Chapter 201 – Naya's Fall

“No… how could this be… X… X actually……..”

To suppress her urge to weep, Princess Trelinka bit her lips until they bled. She rested her head on Naya’s shoulder, finding only this way could her grief receive a sliver of comfort.

“Your Highness, we will survive this, I swear.”

Seeing Trelinka’s sorrowful and helpless state, Naya felt as if her own heart were being pierced by shards of glass. She murmured in a voice so faint even she could barely hear it, while shadow energy continuously propelled her forward at a sprint.

“Faster, just a little faster! As long as we escape this damned light mist, we can merge into the shadows. So faster, please!”

Naya’s figure had accelerated to mere afterimages. Although the light mist spread rapidly beneath her feet, Naya still moved considerably faster than the fog. In fact, with just five more seconds, she could break free from the mist’s range. Once Naya and Princess Trelinka submerged into the shadows again, their stealth could essentially be declared successful.

But would Vick Swordsaint give them that opportunity?

Watching Naya darting through the light mist, Vick—who had just slain X with his sword—could only sigh and shake his head.

The powerful individuals surrounding Princess Trelinka were all exceptionally talented, brimming with potential, and fiercely loyal. If allowed to mature, they would undoubtedly become pillars of the Dillon Kingdom. Vick truly didn’t wish to mercilessly eliminate these future “cornerstones,” but…

“Formal-Level Combat Skill—Aura Wings!”

“Arcane Art—Flame Rush!”

Vick Swordsaint impassively shook his head, casting aside his tangled thoughts before resolutely activating his combat skills.

Vast amounts of blazing fire-attribute Battle Aura converged along Vick’s spine, swiftly coalescing into a pair of enormous wings. Scorching winds seared the rocky ground crimson, and amid the raging heatwaves, Vick Swordsaint’s figure soared into the sky.

The speed of the Aura Wings was already astonishing, yet Vick deemed it insufficient. Cautiously, he employed one of his trump cards—an arcane art—to further boost his velocity.

Two intense rings of fire enveloped Vick’s body, the thermal propulsion elevating his already incredible flight speed to yet another level.

The outcome of the pursuit was inevitable. Vick flew through the air at speeds rivaling a supersonic fighter jet, while Naya merely sprinted on the ground, burdened by the armor-clad Princess Trelinka. Within three seconds, Vick Swordsaint had closed the gap.

“Farewell, Hero named Naya!”

Vick murmured softly, then raised the greatsword “Wind-Bathing Punisher” high and descended from the sky to strike Naya down. His armor glowed red-hot from the extreme velocity of the dive, and the greatsword wreathed in roaring flames even tore minute spatial fissures through the air.

“BOOM!!!”

Vick’s assault was like a meteor crashing from the heavens, and the devastation he wrought was no less catastrophic than an actual asteroid impact.Terrifying energy erupted instantaneously, the raging gale swept away every grain of dust on the ground. The shockwave overturned the earth across thousands of square meters around Vick’s point of impact, while a massive crater formed at the epicenter. A fissure spanning the entire crater still burned with waves of scorching flames—this was the might of Vick Swordsaint’s strike. The earth melted under extreme heat, rocks were cleaved by sharp blades, and even space itself tore open with fine cracks.

At the crater’s very center lay the charred body of Stalker Naya, her limbs shattered and mangled, drenched in blood in a pitiful state. Like a tattered ragdoll, she lay motionless amidst crystallized rock debris, her broken flesh devoid of any trace of life.

Meanwhile, Princess Trelinka knelt unscathed beside Naya’s corpse, her golden hair still radiantly beautiful, her bright silver armor untouched by even a speck of dust.

“So that’s how it is. In the final moment, she poured all her strength to send Trelinka, an Apprentice-Level knight, into the Shadow Plane, while she herself failed to evade the attack.”

Seeing the dazed Princess Trelinka beside Naya, Vick Swordsaint instantly understood what the Stalker had accomplished in less than a tenth of a second.

He suppressed a sigh and quietly dispersed the Combat Skill he had prepared—Charge. Clearly, Naya had used her own life to protect Princess Trelinka, who should have perished, and the mangled remains of Naya no longer posed any threat to Vick Swordsaint.

“No… this shouldn’t be happening. Naya, tell me this isn’t real. Wake up quickly, I beg you!”

Ignoring Vick Swordsaint approaching step by step with the Wind-Bathing Punisher in hand, Princess Trelinka futilely tried to reassemble Naya’s shattered corpse with her hands. Tears traced down her pure, smooth cheeks, large droplets falling onto Naya’s charred remains.

But Princess Trelinka was no protagonist from knightly tales—her tears evaporated mid-air in the intense heat, and Naya would not revive through her weeping.

However agonizing, however sorrowful, however unwilling to believe, Princess Trelinka had to accept the reality before her—the fact that both Naya had perished.

“Great Tyr, as a failure, I’ve long grown indifferent to death. But why must poor Naya pay the price for my mistakes? Is this too a so-called test of justice? Can such a ‘test’ still be called ‘just’!”

The bewildered maiden prayed to the deity, but no god would answer a believer who hadn’t even reached Formal-Level.

“Very well, Your Highness Trelinka. Do you have any final words? If not… I must carry out the command of His Majesty the King.”

Vick approached Trelinka, the gleaming “Wind-Bathing Punisher” aimed at the princess’s pale neck.

“Final words? Are you mocking me, Lord Vick?”Facing the approach of death and the grief of losing those she cherished, Trelinka did not succumb to sorrow and despair like an ordinary girl. Resolutely wiping the tears from her face, she fixed her gaze unflinchingly upon Vick with eyes filled with icy stillness.

“As an utter failure, I thank you for granting me a dignified end. But as the Leader of this nation’s last hope—the Glory Army—I condemn your blind loyalty, and even more so, I condemn His Majesty the King who exploits it!”

Trelinka’s heart overflowed with boundless rage, sorrow, and unconcealed resentment. Yet in the end, all these emotions coalesced into frigid words and a piercing glare, forming her response to Vick Swordsaint.

“Vick Swordsaint, my country and my comrades are my most treasured possessions—they are more precious to me than my own life. And now, you are destroying them all. So, use that Wind-Bathing Punisher bestowed by my ancestors to strike off my head.”

“I swear here and now—if I survive… I will unleash the most frenzied vengeance upon the cowardly Nobles and royalty behind you.”

With these words, Trelinka closed her eyes, her voice as clear and cold as a nightingale in the darkness.

(End of Chapter)