioneers.
"Is the 2nd Army Leader playing with the life of the crown prince right now? What are you doing not attacking the demon right now!?" Zantes cried. His words carried the implied threat that the later the civilians evacuated, the more danger his life would be in.
"Or do I need to draw a sword and deal with the demon myself?!" Zantes exclaimed. However, he was naturally weaker than an apprentice knight. When he pulled out a sword and took a step toward the demon, his guards became frightened and pulled their swords out, charging toward the demon. Only a few knights remained to guard Zantes, and the rest did their best to attack the demon or help civilians evacuate.
Flam"s thoughts became complicated seeing that. He still felt anger at the fact that his village’s people had to be brutally slaughtered, as if it hadn’t been enough for the country to collapse. At the same time, his conflicting thoughts were unconsciously convincing him that it had been only natural, making his head hurt. He wondered bitterly if his experience as a civil servant of the empire had shaken his heart.
Then Zantes approached Flam, who was standing alone, and asked,"What are you doing? Why are you not evacuating!? It"s dangerous. I"ll a.s.sign some of my knights to guard you, so hurry up and evacuate...”
"Stop!" Flam couldn"t stand Zantes’ look of sincere concern.
The knights guarding Zantes tried to cut down Flam due to his insolent response, but Zantes raised his hand to block them. "You must be confused. I understand. It"s a sudden situation, so I forgive you. So..."
"Your Highness! It"s dangerous!" the knights exclaimed.
Amid the battle situation, which was looking extremely disadvantageous, the demon swung its long tongue. To protect Zantes, the imperial knights wrapped themselves around Zantes and closed their eyes. But as they prepared for the impact, they saw a strong aura s.h.i.+ning with a bluish light emerge from Flam’s hand, cutting off the demon’s tongue.
"It"s against my beliefs to save the slaughterer from the empire." If Flam had been alone, he could have easily avoided it, but he didn"t. It was definitely against his beliefs, but his hand had pulled out a sword of its own volition to save the crown prince.
"What…?" Zantes didn’t understand Flam"s words.
"Do you know the people of the Imperial State who were killed by the empire?” Flam asked.
Zantes momentarily stopped breathing in surprise. "Are you perhaps…?"
"It’s just as you guessed. Was it not enough to destroy the state? I"m asking if you couldn’t have spared the people!" Flam choked up. Words he’d been holding back all this time spilled forth.
The empire and the Imperial State had the same root, known as the Holy Kingdom. However, the refugees of the Imperial State were still being discriminated against at the border. Just under thirty years hadn’t been sufficient for them to get along, even though they shared the same origin.
Zantes lowered his trembling head and apologized. "I’m sorry... It"s a cowardly thing to say, but this is what I’ve wanted to say to you guys since General Glont retired."
As Flam walked toward Zantes, the knights blocked him out of surprise. They knew they couldn"t compete against his skills, but they had a mission to protect the crown prince.
"You guys get out of the way,” Zantes said, ordering the knights to stand down. He said, seemingly prepared, "If you want, you can kill me...”
Even before Zantes finished speaking, Flam hit him hard in the face.
"Your Highness!" the knights exclaimed.
"Don"t give your life to others so easily. Taking life so lightly… That’s why things like ma.s.sacres happen,” Flam said.
Zantes reeled from the blow and touched his cheek, smiling bitterly. "That"s true, too. I learned an important lesson. Is it okay to ask your name?”
Flam looked up at the sky and said, "I just broke my beliefs and abandoned my name. I couldn’t even uphold my beliefs, so I’m not deserving of that name."
"Then…?" Zantes trailed off.
"You can call me the name Teacher-nim gave me. My name is Caesar." Abandoning his name, Caesar pa.s.sed Zantes and headed toward the family member of the Demon King. "Since I broke my beliefs, it might be good to go have fun while I’m at it." As he spoke, he called on the Crow martial arts with all his might.
The Crow martial arts had been the driving force that had enabled him to become strong in a short period of time, but they were also a double-edged sword that gnawed at his lifespan because he used them with the fragile body of someone who wasn’t a crow. Caesar was determined to end his life here.
"I just hope there’s no deception in what I saw in you!" Caesar yelled toward Zantes, kicking off the ground and launching a strong aura strike at the Demon King’s family member.
"What? Crow martial arts? No, it"s different." b.l.o.o.d.y, who had been running wild on the demon"s head, felt something strange as Caesar’s aura suddenly flew in and cut the demon’s nape.
"Get out of my way! Enlightenment! Crus.h.i.+ng rocks!” Caesar yelled. b.l.o.o.d.y jumped high in the air to dodge, and Caesar cut the right eye of the fast-moving demon with his full power.
-Kiiiiaaaaak!
"It"s been a while, Den"s uncle."
"You! Den’s friend who was wearing the brown mask!"
The two recognized each other and exchanged greetings, and without taking a break, brought forth their martial arts to cut off the demon’s head.
b.l.o.o.d.y easily matched the familiar swordsmans.h.i.+p, easily working together with it. The swordsmans.h.i.+p that belonged to the same faction combined to create a huge synergistic effect.
b.l.o.o.d.y asked, "Who are you? This is Old Man Weger-nim"s... No, it"s my father"s swordsmans.h.i.+p.”
Caesar nodded seriously. "Right. Your father is my teacher."
"Oho, I see." b.l.o.o.d.y was easily convinced. It wasn’t hard to understand, since he often exchanged letters with Zendia.
Magic and arrows flew in from all sides and attacked the demon, but it didn’t sustain much damage. Even if it got hurt, it healed quickly.
"But anyway, we’re in trouble,” Caesar remarked.
The camp had already been completely ruined, and the demon had caused numerous casualties. If it couldn’t be stopped here, it was clear that the safety of the pioneers fleeing, as well as the empire past the border, would be destroyed.
The problem was that they were only able to do this much because the demon had been greatly weakened by Hillis"s divine power.
Caesar shot countless strong aura blasts, hurting the demon, and the demon shot countless thorns back at Caesar. He dodged the thorns safely, but he couldn’t avoid its tongue imbued with mana, that moved so fast he could only see its afterimage.
"Keuk!"
Boom!
Caesar surrounded his entire body with a protective barrier to block it, but was still sent flying into the ground. At the same time, a big explosion hit him.
Arwen went to Caesar, worried about her brother being sent flying away.
-What are you doing!? You said you were only going to move when the civilians were in danger! And if you use martial arts like that…!
"Ugh, I know. It’s an idiotic thing to do!"
Caesar wrapped himself around Arwen and covered himself with a protective aura. The demon once again swung its tongue at him and hit him directly in the back.
-Oppa! Are you okay?
Even in such an urgent situation, Arwen’s voice didn’t come out, so she continued to draw letters in the air.
Caesar vomited blood on the ground so as not to splash it on Arwen. "Uwack! Keup! Rather than having to worry about my lifespan, I might be killed first."
-Don"t say that! Because of me…!
Caesar roughly wiped his b.l.o.o.d.y hands on his clothes and stroked Arwen’s hair, saying, "It"s not because of you."
Then he took a step toward the demon.
"It"s all because of my beliefs." To no longer cry, not look back on the past, and protect what is precious.
"Not Flam’s, but Caesar"s beliefs.” Golden grains emerged from Caesar"s entire body. Let"s dance properly, if we"re going to die like this anyway.
"Final Enlightenment." Caesar"s martial arts mixed with Hillis"s divine power, healing his wounds and revitalizing him.
-No!
Arwen shook her head, about to cry.
"Dance of the Fireflies." Caesar rushed back toward the demon, swinging his sword with enough power to cut a mountain.