Chapter 190
『Translator: RainTL』
༺ Miruam Elizabeth El Rath (2) ༻
“Why did you stop the march, Commander?”
Miruam asked the commander of the army. She obviously had the highest status out of everyone present, but control over the army was a different matter altogether.
“My apologies, Your Highness, but we just cannot advance.”
“...Is it because of the Sun?”
“Yes. To think one person would be stopping our army…”
One man stopping an entire army?
It was hard to imagine something like that being possible but it was happening in real life right before their eyes.
The Sun, Claiomh Solais.
That enormous manifestation of the Sun was drying up the ground beneath, and pushing an army through that narrow passage was like forcing them to die.
“He won’t drop the sun.”
Korin Lork’s personality was widely known already. High-ranked knights like him were bound to have several people talking behind his back after a thorough investigation, but all they could talk about was how good-natured he was as a person.
Even though he was committing a semi-rebellion to achieve his objective, he wasn’t the type of person who would be wiping out the innocent soldiers of the Kingdom.
“Yes, but it is still a problem regardless. It’s not that we are afraid of casualties; it’s simply impossible for us to move forward.”
The mere presence of the Sun was covering the ground with severe heat.
“The horses refuse to advance, and soldiers cry in pain from the heat. Even the water magic of our mages evaporated without even lasting half a minute, and they’re all exhausted from it.”
“What about knights…?”
“Only high-grade knights would be able to last under that Sun with their aura.”
“Then if we use them to defeat Korin Lork…”
“As you’ve seen already, he is… very strong.”
It took him less than 5 minutes to destroy the entirety of the 3rd knight squad.
Grade 1 knight, Korin Lork.
He was still just a student, and unlike Marie who had the support of the Dunareff Dukedom, his status in the Guardian Alliance was nothing spectacularly unique.
However, one thing to note was that Hua Ran was also a Grade 1 knight like himself, and how Korin Lork, Alicia Arden, and Hua Ran were due to carry out a Limitless Evaluation this winter.
In other words, he was officially a Grade 1 knight but was at the very least a semi-Unique Grade knight and one of the few superhumans among superhumans within the Kingdom.
“As long as that Sun stays there… we won’t be able to advance normally.”
Miruam couldn’t force them to make the attack either.
There was, after all, a big difference in an order that could make the soldiers lose lives, and one that would certainly kill them.
However, they couldn’t find a different path either because the place Korin Lork was standing at was the only entrance known into Dana Shee, and that small passageway of the canyon was being blocked by the Sun.
“It’s visible just how much mana he is using for that Sun. His mana will run dry before long.”
It was a logical approach so they waited for a whole day.
Night came. The moon rose up and the morning arrived again.
But the Sun was still there.
“Commander, Your Highness… we have an urgent report.”
A high-grade knight of the army, who scouted out the area beyond the canyon while enduring the heat of the Sun, reported the grave situation beyond with a pale look on his face.
“Mages… An army solely made of mages is supporting Korin Lork from behind.”
More than 400 ‘slave mages’ were pulling out their mana inside the dark canyon.
***
Anyone would agree that Korin Guardians was the group that benefited the most from the battle against the Tower of Mages.
Not only did they neutralize the male mages with mysterious means, but they also used countless monster carriers to drop an army behind the enemy ranks.
After that, they ravaged through the half-destroyed Tower to take the plunder for themselves.
Treasures, elixirs, and artifacts… Out of all sorts of potential treasures, what Korin Guardians focused on the most were none other than the mages.
Firstly, they killed the resisting female mages and obtained the rest as captives. They were the few officially acknowledged slaves in the Kingdom, which abolished slavery, and they had more than 400 mages as their slaves.
A group of 400 mages including higher-grade mages was ridiculous to even think about. There were even talks inside the capital, about how they should obtain them for the kingdom even if they had to pay something in price.
Their inability to snatch the mage slaves was coming back to bite them.
“...How long would 400 mages be able to maintain the Sun?”
Her mage Kalatin replied to the princess’s query.
“There are many variables, but it would be at least 3 days.”
It wasn’t just 400 weak mages – the number included a bunch of professors and lords.
“Commander. Do you still have no plans to advance the army?”
“...My apologies.”
The commander could not force the soldiers to charge toward the Sun in a suicide mission. Seeing that, Miruam didn’t bother trying to persuade him and instead walked out of the tent.
“Y, Your Highness?”
She mounted a horse, which immediately made the commander and her knights run up to her in a hurry.
“W, where are you going…!?”
“Go!”
Shaking off the dissuading knights and soldiers, Miruam marched forward towards the Sun.
“Fuu…!”
The closer she got, the hotter it became. The extreme heat from the Sun started to heat up her body but that wasn’t enough to stop her feet.
-Hihihing…!
When the horse refused to go any further, she got off the horse and started to walk forward. One step at a time, she moved forward without knowing when to stop.
It was dangerous. Walking any further than this would make the Sun scorch her to death but that wasn’t enough to stop her.
“Hakk…!”
The buckets of sweat flowing down her cheeks evaporated before they could drip down and each of her breaths were steaming hot like magma. It felt like she was in a hell of flames with her dress repeating the process of becoming sweaty and dry.
Every step forward was daunting to take but she did not stop.
Miruam Elizabeth El Rath could not stop.
That was the type of person she was.
However, her body soon reached its limit despite her unshakable willpower. The surrounding air and sweat drained her body and even forced her to close her eyelids.
That was how tough it was to even approach that immeasurably enormous sun.
She forced her feet forward, which refused to listen to the brain by grabbing her legs with her hands.
Like a machine, she was slowly advancing but that was when someone grabbed her to stop her from going forward. Miruam immediately recognized who it was.
“I… knew it. You… have no guts… to kill me.”
“You’re crazy.”
The man sounded appalled, but despite the tone of his voice, he forced open her mouth and poured some liquid inside.
She hurriedly satiated her thirst like a desert traveler finding an oasis. Her half-ruined body, which did not even listen to her commands, finally regained a bit of its vitality as she slowly opened her eyes.
The Sun… was gone.
“Huhuhu…”
Yes. This was the kind of person he was.
A needlessly kind-hearted person who put too much value on human lives. Someone like him threatening an army with the Sun was bound to lead to such a result.
She proved it with her own body, that Korin Lork could not kill anyone with the Sun.
“It’s over for you. As I thought… you can’t kill people to save others.”
“Well, you’re right, but this is all going according to plan.”
“...What?”
Miruam felt skeptical seeing him so full of confidence. That was when she turned and looked at the army, only to find that they were still standing on the spot without marching forward.
What were they doing when the Sun wasn’t even here anymore? Shouldn’t they be marching forward, and even if that wasn’t the case, what were her bodyguards doing?
After some thought, she realized that it must be because of the man in front of her eyes.
“What… have you done.”
“With 400 mages in one spot, you can carry out some interesting things.”
Miruam realized what he meant the moment she saw a piece of contract flying towards her.
1. Only one warrior may be sent into the arena by each side.
2. The defender, Korin Lork, will fight a warrior chosen by Miruam Elizabeth El Rath once a day.
3. The army may advance during the duel.
4. The army must stop advancing the moment the duel ends.The above contract will begin when Miruam Elizabeth El Rath enters the arena by herself.
“What…?!”
What was this?
How was it possible to force such a contract?
Miruam realized what was going on after sensing the ridiculously abundant pool of mana surrounding her.
The 400 mage slaves under Korin Lork – regardless of how weak each individual mage was, 400 of them in one spot were enough to operate several grand spells, let alone if the number included a few professors and elders…
“It’s a geass; a contract that must be followed. That's a checkmate, right?”
The mages weren’t there to be an extra battery for him to charge the Sun; they were here to create a grand spell that could forcefully declare a contract on this area.
“Korin Lork…!”
She gritted her teeth at the man who was adamant about interrupting her lifelong wish.
“Don’t push yourself too hard. Even with the elixir you just had, you still need to look after your body for the time being.”
“Go… away!”
Throwing her arms around, she removed herself from his arms. She glared at him with a venomous gaze but he remained nonchalant with an irritating smile on his face.
“Put everything on the line, Princess. Because I will crush them for you.”
After predicting all of her actions, he was now forcing her to take the unavoidable battle.
What exactly is his end goal?
Is he going to pressure her into giving up on her lifelong desire?
Miruam was afraid he would make her do that.
***
“My name is Rojo! A brave warrior of Her Highness Miruam Elizabeth El Rath!”
“A named character from the get-go, huh?”
Korin clicked his tongue at the appearance of a familiar face.
Tamer Rojo. He was a powerful knight himself but was a tamer who tamed demonic beasts to use like pets.
Behind him were an enormous wolf, a cow, and a snake.
“It’s a one-on-one battle. Are you allowed to bring that many inside?”
Korin turned to the contract floating in the air inside the arena, hoping that it would intervene by putting a limit to the number of familiars.
——————
However, the contract didn’t respond in any way, after seemingly judging that a tamed animal was considered as one with the tamer himself.
“Fuu~. Weren’t these flexible approaches only allowed to be favorable for the main character?”
He grumbled how this was an unfair treatment to a sub-player.
“Make it quick. I need to take a rest for the next one.”
“There will be no next one for you!”
Rojo charged forward with his three animals. The wolf was at the vanguard with the cow following suit… and the snake was at the rearguard.
‘That snake is the biggest problem.’
That snake wasn’t originally a part of Rojo’s familiars, because his original one was an electric eel. Therefore, that snake must be Miruam’s familiar that was given to him, which I had to deal with first.
Korin stabbed the Silver Spear into the ground and raised Gae Derg, the Red Spear.
“From this close… this is going to be a piece of cake.”
He tossed the spear at the snake slithering across the ground.
“Dodge it!”
Rojo the tamer commanded it to dodge and the snake immediately listened to his order. The slithering snake added more evasive measures to its approach.
However, that meant nothing against Gae Derg, the anti-magic spear of hunting beasts.
“...!”
The flying red spear immediately turned its course in the middle of the air. It wasn’t so drastic that it was obvious, but the spearhead quivered a little as it started aiming at the snake.
-Stab!
The spear penetrated through the snake’s body.
-Hisssss…!
A spear going through its body was painful even to the snake. Although it didn’t die immediately from that one spear attack, there was more to the effects of Gae Derg.
『The Snake of Infinity has been cursed by the Red Spear, Gae Derg.』
All sorts of curses began to bind the snake, and it didn't take long for the wounded snake to lie flat on the ground.
“Woof…!”
In the meantime, the large wolf approached Korin Lork. It kicked off the ground and tried to bite Korin’s neck off with one attack.
“No, you don’t…!”
Korin put his right arm forward and shoved it into the wolf’s mouth. The wolf changed its target from his neck to his arm, but in return lost its eyeballs to Korin’s left arm.
“Awoof…!”
The wolf thrashed around in agony but its death throes didn’t last long – Korin Lork trampled on the neck bones of the wolf to make it turn silent.
-Moooo…!
As soon as he dealt with the wolf, he was met with the charge attack of the cow. The demonic cow, reaching 3 tonnes in weight, pushed him away into the distance.
Korin rolled across the ground to push himself back on his feet but Rojo slashed down at him with his sword before he could stand up.
-Kang!
Rotating the spear, Korin protected his back from the attack with the shaft of the spear. His eyes, however, were on the cow that was preparing itself for another charge.
“I’m sick of cows.”
He rotated the spear once again to strike Rojo on his forehead with the blunt tip of his spear. Rojo retaliated by slicing at his shoulders but only ended up creating a small cut.
“Mooo…!”
Korin casually tossed the spear to the ground between him and the cow, but that was more than enough to make the cow fall on the ground.
“Without a weapon, you…!”
Eight Trigrams First Palm—
“Won’t be able to—!”
—Second Palm, Third Palm.
“Block my—”
❰Eight Trigrams Three Heavenly Palm Strikes❱
“Attacks?!”
A small gap was created after Rojo allowed three hits on his vitals, and without letting that slip by, Korin tripped him with his left leg all the while grabbing his face with one of his hands to drive his head into the ground.
He then got into a mount over Rojo and hurled fists.
“---Ahk! Ahk! Ahk! Ahk! Ahhk!”
It took less than 3 seconds for him to have his vitals attacked several times, fall to the ground, and receive more than ten punches. Rojo lost his consciousness after the thirteenth attack.
“Stop right there…!”
-Trod! Trod! Trod!?
-What? Already?
His deafening roar immediately put a stop to the army’s march.
“I won.”
Korin Lork. 1 win.
***
Three days went by, and the third warrior fell to Korin Lork.
“What a useless bunch.”
No one inside the main tent was able to appease Miruam’s cold fury.
It was three losses in a row including Rojo, who pompously left on the first day only to be defeated in a breeze. Due to that, the army wasn’t even able to advance more than 100 meters in the span of three days.
“Is there truly no one here that can defeat Korin Lork?”
“...”
“...”
Miruam wasn’t necessarily disappointed despite the crowd remaining silent. Although it wasn’t official yet, Korin Lork was at the very least a semi-Unique Grade knight, and it would be difficult to beat him one-on-one unless they summoned Lunia Arden or someone of that level.
“Your Highness.”
But that was when an old mage confidently took a step forward.
“Kalatin.”
Royal mage Kalatin. He was one of her helpers who supported her even in her hunts, at the price of her unending help in return.
“Are you going to fight him?”
“Hohoho… This old man is too old to join a battle between warriors, but I can send in my son.”
“Your son? Your son is… Hmm.”
Miruam smiled after contemplating his words. His three daughters might not be able to do it but his son…
“Please look forward to tomorrow morning. This old man will get rid of your obstacles, Your Highness.”
Kalatin the old mage left the tent with a wicked smile on his face.
………
……
…
The next morning, Korin observed the soldiers, who were once again preparing themselves to march forward.
The army, after advancing less than 100 meters in the span of three days, was eager to make today different. There was less than 1 kilometer left until the entrance of Dana Shee, and a simple calculation meant it would take more than a month.
‘So they are making a move today huh…’
Korin thought to himself as he watched an old mage standing before the arena with a 5-meter-tall giant. Technically speaking, it wasn’t a giant and was instead a horrible chimera monster that was formed by forcing several dozen humans into one.
“Now! Let’s start the battle! It would be between my son and the noble knight, Korin Lork!”
As expected, Kalatin’s son began to separate as soon as the fight began.
Kalatin’s sons.
These chimeras, which were made from Kalatin’s blood, spent the day like one giant to save energy and separated themselves into ‘27 people’ when necessary.
“They are all a part of my ‘one son’ that came from my blood!”
“Do you even hear yourself, old man?! What kind of bullshit is that? Does that look like one person to you?!”
“It’s not up to you to decide that, young man!”
—————
The geass didn’t react to the 27 monsters of Kalatin. It acknowledged those monsters as one.
“What kind of math is this?”
The 27 monsters each carried a spear as they slowly walked towards him.
“Seriously? Is that really considered one person?”