N/T: Translation made by our friend 'Irving'. A big round of applause for him :)
Chapter 669
"Your Majesty!"
"...What are you saying?"
"You, you insult God! What is the meaning of this?"
"Why are your eyes black...?"
The high priests and executives of the kingdom trembled as they saw the king's black pupils.
"You're not surprised."
King Baurun ignored the priests glaring at Raon and smiled gently at Raon. A dark aura was slowly rising from his shoulders.
"Did you know from the beginning?"
"I wasn’t completely sure."
Raon shook his head as he looked at the grotesquely twisted eyes of king Baurun.
"I just suspected it after hearing from Sir Hopen."
He pointed to Hopen, who was teary-eyed, unable to believe the transformation of his father.
"What did he say?"
King Baurun stroked his chin as if curious.
"He said you were too grief-stricken to do anything for a while after Sir Biten’s death. It doesn’t make sense that someone who loves his sons so much would send his youngest on a dangerous mission without proper investigation."
Raon calmly closed and opened his eyes.
"Moreover, instead of being relieved that your youngest son returned safely, you kept giving me empty words of thanks."
King Baurun didn't summon Hopen for a private conversation, nor did he discipline the intelligence department for their sloppy investigation.
These were not actions a father who lost three sons would take.
"That means there was something more important than your sons, or you had undergone a significant mental change, or both."
Raon continued with conviction.
"Sending troops to the distant Divarun mountain without a proper investigation was also to prevent Zieghart from intervening, wasn't it?"
"Ha..."
King Baurun lightly tapped his forehead.
"That's correct. You’ve seen right through me."
He nodded, showing a faint smile to his remaining son. His gaze was a bizarre mix of warmth and coldness.
"I’m regretful that my impatience, driven by the nearing grand plan, showed so plainly. I wanted to see your surprised face."
King Baurun nodded, showing no sign of panic. He admitted his role in this calmly.
"Father... Is it really you...?"
Hopen trembled as if he still couldn’t believe it.
"Fuck you!"
Saintess Olga gritted her teeth so hard it seemed they might break.
"I didn’t believe it! Not until the end! Why are you doing this?!"
Tears welled up in her eyes, contradicting her fierce gaze.
"What, what is going on here?"
Kinear bit his lip as he touched his gauntlet.
"Why are you talking as if his majesty is the culprit?!"
He shouted, glaring at King Baurun.
"You two still don't understand me."
King Baurun nodded calmly as he looked at Olga and Kinear in turn.
"I love our kingdom more than my own life."
He pointed to the kingdom, which was slowly being engulfed in darkness.
"But I realized something after becoming king. This vast kingdom is as fragile as a paper castle, easily destroyed by a mere gesture from someone."
"What do you mean...?"
"My first son was killed by a demon from the Black Tower on his second mission. They say he was chewed up without a single bone left. My second son was torn apart by an Iron Blood Ogre from Eden while on a holy mission. Even though my two beloved sons were killed, I couldn't complain. Why?"
King Baurun’s lips twisted into a sinister smile.
"Because God doesn't want revenge. And more importantly, because I can't take revenge! In front of those monsters, the Five Demons, this kingdom is no different from a castle made of paper!"
Blood-black as the night trickled from his lips.
"I prayed. I wouldn't cry for revenge, I would erase my anger. Instead, I prayed countless times for them not to take my children anymore. But..."
A chuckle escaped from King Baurun’s blackened lips.
"The priests, the holy knights, and the innocent people continued to die at the hands of villains. And then, my third son died in Barene while you were there. He was drained of blood by the White Blood Religion leader. I can’t even imagine how much pain he must have endured, how sorrowful he must have felt."
"..."
Raon couldn't say anything, having witnessed Biten's death right before his eyes.
"I wanted revenge. I wanted to drain every drop of their blood as retribution. But I couldn’t. God didn’t wish for revenge, and I didn't have the ability to take it. Then I finally realized."
King Baurun laughed as he looked at the increasingly dim sky.
"Ah! There is no such thing as God in this world. The one I prayed to and begged to was a fucking bastard!"
"F-father..."
Hopen’s lips trembled as he heard Baurun’s distorted laughter.
"Your Majesty..."
Kinear gritted his teeth, still unable to believe it.
"So I grasped the hand of the darkness that approached. Unlike that deaf God, it answered my call immediately."
Baurun clasped his hands. The demonic energy gathering in his palms spread across the kingdom.
"You’re the deaf one!"
Olga stood in front of Baurun, shouting furiously.
"How could you, after everything we did to protect you, you..."
She glared at Baurun with eyes filled more with anguish than malice.
"Saintess. No, Olga."
Baurun looked at the saintess and gave a smile that seemed to shatter the holy power.
"You are the noblest person in this kingdom. But you are too kind."
"Shut up!"
"I will kill the foolish God who quickly takes away people like you. Soon... hmm?"
He nodded calmly, then suddenly stopped.
"What is this?"
He frowned as he saw the demonic energy, rising to form a barrier, suddenly stop.
"I'm sure all the holy artifacts and holy water were removed?"
He touched his fingertips, puzzled by the cessation of the demonic energy.
"We made preparations."
Raon gestured towards the bottom of the tower, indicating the holy knights and the Light Wind swordsmen who were suppressing the demonic energy on the walls with holy artifacts and holy water.
"So that we can stop whoever joins hands with the demons."
"Ha, I've heard that the Dragon Slayer's true weapons are not swords, but his tongue and his cunning mind. I didn't know it would be true."
Baurun didn’t lose his composure, even as he saw the Light Wind swordsmen blocking the demonic energy.
"But all you can do is buy time."
When he clasped his hands together, the demonic energy burning in his palms floated into the air and began to spread over the entire kingdom.
Boom!
Raon gritted his teeth and used the Supreme Harmony Steps. He leaped into the sky where the demonic energy had risen, drawing Heavenly Drive and the Blade of Requiem.
But the demonic energy that Baurun unleashed was so potent that he couldn’t completely block it. The sinister demonic energy descended on the north, east, and south, except the west.
Crash!
Monsters wreathed in black flames emerged from the demonic energy that struck the ground, roaring fiercely.
"Oh..."
"Aaaah!"
"Monsters!"
"Save... Aaah!"
"Run! Get out of here... Urgh!"
The praying citizens were trampled or devoured by the monsters before they could escape.
"Ugh..."
"Please, save me!"
"Oh, God..."
The monsters, stronger and faster than ordinary ones, slaughtered the defenseless citizens of Schper mercilessly.
Their blood flowed into the white-hot ground, and the black flames burned even thicker.
"Stop this!"
"Baurun!"
Raon and Olga simultaneously charged toward king Baurun.
As the sharp blades and the holy infused fist aimed for his neck, a barrier of holy power and blue astral sphere blocked their path.
Boom!
A powerful shockwave shook the entire tower, and black mist rose.
In the midst of it, four eyes glowed. Not Baurun's, but priest Piren and the commander of the royal guard, Danieff.
It wasn’t just them. Four other high priests stood behind them.
"Priest Piren!"
Olga gritted her teeth as she looked into Piren’s calm eyes.
"Even you!"
She trembled more than when facing Baurun’s betrayal, her hands shaking with heartbreak.
"As expected..."
Raon twisted his lips as he clashed swords with Danieff.
"You were both in on it."
Hopen mentioned that priest Piren and commander of the royal guard Danieff had served king Baurun since childhood, and the three of them had almost always been together during the investigation of the Light Wind division.
Since they had been friends with King Baurun since childhood, there was no way they wouldn't have known about his change, so he had expected that they would be in this together.
"Huh?"
King Baurun raised his eyebrows as if he were surprised.
"I didn't expect you to read this far. But it's all over now."
As he clasped his hands together again, darkness rose from beneath his feet.
"We will leave now."
Darkness surged around king Baurun, and the floor of the tower they were standing on collapsed without warning.
"The next time we meet, I'll be a God."
King Baurun floated into the air and entered a black sphere. The high priest Piren, who followed him, no longer smiled, and Danieff remained silent.
"Huff..."
"Kyaaaaaa!"
"Save me!"
There were so many people on top of the tower, and many of them were priests with only holy power, so If left alone, nearly a hundred people would be killed or injured, falling on top of those below.
“Shit! Shit! Shiiit!”
Despite cursing, the saintess moved towards the people first. She spread her holy power thickly, creating a barrier to protect the falling people.
"Baurun!"
Kinear called out the king's name while catching the falling people.
"Whew."
Raon extended Heavenly Drive and the Blade of Requiem. He summoned the wind of the Light Wind Style and Garunua simultaneously, slowing the fall of the people.
With his focus heightened by using the Ring of Fire, he was able to rescue all the dozens of people who were falling without a single mistake.
However, King Baurun and his followers had already entered the black sphere and hidden themselves.
Wooooooong!
The sphere of demonic energy, as if to protect king Baurun, engulfed the entire tower and caused black flames to rise.
The pulsating, sinister flow of demonic magic energy was chilling.
"Raon."
Rimmer approached, his shoulders stained with black blood. It seemed he had already slain the monsters and made his way here.
"It turned out just as you said."
"Damn. I hoped it wouldn't..."
"Division leader..."
Burren, Martha, and Runaan sighed, their swords dripping with black blood.
"Division leader, the demonic energy is stronger than expected."
Mark Goetten grimaced, shaking the blood off his sword.
"It feels like the demonic energy is holding me back, making it hard to move properly."
He shook his head, unable to exert his full power.
"Even with holy artifacts and holy water, it only helps for a moment."
Dorian sighed, pointing to the holy artifacts taken from his belly pocket.
It is only natural.
Wrath nodded as he observed the faint black flames rising from the ground.
This appears to be a sacrificial ritual prepared from the Devildom. It's a barrier that restricts the body and mind to prevent the sacrifice from escaping.
'You should've told me that earlier.'
Raon frowned at Wrath.
How could the King of Essence have known about something prepared from the Devildom? If he had known that the one who made the contract with that idiot was a subordinate of that scoundrel, he would have stopped it sooner!
Wrath shook his head in regret.
'A sacrificial ritual...'
Raon narrowed his eyes, observing the demonic energy slowly covering the barrier of holy power. It wasn't breaking the barrier but gradually increasing the demonic energy power.
'This was his plan from the beginning.'
Since they had been praying and drawing holy power all day, from the outside, it would seem like they were still in the middle of the holy conference.
It was clear that the king was using this moment to strengthen himself by sacrificing the kingdom.
'And...'
A demon is also on the move.
Not the one who made the contract with king Baurun, but the demon he sensed when he first came here was moving.
The demon itself wasn't particularly strong, but fighting within this barrier would be challenging.
"I will erase the demonic energy."
Kinear drew his pure white sword. When he struck the ground with the blade that dispelled darkness, a clear light spread in all directions, starting to subdue the demonic energy.
"Ugh, this... this is stronger than I thought..."
Kinear's face turned pale. Even the holy power of the commander of holy knights, said to be the strongest among holy knights, couldn't completely suppress the demonic energy covering the wall and the ground.
"Pathetic."
The saintess placed her hand on Kinear's sword. A vast light sprouted from her small hand. It was as if a white mountain was rising from the center of the kingdom.
Kuwaaaa!
The enormous holy power subdued the demonic energy that had been burning in all directions.
“You can’t even do this?”
The saintess frowned at Kinear.
"Don't compare me to a monster like you."
Kinear gritted his teeth and shook his head.
"You can hold it, right?"
"You think I can't even do that?"
He furrowed his brows deeply, telling her to trust him.
"Hopen."
"Ah, y-yes..."
Hopen, standing blankly, trembled at Kinear's call.
"I give you the authority to command all the holy knights."
Kinear handed the holy knight's emblem he wore on his chest to Hopen.
"Exterminate the monsters."
"I, I..."
Hopen didn't take the emblem and swallowed dryly.
"It is unfair for a child to take responsibility for a parent's mistake. But..."
Raon approached Hopen, sighing briefly.
"Now is the time to accept that unfairness."
"...I understand."
Hopen bit his lip and accepted the emblem.
“The demon is moving.”
Raon raised his finger, looking at the Light Wind swordsmen.
“Stop it by any means necessary.”
“If the division leader asks so earnestly, we have to do it.”
"Don't worry and go up... there."
"Stop it at all costs."
"Finish it quickly and have ice cream."
Burren, Martha, and Runaan nodded reassuringly.
“I will do my best as well.”
Mark Goetten also nodded as if to say to trust him.
"So, as you said, your opponent is up there?"
Rimmer tapped the sword at his waist and smiled.
"Please take care of it."
"I'm going too. Even if I die, I'll beat those bastards to death first."
The saintess wiped the blood dripping from her mouth and raised her gaze. A new mark had appeared on her thigh from excessive use of holy power, melting her skin. It seemed useless to try to stop her.
Raon nodded and placed his hand on the demonic energy enveloping the entire tower.
* * *
"They're coming from the right!"
At Burren's shout, the formation of the Light Wind division shifted to the right.
Rumble!
A monster burning in black flames plowed through the ground, charging. It had three tails with eyeballs at the ends, moving like whips. It was a monster not found in this world.
"First team, full thrust!"
Martha and the first team kicked off the ground. Blue aura blade coated their blades, infused with the wind of the Light Wind Style, creating flashes of sword energy.
Boom!
The monster, smashing through buildings, was split into dozens of pieces and dissipated into black mist.
Whoosh!
As the Light Wind swordsmen lowered their swords slightly, a massive bird-shaped monster rapidly descended from the sky, extending its axe-like claws.
Chiiing!
Runaan and the second team moved as if they had been waiting. Blue ice spread like a net, followed by a wind that enveloped and froze the bird-shaped monster entirely.
Slash!
As the monster tried to flee with its frozen wings, Mark Goetten's lightning-like strike severed it in half, melting it.
"Th-thank you."
"Thank you for saving us."
The survivors, barely standing on trembling legs, bowed their heads.
"Take this."
Dorian took a small bottle of holy water from his belly pocket and sprinkled it over the heads of the survivors.
"Move west. It's safer there."
Burren pointed to the west, and resumed moving.
'Learning the Light Wind Style was a big help.'
The monsters were so powerful that normally it would have consumed a lot of aura, but thanks to the Light Wind Style, their combat efficiency had improved.
They might not be able to kill all the monsters, but they could buy a lot of time.
“Where on earth is that demon?”
Martha frowned, clearly displeased.
“There are too many presences. It’s impossible for us to find the one we’re looking for. But…”
Burren shook his head and clicked his tongue.
“There’s only one place it could be headed.”
“Only one place?”
“Yeah. We should go there now.”
Burren nodded and turned around. He turned back the way he came and drew his aura to the extreme.
“This is the way we came from, isn’t it?”
Krein tilted his head in confusion.
“The demon’s target is obvious.”
“Ah!”
Martha clapped her hands, understanding Burren’s implication.
“Everyone, head back at full speed!”
Burren urged them, dashing towards the tower where Raon and the king had been praying.
As Kinear, suppressing the demonic energy, came into view, the central avenue split in two, and black flames surged up.
The black flames morphed into the shape of a massive dog with a spiked collar, and with a single swipe of its tail, it demolished the surrounding buildings.
Kuwaaaa!
Atop the giant dog was a young man with black hair and black eyes, a small horn protruding from his forehead. He gestured towards Kinear, commanding the dog-shaped beast to attack him.
As the beast spewed flames at Kinear, the Light Wind swordsmen charged in, blocking the attack.
Whoooosh!
The black flames couldn’t penetrate the wind of the Light Wind Style and dissipated to the ground.
“Whew, I thought I was done for…”
Kinear sighed in relief, placing his hand on his sword.
“How dare you interfere!”
The black-haired, black-eyed demon twisted his lips, glaring at the Light Wind swordsmen.
"Do you think lowly humans like you can stop me?"
"Shut up, you demon scum."
Martha sneered at the demon.
"We fight the Demon King every day, not small fries like you."
“We have nothing to fear.”
Runaan nodded.
The Light Wind swordsmen gripped their swords firmly, showing no fear in the face of the demon’s demonic energy.
“What the hell are these lowly humans…”
The demon’s black eyes wavered, surprised by the Light Wind swordsmen’s calm demeanor despite being exposed to his demonic energy.