Raising the Princess to Overcome Death Chapter 99

99. Beggar Siblings – Oriax

Eric de Yeriel stared dumbfounded at Leo, who was retching.

‘Why, why isn't it working? He's not an apostle, right? There's nothing blessed on him...’

He was bewildered. But before his confusion even subsided, the man pointed his finger at him.

“Kill... ugh, kill him... quickly.”

The knights rushed forward.

Ungrateful wretches!

“Rov qab los!”

With the prince’s strange cry, the charging knights were flung back. They tumbled in mid-air as if struck by something, but Eric anxiously bit his lip.

Regardless of the knights' astonishment, he looked out the window. He glimpsed the church and the dirty minions of the main god to the south.

Fortunately, it seemed they hadn't noticed.

Eric grabbed his 'Mother's Necklace' from the display case by the window and leapt out.

He had to escape. He couldn't die so absurdly. The throne... the throne is mine. It’s the rightful place promised to me.

“No!”

The knights following Leo clung to the window and shouted. Jumping from a height of nearly ten meters was burdensome even for knights.

But Eric lightly waved his hand and landed softly. Checking his surroundings again, he shouted.

“Guards! Guards! Over here!”

The guards, who had rushed out in confusion, ran up and asked.

“Prince! Are you alright? What's going on?”

“It’s an uprising. The knights are rebelling. Gather the royal guards and soldiers immediately. They’re upstairs...”

- Thud! Thud! Thud!

The knights following Leo jumped out of the window one after another.

The detestable 'younger brother' also jumped out with the knights and screamed with a pale face.

“Catch him! Don't let him escape! No, you don't even need to catch him, just kill him!”

Dozens of knights drew their swords again and approached menacingly.

“B-block them! Eliminate the traitors!”

Hundreds of guards and a dozen royal guards formed a formation. They moved forward, protecting the prince, but Eric’s mind was uneasy.

All sixty of them were knights. The rabble of the knighthood had sided with Leo.

Even the captain of the royal guard...

While the guards defending the palace were elite, they were no match for the knights.

“Ristad! Where are you? Show yourself!”

“I am Ristad Jekon Doroff, Prince Eric de Yeriel.”

At the prince's shout, a middle-aged man appeared out of thin air.

The arrogant magician who used three names, Ristad Jekon Doroff, was in blue pajamas with a scruffy beard.

Eric spoke quickly, as if the names didn’t matter at all.

“It’s a rebellion. Alert the nobles of the emergency. Summon all the Lutetia guards too.”

“I've already alerted them. It’ll take a little time for them to arrive, though.”

As the magician contracted with the Yeriel royal family, he wiped the sleep from his eyes and asked.

“But Prince, can you use magic? You repelled the knights just now? It was a magic I’ve never seen before...”

“That’s none of your concern. The situation is urgent, so go catch the traitors.”

“I contracted to assist in defending the palace, not to help in power struggles between princes, though?”

Ristad chuckled and lowered his voice. So that the surrounding guards and royal guards couldn’t hear. He knew that Prince Leo de Yeriel had returned alive.

“I'll pay you as much as you want. Just help the soldiers immediately!”

“Hmm... Let’s see.”

Eric de Yeriel gritted his teeth in impatience, but Ristad just observed the battle without taking any action. Despite the prince’s growing frustration, he simply crossed his arms.

“Sorry, but no additional contracts. I don’t want to get involved in power struggles... Honestly, the other side looks stronger, too? Hahaha. Prince, you’d better flee quickly.”

“You insolent... If you just buy me some time... Wait, you didn’t summon reinforcements, did you?”

“Who knows? Then, take care of yourself. I’m off. Hahahaha.”

With those words, the magician floated up and rose to the top of the palace tower, and Eric de Yeriel stomped his feet in fury.

“For Prince Leo!”

“What, what? Prince Leo?”

The knights led by Leo swept away the guards. The royal guards, who had rushed out after waking up, were shocked and unable to exert their strength upon seeing Leo.

The corpses piling up in the garden were all guards.

“Damn it!”

Eric abandoned the guards struggling to protect him and ran off in a hurry.

I can’t trust that magician. I don’t know if he called reinforcements or not, so I need to escape and summon the army...

“For Prince Leo!”

Knights gathered at the main gate too. They were cutting down the guards defending the palace as they approached.

How many knights are there? Could it be the entire knighthood...?

“Damn it!”

He sharply changed direction. He tried to escape through the secret passage at the well in the garden... damn it. Knights were pouring out from the well too.

“Capture Prince Eric!”

There was no place to run.

After running around here and there for a long time, Prince Eric was eventually driven to the castle wall. The knights closed in on him with their swords pointed at him.

The magician watched the scene from afar, laughing as if he found it highly amusing.

“You dare point your swords at a ‘Yeriel’! You worthless scum! Move them away at once!”

He shouted until his face turned red, but the knights just stepped closer without lowering their weapons.

Behind them, Leo, with a pale face, was rushing forward, shouting, “Kill him! Now!”

“Leo, you bastard! If you were alive, you should have stayed hidden!”

The knights took another step forward, wary of the magic the prince had shown earlier.

“Lower your swords! Damn it! What does it matter if you're born from the queen! This guy or that guy... fine. Given the circumstances... I’ll show you. I’ll prove that I am the one chosen by the god, not him!”

“Don’t dawdle!”

“Ah! Prince!”

Leo hastily swung his sword.

Seeing the strange illusion, he had no time to spare. He even thought about running away. Despite having successfully ambushed Prince Eric with overwhelming force, he wanted to take Lena and flee, but he couldn't retreat with victory so close.

He had to kill him quickly.

This guy is dangerous.

Something was going wrong.

But faster than Leo's sword, Eric's eyes blazed a dark red.

“Oh mighty Oriax!”

Prince Eric raised his arms high. Red light flashed from his eyes, and a hole tore open in the air.

Leo, who was charging forward, was flung back and tumbled across one side of the garden.

Ristad, who had been watching the chaos from the roof of the tower, sprang up in shock. He screamed in terror.

“No! Stop it immediately...! Triquelererrak Bunerudenk Tique's Jowhemaak!!!”

The magician’s head shook like an alarm bell. He rolled his eyes back, raving madly as if he had seen something he shouldn’t have.

The previously noisy palace fell into sudden silence. The fighting knights, the guards, and the screaming palace maids all stared blankly at the air.

The only one making noise was the magician frothing at the mouth.

“Gnukekakri Juokakangi-Aneota! Brmuexe-Kadinu!”

A black hole hovered high above the palace.

It was darker than the darkest night, its outline clear.

“W-what is that?”

And then something moved behind it...

“Aaah!”

Those who had been staring blankly at the bizarre scene screamed in terror. Leo, who had fallen, clattered his teeth together.

‘An eye’ appeared.

An eye filled with rotting blood looked down at them through the narrow hole. A nauseating stench engulfed the entire palace.

Leo felt his face burning. When he raised his hand to touch it, he found it smeared with pus.

It was the same for everyone else. As if branded, their faces burst open in the shape of ‘cow hooves,’ oozing pus.

[Achievement: Child God - You become stronger against Child Gods and Apostles.]

[Debuff: Oriax's Footprint - Provocation, you cannot flee. Until 16 years, 11 months, 29 days, 23:59:55.]

Urgent bells rang out from somewhere. The five bells hanging at the Lutetia Church were ringing madly.

“Kahahahaha! Worship! Offer yourselves to the great god Oriax!”

- Splat!

Tears, no, blood fell from Oriax's eye. The ground where the blood landed rotted away, and suddenly, a cow’s head emerged from the earth.

“Moo-oo-oo!”

The monster with a cow’s head shook its massive body, shaking off the dirt and roaring.

- Splat! Splat! Splat!

“Kaaa-ugh. Moo-oo-oo!”

The blood kept falling.

A soldier unlucky enough to be hit by the blood screamed. His scream quickly changed as his head transformed into a cow's head, and his body swelled up.

Giant monsters nearly three meters tall stood on cow hooves. The ten monsters grasped the horns sprouting from their heads with their huge hands and roared.

“Fight, fight! Capture them!”

Leo shouted, but there was no need. The knights and soldiers were rushing at the monsters as if possessed.

Leo was the only one in his right mind. The palace maids, the servants, and the stewards grabbed whatever they could and charged. Whether it was the second or third floor, they threw themselves down, breaking their legs, but still rushing at the monsters like moths to a flame.

“Wh-what? Commander! Get a hold of yourself!”

Leo grabbed the commander of the guards who was about to pass by. When he shook his shoulders, the commander seemed to come to his senses and opened his eyes wide.

“Prince? Oh my... please, let me go. If we don’t kill those things quickly...”

He shook off Leo’s hand and ran at the monsters, swinging his sword. It was as if he felt he had to eliminate them as quickly as possible.

What the hell is this...?

Flesh and blood splattered. A maid’s upper body flew, losing her lower half, and a soldier impaled on a horn flailed.

In the nightmarish scene reminiscent of a slaughterhouse, Leo stood in shock,

“Urgh!”

He shuddered at the eerie sensation. Having shed all its tears, Oriax's eye was now staring intently at him.

Just its gaze sent shivers down his spine.

‘This... this is impossible.’

Am I supposed to fight something like that?

Me? Leo, who had slumped to the ground, struggled to hold his shattered mind together, his mouth agape. As the blood in Oriax's eye swirled with curiosity, Leo's blood also churned violently.

His blood surged to one side of his body, causing bruises, and then to the other side, repeating this cycle.

It was impossible.

That thing was not something a human could contend with.

Leo clutched his neck tightly, pressing down on his swollen carotid artery as he fell to his knees.

This game was flawed from the start.

No matter the bloodline events or whatever, there was no way to clear this. How could anyone drive out someone who could summon something like that?

It was over.

He would never return to this place again. No, Minseo! You must never come here.

This place... this place is hell.

A soldier burst apart in front of his eyes. The innards of a soldier kicked by a monster splattered across Leo's face.

Leo felt dizzy.

He was about to give in to despair and abandon everything...

“Moo-oo-oo!”

The maids, servants, and soldiers were being crushed by the monsters' huge hands, but the knights were fighting well.

“...What?”

The monsters were not as strong as they seemed.

Despite their grotesque, terrifying appearance with their rotting blood vessels pulsing on their massive bodies, they were no more than ‘beasts.’

Their size suggested strength, but that was all.

And there were over a hundred knights here. Even though they were terrified and charging recklessly, they were taking down the monsters one by one.

As a glimmer of hope began to form,

“Thov koj kho kuv! I offer this blood!”

Prince Eric was running around performing a ritual. With a dagger he had pulled from his bosom, he sliced open a knight's corpse and chanted a prayer of offering.

The corpse quickly decayed and disintegrated.

Repeating this act, blood droplets fell from Oriax's eye. Another monster was added.

“Thov txais! I offer this flesh!”

The monsters’ wounds began to heal rapidly. Severed limbs regrew, and gouged-out eyes found their place again.

A half-dead monster rose, snorting and shaking its head.

‘He’s the problem!’

Leo struggled to get up.

His body wasn’t normal due to the gaze of the Child God, but he couldn’t just sit idly by.

He identified the root of the problem. It was Eric de Yeriel, that prince.

There was no point in even thinking about dealing with the one above looking down at them, but the monsters below were weak compared to that. So... there must be some restriction. Otherwise, it wouldn't just be watching from that hole.

Leo gripped his sword tightly.

The knights, their eyes rolled back in terror, were fighting the monsters, but no one was paying attention to Prince Eric.

I have to take him down.

Leo dashed across the chaotic garden. Blood burst from his ears. He charged at Eric de Yeriel, who was searching for corpses.

“Die!”

“What! You bastard! Rov qab los!”

Leo was thrown back again.

Eric asked in astonishment.

“What are you? You’re fine even with a brand. And you weren't charmed earlier... huh!”

Leo charged again.

This time, he wasn't thrown back.

He was just blocked.

- Clang!

Eric de Yeriel screamed, thinking he was hit by the sword, then slowly opened his eyes.

A translucent sphere enveloped him. It glowed a dark red, undoubtedly a gift from the god. When Leo struck his sword again, the sphere didn’t shatter but grew denser.

At that moment, one of the monsters noticed the danger to its 'apostle' and approached Leo.

‘This isn’t working. It’s over.’

Leo abandoned all hope. He needed to flee immediately. Leaving Oriax's gaze behind, he ran away.

I need to take my sister and flee. Flee and... No, Jenia is with Lena. Going to Lena might cause problems, so I should go to Bart...

As he ran towards the main gate, thinking about what to do next, Leo's heart sank.

Jenia Zachary appeared. Her face was disfigured with a hideous brand, and she was running towards him with a drawn sword.

Thick pus was dripping from her chin, just like Leo's.