Chapter 520 – Late (5)

The white wyvern slowly lowered its head.
Then the person on its back became visible.

The wyvern that was leisurely flying in the air and the Wyverns both looked down on Alberu.

'This is a first.'

Maybe it was because it was his first time on the battlefield, but Alberu felt odd seeing the enemies looking down at him.
However, his nervousness suppressed that odd feeling.

'They're watching me.'

There were many eyes watching Alberu right now.
Alberu felt that these gazes were scary when he was young.
These gazes seemed to be testing him or keeping an eye on him.
Even now, there may be people among the allied troops who were looking at him in order to make some sort of judgment about him.

Alberu Crossman.

This was his destiny from the moment he received the Crossman last name.
However, after such a long period of time, he knew.
He knew that judgment and wariness were not the only things in those gazes.

He could feel it even without looking.

'Please save us.'
'Please get us past this danger, your highness.'

The desperate pleas of the citizens inside the castle walls.
The hope for the citizens who were captured as hostages.
The vassals' expectations.

He could now feel them all even without looking.

That was why Alberu shrugged his shoulders toward the White Star who was looking down at him.

"Don't you need my life? You seem to have no intentions of coming down."

The White Star started to speak at that moment.

"I believe I said I wanted to chat."

'Chat my ass.'

Alberu sighed.

"My little brother told me something."

His right hand that wasn't holding his helmet pointed toward the White Star.

"He said you say a lot of bullshit."

The White Star started to frown while Alberu leisurely continued speaking.

"If you want to chat, get down here and sincerely ask to chat. Otherwise, shut the hell up."

Shouldn't someone who claims they want to chat with the enemy show some basic sincerity?
Alberu looked toward the White Star with an expression that seemed to be asking why he needed to say something so obvious.

"Hahaha! Oh, this…"

The White Star awkwardly laughed. He then touched his white mask and continued to speak.

"I see. You want me to be respectful if I want to chat?"

Smirk.

His mask covered his eyes and his forehead. The corners of his lips that were still visible started to rise.

"I don't want to do that."

As expected, the White Star had no desire to chat.
It was a trap.
Alberu realized it at that moment.

He's coming.

Flap, flap.

The white wyvern's large wings headed down.
Its beak pointed to the ground as well.
Its body instantly charged down as if it was trying to crash into Alberu.

The Knight Captain leading the Knights Brigade surrounding Alberu started to shout.

"Protect his highness!"

The White Star shouted at the same time.

"Kill the Knights Brigade!"

Half of the wyverns in the air opened their jaws toward the Knights Brigade and charged down.

"Furthermore, attack the castle walls and the castle!"

The other half received the White Star's order and changed direction toward the castle past the castle walls.

Ooooooong-

The black mages on top of the wyverns started to cast their spells.

"Captain!"
"Yes, sir!"

Taylor called the Mage Brigade captain who stopped setting up his magic circle and gave an order to some of his brigade members.

"Third Battalion, prepare to defend against the enemy attacks with me! The rest of you, finish the magic circles! Don't stop! We must each do our part!"

He was not the only one giving orders.
Alberu's chief executives who had been around Taylor split up to give orders as well.

"Archers, fire at the wyverns charging toward the Knights Brigade and his highness!"
"Pour hot water outside the walls so that the Bears cannot climb over! Throw rocks at them too! Throw anything you can down the walls!"

Taylor ordered his subordinates as well.

"Contact Cage. Also, ask for emergency reinforcements from the other lords in the northwest region! Focus all troops in the northwest region here! We must capture the enemies from the outskirts!"
"Yes, Lord-nim!"

It was at that moment.

Baaaaang- Baaaaang! Bang, baaaaang!

They heard explosions all around them.
He raised his head.

Black mages were throwing mana orbs down from the sky. The allied mages on the ground were throwing mana orbs up to destroy them.
Taylor quickly realized something and turned his head.

'…His highness!'

The White Star's wyvern was flying toward Alberu.
Taylor lowered his head. His gaze headed toward the large wyvern's wings that looked like they could easily destroy Alberu as if he was an ant. Those wings were getting close to the ground.

Alberu looked at the shadow above him as well as the white wing that was causing that shadow.
Actually, he was looking at the White Star's brown eyes past the wings that were looking at him.
The White Star started to speak.

"How foolish."

Another wyvern's claw tried to strike Alberu's side.

Bang!

"Ugh! Your highness, I will protect you!"

The Knight Captain had blocked the claw.
The White Star started to speak in a tone that seemed to be sneering at Alberu.

"You shouldn't have come out if you knew it was a trap. Was your face and reputation as crown prince really that important? More important than your life?"

The White Star was sneering at Alberu who could not rationally think about the situation and had to come out to save face because of the citizens being held hostage.
He wouldn't have had to deal with this if he quietly stayed hidden in the capital or the castle.
It was at that moment.

"What an idiot."

The White Star could see Alberu's face as Alberu called him an idiot.
Alberu was looking at the White Star as if he truly was stupid.

"Why do you think it was for my reputation?"

'He thinks I came out of the castle to save face and my reputation as crown prince even though I knew it was a trap?'

Alberu could not hide his sigh.
He started to laugh as he responded.

"To think that you see saving people as just a tool for saving face or reputation."

His stern and sharp voice was directed at the White Star.

"You are a weakling."

The White Star thought he heard incorrectly and asked.

"What?"
"Weakling. W-E-A-K-L-I-N-G. I heard you said this. Ruler? You wish to be king?"

The White Star's face started to stiffen.
However, Alberu did not care.
He just continued to speak as if nothing was wrong.

"King? A shithead like you wants to be king? You want to be king with a rotten mindset like that?"

The White Star's face completely stiffened.
The fire sword appeared in his hand.

The Knight Captain looked around and urgently started to speak.

"…Your highness-"

'Please don't rile him up any more. It is dangerous.'

That was what the Knight Captain wanted to say.

It was because the knights who had been surrounding the crown prince had ended up moving away because of the wyverns and the knights and black mages on top of the wyverns.
Only he and a couple of others remained right by the crown prince.

They should not provoke the enemy any more.

However, Alberu spoke first before the knight could say anything.

"You're a joke."

Smirk.

He then smirked.

Squeeze.

The White Star clenched the fire sword in his hand.

"I guess you really want to die."

The White Star then kicked off the wyvern's back and jumped down.

"No! Stop that bastard!"

The Knight Captain parried an attacking wyvern's claw and ran toward the crown prince.
However, the wyvern that no longer had the White Star on its back moved its body to attack the Knight Captain and some knights with its large wings and sharp claws.

Baaaaang! Bang!

The white wyvern clashed against the knights.

"Your highness!"

The Knight Captain shouted toward Alberu in desperation.
He could see Alberu observing the White Star who was charging toward him.

"Don't worry about me."

The Knight Captain could hear Alberu's voice.
He then saw Alberu starting to move his hands.
They were moving in different directions.

His right hand headed toward his neck.
Alberu was watching the White Star the whole time.

"I'll make you desperately beg for your life!"

The fire sword became larger and slashed down as if to cut Alberu in half.

Claaaaang.

Inside his armor…

Alberu's right hand grabbed the necklace he always hid under his clothes.

He recalled what his Aunt Tasha told him again.

'You've inherited your mother's talents. This item allowed your mother to live in the palace. This will hide you.'
'Nobody, no living beings will be able to find out about your power.'

What she had said was true.

Alberu recalled something the baby Dragon Raon had asked him in the past.

"Hey nice crown prince who gives me cookies! I know you are strong, but what are you strong in? I can't really feel it!'

Even the Dragon didn't know.

'I understand your dye magic now, but hmm! I don't know! Can't you tell me?'

Of course, he had apologized and not taught it to Raon.

'I never knew a day would come where I need to use this power.'

Alberu moved his right hand.

Click.

The lock on the necklace was released.

He recalled the first time his identity was discovered by Cale.

'Probably not a demon, black mage, nor a necromancer. So then, the child of a half-blooded Dark Elf?'

Cale had then given him a bottle of dead mana as a present.

'It is a very precious item. It is a dead dragon's mana.'

That was the case.
It was a very precious item.
It was an item that could raise Alberu's strength by multiple levels.

He had become a lot stronger because of that.
He had more opportunities to get stronger because Cale kept finding and bringing more dead mana for him.

Ooooooong-

The necklace instantly disappeared from Alberu's right hand.

"Hmm?"

The White Star who was watching started to frown.
It was because the necklace had suddenly disappeared.

Ooooooong-

Alberu could feel the things that had been restricting his body disappear and his body starting to roar.
He closed his eyes for a moment before opening them back.

It'll be gone soon.

The dye magic would be gone.
He had no choice.
He needed to use dead mana.

His left hand moved the moment he realized that.
His helmet covered his face.
It was a helmet that only left a small slit for the eyes.

'…I cannot reveal this to everyone yet.'

Alberu closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again.

His eyes had turned brown.
His skin was turning darker than brown.
It was the case for his hair as well.
However, nobody could see it.

Alberu started to smile under the helmet.

Even the knights could not see him properly because they were fiercely fighting against the wyverns.

"You bastard, what are you hiding?!"

The White Star shouted as the fire sword reached Alberu.
Alberu reached his hand out.

"…You bastard?!"

The White Star's eyes turned wide.

Alberu's hands were covered in a black aura for a moment.
The White Star did not miss that short instant.

'It's dead mana.'

The King of the Roan Kingdom was using dead mana.
It was the first time the White Star's pupils shook in shock about Alberu.

However, the White Star could not stop walking and did not think that he was going to lose.
Alberu's voice reached the White Star at that moment.

"I'm known as a high-grade expert. But you see… Did you know this?"

Alberu recalled the dead Dragon's mana he had consumed after Cale figured out his secret.

"You can create water, wind, fire, and light with mana as well."

That was why magic was amazing.

Ooooooong-

The mana inside Alberu's body started to roar.
Of course, it was dead mana and not regular mana. The power that was released from its chains was running wild now that it was free.
Alberu gathered that power in his hand.

It happened in a split moment.

The black aura disappeared from Alberu's hands in a matter of seconds.
However, the White Star realized Alberu's identity.

'…Magic! This bastard can use magic!'

The White Star then remembered that the first step Alberu took to increase the Roan Kingdom's troops was to create a Mage Brigade.

However, the aura he was feeling felt different than black magic.
Unlike black magic that went against the laws of nature, he could feel nature giving Alberu strength and working with him.

Dead mana that follows the laws of nature.

The White Star recalled the beings who use dead mana but not black magic.
They were not human.

'Dark Elves!'

The Dark Elves who were a part of nature had some people who could use dead mana to use magic.
However, their methods were different than black magic.

Alberu smiled underneath his helmet, but nobody could see it.

Why had he raised a Mage Brigade?
Why had he gone in that direction?
There was a lot of danger to raise a source of power that he was not adept in.

But what if it was something he knew well?
He could then control it.

"Dead mana is like mana. It's the same."

Using dead mana like regular mana.

Fire, water, wind…
He could create everything.

The battlefield was chaotic.

Inside Alberu's empty hands where the black aura that only the White Star had seen had disappeared…

"I can create light too."

Light shot out of his hands.
The black mana had instantly turned into a bright sword of light in Alberu's hand.
The light was as radiant as the sun.

Just like the radiant sun rising between two cliffs on Alberu's armor… This sword was like the Roan Kingdom's symbol.

The sword art he had practiced as the human Alberu…
And the magic he could use because he had his mother's Dark Elf blood…

A magic swordsman.

This was one of Alberu's other secrets.

***

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]