Chapter 44

# Chapter 044

Maeve's slow, deliberate steps resembled a blazing torch.

Captivating the attention of everyone.

"Stop! Block her! Protect His Majesty!"

One of the knights shouted, but no one dared to rashly charge at her.

It's rare to find someone who can face certain death.

Everyone was frozen in fear, unable to look away from Maeve as if entranced.

Thanks to this, no one noticed Ian crouching and dashing to the side.

'Just one.'

A tingling sensation spread from his fingertips, and the swamp's grudge reached out to a nearby servant.

Without even glancing, Ian dashed to the next target.

Suddenly, he thought of Lucia, whom he had left behind in the mansion's hiding place with Philip and Miguel.

The girl who didn't even flinch at the horrific scene before her.

But her gaze, which was filled with earnestness as she looked at him.

Begging him not to forget his request.

'...That's why I hate kids.'

Thinking this, Ian looked at the nobleman approaching him.

Only then did the man seem to notice Ian's approach, his eyes widening.

Chomp!

Ian's hand was already gripping the man's face.

A small amount of the chaos energy in his grip seeped into the man's eyes, nose, and mouth.

'Hopefully, it works.'

Thinking this, Ian pulled the man close and threw him towards Maeve.

"Ugh-?!"

"Ah!"

The nobleman rolled and fell near Maeve and the soldiers.

A short scream spread among the refugees.

The soldiers and Maeve, who had been about to charge, turned their attention to the fallen nobleman.

"Ugh... Cough... Gasp...?"

As he tried to get up, his hand began to tremble.

Purple and violet veins sprouted all over his body, and his muscles twisted and expanded.

"Mutation...?"

One of the soldiers muttered.

The nobleman, convulsing, lifted his distorted face.

"Gr- Ah- Ah-!"

A scream of pain.

Only then did the refugees burst into screams.

"Everyone, run!"

With that cry, the refugees began to scatter in all directions.

Meanwhile, Ian, who was gripping another nobleman's face, glanced at the mutating corrupted individual.

'It really works.'

This idea had come to him while observing the lower-level corrupted individuals who couldn't control their mutations.

Perhaps they didn't know how to handle the chaos energy mixed with the tainted magic.

So, he hypothesized that pushing pure chaos energy into them might cause a counter-reaction, and his guess was correct.

For proper corrupted individuals like Regis, who knew how to handle chaos energy, it would only add to their power.

But for these half-baked ones, it gave him a new card to play.

'Not many corrupted individuals can be distinguished yet.'

While throwing the nobleman he had injected with chaos energy, Ian shouted to the crowd.

"Protect His Majesty! Soldiers, deal with the corrupted individuals!"

In the midst of the chaos, with fleeing refugees and mutating corrupted individuals, and the avenging apostle enveloped in holy light, it didn't matter whose voice it was.

One of the six knights surrounding the king met Ian's eyes.

The young man, Jonathan, who had apologized to Ian after rebelling against him.

Seeing Ian first, he immediately shouted.

"Royal guards, follow His Majesty! Your Majesty, we must evacuate. We will escort you."

"No, what is this... Fine, I understand-"

The king, looking bewildered, was almost dragged away.

After all, it had just been revealed that there were real corrupted individuals among the nobles.

As nearly half the soldiers fled with the king.

Squish...

Maeve, with her sword hanging, calmly observed the mutating nobleman.

She didn't seem to want to kill him immediately.

She waited quietly, refining her holy light, as if waiting for the mutation to complete.

This only made the surrounding soldiers and knights more afraid.

"Gr- Ugh..."

A purple and violet body with tentacles sprouting from various parts.

The corrupted individual, with features randomly placed on his face, groaned as he looked down at Maeve.

His eyes showed no trace of reason.

The pure power of chaos had reduced the weak human mind to mush.

"AAAAAAH-!"

The corrupted individual spread his arms and tentacles and charged at Maeve.

Maeve's grip on her sword tightened.

Whoosh!

A red crescent swept through the corrupted individual.

The upper half of his body, cut diagonally, collapsed forward.

Black blood and entrails splattered everywhere.

Crunch-

Maeve, grabbing the head of the falling corrupted individual with her left hand, squeezed.

Crack, the head burst, and red holy light flared from her grip.

All the emotions she had suppressed surged in her eyes.

The light leaking through her faceplate flickered violently.

"A... Ah... AAAAAH-!"

A scream filled with mixed emotions.

As the remaining people in the hall were overwhelmed with fear.

"Gur- Ugh... Ugh-"

The nobleman, driven mad by the swamp's curse, began to mutate.

Another individual, thrown by Ian, was also reborn in a twisted form.

Their mutations lacked uniformity.

Evidence that they couldn't control the chaos energy they contained.

Splat-

Maeve, throwing the corpse she held, charged at the mutants.

The red holy light enveloping her body left a long trail in the air.

"How... How can we...?"

The soldiers, trembling, muttered.

Thinking they would face the mad Sir Liurrel.

But inexplicably, corrupted individuals began to emerge among the refugees.

Some eyes turned to the knights and Regis Brant, still standing on the dais.

Unlike the frowning duke, most of the knights looked at a loss.

One of the knights, feeling the gaze, pointed his sword at Maeve.

"What are you all standing around for? He's raising his sword against His Majesty- Huh?"

The knight's eyes widened.

A gloved hand roughly covered his mouth.

"Is it okay for a knight to serve a duke instead of a king?"

A low voice.

The knight, wondering when, looked into Ian's black eyes.

His lips barely moved.

"Who are you... Cough...!"

The strange power that surged through his grip made the knight's eyelids tremble.

"You don't need to know."

Ian, adding this, pushed the man away and stepped back.

Nearby soldiers and knights hesitantly aimed their weapons at him.

"Who are you?"

"If you want to live, get rid of those things. And it's better to back off. Don't get involved and die like a dog."

Ian, adding this, suddenly threw a throwing dagger at one of the knights.

"Gr-?!"

The knight's eyes widened as the dagger embedded in his arm.

Something wriggling was attached to the blade.

A thread snake, with a mouth full of tiny fangs, opened wide.

It bit the knight's arm.

"You...! What sorcery...?!"

When the knight looked up, Ian was already gone.

Bowing his head, the thread snake was also disappearing in smoke.

In the next moment, the world seemed to melt like paint.

The knight, eyes wide open, saw only the massive figure of the paladin, filled with crimson holy light.

"Ah- AAAAAH-!"

The knight, driven mad, screamed in terror.

The knight, who had swallowed chaos energy, began to mutate with a terrifying breath.

The scene was enough to make the remaining knights and soldiers follow Ian's advice.

As they began to back away towards the passages.

"If you can't run, stay here without making a sound. Got it?"

Ian, dragging a woman who had collapsed to the corner of the hall and pushing her down, said.

The woman, tears streaming down her face, only nodded.

"Hmm..."

Somehow, this feels more like dog training.

Taking a deep breath, Ian finally looked around the hall.

He had let Maeve take the lead in this battle not just because it was easier.

Regardless of their employer-employee relationship, Maeve was the most responsible and good-hearted person he had met in this world.

He didn't want to see her kneel to these half-baked corrupted individuals after fulfilling her duty and responsibility.

He preferred to see her unleash her suppressed inner self and go berserk.

Perhaps it was because he saw himself, who couldn't properly argue against minor superiors or seniors, in her.

Crunch! Bang!

Meanwhile, Maeve, who had cut down two corrupted individuals and bisected the mutating knight, crushed the head of a fallen corrupted individual under her foot.

A savage and brutal appearance, unlike her usual clean and efficient fighting style.

The blood of the corrupted individuals splattered on her body, mixed with the holy light, giving her a dark knight-like appearance.

Whoosh!

She finally stopped, shoulders heaving, after slicing the last corrupted individual who had charged at her back.

"..."

Silence fell over the blood-soaked hall.

Maeve's gaze, breathing heavily, eventually turned to the dais.

Regis Brant.

He, who had been looking at her with an increasingly interested expression, finally spoke.

"Truly, I can't understand... You were the easiest to manipulate. How did you become the most unpredictable?"

"If I were alone... it would have been different..."

Maeve said slowly.

Regis' eyes narrowed.

His gaze suddenly turned to Ian, standing in the corner of the hall.

"So... You were the one behind it. There was a paladin leading the Orundel rebellion... It wasn't just a rumor."

"Even after all that weeding, there are still Orundel remnants? Impressive. Like cockroaches."

Ian smirked.

A smile appeared on Regis' lips.

"Considering you as just a mercenary was my mistake. I shouldn't ignore even a minor variable. From now on."

"You... have no... next time-!"

Maeve, screaming, charged.

A red trajectory, following her sword, exploded into arcs and scattered towards Regis.

Zing!

A translucent purple barrier appeared in front of Regis.

Surprisingly, the barrier didn't break even after blocking the holy light-infused strike.

The shockwave, a mix of holy light and magic, swept through the hall.

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

A dozen hunting dogs began to run into the hall from the passages.

The knights and soldiers, who had almost reached the passages, were pushed back against the walls.

The dogs, passing them, gathered around Regis.

Regis' laughter spread through the hall, between the barrier and the holy light remnants.

"You seem to have forgotten. Tonight, in this Agel Ran..."

His face was revealed.

The skin on his forehead bulged grotesquely, and spider-web-like veins spread across his face.

His eyes, now entirely purple, drew a soft curve.

"...I am as good as a god."

Bang!

The remaining barrier exploded, and Maeve, still in her sword-swinging stance, was thrown back.

"The fact that I serve the true god will be unknown to all. There will be no witnesses left."

As shock spread across the faces of the soldiers and knights.

Swoosh-

Ian, drawing his sword of judgment, bared his fangs and smiled.

"You're insane."

A kid who had already died once at my hands.