Chapter 412 – Holding Back the Tears (3)

Cale let out a scoff.

'What nonsense is, 'are you going to give me magic stones?' '

He could only laugh at the cheapskate fiery thunderbolt's tone.

'I handed over all of the magic stones bags to Miss Rosalyn.'

In addition to the magic stones, he left all issues related to Becrock with Rosalyn and Sir Rex.

– …How disappointing.

Cale couldn't believe this cheapskate who was timidly mumbling.

'Do you know how much money you've eaten already?'

He had given this cheapskate close to 10 billion counds last time.

– …I have nothing to say but I am still disappointed.

Cale just shook his head side to side.
Anyway, he needed to use the Fire of Destruction. He had no idea of knowing when Mary would arrive.
It was at that moment.

Saint Jack had gotten off Beacrox's back and approached Cale.

"Young master-nim, it was so chaotic that I could only give this to you now."

'Hmm?'

Cale flinched.
He could see the spatial pocket bag Saint Jack was handing over.

"Ah, I received one from the capital as well."

Beacrox also took a spatial pocket bag out and handed it over.

"Take it."

Hannah threw something to him as well. It was also a spatial pocket bag.

They were all spatial pocket bags filled with magic stones.
Two of them were stolen from the remaining two Alchemists' Towers while the third was one Beacrox had received from the capital just in case it was needed.

– Human! Are those all magic stones? We are magic stones rich!

He could hear the whisper of the cheapskate behind Raon's excited voice.

– …Heh, looks like you are rich?

'Damn it.'

Cale started to frown. He had an odd feeling he was going to be robbed.

"Are you done greeting each other?"

Cale raised his head while still frowning because of the cheapskate. The top of the Northern Alchemists' Tower.
The Lion King sitting there leisurely continued to speak.

He was looking at Cale and the others with interest.

"I've heard the stories, but it is different seeing the real thing in person."

Hannah who had been watching this with a stoic expression started to speak.

"Something is weird. He looks so weak."

The Lion King.
The middle-aged looked feeble. His hair that shot out like a lion's mane looked wild, but his scarred body that didn't seem to have any muscles made him look weak.
However, Hannah could not stop frowning.

"But w, why does he feel strong?"

The feeble middle-aged man seemed very strong.
She could not tell how strong he was.

A sword master like her could not determine the level of the enemy's strength.
She heard someone's voice at that moment.

"It's because he is the Lion King."

She turned her head toward Cale.

The Lion tribe.
They were a tribe known for being one of the five strongest Beast people tribes.
He was the King of that Lion tribe.

The corners of Hannah's lips slowly curled up.

"Ah, so you are saying he is the strongest of the Lions, right?"
"Yeah."

Hannah's expression brightened after hearing he was the strongest. Cale pointed to the top of the tower.

"Resist as long as you can."
"…You want me to resist and not defeat him?"

Hannah's face instantly turned into a scowl.

"Then defeat him."

She smiled at Cale's nonchalant addition. She knew it as well. The fact that she could not tell how strong the Lion King was meant that she was slightly weaker than him.

Ooooooong-

Her aura that was a mix of black and gold shot out from her sword.

"I'll send you up."

Hannah immediately kicked off the ground and charged toward the tower after hearing Cale's voice.

Swooooooosh-

A whirlwind surrounded both of her feet.
Hannah stomped as strong as she could.

Boom! Boom!

Hannah's body shot up toward the top of the tower after two stomps.
She could see the face of the middle-aged man who was supposed to be the Lion King.
She instantly swung her sword.

Chhhhhhh-

Gold aura shot out like a boomerang toward the middle-aged man.

Baaaaang!

There was a loud explosion on top of the tower.

Tap.

Hannah landed on a ledge on top of the Northern Alchemists' Tower and looked forward as she smiled.

"How entertaining."

She could see the middle-aged man.
The Lion King who had destroyed the gold aura by hitting it with his bare hand was shaking his hand as if it hurt.

"You are stronger than I thought. How wonderful."

He then gave Hannah a thumbs up with his other hand.
His face that was now full of life seemed so excited to see Hannah that he could not contain himself.

He lightly pounded his fists together.

Baaaaang!

But the sound of his fists hitting each other did not sound light at all. Hannah became even warier after seeing the Lion King who had shaken his hand as if he was in pain get rid of her aura so easily.
The Lion King smiled at this as he started to speak.

"My fighter's blood is starting to boil."

Hannah responded to him.

"They said you're a King?"
"Hooo!"

He looked amazed.

"Cale Henituse's side has quite a lot of information! He even knew that I was the king! This is shocking, very shocking!"

Peek.

His gaze headed to the people behind him.
Hannah could also see who was on top of the tower.

There were knights, black mages, mages, and some Lions.
And finally…

"…Holy Maiden-nim."
"H, Holy Maiden-nim."

There were soldiers tied up on the ground shaking in fear as they called out for her.
These soldiers were supposed to be Hannah's enemies, but they were so overwhelmed with fear that they saw Hannah as a final lifeline.

Hannah then heard the Lion King start to speak to the people on top of the tower.

"How do you think my identity leaked out to Cale Henituse?"

His oddly dopy and feeble gaze instantly turned vicious. A few people stepped forward while the majority of the group lowered their heads or stiffened up after seeing that vicious gaze.

"My king!"

The person who stepped forward the most shouted at that moment.

"We will take care of this enemy!"
"Yes, your majesty! We will make her kneel!"

Hannah's expression turned odd.
They looked like loyal vassals of a lord. It was odd because she had never seen any of the White Star's subordinates treating anybody else this way.

"No need."

The Lion King's demeanor was odd as well.
Normally, the White Star's subordinates would think it was great and push their subordinates forward or say something like, 'you think I can't take care of someone at her level?' before charging at her.

But that was not the case.
This person was different.

"She is too strong for you guys to defeat."

He smiled at Hannah before speaking to his subordinates with a gentle tone as if he had not glared at them viciously a moment before.

"Step back. Don't get caught up in our fight and end up injured. We can't have you getting hurt."

He truly seemed to be concerned for his subordinates' welfare.
He then asked Hannah a question.

"Will you have a fun and fair fight with me?"

'…I've never met a bastard like this?'

That was what both Hannah and Cale were thinking.

The Lion King must have been using amplification magic as Cale could hear everything from the bottom of the tower as well. He couldn't hear Hannah and the others but hearing the Lion King was enough to get a sense of what was going on.

That was why he found it to be odd.

'Have a fun and fair fight?
One of the White Star's subordinates is saying something like that?
I don't think the Lions who had been with Imperial Prince Adin were like this.'

Cale was shocked.

– …Human, doesn't that Lion seem a bit different? It's chaotic!
'Kahahahaha! Chaos, destruction! Battle!'

Raon asked in a just as shocked voice while the Wind Elemental was shouting to himself.
Cale looked up at the top of the tower once more before slowly moving back.

"Young master-nim."

Beacrox approached him. Cale opened his palm toward Jack and Beacrox as he started to speak.

"I'm moving first."

He then called Raon.

Swoooooooosh-

A small breeze was created, and Cale looked up at the top of the tower once more before stealthily starting to move.

At that moment.

"Pfft."

Hannah scoffed. She had her sword resting on her epaulet as she looked toward the Lion King thinking he was odd.
She also peeked at someone else as she did that.

It was the bastard who had kicked the soldiers into the dead mana.
That bastard was standing stiff as he watched the situation.
Hannah turned away from the bastard and looked back at the Lion King.
The Lion King started to speak with a sincere expression.

"My name is Dorph. I've heard enough about Cale Henituse's group to have a pretty good idea about who you might be."

Clang!

Hannah pointed her sword forward.

"I am Hannah."
"Oh! What a great name!"

The Lion King smiled as if he was happy to know her name before waving toward his subordinates to step back.

"All of you step back and watch. Don't make any unnecessary movements. You will get hurt if you do."

A large space was created between Hannah and Dorph.
They were on top of the Northern Alchemists' Tower that had opened up in all four directions. Hannah and Dorph's battle stage was created in the southern direction.

"Then shall we fight?"

The corners of Lion King Dorph's lips slowly curled up. An unknown sense of lunacy could be felt through his bright smile.
This was the same for Hannah.
Her smile was slowly getting bigger as well.

Oooooooong-

Her aura that was a mix of gold and black seemed to be overflowing around her. Her eyes were only focused on Dorph.

Silence filled the area.
Nobody dared to move.
It was at that moment.

Shh.

It happened as one of the observers took a step back.

Dorph and Hannah charged toward each other.

Baaaaang! Baaaaang!

Loud noises echoed from the top of the tower.
Hannah's sword glowed gold as it aimed for Dorph's neck.

Baaaaang!

Dorph's neck jerked back and his fist slammed into the sword.

"Ugh!"

Hannah felt her sword being pushed back.
The power behind the fist was unbelievable. It was just a regular fist without any aura, but it was firm and strong.

She realized something at that moment.

'…What about his berserk transformation?'

Dorph, the Lion King.
He didn't look to be in his berserk transformation.
Hannah's expression slowly turned grim.

'He is stronger than me without going berserk?'

A fist charged toward her again.

Bang, bang, bang!

The sword and the fist tried to rip apart the enemy without giving a single opening.
Hannah could see Dorph's eyes looking at her.

They were serious.
He was not laughing.

"…You are stronger than I thought. You must have a lot of battle experience. If your name is Hannah… I thought I heard you were in Arm."
"Is it a problem that I used to be in Arm?"

The two people stepped back for a moment to chat.
They had determined each other's level of strength.

"No problem. I just think Arm is stupid to let go of such a skilled person. We would have been great allies, how disappointing."

Hannah felt an odd iffiness that made it difficult to say anything to the smiling Dorph.
However, she needed to fight right now.

'I need to fulfill Cale Henituse's request.'

Cale had told her to do something.
He had told her to resist as long as possible.

Hannah knew that she tended to be stubborn and all over the place, but she knew where to draw the line.

Oooooooong-

She drew out her aura again as she charged toward Dorph.

"Yes! Come!"
Dorph lowered his fists as he ran toward Hannah as well.

Ooooooooong-

The sword covered in aura aimed toward Dorph's heart.
Dorph's fist was aiming for Hannah's neck.

It was at that moment.

"N, no! H, Holy Maiden-nim! Please s, save-"

Flinch.

Hannah's sword stopped.
She looked toward the source of the noise. She knew that she shouldn't, but she turned her gaze after hearing someone call for her.

One of the soldiers was standing on the ledge.
And then that bastard from earlier…
The one who had kicked the soldier into the dead mana. He was frowning as he lifted his foot.

"Shut up you loud bastard! Don't bother them and do your final task!"

He then kicked the soldier.
Hannah made eye contact with the soldier who was falling into the dead mana.
The eyes that had been desperately looking at her closed.

He seemed to have given up.

Hannah changed the direction of her sword.

"Ugh."

The sudden change caused her pain.
However, Hannah ignored the pain and started to run toward the soldier.

Resist as long as you can.
Cale had not said that for her to defeat the Lion King.
Hannah knew that much.
The reason she needed to resist was to prevent this from happening.

"Damn it!"

Hannah swore as she ran toward the place the soldier fell.
It was at that moment.

Baaaaaang!

A large explosion shook her ears.

"…Ah."

She then let out a sigh of relief.

"I, I'm alive?"

The enemy soldier had his eyes open in disbelief as he started to cry. He then looked at the person who saved him.
It was a masked man.
The masked man had grabbed the soldiers' arms with his shaking hands to stop him from falling.

"…I, I'm not dead."

The soldier soon felt a breeze surround him and lift him into the air.
He felt a sense of relief.
He looked toward the masked man who saved him with overwhelming gratitude.

"What the…?"

However, the masked man was not looking at the soldier.
He had confirmed that the soldier was safe before focusing on a single spot.

"What the hell, this bastard?"

The masked man, Cale, could not take his eyes away from the top of the tower.

"Ugh. Ugh!"

He could see someone hanging over the ledge while coughing up blood.

It was not Hannah.
It was that bastard. The bastard who had kicked the soldiers had been beaten up and groaning as he coughed up blood.

"Ugh!"

Someone was pulling the bastard up by his head.
Cale slowly flew up.
Cale was planning on stealthily taking care of this bastard that was kicking the soldiers into the dead mana before rescuing the soldiers.
He looked at the person holding that bastard by the head.

That person seemed angry as he started to speak to the person he was holding up by the head.

"Didn't I tell you to sit back and watch because you might end up getting hurt?"

Dorph, the Lion King.
He was almost crushing his subordinate's head as he whispered.

"You dare to interrupt my fight? Do you want to die?"

Cale was shocked.

'…Where the hell did such a bastard come from?
Why is the Lion King like this? No, I guess it is possible, but… Something definitely feels weird.'

Cale was honestly shocked.

***

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]