Episode 357 Noble Sacrifice (2)
The bodies of the three Holy Knights just exploded.
Drops of blood and flesh splattered here and there, turning the sky red.
Iriel, who kept that image clearly in his eyes, bit his lower lip hard enough to draw blood.
“…everyone move forward. I will not forgive them for making their sacrifices useless.”
The divine power has already run out.
They dragged their heavy bodies and played with their feet.
However, the speed was noticeably slower than before.
Unlike before, when they advanced with swordsmanship, now, with the sacrifice of three people, they only made a distance of less than twenty steps.
Looking at the siege that started to get blocked again, this time the other paladins stepped forward.
Like the previous Paladins, they dropped their shoulder blades to the ground and bowed deeply to Iriel.
“Thank you for being so insignificant for us.”
“I was able to protect you, even for a moment, so there is nothing more gratifying than this.”
With a smile that seemed relieved, they also flew their bodies without hesitation.
Kwaaaang—!
Twenty steps made with their noble blood were made again.
Every time that happened, Iriel’s face turned sad as if she were about to shed tears.
take a step back
And again, the paladins stepped forward.
“Don’t be sad. Protecting someone is the highest honor a knight can have.”
“It was an honor to meet a master who would not waste his life even if he died.”
Kwaaaang—!
Thanks to their sacrifice, the pace gradually increased.
Iriel kept his eyes on the end of the Paladins without blinking as if he would not miss a single one of them.
So the Paladins did not hesitate to shed blood and threw themselves in turn repeatedly.
how long has it been
Only a short distance of less than ten steps left them in a siege.
Then, the last remaining knight commander dropped the proof plaque to the ground.
As the sun began to set, the sky dyed vermilion reddish the son-in-law.
The knight commander, who was walking forward, opened his mouth in a quiet voice.
“Don’t cry.”
He smiles kindly as he sees Iriel, who can’t stand it and sheds tears.
“These are the ones who were truly loyal to the saintess and gave their lives. I bet you would be proud of yourself.”
She gives her last voice to her who straightly faces herself even while shedding tears.
“Please accept my loyalty as well.”
With his back to the corpse, he took the knight’s example towards her.
He raised his sword and faced her with his back straight.
His last expression was sobbing like Iriel’s.
Kwaaaang—!
A final detonation erupted, and soon the escape route was completely wide open.
The noble bloodline that deserves to be exalted just as it had walked in a straight line was supporting her.
She wiped her eyes with the sleeve of sincerity.
There is no time to delay here.
If they are caught here, their deaths will be in vain.
Iriel kicked the ground.
They passed by their corpses and escaped a huge siege of ten thousand people.
Right now, she didn’t have enough divine power to create a proper sword aura.
Even if it is impossible to return to the Holy Land, it is a situation that requires at least a little time to recover.
After looking around and deciding on a direction, she started walking towards the forest.
Oh-jwa, who had been watching from behind, smiled happily.
“You should let them choose at least where they want to die.”
He walked towards the hwijeokhwijeok forest.
* * *
Ray muttered with a serious face.
“Something seems to have happened.”
Eucliwood questioned his words.
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s been over three days since the envoy we sent left for Frio Kingdom, but we haven’t heard from him even once. No matter how much I think about it, it’s strange that I don’t even hear regular reports.”
“…Certainly they couldn’t have forgotten the report. Shall we send troops?”
As Eucliwood put down the teacup and said, Ray shook his head.
“No, I will come.”
In common sense, if something happened to Iriel and he lost contact, it means that the situation is not that good.
Sending just a few troops to such an opponent will not change the situation.
In addition, moving large numbers of troops is time consuming.
‘The more rescue troops, the better, but if it’s an urgent situation, it can be rather poisonous.’
Looking out the window at the darkening sky, he stood up.
* * *
Iriel fled into the forest and hid behind a tree.
They managed to break through the encirclement and escape, but the number of corpses following them was too many.
Thanks to the corpses that chased after him without getting tired unlike himself, he was soon caught.
But never gave up.
She was watching for an opportunity among the corpses scattered across the forest.
‘I can still escape.’
Hiding their presence in the dark, they waited for the corpses to leave.
An hour passed like that, then two hours passed.
In the meantime, there were several times when my exhausted body almost fell into a daze, but I endured by forcibly holding on to my spirit that was getting farther away.
Then the search for the corpses began to wane little by little.
He had come this far by sacrificing as many as seventy paladins.
She had a sense of mission that she had to survive no matter what.
In the gap where the number of corpses decreased, Iriel chose only the dark forest path where the moonlight did not shine and moved.
Based on the tracking technique I learned from Ray the other day, I picked a few places where I wouldn’t be discovered.
One of them was a stream.
It can erase the thick scent of blood from your body, and thanks to the sound of running water, you won’t be noticed no matter how much you run.
Even though riding the stream was not a straight path to the holy kingdom.
As she started to run, several corpses noticed nearby and ran toward Iriel.
It runs, but at a very slow pace.
They chased after each other, but the distance between them gradually widened.
In front of one, a group of corpses was blocking the road crossing the stream.
At that, Iriel stopped walking for a moment.
It’s a back and forth situation.
However, if you move to the side, the possibility of being surrounded on the forest road is too high.
After thinking for a moment, she threw herself forward.
“…At this rate, the only option is to break through head-on!”
I turned my body around to dodge the corpse’s sword and then kicked the ground violently.
At that time, a magic circle was drawn on the corpse’s face.
a precursor to an explosion
Iriel jumped quickly, wanting to be sorry.
However, by the time he saw the magic circle and avoided it, it was already too late.
The corpse was filled with demonic energy and exploded.
If caught in the fire, it will be shattered beyond recognition.
At that moment, the ring on Iriel’s finger reacted.
Ugh-!
With the resonating sound of mana, the shield magic of the 1st circle was manifested.
It was a ring he had received as a gift on his journey with Ray in the past.
Who would have known that this gift could save his life like this?
The ring faded to gray in an instant after the resonating sound of mana.
It was a small mana, but it was enough to block the explosion once.
Iriel, who had squeezed through the gap, hurriedly escaped from among the corpses.
Once caught, that’s it.
Right now, I have neither divine power nor troops.
If they were besieged again, they could no longer recover.
His breath rose to his chin and saliva leaked out.
It’s been a long time since her hair, which was usually beautiful, has become scattered.
The sincerity was covered in dust, and even the elegant-looking accessories tore the flesh and flew away.
Iriel, who escaped the forest and ran to the entrance of the village, gasped for breath in the bushes.
“Heo-euk… heo-eok…”
I ran without stopping and ran away.
Now, his stamina has reached its limit.
I felt like I was going to collapse at any moment because I was so weak that I could even control my body.
Then an old man’s voice came from behind my ear.
“Heh heh. You’re excited. I will praise you.”
Iriel’s back felt chilly because of the deep magi that could be felt in his voice.
Even in a situation where there is no divine power, you can’t feel the presence until you get close to it.
She quickly opened up the distance.
“It was excellent except for mine. It was a lot of fun when the small fish threw themselves on their own.”
Iriel narrowed his eyes as he saw the elderly man clapping as if he was really happy.
“…I don’t think I’ll be able to tell you that, but… who are you? What is your purpose?”
“It’s for a purpose… well. Now, it could be said to be killing four years.”
A haze rose from the old man’s hand.
An eerie aura with an unpleasant feeling.
It was definitely magic.
What is the identity of an existence that handles magic rather than mana?
To be called a necromancer, the corpses under his command are suspicious, but to be called a general black magician, the overwhelming presence of demons is very disturbing.
As she was thinking about the identity of the old man, the man in front of her opened her mouth.
“I didn’t want to kill him so easily either. However, it is true that it interferes with work, so I am sorry, but I have to die.”
As he speaks, he indifferently throws a huge aggregate of demonic energy like throwing a stone.
It wasn’t Iriel who would be there to keep the demonic air flying at a slow speed.
As she twisted her body to avoid it, it spread across the ground and eventually entered Iriel’s body.
The trees are rotting and the grass is starting to wither.
Iriel struggled in pain as the maximal demonia that could affect the surrounding environment entered her body.
Dark red blood dripped from her mouth.
