MTLNOVEL Chapter 285
Episode 286. How to Protect What’s Precious (10)
Keter shot an arrow at Mail, who was being held hostage.
At that moment, Kreight and Mail thought:
‘Did he really shoot?’
‘He really shot.’
Kreight, who enjoys hostage situations, had seen hundreds of cases where the hostage pretended not to be important.
So, he wondered if Keter was just pretending to attack and checked until the very last moment.
There was no twist. Keter’s Aura Arrow pierced through Mail’s chest and aimed for Kreight behind him.
Kreight deflected the arrow with his sword and shook his head.
‘This heavy sensation in my hand… If this arrow pierced my chest, it’d be instant death. If he’s going to kill, he’s going to do it thoroughly, huh? Keter, you’re even crazier than I thought.’
Convinced that Mail was dead, Kreight focused on his battle with Keter.
But Mail wasn’t dead. Even though his life flashed before his eyes.
‘How am I still alive?’
The excruciating pain, as if dozens of needles were stabbing him, made it impossible to think it was a dream. The deafening explosions and the occasional dirt falling on his head added to the reality.
‘Keter’s arrow definitely pierced my chest…’
Even Kreight confirmed that. If it had been a fake, he would have made sure to finish the job.
Keter’s arrow truly pierced Mail’s chest. But it didn’t kill him.
It sounded contradictory, but Keter made it possible.
‘Inertia Reconstruction’
The arrow that touched Mail’s chest disintegrated into particles, passed through Mail’s body, and recombined into an arrow as it exited his back. While it couldn’t avoid causing injury, it wasn’t enough to take his life.
Mail didn’t understand how it happened, but he at least knew who to thank.
‘Keter, so this is how you help others.’
When you cherish something, everyone wants to use it as your weakness.
But Keter showed them. That using hostages to threaten him was useless.
He even wounded and distanced what was precious to him. By doing so, he showed the world that he had nothing to lose.
‘If he had really killed me, he could’ve proven it decisively. Keter’s not exactly kind… but he’s not evil either.’
Mail had been worried. That Keter might reveal his cruel nature in war.
Someone who values their own life so lightly wouldn’t respect others’ lives.
But Keter was meticulous. At least when it came to his allies.
‘I need to see what’s happening with my own eyes…’
Mail thought he couldn’t keep pretending to be dead forever and tried to lift his head.
“Is that sword your Authority? Just looking at it feels like slashes are flying at me.”
At Keter’s words, Mail half-opened his eyes before closing them again. Until then, Kreight had been relaxed.
“You know about Authorities. Then you should know you stand no chance. You’re quite composed.”
Boom! Crackle!
Even as Kreight stood still, his Authority, Eye Encounter, Immediate Kill, continued to send slashes at Keter.
The power was so fierce that deep, unfathomable pits formed in the ground, and thick tree trunks were sliced apart without resistance, scattering debris.
Even as debris rained down on him, Mail didn’t let out a single groan or tremble. His opponent was a Transcendent Being. If he made even a loud breath, they might realize he was still alive.
‘Breathe minimally through my mouth… and relax all my muscles.’
As he did this with his eyes closed, his other senses naturally sharpened. Especially his hearing.
Mail could roughly guess the battle between Keter and Kreight using only his hearing and touch.
Boom! Crash!
Explosions. The arrows Keter fired kept exploding.
Dozens of arrows exploded, creating shockwaves and vacuums that sent Mail’s body flying into the air.
The explosions gradually faded, but the noise grew louder and longer. Occasionally, the sound of something being sliced echoed, but it was soon drowned out by the explosions.
Ring— Beep……
The explosions reached a limit, and his ears went numb. He felt something warm and lukewarm flowing down his earlobes.
Silence fell.
But in reality, they might still be fighting. Mail thought his senses, overloaded with information, might have momentarily malfunctioned.
Then, he felt something touch him. It was rough but warm. Mail didn’t react.
“It’s over.”
Until Keter’s voice reached his ears.
Mail cautiously opened his eyes. And for a moment, he thought he’d stop breathing.
“Ke, Keter.”
He recognized the voice, or he might not have known. Keter’s condition was that devastating.
Blood gushed from a long wound stretching from his right shoulder to his left leg. It was a fatal injury that made one wonder how he was still alive.
Yet, Keter smiled.
“We had good compatibility, so it ended like this.”
“You, you—”
He couldn’t even ask if Keter was okay. Because he clearly wasn’t. Yet, Keter touched Mail’s face with his bloodied hand and said,
“You need some blood on your face to look more dramatic.”
“Let’s return to Sephira, Keter. You need treatment.”
“Don’t fuss. This is the kind of wound that heals with some saliva.”
“Your bones are showing… Is this the time for jokes?”
“Hmm, you’re right. No time for jokes. There are still some guys left to deal with.”
Keter looked toward where the five were and continued.
“Don’t make it seem like I’m going to my death. I’m just going to take care of something.”
“You’re coming back…?”
“Yeah. So go ahead and wait. Prepare to praise my exploits for killing Prime.”
With that, Keter disappeared before his eyes.
Mail touched the blood on his face with his fingers.
“…You bleed the same blood as me.”
Clenching his fists so hard they might break, Mail started walking with his injured body. Keter had only healed his hearing, so his body felt as heavy as lead.
Still, he kept walking. Even as he heard the sounds of his body tearing and breaking, he walked, thinking of Keter.
Even he thought the pace was frustratingly slow. He was drenched in sweat even in the winter cold. His vision blurred. Yet, Mail didn’t stop.
When he finally reached the border between the forest and the plains, Mail met Luke.
Upon finding Mail, Luke immediately sent word to Sephira. He was severely injured, but alive.
Though not unscathed, Mail, who had returned to Sephira alive, collapsed from accumulated fatigue, leaving these words:
“Prime was killed by Keter.”
With those words, Sephira’s morale, which had fallen into despair because of Prime, soared through the clouds.
*
“Checkmate, Your Highness.”
“…Just give me one more move.”
“It’s meaningless. You’d need at least five moves to have a chance at survival.”
“Then give me five moves.”
Rakan’s demand as he played chess with a boy. But the boy shook his head.
“I said you’d have a chance at survival, not at winning.”
“Then where did I go wrong?”
“From the very first move, when you moved the pawn.”
“…You mean when I moved the leftmost pawn two spaces forward? That’s what decided the outcome?”
“Yes.”
“That’s ridiculous. Why?”
“Because you didn’t block my queen advancing to the center.”
“Chess isn’t a game that ends with just one queen.”
“It can. Like now.”
Rakan’s black king was already checkmated by pawns and rooks. Even though Rakan’s queen was still intact.
“Your Highness values the queen’s life too much.”
“Because the queen is the strongest piece.”
“Still, it’s just a pawn to the king.”
“…….”
Rakan, resting his chin, pondered the boy’s words. Just then, his subordinate approached and whispered in his ear.
After hearing the whisper, Rakan’s face remained calm, but his neck veins bulged.
“Listen, Theor. If I replace the rook, bishop, and knight with queens, could you still beat me?”
“I could.”
“You could?”
Rakan was so surprised he jumped up. The boy named Theor tapped his forehead with his fingers and said,
“If it’s the current you, I could win. But if it’s the you of tomorrow, I’d lose.”
“You mean I’d reach a level to win after just one day of learning.”
“Yes. No matter how brilliant the strategy, it’s useless against overwhelming power.”
“Theor. You once said the probability of me becoming the king of the Lilian Kingdom is 30%. But if I follow your strategies, that probability can rise to 80%.”
“Yes.”
“So far, everything has gone as you said. Like a prophecy. But did you foresee this? Baydant losing to Sephira. How could Baydant, with seven queens, lose?”
Tap tap tap tap.
Theor tapped his forehead faster than before. After a while, he spoke.
“Statistically, it’s not impossible… but it seems it’s already happened. Keter defeated six Grandmasters, and Nether, the Empire’s Solver, retreated.”
Theor held Nether in high regard. That was possible because Nether was an Imperial like himself.
Nether doesn’t take on impossible requests. If he sided with Baydant, it was because he judged they could definitely defeat Sephira.
But for such a Nether to fail and retreat was something even Theor, revered as a genius in the Empire, found hard to accept.
Swoosh!
Rakan pushed the chessboard aside and spoke in a low, angry voice.
“Things that shouldn’t have happened are happening. How could six Grandmasters fail to defeat one Keter? Moreover, Sephira is overwhelming Baydant’s forces.”
That was Rakan’s rebuke toward Theor.
Rakan’s strategist, Theor, wasn’t flustered. He picked up the fallen chessboard and placed it back, saying,
“Unpredictable things have happened, but it’s not a complete loss yet. Wars don’t end in a day. Especially not in the long nights of winter.”
“Stop acting so composed and give me an answer.”
“Send support from the 7th Division of the Tassadan and summon Keter to the royal palace. Offer him a reward for previously finding the Dark Mage. Also, call Anis and Taragon, Sephira’s bloodline on the front lines, to the palace and appoint them as royal guards.”
“…….”
Rakan frowned and glared at Theor. He thought it was too excessive.
The Tassadan has divisions from 1st to 12th, and the one sent to support Baydant was the weakest, the 12th Division.
Even if they were weak, they were still Grandmasters, so he thought that would be enough. But sending the 7th Division right away felt too much.
Moreover, summoning Sephira’s bloodline to weaken their forces could provoke the nobles’ resentment.
“Summoning Keter has justification, but taking soldiers from the front lines as hostages would provoke the military’s resentment. Besides, holding Anis and Taragon hostage won’t make Sephira give up the war.”
“It’s not about taking hostages. It’s about persuasion.”
“Persuasion?”
“Yes. Persuade Anis and Taragon to surrender. If those two persuade Hisop, the current lord, Hisop will surely waver. Even if they don’t surrender, it could create a faction within Sephira that desires surrender. That alone could weaken Sephira’s forces.”
“Would they, who have the upper hand, even consider surrender?”
“Show them that even if they win against Baydant, there’s nothing after that.”
“Do we have the luxury for that?”
Rakan has to fight Crown Prince Rukan. He doesn’t have the resources to deploy excessive forces against Sephira.
Then Theor smiled slightly and said,
“That’s something only you and I know. Sephira doesn’t. If we were to crush Sephira with our full strength, we could devastate them in a day. We’ll show them that.”
“Hmm… So, using the 7th Division of the Tassadan, we’ll crush Sephira, whose morale has plummeted?”
“On top of that, request support from the Crown Prince as well.”
“Rukan won’t send me support troops.”
“He will if we offer Sephira’s eastern territory.”
“Isn’t that a loss for me? It’ll be like a thorn in my side.”
“Not necessarily. Sephira’s eastern territory is lowland. It’s easily visible from any side, making it unfavorable for defending against enemy invasions or as a base for attacking. Moreover, it’s the closest to our territory. By giving it up now, we can also limit Rukan’s attack routes.”
“Brilliant!”
Rakan was convinced. A plan that not only takes Rukan’s troops but also aids in conquering Sephira, while gaining advantages in future wars?
Rakan was once again amazed by Theor.
“Instead of taking Anis and Taragon as hostages, showing them goodwill would prevent the military forces from harboring resentment.”
“Yes. Make sure there’s no surveillance to give the impression of confinement, and offer them a carriage to return to Sephira whenever they wish. Show Your Highness’s magnanimity.”
“Truly perfect, Theor!”
Theor smiled as if to say, ‘This much is nothing.’
“Subordinate, execute what Theor said immediately—”
Rakan’s strength was his excellent execution. Just as that strength was about to shine—the captain of the 4th Division of the Tassadan, who was guarding nearby, approached Rakan and said,
“Your Highness. The Imperial Investigator requests an audience.”
“The Imperial Investigator?”
Imperial Investigator.
A direct investigative unit under the Emperor, handling only matters directly or indirectly related to the Emperor. They are ruthless and unfeeling.
‘Why would they come to me?’
Rakan couldn’t understand. He had no special connection with the Emperor, but neither did he have any bad blood.
Though he could refuse the sudden visit, he thought there was no need to invite trouble by refusing when he had nothing to hide.
Nod.
Seeing Theor nod in agreement, Rakan called in the Imperial Investigator without hesitation.
The Imperial Investigator who entered was dressed entirely in white, with no attendants.
He bowed to Rakan and greeted him.
“Thank you for receiving me despite the sudden visit. I am Imperial Investigator Betty, Prince Rakan.”
“Investigator Betty. My schedule is busy, so I’ll get straight to the point. Why have you come to see me without notice?”
“Since Your Highness is busy, I’ll also get straight to the point. We’ve come regarding a report about the Seven Evil Tribes.”
“The Seven Evil Tribes…?”
“Yes. Traces of the Seven Evil Tribes have been found in the Lilian Kingdom. Thus, we’ve come to request cooperation from you, one of the co-rulers of this nation.”