The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 331

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

Part 2, Chapter 178

* * *

Northern Border of Kazen.

The iceberg was much more massive and silent than expected. The wind that blew fiercely like cutting flesh was painful.

“Here it is, Your Highness. The last traces were found at this point.”

Medeia stood before the cliff where Chezare was presumed to have fallen.

Below the dizzying ice wall was nothing but pure white snow field.

No blood, no armor, not even a trace of life remained.

The endlessly falling white snow had covered all traces of what must have been a devastating battle.

“Is there a way to get down below the cliff?”

“We could detour along the side of the mountain range. But below the cliff, sharp ice pillars rose like a forest, making it impossible to reach the crash site.”

They had to pass through that ice field to reach where Chezare fell and investigate the barrier.

Medeia turned her gaze downward at those words.

Over the snow field spread below the cliff, there were things sparkling like scattered starlight.

Looking closely, those were the sharp points of ice pillars that jutted up.

Neigh—.

Silva, carrying Medeia, stepped back and whinnied.

She shook her white mane vigorously as if she didn’t want to set foot among those pointed ice formations.

Terrence continued speaking.

They had tried various methods to excavate below the ice wall, but none had succeeded.

“…That means we need to deal with those ice formations first.”

“Yes, Your Highness. But this time it should be possible. We brought enough magic stones to replenish our mana.”

Whoosh— Red flames flickered above Terrence’s palm.

But his face was still pale.

He hadn’t fully recovered his mana yet, and he was also the one who had used teleportation magic to warp Medeia and the party to the northern border.

“Marquis Terrence. Realistically, melting all those ice pillars with magic would be too much.”

Medeia shook her head.

“Then does Your Highness have a clever plan to eliminate those ice formations?”

“Let’s go down there first.”

A while later, Medeia, having detoured around the mountain range, stood at the starting point of the ice field below the cliff.

She reached out and touched an ice pillar.

Fierce cold traveled up through her fingertips.

Ice pillars that seemed to pierce the sky rose densely like a bamboo forest.

Below the intertwined pillars, the frozen ground stretched like a massive glass plate.

‘The pillars are structurally connected to each other.’

Interest flickered in Medeia’s eyes.

‘If I can create cracks in that firmly connected ice terrain, there’s a chance.’

“Neryl, bring the explosives. Marquis Terrence, can you drop explosives precisely at the points I indicate?”

“Pardon?”

Medeia turned to look at Terrence.

“We’ll create cracks. I’ll minimize the number of times you need to use magic.”

A moment later.

BOOM—!

A loud explosion echoed through the quiet mountain range.

It erupted from the edge of the ice field, and snow and ice fragments scattered everywhere.

Clang—!

The flying ice pieces struck other ice pillars, creating clear, cold ringing sounds.

But in this vast field of ice pillars, the explosives only managed to remove three or four ice pillars.

“Garo, Menil! Focus your attacks on the center of that empty spot. Marquis Terrence, add amplification magic to those vibrations.”

Following Medeia’s orders, the knights moved swiftly.

Thud—! Thud—!

The aura the knights drew out struck the ground hard like hammers,

Zzzzzzz…

The subtle tremors created by Terrence’s amplification magic soon shook the ground and echoed through the gorge.

“The cracks are… gradually spreading.”

Crack crack crack crack!

The ice pillars that had risen like mountains couldn’t withstand the fierce waves and collapsed in a chain reaction.

In an instant, the ice pillars standing in a straight line fell like dominoes, carving a path across the snow field.

“As expected of Your Highness! I knew you’d have a brilliant plan! What are you waiting for! Let’s advance!”

With Garo’s shout, the knights passing through the passage spurred their horses.

They had expected to exhaust all their magic stones here, but since Medeia had opened a path like this, everyone’s eyes clearly showed relief and hope.

Subsequently, the First Prince’s Wife was exceptionally active in destroying the reactivated Black Mage’s barrier as well.

“Terrence. Here, doesn’t the echo of sound seem a bit different?”

An alien sensation, as if space was subtly distorted, caught at her ankle.

“That’s right, this is it. Only at this point, the flow of black magic is colliding with natural energy. Your Highness has found the entrance to the barrier.”

Terrence swallowed his admiration inwardly.

To detect a gap that even the aura knights and he himself as a mage had almost missed,

‘Indeed… could she truly be the chosen representative of the divine.’

“Everyone prepare for battle! If it’s the same type of barrier as before, whatever was inside will burst out the moment it’s destroyed.”

Before breaking the barrier, Terrence added.

It had been the same when they attacked the Golden Tower.

The moment the barrier broke, magical beasts and test subjects burst out and attacked them.

“You all protect Her Highness.”

There was no reply. However, the Agema nodded with sharp eyes.

Riiiiip—!

Terrence activated his magic.

It was the moment when the black magic barrier that had been tangled like a black net was torn apart.

The knights held their breath at the scene of the barrier and real space overlapping like transparent puzzles and shattering.

Everyone gripped their swords tighter.

They prepared for whatever would burst out through the torn net, but.

“…!”

Where the barrier had disappeared, what greeted them were traces of fierce battle.

Corpses of magical beasts scattered everywhere. And,

Dried dark red bloodstains.

The beast carcasses were even more chilling because they hadn’t rotted in the snow and remained as they were.

Among them,

“The bastard is here!”

They discovered the Black Mage’s corpse.

He was dead with his eyes wide open.

“It’s Chezare’s.”

The dagger stuck in the Black Mage’s heart.

And even the torn pieces of armor scattered beside the corpse.

All bore the First Prince’s crest.

“Find our lord! He might be somewhere nearby!”

Alpha shouted urgently.

The knights’ eyes lit up in unison. Now the clues were clear.

Chezare was still alive!

* * *

A few days later.

Where the barrier had been destroyed, several small military camps were now erected.

“Still nothing?”

Unlike the day when they had broken through the barrier with overwhelming force, the search operation for Chezare had been making little progress for several days now.

“There are only traces of Masu scattered about. I can’t even begin to imagine how our lord managed to deal with all of them.”

Alpha clicked his tongue.

Not only had he defeated the Black Mage with a sword stuck in his back, but he had also annihilated all the Masu within the barrier.

All they had found in this area were traces showing just how fierce that battle had been.

‘…In such a state, could he really still be alive?’

Alpha tried hard to push away the ominous thoughts that kept sprouting in his mind.

The more they searched, what became clear were fragments pointing to the opposite of survival rather than the possibility of it.

The morale of the group sank deeper like a swamp.

“Still, keep going. We need to find the boss’s body at least before we return. We absolutely cannot leave.”

“The snowstorm is getting serious. It would be better to stop searching here tonight without shift changes.”

The conversation between Garo and Alpha was becoming increasingly anxious.

The snowy mountains were quite dark even in the bright morning.

After sunset, darkness fell so thickly that it was hard to properly make out even silhouettes in front of them.

Realizing that searching in such conditions would be pointless, Garo nodded and called back those who had been searching.

“Marquis Neryl. Did you find anything?”

Neryl shook her head as she returned.

She showed the red smoke flare in her hand. Seeing that it hadn’t been used even once, Garo let out a small sigh.

“But where is Her Highness?”

“Garo, wasn’t she with you?”

“No, I thought she was with you all…!”

At his answer, Neryl’s voice scattered like a scream.

The snowstorm lashing against their cheeks was growing fiercer.

The First Prince’s Wife Medeia was nowhere to be seen.

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