Chapter 402

Burren's chin trembled as he watched the unstoppable knights and swordsmen open the path.

"Wh-what's going on…?"

'What is happening right now?'

He was mustering all his strength to fight to the death when knights, swordsmen, and magicians suddenly appeared to slaughter the undead.

The third prince, Borini Kitten from the Owen Kingdom, Morel from Balkar, and Trevin Zieghart with the Warring Steel division. His pounding heart felt like it was about to burst as he witnessed their unexpected reinforcements.

'Moreover, they are…'

He looked at the cavaliers who were the first ones to appear to crush the wall of undead. He realized who they were upon seeing the emblem on their armor. They were Habun's castellan, Milland, and his knights.

"Which means, this was…"

Burren swallowed nervously and looked at Raon.

He didn't even need to ask who'd called them. All of them were people related to Raon in some way.

'He really is too much for me.'

Burren was already on the verge of fainting just from fighting the undead. He couldn't understand when and how Raon planned to call for them when he'd been fighting for the past five days without even resting.

He didn't even dare to catch up to him.

"Ra—"

"You called them, right?"

When Burren was trying to approach Raon, Martha spoke first.

"Yes."

Raon nodded while spitting bloody saliva.

"But when?"

Martha turned her head while listening to the knights' warcry.

"When the tsunami appeared."

Raon said that he'd asked for reinforcement through Dorian's artifact because he had the feeling when he saw the tsunami that something beyond his power might happen.

"You are so damn meticulous."

Martha laughed bitterly and shook her head.

"Anyway, thank you."

"Huh?"

"I'm saved thanks to you."

"Huuh?"

Raon's eyes widened in surprise from Martha's expression of gratitude.

"I know when to say thanks, okay?"

To be honest, Martha had never been able to give thanks truthfully. To be exact, she did say it sometimes but she wasn't sincere.

However, after Raon and Dorian were kidnapped and she tried to save them, she realized that she'd gained more people precious to her than just her adoptive father.

That was why she decided that she would make sure to say what she needed to say.

"Anyway, I wanted to say twank you! Huff!"

Martha bit her tongue while speaking because of how nervous she was.

"It's awkay."

Raon smiled faintly and nodded.

"You don't need to say that to another sqwad member."

"Hey, stop copying me!"

"Shtap-coopeeing-mee."

Runaan came next to Martha and repeated after her while twisting her mouth.

"Stop!"

Martha punched at her, and Runaan hopped backward.

"It looked fun."

Runaan shrugged her shoulders with blank eyes.

"You fuckers…"

Martha frowned and briskly turned her head away. Her earlobes had turned red.

Tap.

Runaan tapped her thigh with her finger while looking at Raon, Burren, and Martha.

'Everyone is brighter.'

It was a huge crisis until a moment ago. They could've died, but they didn't blame or insult anyone. They simply smiled at each other as they rejoiced over the fact that they were alive.

They had changed a lot compared to the trainee period, back when they had looked gloomy because of the darkness in their minds.

They'd become a family that could support each other.

'I'm so glad.'

Since Raon was aware of both the precious and ugly sides of the family, his lips were unconsciously raised into a smile as he realized the Light Wind squad had become a real family.

He had the feeling that he could smile from the bottom of his heart without thinking about that person.

Runaan leaped forward to stand next to Martha and tapped her shoulder.

"Let's go eat some ice cream together later on."

"I'm not going!"

"Then wet's go!"

"Fuck off!"

Martha extended her hand, and Runaan nimbly leaned backward to dodge it.

"Can you stop?"

"I know, right? You aren't kids anymore."

"You are becoming more and more childish."

"Well, that's the fun part though…"

Burren tried to stop them, and the Light Wind squad joined him before they started to laugh. Even though everyone was on the verge of death just a moment ago, the atmosphere was as warm as always.

Clap!

Raon clapped his hands to gather their attention.

"You've gotten enough rest, right?"

He smiled while looking at the four groups eradicating the undead.

"Let's catch up now."

* * *

The Land of Death

The Three Pillars

The archlich's hand that was holding the staff trembled as he watched the crystal that was showing the battlefield.

"Where did those humans come from…?"

He couldn't understand how Raon had called for them when he'd cut off all communication networks around the castle.

"Damn it…"

He was about to achieve his objective of turning the young Ziegharts into a pool of blood and destroying House Arianne's cursed walls, but being faced with yet another disturbance turned his stomach.

'It's him. The damned Zieghart!'

Judging from the humans' movement, he could guess that the young Zieghart had called for reinforcements, not Arianne. He ground his teeth because of how persistent Zieghart was about disturbing him once again after a thousand years.

"This isn't the time to be irritated."

The death knight with green flaming eyes shook his head. He looked up to the sky while clenching his longsword around his waist.

"They will reach this place before noon at this rate. We need to finish the battle preparations before then."

"Yes, we should."

The archlich slowly nodded. He opened his hands, and the energy of death rising from the land of death intensified even further as black magic circles were drawn all around the dark land.

"He's the first one we have to kill."

The death knight raised his finger to point at Raon's image in the crystal ball.

"He's the strongest among them, but he's extremely exhausted and also has internal injuries. The battle will become easier after we kill him."

"I'm aware of that fact! It's his fault that we ended up like this."

The archlich snapped his fingers while controlling the dark energy of death, and mid-high class undead started to arise from the ground.

"I'll be making my own preparations."

The death knight leaned against a pillar and observed how the warriors were moving inside the crystal ball with his green flaming eyes.

His finger was moving along with the flow of the swordsmen's martial arts.

While the death knight and the archlich were preparing the defense, the Specter quietly emerged from behind them.

"This was unexpected, even for me."

The Specter licked his lips while watching Raon's face inside the crystal ball.

'I thought he liked to deal with everything on his own, but he can actually employ other people. He's even more dangerous than I thought. Should I abandon them now since the experiment with the Demon Soul Bead is over?'

He glared at the undead with cold eyes for a while before he clapped his hands.

'No, I should see this as an opportunity.'

The ones attacking them were powerful people who were famous on the continent. Killing all of them was going to be another step towards his goal.

"Alright, I'll help you until the end."

The Specter took a bead from the sleeve of his robe.

Whir!

A frightening current came out of the dark bead and shoved a huge amount of energy of death into the death knight, lich, and even the land they were standing on.

Kieeeh.

The energy of death created by the Specter spread around like a living creature, unlike the archlich's black magic circle.

Rumble!

The Specter spread the energy of death until the three pillars started to tremble and took the bead back.

The archlich and the death knight were focused on devising a plan to kill Raon and the swordsmen. They didn't even seem to be aware of the Specter's presence.

"Something's missin—Ah!"

The Specter scratched his chin before he raised his head. His mask swayed a little from his twisted lips.

'That will be perfect.'

His body disappeared into darkness, leaving blunt laughter behind.

Raon went next to Habun Castle's cavaliers who were destroying the undead from the forefront.

"Castellan."

Habun's castellan, Milland, snorted while looking around.

"A bit late to be greeting me, isn't it?"

Despite what he said, he looked extremely glad to see Raon again.

It's been a while since the last time we saw that geezer.

Wrath also looked glad to see him, since he was waving his round hand at Milland.

"Why are you always in the middle of a difficult battle?"

Milland sighed while looking at the swarm of undead, which was still numerous.

"You were already slightly crazy when you stayed with us."

"He was extremely crazy, not just slightly. Who the hell in the world would jump down from the castle walls to rescue people?"

"If I remember correctly, he held his position in front of the wall until sunrise to save everyone."

"Indeed. No one under the castle walls ended up dying."

The Night Fox knights and Snow Strikers swordsmen nodded while grinning.

"Thank you! You saved me back then, Sir Raon!"

A young swordsman from the Snow Strikers raised his hand. He bowed to thank him and said that he was a soldier back then and was awakened to aura after the incident.

"The great feats you've accomplished are still spoken of at Habun Castle."

Milland had been only riding forward so far, but he came up next to Raon and tapped his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it, since we are only repaying the debt from back then. You should be saving your strength."

He urged his horse to move faster.

"I want to have a meal together later!"

"Let's talk again after it's over!"

"I'll be looking forward to it!"

The knights and swordsmen waved their hands before they advanced toward the undead to destroy the wall of spartois and skeleton warriors.

Raon bowed at Milland before heading to the Owen knights.

"Thank you for coming."

"It's only natural since the tablet was returned to me. Don't worry about it."

The third prince smiled, a hawk sitting on his shoulder. It seemed to be the one that had made the sharp cry earlier.

"Hmm… It's been a while, swordswoman Martha."

He looked behind Raon and winked at Martha. Raon could see that he was still in love with Martha because his eyes had grown slightly softer.

"What the hell?! You are so gross!"

Martha frowned in irritation at the third prince's wink and briskly turned her head away.

"Uuh…"

Peee.

The third prince bent his neck in shock. The hawk sitting on his shoulder looked like it was trying to comfort him because it started patting his cheek with its beck.

"Like I said before, this is my duty."

Borini Kitten came up next to the depressed third prince.

"I'm the one who should be thanking you for allowing me to participate in such a battle!"

He said that he was honored because it was going to be a great experience for him. He was truly an exemplary knight.

"Thank you."

Raon also thanked him and went towards Morell and Salaman's magicians.

"I was surprised that you came all the way here. Thank you."

"It was really far."

"Really far?"

"Re-really far, Sir. Huh? Wait, I don't need to add 'Sir' anymore!"

Morell started to nod but shouted instead.

"I was just kidding."

Raon smiled while looking at Morell's flushed face.

"Haa… Rather than that, how did you even captivate our princess's heart? She was pretty much begging me, saying that we needed to help you as fast as possible."

Morell was amazed because he'd never seen Princess Jayna plead like that.

"Are you actually in that kind of relationship…?"

"Not at all."

Raon firmly shook his hand.

"She's the donkey princess like you said before. I can't have that kind of relationship with her."

"Then how did it happen?"

"It's a simple promise between us. Anyway, I appreciate your help. I'm looking forward to your cooperation until the end."

"The corpses of black magic are unsightly for magicians who control the truth of the world. I'd clean them up even if you didn't ask."

Morell extended his hand, saying that those filthy creatures were a disgrace to magic.

A huge snake emerged and wiped out the skeleton mages in front of them.

"Division leader."

Raon went to the Warring Steel division, which was the last of the reinforcements, and started joking with them.

"Why did you arrive so late?"

"I came as fast as I could."

The Warring Steel division leader, Trevin, frowned. They'd gotten a lot closer because the Warring Steel division and the Light Wind squad had been sparring against each other since the first trial.

"Thank you for coming. You saved me."

"I'm only here because they kept saying that it would be boring without you."

Trevin took a glance behind him and shook his head.

"Haah?"

"What is he even saying?"

"It was him who kept urging us to get ready even faster!"

"He can't be honest. He was the one who came running while only wearing underwear to ask us to save Raon."

The Warring Steel swordsmen tilted their heads, calling it bullshit.

"Hey, shut up!"

Trevin frowned while looking behind him, and the swordsmen shut their mouths.

"Thank you."

Raon smiled faintly and bowed at Trevin.

"I'll repay this favor no matter what."

"I don't need it."

Trevin shook his head.

"Make sure to get promoted to the Light Wind division if you want to thank me. It'd be embarrassing if our Warring Steel division's rival had to remain as a squad."

He dashed forward, saying that he would be satisfied with that.

"That's what he says."

"Get promoted already."

"I'll be looking forward to it."

The Warring Steel swordsmen smiled and followed Trevin.

"Huh…"

Raon gasped while watching Trevin and the Warring Steel division.

'Is he really a member of the direct line?'

He felt strange because he was too different from the other direct lines he'd seen so far.

Raon was even more thankful for how casually he'd said that because the other direct lines were bound to dislike him for it.

"Hey, vice squad leader. We should also go there and mess them up!"

"That's right, we can't leave everything to our guests."

"Let's get it done and go to sleep."

Burren, Martha, and Runaan were controlling their auras while clenching their swords. The eyes of the Light Wind squad behind them were glowing with fighting spirit.

"You are right."

Raon nodded and fixed the grip on Heavenly Drive.

"Catch up to them."

He dashed towards Habun Castle, Owen, Balkar, and the Warring Steel division's backs as they carved a path for them.

Whaam!

The converging fire from Morell and Salaman's magicians destroyed the undead army's sturdy formation, and the cavaliers of Habun castle led by Milland became a spear to accelerate the collapse of their formation.

Rumble!

The third prince and Borini Kitten spread their knights into a wide formation like a hawk's wings to eliminate the undead without missing a single one, while Trevin Zieghart and the Warring Steel division used the Black Steel Sword Formation to only focus on mid-high class undead that the other three groups missed.

Raon led the Light Wind squad and ran to the front lines to attack the chimera zombie that was rolling towards them.

Grrr!

Raon used Supreme Harmony Steps when five chimera zombies were expanding to activate the corpse explosion.

He leaped through the space as if he were folding the land in between to close the distance in an instant and slashed with Frost Pond.

Claang!

The chimera zombies' bodies were expanded to the limit and were about to explode, but their heads rolled while their bodies froze from the second strike of Frost Pond.

Slash!

The Light Wind squad followed up to sever the chimera zombies' frozen bodies.

"I told you to stay back."

Milland smiled faintly while commanding his cavaliers and swordsmen.

"You are so slow."

Morell sighed deeply and incinerated the group of undead with a snake of fire.

"This much wait is understandable since they are exhausted."

Borini Kitten smiled gently and cut apart a banshee's body.

"I-indeed…"

The third prince was busy peeking at Martha with his wavering eyes as she destroyed the undead with her powerful sword.

"They will still do their job."

The Warring Steel division leader, Trevin, nodded while saying that they could be trusted once they took action.

"The Mad Dog squad will take the lead once again."

Raon smiled at them and moved forward.

"Come on!"

"We aren't the Mad Dogs!"

"Woof!"

Burren, Martha, and Runaan led their team members to ruthlessly destroy the approaching undead.

Whaam!

Even though the five groups had never worked together before, they worked together like a well-oiled machine to wipe out the battlefield and continue their sweeping advance.

Since none of them fought excessively compared to the others, they managed to save their strengths until the pillars at the end of the land of death finally entered their sights.

The large number of monsters as powerful as spartois, ghoul lords, and dullahan implied that they were prepared for the last battle, and low to intermediate-class death knights and liches were also mixed into them.

"Haa…"

Raon caught his breath and looked behind them.

'He's there.'

An archlich with blue flames burning from his eyes was located in front of the pillars at the end of the land of death.

The frightening amount of energy was telling him that the archlich was an advanced fiend, just like he'd thought.

However, the troops and the energy of death weren't the only preparations he'd made.

Raon sent aura messages to the four leaders at the same time.

[I'll go towards them first. You don't need to defend me even if I'm attacked.]

Judging from what happened up to that point, the enemies were definitely targeting the Light Wind squad, and their vice squad leader Raon specifically.

'They must've made a lot of preparations to kill me.'

Attacking at once was going to activate the archlich's traps and cause countless casualties. Following the initial plan was the correct course of action.

[You must have a plan.]

[Sir Raon looks tired, but I believe in you.]

[Do as you wish.]

[Are you showing us a weird strategy again?]

Milland, Borini Kitten, Morell, and Trevin didn't ask any questions as they slowed their troops.

[Thank you.]

Raon nodded at them slightly before stepping onto the dark land.

'Can this even be called land?'

The intense stench of the triangular ground felt like it was made of the energy of death itself instead of soil and sand. Even the Expert class swordsmen wouldn't have been able to endure that evil stench.

Raon swallowed nervously and walked into the land of death, and the sky and land wavered as the dark energy started to rampage violently.

Cring!

Countless black magic circles appeared from the sky and the land as a death knight emerged from the ground with green flaming eyes to thrust his Sword of Purgatory.

He was the advanced fiend death knight who'd been hiding his presence from below the darkness on the ground.

It looked like a crisis that he couldn't overcome no matter what he tried, but Raon's eyes were as still as ice.

'Wrath, it's time for the trade.'