〈 Chapter 328 〉 Gathering (1)
*
The Ashen Tower, which had been engulfed in shadows, was once again swallowed by flames. Fierce fires burned away the shadows and opened a path into the interior of the tower. The role of the flames did not stop there.
Tick, tick.
The Ashen flames flickered.
Sparks jumped up and began to blink as they met ash. Immediately after, a roaring sound erupted along with a blinding flash that painted the area white.
BOOMMM!
The ground shook from the roaring thunder that followed the flash.
The plaza where the Ashen Tower stood trembled, and the roads that stretched from the plaza to the entire Royal Capital shook as well.
Gulp.
Even the knights holding back the beasts, the beasts clawing at their shields, and the betrayers commanding them all came to a halt. Frozen in place, they raised their heads to gaze at the same spot.
The Ashen Tower.
That tower, which had stood alongside the kingdom’s history for ages, was now burning. The flames enveloping the Ashen Tower began from below the ground and reached up to the high sky above.
A straight line of flames connecting the earth to the sky.
Those flames served as a signal and a beacon.
…Since ancient times, flames have been regarded as sacred, burning evil. While it’s not that flames inherently possess holiness, people have come to see fire as sacred when it illuminates darkness.
It’s the same now.
Flames devouring the shadows cast over the tower.
The knights felt a sense of sanctity from the brilliant flames soaring into the sky. The flames flickered in the eyes of the knights gazing at the inferno.
A hero stands with us.
The beacon of counterattack has ignited.
The knights let out war cries and charged at the beasts. The tide of battle began to turn. And the flames did not only touch the knights nearby.
Those far away, seeking the path ahead.
For the heroes who will lead the next generation, the beacon became their guide. Come this way. Here lies the enemy you must face. Following the beacon’s guidance, they moved.
2.
Deep within the underground tunnels, teeming with beasts.
Hounds leaped into the place where betrayers gathered, sending beasts up to the surface and creating new ones. The blades of the Hounds glimmered ominously in the darkness.
A place where no gaze reaches.
The Hounds began to deal with the betrayers who had turned against the royal family in the dark. And at the forefront stood one man.
Kalt, the Guarder.
The knight who had risen to superhuman status drew his sword.
Swish, the sound of the blade vibrating resonated quietly through the underground tunnel. The busy Hounds all came to a standstill. They silently took a few steps back.
They were unnecessary in a place where a superhuman would dash about.
As they stepped back, Kalt took a single step forward as if he’d been waiting. With a light sound, his steps echoed, and in an instant, Kalt’s figure vanished.
Whoosh.
Sliding smoothly, Kalt reached the end of the underground tunnel. The betrayers, startled by the sudden appearance of Kalt behind them, could not dare turn their heads. They had no choice.
Huff.
Kalt lightly swung his sword.
Blood splattered into the air from the blade’s tip. Moments later, a silvery-white streak appeared along the path Kalt had passed, the trajectory of his sword.
SWOOSH!
Beasts, betrayers, and even flowing streams of water were all severed. Blood sprayed everywhere. Kalt pointed the tip of his sword at the corpses.
“Dispose of them.”
As the Hounds drove stakes into the hearts of the reviving betrayers, Kalt sliced through the bars of the underground tunnels and emerged above ground.
The beasts loitered.
The stench of the beasts wafted through the air.
The smell brought to mind the battlefield, spreading through the streets. Familiarity shouldn’t be felt in this place, yet it did. Kalt narrowed his eyes at that realization.
Swish.
He reestablished his stance.
In the moment he prepared to unleash the swift blade learned from the Sword Master Kuntel, the ground stood shaking beneath him. Immediately after, a thunderous roar erupted.
Kalt lifted his head.
A pillar of fire appeared in the heart of the Royal Capital.
The moment he saw it, a smile crept onto Kalt’s face.
There was only one person he knew who could pull off such a crazy stunt. With a smile still on his lips, Kalt tightened his grip on his sword.
He began to run, swinging his sword.
Slicing through the beasts, Kalt raced towards the call of his senior. The silvery-white blade crossed the beast-filled Royal Capital.
*
Beasts simultaneously emerged in the Royal Capital.
The Apuria Academy could not escape the appearance of beasts either. As the beasts sprang up from below the ground, the faculty members were terrified and moved to protect the students, but…
The students of Apuria were not weak enough to need such protection. The faculty member who ran to the dormitory found the beasts that had been slaughtered and left abandoned.
At the center stood a boy.
Wiping off blood, with an axe dropped beside him.
Lac von Grace, the Warrior of the North.
Behind him stood students from the Battle Magic Department. Under the sudden beast assault, they remained calm. Instead, as if testing the fruits of their training, the students were tearing the beasts apart with their bare hands.
They stepped outside the dormitory.
Brushing past the bewildered faculty members, they began hunting the beasts roaming around Apuria. Though the betrayers blocked their path… they only met their end against the axe swung by Lac.
‘They fight so well.’
The stunned faculty members and knights stationed in Apuria couldn’t believe their eyes. While Lac’s performance stood out, the students following him were not lacking in battling the beasts either.
Utilizing battle magic based on martial arts.
They ripped apart the jaws of a charging beast and smashed its back with spells. Thus, they trampled down the collapsed beasts, ensuring their defeat one by one.
‘What on earth…?’
The knights found their movements astonishing.
As if they had experienced all this before, the students’ motions were skillful. They moved like the knights of the battlefield.
Unable to hold back his astonishment, one knight asked a faculty member indirectly.
“What on earth are those kids learning…?”
Amidst the naturally expected question, Lac charged at the betrayer commanding the beasts. In one blow, he smashed its head, and in the next, he tore apart the betrayer’s heart that allowed for regeneration.
Covered in blood, Lac surged forth.
Heat.
A red glow trailed behind him.
Lac threw himself into the mass of beasts.
Then, he began to wildly swing his axe.
WHACK, CRUNCH. CRUNCH!
Lac, showcasing movement more beastly than the beasts themselves, started butchering them. His movements had already surpassed those of an ordinary student. They were on par with seasoned knights of the battlefield.
Galatric Bite.
First Style of Grace, Initial Killing.
The surrounding air rippled, and the corpses of the beasts scattered into the sky. Flesh fell as if it were raining. Engulfed by pouring blood, Lac leapt once more into a different group of beasts.
Movement close to superhuman.
Utilizing extraordinary senses, limited future sight, and near-superhuman physical capabilities, Lac massacred the beasts. While he was engaged in slaughter, a shock reverberated through the ground, causing Lac to lift his head towards a distant view.
The pillar of fire soared.
As he gazed at the flames, Lac let out a Huff and shook off the flesh and blood clinging to his axe. He couldn’t explain why, but he felt a strong urge that it called to him.
Lac moved his steps towards the fire.
He wasn’t the only one who received the signal.
“…That’s…”
The shadow sorcerer Belnoa, facing the betrayers in front of the Black Tower, saw the same thing as Lac. The flames beckoned to him. He instinctively felt that he had to go that way.
[Come, my contractor.]
Borrowing the power of the primordial god, Belnoa’s fingers became covered in scales. With a dry wind, Belnoa walked forth. Beside him was Chloe, leading radiant light.
“I have something I must do.”
Princess Ayla, the Fourth Princess, moved alone, leaving her escort behind.
“Your Highness! That way is dangerous…!”
An anxious escort tried to dissuade her, but Ayla simply nodded her finger and subdued the betrayers with ease.
Stella, the girl blessed by the stars.
Stella dominated the flow around her.
Under her domain, there were very few mages able to manipulate mana, and Ayla, whose talent had blossomed, commanded everything within her area.
The beasts faltered.
The betrayers bled and collapsed.
Every time she took a step forward, those who entered her domain kneeled and bowed their heads. Truly a fitting ability for a ruler. Ayla moved towards the blazing pillar, subjugating all in her sight.
Gathering.
Those who had grown in their own ways, responding to a single signal, converged towards the heart of the Royal Capital.
Heroes gather.
*
A radiant glow was coming together.
A brilliant light gathered toward this place.
The Braver at the very top of the Ashen Tower frowned as he observed it.
…For the event of this day, the Braver had calculated countless factors. From the highest point of the Royal Capital, he assessed the forces at play and forecasted the timing of the heroes’ movements and their ranges.
He eliminated variables one by one.
He had been lying in wait for the perfect timing.
The only variable that existed was the Ashen Mage, and he was certain that with Skebal holding onto that variable, there would be no other factors involved. He firmly believed he could achieve his long-cherished wish.
The plan was perfect.
The calculations were also flawless.
The betrayers’ forces couldn’t be thwarted by the knights alone, and even if the mages of the tower joined, they couldn’t prevent some time from being lost. And that was sufficient.
Drawing it out was all that mattered.
As time stretched, the beasts would expand their damage, and the screams of those bitten by the beasts would accelerate the completion of the spell. The completion of the spell would come quicker, and soon, the Royal Capital would be engulfed in darkness.
That was the Braver’s plan.
The calculations he had built for this plan were not wrong. When he based his calculations on the time he abandoned Izak a year ago, they had matched perfectly.
However, now was not a year ago.
Only a year had passed, yet… within the Royal Capital, an unforeseen variable had arisen. The Braver watched the glowing light coming together here.
The knight who had risen to superhuman status.
The Warrior of the North who wielded the First Holy Sword.
The sorcerer who contracted with the primordial god.
A hero who bore two starlights.
A child of the stars, independent from the stars.
And the Braver turned to look behind him.
The girl who should have been bound in shadows was tearing those shadows away. Seeing the girl with the eyes of a god, the Braver burst into laughter.
“How absurd.”
It had only been a year.
Having calculated for so long, yet… in just a year, the variables that emerged disrupted the Braver’s plan. The chessboard he had been setting up was overturned. With the board flipped over, the Braver did not despair.
Instead, he laughed.
In the face of a reversal he had never anticipated, the variables that occurred in a time frame inconsequential compared to centuries, were a ridiculous joke, and this laughable situation made him break into a grin.
“I never expected it. How could I? In just a year or so, so many variables would arise… Who could have predicted that?”
To the Braver, it was a fleeting moment.
Yet to anyone who had spent their dwindling years, it felt like an eternity. That relative time plunged what had been a certain future into a labyrinth.
Now, even the Braver could not predict the outcome.
Gazing down at the uncertain future, the Braver looked below. There stood a single mage. Clutching a charred skull in her hand, she lifted her head. Looking at the Braver.
Her blue eyes mixed with ashes gleamed.
She slowly raised her arm, pointing her fingertip at the Braver. A smile twisted at her lips as she laughed.
“Wait for me.”
Here I come.
A chill ran down his spine.
The Braver felt a shiver creep up his spine.
In the distant past, the Grand Magus had looked at him with such eyes. Skipping through centuries, the will of ash that appeared here made the Braver applaud.
Yes, Raniel van Trias.
The damned magician who inherits the will of ash.
It’s you alone.
You alone create the variables in all things.
You who have eyes like mine.
The Braver’s lips stretched into a wide grin.
“Come and visit.”
Guide the variables you’ve created, and come to me.
Try and thwart my plan.
I will wait for you here.
*
