Chapter 168: Struggle for Dominance (7)
Clank—!
A massive gear began to move with a grinding grrrrk.
The grandest and most imposing structure in the Tobaron region—the gates of Blyer Castle. The thick, towering walls that had been tightly sealed were now slowly opening before their eyes.
"This is the right thing to do... right?"
The knight in charge of the castle gates stared anxiously at the widening entrance.
The beacon signal had called for reinforcents to head toward the hill, but the soldiers who left had all returned as corpses, loaded onto carts.
Terrified, the knight had initially refused to open the gates. However, when the shamans who arrived before them erupted in rage and hurled chilling threats, he had no choice but to comply.
There are no shamans left to verify identities...?
Word had spread that they had all moved to a secret base. The shamans before him claid to have erged from that very base after annihilating the enemy and retrieving the bodies of their fallen allies. There was no reason to refuse them entry.
"Besides, most of them look familiar, so... there shouldn't be a problem, right?"
The ones pulling the carts were domain residents who had long been responsible for transporting bodies. The way they trembled under the shamans' watchful eyes even seed almost laughable.
As the gates swung fully open, the waiting carts entered the castle in a long procession.
At the entrance, the knight stepped forward to greet the shamans.
"You've worked hard."
"Yeah, sure. We worked hard. Next ti, either open the gates quickly or don't open them at all. Watching you hesitate like that was annoying as hell."
"Haha..."
The knight let out an awkward laugh.
He simply thought of them as bad-tempered shamans.
But then, sothing about the shamans' behavior struck him as odd.
Throwing off their blood-red cloaks, they pulled out daggers and began arming themselves.
The domain residents who had brought the carts did the sa.
The fear on their faces vanished completely as they retrieved weapons from beneath the carts and fixed their gazes on him.
"...Huh? Huh???"
From the cart directly in front of him, a man—whom he had assud to be a corpse—slowly rose, shaking off his stiffness.
At his waist hung four swords, and with an indifferent gaze, he drew two of them, one in each hand, and looked down at the knight.
The knight stared up at him, dumbfounded.
The torchlight illuminated a familiar silhouette.
"L-Lochter Felice...?"
Lochter slowly lifted his sword atop the cart.
His blades had been reforged by enslaved artisans who had poured all their hopes into them.
And their wish was singular.
Salvation.
Lochter rcilessly severed the knight’s head and, raising his blade forward, roared for all to hear.
"Rescue them!"
Then, like a bolt of lightning, he charged.
Sensing the presence of Hunt’s group following closely behind, Lochter swung his sword in great arcs.
"Save the domain residents!"
Salvation.
As if answering Lochter’s cry—
"Uaaaaaaahhhhhh!!"
Thunderous battle cries erupted from all directions.
The artisans' long-held wishes were now unfolding before them.
"Wait... Arghhh!"
"No...! Kuhugh!"
Lochter and his three companions targeted the knights first.
A 5-star knight and three elite assassins launched a ferocious onslaught. The knights left behind due to their lack of skill were hopelessly outmatched.
Within monts, over a dozen knights fell, prompting the soldiers to drop their weapons and surrender.
The castle walls were seized, and the once-wide-open gate quickly slamd shut.
Boom—!
Blocking any escape, Heinz swiftly gathered the forces that had been hiding throughout the castle.
He had already coordinated with Lochter and delivered the ssage a day in advance. The mont he sent the signal, the rallying happened in the blink of an eye.
Three hundred. Four hundred. Five hundred...
Even forr retainers' subordinates surged toward the castle gates. The waiting insurgents retrieved weapons from beneath the carts and distributed them.
There was no shortage of arms—they had taken them from the slain soldiers.
In a short span, their forces swelled beyond a thousand.
Though their clothing was mismatched, their eyes shone with the sa unwavering determination.
The Wailing Hill had burned. The castle walls had fallen. And now, even they could feel it—today was the decisive battle.
Heinz, eting their resolute gazes, swung his sword toward the castle.
Despite his age, he had spent long years honing his swordsmanship.
"To the castle!"
His voice trembled with excitent.
Leaving so behind to guard the prisoners, Heinz charged toward the castle.
The forr retainers followed closely behind.
What once seed like an impregnable fortress now looked eerily hollow.
No one stood in their way.
Or rather, there had been knights and soldiers—but they were all dead.
Corpses littered the path.
Lochter and Hunt’s forces ca to mind.
Their overwhelming power had already ravaged the castle.
Fwoooosh—!
"...F-Fire!"
"The... the castle...!"
The lord’s keep, where the feared Kal Blazer resided, was now engulfed in black smoke and flas.
As the grand citadel at the heart of the domain burned, the domain residents had mixed reactions.
So, fearing Kal's retaliation, shut their doors and hid.
Others, emboldened by the cries outside, threw open their doors and stepped out.
The ceaseless shouts from beyond the castle had a massive influence.
"To the mines!"
"Let’s rescue those who were taken to the mines!"
"Gather! Everyone, gather!!"
People scread themselves hoarse, urging others to save their families and loved ones.
With weapons in hand, they surged toward the plaza.
Many stared in stunned silence at the burning castle.
When the Wailing Hill burned, they had felt only fear.
But now, as the lord’s keep burned, their emotions stirred differently.
Anger.
And hope.
"...My family."
The domain residents who had loved ones taken to the mines were the first to move.
They followed the cries echoing through the streets.
And then, they saw him.
A lone knight, drenched in blood, walking steadily through the center of the plaza.
"Lo-Lochter!"
"It's Lochter Felice!!!!!"
"Uaaaaaaahhhhhh!"
The emotions that had been simring within them finally erupted.
They didn’t know why.
Tears stread down their faces as they gripped scythes and pickaxes.
And they followed behind Lochter.
Lochter didn’t speak.
He let his actions speak for him.
He cut down every Blyer soldier in sight, opening a path to the mines.
Arthur had told him—
"Lead by example, and those who will follow, will follow."
"We don’t have ti to persuade the hesitant, the conflicted, or the fearful."
Lochter turned and looked back.
The main road leading from the northern castle gate was now completely black with people.
Just how many were following him?
"Arthur was right. This isn’t sothing a small group can do alone."
His gaze settled on Heinz, commanding the masses, organizing and directing people through people.
As they rescued captives and burned the castle, the number of people swelling under Heinz's command grew exponentially.
Now, no one could stop this movent.
"Follow the hero, Lochter Felice!"
Heinz used Lochter’s presence to rally the people and lead them toward the mines.
Beyond the northern outer castle, those who had left the fortress now faced a vast mountain range. A well-paved road stretched deep into the mountains, directly connecting to the mines. This road, built through months of horrific labor and sacrifice, had been designed to allow carts to reach the mines within a day.
As dawn broke, a long procession illuminated by torches began its march.
Lochter’s three companions left his side to assist Heinz. Clearing out the mines and securing an escape route was now Heinz’s task.
Lochter, anwhile, slipped away silently, masking his presence as he navigated through the forest—returning to the castle.
He couldn’t leave yet.
Not until the signal flare was fired.
Kaaahhh—!
"Ah, no! Please...!"
There was still much to be done inside the castle.
With the fortress in flas and soldiers lying dead, there was no one left to enforce order.
As a result, hunters lurking inside the castle began looting.
Lochter moved through the inner keep, rcilessly cutting down every looter in his path.
As more of Heinz’s n still inside the castle joined the fight, the fortress rang with shouts and screams.
It was utter chaos.
Lochter hunted down every last looter, wiping the blood from his vision with the back of his hand. If soone was looting, he didn't stop to ask questions—he simply killed them.
There was only one exception.
The food storerooms.
Lochter left those ransacking the food stores alone.
They were the faction Arthur had already made a deal with.
The ones looting the food were the Black Roses. Their shadowy figures moved swiftly, loading carts with as much food as possible before vanishing into the night, only to return and repeat the process.
As the storerooms emptied, they set them ablaze to erase any trace of their presence.
Lochter turned away and headed toward the plaza.
Then, suddenly, he stopped and looked up at the night sky.
A faint presence—one only he could detect.
A black shadow drifted across the darkened sky.
A long silhouette.
A broomstick.
Recognizing the figure, Lochter frowned.
"A witch? What is she doing here...?"
A witch and a small dog were flying sowhere on a broomstick.
Had Lochter asked, she would have answered—
"Playing hide-and-seek."
***
"One caught~ One left~"
Lily humd a playful tune as she soared through the air, gripping her broomstick with one hand.
In her other hand was a cracked communication crystal—one she had stolen after capturing a shaman who had been desperately trying to communicate from within the burning castle.
Hiccup—
Kerros, nestled in Lily’s arms, let out a satisfied burp.
Lily grinned.
"Did my puppy have a feast today?"
"Hic!"
Kerros could only consu certain kinds of prey. Arthur had taught him to recognize the scent of his target—dark shamans.
The worst of the worst.
The monsters that hunted witches.
They were part of Kerros’s approved nu.
Perhaps that’s why Lily was so excited.
"One caught~ One left~"
Arthur had said there was only one target left.
But she had found another.
A building near the plaza, not far from the castle.
As Kerros sniffed the air and tugged at her cloak, Lily leaped onto the rooftop of a building.
Sniff! Sniff!
Kerros pressed his nose against a spot on the roof.
"Here?"
"Woof!"
"Break it?"
"Woof!"
Lily enlarged her broomstick and smashed it down with full force.
BOOOOOM—!
The roof collapsed.
Lily hopped through the gaping hole and landed inside a large room.
The people inside, who had been moving frantically, froze in place.
Lily scanned the room and blinked in surprise.
"Huh? Why are there so many?"
There were masked figures—and so who weren’t even trying to hide their faces.
Stacked high around them were papers—covered in writing she hated.
She spotted a familiar na at the bottom of the docunts.
[Black Market]
Her gaze shifted to a large desk at the back of the room.
A man was seated there, shouting into a communication crystal.
But Lily wasn't interested in him.
Instead, she pointed at the shaman beside him, who had been operating the crystal.
"Found you!"
"Wh-Who the hell are you!?"
"Get that bitch!"
The shaman stiffened in panic, while the rest of the room quickly drew their weapons and rushed at Lily.
There were a lot of them.
"Kerros!"
"KRAAAAAAAH!"
CRACK—!
The sound of bones twisting filled the air as Kerros’s tiny body stretched and expanded.
His fur darkened, filling the room.
His red eyes glead, fangs bared.
Kerros lunged at the charging attackers, swiping his massive claws.
SHRRRIP!
The building itself was torn apart, blood spraying everywhere.
As the structure collapsed like a house of cards, Kerros pounced forward like a bolt of lightning.
Clinging to the shattered floor, the shaman desperately tried to hold on.
In his eyes, a massive mouth was rushing toward him.
"No—! AAAAAAAHHH!"
The shaman was swallowed whole.
From the rubble, a familiar voice crackled through a surviving communication crystal.
[What the hell is happening?! Report imdiately!]
Kal Blazer’s voice.
For so reason, he sounded furious.
Lily picked up the glowing communication crystal.
She recognized the voice from earlier inside the castle.
Arthur’s advice echoed in her mind.
"Just break every single one of those damn crystals."
CRACK!
Lily shattered the crystal, just like before, and stuffed it into her bag.
That made two.
"Got them all!"
Throwing up her arms in victory, she bent down and picked up a squirming lump.
Kerros, covered in dust, spat out dirt and shook himself off.
Then, mounting her broom, Lily soared into the sky once more.
Monts later, the rubble shifted.
From beneath the wreckage, the Black Market branch manager crawled out.
"Two caught~ Now it's a sandwich~"
"...Crazy bitch."
Listening to her eerie singing as she disappeared into the night, the branch manager surveyed his surroundings.
The communication crystals were gone.
And he was the only survivor.
He let out a hollow laugh as he turned his gaze toward the burning castle.
Blyer.
It was as if he were watching the on of its downfall.
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