Chapter 970
Episode 240: The Crisis of the Red-Eyed Clan (3)
Patlok and Pibilok.
While the two fortresses prepared to activate their airborne strongholds, Elona refrained from attacking them. She needed time to process the information she had obtained from Gaila.
The royal court had failed to anticipate the Red-Eyed Clan’s betrayal at this precise moment—and for good reason.
First, the court had only recently realized Elona’s corruption. Only those who had descended into hell itself, and among them, only those who had fought directly against Kelliak, were immediately aware of her transformation.
Of course, Elona soon followed Kelliak’s orders to purge the pro-Beradin faction within Ziphl, publicly announcing the shift in Lutero’s power structure. But no one expected her to launch an immediate assault on the Red-Eyed Clan.
Moreover, the fact that Elona had gained the ability of ‘mental domination’ through the Holy Water Pavilion was something only the Balmel Alliance, which possessed record magicians, had even speculated about. The royal court merely knew that Elona had sided with Kelliak and grown stronger.
Chiiiiing…!
Above the Third City, Patlok and the fleet readied themselves for spatial leap.
The Red-Eyed Clan’s airborne fortresses resembled massive spinning tops. Every surface bristled with cannons surpassing even flagship-class warships, and their sharply carved undersides seemed capable of ravaging even the toughest terrain.
For the Red-Eyed Clan, this battle might very well be their final stand. The city was left with barely any guard forces, and all clan members who hadn’t become undead had boarded Patlok and its subordinate fleet.
“Now, all we can do is hope that Simat’s judgment was right,” Rakhiman said.
Simat nodded resolutely.
“The deaths of our comrades Gaila and those from the Fourth City will not be in vain. Soon, we will meet our comrades from Toushin.”
At first, Rakhiman had dismissed it as madness, but now, as events unfolded, he trembled with the power gained through the sacrifices of their kin and the activation of Patlok’s power source for the first time.
Patlok vibrated as if ready to annihilate any enemy without mercy. Though limited by blood supply to about 50% power for roughly three hours, it was enough to intimidate the Red-Eyed Clan.
“Open the dimensional gate!”
At Rakhiman’s command, the central part of Patlok opened like a gaping maw, revealing a power source glowing like a crimson sun.
This moment—when the power source was exposed—was the fortress’s only vulnerable point. Except during massive dimensional transfers, the power source was never visible from outside.
Paaaaaah…!
A colossal beam of light poured forth, moving like a brush to draw a perfect square, forming the dimensional gate.
“Coordinates: Pirrol. Begin the invasion.”
Leading the charge, Patlok and the fleet flew through the dimensional gate. Only three forces currently possessed such large-scale spatial transfer capabilities: the Red-Eyed Clan, Kinzel, and Silkia of the Jinma Realm.
Attacking ground without coordinates would take much longer, but traveling through the intermediate world took only ten minutes.
Without warning, without any sign.
The sky above the small city of Pirrol stained a blood-red hue. In ancient times, when the Old King Clan ruled underground, a reddened sky was a symbol of impending doom.
The appearance of the Red-Eyed Clan’s airborne fortress meant exactly that.
“What the hell… The Red-Eyed Clan, those mad bastards, what kind of damn stunt is this!”
Manof Bimont.
Alongside Bivol Bimont, one of the emperor’s closest aides, he could only stare wide-eyed at the sky.
Even when Orgal had appeared unexpectedly not long ago, he hadn’t been fazed. But this was the most shocking moment in his millennia-long life.
‘I knew they were planning betrayal… but already?!’
The royal court had been under the illusion that the Red-Eyed Clan was perfectly controlled. Especially, they had meticulously regulated the blood supply to ensure the clan could never activate their airborne fortresses on their own.
‘Damn it… They used our own blood!’
Sacrificing their own kin to power the fortresses was unthinkable. The court believed the clan would only resort to such measures in the face of total annihilation.
Manof rushed outside to survey the city. He saw the Maen busily transporting the bodies of the Qingming Clan’s buried dead. Some Maen with consciousness paused their work and looked up at the sky.
‘No, no… If these fall into their hands…’
The airborne fortress Patlok in the Third City was nearing completion.
If even one of those dreadful ancient weapons—capable of terrifying all underground life—was completed, the current royal court would be powerless to stop it.
And today was the very day the court had transferred the largest number of Qingming Clan’s buried dead to Pirrol.
Recently, the Qingming Clan’s Toushin, Eltiot, had been regaining his cognitive abilities, so they needed to hide the buried dead from him.
Since the buried dead would eventually be supplied to the Red-Eyed Clan, they planned to temporarily store them in Pirrol before distributing them to various bases.
But that choice turned out to be the worst possible mistake.
As Manof’s mind went blank, the Red-Eyed Clan erupted in excited shouts.
“Q-Qingming Clan! How much of that sweet Qingming blood do they have?! Simat, look over there! There are too many to count with the naked eye!”
Rakhiman’s voice rose almost childishly.
Simat exhaled deeply, confirming the buried dead of the Qingming Clan. He had expected at most five hundred, but it was far more.
By rough estimate, there were over five thousand buried dead—and more were stored within the city.
“I hear humans have something called a lottery, Rakhiman. A tiny chance to win a massive fortune… We’ve just hit the jackpot.”
Ha ha ha ha!
Of course, having many buried dead meant many Maen as well.
But the Red-Eyed Clan paid no mind to the Maen, who were only just entering combat readiness. Unless it was close-quarters fighting, the Maen were nothing against airborne fortresses.
“Royal court high official Manof Bimont confirmed! Rakhiman, orders!”
“Capture him alive! He knows Patlok’s power, so he won’t even think of resisting. He’ll try to escape using the Maen as shields. Crush his hopes immediately!”
“Red-Eyed Clan!”
As Rakhiman predicted, Manof was already preparing to flee.
Pirrol had been a major Maen research site, so self-destruct mechanisms were well established. Setting the self-destruct and stepping through a pre-installed dimensional gate would be the end.
But if escaping the airborne fortress were that easy, the ancient underground powers wouldn’t have trembled so fiercely.
“Ugh… Huff…”
Manof suddenly felt breathless as he ran toward the dimensional gate.
At the moment the spatial leap succeeded, the Red-Eyed Clan spread a psychic wave through Patlok across all of Pirrol.
The wave had an effect similar to the weight of Tess’s oppression. Those touched by it felt their bodies grow heavy and weak.
There were even two types of waves. The other disabled enemy communication devices and dimensional gates by forcibly cutting their power.
Click, click, click! Thud!
Manof frantically pressed buttons to open the fortress walls. The royal court’s fortress and research lab in Pirrol was equipped with various magic-powered devices, all of which went dead.
“Damn bastards!”
Manof knew the airborne fortress’s capabilities—he already knew it was over. But it was hard to accept being so easily defeated by those he had always thought were leashed dogs.
He forced his way through several barriers to reach the self-destruct and dimensional gate room, but those too were nonfunctional.
Even when he tried to inject magic himself, the damaged circuits couldn’t be repaired in an instant.
Sigh.
Manof couldn’t see outside, but he knew what was happening.
Patlok and the fleet’s main cannons were targeting only the Maen, leaving the Qingming Clan’s buried dead untouched.
‘If Temar Bimont were here, maybe I could have escaped… but he’s in Meisil. Actually, maybe it’s better he’s in Meisil. I don’t know how they managed to activate the airborne fortress and betray us, but they wouldn’t have left Meisil, where His Majesty is, unscathed.’
As Manof expected, outside the fortress was a crimson hellscape. The Maen were incinerated as they touched the thousands of red beams falling from the fortress, while the Qingming Clan’s buried dead were absorbed in real time.
The remaining buried dead in the fortress alone could more than fill Patlok’s power source.
Those remaining would be sent back to the other airborne fortresses of the Red-Eyed Clan in turn.
‘All I can hope for now is that those who attacked Meisil will be defeated by His Majesty and Eltiot.’
Thinking this, Manof drew a dagger from his chest.
But his hand wouldn’t move—not out of fear of death, but because the psychic wave’s intensity suddenly surged explosively.
“No, Manof Bimont. The Melka Clan, known since ancient times for their tenacious vitality, don’t just give up like this.”
Simat had already slipped out of the fortress and approached.
The Maen had been completely wiped out. The Red-Eyed Clan members had all leapt from the fleet to revel in their bloody feast.
“Simat… I never thought you’d stab us in the back at a moment like this.”
“How dare the Melka tribe, of all people, have once kept the great Jeokmyeong tribe under their heel like dogs? That was the most unbelievable thing of all. Well, I suppose it was the greatest honor of your entire existence.”
Simat then grabbed Manof’s head firmly.
“There’s only one reason I spared your life, Manof Bimant.”
“…And what reason is that?”
“Tell me where our warrior is hiding. I swear on the honor of Jeokmyeong. If you do, I won’t completely destroy your royal family.”
“Hmph. So you mean to use us, just as we’ve used you all this time?”
At that, Simat gave a wry smile, as if amused by the notion.
“Do you really think a restored Jeokmyeong would need the help of the Melka tribe? You still cling to hope, but unless massive powers like Bamel or Lutero come to your aid, this fight is already over. What I’m saying is, I’ll leave one of your royal bloodline alive. Just one. To live out their days as a slave to the Jeokmyeong. Your Melka tribe cares less about how you live and more about simply surviving—that’s all that matters to your kind.”