Chapter 78

When Laoman rode his horse, the native tribes split left and right to pave the way.

Baheum, who was the strongest assistant to Aran, was absent, so the chieftains of the native tribes and the warriors were confused by the sudden appearance of Laoman, and of the word ‘traitor’ that he had shouted. They knew that there would be something, but it was actually much more insidious than they thought.

“All we want is Chieftain Aran and those who sympathize with him, who conspired to trick me and my clan! Back down if you don’t want to fight!”

When the mercenary commander learned of the nature of Aran’s basin, he recommended going in after the disturbance subsided, but Laoman didn’t want to wait any longer. There were many reasons, but the biggest of them was Aran.

“Only you, I will kill you with my own hands!”

Laoman lowered his sword. With the weight of his horse added to its running power, it was thought that Aran’s head would be cut off at once and rolled to the floor, but.

Kkaaang!

Aran raised his weapon over his head and deflected Laoman’s sword. Laoman, who had almost dropped his sword due to the opposition power, clenched his teeth.

Tadadakk!

Laoman, who had completely passed Aran, turned the horse’s head to change direction, making it face Aran again. Layman hurried the horse’s side by hitting it with his ankle bone hard enough to make a sound.

Neeigh!

The horse ran.

This time, instead of welcoming him in place as before, Aran rushed toward the horse.

Kung! Kung! Kung! Kwaang!

The massive figure accelerated and hit the floor, and at the end, he jumped off at once. The shadow was so huge that it covered Laoman on horseback.

Laoman, with his eyes narrowed in the backlight that obscured the sun, swung his weapon like an instinct.

Chaeng! Chaeeng!

Every time he blocked an attack, his body trembled, and the vibration was transmitted to the horse. Still, Laoman managed to persevere.

As the battle between the leaders continues, the warriors of the two tribes also clash and wield their weapons.

As the movement intensified, only the warriors of the Baheum tribe helped the Aran tribe, and the other tribe chieftains and warriors retreated back and forth, still at a loss.

It was not intended as such, but soon only those who were fighting were left behind. Chieftain Vedal wanted to stop the fight, so he opened his mouth… but suddenly, like those who were stepping away from the fight, something caught his eyes.

Unlike them, who faced the exit from the innermost side, those who rushed in with the Laoman tribe actually left the scene where the fight took place and back to the exit.

They must’ve been mercenaries, so he wondered why they were doing this without helping their employer, but if they intervened, the situation would become more complicated, so he stopped the thought.

Biiiik!

If not for the change that happened with the loud cry of a hawk across the blue sky above the basin.

Biiik! Biiik!

The number of hawks increased to two and three, and the mercenaries formed their ranks. Vedal, whose tension was raised, soon realized that they might want to interfere in the fight soon as they raised their arms.

The mercenaries did not approach, but rather retreated further. It was just like when the warriors of the Aran tribe tried to stop the incarnation of Sionil from running through the exit in a carriage.

“They’re blocking the exit? Why?”

He was puzzled, but the soles of his feet trembled. He couldn’t see the outside because of the rock wall, but he could feel it.

“What the hell are they doing?”

“I guess it’s never easy where our consort is. This time, the desert is about to collapse.”

They both said at the same time. And clicked their tongue the same.

While Laoman ran to face Aran, they had gradually widened their distance from them and moved deeper into the basin before stopping.

Ppasseuk!

When the energy of the emerald inside the pendant was raised, the jewel became powder and disappeared. She wanted to preserve the original shape, but it was too small and it was difficult to concentrate her power in detail right now.

A handful of power spread into her body.

It seemed that the lack of breath was somewhat filled.

On the contrary, the sharp waves that stabbed the skin grew stronger and stronger. It must’ve meant that there were many of them, and the danger was great.

Just as expected.

As they continued to walk again, the air grew heavier and heavier. Those who had climbed the slope from beyond the basin stopped at the top and looked down at the tribesmen below.

There were so many of them, the slope was shaded as if it had risen by a span.

Elisha looked around and searched for the prison where she was confined when she first came here. But the prison was nowhere to be seen, instead, a place with a similar structure caught her eye. It seemed like that would be fine, but Elisha didn’t move right away. Even Aran and Laoman, who had been fighting with their eyes narrowed, seemed to have stopped their swords, and the inside of the basin was quiet.

This was because the person who moved first could be the first target to be attacked by the gaze of the enemies surrounding the basin from above. Shamir felt that the unnaturally stiffened and squeaking Dahil and Taro were funny for a while, and fished for information about why this was happening.

That said, whether the pro-Kran Kingdom faction really gave up trying to attack Elisha and what false accusation Laoman wrote, and the fact that the level of the mercenaries Laoman brought seemed too much for him to obtain. Everything was strange.

“It seems that the chieftain of Laoman tribe was probing all over the place and hit the main players in the pro-Kran Kingdom faction, where there really was something to be probed about, by accident. The mercenaries must have been attached by the faction in advance for internal control under the concept of an advance team.”

Elisha quickly found the answer.

Laoman did not know the secrets of the pro-Kran Kingdom faction, the pro-Kran Kingdom faction misunderstood the reason for Laoman’s movements, and Aran did not predict what would happen when the two of them were sparsely tangled.

“As always, our consort, you’re so smart!”

Shamir praised her, but Dahil and Taro did not understand what they were talking about, so they nodded their heads only at the result.

“I can’t believe it’s the tribe of the pro-Kran Kingdom. I thought there would be trouble someday, but not this soon…”

Taro murmured. He meant that he never knew it would be the day when he decided to take a lifelong adventure with his woman.

Elisha was not impressed with the information that she had gotten.

She was just busy looking up and at the party. On the slopes surrounding the basin, the bows raised by the enemies reflected the sunlight.

As the fluctuating light enveloped the slope, it was as beautiful as if a golden waterfall was about to pour down.

But instead of a waterfall, silver rain poured down.

Hard enough to soak up the inside of the basin.

Swa-swa-swa-swa!

“Avoid it!”

Someone’s cry resounded, but where the hell should they go to avoid it?

The exit was blocked, and the only way to avoid the attack was destroyed when horses and carriages ran rampant earlier.

Standing on a dirt floor with no trees and no buildings, the desert tribes had to be shot with their bare bodies.

Poe-boek! Poek! Poek!

All of the warriors’ heads and bodies were hit by arrows.. Blood pooled on the floor like rain.

Elisha moved to the place she had been watching while protecting her party with the energy of water. As soon as they arrived, she pushed the party into a place that could only be seen as a protruding part from the bottom of the slope from above. Above the head, a flat stone protruded like a tongue sticking out, and the arrow was not able to fly in because the structure below was dug pretty deep in.

“I think they want to kill everyone.”

Taro hugged Dahil, who couldn’t even dare to look outside, as she muttered helplessly.

“No matter the reason this time around, the relationship between the native tribes and the pro-Kran Kingdom faction is never good anyway.”

Their history went far back. It was nothing special.

Shamir, who shrugged, continued.

“In order to cover up the dreary things, they should have taken this opportunity to wipe out all the native tribes and end everything. Come to think of it, how could they let it be when Aran gathered all of the native tribes in one place?”

In the midst of this, when Shamir acted like he was having fun, Dahil and Taro looked tired. Then Shamir took another step.

“At a time like this, if our consort goes out and shows them that you’re here, won’t they all fall down with froths in their mouths out of shock?”

Come to think of it, he thought it would be fun, so Shamir yelled at Elisha, who kept going inside.

“Our consort, did you hear me?”

“We should have done that before they shot the arrows. Now that they’ve done it, we won’t be able to handle the aftermath. In the current situation, it would be better if no one knows who I am.”

“What do you mean? The chieftain of the Laoman tribe asked me if you were just a scammer pretending to be the incarnation of Sionil, so I joked that he should go and check it out himself. The mercenary commander was also nearby at that time, so he might have heard of it. He might think it was a low-quality joke because they’d never imagine us kidnapping the 2nd Consort.”

It was ridiculous that the person who actually kidnapped the 2nd Consort said that with his own mouth.

“Anyway, our consort, what are you doing? Can I help you?”

Perhaps it was boring to stay still, Shamir walked slowly to Elisha’s side. Elisha was looking through the rocks inside the prison with her fingertips.

[T/N: It was mentioned before that she couldn’t find the prison where she was kept before and headed for the place with similar structure, I guess the author decided to call it ‘prison’ as well]

“What is it? Do you want me to dig here and go through the other side?”

“If it’s possible.”

Shamir was joking, but Elisha was very serious.

“Hmm.”

Shamir also wanted to get serious, but it didn’t work out. Elisha glanced down at him, who was crouching low and laughed,, and then concentrated on her work again.

The rock in this area felt different from where she was. It was also different from the rocks she felt with her hands when attempting to escape through the slope.

“Goddess! The attack outside seems to be getting weaker. What will happen now?”

“The mercenaries guarding the exit will search inside and see if there are any living ones. Meanwhile, archers from the top of the slope will also come down.”

They were rats in the trap. Dahil and Taro’s emotions were far from stable, while one of the remaining two was too indifferent to this scary situation while the other one was having a lot of fun.

At that time.

Poeddoek! Poek!

The sound of the stone crumbling with a great impact was heard. Elisha was putting all her strength into it.

And then, Kukukung!!

The moment when some of the piled rocks collapsed and the cave deepened.

“Wow!”

Dahil exclaimed involuntarily. A scene that allowed anyone to balance their minds and immerse themselves in one emotion unfolded.

There was an empty space beyond the collapsed rock inside the cave, and it was all green. Like a forest within the stone.

It emitted light like emerald, and it was not so shiny, but the surface that glided over the lumpy gloss was elegant…

“Jade.”

Elisha said.

That was what she called the thing from the moment she touched the cave wall.

[T/N: From what I understand, basically the one attacking them is the mercenaries hired by Laoman, who are actually hired by the pro-Kran Kingdom faction as an ‘advance team’. It is mentioned that they actually do not know that Elisha is in this place. The reason for their attack is because they found out that Laoman has been probing their side, perhaps when he was looking for the spy that caused him to be shunned by the native tribes (actually Aran’s doing), and thought that Laoman had found out their secrets. Well, Laoman did not find their secrets, so this attack is actually a misunderstanding, but despite the reason, their relationship had never been good, so…]