Chapter 306
Millennium empire, millennium emperor (7)
The strong eat the weak.
This was an absolute and unchanging law of this world.
And within this law, the imperial army had always been the strong, the predators.
To them, the weak were beings that could be trampled on at any time, and plundering was a matter of course.
To the imperial army, prisoners of war were not respected.
They were just examples of the miserable fate awaiting those who resisted the Empire.
Even if they were a corpse.
The same was true of the Prince of Dotrin.
A member of the Dotrin royal family who had foolishly invaded the Empire’s territory.
The head of the wyvern knights, who had made the fearless imperial knights fear the sky.
There was no better candidate to raise the low morale from the empire’s repeated defeats.
Besides, his end had been too heroic to leave as is.
Even when his whole body was engulfed in fire and being melted, he had lured Hwaryong to burn the cities and fortresses of the Empire and had died in those flames.
The people who had witnessed the sight were overwhelmed by his determination and fortitude, and some even came to respect it.
That was not very pleasant for the leaders of the imperial army to hear.
The death of those who opposed the Empire must always be miserable and insignificant.
In order for Dotrin’s army to be regarded as dogs that ran away with their tails in the air, no honor could be left for them.
So the leaders changed his death.
The lofty will to fly for days on end while enduring the pain of his burning body to save his soldiers, now turned into cowardice that led him to abandon his soldiers and flee randomly like a wild beast. And the fierce shouts for his country’s victory while being surrounded by flames until the moment of his death became nothing more than meaningless wails and screams.
The corpse was hung on a pole so that everyone could see its hideous face.
So that everyone would fear the Empire when they saw the miserable end of a presumptuous person who had rebelled.
That was also why they had stopped in front of the Leonberg Kingdom’s army and showed off the corpse.
Look. The fate of your like-minded allies was so tragic, and the ugly corpse hanging from the pole would be you tomorrow.
The imperial army did not doubt that their enemy’s morale would plummet in the face of their comrade’s defeat.
They firmly believed that their opponents who had to fight alone against 120,000 troops would despair.
But it didn’t take them long to realize how big of a mistake that was.
Sweeehk!
A sharp piercing sound entered their ears.
Kwang!
A moment later, a roar erupted from right before their eyes.
Hwaag!
Dust rose like mist.
Step step.
Footsteps could be heard coming from inside.
And a figure emerged from the dust.
Golden glittering armor, pure white fur on the shoulders, and a crouching lion crest emblazoned on the chest of a bright red tunic.
Symbols of a certain Leonberg knight that everyone in the imperial army knew by heart.
He was the war god of the Leonberg Kingdom.
The paladins stepped forward. The knights of the empire silently moved behind the God of War. Heavy infantry and cavalry followed.
Step step.
Whether he was aware or not, the God of War continued to walk.
Heading towards the pole erected by the knights.
Swoop.
The paladins exchanged glances.
The knights grasped the hilts of their swords.
In an instant, hundreds of knights and dozens of paladins surrounded the God of War.
Swoop.
A paladin raised his hand.
Just by lowering his hand, hundreds of knights and thousands of soldiers would launch an onslaught of attacks towards the God of War.
But nothing happened.
The paladin had frozen with his hand in the air.
The God of War was right in front of him.
In the plains where no wind was blowing, a gale wrapped around the war god.
His blond hair rose up like a lion’s mane, fluttering incessantly.
Beneath it, a pair of deep blue ghost fires were burning.
Gulp.
The paladin swallowed dryly.
The God of War was within arm’s reach, but he couldn’t move a finger.
All he could do was turn his eyes and watch as the God of War passed right in front of him.
Step step.
Finally, the footsteps paused before the pole.
* * *
Stopping in front of the pole, I raised my head.
“Doris.”
Doris was there.
“I came to pick you up.”
There was no answer.
Why?
The talkative Doris should have welcomed me.
I stared blankly at Doris.
A charred body, and scorched iron armor.
“Doris.”
I called Doris’ name once more.
But again, Doris didn’t answer.
I called several times, but the result was the same.
I pulled out Twilight and scattered my sword light.
The rope tying Doris to the pole snapped.
Doris fell helplessly.
I let go of Twilight and took Doris’ body with both hands.
I knelt on the floor and took hold of the visor of his half-sealed helmet.
The visor was stuck and didn’t move at all.
I pulled on it, but quickly released my hand.
The lifeless body seemed like it would fall apart with just a little bit of force.
Even the faintest of hopes I held in my heart were shattered.
“Huu.”
I looked at the charred corpse and at the deformed steel armor clinging to the small body, and my gaze stopped at his hands.
The left hand was curled as if he had been holding the reins of his wyvern until his last moment, and the right hand was holding onto the broken remains of a spear.
His end could be pictured in my eyes as if I had witnessed it.
He must have fought Hwaryong without having the time to take off his heated armor.
Although his skin turned red from the heat, ooze started to flow, and his lungs began to burn, he would have continued to rush at Hwaryong until the end.
He must have kept his eyes on the fire dragon so that it would not go back and attack those he had left behind.
Even after his death was certain, he would have continued to fly, and only closed his eyes after he reached the imperial citadel.
How painful and frightening it must have been.
“Rest in peace now.”
I held Doris in my arms as I stood up.
Imperial troops surrounded me.
One of them, a paladin, gathered his sword energy and aimed it at me.
“Die!”
And then he charged towards me.
I bounced on my toes.
Twilight, which had been lying on the floor, was kicked up by the tip of my foot and shot forward.
The paladin’s visor opened.
The eyes exposed from underneath his helmet turned to look at his chest.
His eyes widened when he saw the sword driven through all the way to the hilt.
Disbelief flickered in his eyes.
“Kkeuk.“
But even that soon disappeared, and his eyes became cloudy.
Thump.
The paladin fell.
I stared at him for a moment before looking around.
The knights who had been about to rush at me with the paladin’s attack were staring at me while frozen.
“Don’t stop me.”
I said to them.
“Don’t even pay attention.”
Please don’t go against my wish to send my friend off without covering the road in a sea of blood.
“Even if you don’t follow me, I won’t run away.”
My beloved sword embedded in the paladin’s heart served as a promise.
I just walked.
I supported Doris’ body with both hands and walked among the knights and soldiers of the Empire.
Swoop.
The troops standing before me hesitantly withdrew.
I continued to walk along the path they opened.
Then I reached a crater which looked like a meteorite had struck that surrounded a steel spear.
Hwaag.
A shadow fell over my head.
Along with the sound of strong winds, huge monsters landed before me one after another.
Among them was a man riding one of those monsters who looked at me with a face as pale as a corpse.
Jin Katrin, Doris’ close friend.
I quietly handed Doris over to him.
Jin silently accepted his body.
Carefully, so that it wouldn’t break.
“I will be back soon.”
Jin spoke softly to me and flew up with his wyvern.
“I will bring you back to the citadel.”
The wyvern knight standing in the back reached out his hand to me.
“Take this to my uncle.”
Instead of answering, I pulled out the javelin stuck in the middle of the pit and handed it to the wyvern knight.
“Do you want to die…”
The wyvern knight asked how I planned to return when I had been carried down by the javelin, and I shook my head.
I would not go back yet, since I still had work to do here.
Instead of trying to persuade me, the wyvern knight said he would come over whenever I signaled, and he flew up.
I looked for a while, and then turned around.
Thousands of archers were aiming their bows and crossbows at me.
Right behind them, I could see knights and paladins with light gathered at the tip of their swords.
Someone stretched out his hand.
I let out a deep breath.
I lowered my body.
“Shoot!”
At that moment, thousands of arrows flew towards me with shrill sounds.
Thump thump.
My heart, which had been beating slowly, began to pound like crazy.
At the same time, my suppressed mana spread throughout my body.
I stamped my feet.
Bang!
The surrounding scenery changed in an instant.
Tok.
I landed right in the middle of the archers.
“Huh?”
The archer who had just readied his bow looked at me with a bewildered face.
I reached out.
I pulled out the short sword stuck at his waist and slashed downwards.
“Kkuk.”
The archer with a severed collarbone suddenly fell backwards.
“Ugh!”
The other archers hurriedly drew their swords from their waists.
I ran in their midst.
And swung my sword like crazy.
A severed arm flew through the air. A head with widened eyes fell to the floor.
A mist of blood bloomed.
Screams echoed endlessly from within.
Sasasak.
Sharp twanging sounds could be heard.
Light wrapped around my sword as I swung it vigorously.
Hwaaaag.
The deflected arrows landed around me.
“Agh!“
“Gwah!”
Archers hit by the blindly shot arrows screamed.
I stepped on someone’s head and extended my sword.
Bang!
The low-quality iron sword I had stolen from the archer exploded when it could no longer contain my energy.
Scraps of metal flew everywhere.
“Agh! My eyes!”
“Kuuk!“
Soldiers hit by the shrapnel fell down, spraying blood.
Arrows flew again.
I grabbed a bloody face and pulled the screaming soldier by the collar.
Thud thud.
With the sound of arrows digging into flesh, the soldier began to sag.
I drew the sword from the soldier’s waist and threw down his limp body.
The soldiers hit by the body I had thrown with mana fell down.
I ran and thrust my sword into them.
The low-quality iron sword soon broke again.
“He doesn’t even have a proper weapon!”
“The soldier who kills him will become a nobleman and be granted a castle!”
The knights of the Empire shouted with courage when they saw me.
I straightened my back and looked at them.
The soldiers who were promised a title and lands looked at me with bloodshot eyes.
Eyes filled with fear mixed with greed.
A laugh came out.
Blinded by futile hope and desire, moths rushed at me without even realizing that their bodies were being burned.
I kicked the body of an archer which lay on the floor.
The bloody body turned over, revealing the quiver attached to its belt.
I raised my foot and kicked the bottom of the quiver.
Sasasak.
The arrows flew out and pierced the bodies of the soldiers.
I flung myself after them.
I snatched a sword from the hand of the soldier in front and cut them down again and again.
When the sword broke, I grabbed a new one and swung it like crazy.
Not a word left my mouth.
I just killed what I saw.
“Push harder! As long as he’s human, he will eventually get tired!”
“He will pay for his arrogance in abandoning his sword!”
Hiding behind the backs of the soldiers, the knights shouted.
The knights who drove these soldiers to death with the bait of titles and lands waited for the right moment to step out.
I whispered softly.
Jut believe that.
I stabbed a soldier’s neck with my sword and repeated my actions endlessly.
Think of me as prey.
For this reason, I would not recite a single verse of poetry until the battle was over.
I would gladly be covered in blood and tumble through the mud with the soldiers.
So please.
“Don’t run away.”
* * *
“We have to open the gates!”
Several knights with pale faces reported to the king.
The moment that the king, who had been looking at the plains with a hard expression, opened his mouth,
“It’s better not to go out.”
The Penta knight spoke first.
“Ian won’t like it if we open the castle gates now.”
The king shook his head.
It would be better to be hated than to lose him right before his eyes.
To this, the Penta knight answered firmly.
“I’m pretty sure that won’t happen.”
He said that nothing would ever go wrong if it was the crown prince.
“The reason Ian chose to guard this citadel was not because we did not have the strength to defeat 10 legions on our own.”
The crown prince had said that the only reason he chose to remain behind for defense was because he was afraid that other people would fall if he was not here.
And that he was concerned about when and how the emperor’s hidden dagger would come out.
The king did not believe it.
Even if he had the strength to destroy the enemy legion by himself, his body was still made of flesh. He would bleed if he was cut by a knife, and he would die if his heart was pierced. How could a person have such power?
The old knight laughed at this.
“A mere human being made of flesh…”
And suddenly, he brought up an old story.
“The first time I sparred with Ian, he scolded me.”
Mana Chain, that skill could not lead you to transcendence, the knights of this era must realize how much they had lost.
The unfamiliar power of martial poetry was so shocking that the old knight had suffered for some time.
Although time passed and he had overcome his mental scars, the crown prince’s words had remained in the old knight’s heart.
Then he had forgotten them when he reached the level of Penta.
Because the power of a Penta Chain was so great that it could not be compared with a Quad Chain, that it was defined as transcendence.
Until he had met his nephew again.
“Ian has never given up on himself.”
His nephew, like before, shattered his world and ignored his truth.
“Even when crossing swords with me.”
But unlike the first time, he hadn’t become confused or muddled.
“It was shameful.”
The old knight laughed, saying that his nephew had promised to compete with all his might but had secretly held back, he truly had a bad personality.
He seemed to be filled with unbearable pride in his nephew.
“Perhaps they will be the first to experience that power.”
As soon as he finished his words, a flash of light shot out from the middle of the plains.
Swoop.
The old knight added while scanning the plains with his blind eyes.
“I guarantee that if the millennium empire collapses, it will be by that child’s hand. If the millennium emperor is overthrown, it will be by that child’s sword.”
Note: chapter title drop
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