Book 1 Chapter 396
396.
“My god, he’s really fending off Jormungandr all by himself.”
Alene mumbled incredulously, watching the fierce battle unfolding in the distance.
A single person against a legion commander.
And not just any commander, but Jormungandr, widely regarded as the strongest legion commander—Leo’s performance was truly overwhelming.
“When did he become so strong?”
Alok, gripping his battle-axe, muttered softly.
Alene and Alok.
Both had been teammates with Kyle in a party before, so they knew his strength well.
Even back then, Kyle’s strength was on a different level than others, but now it was truly awe-inspiring.
At the two’s astonished reactions, the elf mage, Perik, scoffed.
“You two should know that he gets stronger the more battles he goes through.”
Mana flickered around Perik.
Magic accumulated one by one onto the staff he held.
Memorizing spells, Perik gazed at the front lines.
“Furthermore, from a certain point, he has always fought alone.”
Perik narrowed his eyes.
“The number of battlefields he has experienced. The level of infernal struggles he has overcome is different from ours. His strength is only natural.”
“True. He always stood at the forefront in the battles of Guardsron.”
Intense fighting spirit surged from Alok’s body.
“He’s opening a path for us! We can’t just stand here cowering like cowards!”
Alok shouted.
His muscles twitched.
Alene also gripped her spear tightly and stepped forward.
“Alok and I will wound his body.”
A close-combat assault squad to tear Jormungandr’s thick hide while Leo drew its attention.
For that role, Alene and Alok, with their excellent mobility and ability to deal significant damage on the front lines, were perfect.
“We just need to thoroughly exploit that opening!”
Alok chuckled heartily, “Kwahahaha!” as he swung his axe wildly in the air and charged forward.
Watching him, Rodia admired.
“Kyle-nim… he’s just like Arion-nim.”
“Arion?”
Rodia, who had mumbled without realizing it, covered her mouth with a gasp as a voice came from behind her.
“Who is Arion?”
Rodia chuckled awkwardly, looking at Lysinath’s puzzled expression.
“There’s a beastman I know who possesses great courage.”
“Really? That’s a name I haven’t heard before.”
“He’s not someone who has made a name for himself yet, but…”
“But?”
“He’s someone who gives courage to those around him.”
“If he’s that kind of person, I’d definitely want him in our expedition.”
“In the not-too-distant future… you will surely meet him.”
Rodia said with a smile.
“Alright.”
Lysinath nodded.
“Then I should prepare myself too.”
Gooooooh-!
A massive amount of mana began to surge from Lysinath’s body.
Flash-!
Lysinath’s dragon eyes appeared.
Seeing them, Rodia flinched without realizing it.
‘As expected of Lysinath-nim.’
It was astonishing no matter how many times she saw it.
Even though she was not yet called the King of Wisdom.
Even though she hadn’t attained the power and experience of a great hero, her power was on par with Rodia, who had stepped into the final chapter to stop a fragment of Erebus.
‘Here, Kyle-nim… and the other great heroes will overcome countless trials and achieve dazzling feats.’
And become the strongest dragon in the history of the world.
‘Kyle-nim told me.’
Rodia clenched her fist, looking at Lysinath’s back.
‘At this time, Lysinath-nim… mentally, she was no different from her time as the King of Wisdom.’
‘At this time, Lysinath was undoubtedly carrying the burden and anxiety of having to save the world.’
Before embarking on the expedition.
Leo had told Rodia about Lysinath’s heart, which Rodia had been unaware of.
‘But she possessed a strong spirit that did not yield or waver to such things.’
Truly, a savior who alone bore the world and led it to salvation.
Kyle was the one who fulfilled that destiny, but the undeniable beginning was Lysinath.
‘This world is one that only Kyle-nim can conquer.’
Rodia clenched her fist, looking at Lysinath’s back.
The reason she couldn't conquer it was, in a way, perhaps perfectly natural.
It wasn't about being an all-class.
‘This story… this trial is the story of only two people, who heralded the prelude to salvation: Kyle-nim and Lysinath-nim.’
***
Grrrrrrooooaar-!
Jormungandr roared and spewed breath towards Leo.
Goooooooh! Flash! KAGAGAGAGAGANG!
A destructive flash cleaved the air as if it were a massive tower.
A shockwave enveloped the surrounding area.
Leo, who dodged the breath, unleashed his spiritual power.
Elsie, clinging tightly to the hem of Leo’s left shoulder, enduring the headwind, cried out urgently.
-Nameless Mister!
“What? Mister?”
Leo showed an incredulous expression, but Elsie ignored it and raised her voice.
-Mister’s body is already at its limit! If you draw any more spiritual power, you’ll self-destruct!
Leo chuckled at Elsie’s cry.
“I suppose so.”
Answering so, he pulled on Albus’s reins.
Whoosh-!
Albus sharply changed direction at incredible speed.
Flash-!
Dark red flashes rained down around Albus.
Whoooooosh!
Albus, moving as Leo willed and dodging all the dark red flashes, shouted.
-Too rough!
“You said it’s okay to handle you roughly. And if I don’t do this, I can’t dodge everything!”
Leo, answering Albus’s words, momentarily fixed his gaze on the ground.
Whoosh-!
Detecting movement on the ground, Leo pulled on the reins.
Albus rapidly soared into the sky.
-Are you running away!
Koo-goo-goo-goong-!
Jormungandr pursued Leo, flying into the sky.
At that moment-!
“Hyaaaaaaaah!”
As a battle cry echoed, Alok, wrapped in aura, raised his axe and charged at Jormungandr like a bullet.
Kwang-!
When Alok collided with Jormungandr, a massive explosion reverberated.
Koo-goo-goo-goong-!
Despite the tremendous impact, Jormungandr did not falter.
Instead, its eyes gleamed, and it chased after Leo.
“Hmph! He’s ignoring me quite boldly!”
Alok, hanging onto Jormungandr’s scales, raised his axe.
Gooooooh-!
Alok’s aura shimmered on the axe blade.
Kwaaaaaah-!
Along with it, the aura took the form of a giant axe blade.
“Kraaaah!”
Thwack-!
Alok leaped and swung his axe at Jormungandr.
The aura dug into Jormungandr’s thick hide.
-You worm!
Jormungandr growled lowly, then unleashed dark magic.
Fizzzzzz-!
“Ugh?”
Dark red sparks began to furiously crackle on Alok’s body.
Trembling as if electrocuted, Alok’s eyes gleamed.
“This won’t stop me! Haaaaaaah!”
Shouting a battle cry, Alok put more force into the hand gripping the axe, making the axe blade dig deeper into Jormungandr’s hide.
-Annoying!
Jormungandr roared and plummeted towards the ground at tremendous speed.
Whooooosh! Kwaaaang-!
Koo-goo-goo-goo-goo!
It slammed the part of its body where Alok’s axe blade was directly onto the ground with its massive physique.
The surrounding area shook as if an earthquake had occurred.
“Hooo! You saved me thanks to that! Alene!”
Just before Alok crashed into the ground, Alene, who had flown in at incredible speed to save him, raised her hand.
CRACK! FIZZIZZIZZIZ!
A spear wrapped in white lightning trembled violently, as if ready to shoot out at any moment.
Alene threw the spear at Jormungandr.
It was a perfect spear throw, like something out of a painting.
Flash-! FIZZIZZIZIZ!
As the spear flew, leaving a white trajectory, Jormungandr scoffed.
-Hmph! A pathetic attack!
And with that, Jormungandr avoided the attack through future foresight using its sense of smell.
And just as it was about to ignore Alok and Alene and pursue Leo.
Flash! FIZZIZZIZIZ!
Alene’s spear changed trajectory and accurately pierced the opening Alok had created.
-How dare you!
Jormungandr revealed its wrath.
“Spear of Certainty.”
Leo mumbled, watching the scene.
An attack utilizing Alene’s mana unique trait.
The spear she threw never missed.
However, the impact was minimal.
Alok’s and Alene’s attacks only tore Jormungandr’s hide.
But…
“It’s enough.”
Leo curled the corners of his lips.
Gooooooh-!
A massive amount of mana surged.
Perik stood holding his staff.
The other mages in the party concentrated all their mana on Perik.
Perik Ennar.
The strongest mage in Guardsron at that time.
However, mages were like Jormungandr’s natural enemies.
Jormungandr’s hide possessed incredible magic resistance.
Almost to the point of ignoring magic itself.
That’s why Jormungandr was also the bane of mages.
But what if its hide was terribly torn?
“Flesh Burn.”
As Perik completed his spell, a massive light flew towards the opening Jormungandr had.
A grand magic that concentrates a huge amount of mana into one point and pierces through.
The bullet of light, flying at invisible speed, accurately pierced Jormungandr’s neck.
-Kieeeeeeeeeeeeee!
As Jormungandr writhed in pain.
Gooooooh-!
Rodia, wrapped in red mana and spiritual power, raised her hand.
Koo-goo-goo-goo-goo-goo-!
The earth began to shake.
Leo narrowed his eyes.
‘A summoning spell, I see.’
A fusion of magic and summoning.
The summoned target was not a mythical beast or a spirit.
The summoned target was a ‘specific object.’
Rodia clenched her fist with her palm facing upwards and extended her index finger.
Along with that, she raised her finger upwards.
Pwoosh-!
Massive lava erupted, breaking through the ground.
Perik, who had dealt Jormungandr a critical blow, wore an astonished expression.
“Magic that controls the nature of the entire surrounding area?”
A grand magic of the distant future, a concept that didn’t exist in this era and was difficult to comprehend.
Dragon Lord.
The unique magic of Rodia, the Dragon of Creation.
“Disaster.”
Rodia mumbled the name of the spell.
Jormungandr’s body began to melt in the lava.
-Kraaaaaaah!
But Jormungandr, with its formidable vitality, merely writhed in pain and was not in danger of losing its life.
‘Not enough firepower.’
Leo narrowed his eyes.
Indeed, even in the original history, Kyle and the others lacked the single decisive blow to finish off Jormungandr.
But it didn't matter.
‘Because we have Lysinath.’
Leo grinned and looked at Lysinath.
Gooooooh-!
Bright light poured from Lysinath’s body.
Lysinath, a black dragon,’s most powerful specialty was none other than light magic.
Ziiiiiing-!
A massive magic circle appeared around Lysinath, then compressed itself, taking the form of an arrow.
Then Luminus transformed into a bow in Lysinath’s hand.
As Lysinath notched the arrow, a pure white arrow ignited.
Lysinath’s magic that burns the impure and blasts them into light.
Lysinath’s unique magic that vanquishes the wicked and shoots hope into the world.
“Retribution.”
Jormungandr had lost its life to that magic.
Stop-!
Jormungandr’s movement, which had been chasing Leo, halted.
-The smell… of death.
Jormungandr, perceiving the future, instinctively sensed death.
Jormungandr, who was a demon stronger than anyone, at the moment it sensed death.
It trembled in fear more than anyone and struggled frantically.
It struggled to change the future somehow.
‘Surely… that should have been the case?’
Leo’s face stiffened.
-Oh, God… Oh, great calamity that will lead the world to destruction!
Jormungandr roared towards the sky.
-Forgive this foolish one who cannot see your earnest desire! Here I will!
Flash-!
Jormungandr’s six eyes glared at Leo.
-I will burn my body and soul to punish this blasphemer who seeks to kill you!
Whoosh-!
In a fleeting moment, black flames surged from Jormungandr’s body.
Along with that, Lysinath’s magic pierced Jormungandr’s body.
Flash-! KAGAGAGAGAGANG-!
A massive explosion occurred, and the directly hit area swelled up and then detonated.
Jormungandr’s massive body scattered into pieces of flesh in all directions.
A sinister and thick rain of blood fell all around.
Shwaaaaaa! Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-duk-!
The sun had set, and darkness had already arrived.
“We did it! We did it!”
“We defeated the King of Gluttony!”
Cheers erupted from various parts of the expedition.
Rodia also opened her eyes wide and cheered.
But only Leo and Lysinath had stiff faces.
Because both of them had seen it in that fleeting moment.
The ‘black flames.’
The moment they perceived it.
Whoosh-!
Jormungandr’s corpse burned black.
And-
-Kieeeeeeeeeeeek!
Jormungandr reappeared in the air, letting out a pain-filled scream as if even its soul was burning.
Whoooooosh! Koo-woong!
Jormungandr, having regained its original form, made a grotesque noise and thrashed its body wildly.
Jormungandr’s body was burning with black flames.
The expedition members’ faces turned pale.
Leo was no different.
‘Erebus’s flames!’
At the last moment, Leo recalled Jormungandr’s words.
‘He! He used himself as kindling to ignite the flames of calamity!’
The flames of calamity were immortal flames.
The reason Jormungandr, who had died so horribly, was resurrected was because he had donned those flames.
But Jormungandr was not Erebus.
The moment both his body and soul burned away and disappeared.
Jormungandr would vanish from this world, leaving nothing behind.
The problem was that until then, he was an ‘immortal’ monster.
-Prepare yourselves! Godslayeeeeeer!
Writhing in the pain of his burning soul, Jormungandr gazed at Leo with eyes mixed with obsession and hatred.
Whoosh-!
‘Faster? This bastard!’
Leo recalled the Giant King who had received Erebus’s blessing in Dweno’s world sometime before.
‘His abilities have been enhanced like the Giant King!’
Leo desperately tried to evade Jormungandr, who had approached right in front of him and opened its mouth wide.
But it was too late.
The moment he thought that.
Whoosh-
Leo’s eyes widened.
His gray eyes reflected the friend who blocked his path.
Leo’s voice trembled.
“Get out of the way.”
He recalled the last moments when he had a premonition of his friend’s death.
‘Sorry I couldn’t keep my promise.’
“Sorry I couldn’t keep my promise.”
He knew it was a promise he couldn’t keep.
“Get out of the way, Lysinath.”
‘If it comes down to just you and me at the end… you know it has to be you who remains, right? You would have made the same choice as me.’
“But it has to be you, not me, who remains.”
He couldn’t do anything alone.
It was because they were together that they saved the world.
“Get out of the way! You damned lizard!”
“You… you will save the world.”
Flash-!
The breath enveloped both of them.
-Kiooooooooooooo!
Jormungandr, who had directly hit Leo and Lysinath, let out a roar.
Gooooooh-!
Seeing the dark magic raging, Rodia’s eyes widened, and she squeezed her Dragon Heart.
Whoooong-!
A massive barrier generated around Jormungandr.
Flash! KAGAGAGAGAGANG-!
An explosion that shook the world occurred.
***
The world was burning.
Darkness had fallen upon the world.
The expedition’s situation was desperate.
At the worst moment.
Thanks to Rodia, who squeezed out all her mana and barely blocked Jormungandr’s attack, there were no casualties yet.
But.
With Jormungandr still standing, only one thought hung in everyone’s minds.
Despair.
“Kyle-nim… Lysinath-nim…!”
Rodia coughed up blood, struggling to get up.
Then…
Step… step…
Footsteps were heard from within the ruins.
Rodia raised her head and her eyes widened.
Leo, who had been directly hit by the breath and caught in the explosion despite Lysinath protecting him, was walking towards Jormungandr, his body a complete wreck.
The expedition also looked at Kyle.
-You are finished! I will bury you along with these worthless worms who came with you!
Writhing in pain, Jormungandr cursed Leo and the expedition.
-It was a futile struggle! All of you will die a dog’s death here! Not a single person will remember you! Your history! Will end!
“Haa… haa…”
Leo caught his breath.
A scraping sound, as if his lungs were tearing, was heard.
“Yes.”
Leo looked up at Jormungandr and said.
“Everyone eventually dies. That fact doesn’t change.”
Leo picked up the staff lying on the ground.
His comrade Perik’s staff.
“…I probably won’t even leave my name in history… No one will remember me.”
He gripped Alene’s spear in his other hand.
“But… it’s not a dog’s death.”
Leo’s eyes gleamed.
“Because these people risked their lives… the world could be saved.”
-A delusion that will never happen…!
“It’s not a delusion.”
Leo said forcefully.
“This world… will be saved. That damned Erebus will be subjugated. And the world will find peace again.”
Leo curled the corners of his lips.
“You are the one who will end, King of Gluttony. None of us end here.”
Killing intent and fighting spirit flowed from Leo’s body.
“Because these people’s story… I will carry it to the future.”
Everyone looked at Leo with vacant eyes.
“Kyle… aren’t you… giving up?”
Alok asked, straining to speak.
To his question, Leo said.
“That damned lizard isn’t dead yet.”
It wasn't a failure.
This world was continuing.
Leo curled the corners of his lips.
“It’s not over yet.”