Free Web NovelA Legendary monster.
Even if many Legends had been raided by now, they were still the exclusive domain of rankers.
The Black Lion was no different.
The Black Lion, which had lived for at least a hundred years, had reigned as a king.
That was why it was unused to the thing called pain.
The Black Lion also possessed advanced intelligence.
By common sense, the old man charging in while making a horse’s cry could do nothing.
It tried to lower its mouth again and devour the woman.
The Black Lion, in particular, sensed a delicious scent from the being inside her belly.
That scent, which it had smelled for the first time in its life, was the scent of a strong one soon to be born.
However.
SHRAAAAAAAK—
Its fur stood on end, and every nerve in its body went numb.
The voice of the old man, visible only as a dot far away, rang clearly beside its ear.
“Ten-Thousand-Li Spear.”
[Strikes an enemy within a 2 km radius.]
[Exerts the force of 2,700% additional Attack Power.]
It happened in the instant it blinked once.
A single spear thrown with all his strength was right before its left eye.
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“GRAAAAAAARGH!”
The spear lodged in its left eye forced a monstrous scream from it.
The Black Lion’s scream as it writhed in insane agony bewildered many, including Bolond.
Wang Hao, in particular, could not believe it.
[The Black Lion has taken 1,951,313 damage.]
[The Black Lion’s HP falls below 75%.]
[The Black Lion has lost its left eye.]
[The Black Lion is engulfed by extreme terror.]
[All stats of the Black Lion decrease by 15%.]
[The Black Lion’s movement speed and attack speed decrease by 30%.]
Wang Hao had not been with the Black Lion for very long.
Even so, until now, the greatest damage the Black Lion had taken had been only around 100,000.
That was because the Black Lion’s Defense was so absurdly high.
He aimed for the eye from that distance?
On top of the fatal damage to the eye.
He had driven the Black Lion into such terror that it could not even think properly.
Wang Hao grew urgent.
NEEEEEIGH!
The spear the old man had thrown was not his “main spear.”
Several spears were wrapped in a cloth bundle on his back.
The Black Lion Corps assassins struck down at the old man holding his spear.
THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD—!
The battle had begun in the distance.
But Wang Hao could hardly believe what he was seeing.
The Black Lion Corps was the finest assassin group in the Parion Empire.
They were his subordinates, and they were on an entirely different level from the assassins handled by Yongwol.
Yet those assassins were being swept away before the old man like fallen leaves in an autumn gale.
The sight resembled—
Zhao Zilong?
Zhao Zilong of Changshan.
He looked like him.
Wang Hao grew frantic.
He hurriedly drew a dagger and tried to approach White Tiger’s mother.
He intended to accomplish his original objective.
However, the old man.
The old man who had reigned as the heaven of the spear for decades had read the flow of the battlefield through what he had seen beyond his eyes.
From far away, the old man stretched out his left arm, then pulled it back with all his might.
At that moment.
GRRRRRRRIND—!
“GRAAAAAH! GRAAAAAAAH!”
The spear lodged in the Black Lion’s eye twisted.
The Black Lion’s cry thundered out in pain and terror.
That cry, and the sound of that pain, kept Wang Hao from acting.
And then.
PFFT, PFFFT, PFF-PFF-PFF-PFFT—!
The old man, who was under attack by hundreds of assassins, raised his spearhead toward the sky.
“Ghost Spearmanship Chapter 3. White Flame Spear.”
WHOOOOOOOOSH—!
A massive white inferno erupted from the old man and burned the assassins.
More than fifty assassins were burned in an instant.
And then.
The old man leaped high into the air from horseback.
FLUTTER-RUSTLE-RUSTLE—
The cloth bundle behind his back unfurled.
Several spears rose into the sky from within it.
“Ghost Spearmanship. Chapter 3.”
The old man’s fierce gaze turned toward Sword Emperor Bolond.
Sword Emperor Bolond furrowed his brow.
Azure Heaven?
He was an old man Bolond had not cared about.
That was because Sword King Barad was far more famous on the Asgan Continent.
The old man was also no more than a single Legend.
However.
The old man had only two dear friends.
The old man had been alone.
He had been an unfortunate man who had never enjoyed the happiness of sharing a cup of tea with someone.
He had been an outcast who had never felt the affection of family.
But before he knew it, the dear friend called Sword King Barad had stood by his side, and Hyunsoo had stood behind him.
The old man was no longer alone.
His funeral.
It would not merely be the passing of a single king.
Sword King Barad would hold his coffin and sob, and Hyunsoo would scatter beautiful flowers upon it.
Sword Emperor Bolond had tormented those people of his.
The several spears springing high into the sky were beautiful.
Hidden by sunlight, they would resemble the flowers scattered over a coffin.
Lucky Lump, one flower.
Luxiu, one flower.
Borne, one flower.
Like that, gathered and gathered.
Tens of thousands of flowers would be laid atop his coffin and release their fragrance.
This was a spear that resembled that.
The pinnacle of the spearmanship mastered by the creator of Ghost Spearmanship and the father of spearmanship across the entire continent.
“Full Bloom Spear.”
WHOOOOOOOOSH—!
Several spears slowly drifted down beneath Sword Emperor Bolond, Wang Hao, Absolute Shield Peya, and the assassins chasing him.
Gently.
Softly.
Then.
CLENCH—!
The instant Ben clenched his fist with all his might, they dropped rapidly beneath them.
KABOOOOOOOM—!
They caused a massive explosion.
Through the remnants of the blast, Sword Emperor Bolond unfolded defensive swordsmanship and swept them away.
As he dodged and blocked the fragments of spears splitting into hundreds of pieces—
SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH—!
Dozens of fragments grazed his cheek, cut across his body, and made him feel pain.
......?
Sword Emperor Bolond had reigned as an emperor for a very long time, a supreme powerhouse.
He was bewildered by the blood trickling down his cheek.
What is this?
Unable to understand it, he stood dazed for a moment and looked around.
Of the two thousand Black Lion Corps members, roughly five hundred were dead.
Absolute Shield Peya.
His armor and shield, known as those of an absolute tanker, were dented and strewn across the ground.
And Wang Hao.
The unofficial high-ranker, Legend, and captain of the Black Lion Corps had spear fragments embedded all over his body and was coughing up blood.
Sword Emperor Bolond was ultimately human as well.
While he was caught in that brief panic—
SCHUNK, SCHUNK, SCH-SCH-SCH-SCHUNK—!
The sound of something being stabbed sent chills across Sword Emperor Bolond’s body.
When he turned his head, Azure Heaven’s spear had already approached and was driving itself into the neck of the Black Lion, which had curled up after failing to overcome its terror and fear.
Once.
SCHUNK.
Twice.
SHUUUNK—
Three times.
SHUUUUUNK—!
The sounds of flesh being pierced continued.
And though he looked gaunt, each time he stabbed with the spear, his forearm muscles twitched.
The old man had lived longer than anyone here.
He was a powerhouse who had survived hundreds of threats against his kingdom.
Age meant experience, and nearing death meant having no fear.
What is this?
Did that mean the Black Lion was merely taking it?
No.
The Black Lion was certainly larger than the old man.
When it struck down violently with its front paw, the old man’s armor caved in, and blood spurted.
But the spear he drove in made the Black Lion collapse.
The Black Lion opened its enormous mouth wide and bit down hard on the old man’s body.
Dripping blood, his upper body swallowed, the old man trembled violently—then stabbed again in that state.
SHUDDER—
The Black Lion, stabbed again, lost strength in its jaws, and when its mouth opened.
SHUUUUUUNK—!
The old man pierced through the neck of the collapsed beast.
SHHHHHHHHH—
And.
As he watched the Black Lion scatter into nothing more than a handful of ash, Sword Emperor Bolond felt a shiver.
How in the world......?
It was not because he had succeeded in killing the Black Lion.
Is he still standing?
The old man’s entire body was drenched in blood.
Blood continued to flow from between the armor torn to rags by the slash of its front paw.
His upper body, which the Black Lion had just bitten into, had been gouged so deeply that bone was almost visible.
Yet the old man holding the spear was guarding the front of White Tiger’s mother without the slightest tremor.
DASH—
An assassin targeted him and swung a dagger.
The dagger that missed cut loose the old man’s tightly tied hair.
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The instant the old man raised his hand, that assassin burst apart.
“Elder......?”
And White Tiger’s mother, Pans’s Wife, knew him.
As Azure Heaven?
No.
Ben had hated going to meet Hyun while receiving special treatment, so he had gone in the guise of an ordinary old man.
As just an old man, he had looked forward to White Tiger’s birth, and at some point, he had grown close to Pans’s Wife.
The old man had also promised.
“Heh heh, when White Tiger is born, I would like to become White Tiger’s grandfather. Would that be all right?”
“White Tiger will surely like that.”
He had promised to become the grandfather of the White Tiger yet to be born.
Both Pans and his wife were people who had lost their parents early.
They had no parents, and the old man had jokingly said he would become a grandfather for them.
But she knew as well.
“......Run. Please.”
But Old Man Ben, holding a single spear, did not know how to step back.
SHHHHHHHHH—
The wind blew.
Perhaps a wind he had only felt a handful of times in the mundane world scattered the old man’s hair.
Sword Emperor Bolond looked at the old man’s firm presence and pointed at him with a finger.
The old man did not retreat.
Even while fighting more than a thousand assassins, he did not waver in the slightest.
A blade lodged in his abdomen, but he brought down the assassin.
A spear pierced his back, but he struck away the assassins like a wild beast.
Even with weapons stuck all over his body, the old man did not retreat.
It was the first time.
“......I will show respect. You who are called Azure Heaven. I, Bolond, Emperor of the Parion Empire, make this request.”
For the first time in his life, Bolond felt an immense desire.
He knew why the old man stood here.
It was because news would be slow, and before the nation of Hyun could prepare, they would already have assassinated half of that nation’s key figures.
The old man was reckless, but great.
And Bolond knew.
“You are dying. My empire possesses the Fire Harmony Herb. One who eats the Fire Harmony Herb, old or young, can enjoy the glory of living another twenty years. I give you my word. Your kingdom will enjoy more wealth and glory than any nation that has knelt before me. I will make it prosper more than any other nation, and I will make your name be remembered as one that remains in this world for ages.”
Bolond thought this was a request that could not be refused.
The old man would certainly die.
Absolute Shield Peya and he himself were still in good condition.
Moreover.
No matter how much experience the old man had accumulated, Sword Emperor Bolond’s basic level was far too high.
Also.
The old man’s body was slowly crumbling.
“Cough!”
A handful of blood spilled from his mouth.
It was partly because he had taken tremendous damage, but his death had been approaching in the first place.
However.
The old man, collapsed on one knee, spoke.
“How could a tiger...... crawl beneath a dog.......”
“.......”
Sword Emperor Bolond was impressed.
He withdrew all the assassins.
The old man was dying on his own anyway.
The old man’s eyes were blinking more and more often.
Then, at last.
CLANG—
Ben’s head dropped forward, and he lost his grip on the spear.
“Elder......! No, Elder......!”
Pans’s Wife wailed at the sight of Ben’s lowered head.
At this moment, Sword Emperor Bolond envied Hyun terribly.
The old man’s body, dying with vacant eyes and blood pouring from him, was twitching.
The twitching of the old man’s body was a final struggle to move somehow.
And he murmured words no one could hear.
“This...... is...... how...... it...... must...... be...... done.......”
No one could tell what the murmur meant.
Sword Emperor Bolond looked at him and bowed his head slightly, and that was an astonishing thing.
Sword Emperor Bolond was a supreme emperor.
He was a great king who had made dozens of Legends kneel, one of the kings leading the current age.
He was the most arrogant king, the sort of man who would bow his head to no one.
What made it even more astonishing was the fact that Azure Heaven was, in the end, an enemy.
As he watched the old man dying with still-vacant eyes, Absolute Shield Peya also bowed his head.
Then Bolond slowly nodded to the assassin holding Pans’s Wife.
Pans’s Wife ran over and sobbed.
“You said you would become the grandfather of the White Tiger about to be born! You can’t leave like this! You know His Highness Hyunsoo will grieve!!!”
GUSH-GUSH-GUSH—
The blood flowing from the old man’s body soaked the ground.
Sword Emperor Bolond looked at him and said,
“Show respect to both of them and send them off painlessly, in peace.”
At that moment.
Sword Emperor Bolond suddenly saw a red haze begin to rise from the old man’s body.
With one hand, he grasped the spear he had dropped, and with the other, he patted the back of the crying Pans’s Wife.
“......I see. So this was how it was done. I can finally see it now.”
“......?”
Sword Emperor Bolond was startled.
Sword Emperor Bolond was also a powerhouse. He realized that the old man’s murmuring had been completing some kind of technique.
Sword Emperor Bolond’s widening eyes met Ben’s eyes, which had regained their clarity.
Ben wished.
Hyunsoo.
He wished to learn Ghost Step before he died and pass it on.
He wished for Hyunsoo to possess a greater and more magnificent power.
He wished for Hyunsoo to remember him through it.
“Ghost Spearmanship. Final Chapter.”
Ben lifted his spear to the sky and took his final step.
“Divine Step.”
