Joshua arrived at the underground vault with a heavy heart. Aisha Sestropi, a dark elf and the famous Assassin King, welcomed Joshua with a bitter smile.

“…Fancy seeing you here.”

“I’ll trust you with him.”

Aisha nodded. “Don’t worry about Creshua. He’s safe here.”

Like Aisha said, this enormous vault was filled with countless undead; each one would guard Creshua. Not many people in the world would be able to breach their protection and harm Creshua.

Aisha looked pensive. “…Do you want my help?”

“Huh?”

“For the fight up there,” Aisha added, pointing upward.

Joshua shook his head without considering it for a second, Joshua shook his head.

“It’s already been over two decades.”

“Pardon?”

“That’s how long it’s been since you last worked as an assassin.”

“Ah…” Aisha murmured.

After such a long time, people were slowly forgetting about the notorious Assassin King. However, if Aisha were to show up again, her long seclusion in the underground would have been for naught.

“That is my karma to bear.”

Joshua’s thoughts remained unchanged.

“No, that’s karma that time will solve as long as you don’t help me up there.”

“…You truly are a good person.” Aisha beamed. “How long do you think your children will be able to hold out?”

“I’ll have to trust that they’ll last for half a day at least.”

Truthfully, it would be a miracle if Joshua’s children succeeded, based on his experience with Bel. However, there was no hope for the Human Realm if they couldn’t.

“Half a day…” Aisha’s expression turned grim; she could judge the odds as well. “…But I have to say, you’re being hasty. You might do something you can’t fix.”

“To be honest, that’s my biggest concern.”

The more Joshua hurried the defrosting, the higher the chances of the Demon Spirit’s survival were. However, Joshua didn’t have the time to do it the safe way. He had sealed in the ice boulder with the Demon Spirit to save the world, but it was pointless if it was destroyed before he completed the process.

“...If the worst comes to worst, I can still take him down with me.”

Aisha’s eyes widened after sensing the determination in Joshua’s voice.

*

Selim, Kireua, Viper, and the Black Knights headed outside with grim expressions and arrived at the garden. One man was looking around, making no attempt to hide his presence in the slightest.

It was Bel.

“Hahaha. How have you been?” Bel asked, but his eyes were on the ground as he leaned closer to hear their answer. “I can feel the Martial God’s presence down there, though. Did the ground collapse and trap him or something?[1]” Viper immediately drew his greatsword. “I’ll kill you today.”

“You’re going to kill me?” Bel turned to look at Viper and sneered. However, his eyes lit up when he saw Kireua and Selim standing with Viper. “…Oh?”

Selim’s current level actually surprised Bel.

Bel nodded. “You’ve become much stronger than before. It’s like you’re a completely different man. You are indeed the Martial God’s son.”

Bel’s reaction hurt Kireua’s pride.

“Don’t forget about me!” Viper leaped high in the air.

“Black Knights, cover Sir Viper!” Selim calmly ordered. Their approach had been planned well in advance.

“Yes, Your Highness!”

The Black Knights got into a formation, surrounding Bel.

Bel’s attack style was actually quite simple. Before his enemies got ready to attack, Bel crushed them with his overwhelming power. That was why Viper took the lead in this fight. Even among the more than one thousand Imperial Knights of Avalon, no one could break through Viper’s defense. Viper’s sword techniques focused on defense, capitalizing on his naturally high stamina and draining his enemies’ instead.

Bricks weren’t the only material that could be used to build a fortress. Sometimes, even a sword could become an impregnable fortress or a wall to fend off an arrow. Even a sword coated with refined aura would shatter against Viper’s aegis. This was the ultimate technique that Viper, the vice commander of the Imperial Knights of Avalon, had spent his entire life perfecting.

Viper threw himself into battle with a loud battle cry.

‘…Iron Wall Sword Technique Number Five.’

Viper repeatedly struck the ground with the pommel of his sword; each strike landed with such force that it shook the ground, but the surprising part was that over time, more of his aura was laid over his sword, making the blade stronger and stronger.

“Try destroying it if you can!”

“Interesting,” Bel murmured before he nimbly leaped into the air.

In a blink of the eye, Bel was right in front of Viper, startling him.

Nevertheless, Viper growled. “Bring that on!”

“I always like fighting head-on like this!” Bel grinned.

Viper witnessed the space around Bel’s fists distort as Selim and the others quickly tightened their encirclement around Bel.

‘How strong is his aura?’

Viper was dismayed, but he continued to slam the ground with his sword three more times, reinforcing his weapon with yet more aura. Viper scraped up every drop of mana in his mana hall. Never before in his entire life had his defenses been sturdier. He was certain that he would also be able to take several attacks from the Emperor of Avalon like this.

Viper could feel that something was wrong as soon as his Iron Wall met Bel’s fist. It sounded like a piece of leather was being ripped in half.

“What in the world…?” Viper murmured.

“If you create a wall of aura this big, destroying it is easier than you think.” Sparks flew from Bel’s fists. “Your defense skill is quite good, but the method you use your mana with is too crude. Did your emperor not teach you that?”

“How dare you…!” Viper’s face was red with humiliation.

Viper's eyes widened. With an odd sound, cracks spread across the breadth of the entire Iron Wall.

“Watch and learn. If you focus your power at one point, it’s easy to breach a wall this size.” “Aaagh…!”

“Your ultimate technique might be useful against multiple enemies, but it isn’t if you’re fighting one on one and your opponent is strong.”

Before Viper could answer, Bel broke through Viper’s Iron Wall and slammed his fist into Viper’s abdomen.

“Oops. I accidentally punched too hard. I guess you should reflect on our fight in the otherworld.”

In less than twenty seconds, the Black Knights, Kireua, and Selim had created a perfect encirclement. Unfortunately, the battle was not going their way from the very start.

“Sir Viper!”

Viper coughed up blood.

*

“Everyone, march! To Sir Bel!”

Bel wasn’t the only one who had seen the fireworks rising above the palace. The army stationed outside Arcadia immediately took action too. It had been quite a long time since the battle had begun, but half of Hubalt’s army was still fighting in the outskirts of the city because they were wary of traps; however, when they saw the signal, they had no reason to wait any longer.

“We’ll crush those nobodies from those teeny-tiny countries! We are the army of the mighty Hubalt Empire!”

“Yeahhhhhh!”

Before they entered Arcadia, Hubalt's forces went after the alliance forces behind them to massacre the alliance forces. They were an eyesore, and the last thing Hubalt's forces wanted was to get stabbed in the back while they focused on conquering Arcadia.

Hubalt’s sudden rush bewildered the forces of the alliance, whose primary job had been holding a defense line.

“Wh-What is wrong with them?!”

“C-Contact the main force! We need reinforcements!”

“Why don’t we retreat first? There are too many of them!”

“The alliance will retreat! Don’t fight Hubalt head-on!” freewebnoveℓ.com

Not long after Hubalt attacked, the alliance’s forces decided to retreat. Their resolve was different from the beginning. Hubalt's forces had been itching to fight and now were set loose; on top of that, the Battle God was with them in Avalon, so their morale was high. In contrast, the alliance was trying to protect as many of their people as possible because this wasn’t their battle.

In the end, the alliance’s defensive line quickly broke down while Hubalt’s morale skyrocketed. Hubalt’s troops let out cheerful shouts as if they had already won the battle.

Then things took an unexpected turn. Gyo, the acting commander of the forces stationed at the outskirts of the city, was the first one to notice it. He examined the battlefield from behind his forces.

“…Wait.” Gyo’s lips slowly curled downward.

The alliance’s forces were scattering everywhere, but additional troops were arriving from their rear, blowing their horns loudly to announce their arrival to as many people as possible.

Gyo’s jaw dropped to the ground when he realized what flags that the troops were holding up. He had initially thought that some random country was sending more fodder to die, but the flags waving over their heads belonged to the last country he was expecting to see.

“...Isn’t that the Swallow Empire’s banner?” Gyo murmured.

Anna, clad in full armor, examined the battlefield from atop her white horse. Beside her was Arash bel Grace, who was wearing her fox mask.

“We’ve arrived.” Anna giggled.

The biggest surprise was that one of their flag bearers was Aaron del Killian, one of the best knights in the Swallow Empire.

“…We will show those fools the might of the Swallow Empire,” Aaron declared. As Swallow’s army let out energetic shouts, Aaron bowed slightly. “…I await your orders, Your Majesty.”

“Let’s go save my hubby.” Anna grinned. Using mana, she shouted, “Everyone, march!”

. The raw is ??? ??? ???’. It’s similar to the English saying “disappearing into thin air”. ?