SWY 149

Sharhan’s face twisted. The situation inside the keep had become pure chaos.

The moving corpses reached out with cloudy, lifeless eyes, grabbing whoever was closest and sinking their teeth into them. Each time they lifted their heads, bloodied chunks of flesh dangled from their mouths.

The dead did not discriminate. Survivors and soldiers alike were torn apart indiscriminately.

“Aaah! Please, spare me!”

“Shit, stop them! Stop them!”

“Get away! Die, just die already!”

Panicked soldiers screamed and swung their weapons wildly, but they failed to deliver fatal blows. Even when a soldier managed to sever one of the dead’s arms, the monsters would lurch forward with the remaining one. The soldiers, having lived peaceful lives behind the keep’s walls, had no idea how to fight the dead.

“The head, stab the head! Or cut the neck!”

A few who knew how to deal with them ran around shouting orders, but the terrified soldiers weren’t listening anymore.

Swallowed by fear, the soldiers attacked aimlessly. Some threw down their weapons and fled toward the inner castle.

“Stop the survivors and the dead from getting in! Anyone who runs will be executed!”

Knights shouted as they cut down retreating soldiers. Some stopped in hesitation, but more of them were terrified by the corpses chasing from behind.

More and more survivors and corpses were pouring in. The knights killed a few fleeing soldiers as examples, but with so many giving in to fear, there was nothing they could do.

“Don’t let them breach the inner castle!”

“Sir, the wall has collapsed. There’s no way to stop them!”

“Do whatever it takes! There are noble families inside! Block them at all costs!”

It had come to the point where abandoning the outer castle to protect the inner one seemed the only choice, but it was already too late. Through the breach left by the collapsed wall, the chaos inside was just as visible as outside.

Sharhan had only been grazed by debris, but others hadn’t been as lucky. Many lay groaning, trapped beneath collapsed stone. Those who tried desperately to crawl out became easy prey for the corpses that swarmed over them.

The sight of arms clawing at the ground, stripped to bone, was too gruesome to look at.

“What happened here? What is this mess?”

A middle-aged knight appeared, mercilessly cutting down survivors trying to enter the inner keep.

“Sir Harrel, the wall is gone. We can’t hold them back.”

The knight called Harrel surveyed the scene with despair. The inner gate was shut tight, but with the wall breached, it was impossible to keep out all the incoming survivors and corpses.

Still, the knights and soldiers swung their weapons like mad, trying to stop the flood. Corpses began to pile up in front of the fallen wall. Blood slicked the ground, and the thick scent of iron filled the air.

“Young… master?”

Harrel’s eyes widened at the sight of Lestel, calmly wiping Giselle’s blood from his axe. Their gazes met, and soon Harrel spotted Sharhan running toward him.

Sharhan Kaios?

He had thought it impossible, even when someone shouted that Iris Kaios was missing. But it really was Sharhan, come to save his sister. And with Lestel, the former heir, no less.

“Capture Sharhan Kai–”

A piercing scream cut him off.

“The dead, they’re inside!”

Harrel turned toward the breach and saw the corpses crawling in like insects. One knight was screaming, his shoulder and arm clamped between the jaws of the dead. Another man dragged himself in, a corpse clinging to his back.

At this rate, the inner castle would fall to the dead and the survivors, just like the outer.

So it’s come to abandoning the castle altogether.

Clicking his tongue, Harrel looked around with eyes as cold as ice. Protecting the Marquis and the Emperor was important, yes, but so was retrieving the key from Sharhan Kaios.

“Hold them back! Sir Rollai, you’re with me!”

As Harrel gave his orders, Sharhan reached Lestel.

“Are you alright? Any injuries?”

“No. You?”

“I’m okay.”

His back ached from the flying debris, but he ignored it. After exchanging a brief glance to confirm they were both intact, they dashed toward the stable, joining Adam and Rael to cut down both soldiers and corpses.

“Get out, now!”

Adam, bloodied and exhausted, was barely holding the stable door shut. He looked as if he could collapse at any moment.

Fortunately, everyone had been drawn to the inner keep, and no more enemies were approaching from this direction.

“Let’s go.”

Adam opened the stable door. Lestel stood hesitating, looking back toward the inner keep with a heavy expression. Sharhan called to him, urging him forward.

At that moment, a flat voice froze them in place.

“Where are you going, young master?”

Lestel and Sharhan both turned, frowning.

“Harrel.”

“It’s been a long time. If you’ve come home, shouldn’t you greet your father first rather than sneaking away?”

“It has been a while.”

Sharhan glanced at Adam and Rael, giving them a signal to retreat into the stable. He shut the door behind them.

Harrel was the strongest knight either of them had ever met. Even if Sharhan and Lestel had once vied for top honors at the academy, they couldn’t compare to him.

“You’ve turned the castle into a disaster.”

“That wasn’t my doing.”

“Then is it the Kaios boy’s fault?”

“If we’re being precise, it’s the Emperor’s karma.”

Harrel’s eyes widened.

“So you knew His Majesty was here.”

“There’s been plenty of talk. That the Marquis brought someone important from the capital.”

“‘The Marquis’? You mean your father.”

“I heard I was cast aside as heir.”

“You know that too? I tried to stop it, but the Marquis was firm in his decision. Still, I believe the future of Ailun lies with you as its successor.”

“Then let me and Sharhan go.”

“I’m afraid I can’t. There’s something I need from Kaios.”

“The family heirloom?”

Harrel raised his brows, genuinely impressed.

“Incredible. You really should be the one leading the Ailun family. Come now. Kill the Kaios boy, retrieve the heirloom, and return with me to the Marquis. He’ll welcome you back.”

“What would I do with this pathetic family?”

Lestel answered coldly.

“Young master.”

“Besides, what use is a noble family in a ruined empire? A lord is nothing without land and people.”

“The world may be ruined, but the opportunity is still here. Once, we needed Kaios to secure dominance. Now, we need it to survive.”

“Because the Kaios heirloom opens the ruins?”

“How much do you know?”

“When I left, I didn’t know why the Marquis had killed Sharhan’s parents. I only found out recently that it was for the ruins. I assume you knew, Sir Harrel. You were the Marquis’s right hand.”

Harrel said nothing. He simply looked at Lestel with quiet admiration.

“Did the first Emperor command the Kaios family to guard the ruins alongside the Serman line?”

“Yes.”

“What’s in there?”

“…The first Emperor feared the empire he built would one day fall. He hid many artifacts from the ancient empire at the border between Serman and Katun, instructing both families to guard them. Not just the relics like heatstones, waterstones, and healing crystals, but stores of food, shelters for people, even powerful weapons like magic explosives. The Marquis discovered records of them a few years ago and wanted it all to himself. Wait, magic explosives?”

Thinking of the thunderous blasts that had destroyed the gate and the inner wall, Harrel’s eyes gleamed with excitement.

“So that really was it? It matches the descriptions in the records…”

He glanced briefly at Sharhan, who stood gripping his sword, ready to strike at any moment. Harrel’s eyes were brimming with greed.

“Yes, the Ailun family must have sole claim to the ruins. According to the records, becoming rulers of a new empire won’t be difficult. So, young master, kill Kaios and take the heirloom. That’s the only path to becoming the heir of the new empire.”

“I couldn’t care less about a new empire. Sharhan is more important to me.”

Lestel raised his axe and charged straight at Harrel.