I Became the Youngest Prince in the Novel

264 - Assault on the Demon Temples (1)

TL/Editor: raei

Status: ongoing

Illustrations: none

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It was as if time had stopped.

No, ripples spread from where Zion's finger touched the Blood Human Dragon's breath.

Time was actually stopping in the parts of the world those ripples touched.

The laws in this frozen world began breaking down and reforming simultaneously.

Law Denial.

This authority was being deployed from Zion's hand despite him only having 7 stars.

Therefore it couldn't be perfectly deployed and had countless flaws, but- CRACK!

Nevertheless, the Blood Human Dragon's breath was being completely erased from the world.

Like a video filled with static.

The breath vanished with crackling sounds as space itself shook.

As if that wasn't enough, the touch of denial traveled up through the breath and began simultaneously erasing the Blood Human Dragon's body and everything around it.

"Ah..."

The battlefield fell silent again at this sight that defied imagination.

Step, step.

Zion's footsteps slowly approaching Galactio, who blankly watched this scene, began echoing across the entire battlefield.

"How, how..."

Words repeatedly flowed from the black mage's trembling lips.

Though he saw it with his own eyes, Galactio absolutely couldn't comprehend the scene that had unfolded before him.

It wasn't magic.

Nor was it martial arts or authority.

Something fundamentally different from those.

Something alien that shouldn't exist in this world was felt from the emperor's single strike just now.

"What... what are you?"

Trembling questions flowed from Galactio's lips as the emperor who had unleashed such a strike seemed completely unlike any being he knew.

But-

SLASH!

Zion wasn't one to answer such questions.

He immediately cut Galactio's throat with indifferent eyes.

Though Galactio normally wouldn't die from a severed neck due to accepting demonic power, Zion's Black Star Force that penetrated simultaneously shattered his entire body, leading to death.

THUD.

After the black mage who had once dominated an era met such an empty end-

"His Majesty has dealt with the enemy commander! All forces, annihilate the remaining enemy troops!"

WAAAAH!

The following battle wasn't worth mentioning.

The Black Magic Legion was swept away without proper resistance by the Beast Army and 7th Corps.

But mild dissatisfaction filled Zion's eyes as he watched this.

'It's not closing at all.'

Using incomplete Law Denial recklessly earlier.

And deliberately engaging in more battles recently.

All attempts to close the distance to 8 stars of Black Star Force.

But they provided only minimal help with little practical effect.

'The Demon King's power I saw beyond the hole last time was at a level I can't handle now.'

Therefore reaching 8 stars wasn't a choice but a necessity.

Just then-

"Your Majesty."

One of the Eternal Shadows who had approached Zion bowed respectfully and spoke.

"We just received reports that the Plains of Invasion and surrounding areas have been completely conquered."

"Good."

Zion nodded as if this were natural.

It couldn't be otherwise.

The battle for the plains had already been tilting in their favor, and the hero's party had joined as well.

"However... there's one more additional report."

The shadow hesitated with a hardened face.

"What is it?"

"...The Beast Sea has been defeated."

Zion's eyes sank at those words.

---

Western outskirts of the demon realm.

"We should be able to enter inland soon."

A low voice flowed from Diana's lips as she commanded the combined forces of Fairy Forest and Giant Colony that had infiltrated there.

Her eyes were on-

"KYAHAHAHAHA!"

The red-eyed witch rampaging freely in the middle of the nearly cleared battlefield.

It was Liushina, sent here by Zion's judgment that the combined forces advancing west had a lower ratio of powerful individuals compared to other areas.

'She seems even stranger than when I saw her before.'

Though Diana shook her head at that thought, she didn't stop Liushina.

It was undeniable that they had easily conquered this area thanks to that witch.

"Hmm, should we enter inland immediately? Or it might not be bad to wait here for His Majesty's instructions after sending our report."

Halegrion, First Leaf of the Fairy Forest, spoke as he approached Diana's side.

"Let's first discuss with the Giant Colony's chief..."

Just as Diana was about to answer-

"Your Highness, instructions have come from Emperor Zion!"

A communication mage ran urgently toward Diana while shouting.

"What is it?"

"A summons. His Majesty has issued a supreme council summons."

"...A summons?"

Diana's expression changed strangely at those words.

---

In the largest tent among the imperial army's temporary bases in the Plains of Invasion.

Far more people than usual had gathered in the tent used for leadership meetings.

Those actually leading this war - the heads of the Three External Worlds and Five Great Houses, commanders of the highest-ranking knight orders.

Though this was the first general meeting since the war began, the atmosphere wasn't good.

"Ha, I just can't understand this."

It was because of the Beast Sea's defeat.

"Everyone here knows we started this war with far more advantageous conditions. Timing, strategy, and even morale. The demon realm couldn't even properly respond at first."

Diana, who had space-traveled here with Tirian's help from the hero's party, began rapidly firing words at the Beast Sea representatives as soon as she entered the tent after hearing of the defeat.

"So how could you be defeated? Didn't you even refuse support forces, saying you were confident?"

"Please calm down, Lady Diana. I hear there were circumstances approaching force majeure."

Groud, head of House Ozlima, tried to stop Diana, but faint incomprehension showed in his eyes as well.

"Force majeure? You're calling it force majeure because of just one person? What nonsense is that? Unless the Demon King or a Great Demon appeared, this operation had to succeed. The conditions were perfect too. But because it didn't, now other areas are in danger as well. We might have to revise all our future strategies. At this level, the Three External Worlds' qualification should be questioned..."

"You go too far!"

Hwagangjin, who had been silently listening with head bowed beside Wolhaun, couldn't hold back and shouted.

"Thousands? No, tens of thousands? That's the number of beast-kin who lost their lives in that brief time fighting 'him'. If the battle had continued longer, the casualties would have been far greater.

Even if we could kill him, we couldn't continue fighting anymore. Retreat was our best option! Even if it had been the Fairy Forest or Giant Colony instead of us, the result would have been the same. No, it might have been even worse."

"What? What did you just..."

Just as the atmosphere in the meeting tent was about to worsen at Hwagangjin's words-

Step.

Low footsteps reached the ears of those in the tent.

A man slowly began revealing himself as the atmosphere rapidly sank.

As if the previous market-like scene had been a lie.

Step, step.

The man crossed the now-silent tent slowly and sat in the head seat.

Having instantly taken control of everything just by entering, Zion's languid voice flowed:

"Let's begin the meeting."

Thierry quietly stood and spoke while pointing at the map.

"Yes, Your Majesty. Then first, let's address the Beast Sea forces' defeat after entering the demon realm's east. The cause was..."

"The Proxy Ahmad Leviathan. Correct?"

"...Yes."

Zion watched Wolhaun, who kept her head deeply bowed while quietly murmuring "I'm sorry" as if unable to face him.

'Unexpected.'

Zion thought this not because the Beast Sea was defeated.

The Proxy, or more precisely the World's Proxy, Ahmad Leviathan.

He had possessed immortality since birth and had now even obtained demigod status.

With such a being taking action, the Beast Sea's defeat was natural.

The problem was-

'Why did he move?'

True to his title, Ahmad moved according to the world's will.

In other words, he was a guardian of world balance.

Therefore he never moved for personal feelings or reasons.

'In the chronicle, he didn't move until the very end...'

Zion could only guess that Ahmad had moved as a reaction to him twisting the world's fate that had been set for destruction.

'Well, it doesn't matter.'

He just had to crush anything that stood in his way anyway.

"Your Majesty, do you plan to reinforce the Beast Sea?"

"No need."

Zion shook his head at Sword King Ludwig, head of House Ascalon's question.

"Have the Beast Sea forces fall back for now. There's no need to force a breakthrough immediately. The other two areas have already entered inland anyway, so we'll focus there."

Part of his initial strategic plan had gone wrong, but countless variables always arose in war.

Therefore this was very familiar to Zion.

"So we're ignoring the Proxy too?"

"No, we can't leave him alone. But we can't send forces after him either."

Dispersing forces to search for the Proxy who could be anywhere would be extremely dangerous.

"Then..."

"We'll have to make him come to us first, like last time."

"But this is the demon realm. Is there such a way... you've already thought of one."

Diana stopped speaking as she saw Zion's slightly raised lips.

Zion set down his coffee cup and marked four points on the map with his finger.

"According to information from the Eternal Shadows here and Eye of the Moon, there are four 'Demon God Temples' in the demon realm. They're the core of cores that actually spread and maintain demonic energy throughout the demon realm. We'll hit three of them simultaneously."

Excluding the Demon King's temple in the Abyss, the remaining temples were spread throughout the demon realm's inland, and Zion planned to clear them all at once.

"Then they'll have to come stop us, and the Proxy will almost certainly be among them."

"But even excluding the innermost one, the other three locations seem too deep for imperial forces to reach quickly."

Evelyn carefully spoke while intently watching the points Zion had marked.@@novelbin@@

"No, the entire imperial army doesn't need to go. Only those with the empire's highest combat ability, including people here, will infiltrate the temples. The rest of the imperial forces will start battles at the inland borders simultaneously with our infiltration."

"Draw attention with the main force while striking with a detachment. A kind of feint operation."

"Correct."

Zion nodded at the Iron Blood Family head's answer.

Zion had no intention of dragging out this war or moving according to their intentions.

Therefore he planned to strike at the enemy's core from the start, even if it meant taking risks.

'Of course, this is only possible with sufficient power to back it up, but...'

Zion thought it was enough.

He had gathered and nurtured numerous talents including Liushina and the hero's party for times like this.

"Hmm... if it succeeds, we could perfectly seize the initiative and push straight to the demon realm's deepest part."

Ahmad Ozlima, the archmage who had been quietly listening, nodded in agreement.

"But one thing bothers me."

Groud, who had been continuously studying the map beside him, spoke as if objecting.

"Even if they're not the deepest Abyss, the three temples we plan to infiltrate all exist deep inland. Sending detachments there, and simultaneously at that, seems difficult. It seems impossible even with Lord Ahmad's or Tirian's space movement since it's not just one or two people."

"Yes, you're right, it would be very difficult."

Zion nodded in agreement but continued with a slight smile:

"But that doesn't mean there's absolutely no way."

His curved eyes were looking at something beyond the meeting tent.

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