Chapter 396
Chapter Title: I Will Carry Their Stories to the Future
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396.
“My word, he’s actually holding off Jormungandr all by himself.”
Alene muttered in disbelief, watching the fierce battle unfold from a distance.
A single man against a Legion Commander.
And not just any Legion Commander, but Jormungandr, considered the strongest of them all. The sight of Leo holding his ground was nothing short of overwhelming.
“When did he get so strong?”
Allox murmured softly, gripping his battle-ax.
Alene and Allox.
Both had partied with Kyle before and were well aware of his strength.
Even back then, Kyle’s power was on a different level, but now, it was utterly terrifying.
At the two’s astonished reactions, the elven mage, Ferique, scoffed.
“You both should know by now that he gets stronger with every battle he fights.”
Mana flickered around Ferique.
One by one, spells began to stack upon the staff he held.
Memorizing his spells, Ferique looked toward the front lines.
“Besides, at some point, he started fighting all his battles alone.”
Ferique’s eyes narrowed.
“The number of battlefields he’s experienced, the level of carnage he’s fought through—it’s different from ours. His strength is only natural.”
“True. That bastard was always on the front lines in the battles for Gardsrone.”
An intense fighting spirit swirled from Allox’s body.
“He’s opening a path for us! We can’t just stand here cowering like cowards!”
Allox shouted.
His muscles rippled.
Alene, too, readjusted her grip on her spear and stepped forward.
“Allox and I will wound its body.”
While Leo held Jormungandr’s attention, a melee squad was needed to tear through its thick hide.
With their high mobility and ability to deal heavy damage at the front, Alene and Allox were perfect for the role.
“We just need to thoroughly exploit that opening!”
“Khahaha!” Allox laughed heartily, charging forward while swinging his ax wildly through the air.
Watching him, Rodia marveled.
“Sir Kyle… he’s just like Sir Ar-on.”
“Ar-on?”
Having muttered to herself, Rodia heard a voice from behind and slapped a hand over her mouth with a gasp.
“Who’s Ar-on?”
Seeing Lisinas’s curious expression, Rodia gave an awkward smile.
“He’s a beastman I know, a man of incredible courage.”
“Really? I’ve never heard that name before.”
“He hasn’t made a name for himself yet, but…”
“But?”
“He’s the kind of person who gives courage to those around him.”
“If he’s that kind of person, I’d love to have him in our expedition.”
“In the not-so-distant future… you will surely meet him.”
Rodia said with a smile.
“I see.”
Lisinas nodded.
“Then I suppose I should get ready too.”
Gwooooooo-!
A colossal amount of mana began to surge from Lisinas’s body.
Flash-!
Lisinas’s draconic eyes were revealed.
Seeing them, Rodia flinched despite herself.
‘As expected of Sir Lisinas.’
It was astonishing no matter how many times she saw it.
Even before he was known as the King of Wisdom.
Even without the power and experience of the Great Hero, his strength was on par with Rodia’s when she had entered the final chapter to stop the fragment of Erebos.
‘Here, Sir Kyle… and the other Great Heroes will overcome countless trials and achieve brilliant feats.’
And he would become the strongest dragon in the world’s history.
‘Sir Kyle told me.’
Rodia clenched her fists as she gazed at Lisinas’s back.
‘At this time, Sir Lisinas… was mentally no different from his time as the King of Wisdom.’
‘Back then, Lisinas was definitely shouldering the pressure and anxiety of having to save the world.’
Before they set out on the expedition.
Leo had told Rodia about Lisinas’s state of mind, something she had never known.
‘But he possessed a strong spirit that refused to yield or waver in the face of such things.’
He was truly a savior who shouldered the world alone and led it to salvation.
Kyle may have been the one to fulfill that destiny, but its beginning was undeniably Lisinas.
‘This is a world that only Sir Kyle can conquer.’
Rodia clenched her fists, still looking at Lisinas’s back.
The reason she couldn’t conquer it herself was, in a way, perfectly natural.
It wasn’t about being an All-Class or anything like that.
‘This story… this trial is a tale for only two people, Sir Kyle and Sir Lisinas, the ones who heralded the dawn of salvation.’
***
Grrwooooooo-!
Jormungandr let out a roar and unleashed its breath at Leo.
Gooooooh! Flash! Kwagagagagagagang!
The flash of destruction tore through the air as if a great tower had been erected.
A shockwave washed over the surrounding area.
Leo, having dodged the breath, summoned his spiritual power.
Elsie, who was clinging tightly to the fabric of Leo’s left shoulder and enduring the headwind, cried out urgently.
-Mysterious Mister!
“What? Mister?”
Leo wore a dumbfounded expression, but Elsie ignored him and raised her voice.
-Your body is already at its limit! If you draw out any more spiritual power, you’ll self-destruct!
At Elsie’s cry, Leo smirked.
“I suppose so.”
With that reply, he pulled on Albus’s reins.
Fwoosh-!
Albus changed direction at an incredible speed.
Flash-!
A shower of crimson flashes rained down around Albus.
Fwhoooooo!
Moving according to Leo’s will, Albus dodged every single crimson flash and shouted.
-You’re too rough!
“You said I could be. And if I’m not, we can’t dodge all this!”
As Leo replied to Albus, his gaze momentarily shifted to the ground.
Fwoosh-!
Spotting movement on the ground, Leo yanked the reins.
Albus soared rapidly into the sky.
-Are you running away!
Rumble-!
Jormungandr gave chase, flying up into the sky after Leo.
At that moment-!
“Hyaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
With a powerful kiai, Allox, cloaked in aura, raised his ax and charged toward Jormungandr like a cannonball.
Craaang-!
A massive boom echoed as Allox collided with Jormungandr.
Rumble-!
Despite the immense impact, Jormungandr did not stagger.
Instead, its eyes flashed as it continued to pursue Leo.
“Hah! You’re ignoring me quite spectacularly!”
Allox, clinging to Jormungandr’s scales, raised his ax.
Gwooooooooooo-!
Allox’s aura shimmered on the ax blade.
Kwaaaaaa-!
With it, the aura took the shape of a giant ax blade.
“Kraaaaaah!”
Thwack-!
Allox leaped and swung his ax at Jormungandr.
The aura dug into Jormungandr’s thick hide.
-You little maggot!
Jormungandr growled lowly and conjured dark magic.
Crackle-!
“Keuk?”
Crimson sparks began to fly wildly around Allox’s body.
Though his body trembled as if electrocuted, Allox’s eyes flashed.
“This isn’t enough to stop me! Haaaaaaah!”
With a shout, Allox put more strength into his grip, and the ax blade dug deeper into Jormungandr’s hide.
-Annoying!
Jormungandr roared and plummeted toward the ground at incredible speed.
Fwhoooooo! Craaaaaash-!
Ruuuuuumble!
It slammed the part of its body where Allox’s ax was embedded straight into the ground.
The entire area shook as if an earthquake had struck.
“Hoo! You saved my life, Alene!”
Alene, who had flown in at tremendous speed to save Allox just before he hit the ground, raised her hand.
Crackle! Crackle-crackle!
Her spear, wreathed in white lightning, trembled violently as if ready to shoot out at any moment.
Alene threw the spear at Jormungandr.
It was a perfect javelin throw, like something out of a painting.
Flash-! Crackle-crackle!
As the spear flew, trailing a white arc, Jormungandr scoffed.
-Hmph! A pathetic attack!
Jormungandr then used its sense of smell to foresee the future and dodged the attack.
Just as it was about to ignore Allox and Alene to pursue Leo.
Flash! Crackle-crackle!
Alene’s spear changed its trajectory and struck precisely into the gap Allox had created.
-How dare you!
Jormungandr revealed its fury.
“The Spear of Certainty.”
Leo muttered, watching the scene.
An attack utilizing Alene’s mana trait.
The spear she threw would never miss.
But the damage was minimal.
Allox and Alene’s attacks had only torn Jormungandr’s hide.
However…
“It’s enough.”
The corners of Leo’s mouth curled up.
Gwooooooooooo-!
An immense amount of mana surged.
Ferique stood with his staff raised.
The other mages in the party had focused all their mana on Ferique.
Ferique Ennar.
The strongest mage in Gardsrone at the time.
However, mages were considered Jormungandr’s natural enemy.
Jormungandr’s hide possessed incredible magic resistance.
It was at a level where it could almost ignore magic itself.
For that reason, Jormungandr was also the natural enemy of mages.
But what if its hide had been brutally torn open?
“Flesh Bullin.”
As Ferique completed the spell, a great light shot toward the gap Jormungandr had made.
A grand magic that concentrated a vast amount of mana into a single point to pierce through its target.
The bullet of light, flying at an invisible speed, accurately pierced Jormungandr’s neck.
-Kieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!
As Jormungandr writhed in pain.
Gwooooooooooo-!
Rodia, cloaked in red mana and spiritual power, raised her hand.
Ruuuuuuuuuumble-!
The very earth began to shake.
Leo’s eyes narrowed.
‘Summoning magic.’
A fusion of magic and summoning.
The target wasn’t a mystical beast or a spirit.
The target was a ‘specific object.’
Rodia made a fist with her palm facing up, then extended her index finger.
With that, she raised her finger upward.
Fwoooooosh!
A massive torrent of lava erupted from the ground.
Ferique, who had dealt a critical blow to Jormungandr, wore a look of shock.
“Magic that controls the nature of the surrounding area?”
Grand magic from a distant future, a concept that didn’t even exist and was hard to comprehend in this era.
Dragon Lord.
The unique magic of Rodia, the Dragon of Genesis.
“Disaster.”
Rodia murmured the name of the spell.
Jormungandr’s body began to melt in the lava.
-Kraaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
But with its formidable life force, Jormungandr writhed in pain but was not in mortal danger.
‘Not enough firepower.’
Leo narrowed his eyes.
Indeed, in the original history, Kyle and the others lacked the single decisive blow to finish off Jormungandr.
But it didn’t matter.
‘We have Lisinas.’
Leo grinned and looked at Lisinas.
Gwooooooo-!
A brilliant light was pouring from Lisinas’s body.
Despite being a black dragon, Lisinas’s most powerful specialty was none other than light magic.
Ziiiing-!
A giant magic circle appeared around Lisinas, then compressed until it took the shape of an arrow.
At that moment, Luminas transformed into a bow in Lisinas’s hand.
As Lisinas nocked the arrow, the pure white arrow began to burn.
Lisinas’s magic, which incinerated the unjust and sent them into the light.
Lisinas’s unique magic, which defeated the wicked and shot hope into the world.
“Punishment.”
Jormungandr had lost its life to that very spell.
Thud-!
Jormungandr, who had been chasing Leo, froze.
-The scent… of death.
Jormungandr, who could sense the future, felt its own demise.
Jormungandr, a demon stronger than any other, felt death approaching, and in that moment.
It panicked, trembling in fear more than anyone else.
It struggled, trying to change the future in any way it could.
‘It was definitely… supposed to be like that, wasn't it?’
Leo’s face hardened.
-Oh, God… Oh, great calamity who will lead the world to ruin!
Jormungandr cried out to the heavens.
-Forgive this foolish one who cannot witness your grand design! I, here and now!
Flash-!
Jormungandr’s six eyes glared at Leo.
-I will burn my body and soul to strike down this blasphemer who would kill you!
Fwoosh-!
In an instant, black flames erupted from Jormungandr’s body.
At the same time, Lisinas’s magic pierced through Jormungandr’s body.
Flash-! Kwagagagagagagang-!
A massive explosion occurred, and the area struck by the magic swelled up before detonating.
Jormungandr’s enormous body was torn into pieces of flesh that scattered in all directions.
An ominous, thick rain of blood fell all around.
Shwaaaaaaa! Pitter-patter-patter-!
Sometime during the battle, the sun had set, and darkness had fallen.
“We did it! We did it!”
“We’ve defeated the King of Gluttony!”
Cheers erupted from all over the expedition.
Rodia’s eyes went wide as she raised her arms in victory.
But Leo and Lisinas’s faces remained grim.
Because both of them had seen it in that fleeting moment.
The ‘black flame.’
The moment they recognized it.
Fwoosh-!
Jormungandr’s corpse burst into black flames.
And-
-Kieeeeeeeeeeeek!
Letting out a scream of agony as if its very soul was burning, Jormungandr reappeared in the air.
Fwhooooooosh! Thud!
Jormungandr, having regained its original form, let out a grotesque shriek and thrashed its body wildly.
Its body was engulfed in black flames.
The faces of the expedition members turned deathly pale.
Leo was no different.
‘The flame of Erebos!’
Leo recalled Jormungandr’s words from its final moments.
‘That bastard! It used itself as kindling to ignite the Flame of Calamity!’
The Flame of Calamity was an immortal flame.
The reason the brutally killed Jormungandr had revived was because it had cloaked itself in that flame.
But Jormungandr was not Erebos.
The moment its body and soul burned away to nothing.
Jormungandr would vanish from this world without a trace.
The problem was that until then, it was an ‘immortal’ monster.
-Prepare yourself! God-slayerrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Even while writhing in the agony of its burning soul, Jormungandr stared at Leo with eyes full of obsession and hatred.
Fwoosh-!
‘Fast? This bastard!’
Leo recalled the Giant King from Dweno’s world, who had received Erebos’s blessing.
‘Just like the Giant King, its abilities have been enhanced!’
Leo tried to hastily evade Jormungandr, which had closed the distance and opened its maw wide.
But he was too late.
The moment he had that thought.
Fwoosh-
Leo’s eyes widened.
His gray eyes reflected the friend who had blocked his path.
Leo’s voice trembled.
“Move.”
He remembered the final moments when he had sensed his friend’s death.
‘Sorry I couldn’t keep my promise.’
“Sorry I couldn’t keep my promise.”
He knew it was a promise that couldn’t be kept.
“Move, Lisinas.”
‘If it comes down to you or me at the end… you know you’re the one who has to survive, right? You would have made the same choice as me.’
“But you’re the one who has to survive, not me.”
He couldn’t do anything alone.
They saved the world because they were together.
“I said move! You damn lizard!”
“Because you… will save the world.”
Flash-!
The breath engulfed them both.
-Kioooooooooooooo!
Jormungandr, having struck Leo and Lisinas, let out a roar.
Gwooooooooooo-!
Seeing the dark magic swirling, Rodia’s eyes widened as she squeezed her Dragon Heart.
Woooong-!
A massive barrier formed around Jormungandr.
Flash! Kwagagagagagagang-!
A world-shaking explosion erupted.
***
The world was burning.
Darkness had fallen upon the world.
The expedition’s situation was desperate.
At the worst possible moment.
Rodia had managed to block Jormungandr’s attack by squeezing out every last bit of her mana, so there were no casualties yet.
But.
With Jormungandr still standing, only one thing filled everyone’s minds.
Despair.
“Sir Kyle… Sir Lisinas…!”
Coughing up blood, Rodia struggled to get up.
Just then…
Thud… thud…
Footsteps echoed from within the ruins.
Lifting her head, Rodia’s eyes widened.
Though Lisinas had protected him, Leo, who had been directly hit by the breath and caught in the explosion, was walking toward Jormungandr, his body a complete wreck.
The rest of the expedition also stared at Kyle.
-You are finished! I will bury you along with the maggots you brought with you!
Even as it writhed in pain, Jormungandr hurled curses at Leo and the expedition.
-A pointless struggle! All of you will die a dog’s death here! No one will remember you! Your history… will end!
“Haa… haa…”
Leo caught his breath.
A grating, metallic sound came from his lungs, as if they were torn.
“Yeah.”
Leo looked up at Jormungandr and spoke.
“Everyone dies in the end. that fact doesn’t change.”
Leo picked up a staff lying on the ground.
It was the staff of his comrade, Ferique.
“…I probably won’t even leave a name in history… No one will remember.”
In his other hand, he gripped Alene’s spear.
“But… it’s not a dog’s death.”
Leo’s eyes flashed.
“Because these people risked their lives… the world was able to be saved.”
-Such delusions that will never come to pass…!
“It’s not a delusion.”
Leo said firmly.
“This world… will be saved. That damn Erebos will be defeated. And the world will find peace again.”
The corners of Leo’s mouth curled up.
“You’re the one who ends here, King of Gluttony. None of us end here.”
Killing intent and fighting spirit flowed from Leo’s body.
“Because I will carry their stories… to the future.”
Everyone stared blankly at Leo.
“Kyle… you’re… not giving up?”
Allox asked, mustering his strength.
To his question, Leo replied.
“That damn lizard isn’t dead yet.”
He hadn’t failed.
This world was still continuing.
The corners of Leo’s mouth curled up.
“It’s not over yet.”