Chapter 301 - The Great Expedition (3)

Chapter 301 - The Great Expedition (3)

‘This might actually be easier than I thought,’ Henry thought to himself after defeating the second apostle.

He figured that perhaps the most challenging part was facing Arthus himself, not the apostles.

‘That would be the best-case scenario.’

Henry had actually been worried by the time Arthus’ one-month period had run out. Of course, Herarion had become stronger by becoming a martial god just like his father, and he had also managed to gain more divine power.

Moreover, Henry had given the other knights the divine rings from Herabola, so they also possessed some divine power.

However, Henry, the Seven Sages, and the vice school heads had not yet come up with a suitable plan. They had evolved their Circles, but mana was still ineffective against divine power.

Thus, Henry had feared that the Seven Sages would not be particularly helpful in this journey. But nonetheless, he had still brought them along because even if they wouldn’t manage to land a single attack on their enemies, they could still be very useful to the expedition team overall.

‘Anyway, where did that thing go?’

Henry was now thinking about the item he had lost earlier, the egg Hedajaon had given him.

He had lost the egg, or rather, the pearl, and he had no idea where he had lost it because it had literally disappeared at some point.

Henry searched for the pearl as best as he could by using magic, even getting help from Skall, but he didn’t manage to find it, so he was forced to give up. Thi/s chapter is updated by nov(e)(l)biin.co/m

If not even Skall could track it down, there was no way he would find it himself.

Henry made a mental note to apologize to Herarion in advance. Even though Herarion hadn’t told him to return it or anything, he had still lost a precious gift from a king.

“Commander, there’s a suspicious figure up ahead.”

‘Suspicious figure?’

While Henry was distracted on his horse, submerged in his thoughts, Von, who was riding right behind him, spotted a suspicious-looking figure.

Henry raised his hand and stopped the expedition team.

‘This is...’

The area they found themselves in wasn’t anything special, just another average valley. They had been traveling along the valley, and according to their original plan, they should’ve been able to see Harn Castle, their next checkpoint.

After stopping his allies, Henry took a few steps forward on Jade. Then, with his enhanced vision, he scanned the figure that was blocking the path up ahead.

‘A tail?’

The figure didn’t look human. Indeed, the silhouette itself definitely looked like that of a woman, but as Henry took a closer look with his mana-enhanced vision, he could clearly see a long, thick tail coming from between her legs, similar to that of a reptile.

Just when Henry made eye contact with the strange woman, she returned his gaze with a wink.

Feeling repulsed, Henry murmured, “It’s an apostle...”

“An apostle?”

“Yes, I’m sure of it. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have a tail attached to her human-looking body.”

The woman had been standing there with her arms crossed, and after Henry warned his team, she lowered her arms and slowly walked up to them.

When she got close enough to make her voice heard, she said, “Nice to meet you. My name is Ayla.”

Ayla was the one responsible for destroying Amaris and Hela.

Her tone was subdued and rather formal, and she wasn’t raising her voice at all, but even so, everyone had heard her introduction loud and clear.

“That’s three already. Grumpy, Lydkan, and Cann. I guess that makes me fourth, right?”

Ayla counted the dead apostles one by one on her fingers, and her expression was eerily calm. She counted mechanically as if she were a merchant doing the math for a transaction.

“That’s right,” said Von.

“Of course! A knight without honor is no better than a corpse! My name is Allen, but first, let me ask you a question. Which region did you destroy a month ago, Ayla?”

“A month ago? Ah, you must be referring to the conversion. I think that place was called... Amaris?”

“Amaris... I see. So it was you who killed the Iron and Blood Empress.”

“The Iron and Blood Empress? Ah, that woman with the strong life force? She was very useful indeed. If it weren’t for her, I would’ve gotten into trouble with Sir Arthus.”

“Trouble?”

“So... I accidentally killed everyone in Amaris, so I told that woman that if she truly was an empress, she ought to save everyone with her life force. And my god, she actually saved a good three thousand of them! Can you believe that?”

Hela had saved three thousand people in Amaris by sacrificing her own life force. Of course, Ayla had forced her to do it, but still, bringing back three thousand people was nothing short of amazing.

But even so, what Ayla had done to Hela was cruel and sadistic. She had slowly killed her while three thousand of her sisters had come back to life as Arthus’ mindless followers.

Allen’s expression darkened as Ayla vividly described Hela's final moments.

“... I see,” murmured Allen.

They had fought on the same battlefield, even if for a short time. They had also become quite close during that time. And most importantly, Hela was his type.

Thus, when he had miraculously come back from the brink of death in that hospital in Monsieur, he had hoped deep down that she would also survive.

“So that’s what happened...?”

Allen didn’t manage to finish his sentence. Being quick-witted, Ayla covered her mouth and giggled, interrupting him.

“Don’t tell me you had feelings for her? Oh no... I ended up killing some knight’s love without realizing it. But don’t despair... I’ll make sure you get to meet her again.”

“What?”

“I’m serious. Watch carefully.”

Ayla had covered her mouth with both hands, pretending to be sorry. Then, with a confident expression, she moved her tail, which was almost as long as she was tall.

Ayla’s tail swayed forward over her head, its tip swelling like a pasque flower blooming.

“What the...”

“Shhh...”

Allen frowned in disgust at the grotesque sight, but Ayla put her index finger against her lips and shushed him.

Her tail continued to grow larger, reaching the size of a normal human adult. Then, it started spitting out something along with a sticky substance. It looked like a snake was spitting out the prey it had swallowed.

Squirm, squirm... Gush!

What came out of the tail along with the viscous substance was Hela’s corpse.

“...!”

“...!”

Hela’s corpse, which was covered in bodily fluids, fell on the ground and got covered in dirt. It was a most shocking sight, everyone’s jaws hitting the ground.

However, Ayla ignored their reactions. She merely lowered her hand from her mouth and snapped her fingers.

Snap!

Right after that, Hela, who had been lying lifelessly on the ground, suddenly opened her eyes wide and let out a beastly howl.

-Rhoaaa!

The Iron and Blood Empress, who had given her life for her people, was brought back to life as a blind believer.