Chapter 218
Chapter 218
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 218
Chapter Title: Herald of Destruction 3
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“Arael, you say? She escaped.”
Hatir was dumbfounded by Sion Etar’s words.
“Escaped? Even with all those people there?”
“Yes. But we left her with grievous wounds, so she probably won’t survive. Still, she truly lived up to her reputation.”
“Reputation? What do you mean?”
“Half the elders of the Council of Elders died by her hand.”
“And you didn’t kill her in the chaos?”
Azadin cut into the conversation between Sion Etar and Hatir.
“Hit by an arrow and still got some leisure left, eh, Azadin?”
Sion Etar hurled a dagger at Azadin.
Azadin, with both arms shattered, couldn’t dodge, but Grimsrown’s club danced forth and swatted the flying dagger aside.
“Hmm? A Nether relic? Ugh.”
Sion Etar, approaching to finish off Azadin, frowned as malice coiled around his ankle. The malice pouring from Aldis’s body had spread across the ground like fog. Touching it sent chills racing through his entire body.
“Good heavens. Aldis… she’s dead.”
Sion Etar checked Aldis’s condition and scowled.
“Aldis is dead, half the Council elders are gone, and countless others from the clans below them have fallen. Doesn’t someone need to take responsibility for this mess? Our father?”
Sion Etar’s eyes blazed fiercely. The murderous glare he fixed on Hatir made it plain as day whom he held accountable.
‘This insolent bastard!’
Hatir seethed at Sion Etar’s audacity, revealing his true colors now that Hatir was weakened. But with his loyal retainers and weapons—Kazaz and Aldis—both gone, he had no means to resist.
“You fool! Azadin has laid hands on the Royal Throne right now. This is no time for that! Besides, Aldis at this moment…”
“Yes. I understand perfectly. Thank you for your concern, but… from here on, I’ll handle things.”
At Sion’s gesture, the servants at his side raised their bows. But when they looked at Hatir, their hands trembled.
To them, Hatir was the son of a god, the core of Aragsa. His blood flowed even in the Etar bloodline, making the leader Hatir akin to a living ancestral deity.
“You idiots.”
Sion Etar clicked his tongue at the hesitating servants. Even he didn’t dirty his own hands.
In the end, after passing the buck around, all eyes fell on the youngest servant, Ismail.
“You do it.”
“Isn’t it your fault for failing to properly attend the young lady?”
They all shoved the task onto Ismail.
“Haa.”
Ismail sighed. He nocked an arrow, drew his bow, and loosed it at Hatir.
“What?!”
Hatir tried to swat the arrow away, but Ismail’s shot pierced straight through his palm and into his throat.
“Gurk?!”
Hatir’s body toppled backward. The leader of Aragsa, son of the emperor, the man called a living god, now crawled pathetically on the ground.
Ismail expressionlessly drew another arrow and nocked it, intent on finishing Hatir off.
But then Aldis’s eyes snapped open.
“Ah?!”
-Kwachik!
Black malice erupted from Aldis like a storm. The low-lying poisonous fog swept up the approaching Aragsa members, sending Azadin and Hatir flying as well.
“Urk!”
Azadin hit the ground and gazed at the jade throne.
A pure white light flickered within the throne, but its power was too faint. The darkness was so thick and strong, while the light panted weakly, on the verge of snuffing out.
‘Is this the end?’
Azadin looked regretfully at the jade throne, unable to exert its strength.
[So it comes to this, after all.]
The emperor’s voice echoed then.
“…The emperor’s voice?”
[I wanted to watch over you a bit longer, but there’s no helping it. Azadin.]
“What…”
[I release you from the contract of service. Last Herald, Azadin.]
With those words, a key adorned in gold foil dropped before Azadin. He reached for it, but he lacked even the strength to grasp it now.
[Oh dear, can’t even pick it up?]
As the emperor’s voice said that, the key on the ground floated up on its own and slipped into Azadin’s bosom.
“This is?”
[The key that opens the emperor’s entire treasury. Don’t use it now—save it for when the true age of Jupiter arrives. The power to save the people and the world lies within. Farewell. I leave the rest to you!]
The emperor’s voice said that and was sucked into Brtuma’s Royal Throne. The artificial spirit crafted from Yaegas divine magic burned away its own existence, infusing the throne with white mana.
-Woooom!
A dazzling light incomparable to before—the King's Radiance—burst from the throne, beginning to drive back the surrounding darkness.
The emperor’s voice and Arael’s grimoire had synergized, summoning the King's Radiance that repelled the Nether entities.
-Grraaaah!
The colossal gods prowling outside, the massive shadows of Nether’s emissaries, grew hazy. The Nether colossal gods, on the verge of manifesting, vanished, and the world began to recover.
‘D-Did it work? The emperor’s voice sacrificed itself?’
The emperor’s voice was an artificial spirit, a copy of Emperor Yaeslat’s personality. It qualified as the throne’s master.
But as a spirit, not human, sitting upon the throne meant its own annihilation. The emperor’s voice had stepped forward, accepting its end.
However…
“Ahahahahaha! Impressive, Aragsa!”
Aldis—no, the emissary possessing her body—burst into mad laughter.
She raised her hand, and the Nether power, scattering under the King's Radiance from the throne, began to converge on her. A force far stronger than before erupted from her.
Paradoxically, while the rest of Brtuma was purified by the King's Radiance, the area right beneath the throne, closest to it, remained untouched by the light.
A hand of malice emerging from Aldis’s shadow seized Hatir’s fallen body.
“Gurk!”
Blood sprayed from Hatir’s nose and mouth. The black shadow of the emissary lifted Hatir, then pierced his temple with its index finger. Hatir’s eyes spun wildly as foam mixed with blood frothed from his mouth.
Not content with possessing Aldis’s body, the emissary now targeted Hatir’s as well.
“Hiiik!”
The other Aragsa members, witnessing this, loosed arrows in fright, but Aldis swung her cloak, unleashing a black wind that knocked them all down.
And that wasn’t all.
“Kaaak!”
“M-My flesh is rotting!”
Those struck by the malicious wind screamed as they tumbled. Those near Aldis died outright, while those farther away collapsed with severe wounds.
Even Sion Etar, startled, shoved corpses in front of him and cowered behind, barely escaping.
‘Damn it. Everyone here dies! I need to escape… but…’
Azadin felt overwhelming drowsiness.
He’d lost too much blood. His strength was gone.
‘The emperor’s voice purified the throne, so this outburst from the Nether emissaries is their last gasp. The world… should be fine.’
With that thought, Azadin struggled to find any reason to exert himself further.
His star had already fallen.
And the emperor’s voice, which had conveyed his mission, was gone now too. Not just vanished, but it had accomplished something monumental at the end.
‘W-Wait, what? So now I can die?’
Azadin closed his eyes against the encroaching sleep.
*********
Midiām was direct kin to the head of the Etar bloodline—not the eldest daughter, but important enough.
Yet she had indeed betrayed her clan to side with Azadin. Ismail had deliberately felled her to fake a surrender to the Etar bloodline, all to save her.
But now, with Nether emissaries unleashing their power, Ismail attacked those holding Midiām, knocked them down, and untied the ropes binding her.
“Ismail!”
“We have to run, Midiām!”
“Y-You bastard!”
The Etar bloodline servants gaped in shock at Ismail freeing the captive he’d brought.
They’d all been trained, so they knew: Ismail had faked his surrender to protect Midiām’s life.
But they never imagined he’d kill even the Etar servants he’d shared meals with in childhood to free her!
“You little shit!”
A burly servant gripped short swords in both hands and lunged with thrusts. Flashy strikes flew at Ismail.
Ismail held his sword vertically, precisely splitting the onslaught left and right from his blade’s center, sidestepped right, and deflected every attack.
“You bastard!”
The foe, lured by Ismail’s guard, moved—and was struck by the malicious wind Aldis unleashed.
“Gurk!”
In an instant, his arm rotted, skin and muscle peeling away to dangle loosely.
“Thank you.”
Ismail snarked as he stabbed the giant’s chest, using his body as a shield against the wind, then snatched his weapon and tossed it to Midiām.
“Here! We have to run now!”
“Wait! Ismail! Azadin!”
“With our strength, we can’t save him! He’s too big!”
Ismail was cold and clear-eyed. Just him and Midiām could escape somehow. But Azadin was massive, badly wounded, unable even to support his own weight.
Saving him was impossible—at least without one of them dying!
“Please!”
Yet Midiām knew this and still insisted on rescuing Azadin.
“Are you telling me to watch you die for the man you love?!”
Ismail’s loyalty to Midiām stemmed purely from love. For the woman he adored to love another and demand his devotion for that man’s sake—it infuriated him.
But…
Ismail clutched his head with an “Aagh!”, then dashed to Azadin, hoisting the fallen man up.
Heavy.
Trained as he was, pure physical strength couldn’t bridge the size gap.
Ismail circulated the Four Seasons Wind and Moon technique, channeling mana through his body to amplify his muscles, then slung Azadin over his back.
As Ismail carried Azadin, Midiām gripped a sword and guarded the front.
Thanks to Midiām’s status in the Etar bloodline and the rampaging malice from the emissary-possessed Aldis, the foes kept their distance, securing their escape route.
“Go! Ismail!”
“…Midiām!”
Ismail bit his lower lip seeing Midiām move to stay behind for the rear guard.
“It’s fine. I’m Etar bloodline. They won’t dare kill me, right?”
“…….”
No, they will.
Sion Etar had planned to eliminate Hatir and take leadership. Letting Midiām live after her double betrayal would cost him face.
This time, he’d kill her for sure.
“Thank you, Ismail. For indulging my selfishness.”
“…….”
Ismail was speechless at Midiām’s gentle smile.
“You idiot. Both you and I…”