685
Chapter 685
"...I never thought I'd come back here again."
Duke spoke in a self-deprecating voice as he looked at the landscape of the abandoned continent soaked in the falling black rain.
It was an especially emotional experience for him to return after more than ten years to the place that had left him with an indelible mental wound.
The Black Sword Knights wearing Hersion, including Duke, were moving while tensely examining the environment of the abandoned continent, which was distinctly different from the central continent.
They had been waiting in Mycenae, and when the invasion fortress gate installed by the demon realm princesses opened, they crossed over to this place.
Floating ships and warships were positioned in the air around the fortress, and all forces following Zeke, including the Black Sword Knights, Vampire units, Beast kin units, Bird tribe units, Barbarian units, and Three eye units, had arrived here.
What was surprising was that not only these forces but also two of the three transcendent families, Nirvana and Ishtar, had participated in this expedition.
The Ishtar Crow unit led by Yelin and the Nirvana Mage unit led by Zeros had crossed through the gate to the abandoned continent.
Draker, Ishtar, and Nirvana.
The three transcendent families of the continent had joined forces.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
Behind the advancing Black Sword Knights followed the self-repairing golems created by the head of the Nirvana family.
Himel, the captain of the Crow unit, was also scanning the surroundings vigilantly, examining the interior of the forest.
They were the advance party searching for the path to the final tower where the Demon King's soul was sealed. Duke, who had previous experience on the abandoned continent, volunteered to lead them.
Having overcome his past trauma with Zeke's help, he volunteered for the advance party because he wanted to confirm for himself that he had completely recovered.
WOOONG!
Duke looked around the forest once and then turned to the Black Sword Knights.
A translucent veil rising from their Hersion was blocking the rain heavily condensed with demonic energy.
Duke was satisfied with how well-prepared they were compared to when he had come here in the past with no information at all.
'Previously, we were directly exposed to this rain and couldn't properly utilize our power.'
The rain concentrated with demonic energy corroded the knights' aura and neutralized the mages' magic power.
Because of this, Duke and the other Draker knights from the past couldn't demonstrate their full abilities here.
But this time, the situation was different.
With proper supplies and even a fortress installed, they were in a much more advantageous position.
Just as Duke was preparing himself mentally again, Himel moved her ear and pointed to one side.
"Something's coming."
At those words, Duke gestured to the Black Sword Knights.
Aul, Andrei, and the other knights behind Duke drew their swords and assumed defensive positions.
THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!
Soon, a massive demonic beast appeared between the stretched trees.
GROWL!
It was a demonic beast with power on a completely different level from the magical beasts or monsters seen on the central continent.
A giant lizard resembling a dragon appeared walking on two legs and glared at them with a chilling gaze.
Sharp horns protruded from various parts of the beast's body, and a heavy intimidating presence emanated from its thick tail.
Duke looked at the demonic beast and instead smiled.
"Nice to see you again, you demonic beast offspring."
Muttering quietly, Duke first signaled the Nirvana mages to send in the golems.
THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!
Golems exceeding four meters in height approached the giant reptilian demonic beast.
GROWL!
The demonic beast saw the golems approaching and suddenly charged forward quickly, ramming them with its body.
CRASH!
From the powerful strike, the golem was lifted into the air and flew away.
THUD!
In the moment the heavy golem fell to the ground far away, the other golems nearby clung to the demonic beast, grabbing its tail and legs.
RUMBLE!
The mages controlling the golems had to concentrate and raise their magic power against the demonic beast's tremendous strength.
ROAR!
The demonic beast opened its massive mouth and let out a thunderous roar.
Judging that the golems alone couldn't defeat it immediately, Duke gestured. At his signal, Duke's Black Sword Knights and Himel's Crow unit rushed toward the demonic beast that the golems were restraining.
SWOOSH!
The Crow unit deployed shadow techniques, jumping into the air and throwing daggers to attract the demonic beast's attention.
The demonic beast then extended its neck to try to devour the Ishtar shadow assassins.
At that moment, Aul and Andrei flew in from the air with their swords drawn.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
Swords imbued with aura blades deeply penetrated the demonic beast's neck.
The demonic beast raised its head and cried out in intense pain.
Undeterred, Aul and Andrei thrust their swords in even deeper.
At that moment, Duke unleashed a storm blade technique toward the demonic beast from the front.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
The powerful storm sword strike instantly split the demonic beast's neck.
BOOM!
The massive demonic beast's head fell to the ground.
Its heavy body lost balance, tilted, and collapsed.
"PHEW."
Duke, who had split the demonic beast's neck, exhaled lightly while looking down at the fallen corpse.
When he came here in the past, half of the knights who accompanied him were wiped out by such demonic beasts.
It felt surreal to have handled this beast without significant casualties.
Even the golem that was initially knocked away had restored itself to its original state through its self-repair function.
Andrei approached Duke and said,
"Commander, seeing these demonic beasts appear, I think we're getting closer to the final tower."
Duke nodded at Andrei's words.
"Yes, let's finish exploring for today and return to the fortress to report."
At his words, a mage took out a coordinate marking device from his backpack and planted it in the ground.
Leaving these markers allowed them to reliably track locations without being affected by demonic energy.
Just as Duke was about to lead the advance party back to the fortress after confirming the marker was properly placed, he suddenly sensed something strange.
'This is...?'
Duke called out to his team with a hardened expression.
"Everyone! Take defensive positions!"
At his shout, all advance party members drew their weapons and surveyed their surroundings.
RUMBLE!
Shortly after, an incredibly massive pressure could be felt coming from inside the forest.
It was an aura incomparably stronger than the demonic beast they had just killed.
Duke, Andrei, and Aul, who stood at the front, were unconsciously sweating from the intensity.
Duke forcibly calmed his trembling hand and steadied his breathing.
'It's coming.'
Soon, something emerged from between the trees.
It was a figure with its entire body wrapped in bandages, wearing an old coat over them.
The moment he saw it, Duke's pupils dilated.
"That thing..."
The unknown being that had inflicted an indelible psychological shock on Duke.
Just facing it made his mind go blank and his legs feel like they would give out.
But Duke overcame this and raised his sword.
He addressed the unknown being,
"Guardian, we meet again."
As if responding to Duke's words, a low voice resonated from the suspicious bandaged figure.
【Turn back. Those who enter this island will receive only terrible curses and death.】
Duke smiled bitterly at those words and said:
"No one knows that better than I do. Damn curse."
Duke gripped his sword and summoned his storm technique.
WHOOSH!
A powerful storm encircled his body.
"I'll discover your true identity myself!"
Duke lifted himself with the storm technique and charged quickly toward the Guardian.
SLASH!
Duke's sword, enveloped in storm energy, plunged downward as if to cleave the Guardian in half with a single strike.
At that moment, the Guardian extended its hand, and the bandages gathered to form the shape of a sword.
WHOOSH!
Simultaneously, the Guardian swung its sword toward Duke's storm technique.
CRASH!
Though it was a simple swing, it completely negated Duke's storm technique.
The recoil sent Duke flying backward.
"UGH."
The Guardian was as powerful as when Duke had encountered it in the past.
However, it didn't feel as hopeless as it did then.
While Duke was regaining his posture, Andrei and Aul behind him raised their swords and rushed at the Guardian's flanks from both sides.
SWOOSH!
Aul's curved blade and Andrei's sword simultaneously targeted the Guardian's head and legs.
The Guardian formed another bandage sword in its other hand and moved both hands to naturally counter the two sword strikes.
CLANG!
A massive sonic boom spread around as the swords collided.
Even while facing both Aul and Andrei's swords simultaneously, the Guardian's movements showed no difficulty.
Watching the Guardian handle dual swords as naturally as flowing water, Duke gritted his teeth.
'To think we'd encounter the Guardian here.'
Given the circumstances, it was highly likely this being was the guardian protecting the final tower.
Duke thought he needed to somehow capture it to discover the tower's location.
He signaled the Crows and mages, and accordingly, the remaining personnel built walls around the area to block escape routes and prevent the Guardian from fleeing.
After confirming the movements of the Crows and mages, he raised his sword again.
WOONG!
The energy of the storm technique surged in Duke's sword.
Duke lifted himself into the air and flew at high speed in a low trajectory, heading straight for the Guardian.
"HAAAA!"
The acceleration generated by the storm power fully transferred to Duke's sword.
His sword flew toward the Guardian at supersonic speed.
Seeing this, Andrei and Aul quickly retreated.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
Duke's supersonic blade tore through the air with a deafening sonic boom as it engulfed the Guardian's body.
BOOM!
The Guardian tried to block the supersonic sword strike by crossing its two swords, but its body couldn't withstand the impact and was sent flying backward.
CRASH!
Dozens of trees that the flying Guardian collided with were shattered into pieces, leaving no trace of their original form.
The ground was deeply gouged, creating a crater at the end of the trail of destruction.
RUMBLE!
Duke, having landed a solid hit, walked slowly toward the crater where the Guardian was buried, sword in hand.
The black rain continued to fall steadily, soaking the ground.
Andrei and Aul also cautiously followed behind Duke.
There was no movement from the crater where the Guardian was buried.
However, Duke thought there was no way the Guardian would fall from just this much.
As he was cautiously examining the inside, a bandaged hand shot out from beneath the ground.
GRAB!
The emerging hand seized Duke's ankle.
Duke, who hadn't sensed any presence, was startled and thrust his sword down into the ground.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
The aura blade dug deep into the earth.
But the hand gripping Duke's ankle didn't loosen its grip.
"Damn you!"
Although the Hersion was withstanding the Guardian's grip strength, Duke could feel the pressure gradually intensifying.
As Duke tried once more to pull his foot free from the increasing grip, Aul, who was beside him, swung his curved blade down on the Guardian's wrist.
SLASH!
With a loud noise, the Guardian's wrist was severed.
Only then could Duke escape from the Guardian's pressure.
"UGH."
But the pain that had already transferred past the Hersion to his ankle was unavoidable.
Then something surprising happened. The Guardian's severed arm that had fallen to the ground crawled by itself back into the crater.
As Duke urgently tried to examine the crater, he felt a subtle vibration from beneath the ground. He immediately shouted to the advance party members:
"It's underground! Everyone be alert!"
Just as he shouted those words, the Guardian burst out from directly beneath where a golem was standing.
CRACK!
As soon as it appeared, the sword it was holding split the golem in half.
The vertically cut golem collapsed to the ground.
The Ishtar Crows then rushed toward the Guardian that had revealed itself.
SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!
The Guardian swung its sword at the Crows charging from all directions with daggers.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
Though it merely swung its sword, the Crows were sent flying before they could even approach.
"COUGH!"
Even Himel, the captain of the Crow unit, coughed up blood and collapsed from the impact of the sword strike.
This time, other golems nearby rushed toward it, but it was useless.
Each time the Guardian swung its sword, the golems' bodies shattered helplessly, with their fragments rolling across the ground.
Watching this scene, Duke recalled memories from the past.
The sight of his comrades dying miserably overlapped with the current situation.
‘Is it happening again…? Will everyone die… just like before…?’
His hands were already shaking violently.
The traces of wounds he thought had healed were about to resurface.
But then, a warm energy enveloped Duke's body.
WOONG!
Golden aura settled on not only Duke but all those who were injured.
With radiant light, the Knight of Salvation appeared.
Zeke, wielding Leviathan, stood before the Guardian.
"Guardian of the Tower. I've been waiting for you to appear."
WOONG!
Radiant light surged from his sword.
Pointing his sword at the Guardian, Zeke continued,
"Take me to the Final Tower. Right now."