Chapter 499
Fight for Me (Today’s Ten Thousand Word Update)
Hearing the Grand Guardian’s words, the stranger immediately felt an overwhelming pressure.
Met by the gaze of Avalon’s Grand Guardian, whose eyes were tired and bloodshot, the stranger felt their face stiffen.
“…Did he kill all of them?”
The stranger’s pupils widened in fear. They could clearly sense the lingering killing intent from the blond knight.
The killing intent was not directed at them, but permeated the air like residual smoke after a gunshot.
“…If I say I want to go back, are you going to kill me?”
After a brief silence, the stranger asked softly, “To prevent the Star Antimony people from obtaining my wisdom and technology… to kill me here?”
They didn’t even know why they said something so dangerous.
It wasn’t an act, nor was it a counter-argument to save their own life. Saying this undoubtedly put the Grand Guardian in a difficult position, counteracting their own goal of survival.
-They just wanted to ask.
A strange premonition, like a premonition, made them seek an answer to a question they themselves didn’t understand.
After staring at them for a while, the Grand Guardian smiled with a hint of helplessness.
“No.”
The Grand Guardian opened their lips, which were dry from prolonged lack of food and water, and replied concisely.
“…Why?”
“No reason… because you are a civilian.”
The Grand Guardian stood before thecurtain, their posture straight, their gaze calm. “And because I am a knight – I am a knight granted honor by Her Majesty the Queen, and I will defend her honor until death.
“I cannot act against a civilian, Master Nobel.”
Hearing this, the stranger was vaguely touched. They felt a sense of loss, yet also felt that something was missing.
Then, the Grand Guardian’s next words made the stranger subconsciously clench their fists:
“—After all, you have nothing to do with this war.”
“…Nothing to do with it?”
The stranger smiled self-mockingly.
The Grand Guardian replied word for word, “It has nothing to do with your origin, nationality, or wishes. You did not participate in this war, you are not a soldier, therefore you are a civilian.
“It is a shame that I cannot escort you to Star Antimony. But I will not take you back to Glass Island either… Since you have already fled here, you must not want to go back.
“I will leave two soldiers to look after you, and you can continue to Star Antimony. They will protect you while also keeping an eye on you. Because I am about to carry out a secret mission… I must prevent you from leaking any secrets, and I ask for your understanding if there is any rudeness.”
“…Wait.”
The stranger felt something was wrong, as if they had overlooked something.
Why was I told about the secret mission…
And soon, they realized where the sense of incongruity came from.
The Grand Guardian appeared so calm… but now the Queen was dead, the Princess was missing, the Silver and Tin Hall was destroyed by a Flame Demon, and Avalon’s royal capital had been invaded by the Star Antimony army.
Why could he still be so calm?
Master Nobel was an expert in explosives. If his technology fell into the hands of the Star Antimony people, it would undoubtedly become a sharp weapon for slaughter on the battlefield…
…Just like his own invented technology.
“Are you going to die?”
The stranger blurted out.
Hearing this, the Grand Guardian frowned slightly, his gaze hardening.
Just that alone, and the stranger felt an immense pressure, almost suffocating.
It was as if their lungs had forgotten how to breathe, their chest unable to expand—their brain felt starved of oxygen, and their cheeks flushed hot.
-The Grand Guardian didn’t even need to attack them. Just frowning and looking at them was enough to suffocate them to death.
In the near-death sensation caused by oxygen deprivation, the stranger’s brain instead began to spin rapidly—
“The Princess isn’t dead!”
They immediately guessed the Grand Guardian’s thoughts, and shouted.
At that moment, the pressure vanished.
The stranger gasped for air, feeling their palms and fingertips tingle. Stars swam before their eyes, and their mind felt like it was expanding with cotton, leaving them staring blankly into the void.
“What did you say?”
“Princess Isabel is alive! The Grand Arbiter rescued her, and they are now heading to the Church!”
The stranger immediately added.
“That’s impossible,” the Grand Guardian frowned. “The airspace from Avalon to the Church is filled with Gargoyles. They are so dense, they cover the sky like dark clouds.”
The stranger immediately guessed that those must be Gargoyles launched from Star Antimony ships.
Star Antimony had transferred the “stakes,” the charging devices for the Gargoyles, to their warships—while the charging stakes, which were too large to transport on land, could be easily moved at sea.
Gargoyles were cheap to produce. With the help of an Extraordinary of the Twilight Path of the Second Tier and a Demon Scholar of the First Tier, one could be made in at most three days. They had previously felt that there was a Gargoyle army somewhere behind Star Antimony… it seemed that they were all concentrated at sea now.
Gargoyles themselves had anti-magic properties, allowing them to nullify a large number of spells below the Second Tier. Even though their flesh and blood exterior lacked this power… as long as they flew in the air, they could negate the Gryphons’ proud elemental maneuverability.
If a Gryphon, in its elementalized state, happened to collide with a Gargoyle, the Gargoyle’s anti-magic ability could directly dispel the Gryphon’s elementalization, causing it to be revealed and even to be torn apart at high speed.
These Gargoyles were deployed in the sky to prevent Gryphons from flying everywhere. They were like “water mines” in the air.
Originally, these Gryphons could have carried some Bishops, who could have dispelled these Gargoyles by deploying their Holy Domains, or compressed the Gargoyles’ operational area, and then slowly shattered them with storms.
After all, the Gargoyles’ anti-magic ability could not significantly weaken the Gryphons’ natural spells, and Law Spells of the Third Tier and above were also effective against Gargoyles.
The White Feathered Gryphons were all Extraordinary creatures starting from the Fourth Tier. Although stone was an insulator and difficult to damage effectively with lightning, their sharp wind blades were still effective against them. They only needed to be cut, and the imbalanced Gargoyles would no longer be able to fly.
However, now the Gargoyles could resist dispelling and even retaliate with machine guns. Even if the knights clad in blessed armor were not particularly afraid of those bullets, it did not mean that Gryphons with flesh and blood bodies could bath in a hail of machine-gun fire and counter-charge without elementalizing.
…Undoubtedly, this should also be an application of the technology developed by their counterpart in this world.
With these Gargoyles, Princess Isabel could not possibly have flown to the Church with a Gryphon.
The Gargoyles could also provide vision for the rear, as well as night vision. Under their surveillance, even traveling by ship would be dangerous… if they were discovered, a large group of enemies would immediately appear. Even Fifth Tier Extraordinary individuals did not all have the ability to transport people across the sea.
Thinking about this, the stranger paused.
…Come to think of it.
How did Princess Isabel get to the Church? Was it by teleportation?
But if Princess Isabel had already teleported, the Ascension Ritual should have ended by now…
Then there was likely only one answer.
“They must have traveled by boat,”
The stranger replied. “You should be able to see that I’m telling the truth—I did see Princess Isabel. She appeared at Moriarty Manor earlier. She should have left with Bishop Moriarty.”
“…Eivass? No wonder…”
The Grand Guardian murmured, “That child Eivass sent me a letter a few days ago, saying that the Star Antimony people might make a move and to be on guard. It is precisely because of this that I was able to rush to the border and hold back the main Star Antimony forces…
“I cannot leave at all now. If I turn back, the front will be immediately pushed in. Once the main army lands, there will be no hope at all.”
Seeing the Grand Guardian’s relaxed expression and more talkative demeanor, the stranger finally confirmed… the Grand Guardian had indeed been prepared to die.
He believed that the Queen and Princess were dead, and Prince John was probably also dead. Since Avalon had effectively fallen, he saw no reason to live on—because he did not want to live in an Avalon controlled by the Star Antimony people.
The words the Grand Guardian said to “Master Nobel” were like a last will and testament.
…He didn’t know how he planned to die.
If he were a knight…
For some reason, a scene suddenly appeared in the stranger’s mind—the Grand Guardian riding his Gryphon, alone under the dark clouds, charging towards the sky full of Armed Gargoyles.
It was a charge to the death. Or rather, it was a charge of certain death.
He did not use any Martial Skills to dodge the attacks, nor did he call upon any spells. The charge seemed to merely express, “I would rather die than stand with you,” and therefore he did not elementalize, but accelerated infinitely, slamming into them with his own body.
The scene was so vivid, as if a prophet had transmitted the scene they saw into their mind.
With a rush of blood to the head, the stranger suddenly said, “I know the Gargoyles’ weakness.”
“…Oh?”
The Grand Guardian’s spirit was lifted. “As expected of Master Nobel, you saw through them so quickly!”
“…Of course. The person who created these things must have been a vain and ignorant fool. He had no real strength, just a bit of cunning.
“Unlike the Rune Golems, the Armed Gargoyles have a fatal weakness.”
The stranger endured the discomfort and said slowly, “He must have known the weakness of these things long ago, but he hid it. And this is undoubtedly a very risky act. Once the weakness is discovered on the battlefield… for example, by me now, the front line will immediately fall into disarray.
“It’s just a fake Ascension Ritual anyway,” they consoled themselves.
In the real world, no matter how dissatisfied they were with Star Antimony, they would never have revealed the weakness of the Armed Gargoyles to Avalon.
But now, all of this was fake.
…In that case.
Let’s destroy them in this illusion and see.
Whether I will feel heartache, loss… or relief.
With that thought, they took out a bottle of blood-red potion from a briefcase beside them. It was only the size of a baby’s fist and could be held in an adult’s palm.
It was a Fourth Tier healing potion, “Vigor-V,” the most effective on the market, capable of restoring Life force even to Fifth Tier Extraordinary individuals… There were only two bottles in the suitcase, which they had originally intended to save for their teacher and Grape.
If there was going to be a fight, they would help the Grand Guardian heal first.
The stranger handed it to the Grand Guardian.
Without any suspicion, the Grand Guardian took it and drank it down.
Seeing the Grand Guardian’s spirit immediately improve, the stranger slowly said, “The method these Arned Gargoyles use to resist dispelling is the layer of flesh beneath their metal armor. That flesh is alive… so spells and divine arts targeting them will be blocked.
“However, if a strong electric current is passed through them, it will instantly kill that flesh. Although it doesn’t physically destroy the flesh, and it seems to have no effect externally, it has actually killed the flesh, thus directly destroying the Gargoyles’ anti-dispelling ability; at the same time, the high temperature caused by the lightning may also detonate the bullets or destroy the machine guns… and their metal cages, at a sufficient height, will automatically attract lightning.
“In other words, all it takes is a thunderstorm. A thunderstorm that is completely useless against ordinary stone Gargoyles, but has a special effect on Armed Gargoyles, can cause them to lose all their special properties and revert to being ordinary Gargoyles.”
-The stranger had known about the fatal flaw in their invention for a long time.
But just as they criticized themselves—they were too vain, and thus hid this flaw.
The meaning of inventing Armed Gargoyles was completely different from inventing a “transitional product” with a fatal flaw.
Or perhaps it could not be called hiding. Because they had not deliberately fabricated any data, but had handed it over to professional testers.
-If they hadn’t tested it by the end, it wouldn’t be their fault. Right?
In the real world, the stranger undoubtedly had such a侥幸心理.
As a result, the Armed Gargoyles in this world line were actually equipped… one did not know if they had tested this flaw and still equipped them in large numbers; or if no improvement had been made at all.
“…It’s so simple.”
The Grand Guardian’s expression was somewhat complex.
For any other country, summoning a thunderstorm that spanned dozens of miles might be very difficult. But for Avalon alone… it was as easy as pie.
The Grand Guardian alone could accomplish this feat.
“I have one condition, Your Excellency the Grand Guardian.”
The stranger said seriously, “Please allow me to fight alongside you.”
“…Are you serious?”
“I have a ‘Storm Adaptation Potion,’ which can convert a small amount of mana into wind attribute. Bringing me with you won’t be a burden… I can also provide you with other potions.”
The stranger pleaded, “I just… want to be with you. Witness you charge. I want to see these Gargoyles destroyed up close.”
“…You really hate the person who invented these things, don’t you.”
The Grand Guardian looked at them, easily reading the stranger’s true feelings.
“Indeed.”
“Nobel” pulled at the corner of their mouth, revealing a somewhat unsightly smile. “Now I just want to invent things that benefit people’s lives… things that make people happy.”
The Grand Guardian rubbed his face, a slight smile rising to his lips.
The blond knight once again showed a confident and proud smile.
Having learned that the Princess was alive and knowing the weakness of these Gargoyles—he seemed to have come back to life from a state of being like a walking corpse. “Since Princess Isabel might be traveling by ship… then let’s go meet her.
“Just you and me—I’ll accompany Master Nobel for an experiment, how about it?
“Let’s see if a thunderstorm can destroy these damned Gargoyles!”
The Grand Guardian grabbed the stranger by their clothes and looked up at the sky. The huge Gryphon Philip landed again without being summoned, and he grabbed the stranger and jumped directly onto its back.
“If it doesn’t work,” the stranger’s gaze was extremely serious, “then we’ll die together!”
To die on the road charging at my own creation!
“Hahaha, it won’t.
“The Grand Guardian said with a benevolent smile, “Even if I die, I won’t let you die.”
“…Even if I’m from Star Antimony?”
“Even if you’re from Star Antimony!”
The Grand Guardian replied forcefully and with absolute certainty. “Whether you are from Star Antimony or the Iris people—as long as you are not a Giant, I will protect you! I can protect you!
“Hold on to me, we’re about to take off—”
The White Gryphon turned into a storm and roared into the sky.
The Grand Guardian was about to charge.
On the other side.
Shortly after the Avalon’s Shadow Ritual was activated, Isabel suddenly heard the sound of a funeral bell.
She, who had been dozing, suddenly widened her eyes and woke up completely. Her expression immediately became serious.
She remained still, listening quietly for a long time, but no second funeral bell rang. All she heard was the gentle sound of the sea tide.
So she stood up with a swish, put on her coat, and walked out of the cabin.
As she opened the door, she ran into Shafiya.
“Prepare yourselves, we are going to the Church at full speed,”
Isabel ordered sternly.
Shafiya, however, frowned. “It might not be convenient… The main Star Antimony force is searching for us ahead, Your Highness Princess Isabel. My stealth spell is ineffective at close range. Considering that if we are discovered, we might encounter the main force… it might be safer for our small boat, which only has a speed of 7 knots, to take a detour.”
In the distance, dark clouds churned in the dead of night, and the layers of clouds grew heavier.
The abnormality of the dark clouds reminded her of someone… an old friend whom she desperately wished would appear before her eyes immediately.
But if he didn’t come… this abnormal weather would be even more disadvantageous for them.
Because the rumbling thunderstorm was causing the Gargoyles to fly lower and lower.
This might inadvertently make it easier for them to discover the small boat, which was hidden by her spell.
“—No.”
Isabel was surprisingly resolute, rejecting Shafiya’s more conservative suggestion.
Her eyes were bright, her tone firm.
The little princess, whose face was pale from seasickness, replied word for word, “Since they are blocking the way—then we will fight our way through. With you, and Minister Moriarty, and the protection of two Elves. There is no reason for us to retreat here.
“I must reach the Church as soon as possible, otherwise Eivass will be in mortal danger. Therefore, I now command you as the future Queen, Your Excellency the Grand Arbiter:
“I want the swiftest victory, I want to reach the Eternal Holy Kingdom at the fastest speed.
“I now need you to fight for Avalon—
“—Fight for me!”
…It was the first time Shafiya had seen such a powerful Isabel.
It was also the first time she had seen her state such a clear demand and wield her own authority.
She stared at the little princess blankly, and suddenly let out a laugh.
Having received the Queen’s command, her weakened authority was briefly restored.
This meant that Isabel already had the awareness and cognition of a monarch—only when the monarch they were loyal to personally issued a command would those Extraordinary individuals of the Path of Authority be strengthened by the command.
She felt a sense of helplessness, and a sense of relief.
…As expected. Love makes people stronger than fear.
Shafiya then relaxed, knelt on one knee, placed her staff horizontally, and bowed respectfully.
She squinted slightly, her eyes shimmering with a brilliant silvery-white light:
“—Then, as you wish… Your Majesty the Queen.
“In the name of Avalon, I will seize victory for you.”
(End of Chapter)
