Raising the Princess to Overcome Death-Chapter 290: Engagement - Malhas
289. Engagement - Malhas
"Keep the fires lit!"
But how?
A knight shouted in desperation, but there was no solution. There was no way to stop Halpas as he flitted about rapidly, nor could they prevent the gusts from his powerful wings from snuffing out the flames. Even blocking with their bodies only allowed the wind to seep through their fingers.
With the prince’s eyes clouded over, Ray took charge and shouted,
“Bring anything flammable from the rooms! Drag them into the gallery, set them on fire, and pour out the lantern oil! We can’t let our sight be blocked!”
The knights followed his orders, rushing to bring furniture from the palace and setting it ablaze.
But it took too long. Moreover, the flint and iron pyrite supplied to the kingdom’s knights failed to ignite the high-quality wood easily. The furniture, aged for over a decade in the harsh northern cold and coated with layers of ambergris, whale saliva, stubbornly resisted catching fire.
The ambergris-coated wood was nearly flame-resistant. Though these expensive pieces added to the palace’s grandeur, they were utterly useless now. The knights piled curtains and clothing, dousing them with lantern oil to ignite, but the hall remained shrouded in darkness except for sporadic patches of flame. Then, Halpas’s voice rang out.
- Son, I will spare you especially. Go outside. Kill the commoner girl you love instead of the princess of Aisel Kingdom, and you will be freed. Caw!
Ray looked toward the prince. But he could only see darkness, and the number floating above Ray’s head dropped.
In the darkness, they were more attuned to sound. Though they knew better, the knights couldn’t help but let Halpas’s words slip into their ears.
- Caw caw caw caw! All of you, jump down!
A series of sickening thuds echoed through the dim hall. The knights began to feel terror creeping in.
The chain of command was broken, and the darkness whispered sweetly to them.
Run away.
No one will know if you run.
Ray noticed the number of knights on each floor had dwindled. Those who had promised to bring kindling hadn’t returned, and the hall was plunging even faster into darkness and silence. Flap, flap—wings fluttered nearby.
- Caw caw caw caw! There you are, foolish Swordmaster. I’m right in front of you. Care to jump again like last time? Caw!
“Damn it! You cowardly bastard. Won’t you come down here and fight fairly?”
- You come to me. Fairly. I’ll be right here. Caw!
They were around the third floor. Ray, guessing the number Arpen had received, shouted out.
“Baron Arpen! Don’t listen to him!”
“This bastard’s pissing me off!”
- Caw caw caw! So you’re a baron now? A savage who’s made it big, I see. Is that why you dress like that? You should’ve stayed a savage. Even you know it, don’t you? Caw!
“I can’t hear you! I can’t hear… Huh?”
- Caw?
What was this? Suddenly, it went quiet below.
Ray’s heart sank, thinking Arpen had succumbed to Halpas, but then he heard Arpen’s boisterous laughter.
“Kuhahaha! What the hell? Nothing’s happening?”
- T-this can’t be…
Was it because he was chosen by the main god and had become a Swordmaster? Despite receiving a ‘1,’ Arpen was unfazed. As the number floating above his head vanished, Halpas clicked his beak in frustration.
- That filthy god has played every trick. Even Jacob wasn’t affected by [Fascination]. Caw! Fine, I’ll leave you for now…
Halpas changed his target. He decided to deal with the Swordmaster last and flew upward. Ray, leaning against the railing, felt the darkness ahead shift.
A gust—Halpas’s feathers were so close he could smell them. He was right in front of him.
The number above Ray’s head had already dropped to ‘2.’ Ray tried not to listen to anything. He was ready to block if Halpas attacked, to scatter his focus if the creature spoke, but Halpas was cunning.
- Rera, wasn’t it? Aren’t you curious what’s happened to your lover? Caw!
“What! Rera!”
Halpas grinned, pleased with himself. But then, he clicked his beak furiously.
- Damn it.
His prized ability, [Tightening Fate], didn’t work on this toy of the gods. “Hahaha! What’s the matter? Are you an idiot?” came the taunt from the Swordmaster below, causing Halpas to flap his wings angrily.
Halpas turned his gaze. He would kill these pests.
Halpas dived suddenly in the dark. Ray, having used {Tracking} to confirm Rera was alive, steadied his panicked heart when an idea struck him.
I have {Divine Power Perception}.
Why hadn’t he thought of using it earlier? With this, he could track Halpas even in darkness.
Ray immediately activated {Divine Power Perception}, and to his shock, the hall was no longer dark. Instead… it was blazing red.
All around him—above, below, left, and right.
The hall viewed through {Divine Power Perception}—no, the entire Manubium Palace—was bathed in red. The marble, pillars, furniture, carpets, and decorations were the only things not glowing red, making his eyes ache.
“This… this is…”
Ray finally understood why the walls of Manubium’s fortress and palace glowed red. Built to counter magic, they were constructed from a mineral called Manubium, which nullifies magic but amplifies divine power.
It didn’t matter if the power belonged to the main god or Ashin; divine power was the same at its core, differing only in degree.
Halpas had a reason for establishing Manubium as his base.
He had steadily infused the fortress and palace with divine power, and the Manubium amplified this power, allowing him to sustain [Call of the Battlefield] effortlessly. This was why Halpas hadn’t tired and why he hadn’t appeared in a massive form like Malphas.
‘Then this place… it’s truly dangerous. I should have waited for the saint!’
Regret always comes too late.
Without the ability to turn back time, Ray rubbed his stinging eyes and looked down. To survive, he had to deal with that creature somehow…
In the blood-red vision, Halpas stood out clearly below, feasting on the broken egg.
“Ugh! This is insane!”
It resembled an iron pyrite cube. Halpas’s octagonal divine power was rapidly transforming, and Ray was horrified.
This was beyond comprehension.
A flat surface had become a form with height and volume, and the level of Halpas's divine power was skyrocketing. Far surpassing the 17-sided Oriax, it was approaching Astroth’s level, prompting Ray to rub his eyes and take another look. He quickly realized he’d been deceived.
It was a cube, but only from the front; the back was hollow. Like fool’s gold, it was designed to deceive.
Ray let out a sigh of relief, but he knew he couldn’t leave it be.
- I may not like merging with Malphas again… but from now on, I shall be Malhas!
As Halpas devoured the egg, his body began to swell, and a red tint spread across his black feathers.
Malhas. A transformation into the ancient Ashin born in the eastern swamps, before being split in two by Saint Azura, an entity once unmatched in power.
Ray swallowed hard. He couldn’t afford to give the creature any more time, so he stepped onto the railing.
This was the fifth floor.
Even with a perfect landing, the height was enough to break his legs. Ray recalled the previous ending where Rera had died from a fall. But because of that memory, he found the courage.
Even if I die, Rera must live.
The crimson palace, visible through {Divine Power Perception}, fueled his resolve. Yes, my name is Ray Dexter. The name given by my late mother—‘Courage.’
Ray jumped silently, tightening his grip on his sword and aiming directly at Halpas’s back. The wind whipped through his hair—
- Caw caw caw caw! Did I mention how much I love reckless bravery?
Halpas was watching. His eight eyes moved independently, scanning all directions. Cawing mockingly, he stepped aside, responding to Ray’s courage by dodging with a single sidestep.
“Arrgghhh…! You damn bast—!”
- Foolish.
Ray was about to crash into the ground. With no way to change direction in midair, Halpas turned his attention back to pecking at the remaining shell. He would finish the egg, then eat Ray after he fell—
“Ha! I never thought you had it in you, you bastard! Let’s go!”
As Ray plummeted from the fifth to the fourth, and then the third floor, Arpen charged in. Leaping from the third floor, he spread his arms wide and caught Ray around the waist.
“Baron Arpen!”
“Focus!”
- Caw!
Halpas flapped his wings hastily, but it was too late. The two men, propelled by their momentum, collided directly with Halpas’s back.
Thud! Ray’s sword plunged into Halpas’s neck, and Ray clung to his embedded blade while Arpen hung onto one of the wings. The creature’s fluffy feathers cushioned the impact.
- Caaawww!!
“Die!”
[Achievement: Beast Hunt - ‘1,’ Mana faintly imbues your body.]
A blinding white light burst from Ray’s sword.
The aura blade, which Ray had conserved until now, sliced through Halpas’s neck, and the achievement counter ticked down. But Halpas didn’t die quietly.
- You worthless vermin!
Eyes sprouted all over Halpas’s crow-like head, multiplying grotesquely. His body swelled several times over, sprouting multiple wings, and he took flight. His voice began to change.
- I, Malhas, am the God of War and the King of All Living Things! Call me the Heavenly God and worship me!
“What nonsense! Are you losing your mind just because you’re about to die? Wh-what?”
A powerful wind surged from below.
Halpas—no, Malhas—ceased his wing flaps and began to float gently. His crimson feathers turned into razor-sharp blades, and his voice deepened.
- The wind is mine as well! All that sparkles in the world belongs to me, and I will confront the main god to reclaim my dominion! You, worms who fail to recognize your king, ground-bound scum dare to cling to me? I will not forgive this!
The bladed feathers bristled.
The palace shook violently, dislodging the marble cladding from the walls of the hall. The underlying Manubium rock of the palace became visible, glowing so brightly red that the need for fire was gone. That light was quickly absorbed into Malhas’s body.
Slashed by the bladed feathers, Arpen couldn’t endure any longer and shouted.
“Hey!! Slash it! Cut it quickly! We’re all going to die like this!”
[Achievement: Beast Hunt - ‘0,’ Mana faintly imbues your body.]
But Ray couldn’t respond, nor could he finish the job by driving his sword deeper into Malhas’s neck.
He was out of mana.
The aura blade flickered and died; Ray was no longer a Swordmaster. Or rather, he still was, but he couldn’t draw forth his aura.
His sword just dangled, half-buried in Malhas’s neck.
“What are you doing! Slash it!”
“...Baron Arpen. Could you possibly come over here?”
“How the hell am I supposed to get there, you idiot! Stop messing around and kill it! Quickly!”
They were trapped.
Malhas was rising higher, and the bladed feathers digging into Ray and Arpen grew fiercer. Arpen, clinging to Malhas’s right wing, was now far away due to the creature’s rapidly expanding size.
Just when it seemed like it was all over...
“Ray!!”
Rera Ainar suddenly leaped from the top floor of the hall. In her hands, held in reverse, was—
A' bota.
The sword that Toddler Akiunen used to slay the god Lachar. Rera Ainar, falling like a meteor, drove the blade vertically into the nape of Malhas’s neck.
.
!
Chapter 290: Engagement - Malhas
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