Ranker's Return

Supplementary Story 20

The sight that appeared after the magic circles disappeared was quite familiar. It was as if the dungeon from the Balder Mountains had been moved. Of course, the scale was incomparably larger. It was the difference between a rural village and a large city. Quite a few people could be seen between the large and small buildings. They ranged from people who looked like slaves to soldiers, knights, magicians, and nobles.

“Is everyone here?” Lebron’s eyes were fixed only on the enemy. He could see quite a few familiar faces. They were the owners of names that he had heard from Alexander.

“It stinks of blood.” Alexander turned his head from side to side with an expressionless face. The entire plains were filled with the aura of death. In particular, those who were skeletons exuded this aura more strongly.

“It hasn’t been just a day or two. It seems to have been maintained for at least 10 years.” Suped frowned. He instinctively wanted to reject it. It wasn’t that he hadn’t encountered dark attribute magic power before, but this was the first time he felt so low.

“Knights of Keon, march forward!” Lebron shouted before popping out first. Now there was no longer a reason to wait. They had to cut down as much of the magic power as possible in this battle.

“Enemies!”

“It is an attack!”

People discovered Lebron and the Knights of Keon and shouted. However, the discovery was too late. Lebron and the knights on horseback were already within reach. Blood gushed like a fountain from the place where the clear sword energy passed.

“Don’t let a single person live!” Lebron shouted as he stopped and shook off the blood flowing from his sword. Just then, numerous Knights of Keon passed by Lebron.

“Annihilate the enemies of the empire!”

“Death to those who have abandoned the empire!”

The Knights of Keon swung their own weapons and swept across the battlefield. There was no mercy. They killed everyone visible.

“Save the people!”

However, they did not kill those who looked like slaves. Rather, they snatched them away and evacuated them to safety. Some of the Knights of Keon were carrying heavy weapons such as blunt weapons. They didn’t target people. Instead, they rushed toward the building.

“Haaayaahh!”

A huge hammer covered in blue pure energy swung at the buildings. It dug into one building, and that building exploded. After soaring toward the sky, that building collapsed. There weren’t only one or two such buildings. Dozens of buildings on the plains were simultaneously destroyed.

“As expected of the Knights of Keon. It is certain.” Alexander smiled as he looked at the ruins that had been created in an instant. It was really satisfying.

“Don’t you think it is time for me to show up, Suped?” he asked. The reason why Alexander didn’t participate in the battlefield was due to the enemies that hadn’t yet appeared.

“There are no senior nobles or the knights guarding them. Besides, there are no black magicians... I think we can describe what we are seeing now as useless,” Suped answered Alexander while still diligently moving his hands. It was to prepare for the battle that would soon take place.

‘There are three completed magic circles. Should I draw four more?’

All the magic circles Suped prepared had a strong tendency to provide support. There were no magic circles for attacking.

‘In any case, the battle belongs to the Knights of Keon.’

Suped’s magic was strong, but it couldn’t distinguish between friend and foe. Of course, if he were to pay attention to each one, it would be possible to use it only on the enemy. However, this was too inefficient.

‘That is why I prepared this.’

Gravity increase, magic power oversaturation, maximize senses—Suped only chose magic that would help the Knights of Keon while causing great discomfort to the opponent.

“There is a familiar feeling. You worked really hard,” Alexander said. As Suped’s magic circles were completed one by one, Alexander frowned because he recalled some bad memories. The magic circles that Suped cast were those used in training the Knights of Keon. They trained with artificially created situations that disturbed the senses and made it difficult to use magic power. They had been preparing for such extreme situations.

“What is this?”

“My body isn’t moving!”

“I can’t cast magic!”

There were flustered voices from all over the battlefield. On the other hand, the Knights of Keon casually cut down those who were bewildered.

“You! How dare you?!”

Just then, an old man in an old-fashioned robe appeared and struck the ground with the staff. The black magic that poured out of the staff spread in all directions. The heavy bodies became lighter, the swaying magic power stabilized, and the twisted senses returned to normal.

“Today, I will pay back the grudge of hundreds of years of persecution!” The old man’s words captured the shaking spirits of his allies. The enemies, whose confidence had due to the attack from the Knights of Keon, took back the reins and counterattacked.

“Kill the intruders!”

“We have to kill them in order to live!”

The nobles gave orders to their troops. The nobles looked really desperate. They were truly doomed if they didn’t kill Alexander and Lebron right here. It was hard to get away as long as they were facing Alexander and Lebron.

“Die!”

The troops under the nobles felt the same way. Everyone naturally stepped forward with the will to die. There was the roar of metals colliding everywhere. They wielded weapons without hesitation to kill each other.

“Cursed Land!”

“Plunderer’s Hand!”

“Arrow of the Corrupted!”

The black magicians used the time that the knights earned to unleash their own attacks.

“Tsk... They are out of their minds.”

“It seems so. They wouldn’t be black magicians if they were sane.”

“They wouldn’t have thought of fighting against the empire.”

The Knights of Keon saw the flying magic and burst out laughing. It was because the actions of the black magicians were ridiculous. In fact, their magic didn’t mean much to the Knights of Keon.

Flash!

The moment the magic of the black magicians reached the vicinity of the Knights of Keon, the patterns engraved on the knights’ armor shone. At the same time, the magic of the black magicians disappeared.

“This is the power of the artifacts created by the great magicians of the empire.”

The best skills and the best equipment. The group that had both was the Knights of Keon. On the other hand, Lebron reproduced what he showed in Franc. He used the simple act of swinging his sword through the air to scatter the magic that had flown toward him.

“Of course, there are some people for whom such artifacts have no meaning...”

The armor that Lebron was wearing didn’t have a single magic pattern engraved on it. This was just Lebron’s pure power. At this moment, the ground shook, and the remnants of the shattered buildings rose up little by little from the ground.

“The ground is shaking?” Suped cocked his head. This was a phenomenon that was likely to happen when a giant monster moved. There was a similar feeling when the Knights of Keon charged in the past.

Alexander gave Suped a strange look. “Why are you pretending to be surprised? It must be the undead.”

There was some criticism that this person wasn’t thinking much.

“That is true, but... maybe the nobles brought their troops...”

“You don’t know the nobles well. They are always busy taking care of themselves. They will somehow try to erase their traces the moment they hear that Duke Jerata was attacked.”

Alexander clicked his tongue. ‘When will he do his part...’

Suped didn’t know much about politics yet. It seemed like Alexander would have to take the time to teach Suped about politics later.

“Look, it is the undead army.”

As Alexander confirmed, a large army with all types of undead was running over from afar with a terrible force. Alexander took one step forward. The magic power he consumed to cut the magic circles had long since recovered. Now was the time to cut down their hopes.

“We finally caught the tail,” a young man’s voice came from behind Alexander just then.

‘Who is it?’ Alexander turned to look at where the sound had come from. There were hundreds of people walking over. They were all dressed in white; their robes were white, and so was their armor.

“Temple...?” Alexander murmured. The only group that roamed around like this was the temple.

“Based on the depiction of the moon, they seem to be people from the Temple of the Moon, Your Majesty. There are unexpected reinforcements,” Suped explained to Alexander.

“Priests, heal the wounded. Paladins and monks, purify the unclean beings!”

The divine power emitted by the priests engulfed the paladins and monks. This wasn’t enough. The ruins themselves started to be dyed white.

“The iron mace of the moon for the unclean!”

“They are the ones who have abandoned humanity. Don’t show mercy!”

The paladins and monks quickly rushed forward. They helped the Knights of Keon deal with the black magicians and undead army.

“May the moon bless you.”

The man and woman standing in front of the group from the temple approached Alexander and Suped, drew the sign of the cross, and bowed their heads.

“I am Angela—the priest who serves Luna, god of the moon.”

“I am Andersen—the paladin who serves Luna, god of the moon.”

Alexander greeted the two of them with a nod.

“I never dreamed that the 1st Imperial Prince was chasing the black magicians as well. If I had known, I would’ve asked for help earlier...”

“He isn’t the prince anymore, but the emperor,” Suped interrupted Angela and corrected her mistake.

“I’m sorry. The news was slow.”

“It’s fine. That isn’t what is important.” Alexander waved his hand. The enemy in front of him was more important than the courtesies.

“I trust you will help.” Alexander finished speaking and flew toward the battlefield.

“He is a bit reticent. Still, he is a good person,” Suped murmured as he watched Alexander moving away.

“It looks like it.” Angela nodded.

***

It didn’t take long for the battle to end. The strength of the Knights of Keon was overwhelming within the empire. Naturally, it wasn’t a level that the black magicians, who had been hiding in the shadows, could handle. Moreover, there were three superhumans called Alexander, Lebron, and Suped present. There was even the help of the Temple of the Moon—an unexpected power.

It was predetermined that the rebel group would collapse unilaterally.

“Was it only Duke Jerata who was killed in the end?” Alexander’s eyebrow twitched. All the corpses were examined. Among them, there was only the body of one high-ranking noble, Duke Jerata.

“Your Majesty, the Knights of Keon will assist.” The blood-covered Lebron fell to one knee in front of Alexander.

“Thank you, Lebron.”

However, Alexander raised Lebron up. This appearance didn’t suit him. Lebron was a companion Alexander would walk together with for the rest of his life. Their relationship wasn’t one of master and his subject.

“Everyone, return to the capital. The next departure will be exactly one month later. The destination is the territory of Marquis Pehello.”

The moment Alexander finished speaking, all the Knights of Keon knelt down like Lebron.

“I accept Your Majesty’s orders!”