Chapter 73
The eighth floor of the Demon Bastion.
A loud explosion resonated.
Kwah-aaaang!
“Ebbling!”
With a shout, Pendal swiftly pulled Ebbling, who was barely holding a sword, back.
Just then, an explosion erupted in front of them, narrowly missing the two.
It was a weaponized soldier shooting something like a cannon.
“Kuhah, thanks, Captain!”
“Fall back!”
Pendal shouted as team members quickly gathered around him.
“Hetoria!”
“Right here, Captain!”
Immediately at Pendal’s call, a woman with flowing crimson hair raised her staff.
From it, a mass of red-hued ice shot forward explosively.
Kwaang!
With a tremendous bang, the ice smashed into the weaponized soldier, who looked like he was wielding a sword.
Landing in front of it, Pendal let out a small sigh.
“Phew.”
He glanced around. Everyone seemed a bit worn out, but no one appeared injured.
Clack clack—
At that moment, a rattling sound echoed around them.
Looking up, Pendal saw a busy scene outside the window.
‘I still can’t get used to this.’
It reminded him of a large wooden carriage with rows of seats.
He recalled that just a moment ago, soldiers had been standing in that very spot and felt shivers run down his spine.
The carriage section of the eighth floor.
The area was divided by carriages, and the closer they got to the front, the greater the quantity and quality of soldiers became.
Each carriage had four doors.
Without someone with special abilities like a scout, it was essentially a malicious place where the number of soldiers reset from the beginning.
“Captain, I think we’re almost there.”
The scout with goggles on his face spoke up.
Nakcheon was right around the corner.
As soon as they heard that, everyone tensed up.
“We’ve made it this far.”
Pendal clenched his fist and turned to look at everyone.
“This time, we’re capturing Nakcheon.”
All the members of Pendal Road’s eyes shone brightly.
It was in that moment.
Clack—
A very brief sound rang out, and the carriage shook for a moment.
As Pendal raised his head, he saw a woman standing there.
With tiger-striped ears perched atop her head and a single eye patch over one eye, she was adorned with weapons from head to toe.
She surveyed the people inside through the open door.
“What a crowded space. What’s with all this clucking?”
The instant she muttered that, chills ran through Pendal’s body.
“Everyone, run!”
And just as Pendal shouted that moment,
Puhh!
There was a very short sound of something bursting. When Pendal turned his head, he saw the lifeless body of the man he had called Ebbling.
“Ebbling!”
One of the team members shouted in anger, but someone covered her mouth and forcefully opened a door, sprinting outside.
And that action was correct.
The other team members bolted through the nearest door, having no time to recover Ebbling’s body.
Among them, the strongest, Pendal, called for them to flee.
Everyone knew what that meant.
“Oh? Running away, are we?”
The woman chuckled in annoyance as Pendal raised both arms high above his head.
Szzzzap!
In that moment, sparks erupted from Pendal’s hands, instantly spreading throughout the carriage.
Kwa-kwakwa-kwak!
As the aura met the raioner, an explosion ensued, and Pendal quickly drew out Okcheon.
Simultaneously, he burst the raioner into flames and charged in.
Ching!
But his rushing sword was effortlessly blocked by a tiny dagger she pulled out.
“You’ve got a decent weapon there.”
Her eye, illuminated between the gaps of her eye patch, sparkled as she looked at Pendal’s Okcheon.
Just like the name Armed Princess, her obsession with weapons surged once again.
“Ugh!”
At that moment, Pendal narrowly dodged the dagger that had been swung at his jaw, rolling on the ground.
Blood started to drip down from beneath his chin.
He thought he had been cut, but his reaction lagged.
“What’s that weapon’s name?”
When she asked, Pendal gritted his teeth, feeling a chill run down his spine.
Ebbling had died in an instant, but the other team members were all fleeing.
“The moment you’re trying to get away, huh?”
As she sneered, Pendal detonated the raioner once more, leaping unhesitatingly through one of the doors.
As soon as he set foot in another area, a soldier noticed him rising, but it didn’t matter.
Warning signals blared more vigorously than ever throughout Pendal’s body.
If he wanted to stay alive, he had to run.
That woman was clearly beyond any standard.
Clack!
But just as Pendal dove through the carriage door, the woman kicked in right after him.
Ignoring her, Pendal charged out at full speed when he heard the Armed Princess laugh.
“If you’re wanting to save those teammates of yours, it’s better to not run away.”
In that moment, she revealed her gauntlet adorned with spikes, causing her form to flicker.
Suddenly, five shadowy figures, resembling the Armed Princess, emerged.
While they couldn’t compare to her true self, the energy radiating from each one surpassed Pendal.
The name of the gauntlet was Marpalga.
It wielded only about 30% of the original’s power but could summon shadowy figures with identical patterns.
In that instant, her shadow figures scattered toward the doors of the carriage without hesitation.
Pendal’s eyes widened as realization struck him.
That woman was planning to kill all of his teammates.
“Stop!”
As Pendal shouted, she twirled the dagger in her hand.
“That would depend on your actions, little chick.”
With a rather foul mouth, she grinned, as if she wanted him to understand what she desired.
Originally coming to find Thunderbolt, who would’ve thought she’d encounter a new toy?
She was thoroughly pleased.
Pendal noticed that she had her eyes glued solely to Okcheon ever since she had seen it.
Tightening his grip on Okcheon, Pendal spoke.
“…If I hand over Okcheon, will you spare my team?”
“Hmmm, let’s see.”
Upon hearing the Armed Princess’s words, Pendal’s hand that was reaching for the carriage door dropped.
He began to walk toward her slowly.
Cold sweat beaded on Pendal’s forehead.
The suddenly appearing Armed Princess was obviously a dangerous monster.
Just because he offered her Okcheon didn’t guarantee they would be sent back alive.
Yet Pendal started to gather the power of the Raioner within him.
Doing this would prevent him from challenging Nakcheon, but surviving took priority.
‘Just once.’
He had to kill the Armed Princess in that one moment.
Though it was a secret tactic he intended to use against Nakcheon, it was of little concern now.
For now, all he had to focus on was killing that woman.
“You.”
At that moment, a satisfied smile spread across the Armed Princess’s face.
“Do you think I’d take you seriously with that level of bloodlust?”
“Damn!”
At the instant the Armed Princess chuckled mockingly, Pendal wasted no time unleashing the Raioner at full power.
Flash!
In that moment, jade light poured forth from Okcheon.
Thanks to the effect of Okcheon, a technique that erased the sensory perception of everyone around, except the caster, was activated.
Even the Armed Princess couldn’t escape the effects of Okcheon, as one of her eyes squinted sharply.
Within that blinding space.
Pendal converted his aura into Raioner, pouring all his strength into Okcheon.
As the aura forcibly transformed into Raioner, he felt his body begin to tear apart, but he gritted his teeth and endured it.
Simultaneously, Pendal thrust Okcheon forward with all his might.
Crackling!
Lightning poured forth from Okcheon, thrusting forth Pendal’s internal power.
Lightning Wolf Sword!
The image resembled a wolf.
The lightning wolf charged forth in a split second, aiming to bite the Armed Princess’s neck, paralyzing her senses.
Kwajik!
In accordance with Pendal’s will, the Armed Princess’s neck was unmistakably ripped apart by the lightning wolf.
When Pendal instinctively sensed victory, the Armed Princess’s remaining eye began to open slowly.
“I told you.”
“Gah!”
In that moment, Pendal clutched his own neck.
A mirror-like injury identical to the Armed Princess’s severed neck appeared on his own.
Blood erupted from his neck, and Pendal’s eyes widened.
The Armed Princess’s severed neck pulsed with an ominous black mist, yet she looked entirely unfazed by the pain.
“Am I a joke to you?”
As she delivered that final line, Pendal’s body was sent flying through the air.
The Armed Princess’s gauntleted fist had visibly struck Pendal’s abdomen.
Pendal crashed to the ground, feeling as though his insides were shredded, smashing into chairs as he rolled.
As Pendal struggled to gather himself, the soldiers around them, oblivious to what had just happened, lunged at him with swords.
However, the Armed Princess easily swatted the soldiers away as if they were flies.
“Where do you think you’re going? I won’t let any more blood spill on my baby.”
It wasn’t out of concern for Pendal; she just didn’t want Okcheon getting any blood on it.
She strode over to the incapacitated Pendal.
“Why did you have to bite someone else’s neck just now? You only splattered my baby with blood.”
Just as she attempted to lift Okcheon, Pendal quickly seized her wrist.
As the Armed Princess opened her bleary eyes, Pendal managed to say with what little strength remained.
“If I give you Okcheon, you won’t touch my teammates, right?”
“Aah, that?”
She shrugged casually.
“They’re probably dead by now, you know.”
It sounded as if she had never intended to spare them from the start.
Upon hearing that, Pendal’s anger bubbled over, and he ground his teeth.
“You, I swear I’ll kill you.”
“Really?”
At Pendal’s determination, she lifted her gauntlet.
Her target was his head.
With a bright smile, she anticipated the splatter of his brains.
“I’ll be looking forward to it.”
At that moment when she swung her gauntlet down.
Kwah-aaaang!
With an explosion of black flames from behind, the Armed Princess was sent tumbling through the carriage door.
“Ah, damn?! It’s hot!”
As the black flames clung to her, she tumbled around screaming, and Pendal looked up in a daze.
In front of him, a boy was slowly walking past.
With dark black hair and a pitch-black sword in his hand, alongside a crow flapping its wings from his shoulder.
“Kraush Balheim?”
Pendal muttered blankly, just as Kraush glanced at him before strolling past the spot where the Armed Princess was rolling around.
As he stepped past the shattered carriage door, the innate self-repair ability of the Demon Bastion triggered, causing the door to regenerate and close.
Once inside, Kraush eyed the Armed Princess, who had extinguished the flames upon her.
While she seemed to have suffered some burns, she didn’t appear seriously injured.
‘That was a fiery technique, yet she sustained only that much damage?’
It was ridiculous to think that was all he accomplished.
Truly a monstrous individual.
“What are you? Why am I getting hurt? Isn’t Igaridum supposed to protect me?”
She yelled at Kraush, swinging her dagger around, unable to comprehend why she was injured.
‘That’s because Igaridum doesn’t reflect world eroders,’ Kraush thought but chose not to respond.
Instead, he simply raised a hand and cracked his neck, stretching.
It was a kind of warm-up for him before battle.
Kraush had been waiting to either sneak through or wait for Pendal to face Nakcheon, but due to the Armed Princess’s sudden intent to kill Pendal, he had to act sooner.
Tsk, I can’t lose Raioner before stealing it.
Every skill was crucial to him.
A bit of bleeding was something he could endure.
Kraush gazed intently at the Armed Princess.
‘That dim-witted face hasn’t changed. It’s just as foolish as before.’
Not that it mattered; the way she always played it safe until she was sure of her victory was something to note.
But when she felt a significant difference in their levels, she slaughtered her prey without hesitation.
And today, that habit would be her greatest flaw against him.
“…You’re the direct line of Balheim, aren’t you?”
When the Armed Princess recognized Kraush’s appearance, eye color, and hair, she quickly deduced his identity.
That prompted Kraush to add this little tidbit.
“The Armed Princess, Shua Delpia.”
When he called her by her full name, her eyes narrowed instantly.
“…So, that’s why I couldn’t use Igaridum. You little brat, are you a world eroder in Balheim’s skin?”
She seemed to deduce Kraush’s identity completely.
Though it was typical banter from the Armed Princess, her sharply shining eyes regarded Kraush warily.
She understood well that dealing with a fellow world eroder wouldn’t be easy.
Kraush chose not to answer and instead summoned black flames upon his sword.
The flames convinced the Armed Princess that he was indeed a world eroder.
“Thunderbolt is mine. Get lost.”
‘Don’t even think about taking my stuff!’
