Chapter 94: Chapter 94 Don’t come to the imperial ball (5)
“We put gunpowder all over the prince’s palace. The whole palace is like a powder keg. There will be an explosion soon. ”
“…! ”
The knights flinched at his words.
“No one can escape here. We prepared for death. Think of it as sheer luck that the explosions went off only in some parts of the palace, extending your lives a little longer.”
It seemed that they didn’t plan to destroy the spire. The explosion of the spire disrupted their initial plan to kill the crown prince. Lard’s involvement would have been the first unforeseen obstacle to their planned assasination of the prince, and the explosion of gunpowder beyond their control would have been another stumbling block.
Without these variables, they might have easily killed the prince and gotten out of the palace. The explosion would have taken place only after they accomplished their goal. Being caught in the explosion was probably their last resort.
While the two were exchanging a tense dialogue, Wendy stared at the marble floor, squatting surrounded by the knights. Carefully stretching her index finger next to the knees of the knights surrounding her and the prince, she pressed it to the marble floor. She had sweat on her forehead as she was so tense. Going round the knight’s knees, she repeated the same action several times.
Dylan looked at her suspiciously, but she couldn’t even notice his gaze. While the knights were desperately fighting the enemies, her strange actions caught their eye instantly. When her arm touched a knight’s lap, he looked at her in surprise. Soon, the prince and several knights also cast a suspicious gaze at her. They thought she was acting crazy out of fear.
Explosions sounded in the distance. The vibrations shook the prince’s palace, sending grain-sized debris off from the ceiling.
“Everybody, get close to the middle!” Wendy, feeling the danger, shouted at them desperately.
She looked at the marble floor where she touched her index finger then looked up at the ceiling where the debris was falling off.
But the knights didn’t follow her request. They were busy fighting for a way to survive through escaping and measuring the distance to the door while fighting against the enemies. But the enemies surrounding them were determined to keep them trapped. They resolutely pointed the swords at the knights, showing no sign of giving in.
Standing up quickly, Wendy shook Lard’s arm. Lard, closely watching the enemies’ move, glanced back at her. She looked at him desperately. Their desperate eyes met briefly.
He nodded at her, hiding his growing worries. Regret and sadness in his gray eyes came up and disappeared.
‘I have sinned against you. I vowed I would not put you in danger.’
He had to hide the sadness that he could not express properly. He turned his head after looking at her with a guilty smile.
Shortly afterwards, he shouted to the knights resolutely as if to shake off her idle thoughts.
“…Everybody, come to the center! Stay close! Keep the prince protected with your body. ”
Although they showed despair momentarily, they gathered at the center to protect the prince and carry out their duty as the knight to the end. They stood close together around the prince.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The explosion took place in a row. Far away from the shaking building, the walls and ceilings collapsed in all directions. They were stricken with horror in a situation where they couldn’t even move their toes. Their swords were useless before the huge explosion. There was nothing they could do anymore.
Lard hugged Wendy hard and turned her away from the explosion. As if to calm down her anxiety, he stroked her hair. He put his lips on her ear and whispered quietly.
“If I say I love you, would you push me away?”
Scared, she looked up at him quickly.
“Foolish enough, I want to say that to you now.”
That was his heartbreaking confession.
She closed her eyes, feeling his black hair tickling her cheeks. As soon as he finished talking, a piercing explosion resounded nearby. Nonetheless, his voice alone hovered in her ears.
‘How can I …’ She kept murmuring it.
Just like petals swaying silently, she leaned her forehead on him silently. She was trembling. She felt like she was numb. At first she thought it was pain, but it was not. It was just his warmth. She realized that his heart was warm enough. She felt heartbroken because he was warm-hearted. He showed it without any exaggeration.
Even at that moment, many parts of the building crumbled with loud bangs. They were coming closer with every moment.
“Ah!”
At that moment, the knights uttered exclamations of amazement. Faced with the unbelievable phenomena taking place right before their eyes, they forgot that their lives were at stake.
The black-brown stems that quickly broke out of the marble floor grew all over the place as if they were protecting the knights. The knights looked at the growing plants in amazement.
The prince was no exception, expressing wonder and amazement.
“Ironwood…”
Someone muttered the name of the tree. He was Sir Busset who had been training new knights. As someone who had frequently handled wooden swords, he recognized at a glance that it was iron wood, a precious material used for wooden swords.
Ironwood was given its name because of its tight and solid structure, heavy and strong like iron.
Wendy made a thick fence around the knights and the prince with the trees. It would be hard to see ironwood as strong as this in the whole empire. She was not sure if it could withstand the explosion, but it was the best defense she could create.
The stems of the ironwood interlaced with each other, creating larger, stronger stems.
Spreading branches of the trees did not invade where the knights stood, but stretched toward the ceiling. Despite the explosions outside, the ironwood trees grew branches continuously, guarding the knights.
They soon made walls between the intruders and the knights. The invaders had to retreat back as the trees wrapping around the knights stretched their strong branches toward them. Extensive roots of the trees broke the marble floor on which they stood and pushed them further upwards. The knights had to try to maintain their balance on the rocking floor.
Dylan Lennox, standing firmly on the roots of the trees on the floor, watched her in the midst of the chaos.
He was worried so about her, but she looked the safest of them as she was leaning against Lard at the moment. He let out a sigh of relief after confirming she was safe, but he looked disappointed at the same time. He couldn’t afford to feel sentimental, though. Piercing explosions hit his eardrum one after the other. All the knights instinctively lowered their heads.
Just before the terrible explosions, the trees created several layers of thick trunks and branches over their heads. As if they were wrapped in a broad cloth, they were now in perfect darkness. Under the hemispherical solid roof of the trees they held their breath. Lard hugged Wendy even harder.
Shortly afterwards, an explosion took place around them. They felt the violent explosions and vibrations, the cracking sounds here and there. Extreme anxiety and fear floated in the air. They felt an explosive sound that could uproot the tree. Wendy curled up her shoulders while struggling to control her shaking knees. She could feel Lard’s breathing on her neck.
Shortly after the powerful vibrations and explosions passed like a whirlwind, it was quiet everywhere. The knights breathed roughly, buried in the total darkness.
“… All done?” Prince Isaac murmured with a nervous voice.
Lard said, “Is everybody safe? Check the status of the person next to you! ”
At his order, they checked the condition of their fellows next to them, murmuring among themselves.
“Sir Roset injured his leg,” Dylan said. Sir Roset, who was standing next to him, slowly sat on the floor with Dylan’s aid. His condition needed a further examination, but his injury didn’t seem to be serious.
Everyone smoothed down their chests, relieved at their survival.
But it was too early for them to rejoice in their survival. Lard approached the ironwood and touched its surface. He knocked on it. They survived thanks to the trees but breaking through them was another headache.
The knights were faced with the challenge of breaking out of the solid wooden walls surrounding them. If at least one of the enemies was still outside, they might be ambushed while they were getting out, but they could not stay inside the trees forever. Obviously the foundation of the building would also have weakened because of the explosion. No matter how deep the roots of the tree were, he did not know when the floor would collapse or be turned upside down.
Some knights kicked at the trunks in the dark, but the trees did not move. After checking the trunks for a long time, they noticed several spots of damage to the trunks, but they still were blocked by the rubbles created in the aftermath of the explosion.
“We’re blocked everywhere.” Sir Owen said with a gloomy tone.
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