Chapter 386: Descent (3)

Dragons of varying sizes and colors flew in formation across the sky. Their numbers easily reached into the hundreds. Each time one passed overhead, a whirlwind followed in its wake.

The imperial command was thrown into confusion at the sight of the dragons' sweeping wings filling the sky.

"What now?!"

"Weren't we supposed to have won?"

The Shadow of Doom had been unleashed. Surely the cult of the Black God should've withdrawn by now, and the empire should've emerged victorious. At least, that was how it should have played out according to Karnak's plan.

But instead of the enemy's retreat, an overwhelming swarm of dragons had suddenly appeared. Their sheer number outnumbered any expectation by dozens of times.

The dragons began to breathe fire. Dozens of fiery blasts rained down on the six massive pillars built atop mounds of corpses. The mages tried desperately to block the assault, but it was no use.

Most of the priests who had been protecting the strongholds had already perished at the hands of Batalok. There was no way the mages alone could defend the pillars. All across the capital, enormous pillars of flame erupted. The dragons swooped through the sky in crisscrossing arcs, unleashing breath after breath.

Surprisingly, the rank-and-file imperial soldiers responded with composure. They scattered swiftly to dodge the flames, then fired arrows and magic at the dragons as they flew past.

Unlike the panicked leaders, the regular troops somehow managed to maintain morale. And no wonder. Most of them didn't even know whether blowing up the Shadow of Doom had been a good or bad thing. No one had ever told them.

So they simply kept doing what they always did: fighting.

"Damn it, how many more of these things are going to show up?!"

"How long are we supposed to hold out?!"

At last, the imperial high command regained their senses. At this point, there was only one option left: retreat. They immediately issued the order, and even though it was an abrupt order, the imperial army moved with discipline.

They might not have fully grasped the situation, but fleeing? That was something they'd been doing constantly over the past few days. It was practically muscle memory by now. Of course, the dragons didn't let them escape without resistance.

Bombardments rained down over the retreating army's heads. But the empire didn't go down without a fight. Mages hurled lightning, ice spears, and shattering rays into the sky.

Light clashed with light, and flame with frost. Destructive power roared across both heaven and earth. Explosions rang endlessly, and the ground trembled as if an earthquake had struck.

Amid that terrible maelstrom of chaos, the citizens of the capital could do almost nothing.

They simply huddled deep in basements, trembling in fear, whispering prayers with their bodies curled into tight balls.

"Please protect us..."

But their prayers were no longer directed to the seven goddesses who had failed them, nor to the Black God who had brought this hell upon them. Now, they offered their desperate hopes to the only deity they still believed in, the Goddess of Twilight.

"Protect us... O Serakal..."

***

No matter how well-trained the imperial army was in retreat, facing hundreds of dragons was no trivial matter. Screams erupted nonstop under the endless storm of dragonfire.

Drel continued running, leaving the dying soldiers behind. I have to escape.

The Drel of old would never have abandoned them and fled. But now, Karnak's absolute command was devouring his thoughts. Coldly, mercilessly, he ignored the dying and raced toward the outskirts of the capital.

Suddenly, something blocked his path. It was a dragon unleashing breath upon the retreating soldiers.

Drel lunged forward. Anything in my way must be removed!

He scaled the wall of a building and reached the rooftop in one bound, then kicked off and launched himself into the air. In a flash, he closed the distance, soaring straight toward the descending dragon's snout.

A flash of silver light split the air. With a single strike, the dragon's wings were severed. Blood sprayed through the air as the beast shrieked and plummeted to the ground.

As Drel landed again, the nearby imperial soldiers cried out in astonishment and relief.

"W-We're alive!"

"Thank you, sir knight!"

Drel didn't respond. He hadn't done it to save them. He had simply removed an obstacle in his escape path.

I have to get out of here.

His steps only grew faster.

***

Karnak clicked his tongue while watching his vassals' movements.

Whew. Good thing I forced them with a direct command.

It wasn't just Drel. Leven, Dios, even the angelic Milia acted the same way. They were supposedly obeying orders to flee, yet, without realizing it, they kept saving people around them along the way.

What kind of people could still do that, even with their minds under compulsion?

They've got no sense of self-preservation. None at all.

Ah, of course, Varos and the four elders had taken off without a second look from the start. They were truly brimming with self-preservation. At any rate, if even a forced command yielded only this much, the results would have been obvious had he simply asked them to run.

They would've refused to leave, clinging to save even one more person, only to get caught by Tesranach and be wasted. They would have ended up just like that ashen-haired girl currently leaping across the other end of the capital.

Wrapped head-to-toe in a silvery aura, Lapicel blocked the path of the dragons threatening the imperial soldiers. With one sweeping strike, she split the incoming flames. "I won't let anyone else die!"

The divided inferno blasted through the streets of the capital. The moment Karnak saw that scene, he realized what he'd overlooked.

Damn it. Among his group, there was one girl who wasn't a vassal, yet burned with a sense of justice stronger than anyone else's. And she wasn't part of the secret message network, either. I screwed up.

Still, heading back toward Tesranach's domain was far too dangerous. Rationally, the best course was to abandon Lapicel here.

No helping it. I'll have to leave her behind.

He came to a halt. Then turned around and began chanting Wind Step once more.

Wait, what? Karnak was startled. Before he realized it, his body had already turned back, retracing his path toward Lapicel. What the hell? Why am I doing this?

***

The dragons didn't just circle overhead and breathe fire. They frequently dove low to directly attack the imperial soldiers. The looming shadow of death swept in, talons like steel reaching out. Fragile human flesh tore apart, turning into sprays of blood and hunks of meat.

Leaving those screams behind, the dragons soared upward again. That was the privilege of flight. They could strike with a deadly dive, then pull away before retaliation.

At this rate, the two-legged humans would never so much as graze a single scale of the winged dragons. Or so they thought.

With a clear, ringing cry, the ashen-haired girl chased after the dragons. Her entire body was clad in fearsome silver aura. Just from her presence alone, the dragons knew they couldn't match her and instinctively shot upward, dozens of meters into the sky.

Then the girl stretched out her right hand. A glowing aura chain, several dozen meters long, erupted upward and wrapped around a dragon's tail. At once, she yanked the chain and kicked off the ground.

It wasn't quite a leap. It was more like a launch. In a flash, she closed the distance and reached the dragons. Lapicel unleashed silver swordlight in every direction.

Tascal Swordsmanship: Twelvefold Strike!

Twelve silver crescents, completely unrelated to Tascal Swordsmanship: erupted and slashed through the surrounding dragons. Dragon blood sprayed across the sky, and they fell like hunted sparrows.

Most of the dragons were adolescents, not strong enough to recover with their own draconic magic. The fallen ones were swiftly hacked apart by imperial soldiers.

After landing once more on a nearby rooftop, Lapicel scanned her surroundings. There were still too many dragons, and far too many people still dying to them. She had to save them.

She was preparing to kick off the ground when she saw a black-blue flash streaking toward her from the eastern skies of the capital. It was the same light that had obliterated the grand cathedral of the three goddesses. It was Tesranach's attack.

Lapicel hesitated for a moment. If she dodged, the imperial troops behind her would be caught in it. But could she even block it? This was the very strike that had forced even the others to retreat.

Before she could think, her body moved on its own. She flung herself into the path of the oncoming beam and drew her sword. Just as her vision was about to be swallowed by the blinding light, a burst of flames surged up behind her. The magic was familiar.

Lord Karnak?!

Lapicel's silver aura collided midair with Karnak's chaos mana, intercepting the black-blue beam. The shockwave shook the air itself.

The impact was so powerful that it blew away the surrounding dust in all directions, leaving the center hollow, as if a hole had been punched in the sky. Moments later, as the light faded, the two of them emerged once more.

"Whew, barely stopped it." After exhaling, Karnak turned to Lapicel. "You know why I came, right?"

Lapicel shrank back. She hadn't received the message directly, but Serati had relayed the command to her. And logically, she understood Karnak's judgment. It made sense. It was just that her heart refused to accept it.

With a wry smile, Karnak shook his head. "We're pulling out, Lapicel."

"But the people..." Lapicel hesitated, then turned her gaze toward the other side of the capital. The imperial forces were still locked in a brutal struggle with the dragons. "Go on ahead. I'll save the rest of them."

Her eyes were filled with unwavering resolve. Karnak wasn't surprised. Yeah... I figured as much.

That was the kind of person she was. Past or future, child or adult, Lapicel was always, inescapably Lapicel. Karnak smiled gently. It was a soft, accepting smile, as if to say he would support her no matter what she chose.

"I'm sorry. I really am a terrible man." Lapicel blinked in confusion. His words didn't match the expression on his face. "I'm a bastard. Go ahead and hate me."

Suddenly, black hands surged up around her. A pitch-black force wrapped around her limbs and squeezed her throat.

"L-Lord Karnak?"

Startled, she tried to activate her aura, but her body wouldn't move. A shard of Karnak's dark mana had already embedded itself in her mind like a wedge.

I can't stop her aura from activating. But I can stop her will to activate it.

There was a reason Karnak had kept talking so long. He had dragged out the conversation while secretly activating his necromantic power. She had trusted him completely. She'd let her guard down completely. That made it easy to subdue her in a single moment.

For one who had once been a Monarch of Death, this was nothing. Before long, Lapicel's head drooped.

The black hand gently caught her unconscious body. Karnak gave a crooked smile. "Why am I only good at stabbing people in the back?"

Cradling Lapicel, Karnak cast Wind Step once again. He had to leave this place. The two of them swiftly disappeared toward the outskirts of the capital.