Count Bieoteun had a headache.
‘What in the world is going on?’
Just moments ago, darkness swallowed the sky.
In the darkened sky, the stars lost their way, and in their empty places, countless red dots appeared.
Count Bieoteun knew well the meaning of that ominous omen.
The problem was what came next.
‘Wh-when did it…!’
An uninvited guest appeared beside the Count.
It was a being covered entirely in darkness.
The moment he faced the being, the Count’s entire body went rigid.
He wanted to flee immediately, but his body would not obey. Breathing was difficult, and his heart was filled with fear and anxiety.
Even so, the Count endured, squeezing out every last bit of strength.
Because it felt as if something truly terrible would happen if he lost focus even for a moment.
‘Just what is that being!’
As the unidentified being appeared, the knights collapsed. They lay crumpled on the ground like dolls with their strings cut.
“…….”
The fallen knights were not breathing.
They were already dead.
The same was true of the paladins on the Order’s side.
The situation where they had been crossing swords just moments ago felt like a fleeting dream.
That was how instantaneously it had happened.
‘Could it be the Dark Empress…?’
It was a famous tale, so the Count suspected the Dark Empress first and foremost.
A being of 7-star rank that had nearly devoured the continent in the distant past.
After all, Count Bieoteun himself had witnessed the strange phenomena just moments ago.
It was exactly identical to the omen he knew.
‘…Has the calamity truly been resurrected?’
He wanted to turn his head and confirm it with his own eyes right away.
But he could not.
Because the power of darkness radiating from the creature felt as though it controlled even his breathing.
The Count did not possess high divine power like the priests of the Order. He was closer to an ordinary human.
Yet this was a might that had caused even paladins to drop dead instantly.
If an ordinary man like himself turned his head here?
He would obviously die right away.
The Count was not a madman who would gamble his life in such a situation.
‘Yes, whether it is the Dark Empress or not, what does it matter?’
Even if it was not the Dark Empress, it was undoubtedly a being rivaling her.
But why had it left him alone?
That was what Count Bieoteun found questionable.
The being had annihilated the knights and paladins. Yet he, who was right beside it, was unharmed.
Had it deliberately spared him?
It was a reasonable doubt.
‘Could this, too, be a trap of the Order…?’
But soon, the Count shook his head.
The Order seemed unaware of what was happening now.
Moreover, High Priest Titan wore a pained expression, as if he had suffered a blow.
Just by looking at High Priest Titan’s reaction, it was clear he had known nothing about it.
—Filthy scoundrel! Do you mean to say that you have betrayed humanity!
High Priest Titan had definitely shouted such words.
But now, only despair filled the priest’s visage.
Commander Jeradeu, who had urged the priest to flee, also stood frozen in place, as if his strength had drained away.
‘So it was not a trap by the Order….’
If it had been a trap, Titan and Jeradeu should not have shown such reactions.
If all of those reactions were merely an act, they would possess a terrifying, spine-chilling talent.
‘Was I mistaken?’
He had thought the Order was framing him as a heretic to devour the kingdom.
But the reality was different.
At least one misunderstanding about the Order had been cleared up, albeit belatedly.
However, the misunderstanding regarding Count Bieoteun was not resolved. The Count, too, had claimed that he had nothing to do with this, but that damned priest would not listen.
—Hold your filthy tongue!
The sight of Titan not listening to him was driving the Count mad.
He had never betrayed humanity.
He had neither made a contract with that devil-like creature nor summoned it.
He could swear it upon the heavens.
But they did not believe the Count’s words.
In the end, the Count gave up trying to explain to them.
The Count’s attention was no longer on the Order.
He decided to focus solely on escaping the current situation.
‘Can I even survive this?’
Escaping this hellish place was the immediate priority.
If there was any fortune to be found, the monster still did not seem to have any intention of killing him.
‘Why on earth…?’
He was beyond curious.
He even began to suspect that perhaps he really had summoned the being, just as High Priest Titan had said.
He recalled hearing a story once.
That demons appear in response to a person’s desperate desires.
‘Either way, it does not matter.’
He decided he would rather believe that.
‘Shall I check once?’
The Count mustered his courage and turned his head.
“Kuk!”
His neck stung.
The amount of oxygen passing down his throat instantly decreased.
‘Fuck!’
He had simply turned his head, yet the pain was immense.
The Count’s face flushed red, and bloody tears flowed from both eyes.
“Please.”
The Count squeezed out every ounce of strength and barely managed to open his mouth.
“P-please… s-save….”
Fortunately, the monster-like being obliged the Count’s wish.
Soon, the ominous energy vanished, and he could breathe through his mouth.
“Haa… haa.”
“Count! Do you think you will remain unscathed after such audacity!”
But Commander Jeradeu had witnessed the monster sparing the Count.
Commander Jeradeu was convinced the Count had summoned the monster.
“Count, I shall brand you a hereti—”
But it became Commander Jeradeu’s final words.
Shwick—
Red lines slashed across the Commander’s body.
A moment later, crimson blood spurted forth as his body was sliced into pieces.
“……!”
The monster had hacked apart Commander Jeradeu’s body in an instant.
One second.
No, less than a second.
In that time, the monster had killed Commander Jeradeu.
At Commander Jeradeu’s death, High Priest Titan finally came to his senses.
High Priest Titan picked up the Commander’s sword that lay on the ground.
“Kuk! How dare you, to the Order—”
But High Priest Titan, too, could not finish his words. And like Commander Jeradeu, his body was torn to pieces.
The few knights and paladins who had barely clung to life were all ripped apart as well.
It happened in an extremely brief span of time.
Blood spurting from the corpses soaked the banquet hall.
The only one left alive was the Count.
“…….”
The Count was greatly shocked by the monster’s overwhelming power.
But the shock did not last long.
‘Yes, this is an opportunity…!’
He saw hope that he might perhaps survive.
In the end, the monster had not killed him.
Was he not the only one still alive right now!
He even felt the monster was withdrawing its power on its own.
‘…I can see it with my own eyes now!’
He could finally see the blurry form of the monster.
That did not mean he could keep looking.
Because he could feel terror crawling up his spine from just a brief glance.
The monster the Count saw was clad in pitch-black armor. It had an atmosphere as though it had walked out from the abyss.
“Kuk!”
This was all the time permitted to the Count.
He had a premonition that if he tried to look further, it would not end with just bloody tears.
Though he had only glimpsed the monster for a moment, the Count had not failed to notice the sword on its back.
‘It was definitely a sword, right?’
The monster had a single sword hanging on its back.
A sword tinged entirely in black.
The Count found himself strangely captivated by the sword.
‘……’
Why did that sword catch his eye?
He did not know.
But a desire to possess that sword arose within him.
‘Yes, there is no turning back anyway.’
He had already come too far.
The look in his eyes, which had been filled with despair and terror just moments ago, changed.
The monster could kill him at any moment, yet it had not.
In other words, he himself was safe.
If he could wield that monster as his backing, what did it matter if he was branded a heretic?
‘Rather, the Order will have to bow its head to me.’
Perhaps he could swallow the entire continent, not merely the Kingdom of Seil.
The Count’s deliberation was not long.
If he could obtain the monster’s power and that sword….
If he could do just that, he was prepared to do anything.
The Count’s gaze had completely changed.
“Aah, my new master—!”
With eyes of madness mixed with desire, he knelt toward the monster.
“I shall dedicate my body and soul to you! I swear to obey and pledge myself to none but you!”
He assumed a posture of utmost reverence toward his lord and swore an oath.
“So please… please grant me strength! I shall follow your will with everything I have!”
Bieoteun showed his loyalty with all his sincerity.
Had it been moved by the Count’s loyalty?
The monster approached the Count and handed him something.
At the same time, the darkened sky returned to normal.
* * *
The horde of skeletons that had charged at the knights soon collapsed.
This was no ordinary order of knights; it was the royal knights.
Simple 1-star skeletons were nothing before the knights.
Perhaps bewildered by the knights’ overwhelming firepower, the remaining skeletons began to draw back.
In response, a high-ranking knight shouted.
“Do not pursue! Hold formation!”
Normally, they would have pursued, but the princess was in their procession.
The knights maintained formation with their shields raised.
But what came next was the problem.
A being slowly revealed itself among the retreating horde of skeletons.
It wore a robe; it was no ordinary monster.
As it approached, they could confirm its true form.
“A lich…!”
One of the royal mages shouted.
A lich is an undead monster that knows how to use magic.
As if to prove that fact, the lich was holding a book in its hand.
Surely it was a tome inscribed with vile black magic.
“It’s a lich! A lich has appeared! Everyone, protect the Princess!”
A lich is a 4-star monster.
It was a monster of a completely different dimension from the 1-star skeletons of moments ago.
At the mage’s cry, the knights raised their guard even higher.
Then the lich opened its book and began to write something.
“The lich is trying to cast a spell!”
The fearsomeness of a lich lay precisely in its ability to use magic from a distance.
“Fireball!”
One mage poured attack magic toward the lich.
The fireball launched by the mage flew toward the lich at high speed.
The lich slowly raised its hand.
And it blocked the incoming fireball.
The mage was bewildered by how easily the monster had blocked it.
Having blocked the attack, the lich continued to write something with its hand.
What great black magic was it trying to use?
“Cast Shield before the lich attacks!”
The mages quickly switched from offense to defense.
“Shield!”
They spread Shields in preparation for the lich’s attack.
But nothing happened.
‘What?’
The robed monster’s hand was definitely still moving.
‘Could it not be magic?’
Still, just in case, the mages maintained their Shields.
Now was not the time to conserve mana.
Then.
“……!”
The sky grew dark.
A dark sky where red dots began appearing in place of stars.
“……!”
The knights fell into confusion.
Renon was no different.
“It is dangerous, Your Highness! We must return to the royal palace at once!”
Renon shouted to Princess Irena.
But the Princess’s voice was calm.
“Sir Renon, even if we return to the royal palace, would we be safe?”
“But this is clearly a calamity—”
Princess Irena raised her hand, cutting off Renon.
At that sight, Renon also closed his mouth.
Indeed, the Princess was right.
If that omen truly was a calamity, there would be nowhere to flee.
‘So this is the duty of royalty.’
Renon admired Princess Irena’s composed demeanor.
The Princess was surely frightened and trembling.
It was only natural for a person.
But the current Princess showed no sign of it and did not move an inch.
Come to think of it, even when the battle broke out moments ago, she had maintained her composure.
‘As if she had known beforehand.’
Of course, she probably had not actually known.
What was certain was that Princess Irena was striving to fulfill her duty.
Renon felt pride in serving such a Princess.
Still, as her escort knight, he had to ensure her safety.
If he did not intend to pull the knights back, he had to gather more people to help the Princess.
“Then we must conscript even the adventurers within the kingdom!”
“Do as Sir Renon says.”
Princess Irena permitted Renon’s proposal.
Adventurers ordinarily did not interfere in the affairs of nations. But when danger threatened, it was a different story.
And now, it was not simply the kingdom that was in danger. The entire continent had fallen into peril.
Lennon asked the mage to use communication magic.
Then, in the princess’s name, he issued an adventurer conscription order to the Adventurers’ Guild.
While Lennon busied himself, Princess Irena continued to look up at the sky.
‘Is this the power of the Great One?’
Irena gazed at the sky in awe.
Celia’s power had been tremendous as well, but the Great One’s power was on an entirely different level.
She did not know the exact nature of that power, but she was certain that the current situation was the work of the Great One’s ability.
‘To think he can even control the Calamity of the Seven Stars…’
It was truly astounding.
Princess Irena’s entire body trembled.
It was respect and reverence toward a being of overwhelming power.
Princess Irena smiled faintly. Her heart eased, if only a little.
If he was helping her this much, surely she could not fail.
After all, everything happening now was no different from a play.
For Irena, who only had to follow the prepared script, it was an easy task.
Unlike Irena, who knew the story of the play, the knights did not.
The knights and mages felt immense terror and fear at the current situation.
Had the calamity of the past truly appeared again?
If so, why had it appeared?
Could the continent possibly be destroyed?
Endless thoughts and worries gave birth to fear.
As such thoughts continued, someone finally made a mistake.
“I-It’s because of that bastard! That bastard must have summoned the calamity!”
One of the knights at the front shouted.
It was true that the strange phenomenon had occurred after that lich wrote something.
The knight who had shouted such words charged forward with his sword in hand.
Whether he died like this or the calamity descended and the world was destroyed, death would be the same either way.
If so, he thought it was only right to bet on even the slightest chance of survival.
“If we just get rid of that thing, everything will go back to normal!”
“Stop!”
Someone tried to stop the knight, but could not halt his actions.
“All we have to do is kill this bastard!”
He raised his sword high and activated his aura. Then he brought it down toward the monster before him.
Clang—
But the sword rebounded with a clear ring.
“H-Huh?”
It meant the attack had not worked.
“Hiiik!”
Only then did the knight feel fear and turn around. He was about to flee, but—
“Kgh…!”
A bony hand pierced through the knight’s chest and burst out.
“What is this….”
The lich’s hand had penetrated the knight’s torso.
The knight died on the spot.
But that was not the end.
The corpse of the knight, collapsed on the ground, began to melt. Once the flesh and organs had all melted away, the remaining bones slowly floated into the air.
A royal mage muttered in horror.
“It’s not a lich…!”
The bones floating in the air joined together and transformed into a skeleton.
It was a skill a lich could not use.
[Corpse Revival]
That was clearly an archlich’s skill.
“It’s not a lich! It’s an archlich!”
It had been a complete misjudgment.
Only then did they realize how serious the situation was.
The knights wavered, and their morale fell.
But this was precisely the moment for the princess to step forward.
“Everyone! Do not be shaken! We still have hope!”
Princess Irena shouted with all her might, encouraging the knights.
“There is someone who will help us! He will defeat the wicked archlich.”
At Princess Irena’s cry, Maru stepped forward.
But the eyes of the knights who looked at Maru were filled with distrust.
Anyone could see that Maru’s equipment was far too poor for someone who claimed to face an archlich.
His torso was protected by leather armor, while his face was covered by an iron helmet.
It was a strangely unbalanced appearance.
Could that man truly face an archlich?
However, there was no fool among them who voiced that distrust aloud.
He was someone who had come to aid the princess. To mock such a person would be no different from abandoning their honor.
Maru did not care what the knights thought.
He simply stepped forward and raised his sword.
Then he muttered softly, so that only he could hear.
“Clack—”
(Judgment of Light.)
White light swirled around the sword Maru held.
“It’s divine power!”
Divine power wrapped around the blade.
The magnitude of that divine power gradually increased.
At last, an overwhelming amount of divine power shot out as light and filled the street.
Maru swung the sword surrounded by divine power. Then a vast quantity of divine power shot toward the archlich.
Everyone closed their eyes at the vast burst of light.
The light was so bright that it blocked their vision.
Not missing the instant when everyone’s sight was sealed, Maru dashed forward.
His target was Necros, the archlich standing ahead.
“Clack.”
(Go.)
The skeleton paladin, Maru, spoke first.
“Clack.”
(Understood.)
The archlich, Necros, replied.
Their conversation was simple and clear.
Even if Maru’s divine power was powerful, it was naturally impossible for him to subdue Necros.
To begin with, the two of them were on the same side, so there was no need to subdue him.
Necros nodded, then slowly concealed his form.
Necros leisurely walked backward, but no one saw it.
The street was currently filled with Maru’s divine power. Since the sacred light had blocked everyone’s vision, they could not see.
A short while after Necros disappeared.
The sacred light that had filled the street began to gradually diminish.
At last, when everyone opened their eyes, all they saw was Maru holding his sword.
Seeing Maru standing there as if nothing had happened, Lennon was astonished.
‘…Just how powerful is he?’
Above all, the archlich was nowhere to be seen.
‘Could he have truly disposed of the archlich?’
Judging by the situation, it was clear Sir Maru had eliminated the archlich.
He had heard from the princess that Sir Maru had once served as a paladin, but he had never thought him to be a warrior of this caliber.
‘To annihilate an archlich with divine power alone…!’
And in a single strike, at that.
Lennon paid his respects to Maru’s power.
In truth, he had merely blocked everyone’s vision with light while Necros concealed himself, but no one knew the truth.
“Ah! The sky!”
And the darkened sky regained its original appearance.
“A miracle has occurred!”
The knights shouted.
The archlich had died, and the sky had returned to normal. It was literally a miracle.
The knights and mages present were moved.
At the same time, cheers rang out from behind the knight order as well.
“Waaaaah!”
They were the people who had been chased by the skeletons.
They had hidden behind the knight order and witnessed every single thing that had just happened.
And it was not only them.
There were also people who had been drawn there by Maru’s sacred light.
Among those shouting, some now began to praise Princess Irena.
“Long live Her Highness the Princess!”
“The princess is our hero!”
Above all, had the princess not personally given the order to eliminate the wicked monster?
Although it was Maru who had defeated the archlich, the one responsible was the princess.
Thanks to that, praise for Princess Irena continued to spread around them.
“Long live the princess!”
Those who joined afterward also began to cheer for her.
“Long live Her Highness the Princess!”
One hope had taken root in those who praised her.
That Princess Irena was someone who truly cared for the people.
That she was someone who had not fled in the face of bleak circumstances, but had protected them to the very end.
What would the kingdom led by such a person look like in the future?
The people hoped for a happy future.
“Long live Her Highness the Princess! Long live! Long live!”
Their hopeful cries showed no sign of stopping.
Perhaps it was their desperate desire to turn away from the hardships that were to come.