Chapter 295: Chapter 270: A Reminder: This Is What You Call a Castle Standing Up

Bagget hesitated for a moment before answering cautiously.

"Her value lies in the secrets she holds, not in who she is."

"If His Highness Jon can tame this danger and use her power to help eliminate the evil behind the rebels, the Imperial Ministry of Internal Affairs would be pleased to see it happen. We are willing to provide any necessary assistance."

"My duty is simply to convey the information I possess, to prevent you from suffering unnecessary losses due to unknown risks."

He folded his hands into his sleeves and bowed slightly.

"How you choose to deal with her is entirely up to you, Your Highness."

The air, thick with the stench of smoke and blood, hung silently over the ruins.

Jon’s gaze swept slowly over Carina, the three powerful figures, and Bagget, finally coming to rest on Carina’s pale face. He crossed his arms, his knuckles tapping silently against his Arm Armor twice, and immediately made his decision.

"Harness the danger?"

A barely perceptible smirk touched his lips, carrying the kind of interest one takes when sizing up prey.

"Isn’t the Soul Contract itself the strongest form of restraint? If she wants to live, she’ll have to voluntarily offer up everything—including those ’secrets’."

Bagget gave Jon a long, hard look. Without another word, he silently took a step back.

Jon, no longer hesitating, stepped forward and crouched beside Carina.

He extended his left hand. The Sun Sacred Pattern on the back of his hand, as if forged from pure sunlight, suddenly lit up with a soft yet majestic golden light, like a miniature star awakening on his skin.

"The day this contract is forged will be the day the dust settles on the rest of your life."

"Whatever you’re hiding... it all ends here."

---

Leona’s breath fogged inside her Face-Covering Helmet, each gasp coarse with the grit of gunpowder.

She gripped the reins, her knuckles white beneath her Arm Armor. A bone-deep chill seeped through her scaled gauntlets.

Behind her, thirty Radiant Knights and the Sun Guardian Army stood as silent as a reef of steel. In the gloom, their sacred white heavy armor and Sun Badges reflected a faint, cold light, their spear tips angled toward the lead-gray sky.

Ahead was Red Crying Castle.

This magnificent fortress, rising from the ground and nestled against a rugged mountain cliff, was once the cold symbol of Heta County’s power and glory. It crouched in the deepening twilight like a silent beast, its coarse, ochre-red rock walls scarred with ancient, chiseled marks.

The winding stone steps leading to the massive Bronze Castle Gate were the rebels’ vital chokepoint, a place where any attacker would be forced to pay a bloody price.

And yet, at this moment—it was completely deserted!

There was no forest of tower shields, no glint of armor-piercing crossbow bolts, no menacing silhouettes of trebuchets. Not a single patrol or sentry could be seen.

Only the biting mountain wind, carrying the stench of smoke and a faint hint of sulfur, howled between the empty steps and the steep cliffs, whipping up dust and withered leaves.

"Commander,"

A young Radiant Knight spurred his mount half a step forward, his voice tense.

"It’s too quiet... Something’s not right!"

’Of course, it’s not right!’

’Where are the Soulless? Those affected by the Evil Magic should have gathered here.’

’Heta County City is huge, with a population of nearly a hundred thousand. Even if some were stopped, many should have made it here.’

’But now, there’s nothing!’

Leona hesitated only for a moment, then clenched her jaw.

"Time is precious! Whatever the enemy is planning, we can’t afford to waste time here!"

She raised her sword high, pointing it forward.

"For His Highness Jon! For the glory of the Sun—Forward!"

"Forward!"

A torrent of roars erupted as the fighting spirit of the thirty Knights ignited. They dismounted and followed Leona without hesitation.

However—before they could even set foot on the stairs leading to the fortress pass above, disaster struck.

BWOOOM—!!!

The deafening, heart-stopping sound didn’t come from the Bronze Castle Gate, but from deep within the fortress’s ancient, chiseled rock walls!

It was as if a great beast, slumbering in a subterranean forge, had been roused and let out its first, foul roar, saturated with Evil Power!

Then, a blinding, viscous, blood-red light erupted without warning from the castle’s highest arrow towers, its battlements, and every single jagged crack in the rock!

It wasn’t merely light. It was as if countless boiling, crimson eyeballs, each filled with blasphemous will, had been crushed and fused together in an instant!

The light writhed and flowed, spewing a foul, thick smoke that reeked of sulfur and rotting entrails, transforming Red Crying Castle into the very maw of a Hell-furnace!

GRAAAAAARGH—!!!

A monstrous, soul-rending shriek erupted from within the fortress, like a thousand rusty spoons scraping across decaying bone!

The roar didn’t seem to travel through the air. Instead, it resonated deep within their skulls, a maddening vibration against the fragile strings of their very souls.

It was a blasphemous symphony, mingling the death wails of great beasts, the heart-rending cries of infants, and a grating, inhuman scraping that set the teeth on edge. This unholy resonance slammed against the Knights’ formidable Spirit Barriers!

The viscous, blood-red light, like a living entity, oozed from every crack in the stone and every brick of Red Crying Castle. It flowed down the towering, steep cliffs, converging as it went.

It didn’t spread evenly. Guided by some malevolent will, it frantically condensed, taking shape!

The air sizzled. The nauseatingly thick stench of sulfur and the sickly-sweet smell of blood were like an invisible giant hand, closing tightly around everyone’s throat.

The flowing red light suddenly accelerated, piling up three or four meters above the massive Bronze Castle Gate!

In the blink of an eye, an inconceivably massive, dark-red claw, formed of pure, foul Energy, *squeezed* its way out from inside the solid rock wall!

Then, a blood-red Aura exploded outward. It felt as if the very foundations of the world were being violently uprooted. An irresistible Impact, like an invisible sledgehammer, smashed into the formation of thirty Knights!

Leona’s vision was completely consumed by collapsing rock and surging dust. The Knights behind her struggled to hold their formation, but they were thrown through the air, men and horses alike!

RUMBLE—!!!

The very mountains seemed to scream!

The mountain that anchored Red Crying Castle let out a grating, shattering roar. Countless tons of rock peeled and crumbled away like rotting wall plaster!

A pillar of dust shot skyward, blotting out the sun. It was thick with the suffocating stench of sulfur and the choking taste of pulverized rock.

From deep within the earth came a deeper, more terrifying pulse.

It wasn’t a collapse... it was the awakening of some ancient behemoth! An invisible force violently tore through the billowing dust, shoving it aside!

As Leona groggily pulled herself from the rubble, the sight that greeted her through the dissipating dust was enough to freeze her very soul.

The towering Red Crying Castle—

It was alive!

It was no longer a cold, massive structure built into the mountainside. It had torn itself free from the earth’s grasp to become a colossal rock Giant, its head scraping the heavens!

With a scalp-numbing grinding of stone, the castle’s foundation morphed into two rugged, pillar-like "legs." Each step it took shook the very earth. The massive Bronze Castle Gate, once the fortress’s entrance, twisted and warped. Now embedded in what used to be the center of the wall, it had become a horrifying "mouth," drooling a dark-red, molten light and filled with jagged fangs.

Viscous, blood-like, blasphemous Energy, like boiling magma, dripped from the edges of the giant mouth, burning hissing, blackened craters into the ground below.

The castle’s main tower twisted and swelled, extending upward to become a hideous "head." Its surface was covered with countless enormous eyeballs formed from warped stone—the very source of the blasphemous red light that had erupted from the cracks in the walls!

Now, these giant eyes swiveled madly, shooting beams of viscous, malevolent red light that swept over the Knights below, who seemed as small and insignificant as ants!

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