40. The White Night Clan (White Night Clan)
40. The White Night Clan (White Night Clan)
In front of Gelpiel Forest.
The oddly clustered red trees came into view.
After taking down three lizardmen and passing through the winding trail, they found themselves before the forest thick with these red trees.
Befitting winter, the trees were bare.
"Here. I'm certain."
Yuma looked at the guide Masek, who spoke with confident eyes.
"From here on, it's fine without a guide. Can you make it back alone?"
It was a question prompted by the three lizardmen they had encountered on the way.
Masek nodded without hesitation.
"I may look like this, but I have twenty years of guiding experience, don't I? Normally, once monsters are slain in an area, they don't reappear for three or four days. I can easily make the return trip alone, so you needn't worry. Hahaha!"
Not that I was particularly worried.
"Oooh! You're way braver than you look, ajusshi!"
Hestia said, her scarlet ears perked up.
Masek hesitated for a moment, then abruptly raised his right hand high.
"To be honest, I'm a little scared, so I was planning to return immediately using a teleport scroll."
"Yes, I think that would be best."
Cloné said, sounding relieved now.
That was how they parted ways with Masek.
Yuma, Cloné, and Hestia strode deeper into Gelpiel Forest.
***
The blue-haired young man opened his eyes.
"Huff...."
Letting out a breath and stretching, the blue-haired young boy rose to his feet. Then, he opened the door.
Hwiiiiiing!
A frigid wind blew.
The ground was covered in frost, nearly glacial.
"It's Haven hyung!"
"Hyung!"
"Haven orabeoni!"
Children wearing fur clothes gathered around Haven in a little cluster. Haven looked at the kids, whose cheeks were flushed bright red, and raised the corners of his lips.
White Night Clan.
A tribe that lived beyond Gelpiel Forest. A clan consisting of around 120 members.
A clan that lived in this Land of White Night, where the ground remained frozen even when it was not winter.
A clan where everyone was obliged to take up the sword from the age of eight.
Glacial mountain ranges that enclosed the area like the massive walls of an outer fortress.
The White Night Clan bore a single mission. A mission that, by now, few people in this world even knew of.
The Giant God Tribe who had lost their ego.
A clan that bore the mission to pin down the feet of the giant once called the King of Giants, and to kill him.
That was the White Night Clan.
The ascetic burden they had carried for over 400 years still showed no signs of nearing its end.
The Titan was only a single being.
And yet, that single being was far too strong.
The King of the Giant God Tribe, Ades.
The being closest to a perfect god among giants had lost his sense of self and become a creature that desired nothing but destruction.
The chieftains of the White Night Clan had met their ends facing that Ades alone. And the next chieftain would again face Ades. Successive chieftains, without exception, carried on that life of self-sacrifice for humanity.
And Haven's father, the current chieftain Luke, had also inherited that burden and waged a grueling, deadly battle against Ades.
Twelve hours.
The window of time the Giant God Ades was active each day, destroying everything.
Chieftain Luke, too, held his sword and fought for twelve hours.
For nearly forty long years.
That was why Haven feared each day as it passed.
'I'm not as strong as my father.'
At age 24, he was a Sword Expert Intermediate.
It was by no means a low level. It was a standard that warranted being called sufficiently talented, but to Haven, it was not enough.
'In my father's eyes, I must fall short too.'
His father was a man who had become a Sword Master at the age of 28.
A genius.
A man for whom even that title felt insufficient.
And now, a being who had reached the transcendent realm called Grand Master.
Every chieftain of the White Night had achieved Sword Master by at least the age of 30. Yet no matter how much he thought about it, he didn't think he could accomplish that.
'Talent.'
He was clearly lacking in talent.
In every generation, one person in the direct line was guaranteed to possess superior genius. But he did not have that genius.
Still, he had no desire to use that as an excuse to neglect his training.
Seureung—
Haven, having sent his younger siblings far away to train, took up his sword.
Hwaaak—!
The White Night Clan's distinctive pure-white Sword Aura flowing along the blade.
It was indeed a brilliant Sword Aura, but with only this much, it was far from sufficient.
He had to pour out Sword Aura for half the day.
The chieftains of the White Night had no choice but to age rapidly.
When his father Luke died, he, as the direct descendant, would have to succeed him as chieftain. And ultimately, he would have to spend his life locked in a half-day-long struggle against the Giant God Ades.
Hwareuk...
The Sword Aura that had been burning uniformly and densely wavered like a candle before the wind.
It was proof that his mind was adrift and unable to find its anchor.
The first thought that came to mind was resentment toward the first chieftain, the founder of the White Night Clan, Hasar.
***
Originally, the Giant God Tribe had descended to the continent to save the world. And it was said that the eight Giant Gods were, in fact, the ones who played the greatest role over 400 years ago in driving out the demon legion that had been invading the continent at the time.
The final battle between the demon legion and the continent's forces.
The war ended in victory for the continent, but the damage the continent's forces suffered was immense.
Countless hundreds of thousands of human soldiers had died.
Of the eight Giant Gods, only one survived. That was the Giant God King, Ades.
The problem was that after the war ended, Ades began attacking the continent's forces who had once been his comrades.
It was because the final Demon King, Aderbamon, had sacrificed his life to spread a spell across the continent that completely collapsed the minds of the other races who had joined the battle alongside humans against the demons.
The other races whose minds were completely destroyed acted only to tear apart and kill any living creatures around them.
Hasar, the first White Night Clan, and the human suicide squad had to kill the warriors of the other races they had once fought alongside.
However, they could not kill the King of the Giant God Tribe, Ades.
Even when three Grand Master-level swordsmen rushed in and unleashed a flurry of Aura Blades, all it did was leave scratches on the giant's skin.
And even those scratches were instantly healed by the Giant God Tribe's unique divine power.
Even when two archmages stepped forward, it was useless. Ades withstood two meteor-class spells, each capable of annihilating a small kingdom, as if it were nothing.
Hasar decided to imprison Ades, with whom he had once shared a close bond of camaraderie. So that Ades, who had once liked humans, would commit no more slaughter.
Together with the 10th-circle elven archmage Dukedra, who had also endured Aderbamon's spell, he created the White Night.
To imprison this insane monster called Ades.
They raised a massive mountain range.
And with the help of the elven archmage Dukedra, Hasar bound his own blood with a Blood Pact.
So that if they could not kill the King of the Giant God Tribe, Titan Ades, they would never be able to leave this mountain range.
He made the pact so that their hearts would burst if they left the White Night mountain range. In exchange for that pact, he obtained a Genius surpassing that of a Grand Master.
But even with that power, he could not overcome the Giant God King's regenerative ability.
To Hasar, that pact was a sense of responsibility and atonement.
But he realized all too poignantly at the moment of his death that it had been a rash responsibility.
That he had placed far too heavy a shackle on his descendants.
The Blood Pact he had placed on himself extended to his descendants.
That was the secret origin of the White Night Clan.
It was the tragic origin of a clan that could never leave the White Night mountain range until they put an end to the life of the Giant God King, Ades.
Over the course of nearly 400 years, a few supreme Grand Masters who had befriended the White Night Clan lent their strength to subjugate Ades, but all failed.
And so, the White Night Clan's burden continued on.
***
Jeobeok—
"...."
Yuma saw the white fortress visible beyond the raging white north wind. It was the citadel of White Night.
Hestia and Cloné's eyes widened as they stared at the White Night Clan's fortress. Winter weather.
They were originally wearing fur garments made of bear skin, but standing before the White Night made it feel as though the chill was piercing through to their bones.
It was a land of White Night that felt even colder amidst the winter scenery.
"Let's go."
At Yuma's words, Hestia and Cloné nodded their heads firmly.
The main gate, flanked by pillars of ice jutting upward. As they stood before it, a clamorous noise rang out from all directions.
-Outsiders.
-Outsiders, outsiders have come!
-Inform the chieftain!
Yuma's party all came to a halt.
They had no choice but to stop.
Chaaaang! Seureureung! Chiiing!
The clamor of weapons rang out from all around.
Most of the weapons were spears. About thirty spears were aimed at Yuma and his party, as if they would skewer them at any moment.
At the sudden appearance of outsiders, bewilderment and anger were mixed on the faces of the young men.
"Calm yourselves."
An old man's voice soothed the young men of the White Night.
"Did the chieftain not say that if outsiders ever come, we must call for him?"
As the clan elder spoke, everyone calmed their excitement.
"It is three hours before the Giant God Ades becomes active. Go and bring the chieftain."
"Yes, understood!"
At the old man's words, one young man withdrew his spear and swiftly turned around.
The elder wordlessly scanned Yuma and his party.
A silent standoff between them continued for a moment.
A moment later.
Kung! Kung!
A middle-aged man in navy-blue armor, draped in a black cape thick with fur along the upper portion, strode out with heavy footsteps.
"...State your business, outsiders."
His face was deeply, utterly exhausted.
Yet it was also a face from which a fearsome dominating aura could be felt.
[Lv.185] Luke
Race: Human
Class: Swordsman
Realm: Grand Sword Master
Innate Traits: Genius, Body-Sword Unity
The direct descendant of Hasar, bearing the burden of the White Night.
The White Night Clan's chieftain, Luke, appeared before Yuma.