Former General Is Undead Knight - Act 4-25 - Rose of Subkingdom①

After Lambert disposed 『Gu』, one of the Eight Wise Men, he ran around the holy city, looking for an entrance to the underground tunnel, which Cardinal Zebedai used to escape from the city.

If the bigshots had always gathered in the cathedral at the center of the city, then there must be an entrance near there.

But then, Lambert was forced to turn around upon encountering a mountain of rubble blocking his path.

「It seems there was a big battle in this place.」

Lambert murmured to himself.

This mountain of rubble was the ruins of what used to be the 『Tower of Rest』.

One of the Four Great Sages, Johann, had destroyed the entire building along with himself to kill the『Knight of Blood Mist』.

Although Lambert had no knowledge of this battle, he was well aware that someone had clashed against a member of the Eight Wise Men in this very place, resulting in the current destruction.

Next, he even guessed the identity of the other party from the scorch marks on the rubble. After losing half of its members, Johann had also ended up sacrificing himself to kill one of the Eight Wise Men.

Lambert then recalled the figure of a passionate youth who killed his emotions behind a mask of cruelty.

Although the Four Great Sages did indeed qualify as the kingdom’s secret weapon, they had yet to stop being human.

Lambert knew that Johann wouldn’t survive this.

「…I wish I have another chance to talk with you.」

After muttering this, Lambert entered the ruined building.

Although he should be prioritizing entering into the underground waterway, he had to make sure that the member of the Eight Wise Men died for sure.

If they turned out to be still alive, he wouldn’t miss this chance to kill them.

This time, he should kill them for sure.

If it was someone semi-immortal like Charlobe, they would most likely escape from the destruction.

Commonsense was useless against sorcerers who abandoned ethics.

They tried to defy death by means that no normal person would expect.

Without that, something like this was enough to kill any normal person, but things would become dicey if they had an ace in the hole.

Lambert brushed aside a stone with his greatsword.

His sharp perception ability as an undead allowed him to sense strangely ominous mana from inside.

Although the member of Eight Wise Men’s presence was so feeble, there were undoubtedly traces.

Thus, he was convinced that something strange was sleeping inside the mountain of rubble.

It turned out to be a suit of black armor with most of its parts already crushed.

Lambert then recalled the figure of 『Knight of Blood Mist』, whom he fought before.

To buy some time for 『Gu』 to escape from Lambert, the swordsman in black armor fought against Lambert, despite losing one of his arms as a result.

And the black armor before him was definitely that swordsman’s black armor.

The ominous mana that he felt was coming from that armor.

This black armor was made of delrite, a special kind of metal that could restore its shape by sapping the mana of its wearer.

Since the black-armored knight was crushed to bits under the rubble, commonsense dictated that the 『Knight of Blood Mist』 had already been slain.

‘And yet… why?’

There was no blood or remains; there was basically nothing inside the scorched armor.

The contents of the armor had been emptied—as if there was nothing in there from the very beginning.

‘But that’s definitely impossible.’

In their previous encounter, Lambert had sliced off the left arm of the 『Knight of Blood Mist』.

That moment had convinced him that there was someone inside the armor.

It wasn’t impossible that he might come again to retrieve his armor.

But since the contents had already left the armor, Lambert had no way to know what had happened after that.

There was something strange about that armor.

At that time, he suddenly realized something.

Back when he was still alive, he had heard a story about walking, empty armor.

It was from one of the kingdoms that perished during the Eight Countries Unification War: Laurel Kingdom.

Balthier, the general of said kingdom, was rumored to be able to fight several hundred soldiers by himself in his final battle before being beheaded from his blindspot.

But then, it was found out that his armor turned out to be empty.

The country that crushed Laurel Kingdom had also vanished in the annals of history.

This case made Lambert recall Balthier, the vanished general.

But the 『Knight of Blood Mist』’s delrite should be something that belonged to Laurel Kingdom.

…If the 『Knight of Blood Mist』 was still alive, that black-armored knight might hold the secret of his weak point.

But Lambert couldn’t waste his time dragging said person out of his armor, nor did he have a way to do so.

And the current situation wouldn’t allow him to waste his time.

At least, Lambert’s magical power perception told him that there was no sign of the Eight Wise Men around here.

Whether the inside of the black armor had already died or not, the body inside the armor at least had already left and was no longer in there.

After pondering for a while, Lambert decided to leave.

The more time he wasted in this place, the higher the likelihood of Cardinal Zebedai being assassinated by the Eight Wise Men.

In the first place, the reason why Lambert visited the holy city was to see with his own eyes the leader of the inquisition squad.

Until he visited the holy city, Lambert did not have a good impression of the inquisition squad.

But only after he came to this city did he come to a realization that the inquisition squad was a deterrence for 『Devil’s Piper』.

Although they were a far cry from the Eight Wise Men, the overall power of both organizations had to be considered.

If Cardinal Zebedai was assassinated, the inquisition squad would be gone for sure.

That was why he couldn’t waste his time anymore.

The center of the holy city, the cathedral, had already turned into a vacant lot.

The combat priests who protected the place had already died or became mangled corpses.

Those eaten by the 『Enhanced Demonic Insects』 lay lifeless on the floor.

Lambert started examining the cathedral that reeked of death, looking for the secret passage that Cardinal Zebedai might have used to escape.

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