Paladin of a Fallen Order (Novel) - Chapter 90 - Viscount Dickens (Part 2)

Chapter 90 – Viscount Dickens (Part 2)

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Translated by Pratt

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Rumble.

A heavy tremor was felt. Sonya staggered slightly, then placed her hand against the wall to regain her balance.

“What is this, an earthquake?”

“No. The Starwave has begun to move.”

“The Starwave? That serpent from earlier?”

“Yes.”

“It was huge, but… does a serpent crawling cause an earthquake?”

“The Starwave is a serpent that moves through the earth. That tremor just now was likely caused by the Starwave burrowing into the ground.”

Sonya narrowed her eyes and looked at Elbridge.

“How do you know about the Starwave?”

“I saw it in a book.”

“…”

A subtle tremor continued.

Since there were no windows, it was impossible to look outside. However, it was easy to tell how the situation was unfolding.

Elbridge closed his eyes for a moment, focused on his senses, and then spoke.

“It seems the Starwave is moving in this direction. Our luck is bad.”

At that, Sonya replied.

“I don’t think that’s a matter of luck.”

Elbridge looked at Sonya. Then, Sonya added another word.

“Earlier. Didn’t you say that the Starwave hates fire?”

“Ah.”

Elbridge only then recalled that Rombel had set a fire while escaping.

Since the directions in which the Starwave could move were limited, it was only natural that the Starwave was approaching this way.

There was not much time left.

Sonya asked Viscount Dickens.

“Dad. Tell me. Who is the bastard that made you like this?”

Sonya stared at Viscount Dickens’s mouth. However, Viscount Dickens’s mouth did not move.

Elbridge looked at Viscount Dickens’s eyes instead of his mouth.

The moment he saw those brown eyes, Elbridge realized. Viscount Dickens had no intention of telling Sonya who the culprit was.

Though he had fallen into a miserable state, Viscount Dickens was still a father.

Viscount Dickens did not want his beloved daughter to get involved in a dangerous fight.

Rumble.

Once again, a ground rumble was heard.

Just as Viscount Dickens’s office trembled faintly, the ceiling tore open. Blood flowed from the cracked gap.

“Dad!”

Along with that, the orbs that were unstably embedded in the ceiling also shook precariously.

Viscount Dickens’s hideously deformed arms flailed slowly.

However, that much was not enough. One of the orbs embedded near the torn gap slipped from the ceiling and fell.

“Hup!”

Elbridge threw himself, barely catching the orb in the nick of time.

However, faint smoke was leaking from the edges of that orb.

Sonya gasped in terror.

“What, is it cracked? It’s cracked, right?”

It was not an optical illusion. There was a fine hairline crack on the orb.

However, Elbridge did not reply and quietly examined the orb.

‘This is strange.’

There was no dust accumulated on the cracked part. Rather, the place where dust adhered was the opposite side of the orb, the smooth surface.

Elbridge lifted the orb and compared it to the position where it had originally been embedded.

It was certain. The cracked portion had been buried inside Viscount Dickens’s flesh, which made up the ceiling.

Elbridge spoke.

“It didn’t crack just now. It was already cracked from the beginning.”

Elbridge reached his hand toward the ceiling and pulled out one more orb that was shaking as if it would fall at any moment.

Likewise, there was a faint crack on the second orb as well.

Elbridge looked at where the orbs were intensively embedded. And he checked the position of Viscount Dickens’s arms.

Sure enough. The orbs were intensively embedded in the space between the deformed arms.

‘Viscount Dickens…’

A scene naturally painted itself in his mind.

The figure of a knight cradling the cracked seal tightly in his arms, desperately trying to block the smoke leaking from the orbs. Even though he knew that an abnormal phenomenon was occurring in his body, he would not have been able to retreat.

‘…Damn it.’

Elbridge asked Sonya.

“Sonya. Can you block the cracks that have appeared on this seal?”

However, Sonya shook her head.

“It’s not that easy. To cover a seal that has not yet been fully released, a seal powerful enough to overwhelmingly suppress the demon is required.”

“Is that so.”

Rumble.

The tremor drew even closer.

Now, there was not much time permitted to Elbridge and Sonya.

Elbridge stood in front of Viscount Dickens.

Viscount Dickens wanted his daughter, Sonya, to live without knowing the identity of the culprit.

However, Elbridge had to find out who the culprit was. Even if that was an action against Viscount Dickens’s will.

Elbridge asked.

“Viscount Dickens. Who trapped you?”

There was no answer.

Elbridge spoke.

“The Order of the Staghorn.”

Elbridge’s gaze was fixed on Viscount Dickens’s brown eyes.

Anyone can keep their mouth shut and guard a secret if their will is firm.

However, the eyes are different. Unless they are professionally trained, they cannot control the emotions contained in their eyes.

‘It is not the Order of the Staghorn.’

Elbridge spoke.

“The Order of the Echoes of War, the Order of the Laurel Wreath.”

Likewise, there was no special reaction.

“The Order of the Bloody Spear.”

The moment he said that, Viscount Dickens’s eyes, which had been naturally moving slightly, came to a halt.

People sometimes intentionally control the movement of their eyes in the hope that their inner thoughts will not be discovered.

However, eyes whose movement has decreased to the point of being unnatural are precisely proof that the opponent wants to hide something.

Swish.

Elbridge tried moving his body slightly.

A person’s eyes are bound to react to a moving object. However, Viscount Dickens’s eyes did not react to Elbridge’s movement. Viscount Dickens was intentionally staring into empty space.

Elbridge muttered.

“It is the Order of the Bloody Spear.”

His eyes still did not move. However, Elbridge did not miss that his eyelids parted slightly wider.

Hatred and anger boiled in Sonya’s voice.

“Dad. Is it the Bloody Spear? Did those bastards make you like this?”

Viscount Dickens’s eyes were still staring into empty space.

That unnatural gaze gave Sonya certainty. Sonya’s body trembled finely with hatred and anger.

Elbridge thought.

‘How far is the Order of the Bloody Spear involved in this situation? Chief Paladin Corwin? The High Paladins? Or even young paladins like Felix?’

He could not know. That was a matter to be checked slowly.

Raattlle—

Now the shaking had grown too large to be ignored.

The Starwave was approaching, boring through the underground.

The chaos harbored by the Starwave was ‘movement.’

Around the Starwave, everything moves. Sleeping humans wake up, and animals flee.

Even things that cannot move, move. Buildings reel, the ground splits, and firm pillars collapse.

That was precisely why the Starwave, which did not even possess claws to dig up the earth, could move underground.

The Starwave swam rapidly through the churning ground as if swimming in water. The Starwave’s hostility was not necessary. A city would collapse simply because the Starwave had passed through.

Here and there on the walls and ceiling tore open, and blood flowed.

Ten-odd cracked orbs fell in rapid succession and began to spew smoke.

‘Damn it.’

Viscount Dickens’s mouth opened and closed without rest.

Go. Sonya. Go. Sonya. Go. Sonya. Go Sonya. Go. Sonya.

It was not a simple instruction or request.

Crrreeeeeak—

The lord’s office, Viscount Dickens’s flesh, began to squirm and contract.

The sound of something breaking and crushing was heard.

Elbridge understood Viscount Dickens’s intention.

If they dithered even a little, ten-odd additional demons would awaken. There was no way to stop it.

Just as Viscount Dickens had blocked the cracked seal with his human body, he wished to block the seal until the very end. To buy even a little time for Sonya to escape.

However, Sonya still had no intention of moving. As if she intended to end her life together with her father.

Because of that, Viscount Dickens’s eyes turned toward Elbridge instead of Sonya.

Following that, the Viscount’s mouth moved.

Please.

Elbridge clenched his molars tightly and grabbed Sonya. And he tucked Sonya under his arm just like earlier.

“We’re going.”

“No, no! Dad!”

Sonya struggled. However, Viscount Dickens’s brown eyes smiled softly.

With Sonya tucked under his arm, Elbridge ran past the door and down the corridor.

Sonya turned her head as much as possible to look back. The space beyond the door, Viscount Dickens’s office, Viscount Dickens, was contracting with all his might. Blood and flesh mixed together, eliminating all free space.

A bizarre sight that would be hard to see even in a nightmare.

However, Sonya reached out her hand toward her father’s final appearance.

“Dad, dad…”

Elbridge ran toward the curved corridor. He kicked off the ground. Before long, the landscape outside the lord’s castle came into view.

The sight created by the Starwave was different from the sight created by the black giant, the flower demon, or the God of the Flowing Water.

Ruummmmmble—

The Dickens Viscounty was churning like a wave made of rock.

The crows’ words were definitely correct. Today was indeed their last peak season. For now the Dickens Viscounty would disappear into the earth, into the ancient records.

Colossal rocks scattered in all directions like gravel.

Elbridge kicked off the churning ground and ran while holding Sonya tightly.

‘Which way should I go?’

At that moment, the Goddess of the Rusty Shield handed down an oracle.

– East, Elbridge.

There was no time to hesitate. Elbridge ran east. He lightly leaped over the half-collapsed inner wall.

Before knew it, Elbridge’s body was enveloped in a faint white light. The Goddess’s authority protected Elbridge.

‘Delayed death.’

An authority that allowed survival as long as the brain and heart were not destroyed.

An authority that one would only request in a life-threatening battle wrapped around Elbridge’s body. However—

‘It is still not enough.’

Crrrruuuummmble—

The ground twisted and crushed without rest. The ordinary earth surged as high as a castle wall, and boulder-sized rocks scattered in all directions like gravel.

When a piece of ground as large as a decent building flew toward them, Sonya let out a shrill scream.

“Kyaaaah!”

“Close your eyes!”

Elbridge kicked off the ground and leaped into the air, stepping on the debris of the ground to jump again.

He leaped from the soaring ground to the churning ground. While barely maintaining his balance, a rock more than twice the size of a human head flew in. He deflected the rock with his shield.

Crash!

He had no room to dodge stones the size of an adult’s fist.

He simply closed his eyes slightly and took them with his body. Blood flowed. However, thanks to the Goddess’s authority, there was no worry of dying instantly.

– Move, Elbridge.

Elbridge moved.

Every single moment was a succession of life-or-death decisions. A hollow laugh came out for no reason.

‘To think this is the result of a movement with absolutely no hostility…’

For now, he was avoiding the rocks and building debris with his superhuman reflexes, but there was no certainty that he could escape the Dickens Viscounty in one piece.

Sonya, who could not be protected by the Goddess’s authority, was in even greater danger. If she was hit incorrectly by even a stone the size of an adult’s fist, Sonya would die.

What was even more daunting was not the flying debris and bedrock.

A crack formed by the twisting ground blocked Elbridge’s path.

Crrrreeeeeak—

Beneath the twisted ground, a black serpent swimming like a fish was visible.

Beautiful white starlight, like the Milky Way, flowed from the serpent’s scales.

‘Starwave.’

Seeing the Starwave after a long time filled Elbridge with awe rather than hostility.

Just as it had in the distant past.

Elbridge looked up. In the distance, burning buildings were visible.

Indeed, the distortion created by the Starwave did not reach the burning buildings. If he could reach there, he would be able to pass the major crisis.

The problem was the huge crack formed by the splitting earth.

“W-What do we do?”

Even at this very moment, the crack on the surface was widening.

The abyss opened its maw wide, waiting for its prey.

Elbridge estimated the distance to the opposite side of the cliff.

‘If I run at full speed, I can jump across. For now.’

The problem was that running at full speed was impossible.

Even now, bedrock was rising here and there, and all kinds of debris were scattering in all directions. A situation where even Elbridge could not run in a straight line.

He wished Sonya could cast some magic, but right now, Sonya was not in her right mind due to mental shock and confusion.

‘Why did the Goddess send me to the east? Should I turn back? If I turn back, will I find a way out? Could this really be the last way out?’

While Elbridge was repeatedly making judgments with a throbbing head.

From between the huge clouds in the night sky.

Someone looked at Elbridge.

The existence beyond the clouds spoke to Elbridge.

– Just trust and run, you idiot.

The unexpected oracle resonated loudly.

It was a voice he was hearing for the first time, but Elbridge recognized who that god was. Had they not exchanged words through someone else before?

‘God of the Sunshower.’

Suddenly, Elbridge recalled the God of the Flowing Water.

If a heavenly god excessively intervened on the earth, danger would follow.

To put it the other way around, the God of the Sunshower had completed preparations to intervene in this situation even while risking the danger.

‘Now is the time to trust.’

Elbridge ran in a straight line toward the huge crack in the ground.

Sonya, who had half lost her mind, struggled.

“W-What are you trying to do right now!”

He had no room to reply.

Crrreeeak. The ground twisted once again. The earth broke, and rocks larger than a human head scattered in all directions.

However, unlike earlier, the twisted ground and rocks did not block Elbridge’s path.

It was an unnatural level of good luck. Should he describe it as the feeling of running between raindrops on a day with pouring rain?

‘As expected of the God of the Sunshower…’

The brief run-up ended.

Tap—

Elbridge kicked off the ground and leaped toward the other side of the suddenly created cliff.

Sonya screamed in a shrill voice.

“A-Are you craaazy—!”

Suspended in the air, Elbridge looked down slightly. A pitch-black abyss opened its mouth wide, waiting for Elbridge and Sonya.

He was not the type to be afraid of high places, but right now, his hands and feet felt numb.

Finishing a short glide, Elbridge’s body barely reached the opposite side of the cliff.

Thud-crash—

It was not a clean landing.

Elbridge rolled twice. Sonya, who was thrown off at some point, also rolled about twice.

Elbridge got up stumblingly and looked back.

Beyond the abyss, the other side of the cliff was still churning following the movement of the Starwave. However, this side, with the abyss between them, was strangely peaceful.

Standing next to the burning building, Elbridge quietly gazed across the cliff.

And a moment later.

Ten-odd demons that burst out of the lord’s castle flew up into the night sky.

Sonya sat down as if collapsing and stared at the sight.

There was not much that Elbridge knew about Viscount Dickens.

A killer who went to a small nameless village and enticed the innkeeper’s son to death.

However, a trusted knight and lord. Sonya’s father. That was all.

Elbridge thought. Did Viscount Dickens have no regrets in this life?

Surely, that would not be the case.

Because of that, Elbridge muttered.

“…May your next life be free of regrets.”

They had passed one crisis, but it was far from safe.

Elbridge seized Sonya with his strong arm once again and ran through the burning Dickens Viscounty.