Book 9 Chapter 23
Chapter 222
As I watch Valensidis and Obin grow close on their journey to Solondro, memories from the distant past naturally surface.
Obin reminds me of Tureina.
He was the first to get up and check the bonfire, and he helped the night watch (Rain, Miria, and Valensidis took turns) prepare food.
“Ah, breakfast is ready.”
Then he diligently learned magic, never leaving Valensidis’s side. He didn't have prodigious talent, but his earnestness was evident.
“Find the answer using a quadratic function.”
Isn’t the most rewarding moment for a teacher seeing their student’s earnestness?
Valensidis, who always seemed to wear a mask, smiled more freely.
Just as I did in my past.
“Look, Nen. Doesn't the atmosphere feel good?”
“Aruu.”
As I watched them with Setsunen, Miria, who had approached me at some point, asked,
“Why do you have that expression again?”
Miria bit her lip, seemingly hesitant, then let out a light breath and looked straight at me.
“I think I should tell you about the letter Lista left behind, after all.”
That stream of thought of memory was torn apart by an ominous wave.
Dark blue ripples swept low through the city, and then a pillar of thought surged skyward from the palace.
It’s the same as 300 years ago, Neigalas’s power is awakening… Cold sweat beaded on my forehead.
‘Has Rigwind’s barrier disappeared?’
The ground trembled as if to collapse.
Shifting strata.
Structures collapsing from both sides, covering the main roads, intertwining and increasing the chaos.
“The Taeseongjin is about to activate.”
“Run instead of talking!”
It was a disaster, yet the reactions of the Bara citizens and soldiers were subtle.
They stared blankly into space with unfocused eyes, lips moving as they hummed a melody.
A melody identical to the one flowing from Neigalas’s pillar of light, imbued with primeval evil.
“If that activates, Obin’s younger sibling…”
At Miria’s mumble, Obin clutched the Cheonpasikjeok tightly and trembled.
What exactly was happening inside the palace was unknown, but it was clear we had to hurry.
If that power fully awakened, those at the center of the magic circle would be the first to be consumed by the abyss.
‘I wish something would help us hurry…’
The structure standing in front shimmered like a mirage, then its middle broke with the sound of glass shattering.
‘Yes, as expected, you’ve come.’
The moment I clenched my right hand, dozens of chains of Jesose Rannyeon deployed.
The chains became the steel frames of the collapsing structure, preventing its collapse. They protected the dazed citizens from falling debris.
At the same time, I pulled out Shalesarum’s dragon scale from Seresia’s subspace pouch and threw it to Valensidis.
“I’m counting on you, Valensidis.”
We had decided beforehand that if Lista attacked first, we would do this.
—So let’s stop each other.
Among the three of us, I was the only one who could face Lista.
—Let’s help him not commit evil.
Because I was the only one who could and had to keep the promise made with Lista.
—Let’s give his soul rest. So that his soul may reach the embrace of the gods.
Valensidis is skilled at infiltration.
He would be able to transport Shalesarum’s dragon scale to the center of the magic circle without engaging Ellamas in direct combat.
It was also a plan Valensidis had proposed first. From my perspective, it was a proposal I could only describe as grateful.
“Go, now!”
I yelled at Obin, who hesitated for a moment. Now is the time to steady our trembling hearts.
You, and me too.
The enemy we face is not the real Lista. Lista is already dead; that is merely a manipulated husk.
“You’ve come, Lista.”
It was impossible to think so resolutely.
The moment I saw the swordsman with white hair fluttering, walking out of the dust, Lista’s old smile overlapped on that cold face.
Even if I didn’t want it to.
No.
Perhaps, or probably, I had unconsciously wished for this reunion my whole life.
—I am Lista Alter Schurpang! A Faequarier belonging to the Mad Dragon Orthodox Church.
So.
So now.
I must change my approach. I must set my mindset anew.
“Let’s put an end to this now.”
A smile, joyful yet sad, welcoming yet bitter, formed naturally on my lips.
“The one that has lasted for 300 years.”
I slowly inhaled to compose all that joy, sorrow, welcome, and bitterness.
As I gently traced the air with my fingertips, *hwal-reuk*, dragon flames shaped into a staff, settling comfortably in my grasp.
And so, I aimed Lista’s teachings of spear martial arts at Lista, and said to the long-dead Lista, and to myself:
“To our story.”
We.
In our destiny.
Perhaps there was no other way for us to meet again than this.
“Mental Construct, Flowing World-Honored One: Blazing Thunderfire (流量世尊 : 彰明雷火).”
* * *
‘Demon Sword is…’
Miria felt the broken sword at her waist pulse continuously.
‘Does the Demon Slayer want me to fight Lord Lista now…?’
No, it wants me to give him rest. And maybe it wants me to help Rain.
As an old comrade who was like family.
But I have my mission. Rain must have told me to do this.
—Miria.
Is it because a fragment of Lista’s soul truly remains in my soul that I care so much about him?
No, it’s not because of that.
Unlike him, I don’t even have Lista’s memories. The reason I started caring about him is…
—You don’t have to cry anymore.
As Miria clenched her lips to compose herself, Valensidis, who was running ahead, said,
“Go.”
“What?”
“Even if you deceive Ellamas and deactivate the magic circle, that’s where it ends. We can’t defeat Sasas with our strength.”
“We have to try…”
“I don’t even need to try to know. This is a realistic judgment. It would be better if he finishes off the hero quickly and joins us. And you smell like goblins, which will hinder infiltration.”
“This is really…”
Perhaps that moment was the first and last time the two exchanged smiles as comrades.
“Obin, go and wait first! I’ll bring that idiot over soon!”
Even though he must have been in the most urgent situation, Obin smiled brightly and nodded.
Miria immediately stomped her heel on the ground, braking her sprint.
As the road pavement beneath her feet scorched and smoke rose, she turned around and ran back.
‘I’m coming now, Rain.’
I’m not going because I’m Lista and you’re Rain. This choice right now is solely…
“Fake, fake, fake.”
At that moment, a warm… and for some reason, heartbreakingly affectionate voice descended upon Miria’s head.
“Pipi?”
Pipi flapped her wings in response to Miria’s question. She must have flown with all her might, as she looked visibly exhausted.
“Rain, Rain, Rain needs, Rain.”
“It’s Rain, not Lin.”
Miria drew the Demon Sword from its scabbard.
A cold thread flowed into the hand holding the hilt, spreading throughout her body.
Strength and reflexes were abnormally amplified. Simultaneously, a fierce sword aura, crimson, enveloped the broken blade.
“Right, Pipi?”
Miria winked her left eye at Pipi, who had settled on her shoulder. Just like Lista used to do.
Miria had never gotten close to Pipi after their first meeting. She hadn’t even tried. She felt a strange and bothersome sense of unease.
Pipi probably felt a similar unease and kept her distance from Miria… but now.
“Genuine, genuine, genuine.”
Pipi rubbed her beak against Miria’s cheek. It was an act of affection only shown to Rain.
“By the way, Pipi, your arrival means…!”
* * *
‘Was it a misjudgment?’
No, rather, this turned out well.
Valensidis continuously swung Kashashur, leaping across dimensions.
He dodged paths blocked by collapse and the remnants of the Dawn Brigade, but even that soon reached its limit.
“This time I tossed it, it came up… heads. Ha, want a prophecy? From now on, every arrow I shoot will hit its mark.”
Katfim’s numbers 1 and 2.
The spirits of fairies (英雄) who appeared, blocking the path to the royal palace.
Only two warriors stood on the wide road, but a pressure like a towering mountain crushed his shoulders.
‘Fell, known as the heretic of the fairy warriors.’
Fairy warriors, who considered spears and shields as warrior virtues, scorned ranged weapons like bows, deeming them cowardly.
“Hold on tight, Obin.”
Fell had achieved enormous renown across the continent as a master archer. He might have been respected by humans, but he was despised by fairies.
“This is the first hurdle.”
Fell was formidable, but nothing compared to the being standing beside him. A terror that spontaneously made one’s breath catch.
‘Ellamas’s Paladin, Snir…’
Arrows curving erratically in unnatural trajectories pursued him relentlessly, even when he embraced Obin and leaped across dimensions.
“This archery is simply…”
Beyond the greatest archer of humanity?
And the moment his gaze was momentarily distracted trying to avoid the interception, Snir’s spear shaft, which had moved behind him at some point, flew at him.
Uttering a final greeting in the elven language.
“You may resent me, prince of the fallen kingdom.”
Would that have been the end?
The spear shaft would have pierced Valensidis’s shoulder blade and then Obin’s neck beyond.
If only the spear carrying immense mass that flew in then—if it could even be called a spear—hadn’t bounced off.
“…!”
Snir’s eyebrows, which rarely showed change, shot up.
The spear that had perfectly deflected his spear shaft… was a massive weapon that one might wonder if it could even be wielded.
The spearman who appeared, clad head to toe in black armor that dully reflected the faint sunlight, was Bart.
“Go, Valensidis!”
Next, Fell’s arrow, which was about to pierce Valensidis’s chest, was shot down by another arrow that suddenly flew in.
“Hmm?”
He intercepted my arrow?
Fell tilted his head, seemingly dumbfounded and with a hurt pride.
Three flashes of pure blue light flew at Fell in quick succession.
“Go quickly while you have the chance!”
Rain’s voice awakened in Valensidis’s heart, returning from the brink of death.
—He’s not *my* comrade. He’s *our* comrade, isn’t he?
Did he say that with an expression that knew everything, and did he also know this would happen?
How interesting.
His emotional reaction to the sudden situation lasted only a moment; it was time to return to his realistic self.
‘Realistically, it’s impossible.’
It would only be possible for the two of them to hold back those spirits and clear a path if their skill surpassed Snir and Fell.
They would only buy a little time and eventually be caught from behind… Should I fight here with them then?
Just then, Obin suddenly leaped forward. Grabbing a stick that had fallen to the ground.
“…?!”
Clutching that stick between his legs, and chanting a spell with his lips.
With clumsy pronunciation and a stutter, yet the spell manifested exactly what Valensidis had taught him.
Soon, power surged into the staff, lifting his body high into the sky. Obin looked down at Valensidis and shouted,
“Sky, it’s the sky, teuddeungni-iiim!”
The moment he saw that, the moment he heard those words, a thrill of emotion pierced Valensidis’s head.
“Obin…”
Fell clicked his tongue, immediately shooting ten arrows into the sky.
“No, how is that mute flying like a witch?”
Six were shot down by Rem, but four began to pursue him…
Before them, Valensidis, who had already ascended to the sky, opened a dimension and blew them into another space.
Valensidis and Obin exchanged glances for a fleeting moment, just a moment. Valensidis shouted,
“Let’s go, Obin!”
Choosing to pass through the sky might not be suitable for infiltration as it draws attention, but it would be the most appropriate choice for escaping this space right now.
Looking at his student’s profile, who had reached that conclusion even before him.
His flight was still clumsy and imperfect, but he was not falling behind, not faltering, moving forward. Watching his student’s retreating figure.
—Take on a student, Valensidis.
He realized he was smiling.
A luxurious emotion, which he had never shed once since killing his master 14 years ago, believed he should never shed, and would never shed in his lifetime.
It was reawakening in the center of his chest.
—It will surely be an experience more valuable than anything else in your life.
Obin and Valensidis passed directly over the city, heading towards the inner palace where the abyss’s pillar of light grew steadily more intense.
Towards the Asahat Mausoleum where Princess Obira was playing the ocarina.
The young princess played the ocarina without ceasing, now with only the final movement left. Sweat and saliva rained down.
Unaware that Regent Predal, who had fallen for the sweet talk of abdicating the throne and become a follower of Ellamas, was turning into a primitive being.
As all the humans present transformed grotesquely, singing bizarre songs, Ellamas alone smiled contentedly.
“Obiraaaaa!”
Obin almost leaped from the sky, tackling Obira and interrupting the performance that was about to conclude.
He embraced his sister, whom he had reunited with after several years, carefully with both hands and rolled on the mausoleum’s lawn.
After the rotational inertia stopped, Obira blinked blankly.
Recognizing the voice and scent of her only remaining family, she began to sob.
The smile vanished from Ellamas’s lips.
‘How did that—?’
What are those incompetent fools doing? They sent that mute prince here?
‘To break Rigwind’s barrier, the voluntary will of royalty is needed, but if this happens…’
That momentary confusion was Valensidis’s plan.
From Ellamas’s blind spot, Valensidis landed in the center of the Taeseongjin and pulled Shalesarum’s dragon scale from his pocket.
At that moment, the crimson true dragon’s scale began to burn more fiercely than any flame in this world.
“It’s all over.”
Transcendental flames spread throughout the entire magic circle, burning away the ominous and wicked inscriptions within it.
“The mute human prince you so despised has won.”