<h4>Chapter 129 – Trap (4)</h4>


    Blood spurted out of the wound caused by Juan getting stabbed by the ck de. For a moment, Juan couldn’t understand the situation in front of him, and at the same time, he understood it better than anyone else—it was the same as then.


    Juan was well aware that Gerard had betrayed him—he was the one who assassinated Juan. But at the same time, it was true that Juan was hoping for Gerard to have an excuse for doing what he did and hoped that he had apelling and inevitable reason behind his actions. He hoped for that even more after his encounter with Ras.


    Juan still hasn’t forgotten the gibberish that left the mouth of the frightened Gerard on the night of the assassination. Juan even had a feeling that Gerard might have been manipted by some conspiracy or a curse.


    Not only did Gerard not attack Juan back in Hiveden, but he also saved Juan from being affected by the me crown back in Durgal. The Gerard who had appeared to save the vigers of Arbalde was exactly how Juan remembered him being in the past. This fact made Juan emotional.


    Juan wanted to believe that Gerard might have been misunderstood too, just like Ras.


    <i>St!</i>


    But at this moment, Gerard had once again stabbed Juan in the back, almost as if he wasughing at Juan’s hope.


    <i>St! Crack! Squelch! Shunk!</i>


    Elkihel repeatedly entered and exited through Juan’s wound—it was as if stabbing him just once was not enough. Juan flinched and was helplessly shaken every time Gerard stabbed him.


    Juan could see Nienna as she was desperately screaming and running toward him, but he already knew that he couldn’t be helped even if she came.


    In fact, he intuitively knew this fact from the moment he was stabbed by Elkiehl. It was the same as the night he had been assassinated—there was no way out of this. Juan could feel his strength being drained whenever the ck de stabbed into his chest.


    ‘<i>What did I even expect?</i>’


    Juanughed in vain; he could clearly feel Talter’s mana, Grunbalde’s fog, Nigrato’s essence, and the Evil Snake’s curse leaving his body along with the pouring blood. Enormous amounts of mana disappeared from Juan in just an instant. Death was right before Juan’s eyes and he could feel himself being dragged by Gerard’s hand.


    At that moment, something tightly grabbed his wrist. When Juan opened his eyes, he saw Nienna’s frightened eyes. Then the next thing Juan felt was himself floating in the air.


    ***


    Sina stared nkly at the ck sphere that was ced on the table. She had never seen anything like this, but Sina knew exactly what it was—it was Nigrato’s essence. Juan used to call it Umbra. Ever since Talter’s short sword was destroyed, Juan had been using Umbra as both an armor and a weapon.


    “This was left behind by Ras?”


    Sina nodded nkly upon hearing H’s question.


    “...As far as I know, yes. That’s what a Temr that I know from Hiveden told me.”


    Kamil, the former deputy of the Order of the White Crow, gave Sina a lot of information about Juan along with the holy sword. Among all that information was the information about Nigrato’s essence that Ras had handed over to Juan. Besides, Sina had seen Juan fight using Umbra before.


    She wasn’t aware of the fact that Umbra could be separated from Juan, but there was one thing she was sure of—Juan would never have left the Umbra behind if he was still alive. After all, Umbra was thest thing that his son Ras had left him.


    H maintained her silence upon realizing just how meaningful Umbra was to Juan.


    The atmosphere of the fortress of Beldeve was quite strange. The official status of Juan should be that of a prisoner or that of amander of the punishment unit. However, no one here considered him to be a prisoner—this was especially true for the punishment unit. The members of the punishment unit remained motionless with a frozen expression upon hearing what had happened to Juan.


    The situation was not too different for the other soldiers of the Fourth Division, especially when there had been a rumor circting saying that Juan was the emperor who had returned. Ominous rumors spread all around.


    However, the atmosphere of the Fortress of Beldeve was still quite a bit more lively whenpared to the atmosphere of the Northern Army. The Order of Fenrir and the Northern Army were so gloomy that people thought they were holding a funeral.


    This was because of the fact that Nienna had disappeared along with Juan.


    “Did you say that Gerard Gain stabbed Juan?” Sina asked.


    “Yes. I saw it myself. He had his face covered with bandages, but he definitely had the same face as thest time, when he saved me. I could tell just by looking at the dragon, his swordsmanship, the way he walked, as well as his eyes. He stabbed Juan several times in the back, almost as if he was trying to make up for his failurest time,” Hughed, dumbfounded. “I guess he didn’t want to give Juan room to resurrect this time around.”


    Sina shook her head in denial.


    “There’s no way that Juan was tricked by such a simple surprise attack. Besides, didn’t you say that General Nienna had already defeated Gerard at that moment? Is there any possibility that Juan purposely fell for Gerard’s trick to…”


    “Well, General Nienna was also dragged into the Crack,” H said firmly.


    A search for Nienna and Juan was still underway at the coast. There was no way that H would ever find Juan and Nienna near the sea; everyone saw Juan and Nienna being dragged into the Crack right before their very eyes. But H was desperately searching for them; she had no way of controlling the Northern Army.


    None of the knights of the Order of Fenrir were able to give a concrete decision on the future measures that needed to be taken, since no one had thought they would experience such a crisis in the east. The northeastern rebels were nothing but chickspared to the monsters of the Crack that the Order of Fenrir had been dealing with, and no one had thought they would lose their General in the fight against them. The knights grew more and more discouraged as time went by.


    However, Sina hadn’t given up.


    “He has a history of returning from death. So maybe he’lle back this time, too.”


    “His Majesty only managed to return to the appearance of a child after nearly fifty years had passed, even with his omnipotent power. But this time around, he was stabbed several times, and he has been dragged into the Crack. You can’tpare this situation to what happened in the past.”


    “But…”


    “Sina,” H grabbed Sina’s shoulder. “Do you know who wants to die more than anyone else here right now? It’s me. I have lost my son, my husband, my loved ones as well as the ones I respected on thisnd.”


    H recalled asking Juan to talk to Gerard before punishing him. It had just been a trivial request, but H lost both Juan and Nienna as a result of her request.


    “I thought about throwing myself off of the walls of Beldeve just so that Gerard would appear again to save me and exin to me what happened. But I can’t even do that because I have too many responsibilities I must bear on my shoulders.”


    “Your Grace.”


    “You are a talent that His Majesty valued. I don’t know what potential he saw in you, but I don’t think he would have expected you to deny reality and be frustrated like the other ordinary people.”


    Sina bit her lips and H continued speaking with a determined look on her face.


    “I’ll tell you what I’m going to do from now on. So far, I had been tied up in the east, but the east was given another chance thanks to General Nienna and His Majesty. Besides, we also have a card called Suvole that’ll help us put pressure on the capital. There’s also a high possibility that the Northern Army will take our side if we are able to persuade them.”


    H’s words were filled with determination. Sina immediately realized H’s n.


    “I’m nning to head straight to the capital now. I heard that the Church is starting to change around the current Saintess. Furthermore, it is said that the Helwin family is once again emerging in power. It won’t be too hard for us to save our side. And when we gain enough power…” H grabbed Sina’s hand. “I will reinvestigate the case of His Majesty’s assassination from the very beginning. Not only will the deep-rooted evils of the Church, but even the Regent will be thoroughly examined without exception. Other people might curse at me saying that I’ve gone senile or I might even have to shed blood. But I think that’s the only way I could ever repay His Majesty and General Nienna. Such a process requires a lot of talented individuals. I’d like you to be there, Sina. What you want to know and what you want to get is exactly the same as me.”


    Sina bit her lips and remained silent. H pulled Sina’s hand and hugged her tofort her.


    “Juan—no, His Majesty was someone important to all of us. He was someone that would be able to make anyone devote their entire life to him. So, I believe that you can y a big role.”


    Sina stood quietly upon hearing H’s words, but soon pushed her away slightly, causing H to be disappointed.


    “I want to be there with you. But…” Sina opened her mouth with trembling lips as if she was hesitating. “I don’t think Juan is dead just yet. I’d like to take some time to think about it until I can be sure of his death.”


    “But it might take you forever until you can be sure.”


    “You’re the one who told me that he was someone who could make people devote their entire life to him, Your Grace,” Sina said with a sad smile.


    “...You’re right.”


    ‘<i>It must be His Majesty’s karma to lead people around him into fate like that of a whirlpool.</i>’


    Hughed bitterly at her own thoughts. People around Juan chased him and got dragged into the whirlpool of fate, but Juan acted as he pleased and cynicallyughed at his own fate. The fact that Juan could maintain such an attitude often made H jealous.


    “Tell me if you need anything, and keep in mind that you are always wee to join me. Also…”


    At that moment, Sina and H heard a knock on the office door. H paused their conversation; she had told the others toe to the office in case of an urgent matter. The man who came into the room was Walter, a knight from the Order of Fenrir.


    H looked puzzled when she saw Walter’s clean hands. After all, his hands should have been quite dirty, since H had left the clean up of the vigers of Arbalde to the Order of Fenrir after Gerard and Juan disappeared. But Walter''s hands didn’t have a single drop of blood on them . H tilted her head in wonder; she had expected the knights from the Order of Fenrir to kill all the vigers.


    “What is it, Sir Walter? Is there a problem with the mission?” H asked.


    “Your Grace, we can’t execute the vigers,” Walter answered with aplicated look on his face.


    “What?” H doubted her ears. “What’s the matter?”


    Walter’s answer made H even more confused.


    “None of the vigers has been encroached upon by the Crack, Your Grace. General Nienna’s order was to rescue those who had been encroached upon by the Crack, but there’s no longer a reason to rescue them. I would like to ask General Nienna to reconsider her decision, but I must ask for your decision, since General Nienna’s seat is vacant.”


    “No one has been encroached upon by the Crack?”


    The vigers had not only lived in the northeast but they had been living alongside the warriors of Arbalde. It was only natural that they were all encroached upon by the Crack, even if it was the slightest bit. H even found traces that pointed to the vigers already having been encroached upon by the Crack when she ran into them in the middle of the battle several times.


    H suddenly got goosebumps as she btedly realized that none of the vigers on the coast had been singing a song or mumbling a name granted by the Crack. If it turned out to be true that the vigers had not been encroached upon by the Crack, Nienna and the Northern Army would have ughtered more than one thousand innocent citizens. Such a tragedy would have happened for sure if it hadn’t been for Gerard’s intervention.


    H didn''t know how to ept this situation.


    “The execution will cease, but I want to ask the Order of Fenrir to investigate all the vigers. Don’t forget to check who the vigers met and what they went through after being kicked out of the vige.”


    ***


    The fog on the floor scattered with every step Juan took. The huge amount of fog made Juan feel like he was swimming in water. When Juan pushed the fog away by radiating some heat, the fog dried up in an instant and revealed the view around him.


    Around him were the walls of the magic tower, though they were not fully visible to him. The abyss wasn’t quite big enough for the tower, especially when you considered all the things stored in the abyss alongside the tower—the magicians of the tower didn’t wish to scrap any of their valuable research materials. The head of the magicians in particr had begged Juan to not destroy the magic tower.


    At that moment, Juan felt a faint presence—it was the presence of the head of the magicians. Juan slowly walked toward the direction where he felt the presence from. The fog grew thicker and thicker as Juan walked. Juan tried to push the fog away using the heat, but the overwhelming amount of fog constantly covered Juan’s view.


    At that moment, Juan further increased the amount of heat he was releasing.


    “Please stop radiating heat, Your Majesty!”


    Someone said urgently from within the fog. Juan stopped increasing the heat, but didn’t lower the amount of heat he was releasing either.


    “Show yourself, Dormund. I believe that you must have something to say to me,” Juan said.


    A white-haired magician carefully appeared from within the fog with something wrapped in arge cloth in his arms. The magician knelt in front of Juan.


    “I can withstand the heat, but this child can’t. Please have mercy, Your Majesty.”


    ‘<i>A child.</i>’


    Juan felt his stomach churning and recalled the heat he was releasing. Soon the fog filled the space between them, but Juan headed toward the source from where the fog was being released. A faint mass emerged within the fog. When Juan put his hand on it, the fog began to abate quickly.


    What was revealed beyond the fog was a statue of a human with an eagle head made with all kinds of materials and forms of energy such as ice, stone, fire, wind, wood, and metal. In the area where the heart would be located, the rising me, as well as the raging ice, collided to seep the fog into its body.


    Juan quietly opened his mouth after looking at the body of a god for a while.


    “What were you doing with the remains of Mananen McLeir?”