Chapter 226: Murakhan's Benefactor (2)
It was fortunate that there were only two of them. All they had to do was suppress them in the same way.
With a swift movement, Quinkantel's fist struck the face of the knight who reflexively drew his sword. The helmet dented, blood splattered, and the knight fell unconscious.
Kuzan, unfazed, stabbed at the seams of the armor, paralyzing his opponent.
"We've just arrived and you've already taken down four knights," Jin commented as he hid the fallen knights in a drain. They looked like corpses but weren't dead.
Fortunately, there was not a single person inside the side gate. The city center had already been sealed off, preventing civilians from leaving.
The three of them moved silently. They had to enter the city and check on Murakhan as soon as possible.
Once they entered the city, they noticed quite a few patrolling knights. There were no Shul Kingdom forces, as Jet reported. Instead, the city was filled with extreme and authoritative figures like the Dawn Guardians of Doctrine.
Jin and his group were able to infiltrate the city center undetected, thanks to their superior skills and the noisy and bustling streets.
The buildings were burning and collapsing from the flames left by Kadun. The streets were filled with screams and cries. People who had lost family and relatives in the battle were wailing and collapsing everywhere.
There were also bodies that had not yet been cleaned up. Knights with indifferent eyes concealed by helmets were throwing corpses onto wagons.
Most, if not all, of the corpses were those who had died from fire. The bodies were burnt black, making it impossible to identify them.
There were no signs of spiritual power being used yet.
"...This is horrifying," said Jin.
"Dragons like Kadun don't care about humans, unless you are a special human. To them, humans are no different from bugs. Most dragons view humans as inferior beings, but fire dragons are especially so."
"But can we say that these corpses have nothing to do with Murakan?"
As Jin pondered this, Quinkantel added, "At least he's not the type to slaughter humans indiscriminately for his own purpose."
Jin responded with an awkward smile.
The further they ventured into the city, the more bodies they found. Some were piled up like mountains, with priests singing requiems around them.
There were easily at least five thousand dead. This was a devastating loss for a city the size of Santel. It was likely that more than half of the city's residents had died.
But it wasn't just corpses.
A smaller number of injured people were constantly groaning and screaming. The healers, known as the 'Saints' of Vankella, were sweating as they attended to them.
However, not all the Saints were focused on healing.
This was what made the group feel strange.
"Sir, isn't the atmosphere in the city... a bit weird?" asked one of the group members.
Jin nodded quietly. Quinkantel was also looking at the Saints, not those performing healing magic, but those preaching.
"Right now, the fire dragon is still fighting monsters on the plains outside the city. But good and gentle people, the messengers of heaven have come, so do not fear or despair..."
"The hateful monster that killed our parents, siblings, children, will soon be killed by the fire dragon! Let us all pray together, may the gods watch over the fire dragon..."
The claim that a battle was still ongoing on the plains outside the city was clearly a lie. Jin and his companions had just passed through there to enter the city.
Outside, there were only a few reporters and the knights blocking them.
However, the civilians sitting in front of the Saint seemed to believe his words.
"Let us pray!"
"Amen!"
Some were even moved by the Saint's absurd agitation and fell to their knees.
On one side, healing was taking place, on the other, agitation was being stirred among the less injured, and the city was tightly sealed off. Those from Vankella were blatantly manipulating the situation.
But it wasn't that the civilians were fools who were deceived by the Saints' agitation.
In the midst of the shock and grief of losing their families, they were being brainwashed by the Saints' unique 'Persuasion Magic'.
The Saints claimed it was 'divine power', but most mages, including Jin, knew it was a type of mana.
Persuasion magic, similar to old mental magic, was often used for preaching and evangelism.
The faint yellow light in the Saint's eyes was proof that persuasion magic was being used.
"Through the power of prayer, both the dead and the living are bound together, we are never alone! Those who have fulfilled their mission will find peace..."
Persuasion magic was useless against those with strong mental power, but it could easily deceive civilians who were in shock.
"The current Holy King must have strictly prohibited the use of persuasion magic by the Saints, but they're all using it."
The current Holy King, 'Miklan', had even announced that any saint using persuasion magic would be classified as a 'heretic'.
It had continued to be used out of convenience and tradition, but persuasion magic clearly went against the doctrine and what the Holy Kingdom pursued.
"They're trying to pin the massacre committed by Kadun on the monster. If Murakhan is the monster, I don't think he's been caught by Kadun, yet."
"I think so too, Quinkantel. If he had been caught, there would be no need for this commotion."
The monster presumed to be Murakhan had escaped, and Kadun, in his haste to chase him, had not extinguished the flames spread throughout the city.
Jin and Quinkantel simultaneously deduced the same situation. If he had been caught, Kadun could have extinguished the flames spread throughout the city and even glorified the name of Zipfel by killing the monster.
"We need to figure out why they're helping Zipfel by breaking the orders of the Holy King," Jin mused.
Judging from the circumstances that had surfaced so far, Vankella was no longer a 'neutral country'. They were aiding Zipfell even at the cost of using forbidden mind control techniques, known as 'Persuasion Magic'. This couldn't have happened without the permission at the national level.
However, finding Murakhan was more urgent than pondering this issue right now.
"Let's try to talk to the civilians when we get a chance. We just need to confirm whether the demon is indeed Murakhan before we leave."
It wasn't easy to find an opportunity to interact with the civilians. There was no point in conversing with civilians who were caught up in the agitation, and there was a high chance they would report them to the saints if they found them suspicious.
Just as they were about to move again, a holy knight found one of the saints standing in front of their group. He whispered something to the saint and quickly moved somewhere else.
"...Good and gentle citizens! We've just received a report. A cunning group has infiltrated the city. If you see anyone suspicious, please immediately find our messengers."
The movements of the patrolling holy knights changed too. Up until now, they only looked for civilians who had strayed from the main roads, but now they started checking alleys and gaps between buildings.
They quickly left their spot and started looking for a civilian who could converse with them again.
But there were holy knights, saints, or mages extinguishing fires everywhere. There weren't any civilians separated from them.
The biggest problem was that the number of holy knights stationed in Santel greatly exceeded their expectations.
"Damn, the streets are full of holy knights. How many are there? If this continues, it'll soon be impossible to hide, Jin."
"It's gotten tiresome, I expected this since we broke through the side gate."
Creak... thud! Creak...
They heard the sound of all the double lock mechanisms in every gate tightly closing from afar.
The holy knights on the street started running around shouting something, and the saints led the civilians somewhere and disappeared.
"Over here!"
A holy knight who encountered the group as they passed an alley shouted.
Even though the flames coloring the city and the chaotic atmosphere had hidden their group until now, their senses were also duller than usual due to the situation. Even though Jin had his mind’s eye activated, he couldn't accurately sense the energy of hundreds of people moving nearby in this chaos.
Therefore, they couldn't change directions before encountering a holy knight at the corner of an alley.
"Drop your weapons and kneel!"
If there were fifty holy knights, or if there were a few high-ranking knights mixed in, the group would have had to fight carefully.
But just five knights from the Dawn Guardians of Doctrine couldn't do anything against their group. As Quinkantel and Kuzan were about to take two each and suppress them, Jin equipped Sigmund.
Crack-!
Before the five holy knights could attack Jin, he cast a lightning bolt. Since their location had already been exposed by the horn and flare, it was better to quickly finish them off with a lightning bolt and move on.
He cast ten lightning bolts in five seconds and suppressed four of them.
Of course, Jin intended to suppress all five. The one who wasn't hit by the lightning bolt, despite experiencing the King's Sword for the first time, stepped back calmly.
Even by Jin's standards, he was quite skilled.
However, for some reason, that holy knight didn't draw his sword.
Even when he first saw Jin's group, he didn't take any proper action even when the other four immediately drew their swords and shouted.
Just as Quinkantel and Kuzan were about to rush at that holy knight together.
"Wait, wait a minute!"
Suddenly, the holy knight raised both his arms. It was an unbelievable behavior for a knight of the Dawn Guardians of Doctrine, an extreme group within Vankella.
"What?"
"I'm Lani Salome, a second-class knight of the Dawn Guardians of Doctrine. You guys don't seem like heretics to me."
"What?"
"You're not heretics, right? Please answer."
An unexpected question.
But the knight's eyes inside his helmet were so earnest that Jin simply nodded.
"I never draw my sword against those who aren't heretics. And you guys, you're related to the black dragon who fought against that crazy fire dragon, right?"
Jin's eyes widened.
The knight who introduced herself as Lani used the term 'black dragon' instead of 'monster'. Plus, he called Kadun a crazy fire dragon, showing a strong enmity towards him.
Clang, clang, clang-!
They heard the sound of other holy knights running from a distant alley. They would arrive at the alley where they were standing in a few seconds.
"Follow me for now. If you're caught by my colleagues, you won't be able to survive."