“His Grace understands too, right...? Right now, Young Master Muen is the best candidate.”

Funal coughed up blood with difficulty. Under the Lion King’s pressure, his face quickly turned as white as paper.

But he was smiling.

“I just made the correct choice.”

“Correct? In this fortress, on this Abyss frontline, I am the biggest correct!”

Lorne grabbed Funal like he was a chick and hauled him up. His beard bristled like a lion’s mane, and the entire fortress trembled beneath his feet.

“Disobeying my order, letting my son... a child go deep into demonfolk territory and do something that dangerous—Funal, do you still count as a soldier?”

“Haha... maybe I don’t.”

Funal tilted his head and looked toward that wilderness where the sounds of slaughter still hadn’t stopped.

He knew he’d done something despicable, but he didn’t regret it.

“These years, I followed you, Your Grace, and I’ve played the role of a soldier very well, but Your Grace seems to have forgotten that from the beginning, I was never a soldier. I’m not even—”

“Shut your damn mouth!”

Lorne slammed Funal against the wall again.

“I don’t give a damn what you are, but that’s my son! What right do you have to order him around?”

“Of course I don’t have that right, but Your Grace understands... I don’t need to order him at all.”

Funal turned his head back. He was still smiling, but it was an ugly smile.

Was it melancholy? A sigh? Maybe both.

But more than anything, it was awe.

“Young Master Muen really has become outstanding. Outstanding, outstanding—more outstanding than me, than you, than all of us ever imagined. Strong, gentle, brave... But precisely because he’s that outstanding, he’ll understand what’s correct, and he’ll do those correct things—just like you, Your Grace. You always lead us to do what’s correct, don’t you?”

“What do you mean I’m the same? That’s my son! I’m not dead yet! Campbell family rule: before I’m dead, my son doesn’t have to go to the battlefield personally!”

“But you already knew this would be the result, so you ordered us not to tell him, didn’t you? You were hesitating too, between justice and private feelings, so your acting was that clumsy—so clumsy even I couldn’t stand watching it anymore.”

“Since Your Grace is so torn...”

Funal forced his back straight.

“Then let me be the bad guy.”

In that instant, the atmosphere froze to the lowest point.

Lorne was like a lion baring its fangs, panting hard, eyes bloodshot as he stared at Funal.

Donick at the side was frantic, but he didn’t even dare say a single word of persuasion.

Everyone held their breath. They had never seen Lorne Campbell this furious.

“...Funal, you really think you’re somebody now? I am the Campbell Duke, I am the Lion King—do I need you to be the bad guy for me? Do I need you—”

Lorne’s expression grew even more vicious.

But his hands gradually lost their strength.

Now that it had come to this, what could he do?

Kill Funal?

Impossible.

Punish him?

That would be too despicable.

Because just as Funal said, in his own mind, it wasn’t as if he’d never had such a thought.

It was a soldier’s instinct. It was the thought a butcher, a brute, an executioner who had sent countless other people’s sons onto the battlefield could never completely avoid.

“Damn it—every last one of you is so damn self-righteous. What the hell do you take me for?”

Lorne suddenly flung Funal away.

He staggered a few steps himself, swaying, and sat down on the ground in a rather wretched sprawl.

The Campbell Duke who had spent his entire life refusing to bow, the Lion King who hadn’t wavered even facing three demonfolk grand dukes—at this moment, his back was a little hunched.

“Would I be afraid of something like this? Would I not have that kind of courage? I just... just...”

Lorne slumped and gave a self-mocking smile.

“...If something really happened to Muen... how am I supposed to explain it to his mother? This isn’t something you can solve by kneeling on a washboard...”

“Your Grace, Young Master Muen has grown up.”

“I damn well know.”

“He’s stronger than you imagine, braver than you imagine, and even harder to kill than you imagine.”

“I said I damn well know. They say scourges live a thousand years—he’s gone out there and provoked so many girls, and he’s still living just fine right now, how could he die that easily? Do I need you to remind me?”

“No, what I mean is...”

Funal struggled to his feet, then stepped aside and made room for Lorne.

“Now Young Master Muen is about to leave home. What you should do isn’t regret and worry... you should go and send him off properly, shouldn’t you? If a wanderer leaving home has no one to see him off, that’s just too pitiful.”

“...”

Lorne abruptly lifted his head.

In the blink of an eye, that dispirited air vanished without a trace. The Lion King’s momentum and oppressive presence spilled out of that towering body once more.

“Right...”

He murmured in a low voice.

“No matter what, as a father, you always have to see your son off.” 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

...

...

“Not enough progress.”

The demonfolk camp.

On top of a high, piled stone platform, a pitch-black robe billowed in the wind.

Inside that robe there was nothing at all—only ghostfire flickering. Yet in the region where that faint light naturally spread, the entire space seemed twisted, and the deep outline looked like it could crush a person’s soul directly.

“It’s the second day of the siege, and not a single unit has climbed onto the wall.”

Youyan Grand Duke stared at that towering wall the demonfolk saw as a thorn in their flesh and said coldly,

“At this rate, how long will it take us to break through that wall? Don’t forget Dolongslei Fortress has a full three walls!”

“Your Excellency Youyan, please calm your anger. We’ve already done our utmost to urge those lowly wastes along.”

The high-ranking demonman attending him fell to his knees in terror and explained respectfully,

“But the humans’ supplies seem to have been replenished. Their alchemical bombs and magic-guided cannons seem sufficient again, so our assault really has been obstructed to a certain degree. But please rest assured, Your Excellency Youyan—give us a little more time. As long as we can exhaust those supplies again, we definitely can—”

“Enough. Stop saying such empty things. I’m sick of hearing them.”

The black-robed wide sleeve flicked casually.

“If you could take this fortress just by relying on yourselves, then there’d be no need for old monsters like us—who can’t stand each other at all—to endure the disgust and join hands.”

“Y-yes... yes. We still have to rely on the few great lords. Those lowly wastes are just cannon fodder in the end.”

The demonman wiped cold sweat away.

“But speaking of those alchemical weapons... the humans on the Kingdom’s side are also a bunch of wastes. And yet they still let the Empire have spare strength to support this side.”

“Humans are all like that—good at civil war, bad at foreign war. I heard after the Kingdom sent troops, they really did take some imperial border territory. Those people were already discussing internally how to divide up the Empire’s land... and then once the Empire’s empress went to the border to personally oversee things, the situation immediately stabilized.”

The demonman who had just been trembling shook with contempt when he spoke of humans.

“I heard the Empire has already organized a counterattack. The Kingdom has already eaten a few pretty big defeats.”

“Don’t be arrogant.”

Youyan said faintly.

“Looking at overall strength, we who are trapped in the Abyss are still ultimately not the equals of humans.”

“Yes. This subordinate understands.”

“But what you said about the Kingdom is also right. If we really wait until those idiots who can’t even deal with a woman get crushed by the Empire, and the entire Empire can shift its focus and devote itself fully to dealing with us... then it really will become troublesome.”

Youyan thought briefly, then issued an order.

“Pass it down. Increase the intensity of the siege. Cut the original assault batches in half, double the number of attackers in each batch. Don’t worry about losses among low-ranking demonmen. Consume the stamina and spirit of the imperial soldiers inside the fortress faster.”

“Yes!”

The demonman acknowledged it, showing no reaction at all to the cruel order, and hurried off to prepare troop mobilization.

Youyan Grand Duke still stood on that high platform, looking down as countless demonmen, like ants, surged forward one after another toward that wall like a natural chasm that devoured their lives.

“More news came from Gutongs Fortress... everything really has to speed up. Once Moshan fully recovers, we have to launch the general offensive too.”

Youyan spoke to himself.

“At that time, can the Lion King recover?” A voice suddenly sounded at Youyan’s side, asking.

“Probably not. After all, the Lion King was besieged by us. His injuries far exceed Moshan’s, and on top of that he was poisoned by Moshan. How could he recover that easily?”

“What a pity...”

The voice said. “I really wanted to duel that empire powerhouse one-on-one.”

“Haha, this is a battlefield, not some place for one-on-one.”

Youyan Grand Duke sounded like he’d been amused.

“And the Lion King isn’t some lunatic. How would he come out at a time like this to fight you one-on-one—”

“Demonfolk scum!!!”

But at this moment—

All of a sudden,

A deafening roar sounded above the fortress.

The murky sky abruptly dimmed, because a dazzling crown descended, scattering pure radiance like stars and moon.

Yet under that radiance, a blood-red lion stepped out slowly. A majestic lion’s roar shook the firmament, and beneath the wall, many low-ranking demonfolk vomited blood under the pressure and collapsed to death.

The Lion King—Lorne Campbell!

“How is he suddenly showing himself?” Youyan Grand Duke cried out in shock.

The ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) Lion King stood at the highest point of the wall, with countless imperial soldiers behind him watching him with reverent eyes.

He raised his hand and casually threw off the coat draped over his shoulders. The coat snapped loudly in the wind, drifting down and covering the mountain of corpses piled under the wall like a shroud laid over those demonfolk who dared offend the Empire’s territory.

“Scum—come!”

The Lion King suddenly bellowed, then kicked off the ground and leapt straight into the vast wilderness.

The lion roared in fury, and he suddenly reached out with both hands, grasping at empty air, and lifted upward!

Boom!

The earth instantly trembled.

It was like an earthquake tearing the wilderness apart. Huge cracks spread a hundred li in the blink of an eye.

And on the inner side of those cracks, earth and stone as massive as mountains, under unimaginable brute force, were actually slowly lifted up.

No—this could no longer be described as “as massive as mountains”...

The enormous shadow gradually covered the entire battlefield. Every demonman trembled as they felt that crushing pressure bearing down on them.

—This was a mountain. A mountain rising straight out of the ground!!

“Has he really gone crazy?”

Youming Grand Duke was even more incredulous.

Not to mention how this guy recovered so quickly.

But even if he recovered, shouldn’t he be hiding and recuperating?

What was this—coming out now and throwing a mountain? Who’s the attacker here?

“Damn it, these crude brutes—where’s Moshan? Where’s our brute Moshan? Hurry up and come save us!”

“Oh, right, I forgot. Moshan is still nursing his wounds...”

“Bastard. Recovering slower than a human—shameful!”

Youyan looked at the mountain that was about to fall, then glanced at the grand duke beside him who had that “none of my business” look on his face. Among demonfolk who acted so crudely, he counted as refined and easygoing—yet even he couldn’t help cursing.

“Damn it... this is exactly why I hate brutes!”

His black robe surged. Youyan went to meet it, extremely unwilling.

...

...

At the outer edge of the demonfolk army.

A patch of space that had been calm rippled suddenly.

When the distortion of the lighting spell and the concealment of the alchemical domain’s aura dispersed together, the figure that appeared was Muen, who had slipped away without a word.

He was still inside the demonfolk army, not yet out of danger...

But it didn’t actually matter anymore, because in this moment, no one would notice that a mouse from Dolongslei Fortress was about to pass through the entire demonfolk camp and head toward the Abyss’s perilous depths.

“No way...”

Muen lifted his head blankly, staring at his father who was absolutely maxing out his presence, and his cheek couldn’t help twitching as he said,

“It really is pure brute force... ‘mountain flying,’ huh. Is this the Campbell family inheritance? Love it, love it.”

Muen finally understood why, even with such good looks genes, the Campbell family’s ancestors’ photos were all ultimate rugged macho men with full beards. They casually toss a mountain around at every turn—anyone would become a macho man.

But at the same time, a trace of warmth surfaced in Muen’s heart.

Because he knew why his father, who should have been patiently recuperating, would suddenly launch an attack on the entire demonfolk army at a time like this.

“I’ll be back. Wait for me, Father.”

Muen waved goodbye, and his steps grew even firmer as he walked toward the boundless Abyss.