Youngest on Top - Chapter 131

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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 131

“We must subjugate them? Does the Sacred Maiden of Artemisia truly believe that?”
“Yes!”

The nobles were taken aback by her unwavering conviction.
Especially since the Emperor was showing interest.
If this actually escalated into war….

“Sub…jugate? Then you’re saying we must resort to military force?”
“Yes!”
“But international treaties…. We cannot simply declare war like this!”
“Moreover, for the Sacred Maiden who upholds peace to suggest such a thing….”
“Yes, I believe the Sacred Maiden Zabelina’s words are most reasonable. We must resolve this based on international law—.”
“If we wage war against the Bennizer Kingdom, other nations will condemn the Empire for its tyranny toward Caston!”

Listening to the flood of objections, Saelika tilted her head in confusion.

“Condemn?”
“Do you not understand? If we wage war against the Bennizer Kingdom—.”
“Then why would we wage war against the Bennizer Kingdom?”
“I…beg your pardon?”

Saelika smiled brightly as she observed the bewildered faces around her.

“I never said we should subjugate the Bennizer Kingdom.”
“…?!”
“Then where should we… *ahem*! Where do you think we should apply military force?”
“Why, the Dantallian Desert, of course!”
“…!”

A glimmer of understanding flickered in the eyes of several high-ranking nobles.
The Emperor could not tear his gaze away from Saelika.

Meanwhile, many others remained utterly bewildered.

“The Dantallian Desert? Why the Dantallian Desert?”
“There’s nothing there but wasteland, is there? Only a few nomadic tribes live there…”
“What’s the point of subjugating such a place? Is it because it borders the Bennizer Kingdom, so you want to occupy it and make a show of force?”

The Emperor’s voice cut through the murmuring.

“Ha! To think I’d hear such a response.”

The Emperor smiled and nodded.

BOOOOOM!

The ground trembled violently, shaken by a deafening roar that seemed to split the heavens and earth.

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

Unable to withstand the tremors, people staggered and collapsed.

“Wh-what is this…?”
“An earthquake?”

The moment the fallen people lifted their heads.
Beyond the fractured outer wall of the building, a dark shadow loomed into view.

Dozens of eyes.
Legs characteristic of an arthropod.
And a sickly green fluid dripping steadily.

Ssssshhhhh—!

Where the green fluid touched the marble, it corroded with acrid smoke.

“My… my goodness!”
“A monster in the Imperial Palace…!”

It was unthinkable.
How many protective spells were woven into the Imperial Palace, and how many sacred relics were stored here!
Even the very land itself had been consecrated.

“No, no! Get away—!”
“Oh, oh, don’t come closer!”

Most of the central nobility had never laid eyes on a demon beast in person before.
They had only ever seen them through vision crystals from safe distances.

Crash!

The demon beast’s leg forced its way through the fractured outer wall.
That alone sent stone dust scattering and shattered the floor beneath.

“If we even graze that leg, we’re dead on the spot…”
“Don’t push! Stop pushing!”
“Sob, Mom—!”

People thrashed about desperately, trying to distance themselves from the demon beast.
The hall descended into absolute chaos.

“The security system has gone offline!”
“What about reinforcements?!”
“The mana network isn’t operational. Central control is impossible!”
“Has the barrier been breached? We need to restore it first—.”
“That is… the barrier appears to still be active, but…”
“Then how in the world did those demon beasts get inside!!”

The shouting guards’ voices only amplified the panic.

“What, what is this…”
“So we can’t handle this immediately?”
“W-where’s the knight order?! The Black Lions are here! What are the Black Lions doing?!”

At the people’s cries, the guard squeezed his eyes shut.

“The Black Lions are blocked by the barrier…!”
“Impossible! The Imperial Palace’s barrier is blocking the knights while allowing the demon beasts through!!”
“Then maybe we should just disable the barrier—.”

Rumble—rumble—rumble—!

With a tremendous boom, the earth shook once more.
The outer walls of the building crumbled completely, and arthropod-like monsters began crawling through the breaches.

Screech, screeeech—

“Kyaaaaaaah!”
“N-no! Stay back!”
“D-darling! Don’t let go of my hand!”

An unprecedented catastrophe—monsters had breached the Imperial Palace itself.
Worse still, security had gone dark.
Even the Black Lions couldn’t get close.

It seemed like a lie that just moments ago, everyone had been peacefully enjoying the banquet.
How could everything have spiraled into chaos so suddenly?

That was when it happened.

“Father! Ilay! Let’s go outside! We need to establish a defensive line!”
“You—”
“Leave this to me!”

A clear, ringing voice cut through the deafening chaos with crystalline clarity.
Golden radiance flooded the banquet hall, dazzling everyone within.
A massive barrier materialized, blocking the creatures’ advance toward the people.

“This is…!”
“A sacred barrier?!”

Standing at the forefront was a small young girl.
Her golden hair flowed with the currents of sacred power.
Her blue eyes gazed forward without hesitation.

Crash! Boom boom boom crash!!

No matter how relentlessly the steel-like legs pounded against it, the barrier remained unmoved.

“Unbelievable… a sacred barrier of such overwhelming power…”

At the exclamation that escaped, Ilay, who was heading outside, let out a soft chuckle.

‘That boy has been operating a flawless sacred barrier since he was much younger.’

It was no coincidence that he had safely rescued all the children from the fire scene.

“S-so we’re safe now?”
“The monsters keep pouring in. The barrier will eventually collapse. We need to evacuate immediately—.”
“W-wait! But what about that child maintaining the barrier!”

At those words, the people who had been frantically searching for an exit from the hall froze.

“B-but our presence here won’t help much anyway….”
“Right, it’s better to escape quickly and bring the Black Messengers—.”

That was when it happened.

“Now I understand why you trembled so at the mere mention of war.”
“Y-Your Majesty the Emperor…!”
“Monsters appear in the Imperial Palace, and you would abandon a young Sacred Maiden and flee?”

The Emperor glared at his surroundings with eyes burning with anger.

“You call yourselves nobility of the Empire!”

At his rebuke, the nobles hung their heads in shame.

‘That’s right, this is no time to stand idle.’

Dolores came to her senses.
This was not the moment to be dazed by an unforeseen crisis.
Now was the time to aid Saelika so the barrier would not collapse.

“Preytsha, grant me the power to protect…!”

Sacred power flowed from Dolores, creating a barrier.
Following her lead, the other Sacred Maidens also erected barriers.

As the Sacred Maidens pooled their strength, the sacred barrier became even more formidable.

“At this rate…!”
“Yeah, we can hold out as long as we need to!”

The people’s faces brightened.
But Saelika, standing at the very front, furrowed her brow.

‘At this rate, they’ll break through.’

Enrik: They keep coming from behind. Where are all these creatures pouring in from?
Enrik: No matter how I think about it, something’s off.
Kailros: Maintaining defensive barriers won’t help if we don’t reduce the number of invading monsters.

‘Then there’s only one way.’

Enrik: Right, if we create a sacred domain for safety—

‘I need to go out there and crush them myself!’

Enrik: What?!
Enrik: No, I’m telling you to deploy a sacred domain?
Kailros: Our youngest won’t be playing defense.

Saelika burst forward.

Enrik: Does she have nothing but chaos, destruction, and oblivion in her head?!
Enrik: Why does she always want to see blood!

‘This is the Regime. If I deploy a sacred domain and the monsters scatter elsewhere, the common people will be in danger.’

Enrik: …!

‘So this is the right call.’

* * *

“Wait, hold on. The Sacred Maiden of Artemisia…!”

She burst through the barrier.
The people watching gasped in shock.

“W-what do I do?!”

Among the colossal demons, the already small child looked even tinier.
A single downward stomp would tear that fragile body to shreds in an instant.

Dolores shouted harshly toward the other Sacred Maidens.

“Quickly, dispel the barrier! That’s the only way Saelika can get back in!”
“B-but if the demons slip through while we do that…!”

Exiting the barrier from inside was possible, but the reverse was not.

“Are you saying we should just stand here and watch?!”

Saelika had no weapon in her hands.
There was no way she could face all those demons bare-handed!

“At this rate, Saelika will—.”

Crack!

“Crack—”

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Huh?
People lifted their heads.

A golden, auspicious radiance was—

“Is she… purifying them?”
“No, it seems different somehow.”
“It looks like she’s… beating them?”

—beating them.

Looking more closely, the golden light wasn’t even beating the demons.

“Is, is that a fist?!”
“It’s really a fist?”
“No matter how many times I look, it’s a fist?”

A tiny cream-colored fist clenched with all its might came crashing down—boom, boom!—pummeling the monster.

When the monster opened its maw to spew poison, I snapped its lower jaw shut. When it raised its legs, I drove a fiery punch into the exposed belly.
The strikes flowed together in seamless succession.

“A, a combo…!”
“How many consecutive hits is that?!”

The movements were fluid and natural, like water flowing downstream.
As if I had beaten countless things thousands upon thousands of times over millennia.

Kiiiiieeeek—!

The monsters’ anguished shrieks, trembling with terror, were loud enough to deafen the ears.
A festival of blood and slaughter was unfolding in this place.

The people’s jaws dropped open.

“Is, is that even possible? What on earth…?”

Then Count Daymon and his followers nodded in unison.

“Indeed…!”
“The Sacred Maiden Saelika inheriting ‘that one’s’ name was truly destiny!”
“Yes, that form! She is worthy of bearing the Angel of Blood’s name!”

Not merely inheriting the Angel of Blood’s name, but actually being the Angel of Blood herself.
Overwhelmed by my devastating prowess, the nobles forgot their fear and cheered for Saelika.

“It seems Artemisia’s rapid growth wasn’t without reason!”
“I heard the rumors were exaggerated and absurd, but now it seems they were all true.”
“Sacred Maiden Saelika! Give that one on the right a good hit!”

Zabelina felt the atmosphere viscerally and bit her lip.

‘The way the nobles are looking at that lowborn has completely changed!’

Before the banquet, she was merely a half-fledged Sacred Maiden of the Octagon who couldn’t even secure a private audience with the Emperor.
But the moment the banquet began, she won the Emperor’s favor, and now she’s even captivated the nobility.

“I can’t let that wench monopolize all the attention like this.”
“But if we’re not careful, it could be poison to Lady Zabelina.”
“…Right, I’ll just give the impression that I’m her supporter and leave it at that. I’ll be treated as a mere backdrop.”

Zabelina wasn’t a fool either.
Even if she leaped outside the barrier, she couldn’t display such dazzling martial prowess like Saelika.

‘What kind of Sacred Maiden is so absurdly strong?’

Typically, a Sacred Maiden deploys a sacred domain, rallies priests, and amplifies their power through buffs.
The ultimate irreplaceable healer and the ultimate buffer.
That is what a Sacred Maiden truly is.

A Sacred Maiden’s capabilities are determined by how much she can amplify her allies.
How much of the priests’ potential can she draw out!

But Saelika….

Boom!

She was sending demons flying in circles with her fists.

“As a Sacred Maiden, Lady Zabelina’s abilities are far superior. But without priests present now, perhaps it would be better to withdraw….”

Just as priests need a Sacred Maiden, a Sacred Maiden needs priests.
How could she demonstrate her abilities without anyone to buff?

“No, I have no intention of rampaging about like that brute.”
“Then what will you do?”
“I’m simply concerned.”

Zabelina twisted the corners of her mouth upward.

“If you keep acting recklessly like that, you might actually get yourself killed, you know?”
“…!”

Zabelina smiled and stepped outside the barrier.
An endless tide of monsters clung to the barrier’s surface.
Zabelina made herself bait to lure them in.

“Oh, as expected of Zabelina!”
“Those swift movements! Could she be blessed?”

Unlike Saelika’s flashy assault style, Zabelina didn’t attack her opponents with such brilliance.
But thanks to her blessing, she moved several times faster, evading the monsters’ attacks with ease.

‘Well, this admiration won’t last long anyway.’

After all, it was Saelika who was actually killing the monsters, while Zabelina couldn’t eliminate a single one—and that reality would soon become glaringly obvious.
So Zabelina had no intention of prolonging this.

‘Good, this should be enough….’

After luring enough monsters, Zabelina gradually moved closer to Saelika.
The corpses of monsters and building debris created a perfect blind spot.
Hidden from both the people and from Saelika.

Zabelina crouched down.
And the moment eight monsters charged at me simultaneously—.

‘Now…!’

I dodged.
The monsters, having lost their target, surged forward in a straight line.
Directly toward Saelika!

Boom!

“Ugh…!”

A pained groan escaped.
Everything went according to plan.

Zabelina landed swiftly on the ground and lifted her head.
Preparing to scream as if shocked by the horrific sight before her.

But.

‘What…?’

The scene before Zabelina’s eyes was nothing like she had anticipated.
Dolores and Petrea had erected a barrier, blocking the monsters’ advance.

‘Those idiots from Preitsha…!’

A barrier hastily erected.
There were limits to containing eight monsters simultaneously.
The thin section of the barrier tore under the creature’s claws.

Screech—!

The monster’s limb pierced through the torn barrier and raked across Dolores.

“Dolores…!”

Petrea’s face drained of color at the sight of crimson blood.
In that instant.

Whoosh!
A clean slash cut through the air with barely a sound.

All eight monsters were slaughtered at once.
Even those who had been screaming fell silent, their eyes fixed on a single point.

Body fluids sprayed in all directions, flesh falling like snowflakes.
A savior’s arrival—yet far too cruel and grotesque for such a title.

Standing there with regal composure was a young boy.
He was the Empire’s Crown Prince.
Kaishurit.

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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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