The princess's knight is her most loyal and obedient dog, whom she raised from early childhood. The loyal knight cannot be called the bravest, much less the strongest warrior. All he had was loyalty, like a dog. Eternal gratitude for saving; to the most beautiful girl he had ever met in this life.
For her sake, the guy was ready to move mountains and dry up the seas.
However, despite his loyalty, Climb disobeyed the order to "stay by her side" by going to help the citizens of the kingdom. At first, there was a simple justification of "helping those who cannot stand up for themselves", but soon these thoughts were overtaken by another one - "to make the golden princess shine even brighter".
According to the group of adamantite-ranked adventurers, "the world is facing a threat that has not been seen since the Evil Gods came to this world, and may even exceed their destructive power."
Fearing for the future of the princess and her position among the corrupt nobles, the knight wanted to try his luck in a desperate attempt to destroy the creature that goes beyond all limits of humanity. Who knows, perhaps such a feat will allow an ordinary commoner to stand closer to the one who is more valuable than life.
"I-I…" Climb continued to run across the creature's body, breathing heavily, faster than a hare running from an eagle. While running, he also dodged hundreds of tiny tentacles from the giant Ainnashi tree, which was the size of a city, and did so much more quickly than an antelope running across the Sahara from a cheetah.
Even when his lungs were burning from the extreme temperature of the air in space, even when his eyes were clouded by the acrid smoke, and blood was pouring from his ruptured eardrums from the chimera's squeals - he continued to run. Not to run from the chimera burning alive, but on the contrary, towards the threat.
"I will definitely protect the lady and make her happy! Waaaaah!" the guy let out a battle cry, so powerful that even Cocytus was able to read its meaning on his lips, admiring the warrior's bravery and continuing to watch the guy through the mirror of remote vision.
Weak, but not giving in to the weight of fate - a hero holding a shield in one hand and a sword in the other. All his equipment was made of mithril ore, so the wearer of excellent armor did not worry much about the heating of steel.
After all, extraneous thoughts about pain took away energy from the body, and vigilance from the mind, and also prevented one from concentrating on a special tentacle appendage, which can be found on a kraken.
Two dozen high-ranking adventurers and thousands of soldiers of the kingdom gave their lives to make a lot of dents, giving a chance to cut off a solid chunk from the creature to those who survived the murderous order of the commander: attack the monster with all their might.
However, the remaining meter diameter did not inspire optimism to cut off at least one part of the creature's body in one blow, and the burning flesh did not contribute to the birth of the right to make a mistake.
But who cares about doubts?
— Combat skill — Vertical… Slash! — the knight ran up to a decent distance, and then jumped up, using one of the few skills mastered under the weight of daily training.
Every single day he had to constantly improve himself, bringing his body to the limit of what was possible. What can I say, Gazef Stronoff himself, the strongest warrior in the kingdom, more than once noted the boy's lack of talent, but praised his fighting spirit, which was insane even by his standards.
"Idiot!" a phantom accusation sounded in the empty head.
A desperate cry from a princess with blue eyes and beautiful golden hair that reached her back. Even as a child, he often admired them, being able to hold golden strands in his hands. Before he had to hold a heavy sword that did not give pleasant sensations, but calluses.
"Golden Princess Renner," he grinned and delivered what the boy thought was a crushing blow. The sword cut a couple of centimeters of the chimera's flesh, but got stuck in the burning tentacle.
Wow!
A bunch of small shoots attacked the frozen knight.
Letting go of the sword and jumping back, he tried to perform an incredible dance, but alas, there was no blessing from the God of Dance or Luck on his feet, and the guy himself did not bear the proud title of "Demigod Claim". Therefore, during one of his dodges, his feet collided with someone's corpse, knocking the nimble warrior out of rhythm. The Chimera did not miss its chance. The sinuous tentacles captured the nimble mosquito, passing the food to the center of the giant trunk located right in the center of the city.
"This..." The eyes widened in disbelief, they were directed at the very heart of the chimera, which no one had yet managed to reach with their own strength. Even the strongest members of Blue Rose could only try to attack from a distance, not daring to repeat the stupidity of the guy who had encountered the Gagin's mouth. It turned out that all that Climb achieved with his determination was to doom himself to the cruel fate of becoming someone's food.
There were enough witnesses to what happened; the kingdom of Re-Estize sent tens of thousands of brave soldiers who set up a military camp - a death camp.
But only a few paid attention.
"What an idiot," spitting blood from her mouth due to the overload, the leader of Blue Rose frowned in displeasure, already anticipating the future problems from the failure of Princess Renner's secondary task.
After all, the princess supported Blue Rose in every way only because of their leader's ability to resurrect the "cute pet", so she very persistently asked Lakyus to look after Climb. And it turned out that the leader of the strongest adventurer team was only able to look after the arrival of his death.
"Let's retreat, otherwise we'll be next," the mask muffled the voice of her partner, who repelled four vines at once with one spell.
- Tsa... good! Let's retreat!
*
One of those indifferent to the fool's death, like most of the survivors, was Fluder Paradyne, the greatest wizard and guardian of the Baharuth Empire. Many influential figures noted the full range of power of the old man, who was able to live for over two hundred and fifty years.
Now Fluder's short figure hunched over even more, so much so that a good portion of his beard was soaked in mud. The wrinkles on his haggard face formed a pair of patterns unknown to humanity, how strong was the surprise and shock.
- We are dead, we must retreat immediately! Teacher, no, Fluder Paradyne - you must wake up. Hic… - the student of the greatest wizard of the Empire squealed like a child who saw a clown in real life after watching a horror movie at night. But one way or another, everyone portrays panic in their own way; some with hysteria, some with shock, but there are also those who feel admiration, looking death in the eyes. - We must report to the Emperor, our enemy needs help, otherwise... ahaha... otherwise we will all die... - stuttering, the young student in a magical robe with a large hood was on the verge of madness, digging his nails into his face.
"So much magical power," the old man said with an ecstatic breath, falling to his knees. "Ha… ha… ha, this is the first time I've seen power comparable to, or even surpassing, a god. The abyss of magic, the more a divine creature absorbs people, the wider its reserves become… If, if I can learn to do the same… Absorb the mana of living beings… That's right, this is the true path… Only this will allow me to achieve my goal…" the old man muttered a speech in a maddened voice, which made his disciple's hair stand on end, as if struck by lightning.
- Hey, you! - the girl's irritating voice distracted the Emperor's mentor from his thoughts about true magic. The old man glanced sharply in the direction of the annoying louse, wrinkling his gray eyebrows. - I thought that at such a distance in the forest you could only find deserters of the kingdom, but not the greatest wizard, - the woman with chestnut-colored hair sarcastically noted. She was dressed in silver full armor and a cloak, and in general, her entire appearance said that she was a paladin from the Holy Kingdom.
Remedios glanced at the kingdom's camp a mile and a half away, which looked more like a hornet's nest into which a torch had been thrown, and quickly returned her disdain for the old man. The girl's cold eyes turned to the wizard, who was trying to stand up on his own, the only person who gave the Empire any weight on the world political stage.
"Girl... Ah, you... yeah, I didn't think that the strongest paladin of the Holy Kingdom could be found in this wilderness..." the old man said thoughtfully, returning to watching the true manifestation of magic.
- We also noticed members of the Theocracy, but they decided to observe what was happening in a more secluded place. Damn cowards, - putting her hand to her sword, the paladin caught up with the old man. - And what do you think of this madness? O great wizard! - verbal poison gushed out like water from a stream.
"Everyone here will witness the end of this world," Fluder admitted honestly, closing his eyes. "I arrived here a couple of hours ago. During this time, the divine manifestation of the miracle has evolved even more, and soon it will begin to move on its own. More precisely, it is already almost doing so," the old man understood that the roots of the chimera in the form of a giant tree were not accidentally emerging from the ground and bending outward.
Soon, very soon, death will sweep across the world.
- What did you just yelp? - She pulled out a silver sword and pointed it at the old man's neck, but he didn't react any more. Even the young man in the dark robe of a wizard pulled himself together and stood up to protect the teacher, but not the teacher himself. He didn't care, what difference did it make how and when to die if death was inevitable? But if he had a choice, he would like to become a part of the monster that surpassed all magical limits as soon as possible. - Call this demon a deity one more time, and I swear I'll chop off your head! The fact that you have influence in the Empire doesn't save you from responsibility!
- Child, you are on edge, you should calm down and look more closely. Before us is the manifestation of a true miracle, - the old man calmly responded to the provocation, pointing with a dry hand at the blazing hell in the form of the Ainnash tree. - The miracle of our destruction, - he added less enthusiastically, but his words were heard by two more groups of creatures watching what was happening.
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