Chapter 643: Land of the Malevolent God (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 643: Land of the Malevolent God (5)
The lightning from Pluto's Sovereign Sword was gradually subsiding.
Jin’s breath came in ragged gasps. The accumulated fatigue from the consecutive battles, combined with the mental shock, left him nauseous.
“Brother, are you alright?”
“I’m fine. For now.”
He could still fight. Though he wasn't in peak condition, he felt he had enough left for at least one more full-power attack.
Jin and Kaio looked up at the sky simultaneously.
As the black clouds of lightning dissipated, the underside of the Ram came into view once more.
His vision swam at the sight: Chaos Dragons and Black Ships poured from the Ram like bees from a hive, while the landscape below was littered with their wreckage, torn apart by artillery fire.
At a glance, it seemed the Runcandels were finally being pushed back, but… there was no end to it.
As if mocking the world’s assessment of them as technologically backward, the Ram incessantly spat out Chaos Dragons and Black Ships.
Furthermore, the Ram was recharging its main cannon.
The very same cannon that had annihilated Zipple’s 2nd Fleet in a single strike was now aimed at Kinzelo.
“Still… we should prepare to escape.”
His goal was to inflict maximum damage before his family grasped the full extent of his power, and to rescue the resistors.
He estimated that the first goal had been achieved to some extent.
The knights I killed today will be resurrected before long, and summoned figures like Lionel or Sir Padler will reappear… but there has to be a restriction. It will surely require a significant price.
Ricalton.
The land suspected of being the source of the humans used as materials for Joshua’s clones. Creating those clones alone required hundreds, if not thousands, of human lives.
For figures like Padler or Lionel, the cost would be beyond imagination.
The escape of the resistors depends on the Elder Council Head’s skill and luck.
He wanted to go and protect them right now, but doing so would only put them in greater danger.
No new energy emanated from the Mausoleum.
Intuitively, Jin felt that Rosa would be coming for him now.
He could see the Chaos that had been enveloping the Garden of Swords converging back to a single point. It was gathering toward the center of the Black Ships—likely where Rosa was standing.
As things stood, he had no chance of victory against her.
The full might of Kinzelo and Zipple had arrived as he'd hoped, and he had personally dealt with the Black Knight Captain, the summoned former Patriarchs, and even the Ten Great Knights.
Yet, Runcandel remained unshaken.
“A wise decision. I agree, it's better to plan for the future. To strike down the master of this land, you'll need the help of our brothers.”
“The same goes for our escape. I need cover, Brother Kaio.”
At the heavy tone in Jin’s voice, Kaio snorted.
“Hmph, you seem to feel bad about using me as a shield. Put those thoughts aside. Death in a summoned state isn't real, anyway.”
Kaio was already certain. For Jin to escape this place, his own sacrifice would be necessary.
Jin’s gaze shifted to the Mausoleum.
He wanted to strike the Mausoleum one last time before escaping, but some of the Chaos gathering at the center of the Ram was now forming a barrier around it.
“They’re openly guarding the Mausoleum….”
“I was about to suggest we hit that place before leaving, but it seems better to just go, Brother.”
Even without testing it, he knew that barrier of Chaos could only be breached by a technique on the level of the Flame Emperor's Karma Fire or Pluto's Sovereign Sword. Or perhaps a Spirit Sword Supreme Technique.
Using such an attack would make escape impossible.
“It’s not all bad. At least now I'm certain the Mausoleum is both a vital tool and a weakness for them.”
Jin turned around.
Talaris was in a forest about three hundred ri away from the Garden of Swords. He had to break through to her, then use Mort to teleport to the area where the Red Owl was hidden.
“Shuri.”
[Myaa!]
The two of them climbed onto Shuri, who had just emerged from the red jade.
In the distance, he could see the Chaos Knights beginning to swarm again like cockroaches.
However, no matter how many there were, they weren't a significant threat. They would only be a waste of stamina.
“Let’s go. To Lady Talaris.”
As Shuri charged forward at full speed, Chaos Knights exploded in her wake.
Not long after their escape began, Jin and Kaio realized something.
“I’ve been wondering for a bit… aren't those guys your enemies too?” Kaio asked, gesturing with his chin toward their rear.
Kinzelo’s fleet. They had been providing continuous fire support to the ground ever since Jin and Kaio were fighting Padler.
Even now, the support was so thorough that Kaio didn't even need to cover Jin.
Not a single Chaos Dragon descending to catch Jin could reach Shuri before it was oxidized in mid-air, and all the shells from the Black Ships were being intercepted.
“They are enemies. But for now, they recognize that they’ll need me later. Both Zipple and Kinzelo must have judged that they can't bring down the Garden of Swords on their own.”
That statement applied to Jin as well, especially if he couldn't summon his Pluto Tribe brothers to the human world again.
In fact, he suspected that even with his brothers, a temporary alliance with his enemies might be necessary.
The current Runcandel was no longer just a single great power.
Gliek.
They had become a massive calamity blanketing the entire world, just like that entity.
“Well, they aren't complete fools, then.”
They killed the Chaos Knights blocking their path and broke through the main gate. Beyond it, the black, Chaos-tainted landscape stretched on endlessly.
Even as they neared the heart of Kalon, the scenery did not change. Only then did Jin realize that not just the Garden of Swords, but the entirety of Kalon had been eroded by Chaos.
It wasn't entirely unexpected. Using this much Chaos would have required a vast amount of material. But seeing it with his own eyes, he couldn't help but feel stunned.
Suddenly, words Rosa had said in the past came to mind.
— To me, the survival and prosperity of Runcandel are more important than anything else. Nothing can take precedence over that.
— Even if hundreds of millions of humans die in the process, and even if the world perishes in that desolate struggle, leaving only a few members of Runcandel behind… it matters not to me.
Are you really… planning to wipe out the entire world, leaving only Runcandel behind?
Like a beast opening its maw, the center of the Ram split in half.
The main cannon fired immediately, its beam sweeping through Kinzelo’s fleet. The middle of Zephyrin’s massive body was pierced, and the layered shields behind her shattered.
For the first time, Jin felt relieved that an enemy hadn't died. Zephyrin exhaled a powerful breath as if she hadn't taken much damage, its power undiminished despite the gaping hole in her torso.
Under the counterattack from Kinzelo, led by Zephyrin, visible damage began to spread across the hull of the Ram for the first time.
The left side of the hull was collapsing.
The Ram was clearly weaker than before, which could only mean one thing: Rosa was withdrawing the power she was channeling into it. The total amount of Chaos hadn't decreased; it was just being redirected.
The intense war raged on, time losing all meaning.
Before they knew it, Shuri was a hundred ri outside the Garden of Swords. It was then that Jin felt a faint chill in the air.
Talaris—she was approaching him.
In the past, whenever Talaris came to his rescue, he would feel an inexpressible sense of relief.
But now, it was the exact opposite.
No!
The chill reaching this far meant Talaris was already in combat. Worse, she wasn't in a state to use her full strength.
And all the land stained with Chaos was Rosa’s domain. An ominous intuition pierced Jin’s mind: Rosa couldn't possibly have failed to notice Talaris’s movements.
Rosa Runcandel will definitely try to deal with Lady Talaris before me…!
He couldn't know for sure how strong Rosa had become after embracing Chaos. However, even before the Garden of Swords had become like this, Rosa was one of the strongest people in the world.
The current Talaris was no match for her.
[Myaaaaaak!]
Sensing Jin’s anxiety, Shuri tried to increase her speed, but she was already at her limit.
“Damn it, Lady Talaris is…!”
If something happened to her, he would never be able to face Siris or his other comrades. His chance to repay the grace he had received from the Secret Palace would also vanish.
The thought was driving him mad.
“Calm yourself, Brother Jin,” Kaio said, looking up at the sky.
He was watching the artillery fire from the various fleets. The bombardments, which had been supporting only Jin, were now all converging on a single point in the distance.
Kinzelo and Zipple had also spotted Talaris and begun providing covering fire.
“The Master of Cold—she must be someone precious to you. Do I just need to cover her?”
“Is that possible from this distance?”
Kaio raised the Great Bow God-Slayer.
“You seem to have forgotten my specialty. I am the only Fighting King whose reach can encompass all my brothers. When it comes to ultra-long-distance support, I might even be better than the Fighting God brothers. I need to concentrate, so clear out the riffraff for me.”
“Understood…!”
Sssshhh—!
Arrows of pure light shot from God-Slayer into the sky. The shining bolts of lightning flew across a distance of fifty ri, raising massive pillars of light where they struck.
With every shot, cold sweat poured like rain from Kaio’s body. Blood trickled from between his gritted teeth, and his Heart of Light throbbed as if it would explode at any moment.
Jin didn't ask Kaio how the situation was unfolding.
He knew the cold energy hadn't been extinguished.
But it was precarious. It was so faint it felt like it could go out at any moment.
Finally, they reached the pillars of light formed by God-Slayer.
There, Jin was confronted with the sight of Talaris, gasping for breath and covered in blood.
His heart dropped.
But the blood wasn't Talaris’s.
It was the blood of the Snow Toad, Mort. Mort had been protecting Talaris the entire time, performing short dimensional shifts within Rosa’s energy of Chaos.
Without the covering fire from Kaio and the fleets, even that would have been impossible. Mort’s once snow-white body was now completely soaked in blood.
“Jin!”
“Lady Talaris!”
He wanted to rush to her side, but a single black blade tore through the pillars of light from God-Slayer, stopping just in front of Talaris.
Frenzy—it was the sword of the Chaos-soaked Rosa Runcandel.
[So, you’ve come?]
Rosa greeted Jin with a smirk. Jin drew Bradamante.