Chapter 89: The Abyss’s Shadow

What, what is this?

Marun couldn’t understand the current situation.

The knights who met their deaths were the Blue Wing Knights.

Among the Meliad family’s knight orders, the second strongest after the Hongik Knights.

Yet how were every single one of them decapitated without exception?

No traces of battle…

The surroundings were extremely clean.

Presumed to have been decapitated in an instant, like Balan and the knights who died moments ago.

…Magic, then?

It wasn’t certain.

But the probability of magic was very high.

The reason Marun thought it was magic was because the artifact detecting sorcery showed no reaction.

That made it even more bewildering.

The Blue Wing Knights were specialized against mages and sorcerers.

Yet they met death in one fell swoop without any resistance?

Could it be a Great Mage…?

Marun swallowed hard.

But only for a moment.

…This isn’t the time.

Marun returned to Belin.

He didn’t know what happened.

But one thing was certain.

This was the perfect opportunity to escape this place.

As time passed, the Meliad Ducal Family, learning of the Blue Wing Knights’ incident, would send knights or mages for support.

They had to flee before that.

“No need to worry about the knights outside. They’re all dead.”

“Yes?”

“Let’s move first.”

“Yes.”

Hearing Belin’s answer, Marun opened the door first and went out.

Should it be called fortunate?

No one was in the corridor.

Marun cautiously scanned the surroundings and slowly exited the mansion with Belin.

“…!”

Belin, coming out of the mansion, was horrified seeing the corpses of the Blue Wing Knights.

If he hadn’t been told they were dead beforehand, the gruesome sight would have made him scream.

The two passed the Blue Wing Knights, crossed the main gate, and left the villa.

And headed straight south toward the merchant group’s headquarters.

What is this?

Marun, heading to the headquarters, couldn’t help but be flustered.

The atmosphere was unusual.

Most had serious faces.

Marun pricked his ears and soon heard shocking stories.

“Is it true that the Adiron family was attacked?”

“It’s true, I saw it myself.”

The Adiron family, though without a title, had influence stronger than most noble families.

And they had a very close relationship with the Meliad family.

Yet the Adiron family was attacked?

Right then.

BOOM…

An explosion rang out.

And the ground shook.

Marun looked toward the direction of the explosion.

Smoke was rising far away.

The problem was the location where smoke rose.

It was where the Meliad Ducal Family’s grand mansion was located.

***

“Balan Meliad and the Blue Wing Knights are missing, but it is presumed His Majesty Gaon has acted.”

James’s report ended.

And Lepra smiled as brightly as possible.

He had thought it would be resolved well since Gaon moved.

But hearing the story actually made him feel good.

Lepra then looked at Doug and said.

“Preparations for dispatch?”

The Meliad Ducal Family’s territory is very vast.

Not a size one family can manage even temporarily.

So Gaon planned to deploy not only the royal direct Earth Knights and War Magic Corps 1st Battalion, but also the demoted Baron Meltang family and Viscount Baleno family.

“Planned to dispatch immediately upon arrival. Probably start around when the Earth Knights and War Magic Corps begin occupying the territory.”

“Then the Meliad side seems resolved…”

Lepra trailed off and looked at the Varta Kingdom status board.

And after thinking for a moment, asked Doug and the command staff.

“Can we finish in 5 days? What do you think?”

According to incoming information, internal cleanup had no issues.

Even if late, everything could be sorted in 5 days.

“I think cleanup will end in about 5 days too. The problem will be after that.”

Recovering territories doesn’t end it.

Need to select managers for the territories afterward and periodically check until stabilization.

Enormous material and human costs will be consumed.

Right then.

CREAK—

The door opened, and War Magic Corps Vice-Commander Pio entered.

Pio’s expression was extremely bright.

Clearly brought good news.

“What is it?”

“His Majesty Emperor Gaon has arrived in Latrin.”

***

Latrin Great Wall.

“Damn bastards.”

Morris, on patrol, looked outside the wall.

The translucent great barrier and the monsters pounding it naturally brought curses.

“Usually they kill each other like enemies…”

Goblins, orcs, ogres, trolls, harpies, kobolds—the types of monsters attacking the great barrier were extremely diverse.

And usually, battles broke out upon encounter due to poor relations between monsters.

Yet now, as if kin, they united to attack the great barrier.

“Indeed…”

Atilla, patrolling together, shook his head and said.

“They say it wasn’t like this before…”

Monster waves have existed for hundreds of years generationally.

But it wasn’t like this from the start.

In the past, monsters fought each other.

So even if a monster wave occurred, blocking wasn’t hard.

They self-destructed.

But 40 years ago, monsters began uniting.

Right then.

BOOM! CRACK!

With an explosion, a crack appeared in the great barrier.

And seeing the crack, Morris and Atilla swallowed hard.

“Is it really okay to stay like this?”

Morris muttered with an anxious face and voice.

It wasn’t the first crack.

Numerous cracks had already formed.

At this rate, the great barrier would soon shatter.

And monsters would swarm the wall.

The upper ranks knew this situation.

The problem was the upper ranks’ response.

Upper ranks ordered harvest preparation, not battle.

At first, he thought he misheard.

Harvest when battle isn’t even over?

But no mishearing.

Confirmed multiple times, prepare harvest.

That made him more anxious.

To the point of thinking they might abandon Latrin.

Right then.

“Huh!”

Atilla let out a surprised voice.

Morris, looking at the great barrier, turned to Atilla.

Atilla, like his voice, had a surprised face looking inside the wall.

Morris followed and turned to look inside.

“…!”

And like Atilla, couldn’t help but be shocked.

Far away, a group was approaching.

Not an unidentified group.

The flag with Prince ‘Ascan’s symbol, the ‘red eagle,’ was fluttering.

The problem was Ascan not at the front of the group.

Ascan stood behind as if attending someone.

And the man Ascan attended had extremely deep black hair like Ascan.

…Wow, royalty?

From the situation, the deep black-haired man was presumed royalty.

That made his identity even more curious.

But the 1st Prince?

Ascan was the crown prince, next king.

Yet the crown prince attends?

Who on earth?

***

“Hmm…”

Gaon let out a groan.

Because of the monsters attacking the great barrier.

Who did this?

The monsters’ state was abnormal.

Abyss?

The first that came to mind was Abyss.

Given Abyss’s abilities seen so far, it was fully possible.

“Ascan.”

“Yes, Grandfather.”

“Since 40 years ago?”

“Yes, correct.”

“Investigated?”

“Formed an investigation team and sent, but the region is too dangerous…”

In the past, the Himal Mountain Range was dangerous.

But not forbidden.

After the demonic invasion, danger sharply rose, now one of the 5 forbidden areas.

“Couldn’t grasp the proper reason. But presumed an entity or artifact interfering with monsters’ minds.”

“I see.”

Gaon nodded as if understanding.

And activated his circles.

For now, why monsters were like that wasn’t important.

Cleaning the monsters was more important.

“Blizzard.”

With the incantation, a snowstorm began.

Blizzard was a 7th Circle magic.

But Gaon’s Blizzard, having entered 9th Circle, was incomparably powerful to 7th or 8th Circle times.

Monsters attacking the great barrier froze instantly in the snowstorm.

Not just attacking monsters.

Monsters waiting behind roaring were all frozen without exception.

Gaon confirmed through qi sense all gathered monsters freeze to death before stopping Blizzard.

The snowstorm vanished in an instant.

Of course, even after the snowstorm disappeared, the frozen monsters didn’t thaw.

“Ascan.”

“Yes, Grandfather.”

Ascan, blankly staring at monsters outside the great barrier, snapped back at Gaon’s call.

And Gaon continued.

“Start the harvest. And tell Lepra. I’ll check the mountain range a bit and go.”

“Yes, understood.”

Ascan answered, and Gaon left the wall and flew to the great barrier.

Soon arriving at the great barrier, Gaon passed through it, past frozen monsters, toward the mountain range.

And soon reaching the mountain range entrance, Gaon expanded his qi sense.

Ha!

Upon expansion, Gaon let out a hollow laugh.

Monsters’ behavior was strange.

So he thought something was there.

Yet found it immediately.

Multiple main forces felt.

And the strongest had crossed the wall.

Gaon was certain.

These were the cause of the monster wave.

Gaon changed direction.

And headed where the sorcerers were hiding.

Himal Mountain Range depths.

“…”

***

The beings gathered in the depths said nothing.

Merely blankly staring at their respective crystal balls.

Each crystal ball filled with frozen monsters of different types.

This isn’t the time.

The first to snap back, Pailer, hurriedly turned.

And infused mana into the huge crystal ball behind.

SWOOSH!

Soon light burst from the crystal ball, and a being appeared in the air.

“We greet 2nd Elder Bagelina.”

Pailer knelt and greeted with courtesy.

-What is it?

Bagelina asked with a puzzled face.

“Pr-Problem occurred.”

-Problem?

“Yes, all monsters died.”

…

At Pailer’s words, Bagelina fell silent for a moment.

-What do you mean? All Himal Mountain Range monsters dead?

“Yes, the range was too wide for a Blizzard, but…”

-Wait, wide-range Blizzard?

“…Yes, is there a problem.”

-Clean up immediately!

“Yes?”

At Bagelina’s urgent shout, Pailer couldn’t help but question back.

Then Bagelina shouted with a frustrated face.

-Clean up and flee right now!