I Became the Youngest Prince in the Novel

186 - The Floating City (3)

186 - The Floating City (3)

TL/Editor: raei

Status: ongoing

Illustrations: none

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In the city hall, the highest decision-making body of the floating city Adegrifa, the vice-mayor's office remained brightly lit even after midnight.

Inside, Ackendelt stared out the window with troubled eyes.

"I truly cannot understand," he muttered, his voice heavy with confusion.

The source of his confusion was Prince Zion Agnes, who occupied the massive mansion visible through the window.

"What exactly was that power?"

As he muttered this, Ackendelt recalled the proxy battle from earlier. The sight of Grimel's magic vanishing without a trace upon contact with Prince Zion's power still sent chills down his spine.

'It was definitely a power I'd never seen before.'

Could it be a hidden power of the Agnes royal family? Or perhaps, despite feeling no mana flow at the time, it might be a new type of magic no one had discovered yet.

A truly mysterious ability.

However, the reason Ackendelt stared at Zion's mansion with such troubled eyes was different.

"That final gesture and words... they were clearly signals meant for 'us.'"

The 'us' he referred to wasn't the city hall or any official magical organization.

It was the Light Watchers - a secret organization established alongside the floating city's creation, secretly protecting it.

Ackendelt was a member of this organization, which was why he could recognize Zion's signal.

"The question is how Prince Zion knew that signal."

It was a signal only members of his organization should know.

He couldn't understand how Prince Zion, who had no connection to them, could know it.

'Unless... could he be with the Shadow?'

Ackendelt shook his head at the thought.

That was too much of a stretch.

Just then-

'Still, I should discuss this with the higher-ups... hm?'

Something strange caught his eye.

A group stealthily infiltrating the mansion where Prince Zion stayed.

Their movements were so swift and discreet that even Ackendelt would have missed them if he hadn't been watching that direction.

"Those bastards...!"

Ackendelt's eyes began to shake.

Then-

"Prince Zion is in danger! Prepare troops immediately!"

His urgent cry echoed as he burst out of the vice-mayor's office.

A group moved swiftly through the darkness.

Despite numbering nearly twenty, they made no sound at all.

The reason was simple - they were wrapped in various concealment spells blocking presence, sound, and sight.

The level of these concealment spells was so high that even other mages wouldn't notice them.

Silently, the group eliminated the guards in front of the mansion before infiltrating deeper inside.

"Search every floor. Kill everyone in the mansion, including Prince Zion."

Their leader's cold voice issued the command.

Following his orders, the assassins spread out, eliminating every guard mage they encountered as they moved upward.

Yet still no sound escaped - a testament to their extraordinary skill.

In less than five minutes, several assassins reached the top floor and unhesitatingly opened the final door.

Their eyes found a large bed with blankets piled on top.

Swish!

Without bothering to check, since they had to eliminate everyone anyway, the assassins immediately launched slicing spells at the bed.

The bed split into dozens of pieces.

But no severed body parts or blood spurted out.

There had been no one in the bed to begin with.

'If not here, then where...'

As the assassins' eyes filled with question, knowing this was the only room left-

"I was wondering which side would come first."

A low voice spoke behind them.

Thud!

One assassin's head vanished.

"So it was this side?"

As the headless corpse collapsed, darkness rippled.

From that darkness emerged a man.

It was Zion.

His eyes curved as if he already knew the assassins' identity.

'The Shadow Veil.'

Two secret organizations existed in this floating city.

The Light Watchers who protected the city from the shadows.

And the Shadow Nest who sought to overthrow them and the entire city.

The reason Zion had participated in the magic proxy battle was to draw the attention of these two secret organizations.

Nothing else could attract people's attention as much as his unprecedented participation.

So after the battle, when attention was at its peak, Zion had shown a signal only they would recognize - and the Shadow Nest had responded first.

'I knew they were extreme, but I didn't expect them to try killing me right away.'

Did they not care about the consequences of assassinating royalty?

'No, they know but simply don't care.'

As Zion thought this and turned toward the other assassins-

"The target can nullify magic. Respond as planned."

At their superior's words, the assassins drew weapons they had prepared.

Magic guns imbued with dozens of spells - silencing, strengthening, acceleration, targeting, and more.

"You thought I couldn't nullify objects imbued with magic?"

Zion looked at the guns aimed at him with interest.

"Well, you're right about that, but..."

Swish swish swish!

The guns fired with minimal sound thanks to silencing spells.

The magic bullets broke the sound barrier, reaching right in front of Zion.

"That doesn't mean your attacks can actually touch me."

One step.

As Zion casually stepped forward-

BOOM!

A shockwave exploded from beneath his feet, completely destroying all the incoming magic bullets.

The continuing shockwave created spider web cracks across every wall.

As uncertainty finally appeared in the assassins' eyes-

Whoosh!

Zion's form vanished and reappeared before the nearest assassin.

Testament to their extreme training, the assassin responded by casting acceleration magic to create distance while pulling their gun's trigger.

But no bullet fired from that gun.

Far faster-

Crunch!

Zion's extended hand grabbed the gun's barrel and crushed it.

After tossing aside the now-useless hunk of metal, Zion dove deeper and threw his other fist.

"...!"

The assassin quickly raised multiple layers of defensive magic, but-

Crack!

Zion's fist shattered through them easily and pulverized the assassin's head.

Before the headless corpse could even hit the ground, Zion's form shot toward another assassin.

"Cast weakening spells!"

As their situation reversed from hunters to hunted, the lead assassin shouted urgently as various debuff spells targeted Zion.

Weight increase, slow, blind, paralyze, and more.

Zion's speed seemed to decrease as if the spells were working.

Just as the mages raised their guns with brightened eyes-

SCREECH!

With a sound like wailing ghosts, darkness suddenly enveloped Zion's entire body and erased all the debuff spells.

It was Soul Extinction Armor.

Ratta-tat-tat!

Zion dodged all the incoming bullets just by tracking the gun barrels, his form vanishing as he reached the next target assassin.

Crunch!

The assassin died without even properly reacting to Zion's much faster movements.

Zion immediately eliminated two more nearby assassins before turning to the lead assassin - the last one in the room.

"How..."

The battle wasn't even close to being competitive.

"Stay still and I'll end this cleanly," Zion said, stepping toward the assassin who was backing away with vacant eyes, all fighting spirit lost.

Crack!

After unhesitatingly destroying the assassin's head, Zion immediately opened the door and stepped outside.

There he found numerous other assassins approaching.

"This brings back memories," Zion smiled.

The situation resembled his first ambush at Chimseong Palace.

Of course, these enemies were much stronger than back then, but that didn't matter.

Zion himself had grown incomparably stronger as well.

'I should probably keep one alive.'

As he thought this, darkness began rippling across his entire body.

"Hurry!"

Ackendelt's urgent voice rang out as he led the Third Guardian Battalion - all the forces he could currently mobilize - at full speed.

Usually meticulous about maintaining dignity to the point of rarely running or rushing, he had no time for such concerns now.

'We must stop this. No matter what, we cannot let Prince Zion die!'

What would happen if a royal family member, especially one closest to succeeding the throne, was assassinated while participating in the exchange conference as a delegate?

The empire would surely demand accountability, and it could even lead to war.

'I was foolish. I should have paid more attention to his security!'

Why hadn't he considered it?

In hindsight, it seemed obvious the Shadow Nest, always desperate to destroy the floating city, would target Prince Zion.

"Please hold out until we arrive, Your Highness."

With these words like a prayer, Ackendelt increased his speed further.

Of course, he knew well of Prince Zion's impressive combat ability.

He had even witnessed part of that power during the proxy battle.

But still he couldn't feel at ease.

The assassination abilities of the Shadow Nest's specially trained "assassin mages" were beyond imagination.

Previously, though not in direct combat, they had even managed to kill a fifth-ranked magician.

Thus his anxiety could only grow.

"Please..."

If there was any fortune in this misfortune, it was that Prince Zion's mansion wasn't far from the city hall, allowing Ackendelt to reach the front gate quickly.

Though they should normally use detection magic to scout the interior first, there was no time for that-

"Prince Zion!!!"

BANG!

Ackendelt broke down the closed front gate and rushed inside.

And at that moment-

"...Huh?"

His eyes grew vacant.

In the large hall just inside the entrance lay numerous corpses.

Not the mansion's guards.

The Shadow Nest assassins who had infiltrated earlier.

They lay scattered across the hall, their heads or hearts destroyed.

As silence fell over Ackendelt and the Guardian Battalion following him at this completely unexpected sight-

Thump! Thump!

Breaking that silence, someone emerged from the darkness at the back of the hall.

An assassin dragging an unmoving leg, approaching them.

One of the assassin's eyes was already gone, while the other was filled with enormous terror.

As if they had witnessed an inescapable nightmare.

"...S-save me."

Having apparently lost all reason to assess the situation, the assassin approached Ackendelt - their enemy - pleading.

As Ackendelt stared blankly at this incomprehensible situation-

"Please save-!"

Just as the assassin finally reached him and stretched out their hand-

Crunch!

Something shot out from the darkness behind, grabbed the assassin's head, and dragged them back into the shadows.

Then-

Crack, crack, CRUNCH!

Horrifically grotesque sounds of flesh being torn apart echoed from within.

After those sounds finally ceased-

Step, step.

A figure slowly emerged from the darkness.

"You're a bit late."

A man showing a pristine white smile to Ackendelt and the Guardian Battalion, who still stood dumbfounded.

It was Zion.

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