Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 510

Everyone trembled at the dragons’ fierce battle.The blue sky vanished without a trace. Dark clouds gathered above the translucent barrier, and thunder and lightning struck. The blazing sky seemed poised to split in two at any moment.

If the homunculi evoked fear of the unknown, the battle of the dragons brought about a sense of helplessness in the face of the vastness of nature.

Rain began to pour down from the hemispherical barrier. The heavy raindrops, unable to reach the ground, slid down through the air, following the barrier’s shape.

It was a strange sight.

Kyaoooooooo!

Kieeeeek!

The dragons’ roars echoed through the air, causing some to cover their ears and tremble, while others tried desperately to hide themselves.

“Ugh, ugh!”

“Run away, run away…!”

There weren’t many people on this battlefield who could withstand the oppressive presence of dragons revealed in their true forms.

Diana shouted, her lips tightly clenched.

“Get a hold of yourselves! Those who can’t fight, fall back!”

“Everyone, focus on what’s in front of you!”

Zakar also ordered.

Then, the knights and elf warriors who had been stunned suddenly came to their senses and began to face the enemies before them again.

Now that the homunculus had stopped moving, this was the opportunity.

Meanwhile, Arendt, who had been the target of the dragon’s breath, slowly opened his eyes in Arthur’s arms.

“Ugh…”

“Hey, are you okay?”

Arthur grabbed his shoulder and demanded, but Arendt irritably brushed his hand away.

“I’m not dead yet… move.”

Only after hearing a clear voice could Arthur and Laius relax.

“Hah…..”

“Damn it… like hell I’d die this easily. I’m not dropping dead in front of that Luce bastard.”

With a groan, Arendt forced his battered body upright.

“Damn dragon… ! Took you long enough to show up.”

Blood spurted from his mouth with every word he uttered.

His whole body hurt as if everything was broken.

Although he managed to dodge the blow, he was unable to escape the aftereffects of the breath.

But Arendt stubbornly staggered to his feet.

“Don’t move recklessly.”

Laius tried to grab his arm, but Arendt slapped his hand away again.

The sight of him staggering was incredibly unsettling.

Above his head, dragons were fighting fiercely, but Arendt didn’t even glance in that direction.

“I’m going.”

“What?”

Arthur and Laius both blurted out in disbelief. Arendt’s venomous gaze was fixed on the Great Temple, where the flames were spreading.

“I have to go and fetch the High Priest. I need to hear what she’s thinking.”

Arendt spoke stubbornly, his voice sounding as if it would break at any moment. Arthur shouted.

“Don’t talk nonsense! Where are you going in that state? Why don’t you just retreat to the rear and rest…”

“Senior.”

But a cold voice cut him off mid-sentence.

“If you stop me now, I will resent you for a long time.”

“…”

“The same goes for you, Captain. You clearly gave the order earlier: to recapture the High Priest.”

Laius and Arthur were dumbfounded by the heartfelt words. Before they could even wait for a response, Arendt stumbled forward.

Then, after taking a deep breath, he kicked off the ground and started running at a fast pace.

“Hey, hey!”

Arthur tried to follow him quickly.

But the ghouls that had gathered again soon blocked the path of Laius and Arthur.

“Captain Diana!”

A loud explosion and a scream came from behind them. They quickly turned around to see Diana lying on the ground, unable to move.

Diana forced herself to get up, but the impact was so great that she was staggering, unable to keep her balance.

It was clear that she too was slowly reaching her limit.

“…”

Laius’ face hardened.

Zakar was equally in dire straits. One of his arms was barely functional due to an injury.

In a situation like this where even the dragons were running wild, it was obvious as daylight what kind of disaster would occur if he left his place.

“Damn it!”

Laius, uncharacteristically, spat a curse between clenched teeth.

In the end, it meant that they had no choice but to deal with the enemies first and then follow Arendt.

“Arthur, I’m counting on you.”

Finally, Laius turned back towards the homunculi.

“I will follow as soon as I can.”

“But Captain, you’re also injured…”

Arthur tried to grab his arm, desperate to stop him, but Laius was firm.

“It doesn’t matter.”

Laius gave a curt answer and joined Diana, leaving Arthur behind. Arthur could only stare blankly at him.

But that was only for a moment.

“Damn it… damn it all!”

He had no choice but to turn his back on Laius and ran in the direction Arendt had gone.

Arendt didn’t get very far.

The ghouls were swarming in again.

Although the frozen corpses of ghouls were already scattered around him, the enemies clung tenaciously to their target, never letting go once they had set their sights on him.

“Get out of the way, you bastard!”

As Arthur roared, Arendt swung his sword to parry another blow and quickly backed away.

Arthur, who had stepped in front of the enemy in his stead, slaughtered the ghouls with a single slash.

“What kind of fight are you having when you can’t even walk properly! I’ll open the way, so just follow me!”

“…Anyway.”

Arendt’s expression turned sullen.

“I said before that you’re too meddlesome.”

“And you’re the kind of idiot who makes it necessary.”

Arthur shot back irritably, earning a faint, crooked smile from Arendt.

“Well, I suppose that’s fair.”

“…”

Arthur paused for a moment at the unfamiliar laughter. But after a moment, he responded with a smirk.

‘Am I a little late?”

Lexion frowned slightly.

Although he said he was hurrying as much as possible, he was still not happy about allowing Nikephoros to strike.

‘That crazy old man…’

He figured it wouldn’t be easy for Nikephoros to recover, considering his age. But he never thought he’d force himself to wake up, even as he was losing his mind.

Kieeeeek!

Nikephoros spread his wings even wider and roared. Lexion, watching this, glanced down at the barrier he had deployed.

People suffering from the dragon’s presence were seen one after another.

‘Tsk.’

Black magic enveloped his massive body, then quickly dispersed with a .

Instead of the pitch-black dragon, a man covered in black clothes appeared.

“One is better than two.”

The remaining magical power was concentrated in Lexion’s hand, and it transformed into a giant crescent sword.

“Hey, old man. Do you know what someone once told me?”

No easygoing, half-laughing reply came this time. Lexion’s blood-soaked eyes were filled with the image of Nikephoros, running wild.

“The bigger you are, the more weak points you’ve got.”

Nikephoros’ breath was fired at the barrier.

A huge explosion was followed by a tremendous flash of light. Rain poured down, and thunder rumbled across the sky.

But Lexion’s defensive magic didn’t budge at all.

-You…

Lexion heard Nikephoros’ powerful serpentine voice.

-Don’t bother me, you little shit!

Kieeeeek!

A roar erupted from his gaping mouth, accompanied by a tremendous wave of sound. Any earthly being would have been torn limb from limb upon hearing it, but Lexion simply blocked it with a single swing of his crescent sword.

“You’ve completely lost it.”

Nikephoros’ sharp pupils were shaking uncontrollably.

‘He’s halfway to full berserk mode.’

The reason he was able to show even a little bit of self-control was probably because the Saintess was beneath him.

So, something had to be done with Nikephoros before the Saintess left or someone from the army dealt with her.

Because if Nikephoros lost even the restraint of the Saintess, he would become a monster that destroyed everything.

“Your opponent is me, Nikephoros.”

A strong magical power began to gather around Lexion.

“Like you said before… let’s have a vulgar fight.”

“Use your senses to the max. Do your best to detect the magic.”

“Stop nagging me. I’m doing it right now.”

Warren bristled at Stellar’s words. But in the chaotic environment, finding any other traces wasn’t easy.

A bloody scent, incongruous with the mountain, lingered incessantly. But locating its source proved difficult.

“We need to pinpoint the exact location. It’s probably only accessible by teleportation magic… We need to know the coordinates to approach it properly.”

“Why don’t you just try teleporting randomly? You said it was around here anyway.”

“You might be buried alive with your limbs severed. If that doesn’t bother you, then I guess we can do that.”

“…”

Warren closed his mouth and resumed his search. Stellar sighed briefly and sharpened his senses again.

But even for him, finding a steady flow of magical power wasn’t easy. With Nikephoros revealing his true nature, even nature’s magical power began to fluctuate.

The only silver lining was that Lexion arrived on the battlefield in time.

‘I didn’t want him to wake up so soon, but it couldn’t be helped.’

However, Lexion regained consciousness sooner than expected.

He was awakened from a deep sleep by the commotion of Roger, Arendt, and Laius fighting nearby. However, he was still not fully recovered and could not move immediately, so he had to remain in hiding for a while longer.

However, he realized that the situation was becoming more serious, with Nikephoros attacking, and broke the barrier and came out.

As he was lost in thought for a moment, a subtle change in magical power caught his senses.

“…!”

Stellar frowned and spoke briefly.

“Follow me.”

“What?”

Just as Warren was about to react to the unexpected remark, Stellar transformed into a giant dog. Then, suddenly, he began to run furiously down the mountain slope.

“Hey, wait a minute!”

Warren began to follow him as well. After a while, he barely caught up with Stellar and realized he was sniffing around in front of a tree.

It looked noticeably larger and sturdier than the other trees around it.

But even that tree had a hard time withstanding the landslide, as its roots were half uprooted.

“There’s something there…”

Warren, who was speaking absentmindedly, felt a subtle change in magical power.

“The smell of blood is strong.”

Where the air should have been filled with the scent of grass and earth, a thick scent of blood permeated the air. And the flow of magical energy, disrupted by the dragon’s incarnation, was unusually stable in this area.

It meant that some magical measure had been taken, whether it was a barrier or something else.

“This is it.”

Warren’s face hardened. Stellar gave a brief nod of confirmation, then took a few steps back.

As Warren approached, Stellar cast a teleportation spell without hesitation.

Black magic instantly enveloped the two people.