Book 11 Chapter 24
Chapter 4: Side Story
The Forgotten War: Subjugation of the Spider Monarch (4)
"They say there's an ancient palace, called Cheonsugung (Heavenly Guardian Palace) or Cheonsuseong (Heavenly Guardian Castle), on the main peak of the Mountains of Madness."
I quickly sketched mountain peaks and structures on the snow with a branch.
Yes, I tried to sketch them…
But I couldn’t. Intensely hot gazes were fixed on me from both sides.
“Why? What’s the problem, Miria? And Madam, why have you been acting like that since earlier?”
Almost simultaneously, Miria and Kasena sharply turned their glaring eyes away from me.
They didn’t forget to mix in a snort, which was clearly deeper than the history of human linguistics, saying, “Hmph.”
What's there to be so displeased about?
I turned my head, hoping for covering fire from my comrades, and Rem spoke.
“Trash.”
“Trash, trash, utterly trash. Urgent suicide.”
Pipi said.
Valencidius, with his characteristic unpleasant sneer, said,
“A rake always pays the price for being careless with his lower half.”
Why did it come to that?
Barton said,
“No time for this.”
Indeed, no matter how long one lived, Barton was the only reliable comrade. I decided to continue with the explanation.
“Cheonsugung has countless rooms, and one of them leads to the old throne. That’s where the Spider Monarch is sealed.”
“Is there no guard?”
“In Yeriserika’s vision of the future, the male attendant (Namdongja) is already guarding the palace.”
“Namdongja… It’s Obunwi again here.”
“Namdongja can freely manipulate the spaces within Cheonsugung. He can turn it into a maze, they said. Since he’s been guarding the palace since historical times, that power must be natural.”
“So what’s the plan?”
“If we use this key-spider, a portal leading directly to Cheonsugung will open. From there, you all distract Namdongja.”
A moment of silence.
Valencidius raised his left eyebrow.
“You’re telling us to play a deadly game of tag with an ancient noble?”
“Tag, tag, tag.”
“Hey, trash. Isn’t it over if you just deal with Namdongja like you did Jawoonnyeo?”
“No. If Namdongja feels a threat of death, there’s a risk he’ll twist space itself to seal off the castle. And why am I trash?”
Barton scratched his forehead.
“What are you going to do?”
“I’ll find the secret room, the throne. And I’ll break the Spider Monarch’s seal.”
“Are you really going to do that?”
It took a tremendous effort to answer that question.
I thought I was properly resolved, but my hands were trembling. The nightmare brought a cold sweat.
But… this is the only way.
“The Spider Monarch’s power isn’t fully recovered yet. We’ll break the seal and face him while his power is incomplete. Then we’ll put him back to sleep for another thousand years.”
It was then that Miria, who had been silently protesting her displeasure, let out a sigh.
“Are you absolutely certain you understand what you’re about to do?”
“Of course.”
“No, I don’t think you do. Have you considered who will confront the king if you fail? The anxiety that we might be hastening the end won’t go away.”
Rem also clicked her tongue, clasping her hands behind her head.
“You know there’s even talk that the Mage City is waiting for the seal to break, wanting to test its power in a fight with the Spider Monarch, right?”
What, how, and where should I begin?
Instead of describing my rationality with grand rhetoric, perhaps it would be better to convey my true feelings.
“We are living in the twilight of the Golden Age. Will a day ever come in the future when people with as much power as us gather in one place? A time when humanity is so united?”
“…”
“It will definitely come. It will. But by then, the Abyss will also unite and swallow the world. Who could stop that? Even if we were in that time.”
“…”
“We must do this now. The reason we, and you all, have been given this power must be for this. Not by chance.”
I presented my reasoning.
Finally, I conveyed my true feelings.
“Above all, Aki, Nen, Mir… I want to give those children time to grow into the flames of a new era. Please, everyone, lend me your strength.”
Silence hung in the cave.
In everyone's minds, the battle with the ancient king, spoken of only in legends, must have been unfolding.
Weren't the Abyssal Monarchs opponents that <Those Who Came> and the Holy Elmene Knights barely managed to defeat by uniting?
Rem exchanged glances with the other comrades and then let out a sudden snort.
“What, if you’d just said that from the start. What kind of long-winded introduction was that?”
As if to confirm his meaning, I looked at my comrades, and each expressed agreement with gestures.
“If it’s for Aki, there are no objections.”
“I do want to see that foolish young dragon grown up. At least he’ll be better than he is now.”
“Foolish, foolish, foolish.”
“What are you talking about? Aki has grown so beautifully. She’s already as tall as I am. Her hatchling days are over.”
“Really?”
Kasena spoke kindly to Miria for the first time, and Miria beamed with a broad smile, as if boasting about her own child.
“That’s right. She even speaks politely now.”
“Wow, I’d like to see her sometime.”
Tears welled up in my eyes for a moment, but it wasn't time to cry yet.
These tears, I would shed them when we toasted to joy after everything was over.
Now was the time to fight an ancient god.
* * *
“Your Majesty, all troops have been deployed to the Fortress of Seollyeongjangseong.”
The person who reported this was Grand Duke Duren, the Elector of the North.
Duren had issued a summons to all the banner houses of the North and brought their soldiers.
Nevertheless, the wall's defensive line was single-layered. The wall was simply too long.
It might be different if the central and southern armies joined without delay…
“Deploy, deploy, deploy.”
The Grand Duke’s Sun Parrot, Saia, squawked. The Duren family crest was a phoenix, and they had traditionally bred sun parrots to distribute among their members.
“Excellent. Commander, what is the status of Harvadonia?”
“Signal fires have begun to rise from the front line. The grand army of the Abyss, led by Husin-gyeong, has begun its advance simultaneously.”
“How long will it take?”
“Normally a day; if they hurry, they’ll be here within half a day.”
A despairing silence swept through the control room. The Emperor, who had been silently tapping the edge of the table, spoke.
“Any word from Yonghyeon?”
Almost simultaneously with his question, a messenger rushed into the control room and bowed.
“Red smoke confirmed from the east! It’s the signal from Yonghyeon to begin the main operation.”
Emperor Lyda Aijin let out a trembling breath and straightened his back.
“It seems this will be a fight to see if we can hold out until Yonghyeon finishes his work.”
* * *
At the northern end of Harvadonia lies the Eternal Mountain Range, constantly surging and stretching.
The name of that dreadful land, shunned even by beasts, is the Mountains of Madness.
At the highest peak of that range, the Eternal Palace, built from the ruins of a charnel house, breathes silently.
Cheonsugung (Palace of Heavenly Hands).
Cheonsugung soared with a majesty befitting a monarch who commanded three thousand worlds, and with celestial beauty.
But unlike its outward beauty, its interior had transformed horribly.
In this eternal tomb, countless skeletons of unknown age lay scattered, and spiders everywhere were greedily crunching and devouring skulls.
Pale, long-limbed creatures with smooth, hairless bodies, blankly blinking a dozen eyes.
But in this world, beings in human guise were often more terrifying than such simple monsters.
「Uninvited guests, I see. This is the abode of the Great King; those who dare to trespass are punished by having their ankles severed, regardless of their status.」
Obunwi Rank 5, Namdongja Alquta, appeared, trailing an ominous and unsettling mist.
It was a mist like spiderwebs.
The lamplight was caught in that mist and could go no further, like moths trapped in a spiderweb, weakly flapping their wings.
「This is meaningless resistance. Surrender now. At this moment, your transgression might be judged by just one ankle.」
Namdongja took the form of a young boy, and unlike the exceedingly arrogant Shar'kas, he even gave off a polite impression.
But it was merely a difference in phrasing; his true nature, viewing humans as less than insects, would be no different.
Alquta’s mist even corrupted the air, making breathing difficult.
An astringent, disgusting, damp taste…
As that air entered my lungs, it felt like an unknown entity was clutching my insides.
“Alright, then!”
As my comrades scattered in five directions, Alquta was seen sighing in the mist.
「It seems it was a mistake to expect courtesy from trivial beings.」
Snap, the sound of fingers clicking.
The mist shivered and writhed like a living creature… then the surrounding landscape began to change.
Yes.
He’s changing the palace structure.
Just as Yeriserika said.
As the mist cleared, a portico adorned with dazzling decorations stretched forward.
Structures built not for humans but for gigantic monsters were so enormous, from pillars to flagstones, that one wanted to avert their eyes.
Searching such a place piece by piece was impossible.
“Come out, Rudyien.”
I shattered the rotating magic circle that had formed in my palm.
Butterflies of light, Rudyien, soared, scattering dazzling particles.
Their number, 127.
“Hurry, to the Abyssal Throne.”
The waiting time was a continuous stream of terror.
It could be heard…
Sometimes from far away.
Sometimes not far away.
The sound of something exploding, the scream of a tearing monster, the sound of something heavy falling…
Just as one sound was heard, snap, the structure of the palace changed with a click of fingers.
Snap.
At one point, I was moved into the space where a cornered Kasena was.
「You…」
Before my heart could even pound, Alquta snapped his fingers again, and the space changed once more.
「I smell Jawoonnyeo’s blood. I understand the whole story of this incident.」
Snap.
From then on, the palace structure began to twist into a labyrinth, confusing my mind.
Snap. Front became back, snap, top became bottom…
「This is the space the King entrusted to me.」
Damn it. This Namdongja, he’s trying to drive me out of the palace.
Sweat poured like rain.
Hurry, Rudyien. Please hurry.
The moment the seal’s chamber closes, all our efforts will be in vain.
「Nothing can exist here without my permission!」
Snap.
Now I had to move my body too.
A fresco depicting spiders weaving countless humans into webs and devouring them alive rushed into view.
The entire palace was moving like a living creature to expel foreign matter.
Snap.
Hurry.
Hurry.
Hurry quickly.
Snap.
I saw one Rudyien flying from afar, but as soon as I did, the space changed again.
Is this the basement…?
It was a pitch-dark space, so the Rudyien that landed on my shoulder, cutting through the darkness, was exceptionally vivid.
「What are you plotting here?」
Snap.
Again, the sound of fingers clicking.
As the space changed again, I was automatically separated from the Rudyien sitting next to me.
「Ah, the purpose is unclear, but I suppose isolating you from that wicked sorcery will suffice.」
Just like an ancient noble, his intuition is excellent…
But I won.
What the Rudyien found was a spatial coordinate. The coordinate of the space where the King’s secret chamber is located.
“Rudyien, open the portal!”
As the dimensional space opened, a welcome face appeared in the newly changed space.
“Rain?”
Miria, her face flushed from running in a hurry, was exhaling white breath.
「A dimensional portal? Oh, no!」
After the battle with Zernix, I had been studying dimensional magic to maximize the power of Bell Quirius.
“Did you find the location?”
Now that the spatial coordinates were so clearly identified, traversing a short distance was no problem.
And Yeriserika had said.
There was only one room Alquta could not control: the Spider Monarch’s secret chamber.
The passage leading to the secret chamber could be freely controlled and its door closed, but the inner space itself could not be manipulated.
Before Alquta could twist space again, I threw myself into the opened dimension. To be precise, I was pushed.
Pushed by Miria, who amplified her leg strength at that moment to instantly close the distance…
A sensation like sinking into a lukewarm swamp engulfed my entire body.
As I emerged from that disgusting feeling, a vast space unfolded, overwhelming my vision.
The ancient king’s throne room.
Pillars with a circumference that would require thirty men to join hands stretched high to a roof whose end was not visible.
“Miria, why did you follow me!”
“What do you mean, why! I’m speechless, were you really planning to go alone?”
“Well…”
“If you die, I die too.”
At the far end, where those pillars stretched out in an orderly pair, the spider-leg throne was visible.
From the high, distant backrest of the throne, spider legs writhed like living creatures, truly disgusting.
And embedded in that backrest were three swords, glowing with light.
“This isn’t the time for bickering. Let’s go.”
As we ran side by side towards the throne, Miria murmured blankly.
“Sharillion…?”
Shirpen seemed even more impressed than Miria, exhaling a breath more intense than usual.
“Sharillion?”
“The True Holy Sword Sharillion! All twelve supreme holy swords currently used by the Faequarious are imitations of the True Holy Sword. And Shirpen is a replica of Sharillion.”
“What about the other two?”
“Probably… the longsword is Libelden, and the tachi is Galadriel. They were the holy swords used by Alchaios, the foremost hero. He’s said to have used two himself.”
Did Karenden use three True Holy Swords as sealing wedges…?
Have I really done something irreversible?
No, no. The Obunwi are already waking up. It was only a matter of time.
“Miria, step back.”
After wiping my trembling hands, cold with sweat, on my clothes several times, I clasped my hands together and confronted the truth.
“Asura Silhongyeong (Asura's Soul-Shattering Mirror).”
Again, light formed a magnificent shape, brilliantly illuminating the darkness.
A three-headed dragon descended, completely clearing the gloom of the secret chamber.
By interpreting the seal formation with Bell Quirius, I absorbed Karenden’s knowledge into my mind.
“Asura, pull out the wedges!”
The moment Asura grasped the hilts of Sharillion, Libelden, and Galadriel, suddenly the language of the gods unfolded before my eyes, complexly layered in three parts.
[Identifying identity…]
[MT-0, Lord Karenden. Confirmed.]
- Transferring control authority of the logical system.
As soon as that language appeared, a flash erupted, and sparks flew from Asura’s sword-wielding hand.
Asura let out a painful roar, but he had already pulled the three swords from the backrest.
The instant the holy swords were drawn from the throne.
Kiri-ri-rik…
The sealing array began to rotate precisely, as if a lock were being opened with a key.
Simultaneously, a disgusting, pitch-black mist surged from the gaps where the holy swords had been embedded.
It was such intense heat that it would instantly melt flesh, had Asura not enveloped Miria and me.
And the gap.
The physical gap had, at some point, transformed into a dimensional rift.
The rift slowly grew, now reaching the high ceiling of the palace.
Ah, that madness.
That ruler of primal frenzy.
A transcendent being that blurs all light to a hazy blur, making even darkness and mist prostrate themselves.
Is it awakening from a thousand years of slumber to return to this world again!
I felt Miria’s clasped hand trembling violently.
Perhaps it was my trembling.
As we both gasped for breath, we felt the vast presence pressing down on our entire bodies.
Clank, clank, clank, clank, clank…!
With the sound of chains breaking, the first thing to burst from the rift was a leg.
I don’t know if it could be called a leg, but at first glance, it was a spider leg, yet its form was made of people.
It was a nightmarish shape of thousands of people interwoven into one, writhing disgustingly like insects, emitting groans.
Gurgle…
Corpses, skeletons, and the half-dead, who had transcended eternal ages from the universe's graveyard, oozed out stickily.
Ah, panic rages, madness explodes, terror boils.
My breathing twists.
All the hairs on my body stand on end.
Shirpen emitted an explosively hostile light, yet even that light seemed faint against the overwhelming darkness.
The forgotten king, with legends of having destroyed the entire world, was tearing open the deck of his seal and returning to his throne.
Before that absolute terror.
I clasped my hands together again. I was clasping my hands and praying. Earnestly, desperately.
Now, here, let this battle, this hundred-year journey of my life, end.
“Rain, something’s wrong!”
It was at that very moment.
The dimension at our feet tore open, and countless spiderwebs surged up like snakes.
“!”
Immediately, I made Asura’s light cut through those spiderwebs, but no, what is this…?
I couldn’t believe my eyes.
As soon as they were cut, both ends stuck together again, as if a wound was healing.
This is… ultra-fast regeneration?
Impossible.
Spiderwebs with ultra-fast regeneration?
In a moment of panic, I tried to push Miria away, and Miria also tried to push me away. That resulted in both of us clasping hands.
The same judgment in a moment of crisis…
Before I could finish that thought, the spiderwebs wrapped around our bodies and Asura, pulling us down into the dimensional rift.
* * *
「My joy is boundless to see my Lord, Your Majesty, again.」
Namdongja Alquta courteously, and with such elegance, knelt on one knee and paid his respects.
「This humble servant was inadequate, and the throne room has been defiled, so please punish this disloyalty.」
The devil’s gaze, which caressed the dimension and the pathetic moonlight, causing them to tremble, landed on Alquta.
Above the head of the hideous monstrosity, emitting terrible groans, a human form emerged.
More elegant, beautiful, and resplendent than even the ancient nobles, it was Ashron, the one who devours worlds.
「You worked hard pretending to be swayed by the foolishness of the scoundrels, Alquta.」
Alquta bowed his head even lower.
「Everything is as my Lord, Your Majesty, foretold. This servant merely acted according to your words.」
「Where are the other trifles?」
「It seems there is a sorcerer wielding the Abyss. They opened a space and fled far away.」
「And Jawoon?」
「Following Your Lord’s will, Husin-gyeong is currently leading the army to conquer the blasphemous wall.」
Ashron’s lips curled into a satisfied smile. Even in that expression, a celestial beauty dwelled.
「Now, let us begin again. The feast of frenzy. I shall once again dye the three thousand worlds with my color.」