Chapter 233
“……!”
“……!”
Long legs emerged from the Gate, taking their first steps onto the Grand Hall.
That alone was enough to feel stifled by an immense pressure and an eerie aura.
“Cheryl, Cheryl! Sir Chez! It’s dangerous! Fall back!”
As Marquise Lekandro urgently called back her youngest daughter and her friend, the sound of rhythmic footsteps echoed twice more.
Finally, a humanoid demon boss completely emerged from the Gate.
As the shadows shrouding its body receded, a pure white form was revealed, like a stark contrast.
“Hmph.”
“Hick.”
The Royal Knights gasped and froze solid.
As expected, the opponent’s appearance was clearly not human!
“Phew, finally out……”
Shimmering silver hair, as if spun from the daytime moon, and beautiful cheeks carved like moonstone.
His light-filled eyes held the aquamarine color of a boundless sea, and delicate silver eyelashes cast intricate shadows, strand by strand, above them.
His appearance was noble and holy enough to be mistaken for an angel, yet his aura was strangely decadent.
Because black leather belts and such, visible through the torn shirt, evoked a peculiar image.
An opponent so excessively handsome and sensual that the impression of him being human was faint.
It was a situation where it would have been understandable to initiate combat, assuming he was an Incubi King.
Fortunately, there was someone who recognized his face.
“Oh, Your Highness……?”
“The Holy Saint’s man……?”
The opponent reacted to Cheryl and Chez’s voices.
“Ah, dammit……”
Tesillid, who had been savoring the emotion of returning to the human world after a full three months, snapped back to reality.
Only then did he realize that many people were gathered around the Gate he emerged from, and all eyes were focused on him.
He clasped the front of his torn shirt with his hand, as if embarrassed by his appearance.
Of course, even so, the incubus’s leather harness wasn’t hidden; instead, the black leather straps crisscrossing his back were even more visible from behind.
That clumsy appearance slightly lowered their guard.
Marquise Lekandro approached this shockingly beautiful man cautiously, half in doubt.
“Might you be…… His Royal Highness, the Second Prince?”
“No. I am Sir Tesillid Argent, Master of the Holy Sword.”
“Seeing your serious expression, it must be true. I thought a demon was disguised.”
“That’s an unfortunate misunderstanding.”
Tesillid summoned the Holy Sword to prove his identity. Only then did everyone feel relieved.
Marquise Lekandro’s expression hardened again as she asked.
“Could you please explain what on earth happened?”
Tesillid’s appearance, replacing the boss’s emergence, was certainly surprising and suspicious.
He hesitated for a moment, wondering what to do, then decided to confess the truth as it was.
“I happened to enter the Pleasure’s Dark Auction House and defeated Marquis Gibrilte. The boss battle is over, so you can rest assured.”
To prove how he defeated it, Tesillid summoned his sword once again.
This time, it wasn’t Holy Sword Libra.
Whoosh.
A double-digit number of Aura Blades lined up behind Tesillid.
Everyone’s eyes widened.
“Oh, an Aura Master……!”
“His Royal Highness was an Aura Master……?!”
“……I became one recently. And it’s Sir Tesillid, not His Royal Highness.”
Tesillid replied with a gentle smile.
Of course, due to the harness effect that only raised his charm while dropping his dignity, majesty, and charisma to the floor, it merely looked like a seductive signal to those nearby.
Fortunately, the knights’ current awe overcame the harness effect.
“The, the hero who saved the nation! He is the hero who saved the nation!”
“His Royal Highness became an Aura Master and returned triumphantly!”
“Hooray! Long live Prince Reminick!”
“……I said it’s Sir Tesillid.”
Thus, the crisis in the Winchester Kingdom was anticlimactically resolved.
Tesillid, sighing at the title that stubbornly refused to change, eventually gave up on correcting them.
He then passed on important information to Marquise Lekandro.
“Isn’t the lung disease spreading rapidly due to the smoke leaking from the dungeon?”
“Yes, that’s right. What should we do about it……?”
“If you contact Hispenril Duchy, you should be able to obtain a cure for the plague. The Holy Saint had already been preparing for disasters there.”
“Ah, I see! That’s fortunate. Thank you very much for informing me, Your Highness.”
Marquise Lekandro reported back and ordered her subordinates to report the situation to Queen Raviosa and Princess Celestid.
Tesillid closed the dungeon, which was no longer needed.
Marquise Lekandro flinched and asked.
“Are there no other companions?”
“No. I’ve been separated for quite some time.”
His confession of having defeated an SS-rank boss alone, without a healer, was calm. This benevolent prince didn’t seem to be boasting either.
Marquise Lekandro was surprised for a different reason.
‘Alone, without the Holy Saint?’
It was strange to hear that the two people who always seemed to be together were now separated.
Moreover, the Prince wasn’t even properly dressed.
Thinking there might be a problem between them, Marquise Lekandro carefully asked.
“By the way, where is Her Excellency, the Holy Saint?”
“The child is……”
Just then, Tesillid had pulled out a Spatial Teleportation Stone.
The excitement in his chest was fully evident on the handsome man’s face. The harness effect was unleashed everywhere by his radiant smile.
Amidst gasps from here and there, Tesillid continued.
“I’m going to meet her now.”✠[
Originally, Gehennid was a city where magic engineering flourished, boasting the most advanced civilization on the Serentra Continent.
However, with the Gate of Pandemonium now open, the city’s state was horrific.
Centuries of human civilization had been swept away by barbarism, turning into ruins.
In the burning city streets, demons in groups were destroying something and gnawing on something else.
No living humans were visible.
“Divine Retribution.”
Crackle!
I brought down God’s hammer on all demons within sight. The dying demons scattered into dust.
“My goodness. How did the city become like this……?”
“Are there…… no survivors?”
Behind my back were companions who had spatially teleported here with me.
Iphail and Hestio could not hide their shock at the horrific state of the city consumed by demons.
Ash, like a former assassin, was relatively calm. He took off his mask, put it in his pocket, and said.
“Guess we don’t need to cover our faces anymore.”
There was no longer a need to be mindful of being wanted, but there was no sign of joy.
“Unnie……”
A timid voice called out to me.
As of today, one more person was officially incorporated into the Silver Citadel Knights. Naturally, this was Hilde.
I was worried Hilde might be frightened, but that wasn’t the case.
She happened to point out something important.
“It seems the boss hasn’t appeared here yet……”
“Yes, that’s right. Defeating 80% or more of the demon army is the condition for the boss to appear.”
“Then, are we entering the dungeon first this time……?”
“It would be good if we could fight inside the dungeon to minimize damage, but unfortunately, we won’t be able to. Burst Dungeons get blocked off after a long time. During Walpurgis Night, that accelerates.”
By this point, everyone seemed to have realized what needed to be done next.
There was no real need to explain, but as part of the procedure, I stated clearly.
“Silver Citadel, from now on, we will sweep clean the demons in the city to summon the boss.”
Ka-boom……!
No sooner had I given the order as commander than a loud explosion echoed from afar.
At the 9 o’clock direction, hundreds of meters away, flames were bursting in succession.
“Wha, what? What’s going on?”
Our timid supporter was startled.
It was time for a pat on the back. Like a kind commander, I placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Don’t worry, Hestio. It’s just the one I sent ahead doing his work.”
“The one you sent ahead?”
“Before I went to support Peronsa, I sent Moriphis Marcelion here. It’s a crisis for his homeland, after all.”
Only then did Ash and Iphail exclaim, as if remembering.
“Ah, right. That crazy mage was here.”
“I remember. We had him confined in the Mirror Sanctuary.”
Hestio let out a wry laugh.
“To think you kept him alive.”
“So, you thought I’d killed him?”
“No, I meant Tesillid, not you. Anyway, that pathetic guy, he should have done something.”
Seeing that we could engage in pointless chatter, it seemed it was time to move.
“It seems the chimera researcher is handling the 9 o’clock direction, so I’ll go towards the 2 o’clock direction. You four clear out all the demons in this vicinity.”
“Understood, Commander!”
“Yes, Noona.”
“Take care, Unnie.”
“See you later, Aillet.”
Four people and one person.
No one objected to the perfect distribution of forces.
“Then, I’ll go.”
Leaving my companions behind, I shifted the direction of my feet to the right. My initially leisurely pace slowly picked up speed.
Emerging from the alley, a wide boulevard stretched out.
Skeleton soldiers, replacing their parts with ‘trophies’ obtained from human corpses, stopped and turned towards me.
Clatter?
I greeted them with a smile.
“Divine Retribution.”
Crackle! Zzzzt!
I unleashed Divine Power skills indiscriminately towards the demons visible everywhere as I raced forward.
Kweeeek……!
Clatter-clatter……!
Privilege for the Possessor