Chapter 204
*Clatter!*
"There they are!"
They held spears and swords, and all of them were wearing fierce armor.
Full body armor that ordinary soldiers' swords and spears could never pierce.
Soldiers armed in full plate armor lined up with a clatter and surrounded Helena and Callius.
"Ugh! Damn it, I thought I'd finally found freedom!"
"Bastards! Lumpard bastards!"
"Let me go!!"
Most of the prisoners who had regained their freedom first thanks to Callius were quickly captured again.
There were certainly those who hadn't been caught yet, but it seemed like only a matter of time before they were.
"Don't think you can pierce Lumpard's armor with such a pathetic sword!"
"Surrender. Unless you slaughter all of Lumpard's knights, you have no chance of winning."
The surrounding Lumpard forces numbered just over twenty.
However, each of their auras was extraordinary.
The grade of the armor they wore seemed quite different as well.
Perhaps because it was the royal castle, it felt like they paid special attention to the knights' armor.
Ordinary knights would find it hard to display their true abilities against the power radiating from their armor. As they said, the armor looked quite sturdy, so swords and spears probably wouldn't even stick.
Of course, that's if they were ordinary knights' swords.
"There is nothing as foolish as applying ordinary logic to an extraordinary person."
"Hmph, spouting nonsense. Putting on airs after disgracing the Queen Consort. Attack!"
He immediately grasped a new sword.
The sword's name was Bitan.
A sword that emits a more intense power the colder and angrier it gets.
*Tsk.*
Bitan, which he held for the first time since handing Hongok over to Esther, covered his eyes and ears as if it had missed Callius.
He thought he might hear the wails of ghosts, but it was only filled with silence, and his vision turned into pitch darkness.
But this too was what he had wished for.
With the rise in its rank, Bitan had become a Phantasm.
The vengeful spirits of the White Knights contained within had long mixed and become one.
Judging by its state, it seemed it had no intention of revealing itself yet.
*Doesn't matter.*
Even if he couldn't hear.
Even if he couldn't see ahead, he could swing his sword. He had long since surpassed such trivial things in the past.
*Swoosh.*
*Crrrrack!*
"Ugh! Th-the armor!"
"It won't move! Commander!"
There are affinities in combat.
To slow down the enemy's movements, cold is more effective than heat.
It is more effective than anything else against those who use armor as a weapon rather than those wielding swords or weapons.
Because it's only natural that they can't move if the joints of their armor freeze.
"Ugh, damn it! Do something!"
"It won't move!"
Holding Bitan in his hand, Callius remained silent for a moment.
Then, a moment later.
A single snowflake fell within the pitch-black darkness where nothing could be seen.
An ominous omen was sensed.
If left alone like this, it felt like his mind would be devoured by Bitan.
But Callius instead unleashed his aura even more strongly.
Handing Hongok to Esther was to avoid relying on his equipment.
It was to make his mental fortitude even more solid to prepare for various battles ahead.
Artifacts are ultimately just items.
They can be consumed and destroyed at any time.
In the end, the only one you can rely on is yourself.
Callius's intuition rang a warning bell.
But he had to endure it.
Subjugating Bitan.
That was the first task for one who wields a sword.
"Callius?"
*Swish.*
Callius's eyes turned blue.
Ghostly energy lingered.
But it was only for a moment.
The gray aura surging from his entire body drove it away.
Soon his ears and eyes opened, and seeing the armored knights frozen stiff right in front of him, a smile curved Callius's lips.
"Callius. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
It was neither surprising nor difficult.
He had suppressed it by force, so he didn't know when it would rebel again, but when that time came, he just needed to subjugate it again.
It wasn't that difficult for him now. Holding Bitan, Callius saw that her hands were empty and asked.
"Helena. Where is your sword."
"I don't know. The bastard who threw me in here seems to have taken it... Wait a minute!"
She was a paladin who possessed a scabbard.
Since it was a scabbard imbued with a part of her soul, she might be able to find its location if she concentrated.
Her lips parted as she concentrated with the five fingers of both hands pressed together.
"I found it. But why is it there..."
The direction she looked was the sky.
It was a high spire that seemed to touch the end of it. The center of Lumpard was the royal castle.
There were three spires there.
Long, thick towers forming a triangle rose up, and it seemed Helena's sword was in one of them.
*To a knight, a sword is no different from a part of oneself.*
Especially if it possessed a scabbard.
Helena's expression was also anxious.
She looked like she wanted to go find it but couldn't easily say it for fear of falling into danger.
"Let's go."
"Huh? Wh-where?"
"Your sword. Don't you need to find it?"
"But it's too dangerous!"
"Since the moment I held a sword."
There had never been a single moment that wasn't dangerous.
This too is the same as usual.
"Thank you."
"If the situation were reversed, wouldn't you have done the same for me?"
"I probably would have. Though I would have charged a little money!"
Seeing Helena's beaming smile made his heart feel strangely at ease.
When he first fell into this world.
Cast out by his parents, despised by everyone, and about to be killed, the first person to help him was Helena.
When he knew nothing.
Even when he was threatened by bandits. She was the one who treated his wounds and put money in his empty hands.
*Because it's not that difficult.*
*Thump.*
He took out the Iron Lord and held it in a reverse grip.
"I'm merely taking back what was stolen."
The justification was sufficient.
"They must pay for the crime of touching Carpe."
"Are you out of your mind?"
Was he saying he would attack Lumpard right now?
Helena was dumbfounded.
But for a joke, his face was too serious and handsome.
*He's gotten more handsome.*
That handsome sculpture looked straight at her and said.
"Do you have another plan?"
"Well, no, but..."
"This is the easiest method."
Helena nodded.
* * *
*Click.*
"Queen Consort. I am sorry to report, but..."
"Just get to the point."
The Queen Consort, biting her fingernails with her arms crossed, was extremely anxious.
"The man who disgraced Your Highness seems to be a knight of Carpe."
"I knew it. Even though I had taken off my armor, he was a man who easily dodged my attack. Gather Lumpard's total forces and cut off his limbs. We will send his torn pieces to Carpe as a gift."
However, the knight couldn't understand why she was so anxious over just that.
But that wasn't the important thing.
"...."
"What is it? Why no answer!"
"Th-that is..."
*Boom!!*
Along with the dust falling drop by drop, the great hall where the Queen Consort was shook.
The startled Queen Consort's eyes widened.
"Gavis. Speak quickly. What is it? What has happened?"
"The man went to Lumpard's prison and released all the inmates."
"Because of that?"
The Queen Consort's brow furrowed fiercely.
Such a loud noise and vibration couldn't have spread just because of that.
"A-and..."
"And?"
"The man used some bizarre sorcery, and suddenly an ashen legion appeared and is slaughtering Lumpard's soldiers!"
"What? What are the Three Commanders doing!"
The Queen Consort stood up abruptly and cursed the kingdom's Three Commanders. With them there, how could they not handle a single lecher!
"Lumpard's Masters also immediately appeared and exerted their power, but..."
*Crash-!!*
"Kyah!"
Suddenly, the wall of the great hall shattered, and a knight flew in, covered in blood.
The Queen Consort, who had fallen after losing her balance, shrieked as she saw the knight roll in front of her and collapse while vomiting blood.
"M-Master Levio!!?"
There are three Masters in Lumpard.
One of them was Levio, and he was unconscious, covered in blood, and even his armor, which had reached the Phantasm rank, was cracked here and there.
"What in the world...!"
An impossible thing.
For Levio, one of the Three Commanders, to be defeated inside Lumpard of all places!
Grabbing her skirt and standing at the broken wall, she looked down at the disastrous scene below.
"...."
Below the castle, a battle that resembled a battlefield was taking place.
Trolls swinging clubs with their massive bodies and turning the battlefield upside down.
Elves shooting arrows and dwarves smashing the soldiers' heads with hammers.
Knights nimbly swinging swords and spears.
The Ashen Legion, radiating gray aura in black armor. Their momentum was truly piercing the sky.
"Queen Consort! It's dangerous!"
*Clench.*
The Queen Consort's eyes, gripping her skirt as if to tear it, fixed on a relaxed man on one side of the battlefield.
In the middle of the battlefield.
The man stood without a single movement amidst the rapidly shifting battle.
The man's eyes slowly lifted and looked up at the Queen Consort looking down at him.
A chilling shiver ran down her spine.
The Queen Consort, stepping back unknowingly, had never tasted a greater humiliation.
The man who had peeked at her naked body was now trying to overthrow Lumpard!!
Creeping fear and shame rushed in all at once.
"If only His Majesty the King were here..."
It was deplorable.
Lumpard's king had passed away.
It was a top secret known only to a few people within Lumpard.
The actual current ruler of Lumpard was the Queen Consort.
Because it was her.
"Why are you looking for a dead man? Right, that guy! What happened to him?"
"...He is in the Special Management Room."
"Hurry and go to him. At this rate, Lumpard will suffer an indelible disgrace at his hands!!"
"But he... cannot be trusted."
"It's the same for them!! Are you looking down on me because I'm a woman!!"
The Queen Consort, who had screamed at the top of her lungs, turned her body. If they stayed like this, the Lumpard Kingdom would not survive.
"Escort me immediately."
"I shall obey your command..."
* * *
*Boom, boom, boom!!*
Callius and Helena walked slowly along the path cleared by the Ashen Legion.
The two strolled as if taking a walk through the battlefield.
"By the way, Helena."
"Yes? W-why?"
"How did you end up captured here?"
"Ah, the Queen gave me a top-secret mission, and I was carrying it out. Lumpard is the backbone of the state coalition, you know?"
The backbone of a coalition formed by small nations.
The Queen probably sent Cedric and Helena here to forge ties with them in preparation for the war against the Empire.
"But for some reason, they captured Sir Cedric, and I was locked up. I don't know the details either..."
Helena furrowed her brow and tilted her head as if something was bothering her.
"What is it?"
"At first, they were quite amicable, and we talked about this and that, and Sir Cedric even talked about the god he serves. From then on, their expressions changed a bit, and they persistently asked about the sacred artifacts."
The sacred artifacts of Miracle and Oracle.
Callius's eyes narrowed.
"...."
"Why? Do you have some idea? You have that look on your face."
"A situation has arisen where I can only hope it's an unfounded fear. Helena."
"Pardon?"
"I need to find Cedric."
"We have to find him. We must find him!"
"No, right now. Your sword isn't the priority. Cedric is more urgent."
"S-suddenly? We're already beating them all up as we go!! You have to tell me what's going on too!"
*Halt.*
Callius stopped and looked at Helena, speaking softly.
"What do you think will happen if the armor obtains gauntlets and greaves?"
"Uh... it'll become incredibly strong, right?"
"That's exactly what they want."
"Is that possible? But the gods that exist are different, so how can they use them together..."
"If it's the sacred artifact Cedric possesses, it's possible."
The sacred artifact he possesses.
No, because the gods themselves are fragmented gods.
"And probably."
The one trying to do that is probably.
"I suspect there is a Corruption here."
It was likely the demonic claws of the Corruption reaching out.