Chapter 247 — 화려한 귀환

Chapter 247

A Triumphant Return

Crunch, crunch!

A chilling sound filled the command tent.

Nergui, a man of the Borfur tribe who’d been watching in dry-mouthed silence, thought:

Lately, their great chieftain… no, their king had grown strange.

Since the day he was born, he had never once regretted being born a Borfur tribesman.

But if the price for bearing the dragon’s blood—until now only a legend—was that, perhaps it would’ve been better not to bear it at all.

“More.”

Nergui snapped to attention at the sudden voice.

But it was hard to hide the cold shiver crawling up his spine.

Like the bellow of an archdemon said to dwell in hell’s bottomless pit.

It felt like if he stayed here, that archdemon would seize him and drag him into the abyss—but Nergui didn’t let it show.

If the king realized he was afraid, he’d end up just like the ones lying beneath the king’s feet.

“No more?”

“T-the prisoners we brought you earlier were the last!”

He hadn’t managed to hide his fear completely; Nergui’s voice trembled.

He winced, but fortunately, the king didn’t seem to care.

“A shame.”

Thump!

Nergui had to swallow the sigh rising to his lips as he watched the king, Batu, sit atop the heap of corpses.

‘The Berserk… it’s gotten worse!’

When had it started?

Most of the tribe, Nergui included, knew Batu sometimes showed a savagery that didn’t seem human.

But no one had worried about it.

Such a streak was something any “warrior” might have. In fact, within the tribe, it was a virtue.

Never backing down against the enemy. Squeezing every last drop of your skill.

Weren’t those the two most important virtues a warrior should have?

So to them, Batu’s temperament simply looked like an extension of those virtues.

Besides, up to now that side of him only surfaced in special situations like the battlefield, and to his people he was endlessly warm, so no one took issue with it.

But once they set foot on the Empire’s heartland, the episodes started to increase.

And when their string of victories began to stall, the frequency spiked.

Batu struggled to control it.

The ferocity he had once unleashed only on the battlefield began, at times, to surface even within the tribe.

Its intensity also climbed, forcing the Royal Guard to scramble to hide that side of him.

They later learned that after feeling the king’s pulse, the shaman had named the symptoms “Berserk.”

A kind of side effect caused when the dragon’s temperament sleeping inside tried to break out.

To quell it, the king had to pacify the dragon within.

But every attempt failed.

In truth, “refused by the king” was more accurate.

Circumstances wouldn’t allow it.

To calm the inner dragon, he had to lay down his sword for a time, but as the retreats piled up, there was simply no window to do so.

In the end, the Berserk lasted longer by the day.

And at some point, it started to crave “blood.”

To sate that hunger somehow, the Royal Guard had to shove every previously captured prisoner into the king’s tent.

And so it was now.

The king focused on slaughter for a long while. He showed no special moves or techniques. He simply swung his blade mercilessly, severing limbs and lopping heads.

Even this time, over twenty prisoners died.

Shrieks and madness raged for some time, but even then the king, as if unsatisfied, kept hacking apart bodies that had long since gone still.

And then he asked if there were more….

‘And after the split with the Crimson Lions, it only got worse…!’

It was that very Berserk that had blown up their relationship with the Crimson Lion Corps.

They’d been routed again and again, and rumors were rampant that Andre meant to defect to the Empire. Batu had demanded an explanation. Yet Andre, despite the risk to his own neck, strode straight in to face Batu, startling the Royal Guard.

Even the tribesmen who had privately looked down on and distrusted Andre had to admit, at least then, that he was “a warrior.”

But Batu treated Andre as an open traitor and even pressured him outright to hand over command and step down.

Andre tried to persuade Batu, but Batu only dug in.

So they clashed.

The mountain folk and the Crimson Lions fell into infighting, and the alliance was torn asunder, each side forced to go its own way.

And… after that, they ended up like this.

The Crimson Lions crossed over to the Star Expeditionary Corps rather than the Empire’s Grand Headquarters.

The mountain tribe, driven and hounded by the Grand Headquarters’ relentless pursuit, had been forced back to the point where there was nowhere left to retreat.

In effect, the Mnar River was their last stop.

Naturally, Batu’s Berserk was now all but beyond control.

“If only Lady Sarnai were here…!”

Knowing that when the priestess had personally attended the king, the Berserk hadn’t been this bad, made his guts burn all the more.

Grigori hadn’t been seen lately either.

They were, for all intents and purposes, isolated and alone.

How much longer could they hold out like this?

He knew all too well that other tribes—practically forced into union—were beginning to show signs of breaking away.

It felt like he could see the future bearing down on them, and Nergui could only squeeze his eyes shut.

* * *

“My friend, Elric! At last we meet like this…! Pahahahat!”

When the Star Expeditionary Corps drew within spitting distance of the Grand Headquarters—

The Grand Headquarters tossed them an order to report in person on the past months.

Until now, even when envoys came from HQ, they’d stonewalled, citing the state of the front.

But with no excuses left, Elric crossed over in person with Isabel, Herman, and Sailor.

The first to greet him was the Fourth Prince, Kromhel.

Herman and Sailor paid their respects, but Kromhel seemed interested only in Elric.

He even stepped forward, arms spread, to embrace him.

But—

Swish!

Elric took a step back and slipped out of Kromhel’s arms.

“…?”

Kromhel looked at him as if to ask why.

As if he truly didn’t understand.

Elric knit his brows slightly and gave a very short explanation.

“I’m not into hugging men.”

“H-heh, heh-heh! Hah-hah-hah! My apologies. I wasn’t thinking! Wahahaha! I’ve no such tastes either, mind you! Pahahahat!”

The prince blinked, then burst into roaring laughter.

By contrast, a few knights and nobles attending him went sheet-white. Some flushed red and glared at Elric.

To them, it looked like the prince had tried to commend a vassal for his hardships, only to have that foot of friendship kicked away.

An insult to the Fourth Prince.

Perhaps that’s why—

“How dare you…!”

The captain of the Fourth Prince’s Royal Guard, the Black Lion Order, let his eyes go cold and reached for his hilt.

But—

“Hand off.”

A voice pricked the captain’s ear.

Quiet, but with a weight that brooked no defiance.

His arm froze, as if time itself had stopped.

“Unless you want to lose it.”

The captain had to grit his teeth.

The gaze fixed on him belonged to Herman.

His eyes looked placid, but the aura behind them promised to rip him to shreds.

‘What kind of eyes are those…!’

Despite himself, the captain flinched.

He wasn’t exactly obscure—he’d passed 4 chains and was pushing into the 5-chain, a Superior-class realm.

He fancied he wouldn’t be outdone even against the Eight Lions, but facing Herman directly, he didn’t dare say it.

‘They said he’d touched 6 chains—could it be true…?’

During the year Herman had been missing, wild rumors abounded.

The most famous was his “draw with Batu.”

Batu’s danger was known throughout the Empire by now.

Several Lions had secretly set out to bring down Batu, only to flee; that’s how fearsome he was.

Rumors swirled that he wielded the power of a dragon, that scales sprouted on his skin when he gripped a sword. The Inspectorate even speculated they might have to call in the Golden Lion to catch him.

And the only one said to have fought him to a draw was Herman.

Some dismissed the stories—like Herman once suffering aphasia—as nonsense….

But in this moment, the captain realized they weren’t nonsense at all.

“Captain, sheathe it.”

Then the Fourth Prince cut off his laughter and spoke a single line.

Only then did the captain take his hand off the scabbard, bow, and step back. Herman didn’t press the matter.

Kromhel’s gaze slid to Herman, a smile tugging at his lips.

“You’ve climbed again. How high do you mean to go?”

The Fourth Prince’s retinue, including the captain, swallowed dryly.

For one Lion to publicly acknowledge that the Blue Lion had completed 6 chains—

Aside from the Golden Lion, 6 chains were thought to be the human limit. That alone was explosive.

Shock, disbelief, and awe poured in from all sides.

Herman merely smiled, calm as ever.

But—

What he said was anything but calm.

“Hard to say. At the moment, I only know I need to push higher than this. There’s someone right at my back, breathing down my neck. If I don’t keep my head sharp, he’ll catch up in no time.”

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

For the first time, Kromhel’s eyes went wide.

A few faces around him rippled with alarm.

Some nobles hurriedly told their attendants to go and find out more.

Because unless you counted the Golden Lion, Herman was an absolute powerhouse—one of the top five on the continent—and he had just said Elric was only a few moves behind him.

Of course, Herman might be exaggerating to boost Elric.

But seeing Sailor quietly nod beside him, none of them took it as a lie.

Even if there was a touch of exaggeration, it was clear the gap couldn’t be large.

Which meant—

They felt it, keenly.

The rise of Mervinger had only just begun.

Elric drank in every gaze and curled one corner of his mouth.

“Then let’s head in. His Highness the Crown Prince is probably waiting with his neck about to snap.”