Chapter 158 - I Have Finally Returned (3)

The knights, their spirits revived, flared their sword lights and sang along to the War Poem.

BWOOOOOOOO.

The sound of a horn echoed from somewhere.

BWOOOOOOOO.

The horn sound, which had been just one at first, became dozens at a certain point.

Winter Castle, which had been frozen, awakened at the magnificent sound of the horns.

The Rangers began to sing the military song of Winter Castle.

CREAK, CREAK.

The iron cannons raised their heads in unison.

ROOOOOOAR!

The entity beyond the mountain range howled again.

But no one wavered anymore.

The raised military standard was as firm as the castle walls, and the beast's roar could not overcome those walls.

Arwen let out a feverish breath with a flushed red face.

The change in the soldiers could be felt on the skin.

Her heart pounded at the Prince's presence that cast over the entire castle.

She turned her body, struggling to suppress the endlessly welling heat and elation.

Tilting her raised sword tip, she brought her legs closely together.

CLACK, CLACK.

The knights stood with their backs to the snowfield. Then, following her lead, they tilted their sword tips and brought their legs together.

"Endless respect to His Highness the Prince, who has finally returned!"

At the knights' resounding greeting, the veteran Rangers excitedly blew their horns.

Just one person had returned, yet so much had changed.

The fear of the monsters swarming the snowfield in droves, and the fear of the unidentified beast nesting deep within the mountain range, no longer remained.

The entire castle regained its vitality and began to move again.

"Welcome back! Your Highness the Prince!"

The lord of Winter Castle welcomed the Prince's return with an overwhelmed face.

At the respect sent by thousands of soldiers and knights,

NOD.

The First Prince nodded arrogantly.

It was an attitude without a single hint of hesitation.

He accepted that courtesy as a matter of course, as if all of it had been his from the very beginning.

Arwen looked at the Prince's figure without even blinking an eye.

The boy, who had not yet shed his childish air the last time she saw him, had somehow become a full-grown man.

Looking at that mature figure, an old memory suddenly came to mind.

She had hated and despised him after suffering unbearable humiliation.

Even while taking the oath of a vassal, she hadn't been able to shake off all her contempt and hatred, treating him only with courtesy and formal sincerity.

She had believed she would never devote her heart and show true loyalty to the Prince.

She had definitely believed so.

But right now, she was welcoming the Prince's return more than anyone else here.

She was incredibly glad, and surprisingly relieved.

During this time, she had fought without rest, thinking she had to fill the Prince's empty space.

She had run around the cramped walls to ensure the seeds he planted would not wither in vain.

But even so, she had merely added one sword.

Supporting the entire castle was an impossible task for her.

She finally felt liberated from the burden she had been feeling, consciously or unconsciously.

She had many things she wanted to say. But she tucked all those words deep inside her heart.

She substituted the words she couldn't bring herself to say by displaying at least a fraction of the power she had finally fully attained.

The Prince's gaze, which had been sweeping across the wall, lingered on her for a moment.

SMIRK.

The Prince smiled.

That was enough.

Expressing her feelings aloud did not suit her personality.

A greeting of reunion was also sufficient with just respect and a smile.

STEP, STEP.

The Prince climbed the stairs to the wall. And finally, he reached the top of the wall.

STEP.

Arwen stood behind the Prince as if it were only natural.

She moved her lips slightly.

Promising that she would never stay behind alone again.

As if he heard that faint whisper, the Prince briefly looked back.

But the Prince did not say a word.

He merely entrusted his back to her.

The Prince headed to the center of the wall.

The one-eyed cavalry captain and the lord of Winter Castle followed behind him.

Soon, upon reaching the center of the wall, the Prince stood facing the mountain range.

The Prince's gaze was not directed at the monsters filling the snowfield.

It was directed further away, somewhere in that distant mountain range.

* * *

There were plenty of welcome faces on the wall.

Dear Arwen and Vincent, one-eyed Quern, and the Rangers including Yorden.

But sharing the joy of reunion was a matter for later.

I pulled out one of the Winter Castle flags fluttering before my eyes.

Gripping the flag, I pulled my arm back as far as it would go. Then, filling it with mana, I hurled it with all my might.

SWOOOOOSH!

With a deafening roar that seemed to tear off my eardrums, the flag flew over the snowfield.

And it finally reached its destination.

In the middle of the snowfield where tens of thousands of monsters were clamoring,

CRASH!

The flag slammed into the ground.

Monsters, turned to bloody pulps, were sent flying in all directions.

The bloodstained flag of Ballorhard fluttered in the center of it all.

"Do not cross that line."

The monsters, excited by the smell of blood, made a fuss and tried to charge toward the castle.

But they could not come.

I did not allow it.

'Neither the high places, nor any majestic throne belongs to me.'

'Yet there is not a single one that I cannot sit upon.'

I recited the [Poem of the Supreme King] in my mind.

I released my status and poured it out toward the snowfield.

The monsters let out crushed groans and stopped in their tracks.

A warning sent to the invaders who had coveted my territory while I was gone.

This was not an empty warning, as I proved my will with the karma of dragging down the nameless Warlord and the status I had usurped from him.

As if they fully understood my intent, the monsters faltered and retreated beyond the flag.

But the leader crouching on the other side of the mountain range seemed to have a different idea.

A massive aura squirmed from beyond the mountain range.

Unlike the formless roar, it was an incredibly clear and concrete aura.

It was clear hostility, and anger.

The monsters that had been retreating with groans began to run wild again, shedding a macabre light from their eyes.

It was all too obvious where that madness would be directed.

I raised my hand and pointed at the flag I had thrown.

"Iron cannons."

At my words, Vincent raised his hand.

And without even having the time to re-aim at the target, he shouted immediately.

"Fire!"

As soon as his words ended, the iron cannons spewed fire.

BOOM! BOOM!

Surprisingly, all of those cannonballs rained down precisely along the boundary I had drawn.

I looked at Vincent.

'When did he...?'

When I asked with my eyes, he spoke with an aloof face.

Saying that he had already adjusted the angles of all the iron cannons the moment I threw the flag.

"It's not like it's been just a day or two. We're in perfect sync."

Unable to either laugh or frown at those words, I was just wrinkling my nose when the one-eyed cavalry captain spoke to me.

"One hundred Black Lancers are all standing by in front of the castle gates."

"Why the Lancers?"

"You're going out, aren't you? Am I wrong?"

I ended up laughing in the end.

"You're right. I'm going out."

I immediately headed down the castle wall.

It was exactly as Quern had said. One hundred Black Lancers and two fully armed knight orders were standing by below the gates.

There was even my horse.

"I wondered why you were running off on your own in such a hurry."

I didn't know when he had arrived, but that guy Eli was sitting right there among the knights.

"Your Highness."

Adelia approached, handed me my helmet, and quietly checked the joints of my armor.

"I feel like I'm being pushed out against my will."

"So are you not going out?"

Instead of answering, I mounted my horse and pressed down my helmet.

"I, Eli, and Adelia will take the vanguard."

"I will join you as well."

Arwen, who had brought her horse over at some point, quietly slipped in behind me.

That guy Eli split his mouth into a wide grin.

"Dame Arwen."

He called her name, overwhelmed with emotion, then just opened and closed his mouth, unable to find the words to say.

"Your hair has grown a lot in the meantime."

And the best he could come up with was truly a spectacle.

How would he even know if her hair had grown or not when she was wearing a helmet?

"Greetings of reunion can wait until after the battle."

Arwen replied somewhat coldly.

"You're right. That's the right thing to do. Your words are truly correct."

That guy Eli replied without a care.

"She wasn't a Knight of Steel, but a Knight of the Iron Wall!"

The one-eyed cavalry captain babbled something incomprehensible. Hearing that, the knights chuckled and laughed, finding who knows what so funny.

Meanwhile, Vincent, having finished his preparations, sent me a look.

When I nodded back, he shouted vigorously.

"Open the gates!"

CREAK, CREAK.

The sound of pulleys rolling could be heard.

THUD,

With a loud rumble, I could see the rampaging monsters through the gap of the castle gate as it lifted away from the ground.

CLACK.

I lowered my visor.

The inside of the narrow helmet quickly heated up with my breath.

Inhaling that intense heat pleasantly, I drew my sword and aimed at the beyond.

"Advance!"

"Hah!"

The knights responded in unison.

I kicked my horse's flanks. The horse let out a short neigh and bounded forward.

RUMBLE, RUMBLE.

The sound of hundreds of hooves followed right behind me.

BOOM! BOOM!

The iron cannons roared atop the castle wall,

WOOONG, WOOONG.

and hundreds of swords resonated in front of the castle gates.

The flames of requiem bloomed at the tip of my sword.

I recited a War Poem.

VWOOM, VWOOM.

The knights' rings resonated, responding to my song.

THUMP-THUMP, THUMP-THUMP.

My heart began to beat like crazy.

"Charge!"

Into the middle of the monsters where the flames fired by the iron cannons were raining down.

I galloped toward the battlefield.

The monsters, engulfed in madness, charged at us while shrieking.

An Orc legion gripping red flags was at the very front.

I ended up laughing, finding their hideous buckteeth and filthy dark green skin quite a welcome sight.

"I've missed you, Orcs."

I swung Dusk, engulfed in blue flames, down fiercely.

The Orc Warriors that had blocked our path collapsed in a heap.

"Hah!"

Letting out a short shout, I barged into the middle of the Orcs.

FLASH!

As I raised my sword, that guy Eli's voice suddenly dug into my ears.

It was the [Poem of the Full Moon].

At the same time, that guy Eli brushed past me.

Following him, Adelia dashed forward, singing the [Poem of Creation].

On the left, pale sword light resembling moonlight, and on the right, golden auspicious energy blazing like the sun, hacked away at the Orc horde.

If the moon and the sun were to rise at the same time, would it look like this?

I marveled quietly as I looked at that cold and hot radiance.

"Hah!"

Into the middle of it all, sword light akin to starlight fell down.

Arwen, who had overtaken me at some point, was slaughtering the Orcs.

I suddenly looked at my sword.

The dimly burning flames of requiem seemed lackluster in comparison.

"We'll go on ahead!"

Along with the one-eyed cavalry captain, the Black Lancers overtook me.

"Fire!"

The Lancers fired their crossbows in unison.

"Spread out! Throw!"

Spreading out widely into a horizontal line, the knights threw their throwing handaxes.

KABOOM!

At that moment, the flames sparked by the iron cannons erupted in the middle of the monsters.

SWISH, SWISH, SWISH.

Thousands of arrows flew overhead.

The monsters struck by the arrows screamed.

I glared fiercely. I looked for an opponent.

There were none. Only corpses lay before me.

I had gone out of my way to open the gates and charge out, but at this rate, I wouldn't even get to swing my sword a few times.

I kicked my horse's flanks and increased my speed.

Gripping my sword tightly, I passed the three Sword Masters.

I scattered my sword strikes toward the enemies before me.

* * *

Silence hung over the wall of Winter Castle.

No one opened their mouth.

Everyone merely looked across the snowfield with dazed expressions.

The number of large and small monsters gathered here totaled at least 30,000.

And yet, a group of knights that didn't even make up a hundredth of that number was literally tearing the monsters apart.

At the vanguard were four knights scattering dim, auspicious, pale, and radiant sword lights respectively.

Before them, neither the Ogres called the kings of the mountains, nor the vicious Troll hordes, nor the fierce Orcs could hold out for even a moment.

They merely died with their heads cut off and their hearts pierced.

Cleaving through the sea of monsters, they rode without hesitation.

And finally, they completely penetrated the great army of 30,000 monsters.

Everyone on the wall dropped their jaws.

"WAAAAAAAH!"

A belated roar erupted.

Everyone shouted in excitement at the astonishing feat achieved by a mere three hundred knights.

"How do they plan to come back after passing through the monsters like that?"

A certain Ranger Company Commander expressed his doubt with a flippant voice.

The cheering stopped dead.

Everyone on the wall looked at the knights far away.

The knights who had pierced through the monsters simply turned around and were reorganizing their lines. But the spears and swords at their vanguard were pointing right at the middle of the monsters.

"Don't tell me?"

As soon as those words ended, the fully reorganized knights charged toward the monster legion.

"Oho. So there was a method like that."

The Ranger Company Commander who had expressed his doubt nodded as if newly surprised.

No one agreed with that absentminded admiration.

They glared with wide eyes at the knights. The knights were retracing their path, slaughtering the monsters along the way.

Their speed was noticeably slower than the first time, but they eventually succeeded in breaking through the depths once again.

And so, they finally returned.

The castle gates closed with a THUD.

Cheers echoed throughout the entire castle.