Chapter 705: An Unavoidable Trap (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 705: An Unavoidable Trap (4)
Dante turned his head, his face twisting as the color drained from it.
The army Dipus led through the portal was instantaneously turning the ground into a scene of absolute carnage.
Even though the entire capital had already entered an emergency defensive posture due to Joshua’s invasion, they were powerless to repel the sudden assault of Chaos Dragons and the Black Ship fleet.
‘Damn it, does this mean Joshua was nothing more than bait…?!’
Bait for Dipus’s army.
While they were occupied with that mere lure, thousands of citizens and the knights trying to protect them had already been wounded or killed.
They had only just subdued Joshua, yet a force of an even greater magnitude was now invading the Empire’s soil.
Furthermore, the power possessed by Dipus, who commanded this new army of Chaos, was clearly perceptible even from this distance. A force that dwarfed Joshua’s vibrated through the heavens and the earth.
“Pu, puhuhuhu… Kuhahaha…!”
Joshua burst into a hollow laugh.
It was a self-deprecating laugh born from a sense of failure, but to Dante, it didn't sound that way. It felt like the despicable sneer of an enemy whose operation had succeeded.
Slash!
Rashid’s blade sliced through Joshua’s neck.
Even as his head tumbled to the ground, Joshua did not stop laughing, black tears streaming from his eyes.
‘It’s a blunder. I should have prepared for a follow-up attack…!’
For Dante, who prioritized the lives of the people above all else, this was an unavoidable outcome. He had chosen to hunt down the invader alone while deploying everyone else to rescue the citizens.
Realistically, that had been the best course of action. Currently, Dante was the only person in the Empire capable of facing an army of Chaos alone while simultaneously fighting on both land and air.
His head felt like it was going to explode. Even if he hacked Joshua into pieces before leaving, it seemed unlikely the man would truly die. There was a high probability he would recover in Dante's absence and resume his rampage, regroup with the enemy, or flee.
‘Still, I have to leave this thing behind and get over there.’
The moment he made his decision, Dante sensed a familiar energy spreading from the direction where Dipus’s army had appeared.
‘Jin…!’
Lightning and Spirit Energy.
It was Jin’s aura.
Dante also saw fire magic and a green spell he had never seen before rising nearby; that was Veradin’s power.
The two of them, arriving just in time, had joined the fray.
Jin and Veradin had intended to meet Dante first, but upon seeing the portal tear open in the sky, they had immediately grasped the situation.
“Kuhahat, kahahaha, ack!”
Joshua didn't stop laughing until Dante stepped on him, crushing his head.
The fragments of his shattered skull began to gather in the air in a grotesque display, already starting to regenerate.
“What’s so funny, you piece of trash? A true Runcandel has arrived—someone you wouldn’t even dare to look in the eye. If you’re laughing at how pathetic you are, then I suppose I understand.”
While Dante turned his attention back to Joshua, Veradin was deploying a wide-area shield.
It was a massive barrier, large enough to cover an entire district of the city. But with the Chaos Energy pouring from Dipus’s two wings—which were as dark and vast as storm clouds—and the army of Chaos running wild, it was impossible to protect every citizen.
Inevitably, the deaths of the innocent continued to mount. The roar of explosions, screams, and the bellows of Chaos Dragons intermingled, piercing the sky now soaked in Chaos Energy.
“I’ll go after Dipus! You take care of things here!”
As Jin shouted, Veradin nodded.
“Don’t expect too much. I can’t save everyone. I’ll do my best to hold them back.”
Jin swung his sword to break through the army of Chaos, and a path opened instantly.
Chaos Dragons were torn apart like dry straw by the blade of sword energy that flew in a straight line, wreathed in lightning.
Jin ascended into the sky, using the falling carcasses of the dragons and the fragments of the Black Ships as stepping stones.
He wondered where they all kept coming from; the closer he got to Dipus, the more Chaos Dragons swarmed like hungry ghosts.
“4th Flagbearer!”
A voice choked with rage escaped his lips. It wasn't because chasing Dipus without wings was difficult, but because the man’s actions were so horrific they were painful to witness.
It felt as if the resentment of the Empire’s citizens dying on the ground was piercing his back like daggers.
Dipus was one of the individuals who had saved the most civilians from the Chaos Gliek had scattered across the world upon his death.
Furthermore, as the 4th Flagbearer of Runcandel, he had resisted the Evil God until the very end. He had sacrificed himself to save the 7th Flagbearer and other resistors and was a pure knight who had never once sought power by straying from the family’s symbol—the sword.
That very same Dipus was now committing a massacre so vast it felt utterly irreversible.
It would be better to end it here.
He had to kill him. So that he could no longer kill people and destroy the world according to the Evil God’s will.
The strength threatened to drain from his feet as he leaped off the dragon carcasses. Jin had to constantly steel his heart as he pursued him.
He reaffirmed his resolve: he would strike without hesitation.
However, a powerful intuition told him that he wouldn't be able to catch Dipus here today.
It felt as though the man had already completed all preparations for his escape.
Kiiiing—!
The Light Speed Thrusts Jin fired in succession grazed Dipus’s wings. Even if they had hit squarely, it seemed unlikely they would have caused much damage.
Dipus continued forward without even looking back, as if he had no intention of fighting right now.
“Do you think I don’t know why you’re running, 4th Flagbearer? You’re trying to tie me down so your army can strike other locations more easily.”
Jin spoke as he landed on the roof of a spire. Behind him, a trail of magical ice shards he had used as stepping stones in place of the dragon corpses glittered like a comet’s tail.
[You are well aware.]
Dipus paused his flight and looked back.
The voice Jin finally heard was not the one he knew. It was a voice that seemed to dig a gloomy pit in one's mind, much like the Evil God or the Kings of the Black Sea.
His face, too, now had a horn sprouting from the center of his forehead just like Rosa’s, and his eyes glowed black like obsidian. Only the greatsword Volgar served as a reminder that this was once Dipus.
[If you know that, then why do you persist?]
“I’m already in checkmate. Keeping you occupied here is the option that causes the least damage on the ground. If I hadn't pursued you, you would have continued your direct assault, wouldn't you?”
Just as Dante was the only one who could handle Joshua and his army alone, Jin was currently the only one who could tie Dipus down.
[Yes, that’s right. Mother sent me here knowing you might be in the Empire. It means you are dancing entirely to Mother’s tune. Look behind you.]
“I don’t think I need to. I’m sure a part of the imperial capital has been reduced to rubble…”
The army of Chaos was retreating. Into the black portals that had opened like a honeycomb in the sky, the Black Ships were disappearing, carrying hostages with them.
Jin kept his eyes fixed on Dipus.
“However. Have you forgotten that I’m not the type to simply take a hit and let it go, 4th Flagbearer?”
[That is why Mother still cherishes and loves you. Show me, then. How do you plan to land a blow on me from here? I am about to leave, after all.]
A portal was forming behind Dipus’s back.
Teleportation.
From the moment he first learned the Evil God possessed such an ability, Jin had been certain that it must require a great price.
If it came without a price, the war would have already ended with the alliance's defeat.
Jin still couldn't know exactly what that price was. He could only speculate that humans or their despair were used as a medium.
Still, one thing was clear.
Whatever medium Rosa used to perform teleportation, the moment her 'true body' or an 'avatar' took a significant hit, she would no longer be able to use it freely.
Jin viewed Dipus as an avatar of the Evil God.
‘Brother Dipus has received a portion of the Evil God’s power. He hasn't just been strengthened by Chaos like Joshua or the other knights.’
Of course, Dipus was a powerful warrior to begin with. Moreover, since he was fundamentally different from someone like Joshua, he would have reached another level of strength entirely even if he had undergone the same process.
But the Chaos Energy currently radiating from Dipus was comparable to what Jin had felt from Rosa when he first returned to the human world.
Therefore, if Dipus suffered a wound that could not be easily healed, it would be no different from Rosa herself taking a direct hit.
Jin switched his sword to Bradamante.
[Bradamante? What do you intend to do with Spirit Energy at this point? You should have brought out Pluto's Sovereign Sword instead. Ah, did you choose not to because too many humans on the ground would be swept away and killed?]
Dipus smirked and spread his palm toward the ground. As Chaos Energy condensed in his palm, the void distorted around it.
[Still, it was somewhat entertaining, 12th Flagbearer. I’ll give you a gift before I go, so receive it well. If you want revenge, seek me out anytime. I shall be waiting with pleasure…]
Just as Dipus finished speaking and was about to unleash the Chaos Energy toward the ground, Jin charged.
Dipus had assumed Jin would naturally dive to intercept the attack on the city, not charge him. He had intended to mock him, to ask if he no longer cared what happened to innocent humans, if he was merely going to swing his sword at him pointlessly, drunk on rage.
However, when Jin reached him in the blink of an eye, Dipus was forced to hastily retract the Chaos Energy he was about to fire.
‘He didn't choose Bradamante for its Spirit Energy…!’
He realized it instinctively. The faint fire enveloping Bradamante, a fire he had never seen before, was dangerous.
Eternal Fire.
Jin had been saving this secret technique all this time for a moment exactly like this.
He was betting that Eternal Fire possessed the power to deal a fundamental blow to the Evil God and, by extension, Dipus.
Dipus hurriedly blocked with his greatsword Volgar, channeling Chaos Energy into it. But the blade, now wreathed in Eternal Fire, tore through his left wing diagonally and sank into his chest.
‘The recovery…!’
The part torn by Eternal Fire did not regenerate.
The fire remaining in the wound was actively hindering the healing process.
Dipus had originally intended to drop the Chaos Energy on the ground even if his body was torn apart, but pushed back by Jin’s ensuing offensive, he was ultimately forced to retreat immediately into the portal.