Chapter 318: Zainan Gorge (3)
Chapter 318: Zainan Gorge (3)
The high-ranking demonic human, Caracal, turned her head.
She was far from the rainforest that surrounded Zainan Gorge.
As soon as the lava giant was born, she left the rainforest without looking back, but she was gazing at Zainan Gorge now with a frown.
‘As I thought, they stopped it.’
She did not know what trick they used, but it seemed like they completely prevented the lava giant from becoming one with the dragon vein and be reborn as a true disaster.
‘Demon Slayers…’
Jude August Bayer and Cordelia August Chase.
The two had suddenly become known in the past one to two years, and were more active than the generals of the Guardians of the Holy Cross.
The damage caused by the two were truly enormous, whether it was the Devil’s Eye or the Devil’s Hand.
‘Haraken.’
A high-ranking demonic human of the Devil’s Eye.
He left for the wild lands to instigate a war against the S?len Kingdom by controlling the barbarians, but met a tragic death and failed his mission too.
He could not completely subdue the barbarians, and even wasted the Hell Gate created by the Devil’s Eye.
And instead of a war, an atmosphere of reconciliation was created between the kingdom and the barbarians who were originally at odds with each other, which was something truly absurd.
There was also their loss of personnel.
Dozens of demonic humans under Haraken’s command had died fighting.
Most were low-ranking demonic humans, but there was something more serious than that. Because more than half of the combat personnel needed to run their organization had been killed.
Haraken was not incompetent.
He was originally a competent person who made a lot of contributions, so he was entrusted with the huge task of subduing the wild lands.
But he failed.
A lot of speculations were said at that time, but she was sure of it now.
‘Demon Slayers.’
Jude Bayer and Cordelia Chase.
The two were the culprits behind it all.
“Ha.”
Humans tended to laugh when faced with such a ridiculous situation.
Caracal was a demonic human that was half a human, so she burst out laughing without realizing it.
‘It’s fortunate that I escaped.’
Had she recklessly used the lava giant to fight them, Caracal herself would have met the same fate as Haraken.
‘Perhaps those two are really… the secret weapons sent by Heaven.’
It was a rumor that was secretly circulating among the demon followers.
Because the growth rate of the Demon Slayers was so unnatural.
‘It wasn’t that they got stronger, it was that they were strong in the first place.’
Up until now, they must have been hiding their power.
If the Devil’s Hand that had been observing Jude and Cordelia for a long time had heard her, they would have immediately denied it, but from the perspective of the Devil’s Eye, it was a plausible idea.
‘Grand Sword Master…’
It was seriously absurd at this point.
A boy who had been weak enough that he could not even go out for a walk had now become a Grand Sword Master within 2 years.
Such a development never happened in hero novels.
The Devil’s Eye did not come up with the idea of them being the secret weapons of Heaven for no reason.
‘Anyway.’
Caracal’s life was saved, but she had failed her task.
She would not be able to avoid being reprimanded when she returned.
But Caracal was always optimistic.
Even she, a high-ranking demonic human, would not have been able to easily stop them at a time when the the number of demon followers had decreased due to their fights with the Guardians of the Holy Cross.
‘Moreover, our opponents are the Demon Slayers.’
Because there were so many people who fell victim to the two, she had a lot of excuses to use to lessen her punishment.
‘I’ll have to focus on the fact that those two are in the west, that they’re in a remote place.’
The Devil’s Eye were cautious of the Demon Slayers. So having secured the fact that those two were in the west, they had two options.
Whether to send powerful forces to attack them here or not attack them at all.
‘If it’s a high-ranking demonic human or another complete disaster…’
They could kill those two.
The two were bound to have limits no matter how strong they were.
But Caracal could not imagine the Devil’s Eye to invest all its power in killing the Demon Slayers.
The demon follower groups had gathered under Archbishop Manuela, and were focusing their activities on the eastern part of the empire rather than the western part.
The Devil’s Mouth had conquered the eastern nations.
They who served the overlord of love and hatred, Lilith, had led a huge army and infiltrated the eastern part of the empire.
With the help of the Chancellor, they had entered deep within the empire without shedding much blood, and while destroying the bases of the Guardians of the Holy Cross one by one, they had also removed the key figures of the pro-Imperial Family faction located in the east.
Jabberwock, the most powerful demonic human of the Devil’s Horn and also called the One-Man Army, had also joined them, so even if Iron Man Landius or Ghostblade Kamael appeared, they would not be easily defeated.
They would conquer the east.
They had failed in the west, but a true disaster would befall the east.
‘Let’s return.’
Caracal made up her mind and turned around without any regrets.
She held no expectations for Serpent King Nagaros, the ruler of Zainan Gorge who had slaughtered numerous people in the past.
A huge monster like Nagaros would not be able to stop a lava giant.
Caracal sighed as she spread out her moth wings and flew up. She hurriedly made her way towards the center of the empire, the imperial capital.
***
“Wow.”
“Woah.”
Cordelia and Kirara exclaimed at the same time.
White light shone out as soon as the door to the stone chamber opened, and a place that smelled like a treasure trove was revealed.
“Wow, wooow, wow.”
Cordelia in particular was so excited that she was jumping up and down because of a simple reason.
‘First discovery!’
Because it was a place that none of the players in Legend of Heroes 2 were able to find.
Therefore, even Outboxer009 and Yellow Storm who were rotten waters of Legend of Heroes 2 did not know what was in the stone chamber and what information it contained.
Her heart was pounding from what was unknown.
She was excited in possibly hitting the jackpot.
Cordelia turned to Jude and pressed down her pounding chest, and smiled beautifully again.
Because Jude had a similar expression like Cordelia.
‘Hey, you too?’
‘Yes, me too.’
It was the first time for Jude too.
A place that even Outboxer009 did not find.
“Master, let’s go in quickly.”
Kirara’s eyes sparkled as she pulled Cordelia’s hand.
She wanted to go in quickly, but she thought that Cordelia had to go first.
“Yes, yes, let’s go. Jude, can I go in first?”
“Of course.”
“Hehe, I’m number one. First place.”
Cordelia, who had been obsessed with becoming number one for a long time, carefully stepped inside the stone chamber and soon trembled from excitement.
“Oh, it’s so thrilling. I love it. This must be why being first place is the best.”
She’s so happy. (Jude)
I should have let her win first place before.
Still, she looks cute from jumping in excitement even when she isn’t first place.
How hard must she have wanted to experience it?
[My successor, you sound like a pervert.]
It seemed like some of his thoughts had leaked out.
Jude cleared his throat as he felt Valencia’s cold gaze and stepped inside the stone chamber.
“There are a lot of books.”
The stone chamber appeared to be only about 17-20 square meters from the outside, but when they went inside, a space larger than what they had imagined appeared.
The distance from one end to another was 50 meters, and the shelves were full of books as though they had come to a huge library.
Kirara recalled her childhood treasure, an old fairy tale book that she had lost, as she viewed the books on the bookshelves and stood on her tiptoes. On the other hand, Cordelia looked at the books in a slightly different way.
“Wow, seriously?”
The books had magic in them.
Cordelia glanced at the books on the one side of the bookshelf and once again exclaimed in happiness.
“Jude, Jude, Jude! These are all dungeon books!”
All of the bookshelves were filled with dungeon books. They estimated that there were more than a hundred books ranging from basic dungeon books like the dungeon book in the temple at Bailon, to advanced dungeon books with a fairly high level of difficulty.
“Did the denomination make it for training purposes?”
Jude pulled out a few books and studied them, and it seemed that he was right.
“There are some books here that the high elves made. These must be something that the denomination had collected.”
The Solari denomination was destroyed after a fierce battle with the demon followers.
But their legacy still existed around the world, and this stone chamber was definitely one of it.
“Let’s use this to raise Lucas. And Kajsa and Scarlet.”
Jude and Cordelia could not find any dungeon books here that were useful to them now, but it was enough for the training of the Lucas, Kajsa, and Scarlet trio.
“We’ll all become stronger together.”
While watching Cordelia pick out books in her excitement of nurturing the three, Jude walked around the place.
The dungeon books and various ancient books were clearly a huge profit for them, but their biggest reason for finding the stone chamber in the first place was because of something else.
“The tomb of the champion Gallus.”
A paladin of Solari who defeated Demon Prince Leisegang despite his human body.
Jude stopped when he reached the end of the stone chamber. Filling the wall were paintings of Solari who was said to be the most beautiful and gentle of the seven archangels in Heaven.
She was a red-haired archangel.
The goddess of the sun.
Jude offered a brief prayer to the now dead goddess before he looked up again.
He began to decipher the codes hidden in the paintings one by one.
***
Archbishop Manuela sat on the throne and frowned.
The emperor had escaped, and Elio whom they had hard time in coaxing had failed.
Now, it was simply a matter of time before civil war broke out within the empire.
It was not good.
What Manuela wanted was a war between the empire and the kingdom.
A civil war in the empire would not create the chaos necessary for the Great Summons.
‘The Great Tribulation.’
Members of the Devil’s Mouth continued to enter the eastern part of the empire.
The demon follower groups originally set their respective regions and kept each other in check, but they had now began to cooperate under his command, exerting power beyond one’s imagination.
But that was not enough.
As the demon followers gathered their forces, so too were the opposing forces.
In particular was the annoying five heroes of Paragon.
Druid Fran had yet to join them, but the fact that the four of them were together was annoying him.
They were those who should have died.
They should not have been gathered as they were now.
He now knew where it went wrong.
Demon Slayers.
Jude August Bayer and Cordelia August Chase.
The two of them had saved Lena, changed Landius’ mind, and saved Velkian’s life.
But Archbishop Manuela was not that obsessed with the two.
The stage had already grown.
Rather than focusing on an individual, it was better to look at the full picture.
To give up the west and take control of the east.
The disaster born in the east would be sent to the kingdom to cause a Great Tribulation.
As soon as the civil war in the empire was over, they would begin a chaotic war with the kingdom.
Now was not the time to conserve power. He had to mobilize not only the high-ranking demonic humans, but also the powerful demons and sealed demons.
‘But it’s still not enough.’
Just a bit more.
If I only had a bit more power.
Archbishop Manuela stared at the darkness.
He began his calculations as he moved his fingers.
***
Archangel Raguel conveyed her will to crown princess Daphne and the empress dowager.
The heavenly voice made it clear to the two women on what had to be done.
The nobles of the kingdom were called by the crown princess and gathered in the center.
The pro-Imperial Family faction that were loyal to the emperor gathered in the northern part of the empire.
King Henry II did not ignore his daughter’s words.
Having heard the heavenly voice in person, he finally made a decision. He once again acted so as not to repeat his mistake.
The emperor followed the advice of the empress dowager.
Together with his trusted and dependable mother, he stood before the Imperial Family loyalists.
Henry II caught his breath.
The young emperor clenched his fist and opened his mouth.
They were in different places.
But what was happening occurred at the same time.
Henry II spoke.
The young emperor proclaimed.
“War.”
“Let’s begin it.”
The 301st year of the S?len Kingdom.
The 517th year of the Argon Empire.
A war was declared that would decide the fate of the continent and the two countries, as well as the entire Pleiades.