Clang!

Alex drew his sword from the scabbard at his waist and rolled to the side, swinging it in the process.

"Ugh!"

Another tunnel snake had suddenly appeared.

Fortunately, the previous encounter had given them a sign, so they were tense and able to avoid the ambush.

Although he didn't possess the innate talent for swordsmanship like the Third Prince, he had still mastered the basics as a member of the royal family, making him at least as skilled as an average knight.

"Your Highness!!! Let me handle this!"

The captain of the guard, Cross, who had already gained the upper hand against the first tunnel snake, rushed forward as soon as he saw another one attacking the Crown Prince.

His movement was so swift that even a four-legged beast couldn’t match it, eliciting admiration from those who witnessed it.

Cross positioned himself in front of the Crown Prince, who was barely evading the attacks of the tunnel snake by rolling on the ground.

"Thank you. It was getting hard to keep dodging."

"I will take care of it. Please step back!"

Any ordinary knight wouldn’t dare to face a tunnel snake alone. But Cross was different.

He indeed started fighting the tunnel snake alone.

‘I can win, but it will take some time.’

Cross calculated while swinging his sword at the tunnel snake.

The other members of his unit were busy finishing off the other tunnel snake, and the regular soldiers would only be a hindrance rather than help.

He had to face it alone. Although he was confident in victory, he knew it wouldn’t be quick.

In truth, it was already a significant feat to take down a tunnel snake alone, as there were very few people in the Empire who could accomplish such a task.

But Cross was concerned about the prince’s unguarded position.

With two tunnel snakes already appearing, it wouldn’t be surprising if another one showed up, and if they were attacked by another, it would be disastrous.

‘Was it a mistake to split our forces?’

He regretted assigning half of the knights to Yustaf’s team for the investigation of the enemy’s base.

If only they had been here, there wouldn’t have been a problem.

But now was not the time for regret. The tunnel snake in front of him wasn’t a monster that could be faced with leisure.

And then, there was Venom, watching from the bushes.

Venom was utterly shocked.

‘Your Highness? Does that mean he really is royalty!’

Even though there was quite a distance between him and the bush where he was hiding, the voice of that terrifying knight was so loud that he heard it clearly.

—Your Highness!!! Let me handle this.

Now, it all made sense.

Those madly skilled warriors who were calmly handling the tunnel snake, where did they come from?

If they were the royal guards, it was no wonder they were so skilled.

Especially that middle-aged knight, like a monster, who was hunting the tunnel snake alone.

Even if a cult leader came, there was no guarantee they could easily subdue him.

‘Damn it! How did I end up targeting royalty….’

Venom’s vision went dark.

Why on earth was a member of the royal family here instead of the capital’s palace?

The moment he attacked royalty, his entire family would be exterminated, so he was as good as dead already.

‘No, wait. I never had a family to begin with, and as a dark wizard, I was sentenced to death the moment I was discovered, so nothing changes!’

Indeed, one of the few advantages of being a dark wizard was now manifesting.

Most of them didn’t have families, or if they did, they were mostly enemies.

And no matter how heinous their crimes, as dark wizards, their punishment was already determined—death.

Upon realizing he was already a dead man, Venom felt a surge of courage.

‘It’s a waste, but I’ll destroy the Chaos Crystal to drive the tunnel snake into a frenzy.’

He knew he wouldn’t be able to control the tunnel snake again, but it would send them into a temporary, chaotic frenzy.

In that moment, he would risk everything to escape.

Venom immediately clutched the Chaos Crystal with both hands and infused it with all the mana he could muster.

Crack!

The crystal, which had begun to vibrate violently, soon developed cracks, and before long, it shattered into powder.

“Kieeeek!!!”

The effect was immediate.

The two tunnel snakes, which were on the verge of death, suddenly started writhing and twisting their bodies with all their might.

“What’s going on! Why are they suddenly doing this…?”

The knights fighting the tunnel snakes were momentarily bewildered.

With wounds like those, such frenzied attacks would only hasten their deaths.

“Everyone, fall back for a moment!”

Judging there was no need to deal with their death throes, the knights stepped back slightly.

But the tunnel snakes seemed to have different thoughts.

Though it might be odd to speak of reason in a monster, they began charging toward the surrounding soldiers rather than the knights, like beasts gone mad.

“Aaaah!!!”

To the knights of the royal guard, they were just another monster to deal with. But to the regular soldiers, the tunnel snakes were as terrifying as the dragons of legend.

In an instant, the formation broke, and the soldiers scattered in retreat.

But not everyone could flee.

“M-mom….”

Barely an adult, one young soldier, who still looked childish, collapsed to the ground, his legs giving out under him.

The tunnel snake had already reached him, baring its large, grotesque jaws right in front of him.

“Krom!!!”

The desperate cries of the other soldiers from the same region echoed like a mournful chorus.

The knights, who had momentarily stepped back, rushed forward to block the berserk tunnel snake from reaching the soldiers.

But Cross, who was fighting the other tunnel snake alone, couldn’t do the same.

The tunnel snake he was battling also went berserk, suddenly charging at the Crown Prince. Cross alone couldn’t stop it.

“Your Highness!!!”

The Crown Prince rolled on the ground once more as the tunnel snake attacked.

But was he a bit too slow to react to the unexpected attack?

A chunk of his right side was torn away, and blood flowed freely.

“That damn tunnel snake!!! How dare it harm the prince!!!”

Cross and the other knights, who were holding back the other tunnel snake, were struck with horror and rage at the sight of the Crown Prince missing his right arm.

They were ready to rush in and kill the beast threatening the Crown Prince immediately.

“Stop! Do not leave your positions; hold your ground!”

But they had to stay put at the prince’s command.

“If you move recklessly, who will protect the soldiers behind us! Sir Cross, you can handle this alone, right?”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

Finally, Cross swung his sword in fury at the tunnel snake, which was making its last stand.

“Potion!! Anyone with a potion, bring it here now!”

One of the soldiers, who had been standing back, frantically tore his clothes into bandages as he hurried to find a potion for the Crown Prince.

“It’s alright now. Don’t worry.”

In contrast, the Crown Prince Alex's expression was remarkably calm.

Even though the pain of losing an arm must have been excruciating, he smiled at the soldiers who were watching him.

“How did you find this place….”

Bialom, the leader of the last remaining dark wizard organization on the continent, the Abyss Cult, was beyond disbelief and on the verge of rage.

“There are people willing to risk their lives to reveal the truth, and others who believe in them.”

The old man with a long beard standing before the dying Bialom was Yustaf, the Archmage of the Empire. He was genuinely grateful that, thanks to such people, a disaster had been averted.

Rupert, who published a book to reveal the truth despite the threat to himself and his family.

And Crown Prince Alex, who believed in their claims, even with scant evidence.

Without them, countless people in the Empire would have perished.

“Nonsense! Humans only care about their own gains!!!”

“That’s why your plan failed! You didn’t understand that while people can be infinitely cowardly, they can also be infinitely courageous!”

Bialom could only grit his teeth at Yustaf's words, too exhausted to argue.

He was bitterly disappointed.

They had been so close to realizing their grand plan.

Just one more step, and it would all have been accomplished. But now, it was all for nothing.

Of all the enemies they could have faced, it had to be this one. A dragon in human form, they said—how unfortunate that the Archmage himself had come to stop him.

This wasn’t just an excuse; if it hadn’t been Yustaf, Bialom was confident he could have repelled anyone else.

He could easily snap the neck of any ordinary knight and use a wizard, unless they were a high-ranking elder of the Mage Tower, as a mere sacrifice.

But even Bialom’s formidable dark magic was like a child’s play in front of Yustaf.

The Archmage’s overwhelming magical power filled the space, making it difficult to cast even lower-level spells, while he unleashed a barrage of spells without even chanting.

If it weren’t for Bialom’s own formidable skills, he wouldn’t still be alive. All the members of the Abyss Cult were already lying cold and dead.

“Before I kill you, there’s something I need to ask. What were you trying to create with this horrific act?”

"Create? Hah… What a joke. This isn’t an alchemical circle; it’s a dark magic circle! It’s the great gate and portal through which our master, the Demon God, will descend!!!"

Bialom’s voice rang out in a desperate cry.

And the group was utterly shocked by one word.

"Demon God."

On the continent of Silvania, not only did the goddess, the Creator God, exist, but so did the Demon God, the Destroyer.

According to legend, after the creation of the continent, the Demon God and the goddess engaged in a fierce battle. Defeated, the Demon God was banished to the otherworldly realm of the Demon World.

It was said that the blood spilled by the goddess during this battle created humans, elves, dwarves, and beastmen, while the blood of the Demon God spawned all manner of monsters.

Perhaps because of this, the races born from the goddess’s blood were instinctively imprinted with a deep-seated fear and hatred of monsters.

But this horrific story—trying to summon not just monsters but the Demon God himself to the continent—was beyond comprehension.

“Truly, dark wizards are no longer human.”

One of the group members, his voice trembling with disgust, spoke up. Everyone nodded in agreement.

How could beings born from the goddess’s blood dare to follow the Demon God and endanger the world?

It was an unforgivable act. That’s why dark wizards were universally reviled, not only by humans but by all the races of the continent.

“Humans? Don’t make me laugh… Since when have humans ever been such noble beings?”

But Bialom merely scoffed at their reaction.

“The only race that has killed more of its own kind than any other is humanity! Nobles have always oppressed commoners….”

"Enough talking. And those you killed—were they nobles?"

“Th-that was an unavoidable sacrifice for the greater cause!!!”

Thud!

Bialom never got to finish his sentence.

A sword struck his forehead like lightning.

It was the work of Rina, one of the Crown Prince’s royal guards who had accompanied Yustaf.

Despite being a woman, she was a top graduate of the military academy at the Imperial Academy.

A genius in swordsmanship, she was all but certain to become the next legion commander.

“We need to wrap this up quickly, gather the evidence, and return to His Highness the Crown Prince.”

She nonchalantly pulled the sword from Bialom's head and wiped the blood off with her sleeve. The others could only nod in agreement.