Who Is Stronger?
Raiga, commander of the knights, spoke—and the air around them froze solid.
For a moment, everyone wondered if they had misheard.
And for good reason. The real Baal?
The colossal body of Baal lay right before their eyes. Was that not the true Baal itself? Its form matched the legends without a single discrepancy. With that enormous beast—the same one that had burned the cities surrounding the Mountain of the Cultivator—standing right beside them, how could anyone call a golden goat the “real Baal”?
No. From the very start—
“Baal was killed by Ojuryeok, was he not?”
The Golden Mask, who had been listening in silence until now, finally spoke. The resurrected Baal was dead. It was known to have perished in the Abyss at Ojuryeok’s hands.
Raiga only smiled faintly.
“What died in the Abyss was a shell. The true body—the essence—never died.”
“Raiga. If what you say is true… then the Twelfth Guardian is Baal’s essence, and that essential being is currently sitting in the very heart of the Empire?”
Ruin.
And the Four Calamities were absolute enemies of the Empire—beings with whom coexistence was impossible. The Old Empire had fallen because of them, and the New Empire of Arhon was the nation that had inherited the Old Empire’s values. Naturally, from their perspective, Ruin and the Four Calamities were existences that had to be destroyed.
Therefore, if the Twelfth Guardian was the Calamity Baal—
He must be killed.
He had to be eliminated right here, right now. This had nothing to do with the Death God Religion’s hatred of the Goddess. This was a far more fundamental problem.
Yet Raiga merely clicked his tongue.
“As expected, there’s no talking to bookworms.”
“…… Is that directed at me, Raiga?”
Killing intent laced the Golden Mask’s voice—a clear warning that further insults would not be tolerated. The other Guardians likewise cast openly hostile looks toward Raiga and the Palga Knights. The Palga Knights returned the sentiment in full.
…… The relationship between the two factions was more catastrophic than expected.
I’m surprised they even agreed to hold a meeting together.
Just as the invitation had stated, the executives of the Death God Religion and the Palga Knights were holding a “meeting” today. What they intended to discuss was completely unpredictable. But if two groups that wanted nothing more than to tear each other apart were gathering to talk, the agenda could not possibly be small.
At the same time, Raiga’s eyes turned toward me once more—far more filled with interest than before.
“Have you still not realized? That goat has completely controlled Baal. He has accomplished something even the four strongest houses of the Old Empire failed to do.”
“…… Completely controlled Baal, you say?”
The Golden Mask turned his gaze with an expression of pure disbelief, as if he could not accept that someone had succeeded where even the Old Empire had failed.
In the distant past, the Old Empire had been mighty—possessing a civilization so brilliant it could not be compared to the Empire of today. With intact lands, abundant resources, and magic and swordsmanship in full bloom, it had entered a golden age. Lacking nothing, they had even challenged the authority of the gods themselves.
Yet even they had failed to completely control the Four Calamities.
If it had been a Calamity matching the legends, subjugation would have been impossible.
That was why, when confirmation came that Ojuryeok had killed the Calamity Baal, the first reaction had been doubt. Even the Old Empire had failed to kill a Calamity—how could the likes of Ojuryeok possibly have slain Baal? A mere corpse crow under the White King, no less. Any monster truly capable of hunting Baal would have had no reason to remain beneath the White King.
The Four Calamities were immortal. Just as Raiga said, what Ojuryeok had killed was nothing more than a shell.
“…… But the method of controlling a Calamity has long since been buried underground.”
Even so, understanding still eluded him. Complete control of a Calamity? The Empire itself did not know how. How someone had discovered and realized that method was a natural question.
Raiga dispelled the doubt with ease.
“If one were a member of the Lahon family—or of their bloodline—it might be possible.”
“You mean that house of the Old Empire that controlled Baal and then completely collapsed?”
Raiga nodded lightly.
Palga, Dercian, Arhon, and Lahon.
The four strongest houses of the Old Empire. Of them, the New Empire had inherited the name of Arhon—the most powerful imperial house. Palga, which had protected the Arhon imperial family, had become the name of the current knight order. The Dercian family, once the wealthiest of the Old Empire, still bore that name among the richest of today. Only Lahon had been inherited by no one.
Nothing remained of them but the family name and the story that they had controlled Baal—as if someone had deliberately erased the records.
Raiga then voiced the conclusion he had reached.
“A holder of the Twelfth Orthodox, which should not exist. He appeared from the start wearing a goat’s mask, and even summoned Baal—his very symbol.”
“…… None of that can be coincidence.”
“Furthermore, the method of controlling Baal was a closely guarded secret of all four houses of the Old Empire. If someone succeeded, it would be reasonable to assume a connection to the Lahon family.”
…… The conversation was running away on its own. Before I knew it, they were treating me as the successor of Lahon—one of the four great houses of the Old Empire.
I did absorb the entire Baal Set and the Sword Saint’s Diary.
Upon completing One Who Blooms Darkness, I had absorbed the effects of the Baal Set. They seemed to regard that as “complete control.” In truth, the Sword Saint’s Diary had contained records on how to control Baal—though it stated that complete control had failed.
So the Sword Saint must have been connected to the Lahon family.
Putting the conversation together led to that conclusion. Lahon, though……
“But that hardly serves as proof that he ‘succeeded in complete control,’ does it?”
When the Golden Goat asked back, Raiga shrugged.
“Did you not see the aura of ‘Gang’ he just displayed? Sword Gang can only be used by a ‘master’ who has reached the extreme. It is also connected to Baal’s authority.”
“There are Sword Gang users among the elves as well.”
“What those herbivorous beasts use is not true Sword Gang. It is nothing more than a blessing from the World Tree. In this world, the only one currently capable of using true Sword Gang is me.”
It was an extremely arrogant statement. Yet it was also one no one could refute.
Then he added one more quiet line.
“There was only one. Now there are two.”
“You’re saying the aura the Golden Goat displayed was true Sword Gang?”
“Indeed. Flawless Sword Gang without the slightest distortion. Baal’s authority—which drives one to the extreme—must have made it possible.”
Yet a subtle note of belittlement was woven into his words. Raiga himself had reached that realm through training, while the Sword Gang I had shown was something obtained through Baal’s authority. The very fact that I had displayed Sword Gang of a nature similar to his own seemed, in his eyes, to be proof of complete control over Baal.
…… It was not a strange claim.
I raised my proficiency by shattering the cursed Gicheonseok stones, after all.
I had not raised my proficiency experience to Level 30 through normal means. But that did not make it the “wrong method.” If the destination was the same, stubbornly charging straight ahead was not the only answer. Sometimes one had to detour; sometimes one had to take a shortcut.
Moreover, the class that made Level 30 possible—Supreme Sword Saint—was something I had earned myself, by winning the recognition of Laily and the Supreme Dragon in the Abyss Labyrinth.
“Is that not so, Goat?”
…… Raiga asked me, certain of his own deduction. He seemed to want me to acknowledge that I was connected to the Lahon family. Where did that baseless confidence even come from? The atmosphere was such that denying it would only make things stranger.
I could simply go along with the mood if I wished. But—
“Do you truly think so?”
“Think what, Goat?”
“That you are certain the only proper Sword Gang user is you.”
…… I wanted to ask. I wanted the basis of that arrogance.
Raiga was the type who typically believed himself to be right. I wanted to shatter that arrogance of his.
Raiga was a superpowerhouse who had never appeared until now. Hidden powerhouses were emerging one after another. It feels as if a balance patch is underway. With the update beginning, a balance patch seemed to be progressing alongside it. The standard dividing the strong from the weak was rising steeply. Existing powerhouses were being reduced to empty shells, while newly risen powerhouses accomplished everything.
Randolph could be counted among those new powerhouses as well. Yet for some reason, I could not endure this situation.
Wilhelm’s name is being forgotten.
It felt as if Wilhelm himself was fading away. Moreover, Raiga’s words were wrong. If the Sword Gang I used was true Sword Gang—then the Sword Gang Wilhelm had used must also have been true Sword Gang.
I had only ever played Wilhelm through the game, but to the people living in this Pangenia, Wilhelm was a legendary name.
“You’re saying there is another besides me?”
“Wilhelm.”
…… Wait.
The one who spoke that name was not me. The voice had come from the direction of the Palga Knights. More precisely—
Isabella?
She had spoken Wilhelm’s name.
Raiga tilted his head for a moment.
“Wilhelm? Are you saying he is on the same level as me, Isabella?”
“…… Yes, Commander.”
“Wilhelm died by a ‘Fragment.’ I, on the other hand, am one who hunts ‘Fragments.’ The difference is clear. I cannot possibly acknowledge that he was on the same level as me.”
What was even more surprising was Raiga’s attitude. He knew that Wilhelm had died by the “Fragment of Ruin” possessed by the Demon King. He clearly understood that situation—which I had once regarded as a “bug”—with precision.
In that case……
Raiga knows how to deal with the bugs caused by Fragments of Ruin.
One who knew of the bugs, and knew how to counter them.
“Besides, Isabella—you have never even seen Wilhelm, have you?”
“I have seen him.”
“You have?”
“Yes.”
Isabella had seen Wilhelm?
That’s impossible.
My secondary character. Isabella, who had been trapped in the desert by the Desert Queen. There was no way she could have had an opportunity to see Wilhelm. Even after I abandoned the character, she had remained in the desert. When I had visited the desert as Wilhelm, it had been long before I began raising Isabella as a secondary character.
Was Isabella lying, then? But the Isabella I knew was incapable of lying. She was even less the type to utter a lie that would be easily exposed.
“Oh-ho.”
Interest lit once more in Raiga’s eyes. He spoke slowly.
“Then answer me. Between Wilhelm and me—who is stronger? Speak only the truth, from the heart.”
A question fit for children. Yet this was a matter of pride. As he said, Raiga lacked nothing to be called the strongest in the world, and he was one who hunted and collected “Fragments.” Even from my perspective, he seemed in no way inferior to Wilhelm.
Isabella, currently playing the role of an apprentice knight of the Palga Knights, must also have clearly witnessed Raiga in combat.
She raised her head, looked at Commander Raiga, and answered without the slightest hesitation.
“Wilhelm.”