Even If the World Abandoned Them (3)
So vast it was, without compare. And rightly so, I thought. Why, even the lore of the Claudy family that I had committed to memory...
'...they toy with dragons, after all.'
Yet even I couldn't fathom just how profoundly the Claudy name resonated across the Arcana Continent now made manifest. After all, it was a great house acknowledged by the continent itself. And within such a lineage, Grandfell stood as a lord of unparalleled caliber.
'Well done, truly.'
I had no idea what ties bound Mary to the Claudy house. But a great lord simply fulfilled his role.
I spoke calmly.
"You did not attend the banquet."
The Claudy invitation had gone out to all on the continent who knew of the Claudy house. Mary clearly did, so the odds were high she'd received one.
'Even so, this sudden...'
Damn this lingering resentment of his...!
I prayed it wasn't deliberate, Mary.
Did my earnest wish reach her? Mary's sky-blue eyes trembled faintly once more.
"My... Are you perhaps extending an invitation to me as well?"
"There are no exceptions to the Claudy summons."
"My deepest apologies. I never imagined an invitation had been sent to me..."
If Mary was on the continent, she couldn't have missed it. But her explanation made it clear.
She laid out the circumstances with utmost courtesy.
"I had no desire to reveal this..."
Shh—with a resigned expression, she revealed her right hand, hitherto concealed behind her back.
Clutched between her fingers was a lit cigarette.
"...Pathetically, I've become a wretch who cannot survive a single day without tobacco. To afford the gold for cigarettes in the space-time market, I took on a commission there. A brief trip to the Demon Realm."
We'll set aside the addict's confession for now.
"Gold coins? You chased illusions."
Forget, for the moment, her incorruptible disdain for wealth and glory.
The Demon Realm.
I sensed I could glean vital intelligence from Mary.
I knew a little about the Demon Realm already. It had existed only as a concept in the AAU database, but now it was realized with settings even the AAU didn't know—and I hadn't forgotten the demons' and demon kings' words either.
'Demon Realm mongrels.'
The Seven Deadly Sins spawn. That's what they called the 72 demon kings.
This was no tale to gloss over.
'So it has manifested.'
And there must be ways to traverse between the Arcana Continent and the Demon Realm. For Mary, it was the Space-Time Commission.
In the Demon Realm lurked demon kings in the top 10 ranks—far beyond those swallowed by Omen's belly. Small wonder Grandfell's temper wouldn't stay quiet.
"We shall discuss that later."
"As you command."
A concise exchange. Yet no conversation filled me with such dread of fallout.
Grandfell was the sort to storm the Demon Realm before any upper demon king could set foot on the continent.
'I'm doomed to a short life, truly.'
But as I said, that talk could wait. The hulking Omen loomed before us.
I regarded the Omen. Towering as ever, its head held high. Never once looking up.
Shing—it merely raised Illusion Breaker slowly.
Mary spoke from beside me.
"...Forgive me for being unable to dissuade you."
She bit her lip.
I'm sharp, you know. From that, I grasped Mary's position.
'She owes the Claudy house a massive debt.'
Me, Lee Hoyeol. Possessor of dogged persistence in reclaiming any lent sum.
Compounded by Grandfell's emphasis on quid pro quo.
Even so.
'I have no desire to know the details.'
It would inevitably dredge up black history.
But the key point? As the message had implied, Mary harbored the will to settle that debt.
Yes, that sufficed. We'd call it even.
"No need to apologize to me."
"...Pardon?"
"The past shall be settled alongside the Omen."
"...!"
Snapping to her senses, Mary turned her gaze to the Omen. Perhaps thanks to the Dawn Set effect, maxed morale surging dramatically with every word. A good thing, really.
"My gratitude for your words."
Violet mana rippled from Mary's fingertips. Alien magic, even on second glance. Even Grandfell's genius would need several observations to unravel its structure.
Shing—but difference bred synergy.
Would not Illusion Breaker's strikes, laced with Mary's unfamiliar spell, birth something wondrous?
Thus, I swung without hesitation.
Shh—no need for aim. Only the power to pierce that colossal Omen.
Are you worth your name, after all?
Even Gicheol's tone had shifted oddly. His voice burrowed into my mind.
-Here it comes. Illusion. Can you withstand the truth?
Why did that "truth" sound like another "truth"...?
But such trifles vanished cleanly.
Whoooosh—my slash augmented by Mary's violet magic.
The strike connected.
KABOOM!!
The blast hurled Mary and me backward. Yet she muttered to herself.
"...Why won't it take effect?"
The Omen didn't budge. Mary seemed clueless, but I knew.
A message had appeared.
[Attack Rejected.]
I'd first suspected something like First World Tree's Blessing. But no. This foe was no noble world tree.
"Even a maggot rolls when cornered."
In Grandfell parlance...
Raymon Sean's crude, paltry creation. A mere prototype.
'Not a buff.'
If such were possible, Raymon's petty nature wouldn't have bothered layering cumbersome conditions onto Omen.
The quest objective blinked, proving it.
Hunt the Omen. (In Progress)
● Subjugate the minor Omens scattered across the continent. (In Progress)
As expected.
'Precedent patterns exist.'
A lesson learned: target the core first, only to be thwarted by this ploy.
Alone, I'd have been toyed with.
But didn't I say? I'm not alone.
This was an Akkshan feint operation.
I intoned calmly.
"Is more still required?"
"...Pardon?"
Shh. From Omen to Mary's fingers.
Precisely, to the cigarette.
"Ah..."
Mary flinched and looked at me.
Am I some nagging elder forcing quitting now, Grandfell?
Aftermath's always my burden.
I pressed on, brazen as possible.
"It may yet aid you."
Plop—a teacup floated into the air.
"...?"
Mary extinguished her cigarette, took the cup, and stared in bewilderment.
No answers even under that gaze.
Grandfell's noble pride wouldn't admit needing mana allocation until the Akkshan precursors finished their patterns.
Clink—sudden tea time, yet why not natural?
Gazing at the rising buff message, I declared.
"Tea by the seaside is not amiss."
*
High El. Diend. Iron Castle Ho.
At Hoyeol's command, the three split to survey the continent.
Precisely, the writhing minor Omens.
Gunner, readjusting fighters from the Iron Castle Ho's relaunch, startled.
"Such!"
He'd spotted Antonium soldiers threatened by a minor Omen.
Antonium, allies of the Holy War Coalition. The moment he gripped the controls to defend them.
Squirm squirm!
"...Iron Castle Ho, do you read?"
He noticed the Omen's change. Human arms, thick as thighs, erupting from its flesh.
Not unique to this one.
"So it devoured humans too?"
"Alive? Fortunate, but..."
"Tearing out like that? Makes sense?!"
"What's happening inside?!"
Only High El and Diend remained unshaken.
"The lord's old comrades."
Serving Hoyeol as lord, High El had absorbed Akkshan lore. Moreover, a unique spirit rivaling spirit kings sensed demon hunter auras effortlessly.
"Indeed."
Dark mana suited the shadow spirit Diend. It intuited how darkly Akkshan history entwined.
Diend nodded slowly. Boundless darkness, befitting the lord's allies—thus acknowledging Akkshan.
Chainwalker muttered.
"...We can truly stand idle, Lord Hoyeol?"
Omens, he'd called them. They twitched across the continent. Failed retreat, writhing in agony, unable to fully hide.
Chainwalker's trembling fist.
'Iron Castle Ho weeps.'
Its mana cannons amplified pure mana crystals via dwarven mastery. Even a demon-castle swallower couldn't withstand.
"A plan, truly...?"
Trusting those squirming inside?
As Chainwalker agonized, new reports from dispatched fighters.
"...A sword-wielding hand burst from its flesh?"
All dwarves were smiths. Thus, they identified minerals instantly.
So.
"...A silver sword?"
Chainwalker's pupils quaked violently.
Unraveling the identities inside took no time.
Chainwalker bellowed. Chastising himself.
"Damn it, Chainwalker! Blind again!"
It was them. Akkshan.
Rampaging in Omen's gut. Hoyeol's trusted allies.
The Akkshan they'd ignored in the Holy War.
Chainwalker surveyed the continent.
"Yes, no doubt. It's you...!!"
Whatever the ploy, only Akkshan would execute such recklessness on Arcana.
Chainwalker broadcast to the fighters.
"All units, hear me. Our pledged comrades, Akkshan, have returned. Per the last survivor's design, Lord Hoyeol, they rampage within its flesh!"
Momentary silence. Then overwhelming chatter.
"Wh-what?!"
"Akkshan? Truly inside...?"
"Then we can't dawdle, Chainwalker!"
Chainwalker nodded.
"Indeed."
Hoyeol had said: a plan, no need for worry.
Worthy of the last survivor.
Akkshan needed no aid, sought no reward. They bore all burdens alone.
Yet Chainwalker had witnessed their end.
He'd vowed never to repeat the mistake.
Even if they needed nothing.
He yearned not to forsake them again.
Chainwalker continued.
"You are seasoned dwarven warriors. Support our pledged comrades, Akkshan, at your judgment."
Vroom vroom vroom!
Fighters accelerated in unison.
Chainwalker declared.
"Our chance to atone for the Holy War's sins has come!"
Fighters charged the Omens.
"Damn, it won't scratch!"
External barrages left no mark.
Yet they persisted. With Akkshan beyond the hide.
"Hold position. Damage irrelevant. Buy time. Distract it from hindering Akkshan. Even if you crash, never cease flight!"
But the dwarves hadn't anticipated.
Dozens of Arcana years in Omen's gut. Waiting for the feint's moment. Burning resolve. Never halting training.
The demon hunters' prowess.
And.
CRUNCH!!
The Predator-Prey Relationship triggered on demon king contact.
Yes, as Hoyeol said. No support needed for Akkshan in action.
Seasoned pilot Gunner even stammered.
...What am I seeing?
"Ch-Chainwalker, do you read?"
"I do, Gunner. Status?"
"Tell me silver's properties?"
Silver, out of nowhere.
"Weak to shock, dulls easily, less versatile than common iron ore? Useless save for special uses."
"...Yes, so it was."
"What are you getting at, Gunner?"
"Chainwalker, that paper-thin silver sword...!"
Gunner gasped, continuing.
"Sliced that behemoth our mana cannons couldn't dent... In half! Believable? The demon-castle swallower bisected!"
"...!!!"