Revenge Against the Fifth Betrayer, Kyle Tennant
While Jae-hyun spread the tales of Count Gray’s atrocities across the entire continent, sowing seeds of discord wherever he went, Ji-ho traveled through the northern wildernesses, gathering up the sacred weapons that had been hidden away.
The weapons lay concealed in remote corners of the north, their power suppressed and buried deep. Without prior knowledge of their exact locations, locating them proved nearly impossible.
They were tucked away inside caves buried beneath deep snow, their overwhelming holy energy sealed so tightly that even Ji-ho could not sense their presence.
Yet he remembered every single location perfectly, and even after eight thousand years, their positions remained unchanged. It was only natural, after all, since no one had ever discovered them to begin with.
Thanks to that, he managed to find several sacred weapons in a single day.
Among the ones he had acquired at this time, the ones he currently wore were as follows.
Sacred Armor, Saint’s Plate — Achilleus.
Sacred Shield, Aegis — Aegis.
Sacred Helm, Saint’s Crown — Hildagrim.
Sacred Ring, Saint’s Band — Anbarigis.
Sacred Boots, Saint’s Shoes — Tararia.
Dressed in these five sacred weapons and gripping the Archangel’s Sword, Ji-ho’s appearance was truly that of a divine hero.
“With this, my power is complete.”
His strength as the summoned hero was now fully equipped. Sadly, no one possessed the aptitude to wield the Sacred Spear Brynawr or the Sacred Bow Astrophel.
At present, the strongest warrior on the allied side—apart from Ji-ho himself—was the Force Sword Emperor, Kyle Tenant. On the magic side, only Griffith and Jason Light had any sacred weapons available, and each of them could wield just two.
Sacred Staff, Growth — Excidium.
Sacred Rod, Saint’s Cudgel — Novice.
Since both were sacred weapons intended for mages, only one could be assigned per person, so there was no conflict in dividing them.
Griffith and Jason had already realized that holding two would bring no real advantage, so they gladly agreed to take one each without greed.
Among the sacred weapons, the Sacred Spear Brynawr and the Sacred Bow Astrophel were taken by Gabriel. She had borrowed the Archangel’s Sword for Ji-ho, yet the Archangel’s Spear and Archangel’s Bow remained untouched, and these two were equal in status to the weapons she carried.
Among the Archangels, if no suitable user could be found among them, the First-Grade Seraphim angels—right below their ranks—would be searched for talent.
“That’s a fine idea.”
Agreeing with Gabriel’s thought, Ji-ho nodded. To confront the terrifying Demon King, one powerful ally would make all the difference.
Now that he could equip six sacred weapons by himself, he believed he might even be able to fight the Demon King for a while, but he still felt the need to gather even stronger companions for certainty.
“It’s risky, but I’ll bring Rachel, Ruina, Silvia, and Da-gyeom.”
His beautiful wives had all been trained to become strong existences. Rachel and Ruina were swordsmen, while Silvia and Kim Da-gyeom were mages. Through countless training sessions, Ji-ho had acknowledged their flawless synergy.
The Archangel’s Helm and Archangel’s Gauntlets were suited for warriors and mages respectively, yet Ji-ho felt no temptation. Mikael, who had lent him the sword, would take the helm, and the gauntlets were items he had used for years anyway.
They were already his.
That was why Ji-ho focused on weapons of lower rank than the sacred ones.
“If only Saint Lucrezia were here…”
The thought that Saint Lucrezia had fallen into the Demon King’s hands was painful. With her, he could have spoken directly to the Astraea Goddess through her.
But once a Saint existed, she could not be abandoned unless she turned into a dark being or died. Especially since only one Saint could ever exist.
That was the current problem: without rescuing the captured Saint, he could no longer speak to the Goddess Astraea.
In the memories of Ferdinand and Griffith, Lucrezia had been a Saint of immense holy power.
Deciding against clinging to the impossible, Ji-ho first strengthened his own forces with what he currently had. He prepared weapons perfectly suited not only for his wives but also for the strongest warrior of this era, the Force Sword Emperor Kyle von Tenant.
These were weapons ranked below the sacred ones, whose actual performance was even lower, yet in the long history of the continent they had achieved far more feats than the sacred weapons themselves.
Harpe, Cospin, and Tizona—legendary swords forged by the continent’s greatest dwarven blacksmiths from the finest materials after endless effort.
Ecal, Tamario, and Critis—legendary staves researched by ancient Dragon Lords alongside countless dragons.
Since the legendary swords were inferior to the Archangel’s Sword, and Ji-ho, as the strongest force on the allied side, needed the best sword available, he had prepared the finest among them.
Because the legendary weapons were themselves powerful artifacts ranked just after the sacred ones, Rachel and Ruina wielding them would be excellent. The remaining one would go to Kyle von Tenant.
Even the legendary weapons possessed magic that allowed them to reshape themselves to fit the user’s body. For example, a sword intended for a warrior would be far less effective if gripped by someone without a full-sized hand, so a properly forged sword by a skilled blacksmith would outperform a legendary weapon suited only to smaller hands.
However, because the legendary weapons could reshape themselves, they remained legendary artifacts. The three legendary swords were no different.
Even if they ranked below the sacred weapons currently used by Jason von Light and Griffith von Lica, the staffs for mages among the legendary weapons were undeniably extraordinary. They would elevate the power of Silvia and Kim Da-gyeom.
And the legendary weapons were sealed inside his spatial pocket.
Despite falling behind the sacred weapons in priority, all the sacred weapons he could obtain had already been secured. Now it was time to turn his attention to the legendary ones.
***
“This is the legendary sword Harpe.”
Kyle von Tenant returned to Valois Kingdom and first examined the new weapon he had received.
The legendary sword Harpe.
Even among dwarves, the whereabouts of this sword that had descended into legend were unknown to any of them, and the dragons did not know either.
That was only natural, since it was sealed inside Ji-ho’s spatial pocket.
Originally, for a hero of the ancient era, it would have been nothing more than a collection item. After all, he already possessed the Sacred Sword.
Concerned that the items inside would disappear if he died, Ji-ho had prepared a contingency: the things within the spatial pocket would scatter across the regions of the northern wilderness if he perished.
In this world, if he died, all items inside his spatial pocket would scatter across the north. If he died on Earth, they would scatter across the lands of Siberia.
Yet, in his view, those very items—collected with nothing more than a collector’s heart and not even considered great weapons—had become important weapons that could influence the fate of the world in the current situation.
“In its greatsword form!”
Kyle gripped the greatsword that was now Harpe and swung it lightly through the air. The blade hummed with intense momentum, and it felt as natural in his hand as if it had always been part of his own body.
“Amazing!”
Kyle truly felt it was incredible. Such a perfectly fitted sword with no awkwardness whatsoever was rare.
It felt as though his entire body had simply lengthened, rather than holding a sword in his hand.
Merely gripping this sword made him feel his power had increased far beyond before.
“It will grow even stronger!”
Kyle felt he could become even stronger, and that joy was the happiness of a warrior. The man standing before him—tall at 198 centimeters, with brown hair and gray eyes—looked like a smiling man in his thirties, yet he was actually sixty-eight. His youthful grin still carried the dream of being a warrior.
He had felt jealousy toward the absurd talents of Jae-hyun and Irene, but not toward Ji-ho’s appearance. Though Ji-ho possessed talent equal to Jae-hyun’s, Ji-ho was four years older than them—seventy-two versus his sixty-eight—so in reality the injustice of talent being superior was lessened by age.
“You look happy.”
However, he would not be able to enjoy that happiness. Right in front of him stood the former hero and current Demon King, Kim Jae-hyun, whom he had betrayed in the past.
“Jae-hyun!”
Kyle’s face twisted in confusion. He had never imagined Jae-hyun would appear here. He had assumed Ji-ho was dead and that Ferdinand and Griffith were also dead.
William had gone missing, yet Ji-ho had not harmed him and had left him with the legendary weapon, leading Kyle to believe he had been too lenient.
He had thought that raising the hero party would give him the chance to defeat them, and that Ji-ho would not harm him for that reason.
He had never imagined such a sudden movement—Jae-hyun appearing right here.
“You will disappear from here, Kyle Tenant. Come to the Dark Empire. The silent era is over.”
At those words, Kyle swung the greatsword with the intention of doing whatever he wanted.
“Die!”
But the greatsword he swung was caught empty-handed in Jae-hyun’s left hand. Then he felt the space around him ripple. Moments later, he realized he was in Pandemonium, the capital of the former Holy Astraea Kingdom—the current Demon King’s Castle.
“I can’t stand it anymore. I can’t endure the revenge of Ron and Lin. I’ll never forgive you without avenging them. Kkukuk!”
The red eyes of the speaker looked as though they were filled with unfulfilled desire. In truth, he wanted to satisfy his need for revenge.
“Kyuuk! You think it’ll turn out as you want?!”
Kyle saw that the greatsword in Jae-hyun’s grip showed no movement at all, so he gave up struggling and threw a left punch instead.
“Kya-aaak!”
But soon after, he screamed in agony and fell backward. As he collapsed and stared up at the ceiling, Jae-hyun’s foot pressed down on his chest.
“Uaaaaak!”
The shockwave from the stomp spread through his body, and Kyle vomited blood while writhing in pain.