Chapter 121 – Chapter 20: Blitz #4
Despite it being a few hours since the battle ended, Diotima, the lamia and leader of the fifth base, still felt feverish.
The fifth base had been on the verge of being taken. Half of the gate had been broken, and there had been areas on the wall which had been penetrated.
Due to struggling greatly against the barbarians, they had been able to hold on for three days. However, that had been their limit. The only thing left in their future had been to either die at the hands of the barbarians or take down more barbarians before dying.
Then a white glow poured down from the sky. The explosion had been deafening, and Diotima had closed her eyes reflexively.
When she opened them again, Diotama had found herself looking at the back of a king with a white aura around him.
He was the 9th Prince.
However, he wasn’t a king; he was still a boy. Diotima had heard rumours about the 9th Prince, who had been called the Prince of Scraps just a few years ago.
Even so, she had no choice but to think of him as a king. His appearance made her think so.
Like the rest of the Evian troops, Diotima was a soldier. She had seen many rough things in Evian where outlaws dominated. It wasn’t loyalty to the demon king but the monthly salary that made her stay at the fifth base. However, she had stayed with the fifth base until the end, so she wouldn’t accept surrendering to the barbarians.
Despite that, Diotima felt something in her heart the moment she saw the back of the 9th Prince.
It would be fair to say that her heart had been captured. However, it wasn’t strange that she had been conquered.
Diotima had made a decision the moment the 9th Prince destroyed the enemies in the vicinity and turned around to hold out a hand to her.
She would follow this person; this person was her king.
It was somewhat embarrassing for a woman her age to be filled with such enthusiasm. However, it couldn’t be helped as such feelings had ignited in her heart.
After 9th Prince’s appearance, the 8th Princess, the lycanthropes and the dark elves had broken through the barbarians. She had seen the faces of Caligula of the seventh base and Rothov of the sixth base, who had come here as well. When she had asked why they were here, the two of them laughed and gave the same answer.
“King… No, we followed the prince.”
Diotima understood their words as they all shared the same feelings.
Of course, she then asked about the seventh and sixth base and was skeptical about the fact that they ran to this place.
Certainly, Diotima could never have imagined it. Anyway, thanks to that, Diotima and the fifth base had been saved.
Although she had fought for three days and nights, sleep didn’t come very easily. The fever blooming in her heart overwhelmed the fatigue that had accumulated for three days. Even now, she could see the white flag flickering in the wind when she closed her eyes.
Diotima forced herself to lie down and sleep. However, she couldn’t help letting out a sigh of admiration as she recalled the appearance of 9th Prince’s back in battle today.
9th Prince…
Evian’s saviour, who had rescued three bases in just three days.
She may have witnessed a legendary moment.
A shy smile appeared on Diotima’s face.
&
While Diotima and the other soldiers from each base were building up fantasies about In-gong, his group was scattered around their accommodations with fatigued faces.
It was natural. They’d had to run around wildly, time and time again. Additionally, they’d had to participate in three big battles. It would be strange if they weren’t exhausted.
As soon as the battle was over, Carack set up several large tents obtained from the warehouse of the fifth base. There were plenty of supplies in the warehouse, so In-gong kept everything in his inventory except for the things that were absolutely necessary.
It was somewhat awkward to set up a tent in a room, but it didn’t seem so strange anymore since this was the third time.
Among the three tents, the largest one was where everybody was gathered.
Caitlin, the most lucid one among them, spoke with a bright smile,
“Shutra is awesome.”
He had actually secured three bases in three days. Moreover, he hadn’t simply secured them. Caitlin knew that the soldiers of the three bases felt sincere respect and gratitude towards him. The mixed forces of the lycanthropes and dark elves now took In-gong as their leader.
They had been running constantly for three days, and whenever Caitlin looked at In-gong’s back, she felt a thrill. She felt like she should always follow him.
Felicia smiled at Caitlin’s admiring words. After Caitlin, who was sitting on a chair, spoke, Felicia collapsed onto a leather rug and spoke in a voice like she was dying,
“Too much. Shutra, are you trying to kill me?”
Her voice was playful, so there didn’t seem to be any resentment.
In-gong made a very apologetic face from beside her.
“Sorry.”
The one who was probably the worst off was Felicia. She had squeezed all her magic into recovery and almost fainted everyday from being so drained. However, it had been inevitable since their rush had been wild and reckless.
Unlike In-gong and Caitlin, she wasn’t a warrior. In addition to the physical fatigue, the mental fatigue was severe as well.
“Hurts… My legs are sore…”
Felicia whined as she felt the pain through her whole body, and In-gong looked at Felicia with uncomfortable eyes.
“Sorry, just a little bit more.”
He wanted to tell her to take a rest, but unfortunately, he couldn’t as Felicia was indispensable when it came to strategy and magic.
“Shutra is too much.”
Felicia whined again. Unlike Felicia, Caitlin was her usual self. She was the most energetic person in the group.
“Anyway… let’s talk about the future. …6th Princess should get up. You need to maintain your dignity as a princess.”
Alita helped raise Felicia up. Felicia moved until her body was half lying on a cushion. Then Alita eventually gave up and sat down next to Felicia.
Kaparang pretended not to notice Felicia and Alita, and said to In-gong,
“9th Prince, the number of troops have increased considerably with the addition of the fifth base. There were three consecutive wins, so the morale is extremely high. It is also encouraging that we have lost few troops in the meantime.”
The 400 troops at the beginning had now reached approximately 2,300.
In addition to the troops which were added today from the fifth base, there were 400 people stationed at the seventh base and 600 people at the sixth base.
There were some casualties among the soldiers of each base, but the first 400 reinforcements didn’t have any losses, proving they were elites.
It was really great considering that the 400 elites had participated in all three battles.
The winning streak meant it was inevitable that morale was high. Moreover, in all three battles, they had saved allied despairing soldiers, so the sense of accomplishment among the soldiers was very high.
Despite the fact that the leaders were tired, this was the best condition they could be in.
Carack asked In-gong,
“Prince, the third and fourth bases are in different locations and have different situations. What do you want to do?”
There were two reasons for In-gong to advance to the sixth and seventh bases.
One was that the bases were in an emergency situation and about to be occupied. The other reason was to avoid isolating General Vandal and allowing him to be defeated by the barbarians once his supply lines were cut off.
The locations of the third and fourth Evian bases were scattered, so they couldn’t be saved in the same way. Moreover, the fourth base had already fallen.
They had accumulated a considerable amount of fatigue by advancing straight to the fifth base.
In-gong organized things in his head and said,
“We will wait at the fifth base. Tomorrow will be a day for the soldiers to rest and for the captured barbarians to be interrogated… We will gather information about those scattered around Evian.”
Nayatra was already questioning the barbarian prisoners as she had special methods to get information from prisoners. Moreover, she had been in charge of interrogation in Knight Saga as well.
“Well, it is reasonable.”
Carack nodded, while Felicia was relieved they wouldn’t be moving tomorrow.
Kaparang spoke again,
“Three days have passed since the emergency situation emerged in Evian, and the Demon King’s Palace should be planning for additional reinforcements. If it is General Vandal, we won’t have to hurry for a while.”
The situation had changed thanks to the three consecutive victories. Once again, it was a truly huge achievement.
‘Reinforcements from the Demon King’s Palace.’
The situation with the barbarians was completely different from the Red Lightning Tribe’s rebellion. The Demon King’s Palace wouldn’t spare their support for something like this.
In-gong closed his eyes and thought for a moment.
He compared the reality current right to the barbarian uprising in Knight Saga.
In Knight Saga, the barbarian king had the Dragon King’s Golden Helmet. As a result, he had been able to unite the barbarians beyond the boundary and formed an unprecedentedly huge army of barbarians.
However, at present, the barbarian king didn’t have the Dragon King’s Golden Helmet.
So, how could he have the strength to gather the barbarians?
‘The Death Knight.’
Naturally, In-gong thought of the Death Knight. Just like how he had held hands with the guardians who had gone crazy in Spider Forest, the Death Knight might be supporting the barbarian king.
If so, how far did the power of the Death Knight stretch?
‘The timing is different.’
The timing between In-gong becoming a Conquest Knight and Gerard becoming a Famine Knight was different. In-gong had become the Conquest Knight earlier. However, with this situation, the Death Knight could have been even earlier than him. It wasn’t just a few months, but maybe even years earlier.
If this situation was due to the Death Knight…
What was he aiming for? If he was someone longing for the world to end like the last flame said, were these actions related to bringing about the end?
Moreover, the War Knight…
Did he exist now? If so, what was he doing?
Questions led to more questions. However, In-gong finished organizing his thoughts as he had to focus on Vandal and the barbarians now.
“It’s late. Let’s stop for today.”
Everyone agreed with Alita’s suggestion. Kaparang and Carack left the tent first, while Delia and Alita lifted Felicia up forcefully. However, Felicia shook her head.
“Aunt Alita, why don’t I sleep in the tent with Caitlin today?”
Caitlin rose instantly at Felicia’s question, and Alita frowned, but it wasn’t because Caitlin was sleeping in this tent.
“This is 9th Prince’s tent.”
In-gong and Caitlin had been exhausting their aura everyday. So, in order to speed up their aura recovery, they slept together like they had done in the lycanthrope villa. Just holding hands increased the speed of aura recovery noticeably.
“It is just sleeping in the same tent. Anyway, there will be Seira and Green Wind as well.”
Felicia said in an annoyed voice, and Caitlin nodded quickly. She seemed very excited by the idea of sleeping with Felicia.
“It can’t be helped. I understand.”
Alita sighed in agreement and Felicia settled back with a contented face, while Caitlin started to prepare her bed next to Felicia.
Alita looked at the sight with a smile and said,
“It is nice to have a good time between sisters. I will see you tomorrow.”
“Goodnight, Aunt Alita.”
Alita patted Felicia’s head gently and left In-gong’s tent.
“Then we are ready.”
Delia was lying on Felicia’s left side while Caitlin was on her right. Seira lay on Caitlin’s right, while In-gong was a short distance away from Seira. Even if their bodies weren’t touching, they could trigger the quad-core if they were within a certain distance.
Some time passed.
In-gong normally slept alone, so it wasn’t easy to sleep in a tent filled with women. Although he was already used to Caitlin and he was exhausted, he couldn’t manage to sleep due to the added presences of Felicia and Delia.
In-gong counted sheep in his head before raising his body quietly. Felicia and Caitlin were sleeping serenely. Caitlin was hugging Felicia tightly like a teddy bear, and she looked really happy.
She had always wanted to get along with the other children of the demon king. However, ironically, she wasn’t a child of the demon king, and this had caused her to fight with the actual children.
‘Not anymore.’
In-gong gazed at Caitlin with a relaxed smile. He laughed as Felicia made a loud sound during her sleep.
He didn’t know how long he watched the two people while they slept.
A white light suddenly appeared above In-gong’s head. Additionally, unlike the usual level-ups, bells started jingling.
Caitlin’s eyes opened because of the sound, while Felicia’s and Delia’s eyes twitched just before they woke up as well. Seira was awakened by the rustling noises the three of them made.
“Shutra?”
“Your Highness?”
In-gong blinked in confusion as they spoke. Then the voice of a woman was heard in In-gong’s ears,
[Happy birthday.]
‘Huh?’
[You are now 15 years old.]
[Your level has risen.]
[The level of Protagonist Correction has increased.]
[The level of Battlefield Protection has increased.]
[At the age of 15, your physical abilities have improved.]
[You have grown taller.]
[Muscle mass has increased.]
Following the voice, letters made of light were listed one after the other.
He had levelled up during the three battles, and he had now gained another level. Was this a birthday perk? Moreover, once he reached level 30, the level of Protagonist Correction increased as well.
In-gong recalled the tea party with Baikal. At that time, Baikal had talked about birthday presents.
‘Were the birthday presents for today?’
His birthday was today.
It was nice to level up, but it felt a bit awkward. Additionally, he had to explain to Caitlin and the others about what was going on.
It was at that moment…
“Master! Congratulations!”
Green Wind shouted, appeared behind In-gong suddenly.
“Congratulations?”
“Today is the day that Master was born. I know because I am Master’s knight.”
Green Wind replied to Felicia’s question with a wide smile. It seemed like the news about his birthday was given to all of his knights.
“Shutra… your birthday?”
“You should have told me earlier.”
“Congratulations on your birthday.”
“Congratulations.”
Caitlin, Felicia, Delia and Seira spoke in turn.
In-gong nodded again. Anyway, he had levelled up. Unlike usual the usual level-ups, regardless of whether it was a birthday privilege or something else, his aura and mental power were now completely restored.
‘This is good.’
There was nothing wrong with it, and In-gong was happy to reply to everyone.
Simultaneously, a noise was suddenly heard from outside the tent. Everyone’s heads turned toward the entrance of the tent as Carack entered.
Did Carack also appear to celebrate his birthday?
However, that wasn’t the case. In-gong knew it the moment he saw Carack’s face.
Everyone’s gazes focused on Carack as he said,
“General Vandal’s main force was defeated.”
&
There were thousands of corpses on the desolate land. The smell of death caused the wild beasts and birds to gather, but the number of corpses was overwhelming, and the smell of death couldn’t be removed.
The barbarian army advanced. There was no hesitation in their footsteps despite having caused this tragedy.
The one who led them was…
Barbarian King Karatus.
He was a man born on the battlefield and who was always on the battlefield.
Barbarian King Karatus took a step forward, and he looked toward the north.