Chapter 280: Chapter 54: Legend! Legend! (Part 2)

Blood and severed limbs splattered and flew through the air behind him. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Like a calm Harvester, he plowed a straight and bloody path through the monster tide, his pace never slowing in the slightest.

Only when encountering the Giant Earth Rock Worms, which were like small, moving mountains, did he choose to evade.

These behemoths’ Magma Breath covered a vast area, burned at an extreme temperature, and their defenses were formidable. Without using his Flying Sword, he simply couldn’t defeat them with the level of strength he was currently showing.

Less than two kilometers from the fortress, Murphy leaped to the top of a towering, scorched rock and gazed into the distance.

With his Extraordinary senses, he could make out many details, even in the dim twilight and swirling dust.

The majestic silhouette of Blackstone Fortress was now in sight, but its once-indestructible outer walls were ablaze in several places, billowing thick smoke.

Above and below the walls, countless dark-red figures swarmed like ants, scaling and assaulting them in a brutal struggle against the defenders.

His gaze swept rapidly across the battlefield, finally settling on the fortress’s eastern flank.

A steep and perilous ridge.

The battle there seemed particularly strange.

There were no large-scale armies clashing. Instead, it looked like a stream of people being brutally driven and herded onto a narrow, abandoned path that led into the fortress.

Their opponents were a few slender monsters moving with phantom-like speed, along with some Scorching Beasts they were herding.

Murphy’s eyes turned ice-cold.

He could see clearly now. The "stream of people" being driven forward weren’t soldiers at all!

They were dressed in rags and mostly bare-handed; a few clutched sticks and rocks. They fell in droves under the monsters’ assault, like stalks of wheat, and he could faintly hear their screams and wails even from so far away.

Only a handful of soldiers were engaged in the fighting.

On the high ground behind them, he could vaguely make out the figures of some Peric Clan soldiers standing at the ready. They showed no intention of advancing to provide support; instead, it looked like they were...

’Supervising? Or driving them?’

’Using the flesh and blood of civilians to slow the monsters’ infiltration?’

Even with Murphy’s composure, a cold ripple of anger passed through him.

Without hesitation, Murphy leaped from the summit. He abandoned the main path, abruptly changing direction. Like an arrow loosed from a bow, he shot toward the bloody, brutal battlefield on the eastern ridge of Blackstone Fortress at an even greater speed!

...

「Inside the Blackstone Fortress command center.」

"What’s the status of the buffer zone on the eastern ridge?" Duke Hakon’s voice was hoarse.

A Peric Clan officer standing nearby immediately bowed and reported, "My Lord Duke, the first wave of civilians has engaged the infiltrating pack of Razor Hounds. With the help of our guards, we’ve successfully delayed their advance by approximately forty minutes. The second wave is now being driven forward, and we expect to buy another half-hour to an hour. Our guard unit has suffered a total of ten casualties."

"Understood," Duke Hakon replied faintly, his gaze still locked on the most brutal section of the main battlefield, his brow deeply furrowed. "The pressure on the front is immense... How much longer can Ash Judge Quentin hold out?"

"The Central Tower area, where Lord Quentin is stationed, is bearing the brunt of a focused assault from over two Giant Earth Rock Worms and a large number of Frenzied Flying Cockroaches." The officer’s voice grew somber. "The Templar Order reserves have all been committed, but casualties... are heavy. Lord Quentin himself has intervened three times, slaying one Giant Earth Rock Worm, but the effort has taken a massive toll on him."

The Valkendu Metropolitan Bishop finally spoke, his voice like the wind of the Northern Lands scraping across ice. "There are too many breaches and too few elites. Unless we can commit at least one more warrior at the Legendary Knight level to the core sector, the fall of the Central Tower is only a matter of time. When that happens, the Inner Castle’s gates will be wide open..."

He trailed off, but his meaning was clear.

Bishop Saint Cyril slowly raised his eyelids, his gaze seeming to pierce through the thick stone walls and land upon the chaotic battlefield. "Perhaps we should consider intervening again. We cannot betray the trust the Holy Throne placed in us by entrusting us with this fortress."

Duke Hakon fell silent for a moment before slowly shaking his head. "It’s not yet time, Lord Bishop—"

Just then, outside the observation window, something on the battlefield suddenly changed!

A figure clad in deep blue, moving with incredible speed and ferocious purpose, brazenly carved a path near a defensive line that was being swarmed by monsters!

The flash of a Dark Gold sword and crackling arcs of violet-black Thunder were like the Grim Reaper’s scythe. In their wake, whether it was the thick-hided Scorching Beasts or the Frenzied Flying Cockroaches diving from the sky, all were cut down as if they were mere weeds.

The sheer efficiency and power were astonishing.

"That is..." Bishop Saint Cyril, who had been sitting weakly, suddenly straightened. His eyes, which seemed capable of piercing the very soul, locked onto the deep blue figure—specifically, onto the conspicuous Dark Gold Longsword in his hand, which, though its lightning had subsided, remained utterly eye-catching.

"The Governor of the Monte Territory... Melfield." Saint Cyril’s voice held a trace of uncertainty, but it was mostly filled with incredulous shock. "The Great Knight of Vilte North... How did he appear from that direction? And this power..."

He paused, carefully sensing the faint, residual Energy on the distant battlefield. A sharp light flashed in his eyes. "The aura... of a Legend? It’s faint, but that sense of a qualitative leap in life’s very essence, and the fundamental change in his use of Energy... There’s no mistaking it! Has Vilt... given birth to a second Legendary Knight?"

Legendary Knights didn’t grow on trees. The emergence of even one was enough to shift the political landscape of an entire region.