Chapter 147:

Chapter 147:

Suddenly, Isaac’s charging figure provoked an immediate reaction from Rene.

“Stop right now!”

She did not entertain thoughts such as ‘Has the Paladin gone mad? Or is there some other motive?’

There was only one appropriate response for an imperial guard when someone charged at the royal carriage.

Rene’s sword flashed brilliantly. It was an attack meant purely to kill or incapacitate, devoid of personal feelings.

Isaac’s left hand collided with Rene’s sword, and with a loud crash, her sword was knocked upwards.

She didn’t lose her grip on the sword, but her defense was completely breached, exposing her. In a real battle, she could have been killed instantly, but Isaac merely brushed past her.

Shock and confusion filled Rene’s eyes.

Bashul was equally astonished.

‘Did he just wield sword energy? He truly is insane.’

Despite his talent, showing such a skill in public was risky. Fortunately, it seemed no one else besides Rene and Bashul had seen this.

The guarding knights belatedly drew their swords.

“Assassin!”

Isaac shouted before the knights could react.

Only then did Bashul and Rene look in the direction Isaac was charging.

A crouching old man in the alley was startled and looked up. Isaac recognized him immediately as one of the spies from the Red Chalice Club, which had recently been under surveillance by Hesabel.

‘Seemed harmless enough to ignore, but why?’

Boom. The drawn sword barely missed cutting the old man’s neck, instead shattering the wall behind him into debris.

The old man collapsed backwards, his strength leaving him. It was an intentional near-miss to provoke a reaction, but he still seemed insignificant upon closer inspection.

‘Just monitoring the Emperor? No, Isolde would have reacted more sharply to that.’

Then, Isaac saw something in the beggar’s bowl – not just coins but an eyeball, staring fixatedly at the Emperor’s carriage.

Someone was using this eye to watch the Emperor’s party. What Isolde sensed was a miracle of the Red Chalice.

Thump.

Isaac’s heart pounded violently, pain flickering throughout his body.

An intense murderous intent.

If he could feel this murderous intent, so could the imperial guards. Isaac found himself looking back at Bashul and Rene.

They were looking up, not at the old man.

The pale winter sky was tearing open, something revolting forcing its way out. A hideous chill of killing intent was spilling over Rougeberg.

Quickly, Isaac crushed the eyeball underfoot, splattering more blood than seemed possible. The sky’s tearing halted, but the monster was still squeezing itself through the gap.

A horrendous roar shook Rougeberg, Isaac staggered under the oppressive force, bile rising in his throat. Yet, he somehow recognized the monster.

‘A beast of Chaos? Why are they here?’

It was definitely one of the creatures of Chaos, though not fully visible yet.

‘Targeting the Emperor?’

Someone was deliberately summoning the spawn of Chaos, but Isaac had no idea who else could be responsible.

If the summoning succeeded, not only the Emperor but all of Rougeberg would drown in blood.

He had to stop the summoning before it was too late.

***

As the horses started frothing and bucking, Bashul instead of evacuating the Emperor, cut the reins to stop the runaway carriage.

“Your Majesty!”

Boom. Emperor Waltzemer burst out of the carriage, already sensing the anomaly and looking up.

“Looks like it’s trying to emerge. Can we stop it?”

The monster was of the Chaos Brood.

Although not under direct control, it was linked to Isaac. He tried to read its mind, but the thoughts were as distorted as water-soaked text. However, he could sense a slight direction.

Isaac, the monster, and his spawn all felt the same pull.

He pinpointed where these sensations intersected.

[Come forth.]

As Isaac opened his eyes sharply, the eyes on his tendrils did the same, focusing in one direction. Dozens of eyes looked toward a voice summoning the monster.

In the expanded pupil of Isaac’s eye, a man in a robe looking up at the sky was reflected on the terrace of a small inn.

It was close.

Isaac leapt down from the watchtower.

[Come to me!]

The voice calling the monster seemed to beckon Isaac too. Driven by this call, Isaac dashed toward the man. Just as the man noticed Isaac falling from the sky, a loud crash echoed.

Crash!

Isaac swung his tentacle arm to cushion the impact. The roof and terrace crumbled, throwing up choking dust.

“Got you, bastard.”

Isaac, his hand restored, grabbed the man by the throat. The fingers, still partially serpent-like, squeezed with enough force to crush. The man, missing one eye, stared back at Isaac with dilated pupils.

“You...”

“Look at me properly. Know that you won’t die a gentle death.”

Since he was going to kill him anyway, Isaac didn’t mind revealing his tentacles. He immediately used the potent Eye of Chao on the man. Purple tentacles burrowed into the man’s remaining eye. The dense dust and otherworldly colors concealed Isaac.

Amidst tumultuous emotions, fragmented information flooded in.

Isaac started with the most recent memories.

‘This miracle works similarly to how the Immortal Order opens gates to the afterlife.’

Someone was explaining the miracle to him.

‘You can only open the gate; you cannot control what comes out. It’s safest to cast it from a distance or use a separate eye. But...’

The person explaining pointed at him with a skeletal finger.

‘The monsters will instinctively be drawn to you. If you don’t run immediately after opening the gate, they will kill you.’

Crack! A sharp pain cut off Isaac’s reading. He hastily pulled his head back; the tentacles retracted into his eye.

“Gah, ugh!”

Isaac then saw a swarm of spiders and leeches attacking the man. These were born from the monster’s fluids. They ignored Isaac and tore at the man’s head.

His torn cheeks made it seem like he was smiling.

‘Damn it.’

The forcibly extracted memories swirled chaotically in Isaac’s head. It would take time to sift through the useful information, but he was certain the Immortal Order was behind this.

Isaac looked up at the sky.

With the summoner dead, the summoning should stop. As expected, the hole in the sky had closed. However, the peculiar sensation in his chest hadn’t faded.

Ooooooh!

A monster’s roar sounded from somewhere beyond the buildings.

It had already escaped the hole.

[The Nameless Chaos watches you.]

[The Nameless Chaos wishes for you to eliminate the ‘apocalypse handler.’]

[The rewards of Chaos await you.]

–TL Notes–

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you want to read up to advance 20 chapters or support me, you can do it at /Akaza156