The Traitorous Prince - Chapter 8

A sea of fire

The guards quickly turned back to open the door, but they failed.

“It’s, it’s locked! It’s locked from outside!”

Boom!

“Wow! Get back!”

Then, the ceiling above the door collapsed, and stones fell in front of the door and blocked it,

 

“…”

 

Canis slowly drew his great sword from his back.

“Heh, of course it’s a trap.”

Huey did not answer and just grinned. Canis held his sword forward,

Blocked doors or walls, he could break through at any time. Rather, it was a priority to grasp the enemy’s intentions.

“Is it a strategy to keep me isolated and surprise me? All right, feel free to come at me, Even if your whole army comes at me, I’m strong enough on my own.”

“Huh? What?”

Huey, who opened his eyes wide, soon grabbed his belly and laughed.

“Hahaha! Oh my, Canis! Do you think I’m going to attack you head on because I’m crazy? I know how strong you are.”

“…What?”

“Hey, you remember what I explained earlier, right? About this palace.”

Huey tapped the ground next to the throne with his toes.

“It has been built for 500 years. And the tower is still being raised.”

“…?”

“Have you ever thought about it?”

Through the scattered blonde hair, the prince’s red eyes sparkled ominously.

“If it’s a building that’s been built for 500 years, how many materials have been used? If everything collapses, how heavy will it be?”

“…?!”

“Your blood is mixed with dragon’s blood, but you’re just a half salamander. You won’t survive this.”

After hesitating for a moment in embarrassment, Canis burst into laughter because it was ridiculous.

“Hah, really. Stop bluffing, Huey.”

Huey opened his eyes wide,

“What? Bluffing?”

“You said it yourself. About the historical and cuItural value of th is palace.”

When describing the royal palace, there was not a single lie in Huey’s gaze and affection in his voice.

“I know how much you love this country and its capital, That’s why you started a rebellion to take it over.”

“Yeah, yeah, I love it here. Especially this throne! My wish was to sit like this.”

Huey nodded wildly, rubbing his hips on the throne. Canis took a step closer.

“But you’re going to break all this down to catch me? No way. Stop talking nonsense and show me what the real plan is to catch me.”

“…Haha, hahaha! Hehehe…”

Huey bent down and giggled miserably.

“Hey, Canis. I forgot! There’s something I didn’t tell you.”

He raised his head and winked!

“I certainly like this country. Especially, this capital is so good that I am anxious to occupy it. But you know what?”

Thump, thump-

They heard something crumbling in the distance.

“Rather than surrendering to you, begging for the throne and receiving a big portion…”

A scorching heat came from outside the door. Canis opened his eyes wide.

“I would rather see it destroyed and burned to ashes! Without yielding a speck of soil or a grain of sand! All that… that’s more my taste!” Booom!

A fierce roar was heard, It was very close.

The guards turned pale. The hands of Canis, who held the sword, were also covered with cold sweat,

“Come on~ ladies and gentlemen.”

Huey rose from the throne relaxed, and bowed politely.

“Then shall we start the party?”

Boooom-!

Explosives went off outside the throne room.

The floor shook violently. The pillar went over, and the beam fell. The ceiling of the room collapsed and poured down.

The palace was really collapsing.

Shrieking, the guards began digging the stones blocking the door with their swords and hands. Canis struggled to keep his composure.

“What are you going to do, Huey?”

“What? Are you worried about me?”

Huey smirked and waved his hands tied in chains.

“Thank you~ But why don’t you worry about taking care of yourself first? With the cute guys there.”

“Is your goal here to die heroically with us? Really?”

Still, Canis thought that Huey was bluffing. This guy was definitely not someone to sacrifice his life to defeat a foreign enemy. Never!

He was bluffing. At best, it was an operation to break down part of the royal castle and isolate them, and to defeat the troops outside in the meantime.

“…Hey, Canis. When I rebelled three years ago.”

Huey, who suddenly had a serious face, explained calmly.

“The army was suppressed because information leaked out in advance, but I almost caught my father, didn’t I?”

Huey smacked his lips when recalling the day of rebellion three years ago,

“I drove my father all the way to this throne room. I almost cut my father’s throat.”

Huey rose from the throne and put his hand on the armrest of the throne. The armrest was carved with a fist-sized lion head.

“But my father, he… he touched it like this and…”

Rattle-

The head of the lion under Huey’s hand turned 180 degrees. Shortly afterwards, the seat of the throne went off, and a hole appeared in which a person could barely enter.

It was a secret passage.

Panicked, Canis’ mouth opened slightly in embarrassment. Huey burst into laughter and kicked the throne.

“He knew how to run away from this place alone! Hahahaha! Isn’t it totally ridiculous?”

“…?!”

“I would have been better off if I had caught him then, right? But because of this secret passage! Anyway, I’ll miss you all. Whoa!”

Huey said, and slipped his body into the aisle.

“You!”

Booom!

Canis tried to run quickly to him, but he backed away as a pillar fell right in front of him,

“Oh, it’s too late to follow me.”

Huey smiled mischievously with only his head sticking out.

“It’s only for one person. It closes as soon as one person passes by. And it’s too small for you to come in, right?”

“Huey, you…!”

“I missed my father because of this, but this time I’m going to use it!”

There was a ridiculously bright smile on the face of the youngest prince of the kingdom of Eindel.

“It’s so mean, isn’t it?”

“Hueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey-!”

With a shout, Canis rushed in. Huey waved his hand leisurely.

“Isn’t it cold in your country in the north? I’ll warm you up with firewood, so enjoy it hot!” Thump!

At the same time that Canis’ fist blew away the top of the throne, Huey slid down the aisle and disappeared.

“Let’s meet in hell one day! Hehehehehe…!”

Huey’s unlucky voice rang and disappeared.

Crumble-

Subsequently, the throne collapsed on its own and blocked the passage.

“You… you damn…!”

Canis dug the lower part of the throne with his large sword, but the passage was already completely sealed.

Crumble!

The stones upstairs poured into the throne room through the collapsed ceiling. Canis clenched his teeth, He was trapped…!

Then a guard shouted.

“Lord! We’ll open the door!”

Surprised, Canis turned around, and the guards, who had cleared the door of the stones, were trying to open it,

Canis shouted in a hurry.

“Get away from the door! Now!”

“What?”

“Damn it! Get away!”

But the guards had already opened the door.

Bang!

With the hot heat, a red flame smashed the door and dug inside. The guards near the door burned to death without even screaming.

“Tsk…!”

Canis, who escaped the sizzling heat by hiding behind a pillar, looked outside. It was already a sea of fire outside the throne room. The golden carpet and beautiful hallway were engulfed in flames and were burning black.

“Lord, Lord! What should we do?!”

More than ten remaining guards looked up at Canis at the same time. Fear was evident in the eyes of the young boys and girls.

“…Follow me, I’ll open the door.”

Canis took the lead after taking off the cloak of his shoulder and covering his mouth and nose with it.

“We are wolves. Do you think we can die in a place like this?”

“I’m going out alive. Follow me closely.”

“Yes, yes! Lord!”

Canis kicked the ground and took the lead. The guards ran after him. The hallways were horrendous with collapsed debris and flames. The smoke was so thick that they cou Id not see an inch in front of them. It was obvious that they would burn to death if they ran along the hallway like this.

“Don’t look down on the brave men of Brunhilt, you Eindel pigs-l”

Running hard, Canis shoved his shoulder into the wall of the hallway.

Boom!

The thick stone was smashed like clay and a wide hole appeared.

“All right, everybody, this way…”

Running through the hole, Canis stopped talking.

The place on the other side of the wall was the warehouse. It was a record room full of books and woodblocks.

The flames were engulfing it all. The situation was worse than the hallway from which they came.

“Damn it, get back…?!”

At the same time that Canis turned around.

Boooom!

The wall through which Canis broke had collapsed. The ceiling then sank,

The guards, who were still in the hallway, were crushed to death by stones while trying to follow him hurriedly. The guards that had managed to follow him were groaning, unable to breathe.

“Tsk…!”

Canis clenched his teeth and turned around again.

“We can’t help it, we’ll go through…!”

Canis and the surviving guards crossed the burning warehouse. There were now only five guards left.

The warehouse was wide, and the pace of the guards who could not breathe properly slowed down. Even Canis’ vision gradually became blurred.

‘Damn it, at this rate…’

The strength in his fingertips and toes gradually loosened. The armor on his body felt heavy,

“Ha, ha…”

It was hot. It was too hot. To the point where he wanted to fall down and rest right away. It was then.

“Lord! In front of you!”

A guard shouted urgently.

When Canis looked ahead, the door was dimly visible beyond the thick smoke. It looked as if they had crossed the warehouse. Hope flashed over the guards’ faces.

“All right, let’s go!”

Canis, who squeezed his remaining strength, smashed the door and went inside.

A spacious room came out. There was less fire and less smoke, so they could breathe a bit more.

“It’s much better. All right, let’s just…” Boom!

Even before he could finish speaking, the ceiling was smashed and debris from the upper floor poured down.

Canis avoided with transcendent reflexes, but the exhausted guards could not.

“Gasp!”

“Argh!”

The building continued to collapse and was covered with dust and smoke. The guards who were buried by the rubble died.

A guard, who was struggling under a burning pillar, looked up at Canis and cried.

“I’m sorry, Lo…rd…”

Tack.

The boy’s arm fell to the floor.

And never moved again.

 

“…”

 

Canis looked down at the scene expressionlessly and turned his head back.

A silver-haired girl nodded silently. She was the last remaining guard.

“You have to go, Lord, this place is about to collapse.”

“…Yes.”

Canis shook his fist roughly.

Bang!

There was a big hole in the wall.

The burned silver wolf roared furiously.

“I’m going to break through everything.”

* * *

The two wolves ran in a straight line, smashing all the obstacles in their way. The collapse of the palace was accelerated by the crushing of all the walls and pillars in front of him, but Canis did not care.

After all, there was only one guard following him.

The palace had a complex structure, but Canis remembered the path he had entered, and he guessed the direction and drew the shortest escape route. However, breaking the wall again was burdensome, no matter how strong Canis was. It was difficult to breathe due to the smoke and heat, and it was even more so now, in his condition.

His arms and feet in the armor were already covered with blood, and his lungs were burning.

“Ha…”

When he broke through the tenth wall, Canis was so dizzy that he closed his eyes tightly.

So he did not notice.

The place he just broke through was a big hall. And that hall was full of explosives.

Fla mes poured into the hall through the pierced wal I. The fuse of the explosives caught fire.

The moment Canis managed to notice it, the guard pulled Canis back.

“What…”

The guard, who held Canis behind the wall, blocked the hole with her body and smiled,

“Lord, good luck.”

Booooom!

The explosive went off.

There was a huge explosion with a deafening roar. The guard turned quickly to a heap of ashes.

The walls and buildings collapsed in un ison. Despite the guard’s sacrifice, Canis was swept away by the explosion. In a storm of flames, debris and dust, Canis rolled disastrously on the floor.

“Ugh… Argh!”

How much time passed?

He thought that he was dead, but the blood of the mighty dragon did not allow it, Canis clenched his teeth and raised his body covered with burns and wounds.

“Huh… Ack…”

The place around him was the hall filled with explosives, To be precise, it used to be a hall. Several floors above collapsed, poured down, and the broken stone and furniture were burning fiercely.

There were still more than a dozen floors above, and they were collapsing in real time.

‘Why so high…’

Surprised, Canis looked at the stone rolling beside him.

The carving style on the stone was different.

It was from the tallest tower in the palace built over hundreds of years, which Huey proudly spoke of.

It was there that Canis fell.

“Ha, haha.”

Laughing, Canis frowned suddenly. A faint light leaked from the collapsed wall,

“…Sunlight?”

Just outside the wall was outside the palace. Almost crawling, he moved toward it,

He could see outside through a crack in the collapsed stone. Canis leaned close to it to breathe in fresh air.

Then he opened his blood-soaked eyes.

The whole inner fortress was on fire.

The beautiful temple of the Kingdom of Eindel, the library, the court, were all on fire. The colorful tiles and pure white houses were all engulfed in flames.

Throughout the street, Canis’ soldiers were being exterminated. Whether they were burned to death or tried to escape from the fire, Eindel’s soldiers, who were hiding on top of the walls, poured a rrows.

Seeing his corps, the 3rd Brunhilt Corps, swept away without hesitation, Canis was dumbfounded before his anger flared up.

To defeat them, did they set fire to the entire city? Of course, it was not very rare to attract the enemy in a castle and then counterattack,

But this was the royal capital, It was a place of history and culture that had been the capital of the Kingdom of Eindel for 500 years,

You’re going to set this place on fire? On your own?

How can you…

‘Ah.’

In Canis’ mind, the image of a bright red-eyed prince with blonde hair flashed,

Huey ‘Star Seeker’ Eindel.

There was only one thing Canis had to say.

“Crazy bastard…”

Boooom!

Shortly after, the tower of the palace, which had been built for 500 years, would collapse, and the strongest warrior of the Brunhilt Empire would be crushed without a trace.