Ending Maker Chapter 120
Ending Maker Chapter 120
Chapter 45 - Hero Legend
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The explosions continued.
From that distant place to an even more distant place.
The Golden Dragon King had already awakened, but once the chain of explosions had begun, even he could no longer stop it.
The great wolf den that had been Blade Song's sanctuary exploded.
The temple of Solari that Blue Beard had guarded for so long was smashed to pieces.
And the explosions continued.
The Wild Lands shook.
The explosions in the Skyroof Mountains were so tremendous that their aftermath was visible even from the Snowflower Wind Plain.
And at the center of all those explosions, Haragen staggered.
He could not fully accept the current situation.
The Golden Dragon King had awakened.
He understood the principle.
Purify the corrupted Dragon Vein by detonating it.
It made sense. It was entirely possible. But even so!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
He could hear distant explosions—whether they were real or only in his head, he could not tell.
It included not only the west but also the east.
The east too.
"Crazy bastards."
He had never encountered people like this before.
He had never experienced people like this.
That was why cold sweat ran down his body. He could not hide his bewilderment and fear.
He felt like he had witnessed true madness.
And then.
FWOOSH—!
Light burst forth.
The monsters surrounding Yuder were annihilated in an instant, and a golden pillar shot into the sky.
The one standing there.
The incarnation of the Golden Dragon King.
A fair-skinned, clean-cut, handsome boy—angelic at a glance—was smiling radiantly.
But to Haragen, that smile looked like that of a demon proposing a contract.
And the sky.
Another angel.
A girl who was not just angel-faced but a real angel, though now transformed into a witch.
Cordelia was enveloped in golden light just as Yuder was.
And she realized.
'We can't hold out for long.'
The Golden Dragon King's power was simply too immense.
No matter how much Yuder and Cordelia's bodies had been strengthened through repeated level-ups, they could not endure it for long.
And one more thing.
The reason the Golden Dragon King could not act directly and had to settle for lending power to Yuder and Cordelia.
'The Golden Dragon King isn't in good shape either.'
With the entire Dragon Vein exploding, the Golden Dragon King was in no condition to properly control his own body.
The time he could lend his power would not be long either.
It was truly sudden death.
If so, there was no time to hesitate or waver.
"Haaaaaaah-!"
Cordelia curled her body and gathered power. The golden light that had been spreading in all directions condensed around Cordelia, and that light grew brighter and brighter.
Lena, who was standing beside her—or more precisely, floating beside her—stared at Cordelia with a dazed expression.
Like Haragen, she understood the situation itself, but her senses could not keep up with that understanding.
And on the ground.
Yuder reached the same conclusion as Cordelia.
There was no time.
So he had to hurry and get the greatest possible result with as few moves as possible.
'Cordelia.'
He felt like he knew what Cordelia was trying to do.
After all, Yuder could pride himself on understanding how Cordelia thought better than anyone else in the world.
If that was what Cordelia was preparing, then he would go the other way.
Push back the Demon Prince's arm as it tried to rise again from within the Hell Gate, then close the gate!
"Hah!"
Yuder also let out a battle cry.
Gathering the Golden Dragon King's power into his fist, he executed the best move needed right now.
"Giant God Descent!"
Yuder shouted as if roaring.
He released the power of the wild while shouting a technique name that, had Cordelia heard it, would at least have made her blush and say it was better than "Cry Out."
He gave form to the light.
WHOOOOOM—!
A sound.
The beam of light took shape and, at last, stood upon the earth!
Thud!
A golden giant made of light stood tall upon the Snowflower Wind Plain.
At the appearance of the nearly thirty-meter-tall giant, everyone on the battlefield stared open-mouthed, awed and terrified by its majesty.
"HYAAAH!"
And the giant of light charged.
Clenching its fist, it grabbed the Demon Prince's massive arm as it tried to rise again.
And Yuder was truly extraordinary.
He skillfully bent and twisted the massive Demon Prince's wrist. For a moment, he made the Demon Prince lose strength in his arm.
"ROOOAR!"
The giant of light pushed the Demon Prince's arm back.
Haragen, who had been briefly dazed by the sight of a joint lock being applied to none other than the Demon Prince's arm, screamed as if shrieking.
"Nooooooo!"
BOOOOM!
Yuder pushed the Demon Prince's arm back with all his might. At the very moment he completely shoved it into the Hell Gate, Cordelia spread her curled body wide open and released her power.
"Aaaaah!"
With a scream-like cry, the light exploded.
Like Judgment Day, it was an explosion of light that destroyed only evil beings.
RUMBLE!
The explosion struck the Hell Gate. It swallowed the monsters and demons nearby, and Red Wind, watching from afar, marveled.
"It's a star shape!"
Gold Star Explosion.
The aftermath of the technique Yuder had named on the spot was tremendous.
The demons and monsters had already fallen back in shock at the pillar of light and the giant, so the blast did not annihilate many of them. But what mattered was the Hell Gate.
"It got smaller!"
Lena shouted in excitement.
The Hell Gate was nearly half-destroyed and in tatters.
SKRIEEEEK—!
At that very moment, a terrifying sound came from inside the Hell Gate.
It was the Demon Prince.
The one whose name was still unknown was clearly doing something.
So they had to finish it before that. Yuder conveyed his intent to Cordelia through the crest, and Cordelia responded immediately.
"Take it!"
The golden light radiating from Cordelia's entire body faded.
All the wild power that had been divided between the two of them flowed into Yuder.
Cordelia shouted with all her might.
"Bigger!"
The giant of light grew even larger.
Its height, which had reached thirty meters, approached fifty meters, and its right arm became abnormally massive.
Yuder concentrated all his power into his right hand. As everyone on the battlefield watched, he brought down a hand strike.
WHOOOOM!
The golden hand strike collided with the Hell Gate.
A tearing shriek was heard from inside the Hell Gate, and a tremendous force was released.
The Demon Prince's roar.
The terror he caused!
It had an effect.
That power, which spread like an explosion, struck the eastern army fighting on the hill.
It brought them to their knees with fear, dread, and despair.
But it stopped there. It could not do more than that.
Because Yuder was there.
Because the giant of light exerted its final strength!
BOOM!
The hand strike bisected the Hell Gate.
And with that, it crushed it.
The giant of light seized the Hell Gate with both hands. It crumpled and crushed it just like that, and in the sky, Cordelia chanted a spell together with Lena.
It was the sealing spell they had learned in Endymion.
"The Hell Gate, the Hell Gateeee!"
Haragen screamed.
Amid the Demon Prince's curse, Red Wind rose.
Great Storm unleashed holy power and shouted.
"O power of the wild!"
BOOM!
With a thunderous roar, the Hell Gate vanished.
It no longer existed.
And the giant of light collapsed.
Particles of light scattered along the golden whirlwind.
ROOOOAR—!
The atmosphere cried out.
The air roared as the Hell Gate and the giant of light—two enormous presences—vanished together, leaving a sudden vacuum behind.
And a tremendous cheer erupted.
It was the cheer of the eastern army, bursting forth even amid the Demon Prince's curse.
"Hah."
Yuder fell from the sky to the ground.
Cordelia hurriedly flew over, caught Yuder, and cradled him carefully.
"It's been a while."
In Cordelia's arms, Yuder said something out of nowhere, and Cordelia understood.
When they had gone to the Belkain Mountains to retrieve the Sun's Necklace.
The time she had held Yuder and leaped off a cliff.
"So do it properly."
Cordelia replied offhandedly and descended with Yuder. She wanted to fly straight toward the eastern army, but she no longer had the strength.
'I feel like I'm going to die.'
There was no energy in her entire body.
Just as when she had first accepted the power of the wild, it was far more power than even Yuder and Cordelia could handle for long.
Yuder and Cordelia landed unsteadily on the ground, and Lena hurriedly followed after the two of them.
And Haragen saw those three people.
Anger spread across his face, which had been blank.
"Uaaaa!"
His rage was so violent that he could not even form proper words.
Haragen's face contorted even more, and his body swelled.
The Hell Gate had disappeared.
The Demon Prince's descent had failed.
What that meant.
Haragen's own failure.
A disastrous failure in which he had expended enormous resources and military strength in the Wild Lands and ultimately achieved nothing!
"You two! You two!"
Several horns sprouted from Haragen's forehead and back. His already massive body was covered in a black, hard shell.
And Haragen was not alone.
The monsters and demons that still remained.
Just because the Hell Gate had disappeared did not mean they disappeared along with it.
And Haragen still had the Angry Rhino Tribe, which he had not committed to this battle.
"Kill them."
So he would kill them.
He would absolutely tear apart those two damn brats.
Haragen let out rough breaths and looked into the distance.
The battle had begun again on the hill.
It had been a fierce, evenly matched battle from the start.
With the Demon Prince's curse added on top of that, the wild gods could not move recklessly. They were busy pushing back the Demon Prince's curse.
So there was time.
At least enough time to trample the brats before his eyes!
"Charge!"
The Angry Rhino Tribe responded to Haragen's command. They rose from where they had been waiting and charged toward Yuder and Cordelia.
The monsters and demons did not stay still either. They turned their hatred toward the two who had closed the Hell Gate.
"I will not allow it!"
Lena shouted loudly and unleashed her magical power.
Her magical power was nearly depleted from casting Judgment Day in succession, but she was still one of the Five Heroes. She was one of the greatest archmages in all of Pleiades.
Golems rose from the ground. They formed a defensive formation and became a breakwater to block the attacking demons.
But it was not enough.
Lena's legs trembled.
She alone could not hold back all the demons and monsters.
Moreover, the Angry Rhino Tribe would join them soon.
"Hah, ha... Golden Dwagon King."
Cordelia looked up at the sky, sweating profusely.
She wanted to blame him for the sloppy follow-through, but Cordelia had a conscience, despite how she looked.
With the entire Wild Lands exploding, the Golden Dragon King was not in good shape either.
He must have done his best.
"What do we do?"
Cordelia asked Yuder, who was lying in her arms, and Yuder answered from that position.
"Let's go with Plan C."
"What's that?"
"I chug potions, and you use Mana Drain."
Then they could at least patch themselves up somehow.
Yuder gulped down the remaining health recovery potions, and Cordelia absorbed his stamina and converted it into mana. Instead of casting attack magic, she used Count Chase's ring to erect a powerful barrier.
CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!
The monsters that had smashed through Lena's golems charged forward and pounded on the barrier.
Lena collapsed to the ground, and Cordelia gritted her teeth.
They had to hold out somehow.
If they bought time, the eastern army would resolve the current situation.
And she was right.
Great Storm, sensing the three were in danger, broke away from the front line with a final strike force led by Red Wind and Sun Song to rescue them.
'Hold on, hold on, hold on, Cordelia!'
Cold sweat poured down Cordelia's face as she gritted her teeth. Every time the monsters pounded the shield, her entire body ached as though she had been struck directly, but she endured.
Just a little more, just a little more!
"No."
Lena said.
Yuder sensed the reason.
It was underground.
Monsters were tunneling through the ground beneath the part the shield could not cover.
A desperate crisis.
A crisis that had arrived after a miraculous comeback.
'At least Cordelia.'
Yuder gritted his teeth. His stamina had been squeezed dry by Mana Drain, but he somehow stood up and recited the incantation of the Nine Heavens Nine Gates. He tried to stir up the golden whirlwind once more.
And then, at that very moment.
Cordelia blinked.
She was doing her utmost within the shield, but she noticed it first.
Because her extremely sensitive senses had detected it.
'The ground.'
It was ringing.
It was vibrating.
It was not because of the Dragon Vein's rampage.
It was not the monsters tunneling through the ground, either.
A different kind of vibration.
Another vibration, running from south to north.
'No way.'
Cordelia looked at Yuder, and Yuder blinked. He sprang to his feet and turned south. His mouth fell open before he could stop it, and he cried out in delight.
"You scrawny bastard."
The south.
The outskirts, somewhat distant from the center of the Snowflower Wind Plain where Yuder and Cordelia were located.
Count Chase was standing there.
To be precise, he was mounted on a pure white horse, with Rough Avalanche riding behind him.
He could not see it.
But as a powerful mage, he could faintly feel it.
What had happened on the Snowflower Wind Plain.
The miracle that Yuder and Cordelia had wrought.
"Still not enough."
Not enough to protect Cordelia.
Still utterly scrawny.
So this once, I will help you.
Count Chase spurred his horse.
He charged alone toward the Angry Rhino Tribe, the monsters, and the demons turning toward him.
And Yuder saw it.
Cordelia could feel it once more.
The rumbling of the earth.
Those following behind Count Chase.
"Ravens!"
Yuder shouted as if roaring.
The ones who guarded the northern border.
The shield of the Saelun Kingdom.
The valiant knights of the north!
"Ravens! Annihilate the enemy!"
Count Hraesvelgr, who had caught up to Count Chase, shouted.
At his command, given from atop a black horse, the ravens responded.
"Annihilate them!"
"Annihilate them!"
Half of the ten thousand ravens were here right now.
Thanks to Count Chase's wide-area support magic, they had marched at an abnormal speed and made it in time.
Over five thousand elite cavalry, clad in black cloaks and mounted on black horses, charged toward the Angry Rhino Tribe!
"Yuder! Cordelia!"
Lucas shouted.
And as if by magic, Yuder and Cordelia recognized Lucas.
At the same moment, both of them broke into bright smiles.
And the two of them could tell. Gale and Adelia were among them as well!
Boom!
The vanguard of the ravens smashed and trampled the Angry Rhino Tribe.
The charge of the massive northern warhorses was a catastrophe in its own right.
"Charge!"
They trampled and smashed.
Every raven was a trained warrior, and their individual combat strength was the pride of the north!
"Holy King Cross Sword!"
Yuder shouted, and Count Hraesvelgr displayed the true majesty of the Holy King Cross Sword.
As he swept across the battlefield with a pure white aura blade, there was no one who dared to stop him.
And Count Chase.
He soared high into the sky, spotted the monsters pressing the eastern army, and rained down the powerful spell he had spent the last two days preparing onto their rear.
"Rain of Fire."
Incantation and hand signs.
And a baptism of fire pouring from the sky.
He was Count Chase, one of the Four Great Mages of the North. Hundreds—thousands—of Fire Arrows poured from the sky, burning monsters and demons and giving the eastern army the opening it needed to push them back.
"Break through!"
Red Gale shouted.
The eastern army finally began to overwhelm the monsters. The final strike force led by Great Storm joined the ravens.
Haragen let out a roar and a scream at the same time.
Count Hraesvelgr charged straight toward Haragen.
And Yuder looked at Cordelia.
Cordelia also looked at Yuder.
Yuder smiled with his head resting on Cordelia's lap. Cordelia also showed her best smile.
A sight that could not even have been imagined in the original story.
A world where Red Gale led the eastern army, Red Wind and Sun Song ran together, and the wild gods still preserved their purity.
The ravens led by Count Hraesvelgr and Count Chase were fighting to protect the Wild Lands.
Lena was standing right beside them now.
Gale had not died but was alive and together with Adelia.
"This is the best."
Cordelia said at some point, and Yuder agreed.
Once again, they looked at each other and shared their best smiles.