Chapter 1823
A sudden change in the world—it referred to the change in the world caused by the liberation of Fire Dragon Trauka’s power.
t.i.tan had been one of the busiest cities since this change occured. It might be purely coincidental, but many of the areas judged to be ‘dangerous’ occurred around t.i.tan. Among them, the Mirror Mountains and the Forest of Mist were the most difficult.
They were areas where fantasy-like creatures that existed only in dimensional gaps appeared. Beings beyond reason threatened people with strange abilities.
The legendary Lightning Warrior Kyle—t.i.tan’s strongest spear and s.h.i.+eld was patrolling the Mirror Mountains as usual.
The mountain peaks that distorted and reflected light like mirrors and showed things that couldn’t exist in reality—Kyle moved among these ominous things that easily deceived and led humans to danger and was intact.
His lightning burned all enemies that approached. His legendary skills combined with the body of a transcendent were strong. It was because all the processes and results he gained were judged to be achievements worthy of being recorded in legend and they had a strengthening effect.
“Thank you! The supply route has been secured thanks to Kyle disposing of all the illusionary bodies!”
“...You are saying the same thing as yesterday,” Kyle responded with displeasure to the saluting knights.
Just like the demonic creatures in the hunting grounds, the illusionary bodies would reappear at regular intervals. The objects reflected by the ice mirrors of the ice caps of the mountain points were soon reborn as illusionary bodies. It was meaningless to kill them.
Kyle was going to be given the same task again and again tomorrow and the next day. He had enough of it. A fundamental solution was needed. However, they had long concluded that it was impossible to physically destroy the ice mirrors of the mountain peaks.
“Fire Dragon... that d.a.m.n creature.”
The dragons—Kyle’s att.i.tude of cursing at the Old Dragon was unstoppable. He showed a clear disregard for the warnings of scholars, who claimed that a dragon’s hearing could cover the entire continent. There were only two existences in the world that he feared—Grid and Braham.
Except for those two, he wasn’t scared of anyone, including dragons.
“...Is that an illusionary body?”
“Kuaaack!”
Kyle c.o.c.ked his head when he suddenly heard the screams of soldiers.
A path leading to the Forest of Mist—an ominous being, like the mirrors of the mountain peak, were approaching and slaughtering the soldiers.
The 1st ranked Great Demon, Baal. A great evil that shouldn’t be on the surface. In Kyle’s eyes, this guy was simply ‘color.’ He was bright red, but far from a flame. Kyle wondered if negative concepts such as blood, killing intention, hatred, and anger could be painted in color.
‘It is cute compared to the demons of the surface.’
Kyle compared Baal’s appearance to Grid and Braham and snorted. Beads made by condensing lightning floated around him. The lightning orbs intercepted all of the attacks of the approaching Baal’s. The red hands, feet, and tail were shaking from the electric shock.
“Ugh. Did you copy Grid’s G.o.d Hands?” Baal asked, forcing his facial muscles twitching from the electric shock to move. His mouth that opened slowly was big and black.
“Che.” Kyle read some ominous omens from it. Then the bright beads of lightning exploded in unison.
At the same time, rays of magic shot from Baal’s mouth.
—!
Sound disappeared for a moment from the white-tinged world. The light coming from Baal was also buried as he turned to ash. The first sound heard as the world soon returned to normal was the sound of blood dripping from Kyle’s pierced chest.
Soon, a large amount of blood poured out. Kyle stopped the bleeding by closing his wound with electricity and looked around. It was to check the condition of the knights swept away by the explosion. Unfortunately, there were quite a few casualties.
‘It was unavoidable.’
If he had hesitated for even one second, then everyone except for himself would’ve perished.
A gloomy voice permeated Kyle’s ears as he struggled to control his mind. “It is a clone made from a fragment, but you did a good job. Croak. Lightning Warrior Kyle. I can understand why His Majesty wanted you and sent me here. Croak.”
It was a giant toad.
Chepardea—he was a demon known for being Baal’s closest ally. He had a power comparable to a single digit great demon.
Step, step.
A new Baal walked out from behind him. He was accompanied by the ‘body’ of a human-like creature.
“Is this the fragment of Asura or something?”
Some time ago, when Grid conquered the No Offspring Tomb. The central government had disseminated information related to Asura to t.i.tan. Kyle had already received it.
“Yes, croak. He is a G.o.d who will soon arrive in h.e.l.l,” Chepardea replied while blinking his bulging, round eyes.
Kyle was secretly sending over electric currents. However, the currents that came close to Asura’s torso disappeared without a trace.
‘It disappears the moment it gets within two meters.’
He heard the other day that it was within one meter. Had the range expanded? In the end, they had the worst compatibility. A strong person who valued ‘body’ over ‘energy.’ In t.i.tan, Spear Saint Rachel was the best opponent to fight against it.
‘Of course, it is too much for Rachel to handle on her own.’
Wasn’t it a situation where even Chepardea had shown up?
‘She will need the cooperation of Empress Basara and the other dukes... if that monstrous torso can neutralize even the empress’ red energy or Grenhal’s resilience...’
The odds were slim. At this point, wasn’t there enough justification to retreat?
Kyle started to sneak away. The reason he stayed in t.i.tan in the first place was Grid’s coercion. Ever since the disappearance of the former emperor, Juander, he didn’t feel the need to be tied up here.
“...s.h.i.+t.”
Of course, it was different now. In the process of performing the duties he was forced to do, he unintentionally acquired a sense of responsibility. It wasn’t easy to leave the knights he had known for a long time and to run away alone.
‘I was caught by Grid.’
Did that devil know he was going to end up like this and kept making him take responsibility? It was as he was thinking...
“Run away. Don’t look back and run.”
Kyle stopped walking and stood with his back to the wounded and fallen knights. The sword left behind by the dead knights were drawn up along with the electric currents.
One, two, three, four... there were nine in total. Kyle held two of them in his hands while the other seven swords were at his feet. He intended to resupply himself immediately when he lost the two swords he was holding. Since he wasn’t a swordsman, this was the worst case scenario.
‘I promised myself that I would never hold a sword again.’
Due to his natural const.i.tution, Kyle was always alone. His situation didn’t change much even when he entered the palace due to the former emperor, Juander. Juander appreciated Kyle’s const.i.tution and tried to teach him a lot, but Kyle was always weighed down by the eyes of those around him and had to give up on most of his learning halfway. Swordsmans.h.i.+p was one of them.
The former Red Knights—Kyle used to leave the training grounds with shame because they laughed while saying that an electric eel was learning the sword. He couldn’t train deeply in swordsmans.h.i.+p.
‘Looking back, they weren’t laughing at me.’
The Red Knights were just pointing out that Kyle’s const.i.tution and swordsmans.h.i.+p didn’t match. At that time, Kyle couldn’t control his lightning properly. Under the influence of the black lightning in his hands, he often changed the trajectory of the sword arbitrarily. He was in a position where he couldn’t learn swordsmans.h.i.+p properly. He could’ve seriously injured someone if he insisted on continuing to learn swordsmans.h.i.+p. They wanted to tell him that he should take a different path.
However, at that time, he was a person who couldn’t be communicated with and they ended up hurting each other’s feelings.
“...Kukuk.”
“Kyle, you are laughing now. Croak. You’ve lost your mind. Croak.”
“You don’t have to tell me that. I’m aware that I am insane.”
As the time of death approached, all his poor memories came back.
Kyle stopped laughing, took a deep breath, and took a stance. He calmed down his lightning and planned to deal with the enemies in front of him purely with swordsmans.h.i.+p. He believed in the body of a transcendent. The swordsmans.h.i.+p he learned in the past and the swordsmans.h.i.+p he observed so far would be embodied with this transcendent body.
He believed in the value of a legend. Everything a legend did, no matter how small, was given great meaning. It was easily recognized as an achievement. He hoped that the world would expand and interpret the choices at this moment, made with emotions in the heat of the moment, and create a miracle.
However, reality was grim.
“You are weak! You are so insignificant when you can’t use your lightning power! Croak!”
Kyle couldn’t withstand the offensive of Baal and Chepardea and collapsed. All nine swords had already been broken. He performed the martial arts he acquired during his time as a follower of the Martial G.o.d, but as expected, it had no effect. It was impossible to hit Chepardea’s slippery body with his punches or kicks.
“Go ahead and kill me.” Kyle exhausted even his immortality and stopped resisting. The knights had already fled. They would’ve delivered the news to t.i.tan’s empress and dukes, and they would’ve started preparing the defenses. It was good that he didn’t have to work hard to buy more time than this. He had no lingering attachment to life.
A life as an orphan—he was very lonely and he sometimes took the wrong path. Wasn’t it great enough that he could rise to this position?
“Chepardea, you are still the same.”
Kyle, who was waiting for death, suddenly heard a voice and looked in that direction. He saw a green-haired man. His pale face, exposed beneath his short, neat hair, looked completely lifeless and it was bizarre. It felt like he was seeing a moving corpse. In fact, it was actually a corpse.
“The traitor, Agnus! Croak!”
The green-haired man’s robe fluttered at the magic power spread by the shouting Chepardea. It revealed his upper body, which had only bones and no flesh and skin.
“Agnus...”
Kyle was briefly fascinated by the unbelievable sight as he pondered on the man’s name.
The former Baal’s Contractor—Kyle remembered encountering him a few times in the past.
“You have changed a lot?”
“Kyle, your eyes have become quite sad as well.”
The ground trembled. The dead rose from the ground and formed an army in an instant.
Chepardea showed a puzzled reaction. “What? How can you maintain that level of control when you have been reduced to an ordinary necromancer? Croak?”
“I’ve never been ordinary.”
Before contracting with Baal, Agnus was originally the 1st ranked necromancer. Just because his contract with Baal was cut off didn’t mean he had no skills.
“More than that, you are pitiful, Chepardea.”
“Pitiful...? Croak?”
“If you are betrayed by Baal and die again this time, it will be at least the 50th time. Betty’s words are quite credible.”
“......?”
The brief conversation between Agnus and Chepardea ended. It was because Baal flew over and attacked Agnus. He ignored Kyle, who was no different from prey, and aimed only at Agnus.
“Agnus, you s.h.i.+ne brightly when it comes to the subject of abandoned toys.”
“On the contrary, it is good killing intent.”
Agnus responded casually, but avoided a head-on battle. It was because he witnessed the undead in Baal’s path collapse. Asura’s torso showed an almighty power to disrupt even a necromancer’s control. Agnus didn’t think he had any odds of winning. Nevertheless, there was a reason why he proudly made an appearance.
‘Grid has to be aware of the situation here.’
It was due to that belief.
It was as expected.
Thump!
As if responding to Agnus’ faith, a person fell from the sky. It was someone who scattered brilliant light.
“I was worried because I thought I was late, but I arrived on time.”
It was Vantner. Unlike the smiling Vantner, Agnus’ expression was rotten.
“...Is there a temporary shortage of workers in the Overgeared Guild?”
“Eh? Agnus? What are you doing here? And what do you mean by your words just now?”
“No... There is no shortage of workers. It is correct to interpret that there will be additional reinforcements.”
Putting aside underestimating Vantner, Agnus noted that Vantner was a tanker.
A tanker—he literally served to guard against enemy attacks from the front. There was little he could do alone.
“It is a solo mission, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d.”
Vantner belatedly noticed the meaning of Agnus’ continuous nonsense and his expression distorted.
“A lot of mongrels are flocking! Okay, croak! I’ll take you all to h.e.l.l, croak!”
Chepardea flicked out his tongue.
HIs long tongue moved like it was alive and it not only contained acidic poison, it was also covered in slippery fluids. Even when slashed or stabbed with a blade, the blade would slip, have its trajectory twisted strangely, or produce additional derivative attacks.
“Vantner, don’t face it head-on...” Agnus was well aware of Chepardea’s abilities and warned Vantner, only to stop in mid-sentence.
The pupils of his golden eyes shrank as he saw Chepardea’s severed tongue fluttering in the air.
“Y-You... Croak...”
Chepardea stepped back. He tried to regenerate his tongue by swallowing the fluids pouring out of his mouth. Meanwhile, the huge red s.h.i.+eld attracted everyone’s attention. Awl-like blades protruded from the lower part of the s.h.i.+eld, so it looked like a tail at first glance. They wondered if a dragon’s back would look like this when looking at it from above.
The first dragon s.h.i.+eld in history was revealed.
“I guess you didn’t hear an explanation from Baal based on how surprised you are. Poor toad, you must be a toy.”
“......”
Kyle felt like the peaks of the Mirror Mountains had increased by one.
Vantner was the first tanker to become a legend and built up a transcendent status. He looked as tall as a mountain. Even the way that he distorted and reflected light was similar.