Chapter 565: The King of the Black Sea, Gliek (9)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 565: The King of the Black Sea, Gliek (9)
Amidst the chaotic clash of swords, magic, and Chaos, a small pocket of space where Talaris began her sealing ritual emitted a pure white radiance. It looked like a pearl refusing to lose its luster in the depths of the ocean.
As soon as Talaris initiated the Absolute Sealing Ritual, Gliek focused every single attack on her. Even as the giants’ onslaught hacked his entire body to pieces, he made no attempt to defend himself.
The black flesh of Chaos, sliced and burst open, continuously melted back into the ground that had become part of the Black Sea. This wasn't regeneration as humans understood it.
To a King of Chaos, 'form' was merely a matter of convenience.
Gliek’s true essence was not the body that grew larger and more sophisticated as the Black Sea’s transformation progressed; it was the energy of Chaos itself, which both composed that form and existed everywhere at once.
In other words, the giants' attacks weren't dealing any actual damage to Gliek; they were merely distorting his shape.
Even a sword that could cleave the ocean in a single stroke or magic that could erase the sky in one hit could not annihilate the sea or the sky themselves. Though the waves might stop and the clouds vanish, the sea and the sky would always remain exactly where they were.
Gliek was the same. Despite taking so many hits, the Chaos would scatter, but not a single speck of it was actually being destroyed.
“What in the hell is that thing?”
Murakan reverted to his human form and stood beside Jin. Of the Barmul Alliance, only Misha and Murakan had remained with Jin instead of escaping.
“Hey, she-devil. Is there really no way to deal with that?”
Misha shook her head. She was nearly at her limit, barely holding on by absorbing Murakan’s spirit energy.
“What if I get all my old power back? Can’t you do something right now? Even if it’s a bit risky.”
“If that were possible, I would have done it long ago. Stop talking nonsense. Get a grip and use your head. Right now, the only way is what Jin suggested. Kinzelo—they must have a way. We have to force them to the negotiating table.”
“Argh, then why did you stay? You’ve used up all your strength. You should have left with the kids! If things go south, Jin and I will have to look out for you, too!”
“Things went south the moment that thing woke up. Now shut up; I need to focus.”
The reason Misha remained on the battlefield despite having exhausted most of her power was simple.
There was still one thing she could do.
The Absolute Sealing Ritual of the Secret Palace.
Misha intended to assist with it. The moment Gliek awakened, she too had realized that the Secret Palace’s Absolute Sealing was the only way to counter him.
“Palace Master, I will help with the seal. The veil of Chaos is thickening; the Secret Palace’s seal alone will not be enough for the Snow Toad to open a path.”
Mort was a being of such high status that he could be considered Tess’s friend. But for that very reason, just like Tess, he couldn't use his full power in the human world. Furthermore, Mort was already exhausted from performing continuous long-distance dimensional shifts since the start of the Sword Emperor Holy War.
This meant that in such dense Chaos, Mort’s dimensional shift ability might not activate at all. Misha planned to use her spirit energy to compensate.
“I was in such a rush, I didn’t think of that. I will trust you then, Misha.”
Talaris didn't ask Misha if she had ever performed a sealing ritual with the Secret Palace before. After all, one could never participate in a Secret Palace seal without being able to read its flow.
Like ink dropping onto pure white snow, spirit energy began to blend into the energy of Ten Thousand Ice. The synergy between the Ten Thousand Ice and the spirit energy exceeded Talaris’s expectations.
She must have performed sealing rituals with the former Palace Masters in the past. This makes the burden much lighter.
While the battlefield roared with thunderous noise, the space where the sealing ritual was being performed was filled only with the sound of a chilly yet strangely pleasant wind.
However, that did not mean it was safe.
“Urgh…!”
Talaris, in the midst of the ritual, suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.
It wasn't that one of Gliek’s swords, spears, or blasts of Chaos had struck her. All those attacks were being intercepted by the giants, knights, mages, Jin, and Murakan.
“Lady Talaris!”
The land that had turned into the Black Sea was like Gliek’s own flesh. For some time now, Gliek hadn't just been using direct strikes; he had been attacking through the very ground Talaris stood on. The attacks had been blocked only by the hard ice of Ten Thousand Ice covering the corrupted earth.
Now, that shield of ice was being pierced bit by bit.
The others couldn't block the chains and spikes of Chaos that erupted unexpectedly from the ground, and Talaris, having begun the sealing ritual, had to remain perfectly motionless.
A pitch-black spike of Chaos had erupted through the top of her foot.
Talaris couldn't react to being impaled by Gliek's attacks. This meant she would be exposed to Chaos for a long time.
If the chill of Ten Thousand Ice had not immediately frozen the spike and the wound, even Talaris would not have lasted ten minutes in that state.
Watching this, Jin felt like he was losing his mind. However, showing any sign of distress would only distract Talaris.
Jin gritted his teeth and devoted himself entirely to parrying the attacks pouring in from the front.
Two hours passed like that.
The Ten Thousand Ice now formed a light so powerful and massive that it was incomparable to the small area it had covered at the start.
It was complete.
Talaris was covered in blood, her body pierced by Chaos spikes and bound by chains.
I might not have succeeded without Misha.
For the first time, Talaris, who had remained motionless throughout the ritual, reached for the Ten Thousand Ice floating in the air.
At that moment, the light of the Ten Thousand Ice transferred to her all at once.
Ten Thousand Ice Sword Demon Sealing Rite
Great Ice Plain
The moment Talaris opened her eyes, all movement on the battlefield ceased for a split second.
The hundreds of weapons Gliek swung, the giants fighting against them, the knights, and the mages—all of them momentarily froze under the influence of the Secret Palace’s Absolute Sealing energy.
True to its name, not a single area in sight remained unfrozen.
The energy of Chaos that had been swirling violently around them was frozen solid, shattering and fluttering down upon the Great Ice Plain like murky sleet.
Talaris stood at the center, radiating a white energy so bright it was blinding.
Gliek was freezing and crumbling under the sealing energy. Like a collapsing sandcastle, the Chaos energy that formed his body sloughed off.
To anyone who didn't know the nature of the King of the Black Sea, it would have looked like he was finished for good.
However, even this couldn't fundamentally annihilate Gliek’s Chaos. Once the seal's duration ended, the scattered particles of Chaos would simply reform Gliek's body.
Furthermore, Talaris was not at all satisfied with the result.
Damn it, I even drew upon the power I used to seal Elona Zipple once more. Is this truly the limit…!
The Great Ice Plain had certainly been deployed correctly. However, it had failed to perfectly seal Gliek.
Talaris’s gaze was fixed on an object beyond the Great Ice Plain that shone like a black star.
It was the White Stone.
While all other Chaos was frozen and shattered, the cursed stone that had awakened Gliek still shimmered with a black luster.
And everyone could feel it: the White Stone was spreading its own Chaos, causing cracks to form in the Great Ice Plain.
The three-day period Talaris had initially predicted was now meaningless. Two days at most, but it could be as short as one.
Talaris concluded that was the only amount of time she could maintain the seal.
The only saving grace was that, thanks to Mort’s ability, they could still reach Kinzelo’s main branch within that time.
“We have only a day or two. Misha, please open the path.”
Vrooooom—!
Mort emerged from the Ten Thousand Ice. As Misha formed a hand seal in the air, her spirit energy created a circular passage resembling a dimensional gate. Mort immediately recognized that the passage was meant to help him open a path to the Otherworld Snowy Plains.
Stam and Octavia climbed onto Mort’s back. Kelliark used the Seal of Fire to form a message announcing the temporary alliance between Runcandel and Zipple and gave it to Octavia.
“Palace Master, how much time does the Snow Toad need to reach the Land of the Beastmen?” Rosa asked.
“In Mort’s current state, it will likely take three to five hours.”
“If Stam does not return within twelve hours at the latest, we will consider the negotiations failed. I wish you luck, Sir Stam.”
“Please be careful as well, Acting Patriarch.”
Once Mort passed through, the spirit energy passage closed.
And Ron, even after the seal had begun, continued to charge at the White Stone, swinging Rashid.
Slash—!
However, the stone's barrier blocked Ron's sword. Even as he was thrown back, he didn't stop, relentlessly swinging his sword against the barrier again and again.
No one could bring themselves to stop Ron. Since his revival, he seemed to have become a vengeful ghost, determined to fight until his body gave out.
The sound of the blade clashing against the barrier sounded like Ron’s sorrowful roar.
*
Just as Talaris had predicted, Mort reached the Land of the Beastmen in five hours.
Unlike those suffering in a literal hellscape, Kinzelo and the Land of the Beastmen were no different from usual.
Kinzelo had even had the foresight to station members throughout the Land of the Beastmen so that the envoys could be guided straight to their main branch without getting lost.
Upon arrival, Stam and Octavia followed the guidance of the Red Wolf Tribe members they encountered and headed toward Kinzelo’s main branch. A labyrinth, seemingly built by the Catfolk Tribe, had been formed, making it impossible to memorize the path to the headquarters.
“…So, you’re saying that Runcandel and Zipple have temporarily sealed the King of the Black Sea, and if we don’t participate, you’ll abandon him and bring your entire force here?”
The Kinzelo representative who came out to hear their proposal and verify the Seal of Fire was none other than Zephyrin.
“That is correct.”
For a moment, Zephyrin stared at them, her lips curled into a smile that didn't reach her cold eyes.
“Hmm, this might sound a bit rude, but… you really don't know anything, do you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you all really…”
The smile vanished from Zephyrin’s face as she finished her sentence.
“…think it's possible to run away from the Fifth King of Chaos and strike us?”