C864
"A dragon, supposed harmonizer of the world..."
Sterin frowned deeply as he watched the raging flames and toxic smoke engulfing the entire Great Forest.
"How could you stoop to such petty tactics?!"
"It's precisely for that harmonization."
The dragon waved its hand casually as it looked at the Great Forest engulfed in flames.
"Matirus!"
Sterin shouted the dragon's name, filled with rage.
"Don't utter my name with that worthless mouth of yours. Since you ignored our warnings, even the High Elves are nothing more than vermin now."
Matirus shook its hands with a look as if it were looking at real insects. (E/N: Matirus's gender is unclear, so "it" will be used preferentially for now until the appearance is clearer.)
"Why the hell are you going to such extremes?!"
Sterin glared at Matirus with fierce eyes.
"Stop clinging to that facade of harmonization and speak honestly!"
"Raon Zieghart."
Matirus uttered Raon's name.
"From the moment you accepted Zieghart, the enemy of dragons, into Sepia, it meant you had no intention of listening to us. So I had no choice but to do this."
It shook its head, claiming that the elves had started this fight.
"Raon only brought my grandson's relic! That boy had no influence on my decision!"
Sterin slammed his hand down, telling it not to talk nonsense.
"...The reasons no longer matter. The Zieghart clan must disappear for the sake of this continent."
Matirus quickly changed the subject. Sterin's forehead pulsed with a thick vein as he watched Matirus nonchalantly dismiss anything unfavorable to it.
"Harmonizer? Guardian? It was all a sham after all."
Sterin gritted his teeth as he looked at the burning Great Forest.
"Just like Raon said, you're nothing more than a dirty con artist."
He quoted Raon's words as he lifted the bow hanging from his back.
"In the end, you've been tainted by human filth."
Matirus nodded as if it had expected this. It seemed like a fanatical follower of a cult religion.
"Your choice was wrong."
Sterin narrowed his eyes as he placed an arrow on the string of his bow.
"Because Raon Zieghart, whom you fear, will not stand idly by."
"It's not fear, it's just disgust. And you're completely wrong."
Matirus scoffed and shook its head.
"What?"
"I'm not the only ancient dragon who came here."
It spread its hands, declaring that Sepia would be wiped off the world today.
"Do you think I will stand idly by and watch that happen?"
A blue light, seemingly imbued with his conviction, flickered on the arrow Sterin was holding.
"Can you do that with that old body of yours?"
Matirus smiled as it conjured a golden glow on its palm.
"What is old and sick is not my body but your souls!"
Sterin drew back the bowstring, showing an unwavering will to never give up. The arrow whistled through the air.
* * *
Raon sat up in bed with his eyes closed. He had tried to sleep a little after finishing his training session with Sterin, but he felt a sinister mana approaching Sepia.
"To sense such a distant presence even while sleeping..."
Wrath let out a long yawn and clicked his lips.
"I guess we can safely say you've reached transcendence now."
"Seems like I wasn't wrong after all."
Raon let out a short sigh as he looked out the window.
"It's not one or two. They're monsters, but different from the usual ones."
Most were monsters, but they possessed auras stronger than those normally found in nature. It seemed like there were also several Master-level ones. Raon picked up the Heavenly Drive and Rimmer's sword that he had leaned against the wall and left the lodging. The elves seemed to be enjoying a peaceful dawn, seemingly unaware of the presence outside yet.
"Eh? Division Leader. I heard you were training all night, so why are you outside already?"
Dorian, who was rubbing his eyes while eating a snack, tilted his head in confusion.
"You must be tired from training with the Guardian. It would be better if you rested more."
Erian, who was preparing for his shift change, nodded, saying it would be better to sleep more.
"The enemy is coming."
Raon frowned as he sheathed the Heavenly Drive and Rimmer's Leaf Sword at his waist.
"What? An enemy...?"
Erian's eyes widened in disbelief.
"A large army of monsters is moving through the Great Forest. They're advancing at an incredible speed. It seems like they appeared through spatial movement."
"No, if that were the case, the Guardians would have sent a message..."
"I think they've already taken them out. I can't sense the presence of any elves outside."
Raon bit his lip. He tried to sense the elves among the monsters, but he couldn't sense their presence anywhere. It seemed like the enemy had taken care of the hidden Guardians first after mapping the area.
"Raon's right!"
Siyana ran towards Raon, wrapped in her
"The spirits told me the forest is collapsing!"
Her lips trembled as she informed him that the number of monsters kept increasing.
"T-That's..."
As Erian's eyes widened in surprise, flames and lightning began to erupt throughout the Great Forest. They were special monsters capable of using magic.
"Prepare yourselves. We don't have much time."
Raon gripped his sword hilt as he watched the Great Forest consumed by flames.
"Understood!"
Perhaps because he had experienced similar situations before, Erian wiped the panic from his face and ran towards the Guardians' quarters.
"I'll call the Light Wind division!"
Dorian nodded vigorously and returned to the lodging where the Light Wind division was sleeping.
"Will we be alright?"
Siyana's eyes trembled within her blanket, clearly worried.
"We'll be fine."
Raon nodded calmly to reassure Siyana.
"The Guardian also... Ah."
He was about to talk about Sterin but closed his mouth.
'Is he fighting outside and not in Sepia?'
Sterin's presence, who should have been in Sepia, was felt in the northern part of the Great Forest. His aura fluctuated violently, as if he were fighting with all his might against someone.
"Grandpa is..."
Siyana's hands trembled on her blanket, seemingly feeling Sterin fighting against the shockwaves that were reaching them.
"He'll be fine. He's still holding strong."
Despite his calming words, concern took over him. After all, Sterin must have been exhausted from the all-night training session.
"I have to defend this place."
Even if Sterin had been dragged outside, Sepia's defenses shouldn't be underestimated. There would surely be other attacks besides the monsters, so he had to stay there to protect the elves.
"Haha..."
As Siyana let out a sigh of worry, the Light Wind division and the Guardians gathered in the center of the village.
"Division Leader. What's the situation?"
Burren frowned as he looked at the sky filled with black smoke.
"Monsters? Seriously?"
Martha wrinkled her nose, wondering what part of the Great Forest these monsters had suddenly appeared from.
"Puaj..."
Runaan, showing unusual wrath, seemed annoyed at being woken from a deep sleep.
"As you can see, it's a monster attack. But these are not ordinary monsters. They move in formation like a trained army."
The monsters approaching Sepia didn't move with the disorganized patterns of wild beasts, but systematically destroyed the forest as if they were under someone's orders. They couldn't just advance with brute force as usual, as that could leave openings for attacks. They needed to decide which direction to advance.
"The first team goes south, the second team west, the third team east. Don't let any monsters set foot in this village."
"Yes, sir!"
The Light Wind division swordsmen roared so fiercely in response to Raon's orders that it seemed to extinguish the flames.
"Anyway, my body felt stiff, so this works out well."
Martha licked her lips and said this would be a good warm-up before breakfast.
"Don't take it so lightly. It could be dangerous."
Burren warned the swordsmen to be cautious, simultaneously increasing their tension and confidence.
"Puaj..."
While expressing his annoyance at not being able to sleep, Runaan raised a wall of cold energy to block the heat approaching Sepia.
"So, what are you going to do, Division Leader? Surely you won't send us to another place while you rest here..."
"Shut up and move!"
Martha punched Kerin in the mouth and followed the Guardians south.
"We're moving too!"
"Follow me..."
Burren and Runaan followed them as well, seemingly intending to separate after heading south, where most of the monsters were gathering.
"I have an ominous feeling..."
Siyana bit her finger and trembled.
"Nothing bad will happen."
Raon shook his head as he gripped Siyana's blanket-covered shoulders.
"I'll stop them all."
* * *
A horde of black orcs charged alongside armored ogres. These savage monsters, who would normally fight each other, were now united in their assault.
"Just like the Division Leader said."
Martha snorted as she twirled her wrist holding the sword.
"These are no ordinary creatures."
The black orcs and ogres there were larger than any they had seen before and possessed a stronger fighting spirit. Not only were they in formation, but their individual combat prowess far surpassed that of wild monsters.
"Even if that doesn't matter to me! First team, charge!"
At Martha's shout, the first team of swordsmen formed behind her in a sword-like formation. It was the charging form of the Small Light Wind Formation.
With a thunderous roar, Martha's cut, powered by the Small Light Wind Formation, reduced the charging Black Orcs to bloody masses.
"This won't even be enough to digest it, right?"
As Martha snorted, preparing to face the Ogre approaching from the left, a crimson fireball descended upon her head.
"Keeee!"
It was the magic of a black orc mage hidden behind the group.
"Kyaaaa!"
The black orc mage attempted to detonate the fireball over Martha's head, but his enchantment was interrupted. With a swift cut, Runaan's icy sword, which appeared out of nowhere, severed the black orc mage's neck.
"I didn't need your help, you know."
Martha frowned as she looked at Runaan.
"Besides, you're supposed to be in the west!"
She gestured dismissively, telling him to disappear quickly.
"Miss Rakshasa can't even be honest."
Runaan clicked his tongue and shook his head.
"Save the jokes for later and focus on the battle now."
Burren cut down an ogre instead of Martha and gently nodded his chin.
"Hey, why are you all stealing my prey?"
Martha gritted her teeth in frustration.
"Eh..."
Erian let out a sigh as he watched the scene.
"I guess Raon isn't the only special one."
He shook his head, seemingly surprised by the level of martial prowess displayed by the young Light Wind division.
"We need to split up now. Stay focused..."
Just as Burren was about to give a final piece of advice as he headed west, the ashen clouds covering the sky parted. A massive Black Dragon, large enough to cover the Great Forest, emerged. With a deafening roar, intense black toxic energy gathered in the Black Dragon's maw and began to fall towards Sepia like a waterfall.
It was the Black Dragon's ultimate weapon, the Deadly Poison Breath. The air distorted from the breath's potent toxicity, and the trees and vegetation that made up Sepia began to wither and die. The roar continued.
The Deadly Poison Breath had an incredibly wide range, falling even upon the heads of the Light Wind division and the Guardians who had already left Sepia.
"Crazy..."
"H-How do we stop that?!"
"It's over..."
As the Light Wind division and the elves fell into despair at the sight of the dragon's breath, which seemed like nothing less than a natural disaster, a golden flame erupted from the center of Sepia. With a thunderous roar, a single sword strike split the sky. Raon soared towards the heavens with a red cut that incinerated the deadly poison.
* * *
Sensing the monsters' refined movements, Raon concluded that the enemy had to be one of two possibilities.
'Dragons or Eden.'
The guardians raised by dragons to protect their lairs were stronger than ordinary monsters and moved with military precision. Eden also possessed the power to control monsters, so they could certainly create a situation like this.
"But this time, it seems like there are dragons."
They had seen a dragon upon entering the Great Forest, and Erian had been reluctant to talk about it. Given the current situation, it was clear that there was a problem between Sepia and the dragons.
"Lady Siyana. By any chance, before, the dragons..."
Just as Raon was about to ask Siyana about the dragons, he felt a terrifying concentration of mana gathering in the sky behind the dark clouds.
'Dragon!'
It was the typical phenomenon of a dragon concentrating mana to release its breath. Without hesitation, Raon plunged the Heavenly Drive and Rimmer's sword into the ground of Sepia. Sword Domain - Divine-Demonic Harmony. As the dragon's aura was not below him, he opened the Sword Domain from the beginning and struck the earth. The swords pierced the ground with a sharp sound.
As he soared towards the sky wielding the divine and demonic swords forged with the sun and moon, he saw the Black Dragon spewing its Deadly Poison Breath, melting the clouds. Although it was smaller than the Golden Dragon they had seen upon arrival, it was undoubtedly an ancient dragon.
"Everyone! Wield your sword with the intention of erasing every last bit of the poison that's spreading!"
Wrath warned that this was the only way to counter the toxic energy.
'I understand!'
Raon lunged towards the Deadly Poison Breath spreading like a peacock's tail, invoking the Ten Thousand Flames Extreme Cultivation. Raon's Zieghart-style swordsmanship.
Seventh Form: Void Slash.
The red-hot blade of the divine sword pierced the space where the poison was spreading. With a scorching sound, the Deadly Poison Breath that was about to engulf Sepia and the Great Forest began to be absorbed by the crack of the rift.
'Puaj!'
Even as he pushed the Deadly Poison Breath towards the split space, the pressure it exerted on him didn't lessen. The overwhelming force of the breath felt like it was crushing his shoulders and tearing his flesh. It truly lived up to its reputation as a dragon's ultimate weapon.
But if he stopped his sword at that moment, the remaining toxin would kill all the elves and Light Wind division swordsmen. He had to stop it at all costs.
With a piercing sound, Raon gritted his teeth and swung the divine sword towards the distant horizon. The Deadly Poison Breath failed to fall upon Sepia, but was absorbed by the rift and disappeared into the flames.
[W-What is this...?]
The Black Dragon's massive maw trembled, seemingly unable to comprehend how a single human's sword had nullified its Deadly Poison Breath.
"Wrath. I retract what I said yesterday."
Blue-tinged rage took over Raon's crimson eyes.
'I'll let you have that roasted dragon you wanted.'
"The toxin will season the liver, so it will be delicious and flavorful."
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