Chapter 357
Chapter 357
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 357
Chapter Title: Now Forward (5)
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The one blessed by the stars, the Hero.
They are born with a soul form optimized to contain starlight. But even they cannot wield starlight right away. Just like a child learning to walk...
Heroes are the same.
Only after growing accustomed to starlight, understanding how to handle it, and mastering its use can they truly harness it.
No Hero has ever wielded starlight from the start. That's been true for centuries. But now, here, a single exception has appeared.
Raniel van Trias.
Though she awakened as a Hero just days ago, she wields starlight freely. She even manipulates its properties as if they've always been hers.
This should be impossible.
But she has experience. The life she's lived, the experiences she's accumulated, have turned the impossible into reality.
"I offer it."
"The power to block that."
Though not blessed by the stars, though lacking a soul suited to starlight, she has handled the stars before. She has etched an overflowing amount of starlight into her soul.
And that's not all.
"I'll go first, Raniel."
"I'll leave the rest to you."
She has seen it. For years, she has watched.
The Hero called the strongest, wielding starlight. Charging forward while burning with starlight—she has witnessed it countless times.
Experience and example.
Even as a newborn Hero, the experiences she has built rival those of most veterans. Her understanding of the stars surpasses all others. Everything she has accumulated has awakened the starlight granted to her.
Szzzzzzzzzz!
With every step, the ground scorched and split. Cracks spiderwebbed outward, hurling clumps of earth into the air. The flying dirt boiled from the heat, bubbling mud splattering like blood.
Acceleration.
Just like Kyle, wrapped in starlight as he ran.
Like that guy charging into the oncoming horde, Raniel ran. She chose to pierce straight through the endless waves of beasts crashing toward her.
Single-point breakthrough.
Staring straight ahead, Raniel charged.
With every step, the scenery shifted in an instant. The beasts blocking her path turned to ash and scattered. Amid it all, Raniel felt someone's gaze.
A gaze from far away.
A sticky malice in that gaze. An aura so immense it couldn't be hidden. No need to ask whose it was. Hearing the false god's voice echo in her ears, Raniel smiled.
"...Yeah, you bastard."
She muttered with a bitter laugh.
"I'll be there soon."
Wait.
So I can grab you by the collar and beat the shit out of you.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 2.
Ping. The bowstring trembled.
Remia unleashed Moonlight without pause. Pierced clouds rained down beams of moonlight like a storm. Countless beasts burned in the downpour... but their numbers showed no sign of thinning.
They just kept coming, endlessly.
Remia and Destel poured arrows relentlessly, with no time to catch their breath, but the beasts overwhelmed them with sheer numbers, tearing through the net of arrows.
Kieeeek!
With shrieks, they charged the barricade one by one. Knights waited behind it, spears and blades thrust forward sharply.
Hold! Block them!
Roars echoed as armor clanged across the battlefield. Knights braced spear shafts against the ground at angles, feet dug deep into the earth.
Thud, crunch, grind!
With deafening impacts, charging beasts were impaled on barricades and spears, slumping lifelessly. Knights kicked off the corpses and reset their stances.
"......"
Nocking an arrow, Remia glanced down at the knights. From the watchtower, she could see them all at once.
Something she never used to see.
She narrowed her eyes, glaring at faces she had never bothered to look at. Through helmet slits, their resolute eyes gleamed. Remia swallowed unconsciously.
When she exhaled.
She looked away from the knights. Gazing at the same horizon as them, she drew her bowstring until her fingers went numb. Ping—the string rang out clearly.
Moonlight swept the field.
Meteors pierced the clouds.
Beasts that tore through the arrow net and reached the barricade were skewered by knights' spears. Magic knights behind them chanted spells that swept the incoming horde.
Some to fulfill their duty.
Some to help.
Others to prove themselves.
Even as claws raked and fangs bit, spilling blood, the knights endured. They held their ground, never retreating. As if it were their pride to defend.
Spraying blood droplets.
Beasts' cries.
Knights' desperate shouts.
...Naturally, they couldn't sway the battlefield much. All they did was block the horde, draw attention.
But that didn't make it meaningless.
Far off, burning beasts as she charged, Raniel noticed the flow shift. Beasts no longer blocked her—they veered away.
Then, where to?
Toward the frontline the knights held.
A path was opening slowly. She had breathing room. Raniel paused, regulating her breath. Hot gasps slipped through her lips.
"...Hoo."
A brief respite, one breath.
Exhaling deeply, Raniel stepped forward again. The path was clearing.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 3.
Kyle opened his eyes.
A presence was approaching.
The being he so desperately desired was coming toward him. Slowly, very slowly, he rose.
His head still felt dull.
Lost convictions. Shattered values clashed and ground against each other. Someone screamed to defile human lands, while another cried it mustn't be done. The shouts tangled into chaos.
Chaotic. Confusing. Noisy.
Everything blurred and unclear—but one thing stood sharp. Kyle chewed on it.
Kill the Ashen One. The sword stabbed into his heart as a sheath.
Once called the holy sword, he gripped its hilt and stood on his feet.
The Ashen One approached.
He could feel it.
The sole clarity. Amid total chaos, his purpose burned strong—the reason to raise his blade.
Thinking of the Ashen One let him be himself.
A swordsman who lost himself thirsted for the Ashen One. Facing her, he instinctively felt he'd realize something. Gripping the hilt, Kyle wandered aimlessly.
As he walked, beasts appeared.
Countless creatures surrounded him protectively. They followed behind. Staring with hollow eyes, Kyle thought: They're in the way.
Unnecessary.
Kyle swung his hand lightly.
That was it. The beasts swarming him shattered into chunks. Flesh rained down, heads still bowed to their master till the end.
Blood mist erupted.
With every step, it thickened. Stepping through the crimson haze, he stopped before a building. A church, dilapidated after centuries of abandonment.
For some reason, it had to be here.
He didn't know why, but that's what he felt.
Kyle placed a hand on the church door and pushed lightly. Just before stepping into the groaning opening, he looked back.
Ash scattered on the wind.
Ash different from what he craved. Ash that wouldn't reignite even with embers. It settled on the hilt in his heart.
"..., ......"
He thought he heard a voice.
Kyle's hollow eyes narrowed.
Frowning, he gripped the hilt and drew the sword from his heart. Ash on the blade irked him. The voice in his ears too.
He swung the drawn sword.
Ash flew from the tip.
The belated sword aura devoured it tracelessly. As the forest shook, Kyle stared at the blade in his hand.
No ash remained on it.
But in 'Kyle's' eyes, ash clung to the sword like an illusion. It vanished in a blink. Close and open—the blade was just a blade, its black edge unchanged.
Kyle sheathed it back.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ In the warped demonic realm, directions were hard to grasp.
The landscape, ruined by shadow's influence, made front from back indistinguishable. Raniel's vigorous charge slowed, then halted entirely.
Twisted, broken terrain.
Rank stench of swarming beasts.
Echoing cries from all sides.
The demonic realm, a mix of hellish elements, spun her head. Calming her breath, Raniel scanned around. Amid chaos, she groped for direction.
Finding north amid tangled demonic energy was tough. Feeling gazes was too.
How many steps had she taken?
Schwick—a eerie sound pierced her ears. A quiet slicing. Late, she felt the ripple shake the realm.
Shwaaaaaaaa!
It came from behind.
Raniel turned. Something had swept the area. She realized belatedly: sword aura shot from afar.
Kyle's, undoubtedly.
But no second strike came, no matter how long she waited. Raniel silently glared where it passed.
"......"
A bisected landscape.
And a long line gouged in the ground. Following it led far away. To her, it felt like a path.
To Kyle.
Trailing the sword aura's mark, Raniel ran. How far? She realized she'd escaped the twisted realm entirely. Around her stretched a vast wasteland.
No beasts in the wasteland.
Only thick blood mist.
Raniel swept it away. Then the scene emerged: shattered castle fragments everywhere. A familiar sight.
'...The ruins of Selep Kingdom.'
Where she once faced the Demon King.
Swallowing dryly, Raniel walked on. But not for long. The aura's path was gone.
She looked down.
The wasteland floor bore countless sword scars. Scars and the path tangled indistinguishably. But it didn't matter.
The scars became new signposts.
Raniel stood where they began—or ended. Looking up, a massive slash rent the air. Seeing it, she smiled.
She had to.
...Raniel knew little of swords. Ignorant of swordsmanship realms. Mages don't grasp swordsmen, nor vice versa. Yet extremes connect.
The torn space hadn't healed.
Preserved like scenery.
Understanding this strike's worth, what it severed, was easy.
'Here it is.'
Raniel let out a hollow laugh.
'Here, you cut the Demon King.'
Just like Ganikalt van Galatrick.
You recreated this impossible blow. Truly severed the Demon King. You ran then, but this time...
This time.
Raniel clenched her fist.
Then stepped forward.
From scar's end to start. The messy marks were Kyle's footprints. Reversing his path, toward where he began.
From end to beginning.
So she too could stand at the start.
To move forward now.