Chapter 222
Chapter 222
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 222
Chapter Title: The Knight of Prophecy 1
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In the past, the Hubris Continent had been occupied by the Nether's emissaries.
The Kurt gods waged war against the Nether's emissaries, and with the aid of the Yaegas gods who joined later, they succeeded in driving the Nether's kin from the Hubris Continent. (The Kurt gods claim they won the fight on their own, while the Yaegas gods insist they provided major assistance, leaving the two sides' accounts at odds.)
However, the Nether's kin possessed the power to corrupt reality merely with their language, so the gods felt the need to completely isolate them.
That was when Netherstrom was chosen.
It was a massive maelstrom located where the Arangian Inland Sea met the Hubris Peninsula.
The corpses and blood of the Nether's kin were poured into the depths of its endlessly churning currents and sealed away in the ocean abyss. Only then did the Hubris Continent become safe from the Nether's threat.
But when Jupiter's gravitational pull intensified, the currents of Netherstrom would weaken, and the Nether's blood would boil...
Whenever the world fell under Jupiter's influence, Nether monsters would emerge on the Hubris Peninsula, inflicting horrific devastation. That is why the people of Hubris call the era of extinction the "Jupiter Era."
For now, the currents merely slacken temporarily when Jupiter's pull strengthens, but someday if its gravity grows even more powerful, the seal of Netherstrom will shatter completely, and the Nether's emissaries will once again dominate this land.
No one knows if this prophecy of doom is coming true or if it's merely the recurring cycle of the seal weakening, but the situation was dire.
"Aragas is gonna flip upside down."
Dimia let out a sigh, envisioning their clan's fallen state and the intensifying persecution to come.
The herald clan's alliance with the nagas, using Nether magic to attack Coralsahar and Btuma, was already widely known across the world.
What would people think now that the Jupiter Era was dawning? Wouldn't they blame the disasters on the corrupt herald clan's wicked sorcery?
The herald clan was already facing persecution, but soon they would be seen as unforgivable enemies—public enemies to be slain on sight.
"More importantly, don't we need to fight right now? The sailors can't handle it alone."
Seraph pointed out to sea.
Sirens were emerging from the waves. Taking the form of beautiful women, they sang songs that lured humans in. The enchanted sailors would leap into the sea, only for the sirens to swarm them, tearing them limb from limb and devouring their flesh and blood.
"You guys are in rough shape, right? Just shoot arrows. I'll handle it."
Indim grabbed Arael's memento, the Wendigo Dagger (originally Azadin's), and leaped over the rail.
The moment the sirens rushed at Indim, mistaking him for another pitiful, enchanted victim, he unleashed his magic.
*-Blossom Bird Wind Moon, Mistletoe!*
Using a technique that teleported him above the enemy's heads, Indim swapped positions and reappeared high above the sirens' backs.
*-Shrieeeek!*
Indim swung his Azure Steel hand axe and Wendigo Dagger, hacking the sirens to pieces before landing on the water's surface.
"Nice moves."
Dimia murmured in admiration at Indim's flashy display.
Indim dashed across the sea, dragging his hand axe and Wendigo Dagger along the surface to kick up sprays of water. The massive plumes rising from the waves shredded any sirens they caught.
As he raced along at high speed, Indim spun in a slide and plunged the Wendigo Dagger into the sea. The water froze solid, forming a block of ice. Indim stood atop it, catching his breath for a moment.
"Ugh..."
"Aaaah."
The sirens hurled abuse at Indim in their beautiful voices. The sea surface was stained red with blood, countless siren corpses bobbing in the waves.
"Hmph. Serves you right. Huh?"
Indim suddenly spotted a black shadow beneath the water.
"Big trouble! Whale—no, wait..."
A massive crocodile-like beast burst forth and rammed the ship from below. A whale-sized croco-dragon had slammed upward into the brigantine, a vessel nearly as large as itself.
The not-insignificant two-masted brigantine lifted right out of the water. Hovering about three meters in the air, it crashed back down, snapping its keel and flinging the crew and cargo everywhere.
"Argh!"
"Aaah!"
Some died on impact alone. A lucky few avoided the debris and splashing waves, but the sirens quickly dragged them under.
"Damn it!"
Dimia and Seraph leaped from fragment to fragment in midair, maintaining their balance before landing on the sea. Azadin, however, plummeted into the water.
"Ugh!"
"No! Arael's dying wish!"
Seraph scrambled onto a nearby lifeboat that had capsized into the sea. As he moved to rescue Azadin, the other sailors began clinging to it.
"H-Hey, wait!"
"Save us!"
"You bastards..."
Seraph debated killing the sailors to claim the boat for himself. But before he could act, sirens swarmed and dragged them away.
A siren lunged at Seraph as well, but he casually punched her straight in the heart. She spewed blood as she flew off, rocking the boat with the recoil.
"Hmm."
Seraph clicked his tongue upon seeing the siren he'd punched hadn't died instantly. He was too weakened.
Of course, to anyone unfamiliar with his usual strength, the sheer power of sending a siren flying with one punch would have been shocking. But Seraph himself was far from satisfied.
Just moving like that hurt his body. Fighting sirens on the open sea in this condition...
Not to mention that massive croco-dragon...
"Indim! I'll rescue Azadin and send him to land! Take out the croco-dragon!"
"Is it really worth going that far to save him?"
"Do that, and I'll keep quiet about you sucking on that clump of Arael's hair to comfort yourself."
"You..."
Indim gaped in shock at Seraph's words, grinding his teeth.
"Saying it out loud kinda defeats the purpose of keeping it secret."
Dimia placed Azadin atop the upturned hull and chided Seraph.
"Keep running your mouth like that, and Indim really will kill you someday."
Seraph pretended not to hear Dimia's warning as he cast a spell on Azadin's boat. It was a drift magic that guaranteed the vessel would reach land, no matter the currents.
Having exhausted all his mana on that single spell, Seraph lost his strength and fell into the sea. Dimia scooped him up and carried him to another nearby lifeboat.
"Then we'll have to draw the croco-dragon's attention."
A boat under drift magic wouldn't capsize in normal rough seas—in fact, it would gain speed and reach the nearest land. But if a croco-dragon or sea monster attacked and flipped it, all bets were off.
Dimia cast an illusionary mist over the boat to make it harder to spot, resolving that she and Seraph would serve as bait to lure the monsters away.
"...Is this really worth it?!"
Indim called out as the croco-dragon charged at him, jaws wide.
"Aleph adored her. If he'd lived, he definitely would've wanted to carry on her will."
Seraph invoked the name of his brother, who had been absorbed and vanished into him.
"You're the same. So why drag Aleph into this?"
Dimia flashed a wry smile and nocked an arrow aimed at the croco-dragon with her weakened body.
Arael might have betrayed them, sure. But the Four of Blossom Bird Wind Moon had gathered purely because they adored her—not for glory, wealth, or power.
If only she'd just told them upfront. It was her acting alone without confiding in them, without trusting them, that chafed.
*Still, fulfilling the wish of the one you love must be the joy of love!*
Dimia loosed her arrow.
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At the southern edge of the Arangia Kingdom, a Death Knight prowled the fields overlooking the Arangian Inland Sea.
Plank of Wisdom.
Once one of the captains of the Rescue Knights and hailed as the Knight of Wisdom, this Death Knight now cleaved through any who disturbed his rest, spreading word of his swordsmanship and dark renown.
The coastal city of Coxhal, bordering the Arangian Inland Sea, had posted a staggering bounty: twenty gold coins and a knighthood to anyone who could slay the Death Knight. Yet no one dared challenge him.
The infamous Death Knight himself, Plank Martenias, was dragging his sword along the ground as he rummaged through an abandoned house.
"How tedious. I never knew in life that boredom could be such agony."
Unable to die, forever condemned to wander the wilds and plains, he was bored out of his mind. A conversation partner would be nice, but ordinary folk fled in terror at the mere sight of him.
Even adventurers who charged in vowing to slay him would freeze in soul-chilling dread the moment they came within ten paces, pissing themselves and bolting.
At this rate, he couldn't even have a chat.
If only he could read a book—but the Arangians prized manly valor over scholarship, making books rarer than fruit in a drought.
"Ah, nothing of value. Of course a literate soul wouldn't haunt a woodcutter's shack like this. ...Hm?"
As the Death Knight Plank searched the old woodcutter's cabin, he noticed something carved into a pillar. Faded scratches, likely marks measuring a growing child's height.
He touched them, imagining the lives and stories of the humans who once dwelled here. With no books and boredom driving him mad, even these tiny marks provided a modicum of distraction.
"...I'd rather sleep. Sweet oblivion. Why have you forsaken me?"
The body of a restless specter couldn't even slumber. Endless boredom, yet nothing to do.
He'd tried leaving this place any number of times, only to wander aimlessly and end up back where he started. It seemed he couldn't stray far from the site of his death.
"If I could just meet someone, I'd even bequeath my treasured sword. Eh?"
That's when Knight Plank's eyes caught a peculiar bird.
Ordinary birds feared the Death Knight and never approached, but this one was different.
For good reason: a horrific, gleaming eyeball protruded from its chest.
"Who are you? Hm?"
In response to the Death Knight's question, the bird silently stared at one spot.
There hovered the faint afterimage of a human woman.
A woman with beautiful black hair raised her hand gracefully, pointing toward the stream at the base of the hill.
"If it's rescue you seek, you've come to the wrong place. I belong to death now—no boon for the living. But having seen it, I can't endure this tedium. I'll meddle anyway."
Whether from sheer boredom or some sensed fated pull, Sir Plank turned and set off in the direction the woman indicated.