Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 388

“…Why do my bad premonitions always turn out to be true?”Lexion clicked his tongue.

“What value could this tiny palace possibly have?”

His bright red gaze stared into the darkness.

.

An ominous rumble of thunder was heard again, faintly in the distance. Though the sky was overcast, it wasn’t the kind of weather that called for thunder and lightning.

If so, there was only one thing that could be the cause of this unpleasant noise.

“That crazy old geezer…”

Lexion muttered irritably.

‘It seems concentrating all our power on this side was the right choice.’

It was an even more splendid roster than the one which had been deployed in the battle at the Caerleon Empire’s Great Temple.

‘So does that mean my guess was more or less correct?’

Lexion frowned slightly as he surveyed the battlefield in the air.

‘The apprentice knight and his party are luring the enemy out.’

Salem entrusted the priests blocking the path to the warriors and was advancing into the palace.

The elf forces led by Zakar, Shekhinah, and Ragnald were all gathering towards the palace, but each encountered enemies along the way.

‘And the hero is…’

A group of priests blocked the path of Laius’ party, but they were no match for them.

Not only the hero, but everyone seemed to be in a hurry, and as they cut down everything in their path, the priests were all torn to pieces in an instant.

A few tried to block the road again, but they were unable to even slow them down and were simply cut down.

Thinking that each of those corpses would become a part of the hero’s achievements, Lexion somehow felt a bitter taste in his mouth.

It was even more so because it was an outcome that Laius did not particularly desire.

‘From the position of having dumped everything on others, having such feelings is nothing but presumptuous.’

Arendt von Eckhart proved his worth by crossing the line between life and death. The hero of this generation was no different.

And if there was even a slight possibility that the end that the hero of this generation would face may be different from that of the hero Khan…

Lexion was willing to take a gamble with extremely low odds.

Lexion slowly shut his eyes before opening them again.

His blood-red eyes, as if soaked in blood, had vertically slit pupils.

“It’s my job to drag out that damn old man.”

Black scales quickly sprouted on his arm, followed by sharp claws. Without even turning his head, Lexion swung his arm.

A thunderous noise shook the air, and a strong burst of light etched itself into the black sky.

Only then did Lexion turn his head.

He noticed a strand of blond hair fluttering in the aftermath of the explosion.

His hair that seemed to emit its own light in the darkness and his green eyes, ironically enough, seemed to resemble God Luce at first glance.

“You’ve gotten a lot more nimble than before, Lexi.”

The dragon of light that brought thunder gave a pale smile. Lexion responded with a twisted curve at the corner of his mouth.

“Hey, old geezer. Let me ask you one thing.”

“Your way of speaking has gotten quite bad. Is it because of the rookie hanging around the hero?”

The cold comment was met with a mocking laugh.

But Lexion paid no mind. He simply looked at Nikephoros with cold eyes and muttered a brief remark.

“What on earth is your purpose?”

“My purpose, well, is there really a need to say it again?”

Madness settled into the green eyes tinged with a hint of a smile.

“To praise Him. That’s all.”

“You crazy fanatic bastard.”

Nikephoros burst into laughter as Lexion spat out a curse.

“I’m not inclined to hear that from you, who once called yourself the hero’s right hand.”

.

Scales also grew on Lexion’s remaining arm.

Lexion, ready to attack, swung his large claws at Nikephoros.

But Nikephoros easily dodged by stepping back.

“Let’s have some quality time together, Lexi. Just like we used to.”

“That sounds good.”

Lexion let out a short laugh.

His skin tore as Lexion’s human guise rapidly swelled in size.

“Let’s have a cheap fight, biting and scratching.”

The dragon’s roar tore through the dark night sky of the Lucain Kingdom.

An indescribable vibration burst from the sky and shook the ground. Even Arthur and Richt, who were concentrating on shaking off the enemies pursuing them, stopped in their tracks.

“What was that…?”

As Arthur muttered in a dazed manner, Richt followed suit and answered.

“Thunder? No, this is…”

Meanwhile, flashes of lightning streaked repeatedly across the dark sky. The occasional thunderclaps that echoed down to the ground were an added bonus.

“Is now the time to look away?”

At that moment, an irritated voice pierced through their thoughts. The two reflexively turned their heads toward the voice. Arendt spoke briefly.

“The damn reptiles are starting to fight. Don’t worry about it and just focus on our work.”

“…You really see all kinds of strange things in a lifetime.”

Even as he started walking again at the urging of the apprentice knight, Richt let out a tired sound. Arthur also groaned.

“I really have no idea what’s going on.”

Even at this moment, lightning continued to flash in the sky.

A huge vortex of magical power surged forward, carrying the dragon’s malice. The storm-like flow felt terrifyingly ominous.

“We have even become subordinates of such a great hero, so what are you saying now?”

But Arendt spoke indifferently, as if he was not affected by such things at all.

Arthur glared at him.

“I’ll admit you’re bold, but can you please act a bit more rationally? Are you seriously broken or something?”

“I’m perfectly reasonable. It’s just that the seniors are too cowardly.”

But Arendt remained indifferent throughout.

“The key point right now is that Roger and Ain are here, and Nikephoros has appeared as well. So Jin should be showing up any moment.”

“All the big players have arrived.”

Richt muttered in an apprehensive voice.

“With Crown Prince Victor’s escape, the attempt to seize control of the royal family is practically a failure. Why are they doing this?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

Arendt stepped forward and responded.

“These bastards have another purpose.”

“What other purpose is there? You jerk, why won’t you just tell us properly?”

This time Arthur asked with a glare. Arendt continued speaking quickly, even as he ran diligently.

“So to speak, their main purpose was not to seize power or expand power. Oh, of course, that was also something they wanted, so they went to such troublesome lengths…”

After catching his breath, he added:

“Aside from trying to deceive people or control the kingdom, they had another ulterior motive.”

“So what is it?”

Arthur, unable to bear it any longer, shouted.

The sky split open above them and eerie lights flashed.

Unlike ordinary thunder and lightning, carried a gut-wrenching sense of menace. This was especially so because they knew the sound was the deafening roar of dragons battling each other.

Arendt took advantage of the silence to continue speaking.

“Just think about it. That bastard Roger is not a fool. There’s no way he wouldn’t have noticed that we were leading him out of the palace.”

“That’s… I see.”

Richt answered reluctantly.

It was something he hadn’t considered because he was too caught up in dealing with the situation.

“So, those guys also want to keep us away from the palace. Of course, Roger, that bastard seems desperate to kill me.”

Arendt took a deep breath and quickly added:

“The King who had become a ghoul was quietly dealt with without even being able to show his appearance, and more than half of the their supporters in the palace were killed. Yet, with even the dragon getting involved directly, it means there’s something going on in this land… or rather, within the palace itself.”

“Wait, what do you mean by ‘make an appearance’?”

Arendt answered Richt’s question:

“It’s the perfect way to attract attention. A King who was punished by God and turned into a living corpse. . There must have been an intention to show this to the public and grab their attention…”

But Arendt couldn’t finish his sentence because Richt quickly reached out and grabbed him by the back of the neck.

Ain teleported and made a surprise attack.

Richt shoved Arendt back almost as if tossing him aside, and blocked Ain’s sword that suddenly appeared.

A sharp clang tore through the air.

At the same time, Arendt discovered flames flying toward him.

A blanket of pure white frost swept over, the fierce flames subsided in an instant, and Roger hesitated and stepped back.

“…!”

Likewise, Arendt’s brow furrowed slightly as he put some distance between them.

Since he received magic power semi-forcibly from Lexion, he had never had any troubles due to lack of magic power.

Now, if they only looked at the amount of magic power, there was no one in the Third Knights who could compare to Arendt, except for Laius.

That didn’t mean there were no side effects.

Lexion himself warned that it would be best to be cautious since he couldn’t predict what kind of side effects would appear.

Arendt’s expression turned pale as he remembered it.

‘I don’t think that’s a very good sign.’

His fingertips exposed outside the gloves were blue.

‘The feeling is a bit strange…’

But there was no time to think long.

While Arendt stepped back for a moment, Arthur, who was clashing swords with Roger, was seen hastily putting distance between them before even exchanging two strikes.

It was because of the flames from the ‘Blessing of Karma’.

Before they knew it, Richt and Arthur had small and large burns all over their bodies, in addition to minor wounds.

Arendt clicked his tongue inwardly, then suddenly turned around and leaped up onto a nearby wall.

Arthur and Richt quickly raised their heads at the unexpected situation.

“Hey, where are you going?”

“Where do you think I’m going? I’m running away.”

Arendt responded indifferently to Arthur’s screams.

“I’m now going to the safest place in the Lucain Kingdom.”

Arendt turned around and jumped up to the roof of the store.

Richt and Arthur tried to chase after him, but Ain blocked their path.

“You can’t leave.”

“Damn it…!”

Richt hurriedly checked Arendt’s location. Arendt, who had jumped over several rooftops, was quickly moving away from them.

And Roger, as if it were natural, left the rest to his subordinates and was chasing after Arendt.

Richt spat out a rare swear.

“That fucking bastard…”

In this situation, they had no choice but to deal with Ain as quickly as possible and join him.

A murderous look, unbefitting of knights, appeared in Arthur and Richt’s eyes.

An ominous thunderclap once again engulfed the kingdom.