Legacy of the Betelgeuse

Chapter 140 - Episode 140: The Invasion. (6)

On my way out of the palace, the ground starts shaking and I look at the ceiling.

"There's no safe place anymore..."

I hurriedly leave the palace, and as the notification said, Shazjae's armies are already infiltrated all the kingdoms, including the Eynhildr Kingdom. I can hear all the NPCs are screaming and the monsters are growling. I immediately run toward the teleportation device while cleaning up the path that is filled with monsters.

When I reach the teleportation device, there's something interesting about the device. The teleportation device now has an HP bar, and that could only mean one thing, the device is now vulnerable to taking damage. This is new because there's no such thing as this back then. How cheeky.

I message Francesca and tell her about it. She then replies and tells me that Ivonna is already warned the rest about it.

I touch the teleportation device so I can teleport to the Acuria Kingdom where the holy temple is, and then the device shows me a notification.

[Your destination is unavailable]

I raise my eyebrow and try it one more time.

[Your destination is unavailable]

"Perfect..."

Then I try to teleport to the Yureon Kingdom since it's the neighboring kingdom from the Acuria Kingdom that is located on the south of the Acuria Kingdom. I believe the teleportation device over there should be available since so many players are in that kingdom.

I manage to teleport to the Yureon Kingdom, and this is worse than what's happening in the Eynhildr Kingdom. I wonder what's Alessandro doing right now since this kingdom is in total chaos, but this isn't my concern and I have something more important to do.

I run as fast as I can to the north gate of the Yureon Kingdom while clearing up the path. At least I help cleaning up the mess around me. Normally, it will take around 9 hours journey using a carriage, but the coachman for the traveling system is unavailable since all the NPCs are hiding or leaving. If I have to travel on foot, it will take around 14 hours, but thankfully this is nighttime and my [Nightfall] skill is active now, so I can keep running without having to worry about my stamina.

I'm reaching the Acuria Kingdom and my stamina is still more than a half. It took me around 4 hours thanks to [Moonsteps] skill that I kept spamming whenever it's off cooldown. I can see flames inside the city and by looking at it from the distance, I can tell how bad it is.

I really want to help them, but my priority is Aria, and the holy temple is still far away from the city. I need her alive no matter what it cost, but my sense of humanity is tingling and I can't pretend to overlook the situation that what's happening around me because there are no players around her to save them from these hordes of monsters, and everyone is deployed in the neighboring kingdoms of the Maryoca Kingdom and are too busy handling the monsters over there. Not to mention that Shazjae is awake and enraged now.

Azrael is patting my cheek.

"Master, why are we stopping? Aren't we supposed to go to the holy temple?"

I sigh.

"I really want to go there as soon as possible, but I can't bear to see what's happening to these people around me."

Azrael is humming.

"Master, just because one's life is more important than the others, that doesn't justify that the others' lives are count as worthless. They are as valuable as whoever you're trying to save."

I scoff and nod.

"You're right. I hope you don't hate me for being a fool. Do you want to help me help them, Azrael?"

Azrael jumps down and looks at me.

"Of course, Master! I will help you until the end!"

This time, using magics and spells aren't the best. I grab my chained sickles and scythe, then charge at the hordes of monsters with Azrael on my side.

I kill many of them on my own, and then the knights and townsmen are coming toward me. They're looking at me with determination. Words aren't needed because their expressions show me how they're ready to fight side by side with me. I nod and we all charge at the monsters who took their loved ones or their partners and friends.

After all the monsters are wiped. I look up and the night is still long. I look down and I see the people are crying, smiling, and cheering. All kinds of emotions are combined and just burst out to the surface. Without wasting any time, I leave the city and go to the holy temple.

I'm outside the holy temple, and for some reason, it's too quiet and too dark in there for them if they're doing a spiritual event. I'm slowly entering the holy temple and I don't see a single NPC around. Azrael is walking through the bushes and climb up the walls and pillars to check if there's any sign of life. When Azrael is back, he says there's nobody around here, so we go further into the temple. We then start seeing dead bodies scattered around the floor. The deeper we walk, the more dead bodies we see, and then we see a massive building in front of us.

We are inside a massive hall with a stage at the front. There are so many dead bodies in here. I look around and check the bodies one by one. They're the priest or the people who live here. I think when they were doing the spiritual event, the monsters ambushed them here and killed them. I walk up to the stage, and there are 11 women laying dead while wearing a smooth white silk dress that is covered with their own blood. I'm gulping and praying that none of them is Aria.

I check their faces one by one, and I'm kind of glad that Aria is not one of them, but at the same time, I feel sad to see their fates ended like this. When I'm looking around the stage, I see a door is opened on the back of the stage, and I see a blood trail going in there. I follow the blood and it's too dark in here and so I activate [Eyes of the Moon] so I can see around clearly. I look down and the blood trail is leading somewhere behind this place, but then I hear a crunching sound coming from the back of this place. I see a monster, just one, eating the body of someone in front of the monster. I swing my sickle and throw it at the monster and cut off its head.

I approach the body and click my tongue.

"The Arch Bishop is dead..."

I squat down and check all the pockets on his clothes, and then I get the key to the archive room since Ivonna and the others are going to need the secret tunnel map, but then I can hear someone is sobbing quietly on my right. I turn my head and a black-haired woman wearing a white smooth silk dress covering her mouth with both of her hands and tears running down to her hands. So this is how she survived the invasion. I really feel bad for her.

She can't see me in this pitch-black place, so I think she's still scared that something else is in here with her, and it terrifies her badly. I sigh with relief because she's the one that I'm looking for. I stand up and slowly walk toward her, she's holding her screams with her eyes wide open.

"Saintess Aria?"

Aria stops sobbing, and she's slowly putting her hands down from her mouth. Azrael is walking towards her and then accidentally steps on Aria's leg and she's startled and screams so loudly. She immediately covers her mouth with both of her hands again. Then we can hear the growling sounds coming from outside the room.

Aria whispers.

"I-I apologize! I'm very sorry!"

I look at Azrael with disbelief, and Azrael is just whimpering and looking down feeling guilty.

"Saintess Aria. Don't be scared because I came here to save you. Just stay still and I will handle those monsters. You don't have to worry about anything."

I go back to the stage and kill all the monsters lurking around here. Turns out, there are more than a dozen of them in the temple. I'm glad that she screamed because I don't want these monsters to ambush us later. It's better to gather them around and wipe them out now than have to do it later one by one.

I go back and check her condition.

"Saintess Aria? It's clear now, you can come out."

I hear a dress is getting ripped and she's startled because she steps on her own dress. Azrael is walking beside her and making sure that nothing bad is happening to her. She still can't see my face, but I'm standing in front of the door, so she should be able to see my silhouette. I reach out my hand and then she grabs it. Her hand is trembling and I'm trying so hard to not startle her and hold her hand gently.

I pull her gently back to the stage, and I can finally see her beautiful face with purple eyes and white pale skin. She looks at my face and she seems relieved and smiles with her eyes closed.

"Thank you, mister...?"

I smile.

"Saintess Aria can call me Trevor."

Aria nods and smiles.

"Thank you, Mister Trevor."