Book 1 Chapter 624

624.

‘Great Spirit of Fire?’

-Yes. You also have the blood of the Tungkon royal family flowing in you, don’t you? If so, I can save you from this crisis!

Istar said confidently.

-I have researched your lineage for a long time! If you are of the Tungkon bloodline, I can lend you my power even without a contract!

The reason Istar thought of saving Raina was simple.

‘I’m screwed!’

Istar immediately felt that his life as a spirit had become thoroughly entangled due to his encounter with Leo.

The dwelling he had painstakingly maintained for a long time had already tragically collapsed.

On top of that, even the subordinate spirits he commanded had all gone over to Elsy.

Furthermore, the lower spirits who had gone over to Elsy held immense hostility towards him.

In that situation, Istar naturally had no choice but to recall his past actions.

‘I told them to gather the dewdrops that received the earliest sunlight!’

‘I’m sorry! I’m sorry!’

Arsia, who was the first to escape Istar’s dominion, was the subordinate spirit who had served Istar the longest.

Even towards such an Arsia, he would often commit such atrocious acts.

‘I might be tormented by those guys for the rest of my life!’

He even thought of running away from Leo.

Although he had lost his base and subordinate spirits, the fact that he was a Great Spirit remained unchanged.

However, he soon had to give up the thought of escape.

‘The fire spirits are rather gentlemen. At least they won’t try to annihilate me. But the other Great Spirits are different.’

Istar had extremely bad relationships with other Great Spirits.

‘Especially Undine, the spirit of the deep sea! She will definitely try to annihilate me!’

Istar had once destroyed the deep sea spirit’s base a long time ago.

Since then, Undine had harbored a strong grudge against Istar.

If such an Undine were to find out that he had lost not only his base but also all his subordinate spirits, she would surely try to exact revenge from that time.

Istar shivered.

‘In the end, for my safety now, a pact with Leo Plov is essential!’

If it were any other summoner, they would surely cling to Istar to make a contract.

Because a Great Spirit is a being worthy of being revered simply by its existence.

‘But to Leo Plov, I am not worth that much!’

As a Great Spirit, he probably wouldn't be treated like a stone rolling on the roadside.

But he also didn't think he would be treated with special care.

The very reason Istar initially refused a pact with Leo was that he couldn't accept that he wasn't of great value to Leo.

‘Leo Plov took not only the Great Spirit of Light, Larel, but also that unidentified spirit as his pact partner.’

And on top of that, the Three Great Mythical Beasts.

In Istar's memory, there was only one summoner comparable to the current Leo Plov: Rishinas, the King of Wisdom.

‘If I'm going to make a pact, I want to be treated well!’

As Istar desperately racked his brain to receive good treatment, his eyes fell upon Raina, who was in crisis.

Istar also knew that Leo had come here to save his mother.

As it happened, Raina was of Tungkon lineage.

‘If I lend my strength and rescue her, he will favor me!’

At the very least, he might be able to avoid being tormented by the lower spirits he used to command.

-This is a trade. Raina Plov!

‘A trade?’

-Yes! If you overcome this crisis with my power! Just speak well of me to Leo Plov later!

‘What?’

-Please! Let me help you! My life as a spirit depends on it from now on!

Raina also knew that the Tungkon royals had received the blessing of the Spirit of Purification.

And Leo was inheriting the Tungkon legacy this time.

If so, there would be nothing strange about making a pact with the Spirit of Purification.

But to beg to be allowed to help?

‘Why are all the summoned beasts associated with Leo so strange?’

Shaking off the momentary doubt, Raina spoke to Istar.

‘You mean… you can lend me your power?’

-Yes! Then it's possible to escape this crisis!

‘Then can you also give me the strength to fight against this guy?’

-Fight? Against him?

‘Yeah. Lend me your strength.’

-You know well what that means, don't you? Are you prepared to risk your life?

Istar’s voice suddenly turned chilling.

Leo, who had thoroughly toyed with Zora, was merely an off-the-charts monster.

The fact that he was a man with catastrophic power who had massacred countless heroes remained unchanged.

Naturally, to fight against such a person, one needed to be prepared to risk their life.

But the resolution Istar spoke of was different from the resolution to fight against a strong enemy.

The power Istar initially offered to lend was merely enough to escape from Zora.

But what Raina wanted was power beyond that.

Among countless elements, flame was a power with particularly rough and dangerous properties.

The power to incinerate even oneself to annihilate an opponent, that could be said to be the essence of flame.

-You lost your aura a long time ago, didn't you? That means you have no means to protect yourself from my flames. The moment you make even the slightest mistake in controlling the flames, my flames will burn you.

‘I know.’

Raina said calmly.

‘But right now, I need the strength to fight against this guy.’

Even if she risked danger to gain Istar’s power, there was no chance of victory.

But…

‘At least I can be of some help to those children.’

Raina thought of the hero candidates currently fighting for the Plov territory.

Last summer.

When a training camp was held in the Plov territory, Raina saw how Leo looked at the hero candidates.

Eyes that wished for their rapid growth.

Although fundamentally different, it resembled the way parents look at their children.

‘He was a strange child from a young age.’

Leo had never cried since he was a baby and was strangely precocious.

‘Sometimes, he looks at me, his mother, with impudent eyes, as if looking at a much younger child. Other times, he looks at me as if genuinely pitying me.’

Raina grumbled.

‘I can't tell if he's my son or my friend.’

Still.

‘Because he’s my son, I know.’

That Leo had a grand goal she couldn't even imagine.

‘And those children are essential to achieve that goal.’

She couldn't just stand by and watch her son's chosen companions fall into crisis.

‘Crucially, I am their senior, aren’t I?’

Though now she had lost her power and retired from the stage.

Though without Istar's power, she would only be a burden.

As a senior who had once walked the same path, she couldn't let her successors be broken.

Even if it meant sacrificing herself.

‘Helping the next generation move forward into the future. That is the duty of an adult.’

That's why now, once again.

She was trying to force herself onto the stage from which she had to descend long ago.

-The moment you make even the slightest mistake, it's a dog's death. Even if you're lucky enough to survive, you might suffer from after-effects. Are you truly confident you won't regret it?

‘If that happens, I will definitely regret it. But…’

Raina’s eyes blazed.

‘If I run away from here… this bastard will definitely attack our villagers.’

Zora had now cast aside any pretense of hypocrisy.

He would massacre the people of Plov territory to unleash even a little of his rage.

And as hero candidates, they currently had no power to stop that.

That must absolutely not happen.

In the end, Raina would regret not fighting at this moment.

If so…

‘I will choose to fight back and regret it.’

Istar fell silent at Raina’s resolute will.

-Yes… your lineage was indeed such a lineage. It doesn't change, generation after generation. Even if your appearance changes countless times. Even if the name Tungkon disappears. You remain unchanged.

The nobility of being able to sacrifice oneself for someone else.

Such individuals have always been born among the Tungkon bloodline.

-Yes. That's why I chose you.

It wasn't because they possessed the lineage most suitable for the Flame of Purification he wielded that he had made pacts with them.

He had chosen Tungkon because of their beliefs.

“Still smiling? You wench…!”

At that moment, a dense bloodlust erupted from Zora’s body.

“Let’s see if you can keep smiling, shall we?”

The moment Zora raised his hand with a grim smile.

*Thump-!*

“…?”

Raina's hand grabbed Zora’s wrist, which was strangling her neck.

“Useless resistance.”

Zora scoffed dismissively.

*Whoosh-!*

“…!”

Blue flames surged from Raina’s hand.

“No!”

Zora had to shriek in horror at the Flame of Purification that instantly turned his hand to ashes.

At that moment, a sword aura of flame scattered.

Zora, who barely dodged the sword aura, looked at Raina, who was floating in the air, clad in blue flames, with an incredulous expression.

Small wings made of flame surged from Raina’s heels.

Flames enveloped her entire body like light armor, and a flaming sword and spear blazed in each of her hands.

The master of the flames was clearly Istar.

But the one freely controlling those flames was none other than Raina.

Looking at the flames burning by her own will, Raina clenched her hands tightly.

A sensation she had lost a long time ago was revived.

The goal of being a hero, which she could no longer be… which she couldn't achieve and had to let go of.

Another aspect of herself that she had to forget without even preparing her heart for it.

‘If this ends now, I won't be able to return forever.’

That's why she had to do her best.

‘Because pushing past my limits… this will be the last time in my life.’

*Whoosh-!*

Flames greater than those of her prime erupted from Raina's body.

Seeing that sight, Zora asked incredulously.

“You… what exactly are you?”

“Me?”

Raina's lips curved upwards.

A mischievous, almost impish grin… yet, at the same time, an eerie and captivating smile.

It was, literally.

“A witch.”

The witch's smile, itself.