CHAPTER 539

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There were about 20,000 casualties in the imperial army and 2,000 in the sword emperor castle.

The 20,000 casualties of the emperor's army consisted of all knights and mages, not just ordinary soldiers.

Many major figures, including Imperial sword Jonsina Perral, were also killed, and more than 90% of dragon lances and war equipment were captured or destroyed.

Most of the casualties in the sword emperor castle were Hairan and ordinary knights who gathered for Hairan.

People like Shuras were injured, but key figures in the Vamel Alliance and Hairan suffered little damage. It was difficult to find fatal injuries among those above the level of commander.

The total death toll ratio was about 30% and 10%, respectively, and the first battle was truly an overwhelming victory for the Sword Emperor.

However, both sides suffered devastating damage.

The emperor lost too many talents to purge without justification. The prestige of the empire would not be the same as before, and neither was the imperial family's authority.

It wouldn't be strange if a new rebellion started around the Hensirk clan or the Lillista clan.

Or they could have gathered around Hairan.

The cause and the popularity of the empire all pointed to Hairan. Unlike the emperor who forgot his honor, Hairan kept his promise against his rampage.

A promise not to kill those who flee. Jin and Dante and their people all followed those words.

Even those who had attacked Hairan until yesterday had a desire to stand on Hairan's side if they could.

However, Hensirk and Lillista also suffered significant damage, and the fact that there was Zipfel behind the emperor was known to all, so that did not happen. There was no way that Hairan would accept those who had pointed their swords until just before.

Above all.

The war is not over yet. The fact that Zipfel's new fleet is heading to sword emperor castle is now known to everyone in the world, not just the battlefield. The sight of the fleet is being captured everywhere.

Unlike Runcandel, the Vamel Alliance and Hairan did not know about the change in the 1st Magic Tower.

However, looking at the size of the confirmed fleet, it was not difficult to infer that at least Octavia Zipfel, and possibly Kelliark, could come.

As Rosa said, it was best to abandon the castle and retreat. But as she expected, Jin wasn't going to leave.

He couldn't.

"Dante…."

Dante Hairan.

He was currently trapped in a seal presumably due to the influence of the white stone, and was in a state where no communication was possible.

It is a black seal like the shadow force.

The black power forming the seal was the murky energy of chaos that Jin had experienced many times. The purity is higher than any murky energy that Jin has experienced so far.

Jin was looking at his friend in the seal spread out in a semicircle in the middle of the arena.

'Lady Amela's murky energy is incomparable, and it is darker than the chaos shown by elder sister Yona.'

Jin feels like it wouldn't be unreasonable to say that it's not murky energy, but shadow force.

Jin always easily cut through this kind of seal with the power of the shadow force and the blue flames, but this time, no matter what he did, it was of no use.

The healing saints of the Holy Kingdom stood next to Jin and showed an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry, Sir Jin. After the first round of healing, while I was away for a while taking care of other injured people...."

"Don't say that. If the saints weren't there, he might have died. And this seal has nothing to do with saints. It is the Vamel Alliance and the sword emperor castle that we should be sorry and thankful for."

"… From the beginning of healing, he showed strangely great resilience."

After saving Dante from Jonsina Perral, he told him to rest until he could fight again.

In fact, Jin did not think that Dante would be able to participate in this war again.

Dante's fragile body had already passed its limits several times.

It seemed that it would take more than three days to walk properly, and at least three months to recover enough to fight.

However, Dante recovered enough to leave the healers in just a few hours after the healing began.

It was the power of the white stone.

Then, like a possessed person, Dante searched for the deepest part of the castle. He followed the voice of the white stone to the place where his grandfather was lying unconscious.

And as soon as he took out the white stone that his grandfather had been holding and returned to the arena, he was sealed.

"… saints, please continue to take care of the injured. The Vamel alliance and sword Emperor castle will not forget the grace of the Holy Kingdom."

"If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have been able to fulfill our mission as saints after the holy kingdom Incident, sir. Please, I sincerely pray to Ayula that you will not get hurt."

As the saints retreated, Murakan and Cuicantelle entered the arena.

"How are the knights?"

"Well, everyone is in the mood that they will never leave Dante. Damn it, that white stone is holding our ankles all the way. Neither I nor Cuicantelle have ever seen such a seal."

Dante looked blurry hidden by the seal of the murky energy, but the white stone spread a gloomy light in its midst. It looked like Dante's heart.

"Few humans are disturbed by the fact that the White Stone actually exists."

"It's no use saying I can't use the same power again. It's not that I don't understand, but staying still like this is just suicidal...."

After Jin manifested the will of Solderet and Kallum, the mirror lost its power.

Every time Jin injected shadow force, the function was returning little by little, but it was too slow. It could not be used again in war.

Jin could understand the hearts of the knights.

Jin is not confident in leaving Dante like this right now.

Booong-!

They heard Mort's cry from behind.

Talaris only moved Jin and his party with the help of Mort, but she hadn't officially participated in the sword emperor castle battle yet.

In the first place, she came here to fulfill her mission as a master of the hidden palace, not as Jin's reinforcements, so she did not appear in front of anyone except Jin and his companions.

As soon as she appeared, Jin tightened his heart.

It was because there was no answer if Dante tried to use the white stone and if Talaris came forward to fulfill her mission as the master of the hidden palace.

It is because Dante now looks as if he was sealed for trying to use the white stone.

"Madame Talaris, Dante…."

"I know what you're worried about, son-in-law."

Talaris knew what the seal of white stones is made of. It remains in the records of the hidden palace.

"This is the barrier that comes from rejecting chaos. Your friend, Ron's grandson, is fighting chaos within himself right now. So there is no reason for me to fulfill my mission yet."

Jin felt relieved, but the word 'yet' bothered him.

'The barrier created by rejecting chaos... If Dante is defeated in the fight against Chaos and uses that power, Madame Talaris will not help the Sword Emperor Castle.'

Hidden palace presumes that the white stone is Helluram's object.

And Helluram was a disaster itself. In any era and in any space, the witch's power brought great disaster to mankind the moment it was manifested. Always, without a single miss.

"Son-in-law."

"Yes, Madame Talaris."

"In my opinion, this war may not be just a war between the Empire and the sword emperor castle, and between Zipfel and Runcandel."

It's a problem for all mankind.

Talaris was interpreting the white stone that way.

Whoo...!

Myriad ice formed in Talaris' hand. At the same time, she condensed tremendous energy into the blade of myriad ice and threw it at the seal.

However, even with her blow, not even a small crack appeared in the white stone seal.

Rather, Talaris backed away as if she was being bounced back, and picked her breath.

"... It is a seal that can withstand even the absolute power of myriad ice. Do you know what this means?"

It means that there is a chaos that even I cannot handle.

Talaris continued.

"Hey, master of the hidden palace. That much?"

"It's not an exaggeration, handsome gentleman. Right now, I can't figure out which of these and the other dangers our hidden Palace is holding back will be more of a problem for the world...."

Elona Zipfel.

Most of Talaris and Myriad ice's powers are always used to keep Elona Zipfel's seal.

She was contemplating whether to block the white stone even if Elona's seal was partially damaged.

"I guessed that it would be a considerable thing, seeing as Zipfel is fretful, but I didn't expect it to be this much."

"Dante… Can he come back?"

"If I told you he couldn't come back, would you leave him behind?"

Talaris saw similar cases in secret records. Even in that record, humans exposed to chaos became monsters.

Jin was also aware of the existence of a monster engulfed in chaos called Smarion Proch.

Dante may have already crossed the river of no return.

"It's not like that."

"I guess we can only hope that Dante as well as your father and youngest sister will endure the acquired chaos. In some ways... Maybe it's a good thing that Zipfel's main force is on its way, and Runcandel is waiting nearby. If the Chaos of the White Stone awakens, they have no choice but to fight it whether they like it or not. If it's not them and us, then no one can stop it anyway."

Great forces are fighting for supremacy in the world.

Therefore, as it was during the holy kingdom War, when an incident that could destroy the whole world occurred, it was only natural to solve it first.

"It will be the same for you and your comrades. At best, Chaos doesn't wake up until the very end. Then the situation will end with a war or negotiations between the giant forces."

That moment.

The white stone inside the seal began to emit a more gloomy light. The shape of the light looked like a human mouth laughing at someone.

"… To be honest, I don't think that's very likely. The situation is not good in many ways."

If war or negotiations continue without chaos waking up, Hairan will perish in one way or another.

Conversely, the same was true when chaos awoke. Even if everyone on the battlefield fought against the chaos, Hairan could not avoid destruction.

In that case, it would be Dante who awakened the chaos.

"Whoa, first I'll go check out Ron. If even that human wakes up, I'm sure there will be a bit of hope for the sword emperor castle."

Talaris, who opened the dimensional gate, looked at the castle from the inside, and Jin looked at Dante beyond the seal.

Thus, the two could only hope earnestly for their friends to wake up.