SWNOVELXO Chapter 559
Chapter 559 – The Fight Starts Now (1)
“Ahh!”
“Please, save me!”
“Just let me live…”
In the capital of Grimwell, a massacre was taking place every day. In this massacre, neither social status nor the severity of crimes mattered.
Literally, everyone was dragged away to be killed. A few figures gathered people to fight back, but they stood no chance against the Salvation Society.
The plaza of the capital was stained with blood. So much blood flowed that the soldiers’ ankles were always submerged as if a flood had occurred.
In the center of the blood-covered plaza stood a small podium. Upon it lay a modest bracelet.
By the time there was truly not a single animal left in the capital, Gathros called all the priests and commanded, “Begin the ceremony.”
Dozens of priests gathered and recited the vision of the Salvation Society.
GooOOOOO…
A dark aura emanated from the Magic Circle, beginning to absorb the surrounding blood.
The Magic Circle greedily consumed the blood, soon taking on a vivid red hue. Blood started to creep up towards the bracelet resting on the podium.
The blood that climbed onto the podium gradually seeped into the bracelet.
Gathros watched the scene with tense eyes.
‘Please…’
If that bracelet isn’t a Sacred Relic, it will turn red with blood. Another cursed object akin to a Life Gem would be born.
He hadn’t gone through all this trouble just to create one more. The calculations didn’t add up.
But if it truly was a Sacred Relic…
PAAAH!
Suddenly, an incredibly bright light began to burst forth from the bracelet.
It was the same light he had seen in Ruthania. The Divine Power hidden within it rejected the energy of the Magic Circle. The blood that was seeping in was held at bay, writhing in frustration.
This was a power that could devour even ordinary Sacred Relics in an instant.
Gathros jumped up from his seat.
“Ha, haha… Hahahahahaha!”
He laughed maniacally. He had finally found the Sacred Relic he had yearned for all these long years.
All the countless sacrifices and failures had finally paid off.
The light stretched out endlessly in all directions, as if proclaiming its existence to the world.
Gathros shouted loudly as he watched it.
“O King! O King! Feel this light! We await the day we meet!”
Their king surely existed somewhere in this world. It was a promised and prophesied event. Awakening the king’s ‘memory’ was also the duty of their doctrine.
To awaken the king, a Sacred Relic was necessary.
“Hurry, gather the energy! Quickly!”
As the priests ceased their incantations, the energy of the Magic Circle gradually began to subside. As the blood that had climbed onto the podium all flowed down, the light seeping from the Sacred Relic also slowly extinguished.
Gathros carefully took the bracelet and fastened it to his wrist. His expression showed that it was more precious than anything in the world.
Aiden, who was observing from a distance, shook his head.
“Ugh, disgusting.”
The rancid smell, the sticky humidity, the blood pooling abundantly in the plaza.
To him, this was not artistic at all.
He didn’t dislike blood, but there was no reason to view this unpleasant event positively when it wasn’t even a ceremony to praise him.
In fact, Aiden had no interest in this cult or empathy for it.
Of course, he pretended to be a devout member of the Salvation Society on the surface.
Aiden shrugged and asked Leonard, the revolutionary leader standing next to him with crossed arms, “How is it? You’ve never seen a ceremony like this before, right? It’s dirty but fascinating, isn’t it?”
“…”
“Well, it’s hard to understand at first. Just think of it as their own ritual. No need to worry too much about it.”
“…Yeah.”
Leonard replied briefly, cutting off the conversation. In fact, his mind was quite complicated, and he hadn’t even properly watched the ceremony.
After the ambush operation failed, he was quite embarrassed. Everyone didn’t show it on the surface, but there was an underlying atmosphere.
The kind of atmosphere that questioned why he had to provoke the Duke of Penris alone and lost only troops.
‘Damn…’
He had no choice but to admit it. He had been completely outplayed. It felt as if the Duke of Penris had entered his head and stolen everything.
But there was something that stayed more prominently in his mind.
‘Yulien.’
He was someone who used techniques beyond imagination. Even now, he couldn’t figure out how such techniques were possible.
He prided himself on being one of the top superhumans on the continent. Thus, he thought he could hold his own against anyone one-on-one.
But that thought shattered when he met Yulien.
Leonard let out a small sigh.
‘Sure, we are strong over here, but…’
There were many superhumans here. The Army of Atrode was also very strong. His revolutionary group had joined too.
At this level, it could be considered the strongest on the continent. No matter how much the Allied Forces increased, he believed they couldn’t stand a chance.
That was certainly the case at first. He was confident of victory.
‘The Duke of Penris, Yulien…’
Before meeting those two, that is.
Both were beyond the rumors. What was more unsettling was that he still hadn’t properly grasped their abilities.
Leonard looked at Gathros. He was still staring at the bloodstained plaza, looking at the bracelet on his wrist with ecstatic eyes.
‘Is this really the end of times as the rumors say? What a bunch of lunatics.’
He just wanted a kingdom of his own. To satisfy that desire, he had no choice but to join hands with the Salvation Society.
Yet, the Salvation Society, despite its immense power, was executing a disadvantageous strategy to find that king or whatever, wasting a considerable number of troops.
‘Is this a war to find a single person and achieve victory? Isn’t that something you can do after the war ends?’
Leonard couldn’t understand. That king wasn’t an ordinary king, but a ‘religious leader’.
And there was another fact he learned by chance by being with these people.
The other title the Salvation Society called their king was the ‘Adversary of the Goddess’.
‘So they intend to fight the goddess.’
Leonard shook his head.
While they hadn’t even conquered the continent yet, they had the arrogant thought of fighting a god.
It may seem like they had something, but it still appeared to him to be nothing but nonsensical delusions.
But since he had allied with them, no matter how disadvantageous it was, he had to fight against the Allied Forces. The only concern occupying his mind was this one thought.
‘Yulien.’
How could he possibly kill that monstrous guy?
*
“Wow! We won!”
The Allied Forces led by Yulien erupted in cheers as they captured the fortress of the Army of Atrode.
It was an unbelievably easy victory. The enemy was weak, and they had an absolute powerhouse like Yulien on their side.
As Yulien watched the soldiers aiding the injured and tidying up the battlefield, a strange feeling suddenly washed over him.
“Hmm.”
Something unknown was enveloping him. The aura was distinctly strong.
Yulien slowly turned his head in the direction where he felt the aura.
And in that direction…
Sassasak.
Ssssh.
A few people surrounded him, vigorously drawing something.
“…”
They were people sent by Commander Claude of the Ruthania Army. They had been following him since the moment the Allied Forces split apart, sketching him at every opportunity.
At first, he had thought little of it, dismissing them as “war record scribes.” After all, there were certainly those who recorded the situation during battles.
But they were too extreme. Initially ignoring it, he couldn’t help but notice their increasingly blatant behavior of observing him.
“…Do you really need to do that?”
When Yulien, who rarely spoke, finally spoke up, one of the artists replied with a look of ecstasy.
“Yes! We have been entrusted with the glorious duty of recording everything about you, Yulien… Ah! I mean, recording every detail of this war! So we can’t let a moment go by!”
“…”
Hearing the artist’s answer, Yulien simply closed his mouth.
While they claimed to record the war, they were only drawing him. They didn’t depict anything else at all.
Yulien turned to the other side. The scribes dispatched were fervently writing about him.
It was so strange that Marquis Gideon, leading the Turian Army, once asked the ‘representative scribe’.
— Why is it important to know what Yulien had for lunch today?
— Just to check if Yulien is having a balanced diet…
— Why does it matter to you?
— Because Yulien is an important person…
— And why are you taking the discarded items of Yulien?
— To reduce waste and promote environmental protection…
— Then why are you writing about how many times he brushed his hair?
— That’s to record Yulien’s ‘coolness’…
— …
— …
At this point, neither of them had anything more to say.
In any case, the scribes were that enthusiastic. What this had to do with war records, he had no clue, though.
It was quite suspicious, but Marquis Gideon couldn’t really tell them to stop.
‘Ha, damn that Claude…’
Since it was an order from the so-called ‘second-in-command’ of the Ruthania Army, it felt awkward to cut it off at his level.
Moreover, there wasn’t any important information to speak of. It was simply filled with praises and tales about Yulien.
Although Yulien himself had no interest, his popularity was astounding beyond imagination.
He was a prince cast aside, with a backstory, elegant and dignified movements, a figure sculpted by the gods, and an aura that was almost mystical.
On top of that, he had shown an incredibly strong display of power up to this point.
People of all ages were captivated by stories about him. There were many who wished to see Yulien just once.
It was no wonder. After all, the world was currently in turmoil thanks to Yulien and Ghislaine, these two individuals.
In this, Claude demonstrated his business acumen once again.
— You know? We’ve done this before. This can make money.
Yulien’s portraits, personal details, and items used were rapidly sold through Claude’s hands.
While such things occurred, no one was paying attention because they were in the middle of a war.
Having already fallen into trouble once with Ghislaine, Claude was now operating his underhanded deals far more discreetly, taking inspiration from the structure of the Salvation Society and the Revolutionary Group.
Yulien continued leading what he called his scribes as he marched on.
Though not to the extent of the Ruthania Army’s Meteor operation with overwhelming power, thanks to his nonsensical strength, other operations could be successfully undertaken.
“Fire!”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
As Marquis Gideon gave the command, the Allied Forces hurled stones with the catapult again and again.
However, with only this number of catapults, they couldn’t completely raze the fortress. They could merely attack and suppress the soldiers on the castle walls.
Still, the Turian Army had the advantage. The Army of Atrode, lacking mages, couldn’t even fend off magical attacks.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Despite sustaining considerable damage from the catapult and magical attacks, the Army of Atrode refused to abandon magical suppression and retaliated fiercely.
If they took a bit longer, the Turian Army would surely be able to capture the fortress without taking heavy losses. The gap in strength was that significant.
But Yulien had no intention of dragging it out. Just because they spent time didn’t mean the damage would disappear entirely.
“I’m going now.”
Once the enemy’s forces on the castle walls had thinned out appropriately, Yulien dashed out alone. Simultaneously, fully armored knights followed behind him.
Seeing a group charging towards them, the fortress commander shouted,
“Kill those bastards!”
PAAAAH!
Arrows rained down from the castle walls. Yet, the soldiers on the fortress were soon faced with an unbelievable sight.
“W-What is that?”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The knights that followed blocked the arrows with their shields or deflected them away. Some even relied on their armor, letting the arrows bounce off their bodies. That was a common sight in a war, so it wasn’t surprising.
But the one leading the charge…
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The arrows that were flying towards him suddenly changed direction and embedded themselves in the ground. The one at the front just kept on running, doing nothing.
Typically, superhumans would eliminate arrows with their tremendous strength or deflect them away. It required mana to evade arrows even if slightly affected.
Yet, the one charging forward did nothing, and the arrows merely avoided him.
“What, what’s going on! What is that!”
The soldiers of the Army of Atrode fell into confusion at the absurd sight.
They found themselves staring blankly at the approaching figure, forgetting to attack. The shocking situation had left them dumbfounded.
As Yulien approached the front of the fortress, he drew his sword.
A blue light glimmered along the blade. It was extraordinarily vibrant compared to usual, indicating that he had used considerable energy.
Yulien swung his sword directly at the enormous gate blocking his path.
Squick!
CRASH!
The gate of the fortress split in half and collapsed.