Chapter 383: Chapter 383
“Move while you’re cursing! This isn’t a drill!”
Soldiers, servants, knights, and vassals streamed through the mansion corridors in a chaos of footsteps and shouted orders. Rank meant nothing in the face of imminent danger.
Lowell pressed herself against the cold stone wall, trying to stay out of their way as bodies rushed past her.
–Lowell! Get to safety immediately! Don’t move until this is over!
Lucas had barked those orders after deploying the defensive magic circle, then sprinted toward the conference room without looking back.
Lowell wanted to follow him, but she knew it was impossible.
‘Because I’m not a lion.’
Even if she had been recognized as one, she wouldn’t have been allowed into that meeting. During emergencies , only the most essential people could enter the conference room.
The Lucid family mansion perched high above the castle walls, built into the mountainside by some mad ancestor who’d insisted on watching battles from above. Most days, the location was a curse that left everyone breathless from the climb. Today, it might save their lives.
The castle had two gates—north and south.
When she reached a window overlooking the northern wall, voices drifted up from below.
“How did we miss such a massive force?”
“They used some unknown method. We suspect it’s mystical power, but we can’t be certain!”
A noble she didn’t recognize stood there—probably some visiting dignitary who’d come to curry favor and gotten trapped in this nightmare.
“That’s not what matters now! How long can we hold them off?”
“We got the magic circle up before they attacked, so damage is minimal. With our magic, enchanted weapons, and knights, we could last a week easily, but…”
“There’s something very wrong about this attack.”
Demons and beasts did attack in groups sometimes, but never . A few hundred at most was the usual number.
‘Actually, the numbers aren’t even the real problem.’
A large army without unified command was just an unruly mob. The same held true for demons—they were naturally uncooperative, with no real hierarchy or organization. Usually, you could pick them off one by one without much trouble.
‘This many beasts and demons, all working together. There’s only one type of being that can command dozens of high-grade demons.’
A demon beyond demons. What black mages whispered about as an evil god made flesh.
She didn’t need to look far for proof of what such a being could accomplish. The 5th Legion Commander, Crowley, had appeared decades ago. How much blood had been spilled to stop him? Those wounds still hadn’t fully healed, and now another Legion Commander had come.
‘This is the worst possible scenario.’
Lowell’s body began to shake.
Throughout history, Legion Commanders had appeared eight times. Each one wielded different powers, possessed unique personalities, appeared in various forms. No analysis was possible until you faced them directly.
But all Legion Commanders shared two common traits: they spread death across the continent, and…
‘The region where they first appear is always left in ruins!’
The mansion lurched violently. No—the entire castle shuddered under some tremendous impact.
The force sent Lowell tumbling to the floor.
An impact that could shake the whole castle. She had no idea what had just happened.
“Hey, you all right?”
Someone peered down at her with obvious amusement.
It was Pleche—a knight who’d looked after her since childhood and sworn his loyalty to the Lucid family.
“Instead of gawking, how about helping me up?”
“Is there any need? That’s quite an artistic pose you’ve struck. Could hang it in a museum just like that.”
Pleche made a frame with his hands, as if composing a shot.
Pleche was one of the few outsiders permitted to learn the Lucid family’s swordsmanship in recognition of his unwavering loyalty. He was also Lowell’s friend—despite their age gap, age meant nothing when hearts truly connected.
“Well, if you insist.”
Pleche took her hand and pulled her to her feet.
Of course, she had no real authority to give orders. Lowell hadn’t been recognized as family, so her commands meant nothing. It was just an old joke between them—started when they were young, with Pleche teasing her about not being acknowledged as a lion, and her declaring she’d boss him around all day once she was. Neither had expected the game to continue this long.
“What are you doing here anyway? Shouldn’t you be fighting?”
“I’m not slacking off, you know. I’m searching the interior—checking for low-grade demons that might have slipped in through tunnels or dropped from above.”
It was an emergency, but their defense systems were functioning perfectly. Their 120-year record of remaining undefeated wasn’t mere luck. It was skill, pure and simple.
For a moment, she thought they might repel this attack more easily than expected.
“The first gate—it’s collapsed!”
Even with the first gate breached, it shouldn’t have been catastrophic. Two more gates stood behind it, and the fortress design created a ‘U’ shape that allowed defenders to attack from three sides simultaneously. The third gate used the same principle—breaking through the second and third would cost the enemy dearly.
‘This is happening too fast.’
At this rate, they wouldn’t last until reinforcements arrived. Actually, for the first gate to fall this quickly meant something out there could simply smash through castle walls.
‘There’s something that can break stone like it’s paper!’
“It’s down too? The legendary gate that hadn’t been breached in fifty years?”
Disbelief colored both their voices. Lowell and Pleche stared at each other in shock.
For the second gate to collapse less than a minute after the first—she couldn’t believe it even seeing the destruction with her own eyes.
Before they could process what was happening…
A figure landed atop the rubble that had been their gate.
The Lucid Family’s first secret technique: Earth Flip.
When Duke Luke swung his sword, the ground itself obeyed. The earth rose like an ocean wave and surged forward, taking the place where the gate had stood.
“He created a hill as tall as our castle walls with a single stroke!”
“That’s Duke Luke for you!”
But earth wasn’t the same as a proper gate—gaps remained. Demons and beasts squeezed through these openings, only to discover their fatal mistake.
Duke Luke guarded the rear personally.
Beasts, low-grade demons, even high-grade ones—none of them could match him.
“I can’t tell which one’s the real monster here.”
His divine might was terrifying, like watching a god of war made flesh.
Duke Luke, who had been cutting down enemies without pause, suddenly stopped. A few demons slipped past him, but he didn’t even glance their way.
His gaze fixed on the earthen hill he’d created, on the ‘something’ standing atop it.
Heavy snow obscured the figure’s exact shape, but somehow, no one could speak.
Lowell’s heart hammered against her ribs.
The unknown presence was small—roughly human-sized and shaped. But she could sense the truth of what it was.
“A Legion Commander?”
The battle erupted with a sound like thunder.
They moved so fast their forms blurred beyond recognition.
Earth flipped, castle walls crumbled, and the very sky seemed to crack apart. A battle between gods.
But everyone watching knew the terrible truth: Duke Luke was going to lose.
As she watched the impossible conflict unfold, unable to even blink, Pleche spoke.
“I have to go help him.”
“Are you insane? You’ll die if you go out there!”
“Probably. It’s a shame, though. I at least wanted to see you become a lion.”
Pleche immediately turned to leave. Lowell ran after him and threw her arms wide, blocking his path.
“Your skills won’t make any difference! You’ll just get in the way!”
“I still have to try. I’m a knight sworn to serve the Lucid family.”
Pleche moved past her again. Lowell threw herself at him, clinging with all her strength, but she couldn’t overcome a trained knight’s power.
Desperate, she played her last card.
“Don’t go! That’s an order!”
Pleche laughed—a sound heavy with sorrow.
“You know better than anyone that’s meaningless, right?”
He was right. Lowell couldn’t give orders. She wasn’t a lion. She hadn’t been recognized as family yet.
It hurt more than she could bear. Never had she felt such anguish over not being acknowledged.
“You have to become a lion. I’ll be watching from above.”
And with that, Pleche was gone.
Lowell collapsed in the hallway, stunned and lost. Then suddenly she shot to her feet.
‘I have to tell them!’
A Legion Commander had appeared. She had to report this to the conference room immediately. They might already know, but if they didn’t—disaster.
‘If they send reinforcements, maybe Pleche has a chance of surviving!’
The conference room was quite far, but strangely, she didn’t feel winded at all.
Soon she reached her destination.
“Miss? This area is restricted!”
She dodged past the guard’s grasping hand and threw herself through the doors.
“For the second wall to fall like that—what kind of madness is this!”
“We sent word to the imperial family the moment we activated the magic circle. They’ll arrive in three days at the earliest.” ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novèlfire.net
“Our blood allies are sending forces as we speak. The main army should join us within a day!”
A dozen people moved about, voices overlapping in heated discussion. The chaos was so complete that they didn’t even notice Lowell’s unauthorized entry.
She spotted Lucia and Lucas at the center of it all. Lowell shouted as she dodged another guard’s reaching hand.
“A Legion Commander has appeared!”
“A Legion Commander?”
“So that’s what this was. Damn! Where exactly…?”
The vassals fell silent as they noticed Lowell’s presence. Even in an emergency , information couldn’t be shared with someone like her—someone without recognition or authority.
Yes, this was what it meant to be unacknowledged. This was her true position.
“Lowell, explain everything in detail.”
“Lady Lucia, but she shouldn’t…”
“Then should we send her outside to listen through the door and relay messages? Oh wonderful—by then the Legion Commander will have reached the imperial capital.”
“Let’s be practical. Exceptions exist precisely for situations .”
The vassal stepped back, either convinced by Lucia’s logic or genuinely afraid she might strike him.
Lucia looked at Lowell directly—a clear signal to begin her report.
She remembered her academy training: speed, accuracy, and brevity were what mattered in reports.
“It’s at the north wall. The first and second walls fell at one-minute intervals. The snow made it hard to see clearly, but it appeared human in shape and size.”
“Are you certain it’s actually a Legion Commander?”
“Even if it’s not, anything that can breach two gates that quickly is dangerous enough to matter.”
“Why hasn’t the third gate collapsed yet?”
“Father is fighting it directly.”
The conference room went dead silent. A Legion Commander was catastrophic enough, but to engage one without any preparation…
Duke Luke was their greatest military asset. If they lost him, there was no point in discussing the rest of the battle.
They needed to deploy reinforcements immediately. But Lucia seemed lost in thought.
“What are you hesitating for? We must send every available fighter! We have to stop that Legion Commander!”
“No. We have to retreat.”
“Retreat? What kind of nonsense… Don’t even joke about something like that!”
“The land itself is dying! Just being up there makes it hard to breathe! I can’t even channel mana properly!”
Lucia and her knights had sortied on wyverns to thin out the high-grade demons, but they’d been forced to retreat almost immediately. Something was wrong with their bodies—they weren’t functioning normally.
‘Erosion’—appearing in the world for the first time. Even in the future, no proper countermeasures would ever be developed. The people of this era had no hope of dealing with it.
“Tell everyone! We’re retreating immediately!”
This was a far bolder decision than it appeared. The Lucid family had protected this land for hundreds of years. She was declaring they would abandon the territory their nameless ancestors had claimed and defended since time immemorial.
“With father absent, I also have command authority. I absolutely oppose this! Sister, you have no right to issue unilateral orders like…!”
Lucas went flying after Lucia’s fist connected with his jaw.
Lucas hit the ceiling and crashed to the floor. Vassals rushed to check on him, but he showed no signs of consciousness.
Lucia looked down at her unconscious brother and raised her fist meaningfully.
“Now I have the authority.”
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