I Became the Youngest Prince in the Novel

TL/Editor: raei

Status: ongoing

Illustrations: none

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-How dare these lowly humans!

RUMBLE!

In the final chamber of a nameless temple deep within the demon realm.

A chamber more like a hall, where a demon dragon unleashed unimaginable demonic energy in tremendous rage.

The temple, built from black stone said to withstand even divine power, was crumbling.

"It's going to use its breath. Everyone to me."

No fear could be found in the eyes of the hero party facing this dragon.

FLASH!

They had grown incomparably stronger than before, having overcome countless greater trials.

The dragon's breath shot straight toward the party but was deflected in an unexpected direction by Tirian's "Gravity Distortion."

Then-

CRACK!

Rain transformed into a lightning bolt and shot forward, CRUNCH!

Severing most of the muscles supporting one of the dragon's legs.

This was possible because the dragon had used most of its power and grown tired from their battle.

-...!

As the dragon stumbled off balance, Turzan appeared before it as if on cue, drawing back his shield arm to maximum.

SCREECH!

Massive holy power from Elysis was inscribed on Turzan's shield.

Without hesitation, he drove the shield now glowing with brilliant golden light into the dragon's body.

BOOM!

The dragon finally collapsed to the ground.

-RAAAH! You damned insects...!

As it quickly rose again with a roar of pain and rage, its movement suddenly stopped.

The dragon's eyes caught sight of a massive silver sword falling toward it from above.

CRASH!

The silver sword pierced through dozens of defensive formations in an instant, reaching the dragon's body and causing a massive explosion.

Rising dust clouded visibility.

When it cleared, the scene revealed was a decapitated dragon and a silver-haired woman staring at its corpse.

"Nice one, Claire! That guardian was the last one, right? Can we see that divine artifact now?"

Rain approached Claire with an excited voice.

"If we obtain the divine artifact, would you allow me to examine it? I'd like to understand how divine power functions."

The divine artifact's reputation must have been quite high, as even Tirian, who rarely showed emotion besides annoyance, couldn't hide his excitement.

"Though I don't typically rely on weapon power... a divine artifact certainly piques my curiosity."

"The materials must be completely different from ordinary weapons?"

"Perhaps it's not even a physical object but composed entirely of formations or divine words."

Seeing her companions excitedly discussing the divine artifact reminded Claire of times before her regression, bringing an unconscious smile to her lips.

"Wait! A message from the Order!"

Elysis, who had been silent with an odd expression, suddenly raised her hand.

"A message? So suddenly?"

Her companions' eyes filled with questions.

Though it was natural for Elysis as a Saintess to communicate with the Order regardless of location.

But until now, the Order of Light had never sent messages.

This was quite unexpected.

"Yes, specifically a message from Prince Zion through the Order."

"What's the content?"

Claire's expression slightly hardened at mention of Prince Zion as she urged Elysis to continue.

Every word from the Zion Agnes she had seen carried deep meaning.

A message from him must surely contain important information.

"He says to depart immediately for his designated location..."

Then-

'Could it be already...!'

Claire's eyes began trembling as she heard the location from the Saintess's lips.

---

"Y-you are...!"

A trembling voice left Richt's lips as he watched the red-eyed woman slowly emerge from the magical car.

Though this was his first time seeing her in person, he knew who this woman greeting him was.

One of those who had devastated Ouroboros's central branch alongside Zion Agnes.

Some surviving members from then still feared her more than Prince Zion.

And-

'This woman being here now means... No way!'

As Richt's face drained of color upon reaching a sudden conclusion-

"One of the core-transporting mages came with us! Eliminate them quickly!"

The surrounding members who hadn't recognized Liushina began charging at her all at once.

Perhaps befitting members of Ouroboros's highest-ranking headquarters?

The members moved at speeds nearly invisible to the eye, their power strong enough to make the surrounding air ripple.

However-

"No!"

Strength was always relative.

Just as Richt's desperately urgent cry burst out- SPLAT!

The upper body of a member who had already reached her and was swinging their weapon simply vanished.

In its place appeared a blood-red beast's mouth.

The following members faltered at this grotesque sight.

Swick-

As Liushina's smile deepened- CRACKLE!

Countless beast heads appeared above the members and began devouring them without leaving a trace.

The ground instantly turned red with spurting blood.

"This... this is..."

As Richt stepped back with terrified eyes-

"Intruder! Eliminate the intruder!"

Hundreds of new members who had noticed the commotion appeared and charged at Liushina simultaneously.

"I'm touched by such a warm welcome."

The red-eyed witch murmured with ecstatic eyes at the appearance of new prey.

"Ah, I'd love to devour them all myself... but orders are orders."

Her expression turned regretful as she clicked her tongue and lightly snapped her fingers.

WHOOSH!

A bloody wave burst from her, instantly spreading through the air and consuming the entire space.

CRUNCH!

Tens of thousands of eyes bloomed in the blood-red space.

These eyes rolled and moved, fixing their gaze on the front line of charging members.

SPLAT!

The bodies of all members caught in the eyes' gaze simply exploded without warning.

A scene so bizarre it defied comprehension even while watching.

But the bizarre scenes didn't end there.

The spurting blood and blood staining the ground gathered in one place, forming a massive door.

A red door that inspired such terror that proper thought became impossible just looking at it.

A red tendril extended from the door and connected to the nearby massive magical engineering core.

SCREECH!

The door, having absorbed all the core's immense magical power, began opening with a heavily rusted sound.

But what emerged wasn't an army of evil.

Step, step.

Footsteps both familiar yet alien enough to seem completely unknown.

So quiet they could barely be heard, yet resonating deep in the soul.

As the footsteps' owner appeared, terror and despair filled the eyes of Richt and the other members.

"...Zion Agnes!"

The one who had seized the position of heir in just one year through absolute power, charisma, and unfathomable depths.

Simultaneously their greatest enemy who had cornered all of Ouroboros.

That being stood before them now.

"No... no...!"

As Richt lost all will to fight upon seeing Zion and stepped backward-

"Eliminate all enemies who interfere with Prince Zion!"

Subordinates who had followed Zion through the red door began charging forward.

The Twilight Sword, Blood Tower's blood mages, and Purification Cult members who had newly joined under Liushina.

"Kyahahahaha! I'm first!"

And the Witch of a Thousand Killings, indiscriminately slaughtering enemies ahead of them all.

'To think this was Ouroboros's headquarters.'

After briefly watching his forces clash with Ouroboros members through Liushina's newly mastered large-scale spatial transfer technique, Zion looked upward with this thought.

The Palantier family.

Owners of this mansion - a family with sufficient martial power but almost no other influence, keeping them from joining the Five Great Families.

A family known as the Azure Cloud House for their extremely pure and clean traditions.

'I ignored them since they had no connection to the demon realm...'

Even Zion hadn't expected the entire family to belong to Ouroboros.

'No, more precisely, the Palantier family is Ouroboros's true identity.'

Then the leader of Ouroboros, unrevealed even in the chronicle, was likely the Palantier family head.

'The current family head is certainly...'

Zion recalled one person.

Ilias Palantier.

The first of the 'Twelve Seas' and called the Full Sea Spear.

A top-tier spearman considered capable of matching even 'Heaven' class in pure combat ability.

'He probably has hidden power as Ouroboros's leader too, so treating him as a full "Heaven" class is appropriate.'

With this thought, darkness spread from Zion and began thoroughly searching every corner of the mansion.

From what Zion knew, Ouroboros's leader was extremely cautious and never took direct action.

He would likely try fleeing headquarters rather than preparing for battle once he realized they were discovered.

Zion had no intention of leaving future troubles and planned to deal with Ilias before he could escape.

Then-

"Found you."

Zion's eyes curved strangely as he sensed what he wanted.

At that moment-

CRASH!

Zion's form, transformed into a streak of darkness, shot straight up through the mansion's ceiling.

His favorite method for pursuing enemies indoors.

Zion always sought maximum efficiency in everything, and this method perfectly suited his nature.

After instantly reaching the mansion's top floor through the floors, CRACKLE!

He shattered the study's door and stepped inside.

He had sensed Ilias's energy from the Agnes Conference here.

However-

"This is..."

Zion's expression turned strange as he entered the room.

Ilias wasn't there.

All Zion could see was a large sphere ticking away on the desk.

"Got me."

Zion smirked as he recognized it as a magical bomb.

As the bomb's countdown reached zero-

---

---

---

---

---

---

---!

His entire vision turned white-hot.

---

BOOM!

"Did we get him?"

A middle-aged man with a neatly trimmed beard murmured quietly while watching the massive explosion that spread its sound throughout the capital.

His name was Ilias Palantier.

The leader of Ouroboros.

Ilias was extremely cautious.

Therefore, he always prepared contingency plans for every situation, and this explosion was one such plan.

But despite the plan's success, his expression wasn't particularly bright.

"Sigh, the losses are no small matter."

The explosion had destroyed his headquarters.

Headquarters that had been secretly hidden for decades without anyone discovering their identity.

Naturally he felt bitter about losing such a base in an instant.

"I'll need to halt all plans and hide for a while."

The headquarters' discovery meant their enemies were moving in earnest to eliminate them.

Being cautious was appropriate at such times.

"The one fortunate thing is that Prince Zion won't be able to move for a while after this..."

It was a top-grade magical bomb.

Taking such a bomb's explosion head-on with no protection - even if he survived, he must have suffered at least severe injuries.

"Though it's a shame I couldn't see it in person... Hm?"

Ilias's face, which had shown a slight smile while imagining a critically injured Zion Agnes, suddenly filled with confusion.

His eyes caught something in his shadow below.

Unlike usual, something felt wrong about that shadow.

As Ilias's eyes began trembling upon realizing the reason for that wrongness-

'Is it smiling?'

"That was more intense than expected."

A languid voice flowed from the shadow.

"...!"

As Ilias, face filled with shock at this incomprehensible phenomenon, unconsciously stepped backward-

Just slightly faster than that-

"Almost lost you."

CRACK!

A snow-white hand shot out from the shadow and grabbed his throat.