Book 11 Chapter 11

Chapter 263

At #8 Trident Point: (2)

“Don't forget to double-check for anything you missed and take it with you. Think of it as your lifeline. Shovel, jerky, starch, biscuits, dried fruit, water pouch, humidity control charm.”

They paid for the expedition equipment at the Far West Branch and immediately entered Trident's jungle.

Gguk-ggeuk-ggeuk-ggeuk…

A creepy cry accompanied a hazy fog that blocked their view, just as it had been when they came here before.

'It's still an unpleasant place, just like when I came with Kasena…'

As he thought that, Miria suddenly tugged his ear. He looked at her, asking why with his eyes.

“You just thought about another woman, didn't you?”

She asked with eyes that felt chilling.

“No, I mean…”

When Rain stammered, she finally burst into playful laughter.

“Just kidding. But it's all over your face. I like that honesty.”

Miria said that herself, then blushed, cleared her throat, and moved away.

'Sometimes, it feels like her personality gets mixed with Lista's.'

As he sighed in relief, he saw Akki staring intently into the fog with a serious expression.

'Akki must be feeling the same ominousness as before.'

But something several times more intense than before, a presence that scraped coldly down his spine, was lurking unseen.

'My gut is telling me.'

There's something here.

And on the 32nd day of the expedition, that premonition proved to be accurate.

It was the three dragon siblings who sensed its presence even before Rain. Dragon-kind are born with an inherent and powerful animosity towards the abyss.

“Evil! Evil is approaching!”

As Rain stretched out his hand, a wave of power, almost an explosion, spread from the old swamp, scattering wastewater in all directions.

And those creatures, which had been approaching submerged in the swamp, were caught by powerful psychokinesis and lifted into the air.

Akki and Miria gasped. Rain narrowed his eyes at the reunion with that disgusting form.

“Necroarachne (Necroarachne; dead spider)…”

The dead, whose human ribs had torn through their rotten flesh and spread out like spider legs.

'Truly grotesque and horrible in appearance, I've never forgotten it for a moment.'

It was the form of the undead wielded by Baekdoryeong Shar'kas's power, and fundamentally by his master, the Spider Lord Ashron.

What was perplexing was that one of them was dressed in the uniform of the Imperial Special Demon Squad. Though even that was already in tatters.

'Why are these undead, who only appeared in Harvadonia, and only when Shar'kas was present, here…?'

In Akki's hands, as she stood guarding Nen and bared her fangs, the fires of the Extreme Heaven blazed fiercely.

“Wait, Akki.”

Her desire to protect her younger sibling was truly admirable, but he couldn't let her use those flames. If she did, they would all burn to death.

“Attribute shift, Light.”

The external pressure of psychokinesis that held the undead was converted into the Genesis Rune, Light.

The waves of creation gently caressing this abyssal land.

Bodies whose souls had already departed found peace in that light, while bodies where souls still lingered slowly reverted to their original forms.

He thought that now they just had to wait for consciousness to recover and then question them.

“Hmm~ This is surprising?”

It was at that moment that he encountered Public Lord Beshansidug's first subordinate.

“Asura's clones, those disgusting creatures, have come all the way here!”

Like all old nobles, she was a beauty with purple hair, possessing a beauty not of this world.

First Attendant Tayak.

However, only her basic appearance resembled a human; the wicked true nature hidden within her was clearly not human from her very presence.

Her ribs spread out into gigantic wings.

Numerous people were suspended in the sticky spiderwebs connecting those ribs.

“How happy would he be if I chopped off your heads and offered them to him? Um-heheheheheheh.”

They were all living people, not undead, toys that had to laugh crazily when he laughed.

If their laughter lacked enthusiasm, he would kill them on the spot or scalp them and pull out their brains to eat.

At that moment, two people instantly turned into gruesome bloody lumps…

Nen gasped, squeezed her eyes shut, and hid behind Akki's legs.

“Oh, it's evil… Sister, Nen is scared.”

Tayak's henchmen appeared one by one from the jungle, surrounding the party.

“Don't lay a hand on the kids.”

Miria warned, placing her hand on the hilt of Shirping.

“Miria, don't step forward.”

“Huh?”

“Akki, Nen, Mir, the three of you each take on and deal with one of the creatures I designate.”

He didn't want them to fight, he wanted to protect them forever.

But he couldn't.

Because someday, the relationships of those who live a mortal life have an end.

“If you can't do it, go back to the continent with Miria. There's no point in taking you along.”

He had to push them.

So they could grow, leave the nest, and fly far away. So that someday, they could leave his side.

“Miria, only intervene if it seems dangerous.”

Then Rain pointed his index finger directly at Tayak.

“If you move without my permission, you die on the spot.”

A momentary silence.

Tayak burst into a twisted laugh.

“What? Hah, hmph, hahaha! How dare a worm like you give orders?”

When some humans hanging in the spiderwebs didn't respond to his laughter, Tayak's mouth stretched open grotesquely, like a smile.

“This is why I use human language for entertainment. Now, who didn't laugh?”

Just as he was about to kill them as an example and turn them into undead.

“I told you not to move.”

Rain clasped his hands together, and Tayak felt an unsettling tremor throughout his body.

Something was wrong.

He could only barely identify the source of that unease by the series of words that flowed from Rain's lips.

“Imagery Construction, Black Cloud Concealing the Sun (黑雲遮日).”

A pitch-black mist spread in all directions.

The heavy, undulating mist coiling around his feet depicted the form of absolute power.

Hidden by that mist, it was impossible to discern the shape of power or its aura. For that mist itself was the form of transcendent power.

“H-H-How could you…?”

It was utterly unbelievable.

This déjà vu, this fear ingrained so deeply that his whole body trembled involuntarily, this overwhelming pressure that made even breathing difficult.

“Human memories said you had clearly vanished, didn't they?”

This was the primary spell used by 'that guy' who single-handedly subdued Public Lord Beshansidug on that day…

It was identical.

Completely identical.

Did that mean only his appearance had changed, but it was him?

“Karenden, you again───!”

The moment Tayak, with rage, tried to unleash his power, five wedges of light precisely pierced his two arms, two legs, and heart.

It was instantaneous.

A blow so fast that it would not be allowed to register on the retina unless one's vision was amplified by concentration.

Not only Tayak, but 138 other demons, excluding those the young dragons were fighting, were struck by the same number of wedges at the exact same moment.

“I am not Karenden.”

Those who received authority from the Old King transcend even death and cannot have their existence itself annihilated.

Sealing them like this is the best course of action.

The wedges sealed the flow of the abyss that had been explosively circulating throughout his body.

“I use power similarly, but that's it. Still a long way to go.”

As the circulation of power was blocked, his body began to wither rapidly.

Life extinguished at the end of a curse-laden scream.

The abnormal power extending from his back, the spiderwebs, also faded, and the people bound by them were freed.

Those who were frantically unwrapping the remnants of spiderweb from their bodies spoke in disbelief.

“Wh-Who exactly are you…?”

Someone asked a question laced with bewilderment, someone else tried to offer thanks mixed with tears, but Rain held an index finger to his lips.

“Shhh.”

He turned his gaze towards where the young dragons were fiercely battling under Miria's strict supervision, as she gripped Shirping.

'Let's see…'

I wonder if they have the strength to endure the cruel future that will surely come upon them.

'First, Akki.'

Akki, who had even fought Jernix.

As expected, without any particular worry, she had long ago turned her enemy into ashes.

And she was so adorable, nervously stamping her feet while watching her younger siblings.

'Mir is…'

Mir, who was the youngest and thus the most worrying, instead showed considerable talent in combat.

“Oufari (Water) Gurs (From both sides) Diale (Turbulent waves).”

Perhaps because of Toreina's soul fragment, wasn't she already skillfully handling spell combat using the Dragon Language, which Freya had reached after 300 years of ascetic training?

The swamp water was lifted by immense pressure, then crashed down on the enemy from both sides.

Mir remained expressionless as the enemy's limbs were torn apart by that water pressure.

'And Nen.'

It was unexpectedly Setsunen who made a mix of surprise and pride form on Rain's lips.

“Come out, Rod of Justice!”

Akki's fighting style was martial arts, so Rain had no room to teach her.

She was cute but slow-witted, so magic didn't suit her.

And Mir, who was close to a perfect mature body, already handled Dragon Language freely, so this too was far from Rain's fighting style.

But what about Setsunen?

Isn't she creating a staff with the power of lightning to use staff techniques, and imitating Rain's magic through microscopic manifestations of Dragon Language?

- Rin, this magic is like this.

It was a moment when he truly understood how the Dean must have felt seeing Rin imitate his magic so well.

'Did the experience of fighting as one with the Yeouiju accumulate just like that?'

Even if he didn't know the exact reason…

What was surprising was that Miria seemed to feel the same, giving Rain a bewildered look.

Whispering with her lips, "When did you teach her that too?"

'I never taught them.'

Even though he hadn't properly taught them anything, these kids were instantly far ahead.

These children will grow strong.

And they will pass the light to the next generation. They will protect that light until the era when Karenden returns.

“Thank you for saving us. How can we ever express our gratitude…?”

The captured adventurers and Special Demon Squad mages trembled so much their teeth chattered.

“Is this a time for thanks? We have to escape quickly! You look incredibly strong, but you shouldn't be here!”

One man was screaming like a mad beast, so they had to knock him out to get him to talk.

The fear and desperation in the survivors' voices were not normal, so it was necessary to listen carefully.

“Please tell us in detail.”

“There's a creature that's incomparably stronger than this one… one that makes your head explode the moment you lose concentration!”

A rampage of madness…

It was a technique Shar'kas often displayed.

More accurately, it wasn't a technique, but rather people being crushed by his presence, like unintentionally stepping on an ant while walking by.

“Their heads explode?”

“It's mercy to die by having your head explode. That creature drowns people in the swamp. It suffocates them to death… and anyone who comes out of there turns into a monster, without exception.”

What Eldwick had told him when he passed through this place before flashed through his mind, and a shiver ran down his spine.

- Beshansidug enjoyed imprisoning primitives in spiderweb cages and drowning them in the swamp.

They say that when the cages were pulled out of the swamp again, only monstrous entities that emitted cold breaths from their hardened hearts to create fog emerged.

“And the ones who come out of there still use magic and swordsmanship exactly as before. Going any further than this is madness.”

Is that so…?

If left unchecked, it would truly become a catastrophe.

“We came to find that creature. Perhaps Archmage Saigan──”

There was no need to go looking.

Because at that moment, the owner of this commotion came to find them.