Shadowless Night

Tyreng changed his goals. He saw Knight Commander Starz running at the rear of the carriage. A redhead [E/N: Black Moon] nimbly threw one of his daggers as if venting his anger.

Ting.

The eagle flying from the sky flicked the blade with its wings. ‘What the hell is that feather made of?! Steel?!’ Blood vessels swelled up on Tyreng’s forehead.

“That crazy…!”

The karmic cost of his swearing came immediately. A large boulder slammed down on Tyreng's head. Biiiii. His head rang as it received a great shock. While the blow momentarily dulled his mind, the eagle’s attack became fiercer. He could hear screams coming from all over the place. The raiders managed to survive several falling rocks and attacks and continued to chase after the 2nd Prince's white carriage.

The white carriage, which had been escaping so well, suddenly began to slow down. A large tree had fallen and was blocking the road. It was the result of the Black Moon members preparing in advance. The 2nd Prince’s escorts, whose speed had decreased, stopped one after the other. Tyreng smiled as he predicted his victory.

It seemed that the end of this dreadful cat-and-mouse game was in sight. The knights stopped in front of the fallen tree and lowered their hoods one by one. Rain poured down their heads. One person, and then another. And soon, everyone's faces were revealed. It was as if they were showing it on purpose. Finding the 5th Prince Diech amid the crowd, Tyreng was bewildered. Diech, whom he expected to have entered the fork on the right, stood before him right now. 

Something was wrong. Starz saw Tyreng's swaying eyes and raised his hand. With his signal, half of the knights and Diech jumped over the tree while on horseback.

The assassins watched them with blinking eyes. Team 1's captain hesitated, then pulled at the hem of Tyreng's cloak. He seemed to be asking him what to do next, but Tyreng was too bewildered at the moment.

Currently, there was a white carriage with the remaining knights. ‘Would they do something crazy like reducing the number of escorts in this critical situation where the safety of the prince is at stake?’ A terrifying sensation crept up Tyreng's backbone. ‘Could it be that in that carriage…’ There's no 2nd Prince? Was the 2nd Prince mixed with the group that had just fled? No. None of them had silver hair. The reason everyone took off their cloaks and exposed their faces seemed to be because of that. Tyreng gritted his teeth. ‘These guys were bait!’

He had a hunch that Ricardis wasn't in that carriage, but he couldn't be sure until he opened it. In Tyreng’s head, he pictured the 2nd Prince Ricardis sitting in the carriage in the middle of the day. This image shook him violently. He tried to think objectively, but the threads were already tangled.

Under Tyreng's direction, he soon divided Black Moon's Team 1 into three. One group would stay here, another would chase the beige wagon, and the last group would go back to the first point where the third carriage was left. The members of the Black Moon quickly disappeared through the forest. Tyreng also left to pursue the 2nd Prince, even though he didn’t know where he might be.

There was a sense of resignation from the people surrounding the white carriage. There were about 30 Knights of the White Night remaining, including Starz, and more than 20 or so assassins. But even before a full-fledged fight started, Starz could feel that it would be hard to expect victory with only this slight advantage in numbers. There was no impatience in the attitude of the black-clad raiders, only arrogance in their eyes that had a strange gleam. They seemed convinced that everything would go their way with this group led by Starz, whether or not the 2nd Prince is here.

Starz smiled, wiping the rainwater off his face. A large number of the raiders were scattered and split in a series of unexpected situations. Had the knights collided with the raider’s full manpower, they would have been wiped out on the spot. It was a fight with a sure defeat from the beginning. If they could increase their odds just a little, that was enough. Pardict Walegrave and Starz Falhas sharpened their swords. [E/N: Not literally. It just means they became more alert.] Everyone was struggling with this danger, even his one and only master, Ricardis. The two groups surrounding the carriage collided.

[Pardict Walegrave: Pardict of Whale Grave. I have no more creative names, and it sounds okay, I think.]

For His Highness Ricardis!

Everything is according to Hiksala’s will!

***

Gwang!

After abandoning her sword, Rosaline collided with the enemy in a direct battle of strength. A man in a black mask squirmed as he fell against a tree. Another assassin swung a sharp sword towards her neck.

Rosaline leaned her body away to avoid the blade, then swung her feet at the opponent's ankle and threw him off. The man lost his balance due to her immense power. Rosaline took one step closer and hit his temple hard with her elbow.

Crack. With the sound of crushed bones, the man flew towards the other assassin. The two men got tangled up and rolled over, but they couldn’t get up anymore. Rosaline picked up a Baltan sword that had fallen on the dirt floor. 

‘Why did this woman abandon her sword?’ Ricardis, who wanted to rebuke her, changed his words awkwardly in the end.

“Stop throwing away your sword, Sir! It’s dangerous!”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

As Rosaline listened, she looked around her while answering sullenly. A large open field with the third wagon. The number of assassins surrounding the Knights of White Night was a little over twenty, but now it has shrunk to less than half. The damage on the side of the Knights of the White Night was not significant. It was thanks to the holy healing power.

No traces of a wound could be found in the head where blood was pouring like a fountain. Even a ragged wound that almost tore off a knight’s arm healed in an instant. As one of the knights who had been pierced through the thigh jumped back up and started fighting again, the faces of the raiders gradually became pale. Janan died without telling them all, but everyone was aware: 2nd Prince Ricardis is here.

It was a terrifying army that could not die even if they were cut or stabbed. Wounds disappeared the moment they were created, leaving no scars. The power seemed to be ignoring the providence of death. Is that still a human power? Their limbs trembled in fear. Idelavhim's shield that blocks Crean Tidanion's spear. It was the moment when the reputation that had spread widely on the continent was proved.

***

[They won’t kill me. Holy power is something they need too.]

Twas the night before. The military meeting continued all night long, and the crowd nodded at Ricardis' words. Prince Haqab surely would not miss this precious opportunity where the 2nd Prince Ricardis, who possessed a holy power that could only come out once in several hundred years, entered his Baltan realm.

[Will they at the foremost try to capture Your Highness?]

[Correct. So, they surely will not use Fragment first… as it doesn’t have an antidote. They will need to reduce our numbers a bit in the beginning.]

[Will they be able to gain the upper hand simply by numbers?]

[Prince Haqab couldn’t have grown so easily. I had a few assumptions before, but ‘this’ convinced me the most.]

Ricardis held up the black jewel that Rosaline had stolen. It was a black stone filled with magical power.

[The demons use the magic within their bodies to increase their physical abilities. I know that depending on the amount of magical power, there are various types of people. From those who have just a healthy body to those with the same power as a magical beast. But if it's this kind of condensed magic… Well, couldn't a great weapon be born?]

[!]

Everyone looked at the black jewel in Ricardis's hand. Inside that little stone, smoke churned agitatedly. He gripped the magical beast's crystal. The sharp shards seemed to dig into his hand.

[Manufacturing artificial magic… Prince Haqab is also doing pretty funny things.]

[This… What does he mean? Such a wicked…]

Isserion's trembling voice revealed his feelings. Anger, astonishment, and fear were common emotions felt by everyone in the tent.

[Is it something you plant in the body? Hmm… I don't know how to use it. Anyway, it must be a group with abnormally amplified body functions. For ordinary people, it is a losing battle. But if I step in, the game will change. As long as there is God's blessing, you won't get hurt easily.]

[You are so reckless, Your Highness!]

[I can't treat a hundred people one by one. My escort group should consist only of senior knights. About ten people should be fine.]

Isserion was on the verge of falling over with foam in his mouth.

[The senior knights except for Sir Starz.]

[Your Highness!]

This time, even Starz was terrified. What the hell are you going to do without the Knight Commander? Stunned, everyone's eyes widened, but Ricardis didn't care.

[Here is the 2nd Prince of the Empire, Ricardis Darius Illavenia, the Laurel of Snowfield. As you said, if the leader of the Knights of the White Night doesn't protect the 2nd Prince, who else will he protect? They'll think the same. ‘No way. How could the Knight Commander be away from the 2nd Prince? How could they let the Knight Commander guard an empty carriage?’ I'm sure this will give them room to think, but they can't gamble with the odds. I will do the gambling.]

It was crazy. Which country’s Imperial family or Royal family member will jump into the battlefield using their title as bait? Starz, who would die for Ricardis, knelt and said that he would disobey his orders. Of course, it was not surprising to expect that the high-ranking Knight Commander would behave like this.

If they fight with the rule of law [E/N: everyone treated equally and held to the same standards.], the Knights will be annihilated. Ricardis was aware of this. There is no way everyone can live. Surely many knights will die. The reason Ricardis insisted on this method was to increase the probability of a win for his people even a little more. A chance to win a little bit more, a chance to live a little bit more. It was almost as if the truth of ‘the knight protects the master, not the master protects the knight’ had been reversed.