Chapter 223
Chapter 223
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 223
Chapter Title: Holy Mountain Decisive Battle, My Name Is (2)
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3.
"What the hell is that? That sword... don't tell me it's Edelweiss's?"
As Saitonan asked, countless tentacles sprouted from his back.
"You bastard...!"
Do Ye-jin swiftly assumed a defensive stance, but this time, she wasn't the target.
"Intriguing. A blade that proved a single truth through rivers of blood."
The slugs pierced by Saitonan's tentacles wailed in agony as they began to melt away.
"The truth that the weak must be devoured by the strong. And a mongrel like you wields such a sword."
On the other hand.
Saitonan's eyes blazed with pale radiance as his wounds bubbled and regenerated.
That bastard... no way...
Shin Tae-yeop swallowed hard.
He's regenerating... This guy deliberately lured us to a place that favors him.
"Shut your damn mouth!"
In an instant, Do Ye-jin charged fiercely, thrusting her sword tip forward.
"No matter who that guy was─────!"
Pakaaaaaang...!
The back shell's claws clashed repeatedly with the greatsword, unleashing a metallic screech that tore at their eardrums.
─────there's no such thing as a 'truth' that justifies turning people into this! You squid stew freak!"
In that contest of strength, the victor was, naturally, Saitonan, whose body continued super-regenerating at high speed.
Pbeeeok...!
With a dull thud of something shattering, Do Ye-jin tumbled across the ground from Saitonan's kick.
"Seems that great Edelweiss didn't think so?"
"...!"
"I'm sick of your ignorance. Even seeing that sword, you don't recognize what kind of man your father was?"
As Do Ye-jin bristled and tried to charge, Shin Tae-yeop urgently grabbed her shoulder and shouted.
"Calm down! Right now, we need to head up, up!"
"What? What about that fucker!"
"He's targeting you! If you run, he'll chase on his own! Fighting here is insanely disadvantageous!"
Only then did Do Ye-jin fully grasp their surroundings.
These slugs... they're gathering toward us. Emitting bone-chilling killing intent.
The girl suddenly looked up. The exit to the surface was dizzyingly far.
"One leap won't cut it, huh?"
"What?"
"Then... come here!"
Do Ye-jin suddenly scooped Shin Tae-yeop under her arm and kicked off the ground.
"Hold on tight────!"
Subordinate Reinforcement Hardening, full power.
"────we're wall-jumping our way up!"
Overwhelming force concentrated in her muscles and bones.
That power sank deep into the ground while launching her body diagonally upward.
"Hey, hey──────!"
It was pure, overwhelming acceleration.
"─────Kuaaaaaah!"
The vertigo-inducing speed of ascent into the sky made even Shin Tae-yeop dizzy.
"Who gave you permission?"
The problem was... Saitonan immediately gave chase. Shin Tae-yeop fired a shot to intercept.
"《Eternal Flame Wheel》!"
Altering providence through magic.
Roooar...! Rings of flame manifested in midair and charged at Saitonan all at once.
Zzzzzz──────!
At that moment.
The [Ice Ring Orbs] embedded near Saitonan's heart spat out a flash.
──────Pssshiiiik!
They deployed a soap-bubble-like barrier... evaporating the incoming flames in an instant.
"That monster freak..."
Is a god just on another level? That barrier's way stronger than a Hwang Clan barrier on sight... Is this guy invincible?
"Tremble in the cold."
As Do Ye-jin was about to kick off the pit wall, Saitonan, right below, extended his tail.
"Halsya Shikan'na."
In that instant.
The tail split into over a dozen strands, trailing long white afterimages as they harpooned forward.
Chaaaaaak─────!
But at that moment, Do Ye-jin.
Kicked off the wall, abruptly twisting her body's direction to the opposite side.
───────Pbabababaang!
The icy harpoons embedded, scattering dirt and gravel into the darkness.
But.
Two strands spun right around, clinging tightly to Do Ye-jin's pursuit.
"Please, Sharholin!"
The moment Do Ye-jin shouted.
Zing, zing, zing... The massive blade responded to its master's command, exhaling overwhelming sword pressure from its tip.
Chaaaaaring──────!
That sword pressure took the form of a vortex blending dazzling holy light and abyssal depths...
──────Chahaak!
...so intense that the transcendent tentacles flying at her were shredded to bits against the swirl.
"Sharholin...?!"
Shin Tae-yeop felt like he'd been smacked in the temple.
This is insane.
Too chaotic to notice till now... but this is the sword Jeong Cheol used back then.
"You know this?!"
"How could I not..."
We nearly died from its power absorbing and reflecting even 7th-circle magic like it was nothing... How the hell did Do Ye-jin get her hands on this?
"Edelweiss..."
Saitonan furrowed his brow.
In that moment, krurkrurkr... the torn tentacles regenerated in an instant amid countless bubbles.
Pointless.
No one can defeat me now... not even you, who inherited Edelweiss's power.
"Light dwelling in the frosted heavens."
No sooner had Saitonan's incantation begun than the back shell armor encasing the [Ice Ring Orbs] unfolded like petals.
"Torynalimos."
Naturally, Shin Tae-yeop spotted the polar white light intensely converging on those [Ice Ring Orbs].
That's...?
His heart froze cold.
That thing from before. The insane technique that freezes the very concept of the world.
"Hey, Do Ye-jin!"
"Yeah?!"
"Next leap—straight up, no exceptions! Got it?!"
But earlier, we couldn't track Arisel'rap's movements.
And projectiles aren't that fast.
Which means... he'll predict and aim for the trajectory where Do Ye-jin is expected to move.
"What?"
"Just shoot straight up! Do not jump to the opposite side!"
Why...?
Do Ye-jin was puzzled but decided to trust Shin Tae-yeop's judgment. He'd rarely been wrong.
Just before her foot hit the opposite wall.
She slammed Sharholin into the ground, using the flat of the blade as a springboard to leap while drawing it again.
"Now, almost there───!"
It was then, as the exit to the surface loomed larger before their eyes.
A flash that seared their eyes.
A sharp metallic ring as dirt, dust, gravel, snow... all creation froze solid in concept.
Craaaackcraaaack────!
A colossal beam blazing in outer-void hues surged fiercely, filling the crater's center.
How massive was it?
The beam ascended mere inches from grazing Shin Tae-yeop and Do Ye-jin's ears.
"Aaaaaaah!"
"Ugh... Uwaaaaaah!"
Amid hair and clothes whipping as if to tear, Shin Tae-yeop and Do Ye-jin unconsciously gripped each other's hands tight.
It felt eternal.
Those three seconds from the dark pit ending, vision clearing, and sleet hitting their faces.
"We're out...!"
When their ascent halted.
The altitude wasn't as high as expected. Meaning the depths below were that profound.
"Do Ye-jin! Shin Tae-yeop!"
As the soaring frost explosion from the crater began to subside toward the sky, Heo Cheon-gyeom's shout came from afar.
"Over there—let's go!"
Do Ye-jin swung Sharholin wide in midair, altering her fall's momentum.
And then.
She landed hard in the snowfield behind Heo Cheon-gyeom, kicking up a blizzard in an instant.
"You fucking idiots...!"
Heo Cheon-gyeom, carrying Ryu Hyun-ji on his back.
He couldn't even finish his sentence before scampering over like a pet dog. Shin Tae-yeop teased him.
"Aww, our little Cheon-gyeom was worried about Mommy and Daddy?"
"F-Fuck off! Worried my ass. I was praying you'd die."
Around then, Lee Ha-ram and Shyrak-i joined, carrying the limp Park Ji-won on their backs.
"Hey! What, what the hell just happened? What's going on?"
As Shin Tae-yeop opened his mouth to reply, Shyrak-i zoomed in at ferocious speed and clung to Do Ye-jin's face.
"Shihihihi!"
"Shy... Shyrak-i...!"
"Shishishishishi!"
It was a touching reunion, but there was no time to chatter.
Right after.
A boy in pure white burst from the crater, landing thirty meters ahead of the boy and girl.
"Running away with your tail between your legs suits you perfectly, Arisel'rap."
Noble white hair in pristine white.
Elegant ritual robes and back shell armor firmly binding his tail. And the boy's sneer.
The world trembled at his dignity.
It wasn't surprising that Lee Ha-ram and Heo Cheon-gyeom, whose raw power lagged, suddenly vomited blood.
"Look at that—takes after his old man exactly. Powerless, just fleeing like a rat. Heh heh heh heh..."
Does this prick have no learning curve?
Heo Cheon-gyeom thought. Taunting Do Ye-jin about her dad doesn't work...
It clearly hadn't until now.
"If that filthy mouth of yours insults my dad one more time."
Do Ye-jin, who lunged forward in an instant—her expression... her voice... chilled to the bone.
"I'll rip it apart."
That look.
So familiar, so intimate.
Shin Tae-yeop gasped for a split second. Jeong Cheol overlaid on Do Ye-jin's face.
Ha, like father, like daughter...
Suppressing a hollow chuckle, the boy vigorously gestured to his reliable friends.
"Shyrak-i guards Ji-won and Hyun-ji! Let's back up Do Ye-jin!"
Do Ye-jin charged Saitonan, wildly swinging her father's sword.
But Saitonan.
Dodged the slashes as if reading them all, deflected with his tail, and occasionally chanted incantations.
Alone, she would've been overwhelmed.
But Do Ye-jin wasn't alone then.
"《Dragon Blood Rod》!"
"《Flame Sovereign Holy Curtain》!"
"《Star Radiance Spear》!"
Friends providing covering fire whenever danger loomed.
Lee Ha-ram's colossal boomerang.
Shin Tae-yeop's flame cannon.
And Heo Cheon-gyeom manifesting an innate technique on Lee Ha-ram's longsword.
"Hmph, such attacks────"
At that moment, Do Ye-jin.
Felt like swimming through a dream as she swung her sword.
"─────what the hell are you looking at!"
With every swing, two flames ignited.
The sword aura blazing fiercely as if to devour the world... and lost memories piercing her mind.
Waa...
Waa... waa...
Waa... waa... waa...
The Exalted One, Varparh'tika, leaned against the birthing chamber entrance, gazing at the newborn god.
"How did it go?"
The black-haired young man parted the curtain and entered then. Varparh'tika shrugged.
"Regrettably, it seems like a failure, my lord."
"Failure?"
"See for yourself. Look at her grinning ear to ear when Arisel'rap holds her."
Edelweiss looked where Varparh'tika's gaze directed.
It was oddly true.
The ashen-haired woman, Arisel'rap, held her expressionlessly, and the girl burst into giggles.
Unlike other gods.
Gods never smile that purely. Born appearing four to six years old, they gain perception and master outer-void tongue from that instant.
"Her speech is clumsy, fine... but smiling like that means she has emotions, doesn't it? Like a human."
Varparh'tika cautiously gauged his lord's mood before voicing her thoughts.
"Considering your status, sire, birthing a half-breed will make you a laughingstock among the other gods."
"..."
"Better to dispose of it painlessly now. For you... and for the child."
Edelweiss silently entered the chamber. And tightly embraced his daughter.
"You've finally come..."
So tenderly it flustered the watching Varparh'tika. Edelweiss continued.
"A child bearing human sorrow and joy in a god's vessel... through you, dawn will break upon the whole world."
He grasped her sides with both hands, lifting her high to meet eyes.
"Arisiel. Arisiel Rab."
"A... Ael. Ael Rab?"
"Arisiel Rab. A · ri · si · el · Rab."
In that instant... Varparh'tika doubted her eyes.
A thousand years as his subordinate.
In those thousand years, Edelweiss had never once smiled...
"Arisiel Rabo!"
...yet as his daughter clumsily mimicked him, he suddenly laughed, tears streaming, "Ahaha."
"Yes...! Arisiel Rab! That's your name! Meaning [Dawn of All Worlds]..."