Chapter 499 – You stupid idiots! (5)

"W, what the…! How dare you use a word like bullshit toward her majesty!"

The oldest child looked toward Cale and pointed rudely at him. He looked as if he could not speak properly because he was in disbelief.
On the other hand, Jopis had an elegant smile on her face as she nodded her head.

The boy who saw her reaction raised his voice even more and shouted toward Cale and Jopis.

"This, what indecency! You are just a traitor anyway!"

'That kid sure has a loud voice.'

Cale shook his head from side to side.

"Haaaaaa. Looks like we'll need to fight while carrying baggage."
"W, what?"

The boy could not hide his shock at Cale who called him baggage.
Cale didn't care as he casually commented back.

"You guys are hostages. Hostages."

The boy and the other children's expressions changed after hearing his comment.
The gazes of the older children turned grim and they all started to shout.

"We cannot be hostages! Just kill us! We will not become a hindrance to her majesty!"
"That's right, kill us!"
"We would gladly die for her majesty!"

'Wow. Do these punks even know what it means to die?'

Cale looked toward Jopis in disbelief.

"They've been seriously bewitched."

Cale recalled the first time he met Elisneh.
She had bewitched the people of the Lord's Castle. He remembered the badge on their clothes at that time.

'I don't see something like a badge on the children. She supposedly cast an illusion on everyone inside the palace, but how did she do it?'

Cale was stealthily looking at the royal children and Elisneh's subordinates.

He thought that she might have cast an illusion around the entire palace after hearing that everybody in the palace was bewitched.
However, that should have meant that Cale and the others would have been bewitched once they entered the palace grounds, but that had not happened and there was also the information the Mercenary King gave him.

'Do you know how many merchants and nobles go in and out of the palace? There's no way she could cast an illusion on all of them.'

Cale asked Jopis a question as he thoroughly observed the children.

"How do we wake them up?"

An elegant voice responded to him.

"…There was a time I smacked the shit out of my father's back. He still did not snap out of the illusion."

'Mm… That wasn't the kind of response I expected.'

Jeet approached Cale and whispered behind him as Cale stood there at a loss for words.

"Sir, they're here."

Cale's eyes clouded over.
It was at that moment.

"What?!"

Cale heard someone shout in shock and he looked toward the speaker.
Elisneh's eyes were glowing red and she seemed to be listening to something.

"Cale-nim."

Cale heard Choi Han's voice at that moment as he saw a dagger flying past him.
It was Choi Han's dagger that he had received from Ron.

"Squeeeak-!"

He then heard a rat scream.
Cale laughed as he looked toward Elisneh.

"How can you get any information when your informant is injured?"
"…Is it your doing?"
"Who else could it be?"

The middle-aged man wearing glasses approached Elisneh.

"What is it, your majesty?"

Elisneh kept her mouth shut as she glared at Cale.
The old man with the mirror stepped forward and looked inside the mirror.

"Hold on. Oh my. Looks like some rats made their way into the palace."
"Rats?"
"The Elves have invaded. Tsk."

The other two subordinates stiffened up as Elisneh looked down at Cale and started to speak.

"Apparently, numerous Elves have passed the city walls and are marching toward the palace."

Jopis looked toward Cale. She recalled how Cale had said that they had a lot of allies.
Elisneh looked at Cale as if he was ridiculous as she asked.

"Did you think we would not be able to do anything if you attacked us on multiple fronts?"
"Who knows?"
"Hmph."

Elisneh snorted and raised her hand.
Her three subordinates stepped forward.
The old man with the mirror gently commented.

"We expected the Elves would come with you. Pity that more lives would be lost for no reason."
"Are you saying the Elves will die?"

Jeet stepped forward. He was glaring at the enemies.

"Indeed. The Elves will be defeated by dead mana the moment they pass through the palace's main entrance."

The old man could see Jeet started to smile after hearing his friendly warning.

"…Why are you smiling?"
"We are not going to cross the palace fence."
"What?"

The middle-aged man with glasses flinched at Jeet's comment but Cale immediately started to speak.

"Choi Han, Tasha!"
"Yes, sir!"

Choi Han started to move toward the royal children.
Jopis quickly followed behind him.

"I won't let you!"

The old man with a quill pen lowered his hand and ripped out a spatial pocket bag he pulled out.

"Go!"

Riiiiiip-

The bag ripped and numerous white feathers that were inside the bag popped out. These feathers turned stiff and started to shoot out like arrows.

The royal children looked toward the old man and Elisneh who were trying to save them with admiration.

"Your majesty! You don't need to worry about us!"
"That's right!"

The children glared at Choi Han and Jopis even more as they shared their feelings to Elisneh.

Ooooooooong-

Aura started to appear on Choi Han's sword at that moment.

"… Sword master!"

The royal children who realized his identity stiffened up in shock.

"Your majesty...!"

They then subconsciously looked toward Elisneh.
Elisneh had a benevolent smile on her face. That made the oldest boy start to relax.

He believed that the shaman's feathers would block this aura.

"Yes, it'll be ok, ugh!"

The boy subconsciously dropped his jaw.
He groaned as he clenched his arm.

"…Why?"

The boy was looking down at his arm in disbelief.
The feather had brushed past his arm and harmed him.

"…Why?"

The feathers were pouring down toward the children. It was as if they were pouring down like hail.
He saw someone stepping in front of him at that moment.

"Hide behind me!"

It was Jopis.
The swordsman with the black aura swung his sword at the same time.
It was not just that swordsman.
The Dark Elves and Elves who had taken longer to react had charged over as well to parry the feathers.
However, the Elves who were a step later than Choi Han and Jopis who had already arrived by the children's side were parrying the feathers from the outside to prevent them from getting closer.

Tang! Tang! Tang!

The feathers bounced away from the attacks and were forced to change direction from the children.

Bang, bang!

The walls and ground that the feathers slammed into cracked, but the feathers were fine.

Drip. Drip.

The boy looked back and forth at the blood flowing down his arm and Jopis's back.

"Ugh!"

His body then curled forward.
Jopis urgently turned around and grabbed his body.

"Y, you crazy bitch!"

She frowned and started to swear at Elisneh.

The small scratch on the boy's arm was starting to turn black.
Choi Han shouted at the same time.

"Everybody, please be careful as there is dead mana at the tips of the feathers!"

The Elves instantly withdrew to the back while the Dark Elves charged toward the feathers.
Jopis raised her head.

"How can you do this to your cousin-, to a child!"

Her angry gaze seemed to be burning up as she held the boy in her arms.
Elisneh looked down at them with a benevolent expression.

"…Your majesty…noonim-"

The boy in Jopis's arms looked toward Elisneh.

'Why, just why?'

His gaze was asking Elisneh many questions as she smiled and responded.

"You guys are my hostages."

'What?'

The boy and the other children's pupils started to shake.

"You are also potential future enemies who may threaten my position. If you're going to die, shouldn't I be the one to kill you?"

The children looked dejected but Elisneh did not care as she turned her gaze toward Cale.

"Can you hear the knights approaching us? There should be at least 300 of them."
"…Are you saying that they are hostages as well?"
"Correct. I can kill them whenever I please."

She smiled at Cale as she said that. That smile looked similar to Jopis's smile.

"You know about the second entrance to this place, right?"
"Yes, I heard there's a dead mana river."

The other entrance was the one the Elves had tried to infiltrate but failed.
Cale calmly asked.

"I heard that place is your palace?"
"That's right. It is my palace. There's a black liquid flowing there. It does look a lot like a river."

Her gaze moved over to Jopis.

"The third group of hostages is over there. Jopis, can you hear me? There are other members of the royal family who will jump into that river as soon as I give the order. Ah, should I make the servants and maids jump in as well?"

She then turned back toward Cale and the smile had disappeared from her face.

"The moment the Elves enter the palace… I will kill them all, starting with the youngest servants."

Clang-!

The old man with the mirror tapped on the mirror and jumped off the wall.
The middle-aged man with glasses jumped behind him. The old man controlling the feather started to speak at the same time.

"Bind them!"

The feathers that had been aiming for the children started to gather together.

"Shit!"

Tasha started to frown.

"It's a snake!"

One of the children started to cry.
Each of the feathers turned into scales to create a large white snake.

"Go!"

It then started to quickly charge toward the children. The snake looked as if it was trying to get to the royal children as quickly as possible to bind them.

"…Ah."

Young Belle subconsciously clenched on something in fear. The child started to cry once she realized it was Jopis's hand and felt Jopis's warmth.

"You've woken up."

Jopis commented as she tightly grabbed Belle's hand. Belle's eyes started to become clearer and clearer.

Boom boom boom boom bang!

The snake flailed around as it quickly approached the children.
The Dark Elves' attacks did not even leave a scratch on the scales.

Cale who was watching this looked up toward Elisneh. Her cold gaze was giving Cale a warning.

It was telling him to be careful because she has all these hostages.

Cale started to speak.

"It's a pity about the snake."
"What?"

He didn't care about Elisneh's response.

"Jeet! Tie them!"

Elf Jeet raised his hand after hearing Cale's order.
The Elves who had retreated to the rear quickly took something out of their pockets and threw them toward the children.

Booboboboooooooooom-

As the white snake destroyed the stone ground and approached the children…
And as the items that the Elves threw flew forward like arrows…

"Hmph. Something like that is easy to deal with."

The middle-aged man with glasses waved his hand.

Crackle-

Numerous fireballs appeared in the air and headed toward the things the Elves threw.

"What do you plan to do with some twigs?!"

The Elves had thrown twigs.

– What do you think you can do with those puny fireballs?!

Cale heard Raon's shout in his mind.
Water balls appeared in the air and flew toward the fireballs.
It was at that moment.

"Ruff!"

Cale saw a white line darting past him again.

It was Fluffy.
Fluffy jumped up and bit down on one of the twigs. Cale held the top's whip in his hand as he started to shout.

"Move them!"
– Chaos, destruction, despair! I will move them! Kahahaha!

Fluffy rode the wind for a bit before falling to the ground like a streak of lightning and accurately stabbing the twig in her mouth on the ground by the royal children.

"Jeet, now!"
"Yes, sir!"

Some of the Elves put their hands on the ground.

Craaaaaaack.

The twigs started to split.

"Shit!"

The old man started to frown.
New twigs started to appear in between the split twigs.
This was the power of the Wood Elementals and their contracted Elves.

The twigs instantly grew in size and number and surrounded the children.

"Raon!"
– I understand, human!

Ooooooong-

Black light started to appear around the interlocked wooden dome.
The black light then created a shield that protected the children completely from the outside.

"Ha!"

He heard someone laugh.

"Your actions are useless."

It was Elisneh.
The corners of her mouth twisted up.

"But it's cute. You're trying so hard to protect them."
"Not really?"

She looked away from the children surrounded by the shield and looked at Cale after hearing his response. The corners of Cale's mouth slowly started to rise once she looked at him.
Elisneh had an ominous feeling.

'That bastard is smart.'

As she recalled the White Star's comment about Cale…

"What do you mean, 'not really?' "

Elisneh subconsciously asked and Cale responded.

"I'm planning on destroying things instead of protecting things this time."
"What?"
"Destroying things. Do you need me to tell you again?"

Elisneh's eyes opened wide while Choi Han stopped swinging his sword toward the white snake and looked at Cale.

'Is this person again...?'

That was what Choi Han's expression seemed to be saying, but Cale thought he read it wrong and ignored it.

– There's no need to drag it out.

'Yes. That's right.'

He responded to the voice in his mind and called out the person who spoke to him.

Gwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-

From under the ground…
Cale could feel the power that was responding to his calling from deep underground.

There were three groups of hostages.
The knights who had entered the underground maze.
The members of the royal family, maids, and servants who were at the entrance.
Cale then looked toward the royal children, the final group of hostages.

"What-?"

The shocked Jopis did not have any elegance about her anymore. She just seemed desperate as she held the boy who was in pain as he was being poisoned by dead mana.
They didn't have the time to heal him right now.

Cale and Choi Han made eye contact. Choi Han had been looking at the children as well before they made eye contact.
Everything had happened in an instant.
It had not even been a few seconds. However, it was long enough to confirm they had the same thought.

"I need to do it quickly."
"…That's true, Cale-nim."

Cale needed to hurry.
Rather than chatting with the enemies and looking for an opening…
Rather than defending everything one by one…
Right now…

"I can finish things faster if I beat them down."

That was the way to protect them and heal the boy.
Cale sighed.

"How do these idiots not know how I am after fighting against me so many times?"

Booooooooooooom-

The ground started to shake.
The shaking seemed to be getting closer.

"You bastard! What the hell did you do?!"

Cale looked toward the old man controlling the feather who shouted and responded.

"What am I doing? I called over a bastard to eat your snake."
"What?"

The old man started to frown and Elisneh reached her hands out to cast signs for an incantation.

"Stop Cale Henituse!"

The old man with the mirror and the middle-aged man with glasses started to use their mediums after hearing her order.
However, the power that was responding to Cale's calling was faster.

Boooooooom!

The floor of the maze started to crumble with a loud explosion.

Crack. Crack!

The firm rocks making up the ground started to crack and the debris started to fly.
Something then shot up through it.

"Ugh!"
"Soooob. The ground is shaking! Hold on to each other!"

The children inside the shield grabbed each other in shock.
However, they could not remain quiet after seeing what appeared in front of them. They subconsciously started to speak.

"…Snake…a snake-"

There was something that shot up while breaking multiple maze walls in the process.

They were sharp pieces of rock.
There were multiple sharp pieces of rocks. The stone spears slowly gathered together to create a large body.

This weapon seemed to be alive.

Furthermore, this creature that was towering over the maze walls and was at least four or five times Cale's height looked like a snake but was a bit different than a snake.
Choi Han chuckled and looked toward Cale.
Only the two of them knew the name of this creature.

'It's an imugi.' ( The imugi is a creature from Korean legends. It is said that it can become a Dragon after living for 1,000 years and grabbing a cintamani (a wish-fulfilling jewel in both Hindu and Buddhist traditions). It was last used to describe the fake Dragon Slayer's face in chapter 200. )

Cale had called something that would eat the snake and destroy everything.
He made eye contact with Elisneh.
She had been looking at the imugi that stood much higher than her who was standing on the wall before looking down at Cale.
Cale started to speak at that moment.

"Heh."

He seemed to be laughing like a crazy bastard who was having fun.

'Perhaps?'

As Elisneh's pupils started to shake…
Cale stepped forward and the imugi made of stone spears lowered its head.

It offered its head to Cale who stepped on top of it.

"Burn."

Fire soon started to rise around him.

The small rose gold fire with the power of purification started to burn fiercely without burning Cale or the imugi.

"It's like this in the end."

Choi Han got on top of the imugi as well.
Cale looked toward Choi Han with a, 'who cares?' type of expression and then shouted.

"Forward!"

The owners of the power he called forth responded to him.

– Sounds good. This is the fastest way. Reckless actions can protect everyone at times as well.
– Kahahahaha! You stupid bastard! It must be true that stupid crazy bastards are the scariest people, kahahaha!

Cale ignored the Super Rock's calm voice and the cheapskate's shout.

Boom!

The Imugi started to charge forward.
The maze was too small and feeble compared to its large body.
Cale gave an order to the others.

"Support me! I'm going to pierce through it all!"

Cale felt as if the frustration inside him was disappearing.

'It truly is most relaxing to destroy everything myself.'

"T, that stupid bastard!"

He heard Elisneh's subordinate shouting at him, but he ignored him as he did with the cheapskate.

Boom! Boooom! Boom! Boom!

Cale who only shouted forward and the imugi who had Cale on top of it started to destroy the maze.

For reference, the imugi made of stone spears had no eyes and could not see anything.
And unfortunately, Cale could not see anything for a different reason, so the maze was destroyed blindlessly as they charged forward and created a path.

He was surrounded by fire as he turned around and looked toward Elisneh and the enemies and started to speak.

'They should know what to use to threaten me and what not to use to threaten me by now.
But they still want to threaten me with human lives? Do they think they have nothing of value?'

"I'm just going to charge forward like this and burn up your World Tree."

The enemies instantly frowned after hearing Cale's threat as Cale sighed.

– It's a sea of fire! Kahahaha! Looks like I'll get to burn a fake World Tree!

Cale heard the cheapskate's excited voice.

***

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]