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Side Story Chapter 189
The first emotion Selim felt upon seeing Longin was joy.
Selim leaped for the spear without hesitation, snatching it out of the air as it began to float.
Longin hummed quietly in his hands. Selim had become attached to the spear and earned its recognition long ago while practicing with it. Compared to the Emperor of Avalon’s spear skills, Selim was a drop in an ocean, but...
“I feel like I can defeat anyone right now,” Selim murmured.
Instead of basking in the soldiers’ cheers, Selim looked down at his enemies from the sky.
Most people would never encounter a single dullahan in their entire life, yet hundreds of dullahans, each a powerful undead, littered the battlefield. Every single one of them was impervious to any attack delivered without the assistance of aura.
Selim pulled his arm far back. “Magic Spear Arts, Level 4.”
Selim was going to test his skills on those dullahans and show everyone on the battlefield how effective the Magic Spear Arts were with Longin.
Magic Spear Arts, Level 4: Lightning Spear. A god’s wrath was directed at the world, and waves of lightning struck the ground for eternity. Who would be able to survive?
“Scathach’s Fury!” Selim thrust the spear with every muscle in his body.
Longin flew through the air with a subtle swish, but what happened afterward was a spectacle for the ages.
Accompanied by the rumbling of thunder, bright flashes of lightning lit up the battlefield, forcing the cheering soldiers to stop and shut their eyes.
Meanwhile, Selim thrust the spear hundreds of times, consuming a significant amount of mana each time, but he didn’t stop until his mana hall was completely emptied.
The dullahans were struck on their heads by the bolts and staggered. The monsters might have been durable enough to withstand one lightning bolt, but when they were struck in the same spot over and over their unholy endurance gave out and they collapsed to the ground.
Selim landed on the ground, panting. Had he been using an ordinary spear, it would have taken him three—no, at least ten attacks to kill each of the dullahans, but Longin specialized in amplifying the damage of the mana that it absorbed.
“Did you come back with His Majesty?” Selim asked.
Longin hummed loudly. Selim didn’t know what exactly Longin was saying, of course; he could only speculate as to the specifics, but he was familiar enough that he could at least tell if Longin was saying yes or no.
“...I see. So he’s back.” Selim smiled from ear to ear.
Although the news about the Emperor of Avalon’s return was reason to rejoice, Selim was pretty pleased that he could make simple conversations with Longin.
“Wowwwwww!”
“Hurray for His Highness Selim!”
“The Martial God! It’s the Martial God’s return!”
“Hey, you! Watch your mouth. Only one person can be called Martial God in this country—no, this continent, even if you’re talking about His Highness Selim!”
“Th-Then how about the Lightning God? I genuinely felt like His Highness Selim was a god of lightning earlier.”
“Lightning God...” The knight who had scolded the soldier trailed off. From atop the ramparts, they watched Selim land on the ground. Eventually, the knight nodded.“A god created a new god.”
“Ohaaaaaaaa!”
The knights and soldiers let out a thunderous cheer again.
Just then, a storm of fire lit up another corner of the battlefield. Avalon’s troops reeled away from the huge wall of fire.
“Arrrghhhh!”
“S-Stand back unless you want to be burned to death!”
The firestorm was incredibly effective. The monsters crawling toward the breach in the gates that the demons had created were burned to a fine ash. The lesser demons left on the battlefield, even those strong enough to have distinct abilities, met the same end, surprisingly.
“Wait, if that fire can even burn demons...”
The knight peered at the second pillar of black fire rising further away from the gates.
“It’s His Highness Kireua!”
“The Fire God! It’s the Fire God!”
The army’s morale skyrocketed, naturally. The First Prince had the Emperor of Avalon’s weapon, and the Second Prince had made a full recovery and rejoined the battle.
“We’re going out there too! Everyone, to the princes!”
“Whooaaaaaaa!”
The soldiers and knights poured down the ramparts as if they had been waiting for the order all along. Although they were voluntarily giving up the advantage of their fortifications, no one objected because it was clear that the tide of the battle had turned in their favor. The princes were standing on the frontlines, shedding sweat and blood, and the most problematic demons were gone. They had been hopelessly outnumbered earlier, but the difference was almost nonexistent now thanks to the mysterious undead helping them—although everyone could guess where the legion of undead had come from.
“The legion must be sent by His Majesty.”
Many of the delegates hadn’t left Arcadia yet, so they could point fingers at Avalon after the whole affair was over. There was a high chance that Avalon would be branded the “Demonic Empire” and become the common enemy of the rest of Igrant. However, the knights and soldiers of Avalon didn’t want to worry about it—not right now, at least. Their country and families were behind them, so nine out of ten would willingly take a devil’s hand.
“Let’s go!”
“Yes, captain!”
The entire order of knights garrisoned in Arcadia sallied out. They encountered the foreign delegates who were watching them. The captain gave them a small nod and the delegates unwittingly nodded back.
‘There is no need to be disappointed in them. They have their reasons too, but I wish they wouldn’t treat us like we’re less than Hubalt, the aggressors—and war criminals...’
The captain didn’t want to think about it, but he couldn’t help but worry. It must be because they could see a glimmer of hope in this battle.
“Is anyone hurt?” the captain asked as he approached the delegates.
“Excuse me? Ah, no. We aren’t hurt.”
“Good. Why don’t you stand back, everyone? Avalon will try its best to ensure our guests’ safe return to their countries,” the captain politely said.
The delegates exchanged glances. They may have not said anything, but they felt apologetic. There had been an incident with Hubalt and now the undead, and both times they had only sat on their hands.
“Umm... It’s a well-known fact that the Britten Family, the previous ruling family of Avalon, studied black magic. Has the current Imperial Family been continuing that research?”
The troops’ concerns turned out to be well-founded. Because of Evergrant con Aswald, the former Imperial Chief Mage, and Kaiser ben Britten, the previous Fourth Prince, Avalon had suffered through being associated with demons for a long time. If it hadn’t been for the current Emperor of Avalon and his family, the continent would surely have condemned Avalon even now.
“Well...” The captain pondered how he should answer their question, but his knights flew into a rage before he could formulate a reply.
“That’s preposterous!” they shouted.
“How can you say that about His Majesty?!”
“You should remember that there are lines you should not cross. Shame on you! You’ve been using diplomacy as an excuse to ignore the injustice unfolding right in front of you!”
“If our country falls, your dear countries are next! Those damned undead will trample your families and your home!”
The captain bit his tongue. Even though the knights were speaking the truth, the delegates were powerful individuals who had a great deal of influence in their countries, and a sense of pride to match.
As expected, the delegates were enraged and stopped tiptoeing around the knights.
“How dare a knight say such a thing to us!”
“Even if undead are attacking you, that doesn’t justify using those undead to fight back! You’re the ones who should be ashamed for relying on the undead’s help!”
“Avalon should explain this after everything is over. Who knows? All of this may be the result of Avalon’s failed research on black magic! Otherwise, why, across the entire continent, would such an incident take place only in Avalon?”
The knights’ faces turned purple in rage. While they were able to endure insults about themselves, they absolutely could not let the insults about the Emperor of Avalon and Imperial Family slide.
“You want a piece of me?”
“You’re revealing your true color, aren’t you? Is this how Avalon treats their guests?”
“Stop! Everyone, calm down!” the captain shouted, but his intervention was no use.
The showdown was primed to break into a brawl at any moment. The delegates' knights already had their hands on their swords.
“Ah, shit,” the captain cussed. Things couldn’t have gone more wrong. The war wasn’t over yet, and the princes were hard at work, yet the captain and his knights were making an embarrassment of themselves...
In one last attempt to quell the situation, the captain gathered his mana into his throat.
“Cut it—!”
“Why don’t you stop now?”
The captain flinched mid-sentence.
The new voice was very quiet, but everyone there could somehow hear it clear as day.
“Th-This power is...”
“Ending the war comes first, doesn’t it?”
A beautiful silver-haired woman was slowly walking toward them from the Palace.
“The Silver-Eyed Ghost Sword...?”
“Lilith Aphrodite!”
Her beauty always stood out, allowing all of the knights and the delegates to quickly recognize her.
‘But why do I see His Majesty in the Ghost Sword?’ The Captain tilted his head in confusion.
Unlike before, Lilith sounded like an actual woman and wasn’t angry this time.
“What inspires this foolishness. Aren’t all of you feeling too confident about your countries’ abilities?”
“What do you mean, Silver-Eyed Ghost Sword?”
“I think you’re all forgetting that ending these undead isn’t the only problem. Hubalt is the bigger problem.”
The delegates flinched.
“As a citizen of Hubalt, I assure you that Hubalt is currently the strongest country on the continent. All of you must have heard the rumors about the Battle God, yes?”
“We...”
“Or perhaps you’d like to try stopping Hubalt without Avalon or the Martial God’s help?” Lilith smirked.
The delegates clamped their mouths shut.
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