Immersed in her thoughts, Linne’s head was filled with various thoughts, making it complicated. She was shocked to learn that her master, who had always guided her along the path of righteousness, was undergoing ‘demonization’.
Furthermore, she was disturbed by the sight of him brandishing a sword at her and Julian. ‘Even when he expelled Julian, he did not take his life but let him go…’
What kind of change of heart had occurred for him to have changed so drastically?
Behind his weakening aura, he was the one who had faced dozens, even hundreds of dangers with the sword in his hand. Among the shining stars of the Empire, he was a star of the sword, who had made his own name glow brightly.
Yet now, he had even forsaken the name ‘Empire’.
Upon organizing her thoughts, Linne lifted her head at the heightened voice of Ulysses. In her line of sight was a man conversing with Ulysses.
From his attire alone, it was clear he was not one of those who bred demons in the Grand Arena. A somewhat familiar face.
“Ah!”
She remembered. He was ‘Idel’, the man who had come with her master, the Sword Saint Hayden Reich.
“When did he approach?”
Had she failed to notice because she was sorting out her thoughts? That might be part of it, but this man also seemed quite adept at concealing his presence.
“It’s been a long time, Your Highness Ulysses.”
“Yes, what was the name again?”
Although Ulysses showed a slight hint of joy at the familiar face,
“Do they know each other?”
While Ulysses harbored this doubt, others began to gather around them.
‘The shadows that followed before.’
She felt the murderous intent of three people directed solely at her and slowly placed her hand on her sword sheath.
“My name is Idel.”
“Idel! Yes, Idel Hyrans!”
A familiar family name. Where had she heard it before? Deep in thought, she eventually realized that the ‘Hyrans’ was one of the noble families of the Empire, which had faced a certain extremity.
This was dangerous.
“By the way, you were also thinking of seeking asylum in the Holy Nation…”
As that thought crossed her mind, Idel threw a punch at Ulysses’s abdomen.
Thud.
Ulysses collapsed helplessly with a dull sound.
“Your Highness!”
Chang!
She swiftly drew her sword and tried to close the distance with the man named Idel, but it was futile.
Two shadows that had sprung from the surroundings blocked her path.
“Move aside!”
Circulating mana throughout her body and transforming it into aura, she swung her sword at one of the men who blocked it with a dagger.
Clang!
Sparks flew as Linne’s sword clashed against the dagger, and the man blocking her was flung into the air.
The confusion was clear on the face of the man with the dagger. He had underestimated her, thinking she was just a young girl and a student of the Sword Saint.
Following his movements with her eyes, Linne struck at the man’s opening with her recovered sword.
“The aura is sharp.”
However, the attack did not succeed. The accompanying man covered for his comrade’s gap, swinging a curved sword in retaliation.
‘This is troublesome.’
Linne stepped back. While she felt she could win if it were one-on-one given each individual’s skills, there were two of them.
Even these coordinated movements seemed familiar to her.
“The prince will be taken to the ritual chamber, I’ll leave this place to you.”
After leaving these words behind, Idel picked up the collapsed Ulysses and headed towards the inner part of the arena.
“Stop right there!”
Linne swung her sword again to follow him, but once more, she was blocked by the two men.
“That’s far enough, heretic. Your prince is merely becoming a ‘true’ member of the Solar Religion through the ‘ritual.'”
“…A ritual?”
“Yes.”
Watching the men nod, Linne bit her lip hard.
In fact, these men were the Black Guards among the Seven Voices Order, the dirty workers of the Holy Nation sent by High Priest Garoth. They had not revealed their identities, but Linne had vaguely guessed it, seeing that their skills were nearly on par with hers.
She wasn’t sure what they were planning to do, but something was definitely going to happen to Ulysses.
She had to stop it. But how? It was uncertain whether she could defeat these two with her own strength.
Moreover, even if she did defeat them, the ‘ritual’ mentioned earlier might already be over.
‘Why now… Where is Sir Julian? No, this must have been planned.’
“Oh, I shouldn’t have left my post.”
But her complaint, and the anxiety that followed, turned into relief at the sound of a familiar voice.
“That’s right, it’s because you left your post!”
Linne spoke with a slightly venomous tone. She felt relieved that this man could solve anything, but she resented feeling that way.
“Where have you taken Prince Ulysses?”
Julian, who had appeared suddenly, was calm. It seemed he had grasped the situation just from bits of information.
“The man brought by the master took him. The location is…”
“Probably underground.”
“Are you sure?”
“Haha, not really. I’m just guessing.”
A joke at a time like this.
Annoyed, Linne was about to retort sharply, but when underground was mentioned, the two Black Guards flinched.
“Thanks to my joke, we seem to have found the location.”
Was it not just a joke? Extracting information through such craftiness in this situation was unbelievable.
“Then, let’s deal with these guys quickly and go to rescue His Highness…”
“Leave them to me, Sir Julian, please go to Prince Ulysses.”
Linne was quick in her judgment. By holding these two Black Guards here and sending Julian first, she believed he could resolve the situation.
“Are you sure? These are Black Guards, the special forces of the Holy Nation. You could die.”
“Anyway.”
She gripped the handle of her sword tightly.
“If something happens to His Highness, it’s the same as dying anyway.”
At Linne’s words, Julian chuckled briefly. Unlike his usual sneer, this laugh carried a bit more emotion.
“That’s true.”
With that, Julian kicked the ground. He bounced off a wall at an astonishing speed, trying to cross to the other side, but the Black Guards attempted to block him. However, Linne wouldn’t allow it.
“You’re dealing with me!”
She swung her aura-infused sword once, driving the Black Guards back and thereby enabling Julian to move.
***
The underground of the Grand Arena was home to an unbelievable number of demons and ‘Tri-horn Demons’. Knowing this made descending the circular staircase to the underground quite a challenge. The demonic energy that pricked at the skin confirmed the existence of Tri-horn Demons, as realized through the ‘Understanding of Demonic Essence’ moments ago.
‘The deeper we go, the denser it becomes.’
Why Ulysses was brought here was puzzling. Could it be that they were unaware of the Tri-horn Demons inhabiting this place? If so, it was akin to walking into death.
‘Ah, that’s it.’
As I descended further, my doubts began to clear. The intensely thick demonic energy, enough to chill to the bone, did not show any hostility, even as I approached. Julian, known as the ‘Demon Slayer’, had a scent that would be terribly unpleasant to demons.
Yet, the fact that these keenly scented creatures showed no aggression meant one thing:
‘This place… is a Venom Palace.’
A Venom Palace, where venomous creatures are confined to devour each other, enhancing their toxicity. Here, ‘toxicity’ referred to the demons’ demonic energy. It meant that this place was used to gather numerous demons, create immense demonic energy, and confine it through spells.
To achieve this, many demons had to be captured, but this place coincidentally gathered many demon corpses.
“It seems the demons and their corpses used in the arena are collected here.”
Finally arriving underground, I stepped on the squelching floor and spoke. The demonic essence enveloping my body would have been enough to make an ordinary person foam at the mouth and faint, but it hardly affected me. Instead, the obsessive cleanliness in me frowned at the floor dirtied with demon blood and mucus.
“Noticing without even looking around. You’re quite perceptive.”
Upon reaching the underground, Idel, the man who had previously visited the villa with the Sword Saint, spoke. Around him were two men who appeared to be priests, and Ulysses, who looked limp and unconscious, wearing a crown resembling a laurel wreath.
“Are you planning to cast a suggestion on Prince Ulysses?”
One of the sinister relics of the Holy Nation, ‘The Engraved Lie’ allows the use of top-tier shadow elemental magic, enabling mental magic.
“…How did you?”
“This relic is among the highest secrets of the Holy Nation…”
“There is a separate document recording this highest secret.”
As I spoke with a slight smile, a shade of ‘fear’ began to appear over the priests’ heads. I had long learned that showing such bravado could shake an enemy’s spirit. Moreover, it wasn’t even a lie. A ‘setting collection’ is a document, isn’t it?
‘Hmm.’
Unlike the two priests, the man named ‘Idel’ showed little interest in my words. Instead, unlike the other two, a distinct ‘anger’—or rather, a red hue close to ‘hatred’—was visible in his emotions.
Oh, Julian, what on earth have you done to even a citizen of another country… Well, let’s not talk about it.
“Don’t pay attention to his words. After all, what you have to do is already determined.”
At Idel’s words, the priests nodded and refocused on Ulysses, or more precisely, on the laurel crown on his head. The purple light imbued with demonic energy from the priests’ hands started to flicker, and it began to be absorbed into the laurel crown.
The relic ‘The Engraved Lie’ enables the use of high-level mental magic even without magical knowledge. However, it requires a significant amount of energy, whether mana or demonic energy, a substantial amount indeed. In this Venom Palace, where ‘demonic energy’ is so abundant that it saturates the air like a dense fog, it was clear that the mental magic would be executed without any major issues—if there were no problems, that is.
Sshhrk!
While observing the ritual, the sound of a sword being drawn from its sheath tickled my ears.
“Do not think about disrupting the ritual. If you refrain, at least your life will be spared.”
What a lie.
“To utter such words while brimming with the intent to kill. It seems you have thicker skin on your face than I do.”
“Not as thick as yours. But, as you say…”
I raised my hand to interrupt Idel’s speech. Although displeasure clouded his face, I was not particularly concerned and instead slipped my hand into my robe.
“I don’t know what I’ve done to you, but as a gesture of apology, let me offer you the beautiful sound of a bell.”
Saying this, I gave the ‘Bell of Night’, which I had acquired just earlier, a single shake.
Ting!
The small, subtle sound created gentle ripples like a droplet falling on a lake.
“…What are you scheming in this situation?”
“Isn’t it a pleasant sound?”
Idel’s eyes harbored suspicion at this inexplicable action. He seemed slightly tense, convinced I would not engage in meaningless actions, yet annoyed by the absurd act of ‘ringing a bell’.
“I’m always annoyed by your words. But, since today will be the last time, I might as well tolerate it…”
“What, what!?”
“Why is the demonic energy in the laurel crown…!?”
Idel was interrupted mid-sentence by the alarmed voices of the priests behind him and turned to look in that direction. The purple light that the relic, ‘The Engraved Lie’, had been holding was gradually fading.
“…Could it be, that bell you just rang is also a relic?”
“Noticing without even touching. You’re quite perceptive.”
I threw his earlier words back at him. Indeed, the reason ‘The Engraved Lie’s’ light disappeared is thanks to this relic, the ‘Bell of Night’. It’s a relic that allows the use of high-level ‘mental magic’ without the need for magical knowledge. However, it requires a large amount of ‘demonic energy’ to function.
“But, what if despite the gathered large amounts of demonic energy, it’s prevented from resonating, inhibiting its activity?”
The ‘demonic energy’ pervasive here merely becomes air that sours the mood. However, demons or humans undergoing demonization can still utilize ‘demonic energy’. Though the activity of the ‘demonic energy’ has quieted, its potency remains unchanged.
The ‘Bell of Night’ is an effective relic against non-living things, not living beings—a relic for relics. It’s useless in other situations but crucial for handling top-tier relics. Weak against the weak, and strong against the strong—it’s a relic of ‘relative strength’.
Cliche Novel 