Act 96

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Swoosh.

Linne wiped off a bead of sweat running down her cheek with her hand.

The pseudo-Black Guards she was currently facing possessed skills worthy of the special forces of the Holy Nation.

Each individual had skills comparable to a knight, but when they combined their powers, their capabilities far exceeded that.

Despite this, the reason Linne could hold her ground against the two was due to the quality of her ‘aura,’ which could somewhat mitigate their assaults.

“You’re holding up quite well.”

However, that would soon come to an end.

Her mana was finite, and as it was consumed, the fight was becoming more difficult.

“It’s impressive, really. You’re about the same age as my daughter, yet you’ve reached such a level.”

Despite wearing such attire and wielding lethal swordsmanship, there was a striking humanity about him.

Separate from that, Linne unleashed the aura that had been scattered throughout her body.

‘Any further attrition is dangerous.’

If she didn’t eliminate at least one of them with a single strike, victory couldn’t be assured.

“Let’s end this needless fight here.”

Amidst this, one of the seemingly lighter Black Guards spoke up.

‘End it here? He must be trying to make me lower my guard.’

Linne thought so, but the two Black Guards sheathed their weapons.

“What’s your scheme?”

“The reason for our fight has changed. That’s all.”

“The reason has changed?”

“Aren’t you guys a special force acting under the orders of the High Priest?”

“That’s right. More precisely, we act under the orders of the ‘Archdeacon.'”

“What does that mean?”

“Not all Archdeacon share the same thoughts as Archdeacon Garoth.”

Linne turned her head towards the voice that suddenly spoke.

“Archdeacon Sharlana, it’s an honor to meet you.”

Simultaneously, the two Black Guards she had been facing knelt down and paid their respects.

“Knight from another country, although it’s regrettable to meet under these circumstances, I’m nonetheless pleased to meet you.”

A middle-aged woman, Archdeacon Sharlana, greeted Linne first.

Her attendants were all around her, with one of them holding a parasol over Sharlana.

“As the Black Guards just said, we no longer have a reason to fight. From now on, these Black Guards will prioritize my orders over those of Archdeacon Garoth.

“Archdeacon Garoth? Are you saying everything that happened was his doing?”

“Yes.”

Sharlana nodded once in response to Linne’s astonishment.

“Ah, please do not think that his choice represents our entire Holy Nation. After all, before considering the national interest, people tend to pursue their personal interests first, right?”

Are you saying that, despite being clerics of the Holy Nation?

Linne had these thoughts come up to her jaw, but she did not voice them.

She no longer had the energy to argue or wield a sword, as she was nearly exhausted.

“So, what brings you here?”

With hostility unabated, Linne glared at Archdeacon Shalana.

“Ho ho, it seems you are still young and your mind doesn’t work well.”

Shalana opened her fan with a snap.

“From what has been discussed so far, can you not guess? It is to address the unexpected actions of Archdeacon Garoth.”

Linne almost frowned but held back once again.

“You are to go underground and retrieve the sacred artifact ‘The Engraved Lie’ that Garoth had smuggled out.”

“Yes, Your Eminence.”

After commanding her Black Guards, Shalana turned her gaze to Linne.

“What will you do, young knight? Wouldn’t it be safer for you to come with me to the temple city?”

“After seeing what has happened, do you still say that place is safe?”

Linne’s venomous words made Shalana slightly flutter her fan.

“Ho ho, then do as you please.”

“Yes, I will do as I please. Ma’am.”

“…Ma’am?”

Shalana’s face crinkled with wrinkles as Linne threw a provocative word at her, tired of being called young.

“Ho, ho ho… Such shallow thinking for a young one. If it weren’t for this situation, I’d have some harsh words… Hey! Listen to me till the end!”

Trying to hide her wrinkles with her fan as much as possible, Shalana yelled at Linne who was heading underground without listening to her till the end.

***

Though it was her first time at the underground arena, Linne had no idea where the entrance was.

“Hey, it’s over here.”

The ones who started guiding her were the Black Guards she had been fighting until just before.

Linne reluctantly followed them, but she did not let her guard down.

“Don’t be too hostile. It’s just something we had to do because we were ordered from above.”

“If you are ordered from above, does that mean you would kill people too?”

“If it’s an order, then yes. You think we’d kill because we want to? There are no madmen like that among us Black Guards.”

“There probably are some.”

“Um, only one or two.”

At their words, Linne also immediately thought of someone.

It was Julian, who had gone to save Prince Ulysses first.

‘Will he be alright?’

If it’s him… he should be fine. Probably.

He was known as the royal executioner, infamous for all sorts of nefarious deeds, but his swordsmanship was second to none.

Surely, like before, he might have handled the situation alone and be waiting with that sly smile.

As she thought this, following the Black Guards down the stairs to the underground, a terrible demonic energy greeted her.

It seemed to be a demon meant for ‘Matus’, which she had seen when she first visited the capital.

However, the demonic energy was far too strong for an unmarked demon to emit.

Unable to understand the situation, she felt dizzy, but she couldn’t stop descending the stairs.

Finally arriving underground, her anxiety turned into the harsh reality before her eyes.

The space was so vast it was hard to believe it was underground.

The area was filled with demon corpses and blood, emitting an unpleasant smell that was headache-inducing.

And in the center, there was a gigantic humanoid demon.

It seemed to be the source of the demonic energy she had felt.

“Is it dead? Has it died?”

The creature was muttering strange words while clutching a bright red mass that looked like a person.

“What on earth happened?”

Whisk.

At a Black Guard’s murmur, the demon turned its head in this direction.

Three horns.

‘It’s a Tri-horn.’

Just as the difference between a single-horned and double-horned demon is immense, the leap from two to three horns is like comparing the earth to the sky.

Unlike other demons, its special characteristics meant that even several skilled knights attacking together might not be able to kill it.

“Insane…”

Because of this, one of the accompanying Black Guards muttered expletives, seemingly terrified.

‘Is the prince okay?’

Seeing the number of horns, Linne, realizing they stood no chance, scanned the surroundings.

Fortunately, he was lying at a considerable distance from the Tri-horn demon.

‘What about Julian?’

Looking around again, she found him, like Ulysses, lying quite far away.

“This can’t be.”

Seeing his condition, Linne was nearly beside herself.

It was too dark to properly ascertain whether he was alive or dead, but several spear-sized stakes were embedded in his torso.

For anyone else, it would have been a fatal wound.

But she had to prioritize Prince Ulysses, leaving him behind.

She was part of the prince’s guard, after all.

…She knew it. That it was the right thing to do.

Yet, Linne’s feet moved towards him.

“Sir Julian!”

“Are you ok…… ugh.”

As she approached, Julian’s condition was worse than she expected.

Three spears, each the size of a forearm, were embedded in his body.

They had narrowly missed his heart, but each was lodged in a critically injurious place.

‘No, don’t pull them out.’

Almost reflexively reaching to pull them out, Linne barely stopped herself.

It was clear that pulling them out would cause him to bleed to death.

What should I do?

“What are we supposed to do?”

Seemingly thinking the same thing, one of the Black Guards muttered.

“What can we do? Are you thinking of fighting the Tri-horn demon? Since the clerics are all down, we should just take the sacred artifact as instructed by Lady Shalana.”

The Black Guards nodded to each other and dashed toward Ulysses.

“Grumble.”

The Tri-horn demon, which had been still for a while, finally began to move.

However, the first action of this demon, burning with malice and demonic energy, wasn’t to charge at the Black Guards.

Whist, thud!

A sharp object shot from the demon’s hand.

By the time it was identified as something similar to the ‘spears’ stuck in Julian, it was already too late.

Boom!

It had collapsed the staircase they had come down, sealing the entrance.

“The creature has blocked the exit…”

A Black Guard, removing a laurel crown from the fallen Ulysses’s head, muttered curses.

“From double-horned, demons’ intelligence becomes extraordinarily high.”

Linne muttered instinctively, as if recalling something she had heard somewhere.

She tried to focus as much as she could, but in the desperate situation, no solution appeared.

‘What would my master have done in this situation…’

She tried to steady her mind with that thought, but her heart pounded relentlessly.

Every time such incidents occurred, the word ‘Sword Saint’ magically helped her, but now it no longer held the same status.

Demonization and asylum in the Holy Nation,

The always noble status no longer seemed the same ‘Sword Saint’ she thought of.

‘What would you have done?’

Glancing,

Linne turned her head to look at the fallen Julian.

…Huh?

A strange scene caught her eye. Something writhing like a black shadow was filling his wounds. 

‘Is it a creature… with demonic energy?’

Oddly enough, Linne felt that the ‘black shadow’ was not unfamiliar to her. 

And she faintly realized that it had begun its activity to help Julian stand up again. 

‘If we can buy some time… might he be able to stand again? If so, can this desperate situation be overcome? 

She was not sure, but one thing was certain. 

“We have to fight. If it’s a Tri-horn demon, there will be a core… a soul stone inside. If we can break that, its activity will cease.”

We can’t run. More precisely, we can’t escape.

Hearing Linne’s words, two of the Black Guards nodded.

“To think that just moments ago we were fighting, and now we’re cooperating with this young girl…

Once again, they drew their curved swords and summoned the aura from within.

Similarly, Linne drew her sword and prepared herself.

“That demon seems to generate spears inside its body and launch them.”

“We need to dodge those spears somehow and smash the core.”

“Yes.”

“Kuk, kikik.”

As if mocking their resolve, the breathing of the Tri-horn demon could be heard.

Having intelligence means it can also mock its opponents. It’s definitely not just her imagination.

“Do we only have one chance?”

“I should have taken a vacation instead.”

Looking at the collapsed entrance and feeling the power of the spear again, the Black Guards caught their breath.

“Let’s go!”

With Linne’s shout, the three of them kicked off the ground and leaped forward.

Normally, the duo, accustomed to working in sync, seemed to know exactly how to divert the opponent’s attention, charging from opposite directions.

“Krrruk.”

Because of that, the first target of the Tri-horn demon was the Black Guard who had moved to the left.

Tukang─!

With a noise like a catapult launching, a spear shot out from the demon’s body.

At a speed difficult to follow with the naked eye.

“Kaaaak!”

The first targeted Black Guard was hit in the leg by the spear and was thrown far away.

Meanwhile, the distance was closing.

Could there be hope if they got close?

It couldn’t be certain, but they wouldn’t just allow themselves to be attacked unilaterally.

“Damn it…!”

The remaining Black Guard flew up into the air, charging towards the demon.

Tukang─!

The spear from the demon was launched again towards him. 

“Kuh!” 

He barely managed to twist his body in midair to dodge the spear, but due to the tremendous kinetic energy, the Black Guard was thrown towards the entrance. 

‘Thank you.’ 

Linne knew he had jumped to draw the demon’s attention, which allowed her to get this close. 

“Hup…!” 

Drawing all the aura from her entire body, she staked everything on her sword. 

A flash of blue light burst from her sword, compressed with high-quality aura. 

There was no turning back now. 

With that resolve, she thrust her sword towards the demon’s left chest where she expected the ‘soul stone’ to be. 

Clang! 

“Ah.” 

However, her attack did not succeed. 

Her aura-infused sword could cut through steel, but the demon’s skin was even harder than steel. 

‘It wasn’t just about shooting spears, this demon’s trait…’ 

Perhaps, hardening its body was the demon’s ability, and shooting spears was just a secondary function. 

“Kekeke.” 

In the now silent underground, the demon’s laughter became more pronounced as a death-like silence descended. 

“The contest will soon… begin… start.” 

Uttering incomprehensible words, the demon swung its arm. 

Linne, who had stepped back to avoid the attack, sensed something odd in the demon’s behavior. 

‘He could have killed me, but he didn’t.’ 

“He must think this is all a game.” 

The Black Guard who had bought her time muttered. 

“A game?” 

“Yes, this place… is the final destination for the demons used in the Grand Arena. Seems like it remembers the things it heard there. Cough.” 

Spitting out a mouthful of blood, he gave a bitter smile. 

He knew well. 

How base the contests between demons, and between demons and humans, could be. 

“I’m really sorry about this.” 

“If you’re sorry, then shut up.” 

Linne retorted sharply and turned her gaze back to the demon. 

“A game, you say?” 

Through this clash, she felt intensely how powerful the Tri-horn demon was. 

It had been an all-out attack. 

Moreover, the Black Guards, special forces members, had sacrificed themselves to create this opportunity for her. 

‘This demon perceived that entire process as a game?’ 

It was infuriating. And frightening. 

The grim future that would follow once this ‘game’ ended was terrifyingly scary.

“Still, you wouldn’t give up, would you?” 

Because that was the Julian she knew. 

A monstrous figure with a competitive spirit that far surpassed human limits. 

‘At the very least, a way to save Lord Ulysses…’

“Hyran’s family…”

At that moment, Linne sensed a change in the Tri-horn demon’s tone. 

It became clearer, as if imitating something human. 

“We must make known the greatness.”

An indescribable intensity of hostility oozed from its body. 

It was a hostility so strong, it almost resembled ‘hatred’. 

“…How, how did he stand up?” 

Listening to the Black Guard’s soliloquy, Linne moved her gaze to where the demon was looking. 

“Julian?” 

There stood Julian, so battered it wouldn’t have been surprising if he had collapsed right then.

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