Chapter 313 – Night (3)

Cale's open palm clenched into a fist.

Crackle!
A black tree trunk dug deeper into the bottom of the airship as he did that.

"No, this can't be happening!"

The hands of the alchemist in charge were shaking. He bit down on his lips so hard that they were bleeding.

Drip.

However, he didn't have the time to pay attention to that.

"Leader-nim, it is tilting!"

Screeeech.
A chilling screech could be heard as the airship started to tilt toward one side. The alchemist grabbed onto the railing in order to maintain his balance as he glared at Cale.

Tap. Tap.
Cale was slowly walking.
The knights charged toward him like bugs being drawn toward a light, however, none of them could reach Cale.

Shhhhhhh-
Cale took a step into the air. Black tree trunks flew over one by one in order to create a staircase for him.
Cale stepped onto this spiderweb-like path of wood that he had created.

– Human, are you going?

He then started to run.
Swoooosh, the Sound of the Wind created a gust at the tip of his feet. Cale quickly followed the wind toward the airship.

The alchemist who had been watching with bloodshot eyes immediately started to shout.

"Activate the magic circle!"

Ooooooong.
The magic circle that had been prepared for a while started to light up.
A red aura was gathering on top of the large magic circle.

The alchemist then waved his hand. Black mana covered his neck while his voice that was amplified with black magic rung out to the Empire's forces.

"All soldiers should cut through the tree trunks! Aim for the enemies! Shoot the arrows!"

He quickly said a couple more things.

"Go inside the homes and find some kindling! Burn all the trees!"

The soldiers who had been blankly staring at everything finally started to move. It was because they felt as if they could really lose if things continued like this. This was especially the case for the regular soldiers who did not know much about the dead mana bombs. What they saw was both amazing and scary.

But they still had to find a way to survive.
The soldiers took out their weapons.

"L, let's go fight!"
"We need to go! We need to get to the airship before the enemies get there!"

The soldiers cut through the trunks and started to shoot arrows at the warriors who were running across the path of trunks.

The alchemist turned off his amplification magic and gave his subordinate an order.

"Call in the knights. Have all of the mages who are not handling the magic circle prepare to attack!"

'Call in the knights?'

The alchemist whispered to his subordinate who seemed confused.

"Throw the remaining dead mana bombs and magic bombs underneath the airship. I'm sure it will at least stop the tree trunks and prevent the enemies from approaching. Furthermore-"

The alchemist had a cold gaze in his eyes.

"We will lift off immediately."
The confusion in the subordinate's eyes disappeared. He figured out why they were calling in the knights and leaving the soldiers behind. They were going to escape while the soldiers tied the enemies down.
The alchemist used amplification magic once more as he started to shout again.

"Resist! Hold them back until the last of the last moments!"

The three most skilled mages who were handling the magic circle raised both of their hands up into the air as the alchemist said that.
There was a bit of rumbling as flames shot up into the sky.

Crackle.
This flame that looked like a snake with its mouth open twisted its body as it continued to shoot up.
There was a pressure coming from it as if it would burn everything in its path.

The alchemist felt that thrilling sensation from the flame as he turned his gaze.
He could see a woman smiling. The alchemist pointed at her and continued to shout.
This was the reason he had told the mages to prepare to attack.

"Launch the attack toward Commander Rosalyn!"

That was the signal.
The flame snake that rose up from the hands of three Empire mages turned around and started to head down.
The alchemists who had received the orders started to throw bombs out of the airship's lower windows at the same time.

They were throwing both dead mana bombs and regular magic bombs.
They were heading toward the black tree trunks that were grabbing onto the airship and the enemies who were running up those trunks toward them.

"Shoot the arrows!"

The soldiers' arrows headed toward the Jungle warriors as well.

Ooooooooong-
The remaining Empire mages cast spells toward Commander Rosalyn as well.
The alchemist in charge's eyes sparkled as he watched all of these attacks being launched.

"Yes! I'll destroy everything!"

His original order had been to destroy everything. It should be fine as long as the results were as planned, right?
The noises he had been waiting for could finally be heard.

Baaaaang! Bang! Bang!

It was coming from underneath the airship.
The bombs were detonating.

"We are lifting off!"

Ooooooooong-
The airship slowly started to activate. Alchemists in the cockpit were holding onto highest-grade magic stones as they prepared for liftoff.

'Good, we just need to continue like this for a bit longer.'

The alchemist turned his head and made eye contact with Rosalyn. He started to laugh while seeing her covered by the Empire's attacks.

"Kahahaha! I'm sure you can't block all of these attacks even if you are a highest-grade mage! This is the end for you too!"

He saw as the flame snake missed Rosalyn and charged toward the ground.
It should burn up all of the trees.

"Kahahahaha!"

The alchemist could not hide his laughter.
It was at that moment.

Smirk.
The corner of Rosalyn's lips started to curl up.

"…Why are you smiling?"

The alchemist instantly stopped laughing and started to frown. The Empire's spells reached Rosalyn at that moment.

Baaaaang! Baaaaang! Baaaaaang!
Light appeared in the night sky as if fireworks were going off.
The alchemist could see Rosalyn curled up with a shield around her once the explosions ended and smoke started to appear.

'…I expected that.'

Yes, someone at Rosalyn's level should be able to defend against attacks from other mages.

'But she should not be able to stop that flame snake after having to defend against all of those attacks!'

The alchemist was thinking that way before his face turned pale.

"…Huh?"

The flame snake that had been heading toward the tree trunks suddenly stopped.

"What the…? Why aren't you attacking?"

He heard the response from the mages behind him.

"Ugh!"
"Ugh! Just what-"
"Gasp!"

Well, they weren't really responses.
They were screams and moans.
The three mages above the magic circle were groaning.
He wanted to turn his head to look at them but he was unable to do so.

"…Unbelievable."

Crackle.
He was looking at the burning snake. It stopped in mid-air before changing directions.

The mouth of the snake that had been aiming for the tree trunks down below was turned around.
It was now pointing toward the airship.

The target of its attack had changed.

'Is there such a spell?'

Then there was someone patting the head of that flame snake.

"…W, who is that person-?"

The alchemist could see a man with white-gold hair.
He had a white-gold aura around his body and shined like a star. That man was the one trying to turn the Empire's attack into his own.

"Rosalyn, are you okay?"

Rosalyn removed the shield, stood up straight again, and nodded her head.
She then moved to stand behind Eruhaben, the man with white-gold hair. Her role today was backup.
It could not be helped.
A Dragon, a being at the peak of magic, was going to take charge.
Furthermore, it was the oldest Dragon on the continent.

Eruhaben lightly snapped his fingers.

Snap.

The large flame snake disappeared from that small noise.
That devil-like flame snake turned into gold dust and disappeared.

"H, how is this-"

The alchemist got chills after seeing that calm attack. That was not regular magic.
He could not help but be full of fear.

It was at that moment.

Baaaaaaaaaang!

An explosion cut through the night.

"Aaaaaah!"
"Grab on!"

The airship violently started to shake.
The alchemist looked toward his subordinate who urgently started to shout.

"It is useless!"
"What?
What is useless?"

The subordinate shouted back with despair on his face.

"All of the attacks are useless!"

Screeeech-
The bottom of the airship shook once more.

"The Dark Elves, the Dark Elves are destroying everything and climbing up!"

The subordinate quickly recited the information he had received.

The Dark Elves were blocking any dead mana bombs that the alchemists were throwing down. They just absorbed the dead mana as they ran wild.
Tasha, who was covered in black liquid and dead mana, shouted from the middle of the group.

"Absorb it all! Show them the strength of the people who use dead mana as a source of strength!"

Litana and the black panther Ten were then using the path that the Dark Elves created for them in order to attack the airship.
The black tree trunks weren't stopping their attacks either.

The subordinate handed over the video communication device where the others were reporting in as he continued to shout.

"Most of the Jungle warriors have almost arrived as well!"
"What about the soldiers? Shouldn't they have stopped at least some of them?!"

The subordinate shook his head at the alchemist's question.

"Apparently the trees are shielding them!"
"What?"

The Empire's soldiers were shooting arrows or slashing their swords toward the warriors who were climbing the tree trunks to approach the airship, but nothing could reach them.

"Block everything. Don't make them stop."

Cale's orders reached all of the tree trunks in Section 7.
The tree trunks and the Indestructible Shield started to move.
The shield was protecting the allied soldiers.

"It's blocked again!"
"Damn it! Those damn tree trunks!"

The Empire's swords and arrows could not pierce through these trunks that were weaved together in the shape of a shield.

That was why the Jungle warriors could run without worry.
They had realized the existence of these shields that were protecting them.

That was why the enemy was afraid.
They had no way to pierce through.
All of their attacks were useless.
This was the true strength of defense.

An enemy who realized this shouted toward their leader.

"Leader-nim, it is difficult to lift off because the bottom of the airship is stuck!"

'Damn it!'

The alchemist's face turned white.
He then saw that the grey orb he received from his subordinate was glowing.

"…Your highness."

Imperial Prince Adin was contacting him. The order he had given earlier to contact the Imperial Prince had finally gone through.
He connected the video communication device with shaking hands. This rat in a jar needed somewhere to lean on.
The call soon connected.

– How is it going? Why did you send an emergency call?

He could hear Imperial Prince Adin's voice.

"Y, your-"
– …Pull it together. First, tell me what is going on.

Adin consoled the alchemist with a pretty gentle tone and urged him to relax and describe the situation.

"Y, your highness-"

However, the alchemist was still unable to speak.
He could not speak.

The things he was seeing in front of his eyes were making him unable to say anything.

Screech- screech.
That was the only noise that could be heard on the silent airship.
The noise was coming from something rising up from the bottom of the airship.

It was as dark as the night.
It was a large bird made of black bones.
The black skeleton bird's black eyes flashed as it glared at the people on top of the airship's deck.

There was someone standing on that black skeleton bird.

Choi Han's sword was glowing with his black aura as he pointed it toward the enemies on top of the airship.

Crackle.
Crumble.

Black beings jumped up onto the deck as the railing started to break.
The Dark Elves who were covered in dead mana were climbing up the side of the airship with their elementals to get to the deck.
The large black panther and Litana, as well as the Jungle people, soon climbed up as well.

The black beings who had crawled up from the bottom did not say anything. They just stood with their pointing their weapons at the enemies.

– …Why is it so quiet?

Adin's voice coming from the video communication device rang out across the deck.
All he could see was the face of the alchemist who made the call. This was because the alchemist had the video communication device in his arms and urgently connected it without setting it up somewhere.
Adin could not see the battlefield nor even anything around the alchemist.

– Turn the screen toward the battlefield.

Adin's voice lowered and he coldly gave the order.
However, the alchemist's hands were still shaking, and he was unable to move.

"Y, your highness-"

All he could do was call out Adin's name.

The alchemist's eyes turned toward the video communication device.
Although he could hear Adin's voice, the only thing he could see through the screen was a black screen.
Adin was covering the video communication device with a black cloth either because he could not show his injured self or because he couldn't show what he was doing right now.

However, Adin should be looking at him right now through his screen.
The alchemist slowly moved his shaking pupils to the side of the video communication device whille knowing that Adin was looking.

It all happened in a moment.
A man was standing next to him.

It was the mage with white-gold hair.
The alchemist's body stiffened up as the man's white gold mana surrounded him.
Only his face was free to move.

He could see that the mage with white-gold hair was smiling. The alchemist gasped.
He could see that those eyes were the same as any regular human's eyes.
However, those eyes instantly turned into the eyes of a different creature.

'H, he's not human!'

He started to feel fear.
He heard Adin's voice once more.

– …Did you not hear my order?

Adin was about to end the call in anger after only seeing the alchemist's stiff expression.
It was at that moment.

"I can hear you loud and clear."

He heard a familiar voice.
The video communication device soon started to shake and Adin could see someone's face.

– …Cale Henituse.

It was the last person to climb onto the airship.
Cale joyfully greeted Adin who was calling his name.

"I heard you lost your right leg and that you were injured by your chest? I'm glad you somehow managed to live."

However, his eyes were colder than ever before.
He continued to speak to the video communication device that only showed a black screen.

"Adin, let me take a look at your face. Are you really okay? I was worried that you might have died, you bastard."

Cale's voice sounded as if he was really worried.
However, that bright smile instantly twisted into the face of a jackass.

'I will definitely kill you myself.'

Cale recalled what he had said to Adin last time.
He would not forget everything the Imperial family and the black mages tried to do.
Cale almost whispered toward the video communication device.

"It would be a shame for you to die like that since you need to die by my hands."

Cale's smiling face seemed like a fitting expression for trash.

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Yu Ryeo Han]

[Translator – Anowa]

[Proofreader – Rai_Mayank]