Return of the Unrivaled Spear Knight

Side Story Chapter 294

Akshuller was genuinely proud of the choices he had made in his life. After walking out from the small pond he grew up in, he had met a myriad of formidable individuals and experienced many things, which led him to establish his most treasured relationships.

Akshuller learned and felt various emotions that a million gold coins couldn’t have bought him. There was a time he had fallen into a bottomless pit of despair when he had met a true Superhuman. He now knew that people didn’t need to share blood to earn each other’s loyalty and friendship. Mercenaries were always in the presence of death, so there was a camaraderie that they only felt between themselves.

Akshuller loved every bit of his life. It was his childhood in the Killian house that had helped him discover his thirst for freedom. Only after stepping outside had he learned how big the world was. That was what made him conclude the vaunted title of the Duke of Killian was actually nothing.

“I also want to show you what I learned, my brother!” Akshuller joyfully shouted at the top of his lungs.

“Cut the bullshit!”

Akshuller’s fist and Aaron’s sword continued to clash without end, sending sparks of aura flying everywhere. Akshuller the Mighty had been the king of ten million mercenaries for decades, and Aaron del Killian was the strongest Absolute of Swallow. However, other people would never know this increasingly intense battle was actually between brothers.

They were steadily smashing holes in the palace’s roof.

“Ohaaa! Take over the palace!”

“Fuck! Why are there mercenaries here?!”

The Killian army was in chaos. In contrast, the faces of the imperial army grew brighter when the mercenaries poured out from the Palace.

“Let’s drive out the Killian rebels!”

“Yeahhhhhh!”

With the mercenaries joining the imperial army, the battle became a small war in its own right. The only possible endings were either to overthrow the government or to put a stop to the rebellion.

“Keep calm! Don’t initiate! Hold your assigned positions so that they have to come through our defenses!”

Arash bel Grace, the Fox Master, was leading the imperial army on the frontlines. She didn’t flee at the first sigh of battle like any other member of the Imperial Family. Even though she wasn’t a true member of the Imperial Family, in the people’s eyes, she was the bravest princess who ever was. Inspired by Arash’s example, the imperial army’s morale skyrocketed.

“Crush those filthy rebels!”

‘The longer the battle goes on, the more it favors us since the nearby nobles’ private armies are going to arrive.’

Despite knowing that, Arash remained uneasy. She turned to look at the palace roof where two men continued to battle. When she had first heard about the two brothers’ story, her jaw had dropped to the ground.

“I would never have imagined those two men to be brothers…” Arash murmured.

There was another reason why Arash was hopeful. For the last decade, Akshuller had taken part in only a handful of battles, but he and his mercenaries had won every single one.

“…Good. It’s time to move on to the second stage of the plan—”

The beating of drums interrupted her next move.

“That is…”

“Help the Killians! It’s finally time to avenge our king!”

An army carrying red flags poured through all four of the palace’s gates and joined the Killian army, ending the precarious deadlock.

“That’s Thran’s flag…!”

Arash’s anxiety spiked. All the effort she and everyone else had gone through to turn the tide of the battle in their favor would be meaningless if Thran’s army were to join the fight.

“Hey! Arash! Is that okay to leave them be?” Anna shouted.

She’d arrived at the perfect time.

“Your Majesty! I need to make a request of you!”

“What is it?”

“I would like you to bring your Vaikals and come with me.”

“Where are we going all of a sudden?”

“We’re going to meet them.” Arash pointed at the Thran army who had just shown up.

Even when she had chased after Aaron alone, Anna hadn’t looked this tense, but now, here eyes were wide and her throat bobbed nervously as she swallowed.

“…Have you forgotten that people think that the Swallow Imperial Family is the one who killed the Flame Emperor? The moment we arrive in front of them, they’ll try to rip us to pieces.” Anna asked, concerned.

Arash’s eyes were sharper than ever. “I have a plan. Please trust me on this.”

It wasn’t a matter of trust because Anna and Arash would have to risk their lives. In fact, it was about more than their lives because if something were to happen to them, their army would fold like a stack of cards.

“…Okay. I’ll trust you.”

Arash's eyes widened. She had expected more resistance from Anna.

Anna cleared her throat. “Well, I couldn't even think of a plan to bring in mercenaries.”

“Your Majesty…”

“I know you’re a skilled strategist.”

A smile slowly spread across Arash’s face.

On the other hand, Anna was quietly denying a thought that was suddenly bothering her.

“Well, It’s not about… who’s going to be the Martial God’s daughter-in-law...”

“I’m sorry? What did you say…?

“Nothing.” Anna shook her head almost spasmodically. “I was just talking to myself. Shall we get going?”

Arash gave Anna a confused look.

* * *

Another bloody battle was taking place in a different empire’s palace, but the stench of death was thicker here.

“Ah, shit!” A knight cussed after cutting down an undead.

Hubalt used to be called the Holy Empire and this knight was from Hubalt, so he had believed that killing an undead would be a piece of cake. However, his nationality was meaningless in front of the infinite army he faced. No matter how many times Hubalt’s knights killed them, new undead rose from the ground without end as if there was a graveyard below their feet.

The unending horde of undead dragged the palace into a messy brawl, resulting in the Hubalt knights killing each other. One of the knights who had been killed suddenly came back to life and bit into his colleague’s shoulder.

“Argh! Robert!”

It was all because of the five liches floating above the battlefield.

“…The only way to end this catastrophe is to kill Avalon’s prince. He’s the cause of all this,” one of Hubalt’s more quick-witted knights concluded.

The knight quietly approached Kireua one step at a time, bracing himself against the wicked demonic power Kireua emitted..

However, as the knight got closer to his target, he could feel himself being overwhelmed by an emotion.

‘What… is wrong with me?’

That emotion was fury, and it only grew worse when he looked at Halker, his comrade.

‘Come to think of it, it was weird that he was drinking with my wife three years ago. I got off work early that day and he almost jumped out of his skin when he saw me.’

The knight hadn’t given it much thought at the time because it had been a planned family gathering and Halker had been off duty that day. There was nothing strange about Halker arriving a little early, but there was nothing natural about Halker’s reaction. He’d looked like a child who had been caught doing something naughty.

The knight, eyes red with rage, thrust his sword.

“You fucker!”

“Argh!” Halker’s eyes widened. “Pa-Parune! Why would you do this—?”

“You slept with my wife, didn’t you? Die, you trash.”

It wasn’t just Parune and Halker. The same madness was taking place all over the vault, spurred by the unrestrained power of Wrath that Kireua had unleashed. As the humans gave in to their negative emotions and the undead unleashed their demonic power…

-Hehehehehehe!

Coju rubbed its full belly happily after absorbing all of them.

Meanwhile, Isaac pulled her eyes away from the pandemonium.

‘...I should look for Bel.’

In the midst of the massacre, there was still an area where people were fighting with a modicum of rationality—they were the Martial Knights. They had been the last to arrive, emerging from a pool of light.

“Don’t let the undead intimidate you! They’re still just undead! We’ll crush them!”

They didn’t let their dark desires get the better of them and efficiently obliterated the undead.

‘The Martial Knights must be the best at using authorities to achieve such effectiveness.’

Isaac scanned the Martial Knights, wondering if Bel was among them. If he wasn’t there…

‘…Then there’s only one place he could be.’

Isaac confirmed that Bel wasn’t in the vault and turned to leave.

Bel was her fiance, so she had an idea or two about where he could be right now. The problem was, she didn’t know how to get out of this vault.

-You have a plan of your own, human?

Isaac quickly looked up and spotted the not-quite-human boy in the air.

‘No, he’s definitely not human,’ Isaac realized. She quickly drew up her aura.

-There is no need to be alarmed. The human within me is the one who has business with you.

“The human within you? What in the world are you talking about…” Isaac trailed off with a frown.

If her hunch was correct, the mysterious boy must be a dragon. Although she wasn’t sure how a dragon was still alive, Isaac was certain that the boy was, in fact, a dragon because she had accompanied Bel on his massacre of every dragon on the continent. The energy that the boy exuded was exactly the same as that of the dragons she had met before.

However, she could hear a new voice in her head, one that threw her completely off.

-Like he said, I would like to talk to you. Oh, I believe an introduction is in order. I’m Joshua Sanders.

Isaac’s eyes nearly fell out of her skull.

“...You’re the Martial God?” she asked. She couldn’t believe it, but she had to ask.