Chapter. 14. One Empire, Three Legends (38)
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Outside the Imperial Castle. Giant’s Bridge.
“Where are they going and why are they like this?”
….what was.
As soon as the professor left the castle, he ran into a difficult situation.
The giants who had been quietly building a bridge with their own two hands were climbing up from a deep cliff.
It was embarrassing just to cross that large moat that looked like an abyss, but the bigger problem lay beyond it.
Kurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…. Druk-duk-duk-duk-duk-duk!
Wow!
The giant stone statues were calmly pulling out the weapons they were carrying on their backs and destroying the capital
!
“Ah, where is my vow, where is my sword… where!”
“It will not be broken. Don’t doubt that the end will reach loyalty!”
“Get out of the way! “I have to go to His Majesty’s side, even if it means cutting down everyone who stands in my way!”
“I will not fall like this! The rat will not disappear into rust and dust with a toothless sword!!!”
Knights who fight for life not only with the giant but with everything around them.
The cause of all this was clear. The Emperor’s Death. Although the death broke one of the chains of the curse that led from the catalyst to the caster to the target, instead the tightly maintained balance of power was completely tilted to one side.
As a result.
Sugeeook-!
“To His Majesty’s side! Even if it is a place beyond life! “I will follow you until the end as a knight!”
Loyalty to follow him because he instinctively knew of the emperor’s death. A personal desire to die on the battlefield as a knight without putting down the sword until the end. It was completely twisted by the curse and they became knights who would fight with anyone and want to die with their swords in hand.
Kuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
!
The ancient golems, who had been bound by an unknown spell, were transformed into puppets that obeyed the emperor’s power, absorbed by the witch’s remaining power, with purple eyes streaming down from their crystal eyes.
The sight of a shield the size of a nobleman’s mansion sweeping over the city and the knights so fierce that they could stop it coming like waves of iron was a nightmare-like scene for the person who had to get through it and get to where the witch was.
This is not it. Even though the current situation in the capital is a hell where ordinary people would die without even making a sound, this has gone beyond the limit. Jumping into the midst of that vortex of destruction right now was tantamount to suicide. This is not a metaphor; it means that you will actually become minced meat.
“…Hey Hyde. Should I just flip over the coin stuck in front of the emperor? “Let’s ask you to step aside just once.”
[….Do you think it won’t work?]
“Absolutely. “Even if we were fully equipped, we wouldn’t be able to clear that path, but our fuel tank is empty right now.”
It was a mistake to say that I was going to ask the dead emperor because I was in a bad mood. Even a bastard emperor dies and it’s just a matter of fate. What do you know about fate?
Looking at that tail, it was clear that this was a story of someone who had chosen the next emperor, absorbed the power that was scattered with the emperor’s death, and was pushing forward. There’s no way I have to push through all that. Even though GG is a crappy game, there’s no way they could force a player who has been exhausted through repeated battles to fight even more battles alone. Unless there is help from a helper….
“…..Suya! “Professor!!!!”
“Oh my professor, you bastard!”
“Guuuuu! found! “A two-legged disaster!”
….Shit.
Just as I was about to return to the dead emperor, I saw three familiar figures crossing the cliff in the distance.
Ottman Aldrich Notum.
First, it was a trio of magic curse shamans who went to the flower empress’ palace.
Although it was a bit subtle to welcome you. Anyway, these are my colleagues who arrived at the right time when the future was dark.
In a situation where curses and auras were everywhere, delicate magic such as messages were scattered, so in the end, I put my hands over my mouth and started shouting.
“Thank you for coming! And through all that chaos!!!”
“Us too! I was chased away! Hwangseong looks unusual! I was about to pass! Suddenly the bridge collapsed and the knights became more frantic, so I finally took a breather!!! “How did you get over there?”
“Before it collapses!!! And since the work on the Hwangseong side is over, there is no need to come! “Please give me some water so I can cross over there!”
The three people’s complexions turn white when they hear that Hwangseong’s work is over. While the professor was amazed at the fact that even the troll’s face could turn white even in this urgent situation, the water bridge that Otman had built crossed the cliff and arrived in front of him. It wasn’t strong enough for an average person to cross, but it was strong enough for a water magician to cross.
Snap!
“Phew! Anyway, it’s nice to meet you again. “Just when I didn’t know what to do on my own, oh!”
“nice to meet you? Nice to meet you, guy? “You’re like a mule that got stuck with a stallion like this!”
“I asked you to go crazy, but why did you kill the emperor? why! Why you idiot! “What are we going to do now?”
“Argh! Now wait! Wait!”
puck! puck! Pop! Wow!
The professor, who ran to the three people with a happy heart, was greeted by a barrage of fists from wizards who were filled with resentment after being chased by knights all day.
Those who had been running until their old bodies gave off a sweet smell after leaving the flower empress’ residence were finally able to outrun the knights, of course, thanks to those ancient golems blowing away the knights like fallen leaves. Instead, at the moment when they were stranded in the middle of the battle between the knights and the golem, they became convinced when the professor, who seemed to be the culprit in most of the big incident they had experienced, appeared from the collapsed emperor’s palace, carrying what appeared to be the emperor’s mementos. With that, all the sorrow that had been felt exploded.
“I’ve been doing it since you were over there! What to do now! What should I do! “The emperor has died and the entire capital is going crazy!”
“You worked so hard to kill the emperor who protected the empire from the hands of a witch and collect his treasures! Now the capital is out of control! No, when they see that scepter in your hand, their eyes will turn and they will rush at us!”
“Oh my gosh! I didn’t kill you! “I didn’t kill him!”
“…You didn’t say that?”
“yes! “I think he’s a psychopath who kills everyone he meets!”
“Then… is the emperor still alive?”
“Uh…no?”
“Were you already dead before you left?”
“That’s not true either…”
“Then can you briefly explain to us how he died?”
“Hmm… When he met me, his eyes lit up… and he laughed so hard that he died on his own.”
“….”
“….”
“….Woo.”
.
.
.
.
puck! puck! Fight! widely!
“As expected, you killed him!”
“The emperor assassin! My disciple is the emperor assassin!”
“Two-legged disaster! Perhaps the culprit of evil! “Saint of the Apocalypse!”
“evil! ouch! It hurts! Wait a minute! My current state is- 100,000,000! Notum! “If you hit me, it will be fatal!”
In the end, the professor had to tell the story of the conversation with the emperor who was ahead of him at the fastest possible speed on the cliff in front of the castle, which was an empty space created by the battle between the golem and the knight trying to protect the castle and the person trying to enter the castle.
Of course, the witch’s curse-laced cries were spreading throughout the capital at every moment, but right now, there was no way for the four of us gathered here to escape the gap in that ignorant power fight, so there was a reason to wait for one side to collapse.
****
“….They said the emperor was very old.”
“I heard that too. Well, the emperor of the empire was also famous for his longevity. “It’s worth getting senile.”
“Open a new dynasty. This guy is the one who received the equivalent of full authority….”
“If you’re a professor… ugh! Umm…”
“Why me! I’m capable, I’m smart, and I have a great background! “I’m not a talented person who will be overlooked anywhere!”
“It’s not talent, you idiot. Wherever we go, incidents occur and as if that’s not enough, the scale only grows bigger each time. Even if the empire issue is over, I am so scared of what will happen next that I am on the verge of collapse. “Do you think even the five great immortals are going to die?”
“Geuuu. Everything is noisy. “I can’t really feel the morale.”
“Hmm. This way. “There’s a lot of dark mana on the left.”
About two hours amidst the terrible screams and noise of destruction.
While the safety zone behind the golem was gradually being pushed back, the group waited for the situation to calm down at the protruding part inside the cliff and cautiously came out when the noise died down.
Aldrich’s perception-impairing magic became even more powerful because it was night and the double soundproofing magic. Add in Notum’s natural concealment spell, and there would be no need to sneak around like this.
click!
“…Who…are you….”
‘Eup-eup-eup! Ugh-! town!’
‘Mmm mmmm! ‘Mmmmmmm!’
The problem is that at the end of the battle with a group of golems the size of a small castle, it was the crazy knights who cut down all the favorites of ancient magic that even Auras could not attack and won.
Of course, many knights also died. If you weren’t careful where you step, you could have tripped over a knight’s severed thigh or a flat knight that had been half-crushed into one body with plate mail.
but. There were people who survived the battle. In other words, it meant that only the real knights among the real ones survived and roamed these shattered streets.
‘Eup eup eup eup!’
‘Huh…. Eup!’
“Crackling crackling! Jji-”
Sugag!
“….was it a rat? …. Umm, I’m sorry, Juilliard. I guess I was oversensitive. It seems a bit cold. Is the stove still there? Umm… I’m dizzy. “I guess the entertainment was too much…”
When Notum throws a rat that he had lured in with a spell, the knight lets down his guard and falls back into his own delusions.
Even though he was covered in blood and out of his mind, 30 minutes ago, that knight was a true master knight who possessed tremendous force, pulling out an azure auror as tall as me and cutting down the golem’s giant sword.
There are knights like that wandering around everywhere, injured. The steps to avoid battle and approach the witch were bound to be slower.
『Aaaaaaaaaah!』
The witch’s scream pierced through the street as if to hasten her slow steps.
“…I guess we don’t have much time.”
“It’s a choice. Do you preserve your fighting power and give the enemy time, or do you use everything you have left to get to the witch as quickly as possible? “As long as we knew that our opponent was strong from the beginning, we would have had no choice but to make a choice to reduce our consumption for the future when we would have to face her.”
“I can only hope that we arrive before the witch finishes making other preparations.”
Aldrich muttered as he looked at the wall of flower trees he had already arrived at.
The center of the screams and the place where the witch resides.
With the first scream, a huge number of cursed flowers bloomed, stretching out their stems and entwining each other, and now the place where the witch was was turned into a tower covered with huge purple flowers.
A skyscraper that grows towards the sky without knowing the end.
A collection of deep curses that makes me want to dig out my eyeballs just by looking at them.
“….mother.”
Inside, he would face his old nightmare.
Aldrich spoke to Otman, who was fiddling with his soul jar and maintaining a cloaking spell.
“Then please do as we decided in advance.”
“…I understand. “Notum and I were to wait outside and intercept the curse’s starting point when it is revealed, right?”
Aldrich nodded.
A huge tower made of cursed flowers.
Since warlocks have always been persecuted, most warlocks tend to fortify their bases.
Like a dragon’s rare. A space where your black magic becomes stronger and your opponent cannot demonstrate their full power.
Just as in the past in his hometown, the stone chamber was transformed into a horrible space filled with lumps of flesh and avoided general divine surveillance, this time, it is a space for witches who have bloomed through curses.
‘If only the emperor were alive. If the witch’s curse, which she had prepared for so long, was completed… The entire imperial capital could have become part of that terrible tower…’
Thanks to the emperor’s decision, such a worst situation did not happen, but its current size was ridiculously high, as if several ordinary magic towers had been stacked on top of each other. The perimeter was wide enough to resemble an imperial castle.
It is not a tower, but a tower of curses that is like a pillar reaching towards the sky.
As much as the size of the area. A witch who must have become as strong as the number of humans she has sacrificed.
Therefore, we chose to shake it up from the outside and the inside at the same time to structurally disrupt the area rather than completely destroy it.
‘It’s a complicated curse, but you can’t escape from the basic principles of the curse. If it is an area created by combining curses and curses, several curse shoes that serve as the core will be hidden. There was no choice but to attack that….’
The criteria for dividing the members was very simple. He, who is well versed in curses, and a professor who can engage in close combat, a weakness of wizards, deal with witches. The rest perform external missions.
Inside, the professor and he attack the witch, who must have become unstable due to the reaction of the failure of the great curse, and from outside, they take advantage of the witch’s neglect of the attack to search for and destroy several cursed flowers that form the core of that huge tower, destroying the witch’s domain and joining them. .
As of right now, there was no way to do anything, so that was the only way to come up with a plan.
….I’ve been avoiding and waiting for this moment for such a long time. This was just the best.
“….”
“Aldrich.”
“….”
“Aldrich Aldrich!”
“Hmm?! Oh, I’m sorry. “I have something to think about for a moment.”
“I asked if you were ready. Do you need some time?”
“No. The more time you give, the more the witch’s curse and her realm will stabilize. Are you really okay with that? “When I came here, it seemed like it would be too much to deal with one unskilled royal guard knight.”
“…It’s a bit like that, though. Since we have our capabilities, there will be no disruption to the operation. “Let’s go then.”
Nod. Tduduk jjoaaaaaak!
As soon as the professor’s fingertips, with only his left arm turned black, cut through the wall made of flower trees, they started to stick together on their own, and the tree trunks of the Notum trees became entangled between them, maintaining the shape of a small door.
“Gwok. Closed and open spaces. There is a huge difference magically and symbolically. I don’t know about the curse, but come out while this door remains open. “That’s good.”
A tree root gate created by Notum. Judging from his frowning face and the blue magic inscriptions on his forehead and arms, he seemed to be expending a lot of mental energy just to keep that small door open.
Although his face is as bumpy as usual. Maybe it was because I had been looking at it for a long time, but I felt like I could see the image of an anxious girl subtly fidgeting in that bumpy and fierce troll’s face.
Come to think of it, the youngest person in our group was Notum, not Lucilla, I guess?
“…Thank you, Notum. “If you think about it, you just joined because of the church and there is no reason to get caught up in something this dangerous.”
“Geuuu. Restoration of the old order. This is my job too. “I guess it’s because the ghosts of my ancestors say so.”
“Okay, okay. I’ll come back alive. “You look like a tsundere troll.”
“The professor talks a lot. “If you go fast, it will come out quickly.”
guy. It’s refreshing.
The preparations are over, and after many twists and turns, we have arrived here with the final arrangements left.
Margrave’s territory. Wuthering Heights. Haunuman and the capital.
After all that, we finally reached the witch who penetrated into the heart of the empire.
The obstacle that blocked that final encounter appeared in the professor’s eyes.
What is revealed between the cracked cursed walls.
The interior is filled with purple fog and you can’t even see an inch in front of you.
No matter how you look at it, it is a terrible battlefield full of curses, completely different from the capital you saw at first.
A garden of cursed flowers blooming beautifully in the Sea of Sisan and Blood.
“It’s a completely different space.”
“It won’t just be the power of the curse. The emperor I saw transformed the imperial castle into a different space with a single gesture. “Maybe it’s about using that power.”
“The power of the empire… yes. Before the witch achieved what she wanted, she changed the surroundings to her liking…”
….Pagak!
Aldrich closed his eyes for a moment and felt the power, then crushed the soul jar that was rolling in his hand with his thumb.
Neria’s spirit clings calmly to Aldrich’s arm in the form of a girl instead of her usual fierce form.
“Yes, I feel it. There is no need to contain this child anymore. It’s over there. Your body that was stolen from your mother by a witch. Let’s go, Neria. Now… it’s over. We’ve finally reached the end. “It is time to fulfill the contract we have waited so long for.”
“….yes? The emperor clearly said that the first princess was in there…”
“No. It’s clear. Subject of contract. The agent of the curse that turned me into a warlock and bound me and Nell together. Neria’s body is in there…”
Aldrich walks into the witch’s space before the professor, who is overwhelmed by the atmosphere.
“Eh, I don’t know.”
After that, the professor jumped into the fog, following Aldrich, who disappeared in an instant.
“…You’re gone.”
The two people disappeared without a trace, leaving only Notum and Ottman behind.
“…Now let’s get started. “Even if it’s not as much as the professor and Aldrich, we have to go through some trouble.”
“Geuuu.”
Otman, who saw the spot where the two people disappeared like a mirage before even taking a step back, drew up all the mana and groundwater he had saved just as the professor conserved his strength and made a hand seal.
A thin stream of water and dozens of magical tree roots climbed up the huge cursed hill and wrapped around it like a net.
Otman is not a warlock nor is he well-versed in curses, so he had no way of predicting what would happen there.
As a magician who achieved enlightenment of the flow, I was certain of one premonition.
“…It’s the end.”
The end of some huge trend. Just as a winding river has an end, everything has a beginning and an end.
A huge country called the Empire. I felt that the huge flow of power that had been flowing through its history was finally reaching its end.
Who will stand on two feet at the end will probably be decided within.
****
