Chapter 65: Disaster (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 65: Disaster (4)
“You devilish wretch!”
The Sword Emperor screamed as he charged toward Agor.
“Hoho, isn't calling a demon ‘devilish’ a compliment?”
Agor giggled playfully, her hand still resting atop Kang Geomma’s head.
Blood streamed down the Sword Emperor’s jaw, and the wind whistled through the gaping hole in his abdomen.
All around them, flames writhed like living things, and life itself was melting away as fast as a burning candle.
There was no chance of victory. Nevertheless, Siegfried gripped his hilt and ran.
“Even if I must sacrifice this life, Agor, I will take both your legs with me!”
Kiiiiing—
Siegfried’s sword wailed in its master’s stead. Then, starting from the Sword Emperor’s knuckles, a pure white light began to flow along the blade.
Agor’s eyes widened at the sight. A chill ran down her spine. She muttered, looking utterly dumbfounded.
“…The Sword Saint’s Aura?”
The source of the light enveloping Siegfried’s sword like a white film was unmistakable. It was the sword energy of the human known as the First Sword Saint, the one who had threatened Agor’s life seven hundred years ago.
“Aaron Nibelung.”
It was a power etched into every single one of Agor’s cells. The 5th Corps Commander’s body trembled at the sight of human swordsmanship that transcended all standards.
The face of the man who had thrust a cold blade before her very eyes during the 1st Human-Demon War—despite being a mere human—overlapped with the Sword Emperor’s. Her panic was brief, replaced by a surge of foul irritation from deep within.
“…Y-you insect-like human…!”
Just as Agor’s expression contorted and she prepared to vent her rising fury—
Gooooooo.
A dark shadow swallowed the sky. Even the fiercely blazing magical flames began to subside.
“……!”
It wasn't a sudden change in weather.
An inexplicable sensation began to slice through the bodies of both Agor and the Sword Emperor.
As if forcibly pushing away the tension that had been taut until a moment ago, the direction of the wind reversed.
Faced with this unexpected situation, Agor tilted her chin up and looked at the sky.
“What is this?”
The sky was turning black. Broad daylight was transforming into night in an instant.
The sun that had illuminated the world hid behind the shadow of the moon, leaving only a halo behind.
Countless stars appeared in Agor’s eyes as she stared blankly upward.
An overwhelming number of stars, beyond estimation or calculation, became a gaze imbued with will, all glaring down at Agor at once.
Immediately, the sound of a thunderclap tore through the air.
KABOOOOM!
Between the pitch-black clouds, bundles of lightning struck out fiercely, tracing roots across the sky.
In place of the fading starlight, flashes of brilliance filled the arrogant heavens.
Rumble!
A succession of roars followed, sounding as if they would tear her eardrums apart.
As the sky collapsed along the lines of thunder crushing the empty void, the faded leaves of Yggdrasil, the Great Tree of Life, began to flutter down like snow.
Soon, the bolts of lightning clashing in the air began to strike down toward a single point on the ground with a will of their own. Kang Geomma and Agor were there.
Agor, seemingly still unable to grasp the situation, watched the lightning flying at the speed of light with vacant eyes before being struck.
“AAAAAAAGH!”
A shrill scream echoed, reflecting off the greenery. Yellow sparks and currents of lightning splattered where the bolts landed.
“Pant… pant…”
Agor retreated, her entire body scorched as she breathed raggedly. Veins burst across her skin in the shape of roots, spraying blood.
The wounds healed instantly, but confusion swirled on Agor’s face.
The thick dust and the fiercely burning flames were being devoured by the surging flashes of light.
She felt a massive presence. Agor’s gaze shifted instinctively.
“T-t-this is…”
Kang Geomma stood where her gaze landed.
With the ear-numbing explosions as his background music, a brilliant halo of light surrounded him.
An indescribable radiance dwelt within his eyes, and space itself refracted and shimmered in hazes along his body.
The Sword Emperor, watching the scene, swallowed hard.
Even as he narrowed his eyes to see more clearly, he couldn't quite capture the boy’s form.
Kiiiing.
The Sashimi held in Kang Geomma’s hands emitted a sacred sword-cry.
“W-what is that!”
Agor, the 5th Corps Commander, shrieked as if having a fit, her face still vacant with shock. An emotion she had never felt before was laced in her voice.
An unprecedented power and weight tightened around the demon’s entire body, making her writhe like a weakling.
“…….”
Kang Geomma stood firm with his back to Yggdrasil, silent.
He turned his head slightly, meeting the eyes of the Sword Emperor, who was hesitating in confusion. A sacred sense of exaltation filled the Sword Emperor’s mindscape.
“Ah… ah…”
His wrinkled eyes slowly reddened, and hot tears began to stream down. They were not tears of sorrow like before, but tears of joy.
The Sword Emperor bent one knee and showed his respect.
If someone were to ask him why later, he would say it was simply an unconscious act as a swordsman.
“I shall strike.”
Kang Geomma spoke without moving his lips.
It was a direct message that didn't enter through the ears but was struck directly into the brain. It was clearly Kang Geomma, but the voice echoing in the mind and the manner of speech were unfamiliar.
At that moment, the flesh in the hole in the Sword Emperor’s stomach began to bubble and churn, instantly closing the wound. New flesh also sprouted from the cross-section of his severed arm.
“…Just what is happening?”
The Sword Emperor stroked his stomach and his restored arm with a dazed face. Even as he tried to understand, he couldn't even begin to fathom it.
Agor watched this with hazy eyes. Even as she tried to reflect on the situation, it was something beyond her perception.
Kang Geomma closed his eyes in silence. The sound of the demonic flames eating away at the forest seeped into his ears.
Kang Geomma gripped the hilt at an angle. Simultaneously, starting from beneath his feet, a pure white light poured out and covered the earth.
Shhhhhhh.
[Divine Blessing of Painlessness is manifested.]
[Divine Blessing of Regeneration is manifested.]
[Divine Blessing of Transfer is manifested.]
The two blessings were moved by the Blessing of Transfer, covering the entire worldline and supporting the universe.
It was a realm of mystery that far transcended the dimension of mere blessings.
In Agor’s eyes, Kang Geomma looked like a faint mist.
It was as if her brain was refusing to perceive his very existence, paralyzing her body and senses.
‘That is not a human.’
Agor forced her frozen body to move and gathered all her magic power. The forest, expanded by the heat, and the corpses scattered everywhere melted and slithered away.
She focused her consciousness to release the limits of her physical body, and as she unleashed the gathered magic power in an instant, the curtain of fire blazed even more menacingly.
WHOOSH!
“Blaze Tempest.”
A massive fireball rose into the air, doing more than just drying the greenery and streams—it melted them. It was a magic of radiant heat that could potentially swallow even the body it had descended into.
‘If I leave that brat here, he will surely block the path of us demons.’
Doubt turned into certainty in a heartbeat. Having made up her mind, Agor reached out. The flesh on her forearm melted, revealing scorched black bone.
Rumble!
A massive wave of sparks surged forth. It was a firepower immense enough to burn the entire island. A single strand of fire caused rocks to bubble and melt like lava.
Kang Geomma gazed at the approaching firestorm with quiet eyes. A calm light swirled in his pupils, which were half-submerged beneath his brow.
It was reflected on his retina. The space distorted by the glowing fireball. And the countless red lines drawn densely here and there.
Kang Geomma slowly raised his Sashimi knife. It was a movement of flawless perfection, devoid of any minor habit, refined technique, or murderous intent.
The tip of the blade pointed toward the sky.
A brilliant light flashed along the edge.
The sword’s point then gestured toward the ground.
—Slash!
A smooth sound rang out. A pillar of light passed through the fireball diagonally. The golden flash extended to a far-off place beyond sight.
Pop—!
The flames that had been melting the surroundings burst like bubbles, leaving not even a trace of residual heat.
Kang Geomma’s slash was like a rule that brought the phenomenon of ‘annihilation’ into reality. It was an absurdity where cause and effect were reversed.
In contrast, Agor’s flames, no matter how immense the magic, were merely a part of the world.
The incomprehensible phenomenon cut through the very source of the magic power itself.
“Ah.”
Agor muttered. A long laceration appeared at her waist, and soon the upper and lower halves of her body slid apart.
Only after a moment did she realize she had been cut. New flesh did not sprout from the etched wound. There was no blood forming, either.
Thump.
Her crookedly severed upper body tumbled across the ground. In the midst of it, Agor was speechless at the sight before her eyes.
An illusion occurred as if a diagonal crack had formed in the landscape. A new boundary line had been drawn between the earth and the sky.
From the sky split in half, pillars of light poured down onto Yggdrasil, and the rugged mountain ridges showed their cut surfaces, sliced long and horizontally, clearing away the hellscape.
The forest shimmered with its lost greenery once more, and the clear sun shone down again.
The spinning stopped, and Agor’s gaze turned toward the sky.
Through the opened heavens, the sunlight that had been clustered in the darkness poured out as if exploding.
Agor’s eyes stung at the sight that had turned bright in an instant.
“Ugh.”
Agor groaned, sensing death approaching with steady strides. She braced herself against the ground, crawling to lift her legless body.
“I can’t die like this.”
Agor squeezed out her strength and glared. She had reached the brink of death, yet she still couldn't even fathom that strike. Only one certainty swirled in her mind.
‘Kang Geomma… that brat’s existence is nothing short of a disaster for the demons.’
Kang Geomma, who had been standing still, staggered as if he had lost his balance. Having delivered such a strike, it was impossible for his body to hold up.
‘Now is the only chance.’
Agor burned her remaining life force, converting it into magic power as she chanted.
“Flama.”
Just before she could manage to snap her fingers with the strength she forced into them—
Puk.
The sound of a blade piercing the air. A pure white straight sword passed through the back of Agor’s neck and emerged through her mouth.
Agor twisted her creaking head back. The Sword Emperor, who had driven the sword in with his single arm, looked down at her.
“To show your back to an enemy… you’re the same as the 6th Corps Commander Basmon.”
Agor’s fingernails scratched the ground in agony. The Sword Emperor bared his teeth fiercely and spoke.
“Y-you son of a bitch—!”
“Go to hell, you devilish wretch.”
Agor let out a shrill groan with the sword stuck in her mouth. Her tongue was cut, preventing her from articulating properly. The Sword Emperor instantly blew the Sword Saint’s Aura into her, ravaging her body.
As the sacred light enveloped her, demonic energy streamed out from Ray Shan’s eye sockets.
Soon after, cracks appeared in Agor’s body with a snapping sound, and the light of the aura leaked through the gaps.
“Aaron’s descendaaaaant, you bastard!”
“You have a more tenacious life than Basmon, at least.”
The Sword Emperor twisted the hilt. With a final scream and a pop, Agor’s flesh scattered. Soon, the little remaining magic power evaporated like a mirage.
The death of the 5th Corps Commander, the Empress of Succubi, Agor, was quietly hollow.
“And my name isn't ‘Aaron’s descendant,’ it’s Siegfried von Nibelung.”
The Sword Emperor barked, flicking the blood off his blade with one arm. He then ran toward the staggering Kang Geomma and caught him.
Though the boy was gaunt and haggard, fortunately, he was still breathing. He gently laid Kang Geomma on the ground.
The Sword Emperor sat cross-legged beside him and scanned Kang Geomma’s body. A great warrior doubles as a medic in emergencies. Furthermore, few knew as much about the backlash of blessings as the Sword Emperor.
‘His breathing is natural, and though there are some blocked energy points, there are no fatal injuries. His life isn't in immediate danger.’
Confirming Kang Geomma’s stability, the Sword Emperor let out a deep sigh of relief. He wiped the thick beads of cold sweat from his chin and muttered softly.
“…Kang Geomma, just what are you?”
Siegfried thought to himself. At first, he had simply considered him an unprecedented genius.
But as time passed, the sense of incongruity toward Kang Geomma grew, until it now felt like a total sense of otherness.
The Sword Emperor replayed Kang Geomma’s single strike in his mind. No matter how much he racked his brain, he couldn't understand what it was. It wasn't an attack, but something like a phenomenon.
The numbing shock, as if he had been struck in the head with a hammer, still enveloped his body. He expanded the scope of his thoughts, using his past experiences as material.
His thoughts followed one after another, trying to gather a conclusion. The Sword Emperor’s white eyebrows narrowed.
The ideas popping up at random eventually suggested new hypotheses.
‘Is this man even truly human?’
The Sword Emperor lowered his gaze to look at Kang Geomma. Even as he lay there with his eyes closed, it felt as if he were surveying the world.
He tilted his chin up and looked at the sky. Clouds that had been cut into chunks artificially drifted through the firmament. He lowered his gaze back to Kang Geomma.
“…….”
Long ago, since ancient times, humans believed that an unfathomable will dwelt within all creation.
From storms and floods to lightning from a clear sky, and even comets falling in the night sky.
Superhuman and supernatural interventions were always objects of fear for humanity.
Yet, paradoxically, they worshipped them to receive blessings and protection from that transcendent power.
People collectively called them—