Sword of Salvation-Chapter 106: - Battle In the South (3)

However, the overwhelming number of enemy soldiers hindered the prince. Moskvallha soldiers ignored their fallen comrades. They even used those bodies as shields and stepping stones to protect themselves and launch attacks.

Several weapons reached Stewart. Bursts of fire and wind also threatened the prince. In an instant, he was surrounded. Moskvallha soldiers bombarded him with attacks from all directions. Stewart was forced to create an opening using his spirit ability.

And in a split second, an invisible force repelled everything around Stewart—flames, water, wind, swords, and even the soldiers. Without exception. Everything was violently thrown back by the force he unleashed. The energy was so powerful that a fifteen-meter radius around Stewart was completely cleared.

Denland Kingdom’s soldiers did not waste the golden opportunity Stewart created. They mercilessly finished off the fallen Moskvallha’s soldiers. At the same time, Stewart shot straight towards Viertino, who stood calmly with a sword in hand.

"That’s an interesting ability," Viertino muttered while blocking Stewart’s sword strike—his body cladded in wind armor.

Stewart ignored the man’s words. As soon as the five-second delay ended, he repelled the prime minister with his spirit power. Viertino was hurled back with such force that he crashed into the city gate. Stewart then bombarded him with lightning strikes.

He did not give Viertino time to recover. His left hand continuously unleashed successive lightning bolts. He did not care about the destruction he caused, nor the billowing dust and smoke. Stewart remained focused on firing relentless lightning lasers.

A frown formed on Stewart’s forehead after nearly three minutes. He stopped his attack and stared ahead. Viertino had made no attempt to use his spirit power. It was as if he had willingly accepted Stewart’s assault.

Was his wind armor too strong?

Stewart got his answer when the dust and smoke cleared. Unfortunately, it was not the answer he had expected. Viertino stood there, unscathed. However, he looked different than before. His skin was pale, his veins blackened. And most striking of all, his eyes had turned completely black.

Before Stewart could question what had happened, the prime minister was suddenly in front of him, swinging his sword sharply. But that was not the most dangerous thing. What truly alarmed Stewart was the black miasma now enveloping Viertino’s body.

Instinctively, Stewart repelled Viertino with his spirit power. However, unlike before, the prime minister used the gate pillar as a foothold. From that position, he launched himself forward again, spinning like a tornado.

Stewart sacrificed more prana to reinforce his lightning armor. A layer of lightning enveloped his sword, growing thicker with each millisecond. Then, just as Viertino’s miasma-cloaked body arrived right in front of Stewart, he swung his sword with full power.

In an instant, a super-intense lightning wave engulfed and repelled the prime minister.

Had Stewart directed his attack forward, the lightning wave would have destroyed the city walls as well. But he aimed it to the side. As a result, Viertino’s momentum did not stop until the lightning dissipated on its own. His body—or what was left of it—fell and hit the ground.

"Was that his spirit power? But he became weaker...."

Stewart did not understand. He had not expected to defeat Viertino so easily. Yet, this unbelievable reality unfolded before him.

Frowning, Stewart decided to check the prime minister’s condition—to confirm whether he was truly dead.

But as he approached Viertino’s fallen body, Stewart suddenly froze, his face filled with shock.

The lightning wave he had unleashed had completely stripped Viertino’s flesh, leaving behind a black skull. A red chain wrapped in thick black miasma was embedded in its crown. However, the skull quickly turned white, and from it, more bones began to grow. In mere moments, a flawless skeletal structure had formed.

It did not stop there—veins and blood vessels emerged, followed by muscles stretching over the bones. In less than two minutes, Viertino stood there again, fully clothed—even holding his sword once more.

"What... what is happening? How is this possible? Are you really Viertino Moskvallha?"

--------[ ooOoo ]--------

"I have found the location and identity of that person," whispered a hooded woman who had suddenly positioned herself beside Mariel, who was standing near a small bridge.

Mariel did not take her eyes off Athenia, who was talking to the village women by the riverbank. He did not need to look to his left to know the voice belonged to Anzu. Mariel remained silent, waiting for the demon to continue speaking. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"As I suspected, he is in one of the most secret chambers of the palace. I haven’t seen him directly, but from what my counterpart in Eolamoza has just witnessed, I know who he is without needing to see him. I had started to suspect since I heard that Viertino became an undead, but only now am I completely certain."

"I already knew he was a member of World Order," Mariel whispered. "So just tell me his identity."

"Rahvada Sakha."

Mariel had never heard that name before. But he immediately knew it belonged to someone from the Eastern Continent.

"It makes sense that you haven’t heard of him. He never made his name famous. But he is well-known among demons. Like holy weapons that prevent demons from regenerating, his power has the same effect. Worse still, he can control lower-class demons."

For the first time since Anzu had stood beside him, Mariel turned his gaze toward the demon. "Do you know what spirit he possesses?" he asked—but he did not expect a satisfying answer.

"Rahvada is so proud of his spirit that he always tells his opponents about it. But I have never seen his power firsthand. I only heard about it from one of my colleagues."

Mariel said nothing, but his full attention was on the demon.

"Hell King Haseth."

The three words that escaped Anzu’s lips carried an ominous weight in Mariel’s mind. It was a powerful name. He could imagine its presence without even seeing it.

"He can summon red chains wrapped in black miasma. Apparently, he uses those chains to control corpses from afar. So...."

"...He can fight from a distance through the corpses he controls?"

--------[ ooOoo ]--------

Stewart did not get an answer to his question. Instead, red chains wrapped in black miasma began appearing around the prime minister. Stewart instinctively raised his sword, but his face filled with shock when the chains suddenly shot high into the sky.

He followed their trajectory without lowering his guard against Viertino. Dozens of sharp chains hovered momentarily before all of them plunged down at once, as if controlled by Viertino’s will.

However, their target was not Stewart’s soldiers. Instead, they struck the lifeless bodies scattered across the battlefield. The chains pierced straight into the heads of the corpses. And within seconds, dozens of bodies stood up again—their forms now shrouded in miasma like Viertino.

At that moment, Stewart fully understood what was happening—he had been fighting Viertino’s corpse, controlled by someone else, from the very beginning.