Eurius spoke to the Yellow Dragon in his mind.
‘Is he really the owner of the divine artifact? He doesn’t seem to have anything special.’
The reason he doubted was because of the energy he felt from Kim Jong-oh.
He had heard that No. 2, who wielded the power of the Azure Dragon, had a higher degree of completion than No. 3, who was Jung Do-mang-ju Shin Ja-seong.
But judging from the energy he felt now, he didn’t seem to be that level at all.
Didn’t he just fall for his surprise attack without any resistance?
And the Yellow Dragon also gave an unsatisfactory answer.
[I don’t know either. I can feel the energy of the Azure Dragon, but it’s weak.]
“Huh?”
‘Then does that mean he doesn’t have the divine artifact?’
Pop!
As Eurius asked, he was surrounded by the experts of the White Sword Demon Association.
In the center was Kim Jong-oh, who had quickly grasped the situation.
He was a bit flustered at first, but soon regained his composure.
‘Heh heh… He may be stronger than the vice-leader, but it’s useless now.’
He sorted out his thoughts and shouted confidently.
“So you’re the crown prince! You were lucky until now, but your luck ends here with us.”
“You’re very confident.”
Eurius replied lightly and immediately went on the offensive.
He planned to take care of the small fries first and then catch that Kim Jong-oh guy.
‘Maybe I can find out something if I interrogate him.’
He drew his sword and stabbed the air.
It was the Sword of Mind that Eurius liked to use lately.
There was no better skill than this when suppressing multiple enemies at once.
Pop!
The sword only stabbed the air, but dozens of swords that originated from his mind attacked the experts of the White Sword Demon Association in an instant.
“…!?”
“Ugh!”
The experts of the White Sword Demon Association were startled.
Without any sign, dozens of blue swords sprang up around them.
Kwakwakwakwang!
With a loud explosion, the experts who were hit by the swords were all pushed back.
“…!?”
Eurius looked at them with a surprised expression.
‘They blocked the Sword of Mind?’
They were elite, but could they block the non-technique of the fifth stage, the Sword of Mind?
[Ah! I get it now.]
“What is it?”
[Look at them.]
“Hmm?”
At the words of the Yellow Dragon, Eurius slowly examined them.
“What is that?”
Goooh
Surprisingly, a dark swirl was rising around the bodies of the experts of the White Sword Demon Association.
It was like a black wall of wind wrapping around their bodies!
‘If it’s wind…’
The Yellow Dragon gave him the conclusion.
[It seems that they all have absorbed the power of the Azure Dragon into their bodies. I don’t know how they did it, but it’s impressive for a trick.]
That was what No. 2 meant by combining Kim Jong-oh himself and the experts of the White Sword Demon Association.
There were hardly any experts who could absorb the power of a divine artifact by themselves. But it was possible to split that power and share it among several people.
“It’s too late to realize now!”
Kim Jong-oh and a few other experts pointed their swords at Eurius.
And they blew out a fierce wind!
Kwaaaaa!
A blade-shaped black figure attacked Eurius.
Kakakang!
He quickly blocked it with his sword, but the pressure was not trivial.
‘They’re stronger than I expected. I might lose if I’m careless.’
And if they could defend against the Sword of Mind, they wouldn’t care about any ordinary attacks.
The wind that wrapped around their bodies had both offensive and defensive effects.
Their individual strength would not last three seconds against Eurius, but they were effectively restraining him by sticking together.
Meanwhile, Kim Jong-oh was also quite anxious as he couldn’t do anything to Eurius even with all of his forces.
‘He’s holding on better than expected? Then…’
He decided to finish Eurius off in one breath.
‘The leader said that he stole Hyun-mu’s divine artifact, right? I have to finish him off before he unleashes its power.’
“Prepare yourselves, all members of the White Sword Demon Association! We’re using that!”
“Yes sir!”
With a loud cry, they quickly distanced themselves from Eurius.
“…!?”
As they suddenly widened the distance, Eurius tilted his head.
They were currently surrounding Eurius in a circle, keeping a distance of about a hundred meters.
“Begin!”
Roar!
The wind that covered their bodies grew stronger.
Each of them could only create a small whirlwind with their power, but what if dozens of them combined their forces?
Snap!
As they raised both hands to the sky, the black wind that spewed out of their bodies merged together and soared into the air.
‘What are they up to?’
Boom!
Eurius quickly swung his sword in all directions, but his attack was blocked even more easily than before.
[Watch out! Above!]
“Huh?”
Splash!
Thud!
Eurius quickly looked up and stiffened his face. It was a clear weather until a moment ago, but raindrops were falling down.
“What is that?”
Whizz!
Rumble!
In the sky where the black wind had risen, a local thunderstorm and storm had suddenly occurred.
The power of the Azure Dragon was wind and lightning!
True to their name, the experts of the White Sword Horse Society gathered their power and created a strong downdraft accompanied by thunder in the sky. This was the highest technique that the White Sword Horse Society could perform.
“Die!”
Shadow lowered his hand that was stretched to the sky. At the same time, a terrifying pressure came down from the sky to crush Eurius.
Crash!
This was one of the weather phenomena called downburst!
It was a phenomenon where a powerful downdraft occurred in a weather with thunderstorms, causing an explosion of wind. If it hit properly, it could break all the trees in a large forest. It was a dreadful natural disaster!
The force was compressed into one point and poured down to where Eurius was standing.“Damn it!”
Eurius didn’t expect them to launch such a large-scale attack, so his defense was slightly late.
Crack!
The thick ice wall that he had created in the air with the power of Black Tortoise was instantly turned into dust.
The invisible armor that formed around him also collapsed in an instant with a hissing sound.
Finally, the defense using space also failed to completely repel it because too much pressure was concentrated on one point.
Thump!
“Cough!”
Gulp!
Eurius suffered a serious injury for the first time since he obtained the invisible armor.
His bones creaked as if they were breaking and blood flowed from his nose and mouth.
Roar!
The power of the downburst did not just sweep past Eurius.
It hit the ground and bent sideways, following the flow and hitting the palace.
Bang!
Part of the palace collapsed.
The pressure that leaked out from below hit the pillars that supported the building.
“What’s going on?”
“The palace! Where His Majesty is!”
“What on earth is happening?”
The whole palace was in chaos because of the noise of the building collapsing.
Despite being late at night, everyone was alarmed.
“What’s going on?”
Emperor Ju Yug-yeom also woke up from his sleep due to this unexpected calamity.
Fortunately, he was not in the part of the building that collapsed, but he quickly jumped out and looked around.
Swoosh.
Seeing the thick dust rising around him,
Geum Jong-o and the White Sword Horse Society gasped and stared at where Eurius had been.
“Huff! Huff! He must be pulverized by now!”
It was hard to manipulate weather phenomena even with divine power.
They had invested almost all their power in this one strike.
However.
Ssssh!
Puff!
“Kraaak!”
But what awaited them was not the corpse of Eurius, but a blue flash of light.
The sword’s trajectory pierced through several experts of the White Sword Society like skewers, accompanied by a terrifying sonic boom.
“Wha!”
Kim Jong-oh’s eyes widened.
“Did he survive that attack?”
“It hurts… Was it No. 2? You’re incomparable to the time of the Lord… “
Eurius, who walked over grumbling, barely managed to prevent his body from collapsing thanks to the layers of defense he had.
He still couldn’t move properly because of the pain that felt like his whole body was crumbling.
‘But I don’t have to move to attack!’
Whiiing!
The sword that had just soared into the sky curved again in a parabola.
Papap!
The sword that plunged down like a ray of light fell in the middle of where the White Sword Society’s experts were.
Kwakwakwang!
“Kuaaak!”
The sword controlled by the Sword Spirit freely floated in the air and its power was beyond the level that the White Sword Society’s members, who had already lost their strength, could withstand.
“Gather again!”
Kim Jong-oh tried to gather his strength again in a hurry to fend off Eurius’ attack, but!
“Don’t even think about it!”
Eurius swung his hand again.
Pwook!
The sword that had returned somehow pierced through his neck.
“Krrrk!”
Kim Jong-oh collapsed in an instant with a sound of deflation.
“Leader!”
They were startled and tried to somehow attack Eurius, but they couldn’t exert their power properly since their leader had fallen.
Kwakang!
Kraak!
It didn’t take long for the sword that floated in the air following Eurius’ gesture to suppress them.
Tuk!
Eurius, who had retrieved the Yellow Dragon Sword, sneered.
‘It was a draw in terms of taking one hit each, but the difference in hidden cards decided the outcome.’
The plan to unleash the power of the Divine Device and knock down Eurius in one blow was flawless.
He had a hard time moving his body after taking a hit, but he was able to defeat them because he had the Sword Spirit as a means of attack.
Ooduk!
“Ouch!”
He seemed to have recovered somewhat while standing, but he still couldn’t move well because of the pain.
“Master!”
Gung jeok-yeong hurriedly approached and supported him. She had only been able to approach him now because she had endured the downward gust of wind earlier.
She looked at him with an impressed expression.
“Master’s martial arts realm is becoming new every day. You are indeed the successor chosen by Master Lee Cheong-mun.”
Eurius shook his arms and legs with a grimace.
He could move quite well now.
“Enough with the compliments. Don’t we have someone to catch?”
Pertuk!
At Eurius’ words, Gung jeok-yeong came to her senses.
“That’s right!”
Tatatuk!
“What on earth is going on here!”
“Your Majesty! It’s dangerous!”
Ju Yu-gyeom, who had been staying at the palace, ran out and approached Eurius.
His aides tried to stop him, but he was adamant.
“Get out of my way! It’s an imperial order!”
“Yes… Yes!”
“Huh…”
He stopped in front of Eurius and looked back and forth at Gung jeok-yeong, who bowed her head, and the corpses lying around.
He opened his mouth as if bewitched.
“So you knew this crown prince from the beginning. Right?”
“I apologize.”
Gung jeok-yeong bowed her head and apologized.
Their original plan was to pretend not to know Eurius and overthrow Yeosang after returning to the palace smoothly, but it went awry due to Ma-gyo’s scheme.
‘What should I do… It was for a good intention, but it looks like I insulted His Majesty!’She looked back and forth nervously at Ju Yu-gyeom and Eurius.
On the other hand, Eurius was calm.
“…”
“Do you have anything to say?”
Ju Yug-yeom clasped his head at Eurius’s cheeky question, who was now openly mocking him.
He was not foolish, but too many things had happened in just a day or two and his mind was in chaos.
“Ugh… I don’t know how to deal with this situation.”
“You can do whatever you want.”
“What I want?”
“Remember what I said before.”
[Next time we meet, I expect an answer worthy of an emperor.]
“…”
That was what he had said before. Ju Yug-yeom’s expression brightened up at those words.
“Are you sure I can do that?”
Eurius smiled slyly.
“Of course!”
Ju Yug-yeom turned his back to him.
And he gestured to call a few eunuchs.
“Are you guys from Dongchang?”
“Y-yes, we are.”
He pointed his finger at the corpses scattered around.
“As far as I know, these guys were introduced by Yeosang, the leader of Dongchang. Why are they lying here as corpses?”
“…!?”
“That… that is…”
The eunuchs hesitated to answer.
“They tried to ambush me at night.”
Eurius intervened.
He pulled out a decree with the royal seal from his bosom.
It was something he had taken from the pockets of those who had fallen when he left his quarters.
“Ugh…”
Ju Yug-yeom’s face was filled with anger. He had never stamped his seal on such a decree.
Of course, that was because someone else had made that document.
“Bring Yeosang here! Right now!”
“I’ll send someone!”
Forgery of the emperor’s decree was a serious crime.
The eunuchs ran away in a hurry at his fury.
After they disappeared, he opened his mouth quietly.
“Thanks for now. Thanks to you, I found out that Yeosang has a hidden agenda…”
“I did it for my own purpose, so don’t worry too much.”
The conversation they had just exchanged implied a lot of things.
The most important thing was that the young emperor of Hwa Empiere would no longer have to care about his vassals’ opinions.
“…”
Ju Yug-yeom, who had a complicated expression for a moment, opened his mouth again.
“But will Yeosang be caught easily?”
“Do you think he won’t try to run away?”
“…!?”
***
Whooosh!
The day had not dawned yet.
Yeosang was heading somewhere in the palace at a fast speed.
“Damn it! I have to report this to the main sect as soon as possible.”
Yeosang had been watching the battle that took place in the palace from the beginning. But the secret weapons No. 2 sent by Magyo were all killed by Eurius.
He reacted quickly when he witnessed that.
‘I have to run away! If it is revealed that I brought the people of the main sect into the palace, the emperor will not trust me.’
Yeosang knew that there were more enemies than he expected in and out of the Imperial family.
The royal golden army that had eliminated most of the influential people by his instigation or those who could not speak because of his power were not the only ones who hated him.
There were also stubborn vassals who disliked him among them.
What had protected him from all this was the emperor’s favor!
But he lost the emperor’s trust with this incident.
Soon those who hated him would tear him apart.
Even if he was clean, there would be one or two flaws if they searched hard enough, let alone him who had a dirty background.
‘If it was war, I could have solved it with force…’
For a moment, Yeosang shuddered as he recalled Eurius’s appearance.
He had no idea that the crown prince was such a master.
He was in a situation where he had to risk his life to escape.
And he had failed his mission, so Magyo would not leave him alone either.
‘But if I can safely take this with me, maybe the master won’t blame me too much!’
***
Bang!
Leonhardt, who was sleeping soundly, woke up with a start at the sound of the door opening.
“What is it?”
“Your Highness, please don’t ask why and follow me.”
“…!?”
Leonhardt looked at Yeosang in front of him with a dumbfounded expression.
He woke him up in the middle of the night and told him to follow?
“Come back tomorrow.”
“There’s no time for that!”
“Ah!”
Yeosang reached out his hand violently.
He was a superhuman-level expert! Leonhardt had received knight training, but he was not a specialist in physical combat. There was no way he could resist him.
‘So he finally showed his true colors!’
Leonhardt’s vision went dark.
He had a bad feeling about his eyes ever since he saw him.
He was imprisoned after coming to the East, and now he was kidnapped!
But at that moment!
Surprisingly, an unexpected hand of salvation came to him.
Swoosh!
“…!?”
“Kraak!”
A sword that suddenly pierced through the ceiling went straight through Yeosang’s hand and pinned him to the ground.
“Huh?”
His gaze naturally followed the sword.
‘Where have I seen this sword before?’
“He came this way after all.”
He heard a familiar voice.
“Could it be…”
Creak
The door opened and a face he knew well appeared.
“Long time no see, Leon. I’m glad you’re safe.”
“Brother!”
It was none other than his older brother Eurius.