Chapter 452: The Forgotten Heroes.
Chapter 452: The Forgotten Heroes.
Grrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
The roar of a savage beast thundered through the air. In the sky was a Bone Dragon, its wings spread wide as it soared high.
Before I knew it, the gazes of the Dead were no longer on us. As if we didn't even exist, they all stared up at the sky, radiating a terrifying hostility.
Finally snapping back to my senses, I urgently turned to my clan members.
“I don't know what's going on, but this is our chance to escape. For now, we'll put as much distance between us and this place as possible.”
As soon as I finished speaking, I quickly grabbed Ahn Sol's hand. But the moment I tried to move, I felt a faint resistance from her hand in mine. In my haste, I tugged a few more times, but with each pull, the resistance only grew stronger.
“Ahn Sol?”
“Nngh…!”
“Ahn Sol!”
“Nnngh…!”
Ahn Sol said nothing. Instead, she pulled her hand back toward herself, passively expressing her refusal.
Tears were still streaming from her eyes, but she stared into the empty air with them wide open. It was clear she had no intention of moving a single step from this spot.
“You.”
I was about to say something, but I stopped myself. I wasn't even angry anymore. In a situation like this, anger was useless.
Trying my best to remain calm, I slowly surveyed our surroundings.
A dragon that had suddenly appeared in the fortress. And the skeletal Dead fighting it.
Could it be...
A thought flashed through my mind, and a chill ran down my spine.
Ahn Sol had let the Dead complete their summoning ritual earlier. I didn't understand why at the time, but now that things had turned out this way, I could see her reasoning. If the Dead hadn't been summoned, we would have been forced to fight the dragon that appeared in this fortress.
Did she... foresee all of this? If so, then...?
Just then, the sky, which had been hazy with fog, changed in an instant. It was stained red, as if twilight had fallen just before sunset.
At the same time, the Bone Dragon, which had been flying to evade the rain of arrows and magic, suddenly began to slow.
Finally, it spread its wings wide, looked down stiffly, and let out a tremendous roar, the red glow in its eyes flashing.
In that moment, I had the illusion that the sky was splitting open. No, the sky hadn't opened. The clouds that filled it parted to the left and right, and from the gap that formed, flaming raindrops began to pour down like lightning.
Shushushushushushuuuu!
The flaming raindrops, pouring like a torrential downpour, elongated as they fell. Just before hitting the ground, they transformed into streams of fire, falling precisely where the Dead were gathered.
Kwakwakwakwakwakwang!
With a roar so loud it made my eardrums ache, massive explosions erupted from all sides.
It was like a carpet bombing from the sky. The bombardment began on the right, cut across diagonally, and spread out, blowing up buildings as it went.
Fortunately, the central plaza was spared a direct hit, but we couldn't escape the aftereffects. Flames shot up in an instant, and shattered debris flew into the air. The roaring soon subsided, but the crackling sound of raging fires now filled the air.
Fwoosh! Fwoosh!
The fortress had begun to burn.
“Hahk!”
Thud. I heard the sound of someone collapsing to the ground. It seemed their legs had given out, unable to withstand the bombardment. The other clan members appeared to be standing quietly, but I suspected they felt the same inside.
The situation we were in was neither a battle nor an exploration. It was a war.
“Everyone...”
Before I could continue, I glanced at Ahn Sol. Then I turned back to the clan members and spoke.
“Ahn Sol and I will remain here. But the rest of you, please, get away from this place.”
Even in this urgent situation, every clan member stared at me with bewildered faces.
It was a decision I had made after careful consideration.
There were two options: stay here, or flee.
Fleeing was, in fact, the best option. Even though Ahn Sol was acting this way, I could just forcibly carry her away.
Her Player Status, as well as the abilities I had witnessed up until now and just a moment ago, were not something to be taken lightly. There had to be a reason why Ahn Sol was so determined to stay here.
So, I decided to trust Ahn Sol's choice.
However.
“I refuse.”
“No way!”
“We won't!”
“I don't want to.”
“Absolutely not.”
“We refuse!”
The clan members' unanimous response betrayed my expectations completely.
I raised my head sternly, my expression conveying, How dare you defy your Clan Lord's command? But I had to lower it almost immediately. I was met with a barrage of stares that seemed to ask what kind of nonsense I was spouting.
My lips felt dry. I was grateful for their answer and admired their resolve.
But the clan members here were the elite of Mercenary. They were not assets to be lost so meaninglessly.
My plan was to use the fight between the dragon and the Dead as a chance to evacuate most of the clan, and then I would act based on how the situation developed.
And from the recent assault, it didn't look like the Dead could win. The dragon was terrifying, but the silver lining was that it was a single entity. At least there was no risk of being surrounded.
I decided to push forward with my plan. For now, Ahn Sol and I would continue to observe. If the worst-case scenario came to pass, I figured I could manage to escape as long as Ahn Sol was the only one left with me.
“It's okay.”
Just then, a small voice drifted to my ears.
Ahn Sol wiped her tear-filled eyes and pointed in a direction with her damp hand. Following her gesture, I saw the Dead aiming at the sky. Thousands of them stood with their weapon-wielding arms pulled back in unison, all looking up.
—Occidite Eos!
The moment the unintelligible cry rang out, swords, spears, arrows, and magic all shot into the sky at once. The sheer number was enough to fill the sky, but I had to doubt my eyes for a moment.
It was just as it looked. They weren't concentrating their fire on the dragon; they were just launching everything haphazardly into the air. It was as if they had simply thrown their attacks high into the sky. The Bone Dragon glanced down, then with a powerful flap of its wings, it soared higher.
An incomprehensible attack. Just as I was wondering what on earth they were doing...
—Drrrr…. Ea - Yaal!
Another grand cry echoed, and a round, purple veil materialized in the air. The veil, which twinkled with intermittent lights like stars in a night sky, suddenly let out a loud noise like a revving motor.
Shushuk! Shushushuk! Shushushushushuk!
The various attacks floating in the sky suddenly began to shoot toward the center of the veil. They plunged into it like water being sucked down a drain, and as soon as they passed through the veil, they became a single point.
Soon, that point, now containing an unbelievably vast amount of power, burst through the veil and shot forward.
It was a spectacular sight. The point, a concentration of hundreds, thousands of attacks, rushed forward like a meteor, leaving a long tail in its wake. It instantly caught up to the hastily ascending dragon and exploded against its torso.
A moment later, the explosion engulfed the Bone Dragon's entire body.
Kwakwakwang!
Grrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
And in that moment.
“───. ───. ───.”
With a low mumble, Ahn Sol raised her staff. I immediately turned my head.
…...
But seeing her, I couldn't bring myself to speak. Because...
“───. ───. ───.”
As she quietly chanted the spell with her eyes shut tight, Ahn Sol looked more holy and sacred than I had ever seen her.
It felt like I was looking at a savior.
*
She was sad. Simply sad.
From the moment she had set foot in the ruins, Ahn Sol had felt emotions flooding in from all around her.
The grief etched into the ground.
The sorrow seeping from the buildings.
The anguish held within a mere bone fragment.
No, the sadness carved into every corner of the fortress.
All of these things were crying out to Ahn Sol as one.
We have been wronged!
We are filled with indignation and regret!
Feeling an endless pity for them, Ahn Sol wondered.
What happened here? What could have possibly happened for such a deep resentment to remain as a lingering grudge?
The answer could be seen on the walls.
While everyone else was deciphering the letters written on the walls, Ahn Sol alone saw something different.
A long, long Great War.
And the final battle that could have put an end to it.
It wasn't a war that ended in a year or two. It was a war that had lasted for decades.
Decades. The time it takes for a child to be born, pass adulthood, and reach middle age.
A child who grew up witnessing the horrors of war was fated to lose everything.
A newborn child would lose their father at birth. They would lose their mother in an unexpected raid. They would lose their brothers and sisters in the chaos of war.
That was the kind of era it was. A truly horrific era.
An immeasurably miserable and terrible time passed.
And at last, the final battle that could put an end to this era arrived.
Specially chosen humans, without a single exception, volunteered to enter the mountain range. They all knew. They knew that most who entered these mountains would die. That it would be difficult to return alive.
Yet they volunteered, not just because it was unavoidable, but because it was what everyone wanted.
To end this wretched era. To ensure that even if they died, their brothers, sisters, children, and descendants would not have to inherit it.
We will reclaim the peaceful days of the past.
Under that single conviction, the humans—no, the 'heroes'—entered the mountains.
And so the final battle began.
The dragon's assault was fierce, and the humans who sided with it were cunning. As expected, they suffered immense losses, but in the end, the dragon could not break the humans' conviction.
The end of the war saw countless pools of blood form, but the victory that rose above it all belonged to the humans.
But the end of the war did not herald the end of everything.
Two curses, cast by the Dragon of the End, Magna Carta.
One was a true curse in every sense of the word, while the other was closer to a prophecy. The former curse covered not only the humans but the entire mountain range.
The latter, the Curse of Prophecy, was delivered only to the Great Hero who had led the others.
And as a result, the Great Hero accepted the curse.
The humans who survived the Great War had to taste despair before they could even fully savor the joy of victory. After the long war ended, all that awaited them was a meaningless death.
Even in death, they were not free. They should have ascended to the places they believed in, but because of Magna Carta's curse and the Great Hero who accepted it, they could not leave the mountains.
The curse cast upon them in life affected them even after death, turning them into wandering spirits that roamed the mountain range.
Kwakwakwang!
Grrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
At the world-shaking sound, Ahn Sol snapped back to her senses.
In the air was the Bone Dragon, staggering but once again beating its wings, and below stood the skeletal Dead, watching it with composure. As if they knew an attack of this magnitude wouldn't be enough, they calmly prepared their next assault.
And so, Ahn Sol felt even sadder.
These were people who had fought with everything they had in life.
People who had been betrayed by the commander they had trusted without question.
People who had wandered these mountains alone for thousands of years after death.
People who were denied what they rightfully deserved, completely forgotten by the world.
And yet.
Now that they had been summoned back to reality, the Dragon of the End had also been resurrected.
And without hesitation, they chose to fight once more.
Though no one would ever know their story, though they had harbored this injustice for thousands of years, unable to ascend, though they had been betrayed at the moment of victory.
The conviction they held when they first entered these mountains was still alive.
A single conviction: to reclaim the peaceful days of the past.
Worried that the resurrected dragon would escape into the world, they had drawn their swords once more, ready to face eternal annihilation.
Magna Carta, having recovered, and the human heroes, finished preparing their next attack.
Watching them, Ahn Sol slowly raised her staff. Before long, a gentle light flowing from the staff spread throughout Ahn Sol's body, casting a soft glow.
Ahn Sol quietly opened her mouth.
“Miracle...!”
A brilliant light erupted from Ahn Sol's entire body. A pillar of pure white light shot into the air, forming a round oval. Then, amidst a cluster of blindingly bright light, an angel with flapping white wings appeared in the center of the oval.
Ahn Sol said, “Angel-nim, Angel-nim....”
The angel, opening its eyes serenely, looked down as if to ask for her wish.
“Please....”
The battle had come to a temporary lull.
Just as they were about to attack each other, both the dragon and the Dead were startled by the sudden appearance of the giant angel. The miracle Ahn Sol had invoked with a heart more desperate than ever before was radiating an overwhelming presence that enveloped the entire fortress.
Ahn Sol spoke in a desperate tone.
“Please, save the souls buried here...!”
A heartfelt cry. The angel's eyes widened for a moment, and it tilted its head.
But as soon as it saw the Dead gathered all around, a benevolent smile formed on its lips.
A moment later, as if it had grasped the entire situation, the angel gave a calm nod. At that, Ahn Sol's face, which had been filled with sorrow, brightened.
—Salvation….
The short murmur echoed through the air.
The angel turned toward the Dead and gently spread its arms. Then, as it offered a warm smile like that of a mother, its entire body began to glow brightly.
Hwaaaaak!
From the sky, an intense light, strong enough to cover the entire area, gently descended upon the ground.
Upon the land where darkness had reigned for thousands of years, a miracle of warm light was finally realized.