Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 439

“How dare you say something like that…”“That’s why you’re a brat.”

Arendt, who had cut off Jiklin’s words, began to laugh heartily.

“How many times have you fallen for the same provocation? At this point, you’d think you’d be tired of it and just ignore it.”

The blood dripping from the wound froze into bright red frost as soon as it touched the ground.

White frost bloomed like wildflowers around him.

It was as if an icy chill had descended only in Arendt’s vicinity.

“What a crazy bastard…”

Jiklin’s lips moved without her realizing it.

The apprentice knight was more alien than any other being. His demeanor showed he had no interest in reverence or fear toward the gods.

Although she often acted spoiled toward Nikephoros, Jiklin felt an instinctive aversion to that apprentice knight.

The reason was unclear. But the elven sense she’d long ago abandoned constantly alerted Jiklin.

Arendt von Eckhart was a truly unsettling presence.

Now it didn’t matter what happened to the prisoners.

Lord Chernion’s main enemy, the Hero, was nearby, but even that didn’t feel important.

Jiklin decided to focus on getting rid of the annoying person in front of her.

“…Kill him.”

The attacks of the homunculus that had received the order began to focus on Arendt.

It went according to plan.

With a subtle curl of his lips, Arendt responded by further increasing his magic power.

It was a bit overwhelming to defend against all the attacks coming from all directions, but if the targets were all concentrated together, it would be easier to move.

The instant Arendt withdrew, a deadly attack slammed into that spot.

Unfocused eyes turned to Arendt, and the next attack immediately flew in, but Richt, waiting right next to him, intervened and blocked it.

A shock that was difficult to bear swept through his body once again.

“Ugh!”

Grimacing, Richt stood firm.

Arendt jumped into the gap and used the extended tendril as a stepping stone to charge towards the main body of the homunculus.

Once again, a sharp tendril flew towards him, but Arendt easily dodged it by lowering his head.

Richt also deflected the attack to the side and kicked off the ground and ran after Arendt.

The tendril that had passed him dug deep into the hard ground with an eerie sound.

It was still a tough opponent.

But now that they were starting to see the pattern of its behaviour, it wasn’t a fight they couldn’t win.

Arthur and Rita’s swords clashed head-on.

Rita easily dodged the attack and immediately launched a counterattack. Arthur was taken aback by her unimaginable speed.

‘What?’

According to reports, Rita, who followed Jin, was a spirit.

Even when confronting Llewellyn in the Everan Kingdom, Rita was said to have done her part by protecting Jiklin in the form of a spirit.

Even though she occasionally took on a human form and carried out activities, it seemed that she was only there to serve Jiklin.

However…

Rita swung her sword with emotionless eyes, looking no different from any ordinary human knight.

“What the hell did that freaking bastard make?”

Arthur grumbled in annoyance and swung his sword.

But Rita easily blocked the attack this time as well.

A harsh screech of metal rang out as the swords scraped against each other.

Her beautiful face, resembling an elf, did not change expression even while clashing with Arthur.

It was like fighting a well-made doll.

‘Come to think of it, it’s pretty much the same.’

Arthur’s brow furrowed.

Instead of a spirit stone, it was imbued with a real spirit, but it was still a kind of homunculus created by Jiklin.

Arthur measured the distance between the battlefield and the fleeing people.

Now their figures were barely visible behind the buildings. With explosives constantly going off by the wall, it was only a matter of time before they joined the rest.

‘The problem is that it doesn’t end there.’

Three people had to hold off the enemies until they were completely safe.

Even if the troops outside the walls encountered the homunculus, it was clear they’d be slaughtered without even slowing it down.

‘The original goal was to escape as quickly as possible, but…’

Arendt used to say it all the time, like it was second nature.

But the guy who kept babbling like that eventually ended up being the last one standing.

‘If you look closely, there’s no one whose words and actions are as inconsistent as that bastard’s.’

It was the same even now.

Because Jiklin appeared earlier than expected, escaping became nearly impossible.

Because there were people behind them who they had to protect.

With a grimace, Arthur shoved Rita aside and created some distance between them.

In the meantime, Rita tried to chase after the fleeing people, but a golden gust of wind blew fiercely and blocked her path.

Luna and Ray got involved.

“…”

Arthur was able to catch his breath briefly during that gap.

But that didn’t last long either.

It was because he knew that the more actively the spirits intervened, the greater the burden Salem outside would have to bear.

Arthur steadied his stance, leaped into the golden magic and swung his sword at Rita again.

“…!”

.

Arthur’s sword grazed Rita’s cheek, leaving a wound.

But that was it.

The skin that had been split open quickly regenerated and returned to its original appearance.

“Tsk.”

Arthur gave a crooked smile.

“You damn monsters.”

A loud explosion shook the air behind them.

Immediately after, cheers erupted from the soldiers.

“We did it! It’s finally done!”

The wall had finally collapsed.

Though his entire body was covered in wounds, the hero didn’t even gasp for breath.

Laius looked down indifferently at the remains of the homunculus, now so mangled that it was impossible to discern its original form.

What had been the head of a giant wolf was panting and sticking out its tongue.

A little distance away, inside a collapsed chest, was a fake spirit stone that had lost most of its red glow.

“…”

Laius roughly wiped the blood flowing from his torn forehead and took a brisk step forward.

Finally, the Holy Sword struck down the fake spirit stone, which was blinking pitifully as if in a desperate struggle.

Despite rampaging through the entire battlefield, the homunculus’ heart turned to dust and disappeared.

“Is this the end?”

Laius’ gaze fell on the leader of the battle priests.

Beneath his hooded robe, Eric, the leader of the battle priests, looked at the hero with eyes full of disbelief.

He believed he had cast away all unnecessary emotions for Lord Chernion, yet…

The moment he met his blue eyes, Eric felt a chill run down his spine.

There was no sense of justice or mission in the hero’s gaze.

It was closer to looking at an insect than at one’s own enemy or foe.

Eric clenched his fists under his robes.

“How dare you… Lord Chernion’s soldiers…”

His hands began to tremble with humiliation.

But he couldn’t move readily.

Even the miracle soldier that Jiklin had painstakingly created was helplessly defeated.

Laius wasn’t the only one to exhaust him.

Even after releasing the ghouls like that, they failed not only to deal with the surrounding knights but couldn’t even subdue a single one.

The knights, covered in wounds, stared at him with eyes similar to their captain’s.

‘I can’t say that they’re normal either.’

They didn’t seem very sane.

A sudden explosion erupted from behind the gate.

“…!”

Eric instinctively turned his head. Not far away, he saw a plume of black smoke rising.

The source was right under the city wall.

“…What?”

Eric moved his lips vaguely.

He paled, and he belatedly had a gut feeling that something was seriously wrong.

He was tricked.

Eric shifted his confused gaze back to Laius.

“No way…”

The hero was just bait.

While he was distracted, the combined forces of the Kingdom and the Empire were carrying out a diversionary operation.

But the knights also felt that something was wrong.

They had promised to move secretly until they could completely escape with the prisoners.

The fact that black smoke continued to rise from that side along with the loud noise meant that an urgent situation had occurred.

Something must have happened to Arendt and his group.

“Captain!”

Rider who discovered something shouted.

Near the smoking walls, a gigantic, unidentifiable shadow wriggled.

They felt an ominous magic.

It was clear that Jiklin, who had appeared sooner than expected, had led the homunculus and attacked Arendt’s group.

Laius, who had quickly made a decision, shouted.

“Lady Shekhinah, Your Highness! Please watch our rear!”

“Stop them! Don’t let them interfere with Lady Jiklin!”

Eric also suddenly came to his senses and shouted.

As soon as the Imperial Knights turned, the battle priests and ghouls immediately tried to pursue them.

But before they could even take a few steps, a rain of arrows blocked the priests’ path.

“…!”

The priests hastily swung their swords to deflect the arrows. However, the moment their swords made contact, the arrows turned red and exploded with magic.

!

“Kuaaaah!”

The ghouls were shattered beyond repair, and the clothes and bodies of the priests caught in the explosion were set ablaze.

Among them, there were some whose flesh had flown away and whose facial bones were completely exposed.

But they didn’t stop.

Those who had lost their legs chased the knights, even crawling on their arms, and some did not let go of their weapons even though their bodies were on fire.

Soon, the charred flesh and shattered bones began to slowly heal.

Glenn, who saw that, shouted at Laius.

“Captain, I’ll stay!”

“I’ll join you too!”

When Rider also joined, Laius granted permission.

“I’m counting on you!”

“Yes!”

Rider and Glenn changed direction to block the enemies’ advance. Eric, consumed by rage, let out a fierce roar.

“Don’t interfere!”

His blade flew straight towards Rider’s neck.

But Rider didn’t even look up, and was focused on dealing with the other ghoul right in front of him.

Eric grew even more furious at Rider’s blatant disregard for him.

As his emotions wavered, the black divine power within Eric began to run wild.

His reason completely flew away, and only the single-minded determination to kill them consumed him.

“These fucking bastards…!”

With a dull sound, his racing mind suddenly calmed down.

It felt like the chaotic world had suddenly come to a halt.

Eric blinked his eyes blankly several times, then realized belatedly that the steel arrow had pierced right between his eyebrows.

After dealing with the incoming enemies, Rider glanced at Eric with cold eyes.

But that was all, and he quickly turned his gaze to another enemy.

‘Ah.’

The gaze that seemed to be looking at an insect was exactly like that of the Hero.

With a huge explosion, he disappeared, leaving behind only a handful of blood.