A second attack was not necessary.
The moment Julius swung his sword, the demonic beasts that had lost control of the hostages were all shattered into pieces.
Tara couldn’t hide her embarrassment at the sight.
‘What’s so strong?’
It was surprising that Julius could fight even with that wound, but he could still understand.
Even during the days of Aslan and Allen, he was a person who maintained third place.
It was not strange to say that he was the leader of a small and medium knight corps.
But Noah was different.
‘Have you become that strong in just half a year?’
The Noah I met in the Crescent Islands was obviously strong, but that was it.
However, the present Noah exuded an aura that was no less than that of Julius.
‘I don’t even know where it came from. Aside from my speed, my skill in stealth has surpassed me too?’
Noah’s stealth skill, which has been increased through studying with Yuna, is already comparable to a professional dark knight.
This was a level where he was good at whatever he did, beyond simply growing fast.
“It’s been a while, Tara.”
Hundreds of intangible swords formed and aimed at her from all directions.
Those intangible swords that looked like crystals of snow were Noah’s sword skills that were further strengthened by this realization.
characterization.
A 4.5-step sword skill that gives additional characteristics to the 4-step sword skill, attribute conversion.
Like the submersion that Felix used, the ice jeonggang sword strengthened all of Noah’s sword skills.
‘It can be applied only when using the attribute conversion of ice or when calling an intangible sword in the snow like now, but it is strong enough to endure the conditions.’
The sword with the ice jeonggang sword boasted such strength that even if scratched with a black blade, it would only cause scratches.
If the opponent was imprisoned with such swordsmanship, it would be impossible to escape with moderate force.
Tara was also able to notice that fact without difficulty.
‘It would be difficult to escape if trapped.’
She said, feigning as much composure as possible.
“Yeah, it’s been a while, kid. But aren’t you too energetic to the extent that you just defeated a failure?”
“clinker?”
“These house spiders here are all failures of the demonization experiment. Even if the criminals are gone, there is no one to be angry with.”
“… … !”
The house spiders that made up the village were actually the criminals who lived in the village.
In the organization, they brought in criminals who were not burdened to touch and experimented with witchcraft.
“Buying orphans or kidnapping ordinary people carries the risk of getting caught, but there is no burden on this side. But they all failed because they were trash, what?”
The success or failure of the organization’s demonization procedure could not be predicted.
If he fails, he will lose his reason and become a demonic beast like he is now.
There was no reason to save unsuccessful works while even successful works were discarded if they were useless.
“I only had the signal connected just in case, but I thought you would get caught. How do you feel about killing things that were people?”
-Noah.
At Tara’s words, Julius was worried about Noah’s condition.
There was a big difference between fighting with the momentum to kill people and killing people.
Even if they had enough training to prepare for these situations, the percentage of those who could kill in real combat was not very high.
It was an issue unrelated to skill.
However, Noah was not shaken by Tara’s provocation.
“I already finished that resolution a long time ago. At least not from a b*tch like you. I will at least avenge the organization on behalf of the dead.”
“Hmm. Are you serious? Too bad.”
It was dangerous for Tara to fight these two by herself, since the hostage-taking had failed.
Because the abilities she received were not suitable for direct combat.
“It would be interesting to wait until those humans die from the cold, but it seems that the goal has already been achieved, so shall we end today’s meeting?”
“at there!”
Noah’s sword cut through Tara, but Tara only scattered as ashes.
“This is from Nightray… … !”
“It seems like both want to kill each other, but now doesn’t seem to be the time.”
Papabak!
Intangible swords rained down, but the area touched by the sword only quickly turned to ashes and scattered.
“See you at Sanctum Keep.”
At the same time as he left those words, even the face that remained until the end turned to ashes and flew away.
Tara disappeared just like that.
“I’ll definitely have to think of a countermeasure against escaping using that ability. There will be no end to missing something like this every time.”
“… … I’m sorry, but let’s start with treatment first. The wound is great.”
“What about the others?”
All passengers were unscathed. It was only that the house had disappeared and they were shivering in the cold.
Left behind, they had to find a way to escape the cold.
* * *
The houses were gone, but fortunately the objects inside were real.
No matter how much the monster was, it seemed that all objects could not be perfectly realized, only the outer wall of the building was made up of the body of the beast.
“Are you saying you didn’t eat canned monsters? Good luck out of misfortune.”
People packed up what they needed and returned to the train.
The walls and ceiling were the same in the rooms.
With firewood, I was able to survive the cold somehow.
Those who didn’t have enough of that hugged each other and shared their body temperature.
Despite the conflict between the upper classes, the people who overcame the crisis together were that close.
It wasn’t that there weren’t people who grumbled in the middle of it, but those voices were very small.
It means that they also know that it’s embarrassing to be complaining in this situation.
‘People can get better.’
Disappointment in people was healed by hope in people.
* * *
A day and a half had passed before the rescue team arrived.
Thanks to arriving earlier than expected, all passengers were safely rescued without any injuries.
“thank you.”
“no. It’s a natural thing.”
The mayor of Lapland, the destination, thanked Noah and Julius for saving the citizens.
“It is a miracle that no one was injured. Still, we plan to conduct health checkups for all of us as we have been eaten by the demons once, but the knights… … ?”
“Since we are behind schedule, we have to go to Sanctum Keep right away.”
“The ship we were originally supposed to board has already departed. Let me check the ship.”
Thanks to the mayor’s consideration, the two were able to head to Sanctum Keep without delay.
So we arrived at the glacier city, Sanctum Keep.
“Are you here?”
The one waiting for them was Cocoa, the high priestess of the Crescent Islands.
“Meet the Grand Priestess.”
“OK. Are you Julius? He looks just like your father, so it’s harder to recognize.”
Cocoa was a knight one generation older than Julius’ father, Albert.
No matter how much she had been stuck in the Crescent Islands since her retirement, Master Knights would have met each other.
“Theodore is out now. I heard there was an accident on the way, so let’s start by exchanging information with each other.”
The two explained to Cocoa what the organization was doing in the criminals’ town.
“Did you cover the number of people in the organization that way? There might be more of them than expected.”
Cocoa and Theodore had been following the organization here for almost half a year.
In the meantime, many things have happened on this side as well.
“I heard that you subdued a disaster-class monster not too long ago.”
“right. I didn’t expect that even after coming this far, I’d be holding the beast, but the King of the North Sea Sword offered a decent price, and we needed an excuse to stay.”
It was also a job to help an ally, as long as it didn’t deviate too far from the original mission.
During the months of preparation for the subjugation, the executioners were able to buy additional investigation time.
After all, it means that it was an extension of the mission.
“Currently, we believe that the White Witch is a member of the organization, or at least a collaborator.”
From noble mtl dot com.
“A white witch?”
“okay. One of Sanctum Keep’s two Master Knights.”
Sanctum Keep is a collection of several glacier cities, and adopted a republic where the parliament leads the country.
In this situation, there are only two Master Knights in the country.
Thus, factions were divided along the two Master Knights.
“The people who rule this land are the King of the North Sea Sword and the White Witch. We were cooperating with the North Sea Sword King to capture one of them, the White Witch.”
The North Sea Sword King was also Arni’s father.
Therefore, Noah thought that he had called him with the intention of attracting the North Sea Sword King through Arni, but Cocoa’s words were a little different.
“Were you cooperating? Are you saying it’s not now?”
“okay. The important thing is from here. It’s still a secret to the outside world, so don’t spill it anywhere.”
Cocoa checked once again to make sure there were no hidden ears around her, then continued.
“The North Sea Sword King is currently in critical condition due to an injury during the subjugation. We think it is the Duke of the White Witch.”
“… … !”
“However, we are always outsiders. We cannot arbitrarily arrest the White Witch, one of the rulers of Sanctum Keep, without solid evidence.”
It was difficult to prove crimes using superpowers.
The White Witch claimed that the North Sea Sword King was injured in the process of subjugating the demons.
In the current situation where the North Sea Sword King himself is unconscious, it is impossible to cover the truth of the words.
Proof was needed.
“The reason we called you is to ask you to gather evidence.”
* * *
After hearing about the general situation of Sanctum Keep from Cocoa, Noah immediately went to the North Sea Sword King’s official residence.
Now that the North Sea Sword King had fallen, the only daughter, Arni, took his place.
Arni smiled awkwardly without being embarrassed when he saw Noah suddenly enter the office.
“Ehehehe, I’m sorry I said I’d introduce you to Sanctum Keep next time we meet.”
“Are you okay?”
Of course it couldn’t be.
Lexi, who was like a family member, was eliminated by the organization, and now even her father was in critical condition.
She, who is not even a knight, has to lead numerous knights belonging to her father, the North Sea Sword King’s faction, but how easy would that be?
But still, Arni laughed.
Because she still has a lot to protect.
“yes. are you okay. A lot of people help out.”
If she, the central point of the North Sea Sword King faction, collapses, the Sanctum Keep will fall into the hands of the White Witch.
Until she finds evidence and arrests the White Witch, she shouldn’t have suffered even though it was difficult.
Because when she was having a hard time, many people who followed her were bound to be shaken.
The girl became an adult by her will.
“Thank you for coming to see me first, but please say hello anyway.”
At Arni’s invitation, Noah realized that there was another person in the office.
A talented person who is hard to feel the reality even though he is right next to him.
The man had black hair like Noah’s.
“Since my father fell, Mr. Cain has been protecting me from any possible attack.”
It was clear that the organization would want to drive a wedge into the situation somehow.
Because of this, the bedridden North Sea Sword King and Arni had to be protected no matter what.
The reason Cocoa greeted the trainees alone was because Theodore was guarding the hospital bed.
Arni, the other side, was attached to this man.
“Perhaps you have heard the story? Nice to meet you, son.”
“… … father.”
The father and son’s reunion took place in a distant foreign land.