CH 284.

Originally, the spear made of ice would have frozen its opponents as it pierced through them, but now, the wind’s power had been added to it. When the power of Bitter Frost met the power of wind, a completely new power was born. 

The first victim of this new power was a nameless central kingdom’s knight who blocked Kim Seon-Hyeok’s path to the mages.

With a sound of a bang, the defense magic that the mages had set up shattered. The shield the knight was holding in front of him with all his strength didn’t last even a moment before it was destroyed as well. 

It happened so quickly that the knight didn’t notice what happened to himself, let alone able to counterattack. 

“Ah…”

By the time he thought the shield’s handle he was forcefully gripping felt too light, the ice spear had already pierced his chest.

What on earth…

The knight’s eyes widened as he opened his mouth. He looked down at the translucent white spear that had pierced through his chest. However, the terrible cold emanating from his chest froze his death’s rattle and he died before he could blink. 

That was simply the beginning.

With the frozen knight at the center, a terrifying chill exploded outwards. At first, the cold air seemed to merely freeze the ground, but soon, it became a blizzard that seemed to cover the entire world.

“Uh, uh?”

The mage’s tongue froze before he could even finish the spell he had prepared for a counterattack. With a terrible pain that felt like his eyeballs were being gouged out, his eyes turned into translucent ice pieces. His robe that had been fluttering in the wind hardened as it froze as well.

The pain didn’t last long. By the time he realized the horrific changes to his body, his heart and soul had already frozen.

Shaaaaaa.

Even after devouring two pitiful victims in an instant, the blizzard wasn’t satisfied. Howling wildly, it found and consumed other victims. 

Resistance was futile in the face of the greedy blizzard. Whether it was the widely admired knight’s pride or the brilliant sword energy that simply burned away the cold that touched its own body, neither could protect its master’s body. 

Small crystals of ice fluttering in the air clung to the armor and stuck to the exposed and bare skin.

The armor made of refined iron froze and in an instant, his skin turned blue. The hot blood running through their veins cooled down. 

That was the end. 

Before the knights could even spread the sword energy gathered on their blades, they became statues made of ice. 

The only people who survived in the blizzard’s realm were the few mages who had prepared fire spells. 

However, even they couldn’t withstand the dragonian’s rough attack that soon followed. Torn and mangled from the dragonian’s rough actions, the mages’ flesh and blood flew in all directions.  The unceasing cold froze even that as red snowflakes whirled everywhere. 

“Grrrrr.”

And in the middle of this cold land where red snowflakes flew was the dragonian. 

He was a giant staring arrogantly down at the world with a gaze as cold as the ice spear held in his hand. At this moment, it was obviously this one monster that was dominating the fight on a battlefield between 300 hundred superhumans and the monster.

“A, ahhhh!”

A weak mage collapsed to the ground with a scream when he met the arrogant and fierce gaze of the dragonian. Then, he hysterically spat out the spell he had memorized. 

“F, Fire Lane!” 

Even in the calmest state of mind, the most difficult thing to control was a spell’s power.

Flare.

The magic manifested by the weak mage who had almost lost his mind in fear burned him and not the dragonian.

“Gaah!”

The terrifying scream was the signal that woke up the frozen world.

The mages and knights, who until then had been staring at the dragonian in a daze, came to their senses and started to move all at once.

***

“Tennessian Royal Knights, annihilated. Mage Corps, annihilated.”

“Out of 211 Tennessian knights who tried to stop Drachen, 128 of them died in battle. Of the 107 mages, 63 died.”

Hundreds of superhumans, those who could be considered the pinnacle of a kingdom, had been gathered in one location. There had only been one opponent. But nonetheless, the one that lost was the side with hundreds of superhumans. 

The central kingdom’s 300 hundred regiments had set out to definitively erase Drachen’s name and change the world, but instead, they had been horribly defeated.

This shocking news was quickly spread throughout the frontlines by the surviving knights and mages. And later on, there was no one on the frontline who didn’t know this fact. Then, as if they had all prearranged it, the central kingdoms’ troops that had been heading towards the Iberian front all retreated together. 

Until then, the central kingdoms’ troops had been pressing the Iberian front and the Holy Kingdom had been whipping them so they wouldn’t retreat. But now, even the Holy Kingdom couldn’t reproach the frontline commanders for withdrawing. 

After all, even the Temple’s Pope and the archbishops had been completely stunned by the outcome of this battle. 

They couldn’t believe that a single knight had defeated over two hundred knights and over one hundred mages. 

But the war didn’t give them a chance to clear their confused minds. 

“The Imperial Army of Adenburg has crossed the Iberian border, sir!”

Reinforcements from the mainland of Adenburg hadn’t stopped at reclaiming the Iberian border and had begun to march towards the mainland of Asrael Kingdom. 

“The Asrael Kingdom’s nobles, who might as well be destroyed, are surrendering to Adenburg one after another, sir!”

“If the current trend continues, then it’s only a matter of time before the entire kingdom of Asrael becomes Adenburg’s, sir!”

The Asrael Kingdom, whose center had already been destroyed by the Northern Cavalry, gave way too easily to Adenburg. 

“What the hell went wrong?! Why did the war situation become like this?!”

The Pope was furious and blew up, but none of the archbishops were able to answer his question. 

But the Pope wasn’t asking because he wanted an answer. In fact, the Pope himself knew the answer.

“If it weren’t for the Qeishas… No, if only Drachen hadn’t intervened like this…”

The Pope exhausted himself and collapsed on his throne after throwing a fit for a long time. 

The moment the Indomitable Grand Duke, someone considered to be the leader of the eastern region as well as a high member of the Adenburg Empire, joined the war, the situation was out of the Holy Kingdom’s hands. 

The Pope had tried all sorts of things, but instead of getting better, it got worse.

Well, it would be stranger if things had worked out. In order to obtain the Holy Sword, he had committed atrocities that only a beast would do and ambushed the Warrior of his own country. But then, he had gotten caught red-handed. Since he had given the continent’s most renowned person, Drachen, the chance to meddle in the war, there was no way he would be able to handle the situation. 

Just as his hand couldn’t cover the sky, he couldn’t hide any of his dirty dealings. 

But now, things had gotten too far for him to admit his wrongs and ask for forgiveness. Even if things were returned to as they were before and the Warrior was released, the Adenburg Empire and the eastern kingdoms had already won and would most likely not withdraw their troops. 

“We will abandon the Asrael Kingdom and establish a new front in the southern region of the Tennessia Kingdom.”

Now, the only thing left was the ugly selfishness and ego of an old clergy who had gotten used to his throne.

“Send a message to Iberia.”

As if he had been driven to the edge of a precipice, the Pope’s eyes were filled with fury.

***

“Sir, you mustn't.”

The important figures of Adenburg all spoke together.

“The Holy Kingdom has even overthrown the Warrior of the central region. This is most definitely a trap. There’s no reason to take risks.”

And amongst them, the one that most strongly discouraged him was Asha Trail, who had arrived at the frontline later with the rest of the main unit. 

“I know that the Warrior is important to you, Grand Duke, but you are also important to the Empire. Please do not make the wrong decision because of your personal feelings, sir.”

Kim Seon-Hyeok didn’t give an answer.

“Her Imperial Majesty has said that because the situation on the front is too urgent, she cannot order you to return immediately. However, she does not want you to put yourself in any more danger, sir.”

“I will go with him, so…”

“Duke Roachim, Her Imperial Majesty has already tolerated the risk once before because you assured her. But, the Indomitable Grand Duke has suffered severe internal injuries.”

Marek had spoken up when he saw Seon-Hyeok’s face darkening, however, he suffered a complete loss and had no choice but to retreat. 

That’s how obstinate Asha Trail’s attitude was and it was most likely due to Ophelia’s firm will. 

“It is not personal feelings.”

Kim Seon-Hyeok had been silent, but he finally opened his mouth.

“Before being my younger brother, the Warrior is also the key to this war. If we can get the Warrior out of the Holy Kingdom’s grip, then we might be able to make quite a number of the central kingdoms following the Holy Kingdom and forced into this war to withdraw.”

This wouldn’t have worked if the war situation was constantly changing, but it was a different story if the central kingdoms’ defeat had worsened as it had now. 

With the exception of some zealous followers of the Holy Kingdom, most of the kingdoms were probably looking for an excuse to withdraw from the war by now. The testimony of the Warrior would be the perfect excuse for them.

“Too many people have died.”

People shut their mouths at his short but heavy sentence. 

“It is not your fault, Grand Duke. Who could have known that the priests who worship a God would have a baser nature than the rulers of the secular world?”

“He’s right, sir. And no matter how you look at it, it seems like the Holy Kingdom already had war in their mind before any of this happened. I don’t know about the east, but I’m sure they were planning on devouring my Iberia at the least. If you consider that, it’s all thanks to your active role that we, Iberia, were able to escape the beasts of the Holy Kingdom, Grand Duke.”

When unusually Marek consoled Kim Seon-Hyeok, the Iberian Grand Duke, who had come to support the men on the frontline, added his own consolation.

But, the shadow on Kim Seon-Hyeok’s face didn’t fade at all. 

“This is a war I started, So I have to finish it.”

“Grand Duke!”

The people turned pale as they shouted when he spoke in such a firm voice that it left zero room for objection.

“Her Imperial Majesty will never allow it, sir!”

“Her Imperial Majesty has already promised to support me in whatever I do. So even if she were here, she wouldn’t stop me from the decision I’ve made.”

“If that is really what you think, sir, then please contact the Imperial Capital immediately and ask the Empress what she thinks.”

Asha Trail seemed to believe she had a trump card in her hand, but Kim Seon-Hyeok wasn’t shaken in the least at her words. 

“Even if you didn’t say that, I was already planning on doing so.”

The people sighed heavily when they realized that no matter what they said, he wouldn’t change his decision.

[What do you think I’ll say, Grand Duke?]

It seemed like Ophelia had already been briefly informed of the current situation through a telegram because her voice was as rigid as it could get as it was heard through the crystal orb.

“I wish you would not stop me, Your Majesty.”

He heard Ophelia sigh in response to his stubborn answer.

[You must take with you at least the minimum number of troops to protect you, Grand Duke.]

The Holy Kingdom wanted him to visit them alone, but since Kim Seon-Hyeok didn’t have any intentions of complying with the Holy Kingdom’s request, he didn’t complain about Ophelia’s words.

[You must be careful, and careful yet again. Your body isn’t just yours…]

Ophelia pleaded with him again and again, but she mustn’t have been satisfied with that because she acted unlike herself and forcefully demanded something from him.

[Promise me. Promise me that you’ll come back safely.]

He replied to her desperate request.

“I promise. So wait a bit longer, Ophelia.”

However, what could be a meaningless promise held a strange amount of conviction. And in equal amounts, his expression was full of confidence.