Chapter 680: A hunt in the middle of the night 3
‘Damn it! Fuck!’
Alberu Crossman immediately picked up the spear he had hidden under his body and kicked off the bed.
‘We were tricked!’
The person Choi Han’s sword was headed toward right now was not Deruth Henituse.nove(l)bi(n.)com
He heard the horn flute again.
Buuuu—- oooo—– buuuuuuu-!
The horn flute had distinct tones for different orders.
The one earlier was to announce the battle while this one was for charging forward to attack.
His body subconsciously flinched, and his gaze headed out the window.
He could see the Knight Captain pulling out his sword.
The other knights pulled out their weapons as well, while the mages were getting ready to cast an extremely large spell toward the Puzzle City plaza.
Alberu Crossman made eye contact with Deruth Henituse.
Smirk.
“I already told you. I said I was late because of taking care of some things after the meeting.”
Deruth Henituse laughed.
Alberu realized it at that moment.
‘It’s the White Star.’
This bastard was the White Star.
He was sure of it.
He then anxiously had a question pop up in his mind.
‘...When? How?’
Since when had the White Star been pretending to be Duke Deruth Henituse?
Alberu had not noticed anything awkward from the Duke.
‘Cale Henituse said that Duke Deruth told him to take out his biological mother’s diary from her grave.’
That meant that it was highly likely that Duke Deruth had been himself when Cale left Puzzle City.
‘And it is also highly likely that Duke Deruth was himself when Cale saw him as soon as he came back from his meeting with the World Tree.’
Duke Deruth had brought up and asked about Cale’s trip to his mother’s grave. Since Cale had not mentioned it first, he needed to have that information in advance to do that.
‘Then it happened after that.’
It would be most accurate to say that the White Star took over as Duke Deruth sometime after that.
‘In that short period of time!’
Alberu and Cale were aware of most of Duke Deruth’s actions and movements since they discussed this feigning death strategy with him.
They didn’t try to find out, but it was something that came naturally as they were working together.
‘Duke Deruth didn’t go anywhere special either.’
Cale also asked Choi Han to guard Duke Deruth’s bedroom at night, in order to avoid any ambush or abducting attempts from the White Star.
‘When and how did he avoid our gazes?’
Alberu felt extreme anger boiling inside him.
‘I’ve been tricked. I lost.’
The emotion from those negative thoughts roared inside of him.
“Motherf-”
Baaaaaaaaaang-
The rest of the word was drowned out by a loud noise.
The shining black aura rising from Choi Han’s sword was fluctuating violently.
“How does it feel? How is it to be on the receiving end?”
The black aura was blocked by a burning fire sword that was about the size of a dagger. Deruth Henituse’s hand was holding onto that sword.
The man then calmly moved his other hand.
Baaaaaang!
A wind wall crumbled after being struck by beige-colored mana.
Clunk!
The windows of the room almost exploded open at the pressure from the attacks.
They could see what was going on outside a little clearer now.
As the darkness of the night slowly started to take over for the red sunset in the sky...
Shaaaaaaaaaaa-
The cold winter breeze blew in through the window.
“I went to each of their posts to talk to them. I told them that the Saint checked the crown prince’s condition and the reason his internal organs are a mess is because of the venomous aura within the monster’s attack. I told them that the monster’s blood was necessary to heal it.”
Deruth’s voice was carried by the wind and echoed through the entire room.
* * *
While that was going on, Rosalyn left ancient Dragon Eruhaben’s side and urgently rushed over to the Knight Captain.
“What is going on, Captain-nim?!”
“Magic Tower Master-nim. Have you not heard? I guess you might not have, as it was urgently decided not too long ago.”
“What are you talking about, sir?”
The Knight Captain’s face was extremely stiff, but he put on a faint smile.
He had time to explain things to Rosalyn, someone who was working hard to help the Roan Kingdom.
“His highness needs the monster’s blood to heal his injuries. Apparently...it will be very difficult for his highness if we cannot get it within the next 12 hours.”
“...And?”
“That is why the Roan Kingdom’s troops and the reinforcements will attack and capture the monster’s attention so that the individuals who attacked the monsters during the day, minus his highness, will be able to ambush it and gather its blood. That is the plan. They said that all the preparations are complete for when the temple opens after that as well.”
Rosalyn’s face stiffened up.
She worked extremely hard to calm down her shaking voice as she asked.
“Who said that? Who came up with such a plan so urgently?”
She looked around.
Litana and Toonka noticed her and were heading over. From her home kingdom.... The prince of the Breck Kingdom, her young brother, smiled and waved his hand.
The Knight Captain responded, more energetic than ever before, at that moment.
“Sir Cale did.”
“...What?”
She subconsciously spoke informally.
‘Who? Young master Cale.’
“Duke Deruth informed us that former Commander Cale has awakened. Our esteemed former Commander-nim came up with this plan as soon as he heard about the situation.”
‘What unbelievable-’
“Ugh!”
However, before her attack could reach the White Star... Her body was flung away.
“Hannah!”
Saint Jack urgently supported Hannah, who was rolling on the ground. He could see a thick wall made of water and wind around the White Star.
“Where is Duke Deruth?”
The White Star shrugged his shoulders at Mila’s calm voice.
Ooooooooong-
Beige-colored mana appeared around her, shaking the whole room.
The White Star nonchalantly commented.
“He’s alive.”
Alberu and the White Star turned toward each other.
The White Star smiled gently in Deruth Henituse’s face.
“Of course, you cannot kill me if you want to save him. You bastards would never be able to find him without me.”
All expression disappeared from Alberu’s face.
The white spear that was pushing against the White Star’s fire sword was shaking.
Oooooong– oooooo–
The vibrations from the beige-colored mana became even stronger.
It was so strong that they couldn’t hear anything from the outside anymore.
Both Alberu and the Dragon were raging with anger.
The White Star couldn’t help but laugh.
“Ah, ah.”
He nodded his head.
“Now I get it. I see why you are all attacking so halfheartedly.”
It looked almost theatrical. Anybody would be able to tell that they were not attacking seriously.
Although the exterior was that of Deruth Henituse, the inside being the White Star made his calm face look extremely demonic.
Malice seemed to be flowing out even as he smiled.
“If I show my powers...”
The White Star whispered.
“I’m certain that the Lion Dragon will turn its attention here.”
The Lion Dragon responded to strong individuals.
“Both you and the Dragon will have to use your powers to stop me. Then the monster will start to move.”
And as a result...
“The monster will come here to kill the strong enemies while the extremely weak soldiers of the Roan Kingdom and your reinforcements will try to fight it. Both you and the Dragon know that will happen.”
It could be an unimaginably terrible sight if they made the wrong move.
Ooooooong-
Mila’s mana was vibrating wildly as if it was responding to her emotions. They couldn’t hear anything, not even the tiniest sound, coming from the outside.
All they could hear was the evil voice of this devil.
“You weak-hearted fools will have to go over to stop the monster. Oh my! Then I guess I can just escape. I can escape with Deruth Henituse’s life in my hands.”
A bright smile appeared on the White Star, on Deruth’s face.
“Doesn’t that sound fun?”
It was at that moment.
Crunch.
Something very faint... An extremely quiet noise was heard.
The White Star barely detected the noise because of the vibrating mana.
“......!”
The White Star’s eyes opened wide.
“Pffft.”
Alberu chuckled...
“Change!”
He then shouted and the spear in his hand started to change form.
The spear disappeared, and it instantly turned into a rope.
The rope wrapped itself around the red sword.
The door started to grow at that moment.
The White Star who was wearing the face of Deruth Henituse... The closed door behind him started to grow.
Crunch. Grab.
Tree trunks instantly grew and started to bind the White Star’s body.
‘Your highness. There is something very odd.’
‘What is it?’
‘I will just plant some seeds in between the decorations on the bedroom door for now.’
‘Seeds?’
‘I have a reason for it. There was something iffy during that meeting.’
‘The twins?’
‘...Don’t worry about it, your highness. Anyway... I hope that I am wrong. But it is just too weird.’
Alberu smiled while recalling a portion of the conversation.
Mila made her mana subside, and the vibrations that had been cutting out all noises quickly disappeared.
Screeeech-
The door with vines growing out of it opened. However, it only opened a small amount as the White Star was blocking its path.
A person’s eye appeared through the crack.
The eye slowly looked around the room before stopping at a spot. It was right next to him.
“I found you.”
The reddish-brown eye looked as if it was on fire.
Cale Henituse, the owner of that eye, looked at Deruth Henituse, no, the bastard wearing his father’s face, who was trying to get the branches off of him.
“White Star. Long time no see.”
—
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Translator’s Comments
Anybody else think of the shining after reading that? I won’t include the picture because it can scare some people. Just google ‘the shining door’ if you want to know.
What will happen next?
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