Chapter 88
‘They’ve resolved to die.’
Adolf and the five high-ranking knights.
They were drawing out power far beyond their limits, without a care for what came next.
If we could block this one final assault, it would be the end of the battle.
Crunch!
Crack!
Soon, the bodies of the five knights began to slowly deteriorate.
Their skin melted away into a soft, slimy mess, and their eyes flickered like flames had been embedded within.
It was as though they were transforming from humans into demons.
Seeing this in real time, Remton’s expression twisted with horror.
“Adolf! Stop this!”
The Marquess shouted loudly.
Despite the urgency of his plea, the energy pouring out of their bodies only grew thicker.
They had no intention of talking anymore.
Even if they surrendered now, there was no future left for them.
At best, they’d end up in a freezing prison cell.
Perhaps they’d chosen to go out in a blaze rather than surrender in disgrace.
“Erciel. Prepare yourself.”
At my words, she nodded beside me.
Facing the intensifying sinister aura, the Marquess hardened his expression and pointed his sword at them.
“…Everyone. Prepare for battle.”
Adolf had long since shed his human form.
And the five knights who followed him were the same.
It was too late.
Everyone knew it, even without being told.
“How could this…”
From the three veteran knights whose faces were grim, to the knights under Abel’s command—
All of them pointed their swords at the enemies.
They had drawn their swords, but those on the platform still didn’t know what to do next.
Adolf.
Before he turned against the Marquess, he had shown himself to be a devoted heir to the family.
Even a deceitful act, maintained for ten years, could start to feel like truth.
‘What should we do?’
Should I try launching magic first?
I briefly considered it but then shook my head.
If I caught his attention, things could get ugly fast.
The current Adolf was a monster that no one but the Marquess could possibly face.
A monster should be dealt with by another monster.
Isn’t that how it goes—like attracts like?
With a determined face, Erciel activated one of the effects of Lewel’s Necklace—
The Natural Blessing.
As she released the stored elemental force, color returned to her cheeks.
The spirits floating around her quickly applied buffs.
The number of people enveloped in radiant white light was eight.
Marquess Remton.
The three top-tier knights.
And finally, me, Abel, Leonhardt, and Emern.
All of them either elite warriors or directly connected to me.
Of course.
The arm bends inward, after all.
The light was dazzlingly white—almost blinding.
It must’ve been due to the increased spirit energy.
The effects of the light were immediate.
The oppressive evil energy lightened.
The fogginess caused by excessive spellcasting cleared from my head.
And the freely flowing mana was a welcome bonus.
Those bathed in the light felt it too.
“Phew…”
Having cast buffs on all eight of them, Erciel staggered.
She had been casting support spells for the knights since earlier, and this time she had used a group buff as well.
It was only natural for her spirit energy to be nearing depletion.
She had fulfilled her role magnificently.
“Erciel?”
“Yes, young master.”
“Go to the back and hide. They might target you first. That’s an order.”
To those enemies, Erciel was practically their natural enemy.
If she stayed too close, she’d become their top priority.
She nodded at my firm tone.
“Yes.”
With that, Erciel retreated and slipped between the knights.
That should keep her safe.
“Young master.”
“Yeah?”
“Please stay behind me at all times. The Second Prince’s energy… it’s anything but normal.”
At Leonhardt’s words, I nodded instinctively.
With nearly a hundred knights gathered on the platform, I’d be insane to put myself ahead of them.
I planned to stay hidden in the back no matter what.
“Don’t worry about me—just be careful yourself. It’s dangerous. Support Father as much as you can.”
“Yes.”
Their transformation was nearly complete.
Jet-black skin.
An enormous body over 2.5 meters tall—no longer believable as human.
Glowing red eyes and horns sprouting from their foreheads.
Tsk.
They were completely gone.
That’s what happens when you abuse power to the end.
Sanity disappears, leaving only a monster craving blood.
Nothing more, nothing less.
There was no more need for words.
Instead of moving my mouth, I started rotating mana.
Haste. Sharpness. Mental Cleaning.
And finally, an enchant spell imbued with fire.
I cast support magic one by one on the elite group.
Whether they were top-tier knights or Sword Masters,
with these buffs, they would grow even stronger.
Once wrapped in both my buffs and Erciel’s,
the elite warriors’ eyes began to shine with confidence.
“…Kill them all.”
Adolf, his sanity nearly gone, roared with eyes full of slaughter and began to move.
He no longer had a sword.
Five razor-sharp claws.
He raised his grotesquely mutated hands and charged at the knights.
Marquess Remton.
He already seemed mentally prepared.
With resolute eyes, he gripped his sword and charged toward Adolf.
The sword wrapped in pure white light and flames clashed with Adolf’s claws at the exact same moment.
Kwaaang!
With the clash of two monsters as the signal, Adolf’s minions and the Marquess’s knights collided with each other.
“You bastards! I’ll finish every last one of you!”
Kraft, Malon, and Jacob.
The three knights, coated in buffs, each took on one monster.
The remaining two were swarmed by mid- and high-ranking knights.
Though the knights were flung in every direction from the monstrous strength of their foes, none were fatally wounded.
It was because they used their numbers to share the brunt of the attacks.
‘We’ve won.’
No matter how exceptional Adolf and his five lackeys were, they couldn’t overcome the brute force of numbers.
Even now, the Marquess was holding his own in a fierce back-and-forth with Adolf.
Even in a fair fight, it would be a fifty-fifty match— but with buffs layered on top of that,
there was no way he’d go down easily.
‘Time I join in.’
The first target I locked onto was the monster surrounded by the high-ranking knights.
The mana within my circle began spinning vigorously.
The first to fall was one of Adolf’s minions.
Swarmed by at least mid-rank knights, it had no way to hold out.
Even if it had squeezed out its power, it still had limits.
Especially when it was also being struck by my magic.
One.
Two.
As each of the monsters near Adolf fell,
their bodies began turning into dust.
The monsters, unable to even leave behind corpses, died one after another.
Although casualties occurred while suppressing the stronger mutated minions, those casualties were mostly mid-rank knights.
Tch.
Seeing such potential talents die like that made my chest ache.
They were all resources I intended to use in the future.
But sacrifice was unavoidable.
As the knights fell, the monsters rampaging near Adolf were also turning into powder one by one.
Eventually, only one final monster remained on the platform.
Adolf.
The creature, overflowing with murky black aura, was launching a fierce assault on the Marquess.
“My Lord! Let me assist you!”
At Kraft’s shout, Remton shook his head.
“…I will handle him.”
Was it because he was his son?
It seemed Remton wanted to deal with him alone.
Perhaps he wanted to be the one to send off his son in the end.
‘He’ll win.’
If he were being stubborn about a fight he couldn’t win, that’d be one thing— but that wasn’t the case here.
Even with Adolf pushing himself to the limit, the Marquess was moving one step faster.
Even his hardened outer shell was helpless before Remton’s sword strikes.
Ssssh!
Each time black blood dripped from a cracked carapace,
the marble beneath melted away.
It appeared his blood had become acidic.
The knights’ eyes showed clear fear.
The Second Prince.
It was now undeniable that he had become something completely inhuman.
I felt the same.
‘What is he, some kind of alien?’
I’d seen it a few times now, but no matter how often, it was always jarring.
As the wounds on his body increased,
the dark aura began to slowly leak from those gashes.
The more time passed, the slower the monster’s movements became.
Marquess Remton.
This man was a true monster.
Even though Adolf had lost his reason, he was still on par with a mid-tier Sword Master.
Yet even he was no match for the Marquess’s blade.
Decades of accumulated experience and perfected skill—
these were things Adolf could never possess, even as a monster.
“……”
Storm Sword, 4th Technique.
The swordsmanship the Marquess unleashed was both exquisitely precise and brutally powerful.
Well, it must’ve felt like hell for the monster on the receiving end.
His blade tore through the monster’s defenses dozens of times.
As his strength drained, the red glow began to fade from Adolf’s eyes.
“…Kh… Urgh…”
A moan escaped, hardly sounding like anything a human vocal cord could produce.
Though it was a chillingly low growl,
the Marquess’s eyes held no disgust—only sorrow.
“…Adolf.”
“…Kill… me…”
“……”
He likely didn’t intend to spare him.
Anyone seeing him like this would think it was already too late.
The Marquess wasn’t a fool.
And yet… the sorrow was inevitable.
Remton and the monster stared into each other’s eyes.
The moment wasn’t long.
Thud!
Before anyone noticed, a thin sword infused with aura was buried in Adolf’s heart.
“…Grrrgh…”
Crack!
Crack!
Cracks appeared across the monster’s body, like he was shedding his skin.
Fsssh…
His body began turning into powder,
the fragments slowly scattering into the air.
His body may have been freed—
but not his soul.
If the game’s lore was correct,
death was not eternal rest— it was the beginning of torment.
And so, Adolf’s body scattered as black ash and vanished.
Remton.
He pulled the sword from Adolf’s heart.
“……”
Staring at the thin blade in his hand for a while,
the Marquess then quietly addressed the knights on the platform.
“…Clean it up.”
Even though they had successfully put down the rebellion,
Remton’s eyes were flushed red.
Black blood dripped from the sword he held.
Almost like tears.
—
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