Level Up Machine

Chapter 58 Armor of the Demon God (3)

The royal palace of the Elnote Kingdom.

It was currently in great turmoil.

This was because they had received a report that the northern border had collapsed and a powerful entity known as a Dragonian was advancing towards the capital, leading hundreds of monsters.

“Wh-what on earth were the Andras Knights doing?”

King Hendrick von Elnote of the Elnote Kingdom shouted in a voice filled with terror. At his outcry, the ministers deeply bowed their heads, sweating profusely.

“Th-the thing is… at that moment, the Reiaton Guild had gone on a dungeon expedition, so the Andras Knights alone couldn’t stop them.”

“Ugh! Damn it! Damn it! Those lowly scoundrels, instead of guarding the northern border as ordered, where have they been wandering about?”

Hendrick pounded the throne with a face full of rage.

Hendrick von Elnote IV. The current king of the Elnote Kingdom and regarded as one of the worst kings in history.

He had an extremely authoritarian personality and was greatly enraged by the fact that Earthlings had created their own independent factions without listening to the kingdom’s orders.

“Those lowly beings should be grateful and obedient just to live in my kingdom. How dare they…!”

He ground his teeth, thinking about the Leviatan Guild, which had grown into a powerful force that was now difficult to control.

When Earthlings were first summoned, he had created a purge squad to massacre them, considering them lowly foreigners who had stepped foot in his kingdom.

But that didn’t last long.

The Earthlings began to build a force that could no longer be ignored due to their level cap far exceeding the average level of the natives.

Realizing how strong the Earthlings were, Hendrick changed his mind and harbored the ambition to gather them to form an army.

“But how dare they spurn my heavenly grace…!”

Hendrick clenched his teeth and trembled with anger.

Naturally, the Earthlings did not submit to Hendrick, who had once created a purge squad to massacre them.

In fact, the Leviatan Guild had several times annihilated Hendrick’s troops when he tried to forcibly take them.

Eventually, Hendrick, who had to watch out for the guild’s reaction, set his sights on the Salvator Guild, which was led by a noble from his own country.

However, that guild also collapsed miserably due to an internal conflict.

“Damn it…! If only that wretched Tiria had followed me obediently, things wouldn’t have come to this!”

Hendrick stomped his feet in frustration.

If she had handed over the guild to him, he could have created a powerful army.

If that had happened, the northern border wouldn’t have been breached by the Dragonian.

The minister, who had come to report the situation to Hendrick, looked at him rampaging in anger with a darkened expression.

‘How could such a scoundrel be born into the Elnote royal family?’

The Elnote Kingdom had a strong tradition of royal authority due to a peculiar trait of their royal family.

Descendants of the hero Andras, who had founded the Elnote Kingdom, they were naturally gifted with the qualities of a good king.

Over several generations, as the kings performed their duties perfectly and expanded national power, the popularity of the king soared among the people.

Of course, there were a few less capable kings in between, but there had never been one so incompetent as to shake the nation.

But Hendrick von Elnote was different.

He was so vicious, greedy, and steeped in extreme authoritarianism that one would doubt if he was indeed a descendant of the hero Andras.

Because the previous king of Elnote had only left behind Hendrick before passing away, there was no suitable candidate to succeed the throne. As a result, Hendrick ascended to the throne but indulged in luxury and pleasure, neglecting state affairs.

Even this alone wasn’t a major problem.

Despite the strong royal authority, the Elnote Kingdom had a long history, and it wasn’t so fragile as to waver immediately because the king neglected state affairs.

The problem was that during Hendrick’s reign, a monster invasion began in the north.

As the Ingrum Empire, which was expected to easily sweep away the monsters, collapsed and the monsters began attacking all over the continent, Hendrick’s cowardly and urgent nature caused the kingdom to falter.

Without the summoned ones he so despised, it wouldn’t have been surprising if the Elnote Kingdom had already perished.

‘If only Lord Ruan would inherit the throne, things wouldn’t be like this…’

Ruan von Elnote was the most extraordinarily talented of Hendrick’s sons and the crown prince.

Among the natives, Ruan had an extremely rare level cap that allowed him to stand shoulder to shoulder with the “rankers” of the summoned ones.

Considering that even in the Arnan Empire, the strongest country on the continent, there were few natives with a comparable level cap, it was truly an extraordinary talent.

It wasn’t just his high level cap. He had mastered various fields such as politics, economics, and military strategy at the young age of 15, created his own knight order, and made significant achievements in subduing monsters.

Ten years after Ruan created his knight order, it had become a powerful order representing the Elnote Kingdom, alongside the Andras Knights.

‘But as long as that scoundrel is alive, Ruan cannot ascend the throne…’

The minister frowned as he glared at Hendrick, who was trembling on the throne.

Currently, Hendrick was forty years old, still too young to die.

“Gather all the kingdom’s forces immediately! Sweep away those damn monsters before they reach my castle!”

“A-all forces, Your Majesty?”

“Yes! Gather even the Royal Guard and kill those monsters!”

Hearing Hendrick’s hysterical outburst, the minister asked with a puzzled expression.

Traditionally, the Royal Guard was tasked with protecting the king, even if the capital was under attack. To involve the Royal Guard in the subjugation meant leaving the royal palace vulnerable.

“Deploying the Royal Guard to the subjugation forces is too hasty a decision, Your Majesty. Currently, the summoned ones are gathering a subjugation force, so it would be better to send reinforcements to support them.”

“You dare defy my orders! The summoned ones cannot be trusted! What if those lowly beings harbor ill intentions and send the monsters here?”

“But, Your Majesty…”

“Silence! Since when does a mere minister dare to contradict the king’s orders? Gather all the forces immediately and capture those monsters!”

“…Understood.”

Seeing that further conversation was impossible, the minister nodded and left the audience chamber.

Sitting on the throne, Hendrick bit his nails and muttered in a voice filled with madness.

“Hehe. They all ignore me, huh? Just wait, you lowly creatures. When I can handle ‘that item,’ it will be your end.”

Laughing maniacally, Hendrick stood up and nervously rang the bell next to the throne, used to summon a maid.

Bang.

“Did you call for us, Your Majesty?”

Ten maids hurriedly entered the room and deeply bowed to him.

“Bring me wine immediately! Hurry!”

“…Understood.”

The maids bowed their heads and brought the wine to Hendrick.

Roughly opening the top of the finest wine, Hendrick gulped it down as if it were water.

“Ah! Haha. Now I feel a bit more at ease.”

Hendrick chuckled, feeling the intoxication spread throughout his body.

Three days had passed since all the troops in the royal palace had left for the monster subjugation on Hendrick’s orders.

Only a few guards and maids remained in the Elnote royal palace.

“Fire! There’s a fire!”

A maid’s scream echoed.

A fire had broken out in the storage area where the food supplies were kept.

Acrid smoke began to fill the corridors.

“Call the guards quickly!”

“Yes!”

The maids, unable to handle the fire on their own, urgently called for the guards.

“…Huh?”

But even when they contacted the guards through the communication crystal, there was no response.

The maid looked perplexed.

“Head maid! The guards are not responding!”

“What?! What are they doing in an emergency situation?!”

The woman called the head maid shouted with a harsh expression.

She couldn’t have imagined it. The guards were currently engaged in a fierce battle after being ambushed by a group of masked assailants.

“Argh!”

A masked assailant swung his sword.

A soldier in the uniform of the Elnote Kingdom’s city guards tried to block the assailant’s sword with his spear, but he couldn’t withstand the sword imbued with blue magic.

The spear split in two, and dark red blood gushed from the soldier’s chest.

The masked assailants were not few.

About twenty of them were slaughtering the soldiers.

The city guards, although quite high level for natives, around level 30, were no match for the masked assailants.

It didn’t take long for all fifty city guards to be subdued.

“Guild Master! We’ve taken care of them all.”

“Good.”

The masked assailant nodded at the report.

The assailants who had attacked the southern gate of the royal palace were from the guild The Pacer, cooperating with the Salvator Guild.

Kim Chan-hyung raised a communication crystal and spoke in a low voice.

“This is Team B. We have secured the southern gate.”

“This is Team A. Block the southern gate and stand by in case of reinforcements.”

“Understood.”

Kim Chan-hyung nodded and instructed the guild members to seal the southern gate of the palace.

The attacks weren’t confined to the southern gate.

Masked assailants simultaneously attacked the northern, western, and eastern gates, completely sealing off the palace.

With most of its forces deployed for the monster subjugation, the palace had no way to effectively counter the attacks and was helpless against them.

“This is much easier than I expected.”

Yeong-sik, listening to reports from other teams beside Han-seong, spoke in a deflated tone. Han-seong also replied with a bewildered expression.

“I never imagined they’d deploy even the Royal Guards and Public Security forces for the subjugation.”

“Unless they’re incredibly stupid, they wouldn’t usually do such a thing.”

Given the long preparation for the palace raid, the result was anticlimactic. Han-seong sighed and spoke up.

“Well, as it is, it’s good that we can achieve our goal with minimal damage… but it feels like all our preparations were for nothing.”

Han-seong’s expression was one of slight frustration.

It was like having trained for years and then winning a match by default because the opponent suddenly withdrew due to a stomachache.

They had achieved their goal, but it felt hollow to have done so with such ease.

“Haha. Indeed.”

Even Yeong-sik, who hadn’t been as involved in the planning, felt the anticlimactic nature of the situation.

It was hard to imagine the level of anticlimax felt by Han-seong, who had spent the most time preparing for the raid.

“The spatial transfer is ready.”

While Han-seong and Yeong-sik chatted, Yoo Jin, who had been chanting a spell in front of the royal treasury, spoke up.

At those words, Han-seong and Yeong-sik’s eyes lit up.

Han-seong, Yeong-sik, and Yoo Jin were tasked with retrieving the “Archangel’s Boon” from the royal treasury.

Bringing in more people would mean taking more valuable side gains, but Yoo Jin could only transfer three people, including himself, making that impossible.

“And don’t be too disheartened. This raid on the palace isn’t the end. The more strength we have, the better.”

“That’s true.”

Han-seong nodded at Yoo Jin’s words.

They were currently raiding a kingdom’s palace.

Even though they disguised themselves as bandits with masks, the kingdom wasn’t foolish and would surely guess who was behind the raid.

Moreover, if they failed to reduce the kingdom’s forces in this raid, more troops might pursue them later.

“For now, let’s focus on retrieving the Archangel’s Boon.”

Yeong-sik stepped forward as he spoke. Yoo Jin nodded and cast his spell.

Their bodies seemed to dissolve into the air and vanished.