I Became a Mythical Knight King

Chapter 129: The Power of Camelot (1)

When Camelot’s soldiers appeared throughout the banquet hall with golden flashes, the nobles’ first reaction was cheers.

They mistakenly thought Yoo Seong had staged it to enhance the banquet’s atmosphere but it was a helpful misunderstanding.

Instead of screaming or fleeing in all directions causing chaos, most stayed in their seats, smiling.

“Rene.”

When Yoo Seong gripped the hand he’d been holding for escort and applied pressure, Rene immediately understood his meaning and activated her magic, sight sharing.

It was similar to how Yoo Seong had shared Rene’s vision during reconnaissance with the bird of light.

Seeing the banquet hall through King’s Insight, Rene saw more vampires and their followers than expected, and instead of screaming, she quickly activated new magic.

-Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!

Rings of light appeared above the heads of vampires and their followers.

It was a simple marking spell, but executing it so rapidly and simultaneously on targets scattered across a wide area was a talent only possible for Rene, the king’s magician.

“Attack!”

At Kate’s command, Camelot’s forces responded at once.

Without specific orders, they surrounded and subdued those with rings above their heads, leaving no room for anything resembling a fight.

“Kugh!”

The vampire whose eyes had met Yoo Seong’s emitted rough magical power as he turned.

Having been completely exposed, he seemed ready to escape with all his might but it was impossible because someone had already reached behind him as he jumped high, pushing aside the royal guards surrounding him.

“No, you don’t.”

It was Morgan.

She swung a sword—from who knows where she got it—repeatedly, and the vampire’s limbs fell off like a lie.

-Thud!

Morgan landed on the vampire who had fallen with only torso and head remaining, and smiled brightly. The nobles around finally realized that the current situation was not a performance but reality, and were dumbfounded.

“Vampires! Monsters from beyond the barrier! His Majesty the Holy King has captured those who sneaked into the royal capital with wicked schemes!”

When Princess Elizabeth rose abruptly from her seat and shouted, confusion and surprise spread once more among the nobles.

The reaction was especially intense among nobles standing near those who were subdued.

They were shocked that those who had been chatting and laughing with them until just now were actually monsters.

The princess took a deep breath and looked toward Yoo Seong, and Yoo Seong nodded, understanding what the princess’ gaze meant.

Then the princess immediately looked at the nobles and shouted.

“We don’t know how many more of these wicked creatures are hiding in the royal capital! Regrettably, today’s gathering will end here! We will escort away these captured creatures, so the nobles should remain in the banquet hall for now!”

Instead of resisting or expressing dissatisfaction at the stern command, the nobles obeyed and retreated.

Whether royalists or nobles’ faction, the situation they faced right now was too bewildering and surprising.

‘No, that’s not all. It’s thanks to the princess’ charisma.’

Truly, it was royal dignity.

Goddess-like appearance, dignified posture, along with a gaze and voice that seemed to penetrate the heart.

All these elements combined to exude a massive presence, which immediately translated into powerful crowd control.

‘Lioness Queen.’

Recalling the nickname given to the princess by the soldiers of Galatein Fortress who had stood with her on the battlefield, Yoo Seong unconsciously smiled and then turned his gaze back toward the captured vampire.

“Take them all away.”

“I shall obey your command.”

At the low command, Kate and the knights of Camelot responded and then had the soldiers drive the vampires and their followers into one of the waiting rooms next to the banquet hall.

Shortly after, about a dozen vampires and their followers were kneeling on the floor in restraints, with some of the royal guards and elite sword squad surrounding them in a circle.

As the princess had said, it was unlikely these were all of them, so Roland and Hector remained in the banquet hall with some troops, and those who followed Yoo Seong into the room were six people: Rene, Jillian, Kate, Morgan, and finally the princess and Count Carian.

Yoo Seong looked down at the one whose eyes had met his in the banquet hall.

He was the purest vampire among those present, with nothing visible even to the King’s Insight.

“He is not someone born and raised in the royal capital.”

At Count Carian’s words, Yoo Seong nodded.

He was probably a being who had crossed over from beyond the barrier.

“Are you minions of the Vampire King?”

At Yoo Seong’s words, those who were captured flinched, trembled, or shuddered.

In fact, Yoo Seong had merely voiced the few pieces of information he’d seen with the king’s eyes, but it sounded different to the vampires—especially the followers who were still human.

He already knows everything.

The human king sees through everything.

It was because of the impression left by the heat in the royal capital over the past few days and the light of Camelot seen at the victory parade.

Even the pure vampire appeared visibly intimidated like the others, but he didn’t immediately surrender.

He merely glared at Yoo Seong with a forced smile.

Go ahead and try if you dare.

It won’t be easy to make me open my mouth.

Yoo Seong agreed.

It didn’t seem easy to get information from the vampire in front of him in a short time.

From the vampire in front of him, that is.

“Please, forgive us!”

“I was wrong! Please spare me! I’ll tell you everything!”

The human followers who had not yet become vampires.

Until just recently, they had been eager to become vampires as soon as possible, but now it was different.

The human king had returned.

Camelot’s soldiers had appeared across five hundred years of time.

Those most shaken by the victory parade were not the royal capital’s residents who held the legend of King Arthur in their hearts.

It was those who had fallen for the vampires’ temptation and ended up working with monsters.

Troubled and terrified, they thought:

The human king said he would save humans from monsters.

But they themselves were still humans, not yet vampires.

So perhaps there was room for forgiveness?

If they turned back now, could they return to the human fold?

Of course, not all followers thought this way.

Whether the human king would forgive them or not was truly only known to heaven but there was no need for all of them to cooperate.

Just a few surrendering would be enough.

“Speak.”

When Yoo Seong spoke with an expressionless face, the man and woman who had surrendered first began to frantically spill words.

“Vampires! They tempted me saying they would give immortality! Our family has always had a hereditary disease that caused everyone to die young, so I became weak-minded.”

“They’re plotting something big in the royal capital. Ah, right. It was also the vampires who made His Majesty the King collapse with illness!”

As they laid out their stories with desperate faces, the other humans also seemed to start wavering.

Pushing aside the man who was about to tell his story again, an old man spoke up.

“They said something called the Day of Promise is coming soon. They said that even if the human king were in the royal capital when that day comes, it wouldn’t be a problem.”

The vampires are plotting something in the royal capital.

The Day of Promise.

Making the king collapse was merely preparation for whatever this is.

Connecting the fragmentary information flooding in his mind, Yoo Seong looked at the vampire.

He had a bewildered expression as the human followers tearfully divulged information, but soon began to laugh.

It was laughter that burst out because it was too absurd.

The laughter, which started small, soon grew larger, and the vampire’s unique, chilling magical power mixed with the laughter and suppressed the surroundings.

Then the followers who had been eagerly spilling information cowered with frightened faces or bowed their heads as if trying to hide.

Yoo Seong quietly watched the vampire laugh for a moment.

The creature laughed again before looking at Yoo Seong and speaking.

“Humans inside the barrier are truly weak. It’s ridiculous.”

“Not everyone can be strong. And I suppose you chose particularly weak ones.”

At the suggestion that they were chosen as temptation targets precisely because they were weak, the vampire laughed again and nodded.

“You’re not wrong. You’re not wrong. That’s exactly why we’ve kept them as humans so far.”

“What have you been plotting?”

At Yoo Seong’s question, the vampire was silent for a moment, then looked directly into Yoo Seong’s eyes and spoke.

“About three months ago by your time, I arrived at the royal capital with my comrades. It was to carry out the mission ordered by the Vampire King.”

“Was it to plant a Karazak in the body of the king of the Silatein Kingdom?”

At Yoo Seong’s words, the vampire momentarily looked surprised.

He was surprised that Yoo Seong knew not only about the king’s illness but also precisely about the Karazak.

But soon regaining his composure, he shook his head.

“That was merely part of the process. Our real purpose was the Day of Promise. We just temporarily removed him because he was in the way.”

The reason they made the king collapse but didn’t kill him.

“Did you not harm the princess because she left the royal capital? Because she wouldn’t interfere with what you planned to do in the royal capital?”

At Yoo Seong’s question, the vampire readily nodded.

Then what is this Day of Promise they speak of?

With the king and princess absent, what were they trying to do in the royal capital, exploiting the laxity created by the absence of power?

“It’s a ritual.”

The vampire said with a smile.

“A powerful ritual prepared by the Vampire King. The sacrifices prepared outside the barrier weren’t enough, so we added new sacrifices made from over a thousand humans offered from the first conquered territory. Can you understand a grand ritual that took over half a year to prepare, including the preparation period outside the barrier?”

The vampire’s face reflected ecstasy and pride and that’s when Yoo Seong suddenly realized the reason he was so willingly spilling information.

“It’s today.”

The Day of Promise.

The completion of the ritual that has progressed to a stage that cannot be stopped even if the truth is discovered now.

At Yoo Seong’s words, the vampire momentarily looked surprised, then smiled and nodded.

“Yes, you’re right. It’s today. Less than half an hour remains now.”

“What’s going to happen?”

“Disaster will fall from the sky. This land you call the royal capital will be erased from the world.”

The vampire spoke theatrically and laughed.

Yoo Seong turned to Rene, and Rene suddenly glared at the ceiling—or something beyond it and realized that the creature’s words were true.

An extremely elaborate and complex magical formation was unfolding in the sky above the royal capital.

Although it was a magic she had never seen before, Rene could instinctively understand what this magical formation meant and what would happen the moment it was completed.

“Meteor Strike….”

Magic that summons a star from the sky to strike the ground.

Hearing Rene’s words, the princess urgently opened the window and went out to the terrace to look up at the sky.

It was as Rene said.

A giant magical formation made of light was unfolding above the royal capital.

“All magical power was supplied from outside. What we’ve been doing for the past three months was inscribing magical formations for the ritual all over the royal capital. With neither king nor princess none of the mages inside the barrier, whose standards have fallen so low, even sensed anything unusual.”

The vampire spoke as if boasting of his achievements.

Meanwhile, the magical formation continued to be drawn in the sky.

The residents of the royal capital looked at the magical formation being drawn in the night sky and marveled or cheered.

They mistakenly thought Yoo Seong had done something again.

“The royal capital will disappear. The revered Vampire King will pass through this empty land to claim the fire of civilization. If you want to live, flee now. You might have a chance to survive.”

At the mocking sneer, the princess gritted her teeth.

Count Carian turned to Rene with an anxious face, and Rene bit her lip while looking up at the ceiling.

The magical formation was nearly complete.

In at most 30 minutes, a meteor would be summoned through the magical formation.

Where would the origin point of the ritual be?

Even if they had inscribed magical formations for the ritual all over the royal capital, there must exist an origin point supplying the magical power.

Could they find it by tracing the magical power back through the formation?

But could they make it in time that way?

Beads of sweat ran down Rene’s forehead.

The followers, who had been unaware of the nature of the ritual, fell into panic, and some among them realized that they were disposable pieces meant to disappear with the Meteor Strike from the beginning.

“There is no way. There is no way. You will all die. But I will be revived by the Vampire King. It might be interesting to see this land in ruins again. Don’t you think so?”

The vampire, with all his limbs cut off, laughed mockingly and looked at Yoo Seong with contemptuous eyes.

Instead of asking if he really thought the Vampire King would truly revive someone like him, Yoo Seong looked out the window once and rose from his seat. Gently taking the hand of Rene, who was still sweating and glaring at the ceiling, he spoke.

“No, there is a way.”

A way to resolve the current situation.

At Yoo Seong’s words, Rene turned her head from the ceiling.

Everyone, including the princess, looked at Yoo Seong, and Yoo Seong looked at Rene and said,

“He’s right. We can’t stop a ritual that has already progressed this far. Tracing it back to destroy the origin point of the ritual would also be unreasonable. We don’t have enough time, and they would have made thorough preparations.”

These creatures had spent three months installing magical formations throughout the royal capital so they wouldn’t have left the defenses of the most important ritual origin point weak.

But then how could they possibly resolve the current situation?

Instead of wasting time on meaningless riddles, Yoo Seong immediately provided the answer.

“We use the sacred artifact.”

“What?”

“Ah?”

“Ahh.”

“Ahhh!”

Amid the bewildered people, specifically from the mouths of the princess and Rene, exclamations burst forth.

Jillian was startled by Yoo Seong’s appearance, which seemed like his insane mode had activated after a long time, but couldn’t deny it.

In the current situation, the most likely method to save everyone in the royal capital was to use the sacred artifact.

“Wait, what exactly is this sacred artifact?”

When Count Carian reflexively asked, the vampire also turned to Yoo Seong with perplexed eyes, and instead of answering, Yoo Seong stabbed the vampire’s chest with the sword he had drawn.

“Kheuk….”

A large hole appeared in the vampire’s chest, exposed to the divine power of the Lake Goddess.

Thanks to deliberately controlling his strength, the creature didn’t die, but he could no longer talk or use magical power to cause trouble.

He seemed to be struggling just to breathe.

After neutralizing the vampire, Yoo Seong looked at Count Carian and said,

“I’ll explain when we arrive. Rene, let’s go.”

“Yes!”

Rene, whose insane mode had also activated like Yoo Seong’s, answered with a bright smile and then kicked open the door and started running.

“Kate.”

“I will keep guard here.”

Kate and Hector remained to guard the followers, while Roland, Morgan, the princess and Jillian followed Yoo Seong as he ran.

Count Carian, still unable to understand what was happening, also followed along.

The residents of the royal capital looked up at the sky.

A white, gigantic magical formation filled the sky above the royal capital, and vampires located far from the royal capital looked at the distant sky with wicked smiles.

Shortly after when they arrived at the sacred artifact room hidden deep within the royal palace, Count Carian came to understand what method Yoo Seong had mentioned.