I Became the Youngest Prince in the Novel

TL/Editor: Rungir

Schedule: none

Illustrations: none

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“This damned monster!”

A knight, wielding a sword blazing with blue mana, charged at a troll that was about to swallow a soldier whole. With a swing of his sword, the troll's head was severed without even a chance to react, collapsing lifelessly.

“Are you okay?”

The knight, having pierced the heart of the troll to finish it off, approached the soldier and asked.

But the soldier didn't respond.

No, he couldn't respond.

“Behind, behind…!”

All he could do was point with a pale, trembling finger behind the knight.

As the knight turned around, whoosh! Before he could fully perceive the danger, a giant fist swung from behind, sending the upper half of his body flying.

The owner of that fist was a grey ogre with a large sword wound in one eye.

Immediately after.

-Aaaaargh!

With the knight's lower half still collapsing, the ogre raised its bloodied fist to the sky and roared towards the battlefield. It then began searching for its next prey, its sole remaining eye darting around.

Suddenly, whoosh!

Startled by a sudden burning sound from above, the ogre looked up to see hundreds of red fireballs descending from the sky.

-Wha?

As the ogre, puzzled, watched the fireballs dye the sky red, they exploded upon impact, obliterating it and all the monsters nearby.

“We've completed our strike on the left side of the fortress.”

“Immediately focus our attack on the cluster of monsters in the center of the fortress. Prepare for the next spellcasting!”

Thus, the magicians of the Romelio Mage Squad from the Steel Fortress, bombarding the battlefield with magic from above, began chanting anew at the command of their leader.

However, their incantations were never completed.

Screeeeech!

Wyverns, which had been flying above the fortress, swooped down simultaneously, attacking them.

“Aaaaah!”

The magicians were torn to shreds by the wyverns' claws, leaving nothing recognizable behind.

“…We've been thoroughly outplayed.”

A middle-aged man with a carelessly grown beard and sideburns quietly murmured, looking over the battlefield inside the fortress, now like hell itself.

The man's name was Yornan.

He was the commander of the 7th Legion of Agnes, in charge of the Steel Fortress and the chief commander for the defense against the Monster Legion.

Kwaaaaah!

“Sto-stop… Aaaah!”

How did it come to this?

Just a few hours ago, the Steel Fortress was seemingly impregnable.

Hence, it was believed that, like always, they could repel the periodic large-scale invasions of monsters.

But today was different.

“Sa-save me…”

Crackle!

The number of monsters, several times greater than usual, swarmed the area. Adding to this, powerful monsters, unseen in previous invasions, were now conspicuously present everywhere.

Three hours into the siege, mole-like monsters burrowed underground and shattered the fortress gates, allowing a continuous flow of monsters to pour into the fortress.

“If this continues…”

Although the remaining forces were still formidable and only a part of the Monster Legion had arrived, it seemed possible to repel this attack somehow.

But.

‘If our forces are further depleted here, we won’t be able to withstand the next attack.’

Normally, invasions occurred every three to four weeks, but there was no way they would miss this opportunity.

The next assault was undoubtedly imminent.

Ordinary monsters wouldn't possess the intelligence for such strategy, but all the monsters currently invading the fortress were being commanded by a single entity.

Having been in the fortress for over a year, he had never seen this being in person, but he was certain of its existence. Otherwise, it was impossible to explain how so many monsters moved together like a legion.

Especially.

Aaaaah!

In the middle of the battlefield, a giant Poison Drake spewed toxic mist all around while letting out a tremendous roar, and the Lord Goblin units, cloaked in immense mana, were indiscriminately slaughtering every human in sight.

The strongest among the present monsters, the Poison Drake and Lord Goblins, could only be explained by their allegiance to the Monster King.

The Poison Drake, a creature that never left the vast swamps of the great forests, and the Lord Goblin, a being of immense strength yet always moving alone, transcending its species.

‘If only we could take down those creatures, we might be able to fend off the attack with minimal casualties…’

Of course, there were powerful individuals within the legion capable of handling them, but their numbers were too few, and they were currently tied down protecting key areas.

“When will the reinforcements… arrive?”

A few days ago, a message from the imperial city stated that one of the royal family members was coming here to subdue the calamity.

Yornan knew it would take at least a week for the royal family member to gather a force, complete all preparations, and arrive at the fortress.

It was a vain hope, but under these circumstances, even a miracle seemed worth wishing for.

Then, Kiik?

Yornan locked eyes with one of the Lord Goblins.

Was that a signal?

Kikikikiki!

As if it was, all the Lord Goblins on the battlefield started charging crazily towards Yornan.

“They’re coming this way! Block them!”

“We must protect the commander!”

The nearby knights and soldiers intercepted the Lord Goblin unit, but with a tearing sound, they were shredded to pieces in an instant.

Each of these beings possessed a strength comparable to the elite knights of the imperial city, so in a way, their overwhelming victory was expected.

Kekekek!

One of the Lord Goblins, after swiftly slaughtering the knights that stood in its way, let out a chilling laugh and rushed straight towards Yornan, bringing with it the shadow of despair.

Yornan, no different from an ordinary knight in terms of combat skills, stood no chance against the Lord Goblin.

Swoosh!

The goblin's scythe, ablaze with yellow mana, swung towards him.

“Dear God.”

As Yornan, sensing his end, uttered a voice of resignation, a grating noise, like fingernails scraping a chalkboard, reached his ears.

Simultaneously, dozens of red lines appeared across the attacking Lord Goblin's body, which then split apart along those lines with a cracking sound.

“What is this…”

As Yornan gazed dumbfoundedly at the pieces of the goblin, a lively voice, incongruous with the situation, reached his ears.

“This place is like a buffet, isn’t it?”

The source of the voice was a woman with strikingly red eyes reminiscent of the moon. She turned away from Yornan, who was staring at her in bewilderment, as if he didn't matter to her.

“There's even a special menu.”

She looked towards the approaching Lord Goblin unit with a chilling smile.

Slowly, she raised her hand forward, fingers spreading wide.

In that moment, the same eerie noise filled the air as hundreds of blood-red lines spread out from her hand like a spider web.

The red lines enveloped the entire group of charging goblins and then constricted.

Kikikik!?

Sensing danger, the Lord Goblins drew upon their mana and swung their weapons, but to no avail. The red lines, slicing through even high-level defensive spells, rendered their efforts futile.

Dozens of Lord Goblins were shredded into pieces by the blood-red web, just like the first one.

“How…”

Yornan's eyes widened in disbelief as he witnessed these beings, who were virtually rulers of the battlefield, being torn apart in an instant.

But his astonishment didn't end there.

“Kyahahahaha!”

The woman immediately plunged into another battle, beginning to slaughter the monsters in earnest.

Roaaar! Kiaaah!

The monsters were torn apart without a chance to fight back.

A symphony of blood-red lines and brutal attacks erupted in all directions. The spectacle was so bizarre and overwhelming that even someone completely unfamiliar with combat could recognize the woman's extraordinary prowess.

“Could it be…”

A trembling voice escaped Yornan's lips as a glimmer of hope began to dawn in his eyes.

Aaaaah!

Sensing the tides of battle turning, the Poison Drake in the center of the fortress opened its massive jaws and let out a tremendous roar, gathering a massive breath of toxic air.

“Br-Breath!”

The soldiers of the legion shouted with pale faces upon seeing this.

Being a subspecies of dragons, Drakes could use breaths corresponding to their attributes, and their power was even stronger than high-level magic above level 7.

If hit while clustered like this, at least thousands would dissolve into mere puddles of liquid.

“Evacuate!”

“Where to, exactly…”

Fear and despair filled the eyes of the knights and soldiers.

Just as the Drake was about to unleash its fully-charged breath.

-----------------!

It was lightning.

A bolt of lightning, utterly black, tainted by an alien darkness.

Falling from the sky, the black lightning obliterated the Drake's head in its path before striking the ground in a straight line.

A moment later, with a loud crash, a shockwave erupted along its path, shattering the surroundings.

At the spot where the lightning struck, a strange, black spear engraved with mysterious characters, Agdvar, was now embedded in the ground.

Kooong!

As the headless corpse of the Drake collapsed, a momentary silence fell over the battlefield.

In the midst of this silence, a man appeared tranquilly and pulled out the Agdvar. He was a man with dark grey hair, symbolic of the Agnes Empire's royal family, and listless eyes.

It was Zion.

“Your High…!”

Yornan, recognizing the color of his hair, was about to speak when, suddenly, Kwaahaaah!

All the nearby monsters, as if on cue, started charging towards Zion.

Perhaps they instinctively felt that they had to kill Zion to win this battle.

“……”

Watching the wave of monsters crazily rushing towards him, Zion gripped his Dragon Explosion Spear tightly.

Grrung-

A dragon's roar emanated from the Agdvar.

Simultaneously, a Frost Spirit emerged from Zion's right shoulder and immediately merged into the Dragon Explosion Spear.

Empowered by the spirit, the Agdvar began emitting a blue light in all directions.

Then, a terrifying amplification ensued!

Gwoooar!

Sensing imminent danger, the monsters instinctively let out desperate cries and increased their speed, but it was already too late.

A single white wave burst forth from the fully-amplified Agdvar.

This wave, enhanced by another power of the Dragon Explosion Spear – expansion – quickly spread in all directions, enveloping all the charging monsters.

And at that moment, everything froze.

Mana, the atmosphere, the monsters.

Everything touched by the wave came to a stop, turning the entire area a pale blue.

It was a scene reminiscent of the glacial region ruled by the ancient Frost Queen of the north.

Step by step.

Zion slowly walked through the monsters frozen in ice, observing them briefly.

Crack! Crunch!

The frozen monsters crumbled into dust as Zion passed by.

Kiiii...

Other monsters, driven solely by instinctive bloodlust and hunger, began to feel fear for the first time.

Was it because he was a commander leading an entire legion?

“Now's the time! Annihilate them all, spare no one!”

Yornan, seizing the monsters' hesitation, loudly rallied the immobilized soldiers.

"Waaaaah!"

"Kill them all!"

Kwaahaaah!

With that, the fierce close combat resumed.

However, the atmosphere of the battle had significantly changed.

The absence of the Poison Drake and Lord Goblin units, which were the main strength of the monsters.

And the addition of an overwhelmingly powerful ally, leading to a drop in the monsters' morale.

The goddess of victory was already smiling decidedly on one side.

How long had the battle gone on?

Thud!

The last remaining ogre, excluding the ones that fled, finally fell, pierced through the heart.

“We, we won…”

“We held them off... we really did!”

Only then, realizing what they had achieved, the soldiers began to show relief in their eyes.

Just as they were about to collapse, drained of strength,

"Stand at attention, everyone!"

Yornan's voice resonated powerfully throughout the fortress.

The soldiers straightened up, puzzled, as they saw Yornan approach a man.

The man who had appeared moments earlier, annihilating the Poison Drake and obliterating the wave of charging monsters in one fell swoop, reversing the tide of the battle.

"I shall pay my respects!"

Yornan approached the man, bowing more respectfully than ever before.

Dark grey hair, eyes of the same hue.

And an air of languid yet alien presence enveloping his entire being.

There was only one royal with such features in the world.

“Commander of the 7th Legion, Yornan Bartville, greets His Highness Prince Zion Agnes.”

And the next moment,

"Greetings to His Highness Prince Zion Agnes!"

All the people inside the fortress, now aware of Zion's identity, began to bow and pay their respects.

Zion, quietly observing the scene, finally spoke to Yornan, who was bowing before him,

“Let’s start with a report of the situation.”