I Became the Youngest Prince in the Novel

169 - The Tower of Causality (9)

TL/Editor: raei

Status: ongoing

Illustrations: none

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Episode 169, Chapter 45: The Tower of Causality (9)

A heavy silence fell over the battlefield.

This stillness gripped both the human and monster factions alike.

All eyes were fixed on the path that had formed in the middle of the monster army, stretching from the gorge to the horizon.

Like a legendary hero parting the sea, this path had been created with a single downward stroke.

Nadir Chrosicle, or rather, Zion, who had created this path, began to walk slowly.

"How in the..."

As someone uttered these words in a daze, Zion's pace quickened.

His form blurred and then transformed into a gust of wind.

Screech!

The surrounding monsters, finally snapping out of their stupor, let out ear-piercing screams and charged at Zion as he raced along the path.

Each of these monsters had strength equivalent to that of an elite knight.

Just as they were about to engulf Zion, whoosh!

A step unlike any before erupted from Zion's right foot.

Crack!

A massive wave of light burst forth from that single step, spreading in all directions and tearing the monsters' bodies to shreds without leaving a trace.

A huge space opened up.

As Zion immediately thrust himself into this space,

"Stop that damn hero's companion!"

With cries full of hatred and bloodlust, a new wave of monsters filled the remaining space and lunged at Zion.

But that wave couldn't reach him.

The knight's sword cut through all enemies.

Swish!

Thousands of blades erupted from Zion's casually swung sword, slicing through the entire wave.

The sky turned red with the blood that burst forth.

At that moment.

The sky darkened once more.

It wasn't because of the demonic energy emitted by the monsters.

Steel Knight.

A golem with a body made entirely of black steel, larger than a mountain, blocked Zion's path.

Grooooar!

With a roar so massive it could cause an earthquake, the Steel Knight raised its mace and brought it down towards Zion.

The air around the falling mace, like a meteor strike, burst into flames.

It was a blow powerful enough to obliterate a small city without leaving a trace.

Just as the knight's mace was about to crush Zion's entire body, swish!

A small cutting sound rang out.

It was a sound so faint it might as well not have existed compared to the club that was descending, bending even space itself.

But the sight created by that sound was anything but faint.

The tip of Zion's sword, now pointing from the sky to the ground, slash!

Split the falling Steel Knight's mace vertically.

As if that wasn't enough, a thin line started from the knight's hand holding the mace and traveled up to its shoulder, then crack!

The knight's entire right arm split along that line.

Huh?

As the knight let out a dumb sound, not understanding what had happened, looking at its fallen arm, swish!

Once again, the cutting sound rang out, and the Steel Knight's body split vertically from crown to crotch.

Boom!

With a sound like hundreds of bombs exploding at once, the knight's body, split in two, crashed to the ground.

Zion advanced through the debris of the Steel Knight without a moment's hesitation.

"Attack... Attack from afar!!"

Following the command of a high-ranking demon who had been stunned by this abnormal sight, boom!

This time, thousands of demonic curses began to pour down, targeting only Zion.

The power of these curses was beyond imagination, enough to instantly corrode the mind and tear apart the flesh of even a dragon, but once again, they had no effect on Zion.

He didn't dodge or deflect them with his sword.

The pure mind of a knight cannot be broken by anything.

And the iron-like body of a knight will never shatter.

Nadir Chrosicle's authorities, activated by Zion's will, instantly covered his entire body.

Rattle rattle rattle!

The curses that rained down on these authorities bounced off with a sound like popcorn popping.

This was Nadir's absolute defense ability, known as the 'Moving Fortress'.

Next, whoosh!

Zion's form dashed right up to the demon sorcerers who had fired the curses.

Screech!

The Black Star Force and Nadir's authorities simultaneously condensed at the tip of Zion's sword, which was already drawn back, emitting a chilling light and sound.

"B-Block it...!"

Seeing this, the demon sorcerers quickly deployed dozens of layers of barriers, but.

It was already too late.

Boom!

Zion's sword, extended in a straight line as if a knight was charging, instantly tore through all the barriers and pierced through the bodies of the demon sorcerers behind them.

The shockwave that erupted from this completely shattered all the other monsters in the vicinity.

The sound explosion that followed, considerably delayed due to the speed, filled the battlefield.

Zion advanced without even glancing at the demon sorcerer unit he had annihilated in an instant, and the demonic army couldn't stop his steps for even a moment.

Perhaps it was because of this overwhelming sight.

Grrrr!

For the first time, fear appeared in the eyes of the monsters who had known nothing but blood and slaughter until now.

Unconsciously, they began to take small steps backward.

As a result, the path that had been narrowing began to widen once again.

"Ah..."

Behind them, the knights and soldiers, including the adjutant, watched this scene in a daze.

What on earth was happening?

An unbelievable, irrational sight was unfolding before their eyes.

To think that the terrifying demonic army would be pushed back by a single person.

Then, step, step.

Their feet began to move slowly along the path Zion had created, filled with an unspoken determination.

Zion hadn't given any orders.

No one else had said anything.

That back.

That broad back that advanced relentlessly, shattering the wave of demons blocking the way without a word, was whispering to them.

To follow behind him.

A different kind of strength.

A different kind of action.

A different kind of charm.

While everything about the current 'Nadir Chrosicle' was different from usual except for his appearance, it didn't matter.

This figure he was showing now was exactly the strongest knight they had always envisioned.

"Push forward with Lord Nadir!"

Finally, with a loud cry bursting from the adjutant knight's mouth, the human army, their eyes filled with passion and trembling, began to follow properly behind Zion.

'This isn't a bad start.'

Feeling the presence of the knights and soldiers approaching from behind, Zion smirked.

From the beginning, this trial was a battle that could never be won by just holding out in the gorge.

Just as there's a path of life within a path of death, Zion believed that to lead this 'Battle of the Gorge of the End' to victory, they needed to strike into the enemy formation like this.

After all, Nadir Chrosicle and the forces under his command were specialized in breaking through rather than defense.

Of course, this required the presence of an unwavering central figure, but the current Zion, able to fully utilize Nadir Chrosicle's power and body, could sufficiently fulfill that role.

'Even so, with just this force, we can only hold out a bit longer...'

But that was enough.

That 'holding out a bit longer' was the key to this battle.

According to history, not long after Nadir Chrosicle and his unit were completely annihilated here, reinforcements including the first hero would arrive at the gorge.

If Nadir could hold out until then, the worst defeat of the First Human-Demon War would have turned into the greatest victory.

That's exactly what Zion was aiming for.

Although this was a trial, it would surely flow exactly like the original history, and if so, the reinforcements would arrive at a similar time.

'Once the hero and reinforcements arrive, we'll start hunting the Dragon of the End in earnest.'

Although the goal of this trial was to hold the gorge, Zion had no intention of ending it with just that from the start.

All the trials in the Eternal Tower were designed to give better rewards the more exceptional the participant's performance.

Probably this secret trial, the 'History of Destruction', had a similar structure.

If he could achieve something beyond just holding out, there might be additional rewards.

Of course, to hunt Apocalypsia, who had half-escaped the cycle of reincarnation and gained a degree of immortality, would require commensurate power...

Boom!

That, too, was already sufficient.

'This body.'

Was it because it was the body of the person called the world's strongest knight?

Along with Nadir Chrosicle's abilities, the level of Black Star Force that the current Zion could use was slightly higher than in the body of 'Zion Agnes'.

'If I had to quantify it, about 6 stars.'

Moreover, since this was a body he would use only once, there was no problem in overworking it to the extreme.

If the hero joined in as well, there was no need to even mention it.

'But first, I need to reach the vicinity of the Dragon of the End.'

Slash!

As Zion's gaze, having completely cut down the high-ranking demons charging at him from both sides along with their attacks, turned towards the black dragon overlooking the battlefield at the end of the demonic wave.

Their eyes met immediately, as if the dragon had also been looking at him.

As if threatening, Zion grinned at the Dragon of the End, and an even deeper darkness burst forth from his entire body, beginning to engulf the surroundings.

'That is...'

Apocalypsia's eyes were filled with questions.

It wasn't because Nadir Chrosicle's power, tearing through his army of demon realm elites like paper as he advanced, was much stronger than anticipated.

'That power.'

The darkness that Nadir Chrosicle was now mixing with his techniques seemed somehow familiar.

It was clearly a power he had never seen in him before.

Yet he couldn't understand why it felt familiar.

Alien yet ominous, and at the same time, stimulating some deep-seated fear in his heart...

-!!!!!!!

The Dragon of the End's eyes widened as far as they could go.

Along with this, the questions in the dragon's eyes began to turn completely into shock.

Why hadn't he realized it immediately?

-Why...

That power was certainly what Apocalypsia himself had seen in the past.

No, it was a power he had experienced to the bone.

The lost history, now passed down only orally to an extremely small number, the shameful history of the demon realm's first continental invasion.

It was exactly this power used by the human who had shattered that invasion.

'Eternal Emperor Aurelion Khan Agnes.'

At that time, all the Four Great Demons except himself were annihilated by him, the Demon King was fatally wounded to the point of being unable to move, and all beings belonging to demons were pushed to the ends of the world.

The being who had given the demon realm an inescapable frustration and fear.

That's why they had only started the invasion again after confirming his complete disappearance several times...

-Why is that power here now...!

He couldn't understand at all why it had appeared before his eyes again now.

'I must stop it!'

Had his reason flown away?

Apocalypsia, his eyes filled with nothing but fear, suddenly opened his mouth wide.

The fundamental elements that make up this world were sucked into that mouth in the form of light, forming a massive grey sphere.

Rumble!

The earth and space vibrated, unable to withstand the distant aura flowing from it.

As the authority of the end was added to this, the world itself began to scream.

If he fired this 'Breath' now, the demonic army would also suffer massive damage, but it didn't matter.

At this moment, Apocalypsia truly thought that even if he lost his entire army, it would be worth it if he could kill this damned Nadir using that power.

-Be erased from this world.

Finally, along with words that sounded like a declaration, the Breath of Destruction.

Apocalypsia's strongest authority technique, which had blown away a quarter of the Fairy Forest in the past, was fired towards Zion.

---

Posted the wrong chap earlier. Sorry!

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