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EPISODE 251 – COUNT KAGEHAMA (2)
The 7 southern families were families of seven knights who assisted Dragon Slayer Carlos.
Carlos did not care about a person’s sex, race, age, or place of origin, and perhaps because of this, his seven knights were composed of diverse people as if this was on purpose.
Fighting Fang Queen, Janifer Ophand, was reborn as a powerful fighter when she awakened both the blood of the divine creature Fenrir and a divine animal.
Chris Kaolan was an elven knight born and raised in the Forest of Eternity.
Shiryuu Kagehama was a mysterious samurai who came from the far east.
And several others.
These various knights lost their lives in the bloody battle against Black Dragon Malekith, and their families were granted control of the southern region by the founder king, Lion D. Sälen, leading to the creation of the 7 southern families.
“W-what the-! What the hell is going on?!”
Count Kagehama’s second son, Bardo Kagehama, quickly covered with a white cloth the picture he was eagerly drawing and then raised his voice.
Because he suddenly heard a loud explosion.
“It’s a raid!”
“It’s an attack! Young master! Please run!”
Startled by the servant’s voices, Bardo reflexively looked out the window, but it was midnight and his room was on the third floor. As long as people didn’t stick closely to each other, nothing could be seen except for the moonlight.
“Aaah!”
“Stop them! They must be stopped!”
“Count!”
“Fire!”
Screams and shouts were heard from all over the place.
In the past, Shiryuu Kagehama was a samurai excellent enough to cut a hundred orcs with a single slash of his sword, but Bardo was not like his ancestor.
It had already been more than 300 years, so there wasn’t even any trace of his eastern origins on his face.
He had dark blonde hair, clear-cut features, and a fair complexion. Instead of grabbing his weapon, he hastily opened the door.
And it was at that moment.
“Father?”
“Go in! Hurry!”
It was Count Kagehama.
Although he was close to fifty, he inherited the swordsmanship of Shiryuu Kagehama and had a much stronger body than Bardo who was a young man in his twenties.
Count Kagehama pushed back into the room the profusely sweating Bardo who was about to leave the room, and quickly closed the door as he said.
“It’s a raid. We have to escape. We’ve strengthened our defense force, but it’s not enough.”
The 7 southern families knew each other well despite being on bad terms with each other.
As Scarlet had said, some of the 7 southern families had kept under wraps the fact that they had been attacked, but the others already knew the situation to some extent.
So Count Kagehama had stationed a much larger number of troops in his mansion than usual.
But this raid was too much.
It wasn’t because a small number of troops had sneaked in, but because dozens of them had openly crossed the wall.
Moreover, their fighting skills were unusual.
“Hurry!”
“B-but where?”
“This way, there’s a secret passage over here.”
“In my room?!”
“It’s a passage that only the family heads and heirs know. Hurry up and follow me.”
All the family heads of the 7 southern families who had been attacked so far were unharmed. Because the attacker’s targets were not the family heads but their treasures, which was tokens of Carlos.
But that had been the case so far.
It was possible that their purpose had changed because they had now attacked differently from before.
“Father, what’s that?”
“It’s the family’s token. Anyway, now is not the time to talk.”
Count Kagehama stuffed the fist-sized token that had the crest of Carlos and Shiryuu Kagehama into a pouch on his waist, and knocked on the wall according to a set order.
“Wow, for real?”
I didn’t know that there was something like this in my room.
It was when Bardo’s eyes sparkled at seeing the secret door that appeared between the walls.
Bang!
The door shattered with a roar, and five men in black masks entered the room in succession.
“Eeep!”
Bloodstains were clearly visible on the swords held by the masked men. It was obvious that they had killed several people on their way here.
As Bardo shuddered and stepped back, Count Kagehama spit out a curse and drew his sword.
“Damn it! What do you want?”
But instead of responding, the masked men focused their attention on the count’s waist pouch.
Apparently, they were aiming for Carlos’ token.
“Attack! Take the token!”
When the unidentified man standing at the back shouted, the four masked men in front simultaneously kicked the ground. Count Kagehama cursed again and tightly gripped his sword.
But it was at that very moment.
“F*ck bang!”
A huge roar engulfed the clear and fine voice.
The wall on the other side of Count Kagehama and Bardo exploded, creating a large hole, and the masked men fell down and screamed as they got covered by debris and hit by the shockwaves from the explosion.
“W-what the-?”
Count Kagehama looked at the new intruders in confusion.
There were two women, one dressed like a magician with a black butterfly-shaped mask and large rabbit ears headband, and the other was wearing a white mask that covered their entire face.
‘Who are they?’
The masked men were bizarre, but the women in front of them were equally suspicious.
Because these women showed up by destroying the walls in the first place.
But it was then. The trembling Bardo’s eyes suddenly lit up and he shouted.
“Kajsa! Is that you, Kajsa! You’ve come to rescue us!”
Count Kagehama’s eyes widened when Bardo shouted in delight.
Because the woman did indeed look like Kajsa when he heard his son’s words.
“Protect the count!”
“It’s an explosion!”
“They’re on the third floor!”
Amidst the loud noises echoing outside, Bardo opened his arms in joy, and Count Kagehama was surprised once again in a different sense.
Could it be that my son and Kajsa Ophand are in a romantic relationship?
“Hey! Bardo! Didn’t I say that I’ll kill you if you draw something like this again!”
But it wasn’t. Count Kagehama was surprised again at her angry shouts, and turned to the direction that the white-masked woman, Kajsa, was pointing before he swallowed hard. Because what was lying on the floor of the room was an obscene drawing with Kajsa’s face on it, though it was still unfinished since it had only been drawn a few minutes ago.
“No, this is…”
“You perverted b*stard! I’m killing you today, you hear me!”
As Kajsa drew closer with a smirk, Bardo stepped back and ran way through the secret door, and Count Kagehama raised his voice again out of urgency.
“Kajsa! I don’t know what’s going on with you two, but we’re in an emergency. Let’s get out of here.”
Their families knew each other well despite being on bad terms.
Having inherited the blood of beasts, the Ophand family were simple and ignorant.
They wouldn’t send out masked assailants like this as they were the kind to attack from the front and declare war as they raise their flags high.
So at least, the Ophand family wasn’t behind this.
Thus, it was fine if they ran away together, though it was strange that she suddenly appeared through a hole in the wall.
‘If need be, I’ll use her to buy time!’
Count Kagehama opened the secret door again and motioned for Kajsa to come.
But instead of Kajsa, the woman with a butterfly mask next to her was the one who spoke up.
“Count! That’s not it! You must go this way! We’re here to save you, Your Lordship!”
It was a voice that was clear and beautiful like an angel’s voice.
Count Kagehama was unknowingly moved at her sincere appeal, and headed towards the woman.
“Then we’re going through that hole?”
“Yes! Please come this way! Hurry!”
“Third floor! Go to the 3rd floor!”
“Euaaaa! Milord!”
It was noisy outside the room, loud enough to overpower the woman’s voice. It seemed that nearly all the defense forces outside were defeated.
“I-I’ll trust you!”
Count Kagehama approached the woman with the butterfly mask – Cordelia, who reached for the count’s waist pouch.
“As expected, it’s here.”
Carlos’ token.
Scarlet had come up with two hypotheses.
One was that Carlos’ token was kept in the treasury as per her preliminary investigation, and the other was that Count Kagehama took with him Carlos’ token.
‘Because a lot of families have become victims, and now, they’ve been attacked too.’
Since four out of seven families had already been attacked, he must have been more worried than usual.
And in the meantime, he was attacked too.
So if the token was within his reach, he was likely to run away with it.
‘Thus, let’s split up.’
Scarlet would go to the treasury. Cordelia and Kajsa would head towards the secret passage Count Kagehama was likely to use.
And the result was now.
Count Kagehama who had been stolen from looked at Cordelia with a bewildered face, and Kajsa immediately swung her fist.
“Ack!”
He was struck in his stomach after completely letting down his guard, and her punch was really powerful. Even if Count Kagehama was a swordmaster, he was unable to endure it.
“Kaaak-… ugh…”
Cordelia looked down at the fallen Count Kagehama who groaned before fainting. She said to Kajsa as she slightly narrowed her brows.
“Wasn’t that too much?”
“Wasn’t using your angelic voice to deceive him too much?”
“This way!”
The shouts and footsteps of the assailants drew closer. Cordelia quickly threw herself into the hole instead of questioning the other further, and Kajsa did the same after carrying Count Kagehama like a bag.
[Jude! We got it!]
Having thrown herself into the air, Cordelia sent a <Message> magic to Jude who was waiting on the roof.
Kajsa then grabbed Cordelia’s waist with one hand.
“Yosha~!”
One person on her side, and another on her shoulder.
Although Kajsa was carrying two people, her landing was very stable, and she looked up the night sky. Perhaps because of the bright moon, she was much stronger than usual.
[Cordelia, I’ll tell Scarlet then. First-]
“Evade!”
It was the moment when Jude, who was relaying a message to Scarlet and Cordelia on the roof, suddenly jumped from his spot and shouted.
Shwaaaaaa-!
A bright red and gigantic sword rushed toward Cordelia and Kajsa.
It was so fast that it seemed impossible to properly dodge it.
“Huaa?!”
Kajsa instinctively moved. She carried Cordelia in her arms, whom she had been holding with one arm, and jumped high with Count Kagehama on her shoulder.
But the sword was faster. A bright red sword came rushing in like a wave as it swallowed Kajsa’s waist.
Shwaak-!
Kajsa briefly closed her eyes, but nothing happened. She landed on the ground again.
“Huh?”
How?
Cordelia knew the answer. Because she had used Fairy Steps just before the sword reached them.
“F*ck! Don’t tell me it’s one of the Ten Great Swordmasters again!”
It’s a huge bright red sword!
At the time when Cordelia let out a curse.
The huge sword moved vertically instead of horizontally this time. It was big at first glance, as it seemed to be more than 5 meters long.
“Uooo!”
But Kajsa was able to react this time. She quickly flew to the right to dodge the sword. And faced the unusually huge sword that came swinging down on her from the front.
“Yaaa!”
A black dragon powerfully rushed in just before the sharp blade cut her head. Lightning struck in succession, and Kajsa hurriedly threw Count Kagehama away as she rolled on the ground.
“Aah!”
Cordelia who was in Kajsa’s arms screamed in pain, but now was not the time to complain about it. She quickly opened her eyes and saw the place where Kajsa had been standing on earlier.
She saw Jude fighting a very large man.
“Jude!”
“Haa!”
Jude instantly narrowed the distance with Hyper-Fast Thunderbolt, and exploded the energy of the black dragon again instead of using his sword-like hand to attack.
It was to buy time for Cordelia to join him in attacking.
‘Solar Flare!’
White light burst out.
Having anticipated an attack, the huge enemy – a giant, groaned and stepped backwards, while Kajsa whose eyes had been open then, closed her eyes as she screamed.
And Cordelia got out of Kajsa’s arms and stood up.
She knew Jude better than everyone, so she had closed her eyes before he used Solar Flare.
“Madhur.”
He wasn’t one of the Ten Great Swordmasters.
She was sure that the man was the corrupt dwarf Madhur, one of Malekith’s subordinates.
‘Because there’s no other guy like that!’
The giant in front of them was unusual.
It was obviously a giant, but it was a bit far from the giants one would normally think of.
He was 5 heads tall.
He had the body type of a typical male dwarf.
A taller person had an advantage in swordsmanship over a shorter person, just like most martial arts.
That was why dwarven warriors tried to overcome their reach disadvantage by using long weapons such as halberds.
But Madhur had a different idea.
If he was small, he should just make himself bigger.
Madhur studied magic that turned one into a giant, and eventually succeeded in growing his own body several times.
It was the birth of a giant dwarf with a big head, large body, and huge hands.
“Fools who resort to petty tricks.”
With a white beard and grey skin, Madhur scoffed at them as his red eyes glowed.
He looked like a giant dwarf golem because of the black armor he wore over his entire body and the unusually huge sword he held.
“Steel Castle.”
“Typical tank warrior.”
“Powerful physical attacks that come from his huge weapon and inexhaustible strength.”
“Has excellent physical and magic resistance.”
“Basically has a dark attribute, and weak against holy attributes, but not to the point of it being a critical weakness.”
“Can be dealt with by just attacking him continuously.”
The two exchanged game information after a long time of not doing so.
Kajsa stood up and was shocked at the words of the two.
“Madhur? That Steel Castle Madhur?!”
A legend – no, a historical figure.
Marquis Ophand’s library had a record of the battle between Janifer Ophand and Madhur.
“This is crazy… like for real?”
Kajsa had already heard from Jude and Cordelia about Malekith’s resurrection.
But it was a fact that she didn’t fully comprehend.
A legendary evil dragon was about to be resurrected.
She somehow believed it because she already had experienced a Kraken, but there was still a part of her that doubted it.
Nevertheless, the reason why she was so active now in helping Jude and Cordelia was because of her sense of duty in repaying her debt to them, as well as the practical reason of messing with Count Kagehama.
But it was real.
Madhur, one of Malekith’s three knights, had appeared.
“Kekeke, you’re not running away even after recognizing me? I admire your courage.”
Madhur let out a dreary laugh and lowered his sword. And at the same time, light began to shine from the pouch on Madhur’s waist and the pouch Cordelia stole from Count Kagehama.
The tokens of Carlos were resonating with each other.
‘Four out of seven families.’
And fifth is the Kagehamas.
The way they attacked this family now is different.
They have been doing everything in secret before.
But when it came to the fifth time, they’re now openly doing it.
Why? For what reason?
Jude raised his head at that moment.
Because a hypothesis was formed in his head.
“No way?!”
The reason he appeared in the fifth.
The reason he appeared with all the tokens he had already collected.
“Ho, did you notice?”
Madhur proudly shrugged his shoulders and said.
Kajsa didn’t understand what he meant, so she turned to Jude, while Cordelia looked at Madhur and the scene behind him instead of doing the same as Kajsa.
Count Kagehama’s mansion was collapsing.
The garden was on fire, and the masked men from the mansion began to encircle the walls as if they were forming a siege.
So Cordelia took a deep breath.
Instead of thinking, she felt and naturally understood what she had to do.
“Let’s beat Madhur.”
Let’s take this opportunity to defeat him and take Carlos’ tokens.
Jude nodded at Cordelia’s words.
After all, if they defeated Madhur here and got the stolen tokens of Carlos, the situation would become favorable for them.
“W-wait a second. He’s Madhur. That man’s Madhur.”
He’s not an ordinary opponent.
He’s not even weakened like Sebastian.
Kajsa said in a panic, but Jude and Cordelia just stared at Madhur who burst into laughter as if he was full of energy.
“That’s not courage. That’s arrogance and madness. If you want to defeat me, you should bring at least one of the Ten Great Swordmasters.”
“Yeah, those Ten Great Swordmasters.”
He was correct.
Madhur’s condition was not perfect since Malekith had yet to be resurrected, but given his stats in the game, at least someone on the level of a Ten Great Swordmaster was needed in order to defeat him.
Ten Great Swordmasters.
Someone who belonged to the Ten Great Swordmasters.
“Hey, Kajsa.”
“Huh?”
“Look carefully.”
Angelic wings of light spread behind Cordelia’s back. At the same time, a white ring formed over her head, and she unleashed her strong angelic powers.
But that wasn’t all.
Madhur winced when lightning suddenly burst. As a black gale filled with lightning was formed, Jude rushed towards Madhur. He sped up and rapidly opened the sixth door as he awakened the power of Sword Origin.
What would happen if Jude could go back to the past month and have a rematch with the Lord Protector?
Would he still throw up blood and struggle like he used to?
Against the Lord Protector, the weakest among the Ten Great Swordmasters?
Booooom!
Thunder boomed again.
And Kajsa was able to see.
Jude’s answer.
The swordsmanship of those who had reached the level of a Great Swordmaster!
“The f*ck?!”
Madhur was taken aback. He instantly boosted his strength to avoid the Jude’s attack that was faster and more powerful than he could imagine. He backed away urgently and solidified his defense.
He couldn’t understand it.
It was something impossible.
But the reality was clear. Jude’s energy literally amplified like an explosion as his fist struck Madhur’s shield.
And that was why Madhur couldn’t look away from Jude.
Madhur’s subordinates, who were surrounding the walls, were also surprised by the sudden burst of power, and all looked at Jude.
So did Kajsa.
Therefore, Cordelia sent a <Message> magic to Kajsa so that the latter could see her soaring into the air.
“Ah?”
Kajsa stared at Cordelia with a dumbfounded expression.
Cordelia had a dark smile as she held high a sword that was shining in a very white color.
“The best way to deal with an opponent is to strike as soon as it starts.”
Before the opponent could even properly respond.
At a blind spot they couldn’t completely defend.
“Day of Judgment.”
The true power of heavenly judgment that only angels could use.
White blades rained down from high up the sky.