‘Damn it! Fuck!’

Alberu Crossman immediately picked up the spear he had hidden under his body and kicked off the bed.

‘We were tricked!’

The person Choi Han’s sword was headed toward right now was not Deruth Henituse.

He heard the horn flute again.

Buuuu—- oooo—– buuuuuuu-!

The horn flute had distinct tones for different orders.

The one earlier was to announce the battle while this one was for charging forward to attack.

His body subconsciously flinched, and his gaze headed out the window.

He could see the Knight Captain pulling out his sword.

The other knights pulled out their weapons as well, while the mages were getting ready to cast an extremely large spell toward the Puzzle City plaza.

Alberu Crossman made eye contact with Deruth Henituse.

Smirk.

“I already told you. I said I was late because of taking care of some things after the meeting.”

Deruth Henituse laughed.

Alberu realized it at that moment.

‘It’s the White Star.’

This bastard was the White Star.

He was sure of it.

He then anxiously had a question pop up in his mind.

‘…When? How?’

Since when had the White Star been pretending to be Duke Deruth Henituse?

Alberu had not noticed anything awkward from the Duke.

‘Cale Henituse said that Duke Deruth told him to take out his biological mother’s diary from her grave.’

That meant that it was highly likely that Duke Deruth had been himself when Cale left Puzzle City.

‘And it is also highly likely that Duke Deruth was himself when Cale saw him as soon as he came back from his meeting with the World Tree.’

Duke Deruth had brought up and asked about Cale’s trip to his mother’s grave. Since Cale had not mentioned it first, he needed to have that information in advance to do that.

‘Then it happened after that.’

It would be most accurate to say that the White Star took over as Duke Deruth sometime after that.

‘In that short period of time!’

Alberu and Cale were aware of most of Duke Deruth’s actions and movements since they discussed this feigning death strategy with him.

They didn’t try to find out, but it was something that came naturally as they were working together.

‘Duke Deruth didn’t go anywhere special either.’

Cale also asked Choi Han to guard Duke Deruth’s bedroom at night, in order to avoid any ambush or abducting attempts from the White Star.

‘When and how did he avoid our gazes?’

Alberu felt extreme anger boiling inside him.

‘I’ve been tricked. I lost.’

The emotion from those negative thoughts roared inside of him.

“Motherf-”

Baaaaaaaaaang-

The rest of the word was drowned out by a loud noise.

The shining black aura rising from Choi Han’s sword was fluctuating violently.

“How does it feel? How is it to be on the receiving end?”

The black aura was blocked by a burning fire sword that was about the size of a dagger. Deruth Henituse’s hand was holding onto that sword.

The man then calmly moved his other hand.

Baaaaaang!

A wind wall crumbled after being struck by beige-colored mana.

Clunk!

The windows of the room almost exploded open at the pressure from the attacks.

They could see what was going on outside a little clearer now.

As the darkness of the night slowly started to take over for the red sunset in the sky…

Shaaaaaaaaaaa-

The cold winter breeze blew in through the window.

“I went to each of their posts to talk to them. I told them that the Saint checked the crown prince’s condition and the reason his internal organs are a mess is because of the venomous aura within the monster’s attack. I told them that the monster’s blood was necessary to heal it.”

Deruth’s voice was carried by the wind and echoed through the entire room.

* * *

While that was going on, Rosalyn left ancient Dragon Eruhaben’s side and urgently rushed over to the Knight Captain.

“What is going on, Captain-nim?!”

“Magic Tower Master-nim. Have you not heard? I guess you might not have, as it was urgently decided not too long ago.”

“What are you talking about, sir?”

The Knight Captain’s face was extremely stiff, but he put on a faint smile.

He had time to explain things to Rosalyn, someone who was working hard to help the Roan Kingdom.

“His highness needs the monster’s blood to heal his injuries. Apparently…it will be very difficult for his highness if we cannot get it within the next 12 hours.”

“…And?”

“That is why the Roan Kingdom’s troops and the reinforcements will attack and capture the monster’s attention so that the individuals who attacked the monsters during the day, minus his highness, will be able to ambush it and gather its blood. That is the plan. They said that all the preparations are complete for when the temple opens after that as well.”

Rosalyn’s face stiffened up.

She worked extremely hard to calm down her shaking voice as she asked.

“Who said that? Who came up with such a plan so urgently?”

She looked around.

Litana and Toonka noticed her and were heading over. From her home kingdom…. The prince of the Breck Kingdom, her young brother, smiled and waved his hand.

The Knight Captain responded, more energetic than ever before, at that moment.

“Sir Cale did.”

“…What?”

She subconsciously spoke informally.

‘Who? Young master Cale.’

“Duke Deruth informed us that former Commander Cale has awakened. Our esteemed former Commander-nim came up with this plan as soon as he heard about the situation.”

‘What unbelievable-’

Rosalyn had not heard anything about this plan.

“…T, that is weird. There wasn’t even a meeting.”

“Duke Deruth informed us that there may be a spy among us, so he personally came to each of our posts to stealthily inform us about it. If we do have any spies, they would have just thought that Commander Deruth was just walking around to our posts to chat with us. Haha.”

The Knight Captain let out a short laugh. It wasn’t because anything was funny; he was just doing it to calm himself down.

“Isn’t Sir Cale and the Duke-nim both so reliable?”

“That-”

‘That makes no sense!’

Rosalyn was about to shout that before she ended up at a loss for words at what the Knight Captain said next.

“I also heard that the esteemed gold Dragon will also heal soon? I thought he was in serious condition. He truly has you to thank for taking care of him, Rosalyn-nim.”

“…Did Duke Deruth say that as well?”

“Yes, ma’am. Now we have two Dragons, a bone Dragon, Sir Choi Han, and former Commander Cale-nim. We also have you, Rosalyn-nim, and the other reinforcements.”

The Knight Captain looked around as he continued to speak.

“Why would we fear anything?”

“That’s right!”

“We have no fear!”

The knights shouted behind him. The soldiers let out a spirited shout as well.

They all had bright expressions on their faces.

However, they were anxious.

They were scared.

They had to draw the attention of this monster. They could end up dead while just drawing its attention. No, they felt as if they would die for sure.

But they still had to fight.

“The Duke, former Commander Cale’s father, said the following.”

The Knight Captain repeated the words he was keeping close to his heart.

“This time…I wish to fight together with my son to let him know that I am here with him.”

Duke Deruth had said that after stealthily visiting them and informing them of the plan. Those words had shaken the Knight Captain’s heart.

“I realized many things and noticed that I felt the same way after hearing him say that.”

He had just been watching the battle between the great heroes and these mighty existences.

He had shaken in fear, shouted in amazement, and held back his anger.

In the end, they had all seen their lights falling to the ground.

The Knight Captain decided to now cast aside his fear, swallow his astonishment, and let his anger rage.

He chose to move forward instead of stopping.

“We will be victorious. So that the sun can rise again, so that our new sun, the future of the Roan Kingdom can rise again… We will put an end to this night.”

The people here had made up their minds to get rid of the fear, this darkness, with their own hands.

“…Magic Tower Master-nim……?”

The Knight Captain flinched and then gulped.

“R, Rosalyn-nim?”

“Haha, hahaha-”

Rosalyn was laughing.

She brushed her red hair back as she said a short phrase.

“…He dares.”

Red mana started to roar like flames from the bottom of her feet.

It was at that moment.

Baaaaaaaaaang-!

There was a loud bang and Rosalyn could see the black Yong bursting out through the window of a room.

“Choi Han–!”

Choi Han was thrown out with it as well.

“It’s bad if you think that I am the same as before.”

The person who was responsible for throwing Choi Han and the black Yong together… Deruth Henituse smiled as he looked at the others in the bedroom.

“How amazing.”

Dragon Mila was the one to speak.

She could not feel anything from the person wearing the face of Deruth Henituse. She did not feel any wariness toward him.

She had not been able to feel any of the White Star’s aura until just now.

“You bastard! You’re the White Star, aren’t you?!”

Clang!

Sword master Hannah immediately pulled out her sword.

“Who knows?”

But she flinched after hearing Deruth Henituse’s questionable statement. It was because he looked so much like Cale Henituse’s father right now.

“What the hell do you mean by who knows?”

Alberu started to frown.

He had gotten off the bed, still in his pajamas, and swung his spear toward Duke Deruth.

Baaaaang!

The spear and the sword slammed into each other.

“This red sword! You are the only one with this kind of ancient power, you bastard.”

“I’m glad you know. Then you should be able to feel that I have changed as well, can’t you?”

Alberu closed his mouth at that question.

‘Choi Han definitely used the amount of power he usually uses to face the White Star. It was a pretty strong attack.’

But Choi Han was easily flung out the window.

He could only come up with one explanation for that.

“…Your body is in balance?”

The White Star had the wood, wind, water, and fire attributes, but not the earth attribute in the past.

Getting an earth-attribute ancient power would have allowed him to achieve balance with all five attributes.

The White Star had been unable to use his full power until now because his body had not been balanced.

“You know the answer. By the way…”

Deruth Henituse, the White Star, smiled as he asked.

“Why are you attacking so weakly? Choi Han was the same.”

The White Star, still with Deruth Henituse’s face, already knew the answer.

“What is it? Is it because you think something might have happened to Cale Henituse’s father? Are you worried that he is dead?”

“You son of a bitch!”

Aura burst out of Hannah’s sword, and a fire was visible in her eyes.

She aimed for an opening while the White Star was fending off Alberu’s attack.

“Ugh!”

However, before her attack could reach the White Star… Her body was flung away.

“Hannah!”

Saint Jack urgently supported Hannah, who was rolling on the ground. He could see a thick wall made of water and wind around the White Star.

“Where is Duke Deruth?”

The White Star shrugged his shoulders at Mila’s calm voice.

Ooooooooong-

Beige-colored mana appeared around her, shaking the whole room.

The White Star nonchalantly commented.

“He’s alive.”

Alberu and the White Star turned toward each other.

The White Star smiled gently in Deruth Henituse’s face.

“Of course, you cannot kill me if you want to save him. You bastards would never be able to find him without me.”

All expression disappeared from Alberu’s face.

The white spear that was pushing against the White Star’s fire sword was shaking.

Oooooong– oooooo–

The vibrations from the beige-colored mana became even stronger.

It was so strong that they couldn’t hear anything from the outside anymore.

Both Alberu and the Dragon were raging with anger.

The White Star couldn’t help but laugh.

“Ah, ah.”

He nodded his head.

“Now I get it. I see why you are all attacking so halfheartedly.”

It looked almost theatrical. Anybody would be able to tell that they were not attacking seriously.

Although the exterior was that of Deruth Henituse, the inside being the White Star made his calm face look extremely demonic.

Malice seemed to be flowing out even as he smiled.

“If I show my powers…”

The White Star whispered.

“I’m certain that the Lion Dragon will turn its attention here.”

The Lion Dragon responded to strong individuals.

“Both you and the Dragon will have to use your powers to stop me. Then the monster will start to move.”

And as a result…

“The monster will come here to kill the strong enemies while the extremely weak soldiers of the Roan Kingdom and your reinforcements will try to fight it. Both you and the Dragon know that will happen.”

It could be an unimaginably terrible sight if they made the wrong move.

Ooooooong-

Mila’s mana was vibrating wildly as if it was responding to her emotions. They couldn’t hear anything, not even the tiniest sound, coming from the outside.

All they could hear was the evil voice of this devil.

“You weak-hearted fools will have to go over to stop the monster. Oh my! Then I guess I can just escape. I can escape with Deruth Henituse’s life in my hands.”

A bright smile appeared on the White Star, on Deruth’s face.

“Doesn’t that sound fun?”

It was at that moment.

Crunch.

Something very faint… An extremely quiet noise was heard.

The White Star barely detected the noise because of the vibrating mana.

“……!”

The White Star’s eyes opened wide.

“Pffft.”

Alberu chuckled…

“Change!”

He then shouted and the spear in his hand started to change form.

The spear disappeared, and it instantly turned into a rope.

The rope wrapped itself around the red sword.

The door started to grow at that moment.

The White Star who was wearing the face of Deruth Henituse… The closed door behind him started to grow.

Crunch. Grab.

Tree trunks instantly grew and started to bind the White Star’s body.

‘Your highness. There is something very odd.’

‘What is it?’

‘I will just plant some seeds in between the decorations on the bedroom door for now.’

‘Seeds?’

‘I have a reason for it. There was something iffy during that meeting.’

‘The twins?’

‘…Don’t worry about it, your highness. Anyway… I hope that I am wrong. But it is just too weird.’

Alberu smiled while recalling a portion of the conversation.

Mila made her mana subside, and the vibrations that had been cutting out all noises quickly disappeared.

Screeeech-

The door with vines growing out of it opened. However, it only opened a small amount as the White Star was blocking its path.

A person’s eye appeared through the crack.

The eye slowly looked around the room before stopping at a spot. It was right next to him.

“I found you.”

The reddish-brown eye looked as if it was on fire.

Cale Henituse, the owner of that eye, looked at Deruth Henituse, no, the bastard wearing his father’s face, who was trying to get the branches off of him.

“White Star. Long time no see.”