漫画大王

Chapter 7

The protagonist of this novel was probably waiting for the main plot to start, where he was soon about to enroll at the Gradius Temple and begin his story. However, the story was still caught up in this over-dramatic prologue section, where the princess was about to be assassinated and a Demon Prince was trying to save her.

I had indeed written all of this, but this world was filling in gaps that I hadn’t imagined before, making it feel so overwhelmingly real that it was terrifying.

Dyrus seemed bitter and angry at the fact that he was now in a position no different than some low-class soldiers who were robbing the castle to satisfy their personal desires. However, he kept walking on regardless.

As we hurried to escape from the Demon King\'s castle, Dyrus suddenly grabbed my arm, pulled me to a different corridor, and pushed me behind one of the gargoyle statues in the castle.

“Those people are knights of Duke Salerion,” he whispered.

I immediately understood what he meant and held my breath.

Duke Salerion.

He was one of the external factions who supported Vertus and was the sole reason Vertus had so much power in the first place. If Sir William was an ally to Princess Charlotte, Duke Salerion was her enemy, as his only purpose was to make Vertus the King of the Gradius Empire.

It was likely that Sir William had also been killed by Duke Salerion’s people.

Dyrus was tense as he held his breath. I wasn’t sure what Dyrus’s exact status was in the imperial kingdom, but he was still a Lieutenant. Duke Salerion was from one of the most powerful noble families in the Empire, and his status would likely surpass that of any ordinary knight or noble. Not to mention his combat skills, which were also outstanding.

Stomp, stomp, stomp.

The noise they made as they approached made it clear that there was more than one of them coming our way.

—Are you sure they entered the castle and didn’t head back?

—Yes, I’m sure.

—Tsk, I don’t know if they’re smart or dumb.

—What should we do if we find them?

—Do I have to tell you exactly what to do? Use your common sense.

—... The Lieutenant as well?

—I feel sorry for him, but I guess it’s his fate.

Although they didn’t explicitly mention any names, it was obvious they were looking for Dyrus and me. Dyrus was holding his breath, trying to stay hidden. I wished they would just walk past us, and I was certain Dyrus was feeling the same.

And then....

I realized how foolish I was to think I could deceive the senses of those highly-ranked knights.

“They seem to be over there,” said one of the knights casually, as if there was no need to make an effort to find us.

“Their breathing sounds ragged. They must be hiding there.”

The knights arrived one by one, four of them in total.

Dyrus and I slowly stepped away from the statues.

The four knights, clad in splendid plate armor, looked at us.

The knight who seemed to be the highest-ranked among them wore a composed expression as he clicked his tongue at us.

“The princess is truly a pitiful soul,” he said condescendingly.

We remained silent.

“She’s not only harming herself but causing the deaths of others.”

He sighed as if he felt guilty to have to kill innocents. However, I felt no urge to respond to his scornful comments.

“You should be ashamed of yourselves. You call yourselves imperial knights but are attempting to harm one of the royal family members!” Dyrus shouted in anger.

“If you thought your condemnation was going to do anything to my feelings, I’m sorry, but I don’t care what someone like you has to say.”

The knight seemed completely indifferent to any criticism that came from someone he considered unworthy.

“You know what, killing you guys is not a pleasant task. I’ll admit that.” He let out a bitter chuckle. “While everyone else is killing demons today, I have to kill a fellow human.”

He seemed quite uncomfortable with the idea of having to kill humans just because the princess was alive.

However, despite his discomfort and annoyance, there was no hesitation in his actions.

Shing!

He drew his sword, and the other knights followed suit. While running away was an option, I knew it would be pointless; they would quickly catch up to us as their physical abilities surpassed not only mine but also Dyrus’s.

‘Wait, the scrolls.’

Could they help turn the situation around? No, they would slit my throat in the blink of an eye before I could unfold a page from the scroll book.

Did I seriously escape the Demon King\'s castle only to face death this quickly again?

The thought of having to face death yet again, not even a day after my real death, was infuriating.

The knights, slowly but surely, began to approach us, closing the distance. Despite the vast corridor, their presence seemed to fill the entire space.

Wait... gargoyle?

I gazed blankly at the gargoyle statue. Statues like these usually moved, right?

Before I could continue my thought—

Swoosh!

Thud!

The massive halberd in the gargoyle’s hand struck the knight who was leading the charge.

Chaos.

Shock.

Death.

“Run!”

And quick thinking.

Now was the only chance to run away.

***

The merciless strike from the giant gargoyle statue obliterated the body of the approaching knight. The knight didn’t even have a chance to scream as he was completely crushed like a soda can despite his armor.

While the knights might be strong, this was the Demon King\'s castle, after all, a place where the mightiest forces in the Demon Realm are gathered. Thus, a gargoyle statue being able to kill a highly-ranked knight was not hard to comprehend.

There was no time to react to what just happened. Actions came before thoughts, and we made a swift escape.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

We were able to escape the scene while the knights we’d left behind went toe-to-toe with the suddenly activated gargoyles.

“Why did that thing start moving all of a sudden?” Dyrus asked.

“I... I don’t know! Don’t ask me!” I replied.

Of course, I knew why.

Although all my physical attributes were subpar, I still had a special skill, which was Control Demon. I might have unconsciously triggered the gargoyle to move, or the gargoyles might have activated themselves after sensing a threat toward me.

Whichever one it was, the fact that they had moved to protect me did not change. This was all because I possessed an innate power that allowed me to control demons.

Of course, I couldn’t reveal that to Dyrus in the middle of all this chaos, as running away was our top priority.

No matter how skilled the knights were, there was no way they could withstand a giant gargoyle hammering them like that.

The abrupt clanging and banging caused the castle that had been in the middle of an organized search to suddenly descend into chaos. Dyrus and I seized the opportunity to make a hasty escape from the Demon King\'s castle.

“Other soldiers are probably on their way after us,” Dyrus said.

“Yes, definitely,” I responded.

Duke Salerion’s knights were scattered around the castle because of the search. If they realized we were escaping after a confrontation with some of their knights, they were surely going to come after us.

Dyrus mounted the horse that he had tied up and helped me into the saddle, and we quickly galloped away from the castle.

Our hurried departure drew some puzzled glances, but it wasn’t the time to worry about such things.

Gallop, gallop, gallop.

I had to think. We had only one option left after reaching the barracks—teleport out of this hellish realm with Charlotte. The horse’s rapid pace nearly made me lose my consciousness, as simply holding on was exhausting on its own.

“Shit!” Dryus exclaimed. “They’ve caught up to us already!”

The coordination among Duke Salerion’s knights was impressive. Despite the chaos inside the castle, they had caught up to us instantly. They also seemed willing to endure the speculation that would surely arise from the many eye-witnesses around who watched them chasing us.

The fact that they were openly chasing us told me that they could easily exploit their rank to cover up any accusations or rumors that would result from killing Dyrus and me. Killing Princess Charlotte in broad daylight might have been difficult, but they were certainly capable of killing us. They would probably figure out a way to bury the evidence somehow.

“Damn it!” Dyrus exclaimed.

The horses the knights rode were far superior to his. And to make things worse, our horse carried two people, while all of our pursuers had their own horses.

They were closing rapidly. In no time, there were well over a dozen knights chasing us. The soldiers who were manning the supply wagons and leading the prisoners all watched the unexpected chase in astonishment.

“Lieutenant! Hold on to me tight, please!”

“Okay!”

Dyrus didn’t even ask me what I was planning to do and simply clutched my waist tightly to keep me from falling. I unfolded the scroll book that was strapped to my belt and quickly searched for any spells that might be of help in this situation.

Anything would do, anything!

[Haste]

I unfurled the scroll and cast an acceleration spell on the horse.

Gallop! Gallop! Gallop!

In an instant, the horse’s movements became even faster and spittle flew from its mouth.

“Damn it! At this pace, the horse is going to die before we even reach our destination!”

Haste sped up the movement speed of the target, but also dramatically increased the target’s energy consumption. Horses, by nature, weren’t meant to maintain an all-out sprint for long periods of time. Adding a haste spell on top of it all was merely adding fuel to the fire.

I, who had already half-given up, didn’t really care what would happen next.

“We’re literally going to die in less than a minute! Wouldn’t it be better to die in three minutes than one?” I said.

“Are you out of your mind?!” Dyrus shouted.

Dyrus, who seemed to be dumbfounded by my statement, managed to laugh even in this hectic situation.

His horsemanship was remarkable. Despite the increased speed of the horse, he skillfully controlled the horse with one hand while supporting me with the other.

“Shit!” Dyrus cursed as he glanced behind.

“They’re shooting arrows!”

Just because they were knights didn’t mean that they only wielded swords. As soon as they sensed the increase in our speed, they started to shoot arrows at us. Fortunately, Dyrus was able to evade the arrows, performing acrobatic skills with his astonishing horse-riding techniques.

“It looks like the horse is reaching its limit!”

The stamina of their horses was vastly different from ours. Due to my urgent request, Dyrus had already pushed his horse to the limit to get me to the Demon King\'s castle as soon as possible. This horse was already tired enough, but I had put an acceleration spell on it as well. It made sense that the horse would be reaching its limits. I searched the scroll book for a spell that might restore the horse’s stamina, but no such magic existed. I was only able to find secondary spells like Illusion, Charm, and Confusion.

“Do you think the ‘Confusion’ spell would work on them?”

“Not a chance! Those knights receive mandatory magic resistance training!”

These were knights who were trained in magic resistance, and Dyrus knew that lower-level secondary spells wouldn’t stand a chance against them. It’s not like I had high hopes either. I was the one who had written that knights had to get some kind of training done to defend themselves against magic, as it seemed absurd for close-combat experts like them to easily die to auxiliary spells.

In the school-based arc I wrote, I even added a course in the curriculum called the “Magic Resistance Training” course.

Nevertheless, what I wanted to say was that my own idea for the novel was now working against me.

Despite all this, I still unfolded the scroll.

It was a dangerous gamble, but I had to do it.

The spell I used was Illusion.

“I told you, it’s not going to work!”

“No, I’m not using it on the knights!”

I unfurled the scroll to cast a spell, and my target was not the knights.

If you want to take down the riders, shoot their horses—that was my plan.

[Illusion]

The magic took effect.

Neighhh!

Thump!

The terrifying neigh of a horse was accompanied by the scream of a knight crashing to the ground. I breathed a sigh of relief.

Luckily, it seemed like they hadn’t provided magic resistance training to their horses.

If magic didn’t work on the knights, why not just cast the spells on the horses they were riding?

I had just shown the horses an illusion of a dragon.