Book 16 Chapter 16

Episode 82

"This time, we will fulfill our duty as the Royal Guards. Retake the city walls and await Her Royal Highness's signal!"

The resistance forces, led by the Royal Guards of the Hosen Kingdom, first began their assault on the West Gate with troops infiltrated through the underground waterway.

"Receive, the arrows of Hosen!"

At the end of a fierce battle with the Black Church's minions, just as they thought they had finally secured the West Gate, a laugh was heard.

"Hmmfufufufufufufu, I don't know why this country is full of such ugly men. Where can I find a man as handsome and capable as 'Him'?"

Before that voice, the terrifying presence of corruption that permeated their entire bodies… everyone could barely breathe.

"Wouldn't it be great if a system were created where any man who isn't a six-parameter perfect guy—looks, wealth, personality, and so on—is just made a slave? Like this fellow."

The owner of that voice… was on the roof of the city wall's bell tower!

Her robe, gracefully fluttering in the night wind, indicated that she belonged to [Seven Souls] and that her bestowed rune was [Wind (風)].

She wore torture instruments all over her body like armor, and in her right hand, she held a whip.

"Isn't that right, piggy?"

And what she held in her left hand was a leash… but bizarrely, chained to it was not a dog, but a person!

"Oink, oink oink."

He was wearing the robe of [Seven Souls], and the rune for [Poison (毒)] was clearly etched on his back.

"Oink oink oink oink."

The robe, made to fit his excessively corpulent body snugly, was truly unsightly.

Furthermore, sadistic piercings dangled from his nipples and other genitalia.

An eye patch covered his eyes and a muzzle his mouth, making him resemble a slave, yet the aura he exuded indicated he was undoubtedly a member of [Seven Souls].

"What? Not answering loudly enough?"

The woman suddenly began to whip the man mercilessly!

The man shed tears.

They weren't tears of anguish from pain, but tears of joy derived from reveling in that suffering!

"My mood has gotten quite foul. If you don't go and clear out those pieces of trash immediately, I won't give you any torture for a while."

At that, the man's aura changed ferociously.

Was that dark blue emanation from his entire body a poisonous aura?

Particularly from his armpits, groin, and mouth, a denser, darker poisonous aura seeped out.

When the woman let go of the leash, the man pushed off the bell tower roof with all fours and leaped into the midst of the soldiers.

"Gh, gwaaaah…!"

"Hoo, hua, huaaak…!"

Just getting close was a fatal blow!

The soldiers' bodies literally began to melt.

Body surfaces exposed to the poison liquefied thickly, and internal organs that had inhaled the poison also decayed and rotted from within.

"These damned minions of the abyss… receive Hosen's wrath!"

The distinctive feature of the Hosen Royal Guards was rapid fire!

An immense rain of arrows poured down on the man… but like the soldiers, they too melted away before even reaching their target.

From atop the bell tower, the woman cupped her hand to her ear and spoke.

"I can't hear the screams clearly. Aren't you doing it right? You pig."

Saliva dripped from the muzzle of the man, who was looking back at the survivors, and where the saliva fell, the ground immediately corroded, raising horrific steam.

'Is it going to end like this, like this…!'

Prax, the副captain of the Royal Guards, repeatedly shot arrows while shouting a battle cry.

'…On that day, at that time, at that moment, I did not flee upon His Majesty's command and shamelessly prolong my life!'

However, the man of [Seven Souls], who, like a beast, massacred his subordinates by pushing off the ground with all fours, was truly like a disaster.

Can shooting arrows stop the advance of an oncoming flood or storm?

The despair Prax felt at that moment was exactly that.

'I, what exactly for…?'

In the helplessness of being unable to protect anything and unable to accomplish anything, even the will to draw his bowstring slowly vanished, and just as he was about to give up everything.

"…I can't believe it, I'm going to go ask!"

"…Why? Isn't it a good thing for him, an opportunity to become royalty?"

"…Fine, fine, fine."

"…Lynn said he would go with us then! It can't end like this!"

Someone came running.

Water-colored hair fluttered brilliantly in the moonlight, and the sword on his back, though wrapped in bandages, emitted an even more dazzling radiance.

Someone giggling beside him was perched on a broom. A bird on her pointy hat bobbed its head back and forth.

"What are those? Wait, surely aren't those the top priority targets?"

The presence of the strong is best recognized by the strong! The [Seven Souls] practitioner, who had been narrowing her eyes atop the bell tower, finally burst into roaring laughter.

"Yahoo! The ultimate prey! If I kill them here and now, I'll receive abundant praise from Him!"

[Poison], unleashing a veritable storm of poisonous aura incomparably greater than when he massacred the small fry, leaped towards the two women.

In conjunction with that!

The reason [Wind] forms a combo with [Poison] is to sublimate their respective weaknesses into strengths.

"Wind Cloud Orb!"

The magic of [Wind] concentrated the power of [Poison] into an orb of wind.

The ultimate combination that compensates for the lack of power in wind magic and the lack of speed in poison magic!

As [Wind] swung her whip, the orbs roared and rushed towards the two women who had just entered the battlefield!

"…!"

The battle, as surviving Royal Guards would later testify, was decided in an instant.

Pure Light.

At that moment, there was a beam of light that tore through the night sky with the color of fresh greenery. It appeared, trailing a long cry as if a thousand birds were singing.

Thousand Oriole Kill.

Simultaneous impact shots, three rounds.

Later, the archers of the Drunken Master clan would say that a single shot of that light beam was enough to earn one the position of clan head, yet there were three of them.

The Thousand Oriole Kills twisted their trajectories, obliterating all the poisonous orbs, then simultaneously impacted the target.

Evasion, impossible.

Defense, impossible.

Regeneration, impossible.

Upon impact, magic reaching extreme heat pulverized the target to a molecular level and extended tendrils of fresh greenery.

The tendrils isolated the [King's Flesh] located within its viscera.

It didn't end there.

The witch, who had been chatting with the swordsman while perched on her broom, took a deep draw from her kiseru and then exhaled a breath… it was like a dragon's breath.

Flame of Purification.

The power of evil-annihilation instantly purifies from this world all that is utterly ugly and filthy, contrary to the providence of creation, be it storms of extreme poison or mists.

And finally.

The swordsman, who had been talking with the witch, thrust out a daggger of the Hosen Royal Guards that lay rolling on the ground, then naturally, with a long blade of magic he drew forth, he slashed the sky.

Truly, a single strike to cut in two!

The physical body of [Poison], which had been massacring the Royal Guards like a disaster, vanished without a trace before that blade.

No, a trace remained.

Specifically, the [King's Flesh].

The bird sitting atop the witch's pointy hat immediately leaped, spreading wings of flame, snatched it from the air, and returned it to its owner.

"Oh, our Pipi is so smart."

"Smart, smart, unlike that idiot Lynn, Pipi is smart."

"Right, right."

Faced with the terror of death, all those who had despaired of everything and given up on life trembled.

They were moved.

It was truly the first time they had seen such brilliant light slaughtering darkness. Wasn't it a scene straight out of a fairytale?

"Just who, are you all…?"

Lista looked down with a terribly sad expression, seeing the melted debris scattered around.

"I'm sorry, we're too late."

"No, I don't know who you are, but just your presence here now is enough…"

"Hey, did a kid named Lynn not come here?"

The witch asked, kiseru in her mouth.

She couldn't possibly not know the boy she had learned about when a fist landed on her crown until dawn today.

"If you mean him… he's gone down to the underground prison. He's taken on a very dangerous mission."

"What? Why? How come?"

"He volunteered to rescue His Majesty… He was a very brave person. Are you perhaps his companions?"

The witch gave a faint smile with the mature gaze of one bidding farewell to a departing person.

"We used to be."

"Used to, used to, used to."

"Lista, he said it was for His Majesty. He fell in love with that woman so much. Let's let him go."

The swordsman shook her head frantically, then suddenly drew the greatsword from her back.

"No, it's still ongoing. Lynn is too pure, he's being deceived!"

"Hey, hey hey hey hey! Wait, stop, I told you to stop, wait, I told you to wait! Why are you trying to stab Schylphyn into the ground right now? This is the capital! It's the capital of a nation! Ugh! Pipi, run away!"

"You said Lynn is underground, right? I'm sorry. It's probably okay to smash this place now, right?"

"Huh?"

"Don't worry! Friede and Kyehs will take care of the falling debris, and Lynn will fix the hole we make here later!"

A completely insane hero party!

Her personality, which prioritized action over words, was merely heroically spun in later generations; in reality, Lista had an incredibly "act first, ask questions later" personality.

Almost to the point of being a madwoman.

"I'm coming right now, Lynn! Hyaaaaaah──!"