CH 245

He flinched as his hands trembled slightly but Ray immediately noticed

“Have you gotten injured?”

Soricks tried not to show it.

“Ah. It’s alright.”

In the meantime, Meta took Sorick’s place by quickly striking Hernan with his thin wires. Each of Meta’s daggers were held by a strong tension connected via his thin wires. While Meta occupied Hernan for a moment, Lord Ray stopped to check on Soricks. 

“Lord Soricks, please help watch our backs.”

“But.”

Ray pressed on firmly. 

“The princess has commanded us to ensure that no one dies.”

Soricks was forced to silence by his statement. It was the truth. Their mistress, Ashley, had ordered them to move so that they would never put their life in danger. And now he could no longer move forward due to his injured body. Ray took his eyes off Soricks and quickly whipped his head around. 

‘There’s no killing intent. No, it’s more like he finds us bothersome.’

While exchanging blades with Hernan, he could tell all Hernan could see was his sole goal. He was evidently not interested in them as if he had merely wanted to sweep Ray, Soricks and Meta to the side with his feet. 

‘His goal is to…’

He took a glance behind him. To catch the man standing in the corner of Ray’s eyes, Amor, who was currently looking this way with his arms crossed. 

The only goal the Templar of Beasts had was to capture Amor. That was why Amor was standing there as bait to lure him in while Ray and the templars were in charge of protecting him. 

“I’ll take the lead. Please follow behind me.”

“But, lord, you’re not a templar, are you?”

“I’ve heard that more than a hundred times before.”

Ray muttered before swinging his sword meaninglessly in the air. 

“But they all end up pushing me forward to fight.”

Whilst trying to move, Soricks stared at Ray with slight anxiety. He looked at the white-haired man whom Meta was currently dealing with. 

‘How should I deal with him?’

Hernan was strong. Not only had he dodged all the templars scattered throughout the premise, he had also been struck with an explosion set up by the powers of fire. Still, though his clothes were scorched, his movements remained agile and quick. No, it would be hard for a normal human to chase his current movements. 

Was there a way to fight him or were they not enough for him? Just as Soricks bit his lips, a groan broke out of Meta who had been dealing with the Templar of Beasts alone. He quickly whipped his head around to see a strike just miss Meta. To see a flurry of sword strikes rushing towards Meta was dizzying. 

“I was just going to wait and see.”

Hernan’s hands and arms. Hernan’s legs. They were all wrapped in vines. 

“But it doesn’t look enough.”

The twirling vines grabbed him and flung him to the side of the hallway like he had been shot out of a cannon.

Boom bang bang. 

The noise reached the high-roofed ceilings. After throwing Hernan down the hallway, Amor reached out once again. The vines moved according to Amor’s wishes as the thorny vines tightened around the beast’s body.

“Keu..”

The Templar of Beasts struggled to escape the plants. But the more he struggled, the more vines wrapped around him to halt his movements. Finally, the vines growing out from the ceilings and the ground had completely restrained the beasts’ arms and legs. Hernan let out a blood curdling scream that did not sound human. His now hairy arm broke out of the vines. By the time Amor noticed, Hernan had already disappeared. 

“Behind you, my prince!”

Slice. 

Vines were cut in place of the hem of Amor’s clothes. Hernan retreated backwards. He was moving nimbly. Soon afterwards, a huge tree grew in its place before falling towards him. 

“That’s the wrong direction!”

“I know.”

Amor narrowed his eyes. 

‘The stalks are not enough. Will this work?’

All of Amor’s abilities were based on plants. Those plants could become a sword or a shield but they were still just plants. They could be sliced by a blade.

“The wounded step aside.”

Now, while one arm carried his sword, Hernan’s other arm had transformed into something that was not human. And just then, the woody vines he summoned to trap Hernan were sliced by sharp claws and a blade. 

‘I can’t use poison.’

However, he couldn’t use his other abilities because he might endanger his companions. Amor stared at Hernan bitterly. Ray was currently engaging with the said ferocious Templar of Beasts. But it was clear where he was heading and where his eyes were directed at. He was fixated on Amor. Did he come to kill him? Or just to hurt him? He had no clue either. He just felt sorry for him. The sword and claws that once worked with Amor long ago were now weapons that were threatening his neck. But he couldn’t just leave him like this so he tried to do anything he could. 

“You always jumped over my walls whenever you wanted.”

Just when Amor muttered. Hernan, who had just deflected Ray’s blade, suddenly swung his sword before retreating in a hurry. But the ground upon which he landed. The cut wooden stems wriggled as if they were alive before they blossomed into small yellow flowers. The pollen released from the flowers persistently attacked the Templar of Beasts’ sense of smell. Ray had long retreated. 

“In the end, you decided to let go of yourself.”

It was already too late to avoid it. Large buds of flowers appeared in front of Hernan. Huge red flowers bloomed. 

Clap.

With a single clap from Amor, the flowers started blooming as Hernan threw up a hacking cough. The pollen that didn’t look like pollen formed a thick cloud covering his eyes. 

‘I didn’t mean to use too much of my powers…’

Amor knew his body well. From the start, the operation was to be carried out by those men by themselves and Amor was promised he only needed to step up when it became dangerous. They were also being considerate of him since it was common knowledge that the 4th Prince was weak. In fact, even if they didn’t care about his condition, Amor would have avoided standing in the frontlines anyway  but now, even he was not enough. 

‘I don’t see anyone other than that knight capable enough.’

His body was already exhausted. Thus, it was impossible for him to use an excessive amount of his strength at once. He tried to pace himself and drive Hernan there slowly but he had been stronger than he expected. 

If they wanted to kill Hernan they could have used other means but now their goal was not to kill Hernan but to capture him alive. 

‘It’s not about killing him.’

That blue-haired knight, was it Ray? Other than that knight, the other two were not a potential match for him and would not be able to drive him to the place as scheduled. Rather, Amor could tell that even Ray could not do his best while he was protecting the injured. 

The area Dane had planned to be the battlefield was not this place but a small hall that led to a large courtyard down the hallway. In the worst-case scenario–if they didn’t end up driving Hernan out of here, he would destroy them one by one. Amor made a decision. 

Just when the Templar of Beasts became warier of his surroundings. 

Boom. 

The Templar of Beasts looked at the ground to find out the reason behind the huge tremors. The ground he was standing on was shaking. 

Rumble. 

The shaking ground sounded the arrival of the servants Amor had summoned as they rose from below. There was no one in the palace other than themselves as he had already sent everyone out during the day. The huge tree roots struck Hernan’s back and front like a tidal wave. 

“4th Prince!”

The 4th ranked God of Plants. He was skilled at handling all kinds of poison and medicine and dealt with plants. As a child, he had not been experienced with controlling his powers. The range of plants he could control was indeed humongous and even Amor didn’t know the full extent of his abilities. 

“Amor.”

Back when he was still foolish and young, there had been a man who taught him. 

“In other words, to deal with people like Hernan who can muster an explosive strength in a moment’s time.”

Ironically, it was Castor who taught Amor what divine power was and how to control it. 

“You just have to press them down with even greater strength.”

At once. Like a waterfall. Whenever huge roots stretched out towards him, the Templar of Beasts hurried to avoid it. Amor could feel himself reaching his limit. He swallowed the constant urge to puke down his throat. 

‘A little more. Just a little more.’

Amor mumbled before biting his lips when their goal was right around the corner. Trying to ignore his blurring vision, he channelled more strength. As if responding to his will, the angered roots violently reached out to the Templar of Beasts and drove him deep into the hallway. 

“My prince, this way!”

And finally, they reached the destination they had planned to shepherd him to. 

***

After Amor and Lord Ray left, I went over to the adjacent room. Rather, it was not really a room since there was no door and it had just been covered with a cloth but it had been decorated like an office. Perhaps it had been a room that had been long neglected but everything looked new. 

Clang.

The sound rang from the hallway. I was reminded again that Ray, the patrols and Amor were fighting not too far away. I held back the desire to run over there. Castor might or might not appear. His appearance would be beyond my expectations. But if Castor didn’t show up, I would just stand in their way. I knew my limits. I was a burden because I hadn’t awakened yet. I held the diary tightly before opening it and biting my lips. 

“I can’t do anything right now.”

It wouldn’t make sense to ask others for their help when I was the one who decided to save him. I swept my hand down my face. But now I knew. 

“… I cannot handle everything alone.”

There were things I couldn’t do by myself. I knew that trying to do things by myself would only hurt the people around me. And there were so many people who would be saddened if I got hurt. I closed my eyes. I could faintly hear the sounds of battle. My stone heart was getting stirred up. It was going to be alright. Amor was not dying today. Though Castor would try to control him, the original novel guaranteed he would live. But the feeling of being left out from battle was hard to bear. 

I tightened my grip on the diary. The diary always told me when I was in danger. Just as it revealed its pale purplish powers in front of Castor, would it exert its powers here again? I mean, if I were to head for battle. No. It was dangerous and if nothing happened, I would only endanger others. Just when I stood in front of the door and held the doorknob.

Chirp.

I turned my head around at the clear sound.

“…  A bird?”

T/N:

hihi sry i missed 2 updates last week i was actually setting up the pay-for-view chapters! I can only do 5 for now (;-;) but i’m planning on increasing them to 10 by the end of this month so pray for me T.T