Chapter 49: A Century-Long Shadow

While Li En's knight squad was locked in bitter fighting in the underground cavern, things on the surface of Radiance City were far from idle.

In noble circles, there are no real secrets.

Or rather, as long as you have the channels and the connections, any secret can become a piece of gossip.

There are far too many social ties, marriages, spies, and informants between them. The moment some family produces a scandal, someone helps spread it around, and by the next day the entire circle knows.

In truth, everyone lives under the weight of some scandal — it only depends on whether your power is great enough and whether anyone dares to shove it in your face.

"Honestly didn't expect it to be Viscount Lu En — his family's reputation has always been quite decent."

Li En was using the Hero's Blood to fish, but the one behind Li En was also using Li En, this little fish, to fish for a big one.

At this moment, outside the residence of the city's Vice Minister of Finance, Viscount Hilda, the city guards had already surrounded the place — they had even dragged out ballistas and sealed off key sectors one by one.

Passersby pointed and whispered, yet none dared to interfere.

After all, the few knights standing in the inner cordon could walk sideways through Radiance City and no one would stop them.

Black armor, white lion helm, a brown griffon guarding a crown on the shield, griffon claws representing slaughter on the shoulders, and the city's griffon-head crest on the cloak.

They — these were the high-ranking knights known as the "Radiance Guard."

The Radiance Guard is the personal guard corps of the city's lord, the Count, and can be regarded as his private troops — but in the eyes of the city's residents, they can also be seen as the cornerstone of Radiance City's stability.

Every Radiance Guard is at least a Tier-5 Great Knight, of reliable birth and battle-hardened, capable of leading a legion into battle alone.

And this time, a full four of them took part in sealing off the viscount's house!

"What on earth did he do to make the city's lord, Count Radiance, and the royal family move together?"

The sharp-eyed ones, however, paid closer attention to the black-clad figures on the surrounding rooftops.

They wore masked, black skintight outfits, with no obvious insignia on their bodies.

Only now, appearing in daylight, had they added a white lion badge at the waist.

This is the royal family's crest — anyone bold enough to wear it and move about in broad daylight can only be a royal secret agent.

"Clang."

And when a carriage bearing the same white lion crest stopped at the viscount's mansion gate, even the gossips averted their eyes, not daring to look directly.

"The royal family has come!!" At this, everyone was, in truth, even more expectant.

The current kingdom's royal family has only two members — whether the Princess or the Queen, in theory neither should be in this city.

When did they arrive?

When the carriage door opened and the person stepped down, the onlookers felt both a pleasant surprise and a touch of disappointment.

The pleasant part: the rhythm of those enchanting swaying curves forming a serpent's gait — the most dazzling pearl-blossom of this city, Miss Shaliman. Sudar. The disappointment: the one who stepped down was not a royal lioness.

This dazzlingly charming Viscountess Sudar descended from the carriage with a predator's swaying stride and stepped into the viscount's mansion — yet still, no one dared look her in the eye.

After all, although she is jested as the royal family's hound-serpent, she is still very much a great noble of this city in name and in fact — not someone an ordinary noble would dare offend.

And her appearing here itself, stepping down from a royal carriage, is already a kind of statement from the royal family — she has served as the Princess's proxy more than once or twice.

"This time, the matter is too big — no one can save Viscount Lu En. Hilda."

The serpent-woman walked into the viscount's mansion, sealed off layer upon layer, from within which the sounds of fighting and explosions had already been pouring out without cease.

As proxy, the moment Miss Shaliman arrived at the front line, she saw a battle already drawing to its close.

A "man-beast" at least over three meters tall kept shrieking and thrashing wildly, yet was firmly pinned by a Radiance Guard wielding a spear, while another Radiance Guard held a shield to back him up.

A little farther off, a squad of crossbowmen kept firing — crossbow bolts carrying a strange woody fragrance kept piercing into the monster's body, yet the wounds they left did not bleed.

But these wounds were far more terrifying than bleeding.

"Its flesh has turned to wood?" The places where the monster was wounded had become wood.

This bizarre sight left Miss Shaliman somewhat unable to comprehend — was this the undying beast the Princess had spoken of?

A little farther away, there was also a man-beast statue that had already completely turned to wood.

Some tattered bits of fine clothing still hung from its body, yet it had been bristling with bolts — a noble's member before, presumably? One of Viscount Lu En's sons?

"Is this Viscount Lu En?" Miss Shaliman pointed at the already raging monster and asked.

The intelligence she had received indicated that this viscount appeared to be the behind-the-scenes seller for the "serial killer."

Greedy as he was, he had sold the killer Maria for the sake of the Hero's Blood and the bounty, and in doing so exposed himself.

If this were an ordinary case, perhaps no one would pursue a noble viscount over such a trifle — but this time, the Princess herself took an interest, even visiting the city's lord to call out the Radiance Guard.

"No, it's that statue lying over there." Faced with the Princess's confidante, this Radiance Guard was quite friendly.

"Then this one—" Miss Shaliman pointed at the monster already half-turned to wood, yet still brimming with vigor.

"Old Viscount Hilda, Viscount Lu En's grandfather. Said to have died over forty years ago, but we found him in a hidden chamber — by the count, he should be over 130 years old this year."

"Ugh, truly vigorous in his old age—" watching the monster savagely hammer the Radiance Guard and even attempt to break out, Miss Shaliman let out a sigh.

This, without a doubt, is the worst news—not because of how far this old noble has fallen, for such things had long since lost all bottom, but because—

"They've had ties with the 'Beasts' for ages? At least several decades already." Which meant that the forces and organizations connected to them had been lurking in this city for a very long time.

Miss Shaliman sighed — sometimes, the more you know, the more troublesome it gets.

She unconsciously touched the crystal pendant at her chest, thinking of the man who had already charged out, who was surely about to face a most troublesome opponent.

"Hope everything goes smoothly for them."

Time passed quickly — when Miss Shaliman hurried back to the carriage, only a very few people glimpsed, within the opened carriage door, a fleeting flash of sun-colored shining golden hair.

News would likely spread soon that the Princess had not only come to this city, but was even on the front line overseeing this incident.

"Are they all dead?" Dai Niya closed her book, set down her coffee cup, hoping for a good answer.

"Yes, but a lot of the materials had already been destroyed — and by the time I got in, he was already completely mad, couldn't dig anything useful out of him."

"As expected — if they were really that easy to deal with, these sewer rats wouldn't be considered the poison of the world."

Dai Niya sighed, took the books and notes Miss Shaliman handed over — these were the materials just seized.

The knowledge about the Beasts was what she had specifically requested, and could only be kept by her personally.

【When the King of Horns awakens, heaven and sea shall invert, and all life shall bathe in His benevolent light.】

Hmm, found the right one. It's this thing.

If that day truly comes and everyone is dead, she still cannot understand what these madmen are thinking.

But what she saw next made her furious.

【Those who are infused with holy water, the living shall merge with the Horn of Life. If the life form possesses horns, the horns will swell and enlarge. If it is a hornless life form, all life will focus on the tailbone, becoming the Little Horn of Life (tail), which can be harvested.】

【The Little Horn is the pure embodiment of the King's power. If it is implanted into a womb, it can nurture a young beast of the King.】

【Horn Disciples are the lucky ones who successfully incorporate the nurtured young beast of the 'Little Horn' into their bodies and achieve symbiosis. Under current technology, the success rate is less than ten percent. Those who fail will mutate into irrational mad beasts and must be executed immediately.】

【Horn Disciples can replenish their vitality by constantly 'consuming' Little Horns. For us, lifespan has no end.】

Next, there were quite a few experimental records regarding the mass production of Horn Disciples: how many people were used to produce how many Horn Disciples, how much was spent on executing runaway test subjects and traitors, and so on.

After a brief glance, Dai Niya knew that the Viscount Sidar family was absolutely not the problem. This had already become a system, an organizational standard.

Behind this, there must be at least an entire supply chain industry.

"... It started in the era of the Old Kingdom. It is not that Viscount Luen became a Horn Disciple, but rather that only a Horn Disciple has the qualification to become Viscount Luen."

At this moment, even though she was a Princess, Dai Niya still felt a chill run down her spine.

This Beast Cult likely parasitized the kingdom long ago, always waiting for the moment when the monster below would awaken.

It only recently began to become active; simply the timing indicates it is already near.

"Evil ones who calculate on a scale of a century..."

At this time, Dai Niya also recalled that knight squad.

Could just these few people really fight against darkness of this level?

Most likely, the serial killer labeled as Test Subject 113 was not as easy to deal with as he appeared on the surface.

"Miss Shaliman, you go too. Deliver the intelligence and this." Among these research materials were the intelligence needed for combat; the modifications undergone by Subject 113 were quite outrageous.

Speaking thus, the Princess removed a personal item and handed it directly to Miss Shaliman.

If that man truly was the successor recognized by the Heroic Soul, then he should be able to use it.

——

"We need intelligence."

Post-battle summaries are always painful, because looking back at one's past always reveals too many foolish choices.

That man-beast was powerful, but not to the extent that it almost sent the entire squad straight to heaven.

"I apologize. I was too impulsive." Li En took the lead in reflecting and apologizing.

If he had known earlier that encountering that monster's dragon claw attack would instead make it more lucid, Li En would not have launched such an aggressive assault.

If he had known earlier that it could strengthen itself through his own blood, it would not have been so passive.

If it happened again, Li En was confident he could do much better than before. But life only happens once; such relief is without reason.

"I... actually relaxed on the battlefield."

This was the thing Li En regretted most and could not forgive himself for. After confirming the dragon claw's lethality against it, he actually relaxed on the battlefield!

If he had remained highly alert, he might have avoided the other's bear hug. If so, there would not have been the near-death experience of being torn apart by bites afterwards.

"... After this, I will absolutely not relax my vigilance on the battlefield."

A final burst of power before death is cool. But being forced to that extent is itself a major problem.

He did not appreciate at all the concept of a hero becoming stronger at the brink of death; that thing would eventually backfire.

You can win once, twice, or ten times, but as long as you fail once, the person is gone.

Rather than a desperate counterattack in a battlefield deadlock, Li En preferred to achieve victory through stable advantages with sufficient intelligence support.

He was thinking, calculating, considering how to fight such a monster to achieve victory with the least cost.

The posture of this monster accompanying the small beast had already proven the previous speculation.

"Maria not only has helpers, but even an organization behind her. These things cannot be handled by one or two people. We must prepare to face multiple such monsters. There might even be stronger ones."

(End of this chapter)