Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor - Chapter 362

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 362
Fire. Uwaek
Prince Noah drove his horse fiercely through Burgos’s encampment, scattering it in all directions.
Swords and spears jutted out from here and there, but with May and my subordinates protecting me, I deftly parried them aside, demonstrating swift movements—charging in suddenly, then retreating just as quickly.
The soldiers following me were few in number, but they were comrades who had fought at my side for a lifetime. Without words, they understood what I desired, protected their colleagues’ backs as if they were their own, and drew no line between you and me when it came to life itself.
“May! Retreat!”
“Understood!”
“We’re heading back into the forest!”
“Block them! Attack the horse’s legs!”
“Bring ropes! Tie lines around the camp! Don’t let them escape!”
Whoooosh!
Clang! Ching!
My elite force’s objective was simple and unwavering. Disrupt the encampment from the rear. Destroy tents, trample soldiers, and draw all attention backward, creating an opening for Cliffford’s forces at the front.
“Retreat!”
Knowing the terrain like the back of my hand was an enormous advantage for my side. We’d slip into the forest, and while they floundered in confusion, we’d emerge again and strike from another direction.
At my command, my tightly clustered subordinates simultaneously turned their horses’ heads and prepared to flee. The enemy was nothing but a disorganized rabble. We could return without issue, they affirmed, gripping the reins firmly and pulling hard.
Neeeigh.
Thud.
That is, until we encountered the strange monster blocking our path.
The stench of rotting corpses and decay erupted simultaneously, making breathing difficult. The Burgos soldiers seemed affected as well—those who had been attacking eagerly faltered and retreated.
“Wow, Your Highness. What is that?”
“…It appears to be a monster.”
“We’ve never heard of or seen anything like that. Its appearance is strange.”
The path had opened. The soldiers split left and right at the monster’s appearance, creating space. If I charged forward now, I could easily escape into the forest, but the stubbornly standing monster prevented easy movement.
A lizard’s head, and a body resembling a bear. Grotesque, sickly-colored spines protruded all over it, as if touching them would cause decay.
“Your Highness, what shall we do? Should we break through?”
“….”
“Your Highness!”
My subordinate urged me on. I was simply standing still, watching them. It seemed sluggish despite its size, so if we charged straight ahead and swerved around it, there shouldn’t be a problem.
But I sensed the atmosphere around us and shook my head. Even the Burgos soldiers—our enemies—weren’t approaching the monster. This was proof that my side couldn’t overcome it either.
“We’ll break through the encampment and go the other way.”
“That’s impossible. There are too many of them.”
“Your Highness. Let me try to overcome the monster first. Follow behind me.”
“No! Wait!”
“If we stay here, we’ll all die!”
“That’s an order! Stop!”
“My apologies, Your Highness!”
Tap-tap-tap!
One of my subordinates drove his horse toward the monster.
The dull creature stood motionless, rolling its rotted eyes back and forth. Sweat dripped from the hand gripping the reins, but he didn’t notice it in his tension. As he drew closer, the monster still didn’t move. Yes, if I could just get past it….
Crack!
Screeeech!
“Argh!”
In an instant, a massive maw yawned open above and below. From within it, an enormous tongue lashed out and ensnared my subordinate by the nape of his neck.
It happened in a heartbeat. The horse whinnied in terror and bolted past the creature into the forest, while my subordinate thrashed helplessly in the air. With his sword fallen from his grasp, he brought his bare hand down against the tongue, but the viscous secretion clung to him, growing stickier with each strike until his arm movements became sluggish and weak.
“Ugh—!”
I charged forward with my blade raised high. I sought to sever the tongue in one decisive stroke, but as the blade sank halfway through, it simply stopped.
The creature’s tongue dangled my sword like a plaything while it throttled my subordinate’s neck, swaying left and right. I could only watch as my subordinate’s fingertips convulsed in helpless tremors. I couldn’t believe this was happening.
“Your Highness! There’s a sword here!”
“One more strike should do it!”
“We’re with you! Hold on just a moment longer!”
My other colleagues rushed forward, hurling their swords toward me. Since it was already half-severed, surely a few more strikes would tear it clean away?
But the creature slowly raised its head and flexed its tongue with surprising dexterity. Its body was as massive as a carriage. If it lifted its head and thrust its tongue upward, it would reach a height beyond our grasp.
Trapped between impossible choices, I watched the soldiers looking to me for direction and bit my lip.
‘It’s not attacking us—it’s holding back. The Burgos general has figured out who I am. There’s no doubt a capture order has been issued.’
I would sooner die for Cliffford than be taken prisoner. I gripped my sword again and charged at the creature once more, while May stood motionless, muttering to herself.
“A corpse-like creature… Burgos….”
Necromancy!
Burgos, which borders the northern reaches of the Gaia continent, is rife with sorcerers. This must be the result of necromancy. If so, there would be someone controlling it, and eliminating that person would solve everything.
May quickly surveyed her surroundings. Burgos soldiers stood watching them with swords and spears at the ready. The encirclement tightened incrementally. Through their trained movements, she continued searching for anyone who stood out.
Surely someone controlling this creature wouldn’t be moving about with a weapon like an ordinary soldier. To oppose Prince Noah and manipulate that thing, they would have to stand in place and…..
‘There!’
May spotted them in the distance—dressed in black like the other Burgos soldiers, but standing perfectly still with hands clasped together.
Without hesitation, May drew her bow and nocked an arrow.
Twang!
Realizing he was being targeted, the man flinched and stepped backward. At that same moment, the creature’s movements faltered slightly. When I glanced back, I saw May continuing to aim her bow at him.
“May!”
“The sorcerer is over there! I’ll keep him pinned, so you press forward past the creature, Your Highness!”
“Why must you always act on your own! You’re coming with me!”
“I have no choice! I am a citizen of Cliffford—!”
Twang! Ping!
The Burgos officer realized the sorcerer’s position had been exposed and gestured to his soldiers. If they eliminated everyone except Prince Noah, it would be far more convenient and cleaner to handle.
The soldiers who had been merely holding their weapons in check began advancing one step at a time.
“Noah, you are this nation’s prince! You are Cliffford itself!”
May fired arrow after arrow without pause—one after another, swift yet precise. As the soldiers pressed forward, the sorcerer’s figure gradually disappeared from view.
“Noah, go! Return to the palace!”
“May!”
“Damn it, listen to me! Just this once!”
A loyal subordinate, a childhood companion, one of the few who shared the curse of the beast-kin.
I watched sweat drip from May’s chin as I slowly stepped backward. My subordinates, acknowledging the difficulty of facing the creature, cried out in agreement.
“Your Highness! Let’s go!”
The colleague caught by the monster had already had his limbs stretched beyond recovery. Further action was meaningless. My subordinates urged the Prince forward, and Noah twisted his body while grinding his teeth.
The monster rushed to strike them down, but its accuracy had clearly diminished, and something about its movements felt sluggish. The Sorcerer’s concentration had wavered.
“Ah.”
May, who had reached toward her quiver, froze. Nothing met her fingertips. She had run out of arrows. The moment she confirmed that Noah had just passed beside the monster, she drew her sword without hesitation and charged into enemy lines.
Whiiiing!
Crash! Bang!
“Hold the line! Raise your shields!”
“Kill her! You’re permitted to kill this one!”
“Target the horse first!”
The soldiers’ attacks poured down on the horse’s neck and legs. The startled horse panicked and reared, crashing down onto the soldiers trying to seize it.
May faced the same predicament. She desperately wanted to push through the crowd and close in on the Sorcerer, but it was impossible. She gritted her teeth and began deflecting the barrage of attacks raining down on her.
Clang! Clang!
Reflexive reactions. But she felt her strength gradually waning, and she instinctively sensed that this place would become her final stand.
“Hurry and pursue Prince Noah! The Mages are coming!”
“Two Mages spotted ahead!”
“No hostile action yet!”
The moment the Officer and Subordinates beside the Sorcerer shouted loudly with commands, the Sorcerer released his gathered hands. He frowned and questioned the Officer.
“…Mages?”
“Continue! Prince Noah is escaping!”
“How can there be Mages here? I was under the impression Cliffford has no Mages. Please explain this.”
“Is that important right now!? Move the monster quickly!”
The Officer pressed, but the young man lowered his hand firmly. It was clear he would not cooperate unless given an explanation.
“A border tribesman dares defy orders now? How much funding did Burgos send to Astana for this? If you don’t want to be held accountable, then immediately—!”
“I participated knowing Astana was a war between Burgos and Cliffford! But why can’t I receive an explanation about why there are Mages?”
“You can hear about such things later! Hurry! Damn it! You bastard!”
Crack!
The Officer, enraged, struck the Sorcerer’s cheek, and the young man tumbled forward helplessly. A red gem peeked out from his disheveled nape, and soon the scars hidden beneath his hair became visible. Stitching marks were clearly evident where a large wound had been on his neck.
The young man covered his cheek and glared at the Officer.
“I am the heir of Astana. How dare you….”
“During war, military law takes precedence, don’t you know? Prince Noah, the enemy commander, is escaping, and you won’t cooperate. Ugh. That’s it. You there!”
The Officer irritably commanded the Soldiers, trying to extricate himself from the situation. The moment the Sorcerer staggered to his feet.
Boom! Crash!
Bang! Kaboom!
A tremendous explosion erupted from the front. The earth trembled, and it was an explosion violent enough to knock standing Soldiers backward.
Everyone looked toward the smoke, wondering what had happened.
* * *
“Huh?”
The two Mages hovering high in the sky observing the battlefield froze. Had the darkness deceived them? It looked like Berik had just been devoured by the monster?
The two exchanged glances simultaneously, then pondered what to do. They were nearly ignorant about composite monsters. Their concern was whether they should act rashly without Ian’s instructions and without a plan. They reasoned that since he was already dead, they couldn’t kill him anyway.
Cliffford and Burgos would soon clash and become entangled, and it was difficult to know what the best response would be.
“Should we rescue Berik?”
“Yeah. Ugh, I have no idea.”
Of course we should rescue him. But I couldn’t understand why I was so conflicted about it.
“What if we attack the monster and end up injuring Berik more?”
“Though it doesn’t seem like he’s going to die…”
“Still, we should do something, right? Otherwise Berik will throw a fit later. Complaining that we didn’t save him.”
Fair point. He’ll definitely be a pain about it. The two Mages began drawing magical circles, preparing to unleash whatever attack magic they could muster.
Bulge.
“Wait.”
Bergman’s left abdomen suddenly protruded outward. Then the right side. Then the left again. It was clear that Berik was thrashing around violently inside.
“It doesn’t seem to be tearing easily. Maybe if we tear it from the outside…”
“Huh?”
Bergman’s abdomen continued to swell, growing increasingly distended until, with a loud sound, it burst open.
Splorch! Pop!
“Damn it! XXX! Bleeegh!”
Berik poked his face out through the hole in the abdomen. He immediately began retching violently, spewing curses along with it.
The composite monster continued moving without issue despite the hole in its abdomen. Tiefe’s tongue moved toward his own belly, attempting to seize Berik by the nape of his neck.
“Berik! The tongue’s coming again!”
“The smell is absolutely disgusting, you crazy bastards! This is insane, bleeegh, gag, XX, I’m seriously done, uuuugh.”
He looked in terrible condition. The Mages frowned and tilted their heads in confusion as Tiefe’s tongue swiftly moved toward the hole in his own belly once more.
Then Berik lifted something.
“And why is there a human head in here? I kissed that thing, bleeegh. XX”
It was a severed human head. The Mages immediately recognized it as the core and shouted.
“Berik! Destroy it!”
“Hell, you do it!”
“You lunatic, hurry!”
Berik crawled out from inside the abdomen, wiping his mouth, then drew a dagger and plunged it into the head.
Crack!
The tongue that had reached Berik’s nape went limp, and the massive composite monster’s body collapsed to the side. The Soldiers staggered backward, their expressions disbelieving as they tried to comprehend what they had just witnessed.
Berik continued to retch violently as he shouted.
“You bastards are all dead, bleeegh!”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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