C1048
Raon exhaled, his breath forming a white mist as he gazed at the sea imbued with cold energy.
'Things have changed quite a bit.'
Winter had come to the sea during the time he spent searching for the former Leader of the Holy Sword Alliance Darkan with Rector and training the Light Wind Palace swordsmen. Although the cold hadn't settled completely yet, the rolling waves reflected different colors than before.
"Time really does fly, doesn't it?"
Lawaine smiled brightly as he spun the seawater with his fingertips.
"It feels like you left a few days ago, but it's already been three months."
He nodded, saying that time seemed to pass faster because the sea remained unchanged.
"Have you seen Haerang recently?"
Raon narrowed his eyes as he looked at the calm surface of the water.
"No. I haven't seen him at all since you left."
Lawaine shook his head, saying that even though he had patrolled this area for three months, he hadn't encountered Haerang.
"I see..."
Raon clicked his tongue briefly.
'Did he go somewhere else?'
Before leaving this port, he had asked Haerang to keep an eye on the White Blood Religion, but hearing that they hadn't seen him even once, he thought he might have left the area.
-That's natural. Having narrowly escaped the clutches of those Blood Demons, why would he only worry about your request?
Wrath snorted, saying that wolves needed their freedom.
-Don't rely on spirits, go out and do it yourself.
'I already brought the diving suit.'
Naturally, he had brought Evelyn's diving suit as he needed to personally check if there were any changes in the White Blood Religion's movements before the war began.
'It's still a while before dawn, so I should go right now...'
Just as he was about to take Evelyn's diving suit out of his space pocket, a drop of water the size of a human torso shot out of the sea and transformed into a young wolf.
"Kyang!"
It was Haerang. As if he had been waiting, he emerged the moment Raon's foot touched the sea and stuck out his tongue.
"So you hadn't gone somewhere else?"
"Kyaung!"
Haerang shook his head firmly in denial.
"Don't tell me you've been watching the White Blood Religion while waiting for me all this time?"
"Kyung!"
He wagged his tail with his body stretched out, as if confirming that that was exactly what he had been doing.
-Tsk, a wolf should have more pride...
Wrath frowned, saying that it was like a puppy choosing its master.
-That's not a wolf, it's just a dog!
He waved his hand dismissively.
"Thank you."
Raon bent his knee and patted Haerang's head.
"But you seem bigger? No, your physical size is similar, but your aura..."
While Haerang's size hadn't changed much from before, the sea energy he possessed had grown immensely beyond comparison. It felt as if he encompassed all the surrounding waters.
"Kyaung!"
Haerang lifted his front paw to scratch the bridge of his nose, as if he wasn't sure himself.
-Born as a special spirit and having overcome difficult trials, it's no wonder he's grown so much in such a short time.
Wrath lowered his eyebrows, suggesting that Haerang had grown as a spirit thanks to the hardships he had endured.
'That's good.'
Hearing that Haerang had achieved spiritual growth by overcoming his pain brought both pride and relief.
"Shall we go then?"
Raon put on Evelyn's diving suit and patted Haerang's head.
"Kyaang!"
Haerang tilted his head as if offering to guide him himself, and then jumped into the sea.
"I'll be back."
"Yes! I'll be waiting."
Lawaine bowed deeply as if telling him to be careful. After acknowledging Lawaine's farewell, Raon silently submerged into the sea. Although the seasonal changes had filled the seawater with cold energy, it had no effect on him.
Haerang slowly cut through the water ahead of him, as if telling Raon to simply follow.
'How cute.'
Raon followed Haerang's swaying tail as he suppressed his presence and controlled his breathing. As if in a trance watching Haerang's tail, they soon reached the valley where the White Blood Religion's headquarters was submerged.
Following Roenn's movements from memory to avoid the barrier magic, they descended into the valley where the Kraken disguised with gray sand and the white city on its top came into view.
'Still in the same place. However...'
Raon frowned as he examined the area around the headquarters.
'I can't go any further because of the Blood Demons.'
For unknown reasons, Blood Demons of Archbishop rank or higher were submerged around the White Blood Religion's headquarters, like him.
'What happened during this time?'
Anxiety rose in his chest, knowing that the Blood Demons wouldn't be in the sea without a special reason.
'We might have to revise our plans...'
As Raon watched the Blood Demons moving around the headquarters with a frown, the sea suddenly churned like a volcano erupting as the Kraken's massive tentacles, too large to take in at a glance, unfolded.
'What is this...'
It felt unreal. The Kraken's form was so massive and majestic that Raon thought he must be dreaming. The Kraken extended its long tentacles, seemingly controlling the water currents, and gripped the valley. Haerang looked at it trembling, as if thinking they had been discovered.
'No.'
Raon shook his head as he held Haerang tightly in his arms.
'We haven't been discovered yet.'
If their identity had been discovered, an apostle would have come out instead of the Kraken moving. It was clear that the Kraken was trying to relocate.
As he predicted, the Kraken wasn't attacking, but was using its eight tentacles to maintain balance so that the White Blood Religion's headquarters wouldn't move as it climbed the valley.
'That was close.'
With the Kraken moving and the Blood Demons relocating with it, if his diving suit hadn't been enchanted with camouflage magic, they would have definitely been discovered.
-Haaa...
Wrath exhaled excitedly as he watched the Kraken's tentacles slowly climb the valley.
-The more I look at it, the more I want to eat it.
Unaware of his own limitations, he salivated long and hard about wanting to eat grilled Kraken.
'Whew.'
Raon sighed inwardly in relief as he climbed the valley, keeping a certain distance from the Kraken. After ascending the valley, the Kraken moved north and buried its enormous body in the brown sand bed.
As he had seen before, the creature seemed to possess strong instincts, instantly matching the texture of its skin to the brown sand to hide.
It was such effective camouflage that even his eyes could barely detect it.
-What! If it was just coming here, why did it even move?
Wrath frowned, noticing that it had barely moved after climbing the valley.
-That's how fat accumulates in its meat!
He clicked his tongue, saying it wouldn't taste good if it didn't move enough.
'This is the place where Haerang first implanted in my mind.'
Raon narrowed his eyes as he looked at the sea where the Kraken had settled.
'The original location of the White Blood Religion's headquarters.'
It was certain. Looking at the surrounding terrain, the scene exactly matched the memory of the White Blood Religion's headquarters that Haerang had left in his mind.
-So...
'Yes. The White Blood Religion's defenses have been lifted.'
The White Blood Religion was clearly preparing to resume external activities after lifting the reinforced defenses they had put in place when their activities were discovered.
'Well, they've held out for quite a while.'
It had been over three months since the Nine Apostles died and their ship sank, they had held out much longer than he expected.
Considering the White Blood Religion's nature of needing to drink the blood of others to become stronger, it was surprising.
'The two months spent preparing magic actually turned out to be beneficial.'
Raon's lips curled as he watched the Blood Demons setting up new barrier magic around the headquarters.
'Our chances of winning have increased by twenty percent.'
***
Martha's sword fell, carrying magnificent crushing energy. The sword technique, with its flickering dark aura, carved heavy sword marks into the training ground floor.
"Tsk."
Martha clicked her tongue sharply as she looked at the violently damaged training ground floor.
'This isn't right...'
While the power of the Crushing Ocean Sword itself seemed to surpass the Grand Master level, she felt uncomfortable with the many gaps in aspects other than the principles of the crushing sword.
'It feels different from when I cut my father's aura.'
Unlike when Denier had given advice, her movements felt clumsy, as if she was wearing clothes that didn't fit. (E/N: Raw said 'Derus' instead of 'Denier'...no way...right?)
'Again...'
Although she was exhausted from swinging her sword all day, there was no time to rest. With war imminent, she kept her sword ready. Just as Martha was about to perform the Crushing Ocean Sword again, the training ground door opened, and Denier entered.
"I was wondering who was in my training ground, but it was you."
Denier let out a sigh, as if he was seeing her for the first time in almost two months.
"Today was individual training, so I came home for the first time in a long time."
Martha bowed her head, mentioning the individual training without saying that Raon had left.
"Father must be busy these days too? I heard he's barely been home."
"The Head of House ordered an intensive training period."
Glenn had ordered everyone to minimize missions and focus on training, without mentioning the upcoming war with the White Blood Religion to avoid leaking information to the Five Demons' spies. As a result, not only the Light Wind Palace, but all the swordsmen were going through hell.
"Your skills have improved a lot since the last time I saw you. Breaking through the Grand Master high rank is just a matter of time."
Denier patted Martha on the shoulder with approval.
"While my martial arts seem to be improving, my Crushing Ocean Sword isn't getting any better. I think I'm worse than when I showed it to my father after returning from the previous mission."
Martha sighed, saying that while her aura, combat experience, and mental strength had grown, her mastery of the Crushing Ocean Sword had regressed.
"That can't be true. Show it to me once."
Denier stepped back, offering to evaluate her personally.
"Yes!"
Martha nodded and demonstrated all the forms of the Crushing Ocean Sword before Denier.
"How should I say it... The principles of the crushing sword are getting stronger, but other principles can't keep up, so the balance seems to be off."
She shared her recent concerns about swordsmanship with Denier.
"So you're worried that only the crushing sword principles are getting stronger..."
Denier stroked his chin as he looked at Martha.
"It might not be bad to continue as it is."
"Excuse me?"
Martha blinked blankly.
"But then, won't it be easy to dodge or block even if the power is strong?"
"It's okay, don't force yourself to change that flow. I'll review your stance and aura flow again."
Denier demonstrated it personally, telling her to trust herself and focus on the crushing sword principles. His Crushing Ocean Sword focused on crushing principles like hers, but remarkably, the balance of his swordsmanship remained stable.
"When you grow a tree's trunk, the branches grow naturally. The Crushing Ocean Sword is the same. Focus on the crushing principles, and the other principles will naturally follow."
He nodded, telling her not to doubt herself and to follow her current feelings.
"Especially against sinister energy, you must focus even more on the crushing sword. It's about breaking forcefully. Do you understand?"
After demonstrating the Crushing Ocean Sword centered on crushing principles, Denier turned to her with a smile.
"I understand."
Martha nodded firmly.
"Then I'll try it again."
She stepped forward and raised her sword. Based on the regained confidence from Denier's advice, she performed the Crushing Ocean Sword while focusing even more on the crushing principles instead of suppressing them.
'The feeling is definitely better.'
When she stopped suppressing the crushing principles, her sword strikes extended with more vitality, as if the chains had been removed from her limbs. Just performing the technique made her feel her heart renewed.
"Not bad, but extend your arms more here."
Denier roughly guided Martha's arms according to the flow of the Crushing Ocean Sword, but his eyes gleamed with warm pride for his daughter's growth.
***
After informing Glenn and Chamber that the White Blood Religion had emerged from the valley, Raon immediately headed to the fifth training ground.
"Hmm..."
He clicked his tongue briefly as he observed the swordsmen perfecting their individual techniques.
'With war approaching, what training should I make them do?'
After two months of creating daily training regimens to strengthen their swordsmanship, minds, bodies, and aura in sequence, he wasn't sure what else to focus on.
'If I can't think of anything, it's best to go back to basics...'
Just as he thought about reviewing the basics of swordsmanship, Krein passed in front of him. Seeing Krein reminded him of the brown notebook where he had been recording the training contents.
"Krein."
Raon snapped his fingers to call Krein.
"M-me?"
Krein pointed at himself with his finger.
"Is there another Krein besides you?"
"Ah..."
He approached nervously, his eyes darting back and forth.
"Why did you call me?"
"You wrote a training log, right? Bring it here."
"What...?"
The moment Krein heard the request for the log, his eyes trembled as if he had seen a ghost.
"Why that..."
"To see what training we've done so far. That's why I made you write it."
Raon wagged his finger, as if asking why Krein was questioning something so obvious.
"W-wasn't it for personal use?"
Krein's jaw trembled as if he had no idea.
"You can keep it as a souvenir, but bring it here first."
"Hik..."
He remained silent for a while before shaking his head.
"I, left it at home yesterday..."
Krein shook his head, saying he didn't have it now.
"Really? Then for tomorrow..."
"What are you talking about? You carry it in your space pocket."
While Raon was about to tell him to bring it tomorrow, Dorian approached Krein's side and shook his head.
"You were writing in it even during breakfast today."
Dorian blinked, saying that he had seen Krein writing in the log this morning.
"You're a bastard. Where did you sell your Mental Eye..."
Krein demonstrated the feat of cursing Dorian without opening his lips.
"Bring it."
Raon smiled and nodded his chin towards Krein.
"Ah, uh, yes..."
Krein glared resentfully at Dorian before opening his space pocket and handing over a worn-looking notebook.
"I, need to go to the bathroom..."
As soon as he handed over the training log, Krein leaned back, claiming that his stomach hurt.
"Okay. Go."
Raon nodded and opened the training log he received from Krein.
"Huh? Ha... Ha!"
Although each day's entry was brief, it detailed exactly what training was done and how. Furthermore, each entry ended with curses directed at him. He was portrayed as a madman in every entry.
"Krein."
Raon called out to Krein without taking his eyes off the log.
"Yes? I said I was going to the bathroom..."
"Step forward."
"Heup!"
Krein released his grip on his stomach and stood in front of the platform with a pale expression.
"This is a pretty excellent log."
Raon looked at Krein with a slight smile.
"Everything necessary is written here. Along with some unnecessary parts."
"I-is that so? I just wrote the facts..."
Krein laughed awkwardly as he looked away.
"Hahaha."
"Hahaha."
When Raon laughed, Krein twisted his lips and forced a similar laugh.
"Are you laughing?"
"Heup!"
Krein raised his hands to cover his nose and mouth.
"Today. No, for the remaining time, I'll show you what a real madman is like."
"Keuuk!"
Krein's face turned deathly pale at the cold voice that seemed directed at an enemy.
-Tsk tsk.
Wrath clicked his tongue as if he felt pity.
-You've picked the wrong fight with this nasty guy.
He clasped his hands as if praying for Krein's soul.
***
Raon sat on the bed in the annex building and raised his head.
'It's time.'
The morning had dawned when Evelyn and the Archmages said they would complete their magic.
'It was a long and short time.'
Although it had been hell to simultaneously raise the ranks of the Light Wind Palace swordsmen and his own level, looking back, it felt like a single moment.
'The Light Wind Palace has grown significantly.'
Especially Martha. While everyone trained hard, Martha achieved the greatest growth. During his time at sea, she had understood the true meaning of the Crushing Ocean Sword, allowing her to exploit even a small opening against the Leader of the White Blood Religion.
'Of course, I'll need to help.'
Even with her growth, if Martha faced the Leader of the White Blood Religion alone, she would be reduced to a bloody mist in an instant. Her role was the most crucial.
'For that purpose...'
Raon clicked his tongue and called up his status window. <Status Window> Name: Raon Zieghart. Title: <Architect of Destiny> Status: None.
Traits: <Wrath>, <Sloth>, <Envy>, <Gluttony>, <Lust>, <Greed>, [Ever-Irrigated Mind], [Phantom], [Clear Blue Eye], Ring of Fire (9 stars), Water Resistance (12 stars), Fire Resistance (11 stars), Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation (10 stars), Glacier (10 stars), Bleeding Curse (6 stars), Iron Will (11 stars), Demonic Energy Adaptation (10 stars), Ever-Irrigated Mind, Poison Resistance (6 stars), Spiral Power (10 stars), Water Affinity (7 stars), Arrangement Analysis (2 stars), Fire Affinity (6 stars), Snow Flower Veil (5 stars), Divinity Born of Darkness (10 stars), Death Aura Resistance (7 stars), Snow Flower Magic Armor (11 stars), Snow Flower Absorption (5 stars), Snow Flower Piercing Spear (5 stars), Wrath Release (3 stars), Flame Overcoming Death (6 stars), Blade of Death (7 stars), Divine Power Resistance (2 stars), Blood Path (3 stars), Askara's Fighting Spirit (6 stars), Spirit Concealment (5 stars), Heavenly Assassination (2 stars), Authority Enhancement (4 stars), Light Resistance (3 stars), Death Energy Detection (4 stars), Authority Manipulation (5 stars), Crisis Detection (1 star), Soul Weapon (Spirit) (7 stars), Spirit Transformation (4 stars).
Strength: 1856.
Agility: 1887.
Vitality: 1853.
Energy: 1872.
Perception: 1905.
Wrath: 400.
Sloth: 270.
Envy: 270.
Gluttony: 220.
Lust: 180.
Greed: 100. (E/N: Something strange, Greed's value was supposed to be higher than the others, but it's the lowest)
He had intended to review his status window one last time before the war, but now the numbers had grown so much that they were difficult to read even on two pages. Just looking at his stats, it seemed he wouldn't lose against anyone except the leaders of the Five Kings and the Five Demons.
'Especially...'
The Soul Weapon had grown significantly.
[The soul realm is increasing.]
[The rank of the 'Soul Weapon (Spirit)' trait is increasing.]
As if all his efforts had paid off, just yesterday he had been able to advance his Soul Weapon another level.
'But even with this sword, I won't be able to defeat the Leader of the White Blood Religion.'
The Leader of the White Blood Religion's soul was so vast that his Soul Weapon still couldn't completely cut through it. However, he might be able to create an opening to save Martha's mother's soul that remained within the Leader. It felt like a small ray of sunshine had pierced through what seemed like a desperate rescue of Martha's mother.
'Now it begins.'
Raon stood up, placing the Black Dragon Cloak that had been placed beside the bed over his shoulders.
'A war that will end the deep and dark revenge of a child who lost his mother.'
-
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