How to Live as a Knight After the Ending-Chapter 532

The Queen of Hearts felt displeasure. The fact that a mere familiar dared to stand in her way was utterly unbearable. Her blood boiled and it felt like the threads of her reason were snapping one by one. What she felt next was impatience.

Mother Goose was about to be taken down. Though she didn't like the gaze that looked down upon her as a queen, they were still comrades who had built Wilde Jagd together. No matter how much she hated her, could she really compare her to those human bastards?

Mother Goose's role in this operation was crucial. The familiars she created had to drive Tirna into chaos.

So when she was about to step forward to save Mother Goose, she was obstructed. And the opponents were completely unexpected.

Mist, the man who emitted fog from his entire body. The fog he emitted was different from ordinary fog. First of all, its density was absurdly high. When the fog wrapped around her wrist, it felt like steel shackles were being fastened.

And the ivory-haired woman shooting from a distance, Loraine Ponk. The divine power dwelling in her white gun barrel and bullets belonged to the Petra Papacy.

Was this a special forces unit dispatched by the Papacy? Whatever the case, the Papacy's energy that purged witches was extremely lethal to the Queen of Hearts.

On top of that, Tirna’s Executor, Alensia Hair, joined in as well.

Alensia’s presence was greater than the previous two. She was Tirna's Executor and had even opened her Arc Parts.

The sight of Alensia charging while emanating red heat haze was reminiscent of a northern berserker. What about the kicks she unleashed? Each time her straight-extended leg pierced through the air, the air trembled and her skin shivered.

It was this much even when dodged. If blocked or deflected with the flamingo mallet, it hurt her hands. The power was unreasonable.

Meanwhile, as the fog viciously obscured her vision, bullets flew aiming for vital points. From the sky, weapons made of blue mana even poured down like rain.

"You, you insolent things dare!"

The Queen of Hearts was outraged. She was a witch, but also a queen. She was an existence that must rule over all. There must not be those who dared to rebel against her. All such people must have their heads cut off. They must be beheaded and hung in the square.

"I will all of you...!"

The Queen of Hearts' words couldn't continue long. A sharp boot that cut her outcry in half flew at her. She tried to dodge, but the sticky fog bound her body. A bullet struck the head of the flamingo mallet. That alone shook her center of gravity and she missed the timing to swing.

"Behead...!"

Slash!

The Queen of Hearts' head floated in the air. She who kept crying out that she must keep cutting off the heads of people she didn't like met the same end as her own words.

Alensia Hair, who had dealt with the Queen of Hearts, let out the breath she had been holding. It had been truly a long time since she maintained the state of crystallization along with Arc Parts opened for this long.

"Haa. Haa. Thank you for your cooperation."

"......"

Mist answered Alensia’s words with a light nod of his head. In fact, Mist himself had been considerably tense inside while facing the Queen of Hearts. He had even screamed that it was scary.

Alensia, who couldn't possibly know that, looked at Mist and muttered that he was a taciturn fellow.

"Is it all over?"

Osian approached and asked.

Alensia was about to mention the battle in the sky but closed her mouth. The roaring from the sky that had continued until a moment ago had stopped at some point.

-Thud!

Something fell from the sky. Everyone's gaze gathered at one spot. It was a golden statue.

"Evil Queen..."

Alensia muttered. Evil Queen Grimhilde, a witch of Wilde Jagd and one of the arch-witches who led this Tirna terror attack, had become a golden statue with her eyes wide open. The sight was too realistic. At the same time, a woman descended from the sky with brilliant golden light like the sun.

It was Rumpelstiltskin, the Golden Witch and one of the five mayors of Tirna, an arch-witch.

"This side is finished too."

Rumpelstiltskin saw the corpses of the Queen of Hearts and Mother Goose. Unlike her expressionless face, she was considerably surprised inside.

Setting aside the Queen of Hearts, Mother Goose was the most troublesome witch to deal with. Even she couldn't guarantee victory or defeat in a head-on confrontation.

And yet this witch had been defeated.

'The one who did it is probably the man before my eyes.'

The knight who was making tremendous fame in Tirna, Osian.

"On behalf of Tirna, I express my gratitude. Thank you for fighting at risk for the city."

Rumpelstiltskin politely greeted Osian. Osian quietly looked at Rumpelstiltskin.

'How curious.'

Rumpelstiltskin was a witch who had lived for a very long time. And naturally, she existed even in the era when Osian lived. At that time, she wasn't as mature as now. She was just a young girl and couldn't handle her abilities as skillfully as now either.

'Nevertheless, she turned an entire kingdom into gold.'

The Golden Kingdom was a place difficult to move around carelessly. Just staying still caused the gold gauge to fill up in real time. And the moment the gauge filled to maximum, the entire body became gold, resulting in instant death.

Therefore, one had to move while utilizing items, consumables, and field elements that periodically lowered the golden energy.

Even during that, familiars made of gold attacked in real time, so the field itself wasn't of ordinary difficulty. The field was vicious, and even in boss battles one had to be mindful of the gold gauge, so he remembered the stress being more than doubled. The difficulty of the mid-bosses was also quite high.

'However, the final boss herself died without any resistance.'

The Golden Witch died easily. As if in despair that she never wanted this in the first place. According to what was revealed in the story later, the Golden Witch Rumpelstiltskin was forcibly confined by a tyrant at the time and kept making gold.

'Because that became excessive, eventually the witch's ability ran wild and the entire kingdom was covered in gold.'

It was something triggered by human greed. But in this life, such a thing didn't happen.

Originally, in the case of the Golden Kingdom route, it occurred when a specific boss monster was defeated. That boss monster was one that rampaged in the Golden Kingdom, so the king at the time had to keep holding his head because of that creature.

'If you defeat that boss monster, the king has spare capacity so he sets his eyes on the gold. If you don't, conversely, he doesn't have the leisure to set his eyes on gold because a giant monster is rampaging.'

And Osian didn't catch that boss because it wasn't a creature that was essential to go through in the story.

Due to such a butterfly effect, Rumpelstiltskin avoided the tyrant's eyes and was able to live like this. Before his eyes was someone who, due to his choice, had a great influence on building the city called Tirna. How could it not be curious?

"Long ago, I heard a story. That there was a knight who not only defeated gods and monsters but even split the sky. I didn't see the real thing and only heard the story, but it was truly you."

Rumpelstiltskin and Osian were meeting for the first time. However, the two people had the commonality of living in the same era.

"I'd like to share more stories, but it doesn't seem we have that leisure now."

"Right. It seems so."

Rumpelstiltskin and Osian's gazes turned toward the underground of city hall. The underground cavity from which the remains of the now-dead Jack had risen and a battle was still taking place there.

Crash!

The wreckage of a destroyed automaton rolled on the floor. That single one was a top-grade automaton much more expensive than a tank.

However, no one at the scene complained about it. Because the familiar that destroyed the automaton collapsed as if its final lifespan had ended.

A giant made of massive straw crumbles. At the same time, other familiars also seemed confused, then collapsed as their hearts or cores were destroyed.

"What's going on now?"

Sestain muttered. He was quite flustered as the familiars suddenly died.

"It seems Mother Goose has fallen."

Deliphiros quickly grasped the situation.

The fact that the familiars died meant that Mother Goose, the master of those familiars, had died. Most familiars were free from their master's death. Didn't even Hansel and Gretel, mere familiars, kill their own master?

But Mother Goose was different. She was a witch who commanded familiars reminiscent of a legion. She would have taken measures accordingly.

"Well now, what will you do? The rope you trusted so much was actually a rotten one."

Deliphiros sneered at Solenon.

Solenon gazed at the dead familiars with an indifferent look. They had all grown cold. Solenon stared at the mirror fragment held in his hand.

The surface of the mirror became cloudy and the light disappeared.

Following Mother Goose, Evil Queen had also been taken down. At this rate, nine out of ten chances the Queen of Hearts who was with them also died.

King Solenon had to admit his plan had gone awry.

Mother Goose had been defeated. Since the party he made a deal with for eternal life had disappeared, his eternal life was as good as gone.

"You should have worked hard for Tirna instead."

He looked at Deliphiros, who was once his disciple but had now turned into an enemy. The fellow was mocking him, but vigilance was evident in his eyes.

Solenon grinned.

"As expected. You're a capable one. You're the best material among those I raised."

Even in a situation where one could think it was all over and relax, Deliphiros didn't let down his guard. That head would be endlessly calculating whether or not he had other ulterior motives.

Because it was he himself who taught that unless it's definitively over, it's not the end.

However, this teaching was mere words. Whether to actually practice it or not was Deliphiros' own ability.

"Hehe. I raised a tiger cub."

"That's why your throat will be bitten. Pay the price for betraying not just Tirna but humanity."

"Well, acting like a mayor and saying plausible things. But Deliphiros. Have you forgotten who I am?"

Deliphiros frowned.

"Are you bluffing?"

"Whether it's a bluff or not, you'll know when you see. Arch-witch Mother Goose? Yes, she's certainly a remarkable existence. And she was an excellent trading partner who could help me. But you don't think I committed this act trusting only that one witch, do you?"

At King Solenon's words, Deliphiros felt something discordant. This wasn't the expression someone whose entire operation failed would make. That couldn't be faked with acting. There was something. Some other thing not yet revealed.

"Deliphiros. You called me a betrayer of humanity. Since I took the side of witches rather than humans, from your position it's a natural reaction. So I was quite surprised because you hit the core too precisely."

At those words, Deliphiros widened his eyes as if he sensed something.

"Executor Sestain! Behead that bastard immediately!"

Sestain moved. He too felt some ominousness from Solenon's behavior.

Clink. The blade drawn from the scabbard covered the air. He didn't stop at one slash. To end it for certain, he intended to completely slice Solenon into pieces.

Solenon just watched it calmly.

-Slash!

His body collapsed, turning into countless pieces. The body made of machinery and cloth easily crumbled. Sestain felt relieved seeing that sight because the opponent's resistance was insignificant.

[Be careful!]

However, at the Puppeteer's subsequent warning, Sestain came to his senses and retreated greatly. Taking Mayor Deliphiros to safety together was a bonus.

Fwoooosh!

Black filth surged up from Solenon's corpse. It overflowed like magma and gradually encroached on the surroundings.

When Mother Goose's familiar corpses touched the filth, they corroded and melted at tremendous speed. The filth was squirming and devouring them.

"What is this now?"

Sestain muttered. This wasn't Mother Goose's doing. It was something else much more vicious, similar in nature to the erosion used by beings that came from outside.

"Hehe. You're quick-witted."

Solenon's voice echoed from within the filth. Part of the filth rose and took the form of Solenon's upper body.

The body made of machinery had disappeared, and his body looked about 20 years younger than before. He was still an old man, but clearly different from when he was on death's door. He was alive even with his entire body dismembered, and had even become younger.

"Don't tell me you made a contract with an Outer God? Do you truly have no pride as a human?"

Deliphiros muttered as if he couldn't believe it. He knew the man was obsessed with eternal life, but he didn't think he would even give up the fact that he was human.

Of all things, joining hands with an Outer God? How was that different from those Eternal God Church members who devoured people?

'No. I should have been suspicious from the beginning. That old man obsessed with eternal life couldn't have been unaware of the Eternal God Church. Knowing and leaving them like that was an arrangement he kept for this moment.'

Solenon nodded as if reading Deliphiros' inner thoughts.

"Right. Through those Eternal God Church bastards, I dug my own rabbit hole. If this world's destruction is predetermined anyway, I'll gladly stand at the forefront of that destruction and ride along. However, to join hands with Red Eternity, there was much lacking. Then I was able to discover an existence much stronger and greater than that."

"You damn bastard...!"

"You don't even call me 'you' formally anymore. That's fine too. Because the approaching void can never be stopped. Still, it's regrettable. I tried to make Tirna the very first starting point to be prey, but because that foolish witch failed, the plan went awry."

Solenon muttered while gazing at the sky.

-Flash!

With dazzling radiance, pure white light and golden light crushed Solenon's body. In the massive impact, the black filth began to burn away at rapid speed.

However, Solenon didn't die.

[Hehehe. Faster than I thought. But it's already too late. You cannot avoid the approaching destruction, so just pray until the final moment. That your death will end with at least minimal pain.]

Solenon disappeared from the scene, leaving behind final cursing words. The black filth he left behind continued to expand its influence.

Flash! With dazzling light, a golden barrier was erected to block the black filth. The golden wall imprisoned the filth and prevented it from spreading. The moment the imprisoned filth tried to struggle, Osian stepped forward. The flames of the Sun Ring Sword he wielded covered the filth.

-Keeeeek!

The filth let out a shriek as if it were a living creature.

Rumpelstiltskin, who descended through the gaping hole, watched that scene with a complicated gaze.

Her golden eyes soon turned toward Deliphiros.

"Mayor Deliphiros, I need to hear an explanation."