Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 389

Zakar looked up at the occasionally flashing sky, his face hardening.Right after dealing with the homunculus, they gathered the wounded and immediately advanced toward the palace.

Although they occasionally encountered remnants of ghouls or priests, they were no match for the well-trained elf warriors.

But Zakar knew all too well that these enemies were nothing more than mere consumables.

They hadn’t even properly faced the real enemy yet.

“Hurry up!”

Zakar urged his men on. The palace was now just around the corner.

But they had no choice but to stop when they reached just short of the castle walls.

“…”

Zakar found himself dumbfounded before he even realized it.

Thunder and lightning were still raging overhead, indicating that the fight between the two dragons was becoming increasingly fierce.

And the palace was surrounded by a transparent curtain, a defensive barrier spread by Lexion.

‘This is…’

Measures were taken to make it difficult for even friendly forces, let alone enemy forces, to approach the inside of the palace.

That wasn’t all.

Outside the barrier created by Lexion, priests and ghouls wearing black robes completely surrounded the palace.

Judging by the clashing sounds of weapons coming from inside, it seemed that the Royal Knights and the rebels within were still fighting.

And the priests and ghouls were attacking with dark divine power and every form of force they had in an attempt to destroy the barrier.

“What on earth is in there for them to go that far…?”

Zakar muttered in a shaken voice.

But there wasn’t much time to ponder.

If Lexion’s defence was breached, the enemy would flood in and the royal palace would be completely overrun.

As Lexion was fighting Nikephoros, his defenses were not perfect either.

Before doing anything else, the first priority was to deal with the enemies right in front of them.

At that moment, a subordinate nearby called out urgently.

“Instructor, instructor! Look over there!”

“What’s wrong? …Ah.”

Zakar soon noticed what his subordinate was pointing at and frowned.

They had spotted a little girl commanding the priests and ghouls.

She looked just a little older than Salem, but she was hardly someone suited for a battlefield like this.

An elf from the Fog Forest tribe boasting beautiful golden hair and vibrant green eyes, stood there alongside another woman guarding her side.

“It’s Jiklin.”

Zakar groaned at the familiar face.

A young child who used to follow behind Sylvian, the captain of the Fog Forest Guard.

Before they knew it, she had become a leading figure in the Chernion Cult and was churning out horrific monsters.

The other elves also had complicated expressions.

Jiklin was like the karma of the Fog Forest tribe.

If they had stopped Jiklin, the outcome of the war might have been significantly different.

That fact still haunted them.

Just then, Jiklin also turned her head as if she had noticed them.

The spirit standing next to her, Rita, stepped forward, taking a wary stance.

Jiklin blinked several times and then burst into a bright laugh.

“What a welcome sight. Isn’t that Instructor Zakar?”

Even though the distance was quite far, her young voice could be heard clearly. Zakar’s face, which had been indifferent throughout, distorted horribly.

“We will fix the mistakes made by the Fog Forest Tribe.”

Zakar was the first to draw his sword.

“We failed to stop her before it got out of hand, so let’s take responsibility and end it ourselves.”

“Yes.”

The rest of the elf warriors answered resolutely.

“…You can’t enter the palace?”

Salem asked the spirit. Ray, who had been exploring ahead first, nodded repeatedly as if saying “yes”.

After a long moment of reading the spirit’s will, Salem frowned and looked back at those who had been following him.

“Ray says that the area around the palace is already surrounded by enemies. And since Lord Lexion has deployed a defensive barrier, it is impossible to approach from the ground.”

“Then how…”

“Just a minute.”

A subordinate, face hardening, was about to speak, but Salem stopped them.

“Instructor Zakar is said to be engaged in combat with Jiklin near the castle walls. It seems that the ghouls and priests led by Jiklin are surrounding the palace. Lady Shekhinah and Lord Ragnald are also expected to join them soon.”

Salem, who had been listening to the spirit for a moment, continued speaking.

“It seems impossible for even the spirits to pass through Lexion’s barrier. However, the Lucain Kingdom’s Royal Knights must still be inside…”

The Royal Knights, who had been fighting the rebels from within, were effectively trapped and unable to move.

The subordinate suggested.

“Then I think it would be better to join up with Instructor Zakar.”

“No. Sir Arendt told me to go to the palace. Sir Arendt must have foreseen this situation. There must be a reason why he lured the enemy out of the palace.”

Salem frowned and shook his head.

He thought for a moment and then began to speak.

“I have no choice but to go inside the palace.”

“Yes?”

The elf warriors let out startled voices.

“This child just said that there’s an abandoned waterway that can be used to get inside.”

It was the very same road that Crown Prince Victor had used to escape.

“I think there’s a small opening nearby that leads into it.”

Salem nodded to the spirit hovering before him and continued speaking.

“Since we don’t know what the situation is inside, you guys should meet up with Instructor Zakar for now. I’ll move alone and enter the palace.”

“But it’s too dangerous for Lord Salem to go alone.”

“It’s okay. To be honest, I wouldn’t be of much help in close combat.”

Although his subordinates staunchly opposed it, Salem did not bend.

“And I’m not alone. If I borrow the spirits’ strength, I’ll have no problem exploring the inside of the palace. If I want to move stealthily without being noticed by the enemy, it would be better for me to infiltrate alone rather than with a group.”

The subordinates couldn’t argue anymore against such well-reasoned points. They nodded begrudgingly with unenthusiastic expressions.

“If it is your order… I will follow it.”

“Thank you.”

Salem smiled and nodded.

“If it gets dangerous, I’ll assess the situation and retreat immediately. So don’t worry.”

“Understood. I’ll report the situation to Sir Arendt as soon as I meet him.”

“Yes, please. As I said, please join Instructor Zakar.”

With that, Salem turned without any hesitation and began to run.

The elf warriors who had been watching his retreating figure with concern soon shook off their worries and hurried their steps.

Arendt clicked his tongue inwardly as he watched Roger pursue him at a frightening speed.

“Seriously, you perverted pig-like bastard.”

Muttering those words silently to himself, Arendt struggled to calm his breath.

‘It’s fortunate that he’s just a simple guy.’

Arthur and Arendt were evenly matched in skill, and although Richt was better than them both, he was useless in front of Roger.

Because Roger was a monster who could fight on equal terms with Laius who holds the Holy Sword.

There was a limit to how long they could stall like this, so if they were going to face him anyway, it made the most sense for him, who possessed an artifact capable of countering him and had enough magic power, to take the lead.

But honestly, it was uncertain whether the two of them would see it that way.

‘I’m going to get a lot of scolding for this later.’

As he was thinking that, Roger, who had disappeared, suddenly appeared right in front of him.

“…!”

Arendt instinctively raised his sword to defend himself. Almost at the same time, a blade aimed at his neck struck him with great force.

The full-body impact sent Arendt crashing backward.

“Ugh!”

He nearly tumbled off the roof, but Arendt managed to stab his sword in and regain his balance somehow.

But he had no time to catch his breath because the next attack came right after.

As the flaming sword flew in, Arendt quickly rolled out of the way.

With a fierce sound, the very spot where he had just been standing shattered.

“Ah, damn it…”

Staggering to his feet, Arendt cursed loudly. But Roger, showing no sign of fatigue, slowly advanced toward him.

Like a beast that had cornered its prey.

‘This is no joke.’

He was truly a man worthy of being called Laius’ rival. Even if Arendt were to confront him head-on, he would have no chance of winning.

Yet, he didn’t feel much of a sense of crisis.

There wasn’t anything particularly strange about that.

Arendt had already encountered two beings at the top of this world.

Since falling into this damn world, his sense of reality had strangely become dull…

‘I don’t think it was to this extent before.’

Maybe Arthur wasn’t entirely wrong when he said something might be broken.

“Hey, let me ask you something.”

Arendt smiled arrogantly, his body covered in wounds.

“What on earth did you do? No matter how I look at it, this is strange… The Lucain royal family wasn’t such a foolish group, and I was definitely keeping a close watch. !”

When he coughed, the blood that had been pooling in his mouth spurted out.

Arendt roughly wiped the corner of his mouth and continued speaking.

“You guys are cultists. You’re good at talking big and scamming others… but it’s a bit strange that you infiltrated so quickly. I even spread rumors that you guys were fucking bastards.”

Due to the continuous publicity, civilians within the Caerleon Empire naturally began to harbor antipathy towards Chernion.

As a result, the Chernion Cult had no choice but to retreat and give up on shaking the Caerleon Empire from within.

However, the circumstances were not much different in the Lucain Kingdom or other kingdoms.

It was because Cantares quickly spread news about the Evil Cult abroad early on.

So, this current situation was clearly a variable that Cantares, Laius, and Arendt could not have anticipated.

Arendt tilted his head.

“Honestly, it’s not a very pleasant situation. I wonder why it had to be the Lucain Kingdom. Did you hide some important treasure here?”

“Looks like you still have the energy to talk.”

Roger slowly approached Arendt, his gaze growing darker.

“I don’t think I need to answer that, Apprentice Knight.”

“Ugh, what a boring guy… !”

Arendt forced himself to move, coughing dryly.

“If only we hadn’t met as enemies. I commend you for holding on until now.”

“Whether it’s good or bad, ask my seniors. They’ll probably be begging for you to take me with you.”

Arendt regained his composure, though he staggered, and let out a snicker.

“But I don’t intend to just go down this easily.”

As he drew on the power of the artifact, a chilling cold air swept around him.

At the same time, Roger rushed at Arendt again.

Roger’s figure disappeared in an instant, and in the blink of an eye, a huge flame rose up right in front of Arendt’s nose.

“…!”

Sensing that he couldn’t avoid it, Arendt reflexively raised his sword.

The strong impact caused his vision to go blank. When he finally came to his senses, his body was floating in the air.

He somehow managed to avoid being reduced to ashes, but he was unable to withstand the tremendous impact and was thrown back.

He didn’t even have time to break his fall.

As the ground drew closer with each passing moment, Roger was already rushing towards Arendt.

‘This…’

Only now was the sense of crisis beginning to raise its head.

There was no other choice but to either fall like this or clash swords with Roger before hitting the ground.

Arendt braced himself for the impact and tightened his grip on his sword to keep it from slipping from his grasp.

But what greeted him was neither the cold ground nor a sword engulfed in flames.

Just before he hit the ground, a rather rough hand grabbed his shoulder.

“…!”

Arendt’s eyes widened.

“You better be prepared to get seriously scolded later.”

A voice, unusually sharp and clear, brushed past Arendt’s ear, bringing a smile to his lips.

The next moment, Arendt was thrown backwards, lost his balance, and rolled around on the ground.

At the same time, Laius and Roger’s swords clashed head-on.

The clash between the Holy Sword and the flaming blade echoed through the air, shaking the heavens and the earth.