The Hero Becomes the Duke’s Eldest Son

Chapter 111

Semi-Master Knight, White Knight Endawin.

Following the command of his lord, Sylbeta, he, along with the Red Knight, secretly led thirty knights to suppress and occupy the Sacred Fire Order’s grand temple.

They received only one command from their lord: kill all the priests and capture Aden Remes and the saintess as hostages.

“Just as Aden said.”

“How does our handsome young master know all these things? It’s amazing.”

“Daring to touch the Sacred Fire Order, they are quite bold.”

“They will all be punished!”

-Woof!

However, the ones they intended to capture as hostages seemed to be prepared and waiting for them.

Despite this unexpected turn of events, the White Knight commanded his knights to subdue the targets, following his lord’s orders.

“But… what is this…?”

Thus, the White Knight couldn’t believe what was unfolding before his eyes.

His eyes trembled violently.

“Ha ha ha ha! Come on! Intruders! Ha ha ha ha!”

The Inquisitor of the Sacred Fire Order, Priest Bali, who had ripped off his shirt, was showing off his overwhelming muscles, smashing senior Sword Aura knights with his mace.

Usually restrained, he was inherently a natural-born battle maniac.

He was enjoying this situation more than anyone else.

“Good, good! The Holy Power is overflowing! Ha ha ha ha!”

Golden Holy Power overflowed from Priest Bali’s body.

During the time when the saint was absent, he could use only a minimal amount of Holy Power.

Even under such harsh penalties, he had once overwhelmed Aden with just his physical abilities when Aden invaded the Sacred Fire Order’s main temple.

Thus, with the saintess Elise present now, he could display his full power.

Six senior Sword Aura knights rushed at Priest Bali, swinging their Sword Auras to cut him down.

“I am the shield of the Holy One, and no spear shall pierce me!”

However, with Priest Bali’s Holy Spell, his entire body became as hard as steel…

Clang!

Even Sword Auras, which could cut through rocks, couldn’t penetrate his body.

The knights flinched at such a bizarre phenomenon.

Boom!

Priest Bali swept the knights away at once with his massive mace imbued with tremendous force.

“Argh!”

“Ugh!”

The knights soared into the air like petals and were driven into the ground.

Those hit even once by Priest Bali’s attack had their bones shattered, rendering them unable to rise again.

Seeing this, the knights who were about to attack next couldn’t help but feel intimidated.

Such overwhelming power.

It was like they were facing a High Troll or Ogre Lord rather than a human.

But Priest Bali wasn’t their only problem.

“Ugh, what is this sticky stuff!”

“It won’t come off my body!”

“It doesn’t even cut well with Aura! What is this!”

Elsewhere, nearly ten knights were struggling, covered in a sticky green substance and unable to escape.

“Damn it! Such a cheap trick! I’ll smash you all to pieces!”

Among them was the Semi-Master Knight Red Knight.

“Heh, struggle all you want. The more you do, the stickier it gets. My dear escort knight, please cover me from behind.”

“Leave it to me, Cassie.”

Cassie, holding a few bottles of her homemade ‘Super Sticky Slime Potion’ in one hand, was smiling lazily while Lowe guarded her meticulously from the side.

Whoosh!

The sword Lowe wielded was imbued with ‘Sword Aura’.

By training with Aden and gaining combat experience in dungeons, Lowe had reached the level of Sword Aura.

However, Lowe was just a lower-level Sword Aura knight who had only recently achieved this state.

Even though he possessed the talent to become an S-rank mercenary with one arm in the future, facing senior Sword Aura knights under normal circumstances was impossible.

“Haaa!”

Yet, Lowe confronted multiple senior knights head-on.

It wasn’t because his skills surpassed theirs.

Clearly, his skills were inferior to those of the knights before him.

Whoosh!

Sure enough, a knight’s Sword Aura aimed for Lowe’s heart.

But…

Clang!

With a metallic sound, the knight’s sword was caught in Lowe’s bare hand.

“…What?”

An odd phenomenon where a sword imbued with senior Sword Aura was blocked by a bare hand without Aura.

As the knight was bewildered, Lowe’s sword slashed him.

Lowe had been training to apply his unique mana technique, the White Stone Transformation, in actual combat.

That effort shone brightly against the senior Sword Aura knights.

Moreover, the ‘Lowe Steps’ he mastered had such miraculous movements that the knights couldn’t keep up and attack properly.

While Lowe distracted them, Cassie threw sticky potions to subdue the knights.

An alchemist with a superb shield could shine in large-scale battles.

The combination of a priest with Ogre-like strength, a skilled alchemist, and her protective escort had powers far beyond the knights’ expectations.

But this wasn’t the end.

‘The most troublesome is that side!’

The White Knight looked at the saintess, the most critical target, with a face almost twisted in despair.

“Choco! Go bite them!”

-Roar!

The puppy the young saintess held suddenly transformed into a giant wolf beast and began rampaging.

The massive creature, nearly 6 meters tall, with golden fur, swung its paws at the knights like a cat playing with mice…

“Argh!”

“What is this! Ahhh!”

They were helplessly swept away like a bunch of rats in front of a cat.

The golden fur and hide of the giant wolf were so tough that even Sword Aura couldn’t cut through it.

It was an unbelievable sight.

* * *

-Woof!

Its name was ‘Choco’.

A name given by its kind and gentle young master.

Choco felt cozy and warm by its master Elise’s side, making it feel good.

One day, while living those happy days, Choco saw a tasty-looking fruit in the mountains and ate it, which made it grow stronger and bigger.

No dog could defeat it after that.

Feeling superior, Choco lived in contentment, believing it was the strongest.

-Hihi, Choco! Let’s play together!

‘Dear master, I will protect you! Just leave it to me! Huh.’

-Aaaaaaah!

But one day, a terrifying monster’s scream filled the air, making Choco feel fear and tremble.

Following the instinct of survival of the fittest, its whole body shivered at the presence of that entity.

Realizing it wasn’t the strongest, Choco fell into a slump for a while.

But after the big master with black hair left to capture the source of the screams, ‘Winter Queen’ or something, the young master seemed unhappy.

Seeing the always-smiling face now looking gloomy made Choco sad too.

-Choco, will Aden be okay? I’m worried.

The fact that his master was making such an expression was all because of that monster.

Choco thought, ‘If only I were stronger, I would have defeated the monster that made my master make that face.’

-If Oppa gets hurt, I’ll scold them in his place!

At those words, Choco gasped.

If that happened, their weak master would surely be in danger.

Choco didn’t want that.

His master needed to be protected by him…

But he wasn’t confident he could protect him.

Choco was angry at his own weakness.

So, he wanted to become stronger than he was now.

-Please, God, let Aden Oppa not get hurt. Let him defeat all the bad guys and come back to eat delicious snacks with us! Oh, and also…

His master asked something of this “God.”

According to the ogre who looked like a human next to him, if you asked that “God” for something, it would grant it.

‘If that’s the case, would it grant my wish if I asked too?’

Choco clumsily imitated Elise, who was praying, and muttered inwardly.

‘Please let me become stronger. Give me the strength to protect my master. I’m begging you.’

And after praying for who knows how long…

-Ha, in all my life, I’ve never seen a dog pray before. It’s true that living long enough lets you see everything.

A voice that seemed bewildered echoed in his mind.

-Alright, I’m in a good mood. It wouldn’t hurt to have someone protecting that interesting child. Here, take this.

That day, Choco became stronger.

He shed his former weak self and became more splendid and powerful.

Choco was delighted.

-Now, see to it that you protect your master well, you loyal dog.

Choco nodded naturally at the voice coming from who knows where.

Even without being told, he would protect his master.

And a few days later, tonight, the enemies who targeted his small master appeared just as the big master with black hair had said.

‘How dare they target my master.’

Choco was furious.

-Roarrrrr!

‘I will protect my master!’

So, the furious Choco, who had evolved into “Geumrang” with the power of the Lord of the Sacred Fire, roared at the intruders.

With just Choco’s front paw strikes and tail swings, the knights were swept away in real time.

“No, it can’t be…”

White Knight Endawin’s mouth naturally let out a despairing sigh.

Thus, the ambush team, which consisted of elite knights of the Frost Fortress and two semi-masters, was easily annihilated by just four humans and one dog.

* * *

Aden, with a sneering smile, annoyingly asked the Thunder Knight.

“So? Let’s see it. You said you took the saintess hostage?”

“…”

Silbeta fell into deep silence as he watched his subordinates being brutally slaughtered beyond the crystal ball.

“You, you…”

And then…

“You bastard!”

The Thunder Knight Silbeta’s patience snapped.

With a face like a demon, blood rushed to his head, and he shouted.

“Everyone, attack now!”

At Silbeta’s command, the knights, who had been standing still, moved immediately.

Their icy blue sword auras targeted Aden, thrusting from all directions.

But…

“Too slow.”

Aden dodged the incoming swords, and as he swung Baalzebul, aura blades scattered.

Slash!

In an instant, the necks of nearly ten senior sword aura knights were severed, causing a fountain of blood.

Standing amidst the falling blood flowers, Aden’s lips moved slightly.

“Kneel.”

As he coldly glared at the charging knights, his Master Fear spread out and crushed them.

“Ugh!”

“Argh!”

In the face of Aden’s killing intent, the hundred knights all knelt simultaneously.

It felt as if the entire world was crushing them. They could hardly breathe properly, and some even coughed up blood.

This was why a Sword Master was also called a “one-man army” or “ruler of the battlefield.”

With just a glance, they could subdue their opponents, and with a single swing of their sword, the concept of numerical superiority became meaningless.

The realm of a superhuman literally transcended the bounds of humanity.

Humans could not contend with such beings.

Meanwhile, Silbeta’s eyes widened as he watched the scene.

“He’s emitting such a massive and powerful Master Fear, stronger than mine?”

Master Fear was a skill anyone who reached the superhuman realm could use, but its strength varied greatly among individuals.

The essence that made Master Fear stronger was singular.

Killing.

The killing intent, honed by slaying many monsters and taking many human lives with one’s sword, was the essence of Master Fear.

The problem was that this immense Master Fear was being emitted by an eighteen-year-old scion of a border duchy.

How, at that age, could he have amassed so many kills to forge such a lethal aura?

How could he, with a Master Fear stronger than Silbeta’s, subdue a hundred of his subordinates in one blow?

“This is nonsense!”

Silbeta, unaware of Aden’s regression and how many Warlocks and Talos he had slaughtered in his past life, couldn’t comprehend the disparity.

“I’ll make you regret this!”

That realization turned into intense anger and jealousy. Silbeta grabbed his beloved claymore and charged at Aden.

Rumble!

The aura blade of the Thunder Knight surged, roaring like thunder, striking like lightning.

Aden blocked that fierce, red aura blade with Baalzebul, cloaked in a blue aura blade.

Thunder Knight Silbeta Sias.

Winter Queen Slayer, Aden Remes.

Master versus Master.

The swords of the two Sword Masters collided…

Boom-!

A crater formed, and a fierce windstorm erupted.

Thus began the battle between the rulers of the battlefield.

And Aden’s first act of vengeance began.