Free Web NovelThe Pope’s scream went on.
“Kraaaaagh—!”
And the stingy old man said placidly,
“Ah, sorry. Looks like I still can’t purify chaos yet. Hehe.”
Still trying to sound cute, he added,
“I can only attack with it. Hehe.”
At that Raon-like laugh, Cale’s face twisted.
“S-sorry!”
The stingy old man apologized in a panic, but that was not the issue.
His body is fine?
The Pope was obviously taking the full pain of the firebolt.
Yet his body showed no burns from it.
His broken arms were still broken, but his skin was intact.
What is this?
Cale raised the intensity of the firebolt even further.
“Kraaaagh!”
The Pope howled in agony.
Fwoosh—
Even then, the reddish-gold blaze flared hotter and hotter, and whether it could purify that chaos or not, the firebolt carrying the power of purification completely swallowed the Pope whole.
“Ah—”
“......”
Everyone around them forgot how to speak.
The holy knights who saw it could only stare blankly, forgetting to attack Clopeh, forgetting to approach Cale, forgetting even to protect the Pope.
The Pope’s chaos.
That gray wave had been created by him alone, another chaos that called the God of Chaos to mind.
And inside it were mouths that devoured anything at all.
Yet there was a man climbing back up against that wave, his body not harmed in the slightest by those countless mouths.
His arms had been tainted by chaos, yet he was still intact.
And above all—
“Uh, ah—”
“...Ah......”
The man had stained not only himself, but even the Pope writhing in pain, in that reddish-gold light.
And from that man came a terrifying force.
The kind of dominating aura that only someone on the Pope’s level could endure burst from Cale once again.
That figure was like another—
“Ah. A legend—”
A radiant smile spread across Clopeh’s lips.
Cale was not concentrating his force in one place. He was baring all of it in every direction.
Ah. So this is just how overwhelming Lord Cale’s presence is—
Had it always been like this?
It felt as though it had not.
There is no limit.
Lord Cale always grew.
How wondrous was that?
Clopeh could not possibly wipe the bright smile from his face.
“!”
But then Clopeh felt something pushing its way up against that force.
A sword!
The instant he recognized it as a sword, Clopeh snapped his head around.
A single sword was flying toward Cale.
Clopeh moved as soon as he saw it, but—
I can’t block it.
He knew instinctively.
He did not have the skill to stop that sword.
My aura will be cut apart.
Because Clopeh was strong, he could recognize someone stronger than himself.
Woooo—wooo—
A single sword wrapped in gray smoke.
It was nothing more than an ordinary iron sword, with no special shape to it at all, yet in that gray smoke was the will to take Clopeh’s life without fail.
No, that’s killing intent.
No.
It was not even killing intent.
Madness?
Something sticky and sinister beyond description filled the flying sword.
“......”
Cale had suddenly gone still, a vacant look crossing his face.
He had even tilted his head slightly to one side, as if mulling something over.
Ah!
Clopeh grew urgent at the sight.
Too late!
Cale was still holding onto the Pope.
Even now, he was pouring out enormous force, but his arms had been stained by chaos.
Corruption of chaos.
Clopeh knew how dangerous that was. He had heard about Choi Jung Gun’s corrupted body.
Which meant he had to save Cale from that sword.
That is what a subordinate is for!
A hero is never born alone.
At his side there are always companions, always subordinates.
Clopeh hurled himself toward the sword as fast as he could.
“!”
Then he stopped.
“Ah. Right.”
Clopeh remembered a fairy tale he had read as a child.
A story with a hero so clearly born from imagination.
And in that story, at the hero’s side, there were always beings every bit as strong as the hero himself.
Clopeh had dreamed of becoming a guardian knight, and had chosen wyverns as subordinates—or pets—rather than companions, but—
Lord Cale has companions.
A truly great dragon.
A dragon whose limits could not even be guessed.
He had one.
KABOOOOOM!
With a thunderous crash, a black shield intercepted the sword.
And behind Cale, a small figure appeared and faced it head-on.
“No one gets to hit our human from behind!”
The dragon shouted boldly, stoutly.
The little dragon, still as stubby as ever, was filled with firm resolve in those plump cheeks.
And it was not just that dragon.
Crack!
The sword drove forward, breaking through layer after layer of shields.
Toward that sword—
Wooooo—wooooo—
Another black dragon leapt in.
The other black dragon at Cale’s side.
...Choi Han!
A certain heat flared in Clopeh’s eyes.
It was jealousy, or perhaps acknowledgment.
Two black dragons.
Raon and Choi Han.
Those two had always been at Cale’s side. Unlike himself, who moved according to Cale’s orders.
They were companions.
Clopeh understood his own position clearly. To him, Cale was his lord, but to them, Cale was family.
That was a very great difference, and Clopeh acknowledged it—and did not covet it.
Yes. I do not covet it.
Clopeh’s gaze sank deep.
He acknowledged it.
Because they were there.
Because of that, Cale no longer feared what was behind him.
But—
This won’t be easy.
KABOOOM!
Once again, the black dragon and the hilt wreathed in gray smoke crashed against each other.
“Cale. Choi Han is being pushed back.”
Though Cale had looked as if his mind had wandered somewhere else, he had already grasped the situation around him.
And his brow furrowed slightly.
Choi Han is being pushed back?
The Ancient Tree was right.
The highest-ranking holy knight.
Choi Han was barely managing to block that man’s single floating sword.
“Huff. Huff.”
Harsh breaths were pouring from Choi Han’s mouth.
“Whew.”
And on another side, Sui Khan slowly let out a breath, trying somehow to release the tension running through his whole body.
Ssssss—
In front of him, too, there was a sword.
Unlike Choi Han’s sword floating in the air, this one was held in its owner’s hand.
Grin.
Beyond their clashing blades, the highest-ranking holy knight smiled at Sui Khan.
“You use swordsmanship with a very unusual nature.”
He was right.
Sui Khan possessed the ability to cut through anything.
I can’t cut it.
At first he had not understood why, but now he did.
“A sword with no substance...!”
The highest-ranking holy knight.
His sword had no substance.
Right now it looked like a perfectly ordinary iron sword, but the instant that gray aura bloomed over it, the sword ceased to belong to the present world.
It was not of this world.
Something that could not be cut.
“You—”
And the more Sui Khan’s sword clashed with his, the more clearly he understood what the highest-ranking holy knight was.
“...You aren’t a living being.”
The highest-ranking holy knight was not alive.
But neither was he a dead body.
“You stand on a boundary.”
The highest-ranking holy knight.
He was neither alive nor dead.
He existed somewhere along the boundary between the two.
“Excellent.”
The highest-ranking holy knight did not stint on praise for Sui Khan.
“I was born on that boundary.”
Death and life.
Those two things seemed to be divided by a clear line.
But on that boundary line, there was a place where the two overlapped.
“To be precise.”
The highest-ranking holy knight lightly pushed his sword forward and took a step or two back from Sui Khan.
Skrrrk—
Sui Khan’s body was shoved far backward.
And the direction he was pushed in was toward Cale.
But Sui Khan could not recklessly aim for that man’s back.
Because his opponent was not careless.
If Sui Khan made his move now, the man would cut down not only Sui Khan, but everything behind him as well.
“I was born within chaos.”
From the beginning, his birth had belonged to no dimension and no world.
He was a human born within the chaos possessed by the God of Chaos.
That was why he was a human who always existed somewhere between death and life.
“Your trait will not work on me.”
Even an ability that could cut through anything—
if the target was not any thing at all, then it could not be cut.
The highest-ranking holy knight had never made anything truly his own.
Not a name.
Not an age.
Not a family.
Not an affiliation.
He regarded none of it as truly belonging to him.
He merely remained upon a boundary where he could become anything, anywhere.
He was a truly awful matchup for Sui Khan.
And on top of that—
“The bleeding still hasn’t stopped.”
Just as the highest-ranking holy knight said, blood continued to run from Sui Khan’s arm.
“In fact, it’s flowing even faster. That child must have arrived.”
And again, just as he said, the blood {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} pouring from Sui Khan’s arm was worsening.
That meant the wound he had bound so tightly was splitting back open.
And it meant that the top-tier holy knight who had left that wound on Sui Khan was close—almost all the way to Moraka Castle.
Which meant the current Demon King’s forces were being pushed back.
Which also meant that, as time passed, the Order’s forces would come flooding in wave after wave, putting Cale’s side at an even greater disadvantage.
Something’s strange.
Even while listening to the highest-ranking holy knight, Sui Khan glanced toward General Mol, who was standing off to one side, panting for breath.
General Mol, breathing hard with a deep slash cut into his flank.
His expression, too, was full of confusion.
As if he could not understand this situation. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
Just then, while Team Leader Sui Khan sharply scanned the area around him, the highest-ranking holy knight leisurely continued speaking as he moved away.
“That child would suit you better.”
At those words, the highest-ranking holy knight shifted his gaze away.
Sui Khan no longer held his interest.
Only something else did.
Something more intriguing.
“How interesting.”
He stretched out a hand, and the sword that had been drifting through the air returned to it.
Now holding two perfectly ordinary iron swords, one in each hand, he fixed his gaze on one person.
“Huff. Huff.”
Choi Han.
He was gasping for breath.
But it was not his body that was exhausted.
“A truly rare jewel is in the making.”
Step. Step.
The highest-ranking holy knight walked toward Choi Han, who stood blocking the road to Cale.
Damn it!
Even watching that, Sui Khan only bit down on his lip and did not move recklessly.
Right now, neither the highest-ranking holy knight nor the approaching top-tier holy knight who had wounded him was his biggest problem.
Choi Jung Soo!
In the moment Raon had moved to protect Cale, Sui Khan had to take the position that On and Hong alone could not hold safely.
Behind Team Leader Sui Khan were On, Hong, and the unconscious Choi Jung Soo.
...I’m falling behind.
Sui Khan’s eyes sank deep.
Cale.
Choi Han.
The Heavenly Demon.
All of them were pushing forward with Cale, even if only by a little.
But Sui Khan was not.
I was complacent.
Looking at Choi Jung Soo’s wounded body, Sui Khan gripped his sword tight.
And Choi Han, too, tightened his grip on his sword as he faced the highest-ranking holy knight.
“Huff. Huff.”
Choi Han was breathing hard, but even so, he still could not seem to get enough air.
Damn it!
The curse felt ready to burst straight out of his mouth.
“Despair and hope.”
The highest-ranking holy knight seemed deeply interested as he looked at the black aura faintly wrapping around Choi Han.
“It is surprising that a child like you is already walking so firmly upon your own path amid all that.”
He had seen through the nature of Choi Han’s force with perfect clarity.
