C826
“Haha…”
Raon let out a long sigh as he watched Alice standing alone in front of Giran Island.
“What you said before was right.”
“What did I say before?”
Wrath tilted his head as if asking what Raon meant.
“You said before that all the women around me are strange. It’s true.”
There’s a saying that goes, “Know your enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles without being defeated.” It’s one of the basic military strategies that stretches across the continent. However, Alice ran straight to the island and declared war as if she didn’t care who the enemy was.
It was behavior that made it hard to believe that she was the direct descendant of Zieghart and Glenn’s eldest daughter.
“This King doesn’t say nonsense!”
Wrath lifted his chin as if it was obvious.
“But it’s not something that should come out of your mouth either.”
‘Me?’
Raon pointed at himself with his index finger and tilted his head.
‘Why me?’
“Why? Because you’re the weirdest of them all! It’s natural for the weird to attract other weirdos!”
Wrath frowned as if wondering why Raon didn’t understand.
“I’m not that bad.”
Raon shook his head as he watched Alice yell at them to hurry up.
“If anything, I’m on the normal side…”
“What a load of crap!”
Wrath slapped his hand as if to say that he wasn’t even close.
“This King has lived for a long time and traveled all over the world, but you’re the only one who has tricked four Demon Kings!”
He snorted, telling Raon to do some introspection.
‘Hmm…’
Raon narrowed his eyes as he looked at the five flower bracelets on his wrist.
‘Not four, but five.’
<Wrath>, <Sloth>, <Envy>, <Gluttony>, and the newly acquired <Lust>. There were five bracelets wrapped around his wrist.
“T-This King wasn’t tricked!”
Wrath shouted loudly.
“I was scammed!”
He frowned and told Raon not to treat him the same as the other Demon Kings.
“True. You aren’t.”
Raon smiled as he looked at Wrath’s round eyes.
‘You give rewards without even being tricked.’
“T-That’s not what this King does either! The damn system does!”
Wrath clenched his hands with his cheeks flushed, seemingly indignant.
“…I apologize.”
As Raon teased Wrath, Lawaine bowed his head with a pale expression.
“I apologize on behalf of Lady Alice.”
Lawaine dropped his shoulders like a father apologizing for his child’s bad behavior.
“It’s alright.”
Rimmer patted Lawaine on the shoulder and shook his head.
“Anyways, no one expected that troublemaker to act normally.”
He smiled slightly and said that there was no need to apologize.
“Still…”
Raon swallowed hard as he looked back and forth between Lawaine and Alice.
“I didn’t expect it to be this bad.”
Lawaine had said that Giran Island was uninhabited. At a time like this, the presence of multiple martial artists on an uninhabited island likely meant that they were searching for the Soul Crystal, but someone who would barge in and roar immediately was beyond his common sense.
“That’s what we should learn!”
“Yes. It’s cool…”
Martha and Runaan nodded with their hands clasped, seemingly impressed by Alice’s bold words and actions.
“No! You shouldn’t learn that!”
Burren gestured his hands towards Runaan and Martha, saying it was improper behavior for a leader.
‘Ugh.’
Raon let out a soft sigh as he looked at Burren.
“As expected, Burren is the only normal one.”
In reality, the person who was acting as the vice leader of the Light Wind division wasn’t Rimmer, but Burren. Raon had been thinking about giving that position to Martha or Runaan since Burren seemed tired lately, but now it seemed absolutely impossible.
“T-This King agrees.”
Wrath nodded, indicating that he thought the same. For him to say that despite being worried about Runaan and Martha meant that the situation was serious.
“What are you doing?! Hurry up and come here!”
Alice gestured cheerfully, as if telling them to cross quickly.
“…We should go.”
Raon nodded vigorously, then rose from the sea and headed towards Giran Island, where Alice was. Even though he didn’t know who the enemy was, he wasn’t strangely anxious. It seemed to be due to his trust and expectations in Alice as a martial artist. Hoping to become someone like Alice for the Light Wind division, he set foot on Giran Island.
The exterior of the island was filled with pebbles and rocks, while the interior was densely forested, making it difficult to see clearly.
“Why are you so late?”
Alice tilted her head and asked why they hadn’t followed her quickly.
“I know you’re strong, Aunt, but you’re too reckless.”
“Life is too short to waste it collecting information and making plans.”
Despite her playful words, she spoke in a serious tone as she placed her hand on the hilt of her sword.
“We need to finish this quickly and save Sia.”
Alice looked towards the interior of the island with calm eyes, as if only thinking about rescuing Sia.
“That’s true…”
Raon bit his lip. If those on the island found the Soul Crystal first and escaped, it wouldn’t be easy to locate them. As Alice said, fighting to take it from them might be the right strategy even without information.
“Lawaine.”
Alice gestured to Lawaine, who had arrived behind Raon.
“You remember where you saw the Soul Crystal, right?”
“Yes. It’s on the opposite shore from here.”
Lawaine, seemingly surprised by Alice’s serious gaze, immediately gave his answer.
“So we’ll have to get through it all in the end.”
Alice licked her lips and said that it was actually for the best. Ugh! Just as the Light Wind division and the Azure Wind crew arrived at the front of Giran Island, the forest inside the island blazed black and two people emerged. Rumble.
The man on the right was wrapped in a black robe from head to toe, which burned like flames, possibly an artifact.
On the left was a tall woman with tanned skin, as if she had lived on this coast, with eyes sharp as blades. Both the man and the woman were surrounded by an imposing aura that surpassed their impressive appearances.
Behind the robed man were demonized humans shrouded in darkness, while strange figures in white robes appeared around the tanned woman. They were the demons of the Black Tower and the White Blood Religion.
“Well, well, if it isn’t a familiar face.”
Alice twisted her lips into a smile as she looked at the tanned woman.
“Second Apostle. You managed to escape pretty well last time, didn’t you?”
“The siege of Zieghart was careless.”
The tanned woman, called the Second Apostle, shrugged as if it had been easy.
“But all of you…”
She narrowed her eyes as she looked at Alice and the Light Wind division.
“Are you here to find the Soul Crystal?”
Judging by her words, it seemed that the Second Apostle had also seen the Soul Crystal here, just as Lawaine had predicted.
“What if we are?”
Alice nodded slightly, as if she thought that lies wouldn’t work anyway.
“…Zieghart.”
The black-robed man looked at the Second Apostle with his coal-black eyes.
“It seems your information wasn’t false after all.”
“I told you it was right from the beginning!”
The Second Apostle frowned and asked why he hadn’t believed her.
“And who are you?”
Alice lowered her eyebrows as she looked at the man in the black robe.
“Judging by your shadowy attire, you seem like one of those Black Tower types.”
She mocked the man in the black robe, as if she was testing him.
“…”
The man in the black robe didn’t answer Alice, but instead looked at the Second Apostle.
“Who is that woman?”
He spoke in a calm tone, as if he didn’t know Alice.
“Huh?”
The veins on Alice’s forehead swelled, seemingly angry that he didn’t know her.
“Alice Zieghart.”
The Second Apostle moved her lips without taking her eyes off Alice’s hands.
“She’s a Transcendent Warrior of Zieghart.”
She let out a short sigh, indicating that the situation wasn’t good.
“Damn it! That’s why we should have found it and left as fast as possible!”
The Second Apostle frowned, blaming their delay.
“…”
Raon narrowed his eyes as he looked at the man in the black robe.
‘Something’s not right.’
His life force is too weak. Usually, the stronger the expert, the stronger their life force. But that black-robed man, despite having an aura stronger than him, barely showed any signs of life, as if he was about to die.
“She’s very strong, it would be dangerous to leave her alone.”
The man in the black robe nodded, seeming to acknowledge Alice’s martial prowess.
“I’ll hold her off, you find the Soul Crystal. Can you do it?”
“Is that possible?”
The Second Apostle’s eyes widened. It seemed that she didn’t know the black-robed man’s exact capabilities either.
“It’s enough.”
The black-robed man’s voice didn’t waver at all. It meant that he truly believed he could contain Alice.
“Ha!”
Alice brushed her red hair and let out a scoff.
“Alice Zieghart must have really fallen, for a mere curtain like that to ignore her.”
She showed her white teeth, treating the man in the black robe as if he were a curtain.
“It seems our little brother has been foolish and disrespectful, so today I’ll properly show you what Zieghart’s sword is like.”
Alice drew a chilling smile, saying that she would deal thoroughly with the man in the black robe and the Second Apostle in Karoon’s name.
“Find the Soul Crystal and return while I keep her tied down.”
The black-robed man stepped forward and said they should meet at the designated location.
“Understood.”
The Second Apostle nodded quickly.
“Without Alice Zieghart, the rest are just worms. It won’t be difficult.”
She raised her fingertips and said that she could kill them all.
“I’m not sure who’s tying down who here. And…”
Alice threw a chilling glance as she placed her hand on Raon’s shoulder.
“Worms? My children might be like that, but my nephews are strong.”
Alice said that she trusted Raon and the Light Wind division as she immediately unsheathed her sword. Shing! Her spatial sword advanced simultaneously with the unsheathing, slicing the black-robed man’s neck. Zap!
However, the black-robed man transformed his body into fog, deflecting Alice’s sword strike. He wasn’t a martial artist, but seemed more like a magician or shaman.
“You’re quite impatient.”
As the black-robed man extended his hand, black fog arose around Alice, sucking her ankles.
“Aunt!”
Raon tried to approach Alice, but the fog prevented him and he couldn’t touch her.
“That’s a demon.”
Wrath frowned as he looked at the man in the black robe.
“It didn’t descend in its true form, but infiltrated a body. That body must have been created as well.”
He licked his lips and said that it was a demon that had entered a body created as an artifact.
“Ah, this feels disgusting.”
Alice frowned as she looked at the lower part of her body trapped in the black vortex.
“If you were human you wouldn’t be able to escape from there.”
The black-robed man, who had become the fog itself, shook his head as if telling her to give up.
“Sorry, but I’m not an ordinary human.”
Alice lifted the upper part of her body, resisting the black fog that was sucking her in like a black hole. She was suppressing the fog made of demonic power, aura, and energy with her strength.
“Hmm…”
The black-robed man let out a small gasp, seemingly surprised by Alice’s martial prowess.
“Raon, you can do it, right?”
Alice looked at Raon as she forcefully suppressed the black fog.
“We can win without sacrificing any of our children, right?”
She nodded, telling him to speak now if he couldn’t do it.
“…”
Raon didn’t answer immediately, but instead looked at the Second Apostle who had revealed a cold gaze.
“We can do it. We also hold a grudge against them.”
The Second Apostle had broken through the walls of Zieghart’s castle and tried to kill Sylvia.
After hearing about that incident, his guts had been boiling for a long time, so he welcomed this opportunity for revenge.
“Then I’ll trust you.”
Alice smiled and relaxed her body. Her physical form merged with the ground along with the black fog.
“Hmm?”
When Alice opened her eyes again, a space dyed black appeared around her. Intense demonic energy could be felt everywhere: the ceiling, the walls, and the floor.
“A barrier?”
“It seemed like I couldn’t defeat you in that dimension.”
The ground rippled as if it were mud and the black-robed man stood up. He looked human, but actually seemed to be made of smoke.
“So can you win here?”
Alice snorted as if she found it ridiculous.
“It doesn’t matter if I can’t win. I just need to buy time.”
She shook her head as if to say that she only needed to keep her tied down.
“This is the problem with you Black Tower bastards. Your brains are so filled with demonic energy that you can’t make proper decisions.”
Alice tapped her head lightly as she looked at the man in the black robe.
“I won’t kill you here.”
She sneered as she lifted her sword.
“Because I want to show you who’s outside.”
* * *
“A grudge, you say…”
The Second Apostle smiled and shook her head.
“On a normal day, I might have lost to you.”
She tilted her chin to the side as she looked at Raon.
“But today is a day without ups and downs.” (E/N: slight reminder: the Second Apostle is weird, it’s still unclear why, but her aura “keeps going up and down”)
A powerful bloody energy rose above the Second Apostle’s shoulders. It was the aura of a Transcendent Warrior beyond the Grand Master.
“Light Wind division.”
Raon extended his hand as he resisted the Second Apostle’s aura.
“Cut them all down.”
“Yes!”
Without hesitation, the Light Wind division drew their swords and charged towards the demonized humans of the Black Tower and the followers of the White Blood Religion.
“Kill them all!”
The Second Apostle also stomped and ordered an attack, as if telling her forces not to back down.
The demons of the Black Tower and the White Blood Religion who followed her rushed towards the Light Wind division. Clash! A powerful shockwave exploded as the two forces clashed head-on. However, the difference between the two sides was evident from the first blow. Rumble!
The Light Wind division, with their sword formations, turned the followers of the White Blood Religion and the demonized humans of the Black Tower into mere pieces of flesh as they advanced with their astral energy.
The gap in martial prowess was as wide as the distance between heaven and earth.
“How dare you?!”
Martha frowned as she raised her sword.
“Lack of training.”
Burren waved his hand and told them to train instead of drinking people’s blood.
“Weak…”
Runaan also briefly lowered her head as if she found them pathetic.
“Let’s move on and finish this once…”
“Brats!”
Just as Martha was about to swing her sword towards the front, a snow-white hand flew in front of her eyes.
“Ah…”
It was the Second Apostle. She had launched herself to cut off Martha’s breath, who was standing at the front, instead of aiming for Raon.
Clang!
Just before she could pierce Martha’s neck, a blade of sword burning with flames violently struck the Second Apostle’s hand.
“Hmm…”
The Second Apostle took a step back, clutching her slightly trembling hand.
“Look at me.”
Raon looked at the Second Apostle, tilting his chin to the side. His eyes began to burn with the flames of arrogance.
“The one who will take your neck is right here.”
-
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