Chapter 208 – Chapter 43: Storm #5
Chapter 208 – Chapter 43: Storm #5
In Knight Saga, it wasn’t until Year 514 that Warrior Locke went on his adventure. It was currently Year 513. So, according to Knight Saga, Locke was supposed to be staying at the temple right now.
It might have been due to In-gong, but many things had already changed from Knight Saga. Still, he had never thought he would encounter Locke in this place.
In Knight Saga, Locke was the mighty warrior who defended the Human World from the demon king’s army. Due to that, In-gong hadn’t thought of him as a possibly ally.
‘The demon king’s army hasn’t invaded the Human World yet.’
Recorder Torres had said there was another Drakon Kechatulla. In-gong knew it the moment he saw Locke; In-gong could feel the strong aura of a dragon from Locke.
Moreover, Warrior Locke had called In-gong the Drakon Kechatulla of the Demon World. His gaze was filled with a strong curiosity rather than enmity, and he had a bright smile which was filled with confidence.
‘I wonder if he is an ally.’
Locke had attacked Yosarina and not In-gong’s party. Additionally, the climate manipulation magic was also being used for In-gong’s party.
In-gong took a deep breath. He was too far away to shake hands, so he decided to respond in a similar manner to Locke.
In-gong greeted, “The Human World’s Drakon Kechatulla.”
Locke’s eyes shone brilliantly, and his smile widened. It was at this moment that…
‘Master! The fight hasn’t ended yet!’
Green Wind cried out to In-gong. It was just as Green Wind said. Frost Queen Yosarina had been defeated, but there were still three frost worms and the frost corps. There was still a battle on the ground.
“Shall we clean this up first?”
“Indeed.”
It was Locke who spoke first. In-gong then responded as he gazed at the ground, and Locke drew his sword again. The two people crossed by each other like a promise had just been made. As In-gong flew toward the nearest frost worm, Green Wind whispered in his ears,
‘Master, I dislike that person.’
“Why?”
Did she feel something? She might have discovered something that In-gong hadn’t. Green Wind went on to respond to In-gong’s question with a slightly petulant voice. Although she wasn’t in a solid state, In-gong could imagine clearly what Green Wind looked like as she spoke.
‘I just don’t like him. He feels similar to Master. But Master is much greater.’
She didn’t like him because he gave off a similar feeling to In-gong. Did she think he was like a fake? Anyway, he understood what Green Wind was talking about. They were both Drakon Kechatullas. Maybe there was more that they had in common.
“Anyway, let’s hurry!”
‘I understand, Master.’
Green Wind hugged In-gong. With the strong wind blowing around him, In-gong flew into the mouth of a frost worm. He was going to imitate Caitlin’s actions he had seen during the fight against Yosarina.
After swallowing In-gong, the frost worm wriggled and then swelled up like a balloon. Its skin was so durable that it didn’t shatter, but that didn’t matter. The internal organs had exploded, so the frost worm slowly collapsed. In-gong flew out of the mouth of the frost worm as it fell. Thanks to the strong wind blowing around him, he managed to escape from the body of the frost worm without any blood on him.
Before shifting his gaze, In-gong instinctively shook his body. The attack had been an extreme way of consuming aura, but the time efficiency was obvious, so he planned to do it with the next frost worm. Fortunately, there was no need for In-gong to do so. Not far away from where he was, one of the frost worms swelled like a balloon before exploding. Silvan and Caitlin had taken care of another one in the same way.
“Prince!”
“Carack!”
It was Carack who ran up behind him. Carack had fought hard with a spear since his axe was frozen with liquid.
As Carack sighed with relief to see In-gong safe, In-gong checked the mini-map. Due to the death of a large number of frost corps and Yosarina, the battle was flowing in a favourable direction. Based on this scene, clean-up would be easy.
After confirming the safety of Anastasia and Chris, who weren’t part of the King’s Knights, In-gong ran toward the newly defeated frost worm. Unlike In-gong, Caitlin exited from a wound in the stomach which was around 10 meters long.
“Shutra.”
Caitlin laughed when she saw In-gong. However, unlike In-gong, Caitlin didn’t have Green Wind, so her body was covered with green fluids. At the moment in which her aura had exploded, her winter clothes had already been extremely damaged.
“Noona, are you okay?”
Caitlin blinked at In-gong’s reflexive question. As always, she nodded and replied,
“Yes, it isn’t my blood.”
“Y-Yes.”
It wasn’t blood but sticky green mucus. Caitlin’s answer was lacking in focus, but she seemed unharmed. Thanks to the power of Conquest, she didn’t feel the cold immediately.
“Prince, giver her some towels.”
Carack said after running over belatedly. In-gong took some towels from his inventory and handed them to Caitlin. Seira couldn’t be seen because she was fighting in Beast Form. As Caitlin wiped her face with the towel, a welcome voice was heard from behind him.
“Shutra!”
“Felicia noona.”
Felicia, who came running up with Delia, sighed with relief when she saw In-gong. Her complexion was pale and her lips were blue. Unlike Caitlin, she seemed to be greatly affected by the cold.
“Are you okay?”
“I-I’m fine. Rather, Shutra, what is going on? Do you know these people?”
Felicia turned and pointed to the last frost worm. Locke was standing in front of a frost worm which collapsed with a spray of blood. In-gong moved his gaze a little further. Looking at the center of the climate manipulated area, there were two more familiar faces…
The Saintess Beatrice and Mercenary King Carlov. Just like how Nayatra and Vandal were Zephyr’s subordinates, Beatrice and Carlov were Locke’s most powerful companions.
“Perhaps.”
In-gong replied as he turned his attention back to Locke. As though he was reacting to In-gong, Locke also turned toward this side.
&
The dead and those who suffered serious injuries numbered around 30, which was less than two-tenths the total force of 200.
It wasn’t a small number, but considering the situation, it was quite good. It was because they were the elites of each species. If they were just normal soldiers of the army, then more than half of them would’ve been killed when the cave collapsed.
However, In-gong couldn’t rest assured. It was clear that if they didn’t prepare for the cold right now, the number of seriously wounded people would increase.
Due to this, the party engaged in treating the army before talking with Locke.
The weather beyond the limit line was a mess because of the disruptions in the flow of magic power. Thanks to Beatrice’s climate manipulation, the flow of magic power in the nearby area was calm. This meant that Felicia and Daphne could summon earth spirits. They created a new cave for the party to avoid the cold.
Instead of building a new cave in case of an attack, they built an underground tunnel as a shelter and covered any traces with snow. It would be hard to find the presence of the shelter from a distance.
Beatrice and Carlov were amazed as they saw the large-scale work. It was the first time they had seen something like this using spirits.
‘Climate manipulation seems much more amazing though.’
Heavy snow was piling up everywhere except for where they were. The blizzard was still raging outside the range of the climate manipulation, as though an invisible glass wall had been raised.
The soldiers not involved in the large scale work or healing the injured gawked at Locke’s party. Locke was also looking at the soldiers. Then Beatrice frowned and asked him,
“Locke, the warriors of the Demon World… they somehow resemble you.”
She wasn’t talking about their faces or body shapes. It was the feeling they gave off which resembled Locke. There was someone who perceived something similar on In-gong’s side.
“He kind of smells like Shutra. But Shutra has a much nicer smell.”
Caitlin sniffed as she looked at Locke’s group. Seira nodded from where she was standing behind Caitlin.
“It isn’t a similar flavour. This is different… like something else. It is a little strange, but he seems like he would be popular with the opposite sex, like Prince.”
It really was strange, but In-gong seemed to somehow understand. Maybe Locke had a special ability like Pheromones.
‘Locke was a harem master, unlike Zephyr.’
Besides Beatrice, there were a few more girls. In-gong suddenly looked at Nayatra, who was treating Vandal.
“How about it, Nayatra?”
“Yes? Uh…”
Rather than sniffing like Caitlin, Nayatra narrowed her eyes and stared at Locke. Then she frowned and came up with a similar answer to Caitlin.
“Obviously… charming. But Prince is much, much more attractive.”
“Y-Yes.”
It was nice but somewhat burdensome to hear the answer. Nayatra was a succubus susceptible to pheromones, so Locke only had weak pheromone ability.
Then Anastasia finished healing the soldiers and approached. She cocked her head as she heard the group’s words and asked,
“Shutra, is he another gandharva?”
Anastasia had heard the story of his scent before. However, she had never seen another gandharva before, so she wasn’t sure if Locke was one. Moreover, the lycanthropes, sura, and gandharva looked similar to each other, so it was difficult to distinguish species based just on appearance.
The others looked at In-gong with curiosity. In-gong hesitated for a moment before replying,
“They are humans.”
“Humans?”
Chris was taken aback. It was the first time anyone here had seen a human.
“They really look just like us.”
Chris said with admiration, while Caitlin and Anastasia nodded blankly. Even Carack’s eyes were wide with surprise.
‘Uh, um. This is the difference in point of view.’
There were many species here such as orcs, dark elves, succubi, and lycanthropes.
Locke’s group approached the children of the demon king who were talking, aside from Felicia who was busy building the tunnel. Their chatter stopped instantly. Chris moved automatically to protect both Caitlin and Anastasia. Unlike Anastasia, Caitlin grumbled a little bit. Then In-gong stepped in front of Chris and greeted Locke.
“The Demon World’s Drakon Kechatulla, I have a suggestion.”
The group reacted in surprise when Locke said Drakon Kechatulla. It was because they had heard the it several times since Curtis. The great dragon warrior… How did a human know about the lizardmen’s title for In-gong? However, In-gong’s answer was even more amazing.
“The Human World’s Drakon Kechatulla, isn’t it better to introduce ourselves first?”
It was a stunning answer for everybody but Anastasia. In-gong was the Demon World’s Drakon Kechatulla and the man in front of them was the Human World’s Drakon Kechatulla?
“Yes.”
Warrior Locke smiled. His smile was charming even for men. Beatrice sighed and muttered from where she was standing behind him,
“I told you already.”
“Then I will do it from now on.”
Locke smiled again before bowing and saying,
“I am a warrior from the Human World, Locke. These are my colleagues, Light Saintess Beatrice and Mercenary King Carlov.”
Chris and Anastasia reacted to hearing the words ‘warrior’ and ‘saintess’. Anastasia’s reaction was subtle, but Chris was clearly vigilant as he let out a low growl. Locke, Beatrice, and Carlov remained calm like they had expected such reactions.
However, In-gong raised one hand to restrain Chris and said,
“I am 9th Prince Shutra Ignus. These are my half siblings 4th Princess Anastasia Nekrion, 7th Prince Chris Moonlight, and 8th Princess Caitlin Moonlight.”
Locke nodded as the children of the demon king were introduced, while Beatrice smiled. She seemed to be curious about the demon king’s children and glanced between Caitlin and Felicia.
Locke nodded and turned back to In-gong.
“Prince of the Demon World, I have a suggestion.”
“What is the suggestion?”
Was it to fight with them to take down Arch Lich Shutenberg? Or was it a temporary alliance? Political ties between the Human World and Demon World?
“I want to make a hot spring.”
“Huh?”
Locke smiled coolly at In-gong’s confusion.
&
“Unni, will this be delicious as well? Shutra is the one who made it.”
“I-Is that so?”