The Count’s Youngest Son is a Player

Chapter 85

“Cough. How dare you…!”

A sharp sword pierced through the back of a man adorned in splendid armor, emerging from his chest. Struck from behind, the man looked back at the wielder of the sword with disbelief, only to find a cold smile on the assailant’s face.

Whoosh~ Thump.

As the sword was withdrawn, the man weakly knelt and then collapsed, and the royal knights nearby, belatedly realizing what had happened, turned around in horror.

“What madness is this!”

“Sir Jose, a high-level knight, how could you… Urk.”

But they, too, were not spared as a few imperial knights around them launched a surprise attack.

“Traitors, curse you to receive divine punishment, gurgle…”

Three knights tasked with the direct protection of the Second Prince fell futilely, and Senior Knight Jose of the imperial knight order, clicking his tongue, raised his sword.

Whizz~.

His longsword swung ruthlessly, severing the Second Prince’s neck and cutting his breath short for good.

Clang~Clang.

Argh!

And nearby, a massacre unfolded. Servants and soldiers loyal to the Second Prince were being cut down by suddenly appearing demonic cavalry, Imperial Hound knights, and the treacherous imperial knights.

Swoosh.

Wiping the blood off his face with a handkerchief, Jose was approached by an Imperial Hound knight in dark armor who bowed.

“As you commanded, not a single witness has been spared.”

“How fare the other royal family members?”

“The king has left the palace under the protection of the guard captain. The Third and Fourth Princes…”

Upon receiving the report, Jose, a high-level knight, no, executive agent [Number 1] of the Imperial Hounds, nodded.

‘Things are proceeding smoothly.’

The Imperial Hounds’ palace infiltration, following the gate outbreak, was a success. Monsters pouring out from more than ten gates, up to C-Grade, had sufficiently distracted the palace guards and knight order.

This chaos allowed our forces to enter through a secret passage linked to the palace, with spies planted within the palace and those who had been won over assisting the stealthy movement of our troops.

Luring ‘That Man,’ expected to be the biggest problem, was not difficult either. The instrument bestowed by His Imperial Majesty upgraded a C-Grade gate to B-Grade forcibly, and the A-Grade elite guardian [Venom Lesser Dragon] that emerged was a monster too challenging even for the knight order.

‘That Man,’ a hidden master and guardian of the seal in the royal family, leaving his post to handle the elite guardian was inevitable but a significant oversight.

By executing a swift surprise operation and securing the sealed site, the Imperial Hounds succeeded in breaking the seal with the help of their allies, thus achieving their primary objective.

When the guardian returned to the sealed site belatedly, it was already too late; he would never be able to leave it again.

“Kekeke. With this, no one will be able to stop the grand plan.”

All that remained was to lay the groundwork for the next phase. By drying up the seed of this country’s royalty, they would incite chaos and make the upcoming liberation war of the empire much smoother.

“Having dealt with the crown prince and the second prince, who shall we target next?”

Agent No.1, erasing the smile that had appeared on his face, moved towards the next prey, accompanied by the knights who had betrayed their oath.

* * *

“Thank you for your help.”

Raul and the knights had cleared out various monsters clinging to the vicinity of the fortifications.

Of course, there was no guarantee that more monsters wouldn’t swarm in, but the centurion and his soldiers, now given a moment to catch their breath, expressed their gratitude.

“Wish you good fortune.”

Raul encouraged Centurion Marco before descending from the ramparts and heading towards the town.

Initially, the role of the soldiers stationed on the walls was to lure monsters and serve as the final line of defense.

They served to ease the burden on the troops attacking the royal castle while keeping the monsters from breaking into the inner city – a kind of bait, in essence.

He wished he could leave a few knights behind, but knowing they could face any manner of foe ahead, they couldn’t afford to spread their forces thin.

“It’s chaos here too. We thought them unlucky for not even showing their noses outside the gates, tightly shut…”

“There must have been a reason. Would His Majesty have intentionally ignored his people?”

As Jake and Philip discussed, ever since the Gate crisis emerged, the royal knights and central army stationed in the inner city had not ventured to the outer city even once.

This had led to speculation, both among the populace and within the First Knight Order, that the king was disregarding his people.

‘Well, the king must have had his reasons for not deploying the troops.’

It was possible that he had anticipated an incident like today’s.

While pondering whether the immense energy felt from the direction of the castle was related, Raul and the knights leapt across building roofs.

Their destination was, of course, the royal castle.

Having risked coming this far, they had no intention of merely skimming the surface and returning.

“Halt!”

At Raul’s command, the knights stopped atop the roof, crouching low.

Having arrived at the heart of the city, Raul surveyed the makeshift fortress erected in the middle of the square.

Boom! Bang!

The fortress seemed on the verge of collapse – built of stones and earth, it cracked and shook under the onslaught of fireballs, looking ready to fall at any moment.

Beneath the walls, not just a pack of wolves but also hundreds of black-skinned goblins waited for the collapse, but the real problem wasn’t them.

“Imps. When I saw the hellhound spitting fireballs earlier, I wondered… But isn’t the gate that spawns demonic supposed to open much later?”

Above the fortress, surrounded by flying creatures with small wings and horns roughly the size of a child, hurling fireballs.

Demonic monsters were mostly tricky individuals of at least C-Grade, but as far as he remembered, in his past life, they only started appearing after the third scenario.”

What should we do?”

“If we leave it as it is, it won’t last long.”

“Just sweep them away.”

The knights each voiced their opinions. Despite facing an unknown monster, the desire to fight was palpable among them.

“Let’s deal with it and move on. Everyone, get ready to snipe.”

Having seen it, there was no way they could leave a comrade in crisis behind.

“First, take down the ones with wings. Those who can’t use Mana Arrows, aim for the wings specifically.”

Their weakness was their wings. Once their mobility was lost, their close combat abilities were significantly reduced.

“Aim, fire!”

Raul and the knights’ arrows rained down on the imps.

Thud! Thwack!

“Screech!”

Nearly half of the twenty or so imps fell in heaps.

Among these, the arrows from Raul, Philip, and Jake pierced through the heads of the imps, while the rest went through their wings.

“Keep firing!”

Unlike the first volley, the subsequent shots didn’t achieve much. The imps, having noticed them, swiftly dodged the incoming arrows.

Clink! Whoosh~!

Moreover, monsters from beneath the fortress started rushing towards Raul’s party, and the imps retaliated with fireballs.

“No way!”

Boom, Bang~.

The four knights who had stopped shooting took up large shields and dispersed in all directions to protect the party, while only Raul, Philip, and Jake, who could infuse their arrows with mana, aimed for the imps.

“Gotcha!”

The other three knights pulled out long spears from their inventories and faced the monsters leaping onto the roofs.

“Wow!”

“Reinforcements!”

As the imp’s assault halted, the fortress’s soldiers, who had been cowering like turtles, grasped the situation and shouted.

Then, as the aggro shifted towards them, creating some breathing room, the archers began to climb the walls and started supporting fire.

Whiz-Thwack!

With a barrage of arrows causing confusion, one by one, the imps fell to Raul’s party’s sniping, and the monsters approaching were unable to withstand the knights’ spears and shields.

Having confirmed that all the imps had fallen, Raul shouted.

“Everyone, charge! Sweep them all away!”

“Yeah, die all of you~!!”

Jake, energized by Raul’s command, was the first to leap among the monsters, vigorously swinging a massive two-handed broadsword, followed by the rest of the knights.

Raul, seemingly amused by the unstoppable enthusiasm, cracked a smile and hoisted his bow again, seeing no need for his direct intervention.

‘Might as well reap some experience points while I’m at it,’ he thought, humming a tune and briskly pulling the bowstring.

A short while later, leaving behind the corpses of hundreds of monsters, Raul and his companions climbed atop the makeshift fortress.

“Thank you for your assistance. May I ask from which noble house do you knights hail?” inquired a knight of around a thousand-man command rank, expressing his gratitude.

“Oh, we are First Knights of the Count of Ashton’s house,” Philip responded, wiping the knightly emblem obscured by blood to show it.

“And this gentleman here is our Knight captain, Sir Raul.”

“No way, could this be the same person?”

The knight’s eyes widened in surprise as he realized who Raul and his knights were. It seemed they hadn’t recognized the knights’ emblem or attire since the knighting ceremony had only concluded a few days prior.

“It is an honor to meet Sir Raul, whose reputation precedes him. Thank you once again. Without your aid, this fortress would not have stood much longer,” the captain knight said.

“It’s nothing. As a knight of the kingdom, it was only right to help,” Raul responded with a modest smile, graciously accepting the thanks.

“But how did you come to be here? I was under the impression that barriers had sealed off access from the outer city.”

“It seemed there was trouble at the royal palace, so I led the knights here posthaste. Just as we were considering turning back due to the barriers, a breach appeared, presumably because of the monsters’ attack. We were fortunate.”

The captain laughed in response, “Ha, it seems we were the luckier ones to have Sir Raul here. But, how is it outside? I’m concerned about the extent of the damage.”

Raul provided a summary of the situation, prompting the captain to heave a sigh of relief.

“Phew, that’s a relief. Indeed, the rumors about Sir Raul were not unfounded. Anyway, the Central Army bunch…,” the captain mumbled, seemingly dissatisfied with the Central Army’s conduct, hinting at a terse relationship between the guard regiments and the Central Army.

“What about the situation at the royal palace now? I’ve heard snippets but need accurate information.”

“Ah, so you’re considering heading to the palace. As far as I know…”, the captain’s explanation caused Raul’s brow to furrow slightly, the situation appearing worse than he thought.

He had believed it was merely an infiltration of the royal precinct, but it seemed the enemy had taken over the walls.

This had left the gates unsecured, and most of the command, knights from both the Royal Knights and the Central Army, had abandoned their posts to reclaim the fortress.

Moreover, the siege had been ongoing for quite some time without breaching the royal precincts, suggesting the enemy’s formidable strength. The more troublesome news was the appearance of demonic near the fortress.

‘I had heard there were no gates inside the fortress, what’s going on?’

Raul’s mind began to race, considering whether to join the main force for the recapture of the fortress or to seek an alternative strategy.

(To be continued)