ocean-life Chapter 48.2: Beatrice the Magician Queen
Chapter 48.2: Beatrice the Magician Queen
Chapter 48.2: Beatrice the Magician Queen
* * * *
The battle was over.
Androzin, the Archdemon of Pleasure, has been destroyed, countless demons have been slaughtered, and most of the demons have fled through the Demon Gate.
Leon’s side took a hit, too.
Six of his Hunters were killed in action. For over a month, the Hunters were depressed at the loss of their comrades-in-arms, but were relieved to read the message that their souls had made it to Paradise.
‘So even if we die... we’ll go to heaven?’
‘Wow... loyalty.’
Leon and his gods don’t hide in the clouds. They actively announce their existence and invite faith.
You shouldn’t try to trade with the gods, but that’s something they can do on their own to help their followers.
Even machines, dead wraiths, and unbelievers get a free pass if they have the Lionheart King’s endorsement.
“Your Majesty, the loot is coming.”
Chief Kim Jin-soo and the Hunters are professional hunters. Naturally, once they cleared the gate, they took the loot.
“Is this the crown and sword that the demon used?”
The crown and sword were tainted with evil, so they needed to destroy them immediately──
-Bam!
Yakt Spinner approached, his eight legs pounding the ground, and he began to wire up the beak.
“Is this your favorite?”
-Heavy metal. Useful.
“But it is tainted with evil. The blade is supposed to trap souls.”
Leon understood the nature of the blade Androzin had left behind.
A soul-trapping blade made to punish even demons. The souls of countless demons are imprisoned within that blade.
-Geeeeeeeeeeee!
-Forgive, forgive...!
-I curse you. I curse.
Just being in its vicinity erodes one’s spirit.
Hunters who actually touched it would have been tainted if not for the restoration of the Grail.
-I can handle it.
“Hmm.......”
It was none other than Holy Knight Yappy so Leon nodded and gave him permission to handle it.
And──
[Lionheart].
Fle, the God of Dreams and Death, appeared in front of them.
“Huh?”
The Hunters froze at the sudden appearance of the goddess but Leon shouted.
“On your knees, you lowly things!”
“Aye-aye!”
The Death Knights dropped to their knees and the Hunters fell to their knees as well.
Only Lionheart stood tall before the Goddess, because he could.
“Speak, Goddess.”
[Show me the crown that you have won by slaying the bastard]
“I am afraid it is a cheap object, and I fear it will stain your eyes.”
[It is all right.]
Leon held up the crown of longing and the Goddess examined it carefully.
“A crown of unusual inherent power. I was going to break it when I regained my strength.”
[I am not unaware of your intentions, but why don’t you leave this crown to me?]
Fle smiles as Leon tilts his head in question.
[This crown, you may not remember, is the one common to the Archdemons of Pleasure, whose heads you cut off]
“Is that so?”
* * * *
“Then, Your Majesty, we will go through the formalities with Her Majesty Queen Beatrice.”
In the aftermath of the Fluctuation Gate, the Hunter’s Association rallied all the Hunters they could muster and prepared for the Dungeon Break.
That lasted a week when Leon finally cleared the gate and returned home.
“Wow.......”
“Another survivor after the Yakt Spinner.”
“Pretty.......”
It’s not often that a survivor returns from the Fluctuation Gate.
Association president Oh Kang-hyuk registered Beatrice as a survivor at Leon’s request and also expressed his condolences to the deceased Hunters.
“We express our sincere condolences to the hunters for their sacrifice.”
Six Hunters died and under normal circumstances, Leon’s graduation ceremony would have been a colossal failure.
“But this was a fluctuation gate that became a red gate and an Archdemon was present so it’s a miracle you made it out with this much damage.”
“I’m sure Lord Spinner has the details, but I also need to meet with the families of the warriors.”
“In person?”
“They were one of this king’s few soldiers. It’s the least I can do.”
“You can’t do that.........It could end badly.”
Mourning the dead is always emotional and the president of the Association worried that the families of the fallen might try to get back at Leon.
“It’s not that I don’t understand the wives, parents and children of the dead but they will be relieved to hear this king’s story.”
These were souls that Leon had personally blessed and guided, and they would be relieved to know how they would be treated in the paradise of the departed.
Those who have lost loved ones will be cared for by Leon’s Guild, which is the Lionheart Kingdom’s way of honoring the fallen.
“Release the video and summon more Hunters. The Evil Ones will eventually invade your world, and we will need soldiers and knights for that day.”
“.......”
Association President Oh Kang-hyuk has already seen the video of what happened inside the gate.
The Demons of Pleasure and Corruption have been seen in Mexico and other places in South America.
The city they corrupted in that poorly governed South American country was eventually nuked.
Oh Kang-hyuk had seen the deeds of those filthy, lustful demons time and time again on record.
“Your Majesty, your power is optimal for dealing with demons, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Then.......”
Oh Kang Hyuk told him about the upcoming Association-wide schedule, and Leon gladly accepted.
At the Temple of Ten Thousand Gods compound in the Naju Plains.
The events of the Fluctuation Gate and the cadets’ graduation ceremony were not yet finalized, but Leon had an urgent need for ‘help’.
The people of this world could not help, only the strength of faith, built up to this point, could get him there.
Leon closes his eyes and allows himself to fall into a coma.
In his spiritual state, he sees a purple goddess staring at him.
[Try to take my hand]
Touching the glorified jade body of a deity is a familiar experience for the Lionheart King. Drawn to the goddess, he turns to his heart.
The temple of all the gods is enshrined in the Lionheart, the only one item that generates its own holy power.
It was a place granted to Leon alone among mortals since the dawn of the Age of Gods: Paradise of the Gods.
There were those who waited for him before the magnificent shrine.
“Welcome, Your Majesty.”
There was a woman with long brown hair and a cotton robe but she had a divine radiance about her that could not have come from a mere mortal.
“Anak.”
“The servant of a lesser god meets the agent of the gods.”
Leon stared at the multitude of people behind the kneeling saint’s back.
Each and every one of them a servant of the gods who had reached the pinnacle of their mortal existence and deserved to dine with the gods in the Great Hall.
Ancient Lionheart Kings, Great Holy Knights, sages of the forest and champions of the gods.
“”Welcome, greatest Grail Keeper.””
It was a paradise created by the gods for mortals and in the center of that temple, the heroes and believers bowed before him.