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Chapter 148. Twisted (4)

Magicians.

The number of magicians born each year was always low. In order to be a magician, one had to be born with an extremely rare ability known as the Blessings of Mana.

They were small in number, but they had the power to achieve results impossible through human power alone.

It was no surprise that they became precious existences and regarded as valuable military strength for a country.

The Magic Kingdom quickly became a hotspot for magicians who wanted to innovate and improve upon their magic power. The gathering of like minded magicians had cultivated major advancement in terms of magic technology and spell research. It didn’t take long for the Magic Kingdom to take great pride in their magicians. With time, this had resulted in national confidence that magic was the be-all and end-all of any civilized nation.

This confidence inevitably ended up festering into a belief in magic supremacism that quickly established itself and took root in all levels of the Magic Kingdom.

“Advance.”

However, today, that confidence was shattered.

It had been a while since Kei had prevailed against the unit of soldiers and magicians on the bridge. They had faced off and won against competent knights who protected magicians from their frontline position, while being supported by spells cast from the rear.

The unit that Kei led continued to advance forward while quickly subduing any enemies encountered.

The swords and spears that had been despised by so many, marched largely unabated towards the very heart of the Magic Kingdom.

“The significance of the inner bailey’s defense was lost the moment the Red Rose battalion was destroyed.”

They were finally able to arrive at the royal bedchamber where the King normally stayed.

“I am Kei, the loyal servant of His Majesty. Would you allow me to enter your bedchamber?” Kei courteously requested to enter the bedchamber, but there was no response even after waiting for some time.

Because they could not afford to waste any more time, Kei opened the door. “… ”

He was greeted with the sight of the King collapsed on the floor, his mouth wide open as if he were screaming.

His body was stained with bright red blood that continued to flow from his wound and seep into the bed cover.

The King was dead.

Kei turned to Desir.

“Is this an illusion spell to confuse and deceive us?” Desir shook his head.

“There are currently no spells operating in this room.” “Then this is real.”

“… That is correct.”

Desir answered calmly, but could not conceal how flustered he was. “Who would’ve known that the King was dead.”

Seeing the King lying there without his eyes closed, it was almost as if one could feel the pain he was feeling, just from seeing his tormented visage.

Even with this terrible sight, Kei followed the trace of the blood and climbed up. The injury on the abdomen was revealed. The shape of the wound was diamond-like.

“This… ”

Desir, who had been watching from a short distance away, sighed. The shape surprisingly matched the mark that Kei’s sword would leave.

“… ”

They used their brains well.

With this, Kei and Desir’s party would be branded simply as rebel forces who invaded the palace and killed the King.

And now, with the blood of the King on their hands, they would have to face both the elite Rose Brigade, as well as the whole military strength of the Magic Kingdom.

Kei lifted the King, now lying unceremoniously on the ground, and laid him on the bed. He closed the King’s eyes and whispered something to him, like a prayer.

It was too short to be a eulogy.

That was all. He did not not look agitated, he did not express any anger or sorrow. Kei spoke to Desir with a calm expression.

“Let’s go find that Prophet. If we find him, we can charge him as the one who assassinated the King.”

Desir was troubled by Kei’s reaction. Normally, people mourn the loss of a friend, yet Kei was calm and reserved. Perhaps it was his way of coping? He quickly distanced himself from the thought; if he didn’t focus on their current situation, their death was inevitable…

They hurriedly left the King’s chamber and headed towards the place where the true enemy, the Prophet, would likely be. In order to get there, they had to pass through an enormous hall in the center of the inner bailey.

It was not difficult to reach their destination: the “Hall of Knowledge”.

The hall they arrived at was colossal. It was big enough that it could even be regarded as a symbol of the power of the Magic Kingdom.

As the hall was so large, a substantial number of military personnel would likely be positioned there. Since they had to pass through that area in order to advance towards the Prophet’s location, Kei predicted that there would likely be some form of resistance gathered there to intercept them.

However, only half of his prediction was correct. “Graaaarghh!”

A horrifying cry echoed.

The large number of personnel they had guessed would be assembled there, were strewn across the floor as chunks of meat.

Instead of being greeted by an elite military unit, they were greeted by hundreds of monsters. Desir was able to speculate without difficulty that these monsters had brutally slaughtered the soldiers. They had slaughtered the humans and were eating to their hearts’ content. This sight was absolutely horrifying, and the creatures themselves were terrifying too.

They were the kind of monsters that no one could forget. “Chimeras… ”

Chimeras were savage beasts that lacked self-consciousness. Due to its method of production and the danger they posed, the creation of these life forms was banned.

As risky as it was to create these creatures, they were extremely powerful. The risk in flouting natural law had a corresponding reward.

They were assembled by extracting the strengths of many different monsters, therefore they were naturally powerful as a result. The strength of each individual entity was exceptionally great, beyond all comparison.

Even Kei’s unit, having faced off against all sorts of adversity, saw most member’s faces paling as they took in the sight of the monsters in front of them.

Making an already bad situation worse, was that the number of Chimeras in front of them was far greater than the number Desir and Romantica had faced in Pureus’s lab.

“I can’t believe they created this many Chimeras and kept them in the inner bailey.”

This demonstrated the power of the man, referred to as the Prophet, occupying this palace. “I guess he doesn’t intend to hide them any longer.”

“He probably couldn’t afford to consider other options now.”

The fact that he sent out the Chimeras that couldn’t distinguish between friend and foe meant that he was running out of patience in such a situation. It also meant that he had no other options. That is to say, if they broke through this place, then they would be able to close the gap with the enemy quite quickly.

“Kreeuuk?”

One Chimera sensed something and turned around to look. Then, one by one, other Chimeras started to turn around to glare at Kei’s unit.

*Thud*

The bone that one of the Chimeras was gnawing on dropped to the floor and echoed around the hall. This served as a signal, after which all of the Chimeras sprung towards them. “Kraaaarrghh!”

Kei calmed down the soldiers who panicked and quickly ordered them into an all-round defensive formation.

“Do not step back!”

As the sounds of the Chimeras’ shrieks and steps got louder, the soldiers’ tension increased as well.

Before too long, the Chimeras crashed into their round formation like a wave against a beach. Swords cut and sliced skin while Chimera teeth dug into and ripped out flesh.

The sound of slicing and flesh rending accompanied by the sound of blood gushing out; these were the sounds of a life-and-death battle.

The few magicians in Kei’s unit arranged spells and invoked them at the Chimeras.

Desir and Romantica joined them in an attempt to reduce the number of Chimera approaching them.

The Chimeras here weren’t as sophisticated as the Chimeras that Pureus created, but they were made from extremely powerful monsters. Seeing this, one would know that a good portion of the national budget had been invested into this.

Thanks to Kei’s excellent battle sense and ability to employ effective strategum, their unit was able to endure against these powerful Chimeras.

This was not the case for the Chimeras, those who lost their hunting sense and were rampaging recklessly. These Chimeras would never be able to prepare a proper formation and Kei’s unit wasn’t weak enough to be overwhelmed by Chimeras that didn’t use any formation.

Or so they thought. That mindset swiftly faded. As the fight waged on, it became clear that the Chimeras’ unnatural stamina greatly outpaced what Kei’s unit was capable of. Slowly but surely, they lost the advantage and the tide of battle turned.

As the soldiers reached their limits due to exhaustion, and gaps in their shield formations started to appear, the Chimeras would use their claws to rake at the soldiers and pull them out of the formation.

The soldiers that were dragged away were eaten alive in front of the remaining soldiers. Some of these people were familiar faces that Desir’s party had seen several times during their journey on the airship.

The current situation was much more dire than the previous battles these soldiers had faced up until now, and there was no end in sight.

“Arghhhh!”

One of the soldiers screamed.

After shredding a soldier, a Chimera that looked a lot like a lion stretched out its claws towards the soldier making a fuss.

[Burst Fire]

Dozens of fireballs materialized in front of Desir before shooting forward like meteors and shattering the claws while pushing away the lion-like Chimera.

The soldier saved by Desir thanked him with a slight nod and rejoined the battle once again. Even though he did an admirable deed, Desir’s facial expression was not good.

Desir was feeling miserable.

“This is much more difficult than I expected. The level of difficulty has increased several-fold.”

No one could have expected a man referred to as a Prophet would be managing a legion of Chimeras of this magnitude.

When Desir joined Kei Hazmaryoon, the strongest swordsman of this generation, and heard the detailed plan that Kei had proposed, he was certain that clearing this quest would be straightforward with Kei’s aid.

But when faced with the situation unfolding in front of his eyes, he was honestly not as confident in this quest being as straightforward to clear as initially anticipated.

‘This level of difficulty corresponds to the highest tier of Level Three Shadow Worlds.’

This was even after considering the fact that Kei was there as an aide to the quest. If Kei wasn’t there, the level of difficulty of this Shadow World would have easily been Level Two. Furthermore, the situation was rapidly deteriorating as time passed. It was even more clear that the situation would only deteriorate further from here.

“… I could feel a lot of mana signatures heading towards here. Since there is a significant number of them, I’m guessing it’s the Blue Rose battalion.”

Kei’s unit was exhausted from facing the Chimeras. The chance of Kei’s unit achieving victory against the Blue Rose battalion was extremely slight.

They had to quickly figure out a strategy.

Desir broke away from his frontline and moved towards the frontline that Commander Kei was at. Pram and Adjest were also battling nearby.

“The Blue Rose battalion will arrive here in around ten minutes.”

After hearing Desir’s words, Kei had a stern look on his face. From his extensive experience in such situations, he knew that they would have no chance of winning once the Blue Rose battalion arrived.

Penen, who had been listening from the side, shared his thoughts with Kei. “Commander, please consider transferring your commanding rights to me.” Kei’s face fell when he realized what this meant.

“… Can you do it?”

“I believe it is better than ending all of this without achieving anything. I hope you can fulfill my earnest wish.”

‘Huh?’

Desir felt something strange. When Kei faced the death of the King, he was calm. For the first time, Kei had revealed a bit of emotion.

It was a subtle difference, but Desir didn’t miss it. Kei was not able to suppress his emotions. He had exposed his emotions openly through a small change in his facial expression, different from the time he faced the King’s death.

However, he knew that this was the only way forward, so he decided to proceed without further delay. He knew that this would put him squarely on the path of slaughter.

“Right now, I transfer all of my commanding rights to you, Ensign Penen.” “It is my honor. I will do my best.”

After clearing up three nearest Chimeras in one blow with a burst of Aura, Kei stepped back from the frontline.

“… I will not forget you all.”

“We pray for your success in this war.”