Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 290

!The sound of an arrow tearing through the air brought Llewellyn back to his senses.

The elf archers had begun their attack.

But not a single arrow wrapped in magic reached Jiklin.

The arrows bounced off with a sharp ting and rolled around Jiklin’s feet.

Jiklin kicked the arrows away with the tip of her foot as if showing off.

“Impressive, Rita. I knew bringing you along was the right choice.”

“…This is truly absurd.”

Llewellyn let out a hollow laugh.

A crazy spirit with a crazy elf.

It couldn’t have been anything other than a perfect combination.

Jiklin, who took her eyes off the arrows, raised her head and met Llewellyn’s gaze again.

A mischievous smile appeared on her lips.

“What are you guys going to do now? No one will come to help. You’ve been acting quite brave, but who do you think is really trapped?”

Almost as soon as the playful remark escaped her lips, a vivid red summoning circle began to bloom around the ground where she stood.

“Could it be me? Or perhaps the elf mage or the captain? Or maybe, Your Highness, don’t you think you’ve voluntarily made yourself the rat in the trap?”

The red light of the summoning circle colored Jiklin’s beautiful face strangely.

A twisted sense of anticipation rose in her young face.

Like an animal about to tear apart its cornered prey.

To fulfill her wish, all sorts of ghouls appeared on the giant summoning circle and slowly rose up.

“Kurrrrrr…”

“Ugh… Keuk…”

Llewellyn took a few steps back, clutching the magic stone tightly.

The elven warriors who had been in the trees also took up their swords and joined Llewellyn.

“Your Highness, please evade.”

Llewellyn’s stiff lips curved at the elf warrior’s words, his body tense.

“That’s nonsense. Even if I run away by myself, the situation won’t change.”

Even if he ran away immediately, it would be impossible to shake off Jiklin.

Because by her side, there was a spirit that could deceive people.

It was clear that he would either be dragged back into the ghoul’s field or another trap would be waiting for him.

‘Then, it’s better to break through here to have a better chance of winning.’

Llewellyn gathered his magic power.

The magic stone in his hand radiated heat as the artifact responded.

A chilling wind blew around.

At the same time, Jiklin shouted cheerfully.

“Tear that insolent prince to pieces!”

“Keeeeeek!”

As if they had been waiting for that command, the ghouls rushed madly towards Llewellyn.

The elves instinctively surrounded Llewellyn and each raised their weapons.

A giant shadow leapt between the two sides who were about to collide.

“Uh?”

A dumbfounded sound came out of Jiklin’s mouth.

Even in the darkness, the elf’s eyesight captured the shape clearly.

The body was three to four times larger than the average human’s, and the beast-like fingernails and toenails were as sharp as sharpened blades.

The long, slightly parted snout revealed fangs that could tear through anything.

.

The werewolf landed in the middle of the battlefield with a heavy sound and howled long and hard toward the sky.

“A…woo!”

It was Warren.

Warren, who announced the start of the fight, rushed towards the enemy who was within striking distance.

.

The wolf, which had torn off the upper body of the humanoid ghoul, immediately dug his claws into the neck of the insect ghoul that was rushing at him from behind.

The struggling ghoul finally gave in after having its neck bitten off and its heart ripped out.

Warren spat out the corpse without any hesitation and turned his head towards his next target.

The ghoul’s black fur, soaked in blood, gleamed under the dim moonlight.

“Warren!”

A smile of delight spread across Llewellyn’s lips.

Warren could track people by scent.

Even if Shekhinah and Diana shook off the homunculus, it will not be easy for them to join this battlefield because of Rita’s power.

But Warren, who had a keen sense of smell, was different.

Despite the spirit’s interference, he arrived here safely by following Llewellyn’s scent.

The elf warriors also came to their senses when they saw Warren slaughtering the ghouls alone.

“Push forward!”

“Yes!”

Those who had swords drew them, and the archers nocked arrows on their bows.

The enemies, all targeting only Llewellyn, left no room for him to properly position himself.

The gap Warren had managed to create could not be missed.

Llewellyn also took part in the fighting.

His sword wrapped in the power of the artifact mercilessly tore through the ghoul’s flesh.

Llewellyn plunged his sword into the enemy’s heart and activated the artifact.

“Keeeeeek!”

After a terrible scream, the ghoul’s body burst apart with a pop.

He was covered in blood and flesh, and reeked of rottenness, but now was not the time to be picky.

‘If we are pushed back even a little bit, we will be helpless.’

Jiklin seemed quite embarrassed by the unexpected situation in which a werewolf suddenly jumped in.

Llewellyn could be sure of it after seeing that face.

From now on, it was a battle of endurance.

Since ghouls don’t appear on their own, it’s clear that there were limits to how far they could be summoned from.

“Damned little brat.”

Llewellyn threw away the broken magic stone without any hesitation and took out a new one.

There were three magic stones left.

Even now, ghouls were still pouring out of the summoning circle.

“Let’s see who wins.”

For some reason, an laugh inappropriate for this situation began to escape.

Everyone was on the verge of life and death, focusing all their senses solely on defeating the enemy.

It was the same whether they were elves, werewolves, or humans.

Whether there was a mind or not, even the ghouls were no different.

At this moment, when they were simply fighting to survive, there was no need for a cause or anything else.

Life was originally about having to do all sorts of things in order to survive.

‘They say they fight with the name of God on their backs.’

A blasphemous thought crossed his mind: perhaps the god was farther away than he had imagined.

It felt like he was dealing with a huge beast.

Breathing heavily, struggling to steady his breath, Arthur tightened his grip on the sword.

‘If that’s a beast…’

He felt like prey struggling to avoid being eaten.

Self-deprecating thoughts that would not normally come to mind kept popping up in his head.

Even in this situation, Laius’ unwavering presence seemed amazing once again.

Laius’ blue eyes still did not waver an inch even when he was facing Roger with his sword.

It was a wonderful mental strength.

One consolation was that Roger didn’t look too good either.

Because of the mask covering his face, he couldn’t see what his expression was right now.

But he couldn’t hide his rough breathing and his increasingly intense murderous intent.

His composure was increasingly reaching its limits.

“Get out of the way.”

An ominous voice was heard from beyond the mask.

“Such filth.”

Roger’s sword was engulfed in intenser flames.

Roger, unable to suppress his anger, shouted loudly.

“Damned seeds of light!”

Laius sensed the danger and swiftly deflected Roger’s sword aside.

The moment he rolled his body over and created some distance.

A violent explosion swept through the surrounding area in the blink of an eye.

“Dammit!”

Arendt, who had activated the Frosty Touch, swore and jumped in.

Frost settled on the flames surrounding Roger, causing the fiery blaze to momentarily falter.

Thanks to that, Arthur and Richt were saved from being turned into balls of fire, but that was it.

Roger’s anger erupted once again.

“Don’t interfere, you rookie!”

A sword engulfed in flames flew towards Arendt, threatening to cut him in two.

If he took it head on, he would definitely die or be seriously injured.

Laius sprang up to his feet and stretched out his arm to pull Arendt towards him.

The sword, narrowly missing, headed toward the entrance leading to the underground stairs.

!

The iron gate, which had already been tattered from several attacks, was completely destroyed with a tremendous explosion.

Beyond the gaping door, a dark staircase was visible.

Roger strode towards it without any hesitation.

“That damned bastard!”

Arthur gritted his teeth and gripped his sword tightly.

Richt also moved quickly.

But that was also useless.

Roger, swiftly turning his body, swung his sword in a wide horizontal arc toward the two of them.

“…!”

They managed to block it just in time, but both of them were sent crashing to the ground simultaneously.

Arthur and Richt, who had slammed into the wall, were unable to get up for a while.

Roger ran towards the dark stairs without looking back.

“Arthur, Richt!”

While Laius briefly glanced back at the two, Arendt was the first to chase after Roger..

The spiral staircase was filled with the sound of loud footsteps.

Ignoring the noise coming from behind, Roger simply looked straight ahead and headed down the stairs deep into the basement.

If they were driven underground, it would be Roger’s own life that would be in danger.

There was nowhere to escape to, and if external reinforcements were to join in, it would be difficult to handle everything in their current state.

Since he had been using the holy relic excessively, it was questionable whether he could safely cast a teleportation spell in an emergency.

But it didn’t matter.

“The Holy Sword, the hero, and the apprentice knight.”

If he could take those three as companions, he wouldn’t mind throwing away his insignificant life.

If he couldn’t escape, he would die here.

If he poured every last ounce of his strength, he could turn both himself and the Blessing of Karma into a handful of ashes, alongside them.

It wasn’t a bad ending.

His reason had long since been paralyzed.

All that remained was an obsession and rage for what needed to be destroyed, and a deep reverence for Chernion.

But when he was halfway down the stairs, Roger stopped walking as he felt an uneasy presence overhead.

“…”

There was a loud cracking sound and a shower of gravel.

And after a while.

The ceiling right in front of him collapsed without warning.

A thick cloud of dust rose up with a deafening roar.

From within the dust, Laius slowly got up.

He was a mess.

His usual neat appearance was nowhere to be seen, with shrapnel stuck to his wounds and rocks covering him.

Yet his unusually bright blue eyes remained as unwavering and sharp as ever.

In fact, that very trait made him look even more eerie.

Even Roger, intoxicated by his fighting spirit, was momentarily stunned.

“I won’t let you go.”

As Laius spoke calmly, a cold air was felt behind his back.

It was Arendt who brought out the power of the Frosty Touch.

“You’re being a nuisance.”

The apprentice knight’s irritated voice was almost unrealistically calm.

White frost was settling at Arendt’s feet.

Roger was becoming increasingly impatient.

It was revolting to think that those who had lived comfortably under the selfish blessing of light dared to treat him, who served the darkness, as a villain. It made him feel like his stomach was turning inside out.

A scream-like roar erupted from Roger’s mouth as he gripped his sword tightly.

“Don’t you dare, how dare you fools interfere with the march of darkness!”

A dense, pitch-black divine power surged up, swallowing Roger whole.