Chapter 280-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation
Inside the base, Percy and Caleb pressed close to a wall, holding their breath. Hurried footsteps receded into the distance before the two cautiously resumed their advance.
Their target: the Dragon Bones housed within the Holy Journey Knights Order Base.
Roy, in his capacity as a prince, remained at a hidden rear position coordinating the operation. Bai Yi stood guard there. The two of them had slipped into the base under the cover of chaos. Before they left, Bai Yi had given them a miraculous device capable of storing the Dragon Bones in a pocket dimension—their mission today was simply to take the bones and get out.
Most of the base's personnel were busy repelling the attackers. Not a soul could be seen at a glance. Yet Percy's nerves refused to settle. If anything, the operation was going too smoothly, which only made him more uneasy.
This was Ye Zheng's territory. Whether it was just his hypervigilance or not, he couldn't shake the feeling that eyes were watching him.
Lost in thought, Percy nearly walked straight into a passing knight's line of sight.
He quickly steadied himself. Bai Yi had gone to great lengths to obtain a map of the base, and Percy had memorized every detail before setting out. Everything was in service of a smooth operation.
If all went as planned, Ye Zheng should currently be pinned down at the front by those people.
Their haughty attitudes were grating, but their ability users were a significant cut above the force that had gone after Sierra. Even if they couldn't breach the base, they'd give Ye Zheng plenty of trouble...
Percy froze mid-step. He threw an arm back to stop Caleb and pulled him into a weapon storage room with its door left open.
Through the window, the two gazed at an arched building nearby. The Dragon Bones were in there.
The perimeter was heavily guarded—seemingly untouched by the turmoil outside.
Percy and Caleb exchanged a glance. Caleb gave a firm nod, and the two began executing the plan.
There was no way two people could sneak in undetected. Caleb would monitor the situation and provide backup, while Percy—who'd recently trained himself to merge his body with any metal—would pass through the metal walls as if they weren't there.
Meanwhile, in a corner of the East District, Roy's expression was grim. Word had reached him that the thousand-strong vanguard was in complete disarray. Everyone present wore looks of shock and disbelief.
"Impossible! It has to be disinformation planted by Ye Zheng!"
"This is absurd—how long has it even been? Every ability user we sent was C-rank or above, with plenty of A-ranks among them!"
The aristocratic lords who'd been sitting in the parlor awaiting news of victory were beside themselves with fury. They'd spared no expense to deal Ye Zheng a crippling blow, pouring fortunes into cultivating those fighters—only for every last one of them to prove useless when it mattered!
Bai Yi sat in the shadows, silent for a moment, then spoke. "That base recruits at C-rank minimum. Among them are plenty of A-ranks—even S-ranks."
In other words, the average ability level of the knights might actually exceed that of their own forces.
A portly man shot to his feet, indignant, challenging the once-noble Duke Bai. "That's impossible! Every high-level ability user has already been scooped up by us. Nobody wants to stay in the lower district. Where did Ye Zheng even find that many people..."
"You fool!" Bai Yi rose to his feet as well, jabbing a finger at the man's nose. "Ye Zheng recruited women. Women have abilities too!"
The portly man's expression grew even more exaggerated. "Then those women are insane! With ability levels like that, they could easily marry into the upper or middle district. Ye Zheng conned them into throwing away comfortable lives to risk their necks, and they actually believed her..."
"The fact is, your elites are currently getting their teeth knocked in by those very women."
Bai Yi said coldly. The portly man trembled with rage, his abundant gold accessories clattering. The rest sat in helpless, stupefied silence.
Just as the stalemate threatened to drag on, the front door swung open. Golden sunlight flooded in.
A poised young woman with golden hair stepped in at an unhurried pace. Her hair was swept up high; though not tall, she possessed an eye-catching presence that commanded the room. Every gaze converged on her.
Roy's face went blank. He slowly rose from his seat.
"Heath?"
Heath looked his way and offered a smile.
Roy's expression shifted subtly. In just a few months, Heath had become someone different from the person in his memory. She'd once been so understated it bordered on timid—but now she carried the unmistakable air of genuine royalty. She looked like a real princess at last.
"Princess Heath?"
The others recovered from their surprise. Perhaps they'd glimpsed her at some palace banquet, but never before had Heath's face been this vivid in their minds.
Under their eager gazes, Heath inclined her head, her expression solemn. "I've received orders from His Majesty to secretly lead the Royal Knights in assisting all of you with recovering the Dragon Bones."
"This has always been a problem left by the Aston dynasty. Thank you all for bearing this burden on the royal family's behalf. His Majesty will remember the contributions of every person here."
At the news of Royal Knights reinforcements, the room erupted in relief and jubilation. They crowded around Heath with warm greetings, extolling the Emperor's grace.
Roy watched from the side, his expression sour.
Fawning and flattering at a time like this—no wonder the people they'd sent were so useless. At this rate, even with Heath's elite reinforcements, they might not wring a single concession from Ye Zheng.
"Heath, how many did you bring?" Roy cut in, staring at her.
"A hundred. We left the upper district three days ago. Any more and the Church would have noticed."
At the number one hundred, their faces fell again. It clearly didn't meet expectations.
"That's enough. Thank you for your trouble, Heath."
Roy strode to the center of the parlor. His gaze swept across one greedy, anxious face after another before settling on Bai Yi.
"General Bai, if it's you, surely a hundred men are enough to turn the tide."
The middle-aged man straightened his collar. People instinctively parted for him. He approached Roy and performed a knight's salute. "Of course—so long as you're still willing to give this sinner a chance."
"The Empire has never considered you a criminal. I'm giving you the chance—take your revenge on Ye Zheng!"
Roy's blue eyes blazed with a feverish light. His words grew more impassioned.
"Kill Ye Zheng, and all of your lands, vassals, and centuries of honor will be restored. But if we fail, you'll lose everything—are you willing to accept defeat?"
A shudder ran through the room. They could already picture the terrible consequences. They'd gone this far—Ye Zheng would never let them off now.
"Never!"
"We must win!"
Seeing the fervent response, Roy quietly let out a breath. He glanced at Heath—she was watching him with a smile.
Suddenly, the heat that had just surged through his veins cooled by a degree. A powerful sense of wrongness rose inside him, but he couldn't articulate it.
Heath had brought Royal Knights whose identities were beyond question—especially in front of Bai Yi, the former commander of the Royal Knights Order. The Royal Knights' presence was the most definitive proof of the Emperor's support. He was unequivocally backing their operation.
While Roy stood lost in thought, something cold and hard was pressed into his hand. He looked down—a silver medal.
"This is an heirloom passed down through generations of the Bai family. Please keep it safe for me."
Bai Yi said in a low voice.
"...Please take it back. You'll be fine."
"Of course. This is only a precaution."
Bai Yi stared at the medal a moment longer. He was turning to leave when Roy suddenly called after him and pulled him to a secluded corner.
"Just in case—please tell me where the Dragon Bones are."
All the Dragon Bones they'd recovered were in Bai Yi's safekeeping. To prevent exposure, he'd refused to say a word about their location.
Bai Yi hesitated visibly. "When the time comes, you'll know..."
Roy cut him off with a cold laugh. "You'll hand me your family heirloom but won't reveal where the Dragon Bones are? Or has Percy already been told, so there's no need to tell me..."
Catching himself, Roy's expression shifted abruptly. "That was out of line. I'm just worried about the Dragon Bones—"
"I understand your concern, Your Highness. I will return, and you will know where the Dragon Bones are."
Bai Yi finished speaking and marched off at the head of the hundred-man unit Heath had brought. Roy stood rooted to the spot, clutching the medal.
Elsewhere, Percy's operation inside the base was going impossibly well.
He'd passed through the outer wall, closed in on the massive Dragon Bones—and found the hall completely empty. He quickly used Bai Yi's device to store the Dragon Bones in the pocket dimension. They were now a bracelet on his wrist.
The bracelet burned fiercely. Percy could feel the enormous power churning within, threatening to burst the storage device at any second.
No time to dwell on it. He grabbed the Dragon Bones and hurried out of the arched hall.
But just as he touched the wall, ready to phase through, his ears caught an abrupt sound.
In the next instant, his entire body fused into the metal wall. He didn't dare move a muscle.
"Thank you all for your hard work. Any anomalies to report?"
"Nothing to report, Your Holiness. All clear."
Muffled voices drifted from nearby. Percy could hear his own hammering heartbeat.
If Ye Zheng walked into the hall now and discovered the Dragon Bones were gone... he and Caleb would never make it out alive.
"Let me take a look inside..."
Footsteps approached. Percy's hearing was nearly drowned out by the pounding in his own chest.
"Your Holiness, they've regrouped and are attacking again!" An urgent voice broke in, pulling Ye Zheng's attention away.
The approaching footsteps finally stopped—then the jumble of footfalls retreated in the opposite direction, fading into nothing.
Percy's rigid body gradually regained sensation. He leaped out of the wall, bracing himself against the cold surface, and let out a long, shaking breath.
He stepped toward Caleb's position. Two strides in, his body went still.
Percy turned his stiff neck to look the other way—
Ye Zheng stood before the hall, head tilted up as though admiring the sky. She seemed to sense his gaze and turned to look in his direction.
Her dark eyes curved. The faintest arc graced her lips. She was calmly waiting for him to show himself.
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