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Chapter 262 - Paying the Price (8)

Whir!

“Above you!”

The same sweeping sound, much sharper now, reverberated through the air. Hector, vigilant as ever, leaped forward and pushed Herarion out of the trajectory of the spear, which landed where Hector had been a second prior.

Hector glared at the spear but then soon realized that it wasn’t actually a spear or an arrow.

“What in the world...?”

The bizarre weapon left him and Herarion perplexed, but there was no time to figure out what it was. Hector immediately took charge, shouting orders to get the situation under control.

“Everyone, get inside the palace!”

Hector’s wise decision resonated through the chaos, but the peculiar spear-like weapons still rained down on them.

Whir!

Responding swiftly, Hector grabbed Herarion by his nape and led him under a sturdy roof near the outdoor conference hall. As Herarion had a roof above him, a barrage of countless thorns fell from the sky.

Crack! Boom!

“Gha!”

“Ah!”

“AAGH!!!”

Those who didn’t manage to take cover let out death cries as the thorns pierced them; they died standing up just like Kale had.

“What’s going on...?”

Now, the only survivors were Herarion, Hector, and a handful of soldiers. No one knew exactly what was going on. Of course, they had been exposed to the attack because Herarion had ordered his personnel to gather outside for the meeting, but it wasn’t like they were in enemy territory.

They had assembled at the royal palace of Shahatra, which was considered a stronghold. Therefore, nobody had expected to be attacked in the safest area of their own territory.

And because of this, even Hector, who had tons of experience in terms of combat, was shaken by this sudden assault on the palace. In the midst of the chaos, several soldiers who had sought refuge under a roof across from Herarion and Hector stared at them with pale faces.

“Yo-your Majesty! Your Majesty, are you also hearing this?”

“What do you mean?”

“The... The voice! This voice... AHHH...!”

Crack!

“...!”

The panicked soldiers were mumbling something to Herarion that didn’t make sense, and before Herarion could figure out what they were trying to tell him, the soldiers were suddenly impaled by sharp thorns, dying a gruesome death.

“Damn it!”

Those were the same mysterious weapons that had fallen from the sky earlier. Herarion felt reassured being under a solid marble roof, but that sense of security quickly disappeared as the white, elongated thorns, which had the shape of a whirlwind, penetrated the ceiling. They weren’t exactly spears but more like exceptionally long thorns.

The thorns easily went through the marble ceiling like needles going through a hem of cloth, slaughtering everyone.

The situation was critical; Herarion was shocked by the horrifying scene that was unfolding before his eyes. Realizing the imminent danger, Hector grabbed Herarion by the collar and bolted away with him.

Crack! Boom!

Death continued to rain down on the royal palace; the murderous thorns killed people left and right. It seemed like they were also pursuing Herarion and Hector.

Desperate, Hector took Herarion to inside a place where the roof was much more durable.

Crack!

To their relief, the thorns weren’t going through this roof. From the outside, the roof looked like a porcupine, with thorns protruding from it.

‘What the hell is going on?!’

Hector was seething. The royal palace, which he had considered a safe haven, was overtaken by a brutal assault. Herarion was still in shock, his eyes vacant. Hector tried to bring him back to his senses by slapping him repeatedly.

"Wake up! What good is it if you lose your mind right now?"

“B-but...!”

“Come to your senses, Herarion! You’re the king! If you lose your mind, everyone’s doomed!”

Thankfully, Hector’s impassioned shouting worked on Herarion. Slowly but surely, Herarion was regaining his composure and he realized the urgency of this catastrophe.

‘The Eye! I need the Desert’s Eye!’

Herarion was finally thinking rationally and assessing the situation. He didn’t know who was attacking them, but he knew that they were after the royal palace, and, according to his instincts, he assumed that they weren’t attacking from far away.

His belated realization prompted him to activate the Desert’s Eye, the power that granted him vision over the entire desert.

La’s power surged through Herarion. His spiritual power had grown significantly throughout the numerous battles he had faced.

Hector, on the other hand, hadn’t the slightest clue as to what Herarion was doing.

“What are you doing?”

“Shh!”

Instead of answering, Herarion just raised a finger to his lips to silence Hector. As Herarion focused, he saw the expansive Shahatra Desert unfold in his mind, and soon detected a suspicious figure not far from the capital. He concentrated even more to see more details.

Herarion eventually recognized that he was looking at a person in an unfamiliar uniform and with their hands casually folded across their chest. At that moment, the mysterious figure, seemingly that of a man, noticed Herarion\'s presence. He turned their head and greeted him.

“Oh, hi!”

“...!”

Greatly startled by this, Herarion immediately stopped the Desert’s Eye and took a few steps back.

“...?”

Seeing his reaction, Hector cast Herarion a confused look, but the desert emperor was terribly shaken by the unexpected greeting of that man. His heart was threatening to burst out of his chest, and he had goosebumps all over his body.

“He... saw me?”

"What?"

“He... looked me in the eye...?”

There was no mistake about it; that man had looked Herarion dead in the eye, as though he had actually been there next to him. Herarion knew that should’ve been impossible because he had used a god’s power, that of La. He was stupefied at how that individual had been able to see through La’s power and make eye contact with him.

As Herarion had never experienced anything like this before, he was in more shock than when his men went down earlier.

“Wha-what’s going on? What’s wrong with you?!”

Hector had no idea what was going on. To him, Herarion had just closed his eyes once and then freaked out. Frustrated, Hector yelled, “Herarion!”

He prompted Herarion to explain, but he muttered something that made no sense in a frightened voice.

“We... We made eye contact.”

“Eye contact? What do you mean? Explain it so I can understand.”

“There\'s someone outside the capital. That someone is attacking us right now, and I just made eye contact with him!”

“What?”

Judging from his explanation, Hector assumed that Herarion had used his divine power while he had his eyes closed, and now, he finally knew that the attacker was outside the capital. In the urgency of the situation, Hector tried to come up with a plan to deal with this crisis.

And then...

“Herarion.”

“Yes...?”

“The thing you did earlier, you can do it again, right?”

“The thing meaning...?”

“You said you made eye contact with that guy, no?”

“Uh... Ah!”

Herarion nodded as he finally understood the plan. He clenched his trembling hands, hoping he would be able to calm himself down. He then closed his eyes and activated the Desert’s Eye once again.

The image of the vast Shahatra desert popped into Herarion’s mind once again, but the mysterious man from earlier was nowhere to be seen. Herarion focused his divine power as he tried to trace down the peculiar energy of the attacker. After multiple attempts, he suddenly felt the unfamiliar energy right in front of him.

A sharp sound ripped through the air, and the man appeared in front of Hector and Herarion. He then said confidently, “You looking for me?”

“Shit!”

In response, Hector instinctively swung his sword, but the man took a step back and effortlessly dodged his attack.

“You! You must be the present Arthus was talking about!” Hector bellowed at the mysterious man, frustrated that he hadn’t landed his sword strike. He was glaring at the man, his killing intent evident.

However, the man was unfazed and responded casually, “Indeed, I am the present Sir Arthus has sent to you. My name is Grumpy. I am one of the nine great apostles of Sir Arthus and I am here to spread his commandments.”

\'Apostle!?\'

Herarion was taken aback when he heard the word apostle. The term usually referred to divine figures, beings chosen directly by a god to spread their divine commandments.

‘That piece of shit Arthus really went that far...?’

If other people had encountered Grumpy, they probably wouldn’t have noticed, but Herarion could clearly feel the power of Janus coming from him.

The power of death was flowing through Grumpy.

Herarion could tell that Grumpy should’ve died and instead, he had been reborn by the power of Janus. Just after a few seconds of looking at Grumpy, Herarion could tell that he had undergone many transformations to reach this state.

Hector enveloped himself in Aura.

“I don’t care if you’re some apostle or whatever. I’ll make you pay for your sins.”

“Sins? What sins? There are only two people who can give me orders and judge me, Sir Arthus and Sir Dracan. I didn’t disobey their orders, so I have no idea what you’re trying to punish me for.”

“You crazy bastard,” Hector cursed as he took a step forward.

Thud!

With the loud thud, Hector stomped his foot on the ground, producing a crack akin to a spider web. At the same time, a massive armor made of blue Aura covered his entire body.

‘I need to hit him with everything I’ve got!’

The massive armor was none other than the Kingdom’s Guardian, the only decisive skill that he had used against Balak. Seeing this, Grumpy snorted dismissively, “What a fool.”

Grumpy waved his hand and summoned pure-white thorns from thin air. It seemed like they had been invisible this whole time. Grumpy called them the Spears of Judgment.

“Sir Dracan said that such violence is necessary in order to teach barbarians.”

Whir!

With that, the Spears of Judgement began rotating violently, producing an eerie humming sound. There were hundreds of them spinning in front of Hector, but despite the imminent threat, he did not waver.

“Herarion.”

“Yes?!”

“Run away and ask Henry for help.”

“Sir Hector...!”

“Hurry!”

Bang!

With that, Hector viciously charged at his enemy. Unfazed, Grumpy simply nodded without even blinking.

Whir-!

The Kingdom’s Guardian and Spears of Judgment. The thorns collided with the shield, releasing tremendous energy.