Chapter 208 – Descendants of the Ancient Empire (3)

It seemed other people didn’t know the goddess was wandering around possessing the saint.

Not only the knight order but even Iliana clearly treated her as a saint, not as the goddess.

Well, if anything seemed off, she could just release the possession and run away, so it seemed to be no problem for the goddess.

Sun-woo shook his head and moved with the others toward the spatial transfer facility next to the magic tower.

The area around the magic tower was quiet except for the noise made by the group.

The surroundings of the magic tower north of the kingdom’s capital had always prohibited civilian access.

It was a rule created not because of problems like thieves or spies, but to prevent people from getting hurt by the wizards’ experiments.

And now, soldiers were even stationed around the magic tower.

The kingdom still hadn’t informed its citizens about the monsters’ rampage.

The reason was to avoid causing anxiety among the kingdom’s people.

And the magic tower’s spatial transfer circle also prohibited civilian access under the pretext of military operations.

Of course, some nobles had obtained information in advance and evacuated to the capital, but ordinary people became completely unable to use the spatial transfer circle.

Of course, ordinary citizens didn’t have the money to use the spatial transfer circle anyway.

“Well, it’s actually because of military operations. To spatially transfer the forces moving now requires an enormous amount of mana.”

The wizard who first guided Sun-woo readily answered Sun-woo’s curiosity.

He seemed to have completely established himself as a wizard dedicated to Sun-woo.

That was probably why the tower master assigned him beside Sun-woo.

At that sight, other wizards following from a distance showed very resentful expressions.

That was because everyone wanted to obtain even a little information from Sun-woo.

Information about how to operate the five golems following behind the group and about ancient magic…

And the wizard assigned next to Sun-woo was partly there to obtain ancient magic from Sun-woo, but clearly also to prevent him from leaking information to mercenaries or people from other countries.

The way he became extremely tense whenever someone tried to talk to Sun-woo made Sun-woo’s speculation into reality.

Though the kingdom and magic tower seemed to consider it very important, it wasn’t a particularly important issue for Sun-woo.

If necessary, he could transfer administrator authority, but he just didn’t feel the need to do so.

Shortly after, people moved one by one through the spatial transfer circle erected next to the magic tower.

Where they were going was the kingdom’s eastern military stronghold and the castle of the eastern border lord.

It was close to where monsters were rampaging, and they decided to travel on foot from the castle.

After people disappeared one by one from the spatial transfer circle, Sun-woo also started spatial transfer.

Whirr.

When the bright light disappeared and Sun-woo looked around again, he frowned.

The noise of war reached his ears.

Kyaaaah! Kraaang!

The monsters’ screams came from the sky and distant places, followed by people’s shouts.

“Block them! Fire all the arrows you have!”

“The castle walls can’t fall! If we let them inside, it’s over!”

“Stick closer together! The priests are here! You won’t change!”

“Ah! Reinforcements have arrived!”

At the voices suddenly pouring in, Sun-woo closed the senses he’d opened a bit more.

And Sun-woo hurriedly left the building with the spatial transfer magic circle.

The castle was currently at war with monsters.

Inside the outer walls were buildings emitting smoke everywhere and monsters flying through the sky breathing fire downward. And orcs and goblins climbing the outer walls surrounding the town inside the castle, and soldiers blocking them.

It was clearly a very dangerous situation, but that danger was rapidly decreasing.

Because people who arrived before Sun-woo had stepped forward.

Hit by magic shot toward the sky, monsters began falling downward, and knights and mercenaries were rapidly running toward the castle walls.

After examining the battle situation, Sun-woo realized there was no need for him to step forward.

Then this wasn’t Sun-woo’s battlefield.

***

Some time later, the prince stood in front of the closed castle gate receiving a report.

“The monsters’ expansion was faster than expected. The separate unit moving with the priests tried to block them, but the offensive was harsher than expected, so they ultimately had no choice but to retreat.”

The knight in charge of the castle’s defense reported the situation so far to the prince.

Originally, where the monsters were expanding was quite far from here.

Thanks to the monsters continuing their expansion decreasing their expansion speed after exhausting their strength, everyone thought they had some breathing room.

But that thought was wrong. From last night, the monsters’ advance started again.

They discovered it without delay and a separate unit departed to intercept, but the separate unit failed to intercept and had no choice but to withdraw to the city.

Moreover, unluckily, monsters pursued the fleeing separate unit.

In the end, the separate unit ended up herding monsters to this city.

At the knight’s words, the prince made an absurd expression.

“Who’s the interception team leader?”

“Sir Johan. He died in action during the operation.”

The prince let out an empty laugh. Because the person in charge died during the operation, they ran away merrily and brought monsters with them.

It was a mistake that made their activities so far meaningless.

But now wasn’t the time to impose punishment. They succeeded in blocking the monsters attacking the castle, but many monsters still remained outside the castle.

Following the monsters the separate unit brought, other monsters were steadily running over.

“Should I think we saved the trouble of searching?”

The prince who clicked his tongue mounted his horse. Though he hadn’t ridden a horse for a long time while working as a mercenary, he hadn’t forgotten how to ride.

Mounting the horse, he looked behind him.

The kingdom’s knight order members, mercenaries, and the Holy Nation’s holy knight order looking at the castle gate while tense.

In each group, priests had taken position and were bestowing blessings on everyone.

This eliminated the immediate risk of contamination. However, since they were taking the priests who were at the castle outside, the people inside the castle would conversely face increased probability of exposure to contamination.

The saint who came with the holy knight order said while giving a benediction that there was no worry for a while, but they couldn’t just trust those words.

They had to eliminate the contaminated monsters crowding outside the castle as quickly as possible.

The prince raised his sword while mounted.

The ancient kingdom’s treasured sword emitted intense light.

“We eliminate the monsters that invaded the kingdom! Everyone trust me and follow behind me!”

His appearance holding the sword looked like the hero who founded the kingdom had returned.

Waaah!

The knight order and soldiers defending the castle shouted, and even the mercenaries felt their hearts warming.

“The golems are ready too.”

Behind the holy knights, five golems stood in hunched postures.

Unlike before, they looked somehow unstable.

“Is there no problem moving?”

“It seems control is possible with boarding permission. It consumes quite a bit of mana, but our wizards can sufficiently bear that much.”

“I’m asking if they can fight, rather than that.”

As a prince who saw the golems perform on the island, he was worried about their unstable movements.

“Don’t worry. Our kingdom’s wizards are at the pinnacle of mana control.”

At the continuously circular conversation, the prince had no choice but to nod while sighing.

He could only hope they’d at least push with their bulk.

“But why isn’t that person participating in battle…”

Though the wizard thought Sun-woo would be useless if he didn’t operate the golems, he couldn’t say such things in front of the prince.

At his question, the prince looked around at the people.

Even excluding Sun-woo, there were people among those going outside who weren’t visible.

Daniel and Alda, and Knight Commander Iliana and the saint who came with the knight order.

For some reason, the knight order was sighing at the semi-priest who returned instead of the disappeared saint.

“I gave them separate missions.”

In reality, he’d received notification that they’d move separately, but he couldn’t say such things where subordinates were.

He wanted to move with them too, but what they were doing and what he had to do were different.

Kuguugugung!

While making a regretful expression for a moment, the prince’s ears heard the sound of the castle gate rising.

And behind the castle gate, he saw monsters running toward the castle.

The prince shouted loudly and rode his horse.

“For the Kingdom of Kudas!”

The prince and knight order holding up the shining sword shot out toward the monsters.

It was the first deployment of Prince Gristin, who would be called the returned hero king in the distant future.

***

At the same time.

At the entrance of a deep valley in the eastern mountain range, a group of people spatially transferred.

Daniel and Alda, and Saint Lydias and Knight Commander Iliana. And Sun-woo.

“Ouch!”

Thanks to Sun-woo still not being accustomed to spatial transfer, the group ended up spatially transferring to midair somewhat away from the ground.

Alda, whose physical abilities were inferior, landed on her bottom.

Sun-woo sighed looking at Alda like that.

He tried to come alone, but instead came with baggage hanging all over him.

After confirming the fight at the castle, Sun-woo was convinced they could sufficiently deal with the monsters even without him.

The kingdom’s knight order and wizards, and the holy knight order and mercenaries, and even the summoners.

On top of that, with five golems from the ancient magic empire, they could sufficiently catch the contaminated monsters rampaging without organization.

The problem was that the monsters that had calmed down a bit were rampaging again.

When Sun-woo released a bit of divine power to confirm the reason, he could feel the power he’d felt before from the eastern mountain range direction.

It was demonic energy.

Fortunately, it wasn’t demonic energy felt directly from the Demon Lord, but it was the same energy as the demonic energy felt inside the dungeon where they summoned the Demon Lord.

Clearly someone was summoning the Demon Lord in the eastern mountain range.

A summoning ritual done to possess the Demon Lord in something.

Thanks to that, monsters in the mountain range were rampaging.

The fact that monsters moved again this time meant the summoning was ending.

He didn’t know the reason for possessing the Demon Lord in a place that wasn’t a dungeon, but he knew there was an existence in the eastern mountain range suitable for possession.

Dragon.

Red Dragon Zigmund.

The dragon that was the original body of incarnation Isabel was there.

Naturally, Sun-woo, who was about to go to Zigmund’s lair by spatial transfer, explained the situation to Daniel out of consideration for him.

Because his lover Isabel was also sleeping in Zigmund’s lair.

The problem was that Daniel, after hearing the story, threw away guarding the prince and tried to follow, and Alda, who eavesdropped on the conversation through spirits, stuck along.

On top of that, the saint, no, the goddess who caught on stuck along, and Knight Commander Iliana, who was worried about the saint moving together, ended up moving together.

Sun-woo shook his head and moved his steps toward the large hole leading to the lair.

From there, intense demonic energy kept flowing out.